Wednesday 12 February 2014

Evaluation four

Evaluation three












Evaluation two

Evaluation one

1) In what ways does your music product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
 The brief of my music product was to decide on a group and within my group make an original and creative music video and two ancillary products. The music video could consist of any song, however, I needed to gain access to this music video and my group and I did this through a copyright letter. The ancillaries were created in the form of a magazine poster and a digipak. This allowed the group and the target audience to relate to the meaning behind the song and through different technologies we could do this. The song that my group and I chose to use for our music video was Wake Me Up by Avicci, we chose to use this song as we felt that the song was true to people at the age I am are now. In the sense that teenagers are lost in the world within education as they have to make the hard choice whether to choose university or go into work. From the song’s lyrics “wake me up when it’s all over, when I’m wiser and I’m older” I can understand that teenagers do not want to have to make the choice, they want to stay a carefree teenager with nothing to worry about, but now they have to face one of the hardest decisions they will ever have to, in respect to choosing university or work. From the song my group and I have been able to create a concept that we hope can be put across to the audience as everybody wants to be able to go out and enjoy themselves, but there are always consequences as I will heading home after a night out going to work and Jake will be going home to nothing. As a group we are trying to make the audience understand that they need to think about what they are doing with their time and make them understand that they will either have everything or nothing.

The purpose of a music video is to promote a song and the artist to try to make the song popular and profitable. The style of a music video can be categorised into three different areas, which include performance, narrative and concept. A music video is used to allow the audience to see conventions of the music video, as they normally give the song a meaning. It allows the music company to promote the artist though various conventions, cinematography, editing and mise en scene. The music video also allows the audience to understand whether the song is performance, narrative or concept based and through this they can gather the understanding of what the music genre maybe. Music videos can confuse a target audience as they have an element of all three bases for a music video. This could then in fact over complicate the music video and this could then allow the audience to become confused with what genre of music video it could be and this may not appeal to them.

Codes and conventions are used within a music video to allow the audience to gain an understanding of what genre of music video it could be and also to allow them to relate the song to the artist as it may be a past experience for example Avicii's song wake me up, is sung like he has gone through it and the words are meaningful. We have followed codes and conventions of a dance song as stereotypically there would be flashing neon lights, which is evident in my music video during the party scenes that are evident, an example of Avicii doing this would be in his Wake Me Up song as there are flashing lights while he is DJ'ing. There would also be a club scene within a music video as this is conventional and stereotypical to the type of music that it is as it makes people want to dance and have a good time. This can be seen during the party scenes within, my music video and during the wake me up official music video. Additionally, there would be a representation of the artist within a dance music video as they would be the ones who produced the music video and therefore they would want to show it off, and also they would want to let the words have meaning. This would be evident in the music video, when I and Jake are in the party scenes, drinking, dancing and having a good time together. After the party scenes I and Jake will be seen walking home together which is still representing us as artists. However, my group and I challenge codes and conventions by showing how we go our separate ways knowing that we are going in different directions with our home life. Jake will go home to nothing and I will go home to a stable family life and day job. This is evident in the music video, which get across our concept. This can be seen in my music video as me and Jake are both the artists and therefore we are representing ourselves as party animals, Avicii does it in all of his music video as they is always a small clip of him DJ'ing within his music videos. However, we have challenged conventions further as there are no scenes within my music video which show that Jake and I are DJ's which is stereotypical as artists such as Avicii and Martin Garix have a scene within there music videos which show them DJing. Additionally, by including low key lighting at the end of scene when Jake is in his flat, it is challenging conventions of a typical dance genre song as it is portraying a negative mood. However, we chose to do this because we wanted a meaningful concept that we hopefully put across to the target audience. My group and I adapted the codes and conventions of a dance genre music video as we used a fast paced setting in the form of London. This can be used in a dance video as the setting is fast paced as everybody is in a rush which matches the beat of the song that we chose. The stereotypical target audience for a dance genre song would be 16-30 years olds typically. As this is the age group which have least worries within society and they still should a have a stable family home to go home to if they are still living with their parents. The target audience my group and I have chosen to use for our music video will be age 16-25, as we feel the message of the song will be able to be best understood by this age group as this is the age group who do not know much about what they want to do in life, whether they want to go to university or start a job. I think that the song explains the different pathways that can be taken by the different types of teenagers, whether they chose to follow the media stereotypes or not.





My music video and ancillary texts have followed conventions of a dance style music video as I have flashing lights, representation of the artist and have party scenes. The neon lights flash during the party scene in the colours pink and green, this is conventional to the music genre as in a party scene there are stereotypically flashing lights into the crowd, which gets the audience into the mod to dance and have fun. The party scenes were used as they are conventional to the dance genre music video and it allows the target audience to realise that when my song is being played it gets the crowd in a good mood and therefore they would want to experience this within a party environment. Dance videos always have a representation of the artist, so the audience can search them up and see other songs they have produced, Jake and I are the main characters within the music video to make the target audience aware that we are the artists that produced the song. Also my dance music video is around 90% narrative based and 10% concept based this then allowed me to follow the conventions of a dance style music video as it has a story that you can clearly see within the music video and then it has a hidden concept behind it which some people may see and some may not. This appeals to the target audience because they can realise the story that is being told can relate to them, as they can either have a successful career such as how I am portrayed in the music video, or be like Jake and have nothing. However, my music video has broken conventions slightly as there are two artists within the music video and we are both acting in the narrative element and trying to tell the audience that we are the artists who made the song what it is. This is because we want the audience to understand what we have been through by the narrative and lyrics of the song. The song matches the lyrics as the audience should be able to understand that they have been lost not only after a night out but also in life and now they have found their way back to their homes within the music video. However, in the music video I am the only one which found my way in life as I am an artist and also work during the day which is evident within the music video. Jake is only an artist and does not doing anything in the day expect sleep and he parties all night which makes him look bad to the audience. This will hopefully allow them to be educated by me and Jake, by them wanting to follow me instead of Jake, as we want to explain that you can have fun during the night but you have to look at consequences during the day.

music video comparasion

My group and I created a successful music video as we were able to stick to conventions of our music video. We created a successful concpet which was imed to eduacted teenagers and our target audince that you can still haqve fun if you work hard, but if you do not work ahrd then you will live a life similar to Jakes. We wanted the audeince to understand that there are always consquences to their actions, whether they have familty or job to go home to, so they need to make the right decisions in life. The colour theme of our music video worked well with the ancillary products as the target audince will easily be able to identify the artist because of the colour them and logo we have chosen to use throughout the creation of our music video. The location of our music video was a success as we gained positive comments from our target audience and it allows the audience to understand that me and Jake were on a night out that went wrong and we woke up in a big city, where we did not know how to get home.

I think there are two elements within our music video which show our creativity. The first being the colour theme that my group and I kept to throughout the making of music video and ancillary text. This is because the audience can easily relate to the music video, magazine poster and digipak through the neon green and pink colours that are used throughout. I think this demonstrates that as a group we really though of an element that can easily be out on each of our work, to help to target audience recognize that the artists and the song through the colours that are used. Secondly, i think that he hidden concept behind the music video shows how we have been creative as we have not just made a music video, we have tried to educate target audience to follow their dreams and not lead a life like Jake within the music video as he has no prospects in life. I think that if the target audience understand the concept then they will be able to understand that me and Jake are telling the story of two friends who went in different direction in life, but when they are partying they are both artists. We are trying to explain that anyone can do anything if they out their time into something. The concept if followed furthered by our poster and digipak as it shows that i am wearing a suit and Jake is still in his party clothes.

Comparing my music video to Martin Garrix music video, Animals, i think that we have followed similar conventions. Both my music video and Animals having party scenes within, with dancing, alcohol and bright lights within these scenes. The music video animals is 70% narrative and 30% performance, this is where the song differs from our song as it is 70% narrative 20% performance and 10% concept. There is not a huge difference with this, it is just our concept plays a small party throughout our music video. There is a representation of the artist throughout my music video as Jake and I are within the whole music video, whereas within Animals there is only a small representation of the artist at the end of the music video, when he takes off his mask and reveals himself. The sound of my song and the song animals are not that different as there is always a drop in the beat, it occurs in my music video when the party scenes are playing and also occurs in the party scene within Animals. The editing style of Animals includes mostly straight cuts which makes the song and scenes flow together more. Within my music video there are a range of straight cuts used, however, there are also the use blurs and spiral cuts which are used when the normal scenes change to the party scenes, this in my opinion makes the music video flow better as there is a clear difference between the normal and party scenes. There is mainly low-key-lighting used in the Animals song, in my music video there is a range of natural, high and low-key-lighting. The natural light is used for the London and Home scenes for me as this makes the scenes seem more realistic. The low key lighting is used for the party scenes and Jakes home scenes as it makes him look like he lives on his own and puts across our concept. Finally, the high-key-lighting is used for some of the party scenes as there are flashes of high-key-light used throughout these scenes.

audience feedback

It is important to receive feedback from a target audience because it will allow my group and me to improve on our work and try to improve it through the feedback that we receive. If the audience I aimed to target do not agree with a part of our music video or posters, as a group I would aim to change it, so they receive what they want to watch within a music video because as an artist you do not always see in the eyes audience. It allows a artist to understand more about their target audience as they are able to give feedback on a piece of work they have produced. There will be both constructive and positive feedback that i recieved for my music video, which will allow us to improve and also boast our confidence as it shows we have included elements within our music video that our target audience want to see.
    
My group was able to gain feedback from primary and secondary sources. We gained feed back in the way of a questionaire as we can see first hand the opinions of the target audience, aslo we can tailor the questions that we ask them in order for us to see what elements within the music video that they liked and what they thought we would need to improve on. We did a screening the production to my class as they are within the age range of our target audience, this gave us a chance to gain verbal feedback from the class, so we could see what they thought of the music video straight away. Additionally, we were able to gain feedback from YouTube from our rough cut productin, this gave people the chance like or dislike to music video and leave a comment if they wanted to.

It is benefical for my production and the industry to recieve feedback in order to make changes to their project and therefore they can improve on it. The target audience are the people who are going to buy the song, album and conert tickets therefore it is important to please them as theses are the people who are going to spend money on the artist. For the music industry it is important for the artist to please his audiecne in order for him to sell more albums, songs and concert tickets when he brings new songs. An artist has to get their audience to be interested in their work and try to keep their audience intersted by prodcing new songs and music videos, then gain feedback and improve on their work and make more money.
  
Three positive comments that we recieved include:
"The music video uses the same colours throughout therefore they are following conventions throughout"
"The music video has a simple but effective concept throughout, which could help educate teenagers to make something of their life"
"The location of the music video when the boys are waking up is good because it looks as if they do not know where they are, and London is a big city"

These comments that we recieved are useful for my group as it proves that we included elements within our music video that our target audience like. The first comment shows that the audeince likes the colour theme that we used throughout the music video this gives the group confidence as we have carreid on this theme throughout the posters and digipaks this will allow the audeince to relate the music video through the colour theme. It is good that the audience have understoof the conept of the music video as this can educate teenagers on how to act. The music video trys to explain how people can still have fun but their are consquences if they do not work hard to achieve. The final comment is useful as it proves that we have picked the right location to shoot our music video.

The negaitive comments we recieved include:

"The video should have a large range of camera shots"

"The video should have some dialogue between the boys when they wake up"

"The music video rough cut should make more conventions of a dance music video within it”
 
These comments will be taken into consideration as I think that we should add some more conventions within the music video in order to make it more conventional to dance music video. I will aim to change editing when Jake goes home to make it look more conventional to his home life, I will change the lighting at his house as it is too light. I think if I make his house darker then it will allow the audience to know that he comes from a different home life than I do. This will then further the concept of the music video and hopefully allow the audience to understand it more. For the final version of my music video I did make these changes, as I think that it will make the music video seem more realistic to the target audience.

My group and I have followed the aims and brief when creating our music video as we have included conventions within ou music video that relate to a dance genre music video. I think that the comments we have recieved are fair as there is alwasys room for improvement. I think that the colour theme throughout the music allows the audeince to relate to the digipak and poster alongside the music video, so they can easily identify that me and Jake as artists have created this music song and music video. After recieving this feedback we did change some elements of our music video in order for the music video to be lied by the target audience as tehse are the people who we aim to please and make money from. Overal we did make follow the brief and aims of our music video as we made a successful music video and ancillary product alongside it to promote it to our target audience.

group digipak

Within my group we shared the same conventions of our music video and aimed to follow the same colour theme, pictures, album note and finally the names of the extra songs on the album. This would allow us to follow the conventions of our music video and all have similar ideas on our digipaks which would therefore allow us maybe chose pieces of each others to make one digipak.

  For my digipak i liked that i followed the colour theme throughout, as there was always an element of either pink or green throughout the digipak. Also i liked how on the front cover I put a shade of pink and green over me and Jake and the colour started to get darker the further back the started to go. In addition, i used the infinity sign in the colours on the front cover so that the audience can easily recgonzise the group and they can relate it to the poster i created. The pictures that i used are conventional to our music video as they carry on the concept that we are trying to get across to our target audience, Jake looks as if he is still in the party mood, whereas i am in a suit and look serious as if i am going to work. I have used the party scene that was taken from the music video itself to make to more conventional to our music video and the dance genre. This is conventional as Jake still would fit into the party scene but i would not as I am in a suit going to work. However, i do not like the extra slide that i produced as i do not think it fits in with the rest of the digipak although it follows the same colour theme. Furthermore, i think that the CD cover is not conventional to our group music video as it does not relate to the audience, also i believe that it would be a good enough CD for our songs and album.


Jakes digipak uses lines of neon lights flashing across the background of the screeen which is good and is also convnetional to my music video as they are in the pink and green colours that are the colour theme for my music video. Also the pictures that have been used are conventional to our music video as it shows the concept of our music videeo, as Jake has edited his picture to make him have a black eye and sick stains on his top, this is to show that he has just come back from a night out. The picture he has used for me shows me in my suit and looks as if i am going to work which is helping the conept of our music video. However, the font style that he has chosen to use is not conventional to a dance genre music video as it is not bold, it is in fancy writing which is not stereotypical of a dance music video. Jake could improve his digipak by including more revelent images for the other slides of the digipak and i think that he should include our logo more to make the audience easily identity that it is our group who produced this song. Addiutonally, i think he could stick top the colour theme of the music video than he has, this will make his digipak more conventional. The parent advisory logo in the bottom is conventional to our music video as it is telling the audience that there maybe scenes that need to be looked over by adults such as the party scenes. This is conventional to our music video as there are normally always these logos before a dance music video is played on the internet or youtube. I think that Amiee could improve her digipak by putting it altogther and finishing it . Also i think that she could make the font stand out more by not putting a see through contrast on it, this would make the group name stand out and the audiecne realise who we are.


Fianlly, Amy's digipak is conventional to our music video as she has included a picture of me and Jake on the front still in our party clothes and it looks as if we are having fun in the party environment. Also the CD she has chosen is good as it relates to our song by having a flashing light going around the outside which is stereotypical. The Font is also in front of a infinity sign which is conventional to our music video, however, it is not in the colours that we wanted to use for our music video, she could improve on this. Also i think she could improve on the boldness of the font to make it stand out more. She has however, followed the theme throughout the rest of he music video on the message part etc. Additionally, her parent advisory logo in the bottom is conventional to our music video as it is telling the audience that there maybe scenes that adults need to look over before children look at it, such as the party scenes. The font that Amy used is also conventional to our music video and throughout her digipak the colour scheme is coloured throughout that I followed throughout.



For our digipak my group agreed to use parts of Amy's and mine, however, i thought that some of my slides did not relate to Amy's therefore i said to use all of Amy's digipak. Her digipak follows all the conventions of our music video, also all of her slides fit in with our music video as they all mean something in some way. She has folowed the theme of our music video by using the colours through out the digipak which is coventional and the picture she has chosen to use are all conventional to our music video. Furthmore, this extend the understand of our concept within our music video.

Thursday 6 February 2014

Rough cut

The rough cut does follow the brief of our music video as it allows the audience to understand the concept of the music video, additionally, the music videos meaning is also shown through the rough cut which is beneficial as we can see if our target audience like the concept of the music video. The music video did have to change slightly as the location was hard to film in as it was a busy place and there also security issues. I liked that music video seemed realistic as the party scenes were taken from a real life party, which makes the music video seem more realistic. Also i like the location for when the boys are waking up as it makes it look as if they have actually woken up in a unknown area and they do not know where they are. The editing used for when Jake is at home allows the audience to believe that he lives in a dim place. However, i do not like the part when the song changes into the party scene when the song is playing at the party, because i think it takes away the point of the song and music as there is a lot of noise at the party. Also i think that there should have been more elements to show that Jake was the less advantaged one out of the group, these are the elements i would change.

Four comments:
"The video should have a large range of camera shots"
"The video should have some dialogue between the boys when they wake up"
"The video could have more types of editing within it "
"The music video rough cut should make more conventions of a dance music video within it "
These comments will be taken into consideration as i think that we should add some more conventions within the music video in order to make it more conventional for a music video. I will aim to use these comments and try to change certain parts of the music video to appeal to the target audience more and hopefully improve the music video altogether if the target audience want to see these elements included. However, not all point will be included within the music video as it will be hard to change large parts ot it.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8rYJMzVkJI

Film schedule

I used a film schedule in order for my group and I to know what shots, characters and to know what Jake and I need to wear for our music film. We did follow the schedule to an extend but there were a few changes on the way due to the location as it was busy and we had to change some of the shots to close ups instead of mid-shots. This did not make a huge difference to us as a group as we will explain why we had to do this within our evaluation.