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

QUESTION 1
In what way does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are certain forms and conventions you have to think about she creating a music video to create a successful genre and to allow the audience to create the right understanding of your artist. In my music video I tried to use as many conventions as possible to allow my music video to look real and professional. I did some research and found that Andrew Godwin had a theory about music videos. He said there where 6 main points to creating a successful genre and audience representation.
The 6 main points where:

1. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals
2. Music video demonstrate genre characteristics
3.  There is a relationship between the music and visuals 
4. Star image, multiply close up shots of these main artist or vocalist 
5. Frequent reference to notion of looking and particular voyeuristic treatment to the female body
6. Inter textual references to other media texts may represent

These are the main music conventions according to Andrew Godwin but these do not always apply to every music video. 

Convention of a music video form:

The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals - USE

In relation to my music video 

In relation to my music video I tried to use the same images when the chorus is repeated. In my music video the chorus is sung and the words "disconnected" are repeated. When these words are sung I used an image of a plug being disconnected form a socket. This creates an image which the audience can relate to throughout the music video.

Evidence

Convention of a music video form:

music video demonstrates genre characteristics - USE

In relation to my music video 

In relation to my music video the character does demonstrate characteristics of a acoustic folk artist. I have done this by having the character in very plain clothes which cover her body and are not provocative. I also have the character playing an instrument which you would expect from a folk acoustic artist.

Evidence

Convention of a music video form:

There is a relationship between the music and the visuals - USE

In relation to my music video 

In relation to my music video there is a relationship between the music and the visuals. I have done this by have the main character sing and play that guitar at the same time. This creates the caustic folk look. Because the character is playing the right cords on the guitar it makes it look more realistic. 

Evidence

Convention of a music video form:

Star image, multiply close upshots of the main artists or vocalists - USE

In relation to my music video

In relation to my music video I have a lot of close ups of the main artists. I have done this so the audience become familiar with the artist. they will also be able to recognise the artist if they was looking at an album cover or advert. 

Evidence

Convention of a music video form:

Frequent reference to notion of looking and particular voyeuristic treatment of the female body - CHALLANGE

In relation to my music video 

In relation to my music video I do not have any frequent references of looking and particular voyeuristic treatment of the female body. I have not included this in my music video because it would not fit in with my genre. If I was doing a more RnB music video I would use the male gaze to attract attention but in the folk acoustic genre it is more about scenery and nature. 

Evidence

 

Convention of a music video form:

inter textual references to other media texts may represent - USE

In relation to my music video 

In relation to my music video I have not used any specific tv programmes or other media texts. But I have used mobile phones to represent the cyber bullying side of the song. By using mobile phones it shoes that bullying isn't just in one form it can be in many forms and this message is shown throughout the music video. 

Evidence

Convention of a music video form:

natural location - USE

In relation to my music video 

In relation to my music video I do have a lot of natural locations. In my music video i have lots of scenery shots of fields and tress. I also have the main character walking through fields and natural locations. This is what you would expect to see throughout this genre.

Evidence

Digipak and Magazine: I continued to use many elements of these forms as well, with a serious close up of my artist used in both to reflect the seriousness of her as an artist finding her way in the world. Upon reflection, I think it would have been useful to take pictures of my main artist with her instrument to underline her talent- but at the time I challenged this as I asked friends (also within the target market) and they said it could look quite masculine (which is a worrying comment upon reflection) I think they wanted Florence to conform to their understanding of female stars now being more about the face and the body rather than the talent. I also used the pastoral setting in both to emphasise a more natural ethos and almost give her an ethereal quality. I also tried to stick to the conventions of the forms I used, e.g barcodes and tracklist on my digi and release date etc on magazine advert.

How affective if the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

QUESTION 2
How affective if the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Music video
In my music video I tried to create a look for the artist which was correct to the genre of the song she was singing. The clothes she wore which where very simply and plain clothes represented that she was a very gentle and quiet person, her clothes do not make her stand out from the crowd. She is also plain with her make up. She does not have crazy make up styles on her face she has very subtle make up which shoes her natural beauty.
Because my song was based on bullying I decided to do the music video at a school so that it was relevant to what the lyrics where saying. By doing this I felt that people would take the music video more seriously. I also wanted to get across the message of how bullied kids feel at school.
The setting throughout the music video is rural setting with lots of scenery and a very calm and lonely environment.
I used very calm and dull colours throughout the music video to represent how the artists was feeling. This was also carried out through her style of clothes and the colours she wore. I got her to dress in calm colours such as beige and dull greens.
Due to the fact that I knew I was creating ancillary texts I used the same theme throughout.

Digipak
When it came to creating my digipak I already knew from my music video that I was going to stick with the rural and outdoor theme. To make sure of what I needed in my digipak I did a survey to my peers about what they would expect to see in my digipak. From this research I found out that a calm outdoor scenes would suit my artist the best. To allow my target audience to be able to know that the digipak belonged to my artist I used a close up of her face on the from cover. Throughout the whole digipak it had the same theme which also relates to the music video, this allows the audience to recognise the artist and comfortable that the theme is the same throughout and it is not misleading. I also used the original image of my artist partially hiding to depict her anxiety and vulnerability- feeling she needs to protect herself in some way (from the bullies) and this would make her more endearing for an audience as well as being identifiable as teenagers often feel they have to hide behind a mask too.

Magazine advert 
To create consistency thought my music video, digipak and magazine I used the same picture on the digipak and on the magazine advert. This allows the quince to be able to recognise the artist and be comfortable that they have consistency throughout the artists and the genre that they are listening to. I used the same colours for the text throughout the digipak and the magazine advert. By using the same colours and pictures is gives the audience a clear idea of what sort of artist they are listening to. By using subtle colours like cream and browns it created a mellow and calm feelings.

By using all of the same colours and themes throughout my music video and ancillary text it allows the audience to feel comfortable and it gives my artist a brand image of who she is and what she is about: vulnerability but emerging from difficult times to face the world. There is excitement on her eyes and the use of more make up in these shots show her becoming more womanly and confident (rather than a little girl at school) this is common in music debut singles/albums starting off at school than graduating to something more mature that your teen audience can experience with you- e.g Britney Spears Baby One More Time video was set in school, then her image blossomed from there to reflect her as a young woman 'not yet a woman'.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

QUESTION 3
What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From having people watch my music video and giving me feedback I have learnt a few things about my music video. 
  
The questions I asked my audience where:

1. are you male or female?
2. how old are you?
3. what was your overall thoughts of the music video?
4. was there any messages you got from the music video?
5. what topic was the music video based on?
6. what improvements could I make in my music video?


I got 4 different people to fill out my questionnaire. The 4 people where all girls because my music video was targeted at females 15-18 year olds. 

The overall message of bullying in school was seen throughout the music video and all 4 girls knew this from the song and form the visuals I created throughout the music video.  

From the 4 questionaries' I asked for improvements that I could have made to my music video. From the questionnaires I now know that I should have done more close up shots of the main artists. I also should have more of a background story for the main artists so the audience could know what was going on before she was getting bullied. I was pleased that they noticed the use of a new skill- lipsyncing in the video as this is something I worked hard at throughout the editing process.

This is a picture of one of my recipients filling out my questionnaire.

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

QUESTION 4
How did you use media technologies to the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
 
throughout my research, planning, construction and evaluation I have used different media technologies to help my overall performance.
 
Research
Before I could create my media product I had to conduct some research into my genre of music. when I was researching I was using a lot of the internet to help me find out about my genre which was acoustic folk. because I had an hybrid genre I had to research both separately and then as an overall genre. I also used YouTube to search and watch videos for this genre so I could get a good idea of what I should put in my music video.

 

Planning and evaluating

when I was planning and evaluating my media product I used my blog to upload all of my research and planning and the stages I went through to creating my product. Blogger is an online blog in which I can upload PowerPoint's, videos, picture and writing about what I have been doing whilst creating my media product.

 Blogger was a very useful website in keeping my work but sometime I could not access it on school computers which meant I was behind or late to publish work.

Construction

Throughout the construction of my media product I used a variety of different software's.

the first software I used was final cut express on an apple mac. this software allowed me to edit my music video. Before I could use final cut I had to do a lip syncing tutorial so that I knew how to lip sync properly instead of doing It wrong. On final cut express I uploaded all of my films which I had filmed. I the put the music in so I could match the lip syncing to the music.

This software was one of the most important parts of creating my media product and if I did not have the software I would not have been able to create my media product to such good quality.

Another software which I used was Photoshop. Photoshop was another software which was on the apple mac. because I had never used Photoshop before I had to do a tutorial with my teacher showing me how to use Photoshop properly are all of the different elements which I could use. In another subject I had been using fireworks to edit my pictures so I could take my knowledge from this and apply it to Photoshop as they was similar. The difference between fireworks and Photoshop was that unlike Photoshop fireworks did not have different layers it just had one canvas so I just had to become familiar with using the layers. I used Photoshop to create my digipak and my magazine advert. using this software was a key part of my digipak and magazine advert because without Photoshop I would not have been able to create professional looking products.

 

Throughout the whole project I have had to use a lot of different technologies. using different technologies helped me produce my media product. the media products I used included: camera, computer, digital camera, my iPad and mobile phone. using my mobile phone to take pictures of mind maps I have created or storyboards I have drawn. I used my iPad at home to access the blogger website to upload my research and information.

conventions of a magazine advert

1.What is a magazine advert and what's its function?

A magazine advert is a way to communicate with readers of a magazine to make them interested in the artist in which its is portraying. A magazine advert promotes the artist and their latest album which they have released or are going to be releasing.

2.what do we usually find on an advert? does it differ between genres of music?

• image of the artist/bang
• key logo
• image of actual album
• where it is available
• any special fetters of the album

for different genres some of the key artists won't have a picture of them on the form of the album coverer on the album because they are so well know. but normally these are the usual things you would find on a advert.

 

annotation of screen grabs

Landscape shots 

Close ups of the artist

Character in her clothes which match the stars image 

Artist playing the guitar whilst singing which matches the stars image

Conventions of the digipak form

What is a Digipak and how it is similar/different to an album cover?

A digipakia type of packaging for CDs or DVDs which is typically made from cardboard with a hard plastic interior to hold the CD or DVD.
A digipak is a version of an album and offers extra tracks or bonus features.

what does a digipak net look like and how many faces are usual?

A digipak is net of folded cardboard or paper which usually consists of 4-8 panels.

what do we usually find on various faces of the digipak?

on the front of the digipak you would normally see a close up of the artist so you can recognise their face. you would also see the na,e of the album on the from cover and the artists names would also be on the from cover.

on the back of the digipak you would normally find a track list of the song on order of the cd. you would also find in small print at the bottom the record label and then to one side the barcode and maybe the price. 

in the inside of the digipak you would find a CD tray and sometimes a lyrics book would be on the indeed from cover.