Media evaluation

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

2. In answering this particular question I had to know the original theories and
conventions to existing music videos, similar to my own; as well as website’s
advertising the artists and their promotional digipak’s. Only then could I
evaluate whether or not my products were consistent with those conventions.

3. GENERAL THEORY
The first theory I looked at was the GENERAL THEORY on music videos. This is
where the lyrics establish a general feeling and sense of subject rather than a
meaning. The tempo of the music often drives the editing. The GENRE might
be reflected in types of mise-en-scene, themes, performance, camera and
editing styles. CAMERAWORK, has a major impact on meaning, the movement,
angle and shot distance all play a part in the representation of the artist/band
(for example the use of close-ups will show inferiority and importance).
EDITING, is the most common form is fast-cut montage, rendering many
images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing.
Often enhancing the editing are digital effects, which play with the original
images to offer a different type of pleasure t the audience. INTERTEXUALITY,
not all viewers will recognise a reference which would not detract them from
theory pleasure in the text itself, but if the viewer was to realise the reference
it should increase the audiences engagement regarding the product. Lastly
EXHIBITIONSIM, this is where the powerful independent female artists portray a
image where the women is being sexually provocative and apparently in
control of, and inviting a sexual gaze.

4. When looking at the GENERAL
THEORY and comparing my
conventions to the lyrics, I believe
that my music video production does
follow the General Theory.
LYRICS: ‘Wine to the left, sway to the right, drop it down low, and take it
back high. No I don’t need introduction, follow my simple instruction.’
These lyrics already create a sense of ownership, independence and have
sexual connotations – representing exhibitionism. The audience can already
get a sense of what type of music video it will be because of the lyrics and
general tempo of the song.
MUSIC: When watching the video it is obvious that the music tempo has
been incorporated within the way I have staged and choreographed my
dance routine. As the music was fast and the beats where dominant I
wanted to make sure the scene changes took place exactly on the beats to
make it look more professional.

5. GENRE: From reading the lyrics and
listening to the song, to the
audience it is apparent that the
mise-en-scene has to also fit in with
what the song and lyrics suggest. In
order to do this I made sure that
after looking at conventions that it
fitted incorporated these within my
costuming and overall production.
However this was proven difficult
due to the time of year I was
shooting. Because filming took place
in winter time it was difficult to use
revealing and stereotypical ‘girls’
summer clothes. Nevertheless within
current fashion trends the
costuming of my band was
appropriate. The plain joggers with a
stripe down the side are very ‘in’
with the fashion hemisphere so
therefore helped bring a sense of
‘strong, independent and sexy’
women to my video; this is
something my video required, in
order to fit in with the conventions
of my music video.
CAMERAWORK: I had to create a sense
of power and independence within the
way I used the camera, varying
between long, mid and close-up shots
which made the video unpredictable
and changeable, I did this so that the
video wasn’t deemed ‘boring.’
Unfortunately due to the camera being
extremely heavy and having a very
large lense on the end it was difficult
to get a range of close-up and moving
shots without the footage being bad
quality which would make the overall
product look less professional.
I wanted to use a range of tilting as
well as moving shots of me going
around the girls dancing capturing
them one by one, using slow-motion
and fastening effects was also
something that I was keen on using
within my production in order to make
it look more powerful and give it an
exciting edge.

6. EDITING: Because my chosen song is fast paced and the beats are dominant, I made sure that the
shots changed with the beats. At the end of each phrase, whether it ended the entire section or
short phrase, I was keen to make the scene change on the beat to make the production look more
professional. This made editing very tight and difficult, but had to be precise in order to make the
final piece look good and professional.
INTERTEXTUALITY: I didn’t base my video on any specific references of
previous media, however I believe that the engagement of the audience was
increased as the music video was constantly moving, and attention wasn’t lost
trying to follow a storyline, as there wasn’t a specific narrative.

7. EXHIBITIONISM: Out of all of the conventions I
believe that this was the most apparent one when
watching my music video. This is because the
direct eye contact made from the artists when
mouthing the lyrics directly to the camera do seem
to be controlling of the audience. Not only does
this grab the attention of the viewers, it helps them
create a relationship with the audience and get
them to really understand the meaning of the song.
I personally think that it is these scenes that
increases the audiences curiosity and make them
want to see more.

8. ANDREW GOODWIN’S THEORY
This theory explains that the conventions of a music video are:
VISUALS which either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics
and music. GENRES often have their own music
style/iconography. CLOSE-UPS should always be included. The
ARTIST/BAND might want to develop their own star iconography,
which becomes their star image. VOYEURISM is a common theme
within music videos. INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCE are also popular.
Goodwin argues that the female performer is frequently
objectified principally for display purposes, often through a
combination of camerawork and editing with fragmented body
shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star.

9. GOODWIN AND FEMALE THEORY
One of Goodwin’s theories stated that the use of camera angles
and editing techniques can objectify female performers with
fragmented body shots emphasizing as well
as sexualising certain aspects of the individual.
I believe that within my music video production as well as my
digipak I conformed to this element of Goodwin’s theory.
The main individual as well as the back up dancers and singers
are objectified in this way. In my digipak this image of one of the
girls is very provocative insinuating flexible talent which in a
sense objectifies her as a female performer.
As well as this in the music video within the second verse on the
lyrics ’Step1, 2, 3, 4’ the specific more used in also quite
provocative and sexualized.
Many dance moves throughout also carry sexual connotations.
One particular way in which camerawork is used to objectify my
main female performer is a couple of scenes where the camera
pans from her breasts to her mouth, putting all attention onto
these parts of her body. Another example of this is on the lyrics
‘all my ladies’ where all the individuals backsides are facing the
camera.

10. When comparing my video to the common conventions I had researched I realised that
there were lots of similarities and few differences. Just like before I have stated that the
lyrics in the song help to illustrate the characteristics which I have tried to replicate
from other pieces of similar media. It does consist of any iconography of some sort as
each person who watched the video interpreted it in their own personal ways. We did
include close-ups however due to a weakness in time management skills and timing
we did not have enough time to shoot more close-ups which was planned from the
start. However I do not think a star image was created. Voyeurism was no portrayed
and it is very hard to make an intertextual reference when watching this video because
many people interrupt it in different ways.

11. HERE IS MY DIGIPAK

12. The front cover for my digipak was created using Photoshop; the front
cover is a mixture of all the common images and layouts I have used
throughout my website and my digipak. I used the common conventions
of my digipak as a whole to make sure that continuity ran throughout. I
used the contrast of the black and white background against the city
and text in colour to keep the continuity of the colour scheme running
through my production.
In comparison to the previous digipaks that I had researched the front
cover was pretty unique as the changing colour of the background was a
particular feature which I haven’t come across in other R&B digipak
designs. So here I have challenged the codes and conventions of similar
media products.
This helped to create a strong link between all three products and
emphasise the ‘brand identity.’ The image is very dark however fitted in
well with the rest of the tone of my digipak as well as the costuming of
my music video.
In Photoshop I dropped the image of the city in and played around with
the colouring of it to make it keep continuity with the rest of the colours
in my house colours: pinks, white, grey and black. I was able to edit it in
order to get my black background with the ‘X’ involved within my
productions.
Mise-en-scene is also extremely effective creating a sense of ‘brand
identity’ using the colours which I had used throughout the rest of my
production.

13. WITHIN THE CODES
& CONVENTIONS OF
COMMON DIGIPAKS
I believe that my digipak does follow
most of the codes and conventions
that I researched within my type of
music production. In most of the
digipaks I observed bright colours
were used with natural lighted
images; as well as this the CD
designs were normally simple, with
not too much going on, but enough
to make the brand recognisable.
However my inside two pages are
unique in comparison to ones that I
evaluated within my research and
planning. Here are some of the
inside images I evaluated in
comparison to my final inside image
production.

14. UNIQUENESS OF MY INSIDE
IMAGES
I wanted to make my inside images unique, although the blurb and front cover of my digipak
followed the common conventions of similar digipaks, the colour scheme was a lot darker which
is why I really wanted to make my inside images stand out against other products of similar
conventions to mine; this would enable me to make the most sales in the real life media industry.
I also wanted to feature some images of the band in my digipak production because they hadn’t
featured on the front or back page. I also wanted to use some naturalistic images of the band to
make sure that they followed the general theory of media production; I also wanted to do this to
create an intimate relationship between band and audience.

15. HERE IS MY WEBSITE
https://rebeccapollen24.wixsite.com/m
isfits-uk

16. DOES MY WEBSITE OBEY ITS CODES&CONVENTIONS?
I believe that the characteristics of
my website do reflect some of those
which I had researched within my
research and planning. Most of them
used bright colours, attention
grabbing photographs and unique
layouts. I believe that the layout of
my front page is eye grabbing as it
features many different singular and
group photographs; this would
attract the target audience because
they are interested in the band from
previously seeing them elsewhere
which would have led them to the
website.
The bright pinks used also obey
‘girly’ stereotypes; as well as this the
eye grabbing colours which obey
similar conventions of bright colours
used on websites such as The
Vamps, Fifth Harmony and Little mix.
The way in which my website is
easily navigatable also conveys the
same features as those that I had
researched. As well as this the
writing and information involved
is minimal and simplistic, this
makes the website more exciting
and not boring.
The different hyperlinked pages
are also commonly seen
throughout the other websites
that I researched.
The style and iconography used
also helps to promote my music
video as there is continuity within
my different products. This obeys
Andrew Goodwin's theory of
genres displaying the
conformative norms of current
media within the R&B industry.

17. After researching band websites such as fifth harmony, the vamps and Little
Mix, I realised that they all have their own set of unique conventions. In the
production process, I knew I had to create a website which looked realistic and
professional, following and including conventions such as:
• Band name,
• Band bio,
• Image gallery,
• New album release
information,
• News,
• Social media connections,
• Tour information,
• Latest music video and
• Information about the band.

18. OVERALL OPINION OF
DIGIPAK&WEBSITE
I think that, in my opinion the final production of my website, digipak and
music video cover all of the particular conventions I had previously researched
prior to production. Making the website look incredibly professional. Like any
other home music page, and other hyperlinked pages; I personally feel that
the strongest element of my production is the continuity within my products,
the combinations of the background, colour schemes and text fonts make
sure that the ‘brand’ of my band is recognisable.