- Jade Breed

- A2 Media Studies Evaluation

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

After closely analysing my media product, I feel that it both uses and develops the form

and conventions used in real media products. In the planning and research stage of my

product, I looked at different products that Daniel Merriweather uses for the marketing of his music i.e. CD, poster etc. I found that his

work was very simple, casual and laid back. So I felt this was an important aspect to get

across in my products. I used a simple layout scheme, similar to Daniel’s products to make it

conventional; I also used a laid back background, mise-en-scene and colour scheme, which is also like Daniel Merriweather’s work.

My music video is similar to his, in the fact that it portrays a love story between 2 people using different locations and camera angles. Having thought about conventions of music

videos, I feel that mine is fairly conventional as it uses simple editing i.e. fade/swipe and it

uses camera angles which are commonly used in many music videos.

ANDREW GOODWINS THEORY OF MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS…

Andrew Goodwin’s theory of music video analysis looks the key features which distinguish whether of not the videos have conventions or form. These key features are:

• Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics(e.g. a stage performance in a rock video)

• There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals• There is a relationship between music and visuals

• The demands of the record label with include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motives which

recur across their work(a visual style)• There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly

voyeuristic treatment of the female body• There is often intertextual reference

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. a stage performance in

a rock video)• The genre characteristics for soft rock style music are:

• Instrumental at the start of the song/music video

• Many links to the lyrics from the video

• Tend to link with the pop style of portraying love in a music video

• I think that my music video has all aspects of the general genre characteristics described above.

• There is an instrumental at the start of the clip, with a still camera shot to emphasise the sound.

• The shots link well with the lyrics.

• There is a love story being shown throughout.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals

• I believe that the shots used in my music video link very well to the song lyrics. This is shown throughout the clip when the girl shows an image of herself and a picture she drew to show her feelings and emotions. It is obvious that this links with the song because when the lyrics say “its over”, the girl holds a sign up saying “its over”. I did this so that the audience can see the relationship between the lyrics and the people in the video. It shows that the video isn’t completely random and that the link between the lyrics and the visuals is clear.

There is a relationship between music and visuals

• I think that there is a slight relationship between the music and the visuals of my music video. When editing the video clips, I made the length of the clips similar to the lengths of the verses, bridge and chorus’. This is so that the video looks effective and the link between the music and the visual is apparent. In Daniel Merriweather’s official music video, the length of the camera shots are the same as the lengths of the verses. So therefore, I wanted to do my video the same so that it sticks to the conventions.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motives which

recur across their work (a visual style)

• From analysing Daniel Merriweather’s music videos; I discovered that he didn’t use many close ups of his face. This could be because he is already an established artist and has a distinct style so people will easily recognise him. This is why I decided that my music video would contain more medium close ups and long shots rather than close ups. The camera shots still show the artist and makes it clear who it is to the audience.

There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic

treatment of the female body

• The main part of the video which shows the male looking at the female is when the camera zooms up to her bedroom window. This shows that the boy wants to see the girl even though they are arguing. He is waiting outside her house because he wants to sort things out with her. He is also looking out for her when he is arguing with her in the kitchen, he doesn’t want to argue but she wont listen so he has to shout to make her understand that everything will be ok and that they can sort things out.

There is often intertextual reference

• I think that my products all show intertextual reference, particularly the products within the digipack. I wanted them all to have a theme of red throughout. This can also be seen in the video. At the start, the name of the artist and song is written in red so people can see the relationship between the song and the visuals. I also took pictures of the artist with laid back, casual clothes on. This can also be seen throughout the music video.

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

(posters etc)

I think that the combination of my main product and ancillary texts are effective in

the way that they illustrate the artist through use of images and particularly camera angles. I used close up shots in the video so that it is obvious who the

artist is and what he looks like. From doing this, I was able to use long shots of the artist, which makes the shot for the CD cover more effective. The reason I could do this is because the artist is already

established in the music video, so when people see the CD cover and poster they will instantly recognise who the artist is.

These are snapshots of my main product. They show all the different shots used in the video. It is obvious that the scenes from the video link with the pictures on

the CD cover, poster and lyrical booklet. I am going to analyse one of the shots from

my video to see how they link with my ancillary texts.

How this shot links with my ancillary texts…

• This shot links well with the rest of my products because they all show nature. They all show autumn leaves (tend to be red, which links with the song title), trees, snow and walking in the park.

• I wanted all of my products to have something similar throughout so that the audience can see how they all link together and that they are all from the same song/album/artist.

The first picture shows an establishing shot of the location. I decided to use this style of camera angle because it not only

shows the artist but also the location/scene. Establishing shots are

often used in this genre of video to show the laid back setting and use of mise-en-scene. I also used an establishing shot

because it links in with the poster, which shows an establishing shot of the

countryside. This is effective as it shows the location and fit’s the mood of my

project.

The second image is a close up of the artists face. This is extremely effective

because it shows the portrayal of emotion and makes the audience feel connected to

the lyrics and artist. Due to the lyrics being heavily linked to the artist and his

situation, I felt that it was important to link the shot with the lyrics and to make the

audience feel close to the situation.

As you can see, the only aspect of the cover that links to the title of the song is

the small red writing. I wanted it to be like this so that it was eye catching to the

audience but also mellow and sincere, to amplify the theme of the song. The image of the CD cover links well with certain clips from the video. In some parts, the camera shows the artist walking. This is also what the image on the CD cover shows. The fact

that the image has to show the artist suggests that he isn’t very well known. It makes the audience put a face to a name

and realise who he is.

The poster links very well with the beginning of the video. Both use an

establishing shot to show the location. They both have a very laid back feel to them, which adds to the essence of the

genre. The poster also contains aspects of red, the small writing, to tie in with the

song title. When researching, some posters I analysed had lots of writing to advertise

tours. But when looking at the posters from a similar genre, it is obvious that they take a minimalist approach to the appearance. This is why I decided to use a similar style

and layout for my own poster.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

I created a questionnaire for fellow students to complete so that I could see what music they preferred, why they like music videos, artists that have effective digipacks

and why and finally if they thought my song choice was a good one. I found that the questionnaire was a useful

resource because it not only gave me yes or no answers, it allowed the answers to be more developed and

qualitative rather than quantitative. These in depth answers allowed me to develop my product and change my ideas to suit what the audience believes to be a good

and effective music video. A lot of my feedback commented on intertextuality, which I have tried to carry out through the whole of my project, mainly through the

use of colour scheme and images.

• The next few slides show the changes I have made to my products. There are 2 examples for each product, starting at

stage one then showing the end result. By doing this it shows me how much the

products have changed and what I have changed to make my products better.

CD Cover

CD Back Page

CD Lyric cover

CD Lyric Page

Poster

When conducting my research, I started by posting my ideas onto a few forums. The reason behind this was so that I could be unbiased views on whether it was a good

idea or not. The people who thought I could improve this furthered their answers

by telling me how I could do this. The suggested ideas for the storyline behind the video and also some of the shots I

could use to make it effective.

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction

and research, planning and evaluation stages?

The range of technology used included - Daniel merriweather.com, you tube, yahoo

music, fireworks, pinnacle 12, windows movie maker, Photoshop, video camera,

DSLR camera.

I used you tube to gather research on the genre of music video, from this I looked at the conventions found in these videos and

tried to tie aspects of my ideas to these forms. I also used you tube to analyse

some music videos to see what is actually in them, the stories behind the video and the editing used to make the video look

effective.

I used pinnacle to get my video from the video camera and to slot the scenes into a particular order. After doing this I trimmed the clips down to the length of the verse

being sung and fit the video together. I did have trouble with finding a simple fade on the software, so I used windows live movie maker to do this. I found that pinnacle was

a very effective software to use as I needed to get the timings of the video to fit perfectly with the lyrics to make sure

the lip syncing was correct.

I used fireworks to create my digipacks. I spent a lot of my time creating mock ups of all the aspects to see which was the

best and which suited the genre of song. I found that using fireworks is simple yet very effective. It enabled me to use the

right effects on my CD cover and poster so that it fitted the visuals and the lyrics of

my final product.

5. What would you change about your project?

If I were to do this project again I would definitely look into other song choices. I felt that the song was a very slow one

and after a short period of time, it became a bore to work with. I would certainly choose a faster paced song,

perhaps a pop/disco song.

• Another aspect I would change when doing the project again would be the camera angles. Due to the genre, I was limited with the conventional camera angles I could use. Therefore, if the project was

done again I would either change the song or go against the typical conventions that

people expect.