EVALUATION: Audience Feedback

Here is an example of the feedback we received
from the people who viewed our music video and our poster
(this is a general rough criticism of the elements of our final products)

We gathered all feedback from our target audience and produced an audience feedback video in the form of a youtube video in order to communicate what our audience feedback revealed, what our group learnt from this feedback, what was successful/less successful and our general areas of improvement. I feel that an audience feedback was helpful because often when producing your own media product, you do not see the room for improvement that other people can see, an outside opinion is vital for improvement.

  Full Audience Feedback Video

EVALUATION: Technologies Used

We used a wide range of technologies throughout our production of the media text. beginning from research, to planning, production and evaluation recording. We were extremely familiar with a lot of the technologies used as we all had our own comforts with different technologies and our own preferences but we were introduced to new technologies also such as a site name xtranormal which creates a presentation used in our evaluations and recording of research.

Research: The Internet was the beginning of our research, it played a huge part in everything we did; researching existing products, analysis and recording our work online via. blogger.com, finding music, production etc.

we used websites such as google - a search engine for research, blogger from recording our work, youtube for general research and storage of our media texts, specific band and record label websites from research and xtranormal for production of online presentation analysis.

I had used blogger in my AS coursework there i was familiar with it, it's been very useful in recording my work and research and collecting my overall work from the years on a blog online, somewhere i can access easily and not lose work when needed, as well as sharing work and the needed product evidence with the rest of my group.
Planning: In the process of planning, we used technology such as the digital cameras, a scanner, an audio files converter and Celtx, an online software. Celtx is a media pre-production software developed for creating and organizing media products like screenplays and videos. The Digital Camera we used to capture images for planning and for recording our behind the scenes film, alongside taking images for our post production posters and cd cover was very effective as it gave our project an overall high quality finish to it.  Scanning images made it easier to transfer sketches made by our group directly to the computer, improving the task of recording our work via. blogger. The two main parts of our production in the sense of technology were IMovie and our Video Camera, we used the video camera to produce our whole media text alongside imovie which produced the movie as a whole.

In Detail

Google.com:

Google.com (search engine)

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information 

and make it universally accessible and useful. - http://www.google.com/about/

We used a search engine in order to research our genre (indie genre) in attempt to expand our knowledge regarding the conventions of this genre and also to discover varied indie music artists and music labels, discovering their background, their past, their positives and how they have developed through who they have signed and who were their most successful artists within the company. 

Music Institution Official Website:

http://www.roughtraderecords.com/

Alongside search engines, these websites led us to discover official websites such as Rough Trade's official website which held their information, history and general media convergence and advertisement for their institution and their artists. This website was very helpful in my research of media institutions as it held all the vital information I needed.

Blogger:

above- (Blogger logo)

above- (My Advanced Portfolio Blog on Blogger)

I have used Blogger for the last couple of years as it was an essential to my AS level coursework and was particularly helpful in recording my work stage by stage and keeping all of my evidence of work in one place where it could be viewed by the exam board and i could make adjustments to it easily as it is online and easily accessible. It has been very useful to the whole group throughout our A2 coursework as we could use it to document our work, show evidence and record the eventual production of our media product, such as the research, planning, production, after production and feedback, We could also use blogger to pass information and images through the group so that we all have access to the vital evidence of progress we needed on our blogs.

Celtx:

Used for scriptwriting and storyboard creating. (We used
this website in order to create our storyboard.)

''Scriptwriting is just the beginning From writing your first draft to scheduling your last shot, we provide the tools to get it done.'' - https://www.celtx.com/index.html

Celtx is an online, successful software designed for pre-production media projects such as screenplays, films, videos, stage plays, audio plays, documentaries, comics, games and podcasts. It is very well known online as it is helpful and simple, making any pre production task easier to complete and easy to share online. Our group were familiar with this software as we used it in separate groups for our AS coursework, Last year we used it to create a script and a storyboard, however this year we used it to make our drafter storyboards look more finished and professional with captions, good quality photographs and the camera shots and movements we were planning on using making it easier to imagine what the full media product would look like when completed to it's full potential and making the filming process a lot easier as we had a certain target of good quality that we wanted to obtain and we believe we did. Overall we felt that Celtx was a very helpful and simple software that helped us push our coursework to its full potentional, making our storyboards look finished and professional.

example of storyboard created on celtx


Video camera and Digital camera:

Our group firstly used a digital camera to capture images for our storyboard and for the planning of our whole production of the media text. We also had to take images that would feature on our advertisement poster and on the digi-pack our group created. This was helpful because we used a high quality camera in order to capture images that would be at a high enough standard to make our advertisements and digipack look legitimate and professional.

The video camera we used was not as high quality as we had wished it to be, therefore we used an Olympus Pen digital camera also in order to make sure our close ups in the music video were high quality and nicely finished with a sharpened effect and huge detail in the eyes of the characters as well as picking up any essential movements and eye contact. However the video camera we used had a lot of storage so that we could film what we needed for post production and we could take a range of shots to feature in the media text, it was also high quality enough to capture what we needed and was simple enough to use easily.

Image Scanner:

A scanner is a device that scans any images, text or objects that are needed to be transferred to a computer system and into a digital image. Our group had used a scanner in past work throughout GCSE and Alevel work, therefore we were familiar with how to use and access our digital images through this process. I personally used the scanner to scan any images i needed, any research or annotated images that were not yet added onto my blog as well as any hand written or drawn drafts that our group created.

IMovie (editing software):
I had previously used iMovie in GCSE and AS Level media work therefore i am quite experienced in using the software and often i find that along with filming, editing is my strong point. Our group used IMovie to create our final media product, our music video. Because we all had experience in this software, editing the footage we captured came easily and we found it to be simple to edit and add transitions, effects, colours into our footage. We used the typical conventions of the indie genre to match the effects with our video, such as faded colours and tones. 

Youtube (worldwide online video site):

Youtube was very helpful throughout our coursework because during the beginning of my research, i had to look for and analyse other music videos within our chosen genre (indie genre). Youtube made it easy to find videos that could relate to our genre, as the most popular searched is easy to find on this website, making it simple to find famous music artists. Our group also used youtube to store final cuts of our music video, behind the scenes evidence and analysis of audience feedback,

Photo Shop (photo-editing software):
Photoshop was a software we used in order to produce our poster for advertisement and digipack. Photoshop helps with editing, whether it is improving the photograph with colour and tone adjustment or adding text and moving the positions of the images. This was vital for our designs as we needed them to look as higher quality as possible and Photoshop enabled us to do that. We used Photoshop in order to increase the contrast, lighting and colour of the images and as a whole, to make the images look professional. 

Xtranormal:Xtranormal is a digital entertainment company that produces do-it-yourself animation software for the web and desktop and turns your words (text-to-speech) into an animated movie. Some of our group had never used this website however for me personally, i had used it formally in media studies therefore i was familiar with it and how to use to site itself, we used this website as a group to create a video on what we had found about conventions of the indie genre. We felt my creating an xtranormal video, it added diversity to our blogs, rather that just including text, we made a few videos to add onto the blog.

EVALUATION: Genre Codes and Conventions

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

As a whole, we decided to not adjust the conventions of the Indie genre in our music video, as we wanted to use as many codes and conventions linked with this genre within our work in order to appeal to the chosen target audience and to create an exciting media product that would not be confusing to the viewer and would also link with the style of the music chosen.

Conventional to the genre:
Stock characters:

 We used too different scenes within our video to make the plot seem exciting to watch but also to catch the attention of the viewer so they would be interested in the narrative. Firstly we used two characters within the plot, with the type "boy loves girl" scene, in order to help the audience relate to the lyrics of the song and the story played on screen. We also used another actor who was to be portrayed as the singer of the band, in an attempt to make him seem like he is singing about his story to the viewer of the video, again connecting with the audience. We dressed our characters within the indie scene, for example, knitted jumpers, beanies, doc martens. We did this so that the conventions of the indie genre were clear.

the artist of band

two actors/characters

Stock settings: The settings we chose to feature within our media text were conventional to the indie genre, including city centres and public transport, however to make the conventions fit even more, i believe if we have used an even more gritty setting in some sections of the music video, it would have been a lot more effective and appealing as well as conforming to the genre and it's stereotypical conventions.

city we based our video in (stock setting)

Image: Within the subject of ''Image'' we found that clothing was a vital part of the production of the music video, we made sure our actors chosen could dress suitably to fit their roles in order to convey the indie genre to the audience and to conform to the genre as a whole.

Clothing (Indie Style)

Music: Our music choice was very much suited to the indie genre, it including slurred vocals and rough voices as well as soft guitar music. The song told a story which we believed was very effective in the production of our media text as we could suit scenes and create a narrative alongside the lyrics.

Connotation: The lyrics are the secondary level of communication within this music video.They tell a story to the audience and help them connect with the narrative along with the characters, making the band seem appealing, which is a huge success within the music industry. The lyrics come from the males point of view, telling his feelings and portraying his emotion to the audience.

Mode of Address: Throughout our Music Video, the audience are addressed subliminally through not only the lyrics but also the camera shots and movements used. For example in a lot of our media text, the audience are directed by eye contact with the camera from the ''singer'' of the band, This helps him tell the story through his lyrics and makes the narrative seem a lot more genuine, addressing the audience directly and making them feel connected to the band and the story, helping them relate to the story and finding themselves within the problems that the characters face.

shot we used at the end

Narrative: In terms of narrative theory, Todorov's Narrative Theory could not be introduced, as throughout the video and the lyrics from the song, the plot seems to never fix itself, the male character seems to be as unhappy telling his story as he was from the beginning, therefore there is never a new equilibrium (new beginning), although there is a constant disruption in the plot, the beginning (equilibrium) echoes throughout the video without drastic change, leaving the audience with slight sympathy for the main character. Although Todorov's theory could not be applied here, Propp's Character Theory could in some sense, as the male is seen the be the hero, as he is telling his story through his eyes and his opinion, introducing a sense of a bias opinion and portraying him to be the hero, positive and often taking on the female role of caring, loving and chasing, challenging the idea of patriarchy and reversing the roles of genders. Because of the male's portrayal of the female, she appears to have the attributes of a villain and she upsets and torments the male character with her confused feelings.

Not conventional to the genre:Stock Settings: Although we chose a lively and youthful city to base of video within, a lot of the settings including a lot of adults and general public, which did highlight the fact that the characters feel alone, but also it did not match the conventions of the genre. The city idea conformed to the indie genre, giving it a raw and modern look about the media text/music video but however i believe if the setting was a lot more edgy and gritty, it would have conformed even more to the indie genre and would have been even more clear what genre it was to the audience.

setting was too clean and not gritty enough to be indie
regardless that we filmed in an urban city.

Final Digipack

 

 

 

This is our final digi-pak, it features the artist rather than the narrative of the music video in order for the artist/band to be recognised by the target audience.The artists face is featured on the front cover of the digi-pak partly for the female gaze and also so that the band is recognised by the singer featured in the music video. The back of the digipak includes an image from a live show to give the audience an idea of the types of gigs/concerts that the band put on for their fans and also to emphasise their popularity with the public. The digipak is fairly simple to portray that the indie genre is al about the music rather than the style and lifestyle, this makes the band seem alot more down to earth and unknown, something the indie genre has alot of, unknown music. The digipak is proffessional looking with simple text and layout and all the essential elements to a digipak.

Evaluation of My Main Product and Ancillary Texts

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

We decided to emphasize the importance of our artist through featuring him on all final products including the digi-pak, the poster and the music video. He played a heavy and vital part in the video as if he was the narrator and was explaining his life through his lyrics. We made this obvious in the music video by featuring him on a lot of the camera shots alone and out of the narrative of the video as if he is explaining through other characters but the main male was him.

By featuring him on the posters and digipak as well as the music video, this made him instantly recognizable to the audience and makes it clear that he is the main artist in the band and is not just an actor. We applied Neale's theory of the female gaze to our main artist, construction him in a way where he would be not only a music icon but also an attractive person to be followed by female fans and recognized, this would also promote the band by selling him as well as the music which is something conventional all music genres, selling the image as well as the music. Although selling the music is more important to us and the indie genre, as the indie genre is known to be very grounded and about the music, which is why we stuck to a very simple image with our artist. This challenges Richard Dyer's Star Theory as he discusses how "A star is an image and not a real person, that is constructed" we left our artist looking very simple and down to earth, acting as himself and singing lyrics that mean something to him and not music that was constructed for him and to sell him image. We also included a guitar throughout the video with our main artist to emphasize to importance of the music alone and not the image of the band. This is conventional to our genre, as looking back upon most of our research, the artists and bands we researched promoted music as being the main focus.\

From looking back upon our research into what our audience expected from our media product, we realized that to have a successful promotional campaign we must have included these vital aspects within our media product to convey the indie genre clearly and achieve what our audience requested from the genre:

1. Mainly male characters                                                                                                                  (We achieved this by featuring our main artist as male and another male within the music video)
2. Themes of love/relationships or a party and social lifestyle                                                        (Which we featured throughout the music video due to the lyrics and narrative of the video, based on romance/love and specifically an account of the artist and his explanation of the girl that he ''wants to be more than mates'' with.)
3. Costumes should be scruffy ( for example should be dressed ''scruffy'' and have messy hair and appearance in general, not dressed high class in order to feature all the attention on the music) - We achieved this by dressing him quite simple but not all together ''scruffy'' as we still wanted him to seem attractive and appealing to the audience.
4. The Settings should be in places such as empty buildings and countryside (We featured our location in the city to emphasize the urban and modern feel of indie music and also to relate to our target audience who are mostly city teenagers who appreciate the indie genre)

We decided to have our main character as a male in order to fit with the song and lyrics, which is an account from a male who is in love with a female in his school. We thought using a male would be more understandable and also would promote the female gaze, as he would be attractive to present to the audience and a recognizable icon. A lot of the indie genre have a male as their main artist or a whole male band all together as their voices are low and scruffy sounding and we wanted to fit this convention when presenting our artist in all of our media products. Although we presented a male as the artist and another male playing the artist in the narrative of the music video, we knew we'd have needed a female character to set up the "love story" in the music video however due to the lyrics of the song we decided to have our female character as strong and independent, which is primarily why the male character cannot get her (portrayed through the lyrics) ''i want to be more than mates". 

Her strong and fearless character challenges general gender representation in the way that females are supposably intended to be represented as caring and weak in contrast to males, and by using a female in our music video that challenges this theory and idea, creates a successful promotional campaign as our female audience can relate to the strength and individuality of the female in our video and will have another reason to be a fan of the band and enjoy the media products. As well as the females, the males can relate to the vulnerability of the male character and artist instead of sticking to the conventional strong and emotionless character of males that is usually conveyed through the media and in society, males will find comfort in this and the lyrics may explain something that they are too worried to talk about by defending their masculinity. 

We chose to present our artist as scruffy and simple but not too badly presented as we wanted him to remain attractive to the female audience. The style of his clothes remain conventional of the indie genre as he is wearing very dull colour which portray him as being very grounded and selfless as he is not promoting his image or revolving the video around himself but more about the music and the story he is telling. We decided to keep the "scruffiness" to a minimum as we wanted him to conform the Neale's theory of the female gaze and did want our female audience to be put off the main artist although to stick to our conventions of the indie genre we made sure that his hairstyle would still be presented as messy to leave him a touch of edge to his style and make him seem more appealing and real to the audience in a sense that he is portraying the indie genre in the correct way.

In terms of love and romance, this shot was something we planned to include, a two shot of the two main characters of the video, the female and male engaging with each-other to highlight their significance to each-other and the lyrics, outlining the romantic involvement with each-other and the male's eagerness to be involved with the female. We can tell this by his facial expression and how he is turned towards her when she seems not as interested, looking away from the male and forward towards the city surroundings.  

We also framed them on either side to show the obvious space between the two and the loss of connection with each-other, as although this song it telling a love story, it is also outlining the lack of interest from the female which causes sympathy towards the male, as he is playing the caring, weak and vulnerable role in the video.

In terms of Settings and Location, our audience expected somewhere gritty so we incorporated this by presenting our music video in a city location, Birmingham, somewhere urban and gritty but appealed to our target audience. This gave us a range of different places to film in Birmingham with plenty of sights and people to include in our music video, making it seem more real and legitimate to the indie genre. When research, i noticed that a lot of the bands i researched including the Arctic Monkeys included a city in their video as it conforms to the gritty and scruffy reputation of the indie genre. 




Therefore we anted to conform to this reputation but also put our own interpretation on it by also featuring our artist singing directly to the camera in a plain white studio to emphasize his importance and to put realization on that this is his story and his music. making him instantly recognizable and creating a successful promotional campaign.

I think as a group, we succeeded in the effectiveness of our products as a whole. Our products all fit together well with a consistent, recurring theme as well as conforming to the Indie genre. Our products look individual but professional, they look as if they were produced professionally as well as keeping their originality and excitement with the design. As well as the artistic aspect of the products, they also look very clear and communicate efficiently what they're trying to promote and infer to the consumer. I believe our colour scheme and layout look professional and high quality along with the well taken photographs to add that extra finish to the designs, i believe that without a high quality camera, our design may have lacked as it would not look sellable to any consumer. Our group were happy overall with the outcome of our media products, we felt that all together our products looked high quality and linked together with a consistent, exciting and clear theme. Our music video was exciting to watch and we did our best to play the story line around the lyrics so that our audience would understand the narrative, we took a lot of different experimental steps in our music video, including shots, movement, plot, direction and after effects in order to create a well finished music video that would appeal to our target audience within the indie genre and would connote all known conventions of this genre in order to be well received by the audience in particular and create a successful promotional campaign. 

Products:

Digipak Plans and Final Analysis



























Poster drafts and full evaluation of Final Poster

Final Media Product

 Here is Our Final Media Product (Music video)