Evaluation - Question 4

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

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Evaluation - Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I asked my audience what their initial comments were about my video, after watching it. I asked a range of ages from my target audience and people of both genders so as to get an overview of feedback.

"It was very good! I enjoyed the bits that were put in reverse and the repeated segments were cool" - Claudia, 16.

"I'm no good at media words but I liked all the the timings, the fast and slow parts. The colour scheme is super edgy and fits with the artist. I liked the use of the cars and the range of things you filmed" - Georgia, 17.

"I like the cool lighting, like the sunset. I also liked the sun behind the guy, distorting the light" - Tegan, 15.

"The reverse stuff was neat and the cinematography was nice" - Emily, 17.

"I liked the video, it was sick. I rate the kid in the denim jacket" - Louis, 15.

"The scenes and shots within the video matched the rhythm and the tone of the song well. However, I felt as though they were all similar shots and as though the video did not progress very much. I would have liked to have seen the storyline resolved at the end, with the two characters meeting." - Jake, 18.

"The camera angles were really nice, however I thought that some of the shots were repeated too much" - Will, 17.


The comments from my target audience will definitely influence how I will work in the future. I have learnt the importance of a narrative in a music video. Although my music video was concept based, focusing more on the cinematography and overall aesthetic, I found that what my audience wanted most was some sort of resolution or conclusion to my video, to complete the narrative they had each created from it. 

Asking my target audience openly for feedback like this was effective as it meant I received their honest, open opinions about my music video without guiding their responses. However, this information was difficult to analyse, therefore I developed a questionnaire of closed questions, so as to gain some quantitative responses which I could collate and present as graphs and diagrams.

Looking at my feedback in a qualitiative way like this clearly showed me that I had identified my target audience correctly. It was evident that my music video and ancillary texts appealed more to a female audience than a male audience. In addition, it showed that my audience feels that synergy across my texts has been achieved.

Evaluation - Question 2

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

By creating a house style across my main product and ancillary texts, I have linked them, creating a brand identity for the target audience to invest in, which will help to "sell" my song/album to the audience. This is because you are giving them something 'whole' to invest in, rather than individual, poorly linked texts.

The combination of both my digipak and magazine advert are very effective as they are clearly for the same artist. Following conventions of a magazine advert and using the front cover image from my digipak for the magazine advert were key in creating a brand identity for my artist.

Brand identity and house style are extremely important. Creating a style of publication that is unique to an artist is what makes their work instantly recognisable to an audience. If this is done effectively, it can help to make you stand out from other artists and project your work to attract your audience. The branding identity of your artist's work is the image you portray to the world of who your artist is and what they do. The combination of my main product and ancillary texts can help to convey the personality of my artist and the audience's perception of who they are.

One way, I have created a brand identity across my main product and ancillary texts by using similar imagery. The above images depict my digipak and magazine advert and screenshots from my music video. The photographs used in my digipak were shot on location while filming the music video. This has meant they all have the same lighting and overall 'look' to them. 

There is an overriding colour scheme across my products. Purple, pink, blue and yellow tones prominently feature throughout, creating warm atmosphere. This combination of colours is aesthetically pleasing, which will attract the audience.

In addition, there are key themes which also translate across my products. For example, the shots filmed inside the car in my music video link to other shots in my video of the cars at sunset, as well as linking to the main image used on my digipak. I chose the image for my digipak based on this. The image used gives another perspective to the shot of the cars on the motorway. This gives an almost POV for the audience and makes it more immersive. 

This is sometimes used in real digipaks, for example, Bastille's Bad Blood digipak. The image on the front cover depicts lead singer, Dan Smith, running along a road in the headlights of a car, where as the back cover shows the two headlights, giving Smith's POV.

I think my advert sells my products to my audience very well. The artist's name and album title are very large and fill a large proportion of the page. This captures the audience's attention.

The phrase 'ALBUM OUT NOW' is effective as it suggests urgency. The use of the word 'now' suggests to the audience to get the album as soon as they can. Putting this piece of text in white helps to make it stand out from other text on the advert and the titles. The text underneath this tells the audience the name of some songs that are on the album. These singles may have already been released and therefore already familiar to the artist. This in turn helps to sell the album to the audience.

I think the artistic style to both my digipak and magazine advert convey the genre of my artist. An artistic approach is usually taken by indie/alternative artists. This is suggested through my image choice: as I chose not to use an image of my artist but an 'arty' sunset image.

Evaluation - Question 1

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

During the research aspect of creating my media product, I learnt much about the conventions of existing music videos. I discovered that camera work was one of the most important aspects of a successful video. For example, close ups and midshots are of particular importance in a music video to introduce the artist and create a relationship between the artist and audience. I used this often throughout my own music video.

Stills from my music video:

Similar examples from existing music videos:

For the most part, I avoided using lip-syncing in my music video. For my song choice, I felt like this wouldn't have been appropriate for the indie genre. I felt like lip-syncing would take away from the anonymity of my artist, which is one of their key aspects. However, I included lip-syncing of the lyric 'facedown', the song's title. I think this is effective because it makes the title stand out and known to the audience, therefore making an impact. This is also particularly effective as 'Facedown' is the album name.

I used a lot of tracking shots in my music video. Shots of my male character walking were used, which are particularly effective as the movement adds energy to my music video. The shots were filmed with the camera person walking as well, which help to create this energy, as opposed to being stationary.

I challenged conventions in my music video by not having my two characters interact with each other. This aided me in showing the distance between my characters, which was of importance to the story within my video. By having the characters never appear on screen together, I was able to create a sense of not only physical distance, but also emotional distance.

In addition, I challenged the indie genre by not including instruments in my video. For example, music videos such as Arctic Monkeys 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' is purely performance, with the band performing their song in a live studio setting. 

At no point in my music video do you see the artist playing their instruments or performing live. This is due to the nature of the song. The song, 'Facedown', is instrumental for the majority of it, and the nature of the song is very ethereal and the way the track is produced is very digital. It would therefore have seemed very out of place to suddenly have my artist playing instruments in the video.

The two characters in my music video were both young and attractive people. This appeals to the target audience as they are relatable. This is reinforced by the use of neutral locations. This means the target audience could place themselves into the video, relating it to similar locations they know and are familiar to them.

I also learnt a lot about digipak conventions. A digipak is designed to fold into a square CD case. They can have any number of panels but typically they have 3: a front cover, a back cover and an internal panel, as well as artwork to cover the actual CD. At least one panel of a digipak usually features an artist image.

The front cover is the most important aspect of the digipak as the images and artwork are what draw the audience in. It is important that this is appealing to the audience and eyecatching. The front cover also features the song/album title and the artist name.

Magazine adverts are usually just the front covers of the digipak in a poster with messages underneath it saying when the album is out for release and any other important details needed.


For the most part, my digipak and magazine advert follow the conventions of a digipak. The magazine advert is the same image and text as my digipak front cover. This effectively creates synergy across the different texts. The image used also links to the opening shot of my music video. 




I challenged conventions with the image of my artist I used for my digipak. I stuck with the theme of anonymity that it is important to my artist's image and used an image which enforces the artist's image while still keeping their face hidden. I feel this is particularly effective.

 

 

 

This is often used by artists such as The Beatles, Drake, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift on their album covers. The use of anonymity in the artist's image does not take away from the artist's identity, but in fact adds to it by making them iconic. They are still instantly recognisable, and the covers' immediately identified as their own.

Finished music video

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Finished digipak and magazine advert

Images for my digipak

 

I had various ideas for the images I was going to select for my digipak. Having planned to film cars on the motorway from a bridge as part of my music video, I decided I wanted a picture of this from the car's point of view on my digipak. The photograph I selected in the end depicts twilight from a car on the motorway. I like this as it links my main product to my ancillary texts, creating a sense of house style.

 



 

 

I also decided to use photographs I took while filming for my music video of my artist/the characters in the video for my digipak. In keeping with the indie genre, I decided I wanted the image of my artist to be quite obscure and not disclose too much, giving anonymity to my artist. I shot images which slightly obscured the artist's face, while providing some identity. In the end I decided to use an image which created a slight silhouette. It makes the artist recognisable and distinct but the subtly it very effective. The image has the sun behind my artist's head, which links to shots in my music video, also in keeping with the band's house style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I had selected my chosen image, I edited it. I used a Adobe Photoshop to increase the brightness of the image and added subtle pink tones, in order to get it to match the other existing images on my digipak.

 

 

BEFORE EDITING:

 

AFTER EDITING: