Evaluation Questions

 

Evaluation

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

Andrew Goodwin did work on music videos and his set of ‘points’ are useful for understanding how to construct a product that follows codes and conventions. He states that at least one of his points will be included in a music video.

Our media product uses some of the codes and conventions of music videos in relation to Goodwin’s points. This is because we have provided a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. We managed to achieve this by having the lyrics included in the slender notes which are a key part to the sub plot of involving the "Slenderman". We were able to produce our own slender notes which we used within our filming of the sub plot to then include within the video where it matched the lyrics to provide this relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. This uses the codes and conventions of music videos because Goodwin states that there will be a relationship between the music and the visuals. He said that the visuals should illustrate the lyrics and that is what we have achieved by producing the slender notes within the music video.

These two shots were included in the music video where the lyrics are 'Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na' and 'Who Do You Think You Are'

 

We also followed the codes and conventions of music videos because we provided a relationship between the music and the visuals. We increased the pace of the editing throughout the music video and it becomes faster by the end. This was essential because the tempo of the song increases throughout. It provided a good relationship between the music and the visuals. This was so we would be able to keep the interest of the viewer and provides good emphasis on the music and the cutting on the beat. This also follows Goodwin’s points for the codes and conventions of music videos because he states that there should be a relationship between the music and the visuals. We achieved this convention of music videos by ensuring we had enough coverage and were able to out in a variety of different shot types to make the pace of the editing increase.

 

All of these shots were included at the end of our music video to increase the pace of the editing. 

We have gone against the codes and conventions of music videos. Goodwin stated that record companies will demand a lot of close ups of the main artist or vocalist. In our music video we have not included as many close ups of the vocalist. We have two different shot types where the vocalist is shown up close but the main areas were the vocalist is shown is through the master shot of the whole band. We decided to do this because we wanted to include a variety of different shots of all the other band members and not just the vocalist. This could be said to follow the codes and conventions of music videos but the background band members are not the main artists or vocalist. This does not follow the codes and conventions of music videos because we have not included a lot of close ups of the vocalist.

 

 We followed the codes and conventions by having voyeurism present in the music video. We have included voyeurism through the shots of the “Slenderman”, where there is a first person view of someone looking for the ‘slender notes’ and finding the “Slenderman” in most of the areas that they found the notes. This is voyeurism because it is shown as the notion of looking, but it does not follow the conventional theme of voyeurism where there is a female present or a system of looking. We decided to use this voyeurism because it related to the sub-plot that we included in the music video. This follows the codes and conventions of music videos because Goodwin stated that voyeurism will be present in many music videos. This voyeurism provides interest for the audience because it intrigues them and they want to know why there is someone looking at or for something. This is why we decided to include voyeurism into our music video.

 

We also followed the codes and conventions of music videos because we decided to provide and intertextual reference within our music video. The internextual reference that we decided to use was the reference to the game “Slender: The Eight Pages” which is where we came up with the idea to film as if we were in the game and include the “Slender notes” and the “Slenderman” in a sub plot to the performance in our music video. This idea came up because we looked at the lyrics to the song and found that they related to the game in a certain way because the lyrics are about looking for love. We decided to make this reference to the game, because the “Slenderman” and the game player are both looking, but take a twist on it and make it so that the “Slenderman” was looking for love. Once we had this idea we then decided that it would make an effective sub plot to keep the interest and provide pleasure for the viewer. This is following the codes and conventions of music videos because it has a reference to an outside product within the music video which was used to keep the interest of the audience which we managed to achieve through audience feedback.

 

Our music video was also conventional of the genre that we were trying to represent. The genre of the song that we had chosen was pop punk and we decided to try and re-create this genre within our music video. To do this, we decided to get the band members to wear clothes that would be classed as fitting into the pop punk genre. Two members of the group wore check shirts, skinny jeans and vests which is conventional of the genre that we were trying to follow. This was effective because it meant that the product looked more realistic and looked more like the genre that we were trying to represent.

 

This image shows that the band who's song we used, You Me At Six, also wear check shirts coventional of the genre.

 

Our music video was also conventional of the genre that we were trying to represent because we managed to get a whole band to be included within the music video. It was conventional of our genre to have a whole band included within the music video to show a performance by the band. We managed to get together enough people to create a four piece band to do the performance of our music video. We also managed to get hold of a drum kit and also get this to the location for us to be able to create this performance that is conventional of our genre. This was effective because it meant that we could represent the genre more clearly and also make sure that we were sticking to the genre that we were representing.

 

We produced two ancillary tasks which were to create a Digipak and Magazine Advert for our music video. The Digipak was to be an album design that had the song that we covered on it. The Magazine Advert had to promote the Digipak including reference to the song.

Our Digipak was conventional of the genre of the song that we chose. The genre of the song that we chose was pop punk which we felt would be good for the song and also it would be effective for the Digipak because we could relate to the genre very well. Our Digipak was conventional of the genre that we chose because we decided to use dark images that show the band members which is conventional for the genre because with most pop punk albums the band is generally shown. It was also conventional of the genre because the front cover and back cover include dark backgrounds with bright images which is conventional of the genre because pop punk is generally ‘dark’ but has a bright side to it.

 

Our Magazine Advert was also conventional of our genre. This is because for our genre it is conventional for magazine adverts to have generally dark backgrounds. We decided that it would be effective to use a dark background because it was conventional to the genre but it would also mean that the text on top would stand out and catch the eyes of the audience. It is also conventional of our genre to have bright imagery included within magazine adverts. With this in mind we decided to use the image from our Digipak as the background to our magazine advert and then have text on top of this. This was because it was a bright, contrasting image compared to the dark background so it would grab the attention of the audience and it would also stand out.

 

Our magazine advert was also conventional of magazine adverts in general, not just typically our genre. Magazine adverts will almost always have reference to the sites where the album or tour is available to gain information or buy from. We decided to include the websites of places that we felt that our album would be available to buy, and included the logos and websites of these into the magazine advert. It is also conventional for magazine adverts to include reference to the Digipak in some kind of way, to make a link for the audience between the two different products. We decided to include the image from our Digipak front cover on our magazine advert because this would provide the link between the two for the audience and it also made an effective background for the information to go on.

  

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

I used powerpoint created software 'Prezi' to be able to create a presentation on the information below and answe the above question.

After the filming, editing and final production of our music video, we had to create two ancillary tasks to accompany our music video. These were to create a Digipak and a Magazine Advert for our music video. We have created our Digipak and Magazine advert, and within these we have tried to reflect the genre that our music video was. Our song for our music video was of the pop punk genre so in the video we tried to recreate this.

We first created our Digipak which was to be a CD cover for our music video. Within this we were able to include images that would represent that band. We decided that during our filming we would take photos which we could include in the Digipak. These images included a variety of different shots of the band together as well as the equipment etc. This links our music video and our Digipak well together because it provides a link between the two products that would be recognisable by the audience. This also then provides a link to the genre because it means that the style used within the music video was reflected in the Digipak. This is through the costume that the actors wore for the performance. The performers were asked to wear clothes typical to the pop punk genre which includes skinny jeans, check shirts and vests. Once we had managed to gain this link to the genre within the music video then it was easy to recreate this in the Digipak because we took the images on the day.

We also again provided a link between the music video and the Digipak through the genre. This is because the genre that we had chosen was conventional to include dark colours. Within the music video we were able to use dark colours through the forest scene for the performance and well as through the sub plot for the “Slenderman”. These dark colours came from the background which is conventional of the genre. We managed to recreate this through the colours used for the background for the Digipak front and back covers as well as the images used within the Digipak. We chose to use black as a background because it was the darkest colour possible to use and it would reflect the genre. We also darkened the images used inside the Digipak using Photoshop so that we could make the images a bit more original and conventional of the genre. It is also conventional for bright colours to be used to emphasise certain things such as instruments, guitar straps etc. We managed to incorporate this into the music video through the use of a guitar and guitar strap. This provided a bright stand out colour that provides and emphasis onto it. We recreated this in the Digipak by using bright colours for the front and back covers for the Digipak. After we used a band name generator for the name of the band and the name of the album we then decided to recreate these in the covers by using bright colours. An example of this is that we took the name of the band, being “Neon Lizard Junkies”, and decided to take this opportunity to add in the bright colours that are conventional of the genre. We managed to do this through taking and image of a lizard and editing it so that the edges and insides were of bright, neon colours. This was effective because it allowed us to be able to include the bright colours whilst also linking to the band so that it didn’t look out of place. Another example for us being able to include bright colours within the Digipak was that we used the name of the album within the front and back covers. The name of the album is “Hipster Nicotine” which we managed to use for the front cover including a cigarette and the same for the back cover. From the cigarette we decided to make the smoke bright colours to continue the genre links from the music video. We again used Photoshop to be able to change the colours of the smoke to make it different colours.

We also created a Magazine Advert which could be used to promote the album in which the music video would be included. We decided that to create an effective link between the Digipak and the Magazine Advert we would use the same image that was on the front of the Digipak. This would be an effective link for the audience because from the magazine article they would then we able to recognise the Digipak because of the repetition of the image. Through this link to the Digipak we were able to make genre links for the Magazine article through the codes and conventions of our genre. An example of this is that again our genre would typically use dark colours as a background. We managed to repeat this in the Magazine Advert because we used the same black background from the Digipak. This made an effective genre link because it followed the convention of having dark background whilst also emulating the Digipak. This also provided a link to the music video because in the music video there were a lot of dark images used such as the background for most of the sub plot shots of the “Slenderman”. Another genre link we created through the use of the Digipak and the Magazine Advert was the convention that our genre used bright colours to make certain information or items stand out. We managed to create this link to the genre through the use of a bright back image to make the poster stand out. This colour was then used for the ‘Sticker’ that provides the information of the release date of the album for the audience. This provides a genre link because it shows that we used bright colours to be able to make certain parts stand out which we used within the music video, through the use of bright instruments, as well as within the Digipak, through the use of bright images.




Q3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We created a Directors Commentary which includes clips from our music video. We created a directors commentary by recording us talking about our audience feedback and how we used this feedback constructively to create a better final product.


   


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

I used Xtranormal to create a presentation of the new media technologies we used in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of our music video. This software allowed me to be abel to type in what I wanted the characters to say and then it would put it together to create a presentation of the information.

Adam Stronge Evaluation Question 4
by: longroadmusicvideo12