1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our music video uses many different forms and conventions of real media products. The 'General Theory' explains music videos in a certain way. It proposes that the lyrics establish a feeling and a sense of subject rather than a meaning. The tempo of the music often drives the editing. The slow and steady tempo to our song encouraged us to use editing that matched this. The use of shot transitions fading from one to another distinguished time either passing, or going backwards to view the flashbacks. This fits well with conventions of real media products because it followed the slow pace of our song.
In terms of camera work we followed the conventions of real media products because we used a variety of different shots. We used as many shots as we could as long as they were appropriate. The camera angles we used varied from close-ups to establish emotions of the characters and long-shots to make it clear of the settings to portray the mood of the music video.
In terms of camera work we followed the conventions of real media products because we used a variety of different shots. We used as many shots as we could as long as they were appropriate. The camera angles we used varied from close-ups to establish emotions of the characters and long-shots to make it clear of the settings to portray the mood of the music video.
This is an example of a close-up of Ally's face in the room by himself. This is to show his lonely, upset emotions.
This is an example of a long-shot of Ally. We have used this particular shot to show the audience the romantic setting and to allow them to establish this is where him and Shannon have previously been. This emphasises his loneliness without her.
We related our music video to my Auteur Theory of Marc Klasfeld. Marc Klasfeld uses naturalistic settings in his music video 'A Thousand Miles - Vanessa Carlton' of a house. We did this too because our music video also starts in a house. This creates realism and makes it easier for our audience to relate to the character. Marc Klasfeld uses close-ups of the artists faces in many of his music videos to convey emotion and reveal things about the characters or artists. We have used many close-ups of Ally in the music video and also our magazine poster shows a close-up of Ally's face side on. Here is the link to my Auteur Theory on my blog: http://leahrobertsmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/auteur-theory.html
This is an example of a long-shot of Ally. We have used this particular shot to show the audience the romantic setting and to allow them to establish this is where him and Shannon have previously been. This emphasises his loneliness without her.
We related our music video to my Auteur Theory of Marc Klasfeld. Marc Klasfeld uses naturalistic settings in his music video 'A Thousand Miles - Vanessa Carlton' of a house. We did this too because our music video also starts in a house. This creates realism and makes it easier for our audience to relate to the character. Marc Klasfeld uses close-ups of the artists faces in many of his music videos to convey emotion and reveal things about the characters or artists. We have used many close-ups of Ally in the music video and also our magazine poster shows a close-up of Ally's face side on. Here is the link to my Auteur Theory on my blog: http://leahrobertsmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/auteur-theory.html
The lip syncing we used develops real media product conventions because we filmed one particular scene where Ally is lip syncing at all times and we used parts of this scene throughout the whole music video. We spent a large amount of time editing the visuals with the song so the lip syncing was in perfect timing. The scene in which the lip syncing was used was when Ally is sat in a dark room by himself, behind him flashbacks of him and Shannon were shown. This creates a feeling of loneliness and rejection because it looks like he is singing out about his heartbreak but nobody is around to listen or care. Lip syncing is very common and used nearly in every music video around at this present time. For example, when we did research into proffessional music videos (e.g. music videos from 'The Script' and 'You Me At Six') we found it was used in almost all of them.
We followed the genre conventions very carefully throughout our music video. Genre is important because of many different reasons. It is a way of organising huge amounts of texts, can act as a set of expectations, it creates a relationship between audiences and producers and this minimises the risk of failure, reinforces ideas and values, it makes it clear what ‘works’ artistically and creates a structural framework that can be played with.
To establish our genre conventions I watched and analysed current 'Alternative Rock' videos by artists such as 'The Fray', 'The Script' and so on. From this, I established certain conventions that were common in these music videos. The costumes that Ally wore included jeans and jackets. This is similar clothing to what the band members were wearing in their music videos. The use of the guitar at the beginning links with 'Alternative Rock' videos because I noticed that performance scenes with emphasis on instruments were often used. We also followed genre conventions because of the message of the song that we have linked with the visuals in the music video. The central messages are heartbreak, sadness and loneliness. This is often used in 'Alternative Rock' songs and music videos. We have made these messages clear through Ally's solo scenes in black-and-white, Ally and Shannon's scenes of them being together using bright lighting (in the same locations as Ally's scenes), Shannon's scene where she clearly rejects a phone call from Ally and the scenes of Ally singing alone with flashbacks of him and Shannon together. The contrast in the lighting of Ally's solo scenes and Ally's scenes with Shannon allows the audience to distinguish the difference in feeling since the time is passed where their relationship has ended.
This is an example of us using an 'Alternative Rock' genre convention at the beginning of our music video. We organised this shot so the guitar was central so this is what the viewers would concentrate on most, and Ally is above so the audience are introduced to him as a character.
This is an example of a shot of a flashback when Ally and Shannon were together. This shows the bright lighting we have used, to indicate these were happy times for Ally.
This shows Ally alone, in the same place as the previous shot. The fact that he is alone and it is black-and-white clearly shows the audience his is missing her and feeling rejected.
To establish our genre conventions I watched and analysed current 'Alternative Rock' videos by artists such as 'The Fray', 'The Script' and so on. From this, I established certain conventions that were common in these music videos. The costumes that Ally wore included jeans and jackets. This is similar clothing to what the band members were wearing in their music videos. The use of the guitar at the beginning links with 'Alternative Rock' videos because I noticed that performance scenes with emphasis on instruments were often used. We also followed genre conventions because of the message of the song that we have linked with the visuals in the music video. The central messages are heartbreak, sadness and loneliness. This is often used in 'Alternative Rock' songs and music videos. We have made these messages clear through Ally's solo scenes in black-and-white, Ally and Shannon's scenes of them being together using bright lighting (in the same locations as Ally's scenes), Shannon's scene where she clearly rejects a phone call from Ally and the scenes of Ally singing alone with flashbacks of him and Shannon together. The contrast in the lighting of Ally's solo scenes and Ally's scenes with Shannon allows the audience to distinguish the difference in feeling since the time is passed where their relationship has ended.
This is an example of us using an 'Alternative Rock' genre convention at the beginning of our music video. We organised this shot so the guitar was central so this is what the viewers would concentrate on most, and Ally is above so the audience are introduced to him as a character.
This shows Ally alone, in the same place as the previous shot. The fact that he is alone and it is black-and-white clearly shows the audience his is missing her and feeling rejected.
Our music video challenges real media products through the use of narrative structuring. Many media products follow five main stages: exposition (introduces character and setting), development (storyline is developed and more characters are introduced), complication (an event occurs which will affect characters in the video), climax (tension is at a high, a character will make a decision that will effect the outcome of the story) and resolution (the situation is resolved). The complication comes into the music video at a very early stage, at the same point as the development. This is when we see Shannon reject Ally's phone call because this is when a new character is introduced and causes trouble for the protagonist character. This also creates a complication for the viewer. We did not include a resolution towards the end of the music video. The main reason for us doing this was to follow the lyrics. The song ends on saying 'When will I be loved?' so this indicates to the viewer that he has still not found happiness. To follow this, so the visuals match the lyrics, Ally was walking away from the camera into the distance from a high-angle shot. This emphasises that he is still lonely and down, so there has been no clear 'resolution'.
In terms of an ancillary tasks, we use conventions of real media products in many ways. For our digipack, the same mise-en-scene of black and white editing is used on every page because this shows the same lonely, isolating feeling throughout. Ally is also wearing the same clothes in every shot on the Digipack, this creates realism for the audience and indicates he is a normal person so the audience can relate to him. The writing all over the Digipack is black and red. This looked most professional because it was clear and bold, also because the dark writing shows his emotions of rejection and loneliness.
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary task?
As well as our music video, we also created a Digipack and a poster. For them all to work effectively together, we needed them all to follow the same conventions and characteristics. We also had to make sure they all fit into the same genre to create realism for an audience. This would create a purpose for our products. According to the hypodermic-syringe theory, an audience will prefer to view our product if it all relates to each other and looks similar.
In our Digipack and poster, we have used black-and-white editing throughout. This is to emphasise the mise-en-scene of sadness and rejection. Pictures of Ally are used on the front, back and lyrics page of our Digipack. This is so the viewer can use him as a recognisable icon for the song; because he is the protagonist in the music video. For the inside of our Digipack we used a black and white image of a tree without the leaves. The connotation of this is that the tree is creating a hostile, lonely environment.
In terms of our poster, our first draft did not link with our other work. By using the picture of Erick Baker and not Ally, it made it seem like a completely different product. We tried the picture of Erick Baker at first because we were influenced by some of his products. However in our final poster, we thought it would be most effective to go back and use another picture of Ally. By using a close-up of him, the viewer can relate the emotions on his face to the sad feeling of the song. One thing we did not change through the use of drafting was some of the writing 'available on iTunes'. We thought this looked effective as it persuaded people to download the song, this way our poster also uses conventions of real media products that we have viewed.
Our products could use convergence of different types of media. Music magazines commonly have their own website. Taking 'NME' as an example, on their website they have a section on NME artists organised in alphabetical order. When you click on an artist you can view their music videos, photos, lyrics, biography etc. We could use this on our own products because we have made a music video and we have many images that we used for our ancillary tasks.
In our Digipack and poster, we have used black-and-white editing throughout. This is to emphasise the mise-en-scene of sadness and rejection. Pictures of Ally are used on the front, back and lyrics page of our Digipack. This is so the viewer can use him as a recognisable icon for the song; because he is the protagonist in the music video. For the inside of our Digipack we used a black and white image of a tree without the leaves. The connotation of this is that the tree is creating a hostile, lonely environment.
In terms of our poster, our first draft did not link with our other work. By using the picture of Erick Baker and not Ally, it made it seem like a completely different product. We tried the picture of Erick Baker at first because we were influenced by some of his products. However in our final poster, we thought it would be most effective to go back and use another picture of Ally. By using a close-up of him, the viewer can relate the emotions on his face to the sad feeling of the song. One thing we did not change through the use of drafting was some of the writing 'available on iTunes'. We thought this looked effective as it persuaded people to download the song, this way our poster also uses conventions of real media products that we have viewed.
Our products could use convergence of different types of media. Music magazines commonly have their own website. Taking 'NME' as an example, on their website they have a section on NME artists organised in alphabetical order. When you click on an artist you can view their music videos, photos, lyrics, biography etc. We could use this on our own products because we have made a music video and we have many images that we used for our ancillary tasks.
Overall, all three products related to eachother because they all centre around Ally and black and white editing. This is how we branded our products.
3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
We gained most of our audience feedback from our questionnaire that we created and from showing people our rough cut. We also gained some feedback on our music video from using 'Facebook', a social networking site and 'Youtube'. Our feedback was based on what we did well and what needed improving. The people that were giving us our feedback were our friends and family. We learnt many things from our feedback.
From the questionnaire in particular, we learnt what our target audience is (mainly females, aged 16-30). This was because these were the people that overall enjoyed the song more. I think this is because it was quite slow paced and stereotypically, this is preferred by females. Also, because the song is about heartbreak, most commonly people of this age go through heartbreak more often than from other age groups. This means they can relate. My questionnaire is on my blog: http://leahrobertsmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/target-audience-research.html
From showing people our music video and putting it on 'Facebook' and 'Youtube' many things were established. We learnt that everything in media is open to an audience's interpretation. This is showing our music video on these websites:
From the questionnaire in particular, we learnt what our target audience is (mainly females, aged 16-30). This was because these were the people that overall enjoyed the song more. I think this is because it was quite slow paced and stereotypically, this is preferred by females. Also, because the song is about heartbreak, most commonly people of this age go through heartbreak more often than from other age groups. This means they can relate. My questionnaire is on my blog: http://leahrobertsmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/target-audience-research.html
From showing people our music video and putting it on 'Facebook' and 'Youtube' many things were established. We learnt that everything in media is open to an audience's interpretation. This is showing our music video on these websites:
One of the first things that our viewers noticed was that some of the syncing was out of time. This included the lip syncing in the scene where our protagonist character is sat alone in a dark room singing out. This did not look as professional as our music video should look. Another negative feeling about our music video was little concept of rejection. Because of this we added the phone scene and we filmed more of Ally and Shannon together looking like a couple, that was originally on our storyboard.
The feedback that I received after having a first try at the lyrics page of the Digipack, is that the lyrics were not clear enough on the brick wall. Also, that the red writing didn't fit well with my other products. The red writing may be suggesting something other than sadness and loneliness, it gave the idea of blood and danger. To overcome this I made the writing a larger font and I also made the lyrics black. This way everyone could see the lyrics with no trouble and it was not conveying the wrong type of message to the viewer. A positive I got about the lyrics page on the Digipack was the picture of Ally leaning across the wall linked very well with the music video because his facial expression suggested sadness and the brick wall added an urban feel which worked well in terms of genre conventions.
The feedback that I received after having a first try at the lyrics page of the Digipack, is that the lyrics were not clear enough on the brick wall. Also, that the red writing didn't fit well with my other products. The red writing may be suggesting something other than sadness and loneliness, it gave the idea of blood and danger. To overcome this I made the writing a larger font and I also made the lyrics black. This way everyone could see the lyrics with no trouble and it was not conveying the wrong type of message to the viewer. A positive I got about the lyrics page on the Digipack was the picture of Ally leaning across the wall linked very well with the music video because his facial expression suggested sadness and the brick wall added an urban feel which worked well in terms of genre conventions.
This is showing the scene where Ally tried to phone Shannon but she threw her phone down. This clearly shows that she does not want to talk to him, so this adds to the theme of rejection.
This is a shot from the scene of Ally alone singing out. We spent a lot of time editing this scene so the lip syncing was perfect.
