EVALUATION QUESTION 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Below is a video showing me answering the above evaluation question. Due to me filming this particular video at home using a webcam the quality is very low although I have also provided a written script for the video below for anyone who prefers to read my answer instead of watching it. As you can see from the video, I have combined many different stages of the project together and considered what technologies I required for each of these stages and I have highlighted the main points of my answer in bold writing across the top of this video.

MAIN POINTS OF THE VIDEO

• WordPress is a resource which has been essential in carrying out the whole project from beginning to end because it has provided me with a resource which can record all my thoughts and feelings as well as any findings and crucial information which I need to include. It also works as a non-face-to-face communication system and my subject teacher was able to continuously keep record of the work I was doing at any given time. What made this particular blogging site useful compared to all the rest was the possibilities it provided me with including allowing me to show my work in any choice of media form and it allowed me to personalise each and every aspect completely so that the work was completely my own.
• YouTube was another invaluable resource as it was the biggest library of clips I could of hoped for, allowing me access to research videos, music videos and it also provides the feature which allows me to upload my own work something which was necessary in the latter stages of the project. You do have to be aware of the best ways to search for items as there is just such a vast majority of different clips but once you have used it a few times it becomes pretty easy.
• Compared to last year, editing facilities have been crucial because I have need to use so many for both the moving images and the still ones. Final Cut Pro, an industry based software, allowed me to edit and alter almost anything we had filmed, including many crazy editing tools which I didn’t even know was possible. Picasa 3 was the important editing tool for still images as it was easy to use and allowed me to edit our image in no time at all. Although it did not have as many effects as other software of the similar format, it was perfect for me and Chris
• High quality cameras are essential, especially for filming as they pick up the slightest detail. Our Panasonic HDC-TM80 camera that we used was great for filming all different distances and angles, as well as being small to transport.   For our digipack, the images we would of had to submit would of been of much lower quality if we hadn’t of used such a high mega pixel camera such as the Nikon D40 and the camera that our photographer used. Although our photos still needed editing, they required less because of these specific cameras.
• The internet is the largest media platform as it provided me with so many of the different resources I required. I was able to turn to the internet if I needed to research a specific topic, if I wanted to gain knowledge on how to do something particular and if I wanted to just record my new findings. The internet makes possibilities endless.
• Having media which is accessible wherever you are makes it much easier to carry out a project like this one because it means you can carry out the stages wherever and you will not fall behind. 

THIS IS THE SCRIPT FOR MEDIA EVALUATION QUESTION 4:

MEDIA EVALUATION QUESTION 4

EVALUATION QUESTION 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From the very beginning of this project I was made aware that the target audience of a music video and its promotional packages were key in the whole process, especially as it would be this specific target audience which would decide whether they wished to purchase the music or not. Due to the digital generation, sales of music is already on the decrease, especially in shops so therefore the items that me and Chris made to influence the audience to want to purchase the products had to be something which the target audience would like. With this in mind we continued to ask for feedback throughout the process from the people that mattered so that we would ensure that not only did me and Chris like all 3 of our products but so did the target audience which would purchase the item if they were sold commercially. The feedback that we have gained has played an important role in our creative decisions and the final products are something which totally suited and aimed at our target audience, stated earlier on in the project.

Due to filming issues as mentioned several times before, me and Chris decided to gain audience feedback not only at the end of creating a draft during during the production process. The feedback gained during the process, i feel personally, was a lot more beneficial as it allowed us to rectify our mistakes early as at the end of the project we did not have so much to do. The first piece of consumer criticism which were provided with was that we had used too little a variation in shots meaning to make the video more interesting for the target audience we needed to contain a wider range of different angles/shots as it did not look good it staying on the same shot for more than 10 seconds at a time. Once we had been given this critical comment we rectified the mistake by going out and filming the same bit of the song again but this time redrafting it so that it included more interesting angles. We were also able to take this knowledge and keep it in mind for the remainder of the music video so that this problem did not occur again. Unfortunately I am unable to provide visible evidence for this change although if we had not received this criticism early on in the editing then the possibility is that we would of dragged many different scenes out longer than they should be is highly likely. Another problem which was picked up during the editing process by a possible member of our target audience was the changing colour of the sky throughout the different clips due to use filming on varying days. After watching it myself it was indeed very noticeable so I attempted to rectify the issue by using a colour adaption  taking the correct colour from one of the other scenes and replacing the weird blue colour in the other. As you can see from the screenshot below, this helped greatly and the finished product looks greatly improved now that all the colour flows as it creates match-on-action, something I was trying to achieve.

During the final stages of editing me and Chris sat and watched our own music video to ensure that we were entirely happy with the flow of the storyline and other aspects which needed considering. While watching it I noticed one slight issue where Sam is sitting on the brick wall looking down and then all a sudden it flicks to a shot of a mobile phone and someone receiving a text message. My major worry was that, although this mobile phone scene was meant to be a flashback similar to that of the fight, due to the flow of filming some members of the audience may believe he has received that text message while sitting on the wall. I tried to edit it in many ways but unfortunately due to the low quality of early versions of the clip I could not add in any extras. Another way I tried to resolve this situation was by changing the effects on all of the flashback scenes by adding a black and white effect to it. This is a stereotypical way of showing that something is occurring in the past. Once again I had to watch the video although I did not feel it looked effective using black and white, even though this is what I had planned to do from the beginning. If we had more time then I believe we would of managed to follow the whole plan and this would of meant that we had used more frequent flashbacks through the whole video which would of told more of a video although due to timing issues this was just not possible. To calm my worry, I asked a friend of mine, someone who I feel would fit well in the target audience to watched the video for me and see if she picked up on the issue, luckily she did not and her comment was ‘The location changed, you can tell because the floor is different from what you would expect below a bridge’. This made me a lot happier because I knew people would not pick up on it as much.

Aswell as gaining feedback on the music video, it was essential for us to gain some feedback on the two ancillary texts which I have also created. This feedback made us change the poster completely two times round to make something which was more attractive and something which was more informative. The first poster that we made, shown to the left of this paragraph never got finished as I did not like the creative suggestions Chris had made so I began asking around to see what members of our target audience felt. Although they liked some of the original features only 34% of the people we asked said that they would stop and look at the poster if it was advertised. This made me very wary of using the idea and I asked around in the hope that they would make some suggestions on what type of thing they liked. One of the comments I received in return stated that ‘I really like the background but I dont think you should use the actual album cover, why don’t you layer the main image onto this background?’. Another aspect which the fans picked up on what the placement of the tours dates as they feel it ‘consumer too much room’. Taking critical feedback on board I went away and made a completely different poster, combining my previous research with the feedback I had received  Withing the interlock some of Chris’s ideas I chose to include the tour date but place them in a more appropriate place, in the left hand corner. Once again I sent a selection of copies of this poster around different age groups within my target audience and asked them what they thought. One major idea which came back was the tour dates were not necessary but  if they had to be there then there should be less of them. I took this information on board and to the right of this post is the finished poster. I have combined mine and Chris’s creative ideas together as well as using the advice our target audience provided us with in the hope that I could produce an eye catching poster, suited to my target audience which doesn’t restrict my creative abilities.

As all of my previous blog posts show, I received a considerable amount on the creation of my digipack design both from myself and from members of our target audience. After the first draft I created I myself slated the design, stating that I would not buy the digipack if I saw it in shops because it was too dark and plain and the images were of a low quality. Me and Chris took this feedback on board and went away and created a whole new digipack design and this time asked the opinions of both younger and older members of our target audience. Although the younger members were really impressed with the digipack as a whole, some of the older members which we asked did not like the placing of our ‘brick wall image’ as they felt it was a pointless waste of space. Although this comment did hurt quite a lot I knew that it was necessary for me us to go away once again and redraft it. Although I do not like the new image of Sam walking away from the camera with a guitar, it was necessary to please the people who really matter, and after considering existing products it is a key element of albums of this genre. The overall comments about our final digipack design, as shown below, was that it looked ‘very professional’ and one particular judge stated that they felt ‘it was a very simplistic idea which worked incredibly well with such a song’.

To gain feedback of the whole project [music video and 2 ancillary texts] me and Chris chose to produce a questionnaire which we would send around, gaining more critical feedback than that which we were gaining over Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. This included a set of questions which we created and allowed us to gain real opinions on what was good and bad. Unfortunately people were just not willing to fill these out as they felt it more appropriate and easy for them to post their responses on YouTube and Facebook. Although it would of provided more detailed responses which we could draw together and create graphs, other than getting a few yes and no responses people were more willing to provide spoken feedback or post it on a social networking site.  Below is a couple of example responses.

As you can see, there are many positives from members of our target audience although each one has picked up although this was entirely expected. Some of the comments actually pick up on what me and Chris noticed but due to lack of time we were unable to change. I especially liked Sam’s comments as it shows that we have actually managed to create a connection between the actor and audience because they feel sorry for him, which boasts mine and Chris’s confidence greatly because it means we have managed to portray the emotion we wanted. Tessa’s comment has shown what good shooting Chris did, choosing a range of interesting angles to help us alternate the shot throughout. Obviously, her comment about improvements was something which we were already aware of but we just did not have enough time in the end so we had to keep with what we had. Lewis’s comment was really interesting and gave us many things to think about as he suggested what he would change while also giving us creative criticism. We took what he said fully on board and if we were to complete the project again we may possibly choose to try some of his ideas out.

Overall, I have learnt a lot of new things about our music video and the ancillary texts just by collecting a range of audience feedback while alos opening my eyes to new members of the target audience which I was surprised about. I feel it was a good idea for me and Chris to make a video where we were also included in the target audience as it allowed us to critically assess our work. The audience feedback which we gained during the production process was a lot more beneficial as it meant we were able to change our work before it was rendered whereas the audience feedback, shown in the print screens above, which we gained after the project was complete meant that we could not use it to adapt and benefit our final drafts of each product and we could only hold the information in our head until we had to create the project again. One improvement I would make with our collection of audience feedback if given another chance would be to improve the way I collect audience feedback, trying to find people who were willing to fill out questionnaires as this played an important role in the collection of feedback in our AS coursework.

EVALUATION QUESTION 2: How effective is the combination of you main product and the 2 ancillary texts?

To answer this particular evaluation question me and Chris joined forces once again so that we could both input our own ideas. Personally I felt this was the hardest of all the evaluation questions due to the wide range of terminology I knew we had to include even though basically I just had to describe the similarities between each of the texts shown in the screen shot below. Due to both me and Chris being far from photogenic I have also included a script of what we are saying in the video to rectify any mistakes we made in the short clip. I have also summed up our main points in the bullet points below the video to make it easier for anyone who does not wish to watch the video. As you can see from the three image, there are similarities between all of them, especially the digipack and poster which is a common feature for existing products as it is easier to match these two than it is too match the music video.

THIS IS A COPY OF THE SCRIPT ME AND CHRIS USED TO ANSWER OUR EVALUATION QUESTION. BEFORE WRITING THIS SCRIPT, ME AND CHRIS SAT TOGETHER AND BEGAN DRAWING UP IDEAS ABOUT HOW WE SHOULD ANSWER IT AND WHAT OUR ANSWER SHOULD INCLUDE

MEDIA EVALUATION QUESTION 2

KEY POINTS FROM EVALUATION QUESTION 2

A logo makes your band look more professional to the consumer because it shows that they are related to a record label and therefore have some kind of influence.

According to Al Ries:
“Logos should be designed to fit the eyes. Both eyes. For maximum visual impact, a logotype should have the same shape as a windshield of an automobile”

A good brand, something which is defined as a ‘name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and srvices of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate from those of other sellers’ delivers the message/genre/ideology/subculture in a clear manner as well as confirming a band/artist credibility which is a major necessity for major stars especially ones who are trying to create a star image/name for themselves in the music industry.

Our marketing strategy is key to helping The Fray create their own star image as we have used three different media forms to advertise one particular song. We have used the music video as a way of advertising the song and then used the poster and digipack as a way of selling it although the poster is more aimed at the digital downloading age because this is what is popular with much of our target audience.

We made specific creative decisions to link our ideas together, focusing on colour representation and positioning so that each of the media forms flowed and they were suitable to the target audience. The creative decisions are explored more deeply in the video.

The creation of our basic logo was essential as it created cross media convergence and allowed similarities to form which the target audience would be aware of. Our logo, formed from a simple choice of font, is used on both the poster and the digipack although we made the poster more eye-catching by choosing a more detailed font for the song name.

EVALUATION QUESTION 1: In what ways does your music promotional package use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of existing music video/promo packages?

As my early research showed, the conventions of music videos vary greatly depending on many aspects including genre, pace, narrative, tune etc. One convention featured greatly in both mainstream and subculture music videos is the artist ‘performing’ their song, whether that be live at a gig etc. or miming the lyrics in something similar to our own idea. We decided to have Sam lip-syncing at set intervals in our music video and because of this decision we had to be very particular with our editing as one key thing I learnt from my research and preliminary task is that good mining/lip-syncing makes or breaks a music video. As I have explained, towards the end of the project we began to have problems editing the lip-syncing scenes into the main video and this led to sections of the music video being low quality. Our creative decision to not always have lip-syncing occurring in the video and instead have a storyline not only challenges this particular convention but was crucial in the portrayal of our narrative. It is also similar to the existing video for this particular song as that combined performance with a storyline. When researching music videos I discovered that they often feature some form of loose storyline, based on the lyrics or mood of the song. This was particularly easy for us to develop as we had specifically chosen a song with emotional lyrics. We also had meanings about the actual song (collected from the internet) from the band – The Fray, which we applied to our idea. Much of my planning looked at what the lyrics of the song meant, especially the repetitive phrase ‘How to save a life’. This was the main development for this project as it encouraged me to consider many alternative narratives and apply the most appropriate and fitting to the lyrics. Due to our work on our fixed narrative, we refrained from creating a disjuncture video, something completely abstract although we did manage to explore one specific concept – losing someone. Although these concepts are generally only loosely explored, our rendition of the song explores it more deeply. A compulsory measure for the majority of songs shown on TV channels such as MTV and Kiss, to ensure the viewers are aware of what video they are watching, is to include both the artist/band name and also the title of the song. As you can see from the screenshot to the right, I and Chris did this at both the beginning and end of the video although we used two different effects. At the beginning of the music video we chose to use a basic and traditional method, including a small title in the bottom right hand corner of the screen whereas the end title was more original, using a whole screen and a list of special effects to create something similar to what is already present in the existing video for ‘How to save a life’. Although this was not a traditional decision, we both felt it looked very effective and wanted to create something original which applied to a selective target audience. Although it was not done purposely, due to the intro of the song our narrative began with a short narrative, showing Sam walking towards the bridge, something which is considered to be a frequent convention of many music videos both in the past and present day. To make this fit in before the lyrics began, and to add effect to the piece, we chose to use time skipping as a way of speeding Sam’s walking pace up. In our particular idea, it leads the viewer to feel like there is some kind of mystery as all they see is this man walking towards the camera without any explanation as the song/lyrics have not yet began telling the story.

One major finding which I found out both in my research and through the process of forming my own music video is that music videos rely heavily on post-production effects. Throughout the editing process we focused on interweaving many different angled shots as this made the whole piece a lot better and as described in my research, the majority of music video rely heavily on montage editing with many different types of footage juxtaposed. Although at first we only used a small selection of angles, as our video came together it became apparent that to make the best music video we needed to use a higher amount of shots/angles. This was crucial in making the music video effective and to also keep the viewers’ attention because unless it is carried out for effect, one single angle does not look as effective. Another post production effect which existing music videos rely on largely is the varying cuts and speed. This is obvious in every video that i have watched and it is normally associated with the music genre such as R&B music videos are normally composed of fast paced cuts with a lot of speed and action whereas our chosen song had a much slower pace meaning we chose to use a much slower form of cut and changed the shot less frequently. Whereas if we had chosen a fast song by an artist such as Rihanna we would of required more shots, our particular song choice resulted in us needing slow shots lacking in action meaning it was quite simple for us to film Sam lip-syncing on a wall as this fitted the particular pace of the video. An overall outlook on how crucial edits are in our own media piece includes our edits flow in time, although, unlike the traditional music video, they do not reflect the song’s structure, where traditionally a cut will occur when a new chorus or verse begins. One reason this occurred was due to the lack of timing we gave ourselves to carry our final filming and editing as well as

us wanting to concentrate more on the narrative towards the end of the music video than the lip-syncing. After much consideration over the plan it was clear that editing a narrative would be a lot easier/quicker compared to how long it would take us to edit lip-syncing effectively. Although we have challenged this particular convention, due to the storyline of the song I do not feel it is that noticeable and in fact is quite effective in its role. We have also used other effects, such as blade and cross dissolve which was present on our editing software, final cut pro, to create an effective and visually pleasing edition of the song through visual aid. One thing which I was surprised by when looking through existing music videos was that only a few of the videos used any type of effect such as a blur. Even with this knowledge, me and Chris felt it appropriate to use a ‘cross dissolve’ as it fitted with what we were trying to create visually, shown to the left.   At the very beginning of this project I researched what a music video was and how it aided the creation of a star image. One of the things that I discovered was a quote by John Fiske which was:

“Music videos foreground the signifier over the signified”

While creating our music video I was consistently reminded of this quote because as I have discovered through both my research and my production process, as long as a music video looks good to the naked eye, the video will always be good. Although our final piece could have been slightly improved during the editing process if we had more time, I do feel that our music video provides the viewer with an exciting storyline which is easy to understand and has high quality footage. The technology that we have been able to use, both during filming and editing, as well as the technology we used during the creation of our promotional package, including the digipack and promotional poster aided us greatly as they were all of a high quality industry standard and allowed us to form almost any idea we wanted to. One problem which we faced largely compared to the existing music video by The Fray was the lack of actors we had willing to help us. Whereas the whole band were present in the original video, we were unable to find four actors so therefore we had to just focus on the one and this made it seem extremely weird. As I will explain further on in this answer, this made it extremely hard when designing a digipack or promotional poster for a band as we only had one artist to focus on.

The creation of my digipack followed the majority of conventions I had uncovered due to my detailed research. One of the most obvious that I can pint point is the information provided on the back cover of my digipack which includes a list of songs present on the CD included and also legal information about Copyright etc. This information is provided for many reasons which I have briefly explained in the screenshot below although I do wish to explain them in more detail. A bar code is a key convention of album covers/digipacks as it necessary for shops to sell the product to consumers and after so many years of it existing, consumers just expect it to be there. As you can see from the images below and also other images earlier on in my research, the bar code is normally placed in a bottom corner, exactly as I have done. Whereas the example I have used below has is tucked deep in the corner, mine was a little higher but this was mainly due to the risk of it being cut off in printing if it was too close to the bottom. The information about copyright which is provided on each cover I have looked at is necessary to ensure that no other outside company can use the design and gain from someone else work. This type of copyright is carried out on most products in the modern world but this little declaration, which I have included on my own work just like many before me, is essential in ensuring people are aware of who the design of the CD and the actual songs on the CD belong to so that no-one else can benefit from it other than the band and the record label. A major visual feature which is present on all CD covers that I have looked at is a list of songs which are featured on the CD and the majority of these do it using a number list whether it be a very organised one such as the ones shown below or a very original concept based one where the words and placed according to the idea of the design. This is crucial in informing the consumer what songs are on the CD and they also use the information when trying to search for a specific track. As I have created a digipack cover for a single I am only have a very short list although this can alter greatly in length depending on whether the cover is for an album or a single. My list is very basic but this fits in with the genre of my song and also the simplistic idea of my digipack design. The record label logo is always present on the back of a CD cover as it highlights to the consumer who is responsible for producing this. Some consumers may be very specific with their song choice and choose to listen to certain music by particular record companies and this is an indicator for this reason as well as aiding star image.

I also followed some basic conventions on the front of my digipack cover, including a band name and song title as apart of the design. As you can see from the screenshot below, I have chose to follow this particular convention very loosely, not forming a specific logo but using a basic font and rearranging the words on the page to make them look more effective. As I will explain in a later evaluation question, I have used this exact same logo on the front of my poster as well to show continuation between the two separate products. I have used One Direction as my example because the font used in this particular album has also followed through on to their new album showing how important it is to use repetition in products because it begins to create star image and the consumer relate the visual aid back to the band/artist. The layout of my digipack is very basic although it has been stylized that the sky will be very light blue, similar to that of One Direction, because it looks more real life than if we had edited the sky to a bright blue. The placement of the text has been greatly assessed to creative something attractive just like many of the other CD covers I looked at in my previous research. The other convention which I followed from my research into existing products is to include a spine and on that spine I have put the band name and song title once again. This is exactly what all other digipacks do because it is a quick way for a consumer to figure out what CD it is without looking at the front cover.

Although my research into promotional posters was minimal, I did understand the basics that much of the design which is shown on the CD cover is transported over into the poster. This is especially true with the examples shown to the right of this paragraph which are the exact same image although the information has changed and more required details have been added to the poster. Although me and Chris did wish to use the image from the front of our digipack, we also wanted to create something more original and that is where the idea to manipulate the colour of the sky came from. When we combined two of the images from the digipack it didn’t really resemble the same front cover anymore but it defiantly looked a lot more attractive and we felt it would stand out a lot more. Some of the key information that must be included on promotional posters includes a list of tour dates. Me and Chris have included a miniture one in the left as we felt it more important to get information about the release of the single across as that was what were trying to promote. As you can see from the screenshot below, one key feature common on most posters of this type these days is the iTunes logo to try and influence the consumer to purchase the logo of iTunes. The main way for people to purchase or get hold of music these days is through downloads although a lot of downloads happen illegally so by placing such a big iTunes logo on our own piece of work we are trying to prevent illegal downloads and encouraging people to purchase the song correctly. Another way designers highlight where the song can be purchased is by including the logo of a shop such as HMV. Other logos which we could of included if we so wish was the Facebook and twitter logos which provided details to the band/artist homepages. This would of been a good creation of star image but me and Chris both considered the target audience of our music and felt that it contained older generations as well as younger and if the older people saw them logos they be put off because they may not know what they meant. As you can see, we have used the exact same logo used in the digipack design although we have used a more eye-catching text for the song. The difference between an album cover and a poster is that the poster is supposed to be quick to read and eye-catching and for this reason I wanted to make it stand out as much as possible. The ratio of text to image in both products is also completely different but this is a great way to sell the music to the consumer.

The conventions of exisiting media products has not in any way placed restrictions on my creative decisions and I have been able to adapt any idea to fit around them, creating industry based products.