2. In what ways does your media product
use, develop and challenge forms of
real media?
3. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms of real
media?
I started the project by researching and analysing different music videos of different
genres so I was able to understand the typical codes and conventions used. I found that
close ups were a commonly used shot used to film the artist and if they are playing an
instrument. Lip syncing was also used often through out the videos as part of the editing
process with diegetic sound used when there was a narrative in the video. I found this
initial research helpful as it gave me a better understanding of the different types of music
video and gave me an idea of the kind of things I'd need to include. I watched music
videos for different genres initially then when I had chosen to do the singer/songwriter
genre I looked into more music videos specific to that genre (blog post 7/11/2014). From
this I learnt that there is a stronger focus on the music more than the production and that
commonly the video cuts between the narrative and the artist playing the instrument
which is generally guitar.
Camera
Throughout my video most of the camera work is hand held which seems to be a
relatively common convention of the singer-songwriter genre. I chose to do this because I
thought it would be more personal. This involves the audience more in the narrative and
they can identify with the relationship that is being shown. The idea of the video was to
have the memories of the artists old partner as a montage. This idea was inspired by a
music video I watched made by youtuber Bribry. (blog post 21/11/2014). I thought this
style of filming would be more personal. Similarly, Jake Bugg uses quite a lot of handheld
in his music video 'Lightning Bolt' which is similar to the style mine is filmed in. However,
his camera moves around a lot more than mine and is a lot more obvious. In this way I
think I conform to the generic conventions more because mine is more subtle and gentle
whereas his is very over the top. As I am building upon generic conventions of a genre,
this fits into Schatz and Wright's theory on the concept of genre and so I am aiding in this
process; this therefore is how I am developing the forms of real media.
4. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms of real
media?
I generally used mid shots and close ups to continue to develop this form as this
further made the filming seem personal and emphasised the relationship more. Close
ups are very common in music videos in general, more so in the singer-songwriter
genre. I used close ups when the artist was playing the guitar to put more emphasis
on the song and the artist. It also puts more emphasis on the singing and guitar
playing, and the audiences' engagement through familiarity and repetition.
Another real video from the genre my product can be compared to
is 'Listen to the Man' by George Ezra, which includes quite a few
pans. This is similar to what I try to do in my video at points such as at 0.33 to try to
represent the “playing” described in the lyrics whilst still following the love interest.
However, my attempts aren't as smooth or professional as the ones shown in 'Listen
to the Man'.
Another way my music video fits current stylistic aspects of the genre is because a
few shots are quite blurry. This kind of blurry, out of focus shot is also shown in other
videos in the genre such as 'Run' by Jasmine Thompson and very heavily in
'Lightning Bolt' where the majority of shots are out of focus and shaky.
(Jake Bugg)
5. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms of real
media?
Editing
My music video is quite similar to others from the singer-songwriter genre through
editing. For example George ezra's Listen to the Man focuses heavily on lip syncing
which I have also used in my music video as it helps to develop the genre through
showing the artist performing instead of it all being just narrative. Although, initially I
hadn't got any lip syncing in the video, I just had the artist playing the guitar but I
thought it would be best to add it in as then the audience could relate the video to the
genre more easily. However, when I added the lip syncing in I found it hard to make
the footage of him singing match the track and therefore the timing is out at some
points.
I think the narrative parts of my video work fairly well as it follows the lyrics and I think
it's quite clear when there is a change in boyfriend to show that Imogen with Charlie is
more like a memory, which is what I was trying to achieve. It was important to have a
clear narrative as they are most prominent in music videos, they need to be clear so
the audience can understand what is going on.
The editing of my music video is quite common and fits well into the conventions of
the singer-songwriter genre. The pace of the video is similar to the music, for
example at 2.33 the music slows down quite a lot and the video clips are longer and
move more slowly. This is similar to the music video for 'Lightning Bolt' by Jake Bugg
as the cuts used are quite fast which match the pace of the song. My editing is also
quite smooth as all the clips fit well together and I think the timing of the clips fit in
well with the music.
(George Ezra)
6. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms of real
media?
My music video subverts the conventions on the singer-songwriter genre in some
ways. In music videos from the genre I have seen, the main focus in the video tends
to be the artist. However, in mine I follow the girlfriend from the narrative more; she
has more of the focus. I carefully considered my sound and vision editing to subvert
this convention.
There is still quite a lot of footage of the artist but he isn't the most prominent
throughout the video. The narrative follows Imogen more in her change of boyfriend
which puts more emphasis on the lyrics and sad/melancholy tone of the song.
However, this could still fit into the genre because the focus is still on the song.
Furthermore, in my video I use fades which aren't very commonly used in the singer-
songwriter videos I have looked at. Therefore this editing technique I have used
subverts the conventions of the genre. Although I still think it looks effective apart
from at 1.52 where I don't think it works as well because it was meant to depict
Imogen leaving and disappearing which does work, however, Charlie is in a different
place after the fade which makes it look less effective and professional.
7. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms of real
media?
Mise-en-scene
I chose to have the setting of my music video outside, which is quite a common
setting for singer-songwriter videos such as those of George Ezra, who uses an
outdoor scene and Jasmine Thompson's 'Run'.
Mine is quite similar to 'Run' as both artists are out in a wood playing their
instruments however, my imagery of the guitar isn't as striking as the piano but it
clearly represents and puts emphasis on the singer-songwriter genre for the audience
to identify with. It puts importance on the song and the music thats put together to
make it which is a main aim of the genre.
The lighting is also quite similar. I wanted to be able to film all the outdoor shots with
the natural sunlight as I thought this looked most effective and it gave some good
effects and shots of the chorus especially.
I also chose to have the setting in a house at points to show the more personal side
to their relationship so the memories seem stronger to him and show they were close
which also puts emphasis on how much he misses her.
(George
Ezra)
(Jasmine Thompson)
8. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms of real
media?
Sound
I chose not to use any diegetic sound in my video as I thought the video explained
the lyrics and narrative enough without needing reinforcement from diegetic sound. I
think this is quite common across most singer-songwriter videos as the focus less on
the production and more on the music. Videos with longer introductions usually have
diegetic sound such as in 'The Power of Love' by Gabrielle Aplin where the song
comes in at 0.24. My song was long enough anyway and I don't think I needed a
longer introduction to set the tone.
The song itself fits well into the singer-songwriter genre because there is quite a long
intro of guitar which is quite common amongst songs from the genre however, when
the singing comes in it is generally louder whereas for my song the guitar and singing
are on the same level where the guitar generally becomes quieter and the singing is
louder. Most songs focus around the theme of love and relationships so my song fits
well into the themes of the majority of the other pre-existing songs.
The pace of my song is also in keeping with the majority of other songs in the genre.
They are all quite upbeat, like those of George Ezra, but aren't particularly fast paced
which is similar to my song.
Overall I feel that my product develops the forms of real media more than challenging
them therefore, allowing the audience to identify with a new artist working within this
genre.
9. How effective is the combination of
your main product and ancillary
texts?
10. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Throughout my digipak and advert I kept the font (moon flower) constant however, I
don't keep the colour of the font the same across them both. This could have been
changed by making the font on both products the same colour to make the products
even more identifiable. I think the font looks most effective in white like on my advert
but that wouldn't have worked on my digipak due to the black and white theme where
white font would have been lost.
At first there wasn't much synergy between the digipak and advert. To improve on this
I was advised to change one of the panels on my digipak because I used two similar
guitar images. Therefore, I changed one of them to the picture I used for my advert
which I just cropped so it fitted the panel. I also made the advert image black and
white so it fitted in with the theme of the digipak. Furthermore, this image and
recognition of the artist and the guitar is initiated in the video as well.
11. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Reflecting upon Steve Neale's ideas regarding the tripartite relationship between
audience, genre and media texts, I realised the importance of trying to create some
form of graphic match such as the images of the guitar and font so that my audience
could relate my product.
There are a few links between the ancillary texts and the music video such as the
emphasis on the guitar which is prominent throughout all texts.
I make the artists name and album name very prominent across the ancillary texts
however, I make no reference to his name in the music video. To improve this I could
have made the artist more identifiable across all three texts.
I made my digipak black and white and my advert was in colour. To create more
synergy between the two I could have included colour in my digipak however. When I
did try this it didn't look very good so I think overall it looks better as it is with the few
things that link them as it is. If I had changed the colour it might have made it clearer
to the audience to identify between the texts like they could with the font being the
same.
Although, I think my poster is good and the picture I took looks quite professional and
effective. However, I think I could have included more things to make it a more
conventional poster. I don't think it's particularly clear what the advert is selling so
more reference to digipak might make it more effective. Similarly to other pre-existing
posters:
Furthermore I could have included an included list that
tells the audience songs already released by the artist or
ratings of the album from prominent magazines.
13. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
I created a questionnaire to find out what my audience thought about the three
products I had made, with questions that would provoke detailed answers on what
they thought. Initially I asked their gender and age to make sure I had feedback from
my target audience and their specific thoughts on what I'd made. The majority of
people I asked were female and between the age of 16-30 which was my initial target
audience so I know the feedback I get will be relevant.
The first question I asked was if they liked the video and why. I wanted more detailed
responses so I knew exactly what people liked. These are some of the positive
comments I received:
● “I like the varied camera angles and complex story.”
● “It related to the music, rather than being ambiguous and irrelevant.”
● “I liked your video because of the handheld camera and natural feel to it”
● “The music video was well put together and I liked the repeated scenes as it
emphasised the singer missing the girl.”
● “positive outlook and generally well made while being pleasant to watch”
I received 100% positive feedback for this question which would suggest I managed
to make quite a successful video as my audience enjoyed watching it. I was quite
relieved to find out my audience liked the concept of my narrative by following the
lyrics and understood the narrative as I was worried it might not have been clear
enough.
14. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The second question I asked was if they recognised the genre my music video fit into.
The majority of my audience (85%) said it was singer-songwriter which suggests
that my video fit clearly into the genre as people were able to
recognise that this was the genre of my song and music video. I
followed quite a few of the conventions of the singer-songwriter
genre such as the focus on the guitar and the artist and I must have
done this effectively as my audience were able to recognise it.
The third question asks what my audience liked about the video. This gives them a
chance to expand from their ideas in the first question and give me an even more
detailed reason. Here are a few responses:
15. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
There is quite a clear appeal of my video to my target audience. They liked the way
my music video had meaning and represented the song well and furthermore they
liked my handheld shots and found the editing smooth. This feedback is very positive
and reassuring for my video as there are many parts to it that my audience enjoyed.
Another question I asked to oppose the previous one was what my audience thought
could have been improved. Here are some main responses:
● “Possibly some more/ different shots/footage shown at the start instead of some of
the repeats? Eg Imogen on the swings shown only once or twice instead”
● “There could be more transitions between different scenes”
● “Some lip syncing could be improved maybe more varied ideas instead of repeats”
● “duration of the different scenes could be decreased slightly for more immersive
entertainment. “
● “Some shots were a bit shaky.”
I received quite good feedback from this question. A few people suggested it might
have been more interesting if I hadn't used as many repeats so there is more variety
to become involved in. Also they picked up on how some of my lip syncing was out of
time which, I agree, could have been improved as I found it hard to align both the
footage and singing perfectly. I could have included a wider variety of transitions
between shots as I mainly just used straight cuts and a few fades. This might have
made the footage flow better.
16. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
On reflection if I had more time when it came to filming I would have been able to
change more things to my music video to make it better overall.
Furthermore I don't like I achieved what I hoped to when it came to repeating footage
for the chorus. I think in my video it looks too similar and less imaginative with such
repetitive images which, from the audience feedback, I have learned some of my
audience thought as well. To improve on this I could have got audience feedback
throughout the process by getting them to comment on rough cuts instead of one
main evaluation when I'd finished my music video. This would have enabled me to
adapt my video during the process so it suited my audience better and meant that I
could use their feedback more actively.
17. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Finally I asked whether people thought the digipak and advert were well made and if
it would entice them to buy the digipak. I wanted to know if what I had made had been
effective in trying to sell the music to my audience. Here are some responses I had:
● “the cover was simple and is easily remembered.”
● “Yes, the pictures are relevant yet interesting and the black and white suits the overall
tone from the music video.”
● “yes, I would buy the album because it interested me and it looked professional”
● “Yes I liked the black a white effects on the digipak, with the font used making the
album much more enticing possibly reaching out to a teenage audience.”
● “Yes the images show variation and suggests the album would have various different
songs too”
I received positive feedback yet again from this question as the majority of my
audience said that both ancillary tasks were well made and they would entice them to
by the album. They liked that it was easily memorable and the photos I used were
interesting and also suited the tone from the video suggesting I created synergy
between all three of my texts.
Overall I was pleased with the feedback I was given from my audience as I was given
some positive and encouraging feedback about all three texts I made including some
relevant and well thought out improvements I could have made.
18. How did you use new media
technologies in the construction and
research, planning and evaluation
stages?
19. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Camera
When filming I used a Sony Handycam I had experience of using these cameras before
from AS however, I didn't do as much filming as I have had to in A2 so I have had to
become more familiar with the camera by setting it up myself. I found the camera quite
simple to use while filming as it's not very complicated. It might have helped me to
practise zooms and pans however before I started filming as I had to try several
attempts at the zoom at 2.40 because it kept stopping or was too fast therefore, not
being smooth enough to look effective.
I liked the effects I could make through the camera with the sun at 1.15-1.22. I
discovered this whilst filming and thought it look very pretty and effective. I also figured
out how to make some shots blurry which I quite like for example at 0.39 whilst lighting
the candles I think it looks good having it blurry.
My camera skills at A2 have improved greatly from AS as I have got to use the camera
more to play around with the different shots I can get with it and the different effects I
can make and I could make my own creative decisions to what I thought looked good or
not. However, I still think some more technical shots like zooms and pans could be
improved as they still aren't to a high standard.
Tripod
I used a tripod with my camera for the few shots I wanted to do that were still. At points
I struggled to attach the camera to the tripod which meant when trying to film some of
my shots were shaky because my camera wasn't securely attached to the tripod. This,
therefore, meant I had to re-film some of the still shots. It also gave me chance to
change the height of my shots when filming the artist singing which gave me more
varied shots so the performance part of my video was too boring and repetitive.
20. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Adobe Photoshop
I had experience of using photoshop from doing GCSE media where I had to make
perfume adverts so making the advert for my digipak wasn't too much of a
challenging task. However, I had to refresh my knowledge of photoshop as when
making the logo I struggled to remember how to make the background transparent so
I could move the logo around and put it onto my digipak without it having a coloured
background.
The font I used on my advert I found easy to edit and make it stand out and look bold
because I had good experience of this from doing adverts at GCSE. I feel like I could
have added more to my advert like adding on a picture of the digipak as I could have
done this with my knowledge of photoshop and it would have been clearer to the
audience what the advert was trying to sell.
21. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Adobe Premiere
I had quite limited knowledge of using premiere as although I had used it in AS I didn't
spend much time editing as another member in my group did most of it. I had
knowledge of the basics like how to cut up clips and add in some effects such as
fades. I didn't really do anything more complex than this when it came to editing
anyway.
Struggled to lip sync, it took me quite a while to match the song to the footage
precisely to make it the words match the footage. However, I think this is a skill that
just takes practise and time to make sure you get it right.
I found exporting the video especially hard and I had to watch youtube videos and
research how to do it which look me a lot longer than it could have. I didn't realise
there were so many exporting options which confused my quite a lot.
22. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Google Drive
I used this to create questionnaires as I already had knowledge from using it at AS. I
used it to find out initially about my target audience and then what they thought of my
products once I had made them. This was very helpful and was an easy way to get
fast responses from my audience. I tried to tailor my questions so I would find out
exactly what my audience would want to see or expect in my video and what they
liked or didn't like about it when it was made. The programme gave me all of the
responses in a table so I could easily look at the data and compare all the longer
responses.
Youtube
I used this website when researching as I could easily access lots of music videos to
watch and learn the conventions of certain genres by comparing a few different
videos from the singer-songwriter genre.
I also uploaded my video onto youtube so I could imbed it into my blog I hadn't
uploaded a video to youtube before so initially I didn't really know what to do.
However, it wasn't a particularly hard process when I started to upload it.
This platform for uploading videos is a good way for my video to be distributed and to
reach my audience as it is a popular site where many artists post their music videos
to be seen by a very wide audience. From here the video can be shared across other
social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter where an even wider audience with
similar tastes could be able to see my video.
23. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Blogger
I know exactly how to use this platform seeing as I used it to make my foundation
portfolio at AS as well. I had knowledge of how to embed questionnaires and videos
etc to make my blog look better and to make things easier to access instead of
having to follow links.
The website allowed me to put up all the work I was doing as I went and allowed me
to evaluate and write about what I was posting throughout. It also allowed me to
easily access my research and storyboard as everything is dated and easy to find.
Furthermore whenever I had an idea for filming I could write it up on my blog and plan
what I was going to do with my time when filming.
Here are example posts of how I used blogger to keep myself organised with a filming
plan and also how I used it to store my research that I could refer back to:
24. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Overall, I think I used media technologies effectively when it came to the construction
of my music video and I also think I made good use of platforms such as youtube and
blogger when it came to the research and planning parts of my process. They allowed
me access to a wide range of information I needed and allowed me to put all my work
in a place which was organised and easy to use.
