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

For this question, I decided to use slideshare one of the many new technologies I have used to explain and identify all the new technologies I have used during this coursework.

Bc powerpoint[1] sss

View more presentations from EssexDaggerBC94.

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In order to get a fair representation of audience feedback on our music video, we posted the video on YouTube to allow others to comment;

We then posted a Survey on our Facebook pages online in order to get responses from our peers which we got a decent range of answers in order to see what our viewers thought of the video;

Below are the various responses we got for the video as I will talk you through the responses we got question by question;

As you can see surprisingly despite our target audience being the adolescent age group, most of our responses were from people who were 30+. This still gave us a wide range of answers from different generations which was useful.

The survey showed that the majority of people who responded to the survey were females. This was probably due to the rather attractive caucasian guitarist. However, we also had a balance of males and females responding which was good.

The responses to our video were generally "good" with a very people finding it "excellent", with no one thinking the video was "poor" we were very pleased with our responses for this question.

Most of our viewers found the lip syncing always accurate which was a credit to our editor Mohammed who did an excellent job with the lip syncing and this was rewarded with the responses from the survey.

People found the performance of the video excellent which was yet another response we was very happy with. This was a credit to mainly Myles but also myself and Rilwan who all performed in the video.

This response showed that the majority agreed that the locations suited the video which was also another relief to us as we were unsure and in debate in planning when choosing the locations to shoot our footage.

After looking at what people enjoyed most about our video we concluded that people most enjoyed the fast editing and pace to the video which people found energetic and exciting to watch.

In our rooms for improvements, people mentioned maybe more footage of the band together and more highlight of the female member of the band would have made it better but most enjoyed the video and had no real concerns with it.

I also created a Wordle where I asked people to say a couple of words about our video in regards to what they thought of it and below is the finished wordle we all shared as a group.

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts (DVD, digipak, Magazine Advert)?

To focus on what people thought of the combination of our music video, digipak and magazine advert we did a focus group where we asked a variety of people what their views were.


Firstly we asked Riiwan what he thought of the combination of the three. He admitted that he enjoyed the consistency of London and the band which is very eye catching and effective. He also commented on the font of the magazine advert matching the video and digipak while also noticing our use of modern images to attract our target audience.

We then asked Sam who revealed that he could easily identify that they were all the same product and it was a very modern video. Sam also enjoyed the scenery and admitted that it definitely reached out to people of his adolescent age group.

We then asked Myles who doesn't typically enjoy this type of music to see his views. Despite this Myles enjoyed the consistency and how the combination of the three products work well together. He also commented on how the digipak focuses on London where the music video is shot and comments how he likes the picture of the band used for the advert.

Next we asked Naima who told us she thought the 3 products linked well together and was impressed that at how we used the still images of our music video to base how the products were portrayed.

We then asked myself as I revealed how I liked how all 3 products looked and how I particularly like how well we've focused on London and the band showing the consistency you need when making products like this in the modern day media. I said I liked how it created a summer-like atmosphere and how it really matches the song. I will make a comment at the bottom of this post to show you specific examples of how effective the products work as a whole.

We then got a slightly older perspective from Reece, a teaching assistant in the Media department. Sir commented on how he liked how the products worked well as a whole and particularly enjoyed the suttle jokes we put into the video. He also commented how he enjoyed the advert as it had all the right information and thought the consistency of images from the video were very effective on the digipak and advert.

Images from the Music Video:

Digipak

Magazine Advert









I have intentionally took images from the music video that are also included in the digipak and the advert to show how we have maintained consistency in all of our products. I have also showed our focus on London and how we have focused on having eye catching scenery so our video will stand out. I feel that as a combination our products work well, despite the video not being as exciting as I expected, I feel it is clear that all the products are clearly from the same brand and that was the aim when making all 3 products gradually. Overall, I feel we have done a good job and made sure we have included all the basics to making a successful product.

1) In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

To determine whether my media product develops or challenges the conventions of real media products, I adopted Andrew Goodwin's theory of Music Video Conventions.

Goodwin believed that you had to judge how good a music video was on the music, band and instruments, lip syncing, dancing, storyline and music to the beat.

There are a range of different conventions that make a music video recognisable as a music video although they don't all feature in every music video. When watching the 100 Greatest Music Videos, we considered a number of conventions to use in our own music video.

Lip Syncing

Lip syncing is a convention nearly always used in music videos. You often see the main singer lip syncing while acting out his role in the video and often is seen also lip syncing as part of the band. This helps portray the emotions and lyrics of the song.

Below are some examples of our lead singer Myles lip syncing and examples of real media products also lip syncing;

Band Scene

Bands often use footage of themselves at concerts and put them in their music video. We have tried to adapt this idea the best we can by performing on a stage ourselves obviously with no audience like you would see at a concert. Below is comparisons between our band performing on a stage compared to real bands performing on a stage.

Music to the Beat

We believe another way our video conforms to the stereotype is how it fits the music to the beat. We believe the rhytmn of the song matches the action in the video which gives out a vibe we intended deliberately. Below is a video that influenced us Naive by The Kooks that also conforms to this convention;


Challenging The Stereotypes

We feel the main way our video challenges the stereotype is the fact there's no real storyline but just a message about "being young and breaking the rules". There are not many videos like this out but below I have found a video that puts out a message rather than a storyline.

Magazine Advert - Final Product

Here is our finished product of the music video which I created, in my next few posts I will evaluate how the music video, magazine advert and digipak link together and whether they represent certain media theories.

Digipak - Final Product

Below is our finished digipak which I shall evaluate along with the music video and magazine advert in the next few posts;

Music Video - Final Project

Here is our finished music video which I will analyse in the next week and evaluate what it represents..

Postmodernism

Another theory we have just started in Media in order to analyse our video is postmodernism. Below is a powerpoint with an introduction to Postmodernism;

Postmodernism

View more presentations from EssexDaggerBC94.

The Three Act Structure

In Hollywood films the narrative tends to be organized in what is called the 'three act structure'.
The writer Sid Field has identified what he calls the ideal Paradigm three act structure.

In this structure, a film must be set up within the first 20-30 minutes before the main characters or protagonist experiences a 'plot point' that gives him or her a goal that must be achieved.

Approximately half the movies running time must be taken up with the character's struggle to achieve his of her goal: this is the confirmation period.

Field also refers sometimes to the midpoint, a more subtle turning point that happens in Act II - the confirmation which often had as an apparently devastating reversal of the main characters fortune.

The final quarter of the film (the Third Act) shows a struggle by the protagonist to finally achieve (or not achieve) his or her goal and the aftermath of this struggle.

The Narrative Theory

Narrative theory

View more presentations from EssexDaggerBC94.

The Feminist Theory

Feminist film theory & audience

View more presentations from EssexDaggerBC94.

Reception Theory

The reception theory

View more presentations from EssexDaggerBC94.

The Uses & Gratifications Model

In order to evalaute our video after we've finished it, we have looked at many theories to see if our video would support and use the theory in our own work. Below is a powerpoint on a Media theory called 'The Uses & Gratifications model;

The uses & gratifications model

View more presentations from EssexDaggerBC94.

The Jamie Bulger Case - Evidence for the effects model?

Potential evidence for the Effects model case is the Jamie Bulger case. Jamie Bulger was three years old when he was abducted tortured and killed by two 10 year old boys Jon Venables and Robert Thompson who was alleged to be influenced by an American film Child's Play 3 where they were said to be rein acting a scene from the film. This was rejected by the investigating panel as it was never proven that the boys actually watched the film. The film was found in the house and they were brought up from a poor upbringing which influenced their shocking acts and were deemed as the cause more than the film.

While the effects model may be present in some cases, it is often found that there are more deep external factors that cause people to behave in a certain manner. It is often seen that in more light hearted situations, others may try to behave and replicate what they see on TV in reality shows and Soap opera's but again there are no experiments and this has not been proven.

Audience Theory - The Effects Model

In order to understand the relationship between texts and audiences we looked at a few theories that explained this. The first theory we looked as was the effects model also known as the hypodermic model.

The effects model explained that media texts have an influence or effect on the audience which is usually negative. Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent this influence leaving the power with the message of the text. The hypodermic model shows us that the message in the text is like a powerful syringe that is injecting the message into the audience. It explains that the audience is powerless to resist this and is drugged, addicted, doped or duped.

There is also key evidence for the effects model;

1. The Frankfurt Model - The Frankfurt school theorised in the 1920's and 30's where the mass media acted to resist and control audiences to the benefit of corporate Nazi capitalism and government so they were injected with Nazi views and theories. This shows how the government can censor their citizens opinion with power of media where the audience is powerless to intervene.

2. The Bobo Doll Effect - The Bobo Doll experiment was a controversial experiment that apparently proved children copied violence they saw. It was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura as they showed a group of children a bobo doll getting beaten, they then put the children in the room with the bobo doll where a proportion of the children copied the behaviour they had seen. Many critics dismissed this theory as they explained that there is a difference between beating a bobo doll to beating a human and it explained that not all the children decided to beat the doll.

Audience Theory - The Media Theory

The Media Theory

The Media works in an ongoing cycle, firstly there is media texts which could be music videos, film, radio etc. These texts are consumed by the audience which are the public which views or listens to the texts based on their preferences. To consume these texts the audience must make a financial transaction which goes to the Media institutions who then use this money to make more texts. The media is currently in crisis due to illegal music websites and piracy which allow these texts to be seen by the audience for free meaning there is no money for the institutions to make more texts.

The Effects Model - Continued...

This week we returned to theory lessons in order to help us become more prepared when we analyse how our music video would effect our evidence positively and negatively.

We first continued our analysis of the Effects model which is still used in the modern era by politician's, some parts of the media and some religious organisations in attributing violence to the consumption of media's.

Key Examples that people argued proved the Effects Model was proven are below;

Child's Play 3 is the murder of James Bulger in 1993 -

Manhunt 2004 - Murder of Stefan Pakeerh by Warren LeBlanc

Process of making the Magazine Advert

In the process of making the music video, there were a number of steps and procedures I had to go through. Firstly, I had to pick an image from the music video to show consistency and so the band was easily recognisable.

This is the image I used as the background of the music video;

I then used Photoshop and Picnik to edit the image and used a tool to posterize the image;

I then added various iTunes and Amazon logo's as well as a quote from a tabloid newspaper to make it look more offical;

Starting the Magazine Advert

With time running out, we assigned each other individual roles and I took the role of creating the magazine advert which I used photoshop and picnik in order to create the magazine advert.

I then looked at other's previous work from years before me and identified aspects that I would include in my own work. I identified that I needed to include a picture of the band, where it would be available using such logo's such as HMV and iTunes. I also saw that I was expected to include the name of the band and a quote from a tabloid newspaper to give it a professional outlook.

Editing

Today, we started editing our footage, in order to edit we had to sync the footage and lip syncing with the music to see what works. This is a long process which may require more filming if we feel we don't have enough or the acquired footage required. We used the software Final Cut Express to edit.

Review of Filming

After beginning to edit the footage we had shot, we spotted a glaring error involving myself where in the same scene I go from wearing my cardigan to not wearing which looks peculiar and it is not explained in the video which may result us in losing marks. We plan to shoot this scene again later in the week.