Evaluation

A promotional package for the release of an album, include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the band;
• a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

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

The first aspect that determined the narrative of our video is the target audience. The audience must be able to understand the narrative and ideology of a couple that long for each other. Our chosen song is “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele. The lyrics meaningfully present an understanding of a female, due to the female voice singing, longing and explaining how she would absolutely anything for her love. The lyrics clearly give the idea of the female not being in a relationship but she would go to all extents to be with her love. Therefore I had decided that the video must consist of elements showing the protagonist longing for the antagonist due to deciding beforehand that our video would be a pastiche of a heartbreaking love song rather than a parody or conceptual video. I established the main conventional features of mainly a Soul type of videos that I could involve in the video are: a romantic setting, close ups, dissolving transitions and a black and white effect. By looking at three different music videos I’ve allowed myself to use, develop and challenge the conventions of them videos. All three videos are from different genres; this is because I didn’t want the video to be similar to Adele’s “Make You Feel My Love” video (http://taslimatarafdar.blogspot.com/2010/11/adele-make-you-feel-my-love.html) and other Soul/Pop videos. Therefore by looking at different genres I can suggest and add elements from other videos to our own. At first we were going to have the mise en scene of the opening scene show the protagonist’s bedroom however we developed this into the living room of the protagonist’s house. The entire video of Adele’s Make You Feel My Love is situated in Adele’s bedroom, this was an original idea for our video but it then developed to a quest being involved. The quest turned out to be the protagonist going out to meet the antagonist whilst reminiscing, presented as flashbacks, about memories from the past that played a great role in her relationship with the antagonist. Therefore from the original idea being in the bedroom, the video develops into presenting two different living rooms, two different streets and two different scenes of the place where the video ends. By using two of everything, the situation of the protagonist being in a discontent situation as opposed to one being in an appealing state is reinforced. In the mise en scene the use of a late time which is shown in Adele’s video was still used along with the occupying actions that Adele seems to perform. Also in the mise en scene we chose to present similar costume which were dark and dingy; this was carried out by using plain clothing along with a coat which is a developed idea because in Adele’s video she puts on a cardigan. The costume allows the representation to be understood, the protagonist is presented as a broken-hearted female. The ideology of a woman in distress is reinforced through her behaviour and how she is seen to be occupied. A woman longing for her love would be conventionally seen in films and videos to be miserable and tense, to not bother with appearance, to seem distracted and unfocused which is an aspect which has influenced our video. The props in our video were kept to the minimum although they were determined by the props in Adele’s video. We used such items as a clock, a pillow, a table and a phone; these objects are very briefly seen in Adele’s Video however we made use of them for a longer time. A convention of a love song is to present a male and female which have a love/hate interaction. The idea of having two central characters is involved in the The Script’s “For The Last Time” video (http://taslimatarafdar.blogspot.com/2010/11/textual-analysis-3.html) therefore influencing our own video. Also their video shows the artist singing passionately while presenting a story involving a male and female, this narrative convention was applied to our planning when deciding the roles for the characters and how many characters should be involved. Presenting two characters conventionally present that they either fall in love or break up, or even break up and then unite again. The central character, the female, is shown to unite with her love which is a convention of a heartbreaking form. However usually men sing about their companion but due to our chosen song belonging to Adele, we’ve challenged the idea by using a female instead of a male as the central character. From Rihanna’s “Disturbia” video (http://taslimatarafdar.blogspot.com/2010/11/textual-analysis-1.html) I had also included conventional elements, such as the costume and lighting, to our video that I thought would enhance the Soul/Pop genre. The clothing in Rihanna’s video was presented as dark, morbid and layered; this is a style which helped to present a miserable and lifeless atmosphere through the protagonist wearing her plain clothing with a grey coat and brown scarf. Some scenes in our video show low key lighting which is a feature of Rihanna’s video, this allows the audience to see when the protagonist is in a heart-rending mood however some scenes in Rihanna’s video presents artificial lighting which creates bold shadows, by using this idea our artist can be seen in a dark atmosphere which is gradually turning bright like the plot of the narrative. Also by using extra lighting we allowed the audience to be able to view the artist clearly when she’s in the studio because this is when her professionalism is shown through a performance based narrative, these scenes are shown through a restricted view due to the audience experiencing the recording of the song along with the artist. By adding scenes of the artist recording her song to the developed narrative the audience are able to see how the lifestyle of the protagonist is represented by the song which is being professionally recorded. Our video is made up of a montage of clips which were filmed at different times, which means its non linear. This is a convention of the creation of music videos because every music video is made up of various clips from different times unless a video is continuously filmed in one take. Creating a video with various clips allows the narrative to be constructed therefore being able to engage with the audience as they create their own interpretation and emotions of the narrative and video. Todorov’s convention narrative structure was constantly referred to when planning and storyboarding the narrative of our video. Sven Carlson’s theory (1999) suggests that videos are either performance based or conceptual. Our video is performance based which is presented through scenes presenting the artist recording her song. Rather than being conceptual, the narrative of the protagonist is narrative based because it shows a narrative structure reinforced by Todorov’s theory. Performance based videos can either be a song performance/dance performance, instrumental or a combination of song and dance performances. Our video presents only the song performance from the 3 types. The quest is presented from a restricted structure due to the audience learning the story when the protagonist does. The equilibrium is established when the artist is seen in the recording studio however another reality is presented when the artist is shown as the protagonist while she’s sat at home. To show two different realities could suggest the narrative is postmodern however it could also be seen as the artist recording her song is the present time and the protagonist’s quest is almost like a story/dream to accompany and explain the song. The protagonist is shown to experience a disruption of missing the antagonist which then leads to the quest in meeting and the resolution of finally meeting and becoming one and the re-equilibrium is shown in the recording studio again to finish off the song and video. However the protagonist and antagonist are shown at the very end with a voice behind the camera saying ‘aww that’s so cute’ which presents self reflexivity due to the video showing the audience that the actors are aware of themselves being filmed. Due to me speaking it shows the ending is hyperconscious because the scene was deliberately constructed to be cute and adorable which shows emotional impact which is a convention of a love song. 

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

By presenting the artist of our music video in both of my ancillary, it links the promotional campaign to the artist. This will allow the audience to acknowledge that the digipak and magazine advert belong to the same artist that has been featured in the music video. Using images of our artist in both my ancillary texts allows the artist to me memorable and recognisable. To receive audience feedback about whether my products matched our video, I asked “Do you think the digipak design and the magazine advert works effectively for Adele’s Soul/Pop song “To Make You Feel My Love”?”. A respondent’s reply about the digipak was “because the close ups show her emotion and she looks as though she’s heartbroken, which goes with the song title” which allows me to understand that my digipak does relevantly link to the song but doesn’t help to identify whether is works well with the video. However their comment about the magazine advert, “the lack of colour creates a feeling of coldness, which again reflects the song in the music video”, informs me that they do consider the advert to be relevant to our video but mainly the song. Using images from the recording studio and props from the actual video, the audience will be able to refer to the video and remember what the video involves which helps to reinforce the narrative. I kept my ancillary texts similar and continuous by using the same font, colour theme and image reference. The flashbacks in the video are black and white due to being involved in the past and not the present. The black and white effect was applied in the creation of my ancillary texts which allows all three products to be linked together. I personally think using images of our artist for my digipak and advert was a good idea because it involves the artist through images, which is crucial because it presents a coherent campaign.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The first procedure I’d used to gain audience feedback was creating two questionnaires concerning my ancillary texts. Audience feedback has given me vital information firstly about exactly which images are most effective for the front cover of my digipak and secondly the editing of the images that I had chosen to use for my ancillary texts. By looking at the responses I was able to recognise that both genders have contrasting views to one another which was presented through the first questionnaire however both males and females had given the same response in the second questionnaire, these results helped when improving and altering my existing ancillary texts. The opinions and answers from my audience feedback allowed me to understand how to satisfy my target audience which is mainly women. The third questionnaire allowed me to understand which magazine advert works the most effectively with the narrative of our video and also the song. The image that was mostly selected is the image I also felt works well with the video and also my chosen digipak design. However by reading the audience feedback there was one that stated the digipak would be relevant and link to the magazine advert even more if the background of the advertisement was involved in the design of the digipak. This is a comment I agreed with majorly because throughout the video there is no element that links with the grungy background. Due to the entire digipak being constructed through images that have only been edited to appear black and white, the background has  no relevance therefore the advert is almost neglected. However in the video there are many views of concrete walls, and slabs of cobble pavement which sometimes appear dark and sometimes light therefore if they’re overlapped and balanced out they’d appear grey and like broken concrete which is exactly what the advert background shows. A problem with the ending of our video was the very last scene which lasted over 20 seconds, after receiving feedback from the media teachers we realised the scene dragged and could bore the audience therefore shorter clips were filmed to make up the entire scene therefore maintaining the audience’s attention.

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

To display and develop my research I uploaded all my work onto my own blog (http://taslimatarafdar.blogspot.com/) on Blogger and kept track of my work through various posts. Blogger allows me to back track to my older posts and continuously add to each and every post to make them more detailed and complete. By using Blogger I was not only able to add text but also able to present images and diagrams along with videos and HTMLs’ and also hyperlink text to aid my research. Blogger gives me the opportunity to present maximum research which wouldn’t be applicable if I were to present my research through a Word document. If I were to show planning, research, progression and evidence on word, then I would have to give links of videos and websites in text format or draw images on a vast amount of paper which proves to be a lot more hassle compared to including everyone on an almost online diary application. For the first stages of research I used I mainly relied on the internet to find images and information that were held in specific websites. By looking on YouTube I found other media texts that I analysed and referred to when researching and developing the conventions of our video. Due to the embedding feature, I was able to present YouTube videos on my own blog and I could revisit the page whenever from whichever computer which helps because it allows me to have constant access. I gained plenty of information about advert/digipak designs by looking on websites such as iTunes, HMV, NME, Q, etc. These music institutions allowed me to study the successful advertisement of artists and understand the conventions I can apply to my own work to develop appropriate products. For my ancillary texts I had looked at my own CD cases that contained albums and singles which I referred to when getting visual and informational ideas for my own digipak. When designing my magazine advertisement I had a look at other music magazines in local corner shops and mainstream shops such as WHSmith and ASDA but I had also looked on the internet just by searching “magazine advertisement for the digipak”. Despite the magazine adverts mainly being about artist interviews and the latest events I progressed to looking on the internet for ideas. Having access to the internet and mainly Google allows me to search for whatever information I need to research and plan my products. Google allows me to search for information without having to be specific however when it couldn’t find and didn’t display what I’d been looking for my search had to be much for detailed and precise. Due to the internet being constantly updated I’m able to find information that’s recent and relevant. I had searched for images on Google that were linked to “grungy backgrounds”, this is because I knew I’d find dark and morbid images which I would use as backgrounds for my ancillary texts. These images were saved as jpeg pictures so that they could be easily uploaded onto Photoshop and edit without hassle. The original creation can also be saved as a Photoshop file which allows me to open it up again and easily tweak and edit elements which means I don’t have to create the image again from scratch, this proved to be a great advantage when developing my ideas. When looking for images of adverts I had typed in “a magazine advertisement for the digipak” to which I'd found the work of other college students. However when looking at their blogs and SlideShare websites I’d found real adverts that were advertising the release of albums/singles belonging to popular artists. Whilst studying an advert belonging to an institution and some belonging to a student I had taken conventional ideas from both to help me produce a convincing advertisement that I knew I’d be capable of making. During the planning of my ancillary texts I had ideas of how my artist could pose and appear and therefore had taken images using my Kodak EasyShare C182 12MP digital camera ready to edit on Photoshop CS3. A Kodak 4GB SDHC memory card also was used along with the camera which was beneficial to me because it meant I could store as many pictures as need be for when it came to creating my ancillary texts. However before editing them and constructing them on Photoshop I had edited the images to transform them into black and white images on Windows Live Photo Gallery. I’ve had a lot of experience using Windows Live Photo Gallery therefore I used editing elements such as highlights, shadows, contrast, brightness and 4 different shades of greyscale to make my images appear more professional and appealing. I had used Windows Live Photo Gallery because I found it easier to do simple editing on that than on Photoshop. Due to not knowing how to use Photoshop very well I researched on the internet for tutorials for useful tools such as: Free Transform, Background Eraser Tool and Eyedropper Tool to help me edit my images while creating and putting together my ancillary texts. My digital camera takes images that are of a large dimension, therefore when resizing images and saving my final creation Photoshop allows me to save the pictures to a maximum quality. This means my images stay as big and detailed as they were if I haven’t made them smaller myself, this helps when presenting my images on my blog because they can be clearly viewed. Also Photoshop allows me to experiment with different fonts and texts which proved to be a great benefit because it allowed my products to conventionally appear stylistic to the Soul/Pop genre and helped to present them professionally. The rounded text used for the artist name gave the optimistic appearance of Pop which was an inspiration from Ellie Goulding’s promotional advertisement (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJi8Zxvdm0v5G5bwbYocBvBxLao7wIPgxcqcJGz8NfDqoCHX__4xAbvF883tDf0qlHfC4z2TGFdwjvnIushGb4-9re9b2UTl9lrlvB_5_f2L4J42ZBXi_BbH4INvR0Z_RLrNm-SOCc0Zo/s1600/Ellie+Goulding.jpg). The almost handwriting type of font gives a soulful approach which reinforces the Soul genre; this was a style that was imitated from Duffy’s “ https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfBvtlGVTpk1PPXTYuSuCEzgGwlbaaKerI12fGqI1Bzg7sqBs3WZ4RbPA6e29A1O-B_dEr24dlGRlDVIlbaioBmOYQeh7WjpdOW7-fzqNLN9BcNparF1f5qnAyWMvSN1oslXslJzdxn3E/s1600/duffy-warwick-avenue_huge.jpg) rather than from a magazine advert. I had referred to her cover and not an advert because I felt the text was conventional of a soulful and upsetting song because it gives the imaginative idea of a wounding female writing upsettingly in her diary. Having access to a Epson Perfection 2480 Photo scanner allowed me to scan in designs, research and other written/drawn work. This allowed me to upload them as jpeg files onto my blog which helps to present further planning/research. The green room also came as another advantage for me. Having access to it meant I could take pictures or even film in the room without disturbance. An advantage of the green room is when editing the video the green screen can be replaced for scenes from outside and the weather conditions wouldn’t affect the actor however this then lacks realism which is a key convention of a narrative based video. It becomes an advantage for when filming a scene that occurs inside a house or building because the lighting can be edited to suite the mood or even show the character with or without dark shadows or through a silhouette, this may not be achievable in an ordinary house with a lamp or ceiling light. Therefore we had decided to always film the outside scenes in its natural form. When filming a scene that occurs inside a house, we kept to the original idea of filming in our houses rather than making it complicating for ourselves. Because both indoor scenes show the characters sat down we thought it’d be hard for us to manipulate the furniture in the mise en scene thus leaving the green room out when filming. However the green room did come in handy when taking images for my ancillary texts because for both products I wanted to create a design which consisted of the artist leaning against a plain wall, therefore the language of my ancillary texts would portray a meaningless mood. The green room consisted of the entire room having white walls but one which was bright green, the white walls were perfect for the image I was trying to create therefore the pictures were taken against that. The pictures could have been taken against any white wall but the green room allowed me to work in an environment which was secluded without commotion.

(Video)

When creating our video, I had used my own Panasonic HD 1920x1080 HDC-SD5 video camera to film every scene in the video. However before using the video camera I’d used my Kodak digital camera which also had video mode but due to the quality of the videos appearing pixelated compared to the video cameras in College, I decided to use my own so I wouldn’t have to keep booking a camera but before using my camcorder I made sure to ask if it was useable by checking the resolution and format of the camera. A disadvantage of using a compatible video camera is it doesn’t always need a tripod or a camera dolly because its light enough to be carried which leads to holding the camera by hand whenever movement is involved which means the outcome doesn’t appear as smooth as intended. However for still shots a tripod can be of assistance, which I had booked whenever I had planned to film. A disadvantage was the tripod would not extend and elongate to the height of our actors therefore the scenes requiring an eye line shot had to be handheld which meant they ended up a bit shaky because I found it quite hard to stay perfectly still. Each clip was transferred to the editing suite, through my memory stick, and imported onto Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 ready to edit. I have no experience using Premiere but after a quick tutorial I found it simple to use. The advantage of Premiere was I was able to import as many clips as I’d like as long they were all no less than 7 seconds long because this could confuse the system and make it crash. Importing many clips allowed me to have back up in case a certain clip didn’t fit or had a mistake. Also I would be able to experiment and edit any clip but still be able to undo the editing or just revert back to the original clip. Before the final product was finished, I had practiced using elements such as the dissolve and opacity on some clips that weren’t going to be used. I had learnt how to fade shots to black and how to dissolve clips together; these are the main two techniques which were used when developing our video. I had also learnt how to place two clips on top of each other and how to mirror sections of the video but due to feeling these techniques weren’t relevant and also didn’t look as professional as we’d hope they weren’t put into practice. Due to a mirroring effective not resulting to be as effective and appealing looking as we’d hoped, I had an idea of using a split screen instead and applying it to where the harmonies are noticed. However this meant the areas where the harmonies are would have to be filmed again but due to not having access to the recording studio anymore we weren’t able to accomplish this. Due to the song being an upsetting and heartbreaking song, we had agreed not to have many special effects in our video and also keep a minimal amount of clips to reinforce the idea of a slow and displeasing mood. The main difficulty experience was the dissolves surrounding the flashbacks this is because they weren’t clearly distinguished and looked like they were a part of the quest however this was resolved by selecting a greyscale attribute. By making the flashbacks black white it clearly presents that they’re not a part of the quest. Some clips began and finished with errors such as the actors giggling or a sudden shake of the camera but I realised the clips which were showing action on no miming could be fixed by cropping the clips or adding a dissolve. The clips which show the artist/protagonist miming would have to be re-filmed if an error occurred. This was easy in terms or filming again because my video camera contained a Panasonic SDHC Full HD 12GB memory card therefore I didn’t have to worry about accidently filming over footage or running out of space on the tape. An advantage of having a memory card is I can delete clips that won’t be of any use therefore giving myself extra space to film. Whereas on a tape clips can be filmed over rather than deleted which I feel is risky because footage which is needed can be lost unnoticeably. I also had an issue with the timing of the song. Despite finding the video on YouTube and labelling how long each line lasts and at exactly what time they begin and finish, when creating the anamatic the transition of every picture didn’t fit therefore making the wrong pictures appear at the wrong time. When filming our video this point was considered therefore rather than filming to a certain amount of seconds I decided to also play the song in the background just to make sure the timing was correct and worked perfectly. Also to make sure there was enough footage to work with, rather than having a clip last for 5 seconds I deliberately recorded 10 seconds. The actors also played an important role in this idea because they also showed actions for 10 seconds rather than 5. I realised this helps when editing because some clips change to the beat of song which we discovered was every 4 seconds. An example could be if the beat strikes exactly on the last word of a line, the actor would have to show they have carried on finishing that last word in order to show continuity. If they were to not show themselves singing until the next line begins then the diegetic sound of the last word would be heard from the track but not seen by the actor on the video.