Evaluation: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is very important because they are the consumers and they need to like my media product (music video/song) to buy it. Audience feedback is also very important because the target audience will give honest opinions about the product that is aimed at them.


For my audience feedback, I gathered a group of my friends to watch my video - Luckily, they are the type of people that would listen/watch and buy the video/song so they are the target audience. I asked them to rate out of ten : 

• How realistic they thought my video was 
• An overall score out of ten 
• How well Hannah was portrayed as a Pop/RnB artist

I also asked them to write any other notes that they felt were relevant when watching my music video.

Results: 

For my first question (how realistic they thought the video was)I got an average score of 8 out of ten - this tells me that my music video was quite successful in following the conventions of a real life music video because I got a good average score. It also tells me that my music video portrays the right genre because my target audience was able to identify and liked the video. I have learnt from their feedback, that it is important to follow conventions when making a music video because the audience needs to like to it and want to watch it again and again.

On the second score (overall score out of ten) I got an average score of 6 out of ten. To be honest, I did feel that I could have got a higher score - however, it is their feedback which is the most important. The low average score tells me that overall, although my video may seem realistic and follow conventions - the presentation of my video is poor. On the general comments I found that a few people thought my green screen scenes could have been a bit more polished and made to look better - which I definitely agree with. Other said, that the camera shots were sometimes shaky, making it lower in quality. Another comment showed that the music was out of sync at some stages and in a real product it would have not of been. I totally understand their feedback and know if I had of spent a little extra time perfecting it, then my overall average score would have improved significantly. 

On my third and final score (How well Hannah was portrayed as a Pop/Rnb artist) I got an average score of 9 out of ten - which for me is really good and i'm pleased with it! This score tells me that they think that Hannah was portrayed well due to the fact that I followed the conventions of this genre. It also tells me that they believed that Hannah was a recording artist and the way she appeared on screen was convincing. From the notes they left, I saw comments such as "her clothes and make-up were typical from music videos of this genre and I thought that she looked really good in the video" - others said "she looked independent and sexy - just like other RnB artists around today". This tells me that a strong female artist should look independent and choosing to portray Hannah in that way was a wise move.


Overall, I have learnt a lot from my audience feedback, especially that if I were to do this again, I should pay more attention to detail in the editing stages because the audience do really notice it and the overall presentation is VERY important to them and how great they think the product is overall. I have also learnt that following conventions is a definite must and you should not contradict them because the audience like to see things they are familiar with and it enhances the genre and most importantly - the target audience will relate to the artist if they can see aspects of themselves int he artist whether it be make-up, clothes or the narrative in the music video. 

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

Throughout my coursework in every stage, I have been using media technologies and it has helped me enormously. Firstly, the most obvious media technology that I have used is my Blog.

Presenting my research, final products and planning it all has been presented in the form of an online Blog. This is quite a large step in terms of how coursework used to be presented - in the form of a written booklet. The fact everything is online and stored to a personal Blog is showing a definite sign that I have used a current media technology. My Blog has allowed me to upload pictures, videos and music, which has been very helpful and if I had of been presenting my coursework in a booklet form, I wouldn't have been able to convey my ideas/research because I cant display a YouTube video in a written booklet. 

In the research stage of my coursework I used media technologies to help me get a broader view of real music videos and what conventions I needed to meet when planning my music video. The main website that I used was YouTube. I used YouTube to help me in my research stage because you can find pretty much any music video you want to - most music companies have their own 'channels' where they legally upload their own artists videos. YouTube also has the option where you can 'share' the video on various sites including Blogger - this was very useful because it enabled me to analyse and post the video on my blog so it looks neat and simple. By using YouTube, I could view the video as many times as I wanted which made it easier to analyse. 


Overall for the planning and research stages, I used search engines such as Google to search for inspirations and to look at Digipak covers, magazine adverts and so on. 


For the production of my music video, I used an Apple MAC and a program called Final Cut Pro to edit together my video. I used this editing program as opposed to imovie because Final Cut Pro offers more features, such as having a chromer key option and being able to incorporate images over images etc. Also with Final Cut Pro, there are two screens which means editing becomes more higher quality and it is easier to follow continuity. I definitely am glad that I used Final Cut Pro because there are so many options to choose and you can make a much better realistic product. 


For the evaluation stages, I posted my video on  YouTube and I also posted my video on Facebook. Facebook, as you probably know is a social network site so by posting my music video on there, it was easy for my friends to give me feedback by leaving a comment or clicking the like button which would signify positive feedback. 


In conclusion, I have used a lot of media technologies - Mainly all of the technologies that I have used have been on the internet (Facebook, Google and YouTube) as well as using the MACs to edit everything. Obviously without these technologies it would have been extremely hard for me to carry out research and planning because essentially, I needed to research my music video before I could create it. 

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

The relationship between my ancillary texts and my main text (music video) are very important. I produced a Digipak and a magazine Digipak advert to accompany my music video. 


They are all very important and need to be linked/associated with each other because at the end of the day all of the products are a marketing technique so that the products are bought and the media companies make money. They need to be associated with each other so the audience can make the link and recognize the album when they see the advert or the Digipak - the three products all work together to promote the artist.


Baring all of that in mind, I decided the main theme that would be continued through my video, advert and Digipak was the idea of explosions and fireworks and the same outfit that was worn in the chorus scenes would be the same outfit used for my Digipak and advert. 


I chose to link my three products with the theme of explosions because the Digipak and the Song title is 'Grenade' - which is an explosive. I thought that it was a clever idea and I thought it was unique and would be easy to incorporate into the ancillary texts. I have to admit, that the explosions you see in the music video are not the same explosives you see on the advert or Digipak but you can still make the connection.


Digipak: The same explosion image is used in four panels out of six. There are different images of Hannah posing over the top of the images. Hannah is wearing the same black dress with the same make-up and hair for these photos as she is in the music video. This establishes a link between the video and the Digipak.


Magazine Digipak Advert: The background image for the magazine advert is the same image as the four panels in the Digipak (explosions). I have also used an image of Hannah which is used in the Digipak on panel #2 - by using the same images, it makes the link between all three products clearer to the audience. I have not used the same font for the magazine advert because I didn't think the font for the Digipak looked right on a larger advert scale. The advert includes a preview of the Digipak, with the front cover so again this markets the album and establishs a relationship between the products.

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

My final music video product is very much alike the real music videos that are produced today in terms of following conventions. 


I would say that my music video has definitely conformed to the conventions of an RnB/Pop genre music videos and here is why:

• Commercial exhibitionist performance: As I chose to do a RnB/Pop genre song, my music video had to match the genre. Just like other real music videos under this genre, my music video included a lot of close ups of Hannahs face and outfit, emphasizing her beauty and selling herself, her face and her overall image which is mainly a marketing technique but a key feature to this type of performance. It was important to me, to make sure the majority of the video was shots of Hannah (often they were close ups) because I needed to follow the conventions in order to make a realistic product.
  
  Above are print-screens which have been used in my music videos. As you can see there is a mixture of shots used, however they are either close ups of mid shots.
  
  From the shots you can also see that there are three different outfits, accessories and make-up. I am again following the conventions of a commercial exhibitionist by changing what she wears and developing her character throughout the video. Each outfit was carefully picked for a reason. For example, the scenes where Hannah is wearing a white Lacey top shows her innocence and purity and her stunning beauty, and in the scenes where she is wearing a short skirt, stockings and a lop cut top shows her more sexy and provocative side. In the chorus scenes, the figure hugging black dress enhances her curves and makes her more appealing to her audience. Each outfit develops a new side to her character and this is exactly what a commercial exhibitionist performance is about. It is completely normal and in all music videos there is nearly always a change of outfits.
  
  
• I feel that my music video completely portrays a strong, inspiring female role model. I decided to make sure that Hannah appeared independent and influential to her audience because when researching other real music videos under this genre, I found that the main artist was always portrayed to be inspirational so I wanted to follow and do the same with my main artist. Hannah is shown in my video alone a lot, in terms of when she is in scenes which just involve her lip syncing and selling herself and music and so on. In the narrative slips, she also seems independent and like she will not be messed around which is good and inspiring to the audience (especially females as they would be able to relate and would form a bond)
  
  
• My media product has also followed conventions in terms of having a narrative. Although I have not conformed to this convention completely because there are only two scenes which show conflict and peace between Hannah (main artist) and her on screen partner. The point of my narrative is to show and explain the lyrics of the song (Andrew Goodwins music analysis - relationship between music and visuals) The narrative shows us that Hannah is trapped in a relationship where she is more in love and 'would catch a grenade' for him but he 'wouldn't do the same'. Most narratives that you will find in this genre are to do with love and there will most definitely show conflict in a relationship, thats why I shot a scene where Hannah and Alex are arguing, forcing Alex to smash a glass of wine. The other scene conveying a much calmer relationship is the scene where they are both on the beach fooling around. I chose the beach because it is quite romantic and although it is not exactly a glamorous place, the idea of it  I think is sweet.
  
  
• A main convention that I could not portray to the fullest or to how much I would have liked to is the glamorous lifestyle. This genre and the music videos always have expensive, flashy cars, mansions, jewelery and settings. For obvious reasons I could not imitate these conventions, so in a respect I challenged that convention because my video did not have expensive, attractive props. I did make Hannah wear accessories like the big white head band and bangles to try and substitute the pricey jewelery that would have been used in a real music video.
  
• I think my chorus scenes, are typical of a RnB/Pop genre music video, however I have developed the scenes a bot by using the chromer-Key effect and putting an animated explosion in the background. I think that my chorus scenes are typical because again they follow conventions of a music video - although, there is not a set dance or choreographed dance, Hannah is dancing whilst lip-syncing and she is dancing and moving along to the beat. Andrew Goodwins music video analysis points out this convention, establishing a relationship between the music and visuals. In real music videos the relationship between music and visuals is always present. Even if it is footsteps, head movements or a choreographed dance, there are basic timed movements so I made sure I did the same in mine to make my music video appear like a real media product.
  
  
• In terms of editing, my music video is very simple and easy. I have used montage editing to edit together different scenes where Hannah is in perhaps a different outfit or between a lip-syncing scene and a narrative scene.
  
  I used jump cuts to cut-cross between the narrative and other scenes. The editing had to for with the lyrics. For example, relating back to Andrew Goodwin again, I showed a "relationship between lyrics and visuals" -  for example the line "should of known you were trouble from the first kiss" - I showed in the narrative Hannah and Alex kissing on the beach - There is a literal meaning and the audience can see it.
  

Overall, I think I have conformed to the conventions. The main point to this genre was to sell Hannah (artist)and portray to the audience a diverse character through using different outfits and make-up. I have used existing music videos to gain an understanding of what I needed to include and how I should dress Hannah and what type of shots I should use. I think my music video does not challenge forms and conventions because I have steered away from being different. I think I did a good job on making Hannah appear independent, young and playful to the audience.