Evaluation Question 4

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

Planning
During the early stages of creating our music video and ancillary tasks we used a variety of media technologies to aid our planning.
Firstly, we used the Mac computers a great deal throughout all stages of creating our video. During planning we were able to use websites such as YouTube, Google and MySpace to research conventions within music videos. We were also able to browse through the internet for song ideas and search for an unsigned band for our final song choice.
Secondly, we used an HD video camera and Finalcut express software on the Mac Computer during planning to see whether different potential settings would look effective on screen or not. Initially we planned to use simple backgrounds, such as a brick wall, with the female singer in the foreground. We therefore, filmed ourselves in front of such setting and edited them on Finalcut express. This was extremely helpful as it allowed a trial and error approach to creating the video before we had even begun production. We were able to see what looked effective on the computer and what didn’t by tampering with different effects which gave us a head start when it came to editing.
Thirdly, we used issuu.com to host some of our pre-production audience research. This allowed us to digitally document our notes on the narrative, story boards, video research, setting and mise en scene planning and filming schedule.





Research
After conducting our research interviews by filming them on an HD camera we were able to create a short video through final cut express. Although this was not compulsory we felt as a group that it was a different and more visually exciting way to document our research.
The internet was an extremely useful aspect of technology which aided us in research for our music video. Through the internet we were able to use search engines such as Google where we were able to quickly and efficiently bring up images of magazine covers, websites and research music videos.

In addition, the internet allowed us to access Googledocs where we were able to conduct research about our song choices which helped us to reach our target audience more successfully.

Construction
During the production of our video we were fortunately able to have access to High Definition camera. This allowed a greater resolution and therefore more professional finish to our video.
Again we used FinalCut Express for editing where we were able to add various effects onto our video. I found this the most useful software out of all teh media technology we used as we were able to incorporate a wide variety of effects to give our film a professional finish. For example, we frequently used slow motion or sped up shots throughout the video to help emphasise the narrative and make the video more visually exciting.

Evaluation

We individually used simpler software such as word and blogger to help to evaluate our task. Once we had finished our video were able to upload it onto YouTube where we have reached up to six hundred views so far. I am extremely pleased with this outcome as I believe that it reflects all of the hard work we have put into this project!

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

During pre-production we carried out some primary audience research with the intention of appealing more to our target audience.
For our first source of research we used Goodledocs to publish some house/pop songs which we considered using for our music video. The audience feedback we received showed that these song choices were incredibly unpopular for the majority of people who responded. This was helpful s it encouraged us to search for a more popular song choice. Upon reflection I would like to have conducted this research before we had chosen the song genre as it was very limiting to find an unlabelled band who conducted house/pop music.
Another research format we used was interviewing. After deciding on our song choice we created a short video featuring a number of students in our target audience age range. We used informal interviewing to question what these students would like to see in a music video to our chosen song. We asked questions such as:

· What themes and ideas would use to create a video to our song choice?
· What are your thoughts about the song?
· What setting would you use for the music video?
· Would you use any particular colour themes?
· Would you include a narrative?

Due to the dance genre a lot of respondents liked the idea of incorporating dance into the video, something we already had in mind. We found a lot of inspiration from this form of research as it was interesting to hear the range of ideas presented by everyone. However, we only had 15 interviewees which may not reflect a wide demographic, particularly considering they are all from the same school. Looking back I would have liked to have interviewed a bigger sample of people from different areas to have made the feedback much more reliable.

Altogether, I believe that conducting more audience research would have provided us with more specific feedback and inspirational ideas however with the time limit this is something we found hard to achieve. However, we felt we had successfully achieved the support of our target audience after looking at the number of viewings of our music video on YouTube and as a result we are thrilled with the outcome.

Evaluation Question 2

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

For our ancillary tasks we chose to create a magazine cover and a website. We chose to create a magazine cover because we could imagine our artist on the cover of a magazine and we had studied magazines in the Collective Identity section of our course which gave us the confidence and skills to create the cover. In addition we decided to create a website because we felt it would be slightly more challenging and would be more effective form of advertisement as the internet is such a huge media convention.
We researched into a variety of different existing magazines for our first ancillary task. In particular we looked at magazines which fell into two categories: magazines such as Vogue, Marie Clare and Cosmopolitan, whose main target audience was aimed at females and mainly featured women; or magazines such as GQ, Nuts and Zoo which sometimes featured female music artists and targeted men in particular. We decided to use the Magazine Vogue because, although we wanted our artist to have a sassy and sexy look, creating a cover for a men’s magazine would be expanding this image to give a cheap and slightly injudicious appearance.
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine which is published in eighteen different countries and noted in the New York Times as being ‘the world’s most influential fashion magazine.’ We therefore chose this magazine as it linked to the idea of creating our female artist as a fashion icon to improve her celebrity status. In addition is would reach a greater number o our target audience as it is published in so many countries.
We immediately began researching recent existing vogue covers for inspiration. We look specifically at covers featuring music artists in connection to our task.

Vogue was perfect in association to our music video as it could be used to reflect the fashion, musical talent and celebrity status of our music artist all just on the cover. We chose to use an image of our female artist which gave her the same classy and sophisticated appeal as in the music video, and so she is featured wearing a black dress with soft makeup. In addition, she is gazing at the camera towards the camera which we believe to highlight her celebrity status and draws the audience in more effectively.
Research of existing Vogue covers showed that they all have a very similar appearance, similarly featuring the same title at the top with subtitles in matching fonts scattered neatly around the image. In order to follow this convention we used the same techniques for our cover, using varying font sizes for subtitles and scattering them around the image of our female artist. To make our magazine cover even more realistic we researched recent stories and fashion labels for our subtitles, such as ‘30 things to buy that won’t break the bank’ which was relevant as at this time Britain was facing recession, and ‘Hottest looks for Winter’ as it was nearing winter when we produced this ancillary task. Again these fashion titles reflected the image we wished to give our female artist in our music video.

In regards to the colours we used on the cover, we wanted to use something soft to the eye but classy and provocative at the same time. We chose to use a black and white image against the pink and black font colours because we thought it made the subtitles, such as the artist’s name, much more eye-catching and the colours reflected the sophisticated appearance we were going for in the music video. In addition, the black and white image acted in continuity with the music video as many of the shots were featured in black and white.
Our second ancillary task we found much more challenging as we had little experience creating websites and had not done any class work in studying them either. We immediately began to research existing music websites for inspiration, for artists including Beyonce (http://www.beyonceonline.com/uk ), Britney Spears (http://www.britneyspears.com/) and Madonna (http://www.madonna.com/). We chose these websites in particular because they all featured female artists with fashion status and who sing a similar song genre. From these existing official websites we learnt that all the websites featured a variety of modelling images of the artists, music videos, a page for feedback and a note of all related press. We, therefore, included separate pages for each of these categories to make the website easy to use and have a more professional appearance.

http://www.wix.com/SoftToyEmergency/SOFT-TOY-EMERGENCY

Again we wanted to use a continuity of colours connecting the music video, magazine and website. We therefore used light pink and black as dominant colours within the website as they were very noticeable colours featured in the magazine and video. Similarly we used images taken from the music video throughout the website for continuity and to help with advertisement for the music video. Altogether the sassy, sophisticated appearance of the website, i believe, reflects the nature of the artist and reaches the target audience in continuity with the magazine cover and music video as well as helping to advertise the artist.

Evaluation Question 1

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

Through representation, language, genres and styles, media conventions are used to construct meaning in order to reach a certain audience. Choosing the target audience for our task, therefore, was something we took very seriously. As a group we agreed to create a music video which would appeal to a vast majority of people, rather than a small audience. We particularly wanted to attract the teenage and young adult audience as statistics highlight this age range to have the highest rates in regards to listening and purchasing music. We researched popular trends and interests within this age range, through media conventions such as music, magazines, television, advertising, radio and fashion, in order to create a music video which would successfully reach this specific target audience.
We wanted to use a conventional piece of music for our video in order to reach our target audience successfully. We therefore researched popular music genres for the teenager/young adult age group and discovered in official statistics that the ‘2009 charts show that Pop, House and Electronic dance music is gaining popularity’. As a result we decided to use Electro-pop band ‘Soft Toy Emergency’ and their song ‘Critical’ for our project.
Although the group ‘Soft Toy Emergency’ features five band members consisting of a woman singer and four male musicians we decided to change this and use only one singer. We made this change because after looking at recent music charts it was obvious that the majority of talent was by solo artists who had a greater success rate compared to bands. We followed a mainstream approach towards choosing the singer who would appear within the music video, eventually deciding to use a young and attractive female to play the part. In connection to the target audience, young female artists are able to reach a vast majority of age groups and other group genres compared to bands and male singers. Young female artists are usually enjoyed by teenagers and young adults who enjoy their music as well as females who aspire to look and live like them or even the male population who find them talented and attractive.
As most upcoming female artists have a flavour for fashion, we decided to research pre-existing music videos and television series’ featuring female artists who attract our specific target audience which could give us some inspiration for the appearance of our singer. Esmee Denters and Madonna are female singers who have a similar song genre and are frequently featured in media conventions in the latest fashion wear. In their music videos they are seen to be wearing a variety of elaborate, classy and up to date outfits which are appealing to the audience.








A new television programme we took particular interest in was ‘90210’, which has become branded for its popular fashion style. The main stars in this series are always seen in classy, sexy and appealing clothes, an image which we wanted to mirror on our female singer in the music video. After researching, we discovered that our target audience also has the highest rates affected by the hypodermic theory in relation to magazines and television programmes. Therefore the more the target audience watches programmes such as 90210, the more they want to look like the characters.



We linked this theory to our music video through the belief that if our singer looked like the characters in these popular programmes, then people would find the music video much more appealing. With this ideology the audience would feel drawn into the new community that our music video creates, and so we used this concept as the basis for the images that we would portray in our music video.
Again, we followed themes of existing music video conventions in terms of choosing representation of the narrative, through researching a number of different music videos. We looked thoroughly at our chosen song ‘Critical’ which describes a woman who wants her ex-boyfriend to leave her alone and ‘get over’ their old relationship. We therefore researched songs with relationship related narratives such as Katy Perry ‘Hot and Cold’, JoJo ‘Get out, Right now’ and Beyonce ‘If I were a boy’. One music video we took particular interest in was Mariah Carey ‘Touch my body’.






We really liked the way in which producers took the narrative and linked it to the video which featured a ‘computer nerd’ dreaming of a relationship with the beautiful singer. We found that the music video was humorous and exciting to watch, which inspired us to bring in a male ‘nerd figure’ for our video and to add a humorous narrative as well as featuring the glamorous singer.
To sum up our music video in relation to other conventions, we didn’t develop or challenge any existing music videos, instead we chose to use cliché trends and techniques to create a typical pop/dance genre video in order to ensure that we reached our target audience.

Ancillary Task 2: Website Final

Free website - Wix.com

Please note that the menu bar hasn't been reproduced properly - if you roll the cursor below the base of the colour bars you'll see them.

Alternatively, see the website here.

Ancillary Task 2: Website

We chose to create a website for our second ancillary task because we belived that it was more challenging and impressive compared to creating a poster or Album cover.

For research we searched through a lot of myspace music profiles and high status music websites for inspiration. Here are a few websites we looked more thoroughly at:

http://www.blackeyedpeas.com/

http://www.mileycyrus.com/

http://www.pinkspage.com/uk/home

Ancillary Task 2: Magazine Cover Final

Ancillary Task 1: Magazine Cover Research

Because our film stars a woman we decided to choose a female magazine with high status. Some of these included: Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Harpars Bazaar. However, we chose Vogue because it is a popular fashion and lifestyle magazine which we believe would appeal to the audience we would like our video to appeal to.
We therefore looked at previous Vogue covers for inspiration:

Finished music Video

Production

Planning

Narrative:

Weve decided to include a narrative within the music video because we believe it will make the film more visually exciting and humourous. To link to the message of the song we would like to make the film extremely cliche and 'cheesy' by incorporating typical acts associated with dating, such as cuddly toys, love letters etc.

Starring:

To star in our film we have chosen Molly Entrican to act as the lead singer of the band and play the lead role. Thomas Arch will be playing the clingy boyfriend to aid the hope of encorporating an entertaining narrative throughout the music video.

Setting:

We have decided to film at a warehouse in watford and in front of a white screen at school.

Filming schedule:

from our AS media coursework practical we learnt the valuble lesson not to leave everything til last minute and to get as much film as possible! We therefore decided to film as much of our film in one evening so that we can immediately begin editing and still have time to get some extra shots if needed.

Mise en scene:

In regards to mise en scene we would liek to incorporate a huge variety of colour and effects within the film as possible, but at the same time keeping it simple and not too busy as not to take the focus away from the narrative of the video. We are, therefore going to film most of our shots in front of a white screen and, as a contrast, others in front of a very brightly coloured background.

For the costumes, we would like to dress the 'clingy boyfriend' figure in a typical prom suit, to enphasise his role in the film. For the leading singer we would like to dress her in elaborate and sassy outfits with as much colour as possible to enphasise the colour contrasts throughout the film.

We are also hoping to include some props in our film, such as a cuddly toy and some love letters to link to the narrative of the song and add to the humor.

Cinematography:

During filming we hope to inclide as many different shots as possible. Our main focus will be on close up, mid-body and low angle shots however we may include some others during shooting.

Research and Audience research

This is a booklet we produced including our song choice, the narrative, music video research and planning:







In regards to audience research, in direct link to our music choice, we produced a small video. The video features a few of the people we interviewed, expressing their opinions on how they would produce a music video to our song choice:

Our song choice

After scanning through myspace and youtube we finally found the song we would use..

Soft Toy emergency - Critical

Audience research for choosing an artist/band

Before deciding on what genre of song to go for we carried out some audience research to see what would be most popular.

2009 charts show that House and Electronic dance music is gaining popularity:

'Progressive house is perhaps at the moment the most popular sub genre' Daily Telegraph polls show.

We therefore decided to search for an unlabelled song of this genre for our music video.

Our task

For our A2 level media coursework, Tom Grace and myself chose to create our own music video. From the ancillary tasks we chose to also create a website and a magazine cover publishing our artist/band.

We chose this task becasue we already had a variety of different ideas for a music video and because we thought that as well as a challenge it would be an enjoyable task to work on together.