Evaluationquestion1-4
- 1. Evaluation Question 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Our music video follows the forms and conventions of other Rap and Grime videos in that it has a linear narrative structure intercut with someone lip- syncing the song. However it starts to deviate when a second strand is added to the narrative, in most other rap and grime videos the narrative is only based around one character and their interactions while we have two. The music video once again deviates from the forms and conventions of the rap and grime music genre when the main character gets into a fight and usually in other videos the conflicts are major and often exaggerated, but we based it more in reality as it was something petty thatescalated into something bigger something which is relatable for most people. We also see stereotypical views of the main character robbing someone violently and having no remorse which is a convention used in a lot of rap and grime, when someone commits a crime with the implications that it’s a good thing like in artists such as Cozy with his song ‘Destruction’ and Tempa T
- 2. ‘Swing’http://youtu.be/2GJL1Y2XVRc. The music video then deviates from the forms and conventions of grime and rap when the main character shows remorse for killing someone which we portrayed by having him break down after he realises that he took a life while in other rap vids killing someone is seen as a good thing such as in Crazy Titch’s song ‘Silencer Freestyle’ while our character is more realistic. For the drugs scenes we where influenced by the bandProgidyas it had a lot of drugs and youth culture as well as other Professor Green videos as they were based in estates and had same culture. Regarding the Mise-en-scene we also see the two charactersdressed in black and white that connotes a force of evil and good something not really seen in other videos as they usually don’t have a story based video where there are two major characters.It is usually from the side of the rapper as they are seen as the one that has a desirable lifestyle while in our music video we have two different points of views. We see the main character take a large amount of drugs, which exaggerate the character, this is convention used a lot in rap and grime it is used to make the lifestyle of the artist to seem like an extreme version of what is portrayed in the media in order to further promote themselves. Which is also seen in the beginning when main characters drinks from a bottle of rum and we can see that it is an excessive amount which is based on how modern youth culture is portrayed in media and it can also be relatable as some young people do drink before a night out we put this in the beginning as the music is still calm so it helps to exaggerate the character as if the excessive amount is a norm for him.
- 3. However we later see the main character feeling the effects of all his drug taking and drinking as he vomits, this is not seen in other Rap and Grime video's the repercussions from the actions of the people in music videos are never really seen however in our music video we wanted a sense or realism in order for the audience to relate more to the narrative. Later in the video we see the other characters face hidden which connotes he is up to no good is seen in a lot of the media in their coverage of riots and protests and how they show people with masks being violent a convention used in Rap and Grime videos as the covering of the face also has links to gangs. Which is further shown with the use of the knife which is a convention used in Rap andGrime video's and in the media we see a lot of stabbings usually involving young people so we used knife as it is makes the video seem more realistic. Through the use of camera angles we also followed the established forms and conventions we Used a lot of wide shots to play on the jungle theme and the estate is a concrete jungle with people packed together and we see that the main character is from estate making the audience build their views on him based on stereotypical views which is used in a lot of rap and grime vids such as in Devlin’s ‘Young Guns’. We also see we see typical modern view of how young people are portrayed we see the main character out of control and had too much drink and drugs as seen in other vids like ‘Smack My Bitch up by Prodigyhttp://youtu.be/ppGgGQX_O6wand we incorporated this to sow the effects of over excess.
- 4. With reference to the lighting there is a lot of bright and vivid lights a convention used when shooting in London to connote a feeling of nightlife and make it seem seedy and cheap.We also see the character in an alley way matched with the building of the music this is a convention used to connote something bad is about to happen used in other media and also in films such ‘Friday 13th’so we used it as it would be recognizable for audience. Evaluation Question 2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts In order to create a successful music video, digipak and magazine advertisement a brand identity was needed in order to link the three products and make them unique and recognisable. We made sure to make all the products is easily recognised as being connected through the use of elements/signifiers such as colour, design, lights and characters from the music video. Regarding the music video it was set in and around London’s Soho at night, knowing that there would be bright multi-coloured lights contrasting with dark passageways. We decided to use this as a key component in our music video, symbolising the culture of the night life of London and its representation of a concrete jungle, this was carried through into the digipak and magazine advert with the use of photos that symbolise London as a concrete jungle by using an image of a tall grey building that’s been brightly illuminated as well as an estate which had also been lit buy a collection of dull yellow street lights. We also used the main character of the music video to help promote our brand image by including him in most scenes dressed in unique clothing style of
- 5. wearing all black and having a hood that covers most of his face in order to symbolise death by having similar traits to the image of the Grim Reaper, for example the similarities in the hood and the all black clothing. We included the same image of the main character throughout all of our products and in the digipak and magazine advert we made sure to cover his face in order to add mystery to the character like in the music video and keep up the theme of the main character being relatable to the Grim Reaper Our music video also includes the brand image of night timesettings connoting a more adult themed music video and the feeling of uncertainty. Something which he carried on in our Digipak with all of the photographs used are set at night and also with the magazine advert which include photos that were taken at night. Another component of the music video that makes it unique and identifiable is the pool scenes, by incorporating the pool scenes a lot and as an integral part of the music video it becomes memorable for the audience and makes our music video unique from other Dub step music videos. This was carried onto the digipak design, as there is an image of a pool table in order to create more of a connection between the digipak and the music video. We also the image of the main character in the digipak to further promote him as the main focus of the music video, as a kind of mascot for the brand. Our Digipak follows the forms and conventions of other digipaks with the use of a large photo of the artist on the front in order for it to make the digipak easier to recognise and identify on
- 6. shelves and improve the star image of the artist something which was shown in the music video through the heavy use of the main character in the majority of the scenes. We also followed the convention of having the same style and colour throughout the whole digipak. The digipak was created based on a variety of different digipak designs such as ones by ‘TinieTempah’ and other rap and grime artists’ digipaks. This shows through the use of the photo of the artist as well as centring of the text another form and convention we used from analysing other digipaks such as the use of the parental advisory logo and incorporating aspects of the music video in the design by adding in an image of a pool table as well an image of a street sign in Soho We followed the forms and conventions of magazine adverts, such as the use of a review given on the music video as well as the inclusion of where the digipak can be brought as these are important components that must be present in every magazine advert. However are digipak deviates from the norms and conventions of magazine adverts by using a photo that is different from the design on the digipak. I decided not to follow the normal convention on this in order to make the magazine advert purposely different from other magazine adverts to make it stand out. We did this to help establish our brand with a unique style for our magazine advert. Evaluation Question 3 What have you learned from your audience feedback? From our initial audience research we found that our target audience would be predominately male between the ages 15-20. We decided this would be our target audience as the research into the Dub step and Grime music genre showed that it was male dominated (60%) and our questionnaire confirmed that Grime was the most popular music genre. By carrying out a questionnaire
- 7. we learnt that our music video had to be narrative driven. However20% of people also liked performance driven music videos so we decided on a fusion of the two. We also learnt that we could not use too many special effects as people do not like to see too much of this.We have learnt that we needed to use a song that had a fast upbeat tempo as that reflected the current music taste for example Pitbull’s ‘International love’http://youtu.be/cgX-Q-EDFao. From our questionnaire it was also learnt that a male artist would appeal more to our target audience and that the race of the people involved in the music video was not an important issue. We therefore incorporated both Black, Asian and White ethnicity. Our Questionnaires also taught us what to avoid when making a music video in order to appeal to our target audience. We learnt that our target audience do not like it when the video is abstract or the story gets too in depth and hard to follow. We also learnt that in order to attract the target audience to our video would be best placed on YouTube, as that is where the majority of our target audience watches music videos. We also looked into rap and grime music videos to see if we could see any reoccurring elements that appear in the majority of them so that we could include them and create a successful music video. So, all the aspects needed to be incorporated into are product. Firstly we decided on having the main character wear a hoodie, as we knew that hoodies are often related to youth and crime culture, an aspect, which relates to the song we used. We also used the convention of colours as we had the main
- 8. character dressed in black while the other character the antagonist is seen wearing white, which is a convention used in many other different medias and it portrays in a very simplistic way, a force of evil and good. We decided to simplify connotation of objects, as that is what our target audience likes to see in music videos. Regarding the audience positioning we wanted the audience to put themselves in the position of the main character as they follow him on a night out and carry out some of the acts a lot of our target audience might this was shown to have succeeded as the results from the audience feedback tells us that they did understand the story and the meaning behind it. Such acts include excessive drinking and drug taking and we get to see the ramifications of his actions. We also get to see just how much of a mental impact of killing someone has on someone, something that is not really seen in other music videos making our unique, which we learnt that we succeeded in portraying as our audience feedback indicated that most people had the preferred reading when viewing that scene. With the 16 Mise-en-scene we 14 12 tried to make it as 10 realistic as possible 8 6 Series1 as our target 4 2 audience likes to see 0 realism portrayed in 11. Did you think Yes No the props in the music videos. So we video were realistic?
- 9. used a combination of camera angle and positioning to portray certain things and make them look realistic. For example for the scene where the main character flicks open a knife, we could not use a real knife as it would not be safe, so we used a flick out comb that had a metal back that we faced toward the camera so that all you could see is the glint of the metal, we learnt that this was very effective as the audience feedback taught us that they felt that the video looked professional and realistic. Another instance was the scene where the main character vomits; we used vegetable soup mixed with flour in order to get the right consistency and look which we learnt from the audience feedback that they though it looked realistic. Once my music video, digipak and magazine advert was completed I carried out another questionnaire in order to get audience feedback and see how well I succeeded in meeting our expectations. My questionnaire involved fifteen people all of whom were part of my target audience, and I asked them sixteen questions each gathering both quantitative and qualitative data. From the questionnaire I found out that most of my target audience has the preferred reading on my music video, where they were able to identify with the main character, and understand the emotions we are trying to portray for example when the main character feels remorse for killing someone and could see that the video could fit the genre of music and looked professional. The target audience was also able to follow the story and knew what was happening. However we found that 48% of people believed that the characters were not portrayed well, for example some thought that the main character was portraying young men as being extremely violent and having a short temper,
- 10. while others felt that the main character was a bit reserved at times and should have been acting more out of control. Some of our target audience also suggested changes that could improve the video such as including more drug scenes, from this I learned that in order to improve the video I would have to make it more explicit and have scenes that would shock the audience. Regarding the Digipak I found that most people would buy it as they felt it looked professional and that its style represented the mood of the music video and they said that this is beneficial for them because if they saw it in a shop then the design would give them an idea of what to expect in the music video. On the other hand even though the majority of people said they would buy the digipak, a large amount of people said they would not buy it as they felt that looked a bit cluttered and had too many themes going on all at once. The magazine advert was received generally well, our target audience felt that it was well constructed, for example someone from the questionnaire felt that the photo of the main character was done well as it made him look sinister. However some people felt that the advert looked a bit empty and that something was missing from it, but they did not know what, so I looked more into my research and I improved my magazine advert by including aspects to make it look more professional such as the inclusion of a review from a famous magazine and a famous musician. Generally I believe that we produced some successful products. We made sure to have one main theme that was present in all our products and our target audience felt that are products matched the genre we were looking at. We also managed to get 106 views of our video on YouTube and good reviews. I believe
- 11. that our products would be promoted by a widespread record label for major release as I found from my audience feedback that most people were willing to purchasing other Professor Green songs after viewing our music video. I also feel as if it would be widely distributed based on the growth of popularity of the Dub step and Grime music genre it recent times and just how well are product were received with our target audience. Evaluation Question 4 How did you use new media technologies in the research, planning, construction and evaluation stages? In order to research the genre of Dub step I used websites such as Google and Wikipedia in order to look up the history of the Genre and find any important details to include in my music video and Digipak. I also used websites such as YouTube to analyse other music videos in my similar text analysis, YouTube was helpful in that I could watch a variety of different music videos all in one place and for free rather than buying each individual music video in a shop. After completing my research into my target audience I used Microsoft Excel in order to compile my data into easy to read graphs. This allowed my work to be better presented and easier for me to look back on for relevant information. For the Digipak and Magazine advert design I used search engines such as Google images in order to find an example of other Magazine adverts and Digipaks. I also used a search engine called ‘Tin eye’ which is a reverse image search, it let me put in an image and then it would find where it came from; this was helpful in finding out more information into what I was searching for example when finding out what magazines the advert I was researching was published in so
- 12. that I could find out the target audience of the advertisement. During the planning stage I used a scanner for when I needed to input my sketches of the storyboard into the computer as well as the sketches I did of what I wanted my magazine advert to look like. As the Director for my group I felt that it was my duty to learn how to use all technologies involving the shooting of the music video, editing and the creation of the Digipak and Magazine advert in order to better explain what I wanted my group to produce. I studied the manual of the camera we used the Cannon compact HD cameras. I learnt to use many of its in camera functions such as controlling the light settings and colour balance, which came in useful when we were shooting night scenes. However we did encounter some problems with the focusing of the camera, as the camera is has automatic focusing it had trouble focusing when we was in a dark place which was a lot as we have many night scenes. However we resolved this buy shooting a lot of the night scenes under a street light or other bright source of light, which meant that the camera was able to focus. I could of used the Cannon X2’s as they had an option that allowed for a controlled focus however we chose not to use it as the Cannon compact HD works better in the dark and we knew that the majority of our scenes would be night scenes. I also carried out all of the editing, so I had to learn to use the editing software Final Cut Pro. At first I found that some of the scenes did not flow together properly so I learnt how to use transitions such as fades and dissolves. I also learnt how to juxtapose two shots in order to create the effect that someone has disappeared in mid-air.
- 13. When I had to create the Magazine advert for my music video I used a Cannon EO1100D DLSRhttp://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_SL R/EOS_1100D/in order to take the photographs that would make up my advert. When taking the photos I also used both tungsten light as well as natural light. In order to construct the magazine advert completely I used the software Adobe Photoshop CS5. I already had past experience with Adobe Photoshop CS5 so I did not have too much difficulty in creating the Magazine advert, however I did learn some new techniques such as changing the blending options in order to make the photographs blend into each other rather than overlap. I also learnt some crucial Blogger techniques such as how to change the background and design of my blog, in order for it to match the theme of the song we were working on, I had changed the background to a black colour as it complemented the theme of darkness that we had in all our products. I also changed the design so that you could see all the label clouds positioned to the right of the screen one under each other; this made the blog easier to view and to navigate between different posts. I also learnt how to upload videos to YouTube rather than having to upload it to Blogger, this saved a lot of time and YouTube can process videos a lot quicker so I can upload more work in a shorter space of time while Blogger would sometimes take all day to upload a video or may not even work.