Evaluation

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

Looking back on the project and the codes and conventions identified from earlier posts, it is clear that I have adhered to the majority of these codes and conventions.

Music Video

• I have managed to follow a narrative genre of music video - with a clear storyline complete with the three act structure. The storyline begins with the main character being the only person in the film for around a minute, thus establishing him as the main character. The complicating Act 1 is when the beggar finds the newspaper article and realises that he can play poker with the money given to him earlier. Act 2 begins in the casino, and this moves steadily into the denouement where the beggar becomes rich and gives money to a new beggar, and so the cycle continues.
• From Propps theory, I have only included one character and this is the hero. The audience feel sorry for my main character (the beggar) which will cause the audience to feel empathy towards him and towards the video itself. When the beggar becomes rich and prospers in his new found wealth, the audience will feel happy for him and therefore there is a feel good factor about my video.
• As with Todorov's theory, my storyline has the same basic principles. The video starts in a calm, subdued fashion when the storyline moves into Act 2 of the three act structure. The ensues disequilibrium which then moves back into calm, equilibrium when the beggar wins. I have followed many of the key aspects in film making as my storyline follows suit with what has been researched before and what has been proven to be the best way of directing.
• The pace of the video itself fits in with the slight upbeat to the song. In some instances shots are started or ended with various beats so that the video fits in better. I have seen that quicker songs need quicker videos, and vice versa. When searching for a song to do I was looking for a slightly uptempo song and this has certainly delivered. The pace of the song is relevant to the pace of the video and the shots used. I would say, however, that one or two shots were left too long and therefore this took away some of the quick editing used, however on the whole the video gave the impression of something fast paced and action packed.
• Due to Act 2 of the three act structure, the video had to be fast paced. I wanted this particular sequence to be exciting and to create suspense in it, and so by speeding up one or two shots and using quick shots and cuts, this has created a chaotic sequence which has added excitement when it was needed.
• The shots are edited together to ensure a good use of continuity. There is one point in the video where the use of a flashback is created, however this is easily viewable and recognisable as there is a transition and the effect 'Aged Film' is used. I have clearly distinguished this part from the present storyline as this will avoid confusion when the audience is watching my video.
• With the Young & Rubicam 'four consumer' theory, I feel that my music video is able to appeal with all four of these people; the Mainstreamers, the Aspirers, the Succeeders and the Reformers. If I were to categorise the video into one specific group, I would place it in the Aspirers category, mainly because of the story and the message behind the video; yet as I have already said I feel that it belongs within all four groups.
• As for the LifeMatrix theorem, I would say that my video fits into 3 of the 10 segments, these being the Fun/Atics (aspirational, fun-seeking, active young people - this group mainly because of the tempo of the song), Struggling Singles (high aspirations, low economic status) and the Free Birds (vital, active, altruistic seniors). The video missed the other 7 categories due to the different styles of life and the differing personalities which are found. Even with this in mind, there is no reason why my video cannot be viewed by these people, however each audience group will interpret the ideologies and messages in the video differently.

Front Cover

• Colour is used to good effect, with the four quadrants being used to create an eye-catching image. The quadrants each have a different, vibrant colour which certainly catches the general public's eye and therefore this has coincided with other album covers, particularly Marmaduke Duke's. The different colours seem to clash, and this is something which I thought of intentionally as this will create a greater awareness of the album; the cover will jump off the shelf or, at the very least, will catch the audience's eye.
• The artist name is larger than the album title. As I stated in earlier blog posts, this is because the consumer will be more aware of the artist rather than the name of the album. By writing the artist name in a larger font will thus draw the attention to this piece of text and will therefore make it more appealing to the public. The yellow text stands out from the green, blue, red and purple of the quadrants and, along with the Bevel and Emboss effect added to it, makes the text more obvious. The Bevel and Emboss effect adds depth to the otherwise flat image and so this is also something which the consumer will notice.
• Four separate images are used, and they all fit in together, all linking to take up the room of the cover. By linking, I mean they are all connecting, being that they are looking at one another and so continuity is created around the whole cover. The different effects placed on each of the images also adds something else to the images. I was looking for an Andy Warhol effect and so hopefully the consumer will associate the cover with this artist. The separately coloured hair and shoulders make the image stand out, much as it did with the Milburn cover, as the audience realise that these are not the usual colours for hair or shoulders.
• Continuity features on the front cover. The same character is used as was in the music video and so this would ensure that the audience associate this album cover with the music video, and this will hopefully increase awareness to the video as more people will remember what music goes with what cover. The same character also ensures that there is a recognisable face in amongst the covers and this, I believe, is important as the consumer can feel better for seeing someone they 'know'.

Inside faces

• Imagery used is relevant to the artist as the photos stem from the video and are a direct link between the two texts. This increases the continuity that is seen from the front cover. Even though these images will not be seen until the consumer has bought the album, the character is still the same to keep continuity throughout.
• As with other CDs that I analysed, they have kept the same colour scheme throughout. I have decided to change the general scheme for the inside pages as I felt that the colour scheme used on the front (red, green, blue and purple) became too repetitive and needed to be changed. I decided upon using a completely different idea, in fact the idea stemmed from one of my draft front covers. I realised that it was not worthy of front cover status and so I placed it inside the CD. Again, continuity is used as the image is taken from the front and then again from behind to create a 360 degree image.
• With the image on the left hand side, I have left space to the right of the character on the swing. In this space is information usually found in CDs, such as band members, record companies, websites and, perhaps not so often, an introduction and brief history of the band. I felt that this space needed filling up and so I included said facts. The text box was a faded black with opacity set to 65% so that the photo carries on but the text is readable.
• The images used are unique. The two photos have been differently manipulated; the left image having the background altered and the right image having the character modified. The background has become a slightly smudges affair, which relates to the messy nature of the hobo. The smudging effect has also been used because otherwise the image would have been fairly ordinary and nothing special, however the effect has created a different level to the image. The right image has the character in black and white. This represents a feeling of solemnity which is associated with beggars.

Back Cover

• Colour scheme continued with the four quadrants. The four quadrants have been kept, however they have been mirrored so that when flipped the colours are joining up with the front cover. This adds continuity which, as we have seen, is certainly important when designing an album cover. The colours remain as vibrant as they were on the front, and once more they are separated into four different sections, squeezing out all possible continuity aspects of the cover.
• Tracklisting is included. It is written in yellow and in the same font as the front cover, once more bringing continuity to the album. The tracklisting (9 songs) takes up one of the quadrants and so no space is wasted. There has been no effect placed on the tracklisting, and in hindsight this is possibly something which could have been added however I believe that the consumer is more interested in the front cover and so the tracklisting does not necessarily have to stand out.
• The use of rotation is a concept which I have used. The tracklisting has been repeated however instead of all being the same way round, I have used the quadrant dividers as mirrors to mirror the text written. This gives a strange look to the back, of which I have had mixed reviews. It fills up the space and adds a certain level of abstraction to my work and so this could be a benefit as the public may consider this a good thing.
• I have not included a barcode on the back as I feel that the majority of CDs nowadays are sold with a clingfilm packaging around them which will hold the barcode and price on. I feel that adding a barcode will add an unnecessary item which could upset the balance of the back cover.

Advert

• Information is readily available and understandable. This is important as the public will want information at their disposal. As I saw with other adverts, the information I used was relevant to the product advertising and I have seen this sort of information on all of the other adverts. I decided to use the idea from Depeche Mode where they included tour dates, as I feel that this is an important factor given that the public may be interested in this band's whereabouts. Other information used include tracklisting, when out and what formats the album is out on.
• Blocks of text relevant to each other are written in the same font and style. As we saw with the Yusuf album advert, text specific to each other is written in the same font so that the audience can associate each block to other blocks. This also gives the audience a feel of what the album will be like, as various fonts say a lot about what they are writing about. The use of a continuous font throughout the project ensures that whenever the consumer sees this particular font then they will immediately associate it with this album or band.
• The use of the album artwork features on the advert. The album artwork is featured on the advert to and extent that it is the main feature on the page. This ensures that even if the consumer forgets what the album is called, or who it is by, then they will recognise the artwork. This is also due to the continuity of the colour schemes and the imagery throughout. The album artwork takes up roughly one third of the space and so it is certainly a central figure.
• A black background and yellow writing is a sure fire way of getting noticed. The two colours merge together brilliantly to create a page which is easily read, however catched the eye of the public. This is the colour scheme which I decided to use for the advert. White writing has also been used to distinguish blocks of text from others on the page. It also adds something different to the page and stops it becoming too repetitive.
• All together the concepts behind the advert merge together to create an advert similar to those that I analysed earlier on in this project. The central image depicting the album artwork, clear and relevant information signposting important facts about the album and the use of text differentiating between the different information.

I feel I have not only used, but developed some codes and conventions analysed earlier. For example within the inside covers I have decided not to continue the colour scheme but instead to start from scratch and use two cleverly manipulated images.
I have stuck to the codes and conventions analysed earlier to a good standard. The use of the three act structure and other theories (Propp, Todorov etc.) have formulated together to create a music video to a high standard.
The use of imagery and colour schemes have been used to create a front and back cover which is eye catching and relevant to other media texts created in this project, thus promoting continuity.


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

My main product has been linked within the ancillary texts by means of the character used. The main focus point of the front cover and inside covers is that of the main character (the beggar) in the music video. This has created a continuous theme and something that when the consumer sees his face on the front of the CD case, they will immediately relate the CD to the video which will increase sales and awareness; two key aspects of promoting anything.

Hopefully the vibrant colours will make the audience think that the song is quite upbeat and high tempo as this is what effect was being created. The vibrant colours used will also cause the public to take a second glance and look closer into the CD as it is unlikely that other CD covers will be as colourful (with the exception of Marmaduke Duke). These colours are linked in with the advert as the album artwork has been incorporated into the advert for the album. The reason behind not using the colour scheme for the whole advert is because it would have been tedious to constantly change the text colouring to fit in with each individual colour. I also feel that the audience would not appreciate the constant colour changes when they are trying to find out important information regarding something they may want to purchase and so it could drive them away.

The magazine advert includes the CD cover and therefore the consumer does not have to wander into a shop to see the connection between the CD and the music video and therefore this increases publicity of the product.


What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From my audience feedback I have learnt that the general concept behind the video was a good idea, and the use of shots have been well executed. Some feedback has come back negative, stating that some shots were too long and needed to be cut down, however the majority of the feedback was good.
For the CD cover, one particular feedback was that the font was bland and unoriginal. For this to be altered, I would probably choose a slightly more vibrant colour and make it stand out more by using more effects. Personally, I felt that the font used was fine as it did the job of highlighting the band and album title, however this is why audience feedback is so vital.

The advert was said to be too basic. The colour scheme was too simple and this was picked up on. As much as I respect their opinions, I followed codes and conventions closely and I believe that the colour schemes resembled those of the magazine adverts analysed earlier on in the project, however if I were to change it I would take their advice and choose slightly less neutral colours than black, white and yellow.



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

Throughout the project I used a variety of softwares and media technologies. For the video, I used the new version of iMovie. This took some time to get used to due to the new version - I was used to using the older version and so I stuttered along for the first few sessions however I soon got to grips with the software.
For the actual filming part, I used a Panasonic SDR-S26 camera stabilised with a tripod. This camera also has a digital camera function and so I used this to take the photos for my CD. This was a good multi-function piece of technology as it cut down on things I had to remember and also it was simple to take a photo without worrying about the camera.

When filming the evaluation and showing how I did things, I used an application called ScreenFlow, which records the whole of the screen and audio from a third party. As with iMovie, this was new to me and so it took a while to get to grips with the concept behind it. I believe that this is a truly brilliant piece of kit as it is able to highlight exact areas which I needed to show you to evaluate my media texts. It has proved invaluable to my evaluation and analysis.

With all of these softwares and technologies being used, I believe that I have used all of them to a high standard and have shown a capability with all pieces of technology. I feel that my interaction with said technology has improved steadily throughout the project, as I have learnt the basics and more to use them, whilst also apprehending the use of shortcuts to save time. The use of the Internet also came into my project as, when I did not know how to use a certain function, certain search engines came to my aid.