A2 Music Video - Group 4

Thursday 28 April 2011

Evaluation Prezi

Wednesday 27 April 2011

Evaluation Question 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

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

For our music video weused a variety of media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages. Weused many sites on theInternet such as Youtube, Wikipedia, Google, Picsearch and sites to find fonts to use within our music videos.

The Internet

We used the Internet to acquire information for our pre-production work, about music video directors like Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze. We usedit to findout about the different audience theories like Hall’s Theory and to look up the conventions of music videos.

Online video websites used

We used websites like Youtube to look for oldFrankenstein movies so that we could incorporate the same sort of style within our music video.We alsousedthe VirginMediamusicvideo site to watch music videos for our pre-productionwork.For thiswehad to analyse a music video thatis inthe same genre as our Frankenstein Video.

Our BlogOn our blog we have put up everything to do with our music video, like our preproduction work, analysed videos, our focus group video, evaluation and our finished music video.Filming and EditingFor the filming we didn’t have to use a lot of equipment, we needed the essentialsand a few extras like camera, tripod, lights and smoke machine.The editing process is the area in which we were able to experiment the mostwith the software “Final Cut Express”. We were able to play around with the different effects available on the software like “Vignette” to give our film the aged look tosuite our style and genre. We used a colour corrector to make it like the olden times with the black and white background throughout and we also cropped the edges of all our shots because the Frankenstein movies where filmed in 3:4 not widescreen like the camera today. Wedecided to use a minimal amount of effects and dissolves as we didn’t want to overload itand we that to many effects would have brought down the quality of our music video. We think that the variety of effects that we used have given our film that aged look that we had hoped for and if we could do it again we wouldn’t change to much but make the narrative more understandable and to fit in with the style of our music video.

Evaluation Question 3 - Audience feedback

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

What did they think overall?

The feedback we received for our music video was mostly positive we received comments that really helped boost our confidence and also gave us more ideas to improve and make our music video better. What we took in as a group was that our music video was unique and different this was mainly because of what we based our music video on. The ideas we used were very absurd but they worked really well with the music video what we didn’t realize until a member of the focus group brought to our attention was that our video was very juxtaposition from drum and bass this was because we added a love story into the video however drum and bass is normally played underground or in clubs so adding a love interest into our music video really breaks down the stereotype of drum and bass making our video very original and unique.

Would it appeal to you if it were a commercial video?

From the feedback we received our music video is very appealing commercially; this was mainly because of the conceptual ideas we incorporated into our music video. What also makes our music video commercially appealing was the way we showed creativity in the way we put wild ideas into our music piece and how imaginative we were in the way we explored different ideas. What also makes our video appealing is how different and absurd it is it also creates a buzz with humor and the way we engage our audience.

Does the style of music match the video?

The style of music didn’t match the style of the video but it didn’t matter because it doesn’t have to, the style of music and our video works in our advantage because it doesn’t match which makes it really crazy and intriguing what we did for our music video to match the music was that we made our shots very quick paced and sharp especially near the end of our music video the variety of quick shots had our audience glued to the screen because they didn’t want to miss a thing, we smashed all expectations making the audience wanting to watch more .

What don’t you like about the music video?

Some cuts didn’t fit in time with music video the shots needed to be quick and sharper and more color was needed. What we did as a group was we went back to our music video and worked out what shots needed to be sharper, we edited mostly the end of the music video because that was where the shots were slow and needed to match the speed of the music we disagreed with adding color to our music video because our main idea was to film it in black and white and if we added color the whole concept of Frankenstein would have been ruined.

What could be improved?

Cut down the long shots and add some cross dissolve effects.

There wasn’t really a lot that we could improve but we took this into account and tried our best to improve it we added a few cross dissolve effects and we really cut down the long shots making them quicker.

Evaluation Question 2 - How effective is the combination of the main product and the ancillary texts?

When designing the ancillary texts (CD cover and advertising poster) we wanted to incorporate the initial idea of using old fashioned style products and in particular the Frankenstein films that the music video we had created was based on.

The CD cover was linked very closely to the music video as the front cover had a close up image of Frankenstein’s Monster that is one of the shots from the film. This was edited so that the cover was black and white, which again relates back to the music video. We then added two significant colours that related to both the narrative of the music video and other media references. We changed the colours of the characters eyes as they become the dominant foreground image on the black and white background. We changed one eye to brown, which was to show the human side of the monster, as the music video relates back to the emotional side of the character as he falls in love. The other eye was changed to green as this is used in other media forms such as cartoons and modern adaptations of the Frankenstein films as the colour of the monster. We feel that the audience can use audience reference to be able to link the colour green to the monster.

The back of cover of the CD we feel creates interest as the background image that is shown relates to the setting of the music video. This also shows the continuity between the music video and the ancillary texts as the image of the castle on the back cover of the CD is the same image that has been used in the music video. Having introduced the main character of Frankenstein’s Monster on the front cover of the CD, the back introduces the female character who has been placed in black and white to show her as she would be shown in the music video. However we have chosen to put her hair in colour as this makes the image more appealing to the audience and this also makes them more aware of the character. We also used this feature to show that this is one of the characters most important features and this allows the audience to identify with why the monster has fallen in love with this character. This means that the back of the CD cover gives the audience identification which is one of the Uses of Gratifications.

The advertising poster that we have created consists of the same background of the back of the CD cover. We decided to do this for many reasons, such as making the audience aware of the setting for the music video. To show the links between the different ancillary texts and to promote the CD to members of the audience who may not have seen the cover of the CD. This is also backed up by the front cover of the CD being placed in the top right hand corner of the advertising poster. We have also placed an image of Frankenstein’s Monster on the advertising poster; however in this he looks happy. We feel that this challenges the stereotype that has been given to the character in other forms of media and therefore this may make question what has been created in terms of the CD and the music video which would then fuel their desire to buy the album.

The ancillary texts that we have created to accompany the music video basically set the scene of a fictional story by introducing the characters, the setting and the style. This means that the texts would appeal to the audience as they could become involved in the fictional world of Frankenstein. This means that they could escape their own lives to enjoy the CD and in turn the music video. This means that the ancillary texts create escapism for the audience which is another uses of gratification that has been used when creating the texts. The fact that the texts allow the audience to escape from their dull everyday lives also relates to Richard Dyer’s Utopian Solutions theory which says that the media can fill inadequacies within people’s lives so that they can find their utopia. We feel that the products that we have created allows the target audience to do this as they can fill the inadequacies in their own lives with the comical, fictional world that is displayed in both the music video and the ancillary texts that accompany it.Overall we feel that we have created brilliant, well thought out ancillary texts to accompany the music video that we have created. These texts make the audience aware of the music video and album and give them an interest and desire to buy the product. The ancillary texts show a consistent house style between the music video and each other and challenge certain stereotypes that have been displayed in other forms of the media. The texts also use the Uses of Gratifications theory well as they give the audience information about the album; they allow the target audience to identify with the characters through the use of colour and imagery and they also allow the audience to escape from there boring everyday lives and find their utopia which means that Richard Dyer’s Utopian Solutions Theory also applies to the music video and ancillary texts that we have created.

Evaluation Question 1 - In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Music videos can range from four minute dance shows, to hour length theatrical mini movies (kanye West –Runaway). Every video’s form depends on the music genre it is for. As an overall rule, music videos tend to use a lot of cuts, and close ups of the artist along with some kind of performance; on average they are between three and four minutes (although some artist are known to make longer ones). The video also carries some relation to the songs lyric’s (Andrew Goodwin – ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’), videos are either artistic, band performance or narrative, normally they are a mixture of two (sometimes all) categories.

The genre of our video is RnB/Dubstep. The conventions are as follows; band/artist performance, (the performance isn’t always a dance routine, it can be a group dancing to the song), fast cuts, various background lighting; locations are typically clubs. Cars, bikes and female dancers are a major part of the mise-en-scene.

Within our video, we have followed and broken a few conventions from the genre. We broke a few by heavily emphasising on narrative, and basing it on James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein (intersexuality). We did this because we thought it would appeal more to our target audience because of itsoriginality. Typically, our target audience would not be interested in a 1930’s Frankenstein film, so to get around this, we changed some aspects of our video. These included; fast cuts, a dance performance, and a few comical scenes. In the end, we had a music video based on a classic film, but edited to fit a young, modern audience.

It was in our heads to keep the video as ‘out of the box’ as possible, and because that was our aim, there are not many genre conventions. The biggest genre convention of RnB/Dubstep videos are dancers; and because of that, we decided to add a dance sequence to our video. There was a risk that RnB/Dubstep fans wouldn’t like the video because of its difference against the genre conventions, but by fitting in the dance sequence throughout most of the video, and having comical scenes, I personally think we’ve kept them engaged. The second convention we kept to was the editing; we used fast cuts, and kept them in time with the music. The 4:3 ratio, vignette effect and colour correction signify the time period of the video, as audiences will associate this with early-mid nineties films. The dancers clothing consists of Converses, t-shirts and sport shorts, although it is in juxtaposition with the Doctor’s, the monster’s and the woman’s clothing; it acts as a signifier to modern dancers, and keeps the video from feeling alien to the audience and gives them something to identify with (audience theory).

The construction of our video was aimed at being original and different from the genre that it is in. We thought that a narrative would not only attract our audience, but also keep them engaged by offering something new. Our preferred audience reception would be; that they recognise the video as different, see a few modern conventions (e.g. fast cuts) and find it more enjoyable. Some might not like the mixture of modern conventions with a video that looks aged and take an oppositional position.The study of semiotics involves looking at signs in the world, everything, including body language; location, colour and even voice carry connotations. There are a few major connotations in our video; we used black and white, signifying the time period of the video’s contents (as mentioned previously), we move from a misty, old, webbed dungeon to open fields and trees, a complete juxtaposition which portrays nature as freedom. The woman in the video wears a white dress, and is usually seen around plants and fields, this has the effect of making her appear innocent, almost mystical due to the fact we never hear her talk, and are in an objective position when looking at her.Semiotics have a big effect concerning the monster, the first location we see him in (dungeon) encourages his escape from the audience. His attempt and failure to woo the woman could signal to the audience of their own failures and connect with him. His clothing could have gone one of two ways; one, the audience could see him as a scruff and look down on him, or two, feel pity for him.A non-lyrical song like the one we’re using allows for various styles of videos; the effects we’ve used might class it as ‘film noir’, but the fast cuts and comical scenes do not fit into the category.