2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• The typical conventions of a music video are to have the band playing their
instruments, the lead singer lip synching along to the song, another typical convention
is for the video to have a clear narrative structure. My main production uses these
conventions as I have multiple shots where you can see the band playing and there
are also shots where the lead singer is lip synching. In my main production you can
see the lead singer lip synching whilst looking at the camera, however I have also
involved times where the singer is not looking at the camera as he is lip synching, I
have done this because it shows the lead singer as not only a member of the band
but also as a ‘normal’ person who is at work.
• The narrative structure in my main production is non-linear; this is because
there is no clear structure of events and each shot doesn’t happen as it would in real
time. For example the shots of Tom in the morning are in the middle of the song but if
the narrative structure was linear then they would be in the morning.
3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• I have also used a variety of locations in my music video; I have made sure
that I do not use the same camera angle too many times in each scene as
to make sure that there is some variety in the camera angles. I have tried to
incorporate interesting camera angles in my production this way it would
keep the music video interesting and different, for example the drum shot at
the beginning.
• To keep the flow of the song going smoothly I have made sure that I
have edited the shots to go in time with the music, this way the video
images will go in time with the music and then it would all flow better.
• It is important that I included band shots in my music video this is
because with a music video you are not only selling the song you are also
selling the band. By including band shots this means that it is reinforcing the
idea to the viewing audience that the band are capable of playing their
songs, this also puts a face to the song and therefore the band become
more identifiable when it comes to buying their memorabilia. This is why it is
important to make sure that close up and medium shots are used when they
are singing so that the audience know who the lead singer is.
4. Different locations I have used
Sixth form coffee bar
Girls sixth form toilets
School corridor
5. In this picture Tom is lip
synching to the camera
which is a typical convention
of a music video
However I have also
made it so that Tom is
lip synching away from
the camera
I have also
incorporated
images of the
band members
playing their
instruments
6. How effective is the combination of your main product and
ancillary texts?
• The purpose of the ancillary tasks is to advertise the product, the point of the
magazine advert is so that when people see it in the magazine they will then look out
for it the next time they are buying a CD, this means that it is important to ensure that
the magazine advert looks similar to the cover of the Digipack which means that
people would be able to easily find the album when they are looking at a lot of them in
a shop.
• It is also important to make sure that the lyrics of the song link to the ancillary
task; I have done this by having a holiday scene on the billboard on the front cover
and by having the foreground a busy street view, the contrast between the dark and
the bright billboard makes the alum cover more noticeable. The use of a blue gradient
also make the background look as if it is a sunny day which links with the lyrics of the
song, another thing which makes the lyrics and the ancillary tasks tie together is the
sun light which I added in Photoshop.
• Having images of the band members on the ancillary tasks is also important
because then it gives the potential buyer a sense of who is in the band, also by
including extra images of the band it make the buyer feel as if they are getting more
for their money as they are getting more than just an album.
7. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
• When I first showed my ancillary tasks to my class they gave me feedback on it, they
said that I should change where the name of the band and the name of the album, I
also changed the font size of each. After I did this my album cover had improved and
therefore it become more noticeable and I found that it made it stand out more. Once
I received feedback for my main production I found that it would be more effective if I
changed the order of some of the shots, this way it made the shots make more sense
in the order they were placed, for example I made sure that the shots of Vikki walking
into the bathroom were before any shots of her cleaning.
• It is crucial for me to receive audience feedback as it what would be done in
the professional industry, the video would be shown to its target audience and then,
depending on the feedback, changes would be made to the video. This way the
people producing the video make sure that it will earn them maximum sales and
would be worth the money they spent on it. It is important for a profit to be made as
making a music video is an expensive process and therefore it would have to be
successful to be worth while making it.
8. How did you use media technologies in the construction
and research, planning and evaluation stages?
• I have used a variety of different media technologies in the process of research,
planning and the evaluation stages of my production, the main media technology I
used in the research stage is YouTube, I used this website so that I could research
other music videos of the same genre as mine so that I could get inspiration for what
to put in my own music video. In the planning stage I made an animatic, this is where
I would film still images for the amount of time that the shot would run, this way it
would give me an idea of how well those shots would work in my music video. It is
important to produce the animatic so that I know from the beginning if the shots will
work and therefore I save time in the filming stages.
• In the production stages I used a video and a digital camera, the video camera
was to capture the actual music video itself, the digital camera was to capture the still
images I used in my media production and it was also so I could take the pictures for
my ancillary tasks.
This is one of the images I
have used in my
production which I took
with the digital camera
9. How did you use media technologies in the construction
and research, planning and evaluation stages?
• Most of the media technologies I used were in the post-production stage, this is the
editing software (adobe premiere pro) and Photoshop (adobe Photoshop cs3), in
premiere I edited all of my work and this is also where I added the still images that I
had taken of my friends. This is a new version of the software and was the first time I
had used it, this means that at the beginning I was unsure about the effects that I
could create and I didn’t know what the software was capable of doing. However after
I had used it I finally learned to use it effectively and I was able to add different effects
to my production such as slowing footage down. I used Photoshop for my ancillary
tasks; I manipulated images and backgrounds to make the best effect for my work. I
also created my own font, I did this by using a basic font and then by adding a
gradient and an outline I used the liquify tool to manipulate the font and to elongate
the letters so that I was able to make a unique font.
• I also used media technology in my feedback stage, I did this by using a projector
and a computer to show people the production, by having the music vide saved on
my computer I was able to show anybody the final production whenever I had my
computer, this made it easier to receive a variety of feedback as I was able to show a
diverse group of people.
