G324: A2 Media Studies: Evaluation

1. G324: A2 MEDIA
EVALUATION
Michael McGrath || Candidate #: 2119

2. Brief
For G324 of my Media Studies A Level, I was
tasked with creating a music video for a track of
my choice and two ancillary products (a digipak,
and a magazine poster) to accompany it.

3. Final Products
MusicVideo Digipak Advert
Visit My Blog Here

4. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP
OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS?
Question 1

5. Early Stages
• In the early stages of this project, I researched
and analysed many different music videos from
many different genres, including pop, rap, rock
and indie rock.
• (Pop) Research into similar products: Bad Liar
• (Rap) Research into similar products: Black Beatles
• (Indie Rock) Research into similar products: Say it aint so
• After conducting this research I decided on the
genre of my music video – Indie Rock – and the
track “No Answers” by Amber Run

6. Music Video
Influences • Amber Run – Amber run was a big influence
themselves throughout the planning stages of my
music video. A large amount of their music videos are
narrative based, for example, the videos for “Just My
Soul Responding” and “Noah” are linked, showing two
different points of view. Even though I did not create
multiple videos, I did create one video only showing
one point of view – the view of the protagonist – just
like the first part of the narrative “Just My Soul
Responding”, I showed the point of view of the
“obvious” victim. If I was to have creates a second
music video, I might have shown that the protagonist
was not as innocent as she first appears – leaving the
video up for interpretation.
^ Amber Run - Just My Soul Responding ^
^Amber Run - Noah ^

7. Music Video
Influences
• The video for “Naïve” byThe Kooks uses a large
amount of tracking shots to keep the focus on the main
character. I took this as inspiration for my video as I use
tracking shots to follow my protagonist throughout my
music video to establish that she is the most important
character within the narrative.
^The Kooks - Naïve ^

8. Digipak Influences • My Digipak was inspired by many different real products.
The back of my Digipak was inspired by Lana Del Ray’s
album – Born to Die – because of her approach to the
track list. Furthermore, I also took inspiration from Amber
Run’s album “For a Moment IWas Lost” as they do
something similar, but in a more readable and
understated font.
• My Disc was inspired by Sam Smith’s disc for “InThe
Lonely Hour” due to the simplistic design. I felt my disc
wouldn’t look as good with an image on it, so I opted for a
single colour background with my artist and album name.
• For the front cover I didn’t take much inspiration from
anyone for this, I used a photograph I had taken during a
shoot and cropped that to fit the front. However, after
doing a little bit of research into Amber Run’s real album
covers, I liked the style of font they used, and so I found a
similar font and used that throughout.
Lana Del Ray
Born to Die
Sam Smith
InThe Lonely Hour
Amber Run
5am / For a Moment IWas Lost

9. Real (Left) vs Mine (Right)
• When you compare the actual front and back covers of “For a Moment IWas Lost” you can notice a
lot of similarities. For example, I have positioned my record label, distribution company and
barcode in essentially the same place. One difference between both is that the real album uses a
black and white colour scheme and only has an image that looks like a Rorschach test (Or Inkblot
Test).The image I have used is of my characters (protagonist [left], antagonist [right]). In the image,
my protagonist, who looks happy, is pulling my antagonist, who looks fed up. I have done this to
symbolise that my protagonist is happy in the relationship, while my antagonist is not.

10. Advert Influences
• One advert that influenced me during the production
of my magazine advert was Katy Perry’s advert for
“one of the boys”. It is this advert that inspired me to
use a landscape orientation for my advert.
• The advert for “AThousand Suns” by Linkin Park
influenced me to use multiple photographs on my
magazine. I liked that I would be able to tell a small
story through my advert to link to my video.
^ Katy Perry – One OfThe Boys ^
^ Linkin Park – AThousand Sons ^

11. Representations
• My music video is about a couple who experience a
breakup and one party is taking it harder than the
other. I decided to use this narrative as it is a common
situation people experience and so I believe that it is
the most relatable subject matter.
• I decided to use two female characters in a lesbian
relationship to show that hard breakups happen for
LGBT+ couples as well as heterosexual couples-
something that is sometimes overlooked.
– Furthermore, I had one of my characters act as if they
didn’t care as much to show that it isn’t always the male
that is “heartless” or “emotionless” in this situation,
females can be just as harsh – something which goes
against the stereotypical perception.

12. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE
COMBINATION OF YOUR
MAIN PRODUCTS AND
ANCILLARY TEXTS?
Question 2

13. Synergy: Fonts
• Throughout the production of my products, I ensured
that I used the same font across my products to create
synergy between them.The font I used was Californian
FB which was similar to the real font used on Amber
Run’s alum covers. By using the same font and font
colour scheme I was able to make my digipak and
advert recognisable to amber run fans.
• The colour scheme I used for my fonts was black and
white. I used these colours as they are
complementary, and draw the attention of the
audience. This was the intended effect as the most
important part of my products is the artist’s identity
(i.e. their name and album title).
Digipak Fonts – Front Cover [Top Right], Disk [Bottom Right],
Back Cover [Left]
Magazine Advertisement

14. Synergy:
Mise-en-Scene
• To create continuity throughout my video I had my
protagonist wear a blue checked shirt with a black top
underneath. I had her wear this throughout to
represent that she doesn’t want to let go of the
relationship.
• On my ancillary products, I have used a similar
photograph on my front cover of my digipak and on my
magazine advert – these photographs are similar to a
shot in my music video, which creates synergy
between all 3 products.
Blue Check Shirt MusicVideo [Above],
Digipak [Mid Right] 
Black shirt, white coat (Digipak [Left],Advert [Right]

15. Applying Theory
• Uses and GratificationsTheory
– I believe my audience are an active audience as they can
interpret my video in a number of ways (for example one
person may interpret them as best friends, while
someone else may interpret them as a couple).
– For this reason I believe I can link the uses and
gratifications theory as the interpretation depends on
my audiences personal experience. I think one reason
people may like my music video is because it’s such a
universal narrative as almost everyone experiences a fall
out with friends or someone they love in their life.
Furthermore, my music video touches on LGBTQ+
themes as my two characters are in a Lesbian
relationship.Therefore my audience is likely to use my
music video to relate to Amber Run’s track.

16. WHAT HAVE YOU
LEARNED FROM YOUR
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?
Question 3

17. Audience feedback:
Questionnaire
• The Questions:
Feedback Questionnaire Here

18. Audience feedback:
Questionnaire
Demographic Information• Question 1 – Age: 100% of my responses were from 16-18 year
olds, which tells me that my target audience are young adults,
meaning I could include some sensitive topics, such as
relationships breaking down.
• Question 2 – Gender: the majority of my target audience is female, this tells me
that my target audience is female, meaning my products should have a feminine
touch to it. However, 40% of my audience is either male or prefer not to say, and
because of this I still need to cater for their needs.
• Question 3 – Preferred Genre: the majority of my target
audience listen to pop, rock and alternative/indie music.
Meaning my chosen genre met the needs of my target audience.

19. • Question 3: 100% of my target audience found my music video
“visually appealing” which is a very positive thing as it means that I
have been successful in creating an aesthetically appealing video as
a minimum.
Audience feedback:
Questionnaire
Music Video Feedback
• Question 4: I asked my target audience if my narrative was easy
to understand and follow.The Responses tell me that I have also
been successful in portraying my narrative through the use of
visuals.

20. • Question 5: I asked my target audience what they liked
about my digipak.The most mentioned positive was that
my photography linked directly to the narrative within my
video.
Audience feedback:
Questionnaire
Digipak Feedback
• Question 6: I also asked them what they did not like, the
most mentioned negative was the grey background, and
how it didn’t really link to my video, or fit the style of my
products
• Question 7: 100% of my target audience can see a clear
link between my digipak and music video.This means that
I was successful during the production of all 3 products.

21. • Question 8: I asked my target audience what they liked about my
advert, the most mentioned positive was that the images tell a
small narrative within my advert (my couple slowly loosing touch
with each other).
Audience feedback:
Questionnaire
Advert Feedback
• Question 9: I also asked what they didn’t like, the most
mentioned negative was again the grey background.
• Question 10: Again, 100% of my target audience said they can
see a link between my digipak, advert and music video, which
means I was successful in the creation of my products.

22. HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA
TECHNOLOGIES IN THE
CONSTRUCTION,
RESEARCH/PLANNING AND
EVALUATION STAGES ?
Question 4

23. Technology used during
Research and Planning:
Blogger
• I used Blogger to keep track of and review my progress
throughout the process of creating my final products.
• MichaelMcGrathMediaA2.blogspot.co.uk
• Blogger is easy to set up, as it only needs a Google+
account, and is straight forward to post too.
• Blogger offers the option to edit the HTML code which
enables Multimedia features to be used in blog posts,
such as embedding Presentations andVideos.

24. Technology used
during production:
Digital camera
• The camera I used to capture footage and stills was a
Cannon 550D.This camera allowed me to capture
footage in HD – up too 1080p – which gave me full
flexibility to crop in slightly if my framing was off or to
emphasise something within the frame.
• One problem I encountered while using this was the lack
of auto-focus in video mode.This meant that I would
have to spend extra time during production ensuring the
focus was correct before and during each shot. However,
I think this was a good trade off because it was
manageable and worth the downsides due to the high
quality picture. Furthermore, by having to worry about
the focus, I took my time with my shots meaning I
carefully framed each shot in my video.

25. Technology used
during production:
Editing Software
(CC Premier Pro)
• When it came to editing my music video, I decided to use
Adobe Premier Pro as my editing software of choice. I
chose Premier Pro as it is an industry standard piece of
software meaning it would be capable of producing the
best product that I could. Premier Pro allowed me to
easily review my raw footage, select in and out points
and insert or overlay the selected clip. Premier Pro’s user
interface is fully customisable allowing me to create a
smooth workspace and a fluid work flow by having
access to my footage library, effects library, timeline
(audio and visual) and preview and output windows all on
one screen.
• One of the benefits of usingAdobe Premier Pro is the
online support through forums andYouTube videos, this
meant that if there was anything that I was unsure about
I could use these resources to learn.
OutputWindow
TimelineEffects Library
Footage LibraryPreviewWindow

26. Technology used
during production:
Publishing Software
(CC In Design)
• Also part of the Creative Cloud package,Adobe
InDesign is an alternative to PagePlus (Which I used at
AS). By choosing to use InDesign I allowed myself more
control over what I wanted to create as PagePlus is
limited in some respects. Furthermore, because it is
part of the Creative Cloud package, the workflow is a
lot smoother between Adobe Photoshop and InDesign.
• I used InDesign to create my Digipak and my Advert
– Drafting and Planning: Digipak: Whole Product Final Product
– Drafting and Planning: Advert: Final Draft

27. Technology used
during production:
Photo Editing Software
(CC Photoshop)
• I used Adobe CC Photoshop to edit my main images for
my Digipak andAdvert.This mainly involved cropping
the image to fit a 1:1 ratio (Square).
– Drafting and Planning: Editing Digipak Main Image
• I also used Photoshop to create the disc for my digipak.
Using Photoshop over other software, such as
paint.net, granted me great benefits such as masking
tools, to be able to selectively edit areas, and to be able
to move and rearrange objects once I had positioned
them on the product.
– Drafting and Planning: Digipak: Updated Disk Design

28. Technology used
during evaluation:
Presentation software
(Microsoft PowerPoint)
• I used Microsoft PowerPoint to introduce genres during
my research.
• Research into similar products: MusicVideos: Pop
• PowerPoints allowed me to summarise information into
easy to digest slides which reduced the need for wordy
blog posts.
• I also used PowerPoint to class to receive feedback
during the planning stage.
• Drafting and Planning: Class Pitch

29. Technology used
during evaluation:
Presentation software
(SlideShare)
• SlideShare was useful when it came to uploading
Presentations to Blogger
– SlideShare – G324: Media Studies: MusicVideo Pitch
• SlideShare was an easy to use piece of software that
was as simple as uploading a presentation made in
PowerPoint.Once the presentation had uploaded, I
was able to generate an embed code and embed it into
my Blogger.
– Drafting and Planning: Class Pitch

30. Technology used
during evaluation:
Social Media
(Messenger, WhatsApp,
Twitter, etc.)
• I mainly used social media to generate feedback from
my target audience after I had completed my final
products to evaluate my performance.
• However, I also used Facebook Messenger to organise
my actors and “props”. I would keep in contact with my
actors to arrange shoots, and to provide them with a
call sheet before shooting, I also used Messenger to
gather some couple photographs from my actors to
use as props for the opening and closing scenes.

31. PROGRESS FROM AS
TO A2
Conclusion

32. AS A2
Digipak [Below]
Advert [Above]
MusicVideo [Above]Double Page Spread [Above]Cover and Contents [Above]
Looking back at my A Level as a whole, I can see some improvements fromAS to A2. For
starters, at AS I used PagePlus to construct my print product, and Paint.net to edit my photos.
Whereas at A2 I invested in the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, which granted me access to
better software, such as Photoshop, InDesign, Premier Pro, etc. I believe the better software
helped me to develop my skills drastically as I was no longer limited by my software.
Furthermore, my organisational skills have greatly improved as I have progressed from AS to
A2. For example, at AS I would only every plan a shoot a day or two before the actual shoot,
whereas at A2 I would plan an entire week, if not two weeks in advance. Personally, I can see a
great deal of improvement from AS to A2 in terms of my personal development (i.e.
organisation and giving directions) and my aesthetic choice (i.e. shot types, etc.)