My evaluation - Abi Shaw

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

My Media product predominantly uses a number of forms and conventions similar to those in other music videos of the same genre, (Dance-pop). Typically and quite commonly Dance Pop music video’s appeal to a younger target audience and usually have a narrative for example 'Christina Agularia - Aint No Other Man' which tells a story through the lyrics and visuals, although in quite recent new Dance Pop music video’s the narrative is fragmented but not always for example 'Lady gaga ft Colby O Donis' – 'Just Dance' . Dance Pop music video’s also display a teenager scenario for example having a crush, this scenario is shown in 'Katy Perry' – 'Teenage Dream' also in a quite recent song by 'JLO' – 'Papi' the scenario of all the guys being in love with her is shown throughout the video.

Dance pop also present the artist using certain technical codes, for instance, the different camera angles and movements, particularly close-up’s and extreme-close-up’s used with the intention to express emotion and thoughts to the audience, in general most Dance-Pop music videos tend to be fun, and light hearted, colourfull and have a good mood which is partly due to the upbeat music but also the location; for example on a beach, at a friend’s house, driving in a car etc; the sort of location that gives a good feeling. Another technical code used in not only dance pop genres but any genre, and usually determines the genre and style of the music video is the Mis en scene which includes the lighting, the use of props, the artists hair and makeup, and the colours, and costume.

The artist and/or characters within the music video are also generally involved in dance routines, again which you can see in the two Dance Pop music videos I previously mentioned. Lady Gaga – just dance and JLO- Papi. To produce a successful, professional Dance Pop music video to the song Kesha- ‘N N N Neva Baby’ from the Dance-Pop genre we used nearly all of these techniques through planning, filming and editing and in some ways developed these conventions making our video creative and unique.

For instance, similarly to other Dance Pop music videos our music video is aimed at a niche audience who are teenager girls, Our video also has a narrative which is fragmented and like other dance pop music videos our one follows a simple teenage scenario of a boy having a crush on a girl, this idea developed primarily through looking at other videos, and recognizing that kesha, and Katy Perry, and Miley Cyrus for example also display a teenage scenario through their music videos. Our Music video has taken ideas from other videos, and has been changed and developed through planning and research, and editing.

In our music video, we use a number of different shots and camera angles from close-up’s to extreme close-up’s to long shots and wide shot’s, to show the audience the location and introduce the characters. Other shots includes Dutch angle, bird’s eye view shot, over the shoulder shots, two shot, eye level shots, high angle shots, low angle shots and a split screen of the same shot more than once used in particular parts of the video make our video effective and interesting to watch; which add to the creativity and final results, but also to keep the video fun and continuous. The shots we used are also very common within other dance pop music videos for example in 'Lady gaga ft Beyonce' - 'telephone'  you can see a variety of shots that we have used in our own.

Another area similar to other music videos in the same genre through editing is the different transisitions from one scene to the next. In our music video we used cheeky transitions of shapes, which you can see is similar to ‘Rihanna ft David Guetta’ – ‘Whos that chick’,   were the next scene comes in through a heart, or a star, or diamond. This is a very good technique in dance pop videos, as quite a few have a funny side to them, for example – ‘Katy Perry’ – ‘last Friday night’ and ‘lily Allen’ – ‘smile’, there is a funny element to it, which suggests the not so seriousness of the situation. The use of transitions in this way allows the audience to see the next scene in a more effective and creative way.

One element that we specifically developed in our music video was the use of colour to a shot, in particularly the split screen which consist of Alice dancing. One video that uses a similar colour technique is 'Rihanna' – ‘Man down’ in one particular scene where she is shown dancing in front of a brightly coloured red light and the figure and other parts of the shot are darkly shadowed. This is a good example of where we have used and developed the conventions of the artist being involved in dance routines and the bright use of colour to create a party effect that you would expect to see in Dance Pop music videos to create something similar but original. The split screen is also used in 'Lady Gaga’s' video – ‘Poker face’ in a similar way to ours was the same shot is used four times in one shot. This was one element that I specifically liked as it showed a number of conventions in one and was an area that we could develop well.

The lighting in our music video contains bright coloured flashing lights, for the party scenes, we used this throughout the video as it adds good effect and refers to the party that most dance pop genres include. The lights allow the audience to immediately recognize that it is a dance pop music video, and the lights come in sync with the beat. The lights we used our artificial strobe lights to emphasize the party scenes they are also bright green which again follows the conventions related to lighting within the genre dance pop, Not only does the use of bright lights and colour draw attention to the video but also tie in with the whole idea of dance/party that you’d usually expect to see in a dance pop genre.

Other ways our video links and connects to the dance pop genre, and share similar aspects with other dance pop music videos, is done through the use of costume, hair and makeup of the artist- we looked at many different artists similar to Kesha, and we wanted our artist to come across very fun, wild, and literally suit the female teenage audience.  Are chosen costume is similar to 'Miley Cyrus’s' outfit  in ‘party in the USA’ video and also 'Kesha' herself in this particular video ‘Tik-Tock’ this style refers to the relevant fashion of teenagers who like dance pop music, and therefore fits well with the genre and target audience It also refers to summer, which also we relate with happiness, and good feelings, this is usually  the style which dance pop music videos contain. When researching into hair and makeup, it was quite noticeable that dance pop artists tend to have bold eye makeup and big hair, for example artists like Lady-gaga and rihanna, we wanted our music video to continue to display this look as it would not only be recognizable for the genre but also relate to the audience the video is consumed at. The bold eyes in these artists has been created through the use of fake eye lashes, mascara and eye liner, and a good example of this is in 'Cascada’s' video ‘what hurts the most’ you can see the artist make up is bold, and fake eyelashes are used to enhance the eyes, this is very noticeable in close up’s, and shows the audience the particular style. We also wanted our character to wear fake eye lashes to reflect this appearance making the video relevant to teenagers. Choosing Alice was also relative, as her hair is bright blonde which emphasizes the hair already, we styled it down with some up which is also similar to ‘Cascada’ – in the video ‘what hurts the most’ Other artists with big hair and bold makeup in the genre also include ‘Christina Agularia’, ‘Britney spears’ and again ‘Rihanna’, who are all well known dance pop artists and all have a similar appearance, of bright hair and bold makeup. I think choosing Alice was successful in achieving this look, and was easy to work on.

In relation to including and playing around with certain conventions not only did we use the link between lyrics and visuals, and carry out a bright multi coloured light and colours throughout the video, and express the teenage appearance through clothing and makeup but are choice of location was well suited to the genre, and similar to what you’d expect to see in any other dance pop music video. We chose to film in a modern house, and also at a party and in inventive areas for instance the play zone – This allowed the video to straight away be fun and easy to develop with. For instance in dance pop genres you tend to get a scene that is completely random, but not random as it has been chosen purposely. For example in ‘Rihanna’s’ video ‘rude boy’  she is shown on a fake horse in one scene and this scene is played numerous time in the video which is random, this is usually done when the video has a particular theme, like in ‘Gwen Stefani’s’ video ‘what you waiting for ‘ were its Alice and wonder land themed and she’s in a big house or ‘Katy Perry’s’ video ‘California girls’,were she makes the use of giant candy objects .However we wanted to interpret the idea and fitting it in with a narrative based theme, but making it fragmented and including random scenes for a purpose, it is very successful in making the music video imaginative, and feature different use of styles of dance pop in the video.

In relation to the music video, I think one thing that follows through quite a lot of dance pop music videos, which you can see particularly in the Rihanna videos – ‘rude boy’, and ‘who’s that chick’ is the use of cartoon animation, which is something we could have used more.

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

The combination is very successful as a group we worked hard to link the main product and the magazine ad and digi pack together. In relation to our digi pack, we looked at particularly the element of a theme, from our music video that we would like to peruse in our digi pack and magazine ad, we decided on a glitter/ bright coloured theme. One video that specifically influenced our decision to have a glitter/bright coloured theme was looking at different music videos within the same genre, and the idea of using bright colours and glitter really stood out to us. One video we looked at was Kesha - 'Take it off'' were glitter and coloured paint is thrown around. Another video that influenced our decision was a video from Rihanna 'Only girl in this world' the colours throughout the video are bright pink and multicoloured. These two videos both show creative ways of using colours, to make the video attractive and stand out, similarly to our music video were we used the play zone with multicoloured balls surrounding the artist, and the interrupts of bright flashing lights etc and were we used glitter blown at the camera, to emphasize the theme and style within the video.

I think this theme is very effective and can be displayed in many ways. I think one of the main elements you really notice in our music video is the use of bright colours and it has been very successful in following through the specific theme when producing the magazine ad, and the digi pack. Bright colours are something that is also definitely carried through other dance pop music videos, and so is suitable in not only identifying the genre, but also attracting the target audience teenagers.

The link between the Music video and the digi pack and the magazine add, all relate simply by using the main character on al 3, but also the way she appears, again by using bold make up and big hair, and the costume, which shows the audience the style and personality she is, and is also a great selling technique as it attracts the teenage market. One thing that we wanted to focus on and carry out through our digi pack and magazine ad was the use of glitter; in the digi pack and the magazine ad this was used effectively on Alice’s lips, however  we could have displayed more of this, and made it stand out more.

Another element that we specifically wanted to keep the identical was the font; this would allow the audience to see straight away that the three are linked. This idea of having bright colours and a glitter theme allows the audience to recognize the genre straight away, as it is a strong element that is obvious and can be noticed easily. The audience may also refer to the video as fun and lively and hopefully give the audience a happy and good feeling which we definitely aim to do. In relation to the three having a specific link the audience will be able to recognize that they are all connected, and see that the magazine ad is promoting the digi pack, and the video is related to the digi pack.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

One of the most important thing to realize before creating a music video and after creating a music video is to consider what the audience felt about not only the production but your ideas, as it allows you to gain information, and thoughts on the audience this is important do that so the video is successfully produced to suit the audience its aimed at.

One thing we did to make sure that could get enough audience feedback was make a questionnaire, when answered would allow me to understand the needs of the target audience and what they expect from my media production. Before asking my target audience as a group we had rough ideas of what we wanted to achieve, and after discussing our ideas with the group and other people we were able to tale some of their thoughts and perceptions and add it into our own, we did this through a feedback session.

This allowed us to improve on the initial ideas we had, working up a good rough idea of what the music video would be like. We originally had an idea to have a narrative, but had no real storyline in mind. This was one thing that we were able to improve with the group’s feedback. The media group shared ideas, and gave us some good ideas which we later developed. Other improvements that were suggested included the choice of locations as we briefly mentioned that we would base our narrative, at a party, and real thoughts would need to be considered, in choosing the right location that would be safe and appropriate – taking into consideration any approvals needed to film.

 After deciding on the narrative, of a boy having a crush on a girl and types of shots, and locations we would like to use, to display the narrative we were able to create story boards, and got a feel for what we were trying to achieve. From the result of the final music video, I think as a group we have definitely achieved a lot of the original desires, and produced a pretty successful and professional music video that was suitable for our target audience – teenage females.

Other feedback that we learned was from our rough cut, we were told our narrative was clear and understandable from the start; we were also told that we had a good technique with the use of the camera although zooming out could be smoother. The short cuts of the flashing strobe lights were one of the elements that were liked, and we were told it fitted well with our dance pop genre. We had strong lip syncing, that was accurate and in time, this was very positive as it is important when communicating to the camera. We had some strong positive feedback however the negative feedback was also positive as it allowed us to recognize were we needed to improve when filming for our main production. The camera steadiness being one of these, which we later achieved and used accurately.

From the outcome of our video, I wanted to find out what was good about the video and what wasn’t so good and if there were any improvements and what they might be. After producing a video it’s important to gain positive and negative feedback, for future reference but also so that if I were to produce this media production again I would be able to recognize the strong points and the weaker elements within the video. A lot of my feedback was pretty positive in particular the type of shots we used were very creative and well thought about and the quality of the shots and the variety of shots used was well done and of high quality.

Other elements that really stood was again the use of shots, but also the Lip syncing was in time, and the music video was continuous, one thing that was mentioned was the editing process, from the audience feedback they could see that a lot of time and effort was put in to create a interesting music video, and although my group wasn’t always there we worked well as a team to make the video look professional but most importantly match to the genre dance pop which included a lot of conventions that we could match and develop to make a unique production, specifically the transitions, and the use of colour and costume.

Critical negative feedback was very useful, and allowed for possible improvements and further developments; one thing that we could have improved was the choice of the actual narrative was achieving a lot more with the chosen story line that we put together, for example including more shots, and more to watch. One thing that my audience mentioned and I agreed was that we have used the geek more in numerous scenes to display the narrative more greatly.

However our song was short which influenced the time we had to work with and fitting in a storyline that would work with the song choice. We could have got a lot more scenes in the video to fulfill the storyline, and add to the creativeness and interest of the video but overall the final music video had a good story to it and matched the lyrics which we intended on doing. I have been able to gain a lot of feedback from my audience through planning and research but also along the process of editing and to the final piece. The feedback was very helpful, and also allowed me to view my idea from another person’s perception, and not just my own.

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

Throughout the research, planning, and evaluation stages we used various different media technologies for example in the construction we used the cannon camera equipment to film, and the apple macs to upload our film this was easy as I was already familiar with using the camera and apple macs, in AS Media to produce a film.

We used final cut pro, to create our music video and edit it. This software was not that easy to use at first, but once we got the hang of it was pretty simple. We used many different tools when editing the video and got to grips with the basic features. Most of our research was done through using the computers in and out of school and exploring the internet, in particular, we used YouTube to look at other types of music videos within the same genre, and this helped us to get a good idea of the conventions, and also ideas for how we’d like our video to be. We used various websites, for example; The Windsor media blog/ blogger to upload all our research and evaluation. Other media technologies that we used through the planning and research stages include scanners, this allowed us to scan on our digi pak designs, and other research that we did on paper for example spider diagrams, and our story boards. This was useful technology in transferring our written research onto the blog format easily.

In the process of designing our digi pak and magazine we used Photoshop, which was fairly easy to use, and was a creative programme that allowed us to create an imaginative, digi pak and magazine ad. I also used PowerPoint and slide share through my research, to produce a slide show on the conventions of music videos; this was one of the most helpful elements for me as it then enabled me to have a good understanding and knowledge of the conventions, and specifically dance pop. I was then able to write a detailed evaluation on word, to then upload onto my blog, referring to all the different techniques and conventions within our music video.Overall the media technologies that were able to use allowed us to produce successful professional looking pieces, and give us the experience, of using different technologies, when producing our work.