1. A2 Production – Evaluation Questions – LUCY HAYWARD (Elite Productions)
Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My media product both uses conventions of real media products (indie music videos) and develops
them. By going along with typical conventions that would be seen within this genre, for example;
the use of filters, washed out effects and dreamlike features such as coloured smoke, I have made
sure to stick to the generic conventions for an indie music video aimed at teenagers, so it is clear
to my audience what type of video they are watching. It is important to establish to an audience
early on what genre the video is so that they know whether to carry on watching or not, I have
done this by creating an (on the whole) consistent theme throughout the video.
I have also included different features from other music genres such as pop into my music video,
as the dripping paint effects used within the piece are typical of what someone would expect to see
in a pop video or something more mainstream. Merging the indie genre with elements of pop or
another genre creates a unique and imaginative music video that ensures the video remains
interesting to it's viewers, rather than being seen as boring or predictable. Doing this makes the
media text itself stand out and grab the attention of it's audience, and challenges traditional
conventions of media texts.
Our media text is a performance, rather than narrative video. Conventions for a performance piece
were followed in our work in a variety of ways, for example there were a lot of close ups and
extreme close ups which are typically seen in performance texts as there is always a high demand
for exposure to an artist and being able to see them in music videos. There is also a range of
scenery and nature shots in the piece which are normally seen within this type of music video as
there is no story-line as such, and so a wide range of shots such as this are normally used to
create something interesting and very visual for the viewer to watch, as opposed to watching a set
out storyline or series of events in the narrative.
Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The combination of my main product and my ancillary texts was effective as I was careful to make
sure that each ancillary piece matched well in all aspects with the main task. This was done by
having the same mood, colour, and design scheme across all the texts including the music video
itself to ensure that synergy was achieved and a consistent brand/image was created for the artist.
Mise-en-scene such as the clothes and makeup the artist is shown wearing on the CD cover is
similar to what the artist is shown wearing in the video itself, whereas the smoke effects which is a
running theme throughout the video is also incorporated into the background of the CD cover.

2. Creating this synergy made the texts effective as it established a clear image for the artist and
made it clear what type of artist they were, meaning if they were a real artist it would allow them to
build up their own fan-base based on this, and be instantly recognisable to their fans, which would
boost popularity and sales.
Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?
From conducting audience feedback I received valuable information on what my target audience
thought about the final text. From listening to my audience's comments about the video I was able
to alter it where needed to ensure it was suited to my audience and would be as appealing as
possible to them as well as being aware of what didn't work within the video. However, I was also
able to find out what my audience did like, and this helped me know what to keep in the video itself
and what its successful features were. For example, I learnt that my target audience particularly
enjoyed the smoke used in the video, so I made sure that this was a main feature. Certain things
the audience didn't like such as reused clips and long cuts were also remedied. It was vital to make
sure I learnt what my target audience's honest opinion of the media product was or else I could not
hope to create a successful piece of work that would suit its purpose of being entertaining to my
audience group. Following and taking into consideration the feedback we received from members
of our target audience shows we are effective and adaptable as a group and can take criticisms
and praises and work on correcting or improving them
Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and
evaluation?
Media technologies were used in many ways throughout the construction of my video. We used a
Canon EOS 700D camera to shoot the music video itself, and to take the additional photographs
that were used on the album/CD cover and any photographs that were used on our blog. To edit
our video we used the Apple programme iMovie which enabled us to add a filter to the video, to
cut, reverse and speed up certain clips (which were a main feature of the video) and to cut out
unwanted clips, amongst other editing features. This camera in particular was used as it had high
definition quality and so I felt would give the video an overall polished and professional finish,
making it look as much like a real media text as possible.
For our research we also used the same camera. We used the camera to record our audience
feedback from various members of our target audience as well as a webcam to record our target
audience's thoughts on the video. We showed them the video on youtube and then we recorded
them via the webcam delivering their feedback afterwards. In researching real media products I
again used youtube to analyse existing artist's music videos. Photoshop was also used to create
the digipack and ancillary tasks like the CD pack.

3. For the planning of our video we used charts and graphs to document our shooting schedule,
health and safety checks and our shot list, which we created on Microsoft word and excel. Any
other written pieces of work such as storyboards were scanned and uploaded onto our blog too.