How was media technology used in the Research, Planning and Construction stages of the music video?

Throughout the creation of the music video, my group and I made use of media technology on a daily basis, these media included researching simple images on the internet to filming hours of footage using hand held cameras. However, at different stages of creation media was used in diverse ways, for example some stages meant that media technology was vital, whereas other stages only utilised technology for simple tasks.

Research
During the research stage of the music video I made use of media technology in order to explore different music genres and their conventions. For example, I carried out a number of research tasks where the proposal was to consider what genre of music played on certain radio station and television channels. It is for this reason that the aid of media technology such as 'Sky television' or radios were important. Furthermore, media technology such as the internet was also fundamental in the research stage as it allowed me to expand my knowledge of different genre around the world, for example Bollywood in order to influence ideas for the music video. Moreover, at this stage the team and I were able to use the internet to find the most suitable song for our chosen genre. This was carried out by searching through hundreds of listed songs on the 'LGFL Audio Network Website', which was extremely helpful as it allowed us to search songs by specific categories such as genre, mood, tempo.

Planning
Media technology was also of great help during the planning stages of the music video. Firstly, the group and I explored different techniques of making sounds in order to play over parts of the song. For example, we learned how to create sounds on a I Mac programme known as 'Garage Band', this helped, as before creating our storyboards the team had an initial idea of recording comical kissing noises over the ending of the song. Although this idea was abolished the use of 'Garage Band' furthered our knowledge of media technology. Secondly, to begin discussing the setting of the music video it was necessary for the team and I to explore a variety of settings. However, this was accomplished as we had access to a video camera, which allowed us to video different settings and later discuss which areas appeared better on film. Furthermore, this gave the team the chance to practice our filming techniques. Furthermore, with the use of software such as 'Microsoft' I created a number of costume designs for the characters of the narrative. Finally, throughout this planning stage it was necessary to continue searching for influence from other pop rock bands in order to create a genuine pop rock music video, hence the internet acting as a great source for researching videos and song lyrics.

Construction
The third stage of construction was the stage of which media technology was mostly utilised. The first step to the construction was the filming process which involved using a video camera and lighting equipment, without such media technology the filming process would not have been as productive as it was. Secondly, the editing process was to be carried out using a computer based software known as 'I Movie', therefore this meant that the team and I dealt with this software on a weekly basis. During the this time, the team and I were constantly looking for feedback in order to change and alter areas of the music video which could be improved. This was made easier as it was possible to revisit past scenes and edit them for the best possible outcome. Nevertheless, the disadvantages were that the software was not always reliable and therefore did not always work or save correctly. This was the case for my team and I as after the first week of editing our work was deleted and lost as a result of a computer crash, nonetheless we overcame problems such as these as we learned to back our working progress onto a portable hard drive continuously.

Evaluation
To evaluate audience feedback it was vital that media technology was utilised in order to store and evaluate data from questionnaires. For example, I made use of the software Microsoft Excel when analysing data which influenced the decisions made in the music video. Nevertheless, this was most useful when analysing open and closed questions, since I soon found that Microsoft Excel was most beneficial with quantitative data. Furthermore, media technology such as the video camera gave me the opportunity to explore different ways of collecting audience feedback, since I was able to film few candidates as proof of my audience feedback survey. Moreover, the internet was of great use when evaluating the music video, as it offered a range of platforms to submit our final music video and gain audience feedback. Therefore it is evident that media technologies came of use throughout all stages of research, planning, construction and evaluation.

How effective is the combination of your music video and digipak?

When creating and designing my digipak I had to consider the ways in which the combination of the music video and album art related. This would therefore create strong synergy between both the products, furthermore it would ensure that my target audience is able to build a relationship between the products when either looking at the music video or the digipak.

Digipak

Music Video
As the song 'Superman' is based on the theme of the dating process and finding 'love', I immediately associated this with females, as this topic is most common in conversations between females. Moreover, from previous surveys I found that more females are interested in the genre 'Pop Rock', this influenced the colour scheme as I used shades of pinks and purple in order to address the theme of love and femininity. Nonetheless, my survey results also revealed that most participants preferred a colour scheme based around shades of pinks. Furthermore, this theme of love is shown throughout the music video by a range of signs and symbols, for example the Cd's placed in a shape of a heart, which immediately holds connotation of love.

The idea of powerful females is shown throughout the digipak, in a subtle manner. Although the band 'The Rockweilers' have more male members than female, the female's power is shown as only the female member is present on the digipak. Furthermore, the digipak does not portray females as sex objects as the male gaze is not present because of the in corporation of the dog's body rather than the female's body. This again suggests the idea of dominant females, since dogs are usually associated with strength, therefore the blend of the female's head on the dog's body represents strength in young women. This proposal is also shown throughout the music video, as the underlying idea is that the female protagonist has the choice to date any boy she chooses, therefore the representation of females having a choice are associated with the idea of dominance.

I made use of graphics and cartoon images on the digipak as I thought that it related to the idea of 'Superman' which is a Marvel comic. This also shows synergy as both the digipak and the music video makes use of scenes with a cartoon effects, this again promotes the idea of Marvel comics. Furthermore, the cartoon effect heightens the youthful inspirations of the band and their image.

Furthermore, the scenes of the teenagers on swings are not conventional as swings are associated with children, this was used to emphasise the freedom that youths have. Moreover, the digipak demonstrates a sense of 'freedom' shown by the images of skateboarders skating down the London eye, as well as the graffiti which is commonly used to illustrates freedom of speech and art.

In conclusion, I believe that there is strong synergy between out music video and my digipak, however this may not be as clear as the synergy is built upon underlying themes such as feminism and power. Firstly the use of images and colours with predominantly feminine connotations are used in both the music video and the album cover, for example colours such as 'red and pink', and heart shaped objects. This is because from early questionnaires I have realised that the 'Pop Rock' genre has a larger female audience. Furthermore, I stressed the element of power within the female society by using certain images, such as female's head and the dog's body, which would illustrate power. Although these themes are portrayed subtly, I feel that it has demonstrated a strong correlation between the music video and digipak.

Synergy Between Music Videos and Album Covers- P!nk

As the coursework tasks are to firstly create a music video for a specific genre, secondly create a digipak album that includes the song title of the previously made music video, and thirdly create an advertisement that promotes the digipak, it is vital that the combination is promoted in an effective manner. This means that each aspect such as the music video, digipak and advertisement show synergy and therefore promote each other creating a larger, more successful outcome.

(SYNERGY- when different entities cooporate to create a more successful final outcome.)
Synergy is VITAL in the promotion of music and in the music industry in general. An example of synergy is shown by the growth and success of P!nk. This is shown by her songs, music videos, albums, album advertisements, merchandise and tours. Nevertheless, the synergy would not be as effective if there was not a strong relationship between each of these aspects.

Video

Album Cover

The combination of P!nk's music video and album cover is clearly effective, shown by these images. Firstly, the personality of the album is shown through the body language that she uses in her music video, as her body language is wild as she waves her arms around, revealing her freedom. This is similar her pose on the front cover, as once again P!ink appears to be yelling with her arm in the air, suggesting that she does not care about her surrounding, but is simply having fun, hence the album name 'Funhouse'.

Secondly, P!nk's femininity is revealed through the clothing that she is seen wearing in her music video. The tight fit shorts and frilly top emphasises her feminine character although many may view her as androgynous. Furthermore, the bright colours that she wears portrays a optimistic view, even as the song is about breaking up with her husband. This again stresses the idea of being free and happy for the future.

The use of graffiti reflects the use of graphic prints in the background of the album cover. Throughout the 'Funhouse' video the use of graffiti may be seen as a act of rebellion as the video appears dingy, however when stencils are utilised on the album design it is seen as gracious. This is due to the surround images, atmosphere and colours used, nevertheless this shows both P!nk's feminine and masculine characteristics.

The emphasis on P!nk's tattoos is vital in the production of the album cover, as this is a trait that many people recognise her for, this is because she is seen as a "...pop rock queen...", and therefore the in cooperation of her tattoos portray her individuality. Furthermore, this creates juxtaposition in the album cover as the image appears feminine due to its red and pink colour scheme, nevertheless the showing of P!nk's tattoos influence the audience to want to know more about her unconventional personality.

Conventions of an advertisement

After analysing previous album advertisements, I have created a set of conventions, which will aid the creation of my own magazine advert promoting 'The Rockweilers'. This has encouraged my ideas about the most important features of my design. Furthermore, this will hopefully emphasise the authenticity of my album advertisement.
Conventions

Although these are features which are common to album advertisements there are many more features, which are included to aid the promotion of an album, for example...

• Shops where the album is available
• The ratings of the album (according to music magazine eg. NME)
• Use of play on words
• Tour dates
• Quotes from magazines and newspapers
• Band Symbols
• Merchandise
  
• Whether the Album is downloadable

Analysis of Album Advertisements

In order to understand and recognise the decision made when designing an album advertisement, I have produced two analysis of dissimilar album advertisements. This will hopefully also encourage my ideas and thoughts about how to design my advertisement. Furthermore, I will be able to recognise the changes within album advertising throughout time due to previous analysis on advertisements during the 80's.

Album Advertisements- 80's

In order to begin analysing album advertisements for pop rock I have began researching advertisements from historic periods such as the 80's as this was known to be the period of rising rock bands such as ACDC and 7th Stranger.

Although these advertisements offer a unique style of advertising rock bands, I feel that these advertisements have inspired my thoughts very slightly. Firstly, I liked the use of lexis when advertising the 'ACDC' album, as the language use and symbols used complimented each other. On the other hand, I feel that the '7th Stranger' depicts women in a sexual manner, which does not conform to my genre and my target audience. This is because I will be advertising for both a male and female audience, but a predominantly female audience. Furthermore, I think the colour use of both 'ACDC' and '7th Stranger' advertisements are bold and striking due to the bold black text and contrasting colours, however, I feel that I will develop the colour scheme in order to build correlation between the digipak and the advertisements. Nevertheless, I will make use of the technique of contrasting bright colours with simple bold text.

What have I learned from the audience feedback- Digipak

To gain audience feedback on the digipak, I have posted my work on social networking site 'facebook' in order for friends to view and comment their opinions. The three main questions that I have prompted the candidates to ask are...

1. What do you/ don't you like about it?
2. How can it be improved?
3. Would you pick it up in a HMV and have a look at it?

After posting the digipak album cover onto the social networking site I have was able to learn and consider the constructive criticism from an audience's perspective. Furthermore, this allowed me to consider different ways in which I could improve the second ancillary task which is to create an album advertisement.
I have summarised and evaluated the audience feedback under the questions below...

What do you like about the digipak cover?
Looking over the answers given by the audience for the first question, I noticed that a majority of people said that they liked the idea of contrasting the black and white image against a bright background. I feel that this is because the juxtaposition creates an element of mystery since the audience does not know why the contrast is present, however by picking up the digipak and looking further, the idea of rebellion becomes more apparent. Furthermore, many answers revealed that the audience was impressed by the relationship between the images and the band name and album name. This is shown as a female participant says "...the blend of the dog and girl works really well with the blend of the name The Rockweilers" This again relates to youths as there is a forever changing language that youths use in order to diverge from language of the older generation, therefore the use of 'The Rockweillers' and 'Ruck Fules' plays along with the creation of language that is only understood by youths. Finally, the colour scheme was said to be "...vibrant..." and "...striking..." since the mixture of colour created a surreal atmosphere which juxtaposed with the action in the image, creating a fantasy world for the target audience.

What don't you like about the digipak?
On the other hand, there were few participant who felt that the digipak did not appeal to them. Firstly, it was said that there was '...too much going on...' and that the design lacked a central image. Although, other participants did not agree with this opinion I understand that the design was full of activity, however this was the intention as it illustrated the hectic lifestyle of youths. Nonetheless, I noticed that the only negative comments were submitted by someone of an older age, compared to the other participants. This directly revealed that the digipak did not appeal to people of an older generation.

How could it be improved?
In order to improve my designs in future tasks, such as the advertisement I asked the participants to suggest ways in which the digipak could be improved. This will help me transfer all the ideas based on the digipak onto the second ancillary task. Firstly, I was told that the fonts could be improved by "...making the fonts larger...", personally, I feel that this suggestion is useful as the advertisement will need to be more striking than the digipak, and therefore "..larger seems better". Secondly, it was suggested that the image of the dog should either me made larger or be repeated. Although, it may be difficult to in cooperate repetition of the same image around the page, I feel that the idea of making the dog a focal point in the design is necessary.

Would you pick it up in HMV and look at it?
Overall, a majority of the participants who commented on the digipak said that the design and colour scheme would influence their actions about looking at the digipak. A male participant said that "...although I do not listen to rock the surreal colours and design are enticing..", this reveals that the digipak would attract both male and female, although it was designed in order to gain a predominantly female audience. Furthermore, all the participant between the age of 18-21 said that they would definitely look twice at the album as the manipulated images appear interesting on a first glimpse. On the other hand, few participants said that they would also look twice at the album, but would not be interested in picking it up as the images and colours suggest that the digipak is aimed at a younger audience.

Using, Developing and Challenging Conventions- Digipak

In order to ensure that my final Digipak cover is successful and appealing to my Target audience, I have compared 'The Rockweilers' album cover to 'P!nk's- I'm not dead' cover, as they are of the same Pop Rock genre.

When analysing both the album cover that I created to a genuine pop rock album cover, I noticed many similarities that revealed the use of conventions, as well as characteristics which illustrated the contrasts. The main characteristic which I found similar was the use of graphic art, this is shown by the black and white sketches of London scapes, and the cartoon images of flowers on the cover of P!nk's album. This proves that the pop rock genre and their fans find graphic imaging most appealing, as it may create a sense of fantasy and freedom. Secondly, I noticed that both covers used a colour scheme based around the colours pink. Although P!nk may have used this because it relates to her stage name, I believe that the colours were utilised because pop rock is a genre which has a predominantly female audience, and therefore the colours reflect the stereotype of girls. Nevertheless, both albums show a sense of rebellion through the text that is used, since the fonts do not conform to 'formal' texts and resemble graffiti. Finally, the 'Parental Advisory' symbol appears on the left hand side of the album cover, which contrasts the conventions of an album cover in general, this also reveals rebellion. Moreover, this is also the case in a number of pop rock, and rock band album covers, such as Avril Lavigne and Blink 182.
In contrast, there are certain traits of the album cover which do not conform to other pop rock covers. For example, although the images of buildings do not resemble other pop rock artists they are most important as the scenery and urban landscapes reflect the band's background. Furthermore, many pop rock artists that I have researched for example P!nk use images of the lead singer or band as the main feature of the album cover. On the other hand, I have used only a small image of the lead singer in cartoon form, this is because I feel that the portraying the character of the band is most important when selling a debut album.
In conclusion, I believe that the cover has worked well and will appeal to the specific target audience, as I have based my creation around the audience's most appealing features. Although, there are areas which differ from popular pop rock artists, I have carefully selected areas of the design to favour the characteristics of the 'rising stars', The Rockweilers.

Ancillary Task Two- Magazine Advertisement For DigiPak

Magazine adverts usually demonstrate a correlating relationship with the promoted Digipak. This is usually achieved through...

• Following genre convention of the specific genre.
  


• Building a correlation between the digipak and magazine adverts by abiding by the same, if not similar designs, colours, images, font type, layout, Mise-en -scene and textures.

For Example...

Album Cover

Advertisement

What have I learned from the audience feedback- Music Video

After completing the music video the team and I thought that it would be useful to gain feedback from a variety of people in order to evaluate the music video from an audience's perspective, as well as confirm our target audience. Overall we received feedback from 10 candidates, five of these candidates were female, and the remaining male, however the age of the candidates varied between 16 to 40. When questioning the candidates, we asked four compulsory questions these were...

• What genre do you think the music video is?
• What were the best aspects of the music video?
• What were the worst aspects of the music video?
• What are your overall opinoins about the music video?

Here are a few responses to the questions, although we asked a number of candidates, both male and female we were only able to film three female candidates, as it was easier considering our school environment.

Question 1- What genre do you think the music video is?
When asking the candidates which genre they thought the music video was from, the results were interesting. 5 out of 10 candidates suggested that the music video was from a Pop background, as it "...resembled other pop music videos like Avril Lavigne". However, other candidates related the mise-en-scene and the tempo of the music video to a Rock genre. Nevertheless, these results reveal that the music video illustrates both features of a Pop and Rock genre, from the audience's perspective.

Question 2- What were the best aspects of the music video?
The responses to the second question offered a range of positive ideas, for example, many candidates revealed that they enjoyed the humour aspect to the music video and narrative. This is reassuring since it is evident that our attempt to incorporate humour was noticed and appreciated by the audience. Furthermore, candidates also said that the change is costumes were well thought and maintained the audience's attentions. This was also similar to the use of camera transitions since many participants revealed that "...the quick changes of shots were fun and exciting...".

Question 3- What were the worst aspects of the music video?
Although the team and I thought the dim lighting would go unnoticed, 9 out of 10 candidates mentioned that some scenes were unclear, due to the light. It was also stated that "...the scenes with bad lighting appeared grainy". Although the team and I were aware of this our attempts to alter the light settings of the scenes were not successful, therefore this could not be avoided. Nonetheless, it was also said that the dim lighting and grainy scenes reflected the rock influence, as it appeared dark and sinister.

Question 4- What are your overall opinoins about the music video?
Overall, the response from this question was positive since candidates from all ages said that the music video was "...impressive..." Furthermore, many candidates said that they related the music video to either the Pop or Rock genre, as the conventions were employed in an obvious manner. Finally, I was pleased to hear that although candidates were not interested in the Pop Rock genre, the music video kept them enticed and influenced their opinions to buy the single.

Using, Developing and Challenging Conventions- Music Video

Although the music video that we created was based on a Pop Rock song, it is expected that we have made use of all conventions of a Pop Rock music video, however, after analysing the video I have noticed that there are areas where the conventions have either been used, developed and even challenged.

Used Conventions
As the song 'Superman' of a pop rock genre, we have made use of conventions found in a pop video, for example the narrative is based on love, which is common (is not essential) in pop music videos. Furthermore, the characters that we have used in our narrative have been portrayed in a dramatic manor, making use of archetypes such as the Punk, Hunk and the Geek. Over exaggeration is also extremely common is pop rock music video as pop rock music is usually targeted as a young age group, therefore the use of humor is essential in order to keep the audience excited. Furthermore, it is conventional for pop rock music videos to follow a illustrative narrative, which means the lyrics are accompanied by the illustration, this was accomplished in a number of ways especially by the use of lip synchronisation as well as scenes that literally follow the narrative. For example, the scene of the Devil "..doing a deal...". Camera angles that were similar to angles used in pop rock music videos were also employed such as Medium shots, and two shots emphasised the love related narrative, and also kept the audience engaged with the emotions of the characters.

Developed Conventions
The team and I developed a number of conventions since our genre was a mix of both pop and rock, it was necessary to use conventions of both genres and develop them, but also making sure that the combination is well accompanied by the images. Firstly we developed the speed and transitions of the music video, as they are short and quick changing, the emphasis is put upon the rock element. Nevertheless, the images and clips used are commonly associated with the pop genre. Moreover, we made use of special effect editing techniques which are usually present in pop music videos is order to reveal a chronological change. However, we developed this by using other special effects such as the cartoon effects.

Challenged Conventions
We challenged a number of conventions as our target audience was of a smaller range compared to the target audience of renowned artists such as P!nk. This influenced the settings that we picked, as they revealed an urban environment, for example the flats in the background and the terraced housing. These are characteristics that appeal to a pop rock music video, however they appeal to an audience from a middle class upbringing in an urban environment.

Final Digipak

Over the past week I have been carefully planning and creating the digipak cover for the band 'The Rockweilers', however I have finally come to an end and I now feel confident to reveal the digipak as a whole. I have demonstrated the outside and inside cover in the form of a net, so that it is possible to see the fold in the digipak, as well as the designs in the position that it would in reality be in.

Outside Net

Inside Net

Final Outside Fold & Analysis

The final panel that I was left to design was the outside fold, which would be seen on the same side as the back and front cover when open in a net. I did not feel that I needed to produce a plan before designing this panel as I knew what type of images I wanted to use, moreover, I was confident with exploring different images and buildings from different perspectives.
My final draft is shown below...

Final Outside Fold & Analysis
(Click image to enlarge)

Final Spine & Analysis

I have noticed that when albums are on sale in music stores, they are usually displayed in a manner which allows the audience to see only the spine of the album. Therefore, it is most important that the spine of the album is noticeable, distinct, attractive and clear. To expand on this theory I have taken five different album and placed them on top of each other, therefore only showing the spine of the cover, I then asked a group of people which album spine they found most attracting.

Despite taking the albums from a range of genres a majority of the participants chose the 'N.E.R.D- Seeing Sounds' spine, as the most striking. This is because the spine is coloured in one colour, which contrasted the white writing. Furthermore, the text is in upper case lettering, which also appears bold, in order for the audience to recognise it easily. On the other hand, a number of participants said that they found the 'P.O.D' and 'Lostprophets' album hard to read and would not be able to recognise it if placed besides hundred of other albums.

Considering these results I have created the left and right spines of the digipak, which are shown below...

Spine Analysis

Final Back Cover & Analysis

When designing the back cover of the digipak, I needed to consider all the information and features that are vital to the design. This includes conventions such as the barcode, and song listings, however these features are only the basic.
On closer inspection of Linkin Park's Meteora album, I found that other features included:

• Contents listing
• Producer and mixing name
• Logos
• Bar code
• Record label names
• Copy right laws

Therefore, when creating my drafts I based my ideas and graphics around the space needed for these features. My draft is shown below...

Final Back Cover Analysis
(Click image to enlarge)

Final Inside Covers & Analysis

Final Draft
(Click image to enlarge)

This final draft illustrates the three inside panels when opened fully. However, the middle area would be the compartment area for the Cd. Nevertheless, I am hoping that the Cd print will be the same as its background, as again I would like the image to flow.

Inside Covers First Draft

As I wanted the album cover to flow throughout, I thought that it was necessary for the background to be the same on both the front and back of the digipak. This was also a convention which I had noticed in other digipaks, for example Linkin Park- Meteora, however although the images were not the same the colour scheme and the semantic field of the images were constant. Therefore, I was certain that I would make use of the same image of the sky for the background. Furthermore, I wanted to reinforce the idea of the band name 'The Rockweilers' and the rebellious theme. My first draft is shown below...

As a first draft, I did not feel satisfied with the outcome, I felt that the use of colour images such as the brick wall and the rottweilers were too drastic compared to the black and white images on the front. Furthermore, I was not pleased with the font of the graffiti as although it appeared rebellious, I did not think it had such an urban impression. As a result, I decided to, once again analyse the Linkin Park- Meteora digipak for inspiration, this lead me to make use of graffiti as a main feature of the inside cover. Since I was not convinced by my first draft, I decided to take a more structured approach of designing and created a plan, which is shown below.

Using the basic programme 'Paint' I created a plan which shows the most important features of the cover. Like the first draft I made use of the same background of the sunset sky, however this time I used a range of black and white photos, edited on 'Fireworks' to set the urban scene. This is shown by the jagged lines behind the graffiti. Finally, the creation of the graffiti reading 'The Rockweilers' was created using the free website http://www.graffiticreator.net/, this website allowed me to create any word in a graffiti font, and design the colours and prints used.

Editing 7

As the production of our music video is nearing the end April and I revisited the narrative, editing techniques, and the video as a whole to alter areas which needed to be improved. However, since the music video is for a wider audience, April and I thought that only our views on the video would be ineffective. Therefore, we decided to show the video to a range of students in our class who were focusing on other genres, in order to gain positive criticism from a different perspective.

After showing the class our music video for 'Superman' (Shown in the storyboard above), a few suggestions were made in order to improve the quality of our music video. These suggestions included...

Editing Lip Synchronisation

Many people noticed that the image did not synchronise with the music, as I (as the protagonist) was not singing in time with the music when filming. Although, this could be easily altered with the help of speeding up or slowing down the clip, in this case it did not work with great success. Therefore we decided to make use of a cut in of the superman character, this deleted the areas of the girl singing, however the inserted clips of the superman still played parallel to the narrative as the lyrics read"...He's superman...". By using this insert the conventions of a Pop Rock music video have been challenged and developed as it is common for the chorus of Pop Rock Music videos to be solely lip synchronised by the protagonist. However, by using both a short lip synchronisation and a longer insert of another scene, the group has developed these conventions in order to improve our video.

Adding More Cut ins

Furthermore, it was also said that some areas of the music video were too repetitive and played for a long period of time and therefore did not conform to the conventions of a Pop Rock music video. It was then suggested that more inserts were introduced to construct a quick paced music video, however in order to make this successful we made sure that the clips changed on the beat of the music. This would also conform to the conventions of a Pop Rock music video as the clips change on the beat which creates an upbeat feel and emphasises the continuous heavy drumming of the song. Moreover, I the use of cut ins foreshadow the narrative of the geek turning into superman.