A2 media evaluation

A2 Media Evaluation

Louis Brady

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions of a Music Video

A promotional video for an album generally consists of 2 or 3 music videos. For my production I recorded 3 music videos to combine into a promotional music video. Unfortunately a file corrupted very close to the deadline which meant I had to edit my production again and had to cut it down into two music videos.

Conventions of my Music Video

Showing the artist/band is a common feature within music videos. This is the opening shot which gives an idea of genre in a few seconds to the viewer.

From this shot most people would understand that this is a rock/alternative music video.

Camera Shots

Conventions of my Music Video

Instrument shots are common in Music Videos of the Rock/Alternative genre. I emulated this in my production.

Close ups of instruments also helped me define the genre and help the audience understand the genre.

Camera Shots

Conventions of my Music Video

Camera Shots

I used shots of band members so that they can relate to the target audience.

Hair styles and clothing was also picked specifically to relate to the audience.

It will relate to the audience because the Rock/Alternative fans will wear similar clothing and have similar hairstyles to become a part of the “social group”.

Conventions of my Music Video

Camera Movement

Zoom in

Simple camera movements are often used such as zooms.

These are effective at emphasising the importance of the instrument, band member or event at the specific moment when the audio is at a special moment. (e.g. a guitar solo)

Conventions of my Music Video

Mise en Scene

Mise en scene is very important in music videos.

In this case I have used amps, instruments, and lights to create an effect that the band are playing live to an audience.

This shot also has similar Mise en scene to the previous shot. The difference is that it is shot in a smaller space to create an effect that the band are practicing in a studio rather than playing live to a bunch of people.

Conventions of my Music Video

Editing

Editing my music videos together to create a Promotional music was a tedious job as I tried and tested many different methods to try and make the production look as professional as possible. I decided from my research into music videos to keep the editing simple and fast.

In this image it shows the different types of edit I have used.

Cross Dissolve Texturize Dip to Black

Conventions of my Music Video

Editing

An example of a Cross Dissolve I used:

An example of a Texturize edit I used:

An example of a Dip to Black edit I used: An example of a Cross Zoom edit I

used:

Conventions of my Music Video

Effects

From my research I discovered that most music videos of all genre’s use different effect to make it look unique.

In this song I used sepia for effect. It is suitable for the song as the lyrics are negative and reminiscent of bad times.

I followed the conventions in this clip as it is showing a previous event so it is shown in black and white. I have also added a stutter effect in this to show it is a memory.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My production and how it represents social groups

It is important to represent my target audience’s social group in a positive way to increase popularity. This will therefore increase sales of the Album that I am promoting.

My production and how it represents social groups

Clothing and Style

The target audience are 18-25 years old, mainly male who listen to the genre of Alternative Rock. It is a niche audience within a much bigger audience (Rock). Many of the big Alt Rock bands wear casual clothing and look laid back. I believe I have successfully emulated this style in the band.

My production and how it represents social groups

Age and Gender

My target audience are 18-25 years old. I have represented this by using a band which are aged, 18,21 and 25.

This will satisfy the social group as they can relate even more to the members of the band they are listening to and are more likely to buy their album from this promotional video.

The Alternative Rock Genre has a large male fan base. To gratify this social group I chose a band which are male. Also, my production shows the lead singer having relationship troubles and this will also help the target audience relate to the band.

My production and how it represents social groups

Character and Ethnicity

To reach out to the widest possible audience and to represent the most social groups in a positive manner I chose the band members specifically in terms of character and ethnicity.

Sean – the typical lead performer.

Edwin – The perfectionist drummer with a weird and geek side.

Nathan – The cool and composed bass player with a funky hair style.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and

why?

Media Institutions

The media product I am advertising is “The Skies of Arcadia” album called “Ignorance”. TV institutions may advertise this album by putting my promotional video on an advertisement. There are many music channels that will advertise these sorts of productions.

The album would be sold within stores such as ‘HMV’ and available online on programs like ‘ITunes’ and websites such as ‘Amazon’.

Who would be the audience for your media product and why?

My Productions AudienceThe audience for my production were:

•18 to 25 year old

•Male

•Alternative Rock Fans

I fit into this audience, so I was inclined to create this production as I have more interest within the Alt Rock genre and believed that I would create the best possible production in something that I enjoy and it is also the genre that I am most experienced with.

How did you attract / address your audience?

Attracting an AudienceAudience Gratification

It is important to grasp the attention of the widest possible audience that I am targeting. I used my knowledge of media to use camera angles, mise-en-scene and special effect to my advantage when creating my production.

Camera Angles - I used a wide range of camera angles to make the production look as professional as possible. My production looks professional and will show the audience that the band and album are also of high quality.

Mise-en-scene – I used mainly instruments and amps to attract my target audience as they will be familiar with these objects and can relate to them. They well also be able to relate to my production as the clothing I used will most likely be familiar to them.

Special Effects – The use of special effects also help the overall quality of my production. I used similar special effects to other video’s of this genre so the audience will feel comfortable watching my production.

Attracting an Audience

Similarities

Arctic Monkeys – Teddy Picker (2007)

The Strokes – Last Nite (2001)

By using similar codes and conventions it allows the target audience to recognise if it is there genre of music. Here are some similarities between my production and two other popular music videos of its genre.

How effective is the combination of your main production and your

ancillary texts?

My production and my ancillary texts

Album Cover

In my research I discovered that there are some key codes and conventions with album covers of the Alternative Rock genre. With this knowledge I created this album cover using Adobe Photoshop. To create the background I used a piece of music then took a picture of the spectrogram that it produced. I then layered it with a smoke effect which has created the background image (labelled 1).

I was pleased with this result as it looked similar to other designs that are on popular covers of other Alt/Rock albums.

In my research I found that the range of fonts used on are extensive. For the title (labelled 2) I decided to use a font called ‘Coalition’. I was happy with the grunge and metallic look that it created. This font is also similar to some that I found in my research.

The logo for the band is usually the band name in a distinctive font. I created one which is different to anything I found in my research because that is the idea of a log. I used ‘Adobe Photoshop’ to create this logo (labelled 3). I used a mixture of layers to create a smoke effect and for the word ‘Arcadia’ I used other layers to create a suitable ‘Sky’ effect to fit in with the name, “The Skies Of Arcadia”.

Overall I created seven different album covers until I found the right combination. I am very happy with the overall result.

I think that this album cover combines great with my main production as I believe that it would not look out of place next to professional album covers of its genre.

2

1

3

My production and my ancillary texts

Website

I made my website using Serif Webplus 10. It was also a new software to me. I am happy with my front page and I believe it compliments my main production very well. I embedded a ‘YouTube’ link of my production to the front page which would entice fans to buy the album. I have also made a section for News, Tour Dates and Merchandise. All of these are common features on similar bands websites and I am happy with this effect.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience Feedback

The feedback that I have had has been mainly positive. My production has been viewed by friends, family, teachers and other people who I am not familiar with. From this feedback I managed to filter out the mistakes from my production. My main criticism was my transitions from one scene to the other and how they did not flow. I managed to then change my production so that it was of a better standard. Now my production is complete, the people who have viewed it have struggled to find errors or problems in my production.

My Album cover has also received praise, I made seven different copies and got people to chose their favourite. After this vote there was a clear majority one but I still had to change some features such as the layout as some people didn’t think that it looked professional.

How did new media technologies in the construction and research,

planning and evaluation stages?

New Technologies

Video Camera’s

To create my production I had to learn how to use a video camera which I have never used before. It was very simple to use and I found using effects also only took a few minutes to locate and use. It was also easy to hook up to a pc or laptop and transfer to video file.

New Technologies

Adobe Photoshop CS2

Adobe Photoshop is a popular program which I had learnt to use before it was needed to create my album cover. I still had to learn how to use certain features of this program such as ‘Layering’ and the ‘Magic Wand Tool’. It has been very helpful to learn this program due to its great versatility and I believe I will use this program a lot during the future.

My Album cover in Adobe Photoshop

New Technologies

Serif Web Plus 10

Serif We Plus 10 was a completely new program to me and I took online tutorials to learn how to use it. Once I learned the basics it was simple to use and the overall result of my website looked professional. I was very happy learning and using this program and believed I used it successfully to create a good product.

New Technologies

Adobe Premier Pro

Adobe Premier Pro was also a completely new program to me. I had to travel to South Birmingham College to use the program as my sixth form did not have a video editing program. At the college we received a lesson on how to use the program which was very helpful. From this lesson I started my long and tedious production. It took so long because it is difficult to sync the video with the audio. After many hours work I managed to create my production which I was pleased with. Unfortunately a week before my production had to be handed in the file corrupted. This meant that I had to try to recreate my promotional video in under a week. I didn’t manage to quite get it to the standard it was at before but I am still happy with the production that I handed in.

Looking back, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from

it to the full product?

My Progress Over the course of my A2 Media Studies I have made a lot of progress. I have learnt how to use many new programs/software and how media institutions use different techniques to sell a product or make a product appeal to different audiences. There are still many things that I would have done differently. The fact that my productions file corrupted was a big blow to my progress so I now wish that I had previously backed up that file. I also would have liked to have filmed more footage of which isn’t of the band playing as I felt that my video didn’t have the a good ratio of the band playing and other location shots. I am most happy with how my initial idea remained very similar to my end product which shows that I adapted to using the new software well as I didn’t have to change my video around my limited knowledge of this software.

Overall I am very pleased with my overall production, including my album cover and website. With the setbacks that I had, I do not believe that I could have produced a better ‘Promotional Music Video’ and I believe my knowledge of this subject has increased significantly from this production