Evaluation - Question one

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

In making the music video for our band Young Mistakes we had to consider what the codes and conventions of our genre would be. We decided that we wanted the video to be completely natural which suits our genre and type of band completely, considering that bands that we aspired our band to be like are often very relaxed and almost low profile considering the amount of money they put on show or effects into their video, we managed to portray a fun, carefree video through the normal conventions of bands in todays day and age - not using a green screen, overly expensive props or untypical locations. In doing this, our video relates to the audience.

Following Goodwins theory of conventions for a music video we had the lead singer often miming to the lyrics of the song; the pace of editing matches the pace of the music, which keeps up the lively, fun vibe of the video. We often used small parts of the video to match the lyrics (like in the theory of codes and conventions) such as when the song goes keep our teeth nice and clean and the lead singer pops up into the shot cleaning his teeth and spitting out the toothpaste. We made sure to make the mise-en-scene match the mood of the song, we carefully chose the costume and locations to both make the video enjoyable and relate to their target audience. In using all of this in particular to relate to the audience, the band would sell very easily as the audience will feel like they are very in touch with them and want to be a part of the bands experience. An example of locations relating to audience would be at the arcade, where the band are merely having fun on the arcades, playing pool and at one point we see a shot that says insert coins to play whilst a band member is on the machine, showing that they aren't particularly too wealthy either. In terms of costume, we used very young, fresh looking clothes such as polo's and shirts with skinny jeans or chino's, this means that the band looked like those watching their video and shows them as very carefree and allows the audience to understand they are once again not about the money. Here are some of the locations used to relate to the audience: 

We have the band members playing their instruments in the recording studio, which sticks to the natural element of the band and although there is no real band performance in the video with them all together, the reason we did this is so that the audience would see the video as more of a documentary into the side of the band we would not normally see. This is an example of us challenging the codes and conventions of a music video. We think that in just showing the band having a good time, doing what they always do as opposed to showing the audience what they see all the time (music playing) we could have a unique relationship with the audience through this video alone, which would make the audience feel personal with the band and help them make money in the long run. Although this could be argued to be conforming to the cameo convention, it could also be argued that as the artists do in fact perform at some point within the video, it is merging the two conventions together and therefore could even be seen to be developing on them. We do, however, show a mixture based video of narrative and performance, although the narrative takes over the video much more. Here is narrative and performance examples: 

Although the narrative is following the bands day almost like a documentary and seeing what they do for fun and how they spend their time together, we also challenge this convention by not actually having any real kind of storyline or obvious meaning behind the video. The meaning that comes through quite obviously is that going out and having fun is something young people should enjoy and that just because the band is famous doesn't mean they are any different from their bands. This allows the video to have a very unique feel to it and stops it from becoming forced or badly acted - it also means that when the fans watch the band in interviews, they'll see the same personalities and know that the band are very real in this performance.  Examples of them being natural and having it documentary-like: 

We decided not to use too many intertextual references as we wanted the band to be unique and not to sell out too much through commodification by appearing to be selling themselves on the image of another band. The only real one we used is the part where the band are swinging and clicking their fingers like One Direction in ‘live while we’re young’. The reason we used them is because they are young, popular and very fun. The main reason we used this was in a satirical way, much like Blink 182 mock the Backstreet Boys in ‘All the Small Things’. This is the shot used:

We use a variety of shots, considering how fast paced the video is, allowing the video to stop from lagging and keep everything very fun. We use the notion of looking a lot, as the band members are almost always looking directly in the camera or looking to each other. There is even one shot where the camera is the mirror, which shows the lead singer looking at himself in and looking to the audience - making them feel more in touch with the band. Notion of looking examples are: 

To keep the video fun, in editing we used very fast cuts and even sped up parts of the video - showing that there is so much fun to have they need the most time they can get. We also use split screens in order to show this same thing and also just reinstate just how natural the band is - showing them being like a normal group of friends together at the arcade.

All of these conventions and typical forms of the genre we were using were particularly used, disused or developed with the purpose of showing the band to be very carefree and completely in the industry for their passion of music, not their passion for money. We wanted our band to be outside the realms of the commodification that is always around in the media, showing that the band had not been completely pumped through the system to make them what their record labels think will make money. In doing this, the band will create more of a relationship with their audience and in turn bring more money to the company with their merchandise at concerts and special edition albums as their particular audience and fans would want to know them better and have a lot of respect for them as artists and people.

Evaluation: Question two

This is another part to my evaluation, I recorded myself so that you could see what I'm talking about on the screen too.

This is what I say, in case I talk too fast or it would make marking it easier:

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

When it came to combining all three media products together; music video, poster and digipak, I decided that I wanted them all to go together quite naturally. For this reason, I decided to incorporate the brick wall in all of the media products, so that the audience that have watched the video will understand and feel like they are in on some kind of secret. Again, I decided that I wanted the combination of all three media products to relate and benefit the audience’s relationship with the band.

Also, the digipak, poster and video each have the arcade in it. This again makes all three of the media products a very fun, energetic thing that the audience will enjoy equally to the video itself. Though in the poster there is no obvious reference to the arcade, the silhouette of the band members are all different colours, which will relate to the colourful feel of the arcade in all of the other media products. I have used red, white and blue to keep the British pride of the band in all three media products, this is to connect to other bands such as ‘pulp’, ‘the smiths’ and ‘blur’ that are an inspiration to our band and often show buses or typically British things in their own media products. This will also help to relate to a British audience.

On the front of all three media products there is the image of the band altogether, which shows a unity and a genuine friendship of the band. The record label is on both ancillary texts. The fonts are all the same over the ancillary texts, although the media product has no writing in it.  The bright, fun feel is within all three media products, though the brick wall is darkened slightly to make sure that the audience understand that the band are very serious about their music – they just aim to have as much fun in the process. 

Evaluation - Question three

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




This is the presentation about technologies used for my evaluation.

These are the test shots used I was talking about during the construction part of the evaluation:

Evaluation: Audience Feedback

Audience feedback:

We decided to record four people that have seen our music video talking about what they liked about it and what they think we could have developed upon. We also had some written feedback at an earlier stage on which we used to develop our video and make it what it is now, from the previous feedback and constructive criticism we received, we were able to create a music video to a level where all the feedback we received was good and the only improvement we were asked to make was to use more of a certain shot that was really good.

Here are the videos

Ben Campbell:

I felt that Ben really understood the fun feel to the video and he was one of the more enthusiastic about the video. I feel like the previous feedback we had from our class allowed us to really develop upon our video to get it to the level that Ben enjoyed. 

Michael Donnovan:

I felt that Michael, as a fellow media student was able to see our music video from a more professional outlook and we were very pleased with his feedback

Jess Comber:

Jess gave a very good insight into the video

Luke Shelley:

Luke was the only one that gave us some constructive criticism in saying that we should have used another split screen because he felt the other one was so enjoyable. We did debate doing this but didn't want the novelty of the split screen to wear off or feel overused in anyway, so we felt we should leave it as just one as it will be a sort of surprise for the audience. 

We also posted our video on facebook and these are the comments we got back. 

We were very pleased with these comments as we felt that after the previous feedback we had, the work we had done to improve our video had allowed us to get it to the standard that this audience saw it at. I'm aware that without all of the audience feedback across the time of our work on the media product, we wouldn't have had the same insight into what it was that needed to be changed and may not have got it to a standard we were happy with. 

Although we have finished our video so the audience feedback would not be able to change much, we didn't actually receive any bad comments. Therefore, we were happy with this feedback and we feel that in taking the feedback previously given to use 'arcade' and 'more colourful shots' we were able to create a fun, happy and much livelier video. 

Here is the finished poster after receiving feedback that my poster needed more colour to make it more fun like my band. The colours represent the band being a British band, this is also shown in the video by one of them wearing white, one wearing blue and one wearing red - hence why these colours are associated with the band.

Finished Digipak

Here is the finished Digipak. After we shot the arcade locations and put so many shots of that into the video, I felt that putting them in the Digipak would make it look more like the video and help to connect the three products. This way, the audience will understand the connection between the three - the colours and themes are very similar which means that even though the band are coloured in on the poster, the audience will connect the three products together.

Poster Changes

These are the changes that have been made to the poster after having some feedback. I've changed some of the font as it was seen as more 'funfare' style, which wasn't really what I wanted. I've also decided to make two posters, having this one to entice the audience and then when then once it get's nearer to the date I will release one with the actual band on it - so then those that have been intrigued by this poster will be pulled in even more by the band.