By Shakira Seraphin-Whyte

Evaluation

In this evaluation I will be talking about the way in myself and my two other team members worked together to produce a music video, and how I made my cd covers and advert. While doing so I will address four main questions:

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

I will address this by commenting on the way in which we researched our chosen genre and talking about the conventions and forms we wanted to challenge and keep the same. We wanted our video to be different but have some aspects of a typical grime music video.

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

This question I will address how all three of our products are synergetic, and how we created synergy between each product. I will also talk about where there was no synergy at all between some of our products.

Introduction

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I will talk about the way the audience influence your product and the fact that they are the main people we are trying to impress.

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

I will talk about in depth the way I done my planning, research and my evaluation and comment on the positive and negative things that happened.

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

Before making our video we researched a lot of music videos in the UK rap genre to see what the typical conventions were and how we would want to challenge or conform to them. We also thought about how we would market our video like where, how much we would sell it for, what promotion we would do for it, what could interest people. Other things like:

Our target audience are young urban people and those who can relate to the music and have an interest in UK rap.

We think our unique selling point is the realness of our artist, people who can relate to what he is saying, and the pictures shown.

We have chosen to create awareness via You Tube which is a good site to use to get people attention as it is a free way of promoting also the more your song is listened to on Youtube the more people become aware of your presents increasing the view you get. Websites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter are good ways to create awareness.

Marketing aims for video

I decided to take a different approach for the cd cover, I decided to research the different types of covers for different genres, for the advert I focused on UK rap music adverts.

I decided that our target audience should be the same, I also decided to keep the same places for creating awareness, I jus added HMV and iTunes. I felt that our unique selling point was our artist as he is different and the way in which we edited our pictures for him to be perceived.

Marketing aims for cd cover and advert

Song – Our artist’s song is not the typical UK rap song as he does not talk about girls, money and gang life.

The song has an uplifting beat which draws the audience in straight away, also he speaks about positive things, like us teenagers sticking together and helping one another. This factor definitely challenges the conventions of the UK rap genre as this is hardly seen.

The song seems to tell a story of life.

Video – We chose to have our video in black and white which is unconventional for this genre not many music videos do this.

We also did not have a colour scheme or dress code as we once again wanted to challenge conventions, we also wanted our artist and extras to feel comfortable ant not feel forced into wearing clothing that they may not have liked.

Challenging forms and conventions

Song – the song sticks to the same conventions as Point Blank (our artist) talks about the struggle of teenagers his age, and many UK rap song talk about their struggle and where they come from.

Video – There is no narrative for our video.

Location, being where the artist grew up, in this case it was Rayners Lane estate.

We also noticed that a typical convention for UK rap there are rapid cuts throughout the video so we tried to embody that.

Conventions that stayed the same

During the song our artist makes comments to “eyes going blurry” and “walk a mile in my pavement”; using final cut pro we added in some effects of the shot going blurry at that time. Also we done a straight cut to a pavement; we done this so that it reinforces what it is he is actually saying; and for people to listen to the lyrics as he is speaking about real life for some.

Techniques used to create meaning

For our advert and CD cover we wanted pictures that portrayed our artist as having some sort of status and respect. We also wanted to show that he had respect for his audience that is why we have no explicit pictures of him.

However in our video we didn’t want our artist to perceived as someone with a very high status, we jus wanted him to embody his lyrics and be humble.

CastingThe casting process was very simple, we let our artist choose some of his friends, and we done a final cut down of who we thought would look good in the video.

We chose these locations because we wanted to keep the typical conventions the same for example an artist filming their video in the area they grew up in. Also filming where they would have made the song, which is the studio, these two locations were ideal for this song as it was able to portray the message we wanted to send, which was that respect is key and that we should all work together not fight on another.

Location

Most music videos we watched tended to have the artist showing off what they could afford, we didn’t want that for our artist. We just wanted to show that you can have a good song and still look normal and be yourself and people will still like your music.

Our artist doesn’t have chains, big watches and tattoos, he chooses to be different which is a good thing.

We also did not make our extras dress in the same brand or colour scheme, we wanted everyone to feel comfortable with the way they was.

Costume

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

I personally think that our first day of filming was our most successful day as we were able to film a lot of footage from different angles and different shots. Our first filming day was in the studio, although we were all novices it was a very successful day, however there was a quick downfall after finishing filming we went to go and log and capture our footage to find that someone who had the camera before us had changed the settings and there was the battery life, filming time, date and time on the screen and it could not be adjusted; so we were forced to start filming from scratch.

After the loss of footage, from then on we had a shortage of footage as once we started filming again our artist was not as willing as he was on the first filming day, so we had to hurry up the filming process.

Set backs

We took a lot of pictures in the studio of Point Blank with headphones on, in front of the microphone, to give the effect that he was rapper in that moment and time. The shoots varied from close-ups to long shots.

We took some pictures in Rayners Lane most of these were long shots so that we could get the whole view of the area.

Photoshoot

Our video contains many shots that some videos wouldn’t exactly use. We have aspects of our video where the camera is shaky at times, also we have included scenes that would not necessary be used such as our artist an extras in a group talking, however we wanted to keep a real aspect to our video and make our artist be seen as a real persons. Our video is very different, the different aspects that we included have been put in on purpose and to make our video stand out as not being a typical UK Rap music video.

We have found two videos that seem to do the same thing we have done, and with these aspects it still looks good. One is in our genre and one is not showing that we are able to connect with other genres.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23z15VntlZc

This video by Scorcher is like ours as the camera seems to move a lot, also it tends to go in out of focus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIOXQp-YGpQ

This is R.E.M. what's the frequency kenneth.

Our music video

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I have learnt that audience feedback is very important, because without an audience an artist would not get anywhere. They are here to give negative and positive feedback and to support an artist. Getting audience feedback has taught me that people know what kind of music they want their favourite artist to sing, or how they want them to act, or what could make their career go in a better path.

Audience feedback is essential in everyway possible.

We randomly asked 10 students to watch our music video (at different times), this group of people were 16-19 they all differed in ethnic background. We asked this selection of people as that age group was our main target audience, we also went out of our target audience and asked adults of ages ranging from 30 -45.

Some commentsIt was an ok attempt. I like the Varity of shots and changing in colour of the jacket although

there is a lack of footage.

Good, Some of the clips could have

been smaller.

‘HARD’ although more extras

would make it better.

I like it! The song is good,

not your typical ‘grime’ song. I feel like I could be friends with

the artist.

Some clips are to long!

Very good editing

Its good, I couldn't do

better so I'm not going to

criticise.Really good, i like the use of black and

white.

Really liked it, positive song, not the usual UK grime vide; editing was

also good.

We knew our video wasn’t perfect but we thought it was good for a first try. Every person who’s opinion we asked all said it was good, however there were some bits in the video that stayed on one clip too long which caused them to lose focus at times.

With this feedback we chose to re-edit our video and make more cuts in our video so that our audience would not get bored, as we want them to be totally satisfied with the product .

I can watch it and not get bored

I liked the effect you used to split up some of the clips.

Better than before.

Much better, however you could have had more enthusiastic extras!

This is a good video!

I love the lyrics, video is very good.

Audience feedback after final changes to video.

Every person we asked thought that our video was much better having the addition of footage. This shows that the audience do know what they want and know what they are talking about.

Has the addition of footage made our video better?

1

YesNo

13 people said yes, some thought that as genres change over time having something different to represent a genre would be a good way of shoeing people that they are able to do anything they choose.

However 7 people said no, because we did not follow all conventions of this genre they felt we did not stay true to the genre, however we wanted to be different and make a difference to the genre.

Do you think our video is representative of the grime/uk rap genre?

UK rap genre

YesNo

80% of people said yes, as they could tell we worked hard to get the final product. Also the fact that it was our first video they thought it was very good.

15% said maybe.

5% said no because they thought our video did not have the complexity of the videos that show on MTV Base.

Do you think our music video would be suitable on music channels such as MTV base and Channel AKA?

2

YesNoMaybe

75% did agree.

25% Did not agree because they thought our shots were not sharp enough.

Do you think our video is technologically advanced?

Yes75%

No25%

4

3

Yes No

Would you watch our video again?

After seeing our video and Digipack how much would you pay for our CD pack?

Do you understand the song and video?

4

£1 - £3 £4 -£6£7 -£9 £10 -

£12

understanding

YesNo

I wanted this advert to be eye catching, so I made everything as bold as I could. I purposely put 2 pictures of him up so they could catch the audiences eye, and so they could notice him and remember him.

the name of the artist

showing where t download it from

Showing where to buy it from

Advert

I chose to have my advert black and red because I thought it would stand out

I got my audience feedback, everyone liked by advert as they commented on the fact that the boldness of the writing catches their eye. Also, some commented on the pictures being the same but different colours, this is once aspect that caught their eye.

However they commented on the fact that the itunes and hmv logo was so big, which took away some of the attention from the artist. So taking their feedback on board I change the size of the two logos.

Audience feed back on advert

With my front cover I wanted to keep it simple but have a nice background that stood out.

Scorchers cd cover was one I looked closely at as his cover seems simple however the background is very complex making it stand out more. Also the effect on the picture makes it stand out more.

This is something I wanted to do, have the background make the rest of the cover stand out more. I feel I done a successful job in doing so as all the details stand out and so does the picture of Point Blank. I put a poster edges effect on my picture so it didn’t jus look normal and blend in with the rest of the cover.

Front cover

Old front cover

This is what I was going to have as my front cover. As I was editing this my vision of what I wanted was changing so I decided to start again and see where other effects could take me. Also the kind of backgrounds that I want for my front cover did not go with the effect I had here, it looked very tacky and cheap.

As my CD cover is just for a single they both differ as Scorchers back cover has more songs filling up the page. Since I did not have songs to fill up a page I decided to use a picture that was big, close up and intriguing, as it would draw the audience in quicker.

I got good feedback on my digipack, people said that they liked the back ground of my front and back cover. They also made comments on the fact that in his pictures he looks like he is a powerful figure and that drew them in.

Back cover

I done research on the insides of cd albums and realised that they are mainly pictures, so I decided to keep mine very simple because I did not want to overwhelm each individual with too many effects. As this could make them not eve want to buy the product.

So I thought it was best to keep it simple and let the song and video “wow” the audience.

I have chosen not to edit the pictures as I wanted to show him as his is, for example being real, and showing the real him.

My target audience saw these insides, they said they liked them as individual pieces however, together they said the pictures differed too much as one was darker and one was very light. So this is something that I could work on to improve and understand what the audience want.

Two insides

I think the combination of my main text and ancillary text is very affective as they all link together and send the same message out to the audience. They will all grab an individuals attention, for the video it would be the lyrics and some of the edits. For the advert it will be the boldness of the text and the pictures. For the cd cover, back and insides it will be the pictures and effects used.

Our products work together as they target the same audience and create the same message, this shows that products that work together create a bigger impact, and more awareness.

There is some synergy between our video and my ancillary texts as the video has a message of respect, the picture on my album cover shows respect from the way he is standing and his confidence; they both are able to convey the same message.

Synergy has been created between my digipack and advert in many ways, as they had the same message that we wanted to give off.

I kept the font the same so that they could be intrigued by it in the same ways.

Colour scheme was the same that was black backgrounds with white or red writing. Red and black together creates a status, I think that red shows someone as powerful it also shows aggression and passion, those two things is a convention of UK rap music.

Synergy between main text and ancillary texts.

We showed our front cover and back cover to our target audience and asked them to choose which one they thought was better. They chose the bottom two, which are my ones. Some people said the top front cover and back cover, was confusing, they didn’t understand why they writing was over the face, and thought the colours suited a different genre rather than UK rap.

Mine on the other hand, they thought it was nice and simple with intriguing colours and pictures.

Comparing our digipacks

After getting feedback on the two insides, our target audience chose the top inside covers which were Nadines. Even though some made comments on the fact that they didn’t understand the point of the mic.

They said mine were too different, the colour contrast the off putting and it didn’t look like they went together at all.

After getting the feedback on the two insides I changed my inside as I did understand what the audience was saying about the colour contrast and that it looked to different.

This is what it now is:

Come the final analysis we only had each others (mine and Nadine’s) work to compare.

Our target audience chose the advert on the left.

Comparing our adverts

Channel AKA is a significant outlet not only for established artists, but also for those who are just starting out. Its material "includes crude productions shot with handheld digital video cameras,“ and helps new musicians attract attention and build a fan base. According to its website, "the aim of the channel was to highlight to the public, the raw and unsigned talent we have in the UK, and give them a platform from which they could perform," and it has been successful in this mission. Channel AKA is a channel new artists go to in order to get their first step in the music industry. This is why we have chosen this channel to marketing our artist as this is where his video would go first.

Music channels

MTV Base is a worldwide channel, once an artist has got on this channel, it is like they have made it. They are now able to do more things than they would have if they had stayed as an underground artist.

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

Before using any equipment we had to get booking forms from college so we could take out things like a camera, still camera, tripods, lights and batteries. We had to learn how to use these equipment's, like the proper way to put in and take out a tape. We used two cameras to capture different angles of the video,

We didn’t have any problems filming as the estate was not full with people, and when we was in the studio it was just us because we booked it.

To edit our video we had to use final cut pro this program is something none of us had used before, so there were many difficulties occurring such as, log and capturing our footage, trying to get the right footage captured was hard at times, but we were able to over come this. Another thing we found hard was syncing the music with the video this took time and effort, but after using final cut pro a couple of times you get use to it and understand how to use it and work it. When it came to effects used we realised that since we were at novice level, that if we started to investigate different effects to see which ones would suit our video, we might start getting somewhere. This is something we done and managed to know different effects and when to use them and when not to use them.

Technologies used to make the video

I used photoshop to make my cd cover and advert, I struggled a lot with indesign and chose to stick with photoshop. Even though I had forgotten how to use photoshop I felt it was much easier to use it, I felt more comfortable and confident using this. Indesign is a more complex program than photoshop so it would have taken me much long to learn how to use it.

After using photoshop more and more I started to feel more comfortable using it again, and it was easier for me to edit my pictures and add effects.

Technologies used to make cd cover and advert.

We had an artist, but he was very unreliable so we had to search for another one via facebook and myspace but we was unsuccessful with that; luckily we knew Point Blank already so we contacted him, asked him and he agreed to do the video shoot for us. Facebook was also used as myself and my team members had a lot of friends on facebook that make music and videos so we watched them to see what sort of things they do.

Blog spot enabled us to show how we done our planning, and how we understood the genre of music we were doing.

Technologies used to do research and planning.

Google helped us to produce our research, we were able to talk about topics in depth from the help of Google. We were also able to learn new things about our genre and artists in general.

Youtube helped us to research artist in the same genres and for us to understand and notice what the conventions were of the Grime/UK Rap genre. Youtube also helped us to watch different videos from different genres so we could understand what is not a conventional technique in Grime/UK rap genre, and maybe include these unconventional things in our video. Youtube helped our research take place as watching videos indicated to us what kind of marketing aims we needed and how we could attract the audience and what needed to be done.

After 3 days on youtube we were able to get 71 views and one comment, this is very good as it shows that people are acknowledging the work we have done.

After one day on facebook we were able to get good feedback.

Overall I think we worked well together, and I think we successfully achieved what we wanted to, which was to make a grime/UK rap video that would appeal to the chosen audience and get positive feedback on it. I feel that we conformed and challenged many conventions very well, making our video stand out and be seen as different. The planning process was long but it was needed in order for us to make a media product that we was pride of. While planning we had to understand what would be expected by the audience in this genre. In depth planning and teamwork was an important factor for us to start our video, I think we managed this process very well. Filming was not a problem, we done well filming and getting shots that we needed and wanted. Editing the video was stressful, as myself and my other team member had to learn how to use it, as the editor of our video was hardly here at times. Final cut pro was a challenge at first as we had never seen it or used it at all.

We managed to overcome all of our problems successfully, like having to find another artist, having a team member away for a long period of time, having to start filming all over again; we were still able to leave these things in the past and carry on making our video.

Working together as a team is very important, as we were able to stick to deadlines and work efficiently together as we knew each other well, and knew what each of our strengths and weaknesses were.

Overall, I personally think I done well making my digipack and advert, however there were many times where I had to start again or make changes to it because I wanted it to appeal to our target audience. Also having to learn how to use photoshop again was challenging as that took a lot of my time that was needed to complete the whole project. I think I researched digipacks and adverts very well, this gave me the understanding of what was needed for each piece. Also audience feedback made a big difference to my work as I was able to know what was wanted and expected, and give the audience what they wanted.

Conclusion