A2 Media

Evaluation

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

One way my music video challenge forms and conventions of real media products would be through the choice of setting. The setting I chose was in Prospect Park. This challenges the forms of the real media products of this genre as the main setting is in warehouse or some kind of abandoned building. The setting of the desolate warehouse is more common in this genre as most of the videos in this genre are heavily based on the performance of the band. Using a blank canvas of a setting like an old warehouse they audience can focus more on the performance without getting distracted by any action that may be happening in the background of the setting. My music video challenges the forms and conventions of real media products as I have incorporated flashbacks into my video so the audience get an idea that the relationship between the couple has been going on a long time and that the girl had good memories of the relationship this isn’t a normal occurrence for videos of this genre.

My music video develops the forms and conventions of real media products in its narrative. It is very common in the rock genre to have some kind of relationship between one and two of the characters. This relationship is mainly between a female character and a male character. However I developed the conventions of real media products as my narrative is a relationship between the characters that isn’t use d very often in this genre.

The mise-en-scene of the characters within my media product uses the forms and conventions of real media products. They characters comply with the stereotypes of the genre as they are dressed in skinny jeans and dark colours.

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

I believe that the combination of my main product and ancillary texts is effective as they are all linked together clearly. In both the Digipak and magazine advert the main image, which is the cover image on the Digipak and the background image on the magazine advert, features on both products clearly linking them together as part of the same franchise. Another way I linked all of my products together, including the music video, was through the font I used. I font features on all the products in some form. I used this font as its design is typical of that of the rock genre as it looks tarnished and damaged. The continuity of the record label logo and name was also important in effectively combining my ancillary tasks as that meant that the products could once again be linked together as they had the same information on them.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Get someone to quickly watch it and makes notes on:

· What they did and didn’t like

· Whether they think it matches the genre

· Improvement they feel could be made

· What they thought was successful about the video

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

During the research and planning stages the main media technology I used would have been my blog. I was constantly updating my blog with posts about each bit of progress I made such as decisions on location and the cast. I also used my blog to post the notes and scripts I wrote for my deconstructions which I eventually recorded ready to be put on my DVD as DVD extras. Another important media technology I used in the research and planning stage was the internet (YouTube). I merged both my blog and YouTube by posting links to YouTube videos of the music videos I deconstructed so they can see the music videos themselves and see where I have raised the various points in my analysis. I also posted a link on my blog of my audience feedback questionnaire into what they would want in a music video by changing the format of the questionnaire from a regular word document I chose to display it in the form of a slideshow reel to make it more interesting.

In the construction stage the recording equipment such as the camera and tripod were vital in creating the music video. The editing of the film in the construction stage required a lot more use of media technology. Final Cut Pro was the editing software I used for my music video. I used this media technology to create a home-video, super 8mm footage effect on my video. The first video filter I used to create the effect on Final Cut Pro was Gaussian blur with a radius 2. I then used the add noise filter and changed it settings it 14, then change the type to Gaussian Noise (Film Grain) which is a uniform color. Then I changed the Blend Mode to Subtract. After that I had to adapt the colour of the video to a tea stained colour using the colour correction 3-way filter. Finally I added the Flicker filter to max and the added the Strobe effect at a setting of 2. I had to follow each of these steps for each clip making sure that the colour had the same amount of staining so they flowed together seamlessly.

I used media technologies in my evaluation stage as I recorded a direct address to the camera so the recording can then be editing in case of mistakes and then it can be added to the DVD extras just like the deconstructions and focus groups from the research and planning stage.