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Music Video EvaluationSolko WeathermanEmilia Bradshaw

+In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My music video mostly challenges the conventions of real media products. Linking with theories given by Andrew Goodwin, a contemporary music video usually consists of a developed Star iconography, that is portrayed and repeated in the music video, and demand for lots of close ups of the main artists e.g. in a Lady Gaga video, we know what Lady Gaga roughly is going to look like and the styling before the video has even started. He also believes that in successful videos, there is a strong link between the lyrics and visuals, and the artists is generally singing about an image that is being shown on screen.

+My Music Video…

My music video consists of an actor miming the song whilst slowly being covered in paint, with no use of elaborate camera angles and editing. The only camera shot is a medium close up, and although this may seem to conform to Goodwin’s ideas of a contemporary music video, the person in the video isn’t from the band, or an established icon that the audience knows about. My video also contrasts with Goodwin’s theories of Star iconography in the way the video is styled. The main actor in the video is wearing a plain white shirt that blends in well with the backdrop and if the music were muted, there would be no clues in the video to guess the genre of song. Also, one of the main reasons artists have so many close ups is so that they can be used as thumbnail images on ‘YouTube’ to generate interest for the video, whereas my video gives no idea of the genre of the music.

+Ancillary Texts…

This is also similar with my print advert and Digipack in that you would be unsure of the genre and style if you saw it from a distance e.g. a dark picture of a group of men instantly makes you think of ‘rock’ music, whereas, a bright pink case with girly things on it would make you think ‘pop’ music. When you look at the Digipack all your given as an audience is the paint splat in the middle, which hopefully, would give the audience an idea of what’s in the video, and because I used to close ups of the band, it should draw people in to have a closer look. The print advert also gives you an incentive to find out more about the band, with the five star reviews a QR code at the bottom.

+How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? Because my ancillary texts were used to promote the

music video, I had to make sure the cover was eye-catching and interesting, whilst also having a link with my music video. I also had to make sure the genre of the music was generally clear from a distant to make people interested in looking at the product and something the audience could relate to the band after listening to the music. Both my Digipack and Print Advert had links towards the music video e.g. what it was going to be about, and incentives for the audience to find out more. I also wanted to have continuity between my main product and ancillary texts by not only just considering style and theme, but also text and imagery too.

+Digipack… The front cover of my Digipack is very simple, containing a small image

of a paint splatter with the band name ‘Solko’, written in bold letters above it. Because in my video, the background was white and the only additional colors were in the paint, I wanted to Digipack to be similar and kept a white background with all the color in the middle. The front of the Digipack didn’t contain any images of the band and had little information to make the audience want to find out more about the music. However, there was a lot of descriptive text inside of the Digipack and added extras that people could find out/have when they bought it.

+I wanted the splatted paint effect to relate to the video and give the audience an idea for what to expect in the video. The front cover of the digipack is simple but effective. The bright purple paint catches your interest from a distance and pulls you in for a closer look, which contrasts from other artists that usually use close ups of the artist to promote to album. The band name in the middle of the case makes the case symmetrical and neat, and the white lettering contrasting with the bright paint splat in the middle of the cover. I wanted to include some white areas around the paint splat to make the design noticeable and break up the color. Overall, I think that the design is eye-catching and simple.

+The middle page of the digipack also contained the same image from the front cover of the paint splatter. Usually in CD digipacks, the inside leaf next to the disk contains another image of the artist linking with the album to promote the star but I wanted something more personal. The inner leaf of my digipack contains a thank you from the band and information to find out more about them, including their influences and the release date of there album. I thought that using text instead of a picture would promote the band just as much would give a more personal feel, making the audience connect with the music, and make them want to find out more (when usually, something like looking on their website for release dates would have been overlooked).

+ The back cover of my digipack contains the same stylistic features from the rest of the digipack e.g. image and text. On the back cover I have listed the usual song titles, but also put In information about exclusive content that’s on the disk, such as album previews, and freebies that are included if the digipack was purchased. (I wanted to do this instead of pointing these features out e.g. on a sticker on the front cover, because if a person purchased the album then found the content, they would be more pleased with the overall purchase and want to find out more). I also included the name of the EP, which wasn’t included on the front cover, and other conventional things such as a barcode and record label logo, to make it seem more professional. Instead of using a record label that already existed, I decided to create my own for a personal touch.

+Print Advert My print advert was very similar to the front cover of my Digipack, in that it had a white background and only used the paint splatter in the center of the page. The print advert also contained the band logo, but had added extras such as reviews from magazines, website information and a QR code which readers could scan to easily find out more. The band name at the top of the advert is different to the one on the digipack, because I wanted a more bolder font to capture peoples attention. I used a lot of white space deliberately, because if it was in a magazine it would contrast from a page filled with writing next to it, causing people to read it. I also included reviews from music magazines to draw peoples interest and make them want to find out more about the band. Overall, the print ad is in keeping with the style of the digipack and together, they make two effective ancillary texts.

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Because I stated my digipack included extras, I wanted to create some designs that fit in with the style of the ancillary texts that an audience could relate to the album. These also can be used to promote the band, and because they are simple, are easily remembered. I chose to do a T-Shirt and guitar pick as I thought these were the most common and popular methods of merchandise and promotion to an artist. The T-shirt, like the ancillary texts, is white and contains a paint splatter with the band logo Solko in the middle, which I thought would be simple and eye-catching from a distance. The guitar pick in comparison, has no white and is completley covered with the paint splatter as it stands out and it different compared to most guitar picks which are just one block colour. It also contains the band logo in the middle for people to relate to and ask about.

+The combination…

I think the combination of my ancillary texts are very effective, as linking with my survey results, they make the readers want to find out more, and that the information for the band is easily accessible e.g. QR code on print advert. I also believe the simplistic design is effective and would draw people in, as in contrasts a lot from detailed CD cases you expect in high street stores such as HMV. The stylistic features used such as the imagery and text also help the audience decipher the type of genre and what the audience would expect in the video (the paint splatters obviously relate to the paint being poured over the man in my music video). Because it’s simple, it also makes it easy to read and find in a stack of CD’s.

+How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Research & Planning

When planning my video I took a lot of things into account such as the music genre, how the video would be percieved and the overall effect is would give the viewers. By planning the video on a storyboard it made it easier to split the video into sections and decide what I wanted to do. By doing this, I was able to fit the dropping of the paint with the pace of the music which overall, was very effective in the final music video. In the planning stages I also used social networking sites such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Myspace’ to research target audiences that would help me create moodboards to help me on the theme of my video.

Construction:

The technologies I used in the construction of my video, other than a camera, were the programs Adobe Premier Pro and Adobe After Effects. After filming the video, I spent a lot of time editing and changing areas which photoshop and aftereffects easily helped me do.

Evaluation

In the evaluation stages, sites such as Survey Monkey helped me create a survey so that audiences could give me feedback on my video that could help me develop and change it in later stages. It also helped me find out if my ancillary texts where as informative and eye-catching as I wanted them to be. Also, after I completed my video I was able to upload it to Youtube where it has received feedback comments and many views from the public.

+What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Through a survey, I have learned several things from my audience feedback that could help me improve and develop my music video. The questions related to the mise-en-scene of the video, the way it had been edited and if the audience enjoyed it or not. I also asked how my video contrasted with contemporary music videos and what I could do to improve it. I had positive feedback from the survey, such as the video was interesting to watch and didn’t divert from the music itself. However, people did state although the video was eye-catching they wouldn’t want to find out more about the band, and that the lip syncing and/or editing could have been better in the final cut. In conclusion, the feedback from the video would definitely help me in future or developing my music video, and overall the comments I received were positive and very helpful in analyzing my music video.

+Data Results

The results I received worked well towards analyzing my video because the majority who answered the survey were aged between 18-25 and listened too alternative music, who I believed to be the target audience for ‘Solkos’ genre and style of music. However, the results on the genre of music that people enjoyed varied a lot, giving the impression that the people who answered my survey had a varied and open music taste, which overall, would help give me open minded feedback for my video.

+ All of the people who answered the survey agreed that the style of the video matched the genre of the music, which was something that was important to me whilst making the video. The next question asking whether the audience enjoyed the video resulted in various results. Most people enjoyed the video in that it related with the song and that the video didn’t divert from the music, whereas others didn’t find it very interesting because, linking with later questions, they didn’t think it had enough going on, e.g. a specific storyline generic music videos have.

+Even though I tried to include things in the digipack and video to make the audience want to find out more about the band, over half of the survey answers stated that after looking at them, they wouldn’t want to find anything else out about the main artists, which if I was repeating the project, would be something I would definitely try to change.

I then asked the audience if they enjoyed the video which also received mixed responses. Some people enjoyed the video for it’s comical video, and the fact that the subject was just getting covered in paint. Another person stated in was creative and that the video was entertaining, inferring it was different from generic music videos. Another person stated that it was OK, and that it suited the music, but did not state why they were not keen on the overall video. Overall, I am glad that people enjoyed the video and found it funny in places but I would have liked to find out more about what they liked stylistically in a music video.

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All but one of my survey answers stated that they would recommend to a friend, which I found to be very good (not everyone is going to like a genre of music or a style of video).

When I asked what could be improved in the video the majority of the comments stated that the miming could be better which if I was repeating the video, we could do better by helping the subject more or practicing the lyrics more. Other people stated there should be more in the instrumental areas because they found the video a bit boring by itself.

+Band Talk and Feedback

I was in communication with the band ‘Solko’ for a while and even though they were originally meant to be in the video but couldn’t due to timing, they are very happy about the way it has turned out. Their feedback was that it was different from most videos but in a good way because it made the audience watch and wait to see what happens (whereas in most music videos you know that there is going to be a type of storyline relating to the song). Overall, I think the video was successful even though the band were not able to contribute because this way, I was able to focus on a different creative approach other than focusing on a certain way to portray the band image and style to an audience.

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I also found out a lot about the bands influences which helped me develop an idea of what we both wanted the overall video to look like.

+Conclusion

Overall, I am very happy with the way the video turned out and how it was received by the audience. My survey results have strongly helped me develop my ideas further and understand what I could do in future to capture and hold the interest of my audience whilst watching the video. In comparison with my work in AS, I feel that my work and media knowledge has progressed significantly from the Magazine project we completed last year. The magazine project and development of my skills in photoshop meant that I was able to produce effective ancillary texts, and learning how important it is through media to be consistent when you are creating a product. Looking back, I would have liked to have got more of an idea from the band and then audience how they wanted to be perceived and what to expect in the video. However, I feel that the video ended up to be very successful and effective, and really enjoyed the process if creating a music video.