Evaluation ...

Evaluation

Evaluation

By Anna-May Carey

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

In A2 Media, we have had to create a music video; I was greatly impassioned by the prospect. I decided to explore Eminems notorious single, Stan. In the original music video, the narrations point-of-view revolves around Stan and not his girlfriend. Therefore, I wanted to explore her story and the development of their relationship with a gender role-reversal for subversive effect.

This song has disturbing themes and explicit lyrics which we wanted to convey with distinctive imagery and edgy storytelling techniques. The ideological emphasis of our music video centred around the theme of self-esteem and interpersonal relationships - about how people dont always appreciate the people in their life and always want better but if they just stopped to appreciate the person in their life they would be pleasantly surprised. Sometimes, the best way to convey a message is through shock tactics.

In my music video, Stans girlfriend is getting abused and she has so many occasions to walk away but doesnt until it gets too much to the point where she takes her life. This subverts the conventions of the music video because I didnt want to give Stan the power of taking away her life as he has already broken her physically and mentally.

For my music video, I felt it was important present the music video on a media platform that allowed my target audience to have access to it. The media platforms that I used to were Blogger and Vimeo as well as showing my fellow peers at school, this allowed my target audience to get their own perspective on this subversive music video as well as giving me feedback on it on my theme and how my music video conveyed the gender reversal role .

However with my ancillary tasks which were; Digipack CD Cover and a Magazine Advert I only used Blogger as I had created a Magazine Advert and a CD Cover in Adobes Photoshop with which I created to have a complimentary purpose on my music video and allowing my target audience to understand how in this patriarchal society we are dominated but we all have a chance become independent as Stans girlfriend does.

The genre of my music video is; Hip-Hop and Rap which are considered controversial genres as they talk about being rebellious and being subversive to societys forms and conventions by using legal and illegal substances as well as empowering men because they are able to use woman as objects for sex. I feel like I havent conformed to these forms and conventions but I have included male dominance as well as legal substances; vodka.

However I have not conformed to the stereotypical conventions of a Hip-Hop music video. I havent included suburban areas or obligating my main character to wear a lot of gold and this song doesnt have a fast tempo or a loud bass effect so therefore it is considered a controversial song not only due to the lyrics but to the fact that its tempo is slow.

As well I included a post-modern effect known as stop motion which Hip Hop music videos dont usually include and I have yet to find one that uses it at all. Therefore I would say that my music video does imitate and from my research is very subversive.

My music video includes elements that our perfect society try to hide. One of the shots in my music video is the symbolisation of self-harm which I felt is important to acknowledge because a lot of teenagers face problems in their life and use this as a scape goat. I have realised our society doesnt touch much on this topic I feel this is because they dont want to acknowledge that there are problems out there that we need to face together, to help prevent this happening.

Also I created a six minute video which some people could classify as subversive as the majority of music videos apply the MTVs three minute rule as well it allows them to create a short narrative and nothing too complex as it only lasts for three minutes, whereas I could be ambitious and discover elements that a three minute video couldnt. I feel like I did not obey to the forms and conventions as I was quite subversive with my music video and explored aspects not many other students have.

With my music video I dont feel like it was a conscious decision of mine to be subversive and not conform I just found this music video thought-provoking and wanted to add my own take on it as well as exploring gender role-reversal. As well we were studying elements in class that we may want to include in our music video and I felt intrigued by some of the ideas; one being stop motion.

Although other members of my class did not include an obvious post-modern element like stop motion they did include post-modernism within their music video, take for example Eva, Ellen and Aimees group included symbolisation of the crow explaining that it was their main character breaking free, this was similar to my symbolisation of the self harm. As well as making the music sounding like it was actually underground in their train scene. I feel like it was a decision that wasnt conscious because I felt like I would enjoy exploring certain media techniques that I wasnt aware of last year and also felt it would suit my music video exceptionally well.

I feel my conventions in my music video have proven successful because it communicates my narrative/theme in a way that is subversive to Eminems music video as the narration just walks you through everything that is going on. It has created enigmatic with my target audience because it is never shown that Stans girlfriend ends her life and therefore it makes my audience ask more questions and consider all possible endings.

As well when first creating my music video I felt having these conventions in place allowed me to make improvements or changes. Take for example, the fact that I was going to have the car crashing over a bridge in stop motion this was then changed to the abusive relationship as I felt it would be more achievable to do stop motion on abusive relationship than on a car. This shows that I was constantly changing my ideas and my music video plans because I may have been too ambitious at the beginning. My music video now is totally different to my original plans but I feel this has allowed me to explore more aspects and be more subversive with my main theme, evolving my music video.

In my music video I feel I contributed an awful lot, for example I done a lot of the filming and editing that took place. I filmed the car scene with my actor playing Stan, as well as the bed room scene with my two main actors, also I filmed Eminems rap at the end, as well as, the stop motion, the drama room scene with Stan writing letters and the funeral car scene. When filming these shots I knew exactly what image I wanted to capture to reinforce my main theme and I felt that was demonstrated by my use of different shots and symbolisation within certain shots.

As well when it came to editing I edited the beginning of the music video along with the car scene, the end rap, and the stop motion, where I made it monochrome which means black and white as well as adding the odd transition where necessary within my music video. I have always been a fan of Eminem and I feel he is an amazing role model, this inspired me to do a fan music video because all of his songs having meaning. I wanted to create a music video with the same powerful message as well as including post-modern elements and communicating some ideologies and the fact that our society is patriarchal which needs to be changed.

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

In my music video I feel the most important element was the stop motion because it communicated Stan and his girlfriends relationship and their individual object for one another. Therefore when it came to deciding what I would include in my ancillary tasks I knew I would incorporate them because they communicating my main theme the most excellently. Hence I used screenshots of the stop motion and added them into Adobes Photoshop where I went on to develop my ancillary tasks.

For my font I decided to use the site 1001 Fonts as I felt there would be more of an choice of what font I could use. It then went on to develop into the images which I am extremely proud of as this was my first time using Adobes Photoshop and I feel I developed something to be happy with while complementing my music video and developing my media skills. As well due to the stop motion being monochrome (black and white), I decided it would be perfect if my ancillary tasks tied in with the colour scheme of it and this would pull all of it together nicely.

I think my ancillary tasks are very successful as they communicate the theme of my music video, whilst creating enigmatic and making my target audience engrossed, consequently wanting to watch it. I feel very content with it because although I could have made them more complex I feel my music video has multifaceted concepts throughout and this needs to be simple it will create the greatest impact as it will promote my music video and draw peoples attention.

As well it may make them consider what the music video could be about and therefore they could make up some ideologies on the music video and consequently when they watch it they could be surprised or disappointed. However when I showed most people the reaction I received was impressed and surprised that an A-Level student had that I had that much potential. I am very pleased when it comes to my ancillary tasks as I feel they meet the expectations that I wanted as well it was my first time creating an ancillary task and I feel it suited my music video and thats the main purpose of it so that it creates synergy with the main product.

3)What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I designed my own questionnaire to get peoples opinions written down on paper so they could be as honest as they wanted to be. I will present below my questionnaire along with the responses I got from my fellow peers.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of this music video?

Sharon: Strength - Effective song and acting, lyrics to visualisation applied. Weakness - The variety of scenes were limited i.e. zooming in on eyes, mouth and writing as well the lip syncing.

Sarah: Strength - Fast editing. Weakness - Lip syncing

Renique: Strength: Editing. Weakness: Lip Syncing

Moya: Strength - Very good use of images that convinced the tone of the music. Weakness - Difficult to concentrate as the editing was very fast.

2.Did you find it subversive?

Sharon: Yes included intertextuality and stop motion which was very effective.

Sarah: I feel the stop motion was subversive as I have never seen it in a rap music video before.

Renique: I found the stop motion subversive.

Moya: Yes because stop motion isnt used in the rap genre.

3.What part of the music video was your favourite?

Sharon: Where the guy expressed his anger and stress in solo performance.

Sarah: The rapping.

Renique: The stop motion scene.

Moya: The symbolisation of the woman cutting herself.

4.Were there any parts of the music video we could have improved?

Sharon: Show what happened to Stans girlfriend.

Sarah: Lip Syncing.

Renique: The end, we need to discover what happened.

Moya: Lip Syncing.

5.Did you notice any post-modern elements within our music video?

Sharon: Yes the storyline I think.

Sarah: The stop motion.

Renique: Stop motion and lyrics on screen.

Moya: Stop motion I think.

6.What genre do you think our music video was?

Sharon: Rap

Sarah: Rap

Renique: Hip-Hop

Moya: Rap

7.What age group do you think our music video was aimed at?

Sharon: 17 + year olds

Sarah: 18 year olds

Renique: 17-18 year olds

Moya: 16-18 year olds

8.Did you find our main characters suitable for this music video?

Sharon: I dont think they were.

Sarah: Yes they played the characters excitingly.

Renique: Yes very good actors.

Moya: Yes.

I feel that this feedback has been effective because it has allowed both positive and negative feedback as well as giving me an insight into my target audiences ideologies on my subversive music video. Although I felt disappointed with the fact that the lip syncing wasnt perfect I knew I had tried my hardest and so had the actor it is very hard to get it perfect especially as it is a rap, as well certain words were blanked out due to them not being explicit language. However Im very satisfied that people were aware of the post-modern elements and found the stop motion very effective as well as being able to understand my main theme.

4)How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In AS media studies, we had to create an opening for a film. With this I learnt the basic construction which was being able to cut the clips, add some transitions and make it black and white as well as creating our own sound track. I feel this is because last year I did not know as much as I do now, as well I didnt ask my peers or teacher for help because I felt I could work independently. Whereas this year I asked for help when necessary and I felt this has developed my technical skill as well as the construction of my music video because I knew what improvements to make.

This year compared to last I have used Photoshop, a Sony Bloggie MHS TS20 8GB Touch Mobile HD Snap Camera as well as a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-WX350W Superzoom Compact Camera. As well I also developed my Adobe Premier Pro skills because I was able to construct clips in a way that they blend and flow one after another, this is shown in my main product compared to last year. Overall this year I was more prepared and fully planned my whole music video. I feel overall this had a massive impact on the developed of my product and I feel a lot more pleased this year compared to last as I feel I was more prepared. Overall this year has been a lot better as I have developed new media skills, learnt about post-modernism and how to apply it to a music video, Im thoroughly proud of my music video and ancillary tasks.

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