Media Evaluation by Tom Carnegie

1. Evaluation
Tom Carnegie

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
• Whilst Creating my final video product I
focused mainly on Goodwin’s codes and
conventions of a music video.
• I wanted to ensure that there was a
relationship between the lyrics and
visuals on screen, an example of this
which I used is with the lyrics ‘I’ve been
trying to put it on paper’ I had footage
of the artist writing a letter. This also
happens on the lyrics ‘ I know there’s
still life in these old pair of shoes.’

3. • The relationship between music and
visuals was very important to the final
product, With the piece being a slow jazz
ballad I ensured that there was not too
many quick transitions between shots
and the slow pace of the song allowed
me to concentrate on the look and feel
of the music video. The music is
portrayed well in the video for example
when there is a saxophone solo I
ensured that there was footage of
someone playing the saxophone and
when the key change and final verse
occurs and the sound of the piece is a lot
happier then the film itself is a lot
brighter.

4. • In Jazz and Pop music there is often lots of
images of the artist and their band, therefore
in my production of a music video I opted to
use close up shots throughout of James.
• Due to the Record companies constant
demands they would want to ensure I create
an individual image for the artist. Due to this I
wanted to make sure he had a look that was
friendly and the sort of person everyone
would like.

5. • The Narrative of my story is of a love sick man
who is unable to contact with his loved one.
The Narrative is solved as he is able to get in
touch with her by finding where she lives and
telling her how he feels.
• The conventions of this genre are often
connoted with Love and feelings and due to
the songs slow pace I was able to convey a
more romantic feel to the video.

6. • I developed the conventions of this genre by
focusing heavily on the band as well because I
wanted to create an image for the whole band
and artist, not just the vocalist. As James is the
front man it will be useful to also include his
band that is with him, they can add to the
video as a whole and when there is important
instrumental parts they can be seen so the
audience knows who they are.

7. • I challenged the conventions however of this
genre, whilst I knew that I needed to create an
image of James the artist, I also tried to create
a sense of mystery about him.
• This was conveyed in both print works, I used
images of James in a silhouette as both the
front cover and poster advert. Even though
you couldn’t see the artists face it created a
‘cool’ persona for him and gave him the basis
to build upon in the future. It also will make
audiences wonder who the artist is and want
them to find out about his music.

8. •How effective is the combination of
your main product and ancillary texts?

9. • The main product and and auxiliary texts both
served to the same purpose, to promote the
artist ‘James Harris’
• Therefore throughout all of the products I
ensured that James was the focus of all of
them and that he was easily recognisable to
the public.
• The best way to do this I decided was to
create a digipak for the album and a magazine
advert promoting the same product

10. • For The Digipak, I decided I wanted to show off a
different side to James, on the inside pages I wanted
to have two images which were joined and bright in
order to show the audiences the action packed fast
paced side of James’ performances
• The Bright colours of purple and Yellow add to the
eye catching feel of the CD and your eye is
immediately attracted to James

11. • For the poster I decided that the artists name
should be in a font which looked like
handwriting in order to make it look more
personal.
• This works with my other media products as I
am trying to build an image of James which
everyone will like and to make him seem
friendlier to the consumers.
• This is helped by the outer glow on the text
which I used in order to make it stand out
from the background.

12. • The continuity was key in making the
image of James Harris. Therefore the
colour schemes for all of the print
works were predominantly black,
blue and white.
• This colour scheme often features in
the music video as well for example
the bedroom is white and there is
lots of images of James against a
white background which not only
helps him stand out but also adds to
his image.

13. What have you learned from your
audience feedback?
• The main ways in which I received feedback on all of
my media products was through the internet and
social networking websites.
• After sending links of the music video to many
friends and relatives I asked for them all to comment
on what they liked bout the product and how they
thought it could improve.
• The same applied to the print products, once I had
shown them to different people I asked for their
views so that I could make improvements.

14. • The target audience for my products wasn’t very
specific due to the general popularity of the genre,
however the main target audience is most likely to
be adults ages 25 – 40 and typically female.
• Due to this I wanted to create a sophisticated feel to
the work, with the shadows and moody feel making
an effective front cover and poster.
• Whenever conducting research into my products I
always used my target audience as a basis and would
always ask them what their preferences were to any
type of music and how they would like it to be
conveyed.

15. • I decided to target this group of people because I felt
like I could easily relate to them with the artist I
used.
• I decided to organise small focus groups and held
screenings of my music video and gave all the
audience members handouts of my print works too.
• I them asked people to give me feedback on what
they thought of the products and how they all
worked together.
• The feedback was all generally positive with viewers
all commenting particularly on the continuity of all
three products.

16. • Here is one example of audience feedback
that I received.
• 28 year old Female: ‘The presentation of all of
the products was immaculate, I was extremely
impressed by the way in which the poster and
CD artwork related to each other so well. Even
though the song was slow you managed to
realistically convey the feel of it and with
smooth cuts allowed James’ character and
acting ability to shine through!’

17. How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
• Throughout the A-level course I learnt a lot about
different technology and how to use all the
equipment which the school had and which I myself
was able to obtain.
• For the Photo shoot I decided that
I wanted to create a realistic stage
so constructed the stage available
in the school hall and put up a big
white cyclorama in order for lights
to be able to glow on it nicely.
This is what the stage looked like.

18. • My next thought was then
immediately on the lighting
rig which I needed.
• I carefully planned out
where all of the lights would
be positioned and started
organising how I would
obtain them. I started by
emailing a lighting hiring
company who gave me a
large discount on their usual
price due to it being for
educational purposes.

19. • In order to create the effect of James’
silhouette I needed to hire 5 Mac 250’s and 4
Mac 300’s to create the wash and spots
needed.

20. • I could then use these in the inside covers of
the Digipak to create a more vibrant feel and
have an energetic inside to the CD.
Original Lighting Design
Digipak Artwork

21. • In the original plan of the silhouette was just
of one spot lit from behind so you couldn’t see
James’ face.
• However I decided to add more sense of
mystery by hiring a smoke machine and
making a hazy affect. This would also mean I
have to spend less time editing the pictures.

22. • As I wrote the song myself which I used as my
piece for the music video I became familiar
with the software ‘Logic Pro’
• I quickly was able to record live instruments
and edit them efficiently in order to create a
realistic balance to rival modern day
expensive songs. It was important that I made
sure all of the instruments were playing in
time in order for the vocalist (James) to be
able to sing it to his best ability.

23. • In order to film the music video most
importantly I needed to use a Video camera.
Luckily I had a panasonic HD SD900 at my
disposal. This camera is great for filming
footage in HD and can pick up facial features
extremely well. The steady cam aspect of it is
incredible and any filming done which could
cause shaking was made a lot easier by this.

24. • To edit my final main task I used an Apple Mac
Pro computer with Final cut and iMovie so
that I could create as authentic look as
possible. It enabled me to accurately lip sync
any shots and to add on any affects after.
• To edit and create the auxiliary products I
used Photoshop CS3. This enabled me to
change images and add effects to them whilst
also putting text on top of them so that it
could look authentic.

25. • The internet was extremely important in the creation
and evaluation of my media products.
• I used the website ‘Blogger’ in order to track all my
progress of what I had done and what I planned to
do in the future with all my production. It also
enabled me to organise when I planning on doing
everything.
• I also used ‘YouTube’ This let me share My music
video with the public and helped me obtain feedback
from viewers because anyone can easily vie anything
you post on there.