Evaluation

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

Within our media product we researched the codes and conventions of both music videos and film genres which we felt was important to gain an understanding of what the audience would want to see within our music video. We researched current videos of the same genre which allowed us to find out the conventions which horror style videos use to entice their audiences. We studied a variety of narrative, concept and performance based music videos, which helped us to both gain an understanding of what is successful in these types of video, but also to decide what we wanted within our own music video. In comparison to the original music video of 'Wonderland' by Natalia Kills, we considered elements such as the low key lighting and the flashing imagery, as we felt that this was particularly successful in the original. We were also inspired by the costume and props within the original music video, as she uses the Alice in Wonderland/fairytale theme, using the tea party scene and Red Riding Hood costume, however she creates these in a much darker sense with the incorperation of drugs and many more sexual references, which we felt would be inappropriate in our own video. Another similarity between our media product and the original is that we used the idea of the white rabbit, which is also used in Natalia Kills' video. When watching the original we felt that the white rabbit clearly identified the Alice in Wonderland reference, and we wanted to achieve this in our own video, so we made use of our professional props in order to do this. When planning our video, we considered setting,  as Natalia Kills' video is set in an old building. Although we felt this was effective, we believed that we could reinforce the fairytale theme by creating a more fairytale setting. We looked at Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' film, and we were particularly interested in the tea party scene, as this is what we would be key within our own music video. We were inspired by the setting, as within this film the tea party is set in a misty forest. Realistically, we could not create a misty forest, however we liked how the forest could be associated with the fairytale theme. We also considered the layout of our tea party scene, looking at what was placed on and around the table in the film. We took inspiration from the props used in this scene, and used within our own video the cakes , tea pots and tea cups which again would identify our video with Alice in Wonderland. We also were inspired by the characters, again there was the March Hare in this scene and we used a March Hare mask within our own video. We were inspired by a variety of different music videos and films, as we also looked at horror films. We were particularly inspired by the lighting which was used in the films 'Orphan' and 'The Possession' which uses a variety of high key and low key lighting in scenes of tension, which is what we wanted to convey the tension 

expressed within the lyrics of our song. We felt that these images were a good inspiration for our video, and we took inspiration from such things as the blue lighting in the film 'Orphan' as we felt that the blue colouring gave a very eerie atmosphere which we wanted to convey in our music video. We were particularly inspired by the image of the 'orphan' smearing make up down her face. This was creepy and the look in her eye appears disturbing, as if she is staring at the audience, as if you shouldn't be there, which is something that we were keen to portray in our own video, the concept of voyeurism, as if you shouldn't be watching. We considered all of these aspects when planning our costume and props, in particular make up as we had the use of HD video cameras which would pick up on dark make up running down the face effectively. We looked extensively at the codes and conventions of other music videos and films that incorporated the horror genre when planning, which helped us to create a music video that was successful in the same way as the real media products. Another convention of music videos that we considered in our editing stage was editing. When studying these horror films, we noticed that the style of editing used in the films was invisible editing, where the cuts between shots seem almost invisible, the audience do not noticed each cut. Music video editing tends to be different, as many have random clips strung together into a sequence that tells a story, but not to the same preciseness as seen in film editing. We used montage editing in our video, as we had a variety of 'random' scenes that when edited together at a fast pace reflected the crazy atmosphere of the song. In our video we have the 'band' performing the song, which gives the impression that they are effected personally by the lyrics, as the band members are playing the roles of the emotional girl who's been broken by the end of her relationship. As all three members have a role in showing that they have been broken it conveys that everyone feels this way after a relationship breakdown, and that people who feel this way are not alone. Performance based music videos are common when a song has strong meaning, as it shows that the artist can personally relate to the song that they are singing, which I feel we achieved successfully in our video. Another convention that we considered was how the editing can reflect the atmosphere of the situation. In both film and music videos the editing reflects the atmosphere and tone, and so when editing our own video we made sure to speed up our editing as the song reaches it's climax, building up tension in the same way that horror films use editing to build tension. When planning our video, we were inspired by a variety of different music videos and horror genre films, and by considering their codes and conventions we were able to use this successfully in order to create our own video to the same standard.

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

We felt that our main product and ancillary texts worked effectively together because there were many common features between them. We began by planning and creating our music video, and we included a variety of references to Alice in Wonderland, as this linked well to the lyrics. With the use of professional costume and props we created a successful image of the Alice in Wonderland theme within our music video, and this then helped us when we moved on to create our ancillary texts. We were able to take images from our music video and incorporate them into both the CD covers and the magazine advert. Our CD cover used a silhouette on the front and back covers which was relevant to the Alice in Wonderland, as it was a silhouette of Alice herself and the white rabbit. By doing this, audiences would immediately be able to associate the images with the well known fairytale. We felt that the silhouettes would need more depth as they appeared quite flat on the covers, and therefore we used Photoshop to incorperate images from our music video into the dark silhouettes. This was effective because in our music video we used dark lighting in many of the scenes, and therefore we were able to keep the silhouettes dark by using these images, reinforcing the concept of how dark the fairytale can become where there is no happy ending. We decided that within our magazine advert we wanted to also use some sort of dark element as it was common within both the music video and the CD covers. We began  by creating a collaboration of dark images into a shadowy background, however we did not feel that this successfully combined with the CD cover, so by incorperating the CD cover onto the magazine advert we again created a successful visual link between all three products. Another element that we incorperated into the music video, the CD cover and the magazine advert was the use of red text. We used red text in our music video which flashed onto the screen with meaningful words to the lyrics, which emphasised the nightmare style of our video. We used the colour red as it conveys passion and danger, which is a message which is clear within our video. We then used red text on both the CD cover and the magazine advert. This not only indicates a clear link between all of our products, but also the use of red on certain words on the CD cover and magazine emphasises their meaning. The artist's name, Natalia Kills, is a good example of this. We used the name 'Kills' in the colour red, which conveys a message of danger, and is a clear link between all three of our products.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In order to gain an understanding of how our target audience would react to our music video, we asked our peers to watch our music video and answer questions that we had composed, as we wanted to find out what they thought. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3yEcjN7hDM

(We have attempted to upload our video onto our blogs, however it appears that we cannot upload more than one from the same account)

It was important for us to ask people who fit the demographic of our target audience, as when we viewed it we were aware of everything that we had included intentionally, which to our target audience would have viewed as subtle changes. It is very difficult for us to view our own work objectively, as within the editing process we were very aware of codes and conventions that we have used, and how everything that we did had a meaning. Therefore, asking people from our target audience to evaluate our work as an objective audience is very important in order for us to gain an understanding of the message they interpret from our video. It is easy for us to watch our own music video and remember the thought process behind the planning, storyboard, filming and editing, however the audience were not present in the development of our project, and we must establish that they are interpreting the message within the video in the way we intended. Asking our target audience questions about our music video was also a good way of us understanding aspects that they have picked up on which we may have missed. An example of this is when Naomi states that the overall atmosphere in the music video is sad, especially towards the end of our video, which is conveyed well with the use of make up and low key lighting. When planning and developing our music video, we were keen to portray an angry atmosphere towards the end, as we wanted to show the female characters anger at the break down of her relationship. We felt we had achieved this due to the smudged make up and fast pace editing, so it was interesting to hear this interpretation of it being portrayed more as a saddening atmosphere. Overall we found that this stage of our audience feedback enlightening, as we discovered that our audience may interpret our music video in a different way to us.

As well as interviewing our target audience, we were able to gain some audience feedback from our class pitch which we did in our planning stage. This enabled us to finalise ideas which the audience thought would be successful, which was also useful for us in terms of audience feedback.

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

Digital technology has played a vital role in my Advanced Portfolio, as my digital technology skills vastly improved which allowed me to create a successful final music video. Within my Foundation Portfolio piece I used basic digital technology in iMovie, however when I moved on to create my Advanced Portfolio I progressed onto using Adobe Premiere Pro to edit my music video. Premiere Pro had a much more developed form of editing, as you could cut shots very precisely, to the millisecond which was much more accurate than when editing on iMovie. I also found that editing aspects such as colour and speed were much more successful when on Premiere Pro, as I could simply adjust the colour balance which I felt successfully enhanced the colours without creating a gaudy colour scheme. Using Premiere Pro allowed me to adjust speed easily, and overall I found that it was a much more successful form of editing in comparison to iMovie. I was able to continue experimenting with my digital technology, by using Adobe Photoshop to create our Digi Pak. Taking inspiration from our music video, I looked at bright colours and theme to create our Digi Pak. I was able to experiment with Adobe Photoshop much more in this project when creating the Digi Pak, successfully matching the colours and images with our video to keep the promotional pieces relevant to the video. In my AS portfolio, my research and planning for my short film opening outcome was produced and presented on Microsoft Powerpoint. Although this was useful for presenting information, as I could rearrange the order of slides to create a more free flowing presentation, the slide sizes limited the information, which made my work more basic and spread over a number of slides, which soon became confusing. In my A2 portfolio, we progressed to using www.blogger.co.uk. Using a blog format meant that we had easy access to our peers work as we were working in groups, and we could exchange ideas and information much easier. It meant that I could access my work from all computers rather than having to save my work to various places in order to access my current work, and also that I wasn’t running the risk of losing it via computer failure. Another improvement we made when progressing from our AS portfolio to our A2 portfolio was the actual technology we used when filming. In our AS portfolio, we had access to video cameras supplied by the school, however when editing the footage on iMovie I found that some of the shots appeared grainy from where the camera had been zoomed in, however the quality was not particularly clear. In A2, we had access to High Definition cameras which improved the quality when editing greatly. The HD cameras made a huge difference, as we were able to capture much more detail, such as hair and make up which beforehand seemed to be lost within the grainy texture on the screen. This year, we had access to much more advanced technology, and I feel that this had benefited me greatly within this project.

Music Video

This is our completed music video which we created after much consideration about genre and theme, and we feel that our video is very successful. We used costume and props from our school's production of 'Alice in Wonderland' and this meant that our video appeared professional and was effective with the use of the rabbit heads and the masks. We continually concentrated on presentation throughout both the filming and editing stages, using our research into current products to help us gain an understanding of codes and conventions that would be applicable to our music video genre. We are very pleased with our final product, and feel that it is a successful music video, as we have portrayed the message within the lyrics well and have understood the horror aspect and included it in a successful way. In order to understand what our target audience's opinion of our music video is, we have composed questions to ask when we evaluate our project. Aspects that we considered were location, where certain locations, like the bedroom, are very personal places. This emphasises the concept of voyeurism, as if the audience are watching the girl in a very personal situation. The concept of being trapped has also come across well, as we used to concept of the bars on the bed and being trapped and screaming under water as clear visuals that the character feels trapped. Overall we are very pleased with our music video and we feel that it strongly conveys the horror theme that we wished to convey alongside the lyrics.

Creating a magazine advert

Having created the digi-pak CD cover, we then went about creating the magazine advertisement. With the CD cover, we had chosen to give an authentic atmosphere with the use of silhouettes and a parchment background, however with our magazine advert we wanted to give a slightly more eerie appearance, and to visually create a clear link between the advert and the music video. I felt that a black background would create the eerie atmosphere, and would fit with the idea of hidden shadows that is consistent within our video. On Photoshop, I used the blend tool and faded images from the music video into the black background, which again emphasised the the concept of hiding in the shadows. After discussion, we felt that using the colour red on the name 'Kills' should be consistent in all of our advertising (as we used it on our CD cover). This both emphasises the horror genre of our music video, and also that 'Kills' is a word that is closely linked to danger, blood terror, all of which would be represented by the colour red.


However, we felt that this was not consistent with our CD cover, and did not have a strong enough link between the two, so as a group we began to re-evaluate our magazine advert. At first we started to play around with our original and tried to develop it to make it link more to our CD cover, and we resulted in examples such as this, however we all decided that it would be best to make a fresh start and take inspiration from our CD cover as again this was not clearly identified as advertising our CD cover as a product.

We began again, firstly considering what it was that we liked about our CD cover. We all liked the idea of the quotes in the background of our CD cover, and so thought that this would also look effective on our magazine advert too, which would create a clear link between the two promotional pieces. Also, having looked at some more example adverts, I felt that many of them actually included the CD front cover, as that is what it is promoting. I therefore suggested that we include the CD cover on the magazine advert. We created an advert which included the CD front cover on a black background with quotations from Alice in Wonderland on the black background. We also included star ratings as we had seen these on many magazine adverts, which made our advert look both professional and also the high rating marks made the product more desirable. However, Lily felt that there was still something missing, and had really liked the faded images and figures within our previous magazine adverts, so we experimented with putting some of the images from our music video into the background. We all liked this, and this created our final magazine advert, which we all thought was successful in promoting our CD.

Creating the digi-pak CD cover

Having planned how we wanted our digi-pak to look, I went about using Adobe Photoshop to create the CD Cover and Magazine Advert used to promote our music video.

CD Covers:

For our CD covers, we wanted to use the authenticity of the Alice in Wonderland story to create interesting and intriguing images that would strongly advertise our music video and the album release. I really wanted a clear indication that the song 'Wonderland' was based on Alice in Wonderland, and so first began looking at a silhouette of Alice to be central to the cover, as it is an image that is well recognised and will immediately create a visual linked to Wonderland.

I took images from our footage and from our planning photos, and edited them to fit into our silhouettes. We felt that it would be important to keep the promotional pieces in the digi-pak consistent with the content in our music video, so that visually they would match, but we also wanted an authentic and slightly rustic look to link to the Alice in Wonderland theme, which is obviously an old story which we have twisted to create our music video. We did this by using a parchment paper style background, and also by using silhouettes, commonly known as quite an oldfashioned style of portrait. By filling the silhouettes with images taken from the characters and scenes in our music video, it both creates a visual link, but also it makes the silhouettes intriguing and creates and eeriness to the familiar images and a new depth to the usually flat silhouettes.

We then began looking at the inside of the CD cover. I wanted to create an unusual inside cover, and used images from our music video which I then layered into each other, to create an image of the rabbits face inside Lily's face. I thought this was effective, as it portrays a message of things may not always be what they seem and that there may be something hidden inside you. We decided that we would use a simple rabbit face to go behind the CD. Again, it represents that things can be hidden, as the rabbit's face would be hidden behind the CD until it is taken out.

This is the complete CD cover pack which we created for our album that compliments our music video for the single 'Wonderland'. We included relevant quotes from Alice in Wonderland in the background of our CD covers, which I feel is particularly effective. I think it works well as it enhances the concept of the old fashioned parchment paper background, but also creates a direct link to the original Alice in Wonderland story, and shows the slightly twisted side to the story, which is what we portray in our music video, again creating a successful visual linking to our video.

Planning the digi-pak and advert

Existing digi-pak's and adverts:


CD Cover:

Here are some existing CD covers, which look at the codes and conventions of the genre of the artist/album to create successful album artwork. They take inspiration from the style of music the artists make, and create fitting CD covers. These are just some ideas to help us plan our own digi-pak. Taking notes from these examples, we now know to include such things as song listing and strong powerful imagery to make our CD cover eye catching. Also, we will now include imagery on the inside of our cover to stay consistent with the cover.


Advert: These are some examples of existing magazine adverts which are advertising artists and their music. Having looked at these, we were able to consider what would look good on our magazine advert, and how we could create an advert that stands out and is clearly recognisable as our 'Wonderland' track. They are consistent with their genre, and both have large imagery that stands out, and would catch the audience's eye.


Our plans:

We had to create a digi-pak to compliment our music video, which would include a magazine advert advertising the track, and a CD cover set. To begin planning this, we looked at the progress of our music video, and decided that to create a successful and consistent digi-pak it would be a good idea to take aspects from our video to create a visual link between them as a form of advertising. Here are the plans for our CD front cover and magazine advert:

Having planned what images we wanted to put into our digi-pak promotional packages, I went about collecting images and planning how we could create both parts of the digi-pak on Adobe Photoshop.

Editing schedule

Having filmed all of our footage, we set about editing our music video. This was done in all of our media studies lessons, as we were all able to contribute into the group work and have our own input. Editing within our media studies lessons was the easiest way for us to all be present in the editing process, as we all had different free time in which we were available to edit our video. Hannah and Lily began the editing whilst myself and Joe began to consider our magazine advert and digi pak, preparing the images and sketching the design of both promotional pieces. We continued editing the video footage each lesson, and we began to all have our own contributions to both the music video and the advert and digi pak. As we rapidly progressed through the editing of our music video, we decided that our goal was to have completed a small section to a high standard each lesson. This worked effectively, as we could watch our progress each lesson, which would then give us ideas on what to edit the next lesson. We were determined to have finished editing our music video before the Christmas holiday began, however due to the fact that we found we lacked enough footage, and were forced to re-film sections in order to create more footage for ourselves meant that we actually completed our editing around mid January.

Shooting Schedule

In order to make sure that we achieved footage of a high standard, we devised a filming schedule, so that we would not find ourselves needing to go back to re-film things that we may have missed. We thoroughly went through our storyboard, planning the locations and accessibility of props. We also considered timing, as the woods shots were necessary to be filmed in good daylight in order to create the clear crisp shots we desired. Having considered all of these aspects, we decided to film the outside (woods) scenes first, on the 7th of November 2012.

We decided to begin early in order to set up our outdoor scene, and found that we were successful in choosing a day with plenty of daylight. We set up a tea party scene in the woods and filmed between 9am and 11.45am, which gave us a good amount of time to film exactly what we wanted in the variety of scenes we wanted outside. This was very successful, and we managed to capture all the tea party footage we needed.

We next went on to film the scenes in the dark room on the 14th of November 2012. We were able to arrange 4 free lessons between our group which allowed us plenty of time to film our dark room scenes. We used lighting equipment from the art department, and created a dark scene with flashing lights to give the eerie appearance we wished to have in our music video.

Having filmed our footage, we uploaded it to our computer and began filtering through the shots that we had. Although we began editing, we all felt that something was still missing from our footage, and that we were in fact lacking important shots. We also felt that our footage was not particularly diverse, and that there was not enough movement within some of our shots, which we decided was vital when conveying the crazy atmosphere and message within the song. We then decided that it would be necessary to film some more footage, so I arranged for the group to come to my house on the evening of the 7th of December 2012 to film some more shots. We planned to film more creepy and dark shots with much more movement. We successfully gathered enough footage, and when back at school found that we no longer needed to film, and began to edit our music video.