1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?There are many different genres of music. The style of a musical piece distinguishes what genre the song belongs too. Our chosen song is Fat Lip by Sum 41 and is placed in the genre of Pop Rock. Music videos and genres tend to have a distinctive relationship, with most videos under a certain genre having similar conventions. In our project we have generally followed the conventions of a typical Pop Rock music video. We did this because we felt it was more appropriate to follow them instead of challenging them as it may of looked unprofessional if we chose to challenge the convention and did not pull off the authenticity of a Pop Rock band playing away from their usual image.

Conventions of a Rock music videoHere are some examples of how we have followed conventions

of other Rock music videos:

Band Instruments

Bowling for Soup -Girl all the Bad Guys want

Props

(skateboard, etc.)

OPM – Heaven is a Halfpipe

Lip Syncing

The All-American Rejects – The Last Song

Clothing

Sum 41 – In Too DeepAnarchy

Blink 182 - The Rock Show

Conventions of a Rock music videoBand Instruments We followed most conventions of similar music videos by including two guitarists and a

drummer. We have situated the guitarists in the foreground and the drummer in the background which is the layout of a typical Pop Rock music video.

Props The props we have used are also seen in other music videos, including skateboards,

instruments, alcohol, hats, etc. Using these similar props helps to resemble the style of the music video in a chosen genre.

Lip Syncing Generally all music videos include lip syncing with the genre Pop Rock being no

different, so it was important to include lip syncing of the band singing the lyrics of the song.

Clothing The typical clothing in Pop Rock videos are bright coloured shirts and usually shorts,

we have followed this convention with the band wearing both shorts and coloured shirts.

Anarchy Anarchy is included in some of the music videos in the Pop Rock genre, we have

included this aspect in our music video in some places to give a representation of the bands personality.

2. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?Mise en Scene

The location of our music video is in a large modern suburban detached family house. The house is aesthetically pleasing as there are many unique areas to it such as; the swimming pool room, the spacious corridors and main rooms, also the front garden and driveway. The colour scheme of the house is mainly white. This sets a blank canvas and allows is to create whatever setting we like.

We decided that we were going to set the band shots in the hallway of the house. This worked because the blank walls allowed us to create whatever feel we liked. We decided to use beer cans to give the feel of a party. This was successful because the genre of music involves partying and beer.

We mimed the band shots but managed to get the playing in sync with the music. The way the band actually performed is very fitting as there is lots of jumping and head banging. This is typical of many videos we studied to come up with ideas for our work.

We also used a skate park as a location as this is very punky which also ties into the genre of music.

Cinematography

For our video we used a variety of camera shots. We used certain shots to create a certain effect. This includes; high angle shots to create the feel of dominance or lack of dominance. This is effective because dominance plays a big part within the genre of music that my video is on. We used panned shots to give a wider view of what is going on. This is good because it gives the audience a wider sense of what is going on.

We did lots of close ups to emphasise certain objects such as beer cans and instruments. These are important objects because they give the viewer the outline of the theme of the video which is a party and music.

We did close ups on faces also because this keeps the audience interested. Also it allows the audience to get an idea of the band’s image. This would appeal to the audience who stylise themselves on the band.

Editing

We used editing techniques that we have viewed in other music videos within the same genre. This gave the product a professional feel and also meant it was obvious what genre we were working with.

Due to the fact we did a music video, we needed to edit in a way so that the shots fit ted in with the music playing behind. This was difficult as we had to move each shot into a particular place and time throughout the music. This was especially true for the shots in which people were singing or playing an instrument. We had to move the shot so it was in perfect sync with the lyrics or music.

We also kept the editing quite simple so it didn’t begin to look cheap or un professional. We did use fade outs and ins in some places but we made sure it was necessary. We also used slow motion when the music slowed down but this worked because it was a contrast to the other editing when the music was also contrasting.

We used quick fire editing during the section leading up to the final chorus. This is fitting because the music is fast, therefore the editing is suitable if it is also fast. This appeals to our audience because is gives quite a punky anarchic feel.

These 4 shots are part of the quick fire editing. They come one after the other in a time space of around 1 second. This is repeated around 4 times.

This is a section in which we synchronised the video to fit with the lyrics. The lyrics for this particular section are “I don’t wanna waste my time!”

3. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM OUR AUDIENCE

FEEDBACK?

Survey

We took a survey to find out what kind of music that our target audience (teenagers) listened to. We found out that the majority of people preferred rock music as opposed to minorities who preferred dance and hip-hop music. This rock music ranged from artists such as Oasis and Rage Against The Machine to blink-182.

From this information we decided to base our product around a song called “Fat Lip” by the rock band Sum 41.

We followed the conventions of other rock music videos, which our target audience preferred, to create our product.

Audience Feedback After showing our finished product to our target audience we

constructed a survey to receive feedback. In the survey we asked:

1. Did you enjoy the music video?

2. Did it appear professional?

3. What would you rate the product on a scale of 1-10?

4. What is your favourite part of the product?

5. Does it remind you of any other music videos which you may have seen? If yes, then which ones?

6. What conventions of other rock music videos did you notice were present within our product?

7. Was there anything that you did not like within our product?

8. Does the video appear well edited?

9. Does the music appear synchronised to on-screen actions?

10. How would you describe the music video in a sentence?

Results1. Did you enjoy the music video?

100% of responses said that they did.

2. Did it appear professional?

90% of responses said yes.

3. What would you rate the product on a scale of 1-10?

We averaged a score of 8/10.

Results4. What is your favourite part of the product?

The most favourite parts of the product for our target audience was tied between the shot of the back-flip and the final shot where the hat is thrown onto the camera.

5. Does it remind you of any other rock music videos which you may have seen? If yes, then which ones?

50 % of responses said no, but others said that it reminded them of the real Sum 41 – Fat Lip music video. Some said that it reminded them of videos by Slipknot and Blink-182, who are rock bands. Therefore, we were successful in this category.

Results6. What conventions of other rock music videos did you notice were

present within our product?

80% of responses noted the use of mise en scene, such as band instruments and clothing, as being a convention of a rock music video which we utilised. Other responses highlighted our use of skateboarding and alcohol shots.

7. Was there anything that you did not like within our product?

100% of responses said no.

Results8. Does the video appear well edited?

100% of responses said yes.

9. Does the music appear synchronised to on-screen actions?

100% of responses said yes.

10. How would you describe the music video in a sentence?

The product has been described as “professional and related well to song choice”. Many responses claimed that they enjoyed it for its party atmosphere.

What have we learnt from this feedback?We have learnt that:

Fans of rock music prefer music videos which represent the band as anarchists.

Our target audience (teenagers who enjoy rock music) enjoy shots which are dynamic. For example: the shot of the back-flip and the final shot where the hat is thrown onto the camera.

Our product is similar to music videos created by Blink-182, Sum 41 and Slipknot.

Our product appears professional to the majority of people. The use of mise en scene, such as instruments, alcohol, skateboards

and clothing are important in defining the genre of a music video. Our target audience enjoy music videos with a party atmosphere. Synchronisation and good editing is integral in creating a product

which appears to be professional.

4. HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH,

PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

This project has required us to learn and adapt to several different media technologies in order for us to gain completion to a high standard. For example digital photography, desk top publishing and blogging were technologies used during the project. Being a programme that none of our group had experience in using, we all had to adapt to using Adobe Premiere and learn how to use the different features and special effects that it has available. For example one of the main aspects of this programme that we had to adapt to was matching the pace of the video along with the pace of the audio. This was a hard skill to acquire because it had to be both visually perfect and synchronised with the sound. In addition to that we used the special effect of slow motion within the video. This again was a new skill that we had to acquire when learning how to use the software. Adobe Photoshop was another piece of software that we had to use during our project in order to create the digipack.

Some of the members of our group were already comfortable when using the software due to previous experience from the AS coursework, this enabled us to complete this task quickly and efficiently. The other media technology that we used within the project was the use of uploading our work to blogger.com, this made it easier to view all of our finished work in the same place and also made the project look more professional .

This is an example of one of our uploaded pieces of work to the blog, this is the research slideshow that we produced at the beginning of the project.

This is a print screen of Adobe Premiere, the piece of software that we used in order to create the video. We uploaded individual shots and audio track then edited each shot and piece of audio into our final product.

This is an example of one of the ancillary texts that we had to produce as a part of the digipack. This is a poster advertising the release of the single, and was produced on adobe Photoshop.