A2 media studies: EVALUATION

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

I decided to create a music video to the song 'Everything you wanted' by kele. In my music video I have used codes and conventions of real media products such as the black and white flashback footage. This technique has been used by many established artists within the music industry, an example is in Beyonce's music video 'If i were a boy', and Amy Winehouse's 'Back to black'. The black and white clips that I have used represent previous memories, when the couple staring in the music video were a happy couple. I chose to create the flashback footage to show the passing of time and thought it would allow the audience to understand the storyline better, it also fits in well with the indie genre.

Indie rock is a sub-genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indie_rock)

Indie music videos tend to be performance based.

I have looked at the different style of music videos, and the 3 main forms that they come in;Performance, Narrative and Image. Performance speaks for itself, where the song is performed either straightforwardly in a concert hall or in a more exotic location and the emphasis is on performance. Narrative is where the narrative of the song is played out or sometimes another separate narrative is told. Image is where the content of the video does not relate obviously to the lyrics and there i not an immediate concert setting, what is emphasised is the image of the artist.
By creating a hybrid music video, using a mixture of both performance based and narrative I have therefore challenged the codes and conventions of real media products. I have also challenged the codes and conventions by using effects sparingly. I believe that my finished media product is simple but effective. I didn't want to use loads of effects when editing as the song is pure, and the song lyrics wouldn't suit.

Another way in which our production follows the main forms and conventions is by including the logo of the music channel that would show this video in the top left corner of the screen, for example channels such as The Hits are likely to play pop/r&b and chart music whereas Channel AKA will be playing a lot of rap/hip hop music. For this instance I have used MTV hits in my music video as I believe this music channel is likely to broadcast music in the indie genre. I had the title of name of the artist, the title of the track and the name of the artist’s album pop up at both the start and the end of the music video, following the conventions. This allows audiences to easily recognise what the song is, and allow them to download it. Also on my print artefacts I have used the name of the artist, and the name of the song and album to keep to the conventions, and used black and white on the CD cover so the whole theme stays nicely intact. As well as using conventions and codes of media products, I also developed them by using a number of different locations within my music video. I used this idea to help keep the viewers hooked and remain interested. Although finding the locations and then filming took a great deal of time, I believe the locations I found fit in extremely well with the whole genre and idea of my music video, making it a success.

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

The combination of my main product and my ancillary text has proved to be a popular product amongst a group of fellow students. I believe this is down to the effective planning and consistent hard work I have put in. My main product flows very smoothly as during the editing process I ensured it was well synchronized which made it easier for my target audience to enjoy.

I have incorporated black and white flashback clips in my main product to compliment my CD cover, which is also black and white and very simplistic. My CD cover is made up of images/clips from the actual media product itself. I have done this because it not only makes the product more attractive and appealing to the audience but it ties in with the simple style of editing that has been used throughout. The black and white style makes my product recognisable from my peers and allows the genre to be clearly portrayed to the audience, an effective way of marketing my product.

The final version of my CD Cover and Magazine advert are below:

My marketing strategy consisted of tying in a sense of past and present through the use of black and white flashbacks and coloured clips. By creating this sense of past and present it is easier for my target audience to understand the basics of how the story formed, allowing them to not only be more sympathetic towards the story line, but to appreciate the story behind the video. I believe it’s important to make my CD cover and magazine advert appeal to my target audience. By using the images on the front and back of my CD cover, it straight away attracts the audience I am aiming my product at. It is important to grab the attention of the consumer straight away, as they are more likely to pick up and buy a product if they like the way it looks.

When creating my magazine advert I opted for HMV. This is because they are a leading retailer specialising in the latest music releases and able to attract a wide demographic. This is good for my products success as I can also target new demographics such as MTV music channel. My research into this shows that it would be possible to break into these new markets, over a period of time. MTV shows current, popular music with a diverse mixture of genres played on the same channel; this fits my song because it does not follow the conventions of a single music genre.

My magazine advert includes the shot used for the front cover, which immediately ties all three products together. This creates a much more powerful and structured product and advertising campaign. My main product, CD cover and magazine advert have all been of a high quality, using only a handful of effects whilst edited to keep it sophisticated.

Overall, the relationship between each of my products has proven to be effective, creating a powerful, high quality product, attracting the appropriate and desired demographic.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

On completion of my main product, I rounded up a group of students to watch and analyse my production. I then issued each individual with questionnaires to fill out and hand back to me to help make further improvements.

The feedback received gave me, as the producer valuable and beneficial ideas that I had not anticipated.

The larger percentage of my audience feedback was extremely positive. Consumers tended to take very well to the black and white colour scheme I adopted during the creation of both the main product and the CD cover. On the feedback sheets I handed out, I received comments such as ‘Your product was well constructed’ and ‘Very creative’, on both the magazine advert and CD cover. I also received some constructive criticism about the synching in parts of my music video, which I quickly took care of to ensure I delivered a product my target audience would be satisfied with.

The audience had also noticed a minor fault on the first CD cover I had created, they were unable to identify the correct name of the album, as on the front of the CD cover it had below the name of the artists album as ‘everything you wanted’. However on the back of the CD cover, underneath the artist’s name, it had the album name ‘The Boxer’. I didn’t anticipate such a blatant fault in my planning stages and didn’t notice it myself. To overcome this problem I had to go back into Photoshop and edit the front cover so it included the correct album name, ‘The Boxer’. Once edited, the product was then of an improved quality, until I had realised I had made the same mistake on the magazine advert. Therefore editing proved harder than expected.

This is my first copy of the CD cover before editing again:

Whilst editing the first section of my filming, I noticed there was a lack of long shots and only a few medium shots that had been filmed. I acted quickly upon this whilst I still had all the filming equipment, and went back out to a variety of different locations to film a mixture of different shots, some from different angles. This enabled me to switch between different scenes, locations and shots throughout the whole of my music video, so not one of my shots dragged on, in order to ensure the audience kept hooked during my production and watched it till the end.

On every piece of feedback I received, the audience agreed that I had stuck to the codes and conventions of a music video. I managed to succeed in doing so by using credits at the start and end of my music video, stating the name of the artist, name of the album and name of the song. I wanted to create a narrative production, telling a story, which also helps to follow the conventions of a typical indie themed music video.

Overall, from the evaluation of my music video I have learnt it is easy to make mistakes slip under your fingers and that peer assessment is an important part of recognising and learning from your mistakes. This has played an important part in the creation and success of my overall product.

4. H0w did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages in the following ways. During the planning stages of my production I had to first of all set up a blog using a site called blogger.com on the internet. Blogger is an online website used by a wide range of technophiles, giving people the opportunity to create a number of different blogs and offer variety by allowing them to customise it by changing fonts, templates and backgrounds to suit their needs. My blog was regularly updated with new posts, including research into the music industry and into my chosen genre. Once I had created my blog I was able to personalise it, adding a background, choosing colour schemes and changing my fonts. It was useful during the planning stages as I could keep going back and referring to information on my blog, for example my storyboard, to help me recognise which shots I had already filmed and which shots were left.

I used the internet a great deal, especially sites such as Google, Wikipedia and YouTube. Google and Wikipedia came in handy when researching about the music industry and different genres, helping me to decide on which one to choose. It also helped me plan my storyboard as I found examples on the internet to guide me on how mine should look. I used YouTube to watch music videos on and gain inspiration from, I watched a variety of music videos by artists such as Rihanna and Chris Brown as they have written a lot of love songs, the song I had chosen was also a love song, so this helped me during my though process in the planning stages.

During the editing of my production I was sometimes phased my editing techniques on Photoshop and wasn’t quite sure on how to complete certain effects. I found many tutorials on YouTube that guided me through completing the effects I was before uncertain of. I embedded videos onto my blog using YouTube, I had to copy a code from the music video then paste it into the html box onto my blog, I would then analyse the video I had uploaded.

During the construction of my music video I used the mini DV cameras and tape provided to film my desired footage. Once I had filmed all of my footage I had to log and capture the clips I wanted to use in Final Cut Pro on the apple mac computers. I then went on to edit the clips I had picked, using only a small amount of effects and transitions to keep in with the whole ‘simplistic’ theme. I used effects such as layering, whereby images are placed on top of one another allowing the same person to appear twice in one shot if correctly carried out. I also used slow motion when the character walks away from the camera, stop motions blur, grey scale, speeding up and changing the angle of shots. I then had to upload the mp3 file for my music video (Kele – everything you wanted) which I had previously downloaded onto my phone, so it was a case of plugging it into the apple mac and dragging it over to my production.

As well as my music video I had to create a CD cover for the alum and also a magazine advert. I took two still images that I had previously used in my music video and uploaded them onto Photoshop. I then edited them so they were black and white to tie in with the ‘simplistic’ theme, adding wording and the HMV logo in the bottom left corner on the magazine and a parental advisory sign on the front of the CD cover on the bottom left hand side.

For my evaluation I have had to write this 2000 word essay which I have typed up onto Microsoft Word in order to spell check my work and count the number of words I have used. I then copied and pasted it onto a new post called ‘Evaluation’ onto my blog.

Print Artefact

For my two print artefact's I had to produce both a CD cover and an advert for a magazine. I decided to base our magazine advert on HMV adverts from Empire magazine. This is because the adverts we looked at were contemporary, imaginative an appealed to a young audience, all of which were characteristics which we wished to implement in our own work. Below is my first draft for the magazine advert. I initially went for the idea of the magazine cover being pinned to a cork boars hanging on a brick wall. However, at the stage show below, I decided that i wasn't happy with the idea as it lacked a high quality, professionallook. I also felt that the design did not fully show the extent of my photoshop abilities and so i turned to my second and final draft.

In response to my decision to re-think my magazine artefact I took inspiration fromthe backgroung of my block. I felt that New York is a city of innovation, culture and media and could form the setting for my advertisement. I decided to take a shot of time square New York and using photoshop manipulated my cd cover so that it looked like it was on a billboard in time square. I added text on another advertisement board and manipulated the lighting so that the focus was on these images. I adapted the HMV logo for my advert, added lyrics with a 50% transparent box and added further information regarding the CD's release at the bottom of the screen in a darkened area I had created. Overall I am very pleased with how it turned out, as it looks professional and has a high quality finish. I also feel that it would appeal to the target demographic which our research identified and that our video was aimed at.

However, before all of this was possible I had to create a CD cover for the album. The initial idea we had to create a black and white based cover stuck and below is an image of the finished product. We tried to keep with the conventions of Cd covers by including the typical aspects such as a barcode, record company logo, copyright information. The track listing on the back required a long photoshopping process but turned out just as I had hoped. The idea was to give the impession of a stack of paper with the track listing to appear on the top layer. For both the front and back images we took screen grabs from our music video and grey scaled them. I also turned the music artist and song title into a logo with lines. I took inspiration for this from an album cover which I had seen before for 'The Navigator'. Overall i am very pleased with the final product.

Research into the Music Industry

DEFINITION:



The music industry (or music business) sells compositions, recordings and performances of music. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate within the industry are the musicians who compose and perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music (e.g., music publishers, producers, studios, engineers, record labels, retail and online music stores, performance rights organisations); those that present live music performances (booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew); professionals who assist musicians with their careers (talent managers, business managers, entertainment lawyers); those who broadcast music (satellite and broadcast radio); journalists; educators; musical instrument manufacturers; as well as many others.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the music industry was dominated by the publishers of sheet music. By mid-century records had supplanted sheet music as the largest player in the music business: in the commercial world people began speaking of "the recording industry" as a loose synonym of "the music industry". Since 2000, sales of recorded music have dropped off substantially, while live music has increased in importance. Four "major corporate labels" dominate recorded music — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI — each of which consists of many smaller companies and labels serving different regions and markets. The live music industry is dominated by Live Nation, the largest promoter and music venue owner. Live Nation is a former subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, which is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States. Other important music industry companies include Creative Artists Agency (a management and booking company) and Apple Inc. (which is stated as of 2009 of running the world's largest Internet based music store, the iTunes Store).



MUSIC PRODUCTION:



Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. Amateur musicians compose and perform music for their own pleasure, and they do not derive their income from music. Professional musicians are employed by a range of institutions and organisations, including armed forces, churches and synagogues, symphony orchestras, broadcasting or film production companies, and music schools. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers, seeking contracts and engagements in a variety of settings.
There are often many links between amateur and professional musicians. Beginning amateur musicians take lessons with professional musicians. In community settings, advanced amateur musicians perform with professional musicians in a variety of ensembles and orchestras. In some cases, amateur musicians attain a professional level of competence, and they are able to perform in professional performance settings. A distinction is often made between music performed for the benefit of a live audience and music that is performed for the purpose of being recorded and distributed through the music retail system or the broadcasting system. However, there are also many cases where a live performance in front of an audience is recorded and distributed (or broadcast).



MUSIC CHANNELS for distribution:






MTV (until 2010, MTV: Music Television) is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs.
At one time, MTV had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture. Slogans such as "I want my MTV" and "MTV is here" became embedded in public thought, the concept of the VJ was popularized, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced, and both artists and fans found a central location for music events, news, and promotion. MTV has also been referenced countless times in popular culture by musicians, other TV channels and shows, films, and books.
MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the U.S. and affiliated channels internationally, some of which, like the former MTV Tempo now known as TEMPO Networks, have gone independent. MTV's moral influence on young people, including issues related to censorship and social activism, has been a subject of debate for years. MTV's choice to focus on non-music programming has also been contested relentlessly since the 1990s, demonstrating the channel's previous impact on popular culture.

The original purpose of MTV was to be "Music Television," playing music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, guided by on-air personalities known as VJs, or video jockeys. The original taglines of the channel were "You'll never look at music the same way again," and "On cable. In stereo." Although the concept of playing music videos 24/7 has long been abandoned, MTV US still promotes and plays a limited selection of music videos on its TV channel and website.
Internationally, the station continues to support a broad selection of music including 4 channels in the UK that broadcast 23 hours of music video per day.


4Music is a music channel in the United Kingdom and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland - its web component can be found at 4music.com with its own Facebook and Twitter pages. It is the only channel within the Box Television Network to be branded under Channel 4 and the only channel in the network to be broadcast in widescreen. The channel replaced The Hits. The channel is Free to Air (FTA) on Digital Terrestrial (Freeview), but as a pay subscription channel on Digital Satellite (Sky) along with the remainder of the channels in the Box Television group. All Channel 4-owned channels however broadcast free-to-air.





The Box is a television channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is one of many within the Box Television network, a joint venue between Channel 4 and Bauer Group. The channel mainly broadcasts music videos, although it also features other music-related programming from 4Music. The channel broadcasts 24 hours a day with Teleshopping shown late at night.
The channel is well-known for its First Play feature, where many videos often make their UK or world premiere. This new music is often shown through the 'Box Fresh' show on the channel. Most notably, The Box, were recognised for the particular force behind the huge success of the first Spice Girls hit "Wannabe", playing their first single months before its official release date[citation needed] and helping to launching the group to mega stardom[citation needed]. Before Emap took ownership within Box Television, the channel was recognised for the wide variety of music from all genres, offering up to 500 videos per week as well as for helping to introduce Rap and Hip hop music onto the UK music scene.[citation needed]
The slogan of The Box is "Fresh Music First" — previous mottos include "Big Hits First", "Music Television You Control" and "Smash Hits You Control".

TASK 10: FILMING

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE:

WHEN :
Thursday 11th November @ 11.15
WHO:
Actors - Jamie Stanton
Filming: Harriet Matthews
Props: Clapper board for first shot, cap, chalk (for clapper board)
ALSO DV camera, tripod.
WHAT:
I will be filming the opening shot of the clapper board. The song has three beeps at the beginning, on the third beep the clapper board will clap. I am also going to be filming shots 2,3,5,6 and 7, the boy will be performing in all of these shots. Shot 2 will include 4 separate shots of the male, the first of his feet and the floor, the second of his feet and trousers, the third of his trousers and top and the fourth of his head facing towards the ground. Shot 5 will be a long shot of the male, he will face the opposite way so his back is towards the camera and will throw his cap on the floor. The cap could have been a present from his girlfriend, or something that reminded him of her. For the sixth shot i will use a close up shot of his cap on the floor, as he is walking away. This could symbolise that he is ready to move on and leave the past behind him. For the 7th shot I will place the cap on the floor and will spin in stop motion, so between shots i will have to move the cap.
WHERE:
I will be filming all of these shots in and around Sutton, some may be filmed in Sutton Park and others on the streets, and town center. I shall film all the shots outside before it gets dark.
HOW:
For shots 2 and 3 the boy will be static, for shots 5 and 6 he will be facing the opposite direction and walking away.
Camera Angles I will use:
Vertical Tracking - I will move the camera up and down on various shots, so you can see the full view of the boy or of the scene.


WHEN:
Tuesday 16th November @ 1.30pm
WHO:
Actors: Jamie Stanton
Filming: Harriet Matthews
Props: Different changes of clothes to show the passing of time
ALSO DV camera and tripod
WHAT:
I will be filming all of the shots that the male actor is in on his own. This will include shots 2,3,4,5,6,9,11,12,14,15,16,18,20,21,22,23 and 24. I will be using a variety of different shots to capture the actor from as many different angles as possible. I also wish to film some extreme close ups and close ups of the actors face to show the emotion been protrayed. Whilst filming, i may also try some shots I havent used before, such as high angle and low angle shots.
WHERE:
I will be filming the majority of these shots in Sutton Park, not far away from college. This is an ideal location as it has many different elements and a variety of looks within the park as it covers such a large area. As its so big, hopefully we wont get any interruptions of people walking past like I previously have. The location is very open and spacious, helping to create a sense that the actor is alone in the wilderness and lonely.
HOW:
Camera Angles I will be using-
Medium Shot: My first few shots will be medium shots of the actor, showing his whole body in three different shots: One shot of his feet, one shot of his legs/trousers, and the third shot of hiss upper body with his head facing down.
Long Shot: Long shots will be used quite often as i intend to capture the whole of the actor. As its a performance based music video he will be moving around a lot.
Hand Held: I will use some hand held shots to give a shaky effect as if someone is actually with him filming.
Extreme Close up: I will use this for shot number 22, where you see tears dripping down his face, This gives the actor the chance to shot the audience his true emotion.

WHEN: Tuesday 23rd November @ 1.30pm
WHO:
Actors: Jamie Stanton
Filming: Harriet Matthews
Props: Different changes of clothes to show the passing of time
ALSO DV camera and tripod
WHAT: I will be filming all of the shots that both the male and female are in, this will include shots 8,10,13,17 and 19. All the footage will be made into black and white to show that it was in the past, almost as if they are reminiscing.
WHERE: I will be filming all of these shots in Sutton Park, not far away from college. However I will travel to a different part of the park, so I dont have the same background and surroundings as the shots I captured last week. I have found a bench in the park that I am going to use for shot 19, when editing I will create a layering effect, so there are two different shots shown together.
HOW:
Camera Angles I will be using-
Long Shot: The majority of these shots will be long shots, so that the audience can see exactly what is happening and be able to follow the story. Also i have to use these shots as I will be trying to create a layering effect on two of the shots, and will need the space in the shot to help me do this.
Close Up: I will be using a close up shot for shot 17. The actors will be holding the camera infront of them and talking to each other, smiling and laughing. By doing so this gives a really nice effect that they have captured their own footage.

TASK 9: CASTING

Harriet Matthews will be playing the part of the 'ex girlfriend'. I will be taking part in the archive footage from when the couple were happy together.

Props needed: none.

Jamie Stanton will be playing the part of the male in the music video. He will envolved in a lot of the acting.
Props needed: Change of clothes for different shots to show the passing of time.

TASK 8: Final Proposal

KELE-EVERYTHING YOU WANTED



Working title: The working title for our music video production is Kele-everything you wanted.

Channel for broadcast: The best suited tv channel for our video would mtv one. MTV one shows current, popular music with a diverse mixture of different genres played on the same channel; this fits our song because it does not follow the conventions of a single music genre. In comparison, most other competing music channels which stay specific to one/or a small number of closely related genres. Vh1 for example is known for playing old school hits, and channel aka is regarded as the channel for more underground and urban music genres such as grime, funky house, hip-hop and R&B. Our choice to select mtv one as our broadcast channel was also influenced by the existing Kele video which regularly appeared on the channel when it was released.Target audience: the target audience for our music video will be older teenagers and young adults, who can relate to issues that the video focuses on i.e. the breakup of young a romance and the changing relationships between young adults of the opposite sex. I think our music video would be appealing to a wide social demographic, in particular the working class who can relate to the setting which will be used such as the canals, high street , parks etc. Also the actors will be dressed and acting in a stereotypical working class manner and this will be more appealing to a working class demographic as they can see the parallels.

Genre: the genre of our music video will be a narrative/ performance hybrid. We have chosen to produce our video in this style because the lyrics are telling the story of an aching heart which we felt should be reflected through a story which tells us why he has experienced this heartbreak. In the same way the chorus is very uplifting and fast and we felt this would best be visually reflected through performance. Also we felt that the song was singing about memories, so this could be shown as a literal trip down memory lane, which we want to show as him performing whilst walking through different locations.

Style: our video will focus on using tracking and crab shots to follow the performorer as he walks through the different settings performing his song. however, our video will also have several different uses of layering and ontagesof memories which will appear in black and white. there will be some use of POV shots and over the shoulder shots. also we will use some colour shots and some grey scale inorder to show the contrast between the performers memories and the present time.

TASK 7: Role Allocation

I will now identify who is doing what role in the production team.



Written by: Harriet Matthews
Cinematography by: Jamie Stanton
Edited by: Harriet Matthews
Music by: Jamie Stanton
Produced by: Harriet Matthews
Directed by: Jamie Stanton




In film criticism, the 1950s-era auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if he or she were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). In spite of—and sometimes even because of—the production of the film as part of an industrial process, the author's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through all kinds of studio interference. In some cases, film producers are considered to exert a similar "auteur" influence on films they have produced.
In law, the film is treated as a work of art, and the auteur, as the creator of the film, is the original copyright holder. Under European Union law, the film director is considered the author or one of the authors of a film.
Auteur theory has influenced film criticism since 1954, when it was advocated by film director and critic François Truffaut. "Auteurism" is the use of auteur theory to analyze films or to understand the characteristics that identify the director as auteur.
Auteur theory draws on the work of a group of cinema enthusiasts who wrote for Cahiers du Cinéma and argued that films should reflect a director's personal vision. They championed filmmakers such as Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, and Jean Renoir as absolute 'auteurs' of their films. Although André Bazin, co-founder of the Cahiers, provided a forum for Auteurism to flourish, he explained his concern about its excesses in his article "On the Auteur Theory" (Cahier # 70, 1957). Another element of Auteur theory comes from Alexandre Astruc's notion of the caméra-stylo or "camera-pen," which encourages directors to wield cameras as writers use pens and to guard against the hindrances of traditional storytelling.
Truffaut and the members of the Cahiers recognized that movie-making was an industrial process. However, they proposed an ideal to strive for, encouraging the director to use the commercial apparatus as a writer uses a pen, and, through the mise en scène, imprint his or her vision on the work (minimizing the role of the screenwriter). Recognizing the difficulty of reaching this ideal, they valued the work of directors who came close.