Coursework Evaluation Part 4

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

Throughout my initial research, I used programs such as Word, Powerpoint, Excel and the Internet to find the research and put everything I found into documentation. Some of the best websites in which I was able to find any music video I wished to see was the YouTube website. I also gathered many of my screenshots from YouTube in order to make my documents and powerpoints more visual and provided fkey proof and points about certain music videos e.g. the art-style music videos.

My planning stage consisted of every program that I had used during the research stage, as it required even more documentation and proof of planning.

My production stage required the use of many different programs, the most notable ones being Sony Vegas 9.0 to edit my multimedia music video footage and the image editor programs such as GIMP and Adobe Photoshop to edit my CD/DVD Digipak Design Covers. I've also created a mock up promotional website using the Moonfruit website, which helped me learn how to create a website from the layouts and templates that they offered.

For the evaluation stages, I used the program Paint to draw on where my video camcorder was placed during filming, Excel to evaluate my questionnaire results, Sony Vegas 9.0 to edit my Focus Group Feedback Video Interview and, of course, I have been using Blogger.com to document all my progress, development, designs, and audience feedback. For uploading all my original Word Documents without copying and pasting onto Blogger, I found a website called Scribd that lets you upload all your documents and instead I copied and pasted links to this website onto Blogger so my audience can see the document as how I had originally created it.

I have also helped other media students in creating their music videos when there were problems with permission to use the college cameras overnight. Everything worked itself out when I offered to let Vicky Steadman use my camera for filming, as well as Sam Carter, and helping out during the shoot. I have also used a digital camera to take pictures of signed permission letters, actors contracts and musician contracts for proof that everything that happened during this campaign was to the consent of the actors/musician and the permission from the council.

Coursework Evaluation Part 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

For my initial audience feedback, I created a focus group, a questionnaire on music and music videos and evaluated the results of these.

From what I gathered of these results, I managed to discover my target audience, their interests in music and music videos and what they expect from a well-made music video. This helped considerably to my initial research and made it easier to decide what would market best to my chosen target audience.

In my Multimedia Music Video Pitch, I brought in what my focus group had said when given certain questions to answer about what they like about music videos, what catches their interests and so on. Most of the answers were about style over substance, which helped in my decision to give the multimedia music video a surreal theme to it.

Once I had had finished the multimedia music video, I uploaded it to my YouTube account and showed another focus group and filmed their reactions to the music video and interviewed them for their opinions.

There were no negative comments about the music video, but this meant the feedback gave me nothing to reconsider about the product and what I could improve on. However, most of the comments given were made in consideration to the editing of the music video, which I was very pleased with, as I have practiced editing for over 2 years now and am glad that the audience would take notice of it.

For my website and my CD/DVD Digipak response, I have uploaded all the designs and links on this blog, ready for anyone who wishes to give feedback. For the CD/DVD Digipak, I got feedback from my fellow Media students who gave their opinions on the designs. It is from these opinions that I concluded on which design would be best for the cover, and continuing the theme of surrealism throughout the campaign.

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

My main product was a multimedia music video and the accompanying ancillary texts were a promotional website and a CD/DVD Digipak Design.

This combination made for an effective campaign to promote my chosen musician, Caspar Gilham. Not only did he provide the music track to promote, but also starred as the main actor for the multimedia music video, was included in the CD/DVD Digipak Design Photos and also provided an interview in my audience feedback.

The multimedia music video was shot entirely in backwards action and most of the clips have been edited to be shown in black and white. The reason for this chosen effect is explained in detail in The Editing Process, but as the music track itself has no lyrics and has a musical compilation that is quite surreal, the main reason for these effects is to retain that surrealism and complement the genre of music. Caspar Gilham starred in the multimedia music video, which would help in promoting him further and making his face recognisable to the audience who would be listening to his music. I took direct inspiration from my research into Backwards Action music videos, the most prominent example being Coldplay’s “The Scientist” music video, and shot my music video with the Reverse effect in mind for all the shots.

I created a CD/DVD Digipak as part of my combination of ancillary texts to promote the main product. The digipak was designed when I found a blank CD cover case in the Internet and did a photo shoot with the musician/actor Caspar Gilham. The designs were very similar to my original sketch ideas for the digipak, whilst also maintaining a surreal look to complement the main product in its surrealism. I am pleased with the final design I chose, it looks like a professional CD/DVD cover and I believe it would sell quite well to audiences.

I made a promotional mock-up website on a website called Moonfruit. I named it “Caspar Gilham Music” and it contains the multimedia music video, the music track, photos of Caspar and his guitar, photos of locations, production logo, CD Cover Designs and the final CD/DVD Cover Digipak. The website has quite a lot of material within and would keep the audience’s attention for exploration of the site.

Camera Placements

There are 2 separate camera shots being placed in this picture. The first shot is circled in red, second in yellow.

Coursework Evaluation - Part 1

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

I found many various examples, including music video that are produced solely as an art form, for a contemporary example: Lady Gaga - Paparazzi and Bad Romance and for an independent example: Oren Lavie - Her Morning Elegance.

I carried on research of the types of music videos and found "Backwards Action", which was prominent in Coldplay's music video: The Scientist. The overall look of these music videos is quite strange and surreal- not what you'd usually see in a real-life situation. The way it has been used is to engage the audience into the narrative side of the music video, when a story is told backwards, the consequences come first and the reasons come last, giving the audience a reason to watch the video till the very end. This is very good selling point.

This is when I decided that Caspar's music would best suit a Backwards Narrative, complementing the surreal feel to the music and the video.

I also studied another music video but for an entirely different reason. Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" music video was studied by me in order to decipher what stereotypes and representations music videos seemed to have. To back up my study of this video, I also studied 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" music video, which was entirely marketed for the male gaze. Instead of passing on the representations of women into my own product, I used the style of Beyonce's video instead. The simple use of black and white within the music video has purpose to it, and I developed the use of colour and lack of colour within my own product.

Completed Moonfruit Promotional Website

Moonfruit is quite a difficult website to figure out. It will allow you very limited space to upload photos, videos and other things without upgrading. Luckily, I've managed to complete the website and add enough photos and links to the music and music videos for it to look quite good :)

Here are some screenshots:

Final CD/DVD Digipak Design

Final Design for my CD/DVD Digipak.

I added the text and the sticker containing all the information a CD/DVD cover would include, giving it a professional look. I'm very pleased how the cover art turned out, I feel it matches the musician and music video perfectly and would clearly indicate to the audience what genre of music it is.