1. A2 Media Music Video
Evaluation
By Rebecca Wilson

2. Contents
• Introduction
• 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 from your audience
feedback?

3. Introduction
• This is my evaluation to my A2 music media coursework, I have
enjoyed doing this music video because it has challenged my skills I
achieved last year, by pushing them even further this year, because
this is something I have never had a chance of doing before so it will
be very much a learning experience. I am expecting to gain
knowledge and new skills in editing and researching. Because I have
quite a mixed group with a various skills and taste, we should be
able to reach more people by combining our skills to create a better
music video. I liked that we had to put all our work onto a blog,
because that way it made it easier to track our progress and to keep
all of our work in one place, it also made it easier not to loose work.
I really enjoyed this project as a whole, but the part I most enjoyed
was the editing of the video, because in my future career it
hopefully will evolve editing, and I did find it a challenge at first to
get the hang of it, yet it was beneficial because of what I did learn
from it.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
• In our music video we kept to most of the conventions of a real music
video by having a running narrative where the actress mimed along to the
music, keeping the narrative running and relating to the storyline we have.
Also we stuck to the codes and conventions when we did the Digipak and
advert making them relate to one another, which is what artists do when they
advertise a new CD, so by doing this it will make it easier to spot our product
on the market after seeing the advert because then the audience know what
they are looking for. We also did a photo shoot for the main photographs you
see on the Digipak, this is so it is obvious what we are advertising and who we
are advertising, we also went for the ‘less is more’ approach. Which is what
Katy Perry did with ‘Hot ‘n’ Cold’ and ‘I Kissed a Girl’ so by repeating this
design and by keeping to some of her conventions such as the big bubbly
writing, it will make it clear who are work is for and representing.

5. • We used very basic camera work, to simply follow the story and the
characters through different scenes, we decided to do this because
in Katy Perry’s music videos usually she has very simple camera
movements, maybe a few pans and a dolly cam, but nothing to
extreme, so we also wanted to keep our music video in a way to
resemble hers also we wouldn’t of been able to do anything over
the top because we didn’t have the access to that equipment. The
scenes walking through the park, we decided to do walking with the
characters and not a steady cam because when you are walking its
not all smooth, and also it was to show the ups and downs in a
relationship that it isn’t all smooth and easy, so by doing this and
adding the roughness back into the video it should seem more
down to earth and relatable, which is what we what our music
video to be. We found out what camera work Katy Perry’s music
videos normally use by the research we did watching her music
videos, and we also found that she does not only obviously sing the
song but she also does the narrative throughout by miming and
also is the main actress in her videos so she is very involved
throughout all the stages and we did this by in our video, having the
video revolve around our main actress and that in the photo shoot
it all revolved around her. So the simplicity of the video showed
more of the actress off just as Katy Perry does in her adverts.

6. • Editing is the part I most enjoyed with this music video because the
editing with the Digipak and advert was very simple as we already
had the designs laid out and all we had to do was insert the images.
For the editing of the music video first we put it all into block, such
as all the park scene on the round about was together, all the
walking in the woods, the throwing leaves was all together, so it
was just blocks of footage which went on too long. When we
watched it back we realised it didn’t meet the conventions Katy
Perry used where the scenes we more jumpy, still relating to the
story but they weren’t as fixed. So we changed our video so it was
more mixed, and so the shots where shorter, and realised this
version met the conventions of Katy Perry’s music videos more so
we used this as our final video. If we had more time I would of
completely mixed up the music video and the scenes so they
jumped around a lot more, to see if this looked better, because we
had the option of doing this because our video is based on an idea
of a dream and dreams tend to jump around a lot and not make
much sense, so that could have also worked. Yet I am pleased with
our finished result.

7. • Mise-en-scene for the Digipak and advert was very simple because for the
photo shoot the props we used was simply a chair so the actress could be
shoot in different positions providing various shoots and angles to choose
from. The locations we used for the shoot as well was a photo studio
which we chose because it would provide the right lighting and
background to concentrate on our main actress with. Our locations in the
music video were chosen because they we easily accessible and in
distance of each other so we would not waste time travelling. Also
because they added to the over all effect of the music video for example
the walking through the woods is something people do for an adventurous
thing and the sun gleaming through the trees made it quite mystical and
unreal, like a dream, also we chose these locations because they would be
a quiet environment to shoot in, so we wouldn’t get disturbed by people
walking through our shoots or staring at the camera. We didn’t use any
extra props in the music video which made it easier to get from location to
location as we didn’t need to carry anything. In Katy Perry’s music videos
she does use over the top props but we would be unable to access them
for our video in time, and also any over the top props might not of worked
with the main idea with our video. The only thing I would change if we
where to do the video again would be the actresses look, because it is a
very modern look which could help attract a wider audience but it was not
totally Katy Perry, it was more Katy Perry with a teenage twist which has
made our music video unique, but if we were to do it again it would be
nice to see if the costume made any difference to the finished product.

8. • The performance element of the music video was very easy as our actors
were comfortable with each other and listened to instructions well, and
were willing and very out going. Which did make our whole video a lot
easier to produce. We included the narrative were our main actress
mimed along to the chorus, we only had her mime the chorus because
from our primary research we found out people find the storyline more
important than footage of the band and just the singer. We did shoot the
performance scenes a few times so we had enough footage to choose
from and so we had extra bits if there were any mistakes or bloopers.
We needed our actors to appear natural because that is how Katy Perry
appears in her videos, the level of acting is important because in her
music video of Teenage Dream it is like she really is with the guy and that
they are very close and so we tried to show that through our music video
as well, hoping that will come across. Because we believe our narrative
and our acting did compliment each other well it should help produce a
good final piece, by being able to see the chemistry and the enjoyment
our actors had toward each other while shooting our music video. There
wasn’t much performance needed when we did the photo shoot as it
just required us to direct our actress how to act and produce Katy Perry
style poses, at first after the initial awkwardness and after we got the
hang of the shoot it was easy to take to photos and to direct our actress.

9. • The layout of our 6 panel Digipak follows the normal
conventions for a Digipak by having the CD and DVD on the
inside and then some writing either lyrics of song
information on the out side and the middle, each panel
having a photograph. This is the usual style for Digipak to
advertise and to explain what they contain, we also used a
colour scheme to relate to our audience which is pink,
because that stereotypically is a colour in which all girls
like, and a colour that Katy Perry regularly includes in all
her campaigns, writing and music videos, so by using this
colour it will make our product recognisable to our
audience. On our advert we changed the colour scheme to
a blue, keeping the images the same to relate to the
Digipak and keeping the writing and style the same to
relate to the Katy Perry style.

11. • The font we had to use throughout this project
had to include Katy Perry’s style, which isn’t
normally found on word, so we had to go onto
the internet to find it to use. This is because it is
Katy Perry’s signature writing, and that you can
usually recognise her products by this style of
writing so it was very important we found and
used it where ever we had to write her name, or
the name of her songs.

12. How effective is the combination of your main
product and ancillary texts?
• I believe our products as a whole are very effective as they
cover all the different media levels, because we have our
music video on YouTube and Katy Perry fan sites, to attract
attention and popularity to our music video, the idea being
that they will give feedback on it. So we will know if we
have reached our target audience successfully. Also
because our advert can be put into a magazine that is
covering another range of the media, and by putting it into
a magazine which we believe will be popular with our
target audience, it will attract a lot more attention to our
music video. Our Digipak and advert relate to the music
video because they are focused on our main actress, and in
some of the photos she is having fun and being quite lively
like she was in the music video, so that links them. This year
it has been easier to reach our target market than last year
because we can go onto fan sites dedicated to Katy Perry. I
believe our advert works very well to promote our album
because it states where you can buy it ‘iTunes’.

13. • A way we could have made our Digipak and advert more relating to
the music videos would have been if we took pictures whilst we
were filming or took print screens of the video. We didn’t do this
because when we were filming we came up against difficulties
whilst filming with the weather and transport, so we were more
focused on getting the video done. When we tried to take screen
shoots from the music video they either came out blurred or the
expression or the position of the actors wasn’t quite right. So we
thought a photo shoot would be more appropriate as Katy Perry
has previously done this.

14. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Questionnaire What do you think the best storyline for a music video are?
How old are you? Love story
1-11 Action
12-15 Crime
16-19 No story line just music
Other____________________________________________
20+
What do you think is more important in a music video
What gender? storyline or footage of the band?
Male Storyline
Female Band
Do you prefer faster editing or slower or medium?
How often do you watch music videos? Fast
Every day Medium
Every other day Slow
Once a week Don’t mind
Other
Other___________________________________________
How often do you watch music videos about Katy Perry?
Every day
Every other day
Once a week
Other___________________________________________

15. • So from this questionnaire we have found out
that our target audience are majority aged
between 16-19 and female. Watch a music video
once a week, and watch a music video with Katy
Perry in every few weeks. The storyline that
proved to be the most popular was a love story
which is what we will try and make our music
video involve because Katy Perry’s most popular
music videos involve a love story anyway, which
helps us out by being able to see how she
portrays a love story, and that most people think
storylines are more important than the actual
footage of the band, so we will make sure our
storyline is quite dominate in our video. And that
most people don’t mind how fast the editing in a
music video is.

16. • After the music video had been made I interviewed a Katy Perry fan I know (India), to see what her
opinion was on the music video. Because I realised that she is our target audience so her opinion
on the music video is very important, to see if she approves of it.
• Do you think the storyline fits well with the song? Why?
Yes I do because the main focus is a dream and I like how it is in black and white when she is alone and
colour when she is with her dream man. I also like it at the end when she bumps into him and it turns to
colour. Its an “awwwwwwwwww” kind of story.
• Do you think the transitions work well or not? Why?
Yes I think they work well. I like the bit in the wood where they are walking along and it cuts to the same
place throwing leaves at each other. I love the part when she opens the curtains and the it slows down
with the music, really effective.
• What do you think of the juxtaposition with the realty in black and white and the dream in colour?
Do you think it works? Why?
I really like it and think it works a lot because if it was all in colour or black and white that would be
really confusing to distinguish which is which.
• What would you do different if you could?
I probably would not change anything. I love how the acting is completely natural with Freya and Scott.
• Do you enjoy the video overall? How many marks out of five would you give it?
Yes I did enjoy the video, I think it is really cute story and I would give it 4 out of 5.

17. • From the feedback I received India said the black
and white, and colour was a good way to state
the difference between the dream and reality,
because I didn’t tell her anything about the music
video before she watched it because I didn’t want
to influence her decisions or opinions on it. Also
the transitions work well and aren’t to over the
top because they simply are moving from each
scene. Also the naturalness of Freya and Scott’s
relationship came through in the media video
because India says it does look natural.

18. • We also posted our music video onto YouTube
and fan sites to receive feedback and to see
how much popularity/hits our video got.

19. How did you use new media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?
• Technologies we used in this project, most didn’t even exist 10
years ago for example we posted our finished music video on
YouTube (a worldwide video viewing site) and Facebook (a
worldwide social networking site), we used these sites to
promote our music video and to receive feedback to see how
well the video was received. By putting our music video onto
a Katy Perry fan blogging site, we would one reach our target
audience. To make better use of this resource would be if we
uploaded our music earlier to the YouTube and other blogging
sites, by doing this we would have longer to receive feedback
from our target audience, which then would help us find out if
our music video is approved by our target audience, to see if it
was successful or to see about any altercations we should
make.

20. • The hardware we used was very basic as we only required a video
camera and a tripod for filming, computers for the editing and
uploading the video to the internet and keeping our blogs up to
date, and mobile phones for communication. Each of these
technologies was very much required, the video camera was
necessary for the filming and the tripod was needed to keep the
shots still and steady, to give a smoother video. Without being able
to edit our videos, the video would not of worked as the scenes we
in the incorrect order and it provided us with a freedom to shoot a
scene multiple times to make sure we had it correct, also so we
could change the scenes around willingly to give different effects to
the video. And mobiles we handy when we came up against issues
such as problems with transport and finding where about our actors
where. Wikipedia was very useful in finding out information about
Katy Perry, her music and her inspiration, even though Wikipedia is
only 9 years old, we used other sites to find out this information
also because Wikipedia is a wiki which means anyone can alter it, so
the information on it cannot be fully trusted sometimes, yet it was
a big help with our project.

21. • I liked this transition because it is the first time
we go into the dream, and switch to colour.

22. • I also think the difference between colour and black & white, was very important
in this video, because it shows the difference between the dream and reality quite
clearly. By the dream being in colour it highlights her emotions toward the guy,
displaying how happy with him she is, and then when she is without him it goes to
black and white showing how her world is dull and how unhappy she is without
him. So when it finally turns back to colour in the end it is a very cliché ending,
showing how her dream came true.