Evaluation

I decided to take the form of music video for my production, with the genre Rock/Alternative. Due to research of rock videos I thought this would be the genre to challenge me as the shots are conventionally very short in comparison to Pop/Folk music like Ellie Goulding which would consist of long landscape shots. I thought my artist fell into those genres due to the heavy instrumentals being a predominant part in the music as well as the vocals being quite edgy, which is an alternative to mainstream music today which seems to focus around RnB/Pop genres which focus on bass and have a specific type of vocals.


Furthermore, the band I chose are signed to Interscope Records, which is a label known to sign a mixture of different genres as they are one of the main labels owned by Universal Music Group. Although, even though my artist reflects anti-mainstream conventions, I decided to take a different approach with my choice of products by developing the conventional mainstream features instead as this would target a larger audience. For example, I decided to use shots and photography that reflect mainstream conventions, such as the bold close-up for my digipak, which through research is a very conventional feature used for album artwork today. Although I decided to challenge the mainstream conventions by keeping within the theme of Rock in my products in terms of mise-en-scene, such as the make-up I used which straight away reflects the music genre as it's bold, dark and heavy. I decided to take this approach as today in terms of music, the general public seem to try and push themselves away from today’s mainstream music such as RnB and Pop, therefore taking that approach seems to become a more popular option in society, (therefore still becoming mainstream). Originally, the song I chose was written by a band in which the lead vocalist was the main attraction. Although, I chose to portray my artist in a more mainstream light by creating an image that represented her as an individual independent artist, as I thought that realistically there was a gap in the music industry for a female rock artist who could be as big as artists such as Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj. Therefore, I have featured my artist in both of my products in a way that conventionally reflected that this, for example in my magazine advertisement I intentionally kept the theme very minimal in terms of text and layout, creating a bold image that focused on just the artist, which I have then taken and transferred that theme into my digipak too. This enables two main purposes, like I said before, which is to create an eye catching independent artist as well as enabling the public to recognise the album when it comes out, by keeping within theme.

I have also challenged the conventional aspects of a mainstream music video in my own as I have used both performance and narrative based ideas, as my video features my artist performing as well as parts where I have added messages that relate to the lyrics. For example, the chair scene shows my artist centred in the middle of the shot with her mouth covered with tape, which has connotations of trapped emotions and feelings, which reflects her underlying feelings towards her ex-boyfriend she is singing about, having connotations of her personal “trapped” emotions in her past relationship. This idea was also a pastiche of media texts such as action and/or horror films, which conventionally place the artist in the middle of the shot in a spotlight to focus on the individual. Furthermore, I took another conventional approach to use for my video by using the same scenes throughout my video in a certain order that I recognised through research. Although, I still kept within the rock genre due to the mise-en-scene used throughout my video, such as the black leather jacket and even making sure aspects of my performers attitude was right and stereotypical to the "rebel" attitude. In addition to that, the editing reflects my genre too as I have used a dark contrasted edit throughout, as well as black and white shots for certain parts of my video, which is conventional to the rock image and rock genre, which I then transferred into my two products as well. Although, as my artist is female, I decided to put her own signature style and stamp on her products as in the music industry this seems to be a very important feature in terms of recognition to fans, for example Justin Bieber is known for his hair whereas Lady Gaga is known for her anti-mainstream style. Therefore, by printing a bright red lipstick mark on the two disks, this manages to reflect how she is reinforcing her rock and roll femininity as well as giving her her own signature feature. This is also reflected within my video as she wears it throughout the video and uses red lipstick to write “liar” on the mirror.

Due to all music videos being post-modern, it is clear that in my music video I have used eclectic borrowing from other previous music videos and eras as well as being a pastiche. For example, the long tracking shots that I have used throughout are taken from the video The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony, which when the video was released was very popular for being the first successful video to use continuity editing in this way throughout the entire video. Although I have also taken eclectic borrowing from Rihannas – Disturbia video which borrows from other media texts such as modern horror films, which today take the sharp and edgy approach when it comes to editing to benefit the audiences experience of the film. Therefore I have taken this convention and developed it by using high definition black and white contrast and quick 0.5 second shots in time to the drum beats in my own video. In addition to that, I have used a pastiche of Blondie’s/Deborah Harry’s album cover for Rock Bird, which was released in the 80s. Also, the idea of writing on the vanity desk with red lipstick is a pastiche of various films throughout time, such as romance where “I love you” has been left in the mirror, and in some horror films which is normally done in blood. Although, I took this idea from the video Make Me Wanna Die - The Pretty Reckless, at 0:14-0:28.

 

Furthermore, taking postmodernity into account, my audience will take into account that these are conventional features they have seen before due to vintage bands and artists becoming very popular again today with teenagers. Although due to the original target audience of the band I used being 13-19 year olds, I questioned whether they would be able to recognise the pastiche and intertextuality of Deborah Harry’s Rock Bird album cover in my digipak. I came to the conclusion that due to the popularity of vintage rock bands rising today within the younger generation, especially Blondie, that references and links may be made depending on the individual and how seriously they take their music habits. Although, I took into consideration the demographics and that as my target audience is young, they are likely to download music illegally rather than buying the physical copy, therefore enabling them to listen and be more likely to do so, in regards to vintage bands from the 80s as it's able to be downloaded in a more accessible way. I also studied more in-depth who my artist would target and came to conclude that they would fit within the C2 – D demographic, mainly covering working class students. Although this may seem like a very small demographic, in many UK cities it appears to be quite a high statistic, putting a staggering 57% of the UK labelled as working class citizens, therefore targeting a large majority. As Rock was a genre within fashion and music in the 70s and 80s that reflected anti-mainstream values, this is an attitude that teenagers today seem to be aiming for, reflected in the popular rise in rock music as well as being reflected in todays fashion, shown in the most popular high-street stores, therefore my audience will consist of mainly aspirers. This is a stereotype that is reflected within my music video through mise-en-scene and the attitude of the lead singer, again keeping within theme. I also took into consideration ethnicity as stereotypically due to personal connections asian communities have said to prefer the genres of Hip-hop/Rap/RnB. Therefore, I looked into further research on the website survelum to look more indepth at different races and what music they prefer.

I gathered the following results from 47 black/african females (as my music targets mainly females) between the ages of 16-25:

Country: 13%

Electronic: 21%

Gospel: 49%

Heavy Metal: 4%

Hip Hop/Rap: 83%

Jazz: 17%

Latin: 19%

Reggae: 66%

RnB: 81%

Rock: 26%

Pop: 47%

Other: 9%

These statistics show that within this demographic, Rock and Heavy Metal (closely linked in aspects) are quite low, although not as low as I expected, therefore still leaving my demographic open to a wide range of people around the world. Furthermore, when comparing these statistics to European/White females, the percentages of the different genres where a lot more level which also shows that they are open to different kinds of music depending on person taste, as stereotypically in my city, people seem to embrace individuality and different labels a lot more.

I believe that my production of three texts including digipak, magazine advertisement and music video was successful to an extent which is shown in my audience feedback. All of my audience feedback suggested that the three texts were related to each other through theme, suggesting my choice of colours and shades, types of fonts, mise-en-scene were consistent throughout and linked in a way that was clearly recognisable. This also reflects the genre and target audience, as well as the use of camera angles used on my two ancillary texts and mise-en-scene mainly which my audience identified that the leather jacket and heavy make-up used throughout the 3 products was very conventional to the rock image. However, my results mentioned that my video uses repetitive scenes, which I was aware was a downfall and does become quite clear when watching my video, therefore those scenes could have been replaced with new footage that I could have filmed or for parts of my video I would have liked have zoomed in to her face to emphasize the slow motion of the smoke (2:16 of my video). Furthermore, although my audience didn’t mention to say this as a criticism, looking back at my ancillary texts I wish I spent more time choosing a font that may have been more conventional to the rock genre as well as reflecting femininity, as I don’t think my fonts used has my artists “stamp” on it to the extent that my target audience would be able to recognise it enough as my artists own signature font. Furthermore, my current poll that is still running shows that 2/3 people voted my products reflected conventions of a niche AND mainstream audience, which I thought was a very odd result as my initial aim was to target a mainstream audience, non the less this was still a positive result, as it's understandable that different individuals will have different perceptions about what kind of audience Rock music targets today, due to their own music taste. I also accept that my products reflect quite a strange alternative image through the use of mise-en-scene such as the sugar skull make-up.

Getting feedback from my audience throughout my production was very useful for me in terms of preparing what I needed to put into my productions to make sure it was conventional to real media products that would attract my target audience. I did this in numerous ways, including holding a poll on my blog which helped in terms of concluding what my target audience’s favourite genre was, what type of videos they preferred to watch and where they watch them. I already posted my results and what I learnt from them, although I was very happy with the results as they suggested that I had gained knowledge from my research already as well as benefiting me for choices in my video. For example, 6/7 people voting that they preferred performance based videos, influencing my choice to add performance elements into my video. Furthermore, it was helpful for other people’s advice when it came to researching for one of my ancillary texts (magazine advertisement). It wasn’t the most technical way to gain results but I thought it was worth asking 4 different people on their choice of music, taking into consideration I knew what kind of music they specifically liked. This was done when analysing the Plan B magazine advertisement text, which the results showed that when it comes to mainstream music, some people are open to listening to music due to the artist’s individuality and their own persona. For example, Plan B comes into the genre Alternative but still mainstream, but when asking a female who listened to alternative music, she disliked his music, then asking a male who listened to 60s indie music that was a different result, saying he liked him as he reflects that era in his music videos through choice of mise-en-scene. These results enabled me to be a little more flexible with my choice of layout and image choices as it proved that audiences of all kinds do recognise individuality more indepth than they use to when it comes to artists. Throughout my production I also found it useful asking several people which magazine advertisement they preferred when experimenting, which was a very different draft to the one I liked. Therefore this was useful as it led me to experiment more with the one they thought was more conventional to a real media product, giving me my end result which was the best version.

I was able to plan efficiently my pre-production phase of my production work through the use of pen and paper, enabling me to storyboard my ideas and plans. This was very helpful when it came to filming as I kept them with me at all times and was able to film in an orderly manner, which I had no trouble coming to terms with arranging what needed filming, where and when. I also kept a small reminder of my filming times on my blog which was mainly for my own benefit as I went back to add what I had filmed and what I had not, keeping me organised. My blog was also used to store all of my pre-production work, production and post-production work, which was helpful as it automatically stores the latest published work at the top as well as storing drafts which was useful in terms of being able to use my time efficiently, letting me do some posts in my free hours at college without having to save them via Microsoft word all of the time. As this form of recording my data was internet-based, it meant that this use of digital technology could not lose my work like it possibly would if it was done through paper. Furthermore, by using a web based blog, it meant I could work at home too, having no problems with forgetting work from college as it would be stored on my blog automatically, ready for whenever I accessed a computer, therefore enabling me to spend extra time at home to do my work. Furthermore, Adobe Photoshop  CS5.1 Extended was the programme that was advised to use for the students ancillary texts as it’s easy to use and tidy in terms of producing layered work. By using it last year in my AS Media work, I had gained knowledge in how to use it to an extent that enabled me to use it more efficiently and quickly, meaning that this time I could make more drafts in a short space of time, which was beneficial to producing the best quality end result I could. Furthermore, I have the programme at home meaning I could send unfinished files home to finish and then post on my blog, which again benefited me on making decisions for my ancillary texts.

 

Research was very important in terms of gaining not only knowledge but inspiration. I used the internet a lot throughout my pre-production stage as it let me access websites such as Youtube. Youtube is a very popular video streaming website that uploads thousands of videos a day from all over the world. This meant that I could find footage easily instead of having to search the artist’s official websites to search for the video. This was useful in my analysis process as I was not only able to outline common conventions for my genre and female rock artists, but also allowed me to gain ideas for my own video and artists image. Youtube also provides statistics of the range of people in terms of gender, age and country who have watched the video, which I used and took for my blog as some of the statistics effected my thoughts and decisions on some of the artists I was researching, therefore effecting who my target audience was. Although, these statistics are not as reliable and valid as they may seem due to the information collected come from the data you put in when you sign up for a Youtube account, where in many cases people don’t systematically put in the correct information or in other cases people share Youtube accounts, therefore a teenage girl using her older family members Youtube account wouldn’t come up on the data as a 15 year old girl. Also, a lot of people don’t have a Youtube account meaning that their information wouldn’t be on the statistics.

I also used a website called Lookbook, as it is a fashion based blog website where popular alternative looks are posted, therefore helping me with the choice of clothing and make-up for my artist. Although, my target audience recognised the rock look due to the clothing and make-up, looking back I would have liked to make some changes in terms of clothing choices and would have liked to use a less "safe" approach and possibly been a little more dramatic on my performers look to emphasise her image as a rock artist as I personally think her look is a little “every day” for the kind of artist I wanted her to come across as. I also used websites such as Wikipedia to collect facts from, which has been said to be faulty in terms of the source of the information, although I checked the sources myself to make sure the information was accurate as well as rephrasing the few sentences that I took from this website.

Adobe Premier Pro CS3 was the programme used to edit my video, which enabled me to edit my shots easily. Although, as I had never used it before I found some aspects difficult to use which I personally think effected my work. Therefore, I would have liked to have started editing at an earlier point so I could have grasped the concepts of some of the features better, which would improve the quality of my video. On the other hand, I feel like if I had to use it again I would be a lot more comfortable with using the programme as throughout I slowly learned different features. In terms of editing my colour it was very useful as I was able to edit the shots I wanted in a low saturated yet high contrasted way, which through research was a common convention I noticed and wanted to reflect in my own video, making aspects of my video to look less like a unprofessional home video, although looking at my video now there are certain parts of my video that I would have liked to have changed, such as the performance based chorus, in which I would have liked to used a darker effect to replicate my artist performing on stage. Furthermore, it enabled me to change the shots I wanted into high contrasted black and white, which was important for me to do so as this was the chair scene which I wanted to stand out the most, which according to audience feedback it managed to, which is a result I am very happy about. Furthermore, I used a video camera that I had no trouble with when using in daylight as it was an easy to use high quality camera. Although, one of my shots consisted of my artist being inside of a bedroom with her feet on a vanity desk. I had trouble with this shot in particular as the camera became more pixelated than I would have liked due to the dim lighting inside, therefore, I had shots in my video that stood out due to the unprofessional look that the pixels had created. I also had trouble with access to using a drum kit, as the music department was unable to let me use the instruments due to them having to use them for work. Although, in the end I got to film the part I wanted but due to the small amount of time left to slot this particular scene in, the drum beat wasn’t in time to the cut of the drums in the music, therefore I used Adobe Premier Pro CS3 to slow the close-up of the drums down to the extent it was made to look like an intentional artistic choice, which is a convention that I had come across in some bands videos (especially vintage 70s rock bands). Although, I didn’t initially want to use this effect it was the only way that this shot would work as well as the lighting effecting the shot too, as the room was dim. I also had access to the green room, which was extremely useful for my black and white drum shots (chair scene) as I initially wanted an empty room with blank walls where I would be able to use close-ups and mid-shots that focus on just the artist, which I managed to do. Also, the use of lights that were already set up in the room were very useful, as it enabled my centered artist to be focused on a lot more. Furthermore, as I struggled with some filming at certain times due to my performers personal reasons, I struggled with being able to edit my video to the best ability that I could as I didn't have time to experiment as much I would have hoped with edits and filming, which I am aware effected my work which is why I focused on finishing my video to the best quality I possibly could at the time. Also, I was strict with myself to stick to the initial ideas and scene order that I had decided on in my storyboard, although this did change due to when experimenting when I was filming and editing.

To conclude, I learnt at AS I managed my time well, and that this year I struggled slightly, but still got around the problems I came across and therefore managed my time in an organised manner in which I have produced work to a standard I am happy with in time to the deadlines given. Also, due to the different preparation stages and the programmes used, I would say I have not only advanced my skills to create a product which due to audience feedback was successful in terms of developing and challenging real conventional media products, but also challenged concepts of conventional mainstream values as well as my own abilities, which was my personal main aim throughout the coursework.

Audience Feedback

I decided that I would try a different way to gain responses from my audience, as I felt like making a questionnaire and giving it to people around college would give me unreliable sources, as open ended questions are never given much thought. Therefore, I sent a Microsoft Word Document to a variety of reliable sources who I know would fill it in and send it back to me as soon as possible, including a few questions alongside the link to my blog. I tried to ask a specific audience so that I could gather data that would benefit me in my evaluating how successful my products are. I chose to ask a total of 2 females and 2 males, which one of each sex listened to a rock/alternative genre and the other two listened to mainstream music like RnB/Pop. I sent the exact same questionnaire to each person so that my results would be reliable and fair. I felt that doing it this way would enable me to collect honest data to the open ended questions, as I wouldn't be in front of them asking, therefore constructive criticism would be more likely to be given in this form.

I have taken my answers and constructed them in a format that would be easy to read and compare:

From these results I gathered that:

• Each person asked liked the quality of my digipak and thought it was realistic and caught attention due to the make-up and close-up shot used, enabling consumers to see close-up detail like the heavy contrast of two different styles of make-up being used (skull and normal rocky make-up).
• Each person recognized that my genre was rock due to the mise-en-scene and editing. 
• It appealed to everyone apart from the 19 year old male, which was due to him listening to more male formed bands. Due to personal taste this is understandable as the band I chose originally is known to target a larger female audience than male.
• 50% of the people asked recognized that I had used repeated footage, which is an understandable feature that is noticeable due to difficulty with filming times and plans.
• 1/4 people said that the poster lacked detail, which is a negative that I saw myself too.
• I was surprised to see that the 19 year old male who listened to RnB as well as Rock, was interested in my product, which I thought actually might be due to him preferring the creative product side of my work rather than the music.
• 2/4 people recognized that the fierce attitude acted out by my performer reflects the rock genre more.

More

Throughout the process of finishing my video to the evaluation process, I had shown a number of people my video to see the different responses. I received comments about my product which I thought were beneficial to evaluate, therefore noted. Such as impressive black and white shots, realistic use of shots throughout and realistic performer use.

Advertising/Distribution

iTunes is very popular around the world due to Apple being one of the biggest makes for music products used by people of all ages. Therefore, I decided to add my artist into the banner on the top of the iTunes music page which is regularly updated with the newest tracks,  top charts and more. The banner I have added my artist into at the top specifies top stories in terms of up and coming artists, new albums and more, therefore by putting my artist there reflects her image as an artist, which shows she's an independent newsworthy musician and star. Again, using the photograph from the album so my artists target audience will be able to recognize the album when released.


Furthermore, I added her album in the "Pre-Orders" section as I thought it would be relevant due to the magazine advertisement and the album being unreleased.  

I have also added my artist onto the NME Reviews - Upcoming Artists Release Dates section on the NME website, as I thought due to her music having a Alternative/Rock genre, this is the kind of magazine she would be featured in. I decided to do it this way as I thought that a lot more people of all ages use a more interactive way to access information such as release dates of an album. Furthermore, statistics and forums show that the rate of the public buying hard copy music magazines is on a huge decrease as the internet allows us to access a lot more information for virtually free. 

With over 100 million active users, Twitter is one of the most popular social networking websites around the world as it enables the general public to follow and keep updated with their favorite celebrities. It has become even more popular with the celebrities themselves as it enables them to promote new singles/albums/merchandise or any other business that they are involved in a lot more personally. Also, Twitter is the only way that fans can connect and communicate with their stars in a personal way, as the active celebrity users update on Twitter as much as possible, therefore as the celebrity culture grows, so does Twitter.

Through researching on Twitter at the big stars such as Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber, I have noticed it is conventional for them to have their Twitter background set as their newest album or photography that will be used for the album, which is what I have done so this twitter page look like the real product. Also, they seemed to have done this with their own profile picture too, which is why I have taken an image that I initially liked but didn't want to use for my album cover, keeping within the theme of the album cover (as it's the same photoshoot) enabling the image to be highly noticeable to the target audience. Also, I have noticed that the 3 celebrities that I researched also had the release date of their album/single/what they are currently working on, in their description box as well, which again is to try and promote and get the album name noticed as much as possible.

Finished Ancilary Text - Magazine Advertisement

Finished Ancilary Text - Digipak

Finished Video

Magazine Advertisement Drafts/Experiments

Taking into account that it is conventional for the album to be the main photograph on the advertisement, I have tried to fit my finished album cover onto it. Although I don't think it has been successful in this way as the black part of my performers jacket cuts the page into two, not achieving the conventional look I wanted. Although, I am happy with the positioning and use of content in terms of release date and the ratings (which I quoted my AS Magazine called AMP rating this artist as my intentions for that magazine was for it to promote new up and coming rock/alternative artists). Although, I may try to experiment with other ways I can place my photograph as I think the divide between the album cover and other information is too clear. 

Due to the above magazine advertisement looking like it had been split into two due to where the black on the artists jacket stopped, I decided to change the positioning of the photograph around to the bottom of the page. Although, I found that the problem with this is that when photographing this picture originally I cut off the top of my performers head by accident, therefore it looks unproffessional. Also,  I don't think the artists name catches attention straight away due to it being right at the bottom, when I would prefer it to positioned possibly in the center of the page/top instead.Although, I intend to experiment more and find ways to get around these problems.

I thought that the way to get around my above problems were to maybe shape the artists head a little more, and rather than using the text from the album on her picture, transfer that text upwards so that it catches the audiences attention. Furthermore, the same photograph is used, therefore the target audience will still be recognise the album when it does come out, as the photograph is very bold. I prefer the positioning of the ratings in this layout. Although, I am still unsure as there are still gaps on the right hand side of the advertisement which don't look right. But, I want to experiment more with this idea. Furthermore, I have used the same font text for the artists name as I have on the digipak, as this is a conventional factor and will help the audience recognise the album when it comes out.