1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
- Give a short summary of your chosen brief: summarise your target audience, your intended output and the research you undertook.
For my A2 project I decided to do a music video with the song “ShesGotStyle” by “NeverShoutNever”. I had to attract a target audience of girls who are between the age of 14-21 and who enjoy listening to acoustic music. I tried to create a music video within this genre that appealed and interested my TA to encourage them to buy or download the song. The research I did to gather this information was from my own media class and from other people in my school, to try and get a wider opinion to try and make my research more accurate. I did this by using PollDaddy on my blog.
- What real media examples did you look at and summarise why you chose them? – What interested you about them, what particular aspects did you think would be useful – i.e. styling, locations, narrative etc.
I looked at music videos from NSN, Colbie Caillat and Corinne Bailey Rae took a lot of ideas from the original band (I also analysed a music video and an album cover from them)
i.e. I tried to have my artist wearing similar clothing and chose him for his appearance, mainly because of his long slightly messy hair. As well as that he could play the guitar which is what I needed. I didn’t use my first choice for a location in the end which was inconvenient because I moved house before filming began, and then the second location was impractical as it took too long to get to from school in the evening, to film such a short amount (because of the time school ends the sun set within about an hour). I gave the music video a narrative to make it more interesting as well as having my and singing and playing along to the track. The narrative was the boy meets girl and really like her but at the end finds out she’s with another guy at the same time. With him singing and playing his guitar on screen it would make my TA think that he’s good live and so would then go and see him perform.
- What did you learn about the ‘codes and conventions’ of the ‘real’ media examples you analysed?- consider these areas:
I found that a lot of music in this genre have music videos where the band or artist are playing but it also has a narrative to it, capturing the song and make the video more interesting- encouraging people to watch it to the end because they will want to know what’s going to happen and the performance element will hopefully encourage views to go and watch my artist live.
The style of my video was supposed to be similar to existing acoustic videos as I wanted it to be easily recognisable in these aspects such as having my artist playing his instrument and singing. I used low angles to get clear shots of my artist playing guitar, not necessarily to make him look bigger. The video stuck completely to the codes and convention, from the way my actors where dressed, hair, filming angles and content.
For my photographs on my poster and the back/middle of my digi pack I had to add effects to both as I didn’t feel that the colours where strong enough, as they were cloudy and unclear, creating a lack of inappropriate lighting.
I also added a glowing affect around my artist on the poster so that he would stand out more from the background. I thought of doing this not only for the contrast but also for a way of showing his happiness and innocents shining through.
I had a variety of angles for my project as most of it was filmed in one location and it gave the sense that I was using a larger area. Trying to get the lip syncing correct I found really difficult however I think over all I managed it fairly well. In the music video I added a sepia effect on the camera in some parts to show the difference between what was happening and what was suppose to appear as hope recording and acts as a memory. I feel that with out this effect the audience would not have understood what was going on.
At the very beginning and the end of my music video I didn’t have any sound at all playing so that it would make the audience pause to here the song at the beginning and I felt that at the end it worked really well. Although at the beginning when my female lead trod on the stick I was hoping for it to snap but it didn’t.
The actors in my film only consisted of three and one wasn’t in until the very end. My artist was the only one who I needed all the way through the video. Looking back on my completed project I should have gotten my actors together more before recording the video to make sure that they knew what they where suppose to be doing because in some section they don’t seem quite ready/ know what to do so I actually had allot of tape which I couldn’t use. Fortunately I could get them both on Tuesdays from 5 till 6.30 and on Tuesdays from 4 till 6.30 however only the times when it was still light was useful and so I only really had a short space of time ever 2 days. I got all my photos taking in an hour long session on a Thursday which was good because it meant that I could spend more time with them on Photoshop. Although looking back I should have planned rehearsal times before I started shooting so that it would have been quicker for me to film.
For the clothing of my characters I tried to dress them similar in a way because I wanted to show the similarities between them, both where wearing check shirts with jeans and brown shoes. My female charicter was actually wearing brown boots I chose for her to wear these because of the first line “If it’s not those cowboy boots in the summer”. My artist’s costumer remains the same through out the music video however my female character had a costume change, although it is only her top. I chose the colours of the shirts she wore carefully. Kate was wearing a yellow shirt for the majority of the film because this is when she met my artist and the colour yellow is the colour which represents happiness and is associated with sunshine, joy and life.
However it does have conflicting meanings and the others meanings of yellow are cowardliness (which doesn’t apply) and deceit which I feel apply to my video. I chose this because whilst she is seen to be with my artist and happy with him she’s actually already with another guy. Kate changes her shirt to red with is seen to represent passion and love
but also the negative representation is that it can be seen as promiscuous, which I think applies well to the video as she cheats on my artist with her this other guy. Although I did not elaborate on her relationship with this guy as I though that it would be more effective to leave it up to the audience as individuals to decide.
Props I used in my video where only a few for my artist it was his Guitar and at the end a daffodil 
(also yellow, showing that she makes him happy) and for my female artist it was a red apple (also red, she is shown with the apple both time we see her when she first meets both boys). This is where I tried to create synergy in my graphics through using the apple. It appears on my digipack and in my video, unfortunately I didn’t manage to incorporate it into the design of my magazine advert. My CD cover did not use a red apple because during the process of making it I realised that a red apple won’t show up against the red sky and so to make it look better I removed the apple from the cover.
I think that the narrative matches the lyrics and the meaning of the song; the artist revealed in an interview that he wrote this song after one of his girlfriends cheated on him. So I do feel that the narrative applied to the lyrics and worked.
The song choice isn’t that fast and so my cuts in the music video aren’t that fast either because I felt that I wanted it to be in time with the music. By using slower paced cuts I have created a more relaxed video but it also emphasise on parts of my video. Although in my original story board the where many more cuts due to time restraints and a change of mind I decided that there were going to be longer sections before cuts.
My artist doesn’t have a logo as such however he’s name s written in the same font on the CD cover and on the advert and so this is recognisable and doesn’t change so this is his branding.
I wanted to make the album cover slightly creative and so for that I wanted a silhouette against the red sky. This picture is an attempt to try and sum up what my artist means. He’s under a tree because that’s where apples come from but also because people often sit under trees to ponder things. The sky is red, so hat I was trying to stick with the red apple and I needed it to look summer like, although a red apple on a red sky doesn’t work very well so I took the apple off. So by doing this I wanted my artist to come across a deep and meaning full although this was much more difficult that I first thought as deleting of the sky in-between the branches was time consuming and then I had to take photos of the sky and then had to edit them by applying and effect on it and then changing the hue.
For the text on the CD cover and one my advert I wanted it to be in a similar font to that of the original artist and because of this is took quite a whiles as I had to create new letters out of the parts of letters that I already had and then go over it in black. I chose to use this type of writing because it looked youthful and I wanted this to come across on the cover as the rest of it wasn’t.
I also chose that font for ‘In the summer’ because I wanted a contrast to the text on the cover to what I already had and I don’t think that a more block like font would have looked right.
In my magazine advert I used my artist in the same costumer as I had him in for the music video to create synergy, particularly as you can’t see his face in he photo.
Unfortunately I didn’t manage to incorporate the apple into my advert although at one point I was debating changing the picture to a photo of him holding the apple behind is back but in the end I decided I would stick to my flat plans.
The synergy I did manage to get across all the parts of my media was he use of trees, still playing on the idea that he it deep and thoughtful and can be content with being on his own.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts
Discuss how your print and moving image work compliments each other? [Style of film/video reflected in the print work? From the film poster/CD advert would the TA be able to tell whether they will like it or not? How have you done this [or not!] i.e. is the genre/style evident, is it enticing enough? Does the print work reflect the genre of the artist and ‘appeal’ to the TA – how?
My print and moving image work together because I interrelated them to one another, particularly through use of the apple. By using this I could put it in my print work and my moving work, for my actress’s prop. I used a red apple for the symbol for my work because of it meaning, the apple is seen as forbidden fruit in many biblical stories which I then applied to my media in the way that my artists wants the female charicter but can’t have her. Because of this the apple can also symbolise temptation, sin and sexuality which I feel apply to the narrative aspects of my video. I was intending to use another photo for my poster but I decided against it as I wanted to stick more to my flat plans and I think the end product looked better.
This was the pictuer I was thinking about using instead for my poster.
Does the ‘branding’ for your film or band work across all the media formats? I.e. is the styling of you graphics, photos and video work consistent? Why is this important? SYNERGY!!
I tried to create synergy across the parts of my project by choosing a symbol which I tried to fit into as many areas of my project as I could, unfortunately I didn’t fit it into the poster however I did manage t use it on both my CD and in my video. I used an apple
as it’s a fairly common item and so by seeing them around in the real world outside my video it may make them think back to the music video and encourage them to buy the song or album. I wanted to create synergy between the parts of my project because the results from my pre production questionnaire showed that people don’t like music, posters and album that are completely unrelated. Looking back I should have probably put in more shots of the apple into my music video as this may have helped.
How successful would your project be at ‘selling’ the film or artist. Will fans of similar artists and films ‘recognise’ the codes and conventions and the genre that you have portrayed in you print work and video/film?
I think my project would have sold the artist well because I stuck within the typical codes and conventions of his genre of music. These are appearance, where the I dress him in appropriate clothing, check shirt, jeans and brown shoes and his hair fitted the part already. I had him playing live in some areas on my video to show that he can sing and play but also had a narrative, to keep the audience guessing. 
I think by 
adding a narrative to the song as well it interested people more as it would keep them guessing for what happens next. I think the way I dressed my actors make them easily recognisable for the music genre. I also had my artist playing the guitar in the video instead of just singing so that it fitted into the TA expectations which would be that an acoustic artist can sing and pay the guitar.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Firstly describe your target audience: age, gender, aspirations, education, occupation, hobbies, interests, fashion, shopping habits, technology usage, reading interest, TV/internet/music habits, social activities etc and relate this to how you designed your magazine.
My TA is female between the ages of 14-19. I found this TA because of the original planning for the project and the artists fans are female and around this age group. The majority of the TA is female because my actor was a young and attractive guy and so this would gather more female attention than male. Also the content of this song is about feelings which most guys tend to avoid and so this will attract more female listeners than male. Most of this TA is still in secondary education or entering higher education such as college. Because of the age group it is unlikely that they will be working full time, particularly as they’ll still be in school although it is still possible that they can have a part time job. Because of this they’ll still be dependant on there parents to buy things for them as they them self’s aren’t earning.
My TA will have hobbies and interests such as attending live performances and festivals, particularly ones such as Glastonbury and Woodstock
and as there mainly female the most obvious would be socialising and shopping. It appears that a fairly large percentage can play instruments as well so that they can sing and play along with there music and favourite artists. Most of my artists fans are the slightly hippy vegetarian type who attempt to spread messages about caring for the planet.
The fashion of my TA would be similar to that of the actors in my media project, with check shirts and boots. Typical shops would be H&M, TopMan and wetseal although many other high street shops can sell similar items of clothing. As mentioned earlier that majority of my TA is still dependant on their parents for money and so there spending habits will not be as high as adults, making it more difficult for them to purchase items.
This age group is very active with technology and particular interested in the next big thing. Only a minority of people within this age group would not have access to the internet, a mobile or a MP3 player.
This way a music business could contact them through any means, mobile updates, emails and adverts on the TV. Like the majority of young people my TA will find out of new music by internet sites such as myspace and purevolume as well as on TV and radio shows. It would be wise to create a banner or an add for my artists music to go on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. I wouldn’t put this on Bebo because the majority of the users are younger than my TA and it would not be cost effective.
My TA for this project are more likely to go to festivals than attend gigs regulary. They do attend other live events but ones that they really want to go to rather than a lot that they don’t like so much. When attending music events they’d be going with friends as this would be a social thing for them to do as well as other hobbies and activities that they can do together or in a group.
Does your product attract/address the correct target audience… describe and discuss how and why it does attract or, of course does not!
My audience feedback for the most part was positive, there was an obvious narrative that was easy to follow and kept them interested which was exactly what I intended for it to do. They also said that the location that I had chosen was good, although it could have been better if there was at least one other location in there but it meant that they weren’t being distracted my constant changing of location.
The audience responded well to the actors I chose for my project and they thought my artist played his role really well. They agreed with the costumes I chose for them both to wear as they fitted the typical codes and conventions of the genre. I did get feed back saying that the clips on my female character where too long and if I where to do my project again I would cut these clips shorter and possibly more frequent.
- Relate this to your pre and post-production questionnaires i.e. what your TA expected and how they consume the media … then relate that to your post-production questionnaires [hopefully this will tell you what they thought, improvements and any problems] and compare/contrast/conclude the feedback from both.
- From this feedback conclude how you could have improved it?
From my post production survey the area which I needed to improve most upon was my music video because only 60% for my narrative obvious and in the question “Which areas need improving?” my video and Digi pack both got 40% of the votes, so Ideally I should have spent longer on my video and had more cuts in it and tried to make the narrative within it even more obvious, I could have focused more on how they met and how little time they spent with each other before he ‘fell for’ my female character. This is pretty bad considering how important the Digi pack cover seemed to be in my pre production survey because I had a high response telling me that bad album cover work would actually put them off of buying a single or album. Although my video was said to have needed improving 80% of people said that they wouldn’t change the channel and watch until the end of the video.
My audience also picked up on the synergy between my part of my project and I’m really happy that it worked.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
- How have you utilised the DTP, graphic applications, video editing software, cameras and the web to progress through this project.
For my A2 media project I use loads of different computer programs. The first I used was Microsoft word to plan and type up all of my deconstructions before uploading them to wordpress, the blog which we started using last year.
The first software I used for the parts of my project was Photoshop which I learnt how to use last year because of the magazine project. At first when I started using Photoshop again it was really confusing but after a short while it was easier to use. I used this in the first construction stage of my project to create my CD and my poster. For this is had to use a still camera which was pretty easy to use except about 20 minutes into it the batteries die and not having any spare I resorted to using my own little camera. In the end I chose photos which were taken form that camera.
After using Photoshop I had to start recording my video which was fine, although at the beginning I had a bit of an issue with trying to turn of the night vision
- What aspects of these technologies were useful or hindered your progress… how and why?
The iMove software was really simple to use one I got the hang of it, although I found it irritating how when I used a piece of footage that I only had one copy unless I manually did it, which I didn’t realise until quite far into my editing which I found rather frustrating.
I’m glad I used photoshop last year as otherwise my print work would have take much longer. I found it confusing to use it again as I forgot where particular things where although once I used it for a while I got the hang of it back.
- Discuss the use of your word press blog to present your research, planning, ideas and evaluation: how did this help?: [audience feedback, ability to see progress etc]
Using the Word press blog was helpful in getting audience feedback and having my surveys completed. However I found that it was a lot of work due to faffing about and trying to organise categories and getting images not the right place.
WordPress did have uses that I wouldn’t have gotten form doing my coursework by hand or on Microsoft word such as being able to give and receive comments and being able to change a and show people things instantly so instant feed back is a definite plus. Being able to access my work from anywhere was really useful because it meant that I didn’t have to put it on a memory stick or email it or print it, I could just access it where ever I had an internet connection allowing me to be able to work on it anywhere. Polldaddy to get audience feed back was really useful because it worked out percentages for you whilst also showing you how many votes there where for each answer. This made righting my survey analysis far more easy.
- How did you use the internet/TV/other media to help with research and planning?
I used the internet and TV to watch music videos and ideas of what I could do and how professional ones keep the interest of their TA.
I used my artists MySpace to look at their album design and other artist that at in the same genre. I found that whilst my artist use a cartoon picture on their covers other artist chose to use photos, normally of themselves (see CD deconstruction) and I feel that mine was a creative mix of the two by having Maccy in the photo but turning it into a picture.
- How did you use digital media to help evaluate your project [polldady etc]
I used the digital media PollDaddy to help evaluate my project with more audience feedback. This is relatively straight forward but I found that some of my polls don’t show up properly on my blog which means that I can’t get the audience to fill it out.
My video was also evaluated by my audience in a lesson where I got feedback directly from them.
The internet helped me with my research and planning and my audience feedback hugely because I could ask them to access any video or information about music at anytime meaning I would not have to sit around having to wait days for the results. By using the internet I didn’t have to ask people to sit around within MTV between set times for them to be able to give me feed back on music videos.
- Could you have used the technology more effectively?
- How has technologies made access to media formats and direct advertising to the TA easier for institutions [give examples] and how has its also made the general concept of entertainment/information and communication easier to reach their target audience [web presence, phones, iPods, cameras etc]
Technology has made advertising far easier for institutions to advertise their product to the TA. They will have their own websites, an official one and one which fans can follow on sites like Facebook, twitter and MySpace. Mobile phones now mean that fans can be accessed anywhere and that they can access any website back. With the availability of low cost cameras (and camera phones) fans can now takes these to gigs take photos/recordings and stick them up on sites such as YouTube or the bands fan section on there site. They email there TA when they sign up to a bands news letter which can help the company find out more information about the TA habits.
TA can also sign up for text updates from companies or individual bands, which advertise and makes money for the company. NME and Kerrang! Both do this.
How does this multi-format approach to music products/publications affect how these products reach their TA? Ease of access, constantly available to advertise to, allows TA to interact with the product [how. Why?], be inspired by etc.
The multi format approach to music products makes it far easier now than it ever has been for companies to reach their TA. As people these days are always surrounded by technology it’s so easy to contact them. This can be over the internet via social networking sites, email and adverts place on sites which the TA are likely to use. They can be contacted anywhere via phone and text updates and hearing songs or adverts on the radio. There is almost no place that my TA can not be reached.
