The Evaluation for my A2 coursework

1. EVALUATION
Karis Hays

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

3. In the music video we tried to near enough follow
the conventions of the indie/rock genre, we also
challenged them on certain aspects. In a lot of
indie/rock music videos there is always some
aspect of a live performance whether it is with the
band or with just the lead signer. In our video we
imputed both types of live performance; we had
the lead singer performing on the same location as
the video was taking place, we then did the band
section in a studio using green screen to add a
splatter effect to the background.
For mise-en-scene we tried to use a varied amount
of common features that were used in other
indie/rock music videos. In the original video for
‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’ music video a lot
of it is set outside we tried to use this in our video
as well, we also wanted to originally have the live
performance outside with the band but because of
health and safety we were unable to do this.
With costumes we wanted the band to have dark
clothing just like The Script but instead the
costumes that we used had a lot more colour
involved than what we originally intended but still
followed the theme of the indie/rock vibe.
When watching other indie rock music
videos like One Republic and Lawson we
noticed we noticed that they sometimes
touched on serious topics that aren’t really
brought up, for example in the original
video for ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’
the main character in the video is
homeless, we tried to channel this in our
own way in our video; in the video at the
end you see the lead singer laying some
flowers in to the river we tried to have in
the story that his girlfriend died in a river
accident which are coming a common risk.
A lot of the lighting that we used was
natural apart from the lights in the studio,
a lot of due to the timing of this project
the a mount of sunlight we have was
limited so the natural light we used was
very dark or the sun was very low creating
a high difficulty in getting a nice shot
without any lense flares. But it created a
nice dark look to the video suiting the
convention of indie/rock videos using dark
lighting creating an overall nice effect.

4. ◦ Following Andrew Goodwin’s conventions of
technical aspects we tried to keep our music video
following the conventions of indie/rock but we also
used some from pop genre. A lot of The Scripts
previous music videos all follow some sort of
storyline, we followed this by having a story of a
young couple in love and the video explores parts of
their relationship, throughout the video we used
singular shots of the male lead using close ups and
flowing behind as well as mixed in with shots of the
couple together, it’s not until the end do you get to
understand that the girl in the relationship has
actually passed away. By using close ups which is
one of Andrew Goodwin’s convention’s ‘Close up’s
and focus on star appeal’ the audience get a proper
feel of the emotion the characters are feeling as well
as making a personal connection with the character.
By having the lead actor in the band as well the
audience see him as a normal person making them
feel more connected and find things in common
with the band.
We tried to gather some form of relationship between the music and the visuals but when watching the video
back that recognition isn’t really made throughout. With the shots included in the video we tried to not just use
shots using the actors. We used shots such as establishing shots of passing by traffic to then speed up in the
editing process to connote the passing of time we did this a lot throughout the video to add more to the story
and to try and make it more interesting for the audience. We also used green screen to add an extra piece of
technology to the video as well as making the video look more interesting, this is used when the band are
playing all together, we use one shot at the start where the green screen is just black this is when the lead singer
is alone at the start, when the band comes into it a paint splatter effect comes on in the background which is
similar colours to the album cover and the digipak.

5. ◦ During my planning when researching
digipak’s within our genre, we found that
a lot of them use quite artistic images on
them, we channelled that in our digipak
using Photoshop we created a
paintbrush effect to form our design that
will be the cover of the digipak. The
theme also followed with the name we
chose for the album ‘Paint This Town’ the
theme of paint followed throughout the
digipak; for our CD and DVD disks and
backs of the digipak was all a paint
splatter effect which was created in
Photoshop. The paint brush that was
used on the front cover was also on the
back of the digipak. The theme of
orange was also used throughout the
digipak, the name of the band we chose
was ‘North Picaro’ which means ‘North
Rogues’ in English ‘Picaro’ is the Spanish
word for ‘Rogues’ as we wanted one of
the band member to be Spanish which is
where we got the idea of the orange
theme from.
We chose not to have the band on the front cover or on
any of the slides of the digipak as we thought the theme
of the paint splatter suited it more even though The Script
used photos of the band in there’s we opted against it as
we thought it didn’t suit our theme. We include a personal
message from the band on one of the sides where you get
a proper introduction to the band and what they are
about, as well as having the chance to be featured in part
of the bands arena tour when you take a selfie and tweet
it, using different media platforms to grow their fan base.
The Script don’t include anything like this in any of their
digipaks.

6. With each side of the digipak
we wanted the theme and
colour scheme to be presented
on each. We included a DVD
which contains footage of the
band behind the scenes as well
as them on tour, it’s an added
bonus to the digipak. With the
songs included on the album
we created the names
ourselves we wanted to
elaborate on the band that is
The Script and create our own
brand which originated from
this band. Which is why we
created the name ‘North
Picaro’ and why we re-created
a new album for the band we
wanted to re-form the script in
our own way with pop/indie
and rock element intertwined
into it all.
Coming up with a name for the
band was the hardest part as
well as naming the album
especially when we wanted to
change the name. in the name
of the band we wanted
something that had a foreign
twist on it; we originally were
going to call ‘Thorni’ which
means thunder in Irish which is
where the original version of
The Script are from. We then
realized that not a lot of people
would understand that and it
was hard to pronounce so we
settles for the name ‘North
Picaro’.
When we were originally naming the album we created a cover
naming the album Bolt, but there was something that didn’t
seem right for it so we re-created the whole album idea and
digipak idea and using the theme of paint and naming the album
‘Paint This Town’.

7. To create the brand that we were wanting to
create we wanted there to be consistency
throughout the whole of this album, to do
this we used the front cover of the
digipak/album for the advert so people will
remember it more and it will stick in peoples
mind and they will think of the same band
which is all linked. We used the same colour
scheme of orange, white and black to brand
the album, with the date in the same colour
as the name as the band. I think the colours
we have used are very gender neutral as
well, making the band welcome to all
genders, and trying tot break out of the
stereotype of girls only being fans of
boybands.
We also used the hashtag that was included
on one of the sides of the digipak where the
fans can get involved in the arena tour
which is upcoming. This will get passing by
people who see the advert to remember the
advert as well as welcoming all forms of
social medias welcoming different media
platforms.

8. In addition to the advert for the album we also
created an advert for something that the BBC do,
where they introduce artists who they think are going
to make it big in the up coming year. We created a
poster for this that includes and image of the band
with very dark lighting which is a common convention
of indie/rock genres so we thought we would present
this through this advert as well as in the video. The
picture also creates mystery as you can’t really see the
band members faces only a few shadows, this also
represents the genre of indie and rock.

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

10. ◦ In my group we chose for the main product to be the music video
and for the auxiliary products to be the digipak and an advert. We
wanted there to be a solid connection between all our products
that we were creating. The main synergistic reference made
between all of them is the colour scheme, we used the colours
orange, black and white which we thought weren’t very gender
specific colours and welcomed all genders especially with the
stereotype of boybands being just for girls we wanted to break that
stereotype and build a community of all types of people. In the
digipak and the advert we use the same front cover that include
these colours, whereas in the video we used the splatter paint
effect that is on the CD and DVD as the background for the green
screen in the music video.
The fonts throughout the media texts
all reflected the genre and style of the
band and this was used on all our
media apart from in the video. The
font was very bold and, same as the
colour scheme, was not aimed at any
specific gender but at the same time
suited the theme and genre that we
were trying to create. When choosing
the font that was going to be the
bands name
we spent a lot of time trying to find one that sent the
message that we were wanting to send, and we picked the
one that we did because it was simple but at the same time
effective. When we chose the hashtag ‘#paintyourtown’ we
went for the effect of a paintbrush to symbolise the paint
as well as creating a memorable effect on the audience.

11. In the digipak we make three references to the record label that
our band have signed to, Island records. On the DVD and CD we
have the logo of Island records at the bottom where the you are
told what each disc is. We also have it on the back of the digipak
where the song list is, we put the logo here as we believe d that
these places got the most used by people who buy the album
furthermore giving the record company extra recognition to more
people out there.
Another theme that is shown throughout out all the media products is
the theme of paint, this is presented firstly in the title of the album which
is ‘Paint This Town’ as well the imagery of the album cover which is three
paint stripes which have the paintbrush effect on them. The final piece of
paint imagery is he splatter paint which is on the back of four of the
digipak sides: both the CD and DVD sides as well as behind the message
and behind the #paintyourtown, which is then used in the music video for
the green screen.
Another theme is the hashtag that we created for the album,
#paintyourtown, the whole aspect behind it is to form a platform using
social media to get fans involved with the bands latest tour the fans
have to tweet there selfies for a chance to be involved. The hashtag is
on the poster and the back of digipak where it is explained on both.

12. How is it effective?
Having a colour scheme throughout all
our media products, it creates
consistency towards the audience. We
picked the colour orange as it is a
gender neutral colour and it breaks the
stereotype of boybands being aimed at
mainly girls, we were wanting to create a
majority that was mixed of all genders.
By also using a colour scheme you
create something that makes people of
the audience you create a feeling of
recognition with the colour orange that
people will then associate with the
album ‘Paint This Town’.
Our video was effective to the audience, as it followed a
specific story which linked to the music; the original
video used the story of the lead singer being homeless
and waiting for a girl to come home. So in our video we
used the story of he girlfriend being dead but you don’t
find that out until the end, we presented this by having
a series of shots of the couple together with a cross
fade of the male lead by himself. This is effective as it
creates emotion within the audience giving them a
personal connection with the video.
Our album and brand that we have
overall created follows with the hashtag
‘#paintyourtown’ which is a play on the
title of the album ‘Paint This Town’ it
gets the fans on North Picaro involved in
the distribution of the album. If there
fans are tweeting about this hashtag on
all platforms of social media it is gping
to catch attention from people who have
maybe never heard of North Picaro
before giving them more coverage as a band to a wider audience who are not familiar with the
album therefore helping their fan base to grow through all types of social media. It also gives the
fans a feeling of involvement as the idea behind the hashtag is for the fans to tweet a picture of
themselves and it might be included in the bands latest arena tour which is soon to be happening,
they are a apart of building their ‘idols’ fan base.

13. What have you learned from your
audience feedback?

14. For our audience feedback we created a survey
through survey monkey as we thought we would get
better audience feedback through that as we can see
what people are looking for. We sent this to people
through group chats like Facebook messenger as we
thought it would be a better place to get feedback
from our initial target audience. We got quiet a few
responses about the video and only some about the
whole project all together. We only got one
comment on the actual YouTube video but it was a
very helpful response.
A lot of the responses from the survey said that the
story was presented well throughout the video and
that you could really understand what was
happening, which is a good point as that is one of
the main conventions for indie/rock music videos,
some people even understood the deeper meaning
which is also a good point. A lot of people
interpreted the story in a different as well but the
understanding of the feeling of loss was understood.
One of the responses through the survey on
the music video said that the singing from
the main singer was not in time. We filmed
these sets of sequences a few times but
could never get the timing right as in the
chorus there is series of different tempos,
the first of the shits where the lead the
singer is singing the chorus went alright and
all the tempos matched but for the second
we tried a lot of different durations but
none of them matched perfectly and we
didn’t have any time to film anther series of
shots. They also didn’t understand why the
background for the green screen was
chosen which I think we didn’t present to
the audience well enough.

15. From our audience feedback I have learnt that we portrayed
the story the way that we wanted and a lot of people
understood what the foundation of the story was about, a lot
of people understood that we were presenting the feeling of
loss in the video some people interpreted it as just a break up
and did not understand the deeper meaning behind the video.
I think we could of presented this better with clearer shots and
edited it better for people to understand that the girlfriend
was meant to of be dead and the shots where they are
together we could of edited better to make it more noticeable
that it was a flashback.
I also learnt that the live performance of the lead singer in the
street didn’t work with the lip-syncing we did film this multiple
times, the actors also felt uncomfortable while lip-synching in
the centre of a city, we did try to make them more
comfortable by changing the location to a less busier side of
the city but they still weren’t 100% comfortable doing it.
The presentation of the video and the camera shots and
angels that we used were liked by a lot of the views saying
that they weren’t all the same that we used variation. The
emotions that we wanted to create were felt from the
audience as well ‘had an emotional feel to it’ which is one of
the main things we wanted to do with the video.

16. On the survey there was only one question that asked about the whole of the media product not just
the music video we only got four responses on that question cause not everyone saw or made the
connection between the digipak and he advert. From the four comments that we got everyone said
that they liked the simplicity of the digipak and the magazine. They also like the colour scheme that
we went along with which is one of the things that we were really passionate about because we
wanted to use a gender neutral colour to break the stereotype around boy bands being just for girls.
The audience also liked the font that we used which was also important to us as we tried so many
fonts when designing the advert and album cover as none of them went with the look that we were
trying to create. They also said that they aren’t complicated to understand which is also a good point
because we didn’t want them to have too much going on.
From our audience feedback I can gather what people think of our overall media product
that we created. For our video everyone understood the story that we were trying to
create even if the only understood the foundation of the story but the majority
understood that the video represented loss, this has shown me that we could of maybe
presented this clearer to people and then maybe they would have been able to
understand it easier. We also understand that the lip-sync part of the video didn’t work
as well as we wanted it to and maybe we could of gone around it differently.
For our digipak and advert people liked the simplicity of it and the colour scheme that we
had created for the brand of the album ‘Paint This Town’ which is one of the things that
took a lot of trial of error where we had a lot of different ideas which would not of
worked the way we wanted them too.

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

18. Technology was used a lot when it cam to the planning of our idea, we
had already done our own ideas on PowerPoint where we came up
with a set of ideas; we then pitched them to each other choosing our
group idea, as a group we didn’t pick any of the individual ideas we
developed our own idea as a group. We did rough drawings and rough
drafts on software like word just to create an idea of what we wanted
we later developed from what these ideas. We gained inspiration for
our ideas from what The Script had already created.
We used word to create our shooting schedule we did this by creating a table
on word document to make a clear table on what we will be doing on a day
to day basis from every hour. We used social media to contact the actors to
gather there mobile numbers to place on the farms so we could contact them
easily if anything were to change if one of the crew was to be ill for example.
For our story board we did rough drawings of what we wanted,
overall we have done about three drafts of the video eventually
getting to the story that we have in the video. Even with the final
storyboard we used we still changed a lot when we started filming as
we discovered that a lot of our shots were very hard to create.
When coming up with the idea of the digipak and
advert, we originally were going to have it as a
wolf we then later discovered that all images had
to be taken ourselves and we would struggle with
getting an image of a wolf. We then played
around on Photoshop creating a new idea ‘Bolt’
which did not work with the theme we were
wanting to create.

19. For our audience research we did two
sets of ways to collecting our audience
research, our first way was creating a
survey on the website ‘survey monkey’
we chose are varied amount of
questions finding out if people know
much about the band The Script, we
sent out the surveys to people on
different social media platforms such as
Facebook messenger to send out to
multiple group chats to receive
responses. This helped us understand
what people who don’t know much
about The Script and what there music
is about. It helped us gather information
as to what to include in our video and
what people already interpreted from
the name of the song ‘The Man Who
Can’t Be Moved’
Our other way of gathering audience
research was through doing video
interviews. We did through using canon
600D camera and tripod with a white
background. We did 5 interviews and
split them between us. We edited two
sets of the interviews on Premier Pro
and the final set on Movie Maker.
Editing on Premier Pro helped us gain
confidence on how to use Premier Pro, it
helped us use the transitions, the title
sequences and the filters over footage.
The interview that was edited in Movie
Maker would not export onto YouTube
despite following instructions, so in the
end we did not use the Movie Maker
interview.

20. For our final project we used Photoshop and
Premier Pro to create: the music video,
digipak and both the posters. We used
Photoshop to design and create the adverts,
when we originally designed the advert we
used features like outer glow on the circle
that was around the name of the album
which was going to be ‘Bolt’. We then
decided that these features made the image
and the title seem to in your face not
drawing attention to what the album is really
about. So when we re-designed the front of
the digipak and the advert, we made it more
simple by just using a paint brush and
enlarging the size of it to create the image
we now have, following the colour scheme
that we have created elsewhere.
When using Premier Pro for our video we had previously had time to practice on it when
doing our interviews, so we had some experience in using the software. We used our
storyboard to put the shots into the order that we were wanting to have them in. We put the
videos into the order that we were wanting them to be in and then started the editing process,
we used a series of transitions between each shot to make sure the video flowed instead of
just having jump cuts from each shots; we used transitions such as additive fades and dissolves
to create the look that we were wanting, we also played around with the opacity on some of
the fades to see what they came to look like. We also had experience with green screen in our
video for the live performance, we filmed the band playing instruments on the green
background and then imputed the footage into the video, once these were imputed we then
dropped the ultra key effect onto the clip, then used the eyedropper to select the green colour
from the background and the finally we placed the image that we used for the background on
the digipak as the background of the green screen we put the footage up onto video three
and put the image in line with the rest of the video.

21. We exported our video via YouTube, we originally were going to export it
through Vimeo but we cam to the conclusion that a lot more people have
and use YouTube so were more likely to see it through YouTube rather
than Vimeo. After that was exported we shared the link to the video
through Facebook Messenger and through imessage group chats, we
asked people to the share the video with any of their other friends who
would be willing to watch for us. We did this as the majority of our
friendship groups were around similar age as to what our video/band
would be aimed at and we felt that we would get a more accurate
response to what we were really looking for from a target audience point
of view. With the link to the video we also sent a link to a survey made
through survey monkey which was created to gather feedback from the
audience; it included a series of questions asking about the video and
there overall responses from the video. Furthermore this helped us to
gather even more information into our audience feedback.
For each of the six question I used an open comment
box giving the respondent enough space to write as
much or as little as they want.