Media Evaluation: 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

From the beginning of this project, Blogger was the first media technology that I had to get to grips with and I did not understand why it would benefit me so much through displaying my progression and coursework. Although now it seems so basic and easy to use, at first the new layout was confusing and I didn’t understand how my progress could be posted on Blogger even though I may have used a different technology all together such as: Prezi, Slideshare, Powerpoint, Scribd etc. Once I created my own account and begun using it frequently due to posting my recent updates it became easy to use, and evident that it would be the best time efficient media technology to use which could display my coursework.

As I was beginning my A2 coursework in Media Studies, it was necessary that I became familiar with other technologies which I could also post on to my blog through HTML. It was clear that A2 students needed to step up a level from AS and research into technologies on our own accord which would display our coursework in more of a professional way. I began using media technologies such as YouTube and Vimeo as they allowed me to create videos and record myself which I could then post on to my blog. These helped in certain areas such as: my music video, diary entries and audience feedback. I found that YouTube was extremely helpful when analysing existing music videos to help me with what to include in my own music video, because I could simply copy the HTML from YouTube, and paste it into a new post on my blog page, and my peers were able to watch the music video that I was analysing, to then give me audience feedback. I often used the presentation-maker “Prezi” which enabled me to differentiate my posts, and present my work in more of a creative way. Rather than paragraphs of writing which can sometimes become draining, here I could include key facts which I needed which I used when focusing on Andrew Goodwin. This also allows me to display images which link to the text. Similar to this, whenever I created a Powerpoint Presentation I could transfer this to Slideshare or Scribd, which could present larger documents. Blogger and YouTube enabled my products to be successful because I gained most of my feedback through blogger, and also research into existing blogs which gave me information about music videos, and what audiences want to see. YouTube allowed me t research into existing music videos, and to also watch documentaries demonstrating behind the scene information and what is needed in order to create a music video. This gave me a basic outline of what I may need to consider when filming, and certain aspects that I need to look out for. This links into my research because I needed some understanding before going out and filming. One social media technology, “Twitter”, helped me find the actor which I felt would fit in to my genre, and who I wanted to be the actor throughout my music video. I was able to direct message her where I then explained my project and whether or not she could perform in my music video. After this communication we were able to meet discuss times that she was free, and what type of clothing I would like her to bring.

To film my music video and take the shots I needed for my digi-pak and magazine advert I used the Canon DSLR camera with a tripod to ensure that there would not be any camera-shake, along with Kino lighting for the brightness, especially against the green screen. Although I used the tripod throughout filming every shot, I was able to zoom in and out on the camera to create the shot I wanted, along with moving the tripod to achieve different angles if needed. To ensure that I would get the shot I wanted I had to film every shot the whole way through the song. This was a long process; however the outcome is what I wanted. As I had a lot of footage I needed to pick the sequences that I felt would work best, which I then opened up into Adobe Premier CS3. This is where I needed to sync up the song and the miming of the actor, as well as cutting certain areas of all the sequences I had chosen with the razor tool, which eventually then formed my music video. When going through this process I tried to make sure each cut was in time with the beat, therefore I moved the video and audio frame by frame by using the directional keys. Also when cutting parts of the sequences I needed to reveal a variation of shots: extreme close up shot, close up shot, medium shot, and long shot.

Once my music video was put together through all the cuts, I then transferred it into Adobe After Effects where the main part of my editing took place. To use After Effects I watched many tutorials to become familiar with it and understand the different things it is capable of. I began by getting rid of the green screen where I used the Key Light tool, which then allowed me to introduce by own backgrounds and effects. I wanted to sustain the busyness in my music video through the backgrounds I would employ because the actor is constantly moving around the screen. I chose to use certain effects which moved in time with the song and therefore kept the movement factor I wanted in my music video. I constantly had to play around with different effects and what they could do before I settled on anything because there was so much to choose from.

I completed my other products through use Adobe Photoshop. For the image that I wanted on the front cover of my digi-pak and magazine advert I knew I wanted to change elements such as the colours. I adjusted the colour and made the image black and white. To enhance the contrasts of colours I brightened the image, and changed the curves of the overall image. Finally I used the laser tool to draw around the lips on the image, which I was then able to change into red, which is the only element in colour on the image. I wanted to combine two images into one because I felt it would emphasise the point that there is two sides to everyone, and how some people reveal their other side through listening to music. To combine the images I dragged them into one document and reduced the opacity of both images, which allowed them to fade into one another. For the inside cover of my digi-pak I wanted a patterned and slightly hypnotic image. I feel that the image displayed portrays this as well as how the listener feels inside when they hear the music on the album. I also changed this into black and white to continue the colour scheme, along with enlarged red lips which are from the front cover image. On both my digi-pak and magazine advert I employed text via the text tool, which allowed me to choose the bold font that I wanted along with the size and colour. I followed the same red and white colour scheme for the font as a sense of continuity.

Media Evaluation: 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The target audience of my music video would be fans of the RnB/Hip-Hop genre which could be considered a large category due to many new artists falling into this genre; however this proves that this genre is becoming more popular. The fans of this category would also be interested in the types of music videos that this genre produces, for example a narrative is not always present, and therefore the listeners do not need a narrative to sustain their interest throughout the song. It is purely the song that keeps them entertained, and if an actor or the artist is revealed dancing in different places throughout the song, it makes them want to join in too. This has also been demonstrated through music videos that I researched into such as: “Rude Boy” – Rihanna, “Lost in your Love” – Redlight, and “212” – Azealia Banks. My target audience would fit into the ages range from 16-25. Throughout creating each of my products I continuously received audience feedback to ensure that my products would fit into my target audience and whether this age group would find my product appealing or not. Without this I could have steered slightly away from my target audience without knowing, therefore this has helped me to display all the essential conventions which I need to attract my target audience.

One of my basic ways of gaining audience feedback was through the internet and my Blogger page. I added tasks on to my page which revealed ideas I had for my products, and how I wanted to use and display them. My page was open to peers so that they could view my progress. This helped me a lot because they were then able to email me and reveal their opinions on certain aspects that I had posted on my blog, whether it was constructive criticism or elements that they thought was a great idea. A task in particular that I was often emailed about was my analysis of existing music videos of the same genre. Here I analysed a few music videos, some of which I have already mentioned. Overall the audience feedback of this was positive, and the viewers liked my ideas which I had gained from analysing the music videos. Another element which was evident in this feedback was that the viewers liked that I was not creating a narrative, especially because narratives can be popular and many music videos contain narratives, therefore my music video would be different, and I was taking a risk as I wasn’t overly familiar with Adobe After Effects which I would be using to complete my editing. This feedback encouraged me to work as best as I could on my music video, especially as I was not a natural at editing or the software I had to use. Another technique I used to receive audience feedback was through a survey I created. I wanted to ask my target audience which type of music video they would prefer on a RnB/Hip-Hop song such as: narrative, performance, conceptual. My survey revealed that performance and conceptual were chosen the most from my target audience. This boosted my confidence and reassured me that through using the green screen I could create a performance music video even though it would not be live.

Once I had completed my music video I wanted to know how my target audience perceived it, and what they thought could improve it. I chose to ask two of my class peers, one male and the other female so that I received a view from both sides of my target audience. I played the whole of my music video to them, which I then followed with a few simple questions which I had written down. I asked them to give me two elements which they felt works well, and two aspects which they feel I could improve on or add. I noted down their feedback and have posted it on to my blog.

Media Evaluation: 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

From my previous research I learnt that although a band/artist may focus on one music genre, some of their songs may have elements from other genres. Which therefore the album cover must relate to all the songs. For example Rihanna’s latest album, “Apologetic” reveals songs of the genre she mainly focuses on which is RnB/Hip-Hop, and creates songs which are upbeat, busy and give off a loud energy. However within this new album are some slow songs which reveal her emotions at different stages in her life, and allow the audience to know parts of her personal life. One of these songs are “Stay” where the music video is simple, revealing the artist in a bath implying she is cleansing her emotions. It reveals her tears and how she is deep in thought with her natural look. This contrasts from her other music videos as usually she is dressed in the latest trends and they reveal unique narratives. Overall, from researching into this it gave me an idea of how I should represent my digi-pak, especially because the front cover of the album “Apologetic” combines aspects from all the songs on the album, and the shot is of the artist without any clothing, implying that she is revealing all to the audience. However writing is employed over certain areas of her body which allows areas to be hidden and informs the audience that she cannot reveal everything.

With all three of my products I wanted to there to be a concept which would join them together along with the theme. Before creating my music video I knew that I didn’t want to include the band in the video, therefore I had to choose an appropriate actor who could dance and fit the look of the genre. This idea appealed to me through looking into the music video to the song “Lost in your Love” by Redlight. From this I realised that a music video does not have to include the band/artist to be successful. From the music video by Redlight, the actors mimed to the song whilst effects were included around them, this kept the music video busy, however still allowed the lyrics and song to be focused on. An element that I included throughout all of my products was lips. The extreme close up shots throughout my music video reveal the actors lips miming to the song, the digi-pak and magazine advert emphasise the lips of the female in the image which is revealed in bright red. I wanted to emphasise the lips throughout because during my music video the actor is constantly dancing, however I didn’t want the audience to completely focus on that, I wanted to lyrics to still be focused on and listened to. Therefore the extreme close up shots allow the audience to think back to what the song is actually saying. My digi-pak highlights that music is created for the audiences to have fun with what they hear and enjoy themselves. Therefore the image displayed on both my digi-pak and magazine advert is obviously edited due to the black and white colour scheme, with bright red lips. The point is that the band/artist wants their target audience to have fun with their song, and they have showed their fun through revealing a unique image which would stand out to all the other standard digi-paks. On the back of my digi-pak I included the tracklist which is clearly visible due to the faded out graffiti background. I chose to use block capitals in red to follow the colour scheme of the red lips and stand out. The font found on the front of the music video is also in block capitals, however in a larger font because I want it to catch the eye of the consumer and make them pick it up. This is also in red font, which reveals the band’s name, “Technotronic” and the hit single, “Pump Up The Jam”. The inside cover of the digi-pak is an enlarged image which is also edited into black and white, following the  image on the front, along with enlarged red lips. The background image on this cover reflects the up tempo beat of the song and its busyness.

As previously stated, the image on my magazine advert is the same as my digi-pak because I wanted an element to make them relate, other than the theme. This image takes up a large part of the advert, and is surrounded by font, informing the audience of the information they need to know about the album and what is included on the album. To differ the magazine advert slightly from the digi-pak I chose to use both colours white and red within the font. “TECHNOTRONIC” is the large title of this magazine advert, and advertises the band name wanting consumers to remember it. Half of this title is in red, whilst the other is white. This differentiates from other fonts on magazine adverts and allows mine to look unique. Towards the left of the magazine ad is the track list laid out in a column format. This informs the audience of what they will get on the album, and what they will be missing out on if they do not buy it. Again this font is in block capitals, and in both red and white. In the left bottom corner is a small shot of the album front cover to show the audience what to look out for. This needed to be included because it is what the magazine advert is based on. Next to the image, I included writing to tell the audience that the album has already been released, which encourages them to buy it now before it is sold out. Finally, in the bottom right corner is a smaller font which reveals the website of the band and the production companies that supported this album. The website helps the album sell as if informs the audience that they could buy this album online, therefore they don’t have to leave the house to receive it.

Media Evaluation: 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Media concepts such as, genre, institutions, audience and representations can all relate to my media coursework. For my music video I used the single “Pump Up The Jam” by the RnB/Hip-Hop 90s band Technotronic which my digipak and magazine ad also links to. In order to incorporate the 90s era into my music video I chose to use the green screen which would therefore allow me to use Adobe After Effects to introduce the different backgrounds that I wanted to follow the genre of my music video.  As seen in my music video the actor wears multi-coloured, patterned high wasted leggings, a green crop top which shows off her waist, black patent Doctor Marten boots, a chunky necklace and orange sunglasses. Through combining all of these items, the overall result reveals the 90s fashion trend which has come back around today and links to the RnB/Hip-Hop music genre that I have chosen. When employing the edited backgrounds into my music video I included and variation of bright colours to reflect the mood of the song, along with different patterns which move in time with the song. I thought that using After Effects would be best for my music video because the actor is constantly dancing throughout the song, and therefore movements in the background would relate. The combination of a dancer and extreme edited background would work well together and reflect the genre as well as the rave scene which was founded in the late 80s early 90s and is also still around today.

Through looking into Andrew Goodwin’s theory prior to creating my music video, I knew that with the plans I already had, my music video would fall into the Disjuncture category. Although my music video could relate to performance due to the actor dancing and miming to the lyrics throughout, this is not the overall category because in my music video the actor is not part of the band, therefore the band is not performing. The actor is simply demonstrating what the band wants their audience to feel and do when they hear their single “Pump Up The Jam”. I feel that my music video best reflects Disjuncture due to my music video not having any narrative, and ignoring the meaning of the lyrics/overall song. However elements of Amplification are visible due to different effects being constantly employed through each shot. These effects are purposely drummed into the audience’s vision to reinforce the genre and era of the song. Furthermore my music video does not include Goodwin’s idea of Illustration because I have not employed a set of images to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics or the genre.

My music video links to Sven E Carlsson’s theory of performance videos, when the audience are able to see the band/artist singing and dancing throughout the video, however not live performances. An existing example of this theory would be “Rude Boy” by Rihanna which I have also looked into through researching and planning my own music video. As Sven E Carlsson says that the performer must sell their voice, face, lifestyle, etc. It is down to the performer to sell their body image. I took this theory into consideration when creating my music video because I am trying to sell a product and therefore I needed to make the audience aspire to be like the performer in the music video. I tried including this through carefully picking the correct clothing; make up, hair style, and camera shots which would flatter the performer further. Moreover I did not want to make my actor look sexual or to include the male gaze because this is not the purpose of the video. I wanted to incorporate the fact that females can dress casually and enjoy different genres of music just like males, rather than the stereotype that females only enjoy pop music.

It is clear to see that throughout my music video the actor has been including the audience. The use of direct eye contact has made the audience feel as if the music video is personal to them, and that the lyrics apply to them. The actor constantly encourages the audience to join in and dance as she is through the gestures she makes such as pointing directly into the camera and at the audience. During some extreme close up shots, the actor’s lips fill the screen and the audience focus is on her miming to the lyrics. This informs the audience that the actors is telling them something and purposely miming the lyrics towards them. For the audiences entertainment I included a range of camera shots which sustains their focus especially considering watching someone dance for a period of time could easily become boring. This also explains why I chose to use fast paced cuts from shot to shot, because it keeps the audience wanting to know what dance moves will be revealed next and how they will make the audience aspire to be able to dance like the actor.

The Magazine Advert:

My magazine advert reveals the conventions needed for a successful RnB/Hip-Hop magazine advert. From researching into magazine adverts beforehand it occurred to me that this product is mainly to sell the album and let the world know who the band/artist is. Considering this is not a new band and they were previously known back in the 90s, I decided to keep it professional and not personal to the band. I wanted to reveal that they have comeback with their hit single, however with a modern take on the RnB/Hip-Hop music genre. I included the image which is revealed on the digi-pak for continuity and so that both products link together.

Digi-Pak:

My Digi-pak continues the theme in both my music video and magazine advert, and therefore they have similar conventions. The two photographs combined emphasise how stereotypes are long gone, and are not applicable in this music video. The image is in black and white apart from the red lips, this relates to my music video as the extreme close up shots reveals the movement of the actor moving her lips to the lyrics. On the back I included the tracks on the album, however the background is faded out slightly and reveal graffiti, which reinforces the chilled and positive mood of the song, considering graffiti normally reflects negativity. On the inside of the digi-pak is an enlarged patterned image. It reflects the beats in the song, and links to how the band wants you to feel when you hear their single: crazy, movement, electric.

Music video final from Haydon Media on Vimeo.