A2 music video evaluation

1. By Bridget O’Connor

2.  Synergy = themes/links between all strands of a
product.
 Genre – fonts, colours, mise-en-scene and
costume.
 Artist image – developed star
image/recognisable.
 Themes – how have you constructed your themes
across the package. Is it a successful package?
Why/why not?

3.  Synergy is important between texts to keep the
products recognisable and identifiable of the artist
for the audience whether it be colours, theme or
symbol and in this case synergy is very beneficial,
extremely for advertisement and promotion when
marketing the CD because it sets its individuality to
other media products and if done successfully can
create trends subsequently landing a bigger profit.
 For example, the band ‘Guns n Roses’ can be recognised
by the symbol of two guns pointing in opposite directions
wrapped in roses which is relevant to the name of the
band. This synergy contributes in making more money
because the symbol can be found in shops printed on t-
shirts, coasters, mugs and other types of clothing and
inanimate objects, for people to buy.

4.  One way I created synergy was by getting the artist from my music video to
wear vibrant coloured clothing for instance: A light red dress
 for her to perform in front of the green screen.
 I then changed the background during the stages of production on final cut pro
to a bright white colour because my genre was pop/R&B therefore, I wanted to
make it conventional of my genre which are known for bright, cool and fun
colours, especially Pop.
 I then contrasted the bright white background with the light red dress in order
to make her the main focal point of attraction for the audience.
 I then used this same effect for my CD cover, back and middle and also, my
advert. Therefore, I again got the artist in the video to pose in front of the green
screen , allowing me to take photos for the album and advert however, wearing
different vibrant clothing e.g. Blue/yellow/red. This made my ancillary text
extremely effective because the artist stood out more and appeared more
intriguing to watch. This also, reminded me a lot of existing media texts by real
artists e.g. Katy Perry and Charlie XCX who have done extremely well in
marketing.
 The narrative in my music video was also, filtered black and white to make the
performance in its natural colour more bold. Therefore, I made sure my CD
album and Advert also, included black and white for fonts.

5. Genre is the name given to all the seperate
styles of media for instance:
Rock/pop/indie/rap/r&b/folk and so on
 in order for genre to work it needs the
use of Mise-en-scene that are the
props and locations used for the
video/album/ advert, vital to link it with
the genre, for example if I were making
a video to fit the rock genre I would
then use props such as guitars
(acoustic/electric), drums, microphone
and dress them in black and often
gothic clothing and possibly make-up
or masks. I would then locate them in
an abandoned building or somewhere
derelict to add to the cool and powerful
genre or perhaps locate them
somewhere that is more suited to the
story of the song. Genre also, needs
colours, fonts and costumes to create
the identification between the different
types of genre.

6.  Because my video was suited to an R&B/ Pop genre I did not use any specific props to
enhance the link with video to genre because existing videos in the genre did not have much
use in props such as: microphones/guitars/drums ,which you may find in a rock/indie music
video therefore, I kept the use of mise-en-scene, fresh and simple whilst yet still cutting
edge.The only mise-en-scene in the ancillary texts were the type of outfits I advised the artist to
dress in e.g. A bright red dress, electric blue leather jacket, red/blue/yellow/white coloured
dress and black dress with excessive use of jewellery and make-up. The bright and vibrant
colours are extremely conventional of the pop genre because its associated with being cool,
fun, sassy and vibrant however, as my video is also, suited to an r&b genre I wanted the artist
to wear a black fairly low-cut dress in order to make her appear more so provocative and
attractive to the male audience as well as the female.

7.  In order to make the link to genre I
needed a good font that would fit the
look. My genre was r&b/ pop yet more
so, pop and so when researching the
different types of Pop artist CD covers
and actually analysing what type of
fonts they used they were always very
diverse from one another which made it
rather hard to pick one clear font to
match pop, however, I decided on:
‘A lover’s quarrel’- I chose this font
particularly because it’s very pretty,
curly, flowery and unique which can
be linked to the pop and indie
genre. I used this font for the artist
name and found it worked very well
and looked good overall.
‘Didot’- I chose this font specifically because I felt it was a
strong, bold and powerful font and this could link to the
qualities of R&B genre when considering exsitng R&B
artists such as: Beyonce who is a owerful and successful
R&B artist. I used Didot for the album name and felt it
worked very well and effectively.

8.  Star image is clearly what it says in the
name, therefore, it is the main image,
identification and association with the artist,
for instance: Katy Perry has various iconic
looks from her music video’s: last Friday
night, California gurls and Roar.
 Star Image is important in creating an
individual identification which also, makes
even more money in the selling of similar
products/costumes associated with an artists
star iconography e.g. Katy Perry’s ‘Last
Friday night’ outfit.

9.  I wanted to give the audience the impression
that the artist is the sweet and innocent ‘girl
next door’ type, much like existing pop artists
such as: Taylor Swift.
 I then wanted to give the impression that the
artist is also a dark horse where by in the video
there is a contrast of star image with the artist
wearing bright and fun coloured clothing and
then in another scene she is wearing all black
with fierce make-up and jewellery much like
Amy Lee from Evanescence . Apart from these
few things I did not create a major star
iconography because pop artists star
iconography can sometimes alter in every
video and there is sometimes no clear star
iconography.

10.  A theme is a type of imagery/colour that is
apparent throughout and which links things
together e.g. I am using a theme for this
PowerPoint but in terms of ancillary texts it is
colours/fonts etc. This is important because a
theme can be very effective for media texts
because if the theme works it looks awesome
however, if it doesn’t work it can ruin the whole
thing.

11.  I wanted to keep the theme very elegant, fresh, simple yet effective
and in complete relation to the genre therefore, I used a lot of white
for the background contrasted with the artist wearing bright colours in
order to make sure the artist stood out and this theme was used
throughout. Also, because the narration in my video was filtered in
black and white I wanted to incorporate these colour into my fonts
too. Lastly, The photo’s I took on a canon camera were edited on
Photoshop in order to make them more vibrant, bright and
contrasting therefore, her lips look very pink and so on the advert I
made sure I used these three colours in particular to make everything
match and link.

12.  Overall, the combination of my main product and
ancillary texts are very effective because it adds to
the whole identity of the artist and marketisation of
the work of the artist. Therefore, if the music
video, album and advert does not have synergy,
genre, artist image and themes it doesn't work,
however, I have used all of these in my texts
therefore, I believe mine does.