Evaluation

Question 1: In what ways does your media product (music video, digipak and magazine advertisement) use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product uses, develops and challenges various forms and conventions of real media products. I have chosen to use some forms and conventions in order to make my media product look more professional and I have developed a series of conventions in order to make my product stand out. In addition I have challenged some conventions to defy media theories and to break away from stereotypes such as voyeurism and the sexual objectification of women. 

Music Video

My music video uses colour conventions to represent a different time period. Many artists of the pop genre experiment with different colours when creating music videos as they represent different features or sentiments which relate to the lyrics of the music video. 

Amy Winehouse used a black and white effect in her music video ‘Back To Black’ similar to the black and white effect used in my own video. She may have used this effect to represent the different emotions she felt when writing the song, moreover, the black and white effect also abstractly mirrors the lyrics of the song. Correspondingly, in my own music video I chose to use the black and white effect to represent the past and the technological side of the music video to insinuate that the artist is reminiscing about past experiences as there was no colour in media products in the past, I chose to include some shots in the black and white effect for this reason.

Similarly Madonna’s Vogue music video uses the black and white effect throughout. In addition many sexual references are made to the female body which conforms to Laura Mulvey’s theory of women’s presence in film being solely for purposes of display rather than narrative. The images from the mood board below conform to Mulvey’s theory as well as Andrew Goodwin’s theory of the objectification of female performers which is also known as the voyeuristic gaze.

I chose to challenge this convention in my music video as the audience focus on the musical abilities of the artist which is shown through the mid shots of her playing the guitar

From my perspective she is not in the music video for objectification. Furthermore I chose to challenge this convention to represent the drastic change in terms of technology as well as the function of women in society as both genders should be equal in today’s society in comparison to the early twentieth century when women had to fight for equality.

I developed the black and white convention by adding a montage of black and white images of iconography from the 1960s and 1970s to highlight the diverse development of technology which outlines the technological theme of my music video as the icons would not be so famous if it was not for technology promoting them. I also chose to use the images as I noticed there are a collection of images used in Sia’s Breathe Me music video, However I chose to develop the convention by using less images and making them full screen images to emphasise the effect that the icons had on the public. 

In addition, I further developed the colour convention by using a sepia effect on the footage in my music video which represented the rural mise-en-scene as this represents the artist’s desire to return to the past as if it is a distant dream. In addition it creates a retro style which is quite common in indie music videos. 

Pink makes several references to other artists through the use of intertextuality in her Stupid Girls music video. She refers to several celebrities by mocking their actions.


Similarly Lily Allen’s Not Fair video uses intertextuality to reference to the 60s era through the use of props, costume and even actors from real t.v shows from the time period.

I developed this convention by creating and distributing audience feedback questionnaires to find out how the target audience would like to see the artist dressed. We chose to use flowery headbands and pastel colours when styling the artist as this reflects the light and carefree colours of the hippie era.

Likewise, Lady GaGa excels in the use of intertextuality as she refers to her own music videos. Her music video Telephone uses intertextuality to refer to her Paparrazzi video through the similar and repetitive styles used.

I developed this convention in my own music video by using an over the shoulder shot to show the artist watching herself on a computer screen which shows the technological advances as it is much easier to advertise herself in the present day than it would have been in the past and it also demonstrates her individualism. 

Many pop music videos use a wide assortment of close up shots and the artist is seen lip-synching a large part of the song. I chose to include many close up shots of the artist singing in my music video to represent her empowerment. It also demonstrates her dominance as she is the main focus throughout the video. However I also chose to develop this convention by including many establishing shots and long shots in order to contrast the natural green scenery with the urban setting.

There are many pop videos which use the convention of acting out the lyrics in the video such as Taylor Swift’s Love Story, Whilst the artist sings ‘See the lights, See the party, the ball gowns’ chandeliers and ball gowns are shown through mid shots. I was against using this convention as abstract actions in a music video are more likely to challenge the audience’s thoughts and perceptions and they are left to interpret their own meaning of the music video which is also known as the negotiated reading according to Stuart Hall’s Decoding theory.
I challenged this convention by subliminally representing the lyrics, when the artist sings ‘Media couldn't buy your soul’ I chose to include an extreme close up low angle shot with the artist out of focus and the tall grass in focus with the sun’s rays shining through to represent the peaceful atmosphere without the media’s presence.

Whilst researching other music videos of the indie genre I noted that many are field based and include natural sceneries, I chose to use this convention by using green fields and forests in my own music video.


The Other Tribe’s Skirts music video is set in a forest; their individual style is represented through the extreme long shots and wide shots of the party in the forest. 

Similarly Mumford & Sons use nature and animals to represent their indie style in their Lover of the Light video. The close up and extreme close up shots in this video represent the band as breaking away from typical performance based indie videos.

In addition, The Horrible Crowes use nature in many ways in their Behold the Hurricane music video. The extreme close up shot of the ladybird climbing the dandelion shows that the band is on a journey to discover themselves and they differentiate themselves from other indie bands by doing this.

I developed the convention of using nature by adding establishing shots of fields in my music video as well as close up shots of animals.

 I also further developed the convention by including a long shot of the artist sitting the middle of a field on an office chair in order to contrast the themes of technology and nature. 

When researching stop motion animation in indie and pop music videos I noticed that it was very rarely used. Kate Nash uses it in her video for Foundations and Amy Macdonald uses it in her This is the Life video. I chose to challenge this convention by including a an extreme close up shot of a flower’s petals disappearing and reappearing in order to highlight the loss of interest for nature and its downfall in contrast to the increase of technology.

I also noticed that indie/pop videos do not challenge the 180' rule. I chose to challenge the convention and record a the artist at 360' angle which insinuates that due to the technological advances it is becoming harder to control people's actions.

Digipak

When planning my digipak I researched other digipaks of similar genres to my own music video and I chose to use the basic conventions listed below.

-A Track list

-An Album Title: It is important that the album title is visible to the audience and it is usually on the first panel as it is the first panel the audience see.

-Photo of The Artist: This is so the audience become familiar with what the artist looks like including their unique image and how they are different from other musicians.

-Message To Fans/ Thank You Message: This shows that the artist is grateful for her fans and people listening to her music and it is a message of appreciation.

-Record Label: The record label for my digipak will be something specific to my genre of indie/pop.

-Bar Code

-Copyright

-The Album/ Artists Name On The Spine

-Holographic Sticker

-Quotations: such as 'Featuring Hit Track '...''

Digipak analysis from Sanan Barissal

I chose to challenge and develop some conventions in order to emphasize the differentiation between my artist and others of a similar genre. I developed the convention of using a close up image of the artist’s face on the first panel of the digipak as I wanted to emphasise the themes of the music video and the other songs on the album which acts as a taster to the audience and fans

I challenged the convention of using a close up shot of the artists face for the front panel of the digipak, I chose to use a wide shot with the artist in the foreground and a field with sheep in the mise-en-scene as the audience are made aware of the natural theme of the songs on the album, It also shows that the artist is interacting with nature which is a large part of her life.    

Magazine Advertisement

I analysed several indie/ pop magazine advertisements for real media products and noted that they all consisted of similar conventions:

• Artist image in the foreground- first thing the audience looks at.
• Album Title
• Album Release Date
• Record Label Logo
• Reviews from other industries such as a magazine and various conglomerates like magazine companies
• Previous Successes- "Including Hit Single..."
• Ratings from Newspapers, Magazines, Music Companies
• Artist's Website
• Colour Scheme- The colour scheme generally reflects the themes/ moods. A magazine advert which uses dark colours will have dark, sad songs and a magazine advert with bright, vibrant colours will typically consist of happier songs.
• Awards Won "two time Grammy award winner"
• Star Ratings 

I used all of the above conventions in my own magazine advertisement and developed some conventions by adding a QR code which takes the fan directly to a website where they can find out performance dates, watch/ listen to other songs by the artist and learn more about her background when scanned.

I challenged the convention of using a close up shot of the artist by including a low angle shot of the artist with the blades of grass in focus in the foreground and a mise-en-scene of trees in a field which represents the natural theme of the music video. In addition I have chosen to use a shot of the artist playing her guitar and wearing headphones which contrasts the natural and technological themes seen throughout the music video.

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your music video with your digipak and magazine advertisement?

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I chose to produce and distribute questionnaires in the research and planning stage of my music video as I could form and identify a target audience as well as construct my video based on some of the ideas of my target audience allowing me to conventions of the genre. 

The demographics of my target audience mainly consists of females between the ages of 16-25 including all ethnicities possibly interested in women's rights and freedom of speech. 

Below are the quantitative results I obtained from the questionnaires.

From my quantitative data I learned that the audience preferred performance based videos and enjoyed urban videos so I chose to have the artist playing her guitar and lip synching throughout my video. I also contrasted the rural themes with the urban themes throughout the video. 

 I also took note of the qualitative data and I have listed what the target audience would like to see below.

The eighth question asks the audience if they could associate any specific themes with a music video based on nature or technology. 

The responses I received for technology were:

• Low Key Artificial Lighting
• Computers
• Abstract Graphics
• Electricity
• Televisions
• Phones
• Metallic and Fluorescent Colours
• Robots
• Lasers
• Flashing Lights
• Shock FX
• Traffic Lights

The responses I received for a music video based on nature were:

• Ambient Colours
• High Key Lighting i.e green, sky blue, yellow
• Rural Settings i.e woods, forest
• Villagers
• Plants, Flowers
• Animals, Bugs, Insects
• Leaves, Parks, Trees
• Squirrels

Through the collection of qualitative data I was able to change various parts of my video in order to meet the desired effects of the target audience. I had originally included a stop motion shot of a cupcake being eaten in order to represent the technological advances and nature gradually becoming non existent, However when some members of my target audience viewed this part of the video they were confused as to what it represented.

I chose to remove it and replace it with a close up stop motion shot of a flower's petals falling off and reappearing to contrast nature and technology.

I also distributed questionnaires to members of my target audience once I had finished the music video in order to find out if I had successfully represented the contrasting themes in my video. Below is some feedback as well as some quantitative data illustrating the thoughts and answers of the target audience. 

Through the distribution of questionnaires I was able to obtain a truthful reply from the anonymous audience members.

When designing my ancillary texts I chose to use the Whatsapp application available on my phone which allowed me to change parts of my ancillary texts and my music video according to the strengths and weaknesses. I also used the social networking site Twitter in order to obtain audience feedback as Twitter is the most likely place for the artist to interact with her fans. 

From my audience feedback I learned that the audience preferred the more simpler actions instead of the subtle representations. I also learned that the audience would rather see mise-en-scenes that clearly relate to the themes expressed. If I was to do the whole task again I would take the opinions and thoughts of the target audience into account so that it could be a more true reflection of the target audience's expectations of an indie/ pop music video. 

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

Final Music Video

Below is my final music video.

Post Video - Audience Feedback Results

As well as recording several members of my target audience after viewing my video at the showcase I asked many people to fill out a questionnaire asking them what they liked about my music video. Below are some charts and graphs I have created from the quantitative data and closed questions from the questionnaire I designed.

 I was really surprised to fund out that the majority of the target audience prefer literal actions matching lyrics when I found that the preferred abstract lyrics the first time I questioned them.

I also analysed the qualitative data and found that although the audience thought the music video successfully used locations which represent the rural verses urban themes, some thought that a wider range of scenes were necessary.