evaluation questions

1. EVALUATION
QUESTIONS

2. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
Key conventions of existing media products
consist of many aspects, some depend on
the genre of the music however most general
conventions can be applied to all products.
The most common in music videos would be
the performance element, in the majority of
existing videos there will be some sense of
a performance imbedded, this is usually to
emphasize and raise awareness of the artist,
and it is also then common for the artist to
appear within the video. There will usually also
be lip syncing present, this is important as it
links the two senses of the moving image to
the sound. Another convention would be this
sense of visualisation, where the lyrics will link
with some form of iconography that appears
within the moving image; for example if the
song is about a woman there would usually be
a woman visualised in the video. Even the pace
of editing has the convention of linking to the
tempo of the song, if the song has a quick beat,
it would usually result in there being fast cuts
in the music video so that the moving image
connects more with the song. Mise en scene is
also a convention, this will usually match the
genre, lyrics and mood of the music, if the
song is dreary and depressing you would be
much more likely to visualise dark lighting,
unhappy or distressed facial expressions and
body language with darkly coloured costumes.
These are just some of the general codes and
conventions of existing music videos. The
conventions will also apply to the digipack and
advert, such as having the artist feature
on the digipack and advert as they appear
within the music video, or with the same
sense of style, this generates the idea of a
house style that runs throughout all products
to visually intertwine their designs and
most importantly create a brand therefore
enhancing how memorable the products are.
The digipack will have its usual conventions
of functionality as it has the function of being
able to navigate its audience around the
CD therefore will have track numbers and
song titles with usually credits or production
information. With the advert, they are usually
quite simple as there sole purpose is to
advertise the artist’s album, they have the
conventions of usually having the artists
name, album name and one of their best
songs with an image of the artist featuring
somewhere on the product, with the idea of
the house style between all products clearly
underlined.
When applying this idea of conventions of
real media products to my own products,
it is evident that I did use some of them.
Looking at my music video I do include a
performance element, I felt as if this was
an asset as it links the sound and the song
to the moving image, I also thought it was
important to have my protagonist lip syncing
the song to further connect my artist to both
the music video and lyrics. It results in the
musician being able to instantly connect to
the audience through the song especially
as he is being portrayed as an established
artist. The use of extreme close ups and
intense camera angles on my artists face
highlights this even further and radiates
this effect. However I developed this and
challenged this convention by not only having
my protagonist being the one that lip syncs to the
song, as ‘Arabella’ is from a males perspective
but is predominantly about a female, I decided to
incorporate shots of a woman lip syncing also. I
felt like this would emphasize the narrative and
present as iconography for the focal point of the
lyrics being about a woman, giving my video
more meaning and dimension. Laura Mulvey and
her thesis of the male gaze can be applied here,
the idea of visual pleasure, the narrative and
how it is structured around a masculine viewer.
The fast cuts between the male protagonist in
my video and the tilting shots of a knee high
boot being zipped up and the extreme close ups
of a females lips links to this theory, the fact the
shots appear multiple times draws the viewers’
attention to these specific shots indicating that
capturing the male gaze is what was intended.
Specifically having my protagonist from my video
being my artist, he is featured on all products
including the digipack, this is a convention. I
decided to do this as it is important for every
product to link together therefore I used my
musician to do this. The mise en scene of
his costume and style is also critical, as he is
dressed in dark or plain colours with his hair
slicked back and incorporating the iconography
of a cigarette in most visuals begins to hint at
the indie rock genre linking to the song choice.
It also links to the idea of the 1950’s look that
I intended to go for; the reasoning behind
going for a certain era was to create more
of a narrative and story behind my products,
being specific gives character. The design also
coincides with the music video by sticking with
the monochrome look and including the same
types of fonts on all products, for the title of the
music video and on the advert, they are all a
crisp easy to read ‘Sakkal Majalla’ font in either
block black or white. Everything links together
when it comes to overall design styles. The
layout of this document is also conventional,
everything is in the same place as you would
find it on an existing published album case, with
the front cover, inside, and back in that usual
presentation. Track numbers and song titles
are present, also following the house font from
all products, not much was challenged when it
came to the conventions of my digipack.
With the advert, all of the conventions are
present: the name of the artist; the album
name; a featured song from the album; where
it is available; ratings; social media information
and a main image that includes the artist.
These are all aspects that you would be
likely to see on a published magazine advert.
Looking at the full bleed, main image, I have
ensured that the link between all products
have been made. The repeated iconography
of the cigarette, the use of just a monochrome
colour scheme, the smoke. Looking into mise
en scene with the costume, I have hinted again
at the 1950s era with the evidently gelled
back hair with the more of a ‘pretty boy’ look,
wearing simple clothing but with a turned
up collar. Manipulating the image in Adobe
Photoshop CS6 allowed me to get the perfect
effect for the 1950s look I was going for, with
the slightly grainy effect, a strong contrast with
heightened levels and curve. I also used the
doge tool to darken the edges of the image
which draws the viewer in to focus on my main
artist. Again, as on the digi pack, I have used
the same font in white so it is visible and easy
to read. Magazine adverts are usually quite
simple as there single purpose is to promote
the musician and their album of song and I feel
as if mine does for fill its purpose by doing this,
Overall I have followed many of the
conventions of existing products, this is
important as they are there for a reason,
these are what make these types of products
successful, and by having them ensures that
I WANT IT ALL
A R C T I C M O N K E Y S
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3. all of the necessary information has been
included. However in some areas I have
challenged some of the forms which gives my
products character and attempt to stand out
slightly from the endless stream of music videos,
digipacks and adverts that have already been
produced or even will be in the future.
How effective is the combination of
your main product and ancillary texts?
Understanding I had to incorporate a sense of
synergy throughout all three tasks, I established
that I needed to come up with a theme that
would connect them all, a theme that would
give my products unity that wasn’t just using
the general ‘indie rock’ theme of the music. This
would enable my target audiences to recognise
and identify with both the artist and the genre.
The theme I decided to go for was a 1950s
style, purely because I love this look, using a
style I know I personally liked, I knew I would be
much more passionate about getting the visuals
perfect and to what I envisioned. The song I
choose is featured on the Arctic Monkeys album
‘AM’, it is about a female, using a track that is
about a woman instantly allows the audience to
relate. I even generated a theme regarding the
font, colours and style of the album, advert and
video. This monochrome, grainy but simple
style was to ensure that my products will be
recognisable to its audience.
The sole purpose of my music video is to
entertain my target audience and allow them
to watch the artist perform to something
that is meaningful to them. But to also allow
the audience to perceive the musician in a
positive but vulnerable way due to the main
concept of the track used, I feel as if I have
achieved this entertainment factor as I have
included many shot positions, cuts, locations
and focal points. This variety was intended to
keep the audience interested. I used specific
shots such as extreme close ups of my artists
face with him frequently directly addressing
the audience, this forces the audience to feel
much more involved and invites the audience
to focus on the main artist. Using the popular
‘love song’ idea that will pull on an audiences
emotions, with even the slightest phrase in the
lyrics, that an individual could relate too, but
from an indie rock perspective. The underlying
theme of love shows through in certain parts
of the video, creating this idea of a shielded
personality with vulnerabilities that links
directly to the artist portraying him in a positive
way, by having this emotive theme keeps the
audience entertained.
On the other hand the main purpose of my
magazine advert is to promote the album,
musician and song. Also to market it,
especially to its target audience but also to
those who would not usually think to listen to
that type and style of music or artist. This will
increase its overall audience and fan base
for the featured artist, and therefore make an
impact on the sale figures. The house style
fits in with the music video, the monochrome
look, the same style of font and similar editing
techniques. This gives both products an
overall identity of this clean cut 1950s look.
My advert is very simple, with the black and
white colour scheme portraying the artists
persona, with him having a dark, unemotional
appearance but the white signifying the fact
that he does have a lighter side too, which
becomes apparent in the music video. These
two products now start to hint at unifying
a brand identity, with this dark mysterious
monochrome look appearing on both products,
the iconography of the 1950s style and props
such as the cigarette and the smoke also
being seen in both, it begins to give character
and enable an audience to identify the brand.
The purpose of my digipack is mainly
informational, but could be possibly seen as
a fan or collector’s item. It is there for the
audience to be able to navigate through the
CD and see the album track names, even the
credits or other bits of information about the
artist or album. I have achieved this by using a
crisp font that is bold, easy to read and can be
used efficiently for its sole purpose. There is
also a design element to this product, it does
need to look visually appealing and link with
the house style of the other two products. It
does do this, with the repetitive monochrome
look, same ‘Sakkal Majalla’ font present
and visuals of the artist. There is however
more of a design to this product, with a slight
pattern, this is because a digipack is usually
very basic, I thought adding some form of
geometric design could heighten the appeal to
the look of the product. All featured images link
to all other products with the same sense of
style and look. All images are very dark, with
vignette backgrounds continuing the idea of
mystery and again linking everything together.
All products do successfully show links to each
other and unify to generate this brand identity
for ‘Arctic Monkeys’ with my ancillary tasks
connecting well with my main music video. The
house style links all products together visually
whilst the iconography intertwines them when
it comes to intended 1950s style and the ‘indie
rock’ genre of the featured track. All products
attract there audiences and fulfil their roles
and purposes.
How did you use media technologies
in the construction, research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Digital technology was heavily relied upon
during all stages of my project, it was
frequently used within the research, planning,
construction and even evaluation aspects of
my work. I used a range of headwear and
software in order to product my final media
product to a high quality.
For the research tasks the internet was critical,
it made it easy to be able to quickly search for
information that would help me find inspiration,
also to look into depth at all the aspects behind
the making of a music video. For example I was
able to find out about directors, this gave me a
sense of their individual style as I learnt what
I personally like and what I do not. ‘W.I.Z’ was
one of the directors I particularly liked, his work
had the exact type of look I aspired to go for,
that grainy, old fashioned look, as if the footage
was taken on a film camera. Having that access
to the internet enabled me to find all of this out
within a matter of minutes, this helped me really
grit and idea of what I hoped my music video
to look visually. I was also able to research into
much broader aspects such as my genre of
indie rock, I was able to put together a character
profile from the type of music, what I personally
liked and the 1950s look I wanted to go for. I
discovered more about the band I wanted to
feature in my video, ‘the arctic monkeys’ which
allowed me to listen to their music and connect
to the song further resulting in my music video
being a positive attribute to their track. I could
watch any one of their videos or other existing
videos that gave me inspiration by using
‘YouTube’ other websites or search engines such
as google.
For the planning tasks the internet was slightly
less useful, as these tasks would of had to be
done of more of the computer based software,
however was still helpful when uploading them
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4. to my blog. I did use internet programmes
such as issue, slide share, Prezi, or YouTube
to upload some of these tasks and embedded
them into my blog as these are much more
interesting forms in which to present my
work, making it a much more entertaining
experience for the reader, especially when
a task consists of a lot of text as opposed to
having to just read a block of writing. However
the main bulk of these tasks would have been
generated using PowerPoint, word, or even
Adobe illustrator.
I did also use specific websites, for my
feedback I created a survey using survey
monkey, this is a very useful site which allows
you to ask a wide range of people questions
to get feedback from your audience, this is
important as receiving this gave me a chance
to take in what others had said about my
music video and also other products so that
I would make changes to improve them as it
would be impossible for me to spot all of the
flaws myself. This also made my products
specified for an audience range and not just
what I wanted to create. Getting an in depth,
unanimous analysis from a third party had a
huge impact on my final result.
In terms of the software that I used, the most
useful and frequently opened, especially in the
actual production stage, was adobe premiere
pro, as this was the programme I actually used
to create my music video. After filming all of
my footage I was able to import it into this
application in order to review everything, and
quickly start going through it all to see what I
wanted to incorporate into my final product.
At the start of this project I was only just
familiar with the application and not completely
comfortable using it as there was still a lot left
to learn when it comes to using it to generate
a music video from scratch. As the project
proceeded I began getting use to the software,
I used the internet and YouTube to find new
techniques and methods that i would use on
this fairly new application. Teaching myself
new methods of editing and manipulating
my footage allowed me to get comfortable
using adobe premiere pro making the creative
process quicker and my work look much more
professionally refined. For a specific example,
some of my footage was quite ‘shaky’ as I
filmed a certain scene from the inside of a car, it
was almost impossible to keep the camera still,
therefore I used google to figure out how I could
fix or reduce this, I discovered that there is a
tool for this called the warp stabilizer. This tool
was extremely helpful and was discovered on
my own accord through the use of the internet.
This was not the only tool I used, I converted
all my footage into monochrome, played with
the brightness, added a spotlight to some of my
shots, I was even able to put some of my footage
into slow motion or speed up the frames per
second resulting in a variety of different shots
making my music video much more interesting.
This was not the only application I used,
Photoshop and Adobe illustrator also played a
huge role in the project, these were much more
useful when it came to creating my digi pack and
album advert, these were both created on Adobe
illustrator whist the images were manipulated
on Photoshop. By changing the images into
black and white and adding a slight grain gave
them that 1950s look I aspired to create, then
using the burn tool to darken the edges of the
photographs allows you to direct the audience’s
eyes and force a focal point to the image, in
my case it was my main model, the artist. Also
simply changing the contrast, brightness, levels
and curve of the image make those shuttle
changes to intensify the blacks and the whites
resulting in a much more refined and interest
image.
Overall, having access to all of this technology
has enabled me to create refined, professional
looking final products.
What have you learnt from audience
feedback?
Gathering audience feedback is important as
it allows you to take your product and make it
better, ensuring that it is entertaining to a variety
of an audience range and to a high standard.
When receiving this audience feedback I gained
a much greater understanding of what works well
in my music video and what possibly does not
and may need improving. Also with the feedback
I received, I still have to option to take what has
been suggested into consideration however this
feedback does not always have to be taken on
board, as some of the feedback can be down to
personal taste or opinion. If that opinion is not
what I intended for my music video then I would
not make that change, for example from an
individual analysis with an audience member
aged 18, feedback was given to add some
element of colour into my music video as they
thought that the monochrome style was too
bland, however I did not change this factor as
the black and white colour scheme was exactly
what I wanted as my own personal preference,
I feel as if the footage suits the song and is
much more visually appealing in this look.
To get feedback from people I created a survey
on survey monkey, class focus group, as well
having a variety of different people analyse my
music video, so that I could revive feedback
in person. I wanted to have feedback from a
wide range of audience types as my music
videos genre could be specified to an older
audience age range however the music video
and this particular track can be popular in
a younger age group. I would say my main
target audience is quite broad, 18-45 year
old predominantly males, with the ABC1,
demographic.
The majority of people thought that the music
video represented the song well. I feel like
this was a strong area for my product as
the specific visual style I went for, did relate
well to the genre of the music but did add a
modern twist on the original artist’s version of
the song. I do feel like a successfully reflected
the tone and meaning of the song through
the video, trying to connect with the lyrics
on many levels throughout the track. A few
audience members that analysed my video
did however give me areas to improve in, as
I received feedback on every draft I made I
did take some of this and changed my video
to include these improvements. One of the
largest change I made to my music video was
from my first draft. I got one to one feedback
from a male audience member aged 48 who
is into that specific genre of indie rock and
is familiar with the song, he did not feel as if
the meaning of the song was being reflected
as at this point, the only character featured in
my music video was the main artist. He felt
like it would be a huge attribute to the video
if I was to incorporate a female character in
some way into the video, at this point you did
see a females legs but not any other part,
he suggested that adding this aspect would
generate meaning to my music video as it would
then relate much more to the lyrics of the song,
as they are in fact about a woman. However
most people eventually favoured my music video
by the time I got to my final product sayi8ng that
it looks visually appealing and professional and
also appeals well to the large target audience
range.
Other feedback that I received from my first draft
were that there were not enough cuts, locations,
there is room for improvement when it comes
to using a wider variety of camera angles and
editing techniques. I took all of the feedback
from my first draft and used it to boost the
entertainment factor of my music video. I did add
in more cuts, effects and camera angles. You can
evidently see just how getting feedback really
does help by looking at the very first draft of my
music video, then looking at my final product.
Overall receiving feedback was very helpful for
me when it came to improving my product, as
I received a variety of responses and opinions
from difference audience members such as
fellow students, friends, family and teachers
I was able to improve my product on many
levels. To use different methods and platforms to
receive feedback, such as in groups, individually
and on survey monkey also benefited the
improvement to my work.
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