Final Products

This is my final music video. I have adjusted some aspects of the male protagonists when he is lip syncing. I am aware there is a section in my music video ("there must be something more" spoken by Harry Clark - male protagonist) that does not quite satisfy my accuracy of the lip syncing however I have tried many times to make it as accurate as possible and I am having great difficulty getting it spot on therefore this is the closest I can get his lip sync to the lyrics of the song.

This is the final edit of my digipak. I have decided to change the font and colour of the front cover ('Vicitms of the Euphoric'). I have done this so the audience can easily recognise the band/album from a distance. I have also included the album name 'Retention of Fate' onto the front cover of my digipak. This is so the audience can easily understand who produced this album. On the acutally CD's, I have included copyright information as well as on the back of the CD (under the track list). I have also embedded the record label onto the CD's therefore the audience are made aware of who owns this product.

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

My task consisted of me producing a promotional package for an existing song. The song I chose was ‘Bring Me To Life – Evanescence.’ In order to create a successful and accurate music video, I undertook a lot of planning and research and when finished my final piece, uploaded it to Youtube.com. Part of my brief was to create a six panel digipak and a magazine advertisement for my chosen song. I will evaluate and analyse my media products on the effectiveness of the use of conventions, how the products work cohesively and the use of digital media during my research and planning stages as well as the actual filming and editing stages. I will also comment on the use of my audience feedback and how it helped and didn’t.

In order to create an accurate product, I knew I had to incorporate the micro technical elements such as mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound. I decided to dress the female protagonist in a white dress to imply to the audience ideas of a ghost like figure. I noticed in the original music video by Evanescence that Amy Lee is also dressed in a white dress, therefore I saw this as a convention of the alternative rock and punk genre.I decided to use an extreme close up of my female protagonist in order to illustrate feelings of sorrow and depression that the female protagonist has. This creates feelings of uncertainty for the audience as they feel that the female protagonist is unstable; this is what I wanted to achieve and therefore through the use of cinematography, have achieved this accurately. When the song begins to ramp up to the chorus ("call my name and save me from the dark"), I decided to edit the music video to the beat of the song, therefore meaning that the editing would have to sped up in order to keep pace with the song. By editing to the beat this creates an accurate music video to match the pace of the song itself.

‘Bring Me To Life’ starts off with a slow beginning yet speeds up towards the climax of the song. Amy Lee (lead singer of Evanescence) initially wrote the song with inspiration as such: waking up to the things which are missing in your life. However when analysing the lyrics, I felt there was a semantic field of drugs and reincarnation. The music video consists of Amy Lee wearing a nightgown inside a tall building. She is dreaming of falling through the air from the top of the sky scraper she is in. It is evident she is dreaming due to the end shot of Lee fast asleep in her bed (which was the first establishing shot for the music video). The band (and Paul McCoy) feature in the music video too as McCoy tries to save Lee from falling off the building’s window ledge, however, he is unsuccessful. Paul McCoy (from the band 12 Stone) is a featuring artist within this song. I think it is ideal to feature the artist within the music video as this allows the audience to understand the personality of the particular artist.

I followed certain mise-en-scene elements of the original music video. For example, I made the choice for my female protagonist to wear a white dress. The idea of the white dress is to illustrate to the audience that the female protagonist is lost in herself therefore portraying a ghostly effect.

I also followed aspects of the real music video by including shots of my band members performing altogether. By including band members in my music video, this creates an element of realism for the audience.

Within my music video, I used a wide range of conventions to make my final product look as professional as possible. In my genre research (see Genre Research 28.09.14) I stated that it is important to follow the conventions of a particular genre, in this case Alternative Rock and Punk. Alternative Rock and Punk consists of including electric guitar, vocals, bass, drums and keyboards. Therefore by including elements of band performance I am supporting this genre.

I have followed other elements of the original music video in order to create a successful music video. For example, at the beginning of the original music video, there is the use of a close up when Lee is laid in bed. I have followed this convention by featuring a close up of my female protagonist at the beginning of my music video.

I have followed certain cinematography elements too. This is seen in the first opening establishing shot that slowly zooms towards my female protagonist. This also features in the original music video made by Evanescence when zooming in from an extreme long shot to a close up of Lee laid in bed.

I decided to use medium close ups when portraying my band. This is so the audience can view the expressions on the male protagonists face at the time of their performance. I also chose to have the band members look straight into the camera. This is so the audience feel as if they are directly being spoken too. I chose for Hannah to look directly into the camera to so the audience therefore feel a connection when Hannah begins to sing the lyrics. 

I have taken my main inspiration from the alternative rock band Muse. I enjoy Muses music as well as their image. They portray a serious image to their audience through their music as well as their image.

I have also taken key inspiration from the rock artist Jack White. As well as Muse, I enjoy Jack’s music, image and his videos. I thought Jack would be a great inspiration when creating my music video, digipak and magazine advertisement. I followed Jack’s fashion sense and used this when researching my digipak inspiration (see Digipak Inspiration: 06/02/14). Jack began his career through the success of The White Stripes. For all of The White Stripes albums, Meg (co-worker) and Jack followed the strict use of red, white and black through all of their albums. This changed when Jack became a solo artist in 2012 and he created a brand new image for himself. Jack changed to using the colour scheme: blue, black and white for his most recent albums Blunderbuss and Lazaretto. I enjoyed the themes and the colour schemes of these particular artists therefore I felt I would follow in inspiration. I used the colour scheme black, blue and white to portray themes and ideas of loneliness and isolation for my band (“Victims of the Euphoric”).

When it came to the editing of my digipak, I kept in mind how Jack would create one. I used Jack as my inspiration throughout the whole of the production of my products. I began by creating a mock up digipak featuring images of Jack White. I did this for many reasons, in particular to allow me to reinforce my skills on Photoshop as well as to preview what a digipak would look like in the colour scheme and style of Jack White. I liked this digipak however I felt like the colour scheme was not as strong as I hoped it could have been. Therefore I took this into account when creating my final digipak.

In my music video, the most common editing techniques used are jump cutting as well as cross dissolves. I have included cross dissolve (mostly at the beginning of my piece) in order to match to the timing on the song. By using a cross dissolve, this allows me to portray elegance and peace throughout my music video until there is the use of the zoom.

I decided to use a fast zoom when transitioning from one shot to another, when the beat begins to pick up. This is so I can maintain the narrative whilst maintaining the beat of the music video. This style of editing allows me to reinforce the narrative through the use of editing.

On my magazine advertisement, I have included all the necessary conventions of an advertisement. This consists of:

• Barcode
• Release date
• Artist/album/song name
• Label logos
• QR Code
• Tracklist
• Where it is available to purchase

When creating my digipak, I made sure I had full logos, emblems and copyright messages and information in order to protect my product. When creating a cover for my actual CD’s, I had to research different music label that I felt were relevant to my digipak and my artist. I researched the record label that Evanescence are signed to which is ‘Wind-Up Records’. I thought this record label would be highly relevant for my artist to be signed too. Although it is convention to place the record label on the right of the CD, I have placed at the bottom middle of my DVD. This is due to the fact that it was difficult to understand when placed with a patterned background. On my CD, I have placed the record label on the left of the CD; this is because it the record label is easily readable and can easily be recognised by the audience.

As this is the first time of creating my own CD, I was unaware as to how I should set it out. I googled a template of a particular CD however found no results. By looking on a previous blog (Lauren Mabbett) I finally found a suitable template for my CD. This template allows me to arrange what goes where on my CD. On the inside of my CD, I have placed the words ‘Copyright © 2015 Wind Up Records. All Rights Reserved.’ This protects my song, music video and the actual CD from becoming copied. I have also placed the words ‘2015 Wind Up Records Inc. Under exclusive license to Wind Up Records. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorised copying, reproduction, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting prohibited. Wind Up Records is the owner of this product. Officially made in the EU LO00309 D00ECT0702’ This means that this disk is protected from copyright and reproduction of this CD. It is conventional to apply a paragraph like this is order to protect my disk.

When creating my track list, I was inspired by the ‘Fallen’ album initially produced by Evanescence. I have kept all of the track names the same on the back of my digipak in relation to the ‘Fallen’ track list.

When producing the front cover of my digipak, I had to analysis the conventions that are required. I am aware that it needs to be an eye catching image or design that will easily gain the audience’s attention. I feel the front cover should represent the artist or the particular themes of the album. I feel I have achieved this by using still images from my footage as my front cover. This is beneficial for me as I avoided the problem of having to recreate the diegesis again. I took inspiration from Jack White and used a close up of Hannah. I have taken a screen shot of Hannah during a transition; this is beneficial and looks really effective – especially when my aim was to connote distorted ideas of loneliness and isolation.

I didn’t require a particular inspiration for the creation of my magazine advertisement. I experimented with what I thought fit with my ideologies best. I used the same image in which I used for the front cover of my digipak. This is beneficial for the audience therefore they can easily recognise who produced that album when having previously seen the magazine advertisement.

‘Genre’ is a critical tool that helps us study texts and audience responses to texts by dividing them into categories based on common elements e.g. conventions. All genres have sub-genres.

David Bordwell (1989) stated that 'any theme may appear in any genre' therefore this illustrates the idea that genres are not fixed and adjust depending on the narrative. For example, Bordwell stated that horror films are basically just modern fairy tales. This is supported through my music video as the genre of my music video is preferably, closest to the horror genre. The narrative of my music video follows a young girl as she walks through a forest singing about losing herself to drugs. Young males are then introduced to the audience and they lip sync the male parts of 'Bring Me To Life'. My music video briefly follows the conventions of fairy tales as it finishes with a happy ending of my female protagonist actually coming to life. My music video also follows the idea that Bordwell presented: 'the duality of mans personal journey: conflict between a man's civilized side and his savage.' This is shown through the actions and lyrics of my female protagonist as she is fighting against herself trying to win a battle between life and death.

This links to the narrative approach that Claude Lévi Strauss created in 1958. He stated that ideas about narrative amount to the fact that all stories are operated by clear binary opposites. Life vs. death is the main binary opposite within the narrative of my music video as my female protagonist is fighting against herself for her right to live whereas the drugs are bringing her down and slowly killing her.

My music video challenges the views that Laura Mulvey set out to analyse. Mulvey stated that there are three approaches to how the audience view women, these are: how men look at women, how women look at themselves and how women look at other women. Mulvey also focuses on the portrayal of females and females bodies through the way the camera moves. She states that females are always seen as sexual objects throughout the media, this is evident in the "Blame" music video by Calvin Harris ft John Newman. Females are laid on a bed in their underwear therefore instantly are being portrayed as objects. I have challenged these conventions by dressing my female protagonist in an outfit that covers her whole body, therefore not being portrayed at a sexual object.

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

Overall I am happy with my final products. I feel I have maintained a strong line of continuity throughout all three of my products. I have maintained this line through fonts, colour schemes and imagery. I feel all three of my products are successful and can be sold in the alternative rock and punk genre.

Evaluation Question Three: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In order to gain necessary feedback of my three products as a whole, I wanted to ask four questions before I uploaded my final edit. (I have based this on the last edit).

• How old are you?
• How effective are all three of my products together?
• Would you purchase this album?
• Would you watch it again?

I got two eighteen year-olds who are also studying media to answer my audience feedback questions. By picking an eighteen year old female media student, I can understand how the female audience feels towards my product. Also by picking an eighteen year old male media student, I can also understand how the male audience feel towards my product too. Here is my feedback.

Both of my candidates mentioned that they would buy my product and that my all three of my products appeal to my target audience. They both mentioned that there is the strong use of continuity throughout all of my products as well as 'interesting edits' (said by my female candidate). As a result of this feedback, I feel I have created a successful product that would sell in the alternative rock and punk market. My male candidate mentioned to me that he was unsure about one of my transitions between shots (from Hannah to Harry, it is a slide to the left effect), I also mentioned that I was unsure whether to included this effect however I feel that without this effect there is a lack of various transitions therefore I am going to sustain this transition.

When conducting my audience feedback, I noticed that the two people I asked agreed with the connotations and the narrative of my music video. This supports the ideas of Stuart Hall's Reception Theory, where he stated that there are three decisions the audience can make, these are:

1. dominant ideology - (agree with the producer) – the audience view the media text in the way that the producer intended e.g. a hand bag looks shiny and new therefore encourages the female to buy the hand bag. Reasons why people may agree can be that they are from the same background/culture, they are of the same age, the narrative is easy to understand and the text is relevant to the audience’s society.
2. negotiated ideology - (agree but bits can change) – the compromise between the dominant and the oppositional readings, the audience accepts the views of the producer but also has their own input and understanding in relation to the text. Reasons why the audience may want to change the text: different life experiences, don’t understand the narrative and theirs ages may vary.
3. oppositional ideology - (disagree with the producer) – the audience rejects the preferred reading and creates their own reading of the text. They don’t agree with the messages created for the audience. Reasons why the audience may disagree: the text is too controversial, the audience may disagree with the meanings, the audience may not like the genre, the audience my not understand the narrative and the text may not reflect society accurately.

This applies to my music video and audience feedback because my audience chose the dominant ideology which is where they agreed with me during my editing process and the connotations that I created through mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound.

I took up audience feedback when trying to decide what font I should use for my magazine advertisement (see Fonts: 04/03/15, Fonts Questionnaire: 04/03/15 and Font Questionnaire Feedback: 14/03/15). I initially started off on dafont.com where I categorised my search to 'distorted'. This shrunk my search and therefore made it easier for me to find my final font. I picked out six fonts that I liked the most, there were:
Bad Coma

An Unfortunate Event

Something in the Way

Old Dog

Pulse Sans

Dreaming

After posting my fonts on my blog, I then began creating a questionnaire. I wanted to find out which font the audience preferred, why and if it matched my genre (alternative rock and punk). Here is my questionnaire:

I sent this questionnaire to four people of varied gender, age and subjects to gain a wider insight of my audience's interests. When looking at my feedback I saw that the majority of the candidates liked the last font - 'Dreaming'. This is handy as this was also my favourite font. The audience believed that this font supported the genre of alternative rock and punk. 

I also carried out some audience research when trying to establish my target audience. I sent out twelve questionnaires to a range of different people (different gender and age in order to gain wide results). I designed a questionnaire:

However I felt this questionnaire did not highlight aspects of my target audience therefore I collected the data and began a new questionnaire. (I am aware this one is filled in however I couldn't find the questionnaire template I initially created).

This is my new questionnaire. This questionnaire allows me to find out more about my target audience, how they consume music and what sort of music they listen to. I had a strict criteria that I followed when handing out my questionnaires, for example, I asked two males and two females in the age range of 0 - 20. I asked two males and two females in the age range of 21 - 41 and I finally asked two males and two females in the age range of 42 - 52. I think my questionnaire was successful as I managed to gain research from a wide selection of the public therefore this will help me understand my target audience. 

If I was to conduct my questionnaire again, I would make sure I stay away from asking anyone who is a close follower of the media and music for example media teachers, band members etc. This can lead to biased research. I would also adapt question 12, I noticed when conducting my research that many people asked for an explanation on this question.

In order to calculate and analyse my questionnaire data, I felt I should manage my results into graphs.

This graph focuses on how much money my candidates spend on CD's or albums annually. This data shows that males spend roughly from £70 up to £600. Within this graph, I struggled to fit in one of my candidates amounts in. The 4th male stated that he spent £600 on CD's or albums annually however I could not fit this on my graph therefore I have left the top of his column open in order to show he spends much more money (than £200) on CD's or albums. Whereas, females roughly spend from £10 to £110 a year on CD's/albums; this shows that females do not spend as much money on CD's/albums within a year in comparison to males.

 This graph focuses on the most common methods my candidates use to listen to their music. As you can see, there were no results as to any one of my candidates listening to their music via MTV. During the 90's when MTV was first discovered, it was a massive hit. Everyone wanted to watch it to watch and listen to music videos. However, MTV has lost a lot of it's viewer due to the rapid proliferation of digital technology. Without the internet, our phones, the radio, we would still be watching MTV as it wouldn't have lost it's viewers. The majority of females watch and listen to their music videos via Youtube and iTunes however males tend to watch/listen to their music videos through their phone which enhances my point about digital technology rapidly producing.

 This graph focuses on if my audience download their music. Looking at this graph, it shows that males are more likely to download music over females. The majority of females said they do not download music whether it is illegal or not. However in contrast, the majority of males download their music.

This graph is to establish my candidates favourite genre. I have given examples of different genres that my candidates may like however I have also given a 'other' option; will cater for the wide variety of genres that are available to the public in our modern day society. As you can see from my graph, the majority of males stated that they enjoyed the rock genre to most however this contrasts with the majority of females views that they enjoy another genre, perhaps the pop genre. This enhances the stereotypical view of females favourite genre being 'pop' and the stereotypical view of the males favourite genre being 'rock'.

Overall, I feel I now fully understand the target audience of alternative rock and punk. I feel I can address the conventions of this genre easily and accurately. My audience have guided me through the making of my products as, ultimately, they are the consumers. 

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

During the creation of my music video, I used many different technological and digital techniques in order to achieve the highest quality product. These techniques are:
Sony CX-250 Camera and charger
College tripod
Sandisk Ultra 16GB USB Stick
SD Cards approximately 30GB

Computer Programmes/Software:
Google Chrome
iTunes
'Notes' on the iPhone
Microsoft Office - Word, Powerpoint, Publisher
Adobe - Photoshop CS6, Premiere Elements

Internet Sites:
www.youtube.com
www.prezi.com
www.facebook.com
www.dafont.com
www.wyke.ac.uk
www.google.com

(All to memory)

Unfortunately, I did not have my own video camera to film my music video so I decided to film using a video camera that I borrow from my college. These video cameras are of a decent level of quality however not the highest it could have been, therefore resulting in me enhancing the lighting of my footage . By using a college video camera, this does not put me at any advantage over the others in my class therefore I knew I had to make my music video of great quality. I didn't need to change the lens in order to zoom either extremely close or extremely far away.

When filming my music video, I wanted to make sure I was prepared and ready. Holly Killick and Hannah Morice were both extremely helpful to me when travelling to and from my locations (South Cave Quarry). They carried things (tracking, camera, outfits, make-up, batteries and chargers) as well as helped me set up and pack away. In order to achieve a high grade in my Advanced Portfolio, I decided to include the tracking technique when Hannah is walking from the left of the screen to the right. By having other people present at the time of my filming, this was a great benefit to me and helped me a lot. In order to finish filming to the standard I desired, I thought it would be beneficial to me that I took a spare battery and SD card in case either the battery were to run out or I would fill up the SD card's space. When filming on the college video camera (Sony CX-250), it would allow me to film either portrait or landscape however the main problem of filming portrait would be when I uploaded the footage to Adobe Premier Pro. The footage doesn't fit the size of the frame of my music video, I managed to solve this problem via scaling my footage to the size of the frame of my music video. This lead to the problem of having footage that is extremely zoomed in however works well with my music video as a whole. When filming with the college camera, I adjusted the settings in order to film in the appropriate format to upload to blogger, this was beneficial for my music video as well as my ancillary texts as I took stills from my footage. I simply focus the video camera by tapping on the screen where I want the main focus then begin filming. With the video camera I used, I was unaware of any HD selection however the quality of my footage was ideal. The exposure composition was auto corrected and was dependent on the lighting of my location, this was beneficial for me as I didn't have to worry about setting the exposure levels for my lighting. When I felt I had finished my filming, I decided to re-watch my footage in order to double check I had everything required for my music video. I did this by pressing the play back button and viewing all the footage I had filmed. The tripod I used was easily attachable to my video camera and easy to set up therefore I had no problem when setting up my tripod. This tripod came with a stabiliser in order to straighten my footage and make sure I had accurate footage. 

When it comes to the technology I used for the post production period of my music video, I used many different software's and programs that helped me to produce the highest quality footage for my film. The main software I used was Adobe Premier Pro on the editing suites at college. This software allowed me to edit the whole of my music video and audio from start to finish. When editing, I used many different techniques on Adobe Premier Pro tools such as the text tool for the beginning of my music video this allowed me to introduce my video to the viewers.

I used many different effects for my music video. I used lighting effects for two reasons: 1. in order to enhance the lighting so the audience can easily see the detail and expressions on the protagonists face. 
2. in order to support the narrative and the idea that the protagonist is isolated and lost within herself.
The different effects I used were the Blue Chroma Key and the Luma Key These effects allowed me to portray the genre of my music video and the genre of the track (alternative punk and rock).

When deciding which font I should use for the writing on my magazine advertisement, I used a website called dafont.com. I have used this website before therefore I am familiar with how to navigate around it.

When I arrived at the home page of dafont.com, I skimmed the quick search columns for a font group along the lines of 'weird', 'distorted' or 'unique'. I found an option called 'distorted' and I scrolled through the examples given. Dafont.com helped me construct my media product as a whole (the music video and my ancillary texts) as it enabled me to express the connotations I desired through the fonts I used on my magazine advertisement and my digipak. I managed to maintain the line of continuity throughout my products, through the use of fonts and colours schemes that I wouldn't have been able to do without dafont.com.

In order to organise and keep on top of my progress (planning and research), I used Microsoft Word to keep a list of everything I had done and everything I had to do.

I highlighted everything I had done in green; although this list is brief, it was extremely beneficial for me as it helped me to keep on top of everything I had done in the necessary time given.

Youtube.com was extremely beneficial to me throughout the whole of my planning and research. I used youtube.com for many different reasons i.e. the original music video, my LIIAR analysis', the lyrics analysis, the lyrics timing, genre and conventions research, music video techniques and influences, visual storyboard, animatic, digital technology, first, second, third edit ad final piece. During my planning and research, I found that it would be important to have my own Youtube account, therefore I used the Youtube account that I created for my first year in Media Studies at Wyke College.

 This is my Youtube account. As you can see, there is are three edits of my music video on Youtube. In order to embed my music video on to my blog, I had to upload my music video to Youtube. This was beneficial for me (other than helping me post it onto my blog), this also allows me to gain efficient feedback from my audience as they can view my product in their own time and respond to me through Youtube or verbally.

Third Edit - Music Video

This is the third edit of my music video. I have made a few changes to the lip syncing however I still feel like I need to tweak some more.

Second Edit - Music Video

This is the second edit of my music video. So far I am happy with my progress and my product. I feel there are a few tweaks that I need to make to my video in order to make it as accurate as possible. I am aware that I need to tweak a few aspects of my female protagonist so the lip syncing becomes more accurate.