Blog task 4

The draft of our commentry


Pre production and planning

We are commenting on how we used technology, why we used it and how we made it creative, moreover we are reflecting on the change and advancements from last year’s use of technology to this years a2 product.

Starting with the pre production and panning of our music video. We used search engines such as youtubes official websites and fan pages to get an idea of how to generally construct a successful music video and to inspire our own music video through the use of web 2.0 technologies. Furthermore we used my space, facebook and even twitter to research and develop our bands institutional context. We also used web 2.0 to contact the record company of the song we used by Calexico to ensure that the copyright and legal matters were all sorted out, this ensured we could put our music video onto you tube and blogger after we constructed it.

We looked at other music videos to not only enhance our creativity but also to get a feel for the country and western genre, moreover we used feedback from fans as we didn’t want to make the same mistakes as other music videos that we looked at did. We looked at some of dolly partons work and that also enhanced our creativity as we did not want our music video to be that stereotypical of the country and western genre where as Keith urbans work was much more diverse and took the modern outlook on country and western, his videos on youtube and his fan pages inspired our unique and slightly edgy take on the country and western genre.

We also purchased all our props online including the second hand guitar from ebay and a cowboy hat that we decided not to use as we thought it would be conforming to the stereotypes of a country and western singer, as you can see we have moved away from this dressing our star in casual, very young and up to date clothing.

Our blogs this year are very much like a creative filter, last year our research on the internet was much broader, there was no limit set to us which led to us this year summarising what was significant and useful. We now use the internet much more precicesly and carefully and we have a defined idea on what information is helpful. This year we have used our blogs as a filter, last year was much less selective as to what exactly was needed on our blogs. Therefore we use technology in a much more mature way and we are learning how to be much more selective.

Another form of technology we used in the pre production was Photoshop, we used this programme on the computers to anticipate the image of what we wanted our star to look like, we looked at how we could manipulate images in preparation for the after affects.

Final cut pro is a programme that we used when we constructed our story boards and turned it into an animatic, we transferred rushes into final cut pro onto a time line this helped us cut our final product and the track helped us revise and fintune our story board ideas.
Construction promo digi pack

First of all, in constructing our promo, digi pack and poster we used final cut pro, we captured images from the shoot for our digi pack and then put these images through Photoshop to edit and improve them, we used took stills and used one of the cameras from the shoot day.

During the shoot day we were lucky enough to use a sony hd camera this camera enables us to shoot 3times more material then we could have done last year, moreover this camera was digital and in the editing stage the shots where in order and much easier to organise in comparison to last year as we used a tape. The fact that there was more film available meant that we could be more creative with our shots and be a bit more experimental, the camera has allowed us to be more free with what we want to shoot as we simply have the space and time, this enhanced our creativity as we had so much choice, from side angles to low angles to high angles we could capture and develop our star from the availability and advancement of our technologies.

Post production

In final cut pro we used markers when we were editing our music video this helped us make significant changes to the beat of our song and rhythm instrumentation, it helped create pace in our edits.

In after effects we used desaturation of colour to create a more sinister atmosphere. Moreover we used jump cuts throughout our music video to emphasise the fact that we our breaking the country and western stereotypes and the jump cuts are used to connote fast pace modern times and a urban take that we used in the country and western genre. Moreover the cuts highlight his star image, they symbolise his issues and troubled mind, the jumps relate to his unstable disturbed sociological state, for an example , Shots of our star stroking his chin further stresses the idea that he is constantly in deep thought.

We used a juxtaposition in saturating our star to make him remain glowing and warm through the use of lighting, whereas the back ground is saturated to be cold and dark , this was done to ensure our star image remained positive and dazzling.

Another media effect we used was montage, this was heavily influenced by one of Russia’s most prominent filmmakers, sergie eisenstein, he was essentially the father of montage and our mode of address.

Our artist in many ways was singing about emotional tragedy we used the same stylistic ideas as eisenstein that convey the same ideas of tragedy. The constant dramatic flashes of lights were also copied by the infamous Russian film maker in our music video, the light creates a disconcerting or unsettling atmosphere that relates back to the idea of pain, nightmares and tragedy. All these after effects add texture to the viewing experience, which is engaging and therefore interesting to watch.

The final copy of commentry


We are commenting on how we used technology, why we used it and how we made it creative, moreover we are reflecting on the change and advancements from last year’s use of technology to this years a2 product.

Starting with the pre production and panning of our music video. We used search engines such as youtubes official websites and fan pages to get an idea of how to generally construct a successful music video and to inspire our own music video through the use of web 2.0 technologies. Furthermore we used my space, facebook and even twitter to research and develop our bands institutional context. We also used web 2.0 to contact the record company of the song we used by Calexico to ensure that the copyright and legal matters were all sorted out, this ensured we could put our music video onto you tube and blogger after we constructed it.

We looked at other music videos to not only enhance our creativity but also to get a feel for the country and western genre, moreover we used feedback from fans as we didn’t want to make the same mistakes as other music videos that we looked at did.


In after effects we used desaturation of colour to create a more sinister atmosphere. Moreover we used jump cuts throughout our music video to emphasise the fact that we our breaking the country and western stereotypes and the jump cuts are used to connote his emotional disturbance and supports the star image of a man in touch with his dark side, this is also shown by the discolouration of his eyes suggesting that he is exhausted from the emotional strain. It also represents the fast pace of modern times and a urban take that we used in the country and western genre. Moreover the cuts highlight his star image, they symbolise his issues and troubled mind, the jumps relate to his unstable disturbed sociological state, for an example , Shots of our star stroking his chin further stresses the idea that he is constantly in deep thought.

We used a juxtaposition in saturating our star to make him remain glowing and warm through the use of lighting, whereas the back ground is saturated to be cold and dark , this was done to ensure our star image remained positive and dazzling.

Another media effect we used was montage, this was heavily influenced by one of Russia’s most prominent filmmakers, sergie eisenstein, he was essentially the father of montage and our mode of address.

In final cut pro we used markers when we were editing our music video this helped us make significant changes to the beat of our song and rhythm instrumentation, it helped create pace in our edits.
We also purchased all our props online including the second hand guitar from ebay and a cowboy hat that we decided not to use as we thought it would be conforming to the stereotypes of a country and western singer, as you can see we have moved away from this dressing our star in casual, very young and up to date clothing. This desaturated guitar is used to display his emotional turmoil.

During the shoot day we were lucky enough to use a sony hd camera this camera enables us to shoot 3times more material then we could have done last year, moreover this camera was digital and in the editing stage the shots where in order and much easier to organise in comparison to last year as we used a tape. The fact that there more film available meant that we could be more creative with our shots and be a bit more experimental, the camera has allowed us to be more free with what we want to shoot as we simply have the space and time, this enhanced our creativity as we had so much choice, allowing us to cut and cross cut our footage.