How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout my media project I have had a huge range of possible media technologies to use for my production; I specifically chose certain technologies over others to give me the best possible outcome for my final product.
In the research section of my production, the internet was a major factor in using media technologies to gain a higher understanding before starting the planning and construction of my own media texts. I used specific sites to help me with researching the music industry, different genres, target audiences and music videos to discover common forms and conventions. I also used the internet to help researching my ancillary texts to find previous CD covers from Owl Cit and CD adverts already available to give myself the highest knowledge before starting my own work. ‘YouTube’ was one of my most used websites so I could analyse existing music videos to determine particular forms and conventions of the Electropop genre and see already successful music videos to help with the planning stage of my product. My school intranet also has its own media webpage which was also a big help to me throughout my research stages as there were helpful links, our media production specification and information on specific media theorists, it also contained previous work by other media students. I looked at ITunes which is a music site by Apple and other downloading sites which were useful in showing me different categorisations of genre and also hugely helpful at looking at my own artists CD artwork, which helped me with developing forms and conventions of Owl City’s previous CD covers. Owl City’s own website was also useful as it had information of his genre, song lyrics and also his interpretation of some of his songs which provided me with useful insights into the band’s style and brand image. Looking through different music magazine’s at existing adverts, their promotional techniques and where they were placed in the magazine enabled me to see how effective little details can be and as a media encoder, realised that to have a successful media product, a lot of time needs to be spent researching and planning before beginning to construct a media text.
Planning my music video and ancillary tasks required organising my camera and editing software so that the times available to use the camera correlated with our filming session dates. This is why I chose to use my dad’s video camera so I always had it readily available especially if I needed to do some extra filming in short notice. I also used my own laptop for the majority of producing my video as I could work on my products more and had them easily reachable. Another piece of technology which I found useful was my digital camera which is what I used to take any photos within my research and for my ancillary tasks. Using my own technology meant I could work thoroughly on my product on a more regular basis rather than relying on school computers and with a busy school aren’t always free when I need them.
As our original idea of The Fray’s song didn’t work out it meant I had a practise session of using the camera and playing around with different angles and lengths which proved useful when filming ‘Hot Air Balloon’ as I was already familiar with the camera and had more of a insight as to what angles and shots would work well. After my first filming session I found that a lot of my shots were unsteady. My media teaching assistant had his own monopod which I was allowed to use to help with my filming, this was a huge help to my production as my shots were much steadier and meant they looked more professional. Lighting was another big factor in my production as after I put my first set of film onto the computer it appeared to dark and made the shots look distorted, I then re-shot some scenes and brought extra lighting to the set to brighten the shots.
After the researching, planning and filming it was time to begin editing my music video. I used two separate editing software programmes, Windows moviemaker and Pinnacle studio 12. When first starting my editing I was using Pinnacle for my editing software but found that it wouldn’t let me save my work as there wasn’t enough space on the hard drive for this software, this caused a bit of a dilemma. I then came to the conclusion of using Windows Moviemaker until I had deleted other software off my school computer so I didn’t have to fall behind with editing. However after using Pinnacle then Moviemaker I found that Moviemaker, although less advanced was much more user friendly and quicker to use so I continued using Moviemaker for the majority of my editing and because the programme was already on my laptop it meant I could use it regularly. The limitations of using Moviemaker were that there were many restrictions in terms of effects and transitions. Moviemaker also wouldn’t let me mute the video clips and just have the song playing; this is why I used Pinnacle for the remainder of my editing. After the main edits were finished I imported my video to pinnacle to add some effects that were limited in Moviemaker such as playing some clips in reverse, enhancing the brightness and contrast to create a magical paradigm and to mute the sound of the video clips. I practised using Moviemaker and Pinnacle before starting my project by using the previous footage I had shot for my initial idea of The Fray’ song, and in my media lessons we had some instructions on how to use Pinnacle before we began so we already knew how to use the software and the effects available to us.
For my ancillary tasks I used a number of different technologies to design and produce my media texts. I used my own digital camera to take the photos for my CD cover and magazine advert and imported them onto my laptop, to choose which ones would work best for my products. After decided which images I wanted I used Photoshop to edit my photos. I adjusted the brightness and contrast of images to create a more stylised finish and also cropped the images. I used Corel draw for the CD cover and magazine advert, I used this software as I was already familiar to working with CorelDraw from my AS magazine coursework so I was aware of how to use it and the techniques available to me, which helped me to get the best effect possible. The only problem with CorelDraw was that it was only on a few computers in my school so this meant I was limited of when I could access it, so my time management of my ancillary texts had to be successful to finish them on time. CorelDraw was great for importing images and being able to use a wide variety of fonts and colours to get my ancillary texts to a high standard.
We used an interactive white board for screening our music videos to our focus groups, to gain feedback on our production and also to watch previous music videos when researching common forms and conventions and developing ideas such as intertextuality and voyeurism. All of my research, planning and evaluation were documented on my own blog. I made this at blogspot.com and uploaded all of my work to this site; this helped me easily access my work from school and home, and also allowed me to keep updated online with my progress. The website was simple, user friendly and easily navigable, so provided me with a useful environment to keep all my work in and provided an easy way to look back over work throughout the production. On my blog I also uploaded PowerPoint presentations of my work on analysing music videos and other information, using a website called Slideshare.com, this website allowed me to import all of my presentations quickly and easily. Another helpful technology with my blog was Microsoft excel which is where I made all my graphs from my audience feedback to provide simple ways of showing my data.
Using many different technologies within my media production has provided me with a better understanding of the media industry and how much time, skill and effort goes into to producing different media texts. Having many of these technologies easily accessible to me has increased the productivity and success of my main media task and ancillary texts.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Evaluation - Question 3
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
In the media industry audience feedback is very important, as media encoders we assume what the decoders want and will take from our media products, this is why they require audience feedback to reiterate their thoughts and inputs into the products before they are brought onto the market to make sure they are providing the decoder with what they want.
I had a two staged approach to my audience feedback; first, screening rushes and initial editing and secondly screening my final product. Before I changed my idea and song choice I had some early filming of my first idea, which was to the Fray’s ‘Enough for now’ song, I showed this footage to the students in my media classed and then asked what they thought about it. All of my classmates took the aberrant reading from my footage, they found it was too complex and they just couldn’t understand it, this is when I changed my idea completely and realised even though I understand what is happening in my music video, the decoders may not. After changing my idea and song to ‘Hot Air Balloon’ by Owl City I began my filming and then again showed my classmates the early footage I had taken, I got a much better reaction than my previous work and found most of my classmates took the dominant reading, with the rest taking the negotiated meaning so I knew I had to change this through the use of editing to create better syntagmatic connotations. They gave feedback on what could improve my video, for example they found some of the footage was too dark and slightly shaky, so I knew that I would have to re-shoot some scenes. They also said they liked the use of visually showing some of the lyrics using building blocks and etch-e-sketch’s so I added more of this to please my target audience.
After starting my editing I showed my focus group again to see what they thought when my filming was all being put together. I got really positive feedback and found that all my classmates took the dominant reading. They found the mise-en-scene really effective, however the majority of my focus group wanted to see shorter clips in the editing. I then went back to my editing and used shorter clips to make the editing seem more professional and to give a fast-cut editing sequence to provide the decoder with more of a visual spectacle. I showed my classmates my film in progress after doing half of my editing to get a final view of my product, especially how my target audience would react to my film and what reading they would take from my text. Their comments were mainly positive, everyone in my focus group took the dominant reading, which means that my target audience all understand and liked my product. A few of the people in my focus group wanted to see more of the lyrics being spelt out throughout the song, so this influenced my production as I had to do a tiny bit more filming to achieve this, but overall they liked the editing and thought the mise-en-scene worked well in creating the childlike paradigm I was aiming for. The camera steadiness and dark shots were also replaced which my focus group said had made the video look much more professional. I found this initial audience feedback really useful to my product as I could get an outsiders view on my work and gave me pointers on how I could improve it.
The second stage of my audience feedback was to screen my finish media video to a new focus group. This group were 7 females and 3 males all who fell into my target audience age and ethnic bracket to make sure I was getting feedback from people who would be my target audience. I did this to see if there was a difference in viewing between my target audience and people out of my original focus group, to see if it appeals more to my preferred audience. After showing them my completed music video I asked them to carry out a questionnaire I designed. I created the questionnaire to find correlations between social stratification and reaction to the video. A few of the questions were designed in way to attempt to operationalise the Encoder/Decoder model. (see Research Section) This helped me to realise which reading my audience took from my final product, all of my focus group took the dominant reading. I am really happy with this as people bring to media texts many different experiences and sometimes react in unpredictable ways so I’m glad that my target audience all took the dominant reading.
However seeing as my focus group watched the video all together and not in their usual setting of being at home where from my questionnaire I found that’s where my target audience mainly watch music videos this could have an effect on my results. This is explained in the uses and gratifications theory that explains that the context of watching a screening in those conditions and then having to answer a questionnaire may have changed the typical gratification a person might have got from watching the video in another context and not have the pressure of having to answer a questionnaire. I also asked this same focus group to answer another questionnaire on my ancillary texts, I wanted to see their opinions on how well my 3 media texts worked together and what they found successful. All of the focus group took the dominant reading for my 3 media texts.
Carrying out audience feedback has helped me see problems with my work that because I’m constantly looking at it I become unaware of. It has also helped me to get feedback on what my target audience want from a music video, so helped me try and incorporate these elements into my work to aim my media products at them.
In the media industry audience feedback is very important, as media encoders we assume what the decoders want and will take from our media products, this is why they require audience feedback to reiterate their thoughts and inputs into the products before they are brought onto the market to make sure they are providing the decoder with what they want.
I had a two staged approach to my audience feedback; first, screening rushes and initial editing and secondly screening my final product. Before I changed my idea and song choice I had some early filming of my first idea, which was to the Fray’s ‘Enough for now’ song, I showed this footage to the students in my media classed and then asked what they thought about it. All of my classmates took the aberrant reading from my footage, they found it was too complex and they just couldn’t understand it, this is when I changed my idea completely and realised even though I understand what is happening in my music video, the decoders may not. After changing my idea and song to ‘Hot Air Balloon’ by Owl City I began my filming and then again showed my classmates the early footage I had taken, I got a much better reaction than my previous work and found most of my classmates took the dominant reading, with the rest taking the negotiated meaning so I knew I had to change this through the use of editing to create better syntagmatic connotations. They gave feedback on what could improve my video, for example they found some of the footage was too dark and slightly shaky, so I knew that I would have to re-shoot some scenes. They also said they liked the use of visually showing some of the lyrics using building blocks and etch-e-sketch’s so I added more of this to please my target audience.
After starting my editing I showed my focus group again to see what they thought when my filming was all being put together. I got really positive feedback and found that all my classmates took the dominant reading. They found the mise-en-scene really effective, however the majority of my focus group wanted to see shorter clips in the editing. I then went back to my editing and used shorter clips to make the editing seem more professional and to give a fast-cut editing sequence to provide the decoder with more of a visual spectacle. I showed my classmates my film in progress after doing half of my editing to get a final view of my product, especially how my target audience would react to my film and what reading they would take from my text. Their comments were mainly positive, everyone in my focus group took the dominant reading, which means that my target audience all understand and liked my product. A few of the people in my focus group wanted to see more of the lyrics being spelt out throughout the song, so this influenced my production as I had to do a tiny bit more filming to achieve this, but overall they liked the editing and thought the mise-en-scene worked well in creating the childlike paradigm I was aiming for. The camera steadiness and dark shots were also replaced which my focus group said had made the video look much more professional. I found this initial audience feedback really useful to my product as I could get an outsiders view on my work and gave me pointers on how I could improve it.
The second stage of my audience feedback was to screen my finish media video to a new focus group. This group were 7 females and 3 males all who fell into my target audience age and ethnic bracket to make sure I was getting feedback from people who would be my target audience. I did this to see if there was a difference in viewing between my target audience and people out of my original focus group, to see if it appeals more to my preferred audience. After showing them my completed music video I asked them to carry out a questionnaire I designed. I created the questionnaire to find correlations between social stratification and reaction to the video. A few of the questions were designed in way to attempt to operationalise the Encoder/Decoder model. (see Research Section) This helped me to realise which reading my audience took from my final product, all of my focus group took the dominant reading. I am really happy with this as people bring to media texts many different experiences and sometimes react in unpredictable ways so I’m glad that my target audience all took the dominant reading.
However seeing as my focus group watched the video all together and not in their usual setting of being at home where from my questionnaire I found that’s where my target audience mainly watch music videos this could have an effect on my results. This is explained in the uses and gratifications theory that explains that the context of watching a screening in those conditions and then having to answer a questionnaire may have changed the typical gratification a person might have got from watching the video in another context and not have the pressure of having to answer a questionnaire. I also asked this same focus group to answer another questionnaire on my ancillary texts, I wanted to see their opinions on how well my 3 media texts worked together and what they found successful. All of the focus group took the dominant reading for my 3 media texts.
Carrying out audience feedback has helped me see problems with my work that because I’m constantly looking at it I become unaware of. It has also helped me to get feedback on what my target audience want from a music video, so helped me try and incorporate these elements into my work to aim my media products at them.
Evaluation -Question 2
How effective is the combination of main product and your ancillary texts?
For my media coursework I was asked to produce a promotional package for the release of an album, this included my main media text which was a music video for a song of my choice, the only requirement was that it couldn’t already have an existing video. This promotional package also included a cover for the songs release on CD and a magazine advert advertising the CD.
As an encoder of media texts, planning of your products is extremely important, focusing on who is your target audience and which reading the decoder takes from the text. I planned my music video and my ancillary texts separately, so how I created my video drove the design of my ancillaries. I found this useful as after producing my music video I could concentrate on how I was going to intertextualy link both the video and the ancillaries. Even though I found this useful if I was to start my project again from the beginning I would try to have a basic plan of all three texts and then adapt them over time if needed. Having the music video determine the ancillaries gave my a clearer idea of what sort of image I needed on my CD cover, especially after bringing in my previous research on common forms and conventions of Owl City’s previous CD covers. My video was produced as concept based, using a childlike paradigm, because of this I thought it best to carry this concept based idea through to my ancillary texts to intertextualy link them with my main task and to provide a brand image.
Within my music video the use of semiotics and key signs of the childlike paradigm are apparent throughout, I wanted to permeate these key signs into my ancillary texts to continue this ideology. To do this I have used an image of a toy racetrack in both my ancillary texts, this creates a childlike impression and provides the decoder with a clue of what the music video may contain. The use of the racetrack was used as it is predominantly featured within my video and the use of continuing this image onto my ancillary texts provided cohesion between my ancillaries and the music video. Providing a relationship between the three media texts provides Intertextuality within my media product and therefore creates a clear understanding for the decoder. The CD cover and the magazine advert are linked through the use of similar images on both texts. These images contain semiotic properties related to the music video providing the decoder with a connection between the two ancillary texts and the main media product. The magazine advert also contains a copy of the album’s front cover which firmly anchors the link between the two texts.
The purpose of the two ancillary tasks is to support and promote the main media text. The CD cover and the magazine advert with the video provide the audience with a brand image and should intertextualy link so the decoder can see the relationship between the 3 texts. The adverts’ purpose is to increase brand and consumer awareness of the specific artist; it should be aimed at the main target audience of the artist but should also be placed where others outside of this niche audience may also see the advertisement to gain potential consumers. This is why I feel to receive successful impact I would place an advert of my CD on TV and online, as my target audience is quite young the majority of these people will watch TV as my audience would see the advert between programmes. As a lot of the media industry has taken a shift from TV media to the internet I think this would be another useful place to advertise my media product, especially as my target audience is the prime age of internet users, I would advertise my CD cover on a music magazine website, which would probably be NME magazine and also a social networking site, such as facebook as this is a typical webpage visited almost daily by the majority of my target audience. For my paper based advert I would place it in several women’s based magazines, rather than a specific music magazine this is because, pretty much every single successful, music magazine in the UK is predominantly aimed at men, with an average age of 35 which is the complete opposite of my target audience so I feel this would be a lot of money spent with very little impact. This is why advertising my advert in women’s lifestyle magazines would be better such as cosmopolitan the most popular women’s magazine in the UK with their target audience being 15 – 27 so providing me with a great opportunity to reach a lot of my target audience. I would place my advert on the back cover of the magazine, even though this is the most expensive advert placement I feel it would be well worth the money as the reason it is the most expensive is because it gets the most attention. If I placed my advert in these places I feel it would successfully enhance awareness and sales of my CD. The purpose of the CD cover is to provide the audience with an expectation of what to expect from the video as it should reflect the content of the music video. The decoder will already begin to take a meaning from the text without even watching the video, and if the CD cover is effective will cause the audience to want to watch the video.
I feel the combination of my three media texts works well as there is an obvious cohesion between all three media texts, intertextualy linking together to provide an overall brand image for the decoder. I feel there is a good relationship between the three texts as the images I have used on my CD cover and magazine advert are that of the toy racetrack which features throughout my video and also provides the decoder with the general expectation of the use of toys in the video. To improve the connection between all three texts I feel planning all three together before starting would have provided a more obvious link even if It was just a rough plan that could be amended over time, however I felt it was easier to produce the ancillaries after producing the music video as It gave me a clear sense of what needed to be featured on both of the texts. The results from my audience feedback show that they also found a clear link between all three texts and that it was a creative choice of CD cover and magazine advert that gave a more unique impression.
If I was to start this project again I would have set myself harder goals, with my own strict deadlines to make sure that my project was finished early so if there were any last minute changes I would have plenty of time to adjust whatever I needed. I would also spend more time planning as it would have made the project go a lot smoother and I may not have needed to start again like I did with this project, as I under estimated my initial ideas of using The Fray’s song and realised it was to complex. I feel research and planning of a product are absolutely key to any successful media text, but overall I am happy with all three of my media products and how they work together and from my audience feedback my target audience were also impressed so I feel I have succeeded with this media project.
For my media coursework I was asked to produce a promotional package for the release of an album, this included my main media text which was a music video for a song of my choice, the only requirement was that it couldn’t already have an existing video. This promotional package also included a cover for the songs release on CD and a magazine advert advertising the CD.
As an encoder of media texts, planning of your products is extremely important, focusing on who is your target audience and which reading the decoder takes from the text. I planned my music video and my ancillary texts separately, so how I created my video drove the design of my ancillaries. I found this useful as after producing my music video I could concentrate on how I was going to intertextualy link both the video and the ancillaries. Even though I found this useful if I was to start my project again from the beginning I would try to have a basic plan of all three texts and then adapt them over time if needed. Having the music video determine the ancillaries gave my a clearer idea of what sort of image I needed on my CD cover, especially after bringing in my previous research on common forms and conventions of Owl City’s previous CD covers. My video was produced as concept based, using a childlike paradigm, because of this I thought it best to carry this concept based idea through to my ancillary texts to intertextualy link them with my main task and to provide a brand image.
Within my music video the use of semiotics and key signs of the childlike paradigm are apparent throughout, I wanted to permeate these key signs into my ancillary texts to continue this ideology. To do this I have used an image of a toy racetrack in both my ancillary texts, this creates a childlike impression and provides the decoder with a clue of what the music video may contain. The use of the racetrack was used as it is predominantly featured within my video and the use of continuing this image onto my ancillary texts provided cohesion between my ancillaries and the music video. Providing a relationship between the three media texts provides Intertextuality within my media product and therefore creates a clear understanding for the decoder. The CD cover and the magazine advert are linked through the use of similar images on both texts. These images contain semiotic properties related to the music video providing the decoder with a connection between the two ancillary texts and the main media product. The magazine advert also contains a copy of the album’s front cover which firmly anchors the link between the two texts.
The purpose of the two ancillary tasks is to support and promote the main media text. The CD cover and the magazine advert with the video provide the audience with a brand image and should intertextualy link so the decoder can see the relationship between the 3 texts. The adverts’ purpose is to increase brand and consumer awareness of the specific artist; it should be aimed at the main target audience of the artist but should also be placed where others outside of this niche audience may also see the advertisement to gain potential consumers. This is why I feel to receive successful impact I would place an advert of my CD on TV and online, as my target audience is quite young the majority of these people will watch TV as my audience would see the advert between programmes. As a lot of the media industry has taken a shift from TV media to the internet I think this would be another useful place to advertise my media product, especially as my target audience is the prime age of internet users, I would advertise my CD cover on a music magazine website, which would probably be NME magazine and also a social networking site, such as facebook as this is a typical webpage visited almost daily by the majority of my target audience. For my paper based advert I would place it in several women’s based magazines, rather than a specific music magazine this is because, pretty much every single successful, music magazine in the UK is predominantly aimed at men, with an average age of 35 which is the complete opposite of my target audience so I feel this would be a lot of money spent with very little impact. This is why advertising my advert in women’s lifestyle magazines would be better such as cosmopolitan the most popular women’s magazine in the UK with their target audience being 15 – 27 so providing me with a great opportunity to reach a lot of my target audience. I would place my advert on the back cover of the magazine, even though this is the most expensive advert placement I feel it would be well worth the money as the reason it is the most expensive is because it gets the most attention. If I placed my advert in these places I feel it would successfully enhance awareness and sales of my CD. The purpose of the CD cover is to provide the audience with an expectation of what to expect from the video as it should reflect the content of the music video. The decoder will already begin to take a meaning from the text without even watching the video, and if the CD cover is effective will cause the audience to want to watch the video.
I feel the combination of my three media texts works well as there is an obvious cohesion between all three media texts, intertextualy linking together to provide an overall brand image for the decoder. I feel there is a good relationship between the three texts as the images I have used on my CD cover and magazine advert are that of the toy racetrack which features throughout my video and also provides the decoder with the general expectation of the use of toys in the video. To improve the connection between all three texts I feel planning all three together before starting would have provided a more obvious link even if It was just a rough plan that could be amended over time, however I felt it was easier to produce the ancillaries after producing the music video as It gave me a clear sense of what needed to be featured on both of the texts. The results from my audience feedback show that they also found a clear link between all three texts and that it was a creative choice of CD cover and magazine advert that gave a more unique impression.
If I was to start this project again I would have set myself harder goals, with my own strict deadlines to make sure that my project was finished early so if there were any last minute changes I would have plenty of time to adjust whatever I needed. I would also spend more time planning as it would have made the project go a lot smoother and I may not have needed to start again like I did with this project, as I under estimated my initial ideas of using The Fray’s song and realised it was to complex. I feel research and planning of a product are absolutely key to any successful media text, but overall I am happy with all three of my media products and how they work together and from my audience feedback my target audience were also impressed so I feel I have succeeded with this media project.
Evaluation - Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media producers?
Real media products have many typical forms and convetions throughout my media product I have used some of the conventions to make sure my video is still seen by the decoder as a music video within the electropop genre, but I have also developed some of these conventions to push some of the boundaries of conventions and to get an original effect. I have also challenged some of these forms and conventions, I have done this to make sure the decoder finds my music video visualy exciting and not the same as every other video out there in this genre, it also gave me the oportunity to be a bit more experimental and creative with this product.
Genre is a major element in recognising generic conventions of music videos. Genre refers to a category of media texts that the decoder can easily recognise due to the repetiton of music videos with a similar type of music to each other. The main factors that are noted are characters, mise-en-scene, use of narrative,performance or concept and use of camera. Owl city’s music falls into the genre of Electropop. Electropop first rose to success in the late 70’s and has only just reamerged so hasn’t developed many common forms and conventions compared to other genres, however I have identified a few typical elements of electropop videos I have watched; they are normally very unique in their type of video, normally a mixture of performance and concept based videos, fast-cut montage editing, a lot of close up shots to create intimacy and they are often quite modern and original.
I have used some of these typical forms and conventions of the electropop genre in my own music video. Electropop music videos rarely have a narrative, so I decided to have a concept based video because of this. My idea of using toys appearing to come alive is rather unique and would fit in with this genre. The use of camera in this genre also influenced my work I liked the fast-cut montage editing rather than using slow, gentle cuts and I have used many close ups in my video providing intimacy for the audience and this fits well with my song choice, however I have developed this idea using a series of quick close ups rather than long pauses on them creating an emotion, I did this because I am using toys instead of people, you can’t get reactions. I have challenged many conventions of the electropop genre and in some cases the majority of music videos themselves. Nearly all videos have an element of performance whereas mine does not, I did this because I didn’t feel the performance would add to the video and also thought it would detract from the concept being shown. Therefore I chose not to have any actors within my music video, this is hardly ever done but I think worked well in my video, this also provides the decoder with a fresh idea making it more entertaining to them.
There are many generic textual features of a music video after looking in to the work by Andrew Goodwin and Steve Archer in my research I found some of their key points extremely important in my production. Camera work and editing were two significant elements to my music video, without good editing and camera work I feel a video can look very amatur this is why I focused on making sure these were used well, by making sure I used a tripod to keep the camera steady and kept clips shorter than 3 seconds I feel I improved my video dramatically. I tilted the camera up and down to create the illusion of a hot air balloon taking of and coming back down, this is a common convention in music videos using the camera to create feeling, emotions or ideas. I also had a key focus on the concept of our video I wanted to portray childlike innocence and felt this was achieved through using the toys. I did however challenge some of the features of music videos Goodwin and Archer discussed. I didn’t bring voyerism into my video, even though this is a common convention and is used in almost all videos but I felt it had no relevence in my video and would distract from the innocence I was trying to portray. As I had no actors in my video I also didn’t refer to any star motifs like most videos do, some artists do not need to even be in their videos to be successful like the ‘gorillaz’ who have animated videos, I think in my video this worked well as it is not normally done so provided the decoder with a visual spectacle.
The encoder/decoder model by Stuart Hall also played a part in my media product. It made me constantly think, ‘how will my audience react to this’, and I was therefore empahsising with my audience. The four views in this model made me think what view I wanted my audience to have and how I would make them have this view. I want my audience to take the dominant reading from my music video, so they compeltly understood my video and enjoyed its meaning. Most media producers want this view to be taken. I found through my audience feedback that the majority of my focus group took the dominant meaning.
I think that my music video pushed boundaries of the common conventions of music videos as my video was purely a concept video, which is very rare, most videos including the electropop genre have an element of performance within them, yet I felt this was unnecessary in our media product as it would have detracted from the ‘fairytale’ creation. I liked the idea that our music video didn’t seem like reality which fits perfectly with the song, adding a performance and people in our video would have taken away from this. By using toys as if they were coming alive pushed boundaries as this is not a usual theme of music videos, but it went so well with the song and I think providing a fresh idea would make our music video appear more entertaining to decoders. The use of toys also relates to our target audience, our main audiences are teenagers to young adults and are mainly females; this playful theme would appeal to them hugely.
Overall I have used many common conventions of music videos and the electropop genre, but have also developed and challenged some of these to provide a unique media product that will stand out in a competitive industry.
Audience feedback results - ancillaries
My results from my audience feedback were really positive on my ancillary tasks,100% thought that my CD cover and my magazine advert fulfilled their purpose as successful media products. 100% also said that all three media texts go together 'really well' as a combination. From these two questions I put the answers as ways of taking the different readings from the encoder/decoder model. These results show that all of my focus group took the dominant reading from my media texts.
This graph shows what different people chose as their favourite part of my CD cover. This shows that the most popular answer was 'the combination of the front and back cover', 40% of my focus group chose this answer, closely followed by 'general layout' - 30% and 'images' - 20%. These were the results I was expected as this shows that the overall combination of the CD cover and its layout were seen as great parts of the CD cover.
This graph shows the same as the above graph but for the magazine advert instead. 50% of my focus group liked the use of the CD cover within the advert. with 20% liking the images and 20% liking the general layout. This shows that generally what attracts people to a CD cover or advert selling the CD is the overall layout and strong images.
100% of my target audience said they think my CD cover would stand out in a shop, when asked why the most common answer was to do with unique style and good images.
This graph shows what different people chose as their favourite part of my CD cover. This shows that the most popular answer was 'the combination of the front and back cover', 40% of my focus group chose this answer, closely followed by 'general layout' - 30% and 'images' - 20%. These were the results I was expected as this shows that the overall combination of the CD cover and its layout were seen as great parts of the CD cover.
This graph shows the same as the above graph but for the magazine advert instead. 50% of my focus group liked the use of the CD cover within the advert. with 20% liking the images and 20% liking the general layout. This shows that generally what attracts people to a CD cover or advert selling the CD is the overall layout and strong images.100% of my target audience said they think my CD cover would stand out in a shop, when asked why the most common answer was to do with unique style and good images.
Audience feedback to ancillaries
I used the same focus group that I used for my video to show them the video again to refresh their memory and then I showed them my CD cover and my magazine advert, I then handed out this questionnaire to gain feedback from my target audience about how they felt all three linked together and if they thought my ancillary tasks were successful
1.Do you think my CD cover and magazine advert fulfil their purpose as successful media products?
Yes completely [ ]
Mostly yes [ ]
Only slightly [ ]
Not at all [ ]
2.What is your favourite part of the CD cover?
Images [ ]
Colours [ ]
Text font and colour [ ]
General layout [ ]
How the front and back link together [ ]
Other [ ] (please state).................................................
3.What is your favourite part of the magazine advert?
Images [ ]
Colours [ ]
Use of CD cover within advert [ ]
Text font and colours [ ]
General layout [ ]
Other [ ] (please state).................................................
4.If you were in a music shop looking at CD’s do you think my CD cover would stand out?(If Yes state why)
No [ ]
Yes [ ] .......................................................
5.After watching my video of ‘Hot Air Balloon’ by Owl city and then seeing my CD cover and magazine advert, how well do you think all three go together as a combination?
Really well [ ]
Quite well [ ]
Only a little bit [ ]
Not at all [ ]
1.Do you think my CD cover and magazine advert fulfil their purpose as successful media products?
Yes completely [ ]
Mostly yes [ ]
Only slightly [ ]
Not at all [ ]
2.What is your favourite part of the CD cover?
Images [ ]
Colours [ ]
Text font and colour [ ]
General layout [ ]
How the front and back link together [ ]
Other [ ] (please state).................................................
3.What is your favourite part of the magazine advert?
Images [ ]
Colours [ ]
Use of CD cover within advert [ ]
Text font and colours [ ]
General layout [ ]
Other [ ] (please state).................................................
4.If you were in a music shop looking at CD’s do you think my CD cover would stand out?(If Yes state why)
No [ ]
Yes [ ] .......................................................
5.After watching my video of ‘Hot Air Balloon’ by Owl city and then seeing my CD cover and magazine advert, how well do you think all three go together as a combination?
Really well [ ]
Quite well [ ]
Only a little bit [ ]
Not at all [ ]
How my magazine advert was aimed at my target audience
Here is how I attracted my target audience to my advert:
* I have used the a similar image of the toy racetrack within my advert as well as placing the CD in the advert to provide an intertextual link between the two so my audience know they are related.
* Curvy, feminine font style - providing a feminine approach to the text is used on the CD cover and on the quotes
* Using the racetrack as my image - this is a young, childlike paradigm providing a youthful approach to my magazine advert - this is also quite unique so will stand out within a magazine
* It's a very simple and innocent image - this gives a fresh approach and looks more innocent and childlike
* I have used bright colours of yellow and green within my text and the colours of the cars - providing the audience with a youthful vibe to my CD cover - this will also stand out within a magazine.
* I have also put Owl City's website and myspace webpage - Mostly the younger generation of my target audience use myspace providing my young audience with a social way of researching the band through ways they are used to.
* I have used the a similar image of the toy racetrack within my advert as well as placing the CD in the advert to provide an intertextual link between the two so my audience know they are related.
* Curvy, feminine font style - providing a feminine approach to the text is used on the CD cover and on the quotes
* Using the racetrack as my image - this is a young, childlike paradigm providing a youthful approach to my magazine advert - this is also quite unique so will stand out within a magazine
* It's a very simple and innocent image - this gives a fresh approach and looks more innocent and childlike
* I have used bright colours of yellow and green within my text and the colours of the cars - providing the audience with a youthful vibe to my CD cover - this will also stand out within a magazine.
* I have also put Owl City's website and myspace webpage - Mostly the younger generation of my target audience use myspace providing my young audience with a social way of researching the band through ways they are used to.
chosen magazine design
chose to use my 2nd design as I felt it most resembled exisiting magazine adverts at this time, I also thought that it linked best with my CD cover and video.
3 possible designs for my magazine advert
1st design: I really like the sytle of this design, but I don't think it intertextualy links as well with my CD cover and my video.
2nd design: This is my favourite design I think it will look the most dynamic when using real images, and it looks most like existing adverts at the moment.
3rd design: I really like this design but I think it will look to empty when it comes to actually constructing it.
2nd design: This is my favourite design I think it will look the most dynamic when using real images, and it looks most like existing adverts at the moment.
3rd design: I really like this design but I think it will look to empty when it comes to actually constructing it.
Importance of a magazine advert
Advertising is extremely important for any product as it is getting the product seen by its target audience and potential consumers. By good advertising media encoders can drastically increase their sales of their media product, so having a good advert for selling a CD is crucial.
How my CD cover follows forms and conventions of Owl City's previous CD covers
After analysising 4 of Owl City's previous CD covers, I found some common characteristics, here are some of the conventions I adhered to:
* The artist is never on the front cover - Owl City only ever have images of objects, never the band. This is rare in the music industry as they are trying to sell a brand image. This was good news to me, as my video was concept based and had no people in it, I didn't need to put the artist on the front
* Their CD covers are always colourful and I have stuck to this convention as I have used toy cars in bright yellow and green, the font of the main text is also in bright green.
* Most of their covers have a bright white background, with an image within the page - normally with enhanced brightness and contrast - this is what I did with my image, I used photoshop to enhance the brightness and contrast to make more of a stylised image.
* The Artists name is ALWAYS bigger than the track name, which I also stuck to and the track name is normally underneath the artists name which I have also done on my front cover.
* Their images always convey a sense of happiness and youth - My image definatly portrays this by using the toys and using bright colours.
* The artist is never on the front cover - Owl City only ever have images of objects, never the band. This is rare in the music industry as they are trying to sell a brand image. This was good news to me, as my video was concept based and had no people in it, I didn't need to put the artist on the front
* Their CD covers are always colourful and I have stuck to this convention as I have used toy cars in bright yellow and green, the font of the main text is also in bright green.
* Most of their covers have a bright white background, with an image within the page - normally with enhanced brightness and contrast - this is what I did with my image, I used photoshop to enhance the brightness and contrast to make more of a stylised image.
* The Artists name is ALWAYS bigger than the track name, which I also stuck to and the track name is normally underneath the artists name which I have also done on my front cover.
* Their images always convey a sense of happiness and youth - My image definatly portrays this by using the toys and using bright colours.
How the CD cover was aimed at my target audience
Designing a CD cover that looks effective and links well with the genre, artist and video are important but another important factor is will if it attract the target audience? The CD cover has to attract its main target audience otherwise if wouldn't fulfil its purpose as a successful CD cover. I have designed this CD cover to suit my target audience. My target audience are mostly female, between 14-25 years of age and mainly white,Europian or American ethnicity. Here is how I attracted this particular group:
* Curvy, feminine font style - providing a feminine approach to the text
* Using the racetrack as my image - this is a young, childlike paradigm providing a youthful approach to my CD cover
* It's a very simple and innocent image - this gives a fresh approach and looks more innocent and childlike
* I have used bright colours of yellow and green within my text and the colours of the cars - providing the audience with a youthful vibe to my CD cover
* On the back of my CD cover I have also put Owl City's website and myspace webpage - Mostly the younger generation of my target audience use myspace providing my young audience with a social way of researching the band through ways they are used to.
* Curvy, feminine font style - providing a feminine approach to the text
* Using the racetrack as my image - this is a young, childlike paradigm providing a youthful approach to my CD cover
* It's a very simple and innocent image - this gives a fresh approach and looks more innocent and childlike
* I have used bright colours of yellow and green within my text and the colours of the cars - providing the audience with a youthful vibe to my CD cover
* On the back of my CD cover I have also put Owl City's website and myspace webpage - Mostly the younger generation of my target audience use myspace providing my young audience with a social way of researching the band through ways they are used to.
Chosen CD cover
After looking at my 3 possible designs for my CD cover I decided upon using my 2nd design as my final CD cover. I chose this design for a few reasons:
1. I felt that it followed the common forms and conventions of Owl City's previous CD covers much better than my other 2 designs as the font used for the title was similar and the use of a bright white background with a focus image is often used in Owl City's work.
2. It appeared the most dynamtic, by continuing the racetrack onto the back cover looked really professional and much more interesting to look at.
3. Although the picture of a toy racetrack doesn't refer directly to the title of the song, if fits perfectly with the video as this was one of the main toys used within the video and also from the angle the photo will be taken from it appears like a hot air balloon is flying over a town.
4. I liked the stylised image in the centre of the page rather than the other designs which featured the whole image as the background rather than white with an image in the centre.
1. I felt that it followed the common forms and conventions of Owl City's previous CD covers much better than my other 2 designs as the font used for the title was similar and the use of a bright white background with a focus image is often used in Owl City's work.
2. It appeared the most dynamtic, by continuing the racetrack onto the back cover looked really professional and much more interesting to look at.
3. Although the picture of a toy racetrack doesn't refer directly to the title of the song, if fits perfectly with the video as this was one of the main toys used within the video and also from the angle the photo will be taken from it appears like a hot air balloon is flying over a town.
4. I liked the stylised image in the centre of the page rather than the other designs which featured the whole image as the background rather than white with an image in the centre.
Photos for possible designs of CD cover
1st design photos:
2nd Design photos:
3rd Design photos:
After taking my photos for each design I have changed my mind completly. My first choice for my CD cover was initialy my 1st design but seeing it as an image I think it would turn out looking unrealistic as a real CD cover. I like the balloon photo in my 3rd Design but I think it would be a bit boring to use as a CD cover, it looks like designs already on the market. The 2nd design was my least favourite when I designed it as it didn't look as colourful as the other two designs but now I see it as an image I think it looks really dynamic. I am going to use 2 out of the 3 photo's of the racetrack one for the front cover and one for the back
2nd Design photos:
3rd Design photos:
After taking my photos for each design I have changed my mind completly. My first choice for my CD cover was initialy my 1st design but seeing it as an image I think it would turn out looking unrealistic as a real CD cover. I like the balloon photo in my 3rd Design but I think it would be a bit boring to use as a CD cover, it looks like designs already on the market. The 2nd design was my least favourite when I designed it as it didn't look as colourful as the other two designs but now I see it as an image I think it looks really dynamic. I am going to use 2 out of the 3 photo's of the racetrack one for the front cover and one for the back
3 possible designs for my CD cover
1st Design:
This is my first idea for my CD cover,seeing as I used the magnetic letters throughout my video to spell out specific lyrics, I thought it would look good if I tried this out for my CD cover. I really like this idea but It doesn't stick to the common forms and conventions of Owl City's previous music videos at all.
2nd Design:
I really like this idea of using the toy racetrack on my CD cover, this was a main toy throughout my video so is intertextualy linked to my main media product, although I like the concept i don't think it looks as good as the other two designs. However this design is the most similar to Owl City's previous CD covers and follows their forms and conventions closely.
3rd Design:
I think this design looks the best out of all three, but only because it is really colourful image, but when I actually take the photos I don't think it will look as dynamic as the other two designs. Plus I don't think it has a clear relationship with the music video, not as much as the other two designs do.
After looking at all three designs, I like the idea of using my 1st design the most, but I am going to take pictures for all three and see if this design still works best as an image rather than a drawing.
This is my first idea for my CD cover,seeing as I used the magnetic letters throughout my video to spell out specific lyrics, I thought it would look good if I tried this out for my CD cover. I really like this idea but It doesn't stick to the common forms and conventions of Owl City's previous music videos at all.
2nd Design:
I really like this idea of using the toy racetrack on my CD cover, this was a main toy throughout my video so is intertextualy linked to my main media product, although I like the concept i don't think it looks as good as the other two designs. However this design is the most similar to Owl City's previous CD covers and follows their forms and conventions closely.
3rd Design:
I think this design looks the best out of all three, but only because it is really colourful image, but when I actually take the photos I don't think it will look as dynamic as the other two designs. Plus I don't think it has a clear relationship with the music video, not as much as the other two designs do.
After looking at all three designs, I like the idea of using my 1st design the most, but I am going to take pictures for all three and see if this design still works best as an image rather than a drawing.
Importance of a CD cover
Your cover is your calling card to the record industry and to the consumer. how well you design it and the other graphics for your release could well determine your success or failure as a musician.
A well designed and attractive cover, along with other detailed information you have included in the packaging, may well determine if your audience even bother to listen to the music contained on the record, and if your decoder takes the dominant or aberrant reading from your graphics. It is the best advertisement for your music.
Your standing in a music shop with millions of CD's in front of you, a successful CD cover will stand out from the crowd and grab your attention even if you weren't looking for that CD, Whereas an unsuccessful CD will simply be ignored time and time again. This can make or break an artist because if people don't buy their music then they will just stop making it.
This is why a good, well designed CD cover is of the highest importance.
A well designed and attractive cover, along with other detailed information you have included in the packaging, may well determine if your audience even bother to listen to the music contained on the record, and if your decoder takes the dominant or aberrant reading from your graphics. It is the best advertisement for your music.
Your standing in a music shop with millions of CD's in front of you, a successful CD cover will stand out from the crowd and grab your attention even if you weren't looking for that CD, Whereas an unsuccessful CD will simply be ignored time and time again. This can make or break an artist because if people don't buy their music then they will just stop making it.
This is why a good, well designed CD cover is of the highest importance.
Monday, 3 May 2010
How my music video followed typical characteristics of the Electropop genre
Common forms and conventions of Electropop:
•Fast-cut montage - providing a professional look/ leaves audience wanting to see it again
•Unique and bold - Very stylish sets and mise-en-scene
•Concept and narrative based
•Appear quite modern and bright
•Light hearted and relaxed atmosphere
•Use of bright colours within video
•Often quite childlike
•Original ideas - videos within this genre don't like to stick to safe ideas they seem quite experimental
After researching these specific genre characteristics I tried to incorporate them into my own video so my music video was obviously seen to be the Electropop genre
•The main editing technique used in Electropop music videos is fast-cut montage; I used this within my own music video and found it made my video look much more professional as no clip was longer than 3 seconds. This leaves the audience wanting to see more as they won’t get the full grasp of the video at first as the clips are too short. This also helped as my video was purely concept based, I needed a lot of cuts to make sure the audience wouldn’t get bored
•I used a lot of bright colours within my music video which fits with the Electropop genre and also helped with creating the childlike paradigm, I used brightly coloured toys such as building blocks and cars; I hung up fairground style flags in different colours and also used some balloons.
•Electropop is all about being experimental with their music and videos, and I feel I was extremely experimental within mine, due to the fact my video was purely concept based with no people in my video at all which is very different from the norm. I also feel that making the toys appear to come ‘alive’ was also a unique idea.
•They also have an particularly effective mise-en-scene, and this aspect of my video is what I think worked best
•A common characteristic of Electropop music videos are a light-hearted and relaxed atmosphere, the use of the toys and light colours helped create this and also the use of the furry puppet creating a comical aspect of the video, providing even more of a light – hearted atmosphere.
•Also most Electropop music videos are either concept or narrative based so my video being purely concept based helped with following some of the typical conventions of the Electropop genre.
•Fast-cut montage - providing a professional look/ leaves audience wanting to see it again
•Unique and bold - Very stylish sets and mise-en-scene
•Concept and narrative based
•Appear quite modern and bright
•Light hearted and relaxed atmosphere
•Use of bright colours within video
•Often quite childlike
•Original ideas - videos within this genre don't like to stick to safe ideas they seem quite experimental
After researching these specific genre characteristics I tried to incorporate them into my own video so my music video was obviously seen to be the Electropop genre
•The main editing technique used in Electropop music videos is fast-cut montage; I used this within my own music video and found it made my video look much more professional as no clip was longer than 3 seconds. This leaves the audience wanting to see more as they won’t get the full grasp of the video at first as the clips are too short. This also helped as my video was purely concept based, I needed a lot of cuts to make sure the audience wouldn’t get bored
•I used a lot of bright colours within my music video which fits with the Electropop genre and also helped with creating the childlike paradigm, I used brightly coloured toys such as building blocks and cars; I hung up fairground style flags in different colours and also used some balloons.
•Electropop is all about being experimental with their music and videos, and I feel I was extremely experimental within mine, due to the fact my video was purely concept based with no people in my video at all which is very different from the norm. I also feel that making the toys appear to come ‘alive’ was also a unique idea.
•They also have an particularly effective mise-en-scene, and this aspect of my video is what I think worked best
•A common characteristic of Electropop music videos are a light-hearted and relaxed atmosphere, the use of the toys and light colours helped create this and also the use of the furry puppet creating a comical aspect of the video, providing even more of a light – hearted atmosphere.
•Also most Electropop music videos are either concept or narrative based so my video being purely concept based helped with following some of the typical conventions of the Electropop genre.
How I aimed my music video at my target audience
My target audience are mainly:
•Females
•14-25
•White
•American/European
•Social stratification was difficult to find as they are mainly young people they probably won’t have high paying jobs, but that’s not to say their parents don’t so I found social stratification didn’t matter in this case.
I found this out after researching Owl City’s main target audience online. I have tried to aim my product at a younger, female fan base how are mainly white, American/European. I did this through a number of different ways:
•Using a little girl’s bedroom instead of a boy’s, this provided me with a more feminine look to my mise-en-scene through colours, toys and textures.
•The whole concept of my video is childlike innocent and magic which reflects well on my target audience who are mainly teenagers and young adults who would relate well to the concept of childhood and innocence.
•Through camera angles I have provided a sense of being close to the action which covers one of the aspects of the uses and gratification of wanting to feel involved
•The concept of my music video is generally aimed at white, American/ Europeans due to trying to create a childlike paradigm which would work well within this particular target audience.
•I have created syntagmatic connotations through the use of montage, to provide an order of events that appear to make toys ‘come alive’ this fits well within my concept and would appeal to a younger audience.
•I have used a variety of camera angles to provide more of a visual spectacle for my audience and to make my video look more dynamic, this would appeal to my young target audience as they would often be on the internet and if my music video is interesting to look at they will want to watch it again and again instead of getting bored.
•I have also used a furry puppet within some of my scenes to create a like comical feel to my video which would appeal to a younger target audience.
•The setting of the little girl’s bedroom worked brilliantly for aiming my product at a female audience as a lot of the toys, cupboards etc were baby pink and purple providing feminine colours throughout my production.
•Females
•14-25
•White
•American/European
•Social stratification was difficult to find as they are mainly young people they probably won’t have high paying jobs, but that’s not to say their parents don’t so I found social stratification didn’t matter in this case.
I found this out after researching Owl City’s main target audience online. I have tried to aim my product at a younger, female fan base how are mainly white, American/European. I did this through a number of different ways:
•Using a little girl’s bedroom instead of a boy’s, this provided me with a more feminine look to my mise-en-scene through colours, toys and textures.
•The whole concept of my video is childlike innocent and magic which reflects well on my target audience who are mainly teenagers and young adults who would relate well to the concept of childhood and innocence.
•Through camera angles I have provided a sense of being close to the action which covers one of the aspects of the uses and gratification of wanting to feel involved
•The concept of my music video is generally aimed at white, American/ Europeans due to trying to create a childlike paradigm which would work well within this particular target audience.
•I have created syntagmatic connotations through the use of montage, to provide an order of events that appear to make toys ‘come alive’ this fits well within my concept and would appeal to a younger audience.
•I have used a variety of camera angles to provide more of a visual spectacle for my audience and to make my video look more dynamic, this would appeal to my young target audience as they would often be on the internet and if my music video is interesting to look at they will want to watch it again and again instead of getting bored.
•I have also used a furry puppet within some of my scenes to create a like comical feel to my video which would appeal to a younger target audience.
•The setting of the little girl’s bedroom worked brilliantly for aiming my product at a female audience as a lot of the toys, cupboards etc were baby pink and purple providing feminine colours throughout my production.
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