Evaluation Q3 -Video

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback? (Video)

I believe that there are many reasons into why it is important to evaluate my work. By evaluating my work I was able to gather the feedback from my audiences and other audiences around to comment and give my feedback on what I could improve within the media products and also what they thought was good and beneficial to the products too. It is important to evaluate my work so that I can decide and look at the work I have produce and see whether my task has been a success and what other elements I could involve to make my product better. I will also be able to gather a better understanding of the genre I am trying to portray and evaluating our work allows me to actually try to understand all of the elements I have included and whether or not I have conformed or subverted my genres conventions. By having a rough cut on YouTube I was able to get my niche audience to evaluate my work and give me constructive comments into what I could make better within my music video and by also showcasing it to my peers in a classroom setting I was able to get them to evaluate it too and give me the evaluative points also.

I picked YouTube to showcase my music video so that I was able to get a wider and more global audience to help give me feedback on my music video. By doing this I was able to see what my niche audience thought of my music video and whether they would be able to relate to it as an audience and help me make it better and more conventional to an indie genre. YouTube allows me to try and get my music video more globally recognised from people in other countries, due to the large global scale of YouTube it allows me to see what a larger audience think of the music video and how this showcasing could help me develop as a producer by taking on bored the comments and trying to make my music video better. YouTube allows people to let the user’s upload, view, and share videos and this is something that would gain my music video more views and opinions as people are able to share and view the video at simply a click of a button. It will gain me more views and opinions the more times it is viewed and allows more people are able to gain a better understanding of the genre I am trying to portray and will let me know whether they think the production is conventional or something that is relatable to the audience.

By choosing YouTube I was also able to let the audience comment on my music video and share their own opinion with commenting on the music video below. I had some good constructive feedback and this included “The narrative is very relatable but more editing is needed to make it look more like a professional music video” – “I like the artist she is very stylish” – “More editing is needed” – and also comments such as “it is very conventional to the genre. I like the performance elements but their needs to be more performance throughout”. These were just some of the comments we received within our music video on YouTube and I took these all on board when trying to improve my music video so that the audience are able to feel more of a connection with the music video. By gaining these comments I was able to see an unbiased view of what people thought of my music video and gain the feedback in order to try and make my music video much better than it already is.

These comments made me feel more like a producer as it made me feel more confident about my skills as a producer and I felt that if I had out more editing techniques in I would have been able to gain the full confidence of my niche audience. I was able to take on the constructive comments and as a producer and feel that I could make a constructive change to my music video. By taking on these comments and using them to my advantage I believed I was able to take the comments on board and change them into the music video and make the product much better than the audience thought beforehand. They made me feel more accomplished as a producer as I felt that the comments were all positive and they were just asking for more of certain elements which made me feel that I had accomplished a product that that audience thought was very relatable.

For example through the comments asking us to add in more editing styles, we used elements such as colors filters such as black and white especially when the artist was trying to remember the good times in the narrative so that it showed memory and made the audience try to connect with the artist better as this could of possibly helped them relate to her. We also added in more transitions such as swirl and fade to make the music video connect more between each scene and show the change from performance and narrative. This editing style was used just so the production could flow better between each scene. We also added in editing effects such as flashing to make the music video more professional and more entertaining for the audience. This made us then include more performance so we went and filmed more performance of the artist singing and dancing so that the audience felt their needs were met and they felt more entertained. Those changes were essential into making our artist more representational and also make our music video more professional for the audience and the music industry.

This feedback would help me if I were working within the music industry as it would help me to make my music video more entertaining and more audience effective. It would help me develop as a producer as I would have to try and develop with new technologies and make the artist perform and use more of their time to help make the music video better and more entertaining for the audience. It would help as a producer as it would develop my skills within the music industry and help me to learn more about the technologies I would have to use in order to make my product more effective. I would be able to take this feedback as a producer in the industry and make it for a personal gain. The feedback would be able to help me develop as a producer myself as I would have to correct my own mistakes and change what I thought didn’t go well for the audience even if I thought it looked good. I would have to take on board the opinions of others and gain more teamwork skills through this feedback if I wanted the music video to be more successful.

Evaluation Q4 Prezi

Evaluation Q2 Prezi

Evaluation Question 1

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

My media production was to create a three minute music video of a particular genre as well as create ancillary texts which included digipak and a magazine advert. These media products helped us with our understanding of music videos and gave us many ideas and inspirations into what to include within our particular genre. My group members included Charlotte Monksfield, Leandra Saunders and myself, although unfortunately we lost Leandra at some point during this experience, Charlotte and I continued with the process of making our music video. 

There were any roles in which Charlotte and I were responsible for, for example where only having two members in our group for the most of the task, we divided the roles equally to make it fair on the both of us. My particular role was to be the actor/artist in our music video. This involved me to commit to filming, and take time out to film in areas such as Camden, London and Woodford. This was a big commitment to agree to as we had to be able to 
work as a team to cooperate when we were both available to film. This role gave me an insight to artist’s performance, artist representation and what it is like to be a part of a music video (which was very difficult and hard work). From this particular role, I learnt that to create an artist image I had to be able to pretend and act like somebody the audience would be able to connect to. I also learnt that to be able to create this image I had to act through drama and show the audience that I was able to take on a serious role. This has taught me that cooperation between the group was essential in the making of the music video, in order to make it look more professional.

I also had the role of being the producer and editor of our music video. The role entailed me to edit the footage that we collected on our HD camera, being able to use technology such as Final Cut Pro X to put this music video together, whilst also being able to edit and use effects to make the music video more professional. Where not being a techniqual person myself, this was something my group struggled with as we were not too familiar with some of the effects, but we learnt from this by working together and deciding what footage went where and also what editing styles and effects looked best and were conventional to our music video. This helped me gain experience with different technologies as well as an editor and a producer.

I believe we have made a successful music video as we gathered a lot of research into our chosen genre (which was indie) and by doing this and watching indie music videos by different artists, it has given us the inspirations and codes and conventions to be able to create a music video and ancillary texts that would entice and entertain our niche audience.  By looking at particular micro-elements of  indie music video’s/digipak’s and adverts such as mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and artist representations, we have created an artist ‘Lola Star’ who is representation of a conventional indie artist as well as somebody who is easily relatable to an audience. We have shown this by looking at the mise-en-scene elements (clothing) to create the conventional theme of realism. We used realistic clothing, something that people would wear on a day-day basis to be able to let our audience connect with the artist, as they may feel that she is just like them and be able to copy her style so they can be more like her. We also produced a very conventional indie music genre, as I research gave us ideas and inspirations on what conventions to follow, as well as see what conventions are mostly used within the music video. By doing this it has given us a successful music video and ancillary texts as we have created an artist image that is realistic and relatable for our niche audience. We have also given a steady balance between narrative and performance. By using a narrative which was about relationships and arguments, this again showed the audience that it is something relatable and something that everyone goes through. By having performance as well, it shows off the artists skills as a musician as we incorporated the mise-en-scene element iconography (guitar) which was also conventional to an indie genre). This enabled us to show the audience that she is musically talented whilst also being able to inspire the audience to take up an instrument.

Once chosen our particular genre, for my group being indie, we gathered as much research into the genre as possible by watching different music videos of indie artists and then choosing one music video in particular to recreate. A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes.

Through my understanding, a music video allows a particular audience (niche) to be able to connect with the lyrics of the song and also the artist. It allows the audience to be able to experience escapism whilst being able to create a relationship with the artist; whether that is from the artist’s style or even the representation, it allows them to be able to connect with the song itself. My media production was to create a three minute music video of a particular genre as well as create ancillary texts which included digipak and a magazine advert. These media products helped us with our understanding of music videos and gave us many ideas and inspirations into what to include within our particular genre. My group members included Charlotte Monksfield, Leandra Saunders and myself, although unfortunately we lost Leandra at some point during this experience, Charlotte and I continued with the process of making our music video. 

There are many codes and conventions to an indie genre that we had to consider in order to make a successful indie genre music video; some of them included elements such as;

·         Mise-en-scene – conventional clothing such as baggy clothing (to make the artist more realistic and relatable for the audience) , checked shirts (giving the artist more edge and individuality) – iconography such as a guitar (lets the audience look up to her playing an instrument) – body language (rebellious/sweet and innocent body language) and finally makeup, usually (really subtle but heavy on the eyes so the audience can gain eye contact better and focus more on the artist)

·         Cinematography – close ups are essential within an indie music video as they make the audience see what they artist is doing at a closer angle. They allow the audience to be able to connect with her more as they can see what she really looks like. Other conventional camera angles are high angles and low angles as well as panning shots, to show different angles of the artist and to show off the entire body of the artist, with her clothing and performance based material.

·         Editing – The editing styles that are conventionally used are colour filters. The colours filters that are stereotypically used within an indie genre are the use of black and white. This can show isolation, depression and memory for the narrative and shows that the artist is in a darker place or in remembrance of something. It connects with the audience as it makes them feel sympathy and empathy for the artist and lets them create a better relationship between them as they are able to show the feelings and the sorrow that the artist is experiencing and lets the audience experience it with the artist too, giving them a better connection together. Other editing styles included many different transitions such as swirls and fades, these are used so that the connection between the narrative and the performance are not jumping from one to another, and they are connected and made to look like the production flows better and is connected.

Those conventions are essential into making a successful music video and I have included some of those elements into my music video to make it more conventional to the indie genre. I used many of these conventions in my music video in order to make sure the audience feel more connect with the artist and the genre itself. For example, I used conventional mise-en-scene clothing such as a baggy denim coat and red and green checked shirt (colours are natural and conventional to the indie genre) and also tight bottoms and maroon boots to show off the artists figure but in a more subtle and simplistic way. This creates a relationship with the artist as the they see that the clothing is very simplistic and they are able to possibly copy the artists image and feel more connected with her as they feel like they look like her more. This is therefore conventional because I am using conventional colours for examples greens and blues which are natural and neutral colours which portray a theme of natrability within the genre and this is what the indie genre tries to portray. This show the audience that the genre of the indie genre is more natural and relatable for the audience and something that they feel they can connect to due to it being a natural and realistic genre to try and capture and portray.

Another convention I used within my music video is the use of cinematography close ups. I have used these particularly as they are conventional within an indie music video and also relate to Goodwin’s theory as their needs to be a variety of close ups in order to connect the artist with the audience. I have used close ups of the artist particularly when performing, for example when the artist is in the area with a white background (which looks like a studio) and she is playing the guitar and singing to the cameras. This was used as a close up in particular because I wanted the audience to feel a connection with the artist when she performs as the audience will be able to connect with the artist better if they can see how and what she looks like. They may even be able to copy her image and replicate it to feel a more personal connection with her and themselves. These conventions used within my music video are very conventional not only to the indie genre but also the music video industries as the close ups are essential so that the audience are able to connect and feel a more personal connection with the artist that before. The use of the close up allows the audience to see every feature of the artist, and because of the artists eye contact with the camera it makes the audience believe that they are signing the music and the song to the audience (only themselves) and nobody else. This makes it conventional as close ups are needed so the artist can connect with the audience better and see the facial features of the artist, possibly allowing them to copy the artists image and feel a more personal connection with the artist herself.

Editing was also another convention used and obviously to make our production more successful and also professional. We used effects such as flashing and prism to create enhancing effects to highlight the feature of the artists face, and then the flashing effect to create a more professional look which would also make it more entertaining for the audience to watch as it matches the tempo of the song. By doing this I was able to create a more entertaining music video and create effects that were conventional to my genre, being able to keep my specific genre intact and relatable for the audiences. These effects made the focus be on the artist and make her the centre of attention within the music video and this was something that was needed so that the audience were able to focus on her and see how the artist really is as a person and as a performer. This was very conventional to an indie genre as this example showed that the artist of the indie genre had to be main focus of the music video, and by using conventional editing such as the flashing to enhance her face, it then let the audience connect with the artist better as they could focus more on her facial features and the other mise-en-scene elements on her body and face too.

My finished music video, and ancillary texts which included and digipak and also magazine advert, both developed and challenged our indie music genre. Within my music video we developed and both challenged the indie genre through micro elements; in particular I used to develop the genre we made our artist very relatable but more rebellious than your stereotypical indie music artist. This was shown through the use of mise-en-scene body language, iconography and facial expression. This is specifically shown when the artist through narrative is being shown as rebellious as she turns to drinking and smoking after a break up. Her body language particularly when drinking in the street is very hunched and distressed and shows the artist in a dark and emotional point in her life. This is challenging my indie genre as we usually do not see the artist’s behaviour revolve around alcohol and make it so vivid for the audience. It makes the artist look more damaged as a person that what you would stereotypically see within an indie genre artist, however by challenging this I wanted the audience to see how something like a break up could possibly effect somebodies life, and this would be a relatable subject for the audience and therefore make this something that the audience could possibly connect to themselves. This therefore developed the genre into something more relatable to the audience so that they were able to connect with the artist in a more personal way.

A way in which I challenged my genre is by the use of dark colours within my magazine advert. Stereotypically within an indie music genre this wouldn’t be something that was conventional as they want to portray their artist as somebody who is natural and conventional to their genre, by using indie colours such as natural blues and greens and yellows.  In my magazine article I wanted to portray my artist as somebody who has a lot of individuality and somebody who doesn’t follow the crowd and what the music industry want them to be. I used in particular dark colours such as black and blue within the background so that the artist would stand out and be the main focus and centre of attention within the magazine advert. The dark backgrounds contrasted with the artist’s natural makeup and beauty and enhancing features to brighten up her face. This could of possibly made the audience believe that the artist isn’t true to her own genre, but by challenging these elements it shows the individuality of the artist and this is something the her audience could possibly find inspiring as she is trying to make herself known as herself and not a copy of somebody, she is portraying herself as a person who is her own and not a copy of someone else.

My digipak both conforms and subverts the stereotypes of my indie genre and also challenges them too. For example in my digipak the use of cinematography close up was used to take a picture of the artists face with a peace sign over her eyes used by her fingers. This develops the genre into more things as it makes the features on the artists face more noticeable, and the whole stereotype of the indie genre being natural and calming, the peace sign over her eyes develops the indie genre conventions as the peace sign matches the calming nature of its stereotypical genre images. This challenges the indie genre as it something that is out of the ordinary, although it does make the artist centre of attention which is what the genre wants it does it in a more subtle way and makes the artist stand out due to the body language, and it makes her personality be seen through her body language and this makes the audience believe she is just as natural as her genre as she is a peaceful and representable artist, that they are able to connect too.

Final Group Magazine Advert

Final Group Digipak

Music Video

Group Digipak - Miss Miller - PUTPICS

We have created a group digipak so we were able to explore our artists genre in more depth and to also promote our artist in a  way that would conform her indie genre whilst promoting her in a positive light. By researching other indie artists digipaks we was able to see all of the different codes and conventions they use within their digipak in order to promote their artist effectively. It allows the target niche audience to be able to connect with the artist in a better way as they are able to see personal additions such as 'messages to the fans' from the artist and added images that they wouldn't typically see within a normal jewel CD case. This gives a more personal and connected relationship between the artist and the audience as the audience will feel that the album was made for them. We then looked at the different approaches from all of our own individual digipaks and then discussed as a group what we liked from each of our own designs and then create our group digipack as what we thought would best promote our artist effectively to our audiences.
 

We decided to use different elements from everybody's digipak so that we could promote our artist effectively and show that we can work well as a team by effectively creating the group digipak together as a group. We have used many different microelements to promote our artist effectively within this digipak. One being colour. When researching different indie genre digipaks we came across the colours being very natural and bright. The colours were typically greens, yellows and whites we wanted to both conform and subvert the genres colours scheme as we have used some yellows within the digipak which was to promote the artists name being 'Lola Starr'; this allowed us to use the stereotype of the artist being as bright as a star and you would stereotypically associate a star as being bright and yellow. this was on the front cover of our group digipack and we have used this for the typography on the front of the digipak as we believed this would create a efficient well known trade mark for the artist as the brightness of her name stands out and this would be easily eye catching and well known for the audience in order to recognise the artist.

One of the main colour schemes was natural dark colouring. The colouring is fairly dark throughout the entire group digipak and this shows the natural lighting of the scenery this is shown on the cover on the cd and on the back cover and some of the pictures within the digipak. This also subverts the stereotypes of the indie genre, although they use many bright natural colours like green and yellow, the dark scenery and background has made the artiest stand out and somebody who still conforms the genre but also subverts it to make her our image and create her own individuality it will also show how she tries to make her own recognisable label too. The high key lighting on the artist on the front cover does infact highlight her features and the generic conventional colours on her mis en scene clothing, and this makes her stand out from the dark natural colours in the background. This could also make her recognisable from the other music artists as she isn't following the stereotypical colour scheme. This would create a better relationship between the artist and the audience as she has tried to show her own individuality by subverting her generic colours and showing off her own personal identity. 

We have used many different conventions of the indie genre within our group digipak and this has been contemplated from all of our individual digipaks.. One convention being mise-en-scene clothing and body language. On the front of the digipak we have used my close up of the artist's face so that the audience can connect with her better as she is specifically looking at the camera and making eye contact with the audience. This is conventional to the music genre as she is able to show off her features in a subtle way giving off eye contact in order to connect better with her audience and making her eyes the main feature of the front cover. The use of the conventional clothing throughout for example the baggy denim jacket, red bandana and tight leather leggings with use of iconography such as the guitar  gives off a stereotypical indie music artist. This is because you would stereotypically see the artist as somebody who wants to show off their sexuality through the bottom half and being more covered up rather than too revealing. This is clothing you would generally see within indie artists as they want their clothing to look more realistic, and this is why i has used this convention to the genre as i wanted the audience to feel a more personal and realistic relationship with the artist than one that doesn't really exist.

Another convention we have used is the use of mise-en-scene iconography and this was taken and presented by Leandras collage of the artist on one of the sides for the digipak. We have used the iconography of the guitar to show that the artist is somebody who is multitalented and by showing many different pictures with her and the guitar, this would promote the artist effectively as it shows she is a good musician, somebody who can play a range of interments to show off her musical talent. This is also conventional to an indie music genre, as they stereotypically use instruments such as guitars and pianos which emphasise their ability as music artists and shows that they can play different instruments. This would help create a better relationship with the audience as they may possibly be inspired with the fact their artist plays interment, and by showing this is many of the images within her digipak it give them more of an inspiration to take up an instrument. This would make the audience feel more personally connected with the artist as they too may feel that they have a connection with her.

The main colour schemes was dark colouring throughout the entire digipak apart from the front cover this was because we wanted to subvert the some of the indie genre. The colouring was fairly dark and is a stereotype of the genre as this shows the natural lighting of the scenery. This also subverts the stereotypes of the indie genre, as they use many bright natural colours like green and yellow, the dark scenery and background has made the artiest stand out and somebody who still conforms the genre but also subverts it to make her our image and create her own individuality. The high key lighting on the artist specifically on the front cover of the group digipak does infact highlight her features and the generic conventional colours on her mis en scene clothing, and this makes her stand out from the dark natural colours in the background. This could also make her recognisable from the other music artists as she isn't following the stereotypical colour scheme. This would create a better relationship between the artist and the audience as she has tried to show her own individuality by subverting her generic colours and showing off her own personal identity.

The images we have used within our group digipak promote the artist efficiently and effectively, and as somebody who would conform to the genres stereotypes. One image on the front cover specifically we have used from my individual digipak as it is a close up of the artist and shows the peace sign over her eyes. The use of the high key lighting on her face makes her big blue eyes stand out more and shows better eye contact with the camera/audience. The image is specifically used so the audience feel a connection with the artist and see more of her up close than they would usually. This image shows the conventions of the natural eye make up that indie artists stereotypically use. This also gives a better relationship between the artist and the audience as it shows the naturalness of the artist and also how she isn't superficial, and this makes the audience believe that she is somebody who is true to herself and also to reality, and this will be something again that the audience could possibly copy. It promotes the artist effectively as it again makes her look like someone who is relatable to her target audience and easier for them to connect to also.

Another image we included was the artist on the floor in the natural ground/earth and surrounded with her guitar and smoking a cigarette. We used this image specifically as the back cover with the song titles as we wanted it to look as if the artist was completely obsessed with her music and the genre of her music but to also subvert the streotypes of the indie artist being naturally innocent, we wanted to perceive her to be rebellious in some sorts. The specific use of mis-en-scene body language of her looking towards her guitar makes her look like she loves playing music, and this would connect with the audience and promote her effectively as it would make her look as someone who is completely besotted with music and wanted to show it to her fan. This I believe would make a better relationship with her audience as it would show that she is true to her music and also to her individuality as an artist.

The layout is just like your stereotypical layout for a digipak. It included six sections, that in which were to make the artist look more appealing to her audience and in order to give better information to the audience so they have a close and more personal insight to the artist that what they usually would in a jewel CD case. We had included a personal message from the artist to her audience so that it gave a more personal feel to the digipak. This would create a much better relationship between the artist and the audience as they believe that he has personally taken the time to think of her fans and this will make her seem like her genre stereotype of her being kind an thoughtful. We also made the layout very simple so that it is easier for the audience, this also is a stereotype for the genre as it wouldn't be conventional to the genre if it was too flashy and bright, we wanted to create a more mellow feel to the genre and the digipak.

The typography  colours were typically greens, yellows and whites and this is shown on the front of the digipak and the back cover and on the personal message from the artist. We wanted to both conform and subvert the genres colours scheme as we have used some yellows within the digipak on the front page which was to promote the artists name being 'Lola Starr'; this allowed me to use the stereotype of the artist being as bright as a star and you would stereotypically associate a star as being bright and yellow.
We have used this for the typography on the front of the digipak as we believe this would create a efficient well known trade mark for the artist as the brightness of her name stands out and this would be easily eye catching and well known for the audience in order to recognise the artist. The language within our digipak is also very simple like all of our individual conveyed, as this would make it easier for the audience to understand and also mak eit more real to the audience too. It gives the digipak a more relatable feel for the audience and therefore could possibly promote the artists personality as being simple aswell.

did struggle with using Photoshop as I had trouble with the resizing of my image. When I tried to resize my image to make it smaller, it didn't respond with the computer so the system crashed, this happen many times and after getting some guidance by creating new labels I was fortunately able to resolve this issue and caught up efficiently. Another weakness using photo shop was the labels. I kept creating new labels without realising I could possibly duplicate them to make everything easier for me to do and also save me some time. I was able to do this by clicking the right button on the mouse over the layer and therefore duplicate the layer. I then as able to rename it and save myself some more time.
One of my strengths was using the lassio magnetic tool. This enabled me to fully use the entire image but crop out what I didn't want. I found this a rather handy tool to use as it let me enhance one image whilst a did the background separately. This helped create a successful advert as I was able to edit the main image of the artist separately make her mainly on high key lighting whilst the background remained in low key lighting. This was excellent as it made the artist look centre of attention as the main focus was there.
Another strength of mine was the use of the effects that I could put over the image. I used the artist filter and colour filters to give the image more effect. This worked well as it made the artist look centre of attention and the main focus was there. It created a successful advert as it was focussed on the artist and gave a more indie look due to the filter colours used which were, orange, greys and greens which are all conventional to an indie genre.

I personally believe that our digipak conforms the genres conventions genre generally as it uses elements such as mis-en-scene clothing, body language and eye contact/makeup; this allowed us to promote the indie genre and the artist effectively as it was more relatable and we made sure that the artist was the centre of attention.  We believe this will appeal to my target audience as it does follow the conventions of an indie genre mainly but alo subverts them too. This is due to elements such as the colouring being darker and more grungy rather than uplifting and bright. It will also appeal to the audience more as it has a personal message within it as it will make it more personal t the fans and also makes the artist the centre of attention whilst also promoting her as somebody who is very subtle and simple. It will also appeal to the audience as it will make them see the artist in her true element. Our group produced a successful final digipak as it shows many different conventions of the indie genre and how to promote my artist effectively and my group wasable to take many different ideas from mine and eachothers individual digipaks in order to create a effective group digipak.