In what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
From our research we were able to discover the forms and conventions of music videos. We found that the common forms and conventions of music videos, that are included in music videos from all genres, are; the artist performing in a studio and/or at a gig and a story being told using actors/actresses. We decided to use all the forms and conventions of music videos that we had discovered in our music video. We found the within the forms and conventions of all music videos there are some specific common themes that appear in music videos for particular genres. The music video we were creating was for an indie band so we specifically looked at the forms and conventions of music videos for indie/alternative rock bands. We found that many indie bands music videos the artists got very involved with the music and the crowd (For example The Cribs - Our Bovine Public and The Libertines - Don't Look Back Into The Sun). We found this to be a common form and convention of music videos within this genre so we decided to include it in our music video. Our music video showed the band performing to a crowd at a gig and also playing together in a studio setting were the band were bale to get more involved with the music. Also we found that many indie bands liked to use story telling in their music videos (For example Arctic Monkey - When The Sun Goes Down). Again we found this a very common form and conventions of music videos within the indie genre so decided this would be appropriate to use in our music video. The story telling part of our video tells the story of the song and shows a girl stumbling the streets after a drunken night out. Our music video mostly stuck to common forms and conventions music videos within our specific genre. However we did want to challenge the forms and conventions of music videos and included something that would make the video unique and perhaps hasn't appeared in music videos before. This was the burning piano idea and this was included to challenge the common features of music videos and make our music video stand out. We also used forms and conventions of album covers and artist magazine advertisements in our ancillary tasks. Many indie bands use nonsense images on their album covers and posters to be unique and we found this to be a common feature. We decided to follow this form and convention, but to develop it further so it linked in with the theme of the EP instead of linking in with the band. This is why we used an image of the car and a pair of shoes on the digipack to link in with the theme of growing up, whilst following the nonsense form and convention of this genre, and we used an image of a girl walking away again doing the same thing. We found many forms and conventions of music videos and our ancillary tasks which were very useful in the production of our work. However even though features of these tasks are common for a reason we found it important to develop or even challenge the forms and conventions of the tasks we completed to maintain uniqueness within our work.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
From our research we found that many artists link in their music videos, album covers and posters when advertising new material (For example a new music for a new single from their new album will all link). We decided it would be very important for us to link our 3 texts together as it would enable audiences to recognise the 3 different tasks and they will be memorable. During our projects we found it difficult to link the band in with the 3 tasks as we had trouble with the images for the digipack and magazine advertisement. Therefore we decided to link the theme of the song and the whole EP with the 3 tasks, rather than linking the band themselves. The EP carries the theme of 'growing up' and the challenges you face whilst turning from a child to an adult. The song that we have used for the project tells the story of a girl who is lost and alone after a drunken night out. We therefore felt it would be appropriate to link all 3 tasks with the theme of 'growing up'. This theme will also attract the primary target audience of teenagers who will be able to relate to the songs and the theme of the EP. The video features the band, who are all at this stage in their life, and also tells the story of the 'drunken girl' using an actress. This therefore includes the theme of 'growing up' that the target audiences will be able to relate to. The digipack uses two original images (front and reverse cover) which both link to the theme. The front cover is a picture of the back of a car with all of the bands instruments hanging out of the boot. This image links well with the theme of growing up, as a car symbolizes the period in your life when you are gaining your own freedom, as you are no longer having to rely on anyone else, and you gradually turning from a child to an adult. We have tried not to drift too far from the band, whilst including the theme of 'growing up', as the band are still fairly unknown; therefore we included the instruments and the bands name in the image. The reverse image for the digipack is of a pair of child’s shoes and a pair of adult shoes next to each other. This links in with the theme of growing up as it shows both children and adults shoes presenting the stage in your life when you are no longer a child, but not quite an adult. This again links with the other tasks and will attract the target audiences. Both images have a vintage affect on them which gives them their own uniqueness which links in with the poster. The poster is an image of a girl walking along a street alone; this again was taken to link the 3 tasks together by sticking to the theme of 'growing up'. Also this image uses a vintage affect giving it a uniqueness linking in with the digipack images. Our research enabled us to realise that our work needed to link to be effective. We have found that deciding on the theme of 'growing up', because of the song we used and the EP, we were able to link our work which will be good for attracting audiences and being memorable. Also the theme itself means the main target audience of teenagers will be able to relate to the work and therefore be more likely to listen to and remember the band.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
After completing our advanced media production we showed our music video to a group of year 7 pupils to gain some audience feedback. We interviewed 3 pupils after the viewing to see what they thought. This is the video of the interview:
We received a lot of positive feedback from the interview with the year 7 pupils and we also received criticism that we could use to improve our current video or use if we were to create a new music video. First we learnt from our audience feedback that our video was very creative, it included good ideas and they flowed very well together. Also the group we interviewed really liked the burning piano idea, they said it was very unique and eye catching. We have learnt from audience feedback that is important that the video flows well and the ideas are creative and not boring. Also it is important to included memorable parts in the video to create uniqueness and make it eye catching for audiences. The audience feedback also included some negative comments that we could use to improve our video or improve our work in the future. The pupils said that the video lacked a clear story line and that the majority of music videos has a story line in them. We have learnt from this that if you chose to include a story line in your music video you must make sure that the story being told is clear to the audience. The pupils we interviewed also said that in the 'studio' scene the camera lacked movement. They said that the use of close ups and shots was effective, but they improvement could have been made by including more movement in the camera work amongst the band members. From this audience feedback we have learnt that it is important to use a range of camera angles and camera movement in the video and also the camera work should relate to the scene being shot. The pupils also said the video was too happy in places for the song and it didn't relate to the lyrics. We learnt that ensuring the song relates to the video throughout is an essential part of making a music video as it links the two together and makes the music video more memorable to audiences. Lastly the audience feedback pointed out a problem we had previously attempted to fix. They said that in the gig scene the footage was too dark, even though we had adjusted the brightness. We have learnt from this that it is important that all of our shots are clearly visible and the light for filming is suitable. Our audience feedback has enabled us to see what we have done well and what things we could included in future work and enabled us to see things we have done poorly and we could improve upon in future work.
Throughout our advanced media production we used a variety of different media technologies at different stages of our project. Firstly in the research stage we used the Internet to carry out a lot of our research. For example we used Google images to research album covers and posters/magazine advertisements for specific artists. Also we used video sharing sites like YouTube to research different types of music videos. Also we used sites like YouTube for some techniques we used in our music video. For example the creation and use of the steadi-cam and the burning piano. We used different media technologies in the construction of our music video including the steadi-cam itself and a standard dolly tripod. We were able to use these to create different types of shots including tracking shots and dynamic shots. We used two different types of cameras in the production of our music video and they were; the Canon MV830 camcorder and the JVC Everio HM-200 HD camcorder. We also used different media technologies in the planning stages of our advanced media portfolio. We used social networking sites like Facebook and we used Emails during our planning stages; for example to organize recording and filming etc... Also we carried out some planning videos, before creating our final music video, in which we used a single recording mic to record sound for the practise videos. During the editing of our music video we used two different types of media technologies in terms of editing software. We used both Avid Studio and Pinnacle Studio 15 to edit our music video manipulating things like transitions, colour/brightness, sound and other effects. We also used media technologies for our evaluation stage of the project. We used video sharing sites like YouTube to share our videos with others. This is a form of audience feedback as people are able to view the music video and leave comments displaying their views. We have used multiple media technologies at different stages throughout our project and each of them has made it possible to complete our advanced media portfolio.
