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Thursday, 3 May 2012

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

In these images that I have put together suggest how we used, challenged and developed forms and conventions from real media products, so music videos that have been produced in the real world.

We decided to use shots outside in Autumn scenery like Adele did in her video for 'Chasing Pavements', as she was our main inspiration for our outdoor shots. Adele uses close ups in her video but long shots of the scenery but in our video we used close ups, mid shots and long shots to avoid viewer fatigue. By using natural lighting, it gave our artist a glamorous look, and by the use of costumes it looks effecitve but this is portrayed in a solemn way.
The image of Duffy and Veronica Summer, also uses and develops the forms of real media products. Our decision to use a taxi as a location was influenced by this particular music video. However, we also developed and challenged this image with the use of balloons that we used as props and also the movement that the artist herself performs. The colours of the balloons were enhanced in the editing process, to make the use of colour more efficient. This challenges the Soul genre (black and white imagery) and also the solemness that Duffy portrays with her attitude and facial expressions. This portrayed happier characteristics unlike Duffy.                                                  
In the shots that we edited black and white, we were inspired by Amy Winehouse and her video 'Back to  Black' which is also where we got the idea to have featured close ups of Veronica Summer. However, we adapted the shots that we researched from the professional video, and to guarantee that our artist was known to our target audience, we decided to have close ups from the front- whereas Amy features in her from the side. The framing and cinematography of the shots are the same. This annotated image below also demonstrates how both artists are in the same genre, and also emphasises the influence with Veronica's tattoos. 
As well as Veronica Summer starring in the video, we filmed a band to play alongside her. We filmed close ups of the players and their instruments before Veronica began to sing to make it seem like an authentic video. This was inspired by the Jamie Cullum video 'Everlasting Love'. The fact that our shots of the band members and their instruments are under low key lighting emphasises the genre, and also creates that image of a concert/gig. It also meant that in our video had a narrative along with other shots to create a more interesting video to watch. We then challenged these particular conventions by adding a shot of the guitarist under a spotlight to suggest his part in the video. 

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

Here is a video of Katie applying make up to me (Veronica Summer). This discusses what  conventions we followed in the costume and make up side of the video.
Our main inspiration in the costume and make up choices were Paloma Faith and Amy Winehouse. These are both artists in the Soul genre, so are appropriate to our music video.
The make up was essential for the close up shots of Veronica Summer, which by the use of eye shadow and bright red lipstick gave her the look of Amy Winehouse. Also the tattoos that Veronica has also conveys our inspiration Amy Winehouse as she is famous for her artistic edgy look with her tattoos.
The costume choices that we made resembled Paloma Faith in some level, although not as adventurous as she is known for. We decided to dress her in a black dress to portray her glamorous side, a floral dress to convey her feminity and the black corset and jeans to show her down to earth side, which the target audience can relate to.

Also on the video, there are various shots of Cameron drawing the tattoos on our artist. We decided to have hearts on her neck to show her passion for music, the bow on her arm and the daisy chain on her wrist to show her femine side- like the floral dress and also the stars to show her new found fame.

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

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

2. How effective is the combination of my main product and ancillary texts?


This is the final draft of our Digipak which I think has dramatically improved from earlier drafts, we can see this due to the framing of the different shots on each panel and also the use of the font especially on the track-list.
The most effective panel that we have created is the front panel, with an image of Veronica Summer slightly off centre. This clearly shows our artist to our target audience which is an effective way for us to sell her albums.
We decided to keep the bottom row in the final draft as the balloons became a major feature of our music video as the balloons are fun and create an outrageous character for the audience to relate to. Also, the balloons provide a great deal of colour, so the contrast between the black and white images and the colour tinted images are a lot more effective and prominent.
The image of the rose that was used repetitively symbolises her femininity, and made an effective shot on the track-list. We highlighted the rose in the video, and therefore it became a dominant feature from our video.
 Here is an early draft of our Digipak, as you can see we have made some great progress since this piece of work.
We decided against the shots with the shots with Veronica Summer wearing the yellow dress. This is because we felt that these particular image did not match the images in the video.
Also, the image at the bottom right was removed from the Digipak because as well as the others, it also did not seem suitable.

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



Here I have embedded a video of my video Technicolour with annotations and captions discussing the choices that we made to keep our artist's brand identity strong.
The costume remains dark with Veronica wearing a little black dress and black corset for the majority of the video, as well as this Veronica also wears a floral dress which is designed with roses to keep the brand identity strong. She wears a red rose on her hat which became the main design for our ancillary texts, and therefore the combination of these and the video are strong.
Also the tattoos which we decided would be effective on our artist keep the brand identity and the link between our ancillary texts and main product strong. The tattoos remained the same throughout the video and throughout all the promotional packages which also makes Veronica's brand identity strong and the combination effective.
We were inspired by Amy Winehouse with some of the tattoos that were selected, and she too is an artist in the Soul genre.

Although the artist's hair colour changes through the duration of the video, the style remains the same which can then be linked with the genre that we worked with, and again the combination is effective.

Tuesday, 1 May 2012

3. What have you learned from your Audience Feedback?


Here are two pictures from Peer Feedback that were taken as I was showing the group my music video.
I received some verbal and written feedback regarding the further actions that need to be taken to achieve a better final grade.

This was an effective task, as I was able to obtain relevant information about what worked well and how the music video looks and whether the decisions made were appropriate to the genre and also the music video. It also gave us a chance to make notes about what our target audience would like to see in our video, so we could respond to the audience feedback and adapt our video to include their particular elements.




This task also gave me the chance to give feedback to the rest of the group about the decisions that I made when it came to the editing process. They could then respond with ways to make the editing more effective/appropriate to the genre. This then became a good task, as I could then see the improvements that my peers and fellow Media Studies students believe that I should work on to make better.

This was also very effective as the people that watched my music video were all Media Studies students, and gave feedback with specific Media terminology, which I could relate to.
The writing process, (the picture on the right) allowed me to make note and write what sections of the video are the best and need very little work done. This gave me some confidence about my final piece of work and ideas about how to take it to the next level.




This is a picture of us planning what feedback we were going to give to the other groups, and also some feedback that we had previously received from our teachers.
This meant when the other people in the group called upon us to provide feedback to the others, we had a draft answer and it allowed for us to give a thoughtful helpful answer.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?





This is a video that we recorded whilst our class watched our music video to gain some more peer feedback. This was essential when we were discussing the choices that we can make post watching the comments that we have received on what we can improve on.
Overall the feedback that we received was positive.
Most of the positive feedback that we received that we had effective shot rotation, good use of locations and used them alternatively effectively. The performance from myself was considered to be very good, so the music video as a whole was thought to be effective and seen as appropriate to the task set. The balloons that were used were affective as they are seen as colorful, and fun which goes hand in hand with our artist.
We noted down what was also said about what needs to be improved upon and that came in the form as verbal feedback also.
This was the opening shots were too long, and perhaps the audience just want to see the artist. The long shot that is used at the opening could be cut down to make it shorter, to reveal the entire artist sooner.

3. What have you learned from Audience Feedback?



We showed a group of our peers our music video at the level it is currently at. They were filmed watching the music video which was our third draft. We then asked them what they liked about the video, but also what action can be taken for us to achieve a better mark for the video side of the Coursework.
We chose a group of our peers to comment on our progress as they are our target audience, so their opinions really matter in the progress of the creation in our music video.

Here is a Pie Chart that I created using the information that I received from my target audience using the website SurveyMonkey.
I created the chart from a website.
The results show that my audience thought that the most effective shots came from the Stage and therefore we added in more shots from the staging area as this would make the music video.

Below is a sample question that I created for the survey on SurveyMonkey, which gave my audience a chance to write exactly what they would like to see, with the essay box below the question.
This is a screen grab from the Questionnaire that we sent out to our target audience. We took their comments on board and it allowed us to see what our audience's needs and wants are. It also guaranteed that we would fix the 'problems' in our video that people didn't perhaps like and adapt this to what they'd prefer to see in the music video. This is why we created an essay box in some of the questions that we asked in the Survey, so that our audience could expand on their answers and provide us with details about what else they would like us to see.

3. What have you learned from Audience Feedback?



This is the Peer Evaluation Sheet that I received once Jade Emans had viewed my CD Cover that I had created using the programme PhotoShop. She gave me a level that I am working at currently which is measured against my end of year target grade.
She stated that we had used good brand identity which is essential when trying to create a brand new artist that will be recognised. She needs to be noticed when she appears on her advert and also the CD Cover panels that we have created. Also the lens flare that was used in one of the images was seen to be effective as it brings a lighter side to the genre which our artist belongs in.
The areas that we perhaps needed to work on at the time that this peer evaluation was done, was to add text to the front, back and one of the middle panels of the DigiPak, and to also include more manipulated black and white images to match the front panel.

3. What have you learned from your Audience Feedback?


This capture from SurveyMonkey shows that our music video 'Technicolour' came third in the poll for best music video which our whole Sixth Form voted for.