Music Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA4eRSATThA&feature=youtube

Ancillary Tasks

Poster

Front Cover 

                                                     

Inlay - Left

Inlay - Right

Back Cover

Evaluation Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

Music Video

Our music video ended up being a in my opinion a hybrid between a concept and performance based video, which differs a lot from the original idea of the video being a narrative based video. This is because instead of telling a story, the resulting video instead shows the artist performing while ideas and themes; a common style placed in concept based videos, overlay the video. This change means that the video does not fall into the category of the narrative theory, where it would possess “characters” in terms of the actors in the video. The concept aspect comes from the non-performance based scenes as well as overplayed scenes, for example the scene of the artist playing Fifa. This part both links to the lyrics of the song as he speaks about playing football but we use a video game to show a more modern aspect. It also shows the artist to be represented as an “ordinary teenager” which was one part of a representation we were trying to achieve with our artist, because his genre of being Grime/Hip Hop. Part of the grime genre is about remembering “where you came” from and by representing the artist in this way fits this part of the hybrid genre. The performance based come from the studio scenes which run throughout most of the video. It more adheres to both the style and forms present in both a performance based video and a concept based video in addition to the codes and conventions of being a hybrid video.

The final music video uses general effects, such as fades for transitions and the ghost effects of the footage to create blurred visual to create the look of a dream. While the fade is a more common technique the blurred created from ghost effect is not as it is not always applicable, but is seen in some videos like Swimming Pools by Kendrick Lamar. The use of this affect was to create a dream was part of the original idea where audience would question whether what they have viewed was a dream or actually happened to the artist. As stated before the idea changed and it became to focus solely on the concept of it being a dream and partially life for the artist. This is why the blurred effect lent itself well in the concept. The mise en scene of the video subverts from both genres. The first aspect in which t subverts is the look of the artist. In order to create the realistic, mature and real representation of the artist we subverted from the dark tones of grime genre and the bling, gangster look that most artist in both genres usually present themselves as. We felt that because our genre was more niche, we had more freedom to make the artist different. This is where the idea of create an ordinary guy that the audience could relate to as the artist connecting the idea of his dreams, still remaining a real artist. This idea is also placed within the camera angles. We refrained from using any high angle or low angle shot as these usually connote a form of power. In order for him to be seen as just as “ordinary” there is no ideas of a power shift in the video. This is also why we also had the artist perform directly into the camera, as if he is directly talking to the audience.

To conclude, the video more adheres than subverts. This is because while aspects subvert like the mise en scene and presentation of the artist, in general as a hybrid video; both the concept and performance styles are present throughout the whole music video. Hybrids are s becoming a more popular form of video in the current age within the media, however it is less common to see a concept and performance based video in the way we have represented it in regards to the niche genre of Grime/Hip Hop.

Ancillary Tasks

The Ancillary tasks all convey the same theme. They all suggest an urban look of grime genre/hip hop through the look of the physical photo image, the effects used to layout the design e.g. the city scape-silhouette and the colour scheme of cool blues, greys and purples. Firstly the music poster, this device is used to promote our genre, album, artist and in some cases specific singles. All of these features have been incorporated in to the creation of our music poster. In this sense this media piece conforms by using similar devices. As stated before the forms and structure all fit the genre, the typography is not rigid but more freestyle to convey the urban feel of the genre however appropriate clear block font has been used to present the information that needs to presented to the audience. In addition the poster develops utilising social media; the Facebook and Twitter links, which is alternate, easy and popular form of advertising. Furthermore in keeping with the development of media types instead of showing that it is sold in record stores we have used the digitalised technologies of iTunes. This is a popular distributor of music so will reach as much of our target audience as possible.

The Album pieces similarly convey the same motif throughout. Even though the use of album covers has seen a decrease in popularity, as suggested by the explicit use of digital format on the poster, creating one also allows for our text to appeal to the audience that like the authenticity of the hard case product thus a wider audience altogether in regards to the fact that it is already a niche genre. The cover uses conventions similar to ASAP Rocky LoveLiveAsap with the use of grey scale against specific parts of the CD coloured. This is also a play on words of the album title “True colours suggesting we arguably are shown the artist’s “true colours”. This is present on both the front and back cover as the lighting effects used to highlight the artist specifically also convey this theme. 

Evaluation Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Evaluation Q3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The most successful aspect was that fact that the 3 media products were able to both subvert and adhere to some of the common stereotypes associated with the genre; being grime/hip hop. These incorporated aspects allowed for our niche target audience to be widely catered for when viewing the musical product. This is due to the prior research from the audience question, which allowed us to fully explore, analyse and utilize the conventions of the niche, hybrid genre in the creation of the media products. When viewed with a focus group all 3 products are described as unique and engaging especially the music video because of the song (lyrics) and how we presented the artist.

The questionnaire consisted of the following questions:

1.         What do you think of the typography that is presented on the Album and Poster?
2.          What do you think about the images displayed on the Album and Poster?
3.          What do you think about our overall layout of the Album and Poster?
4.          Do you think the products reflect mainstream products?
5.          Can you think of anything that could be improved on any of the products?
6.          What stands out the most to you in the music video?
7.          What stands out the least to you in the music video?

While the feedback above talks about the finished products there were also other stages of feedback that were useful in the whole project of creating the 3 media texts. The first was teacher feedback, this came verbally and as an update to my blog and was a useful aid in identifying what needed to be fixed or corrected and what was fine and didn't need amendments. It useful to have someone constantly giving you feedback as it allows you to make better decisions on the aesthetic of the media that is being created, an outside opinion which is useful as when you are just going on a single idea it may lead to a bias which would in turn affect the look of the project.
The next form of feedback was peer assessment. This was also useful, maybe more because the age group of the peers was within our target audience so this allowed us to receive constructive criticism on what aspects of the video, music poster, and Album worked well and not so much, in addition to ideas on what they feel the should be included into any of the media products. External opinions during the production process are vital in assessing the verisimilitude of the finished pieces because it allows for constant improvement. It is difficult to deliberate whether ideas are good when they are your own so feedback during this process allows for insight that can be used to make changes or just ideas that you can undertake, all the feedback does not have to be used but it is important to take it all into consideration.

Evaluation Q4: How did you use media technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages?

Production Entry 6

Both ancillary task are now completed. The final thing left to do is finish the music video. All efforts in the group have now gone towards editing solely.