EVALUATION

In what ways does your Media products use, develop or

challenge forms andconventions of real

life products?

After continuous weeks of research, I found out many things about the current media; like how different effects show different meanings. I researched into various artists (e.g. Nickelback, Ciara, Taylor Swift etc) to find out what is conventional and how they portray each video, poster and album.

In relation to current artists and real life products, I tried to use their methods and apply them to my own. I think my video is very conventional and follows many other forms of conventions. For example; I attempted to make the audience feel the sadness and misery because the song is about love and I put this across by having the actress looking down and sad. As I could see from other real life products, they do certain things to show a particular meaning, so using this I tried to relate every action to what I wanted the audience to feel. It develops conventions because I carry them on and extend them into my own work.

My poster and album cover also follow conventions because I researched into artists like Miley Cyrus and Avenged Sevenfold,and these showed that they use pictures and effects to showemotions. There fore, I carried this over into my work and used a picture that showed the feelings and the colours that representedthe meaning. For example; Miley used bright colours to attract theyounger generation.

Black and white were the main colours I used and this showed the meaning because Whitney was either happy or not; whether it be love stricken or heart broken. I thought using too many bright colours would stir away the thoughts of love. Because this isn’t necessarily a happy love as Whitney can’t get the man she wants.

The following shots are from the original video and my video and they both show the connections they have with each other.

Here they have both close ups of the face.

This sticks to conventions because it shows the meaning in a normal

way.

Once again, the shot is the same but different location.

Andrew Goodwin’s TheoryAndrew Goodwin is a famous man who analysed music videos and came upwith many theories. He is well known for writing ‘Dancing in the distraction Factory’ (1992). The following statements are what he came up with and Iwill compare them with my music video.

They are:1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals3. There is a relationship between music and visuals4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recuracross their work (a visual style)5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens withinscreens, telescopes etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of thefemale body.6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc)

My media product applies to Goodwin’s first theory because the genre of my song (Saving all my love for you by Whitney Houston) is a jazz ballad and I show this by the slow pace, moving cuts and the way the actress is acting. This is because the actress comes across as sad, we can see this through her various expressions. Also the location is a standard setting so its nothing like anything anyone would use for a pop song.

When Goodwin states that there is relationship between lyrics and visuals, you can see I applied that because I analysed the lyrics individually and based all my actions around the lyrics. I did it that way because it would show more feelings and relate to what Whitney was wanting to portray. Also one of the shots in the video shows my actress talking to a friend and we can lip read what she is saying and connect it to the lyrics.

I connected the music and visuals together by, once again, using slow moving cuts. If I used fast cuts with the jazz based music then it wouldn’t fit and would not look right. I used many hand held shots to show the emotions, this way I could please myself on how slow or fast I operated. What the audience can visually see relates with themusic in many other ways. The actress wears clothing that represents love; pink top, fluffy coat.

Goodwin says that the record label demand many close ups of the artist, this is to promote the artist and make them become well known. In my video I used quite a few close ups but I mainly chose to use medium close ups and a few long shots. So my video partially fits in with this theory but not as much as the others.

When it comes to focusing on certain parts of the video we can see the main aspect is the actress, which is the voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Unlike Britney Spears or Beyoncé, I don’t exploit my actress in ways of seeing their body, I show her mainly through expressions and actions.

The final theory of Goodwin’s was referring to intertextuality. This is where there is reference with my products connecting with others such as websites, t shirts etc. I did not create these products but they would relate as everything is kept within the same theme.

How effective is the combinationof your main product and

ancillary texts?

When looking at my final products and video, I can see that they work together well because the actress is the main attraction as she is featured on every one. This means that if one person sees one of the products they would instantly know what it is if they saw another one. Especially because the expressions are the same so the artist isn’t giving off different impressions.

As you can see below, the products are similar in some sort of way. The same font (impact) is used through out and the colours are in the same group (black, white and small usage of pink), so there is no vibrant colours used. This makes them effective because it will stick in the audiences mind. In each of the products the actress looks a similar way which represents the

feelings held within the album. Everything the products contain; necklace, heart behind the

title, all show a meaning of love. This is effective because they all relate to one another and it explains what the album is about.

When comparing the products to the video we can see they are effective because they fit in with the video as the video expresses feelings of sadness and love. This can be seen on the poster and cover through the picture, there fore each product relates to one another. Also the actress in the video wears the same clothing as the ones on the poster and cover, this is effective because people will recognise the artist and know what to expect.

DIGI PACKSMy products as a group are known as a Digi Pack. At the start of my coursework I researched into various artists’ digi packs and found out what made them so successful. A digi pack is where there are 3 or more promotional products that advertise a specific artist. For example; Michael Jackson had badges, T shirts, albums, posters and key rings etc. Paramore had T shirts, albums, mugs, badges and posters etc.

When looking at the power point I created for Digi packs, I can see that the artist kept everything similar with the same visual style. This is because if the audience saw one they would recognise the other instantly. Now, comparing those to mine I can gladly say that my products fit in with the range of digi packs I researched. This is because, as I havealready stated, my products are similar in many ways and they would be easily identified.

INTERTEXUALITY At the beginning of this coursework, I researched into many key words and ‘intertextuality’ was one of them. This is the way that things relate to each other, like what similarities they have that makes them visibly linked.

This is important because when people work within the music industry, they need to make sure their work is linked so this gives a better opportunity to attract the audience. Intertextuality basically helps the audience to identify who produced what. The digi-pack needs great use of intertextuality so that the audience become attracted to it.

Through use of camera shots, my video relates to my products because there are many close ups and this is what I mainly use as my focus – in my poster and cover. The mise – en –scene also links in with each of the products becauseof the same style clothing and objects. The location is also similar because everything is situated in her house or only one place outside.

What have you learned fromyour audience feedback?

During the construction of my coursework, I realise how vital audience feedback was. This is because you need to know what attracts them and what would get their attention in able for your products to be successful.

From the feedback I received, I could see that many things did not fit in with the genre or the style of the artist. I am happy with the feedback I got because it made me realise what was good and what wasn’t, as personal opinion can be biased and false. I attempted to gain feedback from each of my products at every stage, this would then help me to progress each time and create the best products of my ability.

I learnt it was important to process feedback in different ways. For example, I used tally charts and converted it into a power point, I also used pie charts to form part of my feedback. I did this because it helped me analyse the data in many ways so that I couldchange things accordingly and constantly make it adapt to whatthe audience want. I had to do this because its them that makemy products successful.

Stages of change in poster

From looking at the posters we can see that the main characteristic that changes is the colour. In the posters we can see that grey, black and pink are the main attraction. When working through the process of creating the poster and receiving peer feedback where I just quickly asked my friends, it was thought best to stick with what was original and fitted in with every other product. Which is why the final decision was between the last two. In my opinion, the last one gave away too much identity so I decided to stick with the black one. This is because, yes it was the best according to the feedback, but it also kept the audience in suspense.

Stages of change in cover

Once again, we can see the main characteristic that changes is the colour. The main colours are black, pink and white. The first cover uses a brown, grey colour, which in effect doesn’t fit in. That is why I chose to stick with black and white because peer feedback showed that more people opted for colours that blended in with the theme. In the end it was between cover 3 and 4. I chose to stick with the white one because the poster was black and I wanted the audience to have a mixture of feelings.

When it came to my video, peer feedback was extremely vital because what I thought was good and successful wouldn’t of been to some one else. Also other people can see faults that have been made that maybe myself couldn’t. Also feedback would encourage me to change little bits that could make it better. The following screen shots show what my feedback made me realise.

BEFORE AFTER

WHAT IT LEADS TO

As you can see to the left, there are three screen shots. The main two show a ‘before’ shot (when it was my first draft), and an ‘after’ shot (when I had improved). If it wasn’t for audience feedback then I would not of noticed this mistake. It is a mistake because at first she was wearing a skirt with no shoes, and the follow on in the video she walks out WITH shoes on and NO skirt. There fore I needed to re film so she had shoes on and no skirt as she walked out of the bedroom.

How did you use Media technologies in the construction and research,

planning and evaluation stages?

Through out this course, I used various types of technology and widened my experience in the usage of many things. The soft wares and resources I used was:oPower pointoInternet; wordle, slide share and the basic internet to research various artists (wikipedia.org, you tube, IMDB and yahoo music)oHand written researchoAutobiographies of artistsoVideo cameraoCamera StandoDigital cameraoFireworksoPinnacle 12 oWindows Movie MakeroWindows Live Photo Gallery

The following paragraphs state which resource I used at which point and how it helped me to complete the task.

Whilst creating my products I had to plan and research in various ways. By doing this it helped to widen my experience of technology but it also helped me to analyse the current media in many ways. I did not have the widest use of technology but when researching the media I used the soft wares and resources like power point, internet; wordle, slide share and the basic internet to research various artists (wikipedia.org, you tube, IMDB and yahoo music), hand written research and autobiographies of artists. This all went towards my research because it helped me to see what the current media was experiencing and what the market is into. It made me realise what artists do to make themselves successful and from using IMDB, I could compare figures to see how well one strategy worked compared to another.

When planning, I used a wider range of technologies because this is when I started to use fireworks. I also hand wrote my story board and lyric analysis. Another use of technology I used at this point was windows movie maker because I created an anamatic, which helped me visualise how my final product should of looked. Fireworks played a huge part in my coursework because it is what I used to create every album cover and poster. I had experience with fireworks last year at AS, but this year needed to be in more depth and highly professional.

Here is a quick screen shot of me using fireworks in the construction of album covers. I used fireworks for my posters too. I am already familiar with this software but there are always new things you learn and I learnt a lot when creating my products.

During the construction I once again used fireworks and also had access to a camera along with the tripod stand. I also used my own camera to take the photos with. Once everything had been filmed I had to transfer it onto the computer and edit it. When editing the video I used the soft ware pinnacle 12 and this helped me use a various amount of transitions and also alter the brightness. This really widened my use of technology because I had never even heard of it before but I think towards the end I got the hang of it. When creating the albums and posters, I took the pictures and edited these by using the standard windows live photo gallery just adjusted the brightness and changed the contrast. This made it more appealing and helped to make my products more attractive. A snap shot of using this software is shown below.

I am very pleased with what I created from these technologies. They really widened my experience and I enjoyed looking into something new. Without

the use of these soft wares I would not of created the products I did at such a standard.

This is a quick print preview of me editing my video using the software Pinnacle 12.

These are more snap shots of my video whilst using Pinnacle 12. Through out the duration of this coursework, I think I picked up a lot from using this.

I figured out how to add transitions, change the brightness/contrast, add music, delete parts of a cut, slow the pace of the movement and add text.

After the completion of my coursework, I took a few minutes to reflect on what I had created. In my own mind I thought that I had done very well considering my previous experience in videoing, which was basically non existent, although I think I could of done better.

Good pointsThe main good parts was when it was extremely fun creating the video because of the laughs me and my friend had. That was because we had never done anything like this before and we were not exactly good at it. Also, I liked creating the poster because I love doing creative things like that, it keeps me occupied and I always feels the need to create more. I enjoyed analysing the current media because it made me realise a lot of things I didn’t know before, especially about many artists.

Bad pointsThe main downside to this coursework was planning and the construction of the video. I don’t always have a wide imagination when it comes tocreating something that has to be really good where I have to show people. Also with me never having experience in videoing I didn’t know how to properly operate the camera to get the shots completely right. The final thing I found bad was the editing because it was a new software and I had to get everything ontime and perfect.

What would I change?If I had to complete this coursework again there are a few things I would change. Those would be :

oTake more time in planning; because if I collected more ideas then the video would be more entertaining.

oGive myself more time when filming; because I feel as though some bits were a bit rushed because we got sick of filming all the time.

oTry a wider variation of mock ups; because I think I could of produced more and at a better standard.

oChoose a different song that had more variation of lyrics so it didn’t repeat itself, this way I could do more with my shots.

Overall, I am very pleased with the final product. It was created and constructed to the best of my ability. I had fun creating this coursework and that inspired me to create such product. I feel it fits in with my target audience and gives off the right impression connected to the song.