Evaluation Question 4. "How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?"

Evaluation Question 3. "What have you learned from your audience feedback?"

 

Another way I got some more feedback, this time for my music video, was by asking a friend of mine if she would watch my music video and then give me some good points about it, and some bad points.

She is not a media student which was a difference from the survey as most of them would have been media students. This meant that she would represent a different type of audience and would let me know whether or not my music video would reach out to a wider audience, not just to my specific target audience.  These images are screenshots from our conversation, showing her opinion on my video:































I agree with the points she made about the band putting more emphasis into their performance. But sadly because I asked her these question post production, it meant I could not make significant changes to my video, as the footage had already been filmed. However from this I have learnt that a good performance is key within a video, otherwise the audience will notice a lack in the performance. This could result in the video not being as effective in the ‘real world’ if it were to be aired on TV and YouTube etc.
However, overall I believe there were more good points then bad. She said my video looked professional and that it “fits well with the genre” this supports the comments of the audience in the survey. Which once again reinforces the fact of conventions being very important in the creation of a media product, because of the postmodern world we live in, things aren’t original, they are merely copies of each other.

The last bit of audience feedback I got was a video of my friend briefly discussing what she disliked and liked about my video.

Her view on my video is very similar to my friend in the images above. But said differently.  Jess basically said she didn’t enjoy the performance part as much, whilst Kirsty said she liked the narrative part more. From this feedback I have learnt that because the performance from the couple was so much better and more believable, it meant that the audience wanted to see more of it. If I had included more it might have improved the video.

Kirsty also mentions the transitions between the black and white and the colour within my video. The idea of including more colour into the bands performance came from feedback given to me by my media teachers. By doing this it has increased the effectiveness of my video and attracted the audience more to my final music video.

There is one main criticism of my audience feedback that could have effected or hindered the results, and that is the fact that everyone that I used would have ranged between the ages of 16-19. This means that the results could be seen as quite biased towards one age range. It also means that I cannot test whether or not my final product and ancillary texts would appeal to a range of ages.

Evaluation Question 2. "How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?"

Throughout the creation of my media product and ancillary texts, it has been crucial to make sure that in some way they all link together so they are identifiable and easily recognised by people, so they can see that each text are all for the same product. However to make sure this house style and cohesion didn't get boring it was important for me to change certain things within the different products but also to add similarities.

A big part of my three products in making them link together was the use of colour and fonts used within and throughout them. This similarity between the fonts and colours connected the products together and resulted in the continuity between each text looking effective and easily identifiable. The running colour theme was mostly black and white. This is shown in these images:

As you can see in each of the three products I have used both black and white as well as colour. However I have used a lot more black and white. The reason for this is because after researching existing products of the rock genre. I realised that the frequently used black and white. Therefore I wanted to follow some conventions and also to make the genre recognisable to the target audience. I also used a lot of black and white because I believed that it fit in well with the mystery within my music video and also because of the meaning I believe is behind the song I want there to be a darker and more sinister effect to my video and ancillary texts. To combine this dark feel of the song to each media text I included the narrative within my video, and then added the shadow of the wolf on my album front cover and magazine advertisement.
Hopefully to the target audience this would show that the “Little monster” throughout the texts, especially the music video, is the man who is shown in the narrative.


The parts that are highlighted on the image above are the different parts of my ancillary texts and music video which I think combine effectively together to show the running them throughout all three products. These highlighted parts show how I have entwined colours and black and white into my music video and ancillary texts. This shows a clear style that has been created in the products which represent the style of music and the intention of the song.  A very strong way in which I have combined all of my products together is the inclusion if screenshots from my video onto both the album Digipak and magazine advertisement. I believe this shows a clear link between them all and shows the target audience that they are all connected in some way.


On the other hand there are some improvements that could have been made to ensure that there were more links that connected all of the products. As I wanted the album cover to have some mystery to it, I decided to use a different model for the image on the cover. I thought that this would confuse people and would stand out from other conventional album covers. This was also a frequently occurrence within rock artists album so in order to follow the conventions it would look effective. I do think it has worked out well, however by doing this is has made the cohesion less obvious which means that some of the audience may not straight away realise it is from the particular. In order to fix this I probably should have used images of the band on the magazine advertisement and the front cover of the album. However even though this link wasn't made in my ancillary texts I still believe it looks effective as it reinforces the genre and rebels against the norms and conventions of other existing media products. Also the addition of other aspects of the music video and the similar fonts and colours combines the products together which result in three texts that are clearly from the same product.

Once again talking about how the genre is linked together throughout the products is the name of the album and the songs on the album, which reinforce the genre of music. As the genre is rock it was important for me to keep that theme running through each product. It was easy to do in my music video because the song it the main focus, however I also needed to make sure the location and outfits also fit, especially in the band performance. This is the reason for the warehouse, I chose this location because it looked dark and run down and it isn't a fancy setting which is usually used in pop videos.. This theme was then shown in the ancillary texts; by using a brick background on the front and back cover it reinforced the rock theme. Brick walls could be associated with graffiti which would show a rebellious side to the album. The ancillary texts are then connected because I used the same image for both the album cover and the magazine advertisement, only making a few changes on the advertisement.

In conclusion I believe that the similarities in my media product and ancillary texts lead to them all linking together effectively. The use of the black and white and then orange/yellow colours in my video and ancillary texts connects them all together and leads to a visible clarity between the products. There are some ways I could have changed the three products in order to make them more coherent, such as including more images of the band as they will obviously be the main focus of the album. However overall I believe that they all work effectively together and the differences with each of the texts leads to a more effective house style and it means that it will link well with the other “songs” that would be on the album if it was going to be sold as a real product. As if it was going to be sold as a full album the album would not just base the style on one song/ video from that album.

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

In this slide share presentation I have discussed how throughout my three media products: which is the Album Digipak, Magazine Advertisement and Music Video, I have used, developed and challenged the conventions of real media products. Each product links together in a specific way to create cohesion and a house style that runs through the three different products.

Evaluation Questions

After finishing my final product of a Music Video, Album Digipak and a Magazine Advertisement. There are a series of questions that I need to answer to evaluate this years work. This is used to test my knowledge and to see where I could have improved and where I did a good job and creating a professional looking and effective product.
These questions are:

1. In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? 

Final Products

Music Video   

DigiPak

Magazine Advertisement 

Final Music Video