Final Product - Music Video

How did you use media technologies in your construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

First of all the main media technology we used was the Internet for research, looking through several different indie genre websites, album covers and music videos enabled us to find specific featues and conventions that would make our own music video effective. We were able to research theorists such as Goodwin to compare our own to what is expected of real media products. This research stage is where the majority of our inspiration came from and the internet helped greatly with this. Also in the research stage we asked different focus groups to help us with ideas about their favorite genre of music but also the ideas, thoughts and images that came into their heads when listening to our chosen song. With the media technology of "Excel" we were able to put these results into tables and pie charts and use the formulas to work out percentages to make it clear which ideas and thoughts were most common.

Moving on during the filming we had to be able to use the technology of the cameras well enough to create the effects and camera angles we wanted. For example features such as the "zoom" button allowed us to get close ups within our filming which was vital in giving a range of angles to the audience and getting the real emotions of the actor and dancers in the video.

After filming, we used the apple mac laptop for editing, this technology was important in being able to edit, cut and add special effects. The apple mac allowed us to upload the music to be able to play alone with the scenes we had film, this helped greatly whilst trying to get the timing with the lip singing. Also, it enabled us to add special effects such as slow motion which was vital in getting that link between the music and the visuals in our video as fast cuts would not have been in time with the beat. An issue we also solved in i movie maker the programme on the mac was that we could put a stabiliser on all the shots to stop them looking shaky which was a feature pointed out when being reviewed.

Also involving the internet, we were able to access sites such as "moonfruit" in which we could make our own website for free. "Moon fruit" allowed us to add images, backgrounds, links, text and much more into a specific design that would link our website, music video and album cover all together. Without a website our target audience could not access information about the band and therefore consumption may be smaller, sites such as "Moonfruit" allowed us to create a website of our choice.

Involving the album cover and digipak we also used the Apple Mac and a design programme "IPhoto" to create what would suit our music video and website. The laptop enabled us to alter any text and images to the size or colour we wanted for example we took still pictures of the female and horse for our album cover background however the colours were slightly too dull and would not stand out in a store. Therefore we changed the contrast, brightness, tone, sharpness and more to create an image more appropriate for consumption.

Finally, other digital websites such as Facebook, Youtube and Yahoo helped us whilst we did our evaluation. Sites such as these allow us to post out music video for everyone who's a member to see. Therefore our music video attracted an audience and feedback. They all have a place that allows reviews and comments. Yahoo is effective as it allows us as the creaters to post a question and a very wide audience can view this. This is important in our evaluation as feedback was a way to fine tune and add anything that our target audience would want to see.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback has played a vital role in constructing our music video, from the feedback we have might slight changes but also made important decisions to what will make our video popular for consumers.

The first audience feedback we received was our first stage in development. We went into several classes at school and also to many adult working places and played the song of our choice. We asked for feedback through a questionnaire on type of music and the most popular was indie therefore thats how we decided to stick with the song choice. Also what thoughts and ideas came into the listeners head when we played the song gave us some go

od ideas of imagery and emotions we needed to portray in music video. Many ideas the focus groups put together were very similar which made our job easier in providing a music video to their liking. Therefore we got inspiration for costume not just from other real product music videos but also suggestions such as dark, grey, brown colour scheme from our questionnaire audience. Adding to this, ideas of setting came from suggestions from the questionnaire participants "scenic background" was a thought that came up several times, hence why we based our setting on a farm with the beautiful fields and open space.

As we moved on with our production, through the stages of editing we kept showing our music video to our class mates and the other media groups in the year. The feedback we got was that the shots were not "stable" enough and too "shaky" therefore we filmed some of the specific shots again and to be more precise added a stabilizer on the entire

video. Furthermore, we received feedback that there were not enough type of shots, there needed to be extra features that added to the concept we were trying to portray, this was therefore where the symbolic shots of the ring, leaves, burning letters in the fire came from.

Finally when we were happy with our final music video product we published it on firstly the social network site Facebook to receive feedback from the general public. As most of the people that commented were in the age we were targeting we received mostly positive feedback as the conventions we used we purposely aimed at that age. Therefore we l

earned that we used these conventions effectively as the audience we targeted enjoyed the video.

We posted our music video on youtube where we got some positive feedback and some negative. Again positive comments on the overall look of the video " i like the close ups on the dancing" and " my favourite bit is when the horse is running" people thought this went well with the sound of the song. However we did receive some negative " although im not sure why its in a barn". From this feedback i have learned that the concept of our ideas could be made clearer the fact it is in a barn depicts a 'prison' or somewhere one could feel 'trapped'. This is where the dance routine will be shot and will help to symbolise the women in the failed relationship before the break up as it is suggested t

hrough the lyrics that she was trapped, "Do the things you always wanted to, without me there to hold you back, don't think just do...". Therefore as it is aimed a younger audience maybe we could have made the connotations of what we were trying to portray more clear. However, overall i think the majority of our target audience understood and could relate to the issues in the music video.

Last of all we had feedback from one of the small target group audience members. This was comments from a woman slightly the target audience age we were aiming at. However we received positive feedback and she showed a great understanding of our concept and the ideas we were trying to create in our music video. Therefore we have learned that there are features that although we aimed at a younger audience that slightly outside of the age range may understand clearer and therefore if we were to do it again maybe open up the target audience range and research into the features they would like to see in a music video, this would open up a wider range of consumers.

Feedback from one of the small group.

‘I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video. The theme was clearly evident throughout and the choice of the two locations successfully represented the emotional turmoil of the characters.

The open space suggested a longing for freedom, whilst the enclosed, gray, dance space gave the illusion of being trapped. The tethered horse used in the first frame suggested being trapped whilst the free horse running used later in the video symbolised the need to break free.

The choice of a dark, miserable, rainy day for filming also helps to symbolise the breakdown of the relationship as the raindrops, which symbolised tears shed.

I suggest that you could perhaps include a few additional close up artistic shots to reiterate and emphasise the symbols that you have already used.’

In what ways does your media product develop or challenge forms or conventions of real media products?

The music video our group created both develops and challenges certain forms and conventions that are used in the real life media market today. We researched conventions of other effective music videos with the same genre, Snow Patrol videos and several media theorists to see the techniques all the successful bands use. Adding to this we researched into target audiences for the indie genre of music and what they would expect and like to see in a video like ours, it was important that we used conventions of real products that would appeal to our target audience.

Goodwin's theory states that there are 6 key features when creating an effective music video and after analyzing Beyonce and Jay-z's Deja vu are real media product enabled me to spot these conventions and therefore apply them to our own video.

1 - There is a clear connection between the lyrics and the visuals in our music video as Goodwin's theory states there should be in real media products. For example we made a link connecting the dance moves to the words " in my head" as shown in the picture below. Adding to this, the mise-en-scene in the video portrays the link of the visuals and lyrics such as the clothes the actors wear. Both the females and male actor wear black outfits, the females represent the "male gaze" theory wearing lace, skirts and fairly bold make up which was inspired from real media products such as "hurts". Also the male clothing in black they both represent the meaning of the lyrics being unhappy as black portrays sad emotions. Adding to this, the background of the dancers is a dull grey setting which yet again these are representative of the emotions the lyrics imply. Furthermore the relationship between the specific lexis in the song and the main actor miming the words is a clear connection as whilst he is lip sinking you the audience can clearly see the emotions he is trying to portray of sadness which is what the words are about.

2 - There is a relationship between the music and the visuals as we have amplified this through the style of dance "contemporary" is symbolic of the the music as "you could be happy, i don't know" they are very sad and emotional words therefore are synonymous with the slow, flowing dance moves. In terms of the editing and cuts there is a connection with the visuals as the cuts are scenes are fairly long and the cuts are slow to go with the rhythm of the song, also there are several scenes in slow motion which when analysing the real product of the "baby bird" music video they used a lot of slow motion to create a dramatic tension and really portray the sadness of the song.

3 - Our music video also contained what Goodwin states at genre specific features, therefore when researching the indie genre we tried to pick certain factors that could be put in our video. For example in terms of indie music videos a common factor was that the main singer would perform and lip sing the words to the song in particular in the "Snow Patrol" videos. Therefore we decided to find a professional actor that could to do effectively and still portray the emotions of the song. Also, when researching the indie "style" there was a common theme of dark colours grey, black therefore in our video we made the outfits of the actor and dancers and the setting synonymous with this theme.

4 - Another feature that is common in real music video products is that there are several shots of the band that conform to the demands of the record label for example many close ups to present a certain image of the band. Therefore in our music video we added many close ups, extreme close ups and full body establishing shots so that the target audience could see the whole image of the actor and dancers in the video. Both of the dancers in our video are seen as "attractive" with the feminine outfits they wear and one stereotypically conforming to the rules of an "attractive female" with long blonde hair linked the "male gaze" theory which is a feature that may be appealing to a young target audience which is what we were aiming for. This also can be applied with the male actor we used stereotypically tall, dark and wearing a smart suit may be attractive to a female audience. These features I spotted in partiucular in the "JLS" and "Beyonce" video i anaylsed.

5 -Yet again a rule that Goodwin applies to music videos is the emphasis on "looking" for example the "male gaze" theory to attract a male audience and the "reverse male gaze" to attract a female audience. This most often means a voyeuristic view of, and an objectification, of women. The emphasis on looking also includes the artist looking directly into the camera. This helps the audience connect with the artist, we applied this with Ben the main actor and this was a feature i noticed in all the real products of music videos i analysed. Although we conformed to this feature we also went against it with the female actor, we wanted to try and convey the woman through the horse. A horse is known as a beautiful and gracious creature much like a woman Firstly we planned on showing the horse tethered, symbolising the restrictions the man has put on her. The horse running free symbolises her newfound freedom. Therefore the beauty was shown in a different way than being revealing and provocative.

6 - In our particular music video it does not conform to the feature in Goodwin's theory that says its common to reference other forms of media, for example if a music video contained a mobile phone, or newspaper. However when anaylsing the indie genre music videos this was not a feature that was applied often, in fact in none of the videos i researched into. Therefore as we could not create a link between this, the visuals or lyrics we didn't feel the need to involve this in our music video.

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

The main feature that linked our main product (music video) to the ancillary texts (website and digipak/album cover) was the imagery and visual links. We used the images of a horse and a girl because they are a main part of our music video. The images on all the Snow Patrol Covers are not of the actual band, they are all concept images with meanings behind them, both simple but effective. When researching the meanings of some of the images they tended to lean towards strong emotions such as "love" "freedom" "loss of loved one" they all had touching meanings that were deep and expressive. As the pictures are an important factor in our music video, we chose to display two variations of the same theme, on the front and back of the digipak cover and then on the website also. On the website we used the same theme on all three of the platforms to reiterate a connection between all three of our media products. As our imagery contained several colours, was a fairly detailed picture and had such a strong symbolism and meaning we decided that this was a stand out feature from our design. The idea is that through seeing the music video on television on mainstream channels such as MTV therefore we used this as the main piece that our target audience and consumers would be able to recognize as a key linking feature between our music video, website and digipak/album cover. Where the music video will target new fans as well as loyal fans, the reason behind the website containing the image of the horse are to promote the new album to already existing fans in case they miss the music video and simply investigate the website.

Another connection associated with our three final products was the colours used. This was also a visual link. The colours that appeared throughout the music video were quite fair but warming colours. Therefore whilst designing a common feature that would link our ancillary products we used browny, beige and more darker colours which also portrays the theme of the song deep emotions. When creating these colours for the pictures we used it was done using IPhoto on the Apple Mac changing the contrast, brightness and saturation of the chosen image. This consistent colour theme in both the digipack, website and music video although being a minor feature may instantly relate all of our final products together when viewed by the audience and consumers.

Adding to this what made the combination of our music video and ancillary texts effective was the research that went into all of them. For each one we looked into previous album covers, digipaks, websites and videos from similar bands from the indie genre. Without analyzing Snow Patrol's version of each of our final products we would have not found out what aspects made their products successful. We took details from design, layout, colour schemes, text, costumes, performance features from both their video, digipak/album cover and website and adapted them to suit our on ideas, then interlinked them with each other to produce a consistent theme that our consumers would recognize as our products.