2. Question 1- In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
My music video challenges some of the conventions found in indie
music videos such as: including the band/artist and being performance
based (found in Shark Tape‟s put those things away) . The video has
also been said to be better than another Waylayers video “Hear No
Lies” although it is neither narrative, performance or concept based.
The video implements some conventions of general music videos,
such as: a relationship between visuals and music (the ambiguous
nature of the music is represented by the video being in black and
white. By doing this I was able to create a video that was different from
other videos in the same genre, making it more appealing for the
audience. For the digipak I followed some of the conventions which
were: having an image, a track-list, a bar code, website link, artist
name and album name . These help the digipak look professional as it
contains important information. The digipak advert retains all the
conventions except for having a review of the album. I don‟t think this
affects the audience in a major way, but having a top review would
3. Question 1 Continued
I have not adapted any conventions on any of my three
products, as they already make my product maintain a high
quality standard.
4. Question 2- How effective is the combination of your
main product and ancillary texts?
Having a house style/ brand image, is extremely important when
creating multiple media products. I have created a brand identity so
that the audience is able to recognise my company across different
media products. The black and white theme was kept on all three
products, and the use of red gives a dynamic and interesting theme to
everything. Having the „W‟ letters in red does not contrast with the
page at all, and makes all the products easily identifiable. The image
style/layout is kept the same across all three of my media products.
The digipak advert consists of the three band members who are
focusing their attention elsewhere. On the digipak I have used mimes
in order to replicate this image from the band.
The advert will sell the digipak to the audience because the picture
used is the most popular one of the band. There is relevant
information on it and it looks very structured. The digipak design
completely stands out from other cd covers in the same genre.
5. Question 2 Continued
An element of the digipak that communicates the genre is
the colours used. Indie music uses colour that adjusts with
the mood/tempo of a song. The band said that the song
was ambiguous on it‟s theme, and this is demonstrated
with the black and white colouring.
6. Question 3- What have you learned from your
audience feedback?
The audience has been a key part in this project. Through the
feedback a gained earlier in the project, I found out what was the
most popular genre of music, and created a music video for this
genre. Some positive feedback that I gained was: good split screen
effect, easy to see, work well in a group and best a2 music video.
Some negative/constructive criticism I received was: the word “less”
at each chorus was too long , the lip synching looked weak and
should have been over emphasised. My teacher gave both positive
and constructive criticism She said that or video was the best A2
music video that she has seen. This made me very happy as it was
a great thing to here. Audience feedback allowed me to make
possible improvements, increasing the overall quality of everything.
These comments taught me that you do not always need the best
camera in order to make a professional quality music video, and can
be applied to a similar task in the future.
7. Question 4- How did you use media technologies in
the construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
Creating a blog on blogger allowed me to document all my research,
planning and evaluation documents in one place. This made it easier
to manage my files. In AS, I used wordpress to create my blog. Blogger
allows me to use much more tools, and is linked to social networking
sites so people can view my blog easily. Prezi was a new software that
I used. It allowed me to create moving/dynamic presentations. At first
this was quite difficult to use, but after I got used to it I realized how
much nicer and presentable it was to standard PowerPoint. I was able
to present research findings and evaluations in a more lively manner.
Scribd was another new software that I used, that allowed me to
upload PowerPoint's and word documents online. This was quick and
simple to use, as there are not many features. Slideshare is a new
software that I used and offers more features that Scribd. I was able to
upload PowerPoint's, videos, word documents, charts and others. This
software was also extremely easy to use (which is a great positive).
Using my mobile phone allowed me to communicate with my
teammates. I was able to share with them information on the planning,
arrange time to do production work, and record topics to evaluate at a
later date.
8. Question 4 Continued
Having access to an Apple IMac was one of the most
important/influential factor‟s of this project. The IMac's allowed me
to use photo editing software, video editing software, conduct
research, plan the project, analyse digipaks, evaluate my work and
burn the video onto disc. Without access to an IMac, it would have
been extremely difficult/impossible for me to do all of those tasks. It
would be a very time consuming process as I would have to travel
around in order to have access to different tools/features; which
could also be very expensive. The digital camera allowed me to
take pictures of text, location and work to input in the video and on
my blog. It also allowed me to record all the footage I needed for
the video. Data can easily and quickly be transferred onto
computer, due to the constant improvement in technology. The
production process was very different to AS, because we spent 2
days at a CLC institute, and had to finish the video in that time limit.
This meant we were rushed for time and could not make any
changes to our work if it was desired. This year were had IMacs in
school and were able to work on the video bit-by-bit.
9. Question 4 Continue (2)
Final Cut was not available to us at school so we used IMovie's (a more
basic video editing software). This software is quite simple to use but I
initially had trouble using it because I came from a background of using
Final Cut. I learnt new features such as: inputting a split screen and
rewinding the video
I used Photoshop in order to edit photos. I had never used Photoshop
before, so I struggled with this. The software offered a large amount of
manipulation tools that produce top-quality images, but was too difficult to
navigate. I learnt how to make one part of an image coloured whilst the
rest is in black and white.
YouTube allowed me to watch videos that were similar to the music video
I was looking to create. I was able to research what conventions are in
indie music videos. I used Google in order to find solutions to problems
that occurred, to conduct research and find information. Da font allowed
me to look at millions of different fonts that I could use throughout the
project. I was able to implement a font I found here into the digipak.
Overall these helped to produce good work, as I was able to gather and
implement information all at the comfort of one place
