Evaluation

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

When looking at the forms & conventions of more commercial music videos, we decided this was the approach we wanted to within our own music video. This was because more commercial music videos tend hit a wider audience. After researching into the genre of our music video, we noticed there was a lot of reference to real life issues or political references. This gave us our main inspiration to base our own music video, on current social issues that could effect anyone of us. From watching the Christina Aguilera video 'beautiful', we really liked the idea of focusing on several different characters life's and narrating throughout the video. The issues we decided to approach in our own music video were; teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, cruelty/neglect to children and troubled relationships. We felt these story lines really related to lyrics, emphasising the meaning of the song. Because of this the narrative was a really important part, as we also identified this as being a key convention in a music video. We recognised that some music videos were purely based on the artist and a particular location, but many based on a story line which the tends to reach a climax towards the end of the video. Almost like a short film to sustain the audiences attention.

Another key factor that we wanted to develop in our own music was the editing, we noticed that music videos tend to have a lot of cuts and several locations, costume changes etc.
To integrate this into our own we had a lot of cuts from character to character. We found this really effective and that the more cuts we put in the quicker the pace. This was really handy when we wanted to build up the pace further on into the track, to create tension as the pitch of the artists vocals got higher. Effects were also key in creating a music video, by adding effects made a video look really professional. We definitely wanted to incorporate some kind of effect into are own. The use of imagery and iconography was an important convention; by looking at Beyonce's 'broken-hearted girl' video, we really liked the idea of the rose dying, but then being put back together again by a simply reversing a clip. We took this idea and used it in our own video, this looked really good, but also fitted with the narrative of our video. It was the perfect ending. Other effects we also noticed in music videos, was slowing down and speeding up clips, by slowing certain clips down this emphasised a particular part and by speeding clips up gave a quick pace. We decided to use these effects in certain parts of ours, in the couple scene we drew attention to the male character throwing the rose petals of the table, not only did this enhance the clip it also gave a more professional edge to our music video. It was also important to see the emotion within this clip. However it was crucial to remember not to over use effects because it would of looked too much.

Locations were another factor we associated with music videos, a location was nearly the most important part of the music video. The location and mis-en-scene were vital in creating a certain feel to a video. It created the mood and atmosphere, our location needed to fit with the dark mood of our track. However we also wanted to get that contrast between the characters and the artist so the audience were able to distinguish the difference. A lot of popular music videos were very simple idea's so we didn't want to over do it in our own. We found a plane white background was used a lot when it came to showing the artist. In our own, we had our female vocalist sing in front of a white background, this was really successful and made our video look less amateur. The lighting in our drug abuse scene was really important, from Christina Aguilera's video we picked up on the idea of her being in the corner of a dark dingey room. This immediately gave a darker mood, which is why we filmed this particular scene outside and used very low key lighting.

R&B and Hip-hop videos tend to glamorise their videos whether this be in regards to the latest technology (phones etc), cars, big houses, luxurious locations and so on. We this took on board, however decided to challenge this convention, by making our video less based on material goods. It was more focused on the deeper meaning of the song. Rather than a less serious, fun pop song. A video that was believable but also something the viewer could relate to. I think this gave our video a more raw edge and allowed our video to stand out from the rest.

From research into music videos, watching them and analysing them we picked up a lot of great ideas and forms and conventions we could incorporate into our own. This was really helpful when it came to actually creating our own music video.



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

As part of our ancillary texts, we decided to produce a Digi-pack cover and a website homepage. Our Digi-pack cover was created using a programme called photo-shop, an image programme which allowed us to create an illusion of deception. It also provides a large library of effects, filters and layers. Our initial idea for an album cover was to use a photograph of our female vocalist simply with the added title of the album, how ever we realised that this didn't look as effective as real album covers because the lack of technology. We didn't have any professional photographs of the female vocalist so it wasn't very believable. Because of this we decided on having an animated cover, but something that also symbolised the song. Due to this we chose to focus on a broken heart, which signified the emotion throughout the song. The background showed the heart on a crack programme again emphasising the mood of the song. For the title we decided to merge the title of the album and the artist name together, this was really clever and added to the effect, making the album cover look really slick.

We chose to use the heart as an icon on the front and back off the album cover, this makes a the artist look more professional to the consumer, and the artist becomes easily recognised. We wanted a more darker, dull background so the heart and text that was a brighter colour would to stand out and the album cover would look more appealing to the consumer. By the use of the colour red this gave off a lot of different meaning, as it is associated with love, anger, passion, pain and sacrifice. These meanings completely reflected the emotions within the single 'heartbeat', so this worked really well and was extremely effective. We felt it was vital to give the cover a fresh new look, and entice the consumer as its job was to sell. We recognised that the use of animated images was different that most album cover which gave a unique feel to the cover.

Our second ancillary text was the website homepage, we did this via my space as this is a well known site for new artist to be noticed and promote their work. On this page we were able to upload the track, and the video to make them both available to the consumer. It also allows you to interact with fellow people on my space this meant we were able to gain feedback and comments via my space. This was a simple page to create but also very effective way to become known and really get your music out there. Again we wanted use a similar theme to the album cover, this so the consumer would associate the album and page together. And also get a feel for the artist. However there also needed to be a link between the music video and our ancillary texts so they didn't just look random or confuse the consumer. By including a link on the back of the album to this website page meant to consumer could go directly to this page, and that it was easily available to them. This page to needed to look professional so the audience would be interested in the artist.

We felt that in order for our music video to successful the ancillary texts also needed to be at a high standard as this was a way of promoting the artist. By securing that all three fitted together sending the one same message this made music video and the ancillary texts extremely effective.



What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience was really important for our music video, after all they were the ones who would be watching. We wanted a more main stream audience and people who were interest in this particular genre of Afro-beat hip-hop. But Also people who relate to lyrics. Because Nneka has been classified on more that one genre this allowed us to target a more wider audience.

From results of two of our questionnaires, we found that music videos were a crucial part to the establishment and promotion of a track an artist, also a video that was more iconic was remembered a lot more. A narrative was popular, and key to sustaining the attention of an audience, giving them reason to keep watching instead of looking at the same thing. We also learnt that quick cuts and a varied locations, kept the video exciting and fresh again enhancing the enjoyment of a video.

When gaining direct feedback from fellow students specifically about our own music video, we received praise for our choice in track, it was important for us not to choose a well known song as it would be much easier for the audience to compare our music video to the original. Although there was still a music video for 'Nneka-heartbeat' it wasn't as well known as something like Beyonce 'Single ladies'. Doing a song like that would only make it harder for us to create anything that even came close to the original. With regards to editing, we received positive comments about quick cuts and the change of character and location, the switch of story to story. We learnt from this that cuts were essential in our music video, they kept the video exciting. Staring at one thing for a long period of time would often start to bore the audience. Positive feedback also included the story line of our music video, people found it easy to follow but also exciting to watch. From this i learnt that something simple but interesting was really effective, and a story with a point brought more enjoyment to watching a music video. It made the viewer want to keep watching in order to see what happened to the characters. Music videos are highly dependent on effective visual elements.

However we also received some negative feedback, and additional things we could add to our music video. Our first criticism was to add more effects or transitions, this was so it would have more edge to it but also enhance particular parts and make our video more striking. We learnt how adding these little changes could really excentuate a particular shot. We also recognised how important it was not to drag a shot on as the viewer becomes bored. This particularly effected it us when it came to a shot of our female vocalist, this clip was far too long so we had to shorten it in order to keep the viewers attention.

We learnt it was crucial to get the mime and track in perfect timing, this so it would look professional, and believable as a music video, this was something we also got criticised on and had to go back and change. The most important thing we took away from this feedback was to keep the audience's attention at all times, there needed to be something eye catching or something to follow so the audience would keep watching. But we also learnt the editing had to run smoothly cuts had to perfect and match the song so the audience believed they were actually watching a real music video.

Audience feedback vital to creating a successful music video, we really learnt a lot from this. About what worked well and what could be altered to improve our work. I feel it is necessary to get as much feedback as possible as it can only help developed our product further and ultimately be deemed a success by our audience.



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

We realise how vital the media technologies we used throughout the process of making this music video were. Without this technology it would of been nearly impossible to do what we did. As this was our second year of media studies, i was quite confident when it came to using the different technology's. We had many pieces of technology that we've had to work with and learn how adapt them to our own work. We knew how to use the camera and tripod so that was quite straight forward. Having used it previously we were aware of how to use it in the best way, we were aware of getting a selection of shots from different angles and lengths. The tri-pod was extremely useful as it meant not worrying about any shaky shots or pan shots. The theory side of media we learnt was really helpful as were practically putting what we'd learnt to the test. This year we had a newer version of the apple mac laptops, however these were just as simple as the previous ones, it was just a case of things being in different places. It was easy to get help if you weren't sure about something via the help button on the actual editing software.

In terms of research the Internet was a vital piece of technology, you tube was particularly helpful as it allowed us to view current music videos, and help give us ideas for our own. We were also able to analyse these music videos in order to see what was needed to make ours just as effective. By uploading our own music video to you tube we were able to receive feedback and see just how popular it was, it also allowed us to share it via this blog site and other networking sites such as facebook. We were able to use other sites to find information into music and music videos, genre's and forms & conventions this was really helpful in letting us know what to include in our own. When it came to finding out what the consumer wanted, we were able to create questionnaires and the results for these via Microsoft excel. This enabled us to create graphs such as pie charts and bar charts, by doing this it made the results clearer and easier to analyse.

When it came to planning, we were able to use our personal blog to display all of our work we had done so far. This displayed everything we had done so far so we knew exactly where we were up to, what to do next and when. It also allowed us to plan everything thoroughly. It also solved any communication problems between fellow team members as they we were able to access each others blog and know exactly what each one was doing. We were able to insert our evaluation on here too which was really good. The blog had a huge impact on our work.

Ancillary tasks were made easier by media technology also, we were able to use photo software for our digi pack cover which made the cover look really realistic and professional. Without photo shop we wouldn't of been able to create anything as realistic or effective as we did. The use of the networking site my space allowed us to create a simple page for our artist available for all of the online community. It would of been impossible to reach this many people without the use of myspace.

When it came to editing, this year we had a newer version of the apple mac laptops, however these were just as simple as the previous ones, it was just a case of things being in different places. It was easy to get help if you weren't sure about something via the help button on the actual editing software. Once we had finished editing, we were then able to add the final touches to our music. This including effects and transitions which only added to the quality of our music video.

Throughout this process technology has played a key part in every aspect whether it be the research, construction, planning or our evaluation. With the use of media technology everything was simplified and we were able to a lot more things with our music video. But without this technology creating a music video would have been virtually impossible.