Final music video

evaluation question 4

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

I used a variety of media technologies in my construction of my music video and my ancillary texts. The first example I would like to include is photoshop. This Is what I used to create the ancillary texts. I would be using this on an apple IMac device. I felt that the apple IMac is a complicated piece of machinery to create a digital product from as there are many phrases and options and applications which to a normal person getting new to this mechanic feel it doesn't make sense and in need of instruction. Usually if I want to do something I tend to find online tutorials as the help bar at the top is no help at all. It also has different buttons like the command button (cmd) and different symbols which also can confuse those new to it. I might just be that I’m used to Microsoft PC controls. Photoshop on the other hand was handy and helpful with making my ancillary texts though it its a tough application of technology to deal with and control to be using to create my ancillary texts. One thing that I found most helpful with photoshop is the paint bucket tool which you use to create colour on a layer. If you look at what I have done with the ancillary texts the magazine advert I created showed a dripping background which went the genre of what I was working with. This being a scary and gothic tone to the advert and create an emotion for my audience to collect that certain wow factor which drags audiences in and invites the right audience to enjoy the medium for it being relatable to those audiences. Another technology I used is the Imac which is what was available to me in my media class room which is a great piece of equipment to use and can create some great medium with it as the desktop and applications available is quick and helpful to create a media product which can look professional and creative. This technology however is a very complicated system to work as it has an awkward mouse which struggles to double click so you have to press ctrl and then click which can be frustrating. Another way it is complicated is the different tabs just piling on to each other which can be annoying if your using more than one application and pop ups from other applications get in the way and can distract you from your work. One thing that I used to record my product was a Nikon coolpix L320 camera when making my music video. The good features about this camera would be that its small so it can be used on tripods and is light so you can make fantastic camera angles and is easy to get into those positions to create angles making the audience feel like they are watching the band and can feel certain claustrophobia and weirdness to get the right audience watching the media product.   The bad points I can say about the camera is that the resolution is not as great as I would expect it seems like a camera that a tourist would take on holiday and show to their family instead of a camera that would be used for professional media product recordings that is going to be shown by an audience. This isn't a major issue as the quality isn't terrible to the point in which you cant see, Its just not the resolution that you would see for a magazine being sold in a shop or a digi pack being used for professional artists. Another problem with the Nikon camera is that its sound quality isn't all that great. When filming a music video sound quality isn't important but I wanted to add certain sounds from the video footage to the music video it self. This was prevented by the camera being unable to pick up good audio with the sound being directly at the camera. Also when filming outside it manages to pick up wind and which allows you to be unable to pick up any audio at all. This might be due to the fact that its more of a picture camera than a filming camera however it can perform both actions on the camera. This being a music video like I said before it doesn't matter about the audio as the sound is the song being made into a music video. 

evaluation question 3

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback? What I have learnt from my audience feedback is that this hyper reality seems to become either an interesting story or just a gimmick for the artists and creative team to work with. this hyper reality to my audience went towards as a shock for those that did audience feedback previously as they liked the idea of the rap trio and liked the representation of potential and the swagger that these artists give out to the audience and they show raw talent. However other people suggested that this is just young obnoxious youngsters trying to make it big in the industry which are all valid points are real life reactions from audiences with a variety of artists. This however making the hyper reality of making the switch from rap to black metal would create a stir of opinion. Some audience suggesting that the move was a terrible mistake and listening to that kind of music is sickening. This would leave a positive impact as most mainstream fans turn to something controversial and then the audiences look and turn to see out of human curiosity, they will check out the media text to see what all the fuss is about very similar to “Miley cyrus - we cant stop” its out of human curiosity audiences check out what people are arguing or fighting about creating media products such as newspapers to cover it and then a more wide spread audience can see your product. Something which I thought would helpful if this was a real product. audience members felt excited by this transformation as that this was going to be a revolution in the music industry as if these artist where going to hit it big on a different scale in a better format with a more relatable audience. Which is why I decided to proceed with the transformation in the first place as the audience would be more dominant then those of a previous genre. This would erupt a demand for product as people want to be apart of a group and of a revolution so they can enjoy some good times ruling an industry following something special and look back on it later on and say that they was apart of it. However some people would be mixed thinking that this is a gimmick just to grab attention and they cant get the talent as that kind of music requires a different kind of talent different to the type they provided with the first attempt. This view looking from a directional standpoint would be questionable because the statement is correct and the genre requires a different talent to the rap genre. However this can also state that this will not work and pulling the curtain down and hiding the artists true identities in efforts to make more money and become mainstream. The would be going against the genre as hip-hop has become more of a mainstream demand then black metal. This however changing the other way making audiences looking at things from different prospectives and analysing what is going on is what I felt as a media product I can make and what a media product should do. This intern made my creative skills come together and made me think of my feedback during post production. I would make the edits as if these audiences where going to react in different ways and different opinions to control the market and make sales of my product if this was a real product as most record labels will think with this process in the idea of making more money. Acquiring this information I felt more confident when going through the post production and making my ancillary texts. I wanted to make this like I was building up my audience for the artists as the ancillary texts show controversy in this hyper reality that revolves around the artists formation from these rappers to this black clothed band. There was also talk about the fact that the music video mixed in with the performance was depressing and dull but revolving round the artists who are the centre of attention in this hyper reality. This in the video going against that reality as they perform in the back of garage in a corner with barley any space which shows that these are after all independent artists in this music video working in a different genre and going against the prospectives and opinions of the audience. 

evaluation question 2

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? The combination between my music product and my ancillary texts is that I wanted to feel there was a mystery between them. The media text I made last year featured a rap trio on the front cove and double page spread working as a three. I wanted to use those pictures and make a narrative out of them saying that one of the band members has left and fallen out to pursuer a rap career and the two left have gone in a different direction with their music. This is shown as the music product I made features 2 members of that trio. This in the music industry would interest both audiences of the two different genres (rap and metal). I wanted to do this as this would exercise my  creative skills in photoshop making the ancillary texts, and exploring different tools to use this as if this was an actual issue happening and creating this ‘hyper reality’. I made this by taking out one of the artists figure out of the picture like he’d been cut out using scissors by a fan or by the band themselves, and also photo shopped black colours onto the other two artist this cheating a change in presentation, you are no longer seeing this hip cool rap trio you are seeing two characters black and threatening looking different from what was expected an one of the rap members has been faded out so this creating an alter ego which some artists have to use a different style of music like the Beatles with SGT pepper’s lonely hearts club band. The video on the other hand shows them in a different style to there product instead of an upbeat tempo there depressed and angry going in with the genre of the song. What I make sure though is that on the video you see actually artists performing that style of music as the promotion wouldn't make sense if it the band I was making weren't able to play that style of music. I felt that this would be easy though there was a difficulty with photoshop as I struggled to find a font that matched my digi-pack so I decided to use a similar font to what I decided to do for my music magazine. This would use a similar style and create like NWA straight outta Compton album. Where the font of the album art is similar to their style of magazine advert they brought out which is a similar style most media products take up the same font style same art pictures and same conventions as well. This would not be following my video as my video would be going against that. My video tries to tackle the convention and forms of media texts so this is a change from my music video and my ancillary texts. This is because I felt that ancillary texts should be used to advertise the product and not fight against other products including my own. As my video is a video and not like my ancillary texts images advertising or marketing my product my media text can be expressive and do that by breaking the codes and conventions of media products. My music magazine does make something interesting by taking out another member of the band. Overall the combination when making the digipack I made the main artists the main focus as when audiences go to see this album cover I wanted them to be the main focus as I would be working within this ‘hyper reality’ and creating the context that would be to follow and that would be what audiences would think of when the album and music video would be reminded of the talent of these individuals. These artists used to be in a rap trio and was said to be the next big thing but now theres this transformation of them and there performing this heavy metal music. Thoughts would suggest that this crossover would not become as successful as the first endeavour however these artists perform a song and the ancillary texts are suggesting that these artists are talented and they know all forms of music they can excel at anything layed out in front of them. However the genre and the video may suggest that things are depressing and that the band are going throughout tough times and that they seem depressed though they are teenagers (as boy artists are 17) they experience what most young people experience expanding the younger audience who have a greater control on social media to there idols. 

evaluation question 1

1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My media text challenges the forms and conventions of real media products in a way that most independent record labels would also produce my work. As my product is not from a mainstream artist, I felt the that my direction had to go towards a similar style towards the making of the product. This would mean going against the conventions of media product if I were to follow the convention of genre of the product. I showed this in my music video as the two artists featured with a performance sequence and also narrative which goes with the genre. I felt that I didn't have the resources to create a narrative, I thought the song would go better with a performance video mixed in with locations which matched with the song. This involving locations like low end streets and abandoned locations with litter or a sense of dull and depression. The reason behind this is that using my best judgement, My decision to make this type of music video came from music videos which spread real world message and use real pictures and footage from either natural disasters or plague epidemics. Normally these videos  are used for charity however this seemed to be a sufficient idea at the time of research and planning. I had already used these similar locations in my previous ancillary texts the year before when making a music magazine. The song I chose was “Middle class rut - busy bein born”. The Narrative in the video featured a child stuck in a guarded prison set to fight other children like animals and slaves in messy areas and the song it self has a grim outlook on life and has a depressant tone which attracts the kind of audience into the genre of black heavy metal (a genre being a feature of post modernism). I at first decided a narrative would fit this song going with an abusive dad shouting at his son, yelling at him and throwing things at him whilst the child is going through teenage life which goes with the audience as this kind of music targets that age group of 13-17 year old teenagers who are going through similar problems, but have a massive impact on social media. If this was a real product for a business and not for coursework then this would be a technique used to increasing fan base via social media and word of mouth, and making more money in the process of sales on the internet living of a fan base who buy the song and post comments on social media about the artists as the video relates to them. This narrative would include cross narrative of the actor playing the teenager suffering with depression and going through life like his dad yelling at him throwing water in his face to wake him up and yelling on things that teenagers of today find stressful and can relate to. Also with shots of him mixing in with normal life like school and seeing friends and playing football though this was chosen to go against the genre as I wanted fans to see different sides to the main protagonist and may cause and argument if being on the internet a big argument can cause people to watch “what all the fuss is about” and end up building a fan base. This however I decided not to take up as I didn't have the right amount of actors for this narrative and I didn't have the style and makeup to make the narrative look realistic so in the end I decided to go in a different direction due to these issues. Instead I went with what I mentioned earlier with the performance mixed with locations mating the genre of the music. This would work as I needed a small number of actors and they had to perform music and and not a narrative. This would also require a reliability on cinematography when taking the different shots of various locations across this lower class end were places look dull and depressing and look dirty not the sort of places you would like to visit. 

evaluation

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

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

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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

magazine advert