Thursday, 23 April 2015
Evaluation Question 3
The A focus group was set up again to have a discussion about our music video and listen to the feedback, both positive and negative. This was done so that we could receive reviews to see what was done well and things that we could do to improve our video in the future.
Our target audience said that:
"Good story line, strange effects"
"Odd effects, weird scenes"
"Good video overall, however I do not see the use of the ripple effect"
"Good video effects/good acting/good special effects"
"Text worded well on the screen"
Message from my school's PA Mrs Gunter giving her review for the music video.
What do you feel needs improvement?
It was very clear that the flaw with our video was the special effect. Even though the target audience said they liked special effects, I feel that we attempted to use too much effect, so in the process it kind of effected the video in a bad way.
What did you like about the video and why?
From the feedback each audience member had different likes. The main liking however was the story line and the special effect in which was used. The group also said that they felt that the story line corresponded with the lyrics, which was good because we wanted to go with Andrew Goodwin's third and fourth theory.
What were your favourite parts and why?
The feedback for the video was quite good. Some stated that they liked the fact that it was teenage based because they felt that they would be able to relate to the fact that it was in school/college and they are still in school. This was good because we wanted the video to be able to relate to the target audience and we did just that.
What sort of image do you think we have given to the artist?
The target audience said that they felt that the artist was represented in a loved up and relationship type way. This was good because we wanted to change the image of Rihanna and Chris Brown to a more RnB type of way because the song clarified that they wanted to declare their love and it was nobody's business.
Would you buy this album as a result and why?
The group stated that they felt they could relate and could understand the story line, therefore they would buy the album.
Due to the response in which the target audience gave back, this showed that the music video was a success but it could do with some improvements.
I've learnt that even though when in the planning stages of the project, we tried to collect as much feedback as possible so that the video could be what the target audience liked. However due to this, we tried to make it something that the audience would like and therefore allows that thought to have a majority influence on our work. Having influence from the target audience wasn't bad because they were our selling point but we should also have our own ideas as a main feature because even though our audience might like a certain style of work, our ideas could have also impacted on them.
In our free time, we could have went out and shot different scenes that would have suited the concept of our video, for example, we could have went out to the cinema and filmed it, go out to eat together, rather than just simply having us walk around or sitting at a table talking, there were much more romantic and relationship-like activities that could have been captured on camera. I felt doing this would have made the storyline a bit more romantic and therefore more realistic; even though our storyline was said to be quite good, I feel there was room for improvement.
Because our knowledge on editing wasn't good, we weren't able to do certain aspects of the music video to its full potential, for example, we weren't able to match the lip syncing to the song correctly, even though it wasn't too noticeable, the fact that we weren't able to do this showed that we needed to learn more and improve upon our editing skills. Due to the lack of access to a more better editing software, the requests in which the target audience asked for weren't all able to be carried out, for example, they asked for SFX effects, but my group only had access to windows movie maker so these tools weren't available. If they were available I feel that our final product would have been of much better quality.
What I like about the feedback however, was the fact that the audience felt that the storyline was easy to follow. This is good because in certain music videos there isn't really a concept behind it, but just there for the purpose of being there. So this meant that in the future when creating a music video, it is essential that I ensure that the storyline is understandable and that the audience will be able to follow.
Our target audience said that:
"Good story line, strange effects"
"Odd effects, weird scenes"
"Good video overall, however I do not see the use of the ripple effect"
"Good video effects/good acting/good special effects"
"Text worded well on the screen"
Message from my school's PA Mrs Gunter giving her review for the music video.
It was very clear that the flaw with our video was the special effect. Even though the target audience said they liked special effects, I feel that we attempted to use too much effect, so in the process it kind of effected the video in a bad way.
What did you like about the video and why?
From the feedback each audience member had different likes. The main liking however was the story line and the special effect in which was used. The group also said that they felt that the story line corresponded with the lyrics, which was good because we wanted to go with Andrew Goodwin's third and fourth theory.
What were your favourite parts and why?
The feedback for the video was quite good. Some stated that they liked the fact that it was teenage based because they felt that they would be able to relate to the fact that it was in school/college and they are still in school. This was good because we wanted the video to be able to relate to the target audience and we did just that.
What sort of image do you think we have given to the artist?
The target audience said that they felt that the artist was represented in a loved up and relationship type way. This was good because we wanted to change the image of Rihanna and Chris Brown to a more RnB type of way because the song clarified that they wanted to declare their love and it was nobody's business.
Would you buy this album as a result and why?
The group stated that they felt they could relate and could understand the story line, therefore they would buy the album.
Due to the response in which the target audience gave back, this showed that the music video was a success but it could do with some improvements.
I ensured that the audience feedback was consisting of a cross section of society and was a niche market. This was because I didn't want the feedback to seem too biased and seem more appropriate because if we all had people who would have the same ideas and thoughts about the video, I wouldn't be able to identify the areas in which needed to be improved and would best benefit me in the future when creating another video. For example, I ensured that I also had a mix of gender because if I didn't then I might have just gotten the more stereotypical dominant male responses, which in many cases would be sexism because the video wasn't only aimed at males, it was there to be aimed at both parties and to receive the non-biased feedback.
When it comes to theories, I feel that the feedback best suited 'the negotiated reading' by Stuart Hall, who stated that 'the reader partly believes the code and broadly accepts the preferred reading, but sometimes modifies it in a way which reflects their own position, experiences and interest'. I feel this theory suits the feedback because even though the target audience stated that they liked the video, they also referred some improvements in which we could do to make the video more likable and look more professional.
When it comes to theories, I feel that the feedback best suited 'the negotiated reading' by Stuart Hall, who stated that 'the reader partly believes the code and broadly accepts the preferred reading, but sometimes modifies it in a way which reflects their own position, experiences and interest'. I feel this theory suits the feedback because even though the target audience stated that they liked the video, they also referred some improvements in which we could do to make the video more likable and look more professional.
What have I learnt from the feedback?
I've learnt that even though when in the planning stages of the project, we tried to collect as much feedback as possible so that the video could be what the target audience liked. However due to this, we tried to make it something that the audience would like and therefore allows that thought to have a majority influence on our work. Having influence from the target audience wasn't bad because they were our selling point but we should also have our own ideas as a main feature because even though our audience might like a certain style of work, our ideas could have also impacted on them.
In our free time, we could have went out and shot different scenes that would have suited the concept of our video, for example, we could have went out to the cinema and filmed it, go out to eat together, rather than just simply having us walk around or sitting at a table talking, there were much more romantic and relationship-like activities that could have been captured on camera. I felt doing this would have made the storyline a bit more romantic and therefore more realistic; even though our storyline was said to be quite good, I feel there was room for improvement.
Because our knowledge on editing wasn't good, we weren't able to do certain aspects of the music video to its full potential, for example, we weren't able to match the lip syncing to the song correctly, even though it wasn't too noticeable, the fact that we weren't able to do this showed that we needed to learn more and improve upon our editing skills. Due to the lack of access to a more better editing software, the requests in which the target audience asked for weren't all able to be carried out, for example, they asked for SFX effects, but my group only had access to windows movie maker so these tools weren't available. If they were available I feel that our final product would have been of much better quality.
What I like about the feedback however, was the fact that the audience felt that the storyline was easy to follow. This is good because in certain music videos there isn't really a concept behind it, but just there for the purpose of being there. So this meant that in the future when creating a music video, it is essential that I ensure that the storyline is understandable and that the audience will be able to follow.
Evaluation Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Keeping the styling behind both projects was important because it represented the style behind the artist, therefore this would ensure that the target audience would realise that the product was from that artist and without any confusion, thereby this is known as a 'Brand Identity'. Therefore I feel this was effective because combining the media products mean that the artists target audience would recognise the artists work.
A prime example of this would be English Grime Group: Boy Better Know or simply BBK.
As you can see their albums/mixtape all have a similar type of font style and this would allow their target audience to recognise the groups work.
In order to crate a brand identity, my group and I ensured that certain aspects were included within the digipak, music video and the magazine/digipak advert. So these aspects were things such as the colors in which were going to be added in each product, so that was blue and red; these colours can be seen on the digipak, the music video via clothes and the advert.
I ensured that the name of the record label appeared on the digipak in which I created for our group on the back of the digipak. Doing this allowed the audience to see that they have been produced by the same company. This is also effective because when searching for an artist, the audience tends to start by looking at the record label that represents the artist. So keeping the record label on all the media products meant that if any of the products are purchased, then the audience will simply just look on the record label website to see if there is any new projects out by that artist.
The video is set outdoors, but its at places in which you'd expect to see couples hang out, e.g. cafe, park, library, lake, etc. This I felt corresponded with the clouds that are on the digipak because the clouds are shaped in the shape of love hearts. This is a continual theme that I personally felt I wanted to be on the products to ensure that it is clear that they are related. Therefore if the audience was meant to see that specific cloud pattern on an product, the first idea that would appear in their head is that that product is from Rihanna.
Fonts
I felt that the artists font should be equivalent to the products logo because the artist is as much as a selling point as the product. Saying this I ensured that the artist name is in a big font just like the name of the product, This was because I wanted the audience to feel that all of the products were consistent, For example, if they see the digipak in a shop somewhere, they may have recognised it from a magazine or even on online advert.
Colour Scheme
When planning our projects, we had the idea to have a similar colour scheme throughout the video, digipak and the advertisement for the product. The main colours were blue, white and black, which stereotypical when you think of RnB based projects.
Doing this helps the audience recognise that the projects are all RnB based, therefore if they aren't apart of the target audience they will be aware. I also felt that this would allowed the audience to see the consistency throughout and hopefully convince them to purchase our product or watch the video.
Lighting
Lighting
When it concerns the RnB genre within music, you expect to have either special effects or to have a colourful scenery.Therefore we ensured that we did just that by adding the traditional blue, red and white colours into the video and I felt that this helps to convey the favoured romance and love meaning to the audience.
Digipak
The digipak had influence from the Nas album 'Illmatic' where he had a young Nas on the album cover, so I thought that I'd add too kids in love who would represent both Rihanna and Chris Brown, therefore it would have an effect on the audience.
The digipak had influence from the Nas album 'Illmatic' where he had a young Nas on the album cover, so I thought that I'd add too kids in love who would represent both Rihanna and Chris Brown, therefore it would have an effect on the audience.
The CD's digipak was closely linked to the music video because the front cover on the digipak represented love and it also had the Compton, LA background due to both the artists bad boy/bad girl nature. The inside of the digipak had clouds in the shapes of hearts, which to many can have a polysemic meaning and we added the traditional blue to the digipak to relate to the narrative of the music video.
The use of the two little kids on the front cover looking like they are going to get married is yet again to represent the sense of love. When the audience sees this it will then attract them straight away because this will allow them to know that the products is going to be RnB related because if it was a rock album you would stereotypically expect a dark/horrific theme. Saying this it would therefore inform those who are not the target audience to realise what kind of product it is.
The digipak and the digipak advert had influence from the Rihanna 'Loud' digipak. For that specific digipak she had roses which represent love, so I thought that I would make it a bit more clearer rather than having a polysemic meaning, so I created a clouding background that would represent the love between the characters. The Compton background was influenced from the Chris Brown music video 'Don't Think They Know'. In this video you see Chris in a more stereotypical rap video with the large groups and Gangster sides of Los Angeles, where you also see Chris wearing the notorious LA gang colours, the Crips (Blue) and the Bloods (Red).
Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use,develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our convention in our music video was narrative, which is common when it concerns music videos. The story lines will either relate to the music (Lyrics) or it doesn't.
With the music video, I wanted to ensure that the story line related to the lyrics for the song. Our narrative concept was of a couple who were thought to be in love but other than themselves, no one seemed to accept nor approve of the relationship. This was a easy scenario to make a video for and come up with a video that would relate to the lyrics.
A good example in my music video is 'Ain't nobody's business' as the couple walk through the hallway, they receive screws and dirty look from people who are watching and they ignore the stares and continue walking and talking.
Our video used theorist Andrew Goodwin's 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' as a contributor for our because it talks about narrative, band performance and that sometimes they are a mixture of two, sometimes even all the categories within music videos.
Due to our video being RnB based, the conventions were narrative and were linked to the lyrics and the video. This included fast cuts, the different camera effects and had typical lifestyle settings, e.g. college, restaurant, library, etc.
Within our video, we tried to add a range of special effects and had influence from 'Sledgehammer' by Peter Gabriel. This was done because we felt that it would interest our audience because they said they liked SFX special effects within their music videos, but due to our video being RnB/Pop based we ensured that there wasn't too much effects to ruin the concept of the video.
Doing this I felt that it allowed our audience to stay intact and engaged with our video because the 80s/90s is said to have made some of the best straight to the point music videos, so I personally felt we accomplished that.
I personally looked at previous Rihanna album covers, e.g. the Loud album, which in many cases had influence on our digipak because due to our artist representation being Rihanna, I felt that the digipak needed to be based off her or it wouldn't really be targeted at the correct target audience. Therefore I ensured that my digipak have a love based feel to it but it also had the style in which Rihanna has, but I also had to bare in mind that Chris Brown had to influence the product also, but due to both these artist having a bad boy/bad girl image in the media it was more easier to represent both parties. I then added a Compton, Los Angeles based background because across the world that part of LA is known to be drug, violence and gang related; this wasn't saying that the artist were law breaking people but it represented that bad image in which they portray.
Therefore due to the artist representation, I ensured that the final product of my groups digipak would represent both parties as good as possible, but also have our own influences, e.g. the two kids in love, which doesn't have any of the artists, but instead represents the love that is there.
Although we took quite a few influences, I felt that our music video was unique because even though we had special effects and quite a few camera edits, we still stuck to the concept and the audience still understood the point of the video rather than getting lost in all the effects.
With the music video, I wanted to ensure that the story line related to the lyrics for the song. Our narrative concept was of a couple who were thought to be in love but other than themselves, no one seemed to accept nor approve of the relationship. This was a easy scenario to make a video for and come up with a video that would relate to the lyrics.
A good example in my music video is 'Ain't nobody's business' as the couple walk through the hallway, they receive screws and dirty look from people who are watching and they ignore the stares and continue walking and talking.
Our video used theorist Andrew Goodwin's 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' as a contributor for our because it talks about narrative, band performance and that sometimes they are a mixture of two, sometimes even all the categories within music videos.
During the research stage of creating the music video, I thought it would be a good idea to look into previous music videos who have had narrative concepts. Whilst analysing these videos, e.g. Beyonce's 'Run The World', I found examples of typical conventions in which I could apply to my music video; this convention being the link between the lyrics and visuals.
Due to our video being RnB based, the conventions were narrative and were linked to the lyrics and the video. This included fast cuts, the different camera effects and had typical lifestyle settings, e.g. college, restaurant, library, etc.
Within our video, we tried to add a range of special effects and had influence from 'Sledgehammer' by Peter Gabriel. This was done because we felt that it would interest our audience because they said they liked SFX special effects within their music videos, but due to our video being RnB/Pop based we ensured that there wasn't too much effects to ruin the concept of the video.
Doing this I felt that it allowed our audience to stay intact and engaged with our video because the 80s/90s is said to have made some of the best straight to the point music videos, so I personally felt we accomplished that.
I personally looked at previous Rihanna album covers, e.g. the Loud album, which in many cases had influence on our digipak because due to our artist representation being Rihanna, I felt that the digipak needed to be based off her or it wouldn't really be targeted at the correct target audience. Therefore I ensured that my digipak have a love based feel to it but it also had the style in which Rihanna has, but I also had to bare in mind that Chris Brown had to influence the product also, but due to both these artist having a bad boy/bad girl image in the media it was more easier to represent both parties. I then added a Compton, Los Angeles based background because across the world that part of LA is known to be drug, violence and gang related; this wasn't saying that the artist were law breaking people but it represented that bad image in which they portray.Therefore due to the artist representation, I ensured that the final product of my groups digipak would represent both parties as good as possible, but also have our own influences, e.g. the two kids in love, which doesn't have any of the artists, but instead represents the love that is there.
Although we took quite a few influences, I felt that our music video was unique because even though we had special effects and quite a few camera edits, we still stuck to the concept and the audience still understood the point of the video rather than getting lost in all the effects.
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
Reflection
Storyboard
The storyboard was only used as a template to help with the filming process. It help us with the shooting of the video and how to edit each scene and how long the transitions would be. However due to complications with the story board, we had to create a new one all over again and thereby messing up the transitions, so this meant that certain scenes were too long and thereby had to be chopped & cut, messing up the lip syncing in the process.Digipak
For the Digipak we used Photoshop, which is a editing software for photos. Due to my knowledge of using Photoshop prior, I was able to make the digipak look more professional. However I only had a slight knowledge so that meant that I had to watch tutorial videos, which meant that it took a longer time to complete the digipak.Filming
We had to re-film some scenes because the lip syncing wasn't correlating with the song. Due to this it meant that a lot of time was consume and due to our media group only having one tripad, we had to wait on the other groups to finish up their filming, thereby yet again costing more time.Editing
For our planning, we originally planned on using Sony Vegas, however we had to purchase that software so we had to use what was available which was Windows Movie Maker. Even though Windows Movie Maker created the video and met most of the target audiences needs, I personally felt that if Sony Vegas was available to us it would have allowed us to add more effects and have better transitions.Focus Group
With our focus group, it was very easy when finding our target audience because our target audience were 16-25 year olds and due to us being in a secondary school, it was very easy for us to locate them and gain the best feedback. First we asked a few questions online, then we gathered these people and gain feedback for our final music video.Final Video
For the final video we had to do quite a few re-filming to ensure that it was up to the expectations of the target audience. Due to this we then had two music video drafts for the audience to see what we did and how the final video is much better than the first ideas in which we had and how the reviews and feedbacks in which they gave in the questionnaires and the focus group allowed us to create something good.
My Digipak
When creating the digipak I used Photoshop and due to my experience from B-Tec ICT, I used the elements in which I knew to create the image in which you see above.
We chose a Compton, Los Angeles housing type background because Rihanna and Chris Brown are know for their 'bad boy' 'bad girl' persona and Compton best represents that. For the inside, I chose to have clouds and the colour blue because it showed that even though one may represent themself in a certain way and they may be different on the inside.
Thursday, 9 April 2015
Different Theorists and Theories
When planning both the digipak and the video, we had to bare in mind the theorist and how we could apply each relevant theory to the music video.
These theories were as followed:
Del-Sola Poole:
Is positive and believes that new media, equals a wider range of media texts and therefore globalisation is good.
Habermas:
Has a negative view and believes that new media just means that there are more ways for institutions to overwhelm audiences with stereotypes.
Tessa Perkins:
Argues that stereotypes are not all negative and about minority/less powerful groups, they are not all false and rigid. If they were this simple they would not work culturally over time.
Cultivation Theory:
Argues that television has long term effects which are small, gradual and indirect but cumulative and significant. Research looks at the mass media as a socialising agent and investigates whether television viewers come to believe the television version of reality the ore they watch it.
Hypodermic Theory:
This theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences might react to mass media. It suggest that the information from a text passes into the mass consciousness of the audience unmediated - reception is indifferent to identify circumstances of audience.
Laura Mulvey:
Believes the media texts often encourage the audience to objectify women and look at them with a 'male gaze'.
Andrew Goodwin:
Believes that the audience are often played in the position of a voyeur within music videos. He also believes that the use of close ups is important to help the audience appreciate the 'star persona' of the lead singer/main artist.
Richard Dyer:
Thinks that audiences want media products that offer them Utopian solutions to their problems. He also talks about star theory and how audience relate.
Blumler & Katz:
Think that audiences want media products that gratify particular needs (Uses and Gratifications Theory) e.g. in order to escape, entertainment, etc.
These theories were as followed:
Del-Sola Poole:
Is positive and believes that new media, equals a wider range of media texts and therefore globalisation is good.
Habermas:
Has a negative view and believes that new media just means that there are more ways for institutions to overwhelm audiences with stereotypes.
Tessa Perkins:
Argues that stereotypes are not all negative and about minority/less powerful groups, they are not all false and rigid. If they were this simple they would not work culturally over time.
Cultivation Theory:
Argues that television has long term effects which are small, gradual and indirect but cumulative and significant. Research looks at the mass media as a socialising agent and investigates whether television viewers come to believe the television version of reality the ore they watch it.
Hypodermic Theory:
This theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences might react to mass media. It suggest that the information from a text passes into the mass consciousness of the audience unmediated - reception is indifferent to identify circumstances of audience.
Laura Mulvey:
Believes the media texts often encourage the audience to objectify women and look at them with a 'male gaze'.
Andrew Goodwin:
Believes that the audience are often played in the position of a voyeur within music videos. He also believes that the use of close ups is important to help the audience appreciate the 'star persona' of the lead singer/main artist.
Richard Dyer:
Thinks that audiences want media products that offer them Utopian solutions to their problems. He also talks about star theory and how audience relate.
Blumler & Katz:
Think that audiences want media products that gratify particular needs (Uses and Gratifications Theory) e.g. in order to escape, entertainment, etc.
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