Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


Sandi Thom - I wish I was a punkrocker


The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony


Lily Allen - LDN

These music videos have influenced me when brainstorming ideas for our group music video. Although  we did not use the original video directly, it inspired us through the urban surroundings and the use of mise en scene and camerawork.

The Verve video influenced me through its use of clever camerawork and interaction. In our rough cut video, the camera work and narrative was more static and looked too much like the original, and with watching The Verve video, it inspired us to include interaction with the people around the singer creating a more interesting narrative. We also added POV shots to include the audience as they were able to see from her eyes.

With Lily Allen's video, the idea of seeing the world from a different perspective influenced us to create a young girl who is different from the world. The camerawork also influenced us to use a variation of shots and interaction. A more happier character who contrasts with the people around her such as Lily Allen adds to the narrative and it also makes our video more 'fun and friendly' to the public.

Having a long-medium shot of the artist on the cover establishes WHO the artist is.  The costume Lily Allen is wearing represents her and the genre of her music, for example, big gold hoop earrings, long gold chains, gold watch, bracelet and rings. Image of the police hat portrays that she is a Londoner, and the iconic Lion is noticeable to people who live in Camden Town.

A close up shot which fills the page more emphasises the focus on the artist.  Very limited text on the album cover. Background out of focus, artist looking straight at the camera to engage with the audience. Make-up lightly done to convey her 'teen-hood' youth and innocence.

Very limited information on the page and the artist covering about 60% of the page. Album in the bottom right hand corner. 'Virgin media presents' logo included. Messy hair and unusual make up conveys a very 'mad' concert.

The brown banner at the bottom used to highlight the information that isn't on the actual CD album cover. The image used is the actual CD album cover but with added the brown banner at the bottom.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product (video) and ancillary text (digipak and advertisement)? (DIRECT VIDEO LINKS)

The direct visual links between Leona Lewis' CD album, Video (Bleeding Love) and CD advertisement is the artist herself. Curly hair, light make-up and dark background shows the clear link between all three products.

In a similar way, the obvious is that the same artist is used, the use of her bright clothing and the iconic guitar is used in all three products. Same location shots (Camden Town). The colour scheme of black, white plus an extra added contrasting colour (yellow) which is a connection with the bright clothing contrasting with the world around her.

The audience can maybe recognise my products as linked products by the flow of colour burst on black and white and the urban background in the advertisement and the digipak. I would say my ancillary products were a success because thinking about the weather conditions and the limited times, we managed to get the filming task done regardless of missing members of the group.

3. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages? 

The main media technology which helped (to do my research, planning and my evaluation) massively was of course, the internet [logo images]; youtube, dafont, google, wordle, wikipedia, vimeo and blogger.

4. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge of real media products?


To create the video myself and my group we had to come up with an idea of what we wanted our video to turn out like. In order to do this we had to look at different media products which have been successful in the music industry. The main aim was to have clear connotations to the genre of the song we chose, through the music video, digipak and advertisement we produced.

We were influenced by different media products. We first started looking at different videos on the internet, I started by analysing the most popular videos that were of the same genre as the song we chose. You Tube was a massive help as it enabled us to have access to milliones of music videos. After analysing a large quantity of videos, we choose specific ones that we thought had a clear narrative (what we wanted to achieve) The genres we looked at was Indie/Pop/Rock the conventions, misc en scene that took place had some what a connatation with the song we chose to do.

YouTube was a great help as we have a wide range of videos to choose from helping us by influencing some of the ideas used in the successful videos.

 

The Black Eyed Peas- Where is the love?

This music video influenced the story that goes on during the video we created, the lyrics are also similar to the song we chose which was Sandi Thom - I wish I was a punk rocker. In this music video we see people suffering and asking why there is so much hurt going on in the world. Our music video also gives that message as the artist we created as she also wonders in the street singing "I was born too late, to a world that doesn't care". We were moved by the message of the song, also how they have portrayed the msg by using misc en scene, close up of children who seem to be suffering. The artist spreading the message around.

The Verve - Bittersweet symphony

Bittersweet symphony by the verve was a huge influence, the setting where the video take place is simple, on a road but it shows the indie/pop genre. The location we chose specifically to have the connotation with the genre, based in Camden Town, famously known for its retro/indie shops and market. The camera shots used in this video also inspired us to use them simarly to get the effect. The close up of the woman's face shows the anger she holds, the shot on the right is a screen shot of the similar camera shot we used in our video.








Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?




Analysing different CDs and digipaks enabled to give me an aspect of how I may want my digipak and advertisement as a finish product. I chose to stick to female British artist as there is more of a connotation to the artist we created.

Pixie Lott

                                                   

Looking at Pixie Lott's CD cover, video snaps and advertisement, there is a clear connotation between the three. Her face has been presented a lot of the time, as she is new artist, the audience needs to familiarise themselves with the artist, therefore making her face recognisable. This inspired me to do the same, we've used close -up shots in the music video, for the digipak and advertisement I've used the artist face more hoping to achieve the aim Pixie Lott has used.  The artist Pixie Lott is wearing mostly black I've tried to do the same, however using bright colours such as yellow and green, baring in mind what those colours represent as nature, sun, joyful etc. Making the genre of the song more obvious. 

Melody Davis

   

Lily Allen

Looking at the way Lilly Allen's CD, advertisement and video has been put together uses the same technique Pixie Lott. The body language of Lily Allen shows exactly the audience she wants to attract, she looks carefree, chavy yet with attitude. I've applied this technique in my media products as well, by the facial expression the artist has a smile on the front and back of my digipak.

 

Question 3 -  How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Presention created on Prezi.com

Our Animatic storyboard created on Final Cut Pro 

Question 4 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

This is the feedback our group got at the cinema showing

This was the commentaries made by the audience after watching our music video

Feedback after completing  the digipak and advertisement I cre

                        

My response to the question

More added :) 

Evaluation

 WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?



One music video which influenced my music video was Katy Perry's - Hot 'n' Cold. This video contains lots of cuts and a combination of close ups, wide shots and establishing shots. This music video is also categorised within the pop video genre and the solo artist is a strong. independent female.  Also, the video is very bright and animated which is similar to my own piece.



I decided to challenge the typical pop genre style by making my video in the amplification style as opposed to the illustrative which is common. It also common for pop videos to be almost 'cartoony', this is something I wanted to avoid as I feel that my song (Sandii Thom- I Wish I Was a Punkrocker) should be taken seriously.                              
                                                   An example of a style I wanted to avoid

For my digipak and advertisement I wanted to remain within my British the, in doing this I wanted my advert to look almost like a flyer, without too much editing. This is completely different to typical adverts of the genre as they tend to be very airbrushed and heavily designed. I didn't want my artist to look 'fake'  and for her to show that she is still humble despite her rising fame, this allows for a greater connection between her and the audience. I got the idea from an online advertisement of a band from Myspace called The Hotlines.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT (VIDEO) AND ANCILLARY TEXTS (DIGIPAK AND ADVERTISEMENT)?

I feel that my promotional packaging syncs well with my music video as I returned to the location of filming to take my pictures which I used for it. I chose the location of Camden as it fits in with my British theme which I then carried out onto my digipak and advertisment. 

I used a particular location from my video, in which Melody hands a beggar some money by a lion statue, the same statue can be seen on the back cover of my album.

I have also used the image which I used on the front of my album, for the actual advertisement.

My audience will be able to see that not only is there a clear link between my three pieces (video, digipak and advert) shown through my continued use of my artist Melody Davies, as she is the focal point in all of my products, but, there also a clear theme which connects it all. The name of the album 'London Town', as well as the red, white and blue colour scheme, heavy use of the British flag and my filming location of Camden.

I feel that this will greatly encourage my target audience to support my 'up and coming' artist as they will be able to connect with not just that she comes from London, England but also that she is proud of where she comes from. I got the idea to do this during research when I saw the album cover for Patrick Davis, which is centred around his home of Las Vegas.

I also, feel that my packaging is very bright and well coordinated, with the colours matching and aspects of the  video being used to promote the songs.

HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?


Before filming our video we first made an Animatic Storyboard. This really helped us to put everything together and give us a sense of what was and wasn't possible. 
To edit our music videos we used Final Cut Pro to edit our shots and to put it all together.

To create our Digipaks we used Quark after first using Photoshop to edit our pictures. This gave out posters and digipaks a more professional finish.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

After the cinema we filmed some of our audiences opinions on how film and how we could have made it better or what they liked.  

From this we generally found that people enjoyed our range of camera shots and angles, which we really put the effort into so we were glad that they appreciated it. We also found they were able to connect the song lyrics with the mise-en-scene we used.

We were told that the audience would have preferred a little bit less of the hand held camera work and would have preferred some more steady cam.

However, over all we got excellent audience feedback and would perhaps need to be a bit neater with out camera work (e.g. use a tripod more).

people tended to like my album cover as it was very British which everyone who asked, being in Britain, could relate too. Many people commented on the fact that my shots were taking down Camden Lock as many people had been there themselves at some point.

My poster wasn't as accepted as it lacks a lot of digital imagery which I was aware of when I made it. I am a little disappointed that my original intention of making it look like a classic flyer did not really translate to the audience and this is something I would change if I had the chance.

jpegs of advert (final advert)

jpegs of digipak (final digipak)

Mock up of advert

This is a mock up of my advert. When designing my final advert i will use this for inspiration. I will use the photo idea and place them in the middle. Also i will need to put short but important information on the advert so its its clear and not boring for the audience to read. 

Mock up of digipak