Media Evaluation

G325

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

Influence from other music videos?

There are a number of music videos which, as discussed on earlier blog posts, influenced the creative process of my music video. One of these was Rihanna’s We Found Love music video. The influence from this arose from the fact that the video showcases a rougher, more down to earth side to mainstream pop videos, with it’s main locations all set within Belfast council estates, and my video, as a result, similarly showcased more urban, realistic locations which were a world away from the glossy, stylised sets of most pop music videos. In short, Rihanna’s breaking of typical convention (as to the glossy stylistic nature of promo videos) allowed me to similarly showcase such locations without the burden of it looking amateur and unprofessional.

Two other videos influenced the interpretation of the song’s lyrics. The Queens of the Stone Age video for Sick Sick Sick was influential in the way in which I would interpret the idea of desire, and as a result of this referential point I was able to take the idea of a banquet and use it to articulate the protagonists growing aggression and sexual desire. The other video was a tour promotional video from Lady GaGa, entitled The Exorcist, which as an introduction to Teeth (a song lyrically similar to Flesh, through it’s dual interpretation of the term ‘meat’) used the image of Lady GaGa eating raw meat in a shocking and sadistic manner. Although simply used for shock value, as an interlude, the footage was pivotal in the way I would display the meat use in my own music video.

The Exorcist Sick, Sick, Sick We Found Love

What social representations are evident within your media product?

The only social group represented in my product are ‘women’, presented in light of a number of the classic literary stereotypes of said gender.. A feminist analysis of female representation within the media* states that classic stereotype fall into the main categories of “the bitch”, “the seductress” and “the damsel in distress”. My music video, despite providing no real back story regarding the situation of the protagonist or any reasoning for her mental state, sees a constant shift between a damsel in distress and seductress role, whilst challenging modern ideals of ‘female strength’.

The very fact that a female delivers words which were intended to be sung by a man displays a role reversal, with the initial lyrics which connote to male domination and female submission, changing meaning and displaying the female within a twisted, over lascivious portrayal. The female, struggles within the main body of the video to attain the sexual fulfilment she pines for through the song’s delivery, whether it be due to the isolation of the bedroom and gate scenes or the restrictions placed upon her through the ropes in the table scene. The word ‘flesh’ is used within the song in relation to human flesh but through playing at the word’s animalistic ‘meaty’ connotations the video portrays women in light of strange, sexually deprived behaviour. The mise-en-scene in the two scenes contrast against the way in which they portray the woman. Although it could be argued that the ropes in the table scene are indicative of the ‘damsel in distress’ role, the woman is able to overcome these, showing a strength disassociated with this stereotype. Clothing in both scenes is far more indicative of the seductress role in that the strong leathers, blacks and provocatively blood-stained low vests are indicative of a sexually confident individually. Overall, the video displays an overcoming of the typical submissive stereotype of women and moves to the contrasting extreme of presenting them as dominating.

*Bertens, H (2001) Literary Theory: The Basics.

Shots and their indicative representationsThe shots below exemplify the types of representation I previously discussed on the last slide.

This picture showcases the aggression mentioned, and the sexual frustration.

This picture showcases a provocative pose with spread legs, in line with the seductress persona.

Who would the audience be?

Initially I believed the audience to be teenagers in that they are the main consumers of popular music, which is accompanied by slightly darker themes, and yet it was through my secondary audience research that I realised differently. Although it was clear, through my initial primary research upon my peers, that teenagers largely consume and enjoy pop music (with sustained reference to artists such as Lady GaGa and Rihanna) the secondary research I conducted through www.surveymonkey.com and users of pop forum www.popjustice.com allowed me to see that the type of video and artist my product was showcasing were far more in line with the type of acts who develop cult followings amongst pop fans than a mainstream following. Although artists such as the two aforementioned have developed superstar status with their moves into darker imagery, I feel that the themes present within my video and campaign shared far more in common with many of the artists discussed on the site which had garnered a cult following, due to the fact that their music and imagery was too experimental (yet still quintessentially pop) to establish mainstream success. So, I feel that the audience for my product, whilst still appealing to teenagers, would fall mainly within the demographic of “hardcore” pop fans whose interest stretches into the more experimental realms of the genre, than just that which dominates the charts.

How did you attract and address your audience?

As previously stated, I believe my target audience to be casual teenage listeners and, more predominantly, cult pop fanatics. The way in which to address both these target audiences is through clear and eye-catching imagery, which can be taken simply as shock-value imagery on the surface but

which bares some deeper meaning regarding the song’s imagery beneath it’s exterior. The video to Lady GaGa’s ‘Telephone’ represents this sense of duality through the way in which it’s outlandish locations,

provocative clothing and dance scenes drew the wide spread attention of the public, whilst it’s representation of women and comments of the nature of product placement were more deeply

appreciated by hardcore fans of the genre and critics.

This is more than present within my music video with the red lighting, erratic behaviour and elements of dance providing the interesting visuals that pander to a typical teenage buyer and the locations and ‘flesh’ imagery adding a further implied sense of eeriness and disturbance to be enjoyed This is further true for my ancillary product which at face value seems like another album cover featuring a female in a

provocative pose yet has further implications towards the idea of necromancy through it’s imagery, which are likely to be ignored by an average teenage buyer yet enjoyed by a more prevalent pop buyer.

Ancillary products: deconstruction of forms and conventions

+The colour scheme of black, white and red is

a common one in reflecting the dark nature of an album.

The figure, although not placed directly in

a straightforward manner is the central

focus of the cover.

-Due to the fact that the main figure is seemingly dead, no eye contact is

made with the audience.

Generally, I feel that the digipack cover makes no intentionally individualist moves in to break any conventions or forms, and that despite exploring darker themes than most other albums of it’s kind, maintains a fairly standard conformation to the conventions of a CD cover.

-The main challenge to convention is the fact that the artist is not evident on the front

cover (explained on slide 10).

+ The album cover is used for the advertisement with no obstruction from the album’s text.

+ Featured singles are present on the advert to draw in buyers.

+ Positive reviews are featured on the ad.

+ QR reader and social networking links are evident displaying that the sort of artist Simon Curtis is uses social networking to broaden their fanbase,

- The colours on the social networking symbols have been adapted to fit with the prevailing colour scheme.

Ancillary product deconstructionAlthough conscious efforts were made to detract from overbearing similarities between my own cover and the cover of Roxy Music’s Country Life album, the subversive nature of the cover was of great influence still. The Roxy Music cover uses the idea of drawing attention to the seedy underside of country life through fusing it’s imagery with debauchery and this concept is evident within my own cover in the fact that the shoot resembles that of fashion magazines. I feel that the positioning and mise-en-scene (especially the animalistic connotations of the model’s fur coat) mirror the imagery of high fashion shoots yet the added implications of death and colourisation give way to a seedy underside of the presentation of femininity, in line with the necromantic imagery of the album campaign. The lack of artist on the front cover adds a sense of anonymity to the cover, which embodies the erotic connotations of the campaign.

The colour scheme of the cover, an idea previously explored on my blog, is in line with the consistently erotic theme of the album campaign with the colour red, present only in the typeface and the model’s lips connote to the contrasting natures of passion and love with aggression and danger which are present in the ideas of S&M. Sado masochism is a running implied theme throughout the campaign, with the ancillary products hinting towards the idea of necromancy through the lifeless colouring and positioning of the body parts and models and the leather, saws and ropes present in the music video hinting strongly towards this idea.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

First hand teenage surveyingThere are a number of things which made the process of surveying students a rewarding form of information collecting. Firstly it was particularly useful in assessing how much thought the typical target audience buyer puts into the music products consumed. Many of the teenagers surveyed displayed that they had little to no prior knowledge or preference as to what influences their preferences or musical taste. The lack of awareness was crucial in that it helped form my understanding of what typical teenagers respond to visually and the best ways to address such a demographic.

Popjustice surveyingPart of my surveying involved carrying out the question process upon pop aficionados due to their deeper understanding of pop conventions than a typical teenager and the fact that I felt the experimental nature of the song and it’s video were reflective of their interests. This was probably the most useful of the two forms of surveying in that it received more enlightened answers from people who could articulate their understanding of the subject more.. What I learned most was that people with a conscious passion for pop were more able to provide more useful feedback than people whose interest in the topic is a more semi-conscious enjoyment of music videos.

Class feedbackDuring the editing process of my movie, a two and a half minute draft of the first cut of my movie was shown to the class in order to gauge their initial response to the piece. What was most useful in this was the constructive criticism given which allowed me to make my movie better, for example the suggestion to remove the initial ‘gate’ shots and allow the apartment shots to form a more effective opening and the suggestion to add sparse colourised shots so that the outdoor scenes wouldn’t look less “visually eye catching” than the red indoor scenes.

Other feedbackThere were a number of other forms of feedback provided throughout the process. Putting my initial rough cut video on YouTube and making the video publically available allowed me to receive comments on the video, useful for gaining the opinions of faceless users, which whilst not sounding useful for demographic research, allows me to gauge how it is perceived by an individual, removing contextual factors.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I feel that the most effective aspect of my campaign is the holistic feel to the three individual products. Through researching other pop album campaigns beforehand, I was fully aware of the importance of making the ancillary products reflective of the themes and tone of the music video so that an overall artist aesthetic and mood was created and that an audience would not have trouble identifying the genre and tone of my project. The three pieces all display dark imagery with the deathly, necromantic imagery of the ancillary products complimenting the sadistic, bloodthirsty imagery of the music video.

How a sense of branding was created

There are a number of ways in which a sense of branding was created. Aside from consistently dark themes in the different products which compliment one another, the type face throughout shows that the ‘faded impact font’ on the album cover, back cover, spine and advertisement is a logo strongly associated with the artist.As seen to the right the font itself is impact font and grains and cuts have been added to make the album appear more grimey. This fits in with the general aesthetic of dirt and aggression which underpin the three products. A Another way in which a sense of branding was created was through the constant use of pseudonyms. Although the application of this has been explained, the three anonymous female figures throughout, with one on the album cover, one in the music video and one on the back cover, creates a sense that the females are a constant theme which run though the campaign for the purpose of exploring the female empowerment and gender themes of the music video and overall campaign, as well as exploring darker themes in a more conventional way (i.e. sexual themes explored through a woman and not a man)

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

Research and Planning

During the research and planning stages of my coursework a number of useful softwares helped the process. www.blogger.com was the tool which encompassed all technologies used, as it was the main tool used to express my plans and thoughts regarding the coursework piece. A number of computer softwares were evident also such as Windows Movie Maker which I used in the initial planning stages when investigating music video conventions. As well as this, Paint.net assisted me in visually conveying a number of ideas I had, such as mock up designs and drafts. The internet as a whole was another useful tool in that I derived resources from a number of websites – such as Google images, www.surveymonkey.com, www.popjustice.com and YouTube – in help with audience research and the conception of my initial ideas.

The construction stage

The filming process required the use of Digital cameras and computer technologies in order to capture the images and store the film. During the construction of the video project the main tool used was Adobe Premiere 9.0. Whilst I suffered from a number of complications and limitations with the software, due to issues with the large size of my files, the software allowed for all of the intended changes which needed to be made to the video, such as integrating the several set pieces and making the colour changes to the piece. The ancillary products used Paint.net in order to apply the edits needed upon the pictures such as a slight graining of the photo and the obvious facial and colour changes applied to the picture. Blogger and YouTube were again used in this process in order to upload the videos where they would be available to be seen.

Evaluation stage

The evaluation utilised a number of media technologies. Hyperlinks are evident throughout the evaluation so that the moderator is able to see evidence of what is discussed on the blog. Microsoft PowerPoint is the programme in which the original evaluation was constructed with and through www.slideshare.net, a software previously used at AS for a similar purpose, the evaluation was uploaded to Blogger. Screenhunter was another useful software at the evaluation stage in that it allowed me to use evidential pictures to convey what is discussed on the page.

Final thoughts

The construction of the media product as a whole has developed my skills in a number of areas of filmmaking and editing, as well as broadening my understanding of the marketing and targeting of a demographic. It has allowed me to further comprehend the ways in which different audiences respond to different styles of visual, and especially opened my eyes as to the subconscious nature of general responses to pop, when compared to that of older, more enthused pop fanatics. In conclusion, the coursework, as a whole, has been a rewarding process in teaching me the discipline of the video making craft.

The intertextual elements of my product and the fusing of a number of concepts and imagery from sources ranging from old (Eurhythmics, Roxy Music, Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber) to more contemporary references (Lady GaGa, Rihanna, Fashion, Queens of the Stone Age) has helped greatly in shaping my understanding of how music based products draw their influence from culture references and how interpretation of themes and ideas is essential in creating a holistic product.