Evaluation of Media Products

How did you use new media technologies in the construction 

and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Combination of new media technologies used throughout research, planning, production and evaluation

Internet

Safari and Google Chrome

Example One

• The internet was a massive part in our research and planning as we needed it to find information about the genre, indie rock artists, artists print products, and other videos on YouTube. When creating a 'A Guide To Indie Rock' video, google was a massive influence on what we included when we did a section of the history of indie rock. The internet makes us able to access all the websites such as Google, YouTube, Facebook, Zamzar ect. 

Example Two

• When choosing our institution, we used the independent labels websites to discover further information about the institution, who is signed to the label, what new technology they use to promote their artists and so forth. This was really useful being able to have this website to figure out which institution is the best for the band. 

Final Cut Express

Video Editing Software

Example One

• Final Cut Express is a editing programme on the Mac computers at school, in which we have never used before. When we were planning the narrative of our music video, we knew editing would play a big role in the production due to the continuity of using the same boy with six different girls. When we considered the idea of a split screen, were really fond of it and knew if would work well with the narrative. The scene we have used with the split screen, is where the male is on the phone repeating the lyric of the song 'i have been a bad man for you'. The fact he says for you, is why they are appearing happy. We wanted to show how he is a a real 'bad man' by showing him on one side repeating the same thing to each of the six girls. By showing they are happy, we see how they are unaware of how he is treating them. The split screen really strengthens the narrative.

• We did struggle with the creation of the split screen as the programme is difficult to figure out, therefore Charlotte, a member of a group, who is very good at editing, took the role in trying to figure out how to use it while we all carried out our own tasks. She used tutorials on YouTube to follow the steps of how to create a successful split screen. It came together perfectly and how we planned it (above images are screen shots of the split screen).

Example of a Tutorial Used

iMovie

Video Editing Software

Example One

• iMovie is the programme we used to construct our research and production on. When studying the genre, we firstly practised skills by creating a video titled 'The Guide to Indie Rock' which is featured on my blog. Then was the main task, importing all our filming of the filming of the performance and narrative sections, to start editing and creating our music video. Luckily, in AS Media, we used iMovie therefore all had experience using it. We used a MAC laptop as we wanted to be able to edit more at home in turns. As we all had practise at using iMovie, we were all able to pitch in and edit. It was massively useful as we had to edit very precisely to ensure the continuity between the six girls and the male character within the female looked correct. 

Blogger

Coursework Blog

Example One

• Blogger is something I am familiar with from my AS coursework blog. It is a very useful website to document, research, planning, work, and production pieces, all in one accessible place. It is something, that between the three of us in our group, we can all share information and evidence to include on our blogs. We have tried to document as much as we can to ensure we have a full documentation of the production process. 

Celtx

Storyboard Creator

Example One

• Again, Celtx is a programme used to create storyboards on. This was vital within our production as there is no way we could have gone straight into filming without a detailed storyboard as this is the brief you follow for your own media production (music video).  We took our own images and put together a detailed storyboard which included length of shots, lyrics to fit with scene, the shot itself, the characters and the positioning. Although we did result in altering the storyboard after we analysed it properly due to filming mistakes, we found it really useful and a very good piece of software to use.

Video Camera/Camera

Nikon DSLR Camera

Example One

• We were luckily very fortunate in the camera we used to take photographs for the print products, and to film with. A member of our group, Charlotte, had access through her father to our new DSLR camera which records in HD. We thought this could really increase the overall finish and appearance of our music video so decided it was a must to use it. In the screen shot below, we can see the clear and HD finish to our video, with the very clear and defined shot of the male within the narrative, and also the choice to choose HD in the circled corner. This really made the music video better we feel.

Facebook

Social Networking Site

Example One

• Facebook is a social networking site, and every person who was involved in the production of our music video, has Facebook. In result, Facebook was really useful for contacting our friends about the filming of our music video.

Scanners and Printers

Scanner and Printer All-in-One

Example One

• Scanners and printers are a commonly used device and one in which came very useful in our media production process. In the research stage, we printed out advertisement posters from famous indie/rock bands to get a better feel of what their posters looked like that, rather than looking at it on a computer screen, as advertisements are hard copies. When we created our storyboard we printed various copies out so we all had one to refer to and make notes on if any of us felt things needed changing. We did the same here with the lyrics of the song to give to anyone used in our music video, who had to mime the words. Also, in our planning stage, when we were drafting ideas for our digi pack and advertisement posters, we wanted to ensure they were on a blogs to refer to and for thorough analysis, therefore we scanned all the drafts we had completed. Finally, we printed out our final print products on A3 paper through the printer in the media classroom.

Picasa 3

Image Editing Software

Example One

• We took the images for our digi pack and advertisement on the day we recorded the performance section of our music video, to ensure we created the same look and atmosphere as the music video. Also it would create a link, as audiences who watch the music video will be able to recognize the images more due to costume and setting. We were fortunate enough to be able to use the Nikon DSLR camera, which is a much more advanced camera than what many A Level students have access to, therefore our images were of a high quality. However, editing was needed to adjust light levels, crop images so that the framing was exact and so forth. Picasa 3 is an editing software I use very often therefore was easy to use and was very useful when trying to make our images, the best they could be. 

Email

Hotmail Email 

Example One

• Below is an example of a email I have recieved from Kate, one of the members of our group. If you look at who it is sent too, you'll see that it is sent to me and Charlotte, another member of our group. What is being emailed is the drafts of the advertisement poster after we scanned the images in. We've used emails for emailing images and text to put on our blogs, as it is quick and easy way to send things, but as a positive for us, we all have mobile phones which can receive and open emails, therefore receiving what we need quickly, and being able to respond to communicate with each other to ensure we all have received what we need.

Mobile Phones

Communciating Device

Example One

• In society today, mobile phones is the most used device when communicating with others, therefore was obviously going to play a big role in our filming as it was one of the ways we could communicate with the actors and other members of the group. As we were using in total, 11 people in our music video, we had to be very organised in contacting people with dates and times, therefore we ensured we had all their numbers to inform them of the best dates and so they could tell us when they could and couldn't do. It was much easier to text and call rather than use the social networking website, as mobile phones are much more accessible. 

Zamzar

File Conversion Website

Example One

• Once we had chosen the song from YouTube (as seen in the next section), in order to use it on iMovie and create a music video with it, we had to convert it from a video to a mp3 file, as the image shows below, the process is simple and all that is required is the link to the video, an email address and then once it has processed, you receive the mp3 in an email. This made using the song a very quick and easy process to have at easy access rather than just using YouTube.

YouTube

Video Sharing Website

Example One

• At the very beginning of our coursework research, we were asked to analyse artists from the genre we have chosen by thoroughly analysing music videos, digi packs and advertisement posters in which we could find on hard copy or the internet. The image below is how we searched for the music videos we were interested in analysing. We had to be certain to be analysing the official videos as there are many people on the internet who create and publish their own versions of music videos and songs.

Example Two

• The brief of the coursework was to create a music video and two print products based on a song we could find, but ensuring it came from an unsigned band due to copyright reasons. I had heard of the band Empire as they are a local band and have met a few of the real members before, but had never heard their music properly. After we found their YouTube which was posted on their Facebook page, we were able to find out information about the band on their YouTube profile and also choose the song in which were to use. 

In what ways do your media products use, develop or 

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are many specific codes and conventions within the genre of indie rock. They are dominant and very recognizable to the genre which makes it easier to identify which are the key ideologies of the genre, and which elements can be challenged but still made recognisable for audiences to be able to relate to the genre. We wanted to ensure that we could create effective media products which were suitable to the genre, recognizable by audiences and entertaining. I will discuss all the conventions of the genre below in comparison to which ones we've conformed to and which ones we've challenged. 

Music Video

Conformed Conventions

One of our main ideas, after analysing and researching well known indie rock bands along with their music videos, was to combine two different sections in the music video. We saw this done in videos such as Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire, Jamie T - If You Got The Money and Oasis - Stop Crying Your Heart Out. The combination of two elements shown in these were;

• Performance
• Narrative

This method was supported by Steve Archer (2004) as he stated that most music videos switch between a performance and narrative and that, occasionally, the artist/lead of the band will become part of the narrative. This is originally what we had planned to do to conform to the genre, however we couldn't find a male willing to take on the role of both characters, therefore had to use a set of four males for the band, and a different male to be the character within the narrative. We still feel this worked, as from our audience feedback we have gathered that they could easily make sense of the narrative and felt the combination of performance and a narrative suited the genre well and gave our music video a successful twist. Firth (1988) also states that their are three broad typologies which music videos can be categorised into, being either performance, narrative or conceptual. We have combined the performance and narrative typology in our music video as we wanted to create a sense of a storyline which matches the lyrics and theme of the song. The performance side enables the audience to recognise the band and make the audience feel part of a direct audience (as the lead singer is looking at the camera, it’s like he is singing to them). The narrative side involves a dominant male and lots of females (Schwichtenburg) which links to the lyrics of him being a cheeky ‘player’.


Moreover, we are planning to portray patriarchy in both the performance and the narrative; 

Question 8 Summary

The graph above we see the summary of a question from our audience questionnaire as part of our research for the production work. We asked "Would you prefer to see a male indie rock band or a female indie rock band?". As is clear from our very mixed audience, males were dominant in the audiences answers, which is what is expected from the genre. 

When using a performance and narrative, different settings are going to become apparent so we had to choose our settings carefully as we feel this is very vital to include when representing a genre....

Setting

Performance

After difficulties with finding a good location, we decided on using the drama studio within school (explained in the 'Location' post). We used professional musical equipment to really establish the bands image as instruments are a large part of the music within the indie rock genre. In nearly all the music videos we analysed, we saw instruments being displayed whether it's through close ups/long shots of whole band, but they were also apparent. Therefore to help conform to this connotation of the genre, we wanted to set up the performance stage so that all the instruments and band members were framed compactly within the screen (to also connote their friendship) but so that the equipment was visible. This encoded the importance of instruments within the genre of indie rock. The lighting also captures the instruments and the band members well so we thought this helped reinforced the genres dominant ideology of a tight knit band where music is the key attribute, alongside friendship and relations. 

Arctic Monkeys - Teddy Picker

The above are screen shots from two videos by Kings of Leon and Arctic Monkeys, widely renown indie rock bands. We see in both of them performances of the song within the music video. 

Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire


Narrative

The settings above used for the narrative sections of the music video are very different to the performance. Due to the area we all live in and the amount of time we had to film, we were limited in terms of where we could film on a day where we could get all seven people involved. A common connotation of the indie rock genre, is for the setting of their products, particularly in the music video, is an urban area. Usually we see long shots of estates or middle class areas in large cities. Due to the area we live in, this was quite hard to film what we wanted to in somewhere which looked like this. Therefore we had to do it on a road by my house. The shots make it look more rural with a lot of the trees and green leaves however if it was a very wide shot , we would see more of the houses and lampposts and cars to fulfil the urban nature. 

This has been seen before; 

Arctic Monkeys - Teddy Picker

However, for us, we feel this is more of a negative, despite the use of more rural backgrounds been seen occasionally before. We feel we could of made it more urban to fit the genre better as stock settings are an important factor for us when we analysed real media products. If we were to do this again, we would film it deeper into a city centre so you get the real feel of an urban setting;

Birmingham City Centre

Props

Instruments

Within the indie rock genre, it seems that in almost all music videos, there is a performance. Meaning, that instruments will always be apparent, within the music videos. As explained, we have used a narrative/performance structure to our music video therefore we wanted to show the main instruments used within the song played by the members of the band. We wanted every instrument and band member to be on show and to each have a mid shot/close up at some point so audiences can identify with the importance of instruments within this genre. 

Below are examples from previous music videos within the genre;

Below are stills from our music video which are very similar to what we have seen in other indie rock music videos;

We varied the shots between long shots, mid shots and close ups of instruments to ensure the message of importance was thoroughly put across to audiences. We ensured we captured lots of shots of the instruments to make the music video interesting.

Other Props

The two screen shots we see above are of two props we used mainly throughout the narrative, these being several different mobile phones and a laptop. Technology is a huge part of the 21st century, and is often seen within media products based on their importance. We knew we had to involve these two props within our narrative to help establish the story line. 

Kings of Leon - Use Somebody

The use of technology has been seen in previous indie rock music videos for example in the Kings Of Leon video for Use Somebody, we see various shots throughout the video of a television which establishes the use of technology within music videos. 

• This is a convention we have replicated within our music video. 

Positioning within the frame

Performance

As the band is male dominated, and the narrative is about a controlling and sneaky male, we knew patriarchy would be a common theme within our music video, but this isn't out of the ordinary for the genre. Nearly all indie rock artists and bands are male with exception of bands such as Florence and The Machine. Because of this, we needed to portray patriarchy throughout our music video. Positioning in the frame was a strong technique to put across this message. The lead singer is nearly always towards the front as he is the one lip syncing and usually, the most recognized member of the band. This is a technique used through all indie rock performances for example in Kings Of Leon, Sex On Fire;

We see here that Caleb Followill, the lead singer of Kings Of Leon, has the most focus and is much more towards the camera compared to the other members of the band. This is what we created within the performance.

Within the narrative, either the male was shown as more dominant, or seen as equal to the females through high angle shots while they both sat down, however the female sat more towards the camera. This was the scene where the male confronted each female about his actions, and was found to be the bad, arrogant and cheating male. The shot here took away his dominant stereotype and made him look 'stupid'.

Gesture

This is just one example of gesture within the narrative when the male is telling each female that he's "been a bad man, to you". This, for the females is something horrible to here so we had to make them appear through their gesture as if they are sad. Nearly all the females, are looking down at the floor, straight ahead or giving him a dirty look. This reinforces patriarchy as he has manipulated and controlled the situation and made the females feel sad. This is a negative representation of females as vulnerable and naive, but also the male as mean and sneaky. This has been seen previously in Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Comes Down. 

Editing

Fade In

The use of a fade in from black screen at the beginning of an indie rock music video is very commonly seen for example Arctic Monkeys video for Fluorescent Adolescent. For any genre, it is a way of introducing the video in a stylish manner by gradually revealing the footage. Using black as a choice of colour could be representative of the genre, as black is a common connotation of indie rock. However, we knew we wanted to follow previous indie rock techniques, to ensure the genre was recognizable. We also felt that this transition worked well with the beginning of the performance. 

Here is an example of a fade in within the genre;

Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody (print screen of fade in at start)

Quick Fade to White

We used this transition to create a symbolic meaning. What we see in the clip above is one of the six female girls staring at a photo of her and the male on the laptop screen, we see each girl doing it however this is just a quick clip of the transition. When taking a photo, a flash is used. We needed to use a transition between each female characters close up, and the close up of the photo on the screen. One of us had the idea of creating a 'flash like effect' to represent the taking of the image and the very quick fade to white really worked well here. 

This is a quirky and interesting way of creating a meaning, which I have seen done in; 

• Jamie T's - If You Got The Money
• In this video they use slow motion to create the effect of the males being drunk, slurred and unstable.

Focus change

When we filmed the above section of the narrative, we found on the camera a tool to focus and unfocus sections of the film gradually. The editing here was very difficult to put together, however we wanted to create an effect other than simply continuity to portray the narrative. The way we used this tool was to start out unfocused from far away but as each female and the male come gradually closer to the camera, we see them much clearer. This is too connote the surreal behaviour of the male character. Cheating is a fairly common act upon teenagers sadly, and relationships particularly are a strong convention of real media products based on lyrics e.g. The Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Comes Down. However, for one male to be seeing six girls at the same time is a very rare sight, but we tested our filming, organisation and editing skills by doing so. 

• The unfocused start connotes to the audience that what they have previously being introduced to as each female comes down the steps, is quite surreal and fictional. However as we see them gradually become more clear, it is a symbolic realization of what this male is capable of; again, reinforcing the stereotypical connotation of the genre, of patriarchy. 

Split screen

This was the most complex piece of editing we have used within our narrative. "The scene we have used with the split screen, is where the male is on the phone repeating the lyric of the song 'i have been a bad man for you'. The fact he says for you, is why they are appearing happy. We wanted to show how he is a a real 'bad man' by showing him on one side repeating the same thing to each of the six girls. By showing they are happy, we see how they are unaware of how he is treating them. The split screen really strengthens the narrative". From our knowledge, we haven't seen this technique used in previous indie rock videos. 

Camera Shots

Top left 

Performance - This is an example of a wide shot used in our music video. We used this shot a lot throughout the performance side of the video to establish the performance setting, to enable audiences to identify the band as a whole, to enable audiences to see which band members do what in the band and also to convey a 'concert' experience. If we were to just see the lead singer throughout, we would be portraying a solo type singer, whereas a common convention which we have replicated is to see the band as close and as good friends, which is what we've done here. 

Top right

Performance - This is an example of the close ups and mid shots we used throughout the performance stage of the music video. These were to establish the importance of instruments as explained in the props section above, which is a dominant ideology of indie rock. These shots took away the focus from the band members for a second, and made the audiences aware of the importance of the instruments in the creation of their music. 

Middle left 

Narrative - This is a shot from the final narrative scene of the conversation between each girl and female where he is saying the opposite to what he previously said; "I've been a bad man to you". The two shot is a great camera shot to use when filming a conversation as we see both characters well enough to be able to read their facial expression, positioning and gesture. If the conversation is important like this one, then this shot would be proffered over close up shots. 

Middle right 

Narrative - Here we see a screen shot of the male hugging one of the females. This shot is replicated for each female character (all 6). A common theme within the lyrics of indie rock songs are romance, relationships and teenage problems. The lyrics of the song are of a male acting as a bad man towards a female but leading them on to think he has done something bad for them; there is a significant difference. In this part of the narrative, the females are happy as they know no different. However, we captured the males face in this mid shot and in most of them, he has a 'cheeky' look on his face to portray to the audience, he is the bad man.

Bottom left 

Performance - Here is a mid shot of the drummer playing his drums. In indie rock music videos, often a lot of the focus is on the lead singer, as we have portrayed throughout our video. Despite this, there are often shots of the other band members to so audiences can identify them as a band rather than a lead singer with backing people. This connotes the stereotypical portrayal of bands in the indie rock genre as friends and as one.

Bottom right 

Performance - This is a low angle shot of the lead singer. It isn't as obvious as we would have liked but we still see the lead looking down at the camera as he is singing. This shot reinforces patriarchy again which we have seen as a recurring theme throughout the genre and our production work.

Camera Movement

Pan

Here we see the use of a pan so the audience can follow the action of the females walking down the stairs. We edited each piece of footage after filming each female walking up to the male, on the same weather conditions, and from/to the same spots so the continuity was precised. This was really fun to create and we feel it is the best piece of editing we have done throughout the whole video. The pan the footage creates really creates the idea that the audience is walking with them and we are finally introduced to the male character at the end. This creates an enigma to as we want to see where they are walking to. 

• Although this isn't a pan. In the 'Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent' music video 
• We see a fight scene going out and the camera appears as if it is fighting too. This is the effect we had to create with the pan, the idea of the audience walking along and following the action too. The clip is featured below...

Tilt and zoom in/out

Tilt -  The tilt was used to highlight the guitar solo and which band member was the best at this part and who was responsible. Guitar solos are often a big part of the indie rock songs and is important to highlight which band member is carrying it out. 

Zoom in/out - This camera movement was used in the performance section to highlight the band members playing their instruments. 

Challenged Conventions

Facial Expressions

The facial expressions in both the narrative and the performance section of our music video, are the only conventions we feel we have challenged within our music video; or at least the ones we can recognize. We didn't do this without thought, their was reasoning behind why we chose to challenge the facial expressions and if this helped or reinforced any connotations...

Performance

In the performance, we see above two screen shots of both the lead singer, and the guitarist laughing/smiling. When carrying out our research, one of the consistent conventions we saw, and one we included in our 'Guide To Indie Rock', was that the band members/characters tend to always keep a blank and straight face throughout the song. There is rarely smiling or laughing. However, because of the upbeat nature of the song, and the lyrics, and the fact we wanted to portray the band as friends too, we felt that laughing together and smiling would reinforce the cheeky side to the song and the story line therefore this is why we used them.

Narrative

Again, in the narrative we see the male character smiling and pulling cheeky faces. His character is the 'bad man' whom the song is about. Therefore, this is how we wanted to portray him. He knew he was cheating on the females, and so did the audience, however the girls did not. So the first shot over the females shoulder during a hug and she can't see is quite humorous and convincing. He is almost smiling at the camera, therefore the audience as if to say they know his actions, but the girl will never know. We felt this was more effective and helps portray the story line rather than just blank expressions.

Costume

Performance

- In existing real media products we see dark colours to connote the indie rock genre such as black and grey as these are common colours of the rock genre in particular therefore we wanted to the band members to wear these kind of colours. However, on the day, despite telling each member to wear dark colours and jeans, they turned up in clothes we didn't expect. The guitarists and drummer had while printed t-shirts and light grey jumpers which we felt didn't fit in at all. We think black polo shirts would have suited better such as... 

Arctic Monkeys - Teddy Picker

Narrative (bottom right picture) 

- In the narrative the females were able to wear different colours and styles to highlight the difference between them and each personality. However, for the male we tried to style him in darker colours but in the light the colours seem lighter which could affect whether the audience portray him as part of the genre. 

Print Products

Advertisement Poster

- Used black and grey colour scheme which connote the dark side of rock and roll music commonly used in the indie rock genre.

- Information provided to ensure audiences can access the music if feel they want too

- Largest pieces of font are the band name, album title and release date which are always the most featured parts of advertisement posters within the genre

- Full profile image is something we have challenged in the advertisement poster as we haven't seen this done in many. It is usually a landscape image or of something to do with the album/song lyrics

- Using the band image is a strong focus point for us and creates a promotional package along with the music video and digi pack as the same image/colour scheme/costume and other technical elements are used to create continuity between each product

Digi Pack

                                                                                                                                                                     

- Similar or the same images used on advertisement poster help create a branding for the band. 

- Different images on each side mix it up and add entertainment value

- Similar to existing digi packs in the genre e.g. The Verve's digi pack where the band are seen together. 

- Not too much writing to distract audience away from images which hold the most importance.

- Image of the same setting used in the music videos so audiences can create a comparison between the two. 

Summary

All in all, we have very much so conformed to the conventions of the indie rock genre using specific technical codes, narrative theory and post production techniques. We wanted to ensure audiences would recognize our products as something within the indie rock genre. I think we have done this successfully. If there are any faults with it, I feel the song may not fully fit into the rock side of the genre as it is more upbeat and with the cheeky feel to the narrative and performance, it steers away from the dark and serious atmospheres often created by indie rock music videos. However, I feel we have created a thoughtful, creative, entertaining and informative promotional package to sell the new band, The Supremacies. 

How effective is the combination of your main product 

and ancillary texts? 

In terms of the quality of all our products, I find we have really met our own expectations of what we wanted to achieve. We wanted a consistent theme throughout each of or products, so that they were recognizable as a band, a song and a product. I think this is something we have done extremely well and the technology we had access to improved this.

The continuous theme, layout, colours and images, enables us to give the band a certain image which makes up its brand. This technique is effective because it comes as a promotional package, therefore the audience can identify with the band when recognizing a product.

In the image below we see the same image used on the poster and the front cover of our digi pack. I find this is a very good technique we've used here as it is about branding. By using the same image, audiences who have simply seen the advertisement poster, will recognize the album more and so forth. Also, in the music video, the same costume is used and all the images were taken at the same time of the performance, therefore all the products are linked in some way. It also creates a look for the band as this is the image that most of the audience, and those outside the target audience will see, therefore has to be a tool of marketing to engage audiences;

This technique is something I noticed when analyzing Florence and The Machines advertisement poster and digi pack. The same image, layout and style is almost exact on each print product. The only variance is the border and the information on the poster. This makes it a good product for audience recognition;

Florence and The Machine (Poster and Digi Pack)

We discovered this was very much a real media convention, and something we wanted to replicate throughout our print products. The similarity between each product of ours, means they can be easily paired up. Meaning if someone see's a poster passing by, and quickly glances, but then they see the album in a shop, they will be able to create a link between the two as the images and format are very similar; here we have used a familiar marketing technique.

In summary, after a thorough analysis of our research into real media products, we have conformed to a lot of the genres real conventions. The genre of indie rock has a very set and almost concrete outlay of what is generally included to ensure audiences recognize the product being created, in our case a promotional package of music video, poster and CD album digi pack, but also recognize it belonging to the genre; indie rock. Genre theorist Christine Gledhill said that specific audiences have specific expectations, and these audiences are defined by the genre. In our case, our production was to target this audience with something informative and entertaining, and we feel our combination of the main product, and print products, create exactly this. 

What have you learnt from audience feedback?

Music Video

Positively, we got great feedback from the audience. We were very pleased with this as we knew how much effort we had put into the music video to make it as professional and realistic as we could. The editing was mentioned a lot in the positive feedback which was brilliant as this is what we had to focus on to ensure the continuity between the one male, and six girls looked correct. 


However, the feedback we received from other members of the media group was useful to help us notice where we went right, and where we made faults. We noticed a few of the faults ourselves once we had published the music video to YouTube which was a shame as we didn't have enough time to edit them out, or re film. Some of them were minor mistakes which you noticed when looking in for details, for example we couldn't find guitar straps so the males struggled to hold the guitars up as shown in the video below;

These could have been resolved through better preparation for filming with props and location. 

• 2 of our negative comments were based on costume which is something we definitely should have prepared more for, because the males in the performance came from school so didn't have time to change/dress appropriately despite the fact we asked them to wear dark colours. These were accidents and we have learnt to pay closer attention to detail.

Digi Pack

We were really happy with the layout and the images used on the digi pack as we felt they looked very professional. We were pleased to find out that the audience agreed with us that the format was interesting. This was really positive as we knew here that we had created something good and interesting for audiences, and the professional feel enhanced the creativeness of the digi pack. 


However, negatively, a point which struck us was that the images are similar. When looking over the digi pack, we suggested that this may be because the lighting, costume and framing are very similar because we wanted there to be a consistent theme between the images. Consequently, we do understand why some members of an audience may dislike this as there isn't enough variance in the digi pack, but overall, we are very fond of this print product and love how the finished product looks overall.

Advertisement Poster

The same comment was used again as in the digi pack, that the photos were well taken and had a professional feel about them. Also that the layout is simple and effective. We really agreed with these comments. As the digi pack was fairly complicated and mixed up in terms of the images, we wanted to keep the poster within the same theme, but also simple but able to get the point across. We wanted to provide enough information for the audience to be able to access the album release, but to keep the poster simple and not overcrowded. 

The negative we came across was that one of the band members in the image is smiling and this isn't very stereotypical of the genre. When we took these images, we could only take a few due to the time we had, and we felt this was the best image for the cover. Also, in the music video itself, we have challenged the stereotype of 'serious expression' because the song is more upbeat and cheeky, therefore we showed the band members laughing.