1. Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions
(4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning
and evaluation stages?
Once our media assignments had been specified, we had vast opportunities to utilise,
experiment and apply media technologies to the tasks. The three media platforms are
relentlessly used in the music industry. In order to gain detailed knowledge of current
artists, songs and music videos I used the internet to research recent trends and
developments in the music industry. Record labels want their artists to be in constant
view of the public eye as audience impressions and reactions can now decide the
success or failure of an artist or song. The internet illustrated that music videos
represent a crucial part of the music industry and currently the music video is as
important as the song itself. This is because in today’ society appearance is valued,
thus music videos are used as a chance for artists to impress the public, not just with
their vocal talent but also with their style, look and fashion. Here are some examples:
Still images from Lily Allen’s music videos from the album ‘Alright Still’
‘LDN’ ‘Smile’ e’
The visual images of the three videos are similarly colourful and bright, thus Lily Allen has created her
vibrant, animated and original style. She has produced on original aspect to her star persona by mixing
ordinary features with alluring elements. For example, she has combined trainers with a flamboyant dress
in ‘LND’ and chocolate with excessive gold jewellery in ‘Smile’. Her ability to merge the two
successfully fascinates and charms the audience, heightening her popularity.
Still images from 50 Cent’s music videos from the album ‘Massacre’
50 Cent uses his music videos to parade his exclusive, luxurious and successful lifestyle. His display
of expensive cars, excessive silver chains and fur coats illustrate his glamorous and prestigious star
persona. The ‘Candy Shop’ladies that surround 50 Cent demonstrate his attractiveness and popularity
beautiful ‘Just a Lil Bit’
with females, yet, it may also suggest his promiscuity.

2. Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions
This research allowed me to recognise the importance of artist image so whilst
making my music video I focused on mise en since, costume and makeup to create my
artist’s star persona.
Whilst researching, I also concentrated on the use of print in the music industry. I
used the internet to investigate how album covers play an important role in promoting
an artist and song. Gary Freiberg, an art director, believes that ‘the
allure of album cover art is that it triggers our personal positive
connection to music, the appeal is the incredible creativity of the art
form, and the visual presentation of an album cover draws the
viewer’s attention’. However, from examining may different album covers, I found
that the detailed and elaborate covers are merely used as a commercial pursuit.
Nevertheless, using Freiberg’s ideas and my personal research I was able to ensure
that my product was creative and original so that just a mention of the album conjures
up a mental picture of the cover but also to ensure the cover would catch the eye of
the consumer, enticing them to buy the CD.
In order to gain first hand experience of music videos, I spent a considerable amount
of time researching music through the use of a television. Broadcasting is the most
prominent platform in the music industry and MTV was the
phenomenon that gave power and importance
to the music video as it marked the beginning
of the music video’s ruling of the industry. I
watched many artists, analysing the trends and patterns across
different kinds of music. This gave me insight into the distinctions between genres
and allowed me to focus my attention on creating the right genre through my use of
camera angles, costume, mise en scene and editing.

3. Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions
Whilst planning I created a story board to upload onto iPhoto, a
programme used to capture your photos and conveniently group
them. This enabled me to create an animatic that would aid in
secreting my plans as the software provided a simple
construction of the sequence of frames we wished to produce.
The template presented a basic visual image of the media product as the slide show of
photos displayed the various camera angles, locations and mise en scene that I
planned to use. This allowed me to recognise faults and make changes, for example
some of the shots seemed to last too long, thus I altered their duration and included
other shorter shots. iPhoto also facilitated in developing plans for editing as I was able
to trail transitions and the arrangement of the title.
During the construction on my music video, I was able to use a
high definition camera. HD provides extremely clear, crisp
pictures with vivid colours and up to five times more detail than
ordinary standard definition. This media technology is prevailing
and is now considered an essential tool for creating high quality and superior music
videos. My music video includes detailed graffiti and magnificent views of the sea,
thus the HD camera accentuated these images, making the locations seem more
defined and real. Therefore, being able to utilise this piece of equipment enhanced the
professionalism of my video as the visual image on screen is more vibrant and clear.
In order to construct visually appealing images for my album
and advert, I utilised Photoshop, a leading graphic and photo
editing programme that manipulates and enhances digital
images to create attractive artwork. I chose a black and white
colour theme with smears of bright colours. With this software
I was able to create an extreme distinction between the two as I
could insert aluminous colours whilst heightening the contrast of the image. The
enhanced intensity of the images is aimed at attracting consumers as whilst appearing
professional and high quality, it makes the album and advert more stylish and
contemporary. This elegance is developed by my use of effects as I added a slight blur
to my images and utilised the ‘poster edges’ effect to create modern and edgy album
and advert photos.

4. Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions
Media technologies also assisted the evaluation of my
media products as I was able to utilise an interactive
whiteboard to exhibit my music video to a large audience.
Previously, I had designed a questionnaire which asked the
audience to specify effective scenes, locations and camera
angle. The whiteboard provided a large interactive display,
creating a comfortable and accessible setting for the audience to articulate their
opinions on my music video. It also made the process of evaluation less complicated
as I was able to collect enough feedback from various people in one sitting. The
questionnaire also facilitated me in further evaluation as the audience rated particular
elements of the video out of ten, allowing me to extract numerical data and create a
graph on Excel. I was able to draw clear conclusions as this programme allowed me to
manage and analyse my information efficiently.