What did you learn from your audience feedback?

For my audience feedback, I showed 5 people my main task and subsidiary tasks, and asked them 6 questions:

• Was there a controlled use of camerawork?
• Was there a variety of shot types?
• Was there close attention to the use of mise-en-scene?
• Is the narrative clear?
• Do the images work well with the sound?
• Would the product as a whole make you want to buy/download the album?

Each question was given a rating out of 5, and participants were allowed to provide additional comments related to the questions. Here is an example of some positive audience feedback:

Was there a controlled use of camerawork? 4/5
Was there a variety of shot types? 4/5
Was there close attention to the use of mise-en-scene? 5/5
Is the narrative clear? 3/5
Do the images work well with the sound? 4/5
Would the product as a whole make you want to buy/download the album? 4/5

"The use of the dark red filters and the run-down urban setting adds to the bleak atmosphere of the song and the video, and I like the way the subsidiary tasks all relate to one another, although I think that there could be more emphasis on the narrative. However, I think it is a good accompaniment of the song and it is convincing enough to make me want to buy the album."

Feedback from the other 4 participants was similar, with comments about the use of mise-en-scene and editing techniques adding to the atmosphere of the video being frequent. I agreed with this feedback, but I disagree with their view on the narrative, as I wanted the video to balance both performance and narrative aspects and not have one becoming dominant.

When creating the video, the Uses and Gratifications theory was in mind as I was looking to entertain the audience, and I wanted to make a video for an audience that wasn't influenced by the power of media and make a video that they could connect with. I also considered demographics, hence for the questionnaire I asked people aged 16-18, as this was the age group I was targeting and that I felt could relate most to the video. From what I gathered, my audience were entertained by my video, and that they could definitely connect with the main character and the themes of conflict, teenage angst and boredom. These themes and the purposes of the video were also part of my preferred reading, so I am happy that I encoded the video so that the audience could decode it in the way that I wanted them to.

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

When I started conducting my research and creating both tasks, I considered that there must be consistency and unity, otherwise the audience won't be able to relate each text to the main product: the song itself. Therefore, I had to create links between the texts and maintain characteristics which the audience can identify. The most obvious connections are the darker colours used in both the video and photos, the poorer background setting which is targeted towards the working class audience, and the clothes that I am wearing. The fact that I stand out from the background in my photos suggests the artist is the most important thing in the photos and  makes the link between the video, the digipak and the advert more obvious. In terms of the digipak and advertisement, I have used the same bold-style font and black-and-white filter for the images that I have chosen. I believe that all the darker colours I have used, whether that may be for fonts or effects, reinforces the fact that the album is quite bleak and that the bleak atmosphere runs all the way through the promotional campaign. The record label logo also appears on both in order to promote themselves and the artists on that label. Synergy (the way in which the product is sold in different forms - e.g film outlets can produce D.V.D's, soundtracks, and video games and make a profit from one product) is important in relation to the task as each text is promotional, and attempts to persuade the audience into buying the song or album. If the links are there, it should enable the song/album to sell more copies, which is the primary target. I believe that all the tasks are synergistic to good effect.

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

Technology was crucial in my coursework, both in my research and my construction of my main and ancillary tasks, and without it I think that it would be pretty much impossible to complete both tasks. In this post, I am going to talk about which pieces of technology and programs I used, when I was most dependent on them, and what I learned that I can apply in the future.

Macs were important as they were what I used in class for every stage of the coursework. One program in particular that I think was more important than any other was Final Cut Pro, which I used to piece together and edit my video. I also used it to create the short film that I made at the beginning of the unit. I had never used it before and found it difficult to use to begin with, but after a couple of days I found it easy to get to grips with, and overall I ended up enjoying the editing process. Useful tools included the blade tool, which could be used to 'cut' clips from scenes I had filmed into parts, and the effects and transitions tools, which I used to create  The only problem  I found with the program was the uploading of the video - I didn't like the fact it took me several times to successfully upload my film and I grew rather impatient with it.

Pages and word documents were used to create my ancillary tasks. I was already familiar with these programs so I found it extremely easy to work my way around and make use the tools. Pixlr was another important piece of technology, as I used it to edit my pictures for the ancillary tasks, and one that I had used for my AS coursework. Even though it is free of charge, it provided everything I needed to make my pictures look as professional as possible, which is why I went back and decided to use it again.

I used technology in every stage of the coursework, but mainly in the filming and editing stage where I think it was the most important. It was also important in the research stage, in which I used a large variety, including the internet and T.V, but I also used physical texts such as magazines and C.D covers to conduct information for my chosen tasks. I also had prior knowledge of the task matter, so that came in handy when conducting my research, meaning that I could make less use of technology.

I acquired lots of new skills during the coursework, such as using Final Cut Pro to good effect and using the camera in a professional manner, and improved on the things that I knew and what I already could do with technology, such as using it for valuable research, which I could apply in the future and in other tasks.

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

In this blog post, I will be going through some of the features of my music video and the conventions that I either developed or challenged.

The music video often follows a set of conventions, which varies depending on the genre of the song. Indie music videos have their fair share of conventions, in terms of camerawork, editing, and mise-en-scene. A lot of indie videos used to be performance based, but now videos are a combination of both, which is something that I have tried to do in my video.

A lot of the focus is also on mise-en-scene, as I believe it helps create the mood of the video, and I have tried to do this in my video through my use of setting, a "run-down" housing estate, which I think represents the character's (myself) despair and loneliness. I also think that because I am the main character, the more attention I will receive because of it. I was also particular about the type of clothes that I was wearing. In indie music videos, the bands or artists are represented to be quite fashionable and "cool", so I wore something which I felt was representative of that.

Another feature of my music video was that I used a variety of shots, but the types of shots that I believe were the most significant were the close-ups that I used, as I think they capture the emotion and establishes an interaction between the audience and the artist. I also think the longer shots were used effectively, because they helped to capture how isolated he is and how separated he is from other people.

In terms of editing, I didn't stray away from the standard form of editing for music videos (montage). I felt that would seem too much like a short film otherwise, and I wanted to have the performance aspect in my video also. Another common characteristic that I noticed was that a lot of videos use filtering and colour correction, which I used in my video to create a darker atmosphere and an old-fashioned effect. I think that a varied use of transitions was unnecessary and inappropriate for my video, but I did use fades to open and close the video, as the song that I used doesn't start or end abruptly, especially towards the end where the song fades away.

The reason why I was almost totally conventional was because I feel that the target audience (working class, teenagers) would struggle to understand a non-conventional music video, where for example there would be no lip-syncing and the video would be chronologically correct. However I think that it isn't a problem because boundaries haven't been broken in the way that music videos are filmed and edited in a long time, and that it's near-impossible to create something that is 100% original today.

A2 Media Studies Music Video

This is the final video which I have created. The deconstruction will be included in the evaluation.

Subsidiary tasks

This is the digipak and magazine advertisement that I have created for my coursework alongside the music video. As stated in a previous post, I attempted to make a digipak and advert relative to the video, because they both aim to promote the product and the audience could make an instant connection if they saw either. I used the old photo filters on each of my pictures as I wanted to create something quite dark and gritty, and think that it compliments the song nicely. After doing some research, I added extra features to my back cover, such as the barcode, the name of the record label and links to the label and artist's website, so that the audience could discover more music from that artist or similar artists.

Front cover

Back cover

 Magazine advertisement