Final Evaluation

Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

This photo uses conventions of proffessional music videos. I think this because we used a head shot to start off with at the beginning of the song. This is similar to real life videos as it is simple and has the artist singing along and is a strong clear shot. Goodwin can be applied here, as one of Goodwin’s points is showing that different music videos have their own conventions, as pop songs mainly have the artist singing into the camera which directly addresses them to encourage identification as it is only one person.

This shot shows the two characters in our music video. The lighting is portrayed as the morning sun and is effective as it only lights up parts of the face to have an impact. Another of Goodwin’s points is that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. This means that the mise en scene, shots, editing etc will match with the lyrics, like the beat of the song and instruments of the music video. The lyrics at this particular moment refer to the man having the key to her heart, and this shot shows the happiness of their relationship shown by the smiles and how close the shot and framing is.

This shot is used at the end of the chorus when the instrumental part is playing before the second verse. Applying Goodwin’s point to do with their being a relationship between music and visuals, we thought this shot was effective and uses the conventions of a professional music video as it lets the audience identify with the artist. This happens by being portrayed in a long shot which shows the female and includes the background to encourage identification with the setting. 

Another of goodwins points is that the record label will include need for close ups of the artists to emphasise the image of the star. The reason for the use of close ups is because the record label not only wants to advertise the song, they are also trying to advertise the artist as well so they become well known and popular and to match the image of the song which will intrigue the audience. In my music video I have cut in regular close up shots of the lead singer.

This shot is a close up of hands wrapped round the males arm and reinforces Goodwin’s point of lyrics and visuals together. We use various close ups of the couple during our music video to show the relationship throughout. We used bright stage lights so that it is clear to see and so the audience can somehow relate to it. During this shot the female is also running her hands along his arm in a stroking manner to portray affection.

This shot relates to Goodwin’s point of including close ups of the artist to empathise the image of the star. Here we used an extreme close up of the artists face to again encourage identification. This conveys conventions of a typical music video by adding on top of the shot a layer. We added this by filming a separate shot of a out of focus chandelier light and layering if on top of the artist singing to add more effect. It dims away when she sings to empathise the meaning of the words, which is when she is talking about loving the male interest in her life.

 

Another of Goodwin’s points is which we have referred to earlier on is about different music videos having their own conventions. This pop song is about love and by using a female pop star we hope we portray this well. Also by the use of this shot which shows male hands wrapped round her neck, this could symbolise him supporting her. This helps add to the song’s lyrics and the meaning

This shot relates to Goodwin’s point which says that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. This shot is shown right at the end of the piece and the candles are blown out. We decided to end on this as it is also at the beginning and we found from research and previous experience that music videos like to have something to  start and end on which are similar and have a meaning behind them. We chose candles as they represent a strong idea of life or love that is either alight, flickering or going out. Furthermore there is a lyric in the song which mentions ‘flames’ and so we thought that this would benefit us the most.

 We used this picture as our album cover. This has conventions of professional music videos, for example the image of our pop star placed in the center. Having our star in the middle of the picture drags attention to her, furthermore having the background slightly blurry enhances the light on her. We have kept the front simple by keeping the title short, and simple, and keeping it to a minimum of black and white. Our star is also dressed in a way which makes her fit in with the setting, but also have an edgy feel with the use of wearing all black. The shot can be feminine though and does not take away the idea of being a female pop star by having her hair draped down one side, showing off her figure  in her stance, having a low cut dress which could create materialism and wearing bright pink lipstick. All these add to the idea of portraying a feminine pop star.

Our magazine advert did not follow typical conventions as we did not have the album cover as the picture. We did this because we wanted our star to have her own identity and gain recognition. The picture of our star is brightly lit in the centre and then we have made it dimmed black round the edges. This is effective as then the focus is centered on her only. Throughout our research we found out that many female artists used simplistic writing on their advert. We decided to carry this through onto ours as it was effective and drew the audience in. We also followed conventions for magazine adverts as we carried out research and found out what other types of information to include on the advert. We added on information such as, the star ratings and the places you can purchase the album, for example amazon and hmv. 

Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Q3: What have you learned from your audience feedback? 

Feedback from the rough cut:
- The lip syncing was out
- The male actor was laughing and chewing gum in some scenes
- Good use of shot types
- The male and female actors need to be more convincing
- Fill in the blank or awkward gaps
- Some shots go on for too long 
- Good costume
- Have more of a variety of setting

Feedback from the final music video:
- Good range of costume
- Magazine advert and digipak has a good range of shot types
- Lyrics match the visuals well
- Improved lip syncing
- Music video, magazine and digipak fit the genre 
- Looks really professional, especially the lighting
- Some shots too long, just standing
- More lip syncing 
- Good shots showing materialism, legs
- Digipak and magazine has a good use of light and dark-contrast
- Consistent style
- Variety of shots-not just face but feet, hand, legs etc

 Q4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Final Cut

We used final cut throughout our time making our music video. Once we had filmed all the footage we then added it all onto final cut so we could begin the editing. This software is very useful as it has a timeline along the bottom with many rows where you can drag and place various shots. There is also a preview box where you can view the footage. What we found most useful is the markers that you can put on the tracks which enable you to cut exactly where you want it. The play head also allows you to create a very precise lining of a shot. There is a task bar along the side which allowed us to cut down shots and then fulfil certain colour corrections and change the screen size and add special effects. This has helped us shape our music video immensely and gather the best out of our footage.  

Photoshop

We used Photoshop to form our digipak cover. We created various images which we took on one of our groups own professional camera. We lit these shots to gather the best we could out of them. We then uploaded them on to the computer and had to decide which ones best suited the front cover, back cover etc.  Using Photoshop we then changed some of the shots to make them look more professional. For example on one photo we darkened out the background as it was significantly lighter than the others so it fitted in with the other photos. Also because it had beams showing in the background which we did not want the public to see on the photo. In another photo we made the background fairly blurry so that the main focus was on the pop star. This image was used as the front cover as we thought it had the best effect.

Blogger.com

We used this software throughout our time studying music videos. Every lesson we added information to our own blog which we were created. This enabled us to add information about our planning and progress and then finally our final product. This was beneficial as it showed how we had progressed and what we had achieved. All of us had to add individual posts and then we also wrote group posts which we sometimes did together in the lesson.

Q4 conclusion - Evaluation
by: AnnaT11