Evaluation Question 4

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

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Comments on the Video

We put our music video onto YouTube and asked our target audience to post their feedback in the comment section of the music video. We also did this on Facebook where we pasted a link onto our Facebook page and asked people to comment in the comment box.

Collecting the opinions from the comments on Facebook and YouTube, it was found that our target audience very much liked the narrative, camera shots and editing of past and present. Many also thought that by using the different colours and lighting was good at showing the contrast between the past and present, which was one of the main elements within our music video and I am glad that our target audience understood that they were flashbacks connoting that there was a lack of confusion. This is good because we did not want our target audience to be confused at any time while viewing the music video. I also learnt from the audience feedback that the clips kept up with the tempo, which was also a main element of our music video as Indie Rock music videos match the tempo of the song and hit the beat of the song. I learnt from the audience feedback that we should have created a bigger build up to Alice's car crash and in the future we would look at creating more of a build up to the climax. Alongside this constructive criticism, another point was that it was very dark in the night scenes and it took away the high quality of the footage which was consistent throughout the music video. So, in the future I would look at seeing if there was any other way of being able to overcome this problem and try and keep the high quality footage.

Interviews

We did individual interviews consisting of people we interviewed in our research stage and then new people who we had not interviewed before. We asked them questions regarding our music video and then asked them questions regarding our digi pack.

Music Video:

We asked our participants questions concerning the music video to start with, which consisted of:
1) Did you enjoy the music video?
2) Do you think the iconography used was relevant?
3) How well do you think we have conformed to the conventions of the Indie Rock Genre?
4) What did you like the most within the music video?
5) What did you not like within the music video?
6) What camera shots do you think were the most effective and why?
7) What camera shots do you think weren't effective and why?
8) Do you think the visuals reflected the song well?
9) Do you think there was an effective use of alcohol to tell the story?
10) Do you think that Alice's costume showed character development as the video progressed?
11) Can you tell who the target audience is when watching the music video?

Then, for the people we interviewed in the research stage we asked:
Has our music video and digi pack met your expectations and do you feel we took your input on board?

Digi Pack and Advert:

We asked our participants questions concerning the advert and digi pack that consisted of: 
1) Does the album advert and Digi Pack attract your attention?
2) Would you consider buying the album?
3) Do you think the album cover and advert work well together and why?
4) Do you think the album cover and music video work well together and why?
5) Do you think the digi pack conforms to conventions?
6) Do you think the digi pack and music video represent the artist well?
7) What impression of the artist do you get from the colours and images used?

Comparing Interviews

We also edited together a video to show a comparison of what was said in the first interview and the most latest one, in order to show we listened to our Target Audience and while producing our music video took them into consideration, in order for it to be more appealing and sellable. 

Taking on board the feedback     

After retrieving our feedback, we made adjustments to our music video based on our audience feedback and also because we had come to watch it a lot more, we saw what needed to be edited and worked on.

So, this is the final edit: (watch in HD for better viewing)

We changed a few elements of our music video as our target audience pointed out some flaws which we could change, like the brightness of some of the clips in the dark. Because we kept showing it to our audience to gain feedback we watched it in more detail and ourselves found some flaws that needed editing, like when Alice is standing in the street and then starts to walk which was a continuity error and became very annoying to watch. So, we decided to edit that because it was easy to re adjust. We also turned down the brightness and saturation of some flashbacks as some flashbacks were extremely bright and looked very out of place with the other flashbacks and the footage it was edited with. For example, the living room scene has some flashbacks and the living room is quite low key, but then a flashback would occur which would be extremely high key and looked odd. We also made some clips longer in order for the clips to stay on beat to the song because we cropped some clips down making the footage not hit the beat like it did before re-edit. Apart from these things, there was not much we wanted to edit as our target audience did not really have anything negative to say about our music video and we could not see anything else for a potential edit.

Evaluation: Question 2

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

                    

Evaluation: Question 1

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

Digi Pack

Music Video

Applying Theories to our Music Video:

Barthes - Engima Code:

There is enigma consistently being built up within our music video which is conventional in our genre. Throughout our music video there are no real answers given and the audience are constantly kept hooked on why the couple broke up and why the broke up. Because there is no dialogue the audience can only take answers from the visuals which was a lot of arguments and using the character of Amelia, who as a character was an enigma as it is never said/concluded as to what her role was. This is conventional as in Kodaline - High Hopes music video, it is not clearly said as to why the wedding broke off and why the man in the car was going to commit suicide. All that can be taken to why the wedding broke off was through the visuals of the bruises on the female protagonists back. Also, at the end of our music video Alice is involved in a car accident but it has an ambiguous ending as to whether she is dead or not as the audience are left with the visual of Alice and Luke standing by a pond in high key lighting and as an interpreted reading, it can be interpreted that Alice died and is now in the place that she wanted to be. Or an alternative reading (Stuart Hall) could be that it is something that she wanted and concludes why she did what she did. 

Strauss - Binary Opposites:

The binary opposites within our music video can be interpreted as male vs. female, and that there is this constant feud between the two genders and one was stronger than the other. This links the binary opposite of good vs. bad and depending on the viewer it can be interpreted in different ways who was good and who was bad. The good vs. bad doesn't just have to apply to the characters but can also apply to the theme of the good times Luke and Alice had and the bad times they had. There is also death vs. life where Alice is struggling between life and death and doesn't know which one she wants to be part of, connoted by her reckless behaviour. These are all conventional binary opposites as shown in Kodaline - High Hopes, The Neighbourhood - Let it Go and The 1975 - Robbers. This is because they all have an element of the male vs. female, for instance in The Neighbourhood music video, the woman is sad and angry because of how much stronger the male is and the stronger dominance he holds, connoting a patriarchal society that we live in. Then, Kodaline has elements of death vs. life as at the start of the music video, the man is going to kill himself but he finds something worth living for but then at the end the woman dies and she is in some form still living in his heart/imagination, so there is a cross over between life and death. Then, The 1975 has the element of good vs. bad because the male protagonist wants to rob a store and does making him the bad person, but the people in the van or his girlfriend could be seen as good as they save his life and also they did not take much part in the robbery.

Propp - Character Types:

Within out music video it can be interpreted that Luke is the villain, this is because he is the cause of Alice's downward spiral. It can also be connoted that he is the villain due to his costume as he wears a white T-Shirt which could be seen as hiding his villainous side. But, it could also be argued that Amelia is the villain as she can be associated with the break up in an interpreted reading. Alice can be seen as the princess as she cannot seem to live without a male in her life and needs saving from this dark side she has gone into, connoted by the iconography and costume associated with Alice. We have followed conventional character types as the woman tends to be the princess within the genre of music videos, like Kodaline - High Hopes, the female needed to be saved from a bad marriage and bad relationship also making the male she is running away from seem like the villain. This also applies to Alt-J - Breezeblocks music video because the male is harming the female and ends up killing someone. 

Todrov:

Equilibrium: Alice, Luke and Amelia are walking in a group

Disruption: Luke and Amelia laughing and enjoying each others company so Alice runs away from the group.

Recognition: When she is in the living room she realises that she was in a bad relationship

Attempt to repair: She picks up an alcohol bottle and drinks, producing a downward spiral

New equilibrium:She returns to a peaceful world with Luke in death

Like most videos in our genre, there isn't a real equilibrium to start with as most characters seem somewhat sad or angry at the start, meaning that we have conformed to conventions of the genre. For instance, in Kodaline, it starts with a disruption and has some form of equilibrium at the end. But, most music videos within our genre start with a disruption and throughout the disruption continues and there is some attempt to repair. This is because within this genre, it is mainly non-chronological narratives to create enigma and an interesting music video.

Planning the Evaluation

In order to know what I needed to include in my evaluation I created mind maps, one for each question. This enabled me to know what I needed to mention and how I can go across with it and the best way to communicate the information. 

Final Digi Pack

This is our final Digi Pack. We chose to have the same image on our advertisement and front cover in order for our audience to be aware that it is the same band and that they know which band it is. We went with a continuous theme of the streets as it ties in with the main locations in our music video and also represents our band in a realistic way. Our target audience wanted an album cover with the name of the band and album alongside a simple design, as this was preferred in the questionnaire. This is the same for our advert, our audience wanted to see a release date and name of band and album, this allows for the audience to then know what album to go and buy and they are not misled. 

We chose to go with a lighter colour for our advert in order for it to stand out from where it is being presented in order for it to catch the attention of our audience. 

Album:

Advert:

Drafts for Digi Pack

We took photos for our digi pack and we had to choose which ones we thought were suitable.

We chose to have a photo of a shadow because it reflects the street life and the lower class connoted by the alcohol and cigarette in the hands. It is a female figure because it was a female in our music video and because we did not want too much focus on our band as they care for their music more than their fame. It also challenges typical conventions of indie rock as anonymous figures used on albums are typically male. The front cover then enabled us to gain a theme for the rest of our digi pack. It also reinforces codes and conventions of our genre because indie rock album covers tend to have little on them and are plain and simple. It is important that we choose the right style and theme as when our target audience go to buy the album they will want it to look appealing and we need it to be eye catching. So I looked back at the questionnaires to see what album covers and adverts were preferred, styles, themes and what text was expected in order for us to know what design and theme we should go for. Our analysis of other album covers is very useful as we know what style and theme is conventional and how to portray our genre in the correct way.

                                                                  

Linking to existing products:

As you can see from previous products there is always a consistent theme throughout the digi pack like colour and font, where the back cover tends to match the front cover. The font on these album covers are simple and white which can also be seen on our drafts and is the type of font we want for our digi pack also. Because the existing products have a consistent theme, for instance, 'The 1975' for both the front and back cover we want to produce something like this also as we feel it works well and creates band identity. 

As shown by the snapshots from our final music video, it can be shown that we have linked our digi pack to our music video, like the shadow theme which is dominant in our music video, streets, low key lighting and alcohol. We have also used a street light that Alice stands under which links nicely with our digi pack as it highlights the shadow which is created from light which can also be seen on the back cover.

Music Video: First Cut

Gaining Permission

We attempted to get permission for our chosen song 'Lover' by contacting the manager of the band. But we got no reply, so we used the song anyway. But, this shows that we attempted to get permission. 

Production Schedule

We produced a Production Schedule in order for us to tell our actors when we needed them and if they could perform on these days. Also, it allowed us to keep on top of filming and know what props were needed and what costume needed to be worn, allowing for continuity. 

This is the more in depth production schedule expanding on what location, props, actors, costume etc. are needed on what days.

Shot List

We created a shot list in order to show the shots we wanted to use in our music video, it also gives more detail to our storyboard. The shot list allowed us to gain the visuals that we wanted in or video and shows that we have thought about each individual shot after creating a visual storyboard.