WILL EVALUATION

Will Morrison Ayton

Media product evaluation

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

Music videos are marketing strategies from different music labels that sell the audience their artist in a way that is both attractive and entertaining for the consumer. The main conventions of the music video are to promote the artist, create a brand, as well as promote brand new singles. Our group chose a music video of the indie genre, and initially we looked at different examples in this field, such as the Arctic monkeys, Snow patrol and The Kooks. This research enabled us to identify the conventions within this music genre. Some of the conventions related to the indie/rock genre include performance based video, often audience based, lyric to visual relationship often strong, which can be contradictory or amplified. Our group used some of these conventions in order to enhance our music production. One of them included the performance based aspect to it. This is evident with the band performing to the screen, with lip syncing. Also, the instruments, such as guitar and drums, are used which furthermore reiterate this convention. A real media product in contrast would use lip syncing significantly more effectively and through the vast amounts of money being poured into the music industry, there would be an audience of more significance along with better lighting and sound. Real media products would show more literally the relationship between lyrics and visuals, as opposed to ours that challenges this form. Our music video is rather contradictory as it does not show this relationship clearly. We have developed normal conventions to an extent, this is shown through our green screen technique. By using green screen, it enabled our group to choose a location that we think related to the music video. As we have identified this location, it shows we have developed normal conventions of a location/setting and altered slightly. We chose the setting according to what we felt the music meant and signified.

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

There is a slight correspondence between our main product and our ancillary tasks however it is one that could have been developed more effectively. They combine well as the magazine advert as well as the Digipak shows the band members, displaying both the band performing as well as some posing pictures. Some of the indie genre elements are also evident and come across in our ancillary task. The mise en scene of the indie clothing is a factor that is obvious in both. The composition of the Digipak consists largely on similar photos set within a notion of looking such as camera film. However there is a difference, as from one side there are stills of the band posing, and the reverse side shows the band performing. Secondly, the magazine advert review is one from NME and their reviews consistently identify indie/rock music. The genre of our video is indie/rock so this bares some resemblance to the ancillary product. The concepts behind our final media product were not as evident as our group would have planned initially during the planning stage; therefore there are many differences between the product and the final ancillary tasks. In relation to the audience, there is no real combination between our main product and ancillary tasks as I feel that the Digipak has a very formal and mature style to it, whereas on the other hand the main product would appeal to a predominantly younger audience. There is a slight comparison between our music video and ancillary texts, however there is a very clear combination within the two ancillary tasks, the Digipak and the magazine advert. The colour and style of our advert is very similar to the Digipak. The very under toned colour, which does not immediately jump out at you, is evident in both ancillary tasks. The use of one of the Digipak pictures used as the main picture of the magazine advert is evident, and the subtle, mature style we have chosen is clear between both ancillary tasks. The whole package portrays the artists in a mature light and as sophisticated as our approach to it was down to earth and subtle and nothing that jumps out in your face.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

On receiving both critical and positive feedback from the rest of the group we were able to draw conclusions as to where our group went wrong and also what was positive and worked to our advantage. On receiving blog feedback early on in the construction stage, it was helpful in identifying weaknesses as well as reinforce positive ideas. One of the criticisms we faced was that there was not a strong relationship between lyrics and visuals. This is clear in our music video as we were not so intent on showing this relationship clearly, instead we listened to the music and jotted down notes that we felt related to the music itself. I can understand how this approach will not always work and therefore accept this criticism and in future will use it to improve the product. One of the conventions of a music video, identified through the Goodwin criteria, is showing intertextual reference. This is something we missed out and we have now learnt from this criticism that it can be used to expand and improve the music video. On the other hand, positive feedback given to us by the rest of the group has enabled reinforcement of our ideas and has highlighted our strengths in certain areas, such as different shot types with each band member shown individually as well as combined within the group. Feedback on the rough cut was very helpful for our group to enable us to make alterations to improve our product. In relation to the camera work, the feedback was positive, saying ‘there’s no shaking of the camera’ and the ‘shots are good’. In terms of editing, the transitions were successful and there was a good use of editing at the start. The music video fitted the conventions of the indie genre as it was a performance based video. Some of the criticism was that we needed sound, which we could not get on final cut in time, more footage, more variety of shots and also we needed to use actual instruments rather than pretend ones. These criticism were very helpful feedback before we started our final cut. There was mainly positive feedback from the group concerning our ancillary task. Firstly, the use of our band playing showed good consistency and the back of the gateway CD album was very effective and attractive. AS well as this the Polaroid’s were very effective. The criticisms included that one of the fold out’s was rather bland and boring, and a bar code could have been added for greater effect. However we received largely positive feedback which reinforced our own thoughts on the ancillary tasks.

4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,

planning and evaluation stages?

Before, during and after the production of our media product we used many different media technologies to enhance the music video. The duration of the process required many programmes, such as Photoshop and Final Cut along with websites and media equipment. Firstly, throughout the duration of our research stage, YouTube was an important technology for us and this element of research enabled our group to develop understanding of other music videos that corresponded with the indie genre. We identified Vampire Weekend’s A Punk as a video that fitted our genre of music, which we could embed onto our blog enabling us to evaluate it and draw comparisons between its conventions and our own conventions. During the construction stage of our media production, we used Final Cut Express to edit the music video. By using certain shot transitions we could use variety and it was also largely helpful for cutting out unwanted footage efficiently. Constructing the Digipak and the magazine advertisement required the use of Photoshop, and the ability to use a range of filters and colour variations, enabled a more effective final product. Blogger.com is another website that has proved advantageous as it has allowed our group to evaluate other work as well as exhibit our construction stage of the media production. Blogger is a new technology which impacts on film makers work. The general availability to post comments, other videos as well as feedback is vastly important and the accessibility to the whole group has proved very helpful. All the way through the media industry, from production, distribution to exhibition, new media technologies play a huge role in film making. Furthermore, the impact of these new technologies on amateur film makers makes it easier and more accessible to create their own films. The range in software and equipment available through these technologies has been adapted through the modern era and one that is beneficial to film makers across the spectrum.