1. Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions
(4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning
and evaluation stages?
Once our media assignments had been specified, we had vast opportunities to utilise,
experiment and apply media technologies to the tasks. The three media platforms are
relentlessly used in the music industry. In order to gain detailed knowledge of current
artists, songs and music videos I used the internet to research recent trends and
developments in the music industry. Record labels want their artists to be in constant
view of the public eye as audience impressions and reactions can now decide the
success or failure of an artist or song. The internet illustrated that music videos
represent a crucial part of the music industry and currently the music video is as
important as the song itself. This is because in today’ society appearance is valued,
thus music videos are used as a chance for artists to impress the public, not just with
their vocal talent but also with their style, look and fashion. Here are some examples:
Still images from Lily Allen’s music videos from the album ‘Alright Still’
‘LDN’ ‘Smile’ ‘Alfi
The visual images of the three videos are similarly colourful and bright, thus Lily Allen has created her
vibrant, animated and original style. She has produced on original aspect to her star persona by mixing
ordinary features with alluring elements. For example, she has combined trainers with a flamboyant dress
in ‘LND’ and chocolate with excessive gold jewellery in ‘Smile’. Her ability to merge the two
successfully fascinates and charms the audience, heightening her popularity.
Still images from 50 Cent’s music videos from the album ‘Massacre’
‘Candy Shop’ ‘Just a Lil Bit’

2. Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions
50 Cent uses his music videos to parade his exclusive, luxurious and successful lifestyle. His display
of expensive cars, excessive silver chains and fur coats illustrate his glamorous and prestigious star
persona. The beautiful ladies that surround 50 Cent demonstrate his attractiveness and popularity
with females, yet, it may also suggest his promiscuity.
This research allowed me to recognise the importance of artist image so whilst
making my music video I focused on mise en since, costume and makeup to create my
artist’s star persona.
Whilst researching, I also concentrated on the use of print in the music industry. I
used the internet to investigate how album covers play an important role in promoting
an artist and song. Gary Freiberg, an art director, believes that ‘the allure of album
cover art is that it triggers our personal positive connection to music, the appeal is the
incredible creativity of the art form, and the visual presentation of an album cover
draws the viewer’s attention’. However, from examining may different album covers,
I found that the detailed and elaborate covers are merely used as a commercial
pursuit. Nevertheless, using Freiberg’s ideas and my personal research I was able to
ensure that my product was creative and original so that just a mention of the album
conjures up a mental picture of the cover but also to ensure the cover would catch the
eye of the consumer, enticing them to buy the CD.
In order to gain first hand experience of music videos, I spent a considerable amount
of time researching music through the use of a television. Broadcasting is the most
prominent platform in the music industry and MTV was the phenomenon that gave
power and importance to the music video as it marked the beginning of the music
video’s ruling of the industry. I watched many artists, analysing the trends and
patterns across different kinds of music. This gave me insight into the distinctions
between genres and allowed me to focus my attention on creating the right genre
through my use of camera angles, costume, mise en scene and editing.
Whilst planning I created a story board to upload onto iPhoto, a programme used to
capture your photos and conveniently group them. This enabled me to create an

3. Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions
animatic that would aid in secreting my plans as the software provided a simple
construction of the sequence of frames we wished to produce. The template presented
a basic visual image of the media product as the slide show of photos displayed the
various camera angles, locations and mise en scene that I planned to use. This allowed
me to recognise faults and make changes, for example some of the shots seemed to
last too long, thus I altered their duration and included other shorter shots. iPhoto also
facilitated in developing plans for editing as I was able to trail transitions and the
arrangement of the title.
During the construction on my music video, I was able to use a high definition
camera. HD provides extremely clear, crisp pictures with vivid colours and up to five
times more detail than ordinary standard definition. This media technology is
prevailing and is now considered an essential tool for creating high quality and
superior music videos. My music video includes detailed graffiti and magnificent
views of the sea, thus the HD camera accentuated these images, making the locations
seem more defined and real. Therefore, being able to utilise this piece of equipment
enhanced the professionalism of my video as the visual image on screen is more
vibrant and clear.
In order to construct visually appealing images for my album and advert, I utilised
Photoshop, a leading graphic and photo editing programme that manipulates and
enhances digital images to create attractive artwork. I chose a black and white colour
theme with smears of bright colours. With this software I was able to create an
extreme distinction between the two as I could insert aluminous colours whilst
heightening the contrast of the image. The enhanced intensity of the images is aimed
at attracting consumers as whilst appearing professional and high quality, it makes the
album and advert more stylish and contemporary. This elegance is developed by my
use of effects as I added a slight blur to my images and utilised the ‘poster edges’
effect to create modern and edgy album and advert photos.
Media technologies also assisted the evaluation of my media products as I was able to
utilise an interactive whiteboard to exhibit my music video to a large audience.
Previously, I had designed a questionnaire which asked the audience to specify
effective scenes, locations and camera angle. The whiteboard provided a large

4. Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions
interactive display, creating a comfortable and accessible setting for the audience to
articulate their opinions on my music video. It also made the process of evaluation
less complicated as I was able to collect enough feedback from various people in one
sitting. The questionnaire also facilitated me in further evaluation as the audience
rated particular elements of the video out of ten, allowing me to extract numerical
data and create a graph on Excel. I was able to draw clear conclusions as this
programme allowed me to manage and analyse my information efficiently.