Question 4: Evaluation

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

The school computers were our most commonly used media technology throughout the whole course of the year. This was because they contained the software we needed in order to edit our music video and ancillary tasks.

We used Adobe Premiere Elements 8 to edit our music video. This was mostly because it was reasonably fast, it was easy to get on and use straight away considering we hadn't edited music videos before, and it also meant that we could cut, edit and add different visual or technical features if need be. As my partner was more experienced and technical with the software she did the majority of the editing as I directed and had my input throughout the piece. It also made it a lot easier for the both of us to have each other's opinions and thoughts throughout the editing process, as we both knew how we'd like our finishing result to be.

The school computers also had PhotoShop installed. This program allowed me to create the design of my digipak and magazine advertisement in their entirety due to the different features on the software. The only con about PhotoShop was that if I wanted to use it at home I would've had to pay for it, so I was only able to use school hours to complete my ancillary tasks. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed using PhotoShop as it meant that I could experiment with lots of different tools available to me on the software. The ones I enjoyed using the most were the different filters I could have on my pictures, which made them look as though they were painted on or made them look like they had a more rustic feel to them. I loved this as it reinforced the creativity and authenticity of my genre, it also created a sense of vintage and rustic style, which I personally really liked as it reminded me of the artwork on Florence & the Machines album cover for Lungs.

Our video cameras we used were the Canon 500d and the Canon 1100d. These are both Alysia and my personal DSLR cameras and we found that they worked perfectly for our photos for the ancillary tasks and the filming of the music video. We used the Canon 500d for the filming of the music video, as it had a flip screen so the actors could see whether they were in the correct position in the frame, and it also had a better focus and a clearer picture as opposed to my Canon 1100d which we used for filming the behind the scenes videos. 

The biggest parts of my research and planning were mainly based on Google, Blogger itself, SlideShare, SoundCloud, Youtube and Tumblr. This is because I could upload my work straight away without any loss of paperwork and because the internet creates such an easy and quick way to research and find artists and products to analyse and compare to your own work. These websites also helped when it came to find target audience feedback due to the quick and easy method of just uploading work or feedback onto my blog from other websites. Tumblr helped so much when it came to finding pictures for our moodboard for the magazine advertisement, because there is so much contemporary, modern photography on Tumblr that truly inspired us and how we wanted our work to look like when completed. It also helped that Tumblr is used by our target audience age range.

Question 3: Evaluation

What have you learned from your audience feedback?


Both Alysia and I gathered our audience feedback through many different methods, which I feel worked strongly in our favour because some methods had more sensible/helpful comments of pros and cons of our music video and our individual ancillary products than others.

The different methods we used in our to gain our target audience feedback were through Facebook, Twitter, Survey Monkey, informal interviews, posting our music video on YouTube, filmed interviews and feedback forms from our class mates and our teachers.

Which worked well?

I found that one of the most productive ways of gaining our audience feedback were through handouts to the class and to the teacher. The reason for this is because it meant that both the students and teachers would answer the feedback sheet straight away, so the first thoughts and impressions that come to mind would go on the piece of paper straight away. This gives a more valid and reliable way of Alysia and I working out whether our products are professional looking or not, whether our intentions with visual layout have succeeded or not and also they can give us honest cons about our work, so we can improve.
Another good way of gaining audience feedback was through filmed informal interviews with other students in the school, who fit our target audience criteria. Especially since the two people we filmed for an informal interview were boys, it meant that we could have a broader perspective on our product just incase Alysia and I made it too 'girly' without realising.

Which didn't work well?

The methods that I don't think worked as well as they could have done were posting our surveys, videos, or products on Facebook or Twitter. This was because both Alysia and I had hardly any feedback from these. I think this was mainly because our friends or followers on Facebook or Twitter didn't have the time to watch/comment/analyse our work or they didn't want to be too critical about our work.

What I Learnt

From these different methods of audience feedback, I think it definitely made me realise which works better when it comes down to serious feedback from peers, strangers and most importantly our target audience in general. Once we had figured out the best ways of gaining feedback we used the most successful and useful methods throughout our work.

Question 2: Evaluation

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

One of the main ways I linked all three of my media products was through my target audience. Once I had done my research through Survey Monkey, audience feedback booklets on my pitches etc I had a rough idea of what my target audience expected from the indie genre. This meant that I could use these techniques through all three of my products.

The first feature I wanted running throughout all three of my media products was the theme of nature. The reason I wanted this was because all of the indie artists I had looked at such as Ben Howard and Lewis Watson had earthy and authentic settings to their products. In order to adapt this, I used the same setting for my music video for my digipak and magazine advertisement, but through using PhotoShop I used an effect in the form of a colour alteration filter to warm the tone of colour to make it more appealing for my audience. I felt that using the same setting of my music video for my ancillary products created an image branding, which means it can be easily recognised by my target audience.

I also used the same font for both my digipak and magazine advertisement, to create a sense of identity for the artist as part of the 'Star Image' theory and so it again makes it more recognisable in shops for my target audience. My intention was so the repeated images and font types don't only make the artist more noticable, but the products themselves in relation to the artist.

Were the products effective?

• My target audience feedback indicated that the products were well linked which was my main intention. I'm glad that this was the case, as if the links weren't clear between all three products, the music probably wouldn't be as well recognised because our chosen artist is a indie singer, as opposed to a very popular mainstream artist.
• My products also made it clear that my genre was indie, due to the naturalistic theme of each product.

Question 1: Evaluation

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

• USE 

My music video uses forms and conventions of real media products in that Alysia and I used the idea of Iconography. Our iconography showed through our choice of indie/acoustic style and the naturalistic settings and atmosphere throughout. 

We also amplified the lyrics to relate to the music video, this meant that our target audience would be able to follow the music video easily and understand the story line. 

Our intentions was also to elaborate on our use of Mis En Scene; costume, make-up, props, all to be stereotypical of indie artists so our target audience would understand and relate to the genre.

Also, I analysed other indie artists' music videos. See blog post here and here.

• DEVELOP

Our main development was not using the adolescent male fantasies despite it being a love song.

We developed the idea of 'televised bard' also from studying other music videos.

Deliberate shy lip syncing to show emotion and realism to our target audience, this also reflects on the indie artist stereotype of being modest and the main focus is the music.

• CHALLENGE

- 'adolescent male fantasies'

We didn't challenge much because our main aim was to follow in the footsteps of the indie artists to appeal to our target audience. In order to do this, I analysed different music videos, picked out the things I liked from them and tried to replicate those in my own music video, digipak and magazine advertisements. 

• THEORIES AND THEORISTS

We used Goodwin's theory of illustrating our narrative- tells the story through the lyrics. An example of this would be when we used a close up shot of a leaf to demonstrate 'from stabbing all that's delicate'.

Michael Shore- we purposefully did not use the theory of adolescent male fantasies, as mentioned before.

Carlsson- the idea of 'televised bard' relates to Goodwin's theory.

The idea of 'Star Image' I didn't think suited well with the 'down to earth' feel indie artists stereotypical use. This is why I don't have any photos of the artist on my magazine advertisement or digipak, as it means that it would reach out to my intended target audience and the focus would be more on the music rather than himself.

 Levi Strauss 'Binary Opposition'

In our music video: boy and girl, day and night, outside and inside.

Peer Feedback on Music Video

Erick Baker - Stay Awhile (first cut) A2 Music Video

Digipak

Front  Cover

The aim behind designing my digipak front cover was so it was similar to identical to my magazine advertisement to create a sense of identity that people will remember. I used the same tool on Photoshop 'Lens Flare' and I also used the 'sprayed strokes' effect under the tab of 'brush strokes'. However, with my digipak I made the font of the artist name and album title the same font to create an even look. I used white font to contrast against the background which I chose to be warm dark colours to create a psychedelic, mystic look to it at the same time as it being natural to reflect the genre of the music.

Inside Left

Inside Right

 Back Cover