Evaluation

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

My music video both uses, develops and challenges conventions of real media products.
My video is mainly in black and white, with some shots in colour. This is rarely found in music videos as they are often in colour, however more modern music videos such as Kings of Leon, ‘Use Somebody’ and Beyonce’s, ‘Single Ladies’ are beginning to have more shots in black and white. Therefore I would argue that my video is both developing and using conventions of real media products as it isn’t a convention that is yet widely recognised but something fairly new so my video is developing on this convention, but it has been done, so therefore uses a convention.

My video is only narrative based, which challenges conventions of real music videos, as they are often performance based and narrative based in order to create an image for the artists and their music. Its also done to give the audience voyeuristic pleasure; pleasure of watching and seeing their favourite artists on screen.
For that reason my video breaks a convention of real music videos; I wanted to do this because I wanted the audience to focus more on the song lyrics and the video, in order to create a certain mood.

One the other hand it also uses a convention of real music videos, because it is narrative based, and this is something that most music videos will have.
I shot the video in the same location, purely because it fits in with the narrative; the girl being insecure and becoming secluded from society and reality. I therefore wanted to make this clear by showing the girl constantly in her room.

This challenges conventions of music videos, because they always feature at least five different locations in a video, such as Htwo0’s video ‘What we gonna do’. This has a lot of different locations and a specific one in which the performance of the song is done. This allows the audience to differentiate between the narrative and the performance.

By me therefore making a video that is shot in the same location; I am challenging the conventions of real music videos because I am breaking the boundary line and creating something new and unseen.

My ancillary product; the magazine article also uses and develops conventions.
I used an image that is also featured on the digipak that is a medium close up shot of the artist; Charley-Marie. It fills the background of the article.
This is a convention of magazine article’s for new albums because a lot of them feature an image of the artist as the background, such as the two magazine articles I have analysed. Although they are not all medium close up shots of the artist, this is a convention.
I therefore have used a convention of magazine articles for new albums.

I edited the image so that the artist is in black and white, whereas the magazine bed that she is laid on is still in colour. I did this because it related to the video and the girl being obsessed with celebrities in magazines. Therefore the focus is on the magazines.

I placed an image of the album in the bottom corner, which can arguably not be a convention of magazine articles, but something that is sometimes featured. I got this idea from the Gwen Stefani article that I analysed.
This is a development of conventions of magazine articles because it is not something that is always seen, but a convention that is used.
A convention that I have used is the name of the artist, the album and a song that is featured on the album. This is a convention that is used on most magazine articles, in order to increase audience recognition, but also to show what the advertisement is advertising.

My final ancillary product also uses some recognised conventions of album covers.
The front cover of my album is an image of a butterfly with bright rainbow coloured wings. I decided to have this image rather then the artist because I think a butterfly is a pretty creature that can be related to the song, as it is called Beautiful. I also featured the name of the album on the cover (audience recognition).
This is a convention of album covers because many don’t feature the artist (although many do) on the cover, and most of the feature either the name of the song, artist or both; such as Green Day’s, ‘American Idiot’ album cover. I therefore used a convention of album covers.

The back cover of my album also uses many conventions of album covers, including a barcode, the featured songs, the label logo, the compact disc logo and the labels protective rights.
These are all conventions of album covers, as most if not all of these features are on the back of album covers. The back is mainly used for the songs that are featured on the album, and this is on all albums in order to let the audience know what t is that they are purchasing.

The labels logo and protective rights will also be on there as they are the production company and represent the artist; they also need to state their protective rights for legal reasons.
By adding these to my album cover I used recognised conventions of the back of albums covers.
I also added the name of the artist which is used on some real album covers and is therefore another convention that has been used. This keeps the audience aware of the artist and the album that they may purchase.

The two side panels of the album case feature the artists name and the name of the album. I also added an image of a butterfly as this is the main theme of the album that can be automatically recognised by the audience.
This is another convention of album covers as the side panels often feature the name of the artist and album.


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

My music video is narrative based and follows a teenage girl, who is very insecure with her looks and becomes obsessed with wanting to look like celebrities in magazines.
The song ‘Beautiful’, by Christina Aguilera was the perfect song for the video I wanted to make, as the lyrics and the video have great relation.

The digipak cover that I created really links well with the video and the magazine article.
The cover has a theme of butterflies, which I wanted to use because I think butterflies are really beautiful. Also after looking at example covers, like Green Day’s, ‘American Idiot’ album, I decided that instead of using the artist on the cover I wanted something else that could be related to the song and music video; a butterfly.
This can therefore be related to the song that is used for the music video.

I did feature an image of the artist (the same one that is featured on the magazine article) on the inside flap of the digipak. The image is of the artist of the song (also who is featured in the music video) laid on a bed of magazines. This links to the music video because the narrative focuses on the girl’s obsession with celebrities in magazines.

I purposely made the image so that it would link with the video, and I thought that the best way to make the link was to keep the subject matter of the magazines.
The magazine article also links to the music video and the digipak.
As described above, the main image of the article is the same one that is featured in the digipak. This therefore also links to the music video.
The article also features a picture of the digipak in the bottom corner so that readers are aware of what is being advertised, but this also connects to the digipak.


What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I carried out a survey on ten people; some from my medie class, friends and a teacher.

After finishing my video, I showed it to my participators and asked them a series of questions, focusing on how my video looked and if it was effective in communting the narrative. The questions were as follows:

1. How well do you feel my video works with the song and what do you feel works and/or doesn't work?

2. Do you think that the video is effective in black and white? Why, and what changes may you suggest?

3. Do you think that there are enough shots in the video? Please explain.

4. What are your opinions on the video being in the same location throughtout? Did you notice and/or did you think it worked well?

5. Overall what would you rate the video on a scale of 1 to 10? (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest). Give reasons for your answers.

These were the questioned that I asked; they were open questions because I wanted to gain as much information as possible.
I looked at all the answers in order to help give me ideas and improve my video.

I used a lot of ideas from the feedback, and many of the particpants answers were the same.
1 participant gave me 5 for the last question; 5 gave me 6 out of 10, and 4 gave me 7.
I though these were overall good markings, however all explained why they gave me these scores, and all of them commented that there was room for improvement.

The rest of the questions gave me pointers to work from. I did this by taking something that most if not all of the participators had mentioned; they are as follows:
- A wider range of shots are needed; there is a lack of close up shots because most if not all are meduim close ups.
- There could be more shots in colour especially at the end. I think it would be much more effective in showing the girls change of heart.
- The location works well because it shows that she is very secluded and living in her own world.
- The song is a very good song choice, because the video shows something that both relates to the lyrics, but also can be realted to by viewers.
- I gave this score because there is much more that can be done with the video (as pointed out above).

These are the main pointers that I wrote down for me to work on. I used all the ideas above and made the changes that were suggested; they were very useful because I felt that they did in fact improve my video overall.
I gathered this by writing down things that most and/or all the participators had mentioned, thus taking note of something from everybody's feedback.

On the whole, I think that the audience feedback was very helpful as it gave me new ideas and ways that my video could be improved, and a lot of them were correct as it did improve my video.
It also helped because it gave me things to work on, that I may not of thought of myself; like having a wider range of shots.

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

Before filming for my music video and editing it, I had to carry out research in order to find out as much information as possible about them.
I began by doing some research into the history of music videos and how they came about.
In the 60’s feature films were made were artists such as The Beatles would act but would also perform their songs during the films. This essentially was a music video; however they were seen as films.

The first music video to hit MTV on August 1, 1981 was ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’, by The Buggles. This was the first official music video.
After finding out some background of music videos I went onto analysing some; all a different genre. I did this in order to then write about the codes and conventions of them; so that I could use them when creating my own video.

I also wrote LIIAR for music videos; Language, Ideology, Institution, Audience and Representation. By doing this I was increasing my knowledge further about music videos. I was also increasing my knowledge about what attracts an audience to a music video and recognised conventions that are used in them.

I underwent doing research really early in the process because I wanted to learn as much as possible but also so that I could concentrate on my music video.
After the research I chose my song and analysed the lyrics with ideas for my music video. I also drew a storyboard that I could follow when shooting for my video.
However I changed my song twice after that and therefore added the lyrics to the new song.
After the research and planning, I moved onto shooting for my video; I did this over a weekend.
After shooting I began to edit; at the end of November.

I continued to edit on the editing suit and created my first video edit; I then decided to change the song for the final time, due to me finding that the song didn’t fit with my video.
Everything that I researched and planned and made, I posted onto my blog and also kept note in my ‘silver book’.
I kept a note of everything that I did and when I did it in a notebook, so that I could look back at any time if needed.
For my ancillary products I used photo-shop to edit my images for my magazine article and digipak.
I created the final pieces in Microsoft publisher, due to me adding new fonts and needing to save it in a JPEG format.

Music Video- 'Beautiful'

This is my final music video to the song 'Beautiful', by Christina Aguilera.
It is mainly in black and white, however there are some colour shots at the end of the video; I changed it from black and white to colour because I wanted the colour to signify change, in that her life is no longer dull and unhappy, but the total opposite.
I did this after doing some research and asking for ideas to improve my video; it was suggested putting the end shots in colour for more effect.

I used most of the shots from my first video edit, however I also added some to include a larger variety of shots; such as close ups. This again was information that I gathered from my feedback.
The narrative is also the same as before, however the video is structured slightly different. I used most of the same shots but rearranged them in a different order.

The song that I chose is a slow song, which I wanted in order for me to slow down shots for more emphasis and effect. The song works really well with the video as they are both in sync in terms of lyrics and pace. I think by slowing the shots down it does have a lot more effect, which is important especially on scenes like the ripping of the posters off the wall. It makes the audience feel emotion due to the slow song and video narrative, which is something that was not present in my first video edit.
I was also able to keep some fast shots due to the song having a change in pace; around the middle of the song. I used this to create a reverse sequence, in which the video begins to go back; right to the beginning of the video. I decided to this after my first idea failed, of using the shots in the beginning sequence over again. I then made the reverse sequence, which I got the idea from the video 'Me, Myself and I', by Beyonce. It also added more effect because it made it look like the girl in the story was thinking about everything that had happened leading up to the climax point; ripping the posters off her wall.

I got a lot of the ideas to improve my video from the feedback of my questionnaire, which was really useful. I analysed the feedback and set pointers for myself, (these can be seen in my evaluation). I did this by taking things that most, if not all of my participants had said would improve my music video.

Anciliary Product- Digipak

This is my digipak cover that I have created. It features the front cover, back cover, side panels and the inside left flap.
I used ideas and conventions from my planning and research that I did on magazine articles for new albums.
The image in the top right corner is also the image that is featured on the magazine article; I did this so that they linked in some way. It also links to the video, making all three have some link.

The front cover (bottom right) has the butterfly, which I used because of its bright colours and the fact that it is something beautiful. I also used this because I didn't want the cover to have the artist on (I wanted to break conventions), but feature something that can also be related to song. I got this idea from the green day album advert as it features a hand with a grenade, which presumably realtes to the album or band.
The front cover also has the name of the album, which is a recognised convention of album covers; it is done in order for the purchasers to know what they are purchasing.

The two panels (in between the two covers and rear inlay) have the artists name on and the name of the song. This again is a convention of album covers, as the panels are often used for the name of the artist and the song.
I also placed another butterfly image on the panels because I wanted to keep the theme of butterflies present.

On the back cover (bottom centre), I wrote the songs that are featured on the album. This is another convention of album covers as the back cover is used to show what is featued on the disc(s).
I also put on a barcode, the labels logo, the labels protective rights and the compact disc logo. These are also conventions of album covers.

Anciliary Product- Magazine Advert

This is my magazine article for my new digipak, which I also created.
It features the artist, the name of the artist, the name of the album, an image of the album, the release date, and the website. These are conventions of magazine articles for new albums, which I learnt from analysing magazine articles.
I used the same image on my digipak, however this is edited slightly different to make the artist look more like a painting. I wanted this effect because of the pose that she is in; it is elegant and professional.

I used a handwriting type font for the artists name because I wanted to make it look like a signature; as though the artist has written it herself.
I also used a handwriting type font for the release date; 'In stores now', and the website, however i put this in italics, to show differentiation .

I used a different font for the album name; the same that is used on the album itself. I did this because I wanted viewers to be able to recognise the album, just by looking at the writing; due to it being on the album too.

Album advert

This is an advert for Gwen Stefani's digipak.
It features a large image of her, filling the background; similar to Madonna's advert. However this image is medium shot and Gwen can be seen down to her waist as apposed to a close up image of Madonna.

The image is slightly blurred making the different colours blend. This makes the image look like a painting rather then a photograph.

It can be seen that the main image is also the image featured on the front of the album, which is in the bottom corner of the advert. This allows the audience to recognise the artist and the album.

The colours used again signify that the album is aimed at a female audience rather then a male as it uses colours such as gold, pink and white.

The advert also features the artists name; again increasing audience recognition.

The advert also features the name of the album, which is also on the album image in the bottom corner.
It also shows a popular song that is featured in the album, making the audience more attracted and wanting to but it.

Overall this advert is very similar to the previous advert that I analysed. They both shows some of the conventions of adverts for albums and digupak's. These include the artists name, the use of bright colours and some of the contents in the album.

By analysing these adverts I can now use some of the recognised conventions when creating a magazine advert for my digipak.

Album advert

This is an advert for a digipak on a billboard for the artist Madonna.
It uses bright colours in order to catch a passer's eye. This is effective because it is more likely that a person will see it and read it if it is eye catching.

It features a large image of Madonna filling the backgroud; this allows viewers to associate the advert to the artists album.
The image also uses bright colours, such as the eye makeup, the lipstick and even the hair. By doing this it almost makes the advert look like a cartoon.
This could signify that the album is trying to reach out to a younger audience as Madonna is already a popular star with older audiences.

The whole image has very faint writing which can just be seen, making the image look like it is made up of old newspaper strips.
This makes the advert have an old fashioned look, which contrasts with the bright use of colours.

The writing cannot be clearly seen which suggests it could be anything, however it may be lyrics to some of Madonna's songs.

The use of light blue, pink and yellow suggest that it is made to appeal to a female audience rather then a male.

The advert features the name of the artist and the album. This again is making clear to the audience both the artist and album.

The bottom of the advert features information of what the digipak includes and some of Madonna's most popular songs.
This is done to draw in readers and make them want to buy the album.

Digipak template

This is a rough idea of what my digipak may look like.
The front cover (image in the bottom right corner) is going to feature Charley Marie, the artist layed in a pose on a bed of magazines. I did this because it relates to the theme of the song; insecurity, and how Charley finds herself very insecure with her body after looking at celebrities in magazines such as Vogue and People.

I decided not to feature the artists name or song on the front cover, which is a well known convention of digipak's and CD's. I decided not to do this because the name of the artist and song is going to be featured on both the panel and inside the digipak.Therfore the consumers would still be bale to recognise the artist.

The back cover (image at the bottom; middle) is a close up shot of the artist with a neutral but natural look. I did this because I wanted an imange of just the artist that doesn't neccesarily relate to the CD or DVD. I liked this idea because it simply just shows the artist as herself rather than an artist. It also contrasts with the image on the front cover.

The panel of the digipak has the artist and song written down it. This is a convention of most if not all digipak's and I wanted to keep a recognised convention.

The inside of the digipak features the name of the artists, the song and video that is featured on each disc. This is to let the consumer know what is featured on each disc and again to be aware of the artist. This is another feature of digipak's, as the contents of each disc is either written inside or on the back of the digipak.

I used a butterfly on the blank side of the digipak because i wanted something that relates to the song. The name of the song is 'Beautiful' and I think a butterfly is something that is beautiful and can therefore can be related to the song.