Final Music Video

Digipak

Like the album cover Cheryl Cole 3 words, my cover uses the black and white colour scheme with a splash of red, it uses a  feminine font, a medium close up shot with direct eye contacts with the viewer, it also has a vintage feel. 

Album Poster

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

I made this table to show my progress in the technology used throughout the 2 years studying media. You can see that my skill base and the range of use of technology and software has increased and the confidence with the skills and technology used in the first year has grown.

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

Theory within my ancillary texts and music video-

Representation theory-

Richard dyers Star theory

We relate to the star because they have a feature that we admire or share with them. This develops from an admiration into an idolization. Some people may attempt to replicate what they like about the star. Pop stars often have a persona so people can relate to them, it also helps if they have a USP so an audience can copy off them and create an ideology based on the stars. Stars are made and groomed to meet the expectations of an audience, we can link to Mulveys theory of the male gaze as being a star comes with expectations and one of these expectations is to be looked at as a desirable person.  A pop star is an ‘image’ presented to an audience. The artist made in my video is a good example of this theory I thought Molly would be good to star in my video because she looks good and looks likes the 'ideal' girl, to be a role model for girls and fans. I constructed Molly, telling her how to have her hair and what to wear creating an image and character that will see and appeal to the mass audience.

Genre theory-

Jason Mittell(2001) argues that genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, audience, and cultural practices as well. In short, industries use genre to sell products to audiences. Media producers use familiar codes and conventions that very often make cultural references to their audience knowledge of society, other texts. Genre also allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to fulfil a particular pleasure. Through the link in genre between my ancillary texts an audience will be able to look at my ancillary texts and decide or not weather they are going to like my album or my music video or vise versa due to past interactions with that genre. Because the theory also states  that Generic Characteristics across all texts share similar elements of the below depending on the medium for example typical Mise-en-scène/Visual style (iconography, props, set design, lighting, temporal and geographic location, costume, shot types, camera angles, special effects).

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Through out my media project audience feedback was a vital element. To understand what they like, what they don't, because the audience are the ones that will watch the video and interact with the products.  I obtained audience feedback at 3 different stages research before, planning the video/ starting filming and after as part of the evaluation. The audience feedback really helped me on knowing what will work and weather my ideas were good and who my target audience are.

For the audience feedback for my evaluation I went to social media as I found that my target audience exploit social media. Social media is also a casual way off communication that will allow the audience to be honest and combatable when giving the feedback. I also used a survey to receive feedback using getfeedback.com. I think using a survey is good because anyone can answer and they can answer anonymously, so that they are not afraid to tell the truth.
As a part of my evaluation I wanted to get feedback on my final/completed video, to see weather it was successful or not. And to see what my target audience thinks of my video.
As a part of my planning and research I made a questionnaire, and asked for feedback on the idea of my video, I have posted the results of my blog, and these results were very helpful and informative to me. It let me know where to post my video, MTV, YouTube/ Vevo what my target audience would like to see in a music video combination of narrative and performance and why they watch music videos, for reasons such as entertainment and to get to know the artist. I also got advice reassurance and confidence from the audience research.

From the feedback I received, the reactions were mainly positive, e.g achieving 3.67 stars out of 5 and the collection of good comments. The shots of New York work the best and are popular with the viewers. Also people seemed to like how my video used a wide range of camera shots, angles and framing.

 

During the filming/ planning I needed to make sure people liked the sound of my idea, I also wanted to find out weather my video should include a voice over or not. Therefore I asked a range of people of different ages and genders giving them my video idea, story, theme and the idea of a voice over. I used social media to ask people for feedback because lots of people use it and it is easy to use.

 

This feedback reassured me that my idea will work for the song and helped me to decide weather or not to use the voice over. I went with the majority vote which was to use the voice over.

 

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

Following conventions- 

Lip syncing- 

Almost every successful music video includes lip syncing, lip syncing is used in music videos to make it look as if the artist is singing the song there and then. It also adds the element of performance to a music video. I felt like it was essential to have lip syncing in my music video as it is a very common convention to make my music video look professional and to be successful.

Editing on the beat- 

In order for the video to match the song the video needs to fit within the beat and flow of the song. and that is something I had to learn in the editing process. When researching and looking at previous students music videos, you could easily tell when the editing didn't match the beat of the song as it very noticeable and unprofessional.

Range of Cinematography- 

In most music videos a wide range of camera framing, angles and movement are used to give the video variety, to keep in interesting and entertaining. Therefore in my video I made sure I used a wide range too. In my video I included:
Movement- Pans, tilts, zooms.
Framing- Close ups, medium close ups, establishing shots, P.O.V shots.
However my video is limited on the camera angles I have used, and if I were to do my music video again I would make sure to add more angles, for example high angle shots.

Mise-en-scene- 

Mise-en-scene is another essential part to a music video it helps create the representation of the artist and helps fit with the genre. The mise-en-scene looks at what the audience sees on camera, e.g the costume, make-up, acting, lighting, and character placement. In my video I wanted Molly to play an innocent vulnerable character, to make this believable I planned simple and minimal make-up, with straight hair and non revealing clothing. In a lot of music videos girls usually wear sexy, revealing clothing, so I'm going away from conventions there.  

Because my video is mainly performance based, lighting was important. Through out my video I only used artificial lighting because I found that it gave a better quality to the video it also it gave the look of bright lights on the stage. fitting with my narrative too. I also used lighting from the projector, so that I could project a video and image onto molly, so that it looks aesthetically pleasing and more entertaining and interesting.

Narrative and performance- 

A music video can either be performance based, narrative, abstract/ style over substance or a combination of the features. With the song I chose performance and narrative were the best fit in the video. However performance was the main feature of my video, while still telling a story, because my narrative and the song lyrics were based on Molly wanting to be a dancer, dance was a major part of the video. Also from my research and love of music videos I have noticed that performance based music videos are very common and are very effective and successful, Beyonce uses performance in the majority of her music videos. 

Developing Conventions- 

Media Theory- 

Most music video contains some sort of media theory, and in the research process I came to understand theory is an important part of media and a music video, weather its audience, representation, narrative, convention or genre theory. When I was creating my music video I didn't create it with media theories in mind however, looking at my video after I have come to find that it contains some of the theories. Developing the conventions of music videos. 

A certain theory that applies to my own video is Narrative theory Sven Carlsson (1999) suggests that music videos fall into two rough groups: performance clips and conceptual clips. When a music video mostly shows an artist singing or dancing, it is a performance clip. When the clip shows something else during its duration, often with artistic ambitions, it is a conceptual clip. This is the case with my music video, where the majority of the clips are performance clips and the rest, conceptual clips.
Another part of narrative theory is Andrew Goodwin (1992) he argues that in music video, “narrative relations are highly complex” and meaning can be created from the individual audio-viewer’s musical personal musical taste to sophisticated intertextuality that uses multi discursive phenomena of Western culture. Many are dominated by pervious  references, film pastiche and reinforce the postmodern ‘re-use’ tradition. Viewers may take different interpretations from my music video due to their own different life experiences, and interaction with different past media texts. Also my video has been influenced by past media texts which is part of this media theory.

Uses and gratification (Audience theory)
The underlying idea behind the model is that people are motivated by a desire to fulfil, or gratify certain needs. So rather than asking how the media uses us, the model asks how we use the media. The model is broken down into four different needs.

-Surveillance

-Personal Identity

-Personal Relationships

-Diversion

My video links into 2 areas in particular, personal relationships and diversion.

Personal Relationships-

This section comes in two parts: Relationships with the Media, Using the Media Within Relationships.
We can form a relationship with the media, and also use the media to form a relationship with others.
Many people use the television as a form of companionship. This may seem sad, but think about how many times you've watched the TV on your own, or with other people but sitting in silence. The television is often quite an intimate experience, and by watching the same people on a regular basis we can often feel very close to them, as if we even know them. When presenters or characters in a soap die, those who have watched that person a lot often grieve for the character, as if they have lost a friend. This could be the case within my video, because an audience may feel close to Molly, as if they know her and want to succeed within the story of the video, so that when she gets the rejection letter from Julliard dance school, viewers may feel sorry and upset for her.
 
Diversion-
Diversion need describes what's commonly termed as escapism - watching the television so we can forget about our own lives and problems for a while and think about something else.
We watch music videos to take our mind off our every day lives, we want to distract our self from the problems we are experiencing. We want to see that people experience the same feelings as we do and want to forget about our own problems and focus on some one else's. Within my video Molly is facing her own problems of being rejected from her dream dance school in New York, the audience may be able to relate to this maybe they are trying to achieve something and have failed. Or maybe they cant relate but use the video to avoid their problems.

Media Language-
Every medium has its own ‘language’ – or combination of languages – that it uses to communicate meaning. Television, for example, uses verbal and written language as well as the languages of moving images and sound.
We call these ‘languages’ because they use familiar codes and conventions that are generally understood. Evaluating media language is an evaluation of all the micro elements and how they have created meaning to inform us about genre, narrative, representations/ ideology, targeting of audiences (through micro elements).
In my video I have used the elements editing, cinematography, mise-en-scene and sound to create signs to show ideology and messages. For example using the fade in transition in to the shot on New York represents Molly constantly dreaming of New York.
 

Challenging Conventions- 

Voice Over-

At the start of my video, I have used a voice over, a voice over is not a conventional feature of a video however they have been used in previous videos. 

In previous videos such as Rihanna 'we found love' and Taylor Swift 'I knew you were trouble' the voice over is used to explain the story and reasons behind the song and video. I think that the voice over gives a more personal feel to the song and video and helps us to understand them more, also helps us get to know the artist more on a personal level and we get to know their feelings and problems. 

I have used the voice over in my video in the same way as those videos and artists, to explain the message, narrative and to bring the viewers closer to the artist. I believe that the voice over helps my video and brings another level to the video and song. However not everybody agrees. 

Having a voice over was suggested to me one of my teachers as he needed help with understanding the narrative at first I was indecisive and because the use of a voice over is unconventional I had to collect audience feedback on the idea.
The audience feedback i carrier out helped me decide to include the voice over as the majority of the results stated that the voice would be a positive asset to my video. However others hated the idea due to the fact that it is an inconvenience and annoying, as alot of people watch the video to hear the song and feel like the voice over would get in the way and is not needed.

Using childhood videos-

In my music video I used childhood videos of Molly at a dance competition when she was 7 years old, it was my plan to use childhood videos in my video even though it isn't conventional, and it was lucky that Molly used to take part in lots of dance competitions and that they were filmed. Also that they let me borrow the videos and gave me permission to use them in my music video. The childhood video adds to the narrative and gives a personal level to the video. However home videos are usually used in documentaries or reality shows rather than music videos. They are used in Justin Bieber's 'never say never' because this was used to promote his documentary film about his life.

 Screenshots from my video next to existing videos-

 

Conventions within my ancillary texts