10 May 2011

Evaluation

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


When creating my advertising poster promoting my product I have chose to use and follow the conventions I have discovered throughout my research. These conventions are designing a large masthead and a symbol which my audience can connect to being the HMV dog. The reason being is so that that the audience is immediately informed what the poster is about and who’s promoting it. With my target audience being of the younger generation they wont be attracted to text heavy posters hence why I have used the short and snappy effect with my posters which is straight to the point. Colour is an important convention which I have used within my product. I want to attract and catch my audience which is why I used the colour code pink and yellow. They go nicely together which makes the mast head and writing stand out. Pink is one of HMV’s frequently used conventions which mean the audience can recognise this and is more likely to be read. I have titled my product in big bold letters so it’s easily noticed, labelling the price and where to purchase the product. These are all the main ingredients needed for my audience to go out and buy it. On this poster I have labelled HMV’s internet site where the product could also be purchased from advertising a more multi media purchase which will link my video to the actual digi-pack. Giving the audience more than one route to buy the merchandise will increase the chances of sales.


To go alongside my HMV poster I have created a digi-pack for our music video, looking at various products like Cheryl Cole’s - Messy Little Raindrops, I used colour to connotate an emotion, this emotion is happiness and joy, I’ve achieved this affect by using film grain on the Joss layer, which I had used the paint brush to dye her hair pink, after the film grain I added text onto some of the digi-pack sticking to the colour scheme of purples, making the digi-pack become more obvious and not just some pictures for a CD.


Throughout the opening sequence and overall video there are a series of slow paced shots, bright lighting and a glamorous feel to the sequence which results in the audience being content. Strait away we are informed about their relationship as there is a sense of happiness and they are intimate with each other. A good example is the second scene on the steps. When looking at other music videos of the same genre such as ‘pink, f*ckin perfect’ i noticed that the audience are up to date with the story line within the opening sequence. In the happy scenes I decided to edit this to make seam like its a time form the past. I used the edit beach bypass to achieve this. Throughout scenes joss wears several outfits and different hairstyles. They have been used creatively to go alongside the emotion that’s wanted to be achieved. Also the main characters in music videos I have researched they wear glamorous clothing hence why joss chose to wear it in the studio scene’s. With the past and present scenes through out the music video different effects are used. The scenes always return to joss being in the studio which shows her reminiscing about past events. As joss is the main character I used the effect vignette so it made her the centre of attention. Also the positioning of her within the scene implies that she’s the main character.


Equilibrium
the first shot is us being welcomed by joss smile looking glamorous and powerful which then evolves to Joss and Steph hugging and kissing. We get the impression things are happy between the two but due to the effect we are informed that this scene is from the past. We see scenes of them holding hands going places together joking and laughing which gives off good vibes.


Disruption
the disruption that happened in my storyline is where Steph is talking to Joss but it’s just where he is singled out in this shot. Just by looking at his face how it’s positioned down and the dull lighting we can tell that what he is saying isn’t good. Joss then hastily pulls away her hand and turns away from him. There is also upset when joss receives a phone call and the reaction that we get we can tell that it isn’t good.


Realisation


The realization in the story is where Joss starts to get comforted by Sam. How we got this across is the scene after we see another shot of Joss receiving the phone call, this shot shows that Joss is clearly upset, and that Sam is doing her best to comfort her.


Resolution


The resolution part of Todorvs theory fits into out story quite nicely. They're both better dressed which is showing the connotation of happier emotions as they are willing to try now and forget the past. This represents the situation slowly being resolved by the lighting, location and costume.


New Equilibrium


The new equilibrium is where Joss and Sam realise they starting to have feelings for each other on the bridge, we showed this by scenes slowly building up showing greater happiness, for example the moment on the bridge when they are imitating the titanic, bringing them closer together. The bridge also represents that she is building a bridge over Stephen and walks off this bridge with Sam. This results in them kissing, and the video ends with them walking off the bridge in happiness and together.


What have you learned from your audience feedback?


Our target audience was the age range from 15 to 25, a lot of teenagers like dance music, which our questionnaire proved; this also explains our song choice. Also a reason we chose to use people of the age 15 to 25 is that a majority of them have a disposable income which they can spend on; music downloads, gigs, CDs, clothing and posters.


To capture our target audience’s eye, we had to use numerous conventions which they could relate to easily, if they see that Joss is wearing the same clothing or make-up for example as them, they wish they could aspire to be like them.


First of all we looked at clothing, hair and make-up: All of the actors wore trendy clothing, making them look glamorous, and generally you glam up to attend a party etc. Especially in the performance shots we made sure Joss had fancy clothing on, they will see this a form of identity and go out and buy the clothes she is wearing, to aspire to be like her. Joss also had several different styles of hair during filming, our target audience will be inspired by her hair, and this will make them want to copy her hairstyle, aspiring to be like her yet again, this is the same for make-up


Then I looked at locations: Locations are very important, we need to keep our audiences occupied, so if we just have a white room all the way through a dance video, it will not give the happy effect we are going for. Using plenty of locations gave us the opportunity to keep our audience interested as they'd loose interest if we just filmed on the Millennium bridge for example.


Story lining: In music/music videos it’s a common convention that love stories are incorporated into them. This is a good technique to use to capture an audience as nearly everyone will have some experience with something bad happening to them, in our case it is the fact that Joss was in love with Steph and he passed away, this causing her to turn to Sam for comfort. This then allows the audience to read into it in their own personal way as they have undoubtedly had something bad happen in a relationship etc. which allows them to relate to the music video in their own way.


After we made a showing of our music video, our target audience reactions were what we were expecting. Our audience was able to connect to our music video via the story line and use of shots and locations. They commented on the use of editing, which allowed the narrative to become clear, although mysterious during the first minute. They commented on the fact that they felt for Joss as Steph dies, and the burst of happiness when she realises her love for Sam.


If some feedback comes back negative we can use this to our advantage and not use the conventions that they have mentioned that didn’t work.



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


Whilst creating our music video, album art and advert we had to use various technologies in the research, planning and evaluation stages. In the research part of this project we used a wide range of technologies such as the internet. The idea of the internet means that I become a ‘prosumer’, meaning I can consume the work of others but produce my own with a potential audience of millions who can provide feedback.


Using the internet I created a blog, this blog is multimedia, consisting of text, images, videos and widgets. My blog was also free and public, which essentially allows people all over the world to view and comment on my music video. My blog allowed me to plan my research and work evenly, this making it more organised. The blog was also useful as if you didn't want your post published yet you were able to save a draft, and publish it when completed.


I was able to use YouTube during my research so I could research into existing music videos, as i had completed my music video, i was also able to create a channel on YouTube and broadcast my music video world wide, this also being free and enabling people all over the world to comment on my product.


Because I filmed our music video, I was able to enjoy the use of the Canon HD HG20, we had done a short task before filming to get used to the way the video camera works, and this prepared me for the shooting of the music video.


Also being in charge of the editing process I had a lot of decisions to make in the terms of effects and transitions, I was able to experiment with this on iMovie before we started our actual production of our music video.


Our music video consisted of memory shots, so to create the right effect I slowed down these shots and adding a beach bypass this told the viewer that they shots were in the past when she was happy. The majority of my transitions used were fades, this proved a great affect for the memory shots as it gives the sense of the past being slowly pushed out, and she’s making room for Sam, her new love.


On the music side of the editing, I thought I would get a better emotional response if I related some of the shots to the lyrics, two obvious moments for this is at the lyric ‘looking out for you to hold my hand’ I have used a shot of Joss sitting on some stairs in a confined area looking sad, as it says ‘out’ she looks up, hoping Steph is there. The other obvious part of this is ‘we could loose it all’, here I decided to create maximum effect I would use the shot of Joss visiting the tomb stone of where Steph has been buried. The most obvious shot of this is near the end where Joss and Sam kiss, here the lyrics ‘when love takes over’ are sung, this relating to the song title and the fact that Joss and Sam now have feelings for each other.



These lyrics were significant to my narrative so as the song built up I made the shots shorter and slowly brought them out of the beach bypass but keeping the Vignette on Joss as she performs in the studio.



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


The main goal when making J.Me a successful artist would actually mean making her known to the public. The primary goal of the band is to make money, so in order to do this; we want them to be recognizable and unique, we decided we would use a famous DJ just get her some cover, so we kept the name of David Guetta which would help promote her in itself. As, in the real music industry, we would be developing phrases, slogans and logos for the band, I also did so, making my product as real as possible. For my poster/advert I decided it would be a good idea to not have a text heavy design, so I kept the design plain an simple, using yellow and pink to make the advert stand out in the first place with a small picture of my front cover to show what the actual product is, with the price. The colours I have used in my ancillary tasks relate to the actual music video keeping these related will make it easier for my target audience to find a relation through the ancillary work.


I would be able to post my music video, audience feedback and audience reaction on YouTube which enables viewers to comment on and give their reaction, which is available all over the world, Facebook was a major part of my sharing, as I was able to share my ancillary work and videos all on the same page, allowing people to be able to see and comment on the work, realising the relation. The fact that I’ve used a social networking site to share my work, it allows people who have seen the work to strike up a conversation about it, effectively allowing them to encourage others to watch/look at the product.


I feel like I have been successful while creating our video production, we have stuck to common conventions of successful music videos such as Mike Posner – Cooler than me. Our singer/actor wore trendy clothes to attract an audience, also the clothing, hair styles and make-up she is wearing show connotations of a dance genre. Especially in the performance shot as our audience will aspire to be her by wearing the same glamorous clothes as her.


I am also happy with my ancillary tasks also, as my CD is set in the theme of purple, which makes people feel happy, also the images I have used on the digi-pack show she is dancing around, singing and is happy, which relates to the song, and the audience can relate to it making them also feel happy. This affect will encourage them to go out and buy our product.


When creating this video we went through the steps that professionals would use to create a successful media product. This included audience analysis; analyzing feedback, scouting for locations and analyzing existing media products. I have posted my progress onto a Blog which make me turn from a consumer to a ‘prosumer’ of media texts and now able to use Web 2.0 to access our audience effectively. With this production being on Blogspot it makes it easy to access and easy to share the production we have created, making our production available world wide.

Questionnaire

This is our questionnaire that we produced for after the showing, we asked a selection of the group to fill out this questionnaire, this is one of the results.













Sharing

This is a print screen of me sharing the video on YouTube across my Facebook page so that my target audience are aware of the fact that I've made a music video.

This enables them to be able to browse and comment on my video, giving me audience feedback.
With the fact that I've shared my music video on Facebook allows my target audience to be able to have easy access via mobile phones, which means it is more likely for my music video to be viewed frequently.

12 Apr 2011

Audience Feedback

After the showing of our music video, I took a couple of people to the side to ask them a couple of questions about the music video produced. Here is one sample of one of the people I asked to talk about my music video.

Audience Reaction

We decided we would show our video to our target audience, to enable this we choose a large group of people, ranging from 14 - 17, this is a similar fitting to my target audience. We recorded the reaction of our target audience as our film was coming to an end. You will see this in the clip below.

11 Apr 2011

This is the final edit of our music video to When Love Takes Over - David Guetta ft Kelly Rowland. We have took out the Kelly Rowland name for our print work, calling the female singer J.Me, relating to Joss as the actor/singer.

6 Apr 2011

Research and Planning

Our music video is quite narrative, looking at the videos below has inspired us with our narrative.
We decided on the song being When Love Takes Over - David Guetta ft. Kelly Rowland,
we emailed the Labels, both Virgin and EMI asking permission to use this single.
After this we decided to use the narrative of a boy and a girl being in love, but the boy would have to leave, although he was about to leave then decided he would stay hence the 'When Love Takes Over'
This was jepodised with the male as he dropped out of filming, so after a long discussion we came to the conclusion that we would use Sam and have the her comfort Joss after the boyfriend had died, this resulting in a romance. Also using the connotation that the love has taken over.

12 Mar 2011

Poster





This is my poster to advertise my new music video, that has been released onto CD in HMV.


Pink and yellow clash making it stand out


colours resemble happiness


hmv sign to show who's promoting the product


not text heavy to make it eye catching yet informative


Bevel and emboss


stroke


drop shadow


image of cover


4 Mar 2011

Poster research

When looking at this poster I can see that HMV use certain conventions when creating there posters. I can identify certain conventions they use, such as;
-Imagery relating to the product that is being sold
-picture of the actual album
-HMV dog which is known as there symbol which customers will recognise
-they use colour codes within there posters so that that individual parts of the poster
-stand out more, for example the pink writing through out my analysis of HMV posters the pink writing occurred in most of them.
-they use big bold writing so that it will catch the customer’s eye.
I have used these conventions within my work because they seem to work well in the real world.

28 Feb 2011

Digi-Pack






















purple connotates happiness
purple is what the model is wearing
company signs
barcode
dyed hair using paint brush
film grain
dyed lips using paint brush
not too text heavy
eye catching

26 Feb 2011

Cover research

To create a realistic product the first step to take would to be to research and analyse other products from the same genre I'm targeting towards. This is to look at the conventions they use. The research that I am about to conduct is vital because it will give me examples on what to do and what not to do. The album cover creates a visual image to the theme of the music so its its vital that it has a good reaction from my audience to then draw them in to listen to the CD. Looking at the Cheryl Cole album cover I can see that by the colours that have been used in combination with her body language, clothing and editing its about a love story. She seems very relaxed she looks glamorous but weak due to the way she is sitting. Her clothing isn't revealing which means at this moment of time she isn't to confident with her self either. The fact that it has been blurred shows movement of some sort. This could reflect her moving on from a break up in a relationship. What also makes me think this is the title of the album which is 'messy little raindrops'. Rain doesn't have the best atmosphere and in a way it has the connotations of sadness. The colours that have been used within this album cover don't seem that lively. Most of the colours are quite dark which could also represent the mood. Taking what i have said into consideration i would say that this is a successful album art and with the combination of methods used above its gets its point across. The conventions used in this is that for the text it has hand writing. This could mean that the album could be personal like a letter of some sort. Having Cheryl taking up most of the album cover we automatically assume its about her.


16 Feb 2011

Complications!!

We've had some difficulty producing our music video due to the weather conditions in Newcastle. Being the locations manager I had to come up with a plan fast, so we came to the conclusion to record the performance inside, we have used a recording studio in our local Heworth City Learning Centre (CLC).

This picture gives you a inside view of our new facilities being using.

8 Jan 2011

Memory Filming


After capturing some of our memory shots outside, the December weather hit us! This made it difficult for us to film outside as there was heavy snow for a few weeks, we decided to film a scene where Steph tells Joss that he has to leave and that he's sorry, we done this inside of Steph's flat, which proved the only difficulty for us was getting there and to stop Steph laughing, eventually he stopped laughing and we got the shots that we needed, and which would be successful on our music video.