Ryan's A2 media blog

Here is the evaluation for my music video and both ancillary tasks.

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

Looking at my media products I feel they use many real forms and conventions that are used in modern day media. Looking towards my music video it uses many forms and conventions used in real media products. The video looks like a real music video, I have used a variety of camera angles, shots, mise-en-scene and quick editing to produce an effective video. Using many conventions found in a real music like dance, lip synching and narrative it creates a convincing and strong look. Using many conventions maybe could be seen as trying to rebel against the media and the conventions it sticks to, on the other hand it could be seen as a commercial tool used to ensure success.

Music video are very subjective in the forms and conventions they use. No two music videos are the same and they all use different conventions to create something unique. Although all videos must use some time of convention to allow commercial success, without this they would not be created (music video are created not just for art but to advertise new singles and gain money).

Looking towards Mise-en-scene the shots I have used focus entirely on the ‘Leader’ and his ‘Tribe’. Looking to the outside shots of the field it looks very generic, with the ‘heat wave’ effect I added over the top it creates a very hot and dry atmosphere, this helps to transport the field into a post apocalyptic world. Using the sedan chair to transport the Leader helps to enforce that he is the leader of the tribe, this matched with the ‘hot’ effect helps the audience to understand the Leader is a tyrant. Using the black costumes for the Tribe helps for them to stand out against the background of the field and also helps to create a type of uniform. Using the colour black brings a depressed tone. The only downside of the outside shots are the sports markings. As this was shot at a school the entire field is riddled with the marking to enable the students to play a variety of sports. I feel these markings are an easy giveaway to the locations of the shots. On the other hand to film on a plain field it would have meant having to film on non-school grounds, this would have caused many issues with the Tribe and would have involved many health and safety checks.

Looking at the shots in the studio it is very dark, creating a slightly depressing and evil feel to the video. Using the ‘offerings’ helped to create the narrative and also helped to add seamless and a less obvious product placement. Using the 5 different types of ‘offerings’ helped the audience to understand what type of civilisation we were and when we were set.

Using a selection of camera angles and shots brings variety to the video, allowing me to use very quick editing and not allow the audience to get bored. Only using one camera did have its downsides (instead of performing once and having several copies, we had to perform many times and position the camera in different angles and places) although this was very tiring and time consuming, in the end it gave me a lot of footage to work with and use in the final video.

The representations of men and women in the video could be seen as stereotyped, with the male with the power and the females with none. Using Straus’s Binary Oppositions I have effectively shown; good Vs bad, men vs women, light Vs dark, power Vs weak ect. Although I have not used the ‘pleasure of the recognition’ media theory I feel the video uses Propps ‘character types’ and Graeme Burton’s ‘repetition and novelty’ to reassure the viewers.

Looking towards air play on the likes of MTV, I have decided to create a ‘pre-watershed’ version. Cutting out the first 34 seconds of the video will cut out the hanging scenes, although this will silence part of the story it will ensure national air play and this is could have an effect on the success of the single as well as the album. Many might feel the scenes of hanging are to extreme and could cause upset, it also might be seen as an encouragement to hang oneself. Cutting this part of the video for pre-watershed will cut any complaints that might have been given if it had bot been edited.

Also looking towards the close up of the dancers I did not want to add to many as it would have given a very sexual edge to those underage. this could have been seen as disguising and would defiantly effects the success of the single (presumably in a bad way). To combat this i have edited it in a way that allows you to watch the dance without getting an overtly sexual feel. As my dancers were in year 9 it would be morally wrong to sexualise them, if they were older this would have not been a problem.

In an industry where strong opinions are sometimes seen as career suicide, it can sometimes be used to advantage. I feel Up AND Coming thrives on strong opinions and this is something his fans admire him for. I feel both the music video and the ancillary tasks are very strong.

Looking towards my ancillary tasks it uses real media forms and conventions and mocks them. Playing with the juxtaposition of the album title ‘Outspoken’ and the censorship of the media it uses the conventions to mock them. Creating a ‘mainstream’ looking digipak with some ‘less than mainstream’ images. Using the tape as the cover image allows the audience to understand the aim of the cover, as this is one of the less shocking and tame images I decided to use it as the cover. Using the parental guidance sign on the front cover allows parents of younger children to make decisions on the suitability of the album, this takes it out of the hands of the artist and the recording company and they should not face any backlash for disturbing a younger audience. Although the stitched mouth look in the digipak booklet can be seen as gory and shocking I feel it causes a reaction and will work as a great PR tool and help the success of the album. Using similar images for the magazine advert and the album cover bring synergy to the project and mimics other magazine adverts. As part of the marketing campaign I shall use the magazine advert image as the main marketing image, this can then be used on other advertisements like billboards and large posters. I feel this will bring synergy to the entire project and would allow fans to cut out the advert and use it as a poster in their bedrooms. Both ancillary tasks are very postmodernist in their creation and opinion. Allowing the audience to understand the sacrifices an artists has to make to become commercial viable.

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

Although my main task and ancillary tasks do not link directly this is not a problem. Many artists produce albums and music videos that have no connection apart from they feature on the album. On the other hand both the ancillary task link directly, the album cover and magazine advert both use similar images. Using similar images creates a consistency between both and brings synergy to the whole project. Using similar images ensures the public remembers it, enlarging the artists name helps to increase their popularity and public presence, this also ensure that even if they have forgotten the title of the album they will remember the artist and be able to search for the album. Adding the album cover at the bottom of the magazine advert reminds the readers what the album looks like. keeping the advert simple is very effective and creates a smart looking advert.

With the cutting of the music video to create a ‘Clean’ version for pre-watershed TV, it reflects and enforces the main concept of the album (that although Up AND Coming is outspoken himself he is censored and gagged by the media). Creating a very strong music video for the first single from the new album ensures a strong impression is created for the album. This will create a buzz for the albums release and ensure commercial success.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From the audience feedback I have learnt that they all enjoyed the music video and they all found it very professional. I have also learnt that viewing conditions is also essential to gain effective, truthful and constructive criticism. I found that one of the major complaints of the music video was the darkness in some of the shots. I blame this to the viewing conditions my audience watched it in, watching it on a projectors does lose some light, also watching it in a light room also again dimmed the video and made it harder to watch. As the projector is not HD some of the details were not shown to their best. On the whole my audience feedback was largely positive and I have decided not to take into account the comments about the ‘dark scenes’ as this was due to viewing conditions and not the video.

here is a quick Prezzi that sums up the audience feedback;
http://prezi.com/ewe6euzpnppm/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
I tried to embed the Prezzi on this page but it wouldn't work.

Looking towards the feedback from the dancers I have found they all enjoyed it, although as they were involved in the video this could be seen as a bias opinion.

Also looking to Youtube I have found that 1 person has left a very pleasant comment and I have received a handful of likes;

I also decided to share it on a site called littlemonsters.com. Set up by Lady Gaga for her Little monsters I felt they might appreciate it as the song is made by Lady Gaga and is very popular. Here is a screen shot of the post;

As you can see they were very complimentary, I felt as this was a sight filled with extreme Lady Gaga fans they might be super critical but the only comment made was about the synching of the dancing. I also shared the album images and they too were received well;

I was also shared by a group on littlemonster.com called 'Monster Art' and again I received very complimentary comments.

This audience feedback has helped me to make my work even better, after some of the comments I tweaked the dancing. It has also helped me to understand that some of images and parts of the video did not need any work and it was best to leave them.

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

Here is a video I created using IMoive to try to evaluate my music video.

I tried to add a commentary over the video to help you to understand what sections i was referring too. As music videos are very fast and use very small clips I found it very difficult to talk and evaluate the video. I found the clips went past too quickly for me to talk about and by the time I had finished talking about them the clip would have already passed. Overall it was very difficult and did not work very well, although I have still tried.

On the whole the use of my Apple Mac has helped me to produce high quality products. Without the use of it I feel both the music video and the ancillary task would have not been such a high quality as they are now. Also the use of a particularly expensive and HD camera also helps the whole project to look professional and well put together. Without the use of these technologies I feel the overall project would look amateurish and not as strong. Although with the use of only one camera it did cause some difficulties, instead of taking one shot from multiple locations at once, I had to take multiple shots of the dance in multiple locations.

In the research the use of the internet was vital. Allowing me to get up-to-date news of the media it helped me to get inspiration for my music video and ancillary task. Without the use of the internet it would have been very difficult. As media changes so quickly, media text books would go out of date almost over night. The internet has also allowed me to search for other music videos and has helped me and my dance teacher to choreograph the dance.

Using the blog allows me to upload my research without it getting muddled or lost. Although I find the use of Blogger helpful I also find it very temperamental, it can sometimes be very difficult to control. Without the command of myself Blogger can sometimes change the layout of the text and pictures, as it is run by google it also tries to alter English spellings into American and unlike word does not place capital letters at the beginning of each sentence. Although it is helpful it can be annoying at times

Creating a practice music video helped me to understand the process involved in creating music videos and the time it takes to record and edit. Using IMovie really has helped to produce a high quality video, the editing software is more advanced than Windows Movie Maker and is consistent (something Movie Maker maybe could do with). Although I have not use ‘special effects’ like green screen I feel my video does not need these over used tricks. To create effective green screen effects a higher level of editing software is required, as well as a larger green screen (something our school lacks). I believe if you are to do a job it should be done right, I feel if I were to have used green screen it would have looked unprofessional and would have brought the music video down as a whole as I do not have the skill or knowledge to produce that high level effect.

I have used many types of editors to produce the ancillary tasks. Using ‘Fotor’ and ‘Publisher lite’ I have effectively edited and placed pictures onto my digipak and poster. Using bright white lights (as seen in my research) I have effectively carried out many photo-shoots. For my digipak I required a very bright image (brighter than the ones I had shot) I then increased the exposure and brightness in Fotor. This created a very bright and crisp image and left it with me to crop and add to the album. Using ‘Publisher lite’ I then arranged all the images and added text, although this was a free application it was very useful. As both applications were free they both had restrictions, this made it slightly more difficult to use although after overcoming these obstacles made the program very easy and effective.

Using social media was a very effective way to contact my dancers and arrange meetings. The use of social media in modern days has become rife, as all the dancers had Facebook accounts they set up a group chat so I could send them all messages. As I am over 18 years of age it might have been seen as slightly dodgy to create the chat myself. To overcome this the dancers created the group themselves and then added me into it.

Here are some screens shots of the Facebook chat;

The use of YouTube has allowed me to watch an array of music video from a range of decades. It has also allowed me to create a playlist of possible songs to feature on the album, this has enabled me to select a choice few to make it on the album.

The use of Prezzi allows me to present small amounts of information effectively and make it entertaining. presenting information in an attractive form helps to entice the readers and makes it more entertaining. Although Prezzi is very helpful I have found it impossible to embed on Blogger

Using screenshots helps to show evidence. It allows me to effectively show facts and opinions without altering them.

The use of Microsoft Word has enabled me to write this evaluation, as Word is very useful to create text documents it is my personal choice of program. Although there are many way to present a evaluation using modern technology I believe it is best if it is written down as you are then able to scroll through and re read the writing as much as needed.

Although I would like to say my school provided me with great technology, on the whole I cant. Montsaye uses basic computers with basic software, as a media student I feel Montsaye overlooks media and the needs of their media students. The technology I have used I have provided/my friend has provided. The only use of Montsaye technology is the occasional use of Blogger (even this sometimes doesn’t work with internet restrictions).

On the whole throughout creating my video and ancillary tasks I have learnt many things, these include; organizing a group of dancers, creating a dance, gathering props, organizing a filming date, editing and much, much more.