MEDIA EVALUATION

Dureshewar MauwozCandidate number: 6475

Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our music video mostly uses and develops the codes and conventions of real media products, however to some extent we do challenge some forms of real Media conventions. Firstly, most music videos contain a lot of performance but sometimes there are places where the artist isn’t singing. We’ve used this from existing music videos because we felt it is important that audiences see the artist’s facial expressions, as our song is extremely emotive. Music videos contain a lot of extreme close-ups and we’ve also used this because we felt that extreme close-ups are there to sell the artist and lure the viewers. We’ve also used mid-shots to establish the location and set the narrative. By using mid-shots we have challenged the media conventions as most music videos don’t use mid-shots as often as close-ups.

After doing research we made a list of all the music videos that had influenced us and two of those videos are; “The flood” by Cheryl Cole and “Rolling in the deep” by Adele. Generally, normal music videos contain more than one artist but we’ve challenged and developed this idea by using one artist. We’ve used one artist because I felt it was important to focus on the narrative and the concept of our music video.

However, we have used an additional actor who helped us be Tia’s (our artist) boyfriend but we tried our best not to focus too much on him. We’ve only used our second artist for pictures and then we’ve burnt those pictures in some of our shots to illustrate the separation between our artist and her boyfriend. Yet again, this is the part where we decided Tia will not be performing because it builds up on the emotions. By not using our second actor too much, we’ve challenged the conventions of some music videos such as, Enrique Iglesias “Addicted”. Such music videos use other actors in their shot to make their main artists stand out and to sell their image.

I have also watched Arabic music videos in order to influence me; the main music video that has influenced me massively is “Broken Angle” by Arash and Helena. This video interested me the most because the genre, style and form of this music video were similar to product.

The main part which influenced me was at the start when the female artist was on the floor with pictures of her and her partner around her. This shot was extremely powerful and emotive, that is why I wanted to use something similar as that. However, as a group we had decided to develop this idea further. We developed the whole idea by having our artist lay down near a fireplace instead of an empty room with two candles which she would use to burn the pictures that were there. We wanted to burn the picture to symbolise that their relationship has ended; so again this links with the narrative. We also placed the guitar to show that she is still waiting for him to return, in other words she’s not ready to end the relationship.

Another concept which we’re used is a candle scene from “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri where the main concept is associated with candles. This whole idea was Sarah’s and we all went along with it because in my opinion this scene was our best shot. We’ve used that shot because we all thought that shot could express the artist’s inner feelings. Also, other music videos contain as aspect of glamour which makes the MV unique. This is what we wanted in our video; to have some aspect which audiences can remember and relate it to our video. The form and style of that particular candle shot is really different to other MV’s and we’ve used this because the concept links to the type of genre of our song.

The window scene from “The Flood” by Cheryl Cole has also influenced us, we’ve used the window scene to express the loneliness and depression of our artist and we wanted to show this in a few seconds. So that’s why we haven’t used the shot for longer than 2 seconds because when editing, I felt that it’s better to use a small part to lure the audiences rather than dragging it on. I do agree that our version of that shot was not as powerful as Cheryl Cole’s but it did work effectively and at the end we decided to use that particular shot as a cut-away.

Most music videos contain a lot of random cut-aways to interest the audience and sometimes to confuse them. Some music videos try to confuse their audiences because they feel that the audience will watch the video over and over again until they have understood it and that keeps them interested in the whole concept- so they try to find out the narrative of the song. In a way this also spreads the word of mouth, for example, if one person is interested in the randomness of the song then they will be talking to other people about it. “Born this way” by Lady Gaga is a prime example of how music videos can go to extremes for their audiences.

As a group, at first we decided that we wanted to create a music video like that but we chose a different type of genre to work around. Our music video does contain these extra cut-aways but the difference is that they are not extremely random; we especially chose these cut-aways that represent the narrative and genre of our song. As we have looked in to Goodwin’s theory which states the linkage between lyrics and visuals in music video and this is what we have applied to our music video. Keeping in mind the Goodwin’s theory, our cut-aways are not random because we have made this linkage. For example, the different coloured love heart, the house and the couple’s products together in the toilet these all link in with the genre and narrative of our music video.

All the scenes that are done in a house were mainly influenced by “Make you feel my Love” by Adele. “Make you feel my Love” is recorded in one location and it also has the same genre and narrative as our music video. We have challenged this convention by using more than one location for our MV.

We were really influenced by the apartment scene in that song so we developed that idea by using a bedroom, bathroom and staircase shot. The concept of our video was that our artist is going to return home after a long time and she will be going to each home and remembering their times together. We’ve used a guitar in these shots, well mainly the stairs because he has left the guitar behind and it’s a way of Tia remembering him.

So overall, as a group we’ve work very well together in researching existing music videos and searching the right concepts and ideas that work well with our music video. We have challenged some forms of media conventions but mostly we’ve used and developed ideas from existing MV in order to create our final piece. To promote our final piece we have created social networking sites such as, Twitter, Facebook, Official website pages and Youtube sites. This is another concept which is similar to any other artist as they also use social networking sites to produce and distribute their music across to people. As social networking is in place, it is easier for new artists such as, Tia to find her target audience/fans and promote her image.

Q2) How effective is the combination of the main project and ancillary tasks?

The combination of my main project and the ancillary tasks work very well together. For the ancillary tasks I have created an album cover which will contain a poster and I have also made a separate poster which is posted on the website as well. These texts are created to sell the artist’s image and to advertise the music video. The image that I have used for the album cover is from the music video itself and I have used that particular image so that best parts of our music video are captured. Whilst creating it I have also applied effects to the picture to make it stand out and to lure the audience. I have created the album cover in such a way that it looks really effective and it combines very well with the music video. For the album cover I have been influenced by Demi Lovato, Adele and Christina Perri. These artists have influenced me because their album cover really stands out and their image is similar to Tia so therefore I created my album cover about them. I have also created a poster and the picture that I have used for that does not reflect the music video. I have done this purposely to show and sell the other side of the artist’s image which reflects on her personal life.

As a group we have created many other ancillary texts as well as social networking sites. Firstly, we all created Twitter, Facebook and MySpace for Tia so that other people can interact with the artist. This is also a chance for fan/friends to view Tia’s professional life such as her tour dates, news and events and many more. As a group we have also created an official website page for Tia where fans can keep track of what the artist is doing or planning to do. As most artists have official website pages we also felt that it was important to create one for Tia.

Q3) what have you learnt from audience feedback?

During our production and planning, as a group get made a list of all the names we wanted for our artist and then we asked 10 people for their opinion. After knowing what our target audience wanted our artist to be call we created graphs to illustrate the research (all this is posted on the main group blog). Then according to our audiences we agreed on the artist name so from this our first expression was that audience feedbacks are very helpful.

Later on the production when we were half way through editing, we did a second audience feedback session. This second feedback session was mainly our peer group members watching our unfinished piece and giving us feedback on how well they think our concept is. The feedback we received was not great but most people said they liked our idea and the type of shots we have used. However, some people also said that we still needed to work on the lip synchronization and we needed to space out our shots. There was some minor criticism which we were not worried about because they helped us make our video even better.

After we had finished our music video I did a last audience feedback assessment for our audiences. The feedback I received is on the blog. There is some amazing feedback but some also said that the lip synchronization is still not perfect. However, overall the rating we received for our music video was 8 and as a group we are extremely pleased with our work. Overall, I’ve learnt that audience feedbacks are extremely helpful but there are times when people’s opinions put you off.

Q4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Everything associated with our project is to do with media technologies. The research that we have carried out is from the internet which is also part of digital technology. I’ve used Google to research about record companies, artists such as, Akon, Demi Lovato, Adele, Christina Perri, Cady Groves, and many more. I have also researched their official website pages and their social networking sites; I have also researched on theories such as Voyeurism and the male gaze. Youtube and Twitter were very useful in researching for similar artists who influenced us to create our music video and to create star image.

During the planning, I used iTunes which was also very helpful because that’s where we downloaded our song from in order to use it in our music video. I have also used Microsoft Word for designing my questionnaire, I have used Microsoft PowerPoint create my star image presentation. I have used the scanner to upload most of my work in order to post it on my blog. We have also used a Cannon Camera for taking pictures backstage while our production was in process.

During our production, we used a HD Sony camera for our filming and which also meant our video was going to be digital. Along side the camera, we used a tripod and lights for a better affect. When we were finished filming, we uploaded all our footage on iMovie and then transferred it on to Final Cut. I’ve used Final Cut for the first time therefore I found it difficult to use it at first but after 3 editing sessions I knew what I was doing. However, the best part of using Final Cut was that it contained lots of different effects which helped to make a better music video than on iMovie. It also was easier to change lighting on Final Cut due to the colour corrector.

Photoshop was also used, I’ve used it for the album cover and the posters because Photoshop gives a full quality image and there are lots of different things you can do in order to get a high quality image. The pictures were edited by changing the background and adding words for the album cover and song names. Here again we used the internet to create our blog, youtube, twitter and facebook pages. Here we could also upload the latest pictures, news, videos and gossip about our artist.