Evaluation - Part 4

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

Evaluation - Part 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation - Part 2

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

To make this part of my evaluation more visually pleasing, I decided to record my answer and use a green screen to show my main product and ancillary texts as I discuss them.  This is something new we learnt to do this year, which I find interesting to use for analysing texts.

Green Screen Recording:

Script:

I wanted to have consistency between my main product of the music video and ancillary texts of the digipak and poster, with the main focus to be the artist and her distinctive style.  To do this I used the same setting of the drama studio, costume of the black lace flowy dress, and make-up with bold red lips for the three different pieces.  I used bright white lights to create a spotlight against the black background and framed my artist in the centre to make her the focus of the pieces, almost acting as a halo around her.

I emphasised the vintage costume and make-up further by editing the products, using the 'interview' filter on Bullet Looks for my main product, and using a tutorial I found on YouTube to create a vintage effect on Photoshop for my ancillary texts.  This costume, make-up and editing conveys the unique elements of my artist, which is a convention of the indie/pop genre.

To continue with this vintage image of my artist, I initially chose fonts similar to a typewriter for my ancillary texts.  However, they looked out of place against the bold images of my artist, and I decided to change this and use a simpler font.  I chose a serif font and spaced out the letters, which seemed more professional and added to the unique aspects of my artist.  I made the font white to contrast against the black background, which meant it was more legible.

I originally intended to have various images such as Polaroid photos and a map and images of London for the inside panels of my digipak, yet changed this to single images of my artist.  I did this as she is intended to be a new emerging artist and the focus should be on her to promote and sell her image, relating to Goodwin's theory.

For my CD designs, I edited the CDs to look like vinyls to link with the vintage elements of my artist's image.  I placed an image of my artist in the middle of both of these CDs, similar to vinyls I had researched, which was the same image placed on the panels behind the CDs.  The fact I included two CDs instead of just one also gave my digipak extra content, emphasising the special collector's item idea of this ancillary text as well as the individuality of my artist, which would mean more sales for my artist.

Posters advertising albums often feature the front cover of the album as the main image, or an image of the artist with a smaller image of the album cover.  I opted for the second of these choices, continuing with the bold single image of my artist and placing an image of the album cover in the bottom right hand corner, as people tend to read left to right.  I also used the same font, attempting again to link the ancillary texts.  To further promote the artist, I included social media logos of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram like on the digipak.  This makes her accessible on more than one platform, particularly with younger people in their teens and twenties who are familiar with this technology, which are my target audience.

Overall, I think my main product and ancillary texts link together well.  They all convey clear conventions of my indie/pop genre, mainly due to the setting, costume and make-up.  There is also significant focus on the artist and her image, which reinforces Goodwin’s theory.  I think they communicate key aspects of conventions of the type of ancillary texts they are, such as the digipak with different panels that link and extra material to make it more of a collector’s item.  Due to all of these factors, I think my media product and ancillary texts would be very successful with my target audience.

Evaluation - Part 1

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

When creating my music artist, I wanted them to be a female pop artist, as they are well received within mainstream music and I thought having a solo artist would make production easier due to having to rely on less people.  After researching into the pop genre, I realised that it was very broad and included sub-genres, such as indie/pop and pop/rock.  I wanted my artist to appear more unique and artistic than most pop artists do, therefore researched into artists such as Florence and the Machine, Lana Del Rey and Kyla La Grange.  These three artists fit into the indie/pop sub-genre and are similar to what I had originally wanted my artist to be like, therefore I chose to focus on this sub-genre.

After this initial research, I looked further into the indie/pop genre and style.  I found, like mainstream pop, that the main focus is on the artist’s image, particularly their costume and make-up.  However, unlike mainstream pop, indie/pop artists appear to be more artistic and quirky.  This is conveyed through their clothing, which tends to be vintage inspired or quite eccentric, such as wearing long flowy dresses like Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine.  This is a huge contrast to the mainstream pop conventions, which has a focus on fashion of a different type.  This tends to include brighter and more colourful clothing, which can also be quite revealing at times.  For these reasons, I chose costumes from stores that are associated with these indie/pop conventions and are considered quirkier and more ‘indie’, such as Urban Outfitters.

Taking these conventions into consideration, I began to create my own music artist.  At first I struggled with naming my artist, as the existing artists I researched all had unique and artistic names, such as Lana Del Rey and Kyla La Grange.  I eventually decided on ‘Deedee & The Darkside’, as I thought this was similar to the style of existing artist names like Florence + The Machine and Marina and the Diamonds, but also sounded original and quite unusual, particularly with the spelling of ‘Deedee’.  I decided my primary target audience would be females aged 15-25 to fit with the young image of my artist, making her music more relatable.

I conveyed this sense further through the narrative within my main product of the music video, which featured the storyline of love, specifically a relationship ending, which is stereotypically associated with females and the pop genre.  I cast a girl the same age as my artist to again fit with this target audience age.  However, a significant part of the music video is performance based, featuring my artist.  The main product of the music video and ancillary texts of the digipak and poster focus on the artist and her style, making her a selling point, therefore I included shots of her from various angles and photographs in different poses.  This relates to Goodwin’s theory of promoting and selling the artist’s image.

I intended to match the visuals of my music video to the pace of my song.  The song I chose was ‘Dog Days Are Over’ by Florence + The Machine, which changes pace frequently but is overall quite energetic.  I chose to shoot stylized long takes of my artist’s performance for the slow beginning and bridge.  I shot this in a studio with bright lighting, a typical indie/pop music video setting for performance pieces.  However, this studio was black in comparison to white studios usually used, which suited the artistic look of my artist better.  The title and lyrics of my song are quite obscure, allowing for many interpretations of the meaning, therefore giving me creative freedom when drafting ideas.  However, I kept to the indie/pop conventions of the setting of a park for my narrative.  This also meant it was easier during production as it was a public place and I was not restricted with obtaining permission to film.  Despite this, shooting was sometimes difficult due to unsuitable weather conditions and trying to avoid having people in the background of shots.

My idea was to show a girl reminiscing over and then moving forward from a past relationship.  I included shots of her holding and looking at items relating to romance, such as flowers, a heart teddy and heart balloon, as well as photos of her and a boy on her phone.  I filmed these shots on overcast days in the park and I filmed the rest of the footage of her throwing and dropping the items while she ran on sunny days, using pathetic fallacy to convey the sense of her moving forward.  These brighter shots were shown when the song appears to pick up pace slightly, after a dramatic pause in which I included no footage.  I also featured the notion of looking, an element of Goodwin's theory, during some of my narrative as the girl looks through photographs on her phone.

Fashion is a key part of an artist’s image and they often have more than one outfit in music videos, therefore I tried to follow this idea.  My artist had a few different costumes to show this convention, each with a different purpose.  My first costume, used for my music video, digipak and poster, was a black full length sheer lace dress.  I used this as I felt it was the most striking and conveyed her unique style well.  I shot the beginning half of the performance using this, as I felt this half was more dramatic and heartfelt, and the boldness of the outfit helped show this.  I also included slow motion shots of the artist spinning and dancing in this outfit as an intertextual reference to the original music video for the song, which worked well due to the flowy and eccentric look of the dress.  The second costume was a black top with a floral maxi skirt, as florals are often associated with the indie/pop genre.  I kept this costume solely for the footage of my artist clapping in time with the song, linking with Goodwin’s theory of relating the music and visuals.  I tried to emphasise the change within the song when it seems to pick up pace by including shots of my artist wearing yet another costume, clothes that were much lighter such as a kimono, which is again quite quirky.  My artist also moved and danced more when miming this second half of the song to convey the cathartic feeling of it.  In addition, during the final energetic chorus I overlaid the footage of my artist in the lighter costume with the footage of the floral maxi skirt costume as she clapped to further convey this powerful mood.

Overall, I definitely feel my media products use forms and conventions of real media products, as I have drawn a lot of inspiration for my music video, digipak and poster from researching existing examples of these pieces.  I have also attempted to include theorists within my work, such as Goodwin’s analysis of music videos, as well as common conventions of my indie/pop genre, such as costume and setting.

Evaluation Planning

I decided to plan my evaluation by breaking down the questions into simpler versions and adding notes for what to include when answering each one.

Final Cut

Filming/Editing #7

To finalise my music video, I tidied up any cuts, made sure everything was in sync, and corrected any colouring or filters.

I also laid over footage of the end part of my performance in the lighter costume with footage of me clapping while framed in various positions.  I think it was successful in the build up to the end of the song and the final energetic chorus as there is a lot happening visually.

Fifth Draft

Filming/Editing #6

After feedback, I reshot my performance pieces for the end of the song.  For my costume I dressed in lighter clothing, wearing a kimono which emphasised my movements, and wore brighter make-up, such as a lighter shade of red lipstick in comparison to the previous dark red.  I also tried moving more when singing, particularly with hand, arm and head movements to fit with the energetic end chorus.

I also added in some cross dissolves to make the transitions between the clips more visually pleasing, rather than just using simple cuts throughout the video.  All of these changes were to try and convey the change in mood within the song, as well as matching with the cheerful ending to the narrative.

Music Video Feedback

We screened our nearly finished music videos and received feedback sheets on the developments we had made.  Here is some of what I received:

These feedback sheets show I have made significant improvements to my music video, particularly with adding and developing my narrative and including elements of Goodwin's theory.  For example, the link between visuals and lyrics, as well as visuals and music.  I think I need to make minor changes such as including transitions between shots to make it more visually interesting.  I also hope to adapt the ending so it builds more as the song does, possibly including more cuts, then I think it will be complete.

Fourth Draft

Filming/Editing #5

For my ending two shots, I wanted to have my actress featured with a sunset behind her, as I thought it would convey the happy and relieved tone at the end of the song.  However, I did struggle due to bad weather.  Luckily, we waited until there was a day with a sunset of yellow, pink and purple tones, exactly what I had wanted for the footage.  We met and filmed at the original park location at Danson Park, and captured the two end shots I had planned.  I then edited the final shot to fade out along with the song.

Filming/Editing #4

I did some more filming at Greenwich Park, but waited until a day with better weather so it was sunny.  I wanted to use this for the second part of the song, after the slow bridge, as the song picks up pace and becomes more cathartic.  Therefore, I thought the bright sunshine would convey happiness and show the change of the narrative when the girl overcomes her past.

To further develop the narrative, I filmed the girl looking at and then later deleting pictures of her and a boy on her phone.  This shows the relationship and then signals the change in tone once she has started to move on from it.  I edited the footage of her locking her phone and the screen turning from the image of the couple to black in time with the line 'The dog days are over', to suggest the relationship is over.

I also shot footage of me clapping along to the song from slightly different angles, framed in different places.  I originally tried dancing while clapping, similar to the original video for the song, yet found this was not successful as I had hoped, therefore changed to this idea of cuts of these various shots.  It also relates to Goodwin's theory of linking the music with the visuals as the cuts are in time with the clapping.  When there is a break in the song after this moment, I intentionally left it black to fit with and emphasise the build up before the final energetic chorus.

Third Draft

Filming/Editing #3

I decided to refilm my narrative using a different location.  I chose Greenwich Park, as I thought it had a more romantic element to it due to aspects such as the band stand.  I also included another prop for the actress to drop as she runs, red flowers, as this is another connotation of love and relationships.

When editing, I also used Bullet Looks to add an effect called 'Interview' onto my footage, which added a softer look and pink tones to the shots, as well as highlighting the subject well.  I think this emphasises the theme of romance within my narrative.

Second Draft

Filming/Editing #2

I continued with filming my performance pieces in the drama studio.  I tried brighter lighting and a side shot, which I thought was more interesting, and tried cutting between this footage more to keep with the pace of the song.

I also filmed some of my narrative, about a girl getting over a past relationship and moving forward in her life, conforming to the indie/pop genre conventions and using the setting of a park.  I used Danson Park, a park nearby to me and my actress to make meeting to film easier.

The actress I used was my friend Daisy, as I knew she would be reliable when organising to film.  Her make-up and costume were simple and quite plain, as even though the narrative is important, with indie/pop music videos the artist's performance is the main focus, and I wanted to follow this convention.

I included further elements of Goodwin's theory, relating the lyrics and visuals, by using footage of the girl running when the lyrics 'Run fast for your mother/Run fast for your father' are sung.

Feedback from 1st Draft

There are a lot of blank spaces within my music video which I intend to fill with narrative, yet have had trouble organising to film this.  However, I screened what I had so far and this is the feedback I received:

From this feedback, I can focus on filling the blank spaces, particularly by including more narrative so it is clearer.  However, I am glad they liked the costume and lighting of my performance footage.

First Draft

Filming/Editing

I started with filming my performances pieces.  I used the same drama studio as I did for my digipak photographs, as I liked the black background.  I also used the same lighting, using one light that acted as a spotlight.  I intentionally had long, still shots of me singing, as this is a genre convention for indie/pop music.

I also tried using warmer lighting when wearing a different outfit as indie/pop music videos contain more than one outfit, promoting their image, relating to Goodwin's theory.

Also relating to Goodwin's theory, I included footage that related the visuals to the music, such as short cuts showing me clapping along to the song.  I filmed this in the white art gallery as I thought it would be a nice contrast compared to the black background of the drama studio.

I also included intertextual references to the original music video for Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine, with footage of me spinning in a flowy dress, which I then slowed down.

Indie/Pop Music Video Analysis 2

Lana Del Rey - Video Games