Advanced Portfolio Evaluation

Katrina Jarvis

In what ways does your media product use, develop

or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Advert

Page corners to link in with photo album theme.

Website is advertised.

Artists name in bold to stand out to the

audience and also to advertise the artists

name.

Main title – white contrasts with black, “Gallery of Thoughts”

is represented through the style of

the digipack.

Website is advertised.

digipack is advertised also

shows continuance of

house style

Carried out the photo album

theme on advert to advertise

digipack and let the audience know the logo for the album

I really took a liking to Gwen Stefani’s advert as it was kept very

simplistic. When I looked at it I found the main focus was on the

artists name which I thought was a good way to advertise the artist. Also I think having the digipack image as the main image on the advert looks effective as it shows

continuance and also puts the main focus on the digipack

advertising it which an advert is meant to do.

I liked the way this advert kept a running theme of the house style throughout

by using the same colours and having a continuance of the digipacks image blown up onto the advert. However I

don't think the title is very clear as the background colour takes away the focus of what its advertising. The advert is again very simplistic like Gwen Stefani's which I like as it

attracts the audiences attention to the relevant information that its

advertising.

I used both these adverts for inspiration but taking different codes

and conventions of adverts from each. I used the idea of having my digipack theme onto my advert as I thought this was an effective way to

advertise the digipack to the audience; which both of these

adverts used. For my main title of my artists name this inspiration

came from Gwen Stefani's advert as I again thought this was a good way to advertise the artists name. I

kept my house style a running theme throughout my advert to show continuance which both

adverts have done.

Digipack

title links in with theme of digipack

House stylePage corners to link in with

photo album theme.

Track list conforms codes and conventions

Websites to advertise and copyright information

Barcode

Effect – black and white

Embossed effect to

create an old feel to the

photo album

Plain black to create simplicity

Kept plain to create a sense of suspense and to create the main focus on the front and back cover

KT Tunstalls Digipack has a running theme of images on the front cover which represent her

music, I took this idea upon myself and decided to make my digipack represent the name of

the album, "Gallery of thoughts”. I used a running theme

consisting of a photo album style hence the photo corners.

I thought for Damien Rice’s digipack I thought it was very

simplistic and plain which I liked the idea of as it wasn't

overcrowded by images and contrasts compared to KT

Tunstall’s digipack. I used the simplistic look on my Digipack

because leave a sense of mystery and intrigues the

audience.

I like Jack Johnson’s Digipack because the colours are opposite colours which makes the Digipack

stand out, the black contrasts compared to the bright yellow as it

created a bold image making it stand out. I liked this idea as it made the image unique and oringial as there isn't loads of

overcrowding images compared to KT Tunstall’s. I took upon this idea and choose the two main colours black and white which made my

Digipack very original and simplistic compared to current

media texts.

Music video

“Taylor swift-Love Story”

I got a lot of inspiration from many of the frames in this video. I liked the idea of using a school at the main setting for my video as many teenage romances are created there

and my video is focused on love. I also liked the idea of the female taking upon the main

role of the video, stereotypically teenage girls are more likely to write love letters than boys so I decided to use this idea and use a

female character for my main role. In this video the male and female find romance at

the end of the video which portrays happiness and love. I again used this idea as

my video is portraying love so I wanted to keep the genre running throughout.

“Basshunter – Now your gone”

I used the mobile phone similar to this video as a way of showing the audience the

characters communicating. In this video the female is also the main role which I liked the idea of, so instead of using a male character as the main role which I was originally going

to do I used a female character to follow codes and conventions for the videos I had researched. This video is similar to Taylor Swifts as both the female characters find

love at the end of the video. I liked this idea as my storyline at the beginning starts of

where the female character is unhappy, so I thought leaving the video on a good note

would leave a sense of happiness towards the audience.

The opening sets the scene, and introduces the main character of

the music video, letting the audience know that the story line is focused

on her.

I used a high angled mid shot then slowly zoomed in to the character to a close up shot . I used

these camera shots to let the audience feel as

though they are in the video setting , and also to

see what the character was doing . I used a slow zoom which immediately lets the audience realise

that the genre is love.

I filmed this frame in a bedroom as its stereotypical for a teenage girl to be

writing love letters in her bedroom where

no one can see.

The genre of my music video is “Love” I think the audience has a feel for

the genre as soon as the video starts as the main

focus of the opening scene is the main

character writing a love letter; the zoom close up

shot shows this.

I used a love letter as the main prop of the video as this is stereotypically what a teenage girl would do if they “fancied” a boy, also

the love letter lets the audience have a feel for

what the video is going to consist of and at the same time letting them know the

genre.

The special effects of black and white is used as a running

theme throughout my music video which symbolizes a touch

of sadness at the beginning however this turns to colour at

the end to symbolize happiness and love.

The main character is dressed in very simple but stylish clothing; again being stereotypical of a teenage girl. The character is

wearing a “girly” scarf, a cardigan, leggings and a white long top showing she's just an

average teenage girl.

I have used saturated colour black and white

throughout the video to let the audience sense that their is going to be a happy ending as the colours are very dull and sadness always leads to happiness.

I used the special effect of black and white and

contrasted this with colour to show that the

aim of the love letter has led to a happy ending

creating positive energy and happiness at the

end.

Realism is a running theme throughout my

music video as I wanted it to consist of many codes

and conventions like current media texts; from the first frame to the last frame consists of this.

For this frame I used a school for the setting this is because stereotypically

this is where most teenage romances are

created.The genre is shown in this frame by the male character holding the love letter and seeing the three

girls; one of them is putting lipstick on which gives him a clue on who wrote the letter. This is showing the genre throughout the video.

The female character is surrounded by her two best friends, this is the

only frame they are shown in as I wanted the story to concentrate on the two main characters

the boy and girl.

Again the main prop used is the love letter showing continuance throughout

the video letting the audience know that love is the main purpose of the video showing the

genre throughout.

The male character is again dressed in a very simplistic way

but also showing masculinity wearing baggy jeans and a t-shirt. This shows both characters dress in a very similar way showing they

have things in common.

I used a school setting for my music video to

give it more of a stereotypical teenage

romance theme.

A close up zoom shot is used of the male character was used which builds up suspense and

confusion for the audience asking themselves “who wrote the letter?”

and showing face expressions.

The female character is still looking very

simplistic; wearing casual clothing. She's wearing leggings, black

ankle boots, a long white top, a scarf and a

fashionable leather jacket.

Again I have used the effect of black and

white throughout my music video to give it

continuance and also to let the audience have a

feel for the storyline that the video is

portraying instead of having effects on taking the concentration away

from the story itself.

The love letter is still the main prop, as its the main part of the

story itself. Also the female character is wearing a stylish

bag representing school; a way of carrying files and books

giving it more of a school feel.

The audience get a feel for the male character as

soon as he is shown; they automatically know the

love letter is for him as no other males are shown before this frame. The

audience also know that the story of the video is

based on the two characters shown.

The camera throughout the music video is hand

held which creates realism involving you in the video; feeling apart

of the story.

The setting for this frame has been filmed in a house; the female characters house. The

reason for this is to give it more of a story and to

let the audience see different sceneries, so

they don’t think the story is plain and

repetitive.

I have used a mid shot of the back of the female character letting the

audience feel as though they are following in her

footsteps. I then contrasted this and used another mid shot but this time showing the front of the character. The reason

for this is to let the audience have a glimpse of her emotions through her face expressions but at the same time creating

suspense as after this frame the camera angle goes back to behind the

character making the audience want to watch

more.

I pacifically used these camera angles because I wanted to let the audience feel the emotion and the journey the female character went through to find her teenage romance; this also relates

to the genre of the video portraying LOVE.

Black and white is used throughout my music video, again showing

continuance and letting the audience be able to

concentrate more on the story the video

unfolds rather than the effects it shows.

I have used a zoom in close up of the main

character showing the audience who she is and the emotions she

reveals.

The setting for this frame is on a bus

showing continuance of her journey to post the

love letter to her teenage romance.

Black and white effect used

throughout most of

the video; to draw more

attention to the

storyline.

Over the shoulder; zoom shot to let the audience be involved with the story letting them see what the text says. Also to fit in with

current codes and conventions of current music videos using this type of frame, using a mobile phone as one of the props.

Another prop I used was a mobile phone to show a way of contact; using

one of the most popular ways of contacting someone using technology.

Also stereotypically most teenagers use a mobile phone to contact people.

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

texts?

House style is seen throughout by using a

running theme of bold, black on my advert and digipack

and used white text to contrast against the black so it stands out to the audience.

House Style

I kept the house style running through my video by using the

effect black and white.

Christian Marley's album was a story unfolded and each song

represented a different time in his life. This is why I designed the digipack to be plain and simple but also to have a strong reason behind why it was created this

way.

The style of the digipack represents a photo album made up of what has happened to the artist in the past.

Hence the photo corners.

Christian Marley never appears in the videos but the videos are always created from his

perspective. The female character in this music video represents Christian as a teenager, the reason why I didn't use a male character to

represent him as I thought it appeal to a more varied target audience having a female character

represent him.

Current music videos representing a love story

stereotypically use a female character to represent the

main role of the video this is why my music video

conforms the current codes and conventions of current music videos in this genre.

How did you use media technologies in the

construction and research, planning and evaluation

stages?

To access the research I used a number of sources such

as the TV, Internet including YouTube and Facebook and popular

search engines, DVDs and CDs. From these sources I

was able to compare videos and get ideas for my

own music video.

Research

Construction

I used many programmes and products to construct my music

video and ancillary texts such as Adobe Photoshop, Premier Elements, digital camera,

computer and a video camera. Without these I wouldn't have

been able to produce such professional finished products.

Adobe Photoshop

Premier Elements

I used many constructed ways to plan my products. I sketched my storyboard,

digipack and advert onto paper as I felt my ideas were very original, I had the

option to use online storyboarding software but choose not to use it as I

preferred to have it first hand for further reference. I used a scanner to scan my sketches onto the computer. Popular

technology was used such as my mobile phone was used to text characters in my video to arrange times to meet to film my

video. Social networking websites such as Facebook was also used to arrange

meetings with characters using messages or chat.

Planning

I used many ways to get audience feedback for my finished products, such as: I uploaded my finished video onto YouTube so I would get more varied feedback as I did not know

the audience that were commenting. My video was also placed onto the VLE at school so other students could view my

video and I could view others. I also uploaded my ancillary texts and music video

onto a memory stick which made it more portable and accessible for people that don't

have access to the internet. I preferred using a memory stick rather than a DVD as it was easier to use and more handy when

showing people.

Evaluation

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

I uploaded my video onto YouTube this is because it

would give me varied feedback from different people. I also new that

YouTube was a popular social networking site and also one

of the most popular technologies in today's society alongside Facebook so I knew I

would get instant feedback.

Here is a link below to view my music video and comments on

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzZ8062ZoSY

YouTube feedback

I then got audience feedback from family members and

friends living close to me as some may not be able to

access YouTube. I saved my music video onto a memory stick and plugged it in to a

family computer for people to see. I preferred the memory stick as it was more portable than a DVD for example and

also it was easier to use.

From my audience feedback I have found that my video would have looked more professional if I used a tripod to

film my footage as my video was jumpy.

From family feedback I found that I maybe should have kept the whole video black and white instead of changing the ending of the video into colour as it would have gave

it more of a house style showing a running theme throughout.

I have also found that I could have shown more of the male character in the video instead of just at the end, as it

would of let the audience understand the story earlier on instead of at the end.