The document discusses the production of a music video and ancillary materials for an A2 media studies coursework project. It explains how the student used conventions from other music videos in the same genre to make their video recognizable, while also challenging conventions to convey a strong message. Feedback from audiences showed that camera angles were most appealing. The student learned they could have made the lighting slightly darker based on one comment. Overall, feedback was very positive. A variety of media technologies were used at different stages, including YouTube for research, Photoshop for creating materials, and Blogger to document the process.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
I realised that certain aspects of my very own video would need to be similar to other established
music videos to be able to target my audience I was intending to. In order to do this, I had to look at
other artists with videos in the same music genre. For example, London grammar or The XX. My plan
was to follow these conventions so my video is deemed professional and recognisable, however I
still wanted to challenge the forms and conventions in order to convey a strong message behind the
video. This would in turn make my video more interesting, unique and establish my artist profile in a
strong, clear way. I looked at a number of videos from acoustic artists and bands, for example Jack
Johnson and John Mayer in order to gain an understanding of the forms and conventions of videos
for my genre music video. I also challenge the convention by having the opening lyrics being lip-
synced technique in my video, which is not used in many other clips released by young artists. In
general, my music video was intended to use conventions from current and previous media in order
to establish recognisable image that would involve my intended audience instantly. For instance,
from my research of inspiration for video, I noticed that artists’ music videos were either narrative or
performance based, which were a similar genre to my artists. All the conventions that I have used
from real media products are pretty simple, for example I used a black and white effects, which I was
inspired by James Johnson’s “In Colour” music video. I thought this was a very effect convention as it
simply reflected the mood of the song and genre or the artists’ music. Within my video I used many
close-ups of my artists lip syncing, in order for the viewer to become familiar with the artist’s image,
which allows a deeper relationship to form between them two. Overall, I truly believe that my music
video challenges generic conventions, but it also conforms to different kinds of conventions of real
media products by making it look professional. I definitely wanted to make people fall in love with
this video, and make it my own.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
My A2 media studies coursework required my whole class to make a music video, with an ancillary
task of making a music poster and CD Cover. “Indie” is the genre of the music video, therefore I
decided to put together the codes and conventions into two different products. I did this in order to
make my music video expand and attract and keep the audience engaged and interested in the film.
This will increase the effectiveness of the whole package. After researching and annotating my music
video poster, I decided to get on with my work, the purpose of a poster became clear to me and the
purpose was to advertise my music video throught the title, the image, artists names, tour and
concerts dates, the design/ colours and the tagline. Using these elements to make the poster
sellable, attractive and connected with the music video poster. The software I decided to use was
Adobe Photoshop, simply because as a Photography students my job was to be able to use these
kind of programmes, which comes quite easily, therefore it was the only option to make good
posters and CD Covers. The song lyrics are the most important elements in my video, that is why I
decided to use some of them in my music video posters as a background to give it this extra effect to
my poster. I really liked the idea of having an image of the CD on the actual poster. However, one
thing I felt was that the poster would need more colour on it to suit the rest of the ancillary. In the
end I used the same fonts and images from the ancillary and changed the contrast of my artist to

2. make her look more outstanding. I then used a layout and ideas I’d found from my research to
design the final piece. I also decided to use a “lighting” effects in the background as it is a main part
of the ancillary design and worked well as the background. In conclusion, I strongly believe that the
combination of both ancillary products and my video worked very well together and I am more than
happy with the effect that came out from hours and hours of hard work.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Considering my target audience is 16- 30 year olds I decided to hand out the questionnaires at
college, public places such libraries or coffee shops where everyone can communicate with each
other and there’s always a nice, positive atmosphere. I handed out fifty questionnaire. The layout
was simplistic and straight forward so that the reader wrote exactly how they felt without the need
to personally elaborate with lots of detail, simply because in that way I could generate a basic
understanding on what the norm thought of the video. From the audience feedback I had received, I
found that I managed to appeal to the target audience I wanted to surprise, which was a very good
news for me. Also when it comes to my editing skills, audience’s results show that the majority of
people preferred the camera angles over anything else, closely followed by the editing and music
which had the same percentage. In question 5, one person selected ‘other’ which means that this
person thought that the lighting should have been slightly darker to show the darker elements of my
music video. However, I decided that 1 questionnaire is NOT enough. Therefore I decided to invite a
few of my close friends and family members round my house and show them my music video to get
their opinions on it. Overall, people really liked it, they started cheering and saying how they thought
it was a good idea on picking such a good songs, which is always a plus. However they provided me
with some constructive, but positive criticism, which has helped me understand what I could have
done to improve it. The reason I asked for audience feedback is because on my last music video the
audience feedback meant I decided to re-do the video. Therefore, I wanted to find out if I had
created a successful video this time round, and from the feedback I believe I have. Overall, I am very
pleased with the feedback I have received from the group of people within our target audience who
I showed my video to, as the majority of the comments were all really positive. I feel that through
the process of receiving feedback on my music video, I have learned a lot about how to make videos
in the future.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?
Throughout this project, I have used a variety of media technologies to simplify the research,
production and evaluation stages and to produce the best possible final promotional pack. From the
start, I have been using the Google-owned blogging platform blogger to record my process. This has
been invaluable, as it has enables me to keep a record of all my research for future reference and to
pace myself with my planning and production work. Being able to tag posts as I made them is
something that I have found very useful during the evaluation stages, as I have been able to jump to
particular sets of posts to and analyze my planning and production progress. Youtube is an online
video based media sharing website, and was one of the main online products that I used in order to

3. conduct my research and planning. Ultimately, made my own band and song choices from the
combined use of Youtube and our own personal iTunes libraries. After making this choice, I then
continued to use Youtube to research the band further and looked extensively into live
performances. I have watched videos of bands across all genres to gain inspiration for my own
videos. I have also used Youtube to upload our final music video. Also Animoto is an online
programme that allows the user to create short 25 second long presentations. This programme
allowed me to create my pitch in which then I presented to my family, concluding all the vital
information that the audience would need to know about the band. This is a simple and effective
way to present information in a different way to what I may usual use. Using Adobe Photoshop
mainly to create my Digipak and Advert was also very helpful. However, I also used this programme
to create mood board and present my digipak analysis work on, creating more presentation pieces
as opposed to just posting the text onto the blog. In photo shop I used basic text, colour and shape
manipulation skills in order to achieve my works. I downloading a template for the Digipak from
DiscWizards online, and used this as the base for the pack. I then used texts, shape tools and the
colour picker to create the majority of my Digipak and adverts. This tool was extremely useful as I
was able to manipulate my works fully and edit them at anytime ensuring I create two pieces of
work I was satisfied with. Google was my primary online search engine, simply because it is the one
that I find the easiest to use and that produces the best, most relevant results. I was able to find a
great deal of online content that contributed towards my research and planning. For the most part I
used each of these pieces of technology and kit individually in order to complete the process of
making the ancillary texts and piecing together my music video. However, it is how these products
worked together and made the process much more simple than it could be. If I wanted to change
anything from a blog post on Blogger to a section in the video, I could be online in seconds and I
would always have my footage or products with me due to the portability of the memory sticks and
SD memory cards. It would not have been a hardship to have to carry the cameras at all times either.
To summarise, the whole process was enhanced for me thanks to the advancements in technology.
By Anna Wieckowska