Evaluation

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

Our media product consists of a music video and ancillary tasks, these being a magazine ad and digipak cover. When planning the construction of the music video we had to keep the genre of pop in mind. We discussed how we would engage with the conventions of a pop music video. Whilst discussing this we decided that the main focus was selling the artist as a pop artist. Therefore we decided it was extremely important to focus on solely the main artist alone, we did not want to include performance from the band as we thought this was unnecessary. We gathered our thoughts and researched into other music videos of this genre and found that to sell the artist effectively we would need to show many close ups and mid shots showing off the artist.When planning the music video we had to consider particular conventions; one of these being performance from the artist. We mainly had the main artist performing throughout; we also had shots of the artist doing other things, one of these being driving. Another was relating music to visuals, this is typical in music video as the editing is done to complement the music and also change locations. Within our music video we had the artist moving up and down a bench and edited the footage to the beat of the music. Finally we related lyrics to visuals which is typical of a music video, we did this to illustrate the lyrics through footage of the artist, an example of this in the video is when one of the lines states every argument is endless, we then showed the artist and a female arguing.The music video is typical of a pop/rock video in showing a narrative based on two characters, this being the main artist and a female. There is also a main performance from the artist throughout the video. The props used within the music video are typical of this genre, with one of these being a car representing current teenage life.Another consideration we thought about was the locations used within the music video, one of these being a cafe when the generation being represented would be seen. We also added filters to the video which made locations seem brighter giving a colourful atmosphere relating to the genre of pop.The music video develops conventions as within this there are typical pop moments for example singing in the car, however involving an element of comedy. Our music video has been influenced by real media products, one of these being a video by Franz Ferdinand as we use similar techniques when cutting from one shot to the next.When constructing the ancillary tasks we followed conventions for the pop genre. This is because we had the artist surrounded by bright colours and text. This is an artistic way of representing the upbeat genre of music and conveying the mood of the music to the audience. The magazine ad showed the artist surrounded by a bright blue colour and the digipak showed the artist again surrounded by bright colours.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

All three products share a particular visual theme which binds them together to create a promotional package. All three of the products share the same brand identity and are easily recognisable as group products. All three show the artist in a simple way, this being just the image of the artist, this therefore presents the artist clearly and shows that the products are related to the pink spiders.The artist is represented in all three products in the same way, this being a typical guy who would be liked by many people, therefore this is a single identity as there are not two sides to the artist. This is typical of a pop/rock video as artists are represented as a nice person who would be a role model therefore providing someone to look up to. This would appeal to the target audience of teenagers as the artist is represented as a friendly character and the audience would want to be like him.The combination of both the music video and ancillary tasks is very effective this is because they both represent a similar visual style. All three of the products show a consistent theme and are recognised by the Pink Spiders logo. Both the products focus on the main artist throughout using close ups and mid shots in the music video the artist is shown performing using direct gaze, but also in the magazine ad the artist also uses direct gaze.The ancillary tasks consist of a photo of the artist surrounded by a glow and bright colours with bold text representing the pop genre. When creating the ancillary tasks we used no visual effects on the main artist to tie in with the music video as this was the main focal point. Therefore the theme of all three products was consistent. The artist was also shot images of in a similar location to the music video, this being the forest, this therefore showed the same theme and did not contradict the music video and the locations used.The combination of all the products works well together and would be a success in promoting and selling the artist this is because the artist can be clearly recognised and there is a consistent theme without and bright bold colours are used to represent the genre of pop/rock.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

The feedback we received was from impartial sources and was presented on our music video blog, this was available online and gave anyone the chance to add comments about our video, and therefore this widened the range of feedback we received. The feedback from our pitch stated that we needed to consider the magazine ad and digipak cover as well as the music video. From the pitch it was found that the editing techniques we proposed were strong ideas. This helped us as we then were able to think about how all three products would work together to give a collective identity. Therefore once we had constructed the music video we could see what would work well to represent the artist for the digipak cover and the magazine ad.We were able to use the class as a sample group of our target audience; this enabled us to get feedback from many groups within the class as to what they thought about the music video. The feedback given from the audience regarding the rough cut for the music video is generally positive. The audience were able to identify the genre and thought that the shots and stills used added a positive element.The feedback told us that parts of the music video were dynamic; however other parts were not dynamic at all. Therefore from this we were able to re shoot the music video, again covering the whole song so that we could use sections from the new footage to replace the old footage; therefore we had performance from the main artist. The feedback was very helpful because we learnt that to make a good music video we needed to make the product dynamic, using many shot types and effects to keep the attention of the audience. We learnt that also when making a music video always have the genre in mind so that we could stick to the conventions of a pop video.The feedback we received from the draft magazine ad showed us that there was not a strong enough visual relationship between it and the music video. This was because the magazine ad contained visual effects on the artist’s face and therefore it was difficult to identify the artist without having the pink spider’s logo also. Therefore we decided to not use effects on the artist’s face but on just the background of the image instead. This helped as the audience would be able to relate to all three products and could identify the artist from the image not including the logo. The feedback also received regarding the ancillary tasks also told us that the text used did not look professional as it contained multiple colours and was in an inappropriate font. Therefore from this we changed the font and colour, this being a black to make the product more professional and take the emphasis off just the text.Without the feedback from the various sources our products would look very different and would not be as effective, this therefore was a valuable part of the production of the music video and the ancillary tasks as it enable us to learn what appealed to the audience.

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

We were able to use new media technologies in order to assist us. One of these was by using the internet. Without the internet we would have found it extremely difficult to produce the music video and ancillary tasks. This is because without the internet we would have not been able to view music videos of the same genre. This would have put us at a disadvantage because we would have not fully understood what is needed in a music video to follow conventions and appeal to the audience.We were able to use YouTube to view music videos of our genre, so we could see things to include in the video. One of these being Break your heart by Taio Cruz. We watched the video and saw that bright bold colours were used to represent the genre of pop; there were also notions of looking included where the artist gave direct gaze which we used within our music video. This also enabled us to come up with ideas as to how to make our music video. We also used the internet to present our ideas; this was presented on our blog. We used this to note down any research we carried out into pop/rock videos and also it used to show initial ideas for each individual product along with detailed plans as to how we were going to carry it out. The blog was also used as a log which we updated regularly telling people how we were getting on in the production phases an example being the filming log which we wrote after we had been out on location filming and reflected back on how it went. The feedback received from peers was helped as we could see the audience’s thoughts and opinions as to what worked well and what needed work in our music video.We were able to use final cut also to create and enhance our music video. The first time we used final cut was to create our storyboard, this enabled us to see clearly our ideas and could use it as a reminder as to what we wanted to achieve. We also used final cut to edit test footage, we had the artist move up and down the stairs so we were able to practice cutting to the beat, this would provide us with the knowledge and correct technique for the music video. Final cut also helped as we were able to add filters, therefore enhancing the video relating it to the genre.Photoshop helped us when creating our ancillary tasks; this was because we were able to add many items to our products easily. We were able to add colour this meant that we could use the same effects on both the digipak cover and magazine ad to give a visual style which tied all the products together. The institutional information added was to make the product seem realistic and was typical of these type of products in informing the public of the single and the artist, this would help when promoting the artist to the target audience.