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1. QUESTION 1 [VIDEO]
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
What did you learn about what the conventions were of real media texts? And what
conventions you have included / not included and why?
?
What did you learn about real genre conventions and what genre conventions have
you included / not included and why?
From our research and planning stage of our media product, we studied real media texts of
the genre we had chosen our music video to be based off. I focused on two main types of
genre, rap and indie music videos, as they were part of our songs genre. By viewing the
content ‘Run the Jewels - Legend Has It’, I learnt that the rap genre main conventional
features are focusing the camera on the main character/performer of the video as rap videos
are mainly performance based instead of narrative based. For the indie genre, I researched
into ‘Imagine Dragons – Radioactive’, The genre uses mise en scene to form the convention
of the ‘retro look’ in Indie music videos, where the clothing usually goes back in history to
make them seem and look different. This found in the narrative, where people are wearing
cowboy hats and encouraging ‘animal’ fighting, although the main characters are wearing
casual urban clothing which shows the range of mise en scene and how it varies.
After researching into these two main genres, I decided to our media product will use
hybridity between the two. Our media products mise en scene used and developed the use
of clothing, using more urban casual clothing following the indie path, however we used
darker lighting to follow the rap theme. Furthermore, for our camera, it was more heavily
focused on close ups as our music video was performance based, a more conventional part
of the rap genre. However, we decided to not include the body language presented in this
genre (rap), such as the upfront and sluggish movements as we felt it wasn’t suitable for the
chosen song and challenged it with a more casual and formal approach, letting the body
language flow with the meaning of the lyrics. This approach was more appropriate for the
indie genre included in this video as they aim for the performer to be more energetic based
on the song. We focus on the lyrics forming the meaning and emotion behind the music
video.
As genres become established the audiences begin to have certain expectations, these
expectations being the generic conventions that have been established which audiences
would expect and be gratified from. Focusing on this video, a common and average fan base
for an indie artist would be interested in the use of mise en scene (urban based clothing),
along with the emotion of the performer following the emotion and flow of the songs pace
and lyrical meaning. Those who are a fan of rap will be gratified using camera shots, as they
are interested in the conventions of close ups along with the music video heavily focused on
performance, they are able to watch what they would expect from the music videos genre.
The target audience we aimed for have expectations on what they are going to watch and
listen too beforehand, and if these are fulfilled they would be more likely to be appealed
towards it.

2. What did you learn about real ancillary conventions and what ancillary conventions
have you included / not included and why?
From my research and planning stage of my media product, I studied real media digipaks
from the genre(s) Indie Rock and Hip-Hop. I focused on the band ‘Twenty-One Pilots’ as the
main influence behind how I designed my digipak during my ancillary task. Their colour
scheme was bold (black, white and red). This is conventional of the genre, indie bands like
to be independent and different from the other genres, such as giving themselves a defining
form of art – the circles are placed on their posters and digipaks to appeal to their target
audience. (Adding another example – the ancillary research didn’t have the other genres
analysed on them)
After researching into how bands from the indie genre designed their digipaks, we followed
the conventions of having a defined colour scheme and use of art to stand out and make
their work bold. In my digipak, I used a bold black strip across the name of album under the
influence of the indie genre to help my work stand out. As well as this, the ancillary task
revolved around the use of a 3D tree sprouting upwards. Furthermore, we followed the plain
but simple colour scheme of black and grey.
This use of conventions in ancillary task appeal to my target audience as they mainly indie-
based due to our use of conventions in our music video. The use of colours in my digipak
are bold and defining to catch the attention of my audience, following the conventional use of
colour of indie digipaks. As this is something they’ll expect (both colour schemes are
followed in poster and DVD pack), this’ll appeal to them. As well as this, the use of art is eye-
catching and a symbol of our work, just like the circles used in Twenty-One Pilots album, we
have the use of the black stripe and 3D tree branches, another convention followed that’ll
appeal to our targeted audience.
QUESTION 2 PREZI
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
How and why is having a “house style” or “brand identity” when creating multiple
media products?
When producing multiple media products, there is an inherent need for all of those to link
together, to relate and have their own identity so the audience know and understand who the
artist is just by knowing and seeing their ‘brand identity’ on media products. Without this
brand identity, an artist’s media products can easily be mistaken as separate artist’s work if
they aren’t a dedicated fan.
A brand identity needs to be simple, bold and easy to recognize to be effective at their
purpose and have an active audience. A clear example of this would be ‘Twenty-One Pilots’,
and their brand identity of circles/marbles on media products, allowing their music products
and digipaks/ancillary’s to link and be relatable – helping the audience they target to
recognise them.
How have you created a “brand identity” across your main product and ancillary
tasks? Similar images, colours, wording, style etc?
The main theme of my main product and my ancillary task is based on mental health and
depression in which the meaning of the album and song is clearly shown to the audience.

3. The colour scheme of my ancillary task is black and grey, two character which are closely
associated with this theme of sadness and depression. Although not entirely linked between
both products, the art of the ancillary task further pushes the idea of being about mental
health, in which the 3D branches growing outwards symbolises the view that mental health
does the same thing, settling the mood of the album. In the digipak I avoided the use of
anything ‘flashy’ or complicated to keep it simple and straight to the point of letting the mood
of the album cover speak for itself.
In the main product, the colour scheme is used again to allow the mood of the music video
speak for itself instead of adding anything too ‘big’ to show the meaning. The mise en scene
of the main characters clothing is black and grey, like that of the ancillary task. Dark lighting
was used as well to create the depressive mood intended in the music video and the
ancillary task, to try and create the Brand Identity using colour. Both products are quite
simple and plain, both using the method of trying to let the music videos lyrics control the
pace and mood, while the ancillary task uses its art and colours to have the same effect.
How do you think your ancillary task design will “sell” the main product to the
audience?
Our ancillary task has both advantages and disadvantages on being able to sell the main
product to the targeted audience.
The ancillary task follows the evident theme of the album and main product effectively, as to
not fool the audience. Due to the colour scheme (black/grey) it brings clarity to the meaning
and mood of the album which is sad and depressive, while being defining and unique. This
clarity will mean that the audience will understand the theme of the main product and will
enjoy it based on the grounds on whether they enjoy the type of theme. The use of art in our
ancillary task is eye-catching, bold and defining – the 3D tree will interest the audience we
intend and may be able to sell the main product due to how it looks and the vibe it brings to
the album cover.
However, my main fear is that our ancillary task and main product will feel too bland and not
modern enough to sell the main product to a large audience, or a large section of our target
audience. This is due to how the colours black and grey aren’t essentially that interesting or
eye catching, despite the metaphorical meaning they bring to the album. Although in our
best intentions to allow the audience to understand the album, we might have disinterested
them before they even tried to understand it as the colours aren’t bright or bold enough. As
well as this, there is the chance the colour scheme itself may not be enough to sell the true
meaning of mental health and depression towards the audience as the other art used, such
as the 3D tree isn’t very clear and obscure to decipher at first glance.
Despite the main method of allowing the album art and colour scheme letting the album give
the vibe and mood intended from the main product, they may not be enough to interest or
catch the eyes of a large part of targeted audience since the use of colours is bland and may
be too simple than intended.
What elements of your ancillary tasks communicate the genre you were working in?
Colour theme: Black + white - we did this as these are the conventional colours that
represent a depressive mood, which relates to the song/album we have done. In addition,
this colour scheme is bold and will stand out to the audience, mainly the bold black strip that
serves as the iconography of our album that people will recognize and know our sign, like
that of the four circles that Twenty-One Pilots has, a conventional part of indie bands and
their symbolism.

4. QUESTION 3 VIDEO (Recording people reacting to our work, and then talking
about it in detail after) – Will be complete once I get video/audio feedback from
audience, this is mainly prediction and template content for when I do.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Introduction
After completing my Advanced portfolio, I reached out to my target audience, peers and
teachers to comment and talk about our work. We aimed to get their opinions, whether it was
negative or positive, to understand how we can improve our future work along with use
techniques that were good in the future. Through this feedback, we are able to further
understand our audience and their perspective when creating work such as this.
What positive comments your peers, teachers, focus group had about your video
[Positive feedback videos]
The positive feedback mainly came back from XXXX (E.g. target audience), which makes
sense as our work was heavily focused on appealing to this (audience).
They enjoyed how we tried to use hybridity and mix the genres of Indie and rap. This was
shown in their enthusiasm about the use of performance with a small bit of a narrative. The
narrative was part of the indie genre, using the conventions in their narrative such as
emotion and meaning as their audience tend to enjoy the performer caring and having
emotion.
Furthermore, they found the use of XXXXX (e.g. camera shots) was planned and executed
effectively in the music video, such as the use of close ups and mid-shots on the performer
when singing. The lip-syncing of the song was also clear and not hard to understand, which
is a positive of our work.
What negative comments were made by your peers, teachers, focus groups
[Negative feedback videos]
The negative feedback mainly came back from XXXX (E.g. Peers/teachers), this was due to
how we were unable to successfully use/provide an XXXX (E.g. Clear plot). This same issue
was also found in the feedback from our target audience.
They found that our plot wasn’t entirely clear for the audience, despite the simple idea we
had in mind (love issues). This was due to how we weren’t presenting the storyline
effectively along the lines with the lyrics/visuals, although the plot can still be found in there.
How those comments might change the way you work in the future as a group or an
individual + What the comments taught you about the process of producing and
editing a video
The negative feedback was heavily focused on the idea/plan we had used for our music
video; this reflects the issues we had as a group. As we struggled and continually delayed
on our ideas and plot for the Advanced Portfolio we soon were forced to come up with a plot
which wasn’t entirely thought out. This led to recording in which we improvised on the spot,

5. and the consequences of this are showing in how our targeted audience and peers are
viewing our work.
These faults both are group and individual issues. They have shown me how to effectively
work together, and independently when completing projects such as music videos. As a
group, it has shown me that working together and effectively coming up with an idea before
doing any other planning is needed, this is because of how planning an idea when it isn’t
entirely established leads to work that isn’t fully complete which is overall bad for the music
video. By having an established idea for future projects, it’ll allow for more understanding
and clarity throughout the rest of the stages when creating/producing this work. Furthermore,
while editing the music video I found that as a group we weren’t all pitching our ideas and
instead just aiming to get it produced as fast as possible, and this is also highlighted in our
feedback through XXXX. XXXX could’ve been changed if other ideas were presented in the
group discussions on issues such as this.
Individually, it has taught me that taking a leading role in the process of planning and
production is needed to help support the idea of a clear plot and to ensure the group stays
focused and doesn’t get distracted from producing and planning the work effectively to stop
delays. This can be achieved through reminders by using apps such as WhatsApp to inform
the group of deadlines that need to be achieved, and increase communication on different
topics that need to be covered. In addition to this, the comments also helped me learn that
editing your own draft and showing it to the group is also an effective way of helping add
more ideas and ways of creating the music video onto the table – as not all ideas are added
into the editing process of the project.
QUESTION 4
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Research
During the researching stage of my Advanced portfolio, my use of digital technology was
heavily focused on Web 2.0 sites. YouTube was an essential part of allowing me to able to
find useful and appropriate genre-based media texts to evaluate as part of learning and
understanding the conventions of the Indie/rap genre as the search engine provided me with
a wide variety of artists and bands to choose from. Furthermore, I was able to use Facebook
and Twitter to observe their social media profiles to see how they advertise themselves
through colours and images to appeal to their target audiences. These Web 2.0 sites
allowed for greater and more extensive research, meaning my overall work will be of better
quality.
To show my research analysis, I used digital editing software such as Adobe Premier Pro.
This software allowed me to piece together my voice recordings and images taken through
the internet site ‘Google’, and its ‘Images’ section (which show images you search for). I took
images that related to the artists I am talking about in the video to add more clarity to the
research for those who watch it. However, unlike using simple search engines such as
YouTube, Premier Pro is a professional industry-level software which takes time and skill to
use effectively. This meant I also had to learn the basics of how to use this software while
producing my research. To add recording to my video, I used the online site ‘Speak Pipes’, a
simple online application which allows me to record and download my voice to add into the
video.

6. Planning
After the researching stage of my Advanced Portfolio, I started planning the various parts of
the media text. This was made easier using WordPress, a blogging site which can be used
for free. WordPress allowed us to post important documents and videos such as shooting
schedules, shot lists and group update videos all onto one page. This meant it was easy to
access for the whole group which removed issues such as delays and confusions on
important matters (e.g. shooting dates). To record our update videos, we used Apple Macs
in our classroom which had recorders installed so we could all come together in class and
talk about our plans and progress together, which were easy to record but a hassle to
access due to the different use of commands used by Mac’s compared to Window desktops.
The main issues with using WordPress was that we were unable to access the site at home
due to miscommunication issues and not knowing the password to the group account, along
with many site commands not being used correctly such as embedding documents so they
are visible on the site. In response to miscommunication issues we decided to use the
mobile app ‘WhatsApp’, a chatting app in which we could discuss and talk to each other
when we ran into issues or wanted to further plan documents and the production stages.
As a group, we used Google Drive (a document sharing tool) to help plan our ancillary task.
We used this tool through sharing images that could potentially be used on our ancillary
task/digipak, and used WhatsApp to talk about the most fitting images that could be used.
Production
When producing my Advanced Portfolio, we used Adobe Photoshop to edit and design our
digipaks. We used the filters to add definition to images to suit the meaning of the album,
crop and shape the text and images along with using the filters to edit the background. I
faced the same issue when trying to use Premier Pro with it being complicated to use, and
having to take time to learn the basics to use the software effectively.
Furthermore, we used Digital Cameras to record the footage for our music video, and had to
use add-ons such as tripods and stabilizers to effectively use the digital camera and get the
best footage. Although the quality of the footage was good when using these add-ons, our
main issue with using cameras was that the battery died quickly, this meant that travelling to
long distances felt like a waste of time as couldn’t catch as much footage as we intended in
the planning stage and led to set backs – to try and combat this we took the camera and
charged it overnight before recording at the designated location.
We used Premier Pro to edit the footage we took with the digital camera. Using this to edit
our work was effective and efficient as it is an industry-grade software, meaning we weren’t
set back by using appliances that weren’t up to the task on producing quality work. We were
also informed on how to use this software as we had used it before to create our research
and planning videos.
Evaluation
When evaluating my Advanced Portfolio, I returned to using Web 2.0 sites to help present
my evaluation of my work. The main sites were Prezi (presentation software and storytelling
tool for presenting ideas) and Wix (allows users to create HTML5 web sites and mobile

7. sites). By using Wix, I was able to create my own website to professionally present my work,
similar to that of WordPress. Wix was beneficial due to its helpful tools and options to be
able to flexible in how I wanted to present my evaluation with its ability to choose the
background, fond, text and format of the webpage. As well as this I had worked with Wix
before in my Foundation Portfolio. Although I had previous experience with the site I had to
familiarize myself with how to use it again, which took some time to do so but wasn’t difficult.
The site Prezi is an online site which lets me to present my information in a story-telling
fashion – I am able to add shapes, images, videos and voice overs at different stages in the
story to help enhance the quality and clarity in my work and how I answer the question e.g.
Question 2. However, Prezi is more difficult to use due to how it is fiddlier with its tools and
options, meaning mistakes can be made such as disorganizing the stages of the story which
will ruin the flow, leading to information being provided at incorrect moments. This flaw and
difficulty of using Prezi is easy to fix and not detrimental to the work due to the reverse
option, removing the mistakes made.
In addition to this, I used digital recording software to record myself evaluating my Advanced
Portfolio based off Question 1. I used the Apple Macs to record myself, with the application
iMovie it had available. This application was simple and easy to use, requiring me to only
click the ‘Record’ button to begin, not needing any set up required and meant I didn’t have to
use online internet applications such as ‘Speak Pipes’ due to an inbuilt mic in the Apple Mac.
This was beneficial as it avoided needing multiple applications, speeding up the process and
saved more time to record. As well, it helped opened up more options on how to present my
work, using the footage on the editing software Premier Pro to be able to present my work
more creatively and professionally.
While talking about the question, I was able to use the editing software to add footage of my
media product, images or sounds to further enhance my work and explanation due to how it
means my audience will understand and be able to see what parts of my music video I am
evaluating at the time. It saves them time from having to watch the music video, or have it
open while watching my evaluation video. By this time into my Advanced Portfolio, I didn’t
face issues with using the software and understood the basics of how to use it effectively to
create efficient work.