Josh Grief - Media Evaluation

Media Evaluation

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

Our Music Video has been made using the forms and conventions of the Indie rock genre and applied them to our video. Indie rock videos are generally based around the idea of showing the artist or band performing. As well as this the speed of the cuts will generally be faster than a pop video because of the tempo of the song. Narrative is often used to compliment the video. This is the route we went down by using a main location and performance of the artist to cut back to, we where able to use these conventions while developing it by having the artist in a narrative scenario whilst still performing.
We used a colourful wood and outdoor location to avoid a dark looking video. This is because of the song being upbeat so the colours of locations suit the feel of the song. To help this even more so we used filters to increase the saturation on many of the clips not only to make the colours seem a continuous flow but to make it a visually more colourful.
The video also develops on the conventions of other indie rock videos for instance the shot of the artist in the car to keep the shot types fresh and interest the viewer. Again we developed on the shot types we used like other video’s we have researched, like the shot looking up at the artist in the forest.
In our attempt to challenge indie rock video conventions as well as other genre music videos in general we used stills. This creates a different look that stands out to the viewer which mixes in nicely to vary what the viewer sees.


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

There is a clear link between all of our products; the basis of this is the location in this which is the same the main bulk of out music video in the forest where the artist is seen by himself singing. By using the same location and having the artist by himself without a band for example clearly shows they are representing the same thing. The ancillary texts specifically are linked well together by being made up using similar parts these being – The pink spiders logo, bright colours, bold text as well as the same institutional information.
Not only do they link well together but also link reasonably well to the genre of indie rock by showing the artist as the main focus as well as using more unusual backgrounds. To keep the link strong between all 3 pieces we did not put an effect on the artist as there was none used in the video and by putting one on in the ancillary texts we could have visually separated the products.

By keeping the main artist as the focus for each product there is a continuous theme throughout. This creates a brand identity so the products can be easily recognized as a group of products on the same thing. While having this strong link they also represent the artists personality by showing different facial expressions and posture. This would then appeal more to the target audience as it shows his fun and laid back attitude to life.


3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

The first feedback we got was from our pitch. From this we could see that we had a strong basic idea but we needed more detail. This then helped us because we realized we had to put more focus on location and shot types. Not only this but the digipack at the time of the pitch lacked attention. Because of these things we then had a stronger base model to our project to work from.
From looking at the feedback we received on our blog as well as verbal feedback we could see where our products where failing and what needed rectifying and the positive feedback showed us we where heading in the right direction with the visuals of the products.
After getting feedback from people viewing the rough-cut we where able to see that our video was no dynamic enough, by getting this information early on we were able to go out and re-shoot parts of the video to get more close up shots of the artist. We then used this to cut back to which enabled us to achieve faster cuts which goes with the tempo of the song which we couldn’t have achieved without the feedback as we lacked the footage or the varying shot types to change to. This then made our final video keep the inertest of the viewer far better than the first attempt. Other feedback form the peer group "Filters are needed to make it seem more attractive rather than 'cold england'." By using this information we took the criticism and did as it said. By adding these filters we created a brighter more colourful video. So this feedback helped develop our video further.
On the ancillary feedback side early on we where hearing that it wasn’t unique enough and very plain. We remedied this by changing the background effect and made the text simpler so the photograph text and effects linked well together.



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

By using the internet we were able to quickly and effectively gather information on the forms and conventions of other indie rock videos, as well as other genre’s of videos to learn about how they are constructive and the different techniques that can be employed to create a professional video. We were also able to look through images on the internet to create a mood board which meant we could create the visual theme of the video into one board that gave us a a strong thing to aim for.
After coming up with an idea with the use of the internet we were able to make our story board on final cut which gave us a feel for what our final video would look like. From there we were able to use our footage to put together the video. It enabled us to cut the footage up and easily place it where we wanted to get the lip syncing correct. We could also use it to change filters which made the video in the forest all look the same which it did not when it came off the camera because of the changing light conditions.
Photoshop let us make unique ancillary pieces bye adding effects to the background and we could also use this alongside the internet to put institutional information on our products.

Without the use of the internet we would not have been able to create such a strong video that links to other music videos of this genre as well. This therefor means we could create a music video to the expectations of the audience.