The document discusses the student's media studies evaluation project. It includes summaries of the student's CD case, music video, and how they compare to conventions. Audience feedback was gathered, which helped the student learn important lessons. Various media technologies were used at different stages of construction, research, planning and evaluation, including Fireworks, Photoshop, iMovie, YouTube, Google and font websites. The student worked well as part of a group, providing and receiving honest feedback to improve.

1. Lee Brown
A2- Media Studies Evaluation
2012

2. In what way does your media product use, develop
of challenge forms of conventions of real media
products?
✤ My CD case has all of the recommended/conventional features that you would expect to find on a standard CD case, such as the
Artist name, the album title, the barcode and the image of the artist. These are all key features that you will find on a
conventional CD cover. However, I have challenged these conventions by placing the title slightly off centre. This is a technique
that is not often used in the media yet it can look highly original and effective. In addition, the image on the front cover is just a
silhouette of the artist and a country, I made the decision to do this because it made the audience viewing it ask themselves
questions and wonder who it is which will hopefully make them want to pick it up in the shop. On a conventional CD cover, the
song list on the back of the CD is in the form of a vertical list. In my product, I have challenged this convention by positioning
my song list in a paragraph form with no clear devision with each song title. As the title for the album is ‘Somewhere in
Brooklyn’, the way that I have arranged my song list could be classed as a visual metaphor as you have to look for the song you
want in the paragraph.

3. Continued...
After researching music videos and taking out surveys i have come to the conclusion that the standard conventions of a pop music
video are as follows:
1.The main focal point is the artist
2.The artist is made to look good and important
3.There are lots of fast cuts
4.Experimental camera angles
5.Vast scenery and locations
6.There are usually dancers involved
In this section, am going to be comparing my product to the conventional features of a real media product. My music video follows
the conventions as it is staring the main artist, and throughout the whole video the main artist appears to be the centre of attention
and the main focal point. Also, as the genre of the song is predominantly “popular” in style, I have tried to keep the locations quite
urban and casual as possible to make the artist look cool and laid back. I have also added dancers in to part of the video. I made the
decision to do this because I like the way that it compliments the artist and it makes the image on screen feel like there is more
going on and the scene appears to be fuller and more exciting.

4. Continued...
✤ In this section, am going to be comparing my product to the conventional features of a real media product. My music video
follows the conventions as it is staring the main artist, and throughout the whole video the main artist appears to be the centre of
attention and the main focal point. Also, as the genre of the song is predominantly “popular” in style, I have tried to keep the
locations quite urban and casual as possible to make the artist look cool and laid back. I have also added dancers in to part of the
video. I made the decision to do this because I like the way that it compliments the artist and it makes the image on screen feel
like there is more going on and the scene appears to be fuller and more exciting.
✤ Andrew Goodwin came up with 5 key aspects that he believed was the difference between an amateur and a
professional style music video.
1.Thought beats- Seeing the sound
2.Narrative and performance
3.Star Image
4.Relation of visuals to the song
5.Technical aspects of the music video

5. Thought Beats - Seeing the
Sound
You must first look into the music and interoperate it, you must look at the chorus’ and the verses.
Next you should listen to the unique vocals of the artist and this can form them an individual image with trademarks that work well
with the star image.
Thirdly, when an artist portrays a storyline in the lyrics of the song, the music video can be seen to aid this story and can be
demonstrated through visuals as well as auditory.

6. Narrative and Performance
✤ Songs do not give us the complete narrative. We only seem to get a hint of the actual meaning of the song, and the rest is then
left to the imagination of the audience. Goodwin explains in his theory that music videos should ignore common narrative. It is
important in their role of advertising.
✤ Music videos should coherent repeatability. Narrative and performance both work hand in hand which makes it
easier for the audience to watch over and over again without losing too much interest.
✤ The artist acting as both the narrator and the participant helps to increase the authenticity, however the lip sync and
any other mimed actions remains to be the heart of music videos. The audience need to believe that this is real.

7. Star Image
✤ The star image is another vital aspect of music videos. Meta narrative which is a big story that describes the development of the
star over time, it has an important part to play in the music video production process.
✤ Artists obviously need to look unique in order to stay current and true to themselves for audiences to remember
them. This will all develop over time.

8. Relation of visuals to the song
✤ Visuals can illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music. In other words, the way that a music video is shot can help
convey the lyrics in a way that may have been difficult to initially understand without a visual aid. Goodwin also realised that
genres tended to have their own musical style and iconography explicit in their music videos.
✤ Illustrate: Music videos can us a set of images to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics and genre, this is the most
common relation
✤ Amplify: Meanings and effects are manipulated and consistently shown through the video and drummed into our
vision.
✤ Contradict: This is when the meaning of the song is completely ignored.

9. Technical Aspects
✤ The technical aspects will hold the music video together through the use of camera work, movement, angles, mise-en-scene, editing,
sound and special effects.
✤ Speed, camera movement, editing, cutting and post production are all forms of use of camera.
✤ Lighting and colour can help to set the mood and the vibe to emphasise the key moments in the song for dramatic effect.
✤ The location is vital the setting needs to look realistic in order to look professional therefore appealing to a wider target
audience.
✤ The cuts and the beats need to go with the rhythm or the lyrics of the song so that it doesn't seem like it has been thrown
together in 5 minutes
✤ I have found Andrew Goodwin’s theory very useful and it seems that the 6 conventions that I found, were similar in
ways to the ones that Goodwin introduced. I believe that in many ways my video is conventional and it fits in to the vast
majority of Goodwin’s Theory. On the other hand, my music video has numerous occasions when these conventions are
challenged rather than followed. An example of this is when some of the shots stay on the screen for a considerable
amount of time longer than what would be expected. This adds an element off surprise to the video and it will be
interesting as the audience will not be expecting it.

10. How effective is the combination of your
main product with your poster and CD Case?
✤ In order to create a link between my music video, my poster and my CD case, I had to take into consideration some of the minor
details that will be remembered by the audience and hopefully will create a trademark so that when somebody views one of my
products, the link is instantly made and they can see that this is from the same artist and recording company.
✤ Because of this, I have designed my poster and my CD case so that they both have a very cartoon style and abstract
look. As it would be very difficult to incorporate a cartoon style into my music video, the image of the artists
silhouette has been placed on the front cover or the CD and hopefully this will have been obvious enough for the
important link to be made.
✤ The colour scheme on my ancillary products is predominantly maroon/burgundy and yellow, and I have ensured
that in my music video i have incorporated some of these colours. I have made sure that my actor wears a burgundy
coloured hoody so that there can be some form of mental link made between the two products.
✤ Overall, I think that the 3 products go hand in have together as there is a clear trend that is linking them together. I
believe that out of all three, the music video is the least linked. This is because the CD case and the Poster both have
a very unrealistic, cartoon style to them and this is not apparent in the video.

11. What have you learned from your
audience feedback?
✤ After showing an array of people from my target audience my products, I was given some very interesting and helpful
feedback. I made sure that I took this feedback constructively and I did not dwell on the bad comments. With the feedback I
was able to adjust my product to suit the target audience and I would ensure that the quality of the work was to a professional
standard.
✤ My target audience is predominantly teens and young adults, this meant that I needed to ask a selection from these
categories and ask them what they thought. The initial feedback was good, however, there were certain things that
needed to be amended.
✤ Looking back, a lot of important lessons learned from my audience feedback. I have learned that my opinion is not
necessarily the right one even though I am part of the target audience, therefore it is important that you as a large
number of people for their opinions. I have also learned that in order to create a successful media product, it is
essential that you come up with individual designs that are exiting and unique whilst also following the important
conventions of a typical media product. By this, I mean that there is no point in coming up with an idea that is
completely original however it has no structure or aesthetically pleasing properties. On the other hand, a product
that has been copied from another product and has all of the required conventions will also not get the kind of
response that you want to “WOW” your audience.

12. CD Cover

13. Poster

14. How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?
✤ CONSTRUCTION
✤ In the construction of my media project I have tried to use as many different media technologies as possible. I have used
predominantly macromedia fireworks to create the CD Case and the Poster. However, Adobe photoshop was used to help me edit
the photos and make them as vivid and as suitable for my product as possible. Whilst constructing my products in fireworks I
was able to learn how to use complimenting and contrasting colours to help visually aid an image. Also i learned how to use the
different tools that are on offer on the program.
✤ When creating my Music video, I used iMovie to edit and put together the footage. Overall i was impressed with the
way that the program allowed me to manipulate the footage and create original music videos with ease. The
program is fairly basic and the functions are self explanatory so I did not need long to practice before the real thing,
however before I started producing my music video I did take some practice footage and used that to experiment
with the different functions and facilities it has to offer. Once i felt confident, I decided to begin constructing the
video

15. Continued...
✤ RESEARCH
✤ In the research of my products, I used websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Google, Yahoo Music etc. These sites were
extremely useful as they gave me the ability to watch videos that already exist and compare mine to them. The only
issue i came across was the schools online filtering system. This meant that I could not always watch the videos that I
wanted and I had to wait until I got home to use them. Google was the main search engine that I used, and when I
needed to look up the lyrics to a music video, I used google to find suitable websites.

16. Continued...
✤ PLANNING
✤ When planning my music video, i.e storyboards and looking at fonts, I used “SlideShare” to present my planning
and this website allowed me to upload my presentations online for anybody to view. From this I could then imbed
the presentation to my blog. I used font websites such as “DAFONT.com” this allowed me to research and plan the
fonts that I would use in my project

17. How well did you work as a
group?
✤ As a group I ensured that I worked to the best of my ability giving and receiving feedback as honestly as possible. I made sure
that when somebody asked me for feedback, I responded with some very constrictive advise and also by doing this I was able to
learn from other peoples mistakes and i could then incorporate this into my own work.