Final Products

Music Video

Ancillary Text 1 --- Digipak

Ancillary Text 2 --- Poster

Question 1:

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

Conventions Of Form - Music Video

Music videos follow conventions such as the following:

-Narrative

-Performance
-Lip-syncing
-Dancing
-Change of costumes
-Change in Make-Up 
-Change in locations
-Change in lighting
-Range of Cinematography (Movements and Angles)
-Characters (Other People and/or The Artist)
-Meaning of Lyrics
-Editing Types (Fast, Slow , On The Beats)

Conventions of Form from EGladders

Draft 1 of my music video compared to Jess Glynne's - Take Me Home.

Ideas I Would Like To Use/Develop:

- Natural look

- Minimal make-up

- Minimal colours

- Eye line match

- Lip-syncing

- Long clips of performer singing directly towards the camera

- Passion within the performance

- Use of jump cuts

- Use of medium close-ups

Compared To My 1st Draft/Mock Exam:

During the making of my music video I watched Jess Glynne's music video, Take Me Home. From this I took inspiration for my own music video and the images below show how I used similar shots to Glynne's music video.

Image 1:

Both performers are showing their passion through the use of facial and body expressions. As this shot is a medium close up the arms help to show the emotions and passion of the performer. I think this is an effective way to show the audience the passion in which the performer is trying to convey.

Image 2:

These images show a close up with the performers both making a direct connection with the audience. Both performers are lip-syncing and appear with very minimal make-up on. In my opinion the natural look helps to create a realistic connection with audience. The performers look directly into the camera and a close up helps to emphasise this is as it makes the performers face, especially their eyes, connect with the audience.

Image 3:

These images show a change in the narrative and colour tones. In my music video I choose a B/W colour change to show my performer being weak and withdrawn from the rest of the narrative. In Jess Glynne's video , she uses darker lighting to show a change in the narrative. I think both these shots are very useful as they show refection shots away from the narrative.

Image 4:

These images show a medium close up. Both of the performer display the narrative through the use of lip-syncing. I like this shot because it shows the full face and neck of the performer as well as some of the background. Emotions are also very good to show via facial and hand movements because the camera can focus on these specific movements. 

However I then changes the idea for my music video but during the draft 1 process I learnt how my product could compare with an exciting product.

Conventions Of Form - Digipak

This image shows the conventions of my Ancillary Text 1:

These images show the analysis of exciting an front cover, back cover and spine:

I have compared the conventions of my front cover to Jessie J's 'Who Are You' front cover. I noticed that they were very similar to each other, showing I have created a product which conforms to the conventions of a front cover.

I have compared the conventions of my back cover to Beyoncé's ' I Am Sasha Fierce' back cover.

I have compared the conventions of my spine to three existing products ... Mcfly's 'Memory Lane' and 'Radio:Active' and The Overtones 'Higher'.

Conventions Of Form - Poster

This image shows the conventions of my Ancillary Text 2:

This image show the analysis of an exciting music advertisement/poster:

This image show the analysis of an exciting music advertisement/poster

 

I have then compared the conventions on my own product with Jessie J's poster. I noticed that we have lots of similarities. However Jessie J's product also included record labels and an example of a song which appears in her album. On the other hand my product includes a release date and social media icons where you can consume the product from.

I also compared the conventions of my own product against the conventions which appear on the Kings Of Leon advertisement. On the one hand the Kings Of Leon poster includes examples of songs which appear in the album. On the other hand all the conventions which I used in my poster also could be found on the Kings Of Leon poster except I included an image of the front cover of my digipak.

Imagery, Lyrics and Themes

During my planning and research I conducted a lyrical analysis of Emeli Sandé - Clown.

I have annotated key words within the lyrics:

From the annotated lyrics I came up with a list of potential themes:
- Changing character out of choice
- Being focused to behave in a certain way
- Loving someone but they don't love you for who you are
- Trying to impress others
- Not being true to yourself
- Hiding your true identity behind a mask
- How death affects the way we grieve

My Theme:
The initial theme I stuck with was about changing character and changing your appearance to suit the needs of society.
Some interpret my music video as the character being Schizophrenic and therefore having multiple characters inside them. Others interpret the young girl as not being able to fit into society because she looks different therefore she has to experiment with different types of appearances.
I wanted to leave my video open to the interpretation of the viewer as this video will mean something different to everyone who watches it.

Conforming To The Genre:
I think the lyrics and my video combined link well to the genre of  POP. I believe I have challenged this in a way such as only having one artist delivering a very strong message. This is commonly seen in R&B music video but I wanted to create a popular video which would attract a large target audience. I have used lip-syncing and a change in locations which are both very strong features of Pop videos. Overall the lyrics such as ...'I'm selling out tonight' expresses the transformation the artist within the video goes through. It implies the artist has to sell herself in many ways in order for society to accept her.

Applied To Real Media Products

I have shown how my digipak may be played via an iPhone and what my poster would look like on an advertisement board.

This image shows my music video on YouTube in which it appear along other music videos such as Sia - Alive.

Analysis of Music Video

I have recorded myself talking about the cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene and sound which occur within my music video. I  have also made reference to my interpretation of certain parts of my music video and how I have conformed to the conventions of form.

Question 2:

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

This shows how I have created my own house style and how I have looked at the house style of an existing product.

House Style In Existing Products And My Own from EGladders

I have created a continuity and a house style across all three products.

Creating A House Style from EGladders

I have asked my fellow peer, Courtney, to evaluate my products and evaluate whether I have created an effective house style. I asked this girl because she falls into my target audience. This is her response: 

Question 3:

What have you learned from your audience feedback ?

I have conducted several forms of audience feedback on how effective my music video, ancillary text 1 (DIGIPAK) and ancillary text 2 (POSTER) are. This enabled me to learn how to improve my products.

I have printed out my POSTER.
Image:

I have printed out my DIGIPAK
Image:

I then verbally asked my target audience of young people to give me their opinions on my products. I learnt that the majority of people liked the continuity across my products such as the same image and the same font styles.

However some people said they would have liked to have seen maybe a different image used on the front cover. I tried this but I don't think it was effective in creating the same message. Therefore I kept the same image although I did experiment in Photoshop will many images for example:

Social Media Responses:

I asked my friends on Facebook to give me some feedback on Draft 4 of my music video:

This screenshot shows the response of one of my fellow peers. I sent her the link to my final product of my music and asked for her feedback on what I had produced.
I am very happy with this response because it shows she understand the message I was trying to convey, especially through my edits. In my planning and research I looked at different types of make-up which has proved to be very effective as my peer was able to see the connotations from this.
I have learnt that carrying out feedback via Facebook very useful as I was able to gain a quick response.
This young girl is also my friend therefore she was very kind when watching my product and she has also seen the process from Draft 1. Therefore if I was to carry out this type of feedback again I would ask people I am less familiar with and people who haven't seen the process of me making my music video.









Texts Responses:

I have texted my friend Courtney who is 18 years old and I asked her for feedback on my music video. From her response I made some changes to my music video.

The Response:

What I Changed:

I changed the last clips of my music videos:

I removed clips that were no longer relevant to the story line of my narrative:

Survey Monkey:

This video shows myself going thought the results of my survey monkey and heeding upon the responses which I received.

The Response:



What I Learnt :

- Majority of the people who are female (this is my intended target audience)
- People knew that this poster was for the release of a new album because it states 'Debut Album' on it
- Most people felt that the main feature of my poster was the main image of the young girl and the title 'HOPE'
- Majority of people said they did like the image which I used because it conveys a strong message. The image appears very calming and people feel like they can relate to the image.
- When asked whether people would like to see more, less or the same social media icons I received mixed reviews. On reflection I kept the amount of social media icons the same.
- I am happy that the majority of people like the CD and the main image being the same as they think they work well together and makes my poster look professional. One response said try different images which I therefore tried out but I don't believe it was effective.
- Lots of people said change the style of the font and add black outlines around the text. I then went back into Photoshop and changed this.
 - The most important part to this survey is reviewing the responses on what people think I can improve upon. One person thought changing the style of font might be good but keeping the image the same. I also changed the dots in the date to dashes as one person thought this might make my poster look more professional

The Changes:






Focus Groups:

I have conducted a focus group on how effective my music video is.
Video:

 


I have conducted a focus group on how effective my ancillary text 1 (DIGIPAK) is.
Video:




I have conducted a focus group on how effective my ancillary text 2 (POSTER) is.
Video:

Overall :

I think the target audience believes that my product suits them. Therefore I have successfully made all three of my products suit the intended target audience. I chose to use two teenage girls in my focus group as this is my intended target audience.
However if I was to do another focus group I would also ask some teenage boys to see if they can relate to my product. This is because even though my products are intended specifically for girls the broader target audience is teenagers.

Question 4:

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

Hardware and Software Used

This SlideShare shows the different types of hardware and software which I used to make my coursework.

Q4. Hardware and Software from EGladders

The Production Process

Digipak

The Front Cover

Front Cover Process from EGladders

The Back Cover

Draft 1 : 

The Review:

What Went Well ?

- The image looks really affective

- The barcode is a common convention of a back cover

- There is a song listing for two discs

- The name of the artist is in a clear bold font which is very eye-catching

What Went Wrong ?

- The colour scheme did not match the rest of my DIGIPAK.

- The font size and type is very hard to read

- I have missed of a price, copyright text and record label

Production Process:

Stage 1: Selecting the image via a screenshot from my music video

Stage 2: Positioning of the image

Stage 3: Adding effects to the image

Stage 4: Selecting the colour, font style and font size

Stage 5: Adding the barcode

Stage 6: Adding a name for the artist

Draft 2 :

 

The Review:

What Went Well ?

- The barcode is a common convention of a back cover

- The record label clearly stands out and looks very effective

- The font is clear and the colour white works well against the dark blue background

- The copyright text appears at the bottom of the cover which is another common feature

What Went Wrong ?

- I think an image would look better rather than a bold background

- There is no price on the back cover

- There is only a song listing for one disc

Production Process:

Stage 1: Selecting a plain background and selecting the correct colour

Stage 2: Adding the song listing and changing the font colour, size and shape

Stage 3: Adding a barcode

Stage 4: Adding my own record label

Stage 5: Adding a copyright text

Draft 3a :

The Review:

What Went Well ?

- There is a price which is a common convention of a back cover

- The barcode is a common convention of a back cover

- The record label clearly stands out and looks very effective

- The font is clear
- The image looks really effective and fits in with the rest of my DIGIPAK
- The colour black looks stands out against background

- The copyright text appears at the bottom of the cover which is another common feature

What Went Wrong ?

- The font is harder to read far away
- Not many back covers appear with vertical song listings
- I have noticed a few mistakes such as some songs repeat themselves

Draft 3b :

The Review:

What Went Well ?

- I have added in a website as this keeps the cover modern

- The barcode and price are both common convention of a back cover

- The record label clearly stands out and looks very effective

- The font is clear and the colour white works well against the dark blue background

- I have added more text such a production number to the copyright text at the bottom of my cover
- Two song listings
- I erased the songs which had been repeated
- I added less songs to Disc Two

What Went Wrong ?

- The text is still difficult to read from far away
- The vertical song listings don't look very effective
- The Disc 1 text doesn't stand out

Production Process:

Stage 1: Selecting the image from my music video via a screenshot

Stage 2: Removing the artist from the background and making the background just of the sea (including blending the images together)

Stage 3: Adding a title for both discs

Stage 4: Adding two sets of song listings

Stage 5: Adding a barcode

Stage 6: Adding a price and changing the size and colour of the font

Stage 7: Adding a record label

Stage 8: Adding the copyright text 

Draft 4:

The Review:

What Went Well ?

- The barcode, price, record label, website and copyright text all work really well as common features on the back cover

- The type of font makes the writing stand out more effectively
- The skinner font and the colour black work well together

What Went Wrong ?

- The titles could stand out if they have a black border around them

Production Process:

Stage 1: Selecting the image from my music video via a screenshot

Stage 2: Removing the artist from the background and making the background just of the sea (including blending the images together)

Stage 3: Adding a title for both discs

Stage 4: Adding two sets of song listings

Stage 5: Adding a barcode and selecting the positioning of the barcode

Stage 6: Adding a price and changing the size and colour of the font to it is readable

Stage 7: Adding a record label

Stage 8: Adding a detailed copyright text

Stage 9: Adding a website

Draft 5:

The Review:

What Went Well ?

- The barcode, price, record label, website and copyright text all work really well as common features on the back cover

- The type of font makes the writing stand out more effectively
- The skinner font and the colour black work well together
- The title now has a black outline around them so they can stand out

Production Process:

Stage 1: Selecting the image from my music video via a screenshot

Stage 2: Removing the artist from the background and making the background just of the sea (including blending the images together)

Stage 3: Adding a title for both discs

Stage 4: Adding two sets of song listings and changing the song listings shape

Stage 5: Adding a barcode and selecting the positioning of the barcode

Stage 6: Adding a price and changing the size and colour of the font to it is readable

Stage 7: Adding a record label

Stage 8: Adding a detailed copyright text

Stage 9: Adding a website

Copyright Sign:
I googled the copyright sign as this is a convention of a CD. I have used this on the back of my CD, however at first I inserted an image but realised I needed this sign in a text format. Therefore I cut the sign from a text format instead. This was then inserted into the text which appears at the bottom of my CD.

 

Inside Left and Right Covers

This Prezi shows the process of making the inside covers:

The DVD and CD

Images:

 

Product and Processing 1:

Adding a background:

Adding the DVD and CD logo:

The Spine

I imported an image of the sea then I used the polygon lasso tool to select the part of the image I needed (the inverse):

I then added the text:

I then added a record label and product number:

Poster

Tutorials

I used the Adobe Premiere Pro CC software to create my music video. However I am not familiar with this software so I used YouTube to help on various occasions such as exporting the video and adding effects. I found this extremely useful as I was able to continue making my music video with minimal delays. I also used tutorials from the official Adobe Premiere Pro CC website because I found the information very clear and informative.

The Basics

Exporting The Video

Adding Effects

Adobe Premiere Pro CC Website 

I also used YouTube tutorials for Photoshop. Although I am more familiar with this software due to my AS Foundation Portfolio I forgot how to use certain elements of this software. I found watching tutorials very helpful because it meant I wasn't asking others and I could watch them at any time.

Adding Text To Images

Crop Image

 

What I Would Have Done Differently

 

The Music Video:

1. I would like to have maybe used more people to appear like my intended idea
2. I would use more costume changes
3. I would have added more transformation scenes

 

Ancillary Text 1:

1. I would have tried an image from the transformation section on the front cover
2. I would have changed the font of the back and the number of songs listed

Ancillary Text 2:

1. I would have liked to have seen maybe a collection of images form the music video showing the story of the video
2. I would maybe include a review
3. I would have not included the album image as I would have liked to have seen a review there