Evalutation

How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts ?

The combination of the 3 different ancillary texts have enabled me to continue a theme throughout my coursework which has therefore enabled me to give my artists a brand. This can therefore be useful when trying to appeal to a target audience in the music industry as they have been branded and therefore are open to interpretation from audiences.
The main theme which I have created all stems to a main theme of romance between the artist and his girlfriend and how I interpreted the lyrics of the song, and as a result how I portrayed the characters within the music video. More specifically there is a strong theme of dreaming and memories as throughout all 3 texts bright lighting and bright edits are used to connote memories and dreaming as the bright edits give the audience the feeling that the images are not actually happening or that they are in the past. ( this can be said more specifically within the music video through the constant white fades used)

To the right is a screen shot of my final video this shows the actors Emil and Alex walking into the distance / bright light this effect has been created through my editing. This is an example of how I have showed continuity throughout the three products which I have created, because a this shot is similar to the photo I have used for the music magazine advert which I had made shown below.



As you can see the theme is continued throughout the other ancillary tasks with connotations of togetherness and relationships this is done so the artist is able to establish a brand for this album. Also with having used the same setting and the same actors it will allow the target audience to associate the magazine advert with the video etc, allowing the artists brand and name to devlop. The use of bright lighting in both products I feel is effective as it continues the theme of dreaming and memories which stereotypically is bright , causing the target auidence to be able to relate to the products shown.

This can be compared to my research into similar musc genres and music magazines where the kings of leon use themes throughout their album and magazine "Come Around Sundown" having learnt this from my research I was able to apply it to my media products in the hope they will be recognised in the same way.










How Did You Use Media Technologies In the Construction and Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages ?

Within this coursework I have used a variety of equipment and software in order to create the best effects possible and to define my artists brand. However I haven't began with the advanced equipment from the very beginning I have gradually progressed throughout the Media course and enabled myself to gain an in depth knowledge of the aspects of media before using any elements of the software.

In order to begin my A2 course with a basic knowledge and understanding of how to use the filming equipment I was able to create a preliminary music video at the summer of 2011 which enabled me to get a first hand experience of using the equipment I would have to be familiar with at the start of the September term. This music video I created was only edited on basic software and I found really fun to do and allowed me at an early stage within the course to be creative with the filing element of media. What I learnt from this small task was that putting a story behind a music video will appeal to an audience and give the video more character , and from this I could apply what I had learnt to the music video I was to create in my A2 coursework portfolio.

Research

At the beginning of the A2 course I began to plan my digi pack, music magazine and music video. This involved a substantial amount of research into existing media products , different music similar music videos, images from online magazines and all other types of media which I researched for inspiration and knowledge in order to do this I therefore had to use technology such as computers/ laptops to research music artists . One of the ways I found my soundtrack was through going on youtube and facebook to try and find a soundtrack which I felt would be suitable for my music video idea and asking around friends.

Planning

At the beginning of the planning process for my portfolio I went to a variety of locations for my video and was able to use my own personal technology and drew upon the use of my own Iphone to take good quality photos for location shots.
In order to plan my media products ( magazine advert , digi pack and music video ) I created practice versions of all aspects of my media using a variety of basic technology such as PowerPoint and word to create mood boards for  my genre of music and interests of my target audience (mood board ). In addiction throughout the planning I used the Internet to get rough pictures to open on photoshop to create a practice digipacks etc.

Construction

When beginning the construction of my media products I was only able to draw upon my photoshop and camera skills from AS and these were very basic, therefore I began using photoshop more often and creating practice digi packs in order to get use to the software again. So when I came to create the finished products I had developed an in depth knowledge of the software itself and was able to use majority of the elements of the software with confidence compared to my skills in AS. Therefore the technology I used within the construction were cameras , for taking the photos for my digi pack and magazine advert, also in order for me to gain a steady shot I required the use of a camera stand for my camera. On the video side of construction, having already made a preliminary video at the end of my AS year I was able to use these skills of the videoing equipment for my construction element of my music video. In this part of the construction I used a flip video camera and stand in order to get a clear and steady video to edit. I also used an Iphone to playback the soundtrack when recording the performance element of the video so the actor was able to sing along making the video more realistic.


In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products ?

Throughout all of my media products which I have produced they all are able to interlink as they all have the same sort of theme running throughout the pieces and this gives the artist an established brand which will enable them to stand out from other products which could be on the market (hypothetically speaking) therefore this makes my media products a realistic concept.

Within my media products which I have made I have used some genre stereotypical shots which I have gained from some off my research into similar music videos. This has enabled me to give the brand an identity and cause it to fit in with competeing music artists within that genre. This enables my video to run along side the typical conventions of an acoustic / indie music video and therefore sit perfectly within the market for that genre.

Above is a screenshot of Jack

Johnsons music video " Talk of the Town" this video inspired me to use the acoustic side of the video at the begining and really emphasise the use of guitar within the video. The screenshot shows the artist playing the relevant chords on the guitar in sync with the music. Therefore I transfered this shot into my own video at the begining to try create a similar effect. ( my video screenshot shown to the right)

Another example of my media products demonstrating the key elements of an acoustic video is shown in these two screen shots. I used the props of a music stand ,microphone and guitar deliberately because it fit in with the genre, and majority of the inspiration for doing so was after watching countless amounts of music videos from the band Boyce Avenue ( an acoustic band on youtube who specialise in covers) The screenshot to the left shows the band singing a cover of
"Take That - Back for Good" the lead band member is on the screen and a midshot is used to show all of the the equipment in shot and also so highlight the fact he is playing an acoustic instument at the same time hence giving the effect of "live music play".
I have created a similar effect within my video, although I do not have the equipment and special lighting they had I was able to use the musical equipment to fit in with the genre conventions of an acoustic video . The shot I used was also a midshot showing all the equipment and the performance element of the video aswell.

Another shot which I feel is effective within a real artists music video is on "James Morrisons - You make it Real " music video there is a close up shot of the artist singing a particular emotional part of the song and the use of this close up really connects with the audience and emphasises the meaning of the lyrics and the type of song which is being sang.

Similarly, there is a close up within my music video were the artist/actor Alex is singing into the microphone this really emphasises the note which is being sang and also connotes that the artists means everything he is saying and adds to the themes of romance etc. This clip was inspired through watching artists music videos such as James Morrison who often sing about love and loss.

Another video I watched and gained inspiration from was " The Script - For The First Time " this video was particluraly interesting to watch as it showed the story of the couple sharing memories together and this aspect of the video I was able to transfer to mine. As I showed the couple ( Emily and Alex) sharing memories together like n The Script's video. In addition video by The Script goes between black and white colour scheme then into colour when showing images of the memories between the couple I found this particularly effective as the colour change particularly emphasises the mood of the song and captures and highlights the couples time together.

In addition a similarity between the two videos are that both of them go between a performance element of the music to also telling a story through showing a balance of narrative and performace video clips .

 

What Have You Learned from Your Audience Feedback ?

Within my media coursework I gained feedback for all components of my media coursework and I have taken on board majority of the feedback which was given in order to improve my finished products to appeal more to the taget audience as theoretically they are the consumer / buyers at the end of the day and as a media student I need to be able to appeal to my target market.

First of all, in order to gain audience feedback for my digi pack ,throughout my planning I allowed myself to gain constant feedback through asking people what they thought of my rough ideas and how they would improve them. I did this through creating a number of different edits and taking the ones which gained the overall best feedback, in order to create an overall better appealing product. Some of the ideas can be seen in the research and planning element of my blog.

In addition to this I also created a mock up music video which I held screenings of my video to a variety of different people who gave their opinions of good and bad elements of the video and ways in which they would improve it. This allowed me to gain an understanding of peoples interpretation of my work and how an audience perceived my story I wished to tell within the video.

In addition to holding screenings of the mock up, took the direct audience feedback into account then acted upon it and posted my final version of the music video on the social networking site Facebook in order to ask a wide range of people directly what they thought of the finished video and capitaslise on the growing interest in social networking, this would give me an idea of how my target audience view my video and what their opinions are towards it . Below are screenshots off facebook of the feedback I acheieved through doing this.

This is a screenshot from when I uploaded my mock up video on to facebook, and after 15 minutes of uploading I received feedback and "likes" which enforces the part facebook played in giving feedback for from my video. It also enabled be to single out individual comments in order to improve my final video .

These comments etc can be seen on my feedback page.