Media A2 Production Evaluation

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

Music Video

Our media product uses conventions from other real Alternative styled music videos such as slow edits, close-ups of people expressions and the video went back and forth evenly between the artist/band playing their instruments and the narrative. We took these themes and ideas and used them in our music video to conform to an Alternative styled music video.

One of the conventions that our music video conformed to was having the artist alone in the frame in some part of the music video. We did this to create a position that the artist can be sympathised with by our audience.  Our market research into Coldplay’s “Fix You” music video showed one member of their band walking for the first part of it. We used this convention in our music video along with the black and white filter for an extra emphasis on the mood it will have on our audience.

Using black and white is another convention that was identified when looking at previous products and we used this throughout our music video alongside the other key codes and conventions. In our music video, we used the black and white to represent the mood of the character with relation to the two paths he has a choice of. The two choices were “Move on” and “Sleep on it” and the video eventually hits a tinge of colour before the video starts to rewind giving our audience a clue about how his emotions are changing. Levi Strauss said that creating a conflict propels a narrative and that a narrative can only end on a resolution of this conflict. By using this black and white filter to portray a conflict in the mind of our artist, we attempt to show a conflict through visual contexts. Our artists is constantly seeing the same girl wherever he goes producing the idea that maybe he loves her in some way and by this we show a conflict through conceptual contexts. Only at the end does the artist resolve their conflict.

Our music video conformed to the structure of an Alternative styled music video too. Swapping between the narrative and shots of the artists playing his instrument is used in our music video to keep our audience entertained and this helps promote the artist and keep him in the spotlight – Richard Dyer’s star theory. 

One of the pre-existing products we looked at was "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. The ideas we noted from this video were things such as Goodwin's theory of types of music video. We identified this music video as it being an illustrative type of music video where the lyrics represented what was happening. We liked this idea very much and used it in our music video where the lyrics say "Two paths to choose", we shot a scene with the artist standing between two pathways with each path showing what mind set the artist was in.

As this is a sad song, we tried to use merge these codes and conventions with a few ideas of our own to develop these conventions further and experiment with things such as slow-motion and lyrics on-screen. We emphasised the emotional lyrics from the song to contribute to the mood of the song.

Our music video does subvert from some codes and conventions from the Alternative styled music video genre. We wanted to make our music stand out and add bits that made it unique like the beginning of the video. The beginning of the video is silent and shows the artist setting up his camera and his stool and guitar. This is different to most alternative music videos where the music kicks in straight away. The next time our audience watches this video or happens to see the beginning they’ll know straight away that this is the music video to “Never Again”.

Instead of our music video being fully conventional, we added some transitions into it instead of only having traditional cuts and a few fades. We used some transitions to show the artist’s face above clips of him playing his instrument and a transition to show a change in location instead of another cut. This little transitions made the video more interesting to watch and unique to other music videos of the same genre.

Album Cover

When researching album covers, we had to identify the codes and conventions of pre-existing products. Looking at album covers I found that Alternative genre albums seem to have abstract pictures with symbolism or simple pictures that don’t crowd the front of the album cover. I took into conisderation that the pre-exisitng product research was carried out on popular artists and bands so they didn't need to show their faces on the front of the album to make themselves known but Jake Black was a new artist. For this reason, the album subverted from having an abstract picture on it. The pictures that were used were in black and white to match the branding throughout and make this colour scheme a recognisable icon of the artist.

[This is the photo of the front cover

that was edited onto the album cover]

[This is the photo of the front cover

of Coldplay's Parachutes album]

The layout of the title and artist name for any album cover is not placed in a specific position so we placed our where it was best readable and looked best so as not disrupt the photo. We did put the bar code and record label on the back of the CD because looking at all other albums from any genre we noticed that the front of the album is supposed to focus all the attention on the image and title of the album. Our album conformed to this style of layout so our target audience could focus on the image of the artist and title of the album.

 

[This is the back cover of our album]                [This is the back cover of Snow

 Patrol's  Up To Now album]

Website

The codes and conventions of artist's and band's websites are quite creative with their websites and they give a heavy impression of the band so you will always know whos website you're browsing. They have tabs to let people find out more information about the artist/band members, tour dates, social networking site links, music videos, forums and stores. By using these pre-existing websites to further promote these bands, we used these same elements to create our website. Our website has an artist bio, tour dats, social networking links, a link to the new single 'Never Again', a store, new album information and a comment section. The website matches the black and white colour scheme and has Jake Black on the background for the website.

[Home page of our website]  

                                                           [Snow Patrol's home page of their official website]

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts (cd cases, website, digi pak)?

Eval question 2

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3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Class feedback:

More product feedback:

Digi-pak feedback














4) How did you use media technologies in the contruction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

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

Technologies have advanced and continue to advance every year. Without these sorts of online techniologies, I wouldn't have been able to create my production the way I did and the overall quality would have been worse. Thanks to these sorts of online websites I was able to work efficiently and quickly instead of having to research everything by books and waiting for information from others. I can present my work clearer by using these technologies which enables me to get my message across and make it easy to understand by use of auditory and visual aid. It becomes quite boring very quickly having to read a wall of text and current technologies allow me to present my information in a more interesting way and I have a chance to get creative with my work.

Lip Synching Exercise

In order to understand and practice lip synching I made a video of myself lip synching. This gives me a clear view on what type of editing is needed to be done in the future. You have to actually sing the song and then mute the clip because just lip synching will not have a realistic look. After, I added the song on top of the video and this was the result. The song I lipsynched was 'We Will Rock You' by Queen.

Birtney Spears Lip Synching : What I Have Learnt

During the time I have been studying and researching music videos. I have learnt how they work and what needs to be done in order to make one. It takes a lot of effort and time to get the correct shots and keeps your video at a fast pace. In terms of communication, I learnt that I have to keep constant communication between the group to make sure things are going to plan and that we have a proper plan that we can follow. When using the cameras, it's best to use 2 cameras to get more angles and extra footage.

Next year, I think I will be prepared to finish my coursework with efficiency and will use less time to finish tasks.

Analysis of the reading and meaning behind 'The Pretender' by Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters are an alternative American Rock band that released a song called 'The Pretender' in 2009. This music video would be a type of Amplification according to Goodwin's Theory.

The beginning of this music video shows the vocalist walk up to the mic. and put on his guitar. The floor is white and the instruments have already been set up in front of a big red wall. This song could be interpreted to have many meanings but by looking at the music video, the meaning seems to be about sticking up for yourself and not giving in to pressure. This is represented through the different readings and meanings along with the codes and conventions of this song.

The codes of this video such as the white floor underneath the behind could represent purity and good. Although this could be a negotiated meaning because some may think that it doesn't represent good but is represents an opinion of what is 'good' because it is in front of the red wall which could signify danger or warning. This may be seen as going against the law in some respects. The instruments having being already set up could signify an implicit and subtextual meaning. By the instruments being already set up, it could suggest that this sort of conflict was bound to happen and was unavoidable. The black line shown in the music video is most probably a type of dominant reading as many people may realise that it is the line that separates the 2 different sides of the argument going on colour. The band members are dressed in their own clothes in this music video which relates to the lyrics in the song ''What if I say I'm not like the others...''. This shows that are expressing their rights to be different and not conform to be like everybody else. The red wall behind the band could represent the anger built up by the people against the 'pretenders'.

The conventions conform to the typical music video such as lipsynching and close-ups of the vocalist so you can see the expression on their face and almost experience what they feel when they give a direct mode of address. There are also shots of the band playing their instruments and there are frequent jump cuts to keep the audience entertained. The frequent jump cuts seem to decrease when the riot police are shown to give the audience realise the explicit meaning that they are opposing side to the Foo Fighters. The movement is kept to a minimum by the band because the music video is telling a story where the band needs to stand their ground against the riot police.

Eventually the riot police are shown crossing the black line which is separating the two sides and this causes a reaction from the Foo Fighters who are representing people who aren't giving in to the 'system'. The red wall or build-up of anger, shatters and red liquid fiercely gushes out in the direction of the riot police. The band still stand their ground as the riot police struggle to keep up with the pressure and retaliation of the band. The music dies down quickly and the vocalist is shown to smash his guitar on the wet floor. This ending could be give off a negotiated reading as some people may think that the band were able to hold their ground and they won the battle. Alternatively, some may think that the band lost and that the 'system' always wins no matter how much of a fight you put up.

To conclude, Rock has never really been about giving in to things and more about doing your own thing. I video represents that through the different meanings and readings given off from the codes and conventions.

Analysis of the reading and meaning behind 'The Kill' by Thirty Seconds To Mars

Thirty Seconds To Mars are an American Rock band and they released their music video, 'The Kill', in 2010. This music video is an example of an Amplification type music video according to Goodwin's Theory.

When watching the music video it isn't just music, it's also the band talking to each other because the music video tells a story also. They start by pulling up to a massive, aged villa-like hotel in a black car and the weather is cloudy. This is an explicit meaning already suggesting that this place may be haunted or there is some kind of creepy goings on inside the house. One of the band members says ''...there's not going to be a single soul here''. The fact that he used the word 'soul' and not person could be a negotiated meaning suggesting that there could be ghosts in this house but then again, it could just be his coincidental choice of words because he seems happy that they will be alone for a while. The conventions used here show the band members are all dressed in black which could be seen as oppositional reading because some people may think they are dressed in black to help the set the scenery and atmosphere of this music video. However some may say that this is just the bands style.

As they enter the place the music starts playing and eerie tune in synch with the images shown on the music video. The images show the hotel as being really large in size and empty. This could be explicit meaning her suggesting that this place is creepy.

As the band walk to the desk of the hotel they see a note that has been left for them which says ''Enjoy your stay and please stay out of room 6277''. This here, is an implicit meaning as many people may not realise it but when you type '6277' onto a phone keypad numbered 1 - 9 on predictive text is will predict the word 'Mars'. This relates to the band name 'Thirty Seconds To Mars'.

The music then starts properly as they all leave each other to go the their individual rooms. The band is seen in black suits when they are shown actually playing thier instruments. This could again be a negotiated meaning. Some people may think that they are dressed as if they are going to a funeral to match the song title 'The Kill' or that's just the bands style.

During the music video we see the band members all encounter their counter selves in really mysterious and creepy ways. This music video may not be very obvious to some people because of the implicit and subtextual meanings behind the lyrics and the way things are represented in the music video. As each band member encounters their counter selves the video is tyring to represent that being someone else other than yourself doesn't work, you have to be true to yourself and not bend to other people's views about you. this message is shown in a really cryptic way however and isn't made obvious. Again the whole meaning of this music video and the message given may be a negotiated meaning. Some people may say that because this song is titled 'The Kill' that this video may be about a few murders that have happened in this hotel before and now their ghosts attempt to kill anyone who enters, in this case the band members.

Towards the end of this video you are shown many other people having a sort of ball or party whilst the band is playing on a stage. Most of the people seen here are with their doubles. This may be an implicit meaning because it could suggest that lots of people go through this conflict with themselves.

The codes involved with editing used in this music video subvert to a normal rock videos because this music video has been edited to tell a story but conforms to they way that it's about being true to yourself.

How does Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' conform and subvert to the codes and conventions of a typical pop video?

Lady Gaga's pop video was released in 2009 and was very popular. In terms of Goodwin's theory it is an amplification type of music video. So this means that this music video has sequences which add extra meaning that aren't necessarily mentioned in the lyrics.

When analysing this video we can see that it is quite different to most pop videos but also contains some of the same elements such as editing and mise en scene.

This video conforms to codes and conventions such as lipsynching as the actual song and lyrics were recorded in a booth and then this track was added to the video. As with most music videos it is entertaining to watch because of the mise en scene.

This video has creative backdrops which are mostly coloured white but this doesn't attempt to show Lady Gaga in a light of purity but more along the lines of psychotic and unbalanced. This in turn makes the video different but also attractive. The back drop is also mixed in with unusual outfits. The outfits subvert from the usual sexualised theme like most pop videos such as Katy Perry's and Rihanna's music videos. At one point the Lady Gaga is dressed in red and the lyrics ''burning desires'' are sung which matches the lyrics to the costume by connotation. The movement in the music video also conforms to the conventions of a pop video as there is choreographed dancing which makes the video unique and entertaining.

The editing used also conforms to the codes of a pop video. There are many uses of close-ups of Lady Gaga because she is the star and this will be normally the demands of the record company. During all the choreography, Lady Gaga is placed in the centre to show complete focus on her. This further strengthens her role as the star. Lady Gaga is also shown to be looking straight at the camera and by giving a direct mode of address, she is making the song more personal to you.

To conclude, Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' music video does conform to and subverts from the codes and conventions of a pop music video to create her own mixed and unique style of video which makes it much more entertaining to see a few twists and creativity.

Goodwin's Theory

Goodwin's theory explains that music videos are that of three types. These three types are illustration, amplification and disjuncture.

Illustration - Everything you see in the finished version derives directly from the lyrics of the song. If there are other shots, they are linked to what is being sung.

Amplification - This type of video has sequences which add extra meaning that aren't necessarily in the lyrics themselves.

Disjuncture - Where the images on the video have no apparant link to the song's lyrics.

Illustration

An example of illustration in a music video is ''Like A Boss'' by The Lonely Island. Each line of the song is demonstrated in context with the title of the song. The song starts with it's own unique beginning, an interview scene. The interviewer asks ''Take us through a day in the life of the boss'' which is what starts the music to come in.

The lyrics ''Like a boss'' is repeated after every other line. This repetition doesn't get boring throughout the song because it's said in such a way that it makes you want to sing along. The quick jump cuts to each scenario shows the fast pace of the song and also shows how 'busy' the life of the boss is. This keeps the video entertaining and is probably what sells the song more, rather than the actual tune of the music. The video is the unique selling point for this video. The lyric's are quite immature and mostly appeal to teenagers.

This video is also entertaining simply because of the people in it. The Lonely Island are well known for doing funny songs and Seth Rogen also makes an appearance. Seth Rogan is a Canadian actor and comedian.

Here is the clean version of the video:

Amplification

An example of amplification is a song called ''Pieces'' by Sum 41. This song is an Alternative Rock song. This video shows the vocalist all alone in a world full of lies. The meaning behind the song is not to try and chase perfection as it isn't what you think it is. This is shown excellently through the background behind the vocalist and the vans with the people inside them.

The lighting used in the video is mostly low key lighting to leave the vocalist in the dark representing his loneliness. At the end of the video you can connote further meaning from this video as the sign on the vocalist's van says ''The Perfect Life'' and then as the camera pan away, the ''f'' in the word ''Life'' falls off leaving the sentence to read ''The Perfect Li e''.

Here is the video:

Disjuncture

An example of a music video that shows disjuncture is a song called ''Wonderwall'' by Oasis. In this video, many different scenes are shown including that of a barbers, a clown doing tricks, a man making a guitar, a bunch of swinging hand saws and others. These scenarios have nothing to do with the lyrics and are completely random. I think it makes it interesting as a song about love or happiness such as this may bore people. These random events keep the attention of the viewers but the song itself doesn't really need a video to be a success.

The video is shot in a grey scale (black and white) and at times you can see part of an object in colour. The colours seen are blue, green and yellow. This doesn't really coincide with the lyrics and neither does the scenarios they are in.

Here is the video: