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

This evaluative question I believe can be answered in a number of different ways. I am going to break it down into sections that are; use, develop and challenge.

I think overall my video has a unique and interesting message. I decided to do this because I thought that the original video didn't represent the lyrics of the song particularly well. In a way I thought it could of even contrasted it.
My music video was intended to use, develop and challenge conventions of original media products.

Use...
Most videos are narrative and/or performance based - which I have stuck to in my video. Although this is convensional, I think it a good way to present a narrative and feature my artist which the audience wants to see. I stuck to a narrative that was suited to the genre and stayed true to this. If I was to use a narrative that was dark/horror like, it wouldn't fit to my music at all. I stayed convensional in this aspect but this is because it works well and makes sense to the audience. I decided to have a more narrative than performance as I wanted the narrative to be clear and understandable.

I've used midshots for the performance section of my video and I did this because I want the audience to be able to relate to the artist. I think this is a really conventional thing to do.
I did this because I think allows the audience to be able to look at the artist and that is one of the main things an audience wants to see in a music video - especially if it is a debut song, the audience can see who the artist is.They can also be used to show some important features and backgrounds. In addition to this, this is used a lot in the pop genre (same as my artist) and in many other genres, because it can be used to show emotions and even though it is one genre, each song can differ from eachother so greatly in the message that is given. Overall the midshot is a good way to present any message in many genres.










 I decided to use an over the shoulder shot create a relationship between the character and the audience. I think that by doing this it allows the audience to see something from my characters point of view. I think that because my message is something that could be discussed and someone could develop a strong opinion on, I wanted the audience to understand the opinion of the character. For example, I think a lot of people have looked through a magazine and looking at a celebrity and thinking I want to be like that. So therefore I wanted the auidence to understand and sympathyse with the character.

Challenge...
One unconventional thing I have used is the smoking scene. Some people would argue that it might be innappropriate for some of the younger memebers of my audience to see, but I wanted to create some memorable in my video and possibly something to discuss. However I would argue that because my video protrays a negative image of my character, it then portrays a negative image of smoking. I think that this could possibly be something that will change some members of my target audience's opinions. In addition to this, I think because the message presents Americanisation in a negative light, it could make the audience share this view and everything that comes with it, which would be the heavy smoking, revealing clothing and smoking. Also, because the artist wasn't smoking, this means they share the opinion because the lyrics are about it and it shows them not doing it.
However, although I think I have made done something quite unconvensional in my video, I have found some other artists that do the same, but portray it in a more posative way.
 

 In this video I think it portrays smoking in a way that looks socialable and sexy. Where as in my video, my character is smoking alone and looks bored. I wanted to convey a connotation in my video of a femme fatale woman and most women from older films were smoking and looked glamourous. Where as now, we look at these images and a lot of people now disapprove of the individuals and think they portray themselves in a negative way, despite the fashion at the time.


I decided to use an over the shoulder shot create a relationship between the character and the audience. I think that by doing this it allows the audience to see something from my characters point of view. I think that because my message is something that could be discussed and someone could develop a strong opinion on, I wanted the audience to understand the opinion of the character. For example, I think a lot of people have looked through a magazine and looking at a celebrity and thinking I want to be like that. So therefore I wanted the auidence to understand and sympathyse with the character.

Evaluation - How effective are the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

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

I used many technologies throughout my coursework - some good and others bad! But with out the majority of them I wouldn't be able to create my video.

Evaluation - Audience Feedback

Draft of Music Video

This is the first draft of my music video. I found it hard to create given the circumstances that occurred. Firstly, I lost a lot of my footage and was unable to film anymore because the deadline was quickly approaching. Another thing I found difficult was being able to transfer my project from imovie to blogger. I tried youtube and I had problems with the format of the video, so I couldn't upload via youtube. I have used the video uploader that blogger provides and it was a very quick and simple process, however the downfall of this was the quality of the video. Although, I think I have done fairly well given the situation.
Before I begin the audience feedback section of the evaluation I want to write a few notes of what I think:
- I think I have managed to get my lip syncing placed well and looks quite realistic.
- I am pleased with where each scene has been placed in relation to the music. When the music changes key I have placed cuts and chose scenes to suit a major or minor key.
- I have used a good amount of lip sync and not overloaded the video with the storyline, as I thought this could become confusing and uninteresting. I like the way the lip sync breaks up the video.

However:
- I am a bit disappointed by the fact some of my footage had been lost and I think that this has hindered the overall outcome of my video.
- I think that parts of the video are quite repetitive (but it was quite difficult to avoid!)

Getting to my editing

Today was the first day I was going to start editing. I loaded my memory stick to find that some of my footage was missing. I have checked the camera I used and the footage I have lost isn't there. Unfortunately, I will have to work with the remaining footage I have and hopefully create something just as good. I have come up with a few more ideas to extend my video time to match the length of the song. Hopefully I will be able to create something!

Final Draft of Magazine Advert

This is my third draft of my magazine advert. I decided that after looking at my last draft, it wasn't quite what I had hoped for. I have decided to remove the blue text from my previous draft as I thought it looked quite unprofessional and amateur. I still have kept the blue in the background to maintain the American theme. I thought by using black and white it connoted 2 very different things and by this I mean the interpretation of the American lifestyle by other cultures, and the reality. I have now included a web address for the artist, so fans can get some more information on the album. I thought that including reference to social networking sites such as Facebook makes the artist seem modern. Also, I decided to add some information about where tour tickets are available from as some people may want to book promptly and it also adds a bit more detail to the advert by advertising 2 things at once , without being too over powering and obvious.

2nd Draft of Magazine Advert

This is the 2nd draft if my magazine advert. After studying my previous draft against this one, I believe that this one a has a much more professional look. Firstly, I have included additional information to fill in some gaps. For example, there is an additional review, information about the tracks and where the CD is avaliable from.
I did some research whilst creating this draft and found that the record label the artist was signed to whilst making the album 'the family jewels' was 679 Records, not Neon Gold Records. i chose to change it as it was 679 that produced the album with the song I have used for my music video. Also, as I mentioned in the evaluation of my previous draft that the Neon Gold logo didn't really suit the colour scheme of my advert, however I think that this logo from 679 records is a lot more fitting.
I think that it was a good idea to include some more reviews; just so the audience know a little bit more about what they are buying and what to expect from the album. Using iconic and famous newspapers to review the album is a good way of proving that the album is successful and I think that using large organisations rather than small is easier for people to recognise and therefore trust.
I have also included the fact the album is avaliable on CD, download and Vinyl. I have chosen these 3 because; firstly, the CD can be used in the home, in the car and a typical and easy way to listen to music. Next, I chose download as it is becoming an increasingly more popular way to access music. There are many sites avaliable to download from and when I asked a few class mates if they would prefer a CD or download, they said download. One person mentioned they prefered download because its much easier to put it onto a MP3 or iPod, compared to a CD. Finally, I decided to include vinyl because vintage records are becoming quite popular and I also thought it connoted things such as America and its former years and links to that classic and oldfashioned feel I wanted to create in my photos for this video.
I decided to highlight some of the more popular tracks on the album. I did this because people could like the songs on the front cover as they are the most recognisable and this could lead them to buy the album hoping the rest of the tracks are as good or better.

Picture and 1st draft of Magazine Advert

This is the image I am going to be using for my advert. I have chosen to do this to match my digipak cover. I have looked at some of the convensions and main ideas behind magazine adverts. I plan for my colour scheme to be beige, blue and burgandy to link to the American theme of my video, but give it a more aged and destroyed look rather than using bold shades. I plan to use the same font as my digipak (if possible as it was adapted from the original album). The album I have got the song from was from the album 'the family jewels' and this did have an advert in some magazines advertising the new release. Fortunatly as I have named my album 'Hollywood' I can adapt some text from the single to match the rest. I am going to do some research into some reviews and put them onto my advert, as well as making up some of my own. Because of this, I am going to say that the album is 'out now' and I think that makes it more attractive to my audience as it would be readily available, instead they would have to wait to a certian release date.
The image I have put on the left shows the original advert and the first thing I noticed was that there is a picture of the single shown in the corner. Personally, I think that this is quite distracting and looks as if it is a way to advertise 2 things in one way, which i find off putting and I think the image looks too small to be clear.
I think that the information at the page have been placed in a very unusually way. For example, the small picture in the corner I mentioned before, the information about that is placed before the information about the main thing that is being advertised, which is the album.
I think it was a good idea to use 2 fonts for this ad because I think that if the more handwritten font from the artist name and album name was smaller, it would be unreadable and messy. I also think its a good idea to include reviews but I think maybe just a couple more would of been good and/or a star rating from a recognisable magazine or newspaper.

This is my 1st draft of my magazine advert. Overall I am pleased with it as a first draft however there are a few improvements I would like to make on my next draft. Firstly, I am pleased with my colour scheme and think that it links into the theme of my video in a way that isn't overwhelmingly obvious. I have tried to match the colours, particularly the blue, as well as I could and I think I have achieved good results in this area. The only thing that bothers me about the us of colour is the purples and greens in the 'Neon Gold' image. This can't be changed as it is the company logo and I said I would like to include it in my advert. However, there might be something I can do to make the image look better in the advert.
Another thing I like about this draft is the text and the reviews. I thought it would be good to include reviews as it can make the album more attractive to the audience. Also, the fact it is a debut album, means that it will include all the latest and successful singles will again make it very attractive to the audience. In addition to this, the fact it is 'out now' means that the album is readily available and the advert states it can be brought from hmv.com.
There are some things I would like to improve with this draft, for example I think I could of made more use of the space I had available, there are lots of empty patches and these could be used for things such as more reviews and additional information. I think that maybe I have used a few to many different fonts and I think it looks a bit muddled. However, I think it's a good idea to use handwritten fonts too make the review look like a personal message.
There are somethings I have thought about since doing research on album ads in magazines and additional things I would like to include. These are:
- the artists website address
- reference to specific successful tracks
- if its avaliable on anything other than CD, eg vinyl, download etc...

So hopefully my next draft will be more successful!