In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In order to make my music video as professional as possible and to make my product appeal to my target audience as well as possible, I analysed a range of existing music videos, all with the same, or a similar music genre to my own (acoustic). By taking conventions from similar products I was able to see what appeals to the audience, what is effective and what's not. When analysing the videos in detail, I discovered a range of conventions that all or most of the videos hosted. For example the speed of the song and the lyrics are both factors that highly influence the speed of the video itself, since this was a reoccurring convention throughout all of the analysed existing videos, I incorporated this into my own design. The song we had selected for the music video generally has quite a slow pace throughout so in order to reflect the tone of the song and also make video look professional by syncing the song and the video together we altered various clips so that their speed matches. For example, the beginning of the song starts off with a slow paced acoustic instrumental but 10 seconds in, the instrumental starts to pick up pace. To make the video clip and the song coincide with each other at this part, we split the scene of the girl spinning round in circles in autumn leaves so that at the start the girl is spinning in slow motion and as the instrumental gains pace, so does the clip itself. Another convention we decided to adopt was the fact that the majority of the slower slows continued to play their video clips even after their song had finished. When analysing a number of similar, slower songs we thought this was particularly effective. So when creating our music video we made sure that the last clip went on for a certain amount of time so that it ended just after the song itself. By doing this we were able to make in conform to this convention and therefore make it look quite professional. Generally, our music video conforms to stereotypes of music videos from the same acoustic music genre but there are some conventions we have eliminated in order to create a music video we thought was more effective and fitting with out song and ideas behind the music video. For example one of the conventions that I had previously discovered was the inclusion of clips of the artist performing the song live. Although we agreed this was quite effective and would allow people to recognise the artist, we decided that due to the fact the music video tells a story, we didn't want the attention of the audience to be distracted from the story or for their to be any gaps within the story so we decided to eliminate this convention and keep a range of clips with our model as well as well as clips of various nature scenes. Although we decided to use some of the conventions and eliminate others, some of them we developed and modified to fit our own video as although we have designed the video to revolved round conventions we still wanted the video to be unique enough to attract our target audience of 16+ females interested in acoustic music. For example we discovered that a common convention of the music videos was the frequent use of a change in depth of field, usually pulling between the model/artist and the background. We both agreed this was a very effective technique and would quite like to use it in our own video, however because of technology issues and because we didn't include the artist performing live in our video we twisted the convention slightly and make the sides of the scene out of focus so so that the effect was still used but in a different and more unique way.
Similarly, when producing both my magazine advertisement and my digipak, I analysed a range of professional, existing products in order to gather a range of conventions that I can apply to my own products whilst also taking inspiration from the techniques and ideas and discovering all the different information that must go on the products, from the existing products. I analysed five magazine advertisements for well known artists such as Jack Johnson, James Morrison and Newton Faulkner. One of the first and most obvious conventions I discovered when analysing the products was the staggered sizes of the text depending on their importance on the poster. Since I thought this was particularly important for audiences to read specific lines in a certain order, I applied this to my own poster. I made the release date larger than the rest of the text followed by the artist name, the title of the album and finally, the website in the smallest text. I thought that I should definitely use this convention because it was continued throughout all of the products and thought it was a good technique to guide my audience around the advert bit by bit. As well as the aesthetic features of the advertisement, I also used my analysis of existing adverts to understand what information should be presented to the audience. Typically, adverts displayed the artist name, the release date, the album name and also contact details such as a website. They also often include information such as a number of featured tracks on the album and possibly where to purchase the album. Although I agreed the majority of this information was relatively important I decided to adapt this convention to my own advert and therefore modified it by selecting the bits of information that I thought were completely necessary. Therefore I decided to include only the artist name, the name of the album and the release date. By doing this I feel I have included all the information necessary to fully inform the reader, whilst also not including too much information that could potentially discourage audiences. Other conventions of the advertisements included the presentation of the main image. Typically, the advertisements either include a computer generated picture, a photograph of the artist or a photograph of the digipak. Although I understood a photograph was important because it was the main focal point of the advert, I wanted my photograph to be slightly mysterious and to draw the attention of the audiences so took the photographs of the artist’s torso with the guitar being the focal point of the photograph. I thought this was also a good reflection of the song as well due to the fact the genre is revolved around the acoustic guitar. Overall, I generally stuck to the conventions discovered by applying them to my own product but I did develop and challenge a number of the conventions to make them suit my product and my target audience as well as possible.
As well as initial research regarding my music video and my advertisement, I also performed a detailed analysis on existing digipaks to get inspiration for my own advertisement, to discover what information and features are displayed in the digipak. When analysing the professional digipaks it was clear that a number of the digipaks hosted very similar information but all had different variations of the aesthetics. Aspects that the digipaks all contained were an area for production information, thank you notes, lyrics and photographs of the artist. I thought all of these were particularly important for the interior of my own digipak but did think I would eliminate the lyrics area because I thought it was slightly unnecessary and could be used for other purposes that may appeal to my audiences more such as more photographs of the artist, or other visual aspects. Therefore I only included production information and thank you notes and allowed the rest of my digipak to be visual so there isn't too much content that could potentially discourage users. I also used the information I gathered through the analysis of existing products to get a better understanding of the features I should include that are definitely necessary such as a bar code. Conventionally, digipaks include on the reverse of the digipak, a track list, a bar code, copyright information and website links to the artist’s page as well as the record label. Agreeing that this information is necessary to provide the audience with all the information they will need as well as to suit the requirements needed for the product to be sold in a shop, I included all of these aspects so that my audiences are fully informed and also so that the product looks fully professional. When considering the general appearance of my product one convention was very important to try and create a good aesthetic appearance and therefore make my product look unique and professional, which was to link the colour scheme and the promotional posters to the digipak to create a type of house style that would create a link between all of the products and therefore give audiences something to recognise. To conform to this convention, I decided to use quite a sinister colour scheme by using white, grey and black in images, text and borders. All of the colours I chose were derived from the photographs themselves which linked all the different aspects of my products all together. As well as this I used a stressed border throughout all of my products to create the house style which maintained a good aesthetic appearance but also went well with the appearance of my photographs being slightly vintage. Although I did use the majority of the conventions discovered in the initial research stages, there were some conventions that I chose not to use or didn't work out because of the style of my product. For example one of the conventions I had discovered was the use of the album spine to display the names of the album, the artist and the record deal. By including this, the CD can be identified properly when stored which is particularly useful, however due to the fact I wanted my album to be made of thick card to give a more natural look, when folded all together there was no space for a spine display to be presented. Therefore I only rely heavily on the rest of the album to provide direction and information to my audience.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Right from the beginning of my project, I knew that I had to link all of my products together in order to allow them to advertise and promote one another effectively. With this thought in mind, I designed all of my products around the idea that they all most promote each other. In order to make my products visibly linked together I planned to create a house style on all of my products that would allow my audiences to recognise the products. Since our music video was quite sinister in parts and therefore featured quite a lot of different dark scenes, I wanted this to be reflected in my ancillary tasks. To reflect this, I planned to use a black and white colour scheme throughout each of the products and the inclusion of a distressed border throughout. By continuing the distressed border throughout all my products, I automatically created a house style that was unique to my own products and therefore allow audiences to recognise the link between each of the products. Potentially, the use of a music video and the magazine advertisement is to promote the digipak and encourage audiences to go and purchase the album. Therefore the products have to represent each other and have a number of different links between one another. For example on my magazine advertisement I have created links to the music video in order to promote the video. For my advertisement I made a QR bar code and placed it in the top left hand corner of the advertisement. When scanned, the code automatically forwards people to the music video itself. Although the advertisement is effective because it lets audiences interested in Ryan Keens music as it lets audiences know when the album is available for purchase, It didn't reach out to new listeners and new fans. By having the bar code on the advertisement and therefore an obvious link between the two, but it also promotes the album in a large way, for audiences who are not familiar with Ryan Keen's music, they are able to be forwarded directly to his work and on liking the song, they would be encouraged the purchase the digipak. Similarly, the products also promoted each other in different ways, On the digipak and the advertisement I included photographs that would definitely reach out to people interested in the genre of the song which is acoustic music. To make the photographs appeal to them, I included a range of different photographs that all featured an acoustic guitar. Again, on the advertisement and the digipak, this would encourage people to research the artist and find the music video and later purchase the album. Overall I think the combination of all my products is very effective and I think each product manages to promote one another whilst also being recognisable as a range of products from the same project. Mainly, with use of a continuous colour scheme, photograph range and border to obviously link each of the products together as well as the use of a QR bar code that promotes the video and the song more than any other technique.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
When asking two different people from my target audience what they thought of each of my three products, they provided me with detailed feedback that not only allowed me to see how successful my products were but also to see whether there were aspects of the products I could change or improve to make them more successful and appealing to themselves. I asked the audiences for both positive and negative feedback so that I got accurate and reliable information. However, the feedback I received from respondents was mainly positive. Both respondents agreed that they thought each of my products hosted a high quality and professional appearance in the way they have been constructed and presented. I also learnt that it was good that I had taken into account various different conventions from existing products because they both agreed that the products looked believable as real products because of the way they have been put together and the way they include all the information and qualities that real products do such as websites, logos, bar codes and familiar layouts. Similarly, both respondents agreed that they would be attracted to the products because they each host similar aesthetics and features as products that they have bought in the past. For example one respondent said that they thought the photography and the use of a continuous colour scheme throughout the products would definitely attract them and encourage them to explore the artist which is the preliminary aim of all of the products. Although the majority of my feedback was positive and allowed me to get a clear understanding of how successful my products were and how well my audiences would respond to the product, they also did feedback some areas they thought could be improved in order to make my products much more appealing. The respondents agreed that although the front and back cover of the CD case featured quite a high quality and professional appearance, the inside of the digipak could have had a bit more thought and therefore included some unique features that would potentially encourage audiences to buy the products. For this, they said although they don't want there to be too much information on the digipak because it wouldn't make them want to approach the product, they thought that since the product was mainly visual, it could have been balanced with some more text such as the lyrics to the songs or the thoughts behind the songs themselves. On receiving feedback about the ancillary tasks, I asked the respondents to provide me with feedback on the music video. I was very happy with their feedback with them saying they thought the video was made to a very high standard and constantly referring to the video as professional. They also said they way the video had been put together such as the transitions between different clips was very good but there was one issue that arose from both volunteers was the fact that they didn’t feel they could understand what was going on all the way through the video and thought that the story line should of been made more clear so that it tells the story directly to the viewer. Overall, front the audiences feedback, I learnt that my target audience would be interested in the product and that the product they had chosen does resemble something that they would purchase because of its high quality however they did say there was room for improvement in order to make the product sell better and to make it slightly more professional and appealing.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The use of media technologies was the basis for my whole project. Throughout each individual stage throughout the production of my media texts I used technology in some way to aid my progress and development. Right from the beginning of the project I used technology to aid my research into each of the products which allowed my to gather inspiration and conventions to apply to my own products. In this stage I used the Internet to explore different including websites to find existing advertisements whilst also using youtube to locate and embed videos to analyse and explore different ideas and conventions that already exist. I was then able to use Blogger to display each of the products and then to look at the products in close detail. Making a summary list of all my findings at the end of this process allowed me to constantly refer to my findings which gave me support and ideas throughout the designing and production of each product. After gathering enough information and ideas I was able to begin designing my own product. Since my first designs were about exploring different layouts and features they were quite rough and therefore didn't need much detail. For this stage, I sketched the designs and scanned them into the computer and again uploaded them on blogger to explore the different designs so that I can select a design that I think will suit my purpose as well as possible. However, once I had selected the design I wanted to create, I needed to create it slightly more developed to get a better idea of spacing etc. To do this, I made a computerised version of my design to scale so I could see how everything would fit together. To do this, I used Microsoft publisher because I am quite familiar with it since I have been using it for similar things over many projects and would therefore be quick to design easily. When actually creating my products I had to use a range of different programmes in order to produce the high quality products i wanted. Although I used simple programmes such as publisher to create the digipak, I also had to use programmes that were unfamiliar with me such as photoshop, iPhoto and iMovie. Although I wasn't familiar with the programmes and had to take time to get a good understanding of the programmes and use all the individual tools within them to get the look I wanted. Due to the fact it took me a while to be able to learn how to use the different tools on the programme, it lengthened the production process, meaning I wasn't fitting the deadlines as well as possible however I don't regret learning how to use the programmes because of the high quality, professional appearance they have allowed me to produce within my products. I took my photographs to use on my products but they needed a lot of editing to make them look more professional and to give them the effects I wanted to go well with the different distressed look of my media products. Therefore I had to use photoshop to modify the picture by cropping it and using the lasso tool to cut around the images to give them a white background. After this, I moved them on to iPhoto on an Apple Mac computer to add black and white effects, brighten the images and blur the edges to give them a neater appearance. Again, this took me a very long time to understand how to use the different aspects of the programme to make them look how I wanted. Similarly when creating the music video itself, I had to use two different programmes that I wasn't familiar with and therefore had to explore the programmes and learn how to navigate around them. When filming the music video itself we used digital cameras to film the different scenes and although the cameras were high quality, we often had to change different aspects of the video and make them simpler or eliminate it completely because we couldn't create the scenes we wanted to with the time and equipment we had. I personally think we were probably slightly optimistic about certain areas of the video. When uploading the video clips from the camera itself, we found that the clips were then in the wrong format to be able to be put straight onto the iMovie. To do this we had to use a programme called Handbrake which changed the video format and then allowed them to be edited on iMovie. Although I think I managed to navigate around the programme, it did take me a while to get a good understanding of what the programme was capable of doing so some effects I wanted to include or create couldn't be done but I was able to find replacements in place of these effects to make it look as good as I had planned. Finally, when evaluating the products I had to use two different methods to be able to get reliable and real feedback from my target audience. To begin the process and to get my audiences initial thoughts about the products, I showed them the computerised versions of the products and then put the products into the correct sizes and printed them off so that my audience could get a better idea of what the products would actually look like. Although printing the products off seemed like an easy process, it was complicated to get them finished because of the size of the paper they had to be on. Since the digipak was to scale and had 4 different spaces on the page, it was very large and therefore wouldn't print on a normal printer. To overcome this I had to get them printed on an A1 printer but I was generally happy with the outcome because it produced them to the actual size and to a high quality. Overall, I think the project went well and am happy with the finish of each of the products and am happy that we were faced with some problems through the production stages of the products because it allowed me to learn how to use different programmes which not only created a higher quality product that I had imagined but also provided me with skills that will be beneficial to me when producing similar products.
