Evaluation A2

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

 

I have decided to do my music video on the indie genre based on Jamie T and the song was “Sheila”. The main themes used are family relationships and grief this is linked to the narrative used within the lyrics. I am aiming my music video at a 17- 24 age persons who like urban indie music and are probably just out of education or just starting work, they are probably likely to be anti-establishment and live in a fairly urban areas.

I looked at two music videos that had similar shots and music of what I intended to use and produce, In both examples the main artist is the singer for the lyrics and what I liked about them is that for almost the entire video we could not see what was in front of the artist creating a somewhat mystery as to where the artist was travelling to, also this allowed for a different and unique style of cinematography which I liked. One of the videos used only one camera shot and that was a long shot tracking backwards looking at the artist, this was very interesting as it is unique. I think the clothing used in the videos inspired my costume choice for my artist also the shots and style of camera work used inspired my video. In the “streets” video the artist has a quite exaggerated “swagger” walk; I included this in my video.

 

When analysing real media examples for indie music videos, I found that the main codes and conventions consisted of: a male artist who is a nonchalant “rebel” that is talking about perhaps a serious matter within usually within society although sometimes about themselves, it is usually portrayed in a fairly rough or even violent manner expressing their anger. The typical audience for this genre of music is teenage males aged 16-19 although can span to a higher age range. The typical style used within this genre is urban mise-en-scene with a social problem within society, or perhaps broken relationships and grief. The way that the music video is usually delivered is in a short snappy and somewhat aggressive manner, this is to get the point across easily to this particular TA. Also I noticed that the artists that are used within the video like to express the lyrics further by using appropriate gestures. From the two examples of music videos I analysed I found that the type of filming was that the camera almost constantly faced the artist and tracked backwards at some point. The pace of editing is usually on the beat and therefore quite quick. Added sound effects are sometimes added in a humorous way or in a creative arty way to appeal to the target audience. The type of clothing that is used within these videos and covers and advert I usually a nonchalant fashion where the artist wears working jeans baggy top perhaps “preppy jumper” instead, their actual clothes sense is perhaps somewhat purposely “bad”. The use of a narrative is fairly uncommon in these types of videos, obviously there will be a narrative within the lyrics although this won’t be backed up by the acting within the video, and it’s usually more of a gesture video where the artist subtly expresses their opinion towards the situation.

The tone being used is quite rough urban, some slang this is to match the target audience and allow them to appreciate the music more.

These videos are meant to look low budget, this fits well with the ethos of the genre which is to go against main major companies, be about the music mainly and perhaps the meaning, It Also to go with the nonchalant look.

The colours I chose for the digipak were dark and grotty, I even added a contrast overlay onto them to make them stand out more this was to give the effect that it is a grotty looking council estate, building the representation that perhaps this is where the artist lived or he is talking about people who do within his lyrics. The colours I chose for the advert were also similar this was to create a synergy between the two print elements.

The photos I chose for the album cover and advert were mainly of council estates this was really to build a representation that the artist is or was living in poverty or “off the government”. I also chose a picture that I took of the artist when he was sitting looking down on some stairs, this made him look as if he was contemplating something, or depressed about some aspect of his life. The front cover gives an indication of what the song will be about.

The text of the title on the front cover of the album was white dripping paint; this was to appeal to the audience who would possibly be into graffiti or appeal to the people who do it perhaps. Also the text on the advert and back of album was very crisp and neat this was done on purpose to create an irony with the pictures as they were of council flats which were made to look grotty.

I portrayed my artist to be of working class, in poverty and perhaps depressed. I did this by making his pose be quite sad and relaxed sitting in the middle of a town perhaps acting like a tramp. Rowan weeks isn’t a boring name the artist originally was called Jamie T so I decided to call my artist his name as it was quite a quirky name which isn’t very common, I also felt it fitted with the song in a way. The layout on the front cover of the album was done to the rule of thirds to draw the viewer straight to the artist, then to the writing dripping on the stairs, on the advert I letterboxed the main image making sure the audience would view it almost instantly, then the font at the top as it was standing out in a different colour contrasting the black catching the users eye.

I tried to stick to the kind of codes and conventions used by indie artist to try and appeal to an active audience, I did however create a new convention by making the font on the front cover of the album appear to be as if it was sprayed on before, I have seen this on an album cover before although was not the same genre, this will help my product appeal to another audience.

I have done my music video in a dark, grotty depressed theme; this then builds up to become a nicer atmosphere. The content of my music video fits with this as the lyrics are about three people’s lives which have been filled with grief, the way I filmed it tried to focus on the artist’s expression to denote what was happening within the story of the music video. Also the after effects that I added on to my video began with over contrast effect to add a darker edge to the dark scenes, then this built up through video until the end the effect I used was more of a sepia tone this linked to what the content was, which was a nice field with a casual walk into the distance perhaps a happy ending.

My video included the artist walking to an unknown location, as the camera would always be tracking backwards; the context was relevant to that of the lyrics. I followed the codes and conventions for style and genre as they were meant for a specific target audience. Also the way I represented the artist was to appeal to the TA because he was dressed in what they would possibly be interested, I included some after sound effects, this was to bring a slight humour into the music video as I expect my target audience would want this as well as in my pre-production questionnaire they said it would be useful.

I have used the conventions for this genre literally as I have looked at what has previously done approached the video in a slightly different, more unique way although sticking to the codes and conventions needed to appeal to the correct target audience of this genre.

I have taken the lyrics and produced a video without an actual narrative, the main story to what I was trying to portray is that my artist is singing although at the same time telling a story, I had relevant cuts to fit appropriately specific lyrics and also my artist provided relevant gestures to fit as well. The fact that I have ignored the narrative means I have stuck to the codes and conventions of this genre, as previously studied music videos of this genre also lacked a narrative. The content of my music video is represented through the eyes of my artist; this shows the social instability of urban areas, reflecting on graffiti in poorer areas, drugs and violence. The audience itself is meant to be portrayed as being urban, working class youths. They are represented by the artist himself in how he dresses and walks. WordPress: insert images of typical representation of your artists and TA, where they live etc.

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

The film itself was meant to portray what life would be like living in a grotty and poor environment, or perhaps on the street. The print work on the cover show my artist sitting on some stairs looking down with his hood up, I changed the contrast to make it look darker therefore more dreary. The front cover therefore compliments the video quite well as they are portraying the same kind of themes and atmosphere. The advert used a picture of some built up council flats where I changed the colours to make it look slightly worse for the effect I was going for, this again allows for synergy between my products. From the poster I think my target audience would definitely be drawn to read more and as they got closer they would see the CD cover on the advert and at that point I think that my TA would be pulled to buy it. I feel that the print work and the way that I have dressed my character on it is quite representative of the TA and the artist himself, the point being this target audience doesn’t want some pop artist to dress up and be fake, they want him to be represented as who he is in real life, and I feel that I have achieved that point quite well.

In all the print work I edited the contrast and brightness to get a darker more grotty picture, in the advert I also went for a sepia effect on the clouds this to represent violence or perhaps death (linking to the lyrics), and to keep these effects consistent throughout all my products I did the same in my video, by using colour correction to improve contrasts and also using sepia at the end of my video.

I feel my products would be quite successful due to the fact that I stuck to codes and conventions for the most part and through in some unique aspects such as font choice and camera shots and editing. This will attract my desired target audience and perhaps even fans of different but similar genres, because they understand the codes and conventions that I have used. The way that I have represented my artist is in a very ‘real’ way this is to have a more connected approach towards the TA/fans of the song as perhaps they can be going through what is said in the lyrics of presented in the video, that way the artist can be easily connected to as he is represented in the same way or similar.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

My target audience is roughly between the ages of 17-21, mainly male although some female, they want to become well off and be successful also want to get out of perhaps any bad situations they are in, probably unemployed, they enjoy socialising being with friends and nights out, their interests could include football and music, also their fashion will be very standard not top of the range clothes perhaps cheap brands, they will probably own a games console or have enjoyed playing on one, TV shows could include soaps, TV dramas and action films. Also they like going to gigs and clubs with music in, also they enjoy going to house parties.

My product does attract the correct audience; this is because that my video aims for the correct audience trying to be closer to the audience. Also the print work colours, composition and image mise-en-scene are chosen specifically to aim for my target audience.

In my pre-production questionnaire my audience was between 14-20, they are mainly male and prefer indie music as a genre therefore this was very similar to my target audience, therefore I can link my post production questionnaire to them with genuine votes, being told that it wouldn’t be preferred to have the artist playing live in the video, I followed this trend and didn’t include a live scene, also they prefer to have a serious meaning with some relevant humour in the music video, this is what I followed as I added some minor humour moments into my music video although keeping with quite a serious meaning. Intertextuality was popular in the pre-production questionnaire, although I didn’t include any in my video purely because my video didn’t necessarily need it.

Looking at the feedback, I could have improved my video by adding some intertextuality moments within it.  Perhaps a humorous link to another film, music video or famous book could have been added.

Some live playing of the band could have been useful at a small time gig, not too big keeping with the music meaning all of it.

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

To create the advert print work and the CD digipak I used Photoshop this is because it is the most suitable program for the task, as it allows you to make diverse changes to the original photographs directly into a blank canvas where you can then craft the correct composition for an advert or edit and manipulate the colours for the CD digipak. Also Photoshop allows you to add text this is very useful when needed. In order to film my project I used a handheld video camera. When editing my music video once it had been captured on camera, I used two pieces of software, one less complex than the other these were I-Movie and Final Cut Pro, I movie allowed me to take all the clips that I wanted, organise them and export them into final cut pro where I added effects to the video and audio also changing the order of some scenes. 

I found using Photoshop very useful as it had such a diverse array of tools and filters to allow me to create exactly what effects I wanted to fit within my print work, I particularly found a great use for the overlay setting between two of the same layer, which created a nice effect.

When using I-movie I found that it was a bit of a hindrance as whenever I tried to remove a segment of clip from the timeline, when deleted anything in front of it would shift to the start of the clip, out-syncing all the lyrics.

I used colour correction on final cut to get a more edgy/grotty look, bringing the contrast out more. The effect that I used in I-movie was old TV this was to fit relevantly with the lyrics/monologue part of the song, also this was ironic as it was quite a posh upper classed section, within a “ghetto” video.

I used word press to present my research in an interactive manner therefore adding pictures when relevant, and also adding videos when analysing particular clips helps to create a more interactive way for the user. Then for my planning I inserted all the sketches that I did for my print product planning into my word press blog by scanning them in first. Ideas where expressed through word press by inserting relevant pictures, posts, videos and website links. 

I used the internet with wordpress for my blog to include pictures I used Google, videos: YouTube, links. Also I watched similar videos on TV to analyse and familiarise myself with the codes and conventions of my genre of music.

The Internet allowed me to see current trends such as, video/photography styles, clothing, and mise-en-scene, issue that the bands are currently singing about such as social instability and also social status within the world. Within wordpress I used Poll daddy to create effective polls to obtain information about audiences and their opinions, for and after my production of my video. 

WordPress is very useful to real world companies as over different countries, large pieces of information can be exchanged and distributed such as videos, pictures and audio. It also allows other companies to comment, like or use products or media as examples.

To use the technology more effectively I feel that I could familiarise myself with the hardware such as video cameras and tools, to save time making mistakes.

Technologies have made advertising and perhaps breaching of privacy easier for institutions as they can now create survey analysis to pop up to specific feeds of video depending on their viewing history. Also within Facebook through the user’s choices and information the institutions can make decisions about what the user is interested in and likes. 

Modern companies do use apps as potential distributors, Facebook, websites, forums and YouTube to share and improve products linking them within companies internationally. Also modern technology helps the Target Audience, interact with industries, uploading fan material.

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