1. A2 Media Studies Evaluation ; G324 Rosie Maisto AdvancedPortfolio

2. The Evaluation Questions The 4 evaluation questions are: In what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? What have you learned for your audience feedback? How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

3. Question 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

4. Plan B Strickland Banks album and conventions My music video generally tries to develop conventions of real media products, the song we chose to do for our music video was taken off of Plan B’s the defamation of strickland banks album. As a group we noticed that all of the songs so far in plan B’s album followed a narrative and had a story. Defamation of strickland banks tracklist: 01. Love Goes Down02. Writing’s On The Wall03. Stay Too Long04. She Said05. Welcome To Hell06. Hard Times07. The Recluse08. Traded In My Cigarettes09. Prayin’10. Darkest Place11. Free12. I Know A Song13. What You Gonna Do

5. Plan B Strickland Banks album and conventions Love goes down music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5lGCXiTHaY After further research into Plan B’s album we found that lyrically the album's songs tell the fictitious tale of one Strickland Banks, a sharp-suited British soul singer who finds fame with bitter-sweet love songs like the album's opener "Love Goes Down", but then loses everything when he ends up in prison for a crime he didn't commit. The album tells the story from the first-hand perspective of Strickland Banks, a fictional character played by Plan B. The album's opening tracks, "Love Goes Down" and "Writing's on the Wall", are love songs sung by Strickland Banks at a concert, and are likely to be about his girlfriend, to whom he refers later in the album. "Stay Too Long" follows him and his entourage as they celebrate the success of his concert with a night out which acculminates in him having a one night stand with a woman. Writings on the wall music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ1baVKmrQo Stay too long music video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wauIGhax9xg

6. Plan B Strickland Banks album and conventions In "She Said" we learn that this woman is obsessed with his music and believes herself to be in love with him. He rejects her so she alleges that he raped her. The subsequent trial results in his incarceration, and in "Welcome to Hell" he is sent to prison, and much of the rest of the album is about his experience inside. Throughout the course of the songs "Hard Times" and "The Recluse" we see Strickland get more isolated and insecure throughout as he struggles to cope with prison life. This results in his abuse at the hands of other prisoners, resulting in him purchasing a shiv on the prison black market throughout the course of "Traded In My Cigarettes". She said music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQjh9H-ymK4&NR=1 The recluse music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5TxIynodew

7. Plan B Strickland Banks album and conventions of our chosen song In "Prayin'" he is confronted by another prisoner who attacks him. With the help of another inmate Strickland kills the attacker in self-defence, with the other inmate taking the blame, and is burdened with this guilt during "Darkest Place". The penultimate tracks, "Free" and "I Know A Song" detail initially his anger, then his acceptance of his life inside prison. The last track, "What You Gonna Do" Strickland is in court again as new evidence has been brought up on his case. The album finishes with the listener not sure of whether he is sent back to prison or released, leaving it open to interpretation. Prayin’ Music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axfD-IqmTZg From finding out that the song we chose ‘I know a song’ originally on plan B’s album represented Plan B in prison, we also wanted to portray this, as I know a song doesn’t have an official music video this in a way helped us because then we wouldn’t copy it. This helped us come up with ideas for our music video as we knew we wanted it set in a prison.

8. Pictures from the music videos Pictures From the music videos Love goes down Writings on the wall Stay too long The recluse Prayin’ She said

9. Comparison/Similarities to Plan B In Plan B’s music videos he always has a pretty girl, we conformed to the code and conventions of this and also used a pretty girl, in our first audience research questionnaire the target audience expected a pretty/ sexy woman to be in a Plan B music video. Our target audience also associated a pretty woman with Plan B. From Plan B’s She said From my music video A lot of Music videos have a pretty girl within it, as artists want their music video to have a pretty girl as in a way they are representing the music video. An example of Bruno Mars using a pretty girl – Just the way you are Music video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjhCEhWiKXk

10. Main aspect to music videos; The artist starring in it My main character – Jack playing Plan B & The main female character, Oyinda. Before filming our music video we watched recent and iconic music videos, in all of these music video it showed the most fundamental aspect to a music video; The artist starring in their music video. In the majority of music videos the artist stars in their video however there is sometimes an exception. In My music video we starred our main character basically throughout the whole video (along with the female character).

11. Lip Syncing Another important aspect /convention of a music video is Lip syncing most music videos have lip syncing, this is very important and if it is not done correctly it could ruin the music video. My music video contained lip syncing, without the lip syncing I don’t think you are able to show the artists emotions effectively. I believe without lip syncing some music videos could be mistaken for short films.

12. The mise-en-scene A convention of a music video is the mise-en-scene, within media products it can be seen as one of the most important characteristics of a music video, the mise-en-scene is the ‘arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a play or movie is enacted’(in this case a music video), the mise-en-scene of my music video comes from Plan B’s album (mentioned before), my music video is party set on a stage, prison, and in a home. It is crucial to use the right props, location and costumes, otherwise the music video will not be seen as effective or will not look realistic. For example the Props used with the stage scene was :- A black curtain Suit Guitar Microphone and stand.

13. Camera angles and shots Whilst watching previous music videos the camera angles and shots can be seen as a crucial convention of a music video, camera angles can show emotions and feelings. In my music video I have used a range of shots these all show how the character is feeling. The range of shots I used were close-up, long-shot, mid-shot, Side shot, Birds eye, two shot and an Over the shoulder shot.

14. The Narrative The narrative is a combination of the story and plot. The narrative is the order of what happens and how they happen. There are different types of narratives for example a Linear narrative, which is a narrative that works with the story and plot working in a chronological order. A non linear narrative is that the narrative doesn’t work in a chronological order, there are aspect which mixes the narrative up for example flashbacks. Within my music video we use a non linear narrative as we use flashbacks , it uses a different order for the plot for our music video, we like the idea of our music video being non linear, as it shows it is different aspects music videos can have.

15. Media Theorists; Levi Strauss Theorists within media are a very important aspect in making a media product as they can help you determine whether you are following the right codes and conventions. Levi-Strauss - constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness) or conceptual (love/hate, control/panic) Binary oppositions. Within my music video we have used binary oppositions such as love and hate, between the main character and his girlfriend. Restraint and freedom of the main character in Prison and in everyday life.

16. Media Theorists; Todorov Tzvetan Todorov simplified the idea of narrative theory whilst also allowing a more complex interpretation of film texts with his theory of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium. His theory is simply this: The fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium (everything is as it should be) It then suffers some disruption (disequilibrium) New equilibrium is produced at the end of the narrative Within my music video todorovs theory is expressed by : Equilibrium – The flashbacks of the main character and his girlfriend together Disequilibrium - The main character being in prison and him being apart from his girlfriend New Equilibrium - Them being reunited at the end

17. Media Theorists; Barthes When writing about semiotics, he described all texts as complex bundles of meaning, which can be unravelled to create a whole range of different meanings. Barthes unravelled or deconstructed a number of texts and came to the conclusion that texts may be open (with numerous semiotic threads to pull) or closed, with only one obvious thread to grasp. Texts that can be read in a number of different ways are known as polysemic texts. The threads referred to, Barthes called narrative codes. He identified four different narrative codes but the one I found most useful are enigma codes. Enigma codes are to be found in all successful texts from Bob The Builder to CSI. The most obvious aspect of enigma codes is that they are constructed primarily to attract and hold the attention of the audience. The enigma code of my music video would be how plan b is in prison it captures attention and makes people want to carry on watching so you see what happens. Barthes also used the term Myth in order to refer to a second order of signification with a chain of concepts widely accepted throughout a culture and used to understand an experience. Our myth of the countryside, for example, refers to a chain of concepts such as: it is good; it is natural; it is peaceful; it is beautiful; it is a place for leisure and recuperation. Then there is the traditional myth about the British policeman which includes concepts of friendliness, helpfulness and non-aggressiveness.

18. Intertextuality Within Media Intertextuality refers to the relationship that exists between different texts, Within media this refers to different types of medias Intextuality within media products can sometimes be hard to spot for most audiences. Within my music video we also used intertextuality of medias during the beginning for around 10seconds we did this by using a radio and also playing one of ‘Plan B’s’ songs from his album from the radio, by doing this we felt that the intertextuality would come out and be noticeable and would also be seen as clever, We have also used pictures from a magazine and the tv playing the music channel.

19. Question 2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

20. Questions on the main product and ancillary texts Questions to Answer Digipak 1)Does it fulfil its purpose? 2)Would it be appropriate for your target audience? 3)How does it combine with your music video? 4)how does it combine with the album advert? Album advert 1)How does it combine with your digipak? 2)Would it be appropriate for your target audience? 3) Does it fulfil its purpose? Music video 1)Does it fulfil its purpose? 2)How does it combine with the album advert and digipak? 3)Is it appropriate for your target audience? What would i change?

21. Original idea for our album cover The original idea we had for our album cover was significantly different than the one we used after completing our first idea we felt it looked very cheap and amateur, so after creating it we decided to make another one. After a quick group discussion we decided to scrap this idea.

22. My Digipak (A form of jewel case, can hold one or more CDs or DVDs, in which the outer cover is of card rather than plastic) My Digipak

23. My Album Cover The album cover Ihave made represents the roman god ‘Janus’ and roman money we have used this because Janus is seen to have two heads going in different directions this shows how Plan B can have different personalities. The ‘Parental advisory , shows there is swear words etc, many rap albums have this. The Album cover Whilst making our Digipak we decided to change the name of Plan B to Point blank, we chose this because we felt it went straight to the ‘point’.

24. My Digipak This is the logo we came up with, if you tilt it to the side, you can see a tape, this shows intertextuality within media. Roman money, associated with the roman god ‘Janus’

25. My Digipak When making our album we decided to brainstorm new songs for the album, we tried to associate it with being in prison etc (Like Plan B’s album ‘defamation of strickland banks). Atlantic and 679 record labels, associated with Plan B We put 2 pictures of our main character on the back of the album but not facing different ways, this shows the 2 conditions he was in during the music video; Prison (left) and being on stage (right)

26. Digipak Questions Digipak Questions 1)Does it fulfil its purpose? I think my digipak fulfils its purpose as I believe it holds all the codes and conventions associated within a digipak. I feel it is different but then that shows how we have thought outside the box in creating the digipak and coming up with ideas. I feel we cleverly named the album ‘Being Janus’ and by doing that we were able to use even more representation through roman gods and money. 2)Would it be appropriate for your target audience? I feel it will be appropriate for my target audience as they will be intrigued about the album cover and what the connotation of ‘Being janus’ is. As my target audience is from the ages of 14-25, and from the research I have conducted I have discovered that this age range are much more likely to buy or download music, so therefore I believe I have reached out to the target audience.

27. Digipak Questions Digipak Questions 3)How does it combine with your music video? My digipak combines with my music video firstly because the same costumes from my music video is used in the album cover. It also combines with my music video because the album songs we have come up mostly connotate of being in prison, lonely etc and in our music video it shows exactly that. 4)how does it combine with the album advert? The digipak combines with the album advert because the same picture from the front of the album is used for the advert, we wanted to do this because we noticed many artists have done this. We made sure we went with the same colour the scheme (black and white).

28. Album Advert My album advert For the album advert we used the same picture as we did for our album cover, we did this because we noticed a lot of artists do this. By doing this the album cover and advert can be seen in a connection. Our album name, release and artist all stand out so the target audience know who and what it is. At the bottom of our advert, we added in the ratings from NME & Q this makes it look more realistic.

29. Album Advert Questions Album Advert Questions 1)How does it combine with your digipak? The album advert combines with the digipak because the same picture from the front of the album is used for the advert, we wanted to do this because we noticed many artists have done this. We made sure we went with the same colour the scheme (black and white). 2)Would it be appropriate for your target audience? Similar to the digipak, the album cover I hope would intend to intrigue and interest the target audience. It would be appropriate especially if the target audience are already fans of the artist but then by having such an individual advert you can also attract new fans.

30. Album Advert Questions Album Advert Questions 3) Does it fulfil its purpose? I believe my album advert fulfils its purpose. The album name, artist and release date are clear for the audience to see, all album adverts should consist of this. It is also very clear in what it is saying. It is not too much but nor too little, however the silver coin in the middle stands out and catches your eye. The silver coin acts as a ‘Direct mode of address’ making you want to look at the album even more.

31. Music Video Questions My Music video URL Link: http://rosiea2media.blogspot.com/2011/03/music-video-d.html Music Video Questions 1)Does it fulfil its purpose? I feel the music video fulfils its purpose as we used the mise en scene to the fullest potential, we took alot of aspects into consideration e.g. Location, Clothing, make up. After giving out the audience research questionnaire I believe we did a good job in making the music video as it conforms to the genre (rap/R&B/soul), and looks believable, E.g. We have a police man in it. 3)How does it combine with the album advert and digipak? The music video combines with the digipak and album advert because we have used the male character (pretending to be plan b) in the ancillary tasks. As a group we felt if we didn’t use the main character from our music video onto our ancillary tasks the target audience would get confused, and might not understand, All 3 of my medias g well and compliment each other.

32. Music Video/ Reflection Questions Music Video Questions Refection Question 3)Is it appropriate for your target audience? The target audience for both my music video and ancillary texts is from the ages of fourteen to twenty five, I feel the music as well as the video would be appropriate for my target audience because I think they will be able to connect with the music. As it has an underlying love story in the narrative I think a lot of people will be able to relate to how the characters are feeling. What would you change? If I could redo my music video again I would change a couple of things 1) The lip syncing, I would get Jack to open his mouth more, so it looks more effective. 2)I would buy my own camera which is of a good quality, because the camera was not great it looks as if we haven’t taken the lighting into account, even though we did during some parts of the music video you might not think this.

33. Overall Reflection Overall I am happy with both the ancillary texts and the music video, I feel that the combination of both of the products show what I am capable of. I had a lot of fun filming with my group and the actors and would do it again any day.

34. Question 3 What have you learned from audience feedback?

35. Audience feedback Audience research is a systematic and accurate way of finding out about your audience and whether you are meeting the needs of your target audience. A few things that audience research can do is: (1) estimate audience sizes, and (2) discover audience preferences As the audience are the ones who are consumers of the media we thought t was very important to give them questionnaires to see what their view were. By conducting various audience feedback(s) it showed that audience research is a huge part of making the music video because without audience feedback you wouldn’t acknowledge what the audience think/expect. As a group we created 2 questionnaires for our target audience, the first one was conducted before we brainstormed ideas for the content of our music video. And the second one after our music video was filmed.

36. Theories of an Audience A focus on audience is important in media studies when producing a music video, digipak and album advert. There has been many different theories on how audiences respond to and interact with the media. This shows clearly the complexities of focusing on the audience and the ways in which audiences can be visualised. By giving a focus on audience researchers are able to see the complex process of the construction of meaning made by the audience as a response to media text. However mo audience member will interpret the media message in the same way, This can be shown in the questionnaire results. Different theorist suggest a variation of ideas about audiences & audience feed back e.g. The hypodermic needle, The "hypodermic needle theory" implies mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences.

37. Questionnaire The First Questionnaire we conducted

38. Results Results From the first questionnaire Answers from question 7 included: Sexy women Dark clothing Mysterious Etc..

39. Feedback from the first questionnaire We gave the first questionnaire out to 10 people in our target audience (ages 14-25), we did this because we wanted to know their perception and ideas. Our first questionnaire showed us what our target audience would expect form a Plan B music video. Our results showed what people thought was important, this helped us to discover how we were going to portray our artist in the music video. 40% of the people we gave our questionnaire out to thought that the visuals of the recording artist was ‘Very important’ so therefore we took this into account when making our music video, so when dressing our artist we did it in a way so he looked like Plan B e.g. Our Actor Jack We dressed our main character in similar clothes that Plan B would wear, to show we are representing Plan B. Plan B or Ben Drew URL Links (Questionnaire; http://www.scribd.com/doc/44177436/Music-Video Questionnaire and Results; http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wqp2eFwOIB0/TMrYQ0JslrI/AAAAAAAAACA/m3YkvlPibHo/s1600/Untitled.png)

40. The Second Questionnaire The second questionnaire we conducted

41. Results Results From the Second questionnaire 1. 2.

42. Results Results From the Second questionnaire (continued) 3) R&B/Soul responses; a) b) c) 5) Similarly, all of those who chose R&B/Soul as their preferred genre, stated 'Yes' the music video did reflect the genre associated with Plan B. Nevertherless, the remaining participants also stated that the video reflected the genre. This suggests that not only did we succesfully target our own audience, but other audiences as well. 4) Of all the results, the R&B/Soul group all circled 'Yes'. This indicates that our music video did in fact meet the needs of our target audience. By contast, those who picked different genre's as their preferred music type were more likely to choose the 'No' option.

43. Results Results From the Second questionnaire (continued) 6) Below are some of the responses given to question number 6; on possible improvements... -Setting-Clearer Camera -Better angles-Lip Syncing-More close-ups-Lighting-More Emotion

44. Feedback from the second questionnaire The second questionnaire we gave out was after we filmed our Music video to a group of 30 people within our target audience range from asking the questions we did, we gathered information that helped us to discover whether we had attracted/captured our target audience in the way we had desired to. The improvements (from question 6 of our questionnaire) will help us to reflect upon our work, The improvements included : Setting, Clearer Camera, Better angles, Lip Syncing, More close-ups, Lighting, More Emotion. The second questionnaire provided us with information about whether we attracted the target audience, this shows how helpful audience feedback can be as it can help to develop ideas. We appreciated the improvement suggestions as it showed us what wasn’t as great or what could do to enhance our music video. URL Links: Questionnaire; http://rosiea2media.blogspot.com/2011/03/audience-feedback.html Results; http://rosiea2media.blogspot.com/2011/03/audience-feedback-results.html

45. Facebook Feedback Aswell as giving out questionnaires to our target audience we thought we would also put our final music video onto Facebook as the majority of my Facebook is within the age ranges of our target audience, we thought this would be useful as people could give feedback and/or constructive criticism. The feedback on Facebook wasn't as we expected however we tried.

46. Overall thoughts on the feedback By creating the audience feedback I found out about my music video and what the target audience preferred and what they thought was good for example the majority of people believed that our narrative was very effective. Overall the feedback from the questionnaires and Facebook were good, a lot of people have congratulated us in saying we have done a good job. The audience feedback shows how to improve our music video, the better aspects of the music video. I believe by conducting the audience research it helped us gain more knowledge about our target audience and what they would want to see. I have learned that one of the most important aspects in planning for a music video is the audience research because if you don’t capture the audience you haven’t thought through your music video e.g. you cannot make an opera music video if your target audience is teenagers. Audience research has showed me that you need to listen to your target audience as they are the key to your product as they are the ones who are watching it. From looking at all the feedback given to us, it shows both positive and negative feedback, both are very useful. Positive shows where you went right and also showed that you attracted your target audience and negative shows what didn’t go too well, however negative feedback helps you to reflect upon your work.

47. Question 4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

48. The Cameras Used In making my Music video and ancillary texts I used a range of media technologies. To film my music video we used a video camera and a tripod, by using the camera we were able to film our music video however the camera was not as good as we expected it to be, we would have liked a better camera with a higher megapixel. We also used a camera not only in our video but also to take pictures of either back stage or for when we made the sugar glass. Examples of taking still pictures behind the scene.

49. The MACS/ iMovie After all the filming commenced we went to the CLC Delta in Edmonton (north london) to make and edit our clips into a music video. We used the iMacs to do so and on the iMacs we used iMovie, as we used this software last year for the production of our foundation portfolio, we were familiar in what to do so this made our experience alot easier, However we only had 2 days to make our clips into the music video, so as time was not on our side we had to make sure we used our time wisely.

50. Blogger From the Beginning of starting my advanced portfolio I have been using a blog (blogger) to show the process from choosing a genre to coming up with a new name for the artist, keeping the blog has been helpful as it tracks everything that i have done. I found blogger relatively easy to use, you can upload pictures/videos easily. My blog has all my work, research and planning on it.

51. My Blog My blog url: http://rosiea2media.blogspot.com/

52. Photoshop In creating my album cover and advert we used Adobe Photoshop, as a group we found this the most difficult part as none of us were familiar with Photoshop it took us many many hours and a few tries in making the album cover however we got there in the end. On the positive side, by using Photoshop we gained new skills and these skills can always be useful in later life (especially for the profession i want to go into)

53. YouTube You Tube played a big part in research and planning, we used You Tube to firstly research songs of different genre, artist etc. We used youtube to find the song we wanted to make our music video to. Before we even chose a song we looked at iconic and inspirational music videos from over the years on youtube. I looked at why and how they were seen iconic.

54. Using the internet The internet in general was a crucial role in planning, constructing and researching, the internet allowed us to research a lot of aspect to music videos, Digipaks and album adverts. The internet helped us to look into Plan B’s Album Defamation of strickland banks. As a group we researched previous albums and adverts and annotated them on our blogs.

55. Microsoft word/ Powerpoint Both these softwares were inevitable for me during various stages of making my music video e.g. Questionnaire, Results, Evaluation. These were extremely helpful in production and planning, without these softwares my advanced portfolio wouldn’t be as good as hoped.

56. Scribd and Slideshare In order to put microsoft word and excel documents on my blog I used these online services to help. These were very useful as i could put everything needed for my blog.

57. Intertextuality Within my music video we also used intertextuality of medias during the beginning for around 10seconds we did this by using a radio and also playing one of ‘Plan B’s’ songs from his album from the radio, by doing this we felt that the intertextuality would come out and be noticeable and would also be seen as clever. We also used intertextualities through the Tv and pictures from a magazine.