The document provides responses to questions about a media production project involving the creation of a music video for a fictional artist. It discusses how the music video uses and develops conventions from real music videos in genres like indie/alternative and drum and bass through techniques like editing shots on beat and using colored smoke. Audience feedback helped determine techniques to include like ensuring colors stood out. A range of media technologies were used for research, planning, filming, editing, and evaluating the project, including YouTube, WordPress, iMovie, a Canon DSLR camera, and an iMac.

1. Media - production evaluation- Tia Jarvis
QUESTION 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
After watching my final media product several times, it can be seen that it uses, develops
and challenges forms and conventions of real media products in a range of different ways
throughout the
entirety of the music video. Given the task of planning and producing an individual music
video for a 'made up' musical artist, I initially set out with the intention of following a
specific genre. After
receiving feedback through the use of several methods, 'indie/alternative' was the final
genre I settled with. As well as this, I wanted to make my project and video unique and
individual, so decided
to combine 'indie/alternative' and 'drum and bass' genres when it came to musical choices,
as this allowed me to incorporate even more creative editing techniques and conventions
which would
only be found in either genre. Doing so, allowed me to develop the use of conventions
used and select the ones which I believed would have the best effect on the audience and
give the video
visual appeal. Before planning my music video, I researched into existing music videos
which also fell into the genre of 'indie/alternative' to see which features stood out to me
and kept my attention
on the artist as a whole- one video which particularly stood out was 'Sweater Weather' By
indie band 'The Neighbourhood'. I really liked the way the various shots and scenes were
edited and cut together on the beat of the song as it added a professional feel and made
the video enjoyable visually, a technique which I also saw in videos 'the mother we share'
by CHVRCHES and 'Neon lights' by Demi Lovato, as well as going on to use this in my
own video. This meant I could use a technique which I saw frequently within the chosen
genre in existing videos, yet add originality through the
use of combined music genre; the increased speed and changing of drumming beats
allowed these cuts to vary throughout, between the start and end of the video.
From my existing media products research, I had seen that several existing indie videos
featured impacting mise-en-scene, in particular the use of smoke; videos such as 'Pompeii'
by Indie band Bastille and 'Recover' by CHVRCHES featured dramatic and dark mise-en-
scene to capture the audiences' attention and I really liked the effect it created. I later
decided I would use smoke in my own project, more specifically, coloured smoke (blue, red
and white) as it went with my artists' image and stood out against the dull and darker
surroundings. This meant I was taking a convention which I saw in an existing music video
and slightly developing it in a way which benefited my artist and overall project.
Another convention that I experimented and developed over the course of the project was
the use of filters- From my previous research into existing music videos, I could see that
many of the videos incorporated filters as a way of adding mood and adding to the overall
feel and impact of the footage. Seeing this, I used the iMovie apple software to test out
various filters on my filmed music video footage; After establishing the genres I wanted to
stick to, I came up with an artist to fit this genre. 'Holly Graphiq' was the final name chosen
for the project, a teenage indie writer and musician, along with the song 'colour me green'
by existing female artist Shannon Saunders'. The lyrics and overall feel of the song is very
powerful and combines indie and drum and bass genres, so I knew I wanted to use filters
to establish this and add to the feel. After testing a black and white filter, I came to the
conclusion that this resulted in too much of a lack of colour and completely took away the
effect of the smoke being different colours. As well as this, I had received feedback from
my target audience of young adults aged 16-25 which told me that many liked at least
subtle colour used, if not bold and bright colours to keep them hooked. This being said, I
looked at other filters which ensured the coloured smoke would be vivid and eye-catching
throughout and finally settled with filter 'day to night', which I feel is the perfect balance of
muted colours and bolder colours.

2. QUESTION 2
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
When selecting ancillary texts/tasks to accompany my main project video, I was adamant
that I was going to follow a specific theme which brought all three projects together; I
wanted to keep to a colour scheme and design to allow them to go effectively together and
with the created musical artist. As I was creating a music video, I decided to select an
artist poster and a cd disk, cover and sleeve as my two side projects. Sticking to the idea
of various colours and the effect of smoke over the course of all three tasks, I ensured they
all went well together visually and would give the artist a professional impact to the
audience. After shooting my music video, I took several photographs which I then used in
my ancillary tasks; I selected a head shot of Lucy, the artist in the video, and placed it in
the centre of the CD disk, cover and sleeve, fading it into a background of pastel coloured
smoke. This same idea is exactly used on the artist poster, in which a head shot and
smoke takes up the entirety of the poster, along with a list of gig/concert dates below.
Using the same images and visual features ensured each project design was consistent
and also followed a theme that can be linked to the artist, so the audience become familiar
with their style and can recognise this theme on each task.
Our music video is largely performance and so there is a lot of focus on the visual appeal
of the artist instead of a story or message. This is also the same in my ancillary tasks, as I
focus on the artist and don't feature any other visual distractions.
It is important to ensure this consistency over each task as it is important that an artist can
be recognised easily by their audiences and fans; by sticking to similar themes throughout
it can increase the recognition and publicity of the artist as they are more easily
recognisable.
QUESTION 3
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The aim of my project is to produce a music video which is original and successfully meets
the needs of the target audience (young adults aged 16-25), meaning audience feedback
is an important factor in how effective my video is as a whole. I decided to use two forms of
audience feedback; a short interactive questionnaire made up of several chosen questions
which would benefit my knowledge in the task and the method of asking 4 individuals to
give me their opinion (likes, dislikes and favourite features) of existing indie music videos
as a way of broadening what I knew about this genre and what would be most effective for
my target audience.
The online questionnaire allowed me to understand the basics about my genre and my
audience; the mood they most preferred in a music video, what colours they liked, how
many people they preferred to be featured, setting etc. From there I could work on
developing conventions and changing up the features that I wished to incorporate after
watching back the clips. This allowed a more specific method of feedback as each
individual was selecting ideas they personally liked or disliked and I could find out as a
whole group which techniques I could immediately rule out and which I could build upon.
I learnt a lot about what visual features were preferred from my target audience feedback;
for example, on the topic of colour, many said they preferred a music video to feature
colours which stood out to them as this ensured their attention was focused for the entirety
of the video. Speaking about the 'Sweater weather' video by indie band 'The
Neighbourhood', it was said that the filter used meant the colours in the video were too dull
and muted, so this told me that I would need to use a more effective filter in my own
project, which I then went on to do.
Again relating to the 'Sweater weather' music video, several of the individuals stated that
they did not like the use of the same shot of the car over a long period of time as it became
repetitive and boring. Seeing this, I wanted to ensure that the cutting and changing of the
clips in my video were snappy and not shown for large periods of time at once, to avoid
this issue in my video.

3. As well as these techniques being built upon or ruled out as a result of what I found out
from my target audience, I also saw that many of their answers and responses were very
similar or identical; this largely benefited me as I could use features which were preferred
by the majority and knew these choices and decisions would appeal to most of the target
group.
QUESTION 4
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout the research, planning and evaluation stages of my project, I used a range of different
media technologies. The biggest and most necessary media platform I used over the entire course
of my project was an apple iMac; when doing research, I used this form of technology to browse
website Youtube as a way of watching and reviewing existing music videos. As well as this, I used
Wordpress.com as a means of starting my blog and to create a space where I would gather and
upload all of my findings and work over the course of the entire project. This media technology was
extremely helpful throughout as I could organise my findings and research into one space and this
allowed to be able to visually see what tasks still needed to be complete and also helped with the
audience feedback as I could upload my feedback videos to the iMac and watch them as many
times as i pleased, ensuring the results were thorough. As well as this, the use of an online
questionnaire platform allowed my target audience to interactively submit their responses, which
again helped me massively and sped up the research process.
The planning stages of my project benefited from media technologies as I was able to use the iMac
mailing system to send drafts of storyboards and similar planning tasks to the other member of my
group, allowing us to build our ideas and include features which we both agreed would be visually
and artistically effective.
When it came to the construction of my music video, I relied largely on various media technologies
to complete the task; I used a Canon 700D to film with as it was technology of a high standard and
quality and of which was recommended on various social networking platforms. I particularly liked
this choice of media technology as it had a long battery time and so we only had to dedicate 3
hours of our day to film in our chosen location, Bessingby park in Ruislip. It also had the ability to
create blurred backgrounds and give crisp quality to the object or person in the foreground, which I
believed gave a very professional finish. Having filmed the entire video, I started off the
construction process by ensuring the clips were uploaded to the apple iMac, via the use of the
memory card slot located at the back. This advanced technology meant I didn't have to carry
around or take any wires with me to my classes and it sped up the process.
When it came to the actual editing of the task, I used editing software iMovie throughout; as a
frequently used media software, I was able to access a wide range of buttons and filters over the
course of my project, resulting in a higher quality outcome and again speeding up the process as a
whole. A feature that I particularly liked to use was the 'reverse' feature, which allowed me to
reverse clips. As a video which is performance based, this technique was very visually effective,
especially when it came to the clips which featured smoke and really added to the indie feel I was
looking to create.
For the evaluation of my music video, I again used the Canon 700D to film a self evaluation; this
included what I felt went well and not so well over the course of the project and what I would
improve If I were to complete the project again. I used this form of media technology as it, not only
had high visual and sound quality to ensure my evaluation was easily audible, but it also features a
flip screen which was extremely helpful; being able to see myself in the screen ensured I could
suitably position myself in shot and was confident that I was in focus and not blurred at any point.
This being said, the self evaluation was completed in one take and so didn't take a lot of time. Also,
the use of the memory card slot into the apple iMac allowed easy access to my clips and I could
then move on to using the same iMovie software to cut the clips together and remove any
unnecessary pauses and mistakes.