2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
POP PROMO
My pop promo uses many conventions of real media products and have been developed to challenge
them.
The first media product I created was a Pop Promo. From researching pop promos on the themes of
loneliness and acoustic style music there are certain conventions which I have taken into consideration
for my own pop promo. Overall the videos I researched were dull and desaturated which added to the
mood of the video and enhanced the overall atmosphere giving it a more ‘depressing and lonely’ feel.
They only included one main actor, which is something I have done in my promo, although in the music
videos I researched there were other appearance's. From my knowledge of different shots, I was able to
use a variety of different shot types throughout my pop promo. Although my video is very visual my
main aim was to create a very narrative outlook on the story. To begin with its not obvious what is
actually happening, as in my opening scene where the character is sitting on a couch with his arm
around someone, its soon revealed that he is on his own as the camera cuts to a wide shot of the couch.
Here I aimed to create a reaction from the audience and make them question what was a wrong with
the character. I used several locations, something which I found was a popular trend for these kind of
music videos whilst researching other pop promos. I think my cinematography came across well in telling
the narrative story about a man with mental disabilities. As my research progressed on these types of
music videos I got a sense of what shot types to incorporate into my own video. For example I used
many close ups to show the characters facial expression which can help align the audience to the
character and sympathise with him. As it was difficult to get a female actor to stand in as the actual
musician I structured my video purely around a narrative, unlike lots of music videos which cut from the
actual storyline to the musician playing their instrument or singing.
3. My idea developed quite a lot over the space of two months due to several
reasons. First of all I found it hard to find actors/actresses for my video.
Originally I wanted to use at least 3-4 actors three for the storyline and then
one as the actual musician. However once I did find people who were willing
to act in my promo, they would either drop out or couldn’t make a shoot
causing me set backs on filming. Eventually I just decided to completely
restructure my idea around one actor. Although I did this it actually worked
out better for my idea as the storyline became more interesting and I soon
found I had more ideas to work with than I originally started with. Once I had
storyboarded my second idea and began shooting everything seemed to fall
into place and I managed to finish shooting my pop promo within a day. Once
I had got the editing finished I think my pop promo could challenge typical
forms of real media products as the feed back I was given was very positive
and I was told my idea really captured the audiences attention. It wasn’t just a
typical music video it actually had a story which you had to think about,
which created more interest for the audience.
4. • DVD Cover
From researching different styles of dvd covers, I learnt the basic layouts and main features of them. I began
looking at the different features such as record company logos, rating logos and social media logos such as
twitter. Next I looked at image placement and where different bits of text would go on my dvd cover. I preferred
the title to stay at the top of the page as I worked the text around my image. I used a quote from the lyrics on
the front of the cover, something which I seen on the sound of music dvd cover. I left the back of my dvd cover
fairly blank, I used three made up quotes, from real music magazines and then included as special features
section about the making of my pop promo. These are all basic features of the dvd covers I have looked at. The
final thing I added was a twitter logo with a link to the artists twitter and a hashtag promoting the video. This
breaks out into the online market allowing people to view much more content online than they are getting
from a physical ad.
Magazine Advert
From researching magazine adds I was able to see the main features which make up a good magazine advert,
and incorporate them into my own. The magazine adverts I looked at were very simple but effective in
promoting the artist and their music. There is typically one main image, with minimal text which is usually titles
of the song or album and a few quotes selling the album to the audience. Again I put the twitter tag in, as its
very easy for people to look online for this artist and view more content which is a great selling point for any
artist. The text I used for the title was more fancy which caught the audiences attention and then used a more
formal font for the rest of the text keeping it consistent and easy to read. I used the same two colour theme as I
did in my dvd cover for the text to make it more visually attractive and also easier to read over the main image
as it was slightly dark and de saturated.
5. How effective is the combination of your main product
and ancillary texts?
I think the combination of my main product and ancillary texts are very effective. By using the video stills from
my pop promo, this linked straight into my dvd cover and mag ad as they are straight from the video and not
separate images I have taken. I have also used the same fonts throughout the dvd cover and advert. I used a
more fancy font for the titles in order to stand out to the audience, and then a more formal font for the quotes
and other text. As both pictures are taken straight from the pop promo they are both desaturated making it
instantly recognisable that they are linked together.
6. What have you learned from your audience
feedback?
Dvd cover feedback.
“At its first appeal, the character from the cover stands out and acts as an effective
form of encouragement to watch the pop promo. The colours used are effective in the
sense that it represents the characters defragmented health. The font used is
consistent, it looks neat and tidy and in proportion to the surroundings. The main,
important information stands out from the use of italics and bold formats. The images
that are portrayed on the cover represent the origin of the promo and this works in
collaboration with the MTV’s impeccable, famous brand name. This adds to the image
of the character as a way of attracting the public to view the promo, essentially
making full use of the DVD cover.”
From my audience feed back on my dvd cover I have learnt that the techniques I have
used on my dvd cover are effective in matching the mood and representation of the
character in my pop promo. The use of a blur filter on the background singles out the
character and helps people see that he is alone. Ive learnt that my work could be used
as a real medai product as it represents the qualities of real media products very
closely making full use of, company logos, rating logos and also social media logos.
7. • Music magazine advert feedback.
Mag advert feedback.
“When looking at the music magazine advertisement, once again the main influence on the music is
portrayed in a large and effective way, urging whoever views the ad to deluge further behind the
scenes. On this sheet there is a variety of colours used in order to outline the main points. However in
my opinion the colour used doesn’t contrast enough to the background image and therefore making it
hard to read. The twitter symbol in the corner helps relate to the younger generation, as they perceive
the logo as symbolic to their age group. As well as this it acts as another promotional advertisement as
the more people that interact with ‘Kal Lavelles’ page, the more it will trend and the more popular it will
become”.
I have learnt from the feedback on my music advert, that is works well in consistency with my dvd cover
and pop promo as the images are taken straight from the promo allowing it to be easily recogniseable.
Also the variety of colours I have used outline my main points on the advert such as relevant quotes and
important information such as tour dates. However I can see that the colours I have used have made it
slightly hard to read at a distance and has made me consider using a completely different colour. Again
the use of twitter mentions seemed to be very popular as people agree that it’s a good way to promote
something online and the fact they can just get there phone out and browse this artists music where
ever they are with ease of access.
8. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
As I created my digipack I used several types of technology in the consturction,research, planning and evaluation stages. First of all I learnt how to use
Panasonic HD cameras which we used to film our pop promos on. We did a workshop on them to learn the main functions needed to create our pop promo.
We then had a tutorial on final cut pro which was the editing software we used to edit our pop promo together. I learnt how to load the clips into the
timeline and arrange them in the sequence I wanted my video to run in. Once I had put them into sequence I began looking at the different types of
transitions and how each one could create a different mood for the clips. I mostly used cuts however in the final scene where the character goes from laying
in a field to then being in a park, I've used a fade in transition in order to show the passing of time between the different locations. The next thing I did was
image correct each clip as a lot of them were fairly dark, especially in the indoor location. From adjusting the brightness, contrast and gamma I managed to
get the picture to look better. However because it was so dark, the image became slightly grainy which deduces the quality of the image, however it did
work in my favour as it looks more cinematic which is what I aimed for. After I finished creating the pop promo, I began researching dvd covers using the
web and actually looking at physical copies of music dvd’s. We then had a Photoshop tutorial to brush up on our skills from last year, and then began
working on on putting together my own dvd cover. Again I used an image straight out of the video which was a scene of the character walking down a road
‘talking to himself’. As I continued my research I began looking at different styles of photography and photographers that have looked at ‘lonely’ as a
theme. I found some pictures dealing with long depth of field photography which dragged my attention to the main object in the shot. This is what I
wanted for my dvd cover, so in Photoshop I used a blur filter to blur out the background slightly, while keeping the character in focus. This was to focus all
the attention on the main character but it can also tell the audience abit about the story behind the music video. Obviously without watching it the
audience wouldn’t know what its about, and in the picture I've used the character looks fairly happy. From watching the promo its revealed that he is
mentally ill and he was actually talking to himself, although he believed he was actually talking to a real person. The use of long depth of field here singles
him out from the rest of the location and implies the theme of loneliness. From looking at several dvd covers I seen many features special features with
interviews with the cast and other things involving the making of the video. This is something I decided to include in my own cover, and I think the
placement of it fits well with the image.
I then moved onto making my own magazine add for my pop promo. Again I did some research on the different styles of adverts. They all seem to stick to a
fairly simple and minimal style with one main image promoting them, and then some ratings and quotes about their music. Although simple the quotes and
main image came across strongly attracting me to the advert and wanting to find out more. This is something I have considered when making mine. I think
the main thing which differs from the adverts I have looked at is that I have used twitter tags to the artist and hashtags so that people could view the video
and music online. This is a major selling point as people are always using there phones for twitter, so the ease of just searching the particular hashtag is
much better than it would be it they were to just see the physical ad then try look the artist up later on. My main image was of the main character in my
pop promo. I used a mid shot of him so that you could see the expression on his face and somewhat sympathise with the character. I've then placed two
quotes relating to the making of the music video and then the actual track itself. To fill up the rest of the space I was considering ratings from several music
magazines, however instead I liked the idea of tour dates for the artist and it was more filling on the actual image. I was consistent with my colour themes
throughout my dvd cover and magazine advert using one colour for the title or quote. Then a second colour for the artist and magazines who have said the
quotes.
