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

In my evaluation I will consider how my media product uses, develops or challenges forms and conventions of real media products. I will take into account conventions, audience feedback, the use of cohesion within my products and the use of media technologies during all stages of production. The song I chose to create a music video to was 'L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N' by Noah and the Whale. Alongside my music video I chose to create a six panel digipak and a magazine advertisement to help promote my artist. Throughout the planning and research stages I decided to change the concept of the song completely and interpret a brand new narrative. I will take the original and the new narrative into consideration and evaluate the links between the new video and the song lyrics. All of this will either be contrasted or reinforced with audience feedback.

Music Video

Original Music Video:

Genre
The genre of my song and music video is indie folk. This meant I needed to break and follow conventions. An indie genre tends to break conventions in comparison to genres such as pop, yet still follow their own genres within the sub-genres. The plus side to being able to either break or follow conventions meant I was able to play around with the narrative and make it quite different and quirky, rather than have to just follow a strict convention pattern.
I feel I have followed conventions of the indie folk genre hugely through the use of mise-en-scene, such as location, costume and props. The costumes I used portray the typical style of artists within the indie folk genre, as they're quite earthy and quirky, unlike outfits in genres such as indie rock, that tend to be items like black leather jackets. I feel the addition of the bow tie really added to the genre aspect and made clear links, as it is really reflective of the song. I used various locations around Hull (which meant I was quite limited to choice) that I felt reflected genre and followed the conventions, as it shows a sense of travel and also reflects the narrative. The main prop used was the puppet, which from audience feedback, I know was a success when creating a quirky narrative that linked to the indie folk genre. I think my actor, Ant, is really reflective of the genre as well in both his style and looks. He's quite similar to the men in the original music video, which wasn't my original intention but I feel created a successful aspect to my music video. In relation to Rick Altman's Genre Theory my music video fits into the 'emotional' aspect of the set of pleasures he claims that genre offers. This is because I attempted to follow the conventions of an unusual narrative that evokes emotion in the audience.
The song I chose to make my music video to was L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N by Noah and the Whale. The reason I did this was because I felt the song was really open to interpretation and I would have so many options for what kind of music video I could go for. The song is quite upbeat and has a positive kind of feel to it. I did a lyrics analysis of the song so I could get some ideas of what messages and values were available to use and how it fit to the indie folk genre. The image below shows an example of part of the song that I analysed. As I mentioned, the chorus has a huge sense of motivation, hence why I felt I linked the narrative to it really well.

Narrative
The original music video is mainly performance-based, with very little narrative, which is quite typical of the indie genre. I decided to create a narrative-based music video as I felt the song and it's beat would work well with that. Like the original, my video has a slight performance aspect to it as throughout the narrative the actor attempts to perform a puppet show. There is also a small amount of lip sync within my music video as that's a typical convention and I felt it might help an audience connect more to the song and video as a whole.
The idea of my narrative was to create a video that matched up to the indie folk genre and was a positive reflection of the song. I have a male actor who's dream is to become a famous puppeteer, but he is let down when he goes to certain destinations and there isn't a crowd. He begins to lose hope and starts to resent his puppet. He decides to have a final attempt at making his show a success and puts posters up. A small crowd gather to see his show, but this is where he realises he doesn't need a crowd to be happy and successful, because he has a hobby that he enjoys doing. I feel this is a really unique narrative and portrays the indie genre really well.
I created a Prezi (below) which showed the links between my own narrative and the original song. I felt doing this would help present my ideas of how I wanted my music video to be portrayed.

Textual Analysis:

I created a fast-forwarded version of my music video in Windows Movie Maker, which contains annotations of the messages behind my music video. I link to conventions and genre throughout and explain why I made certain creative decisions. I talk about how I try to make an audience connect to my music video and what would make them want to consume it, along with my ancillary texts. 

The slideshare below shows the conventions of my music video, in terms of mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing, all in relation to the indie folk genre.

The Prezi below shows the conventions of a digipak that I followed when creating my own.



Digipak: Changes I made to create a conventional product. 

I originally had a white background for my back cover, and the original digipak front cover only had one image of my artist. I changed these because I didn't feel they were very conventional of the genre and didn't look professional enough. I decided to make some last minute changes and make the background of both the front and back covers black. I changed the front cover image to the same image used for my magazine advert, as that's a typical convention used within the whole music industry, not just within the indie folk genre. I felt it made the product look a lot more professional and made it more likely to be consumed by an audience. 

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

To analyse the effectiveness of my main product and ancillary texts when combined I looked in detail at specific things that I thought made them a success, specifically looking at the continuity and cohesion.
I did various different research into existing ancillary texts throughout the year and took ideas from them to create my own professional product. I found it really helpful and made the process a lot easier as it gave me ideas as to what an audience wants and how they want to consume it. This slideshare shows previous research that I did when looking into other ancillary texts and what an audience would want from them.

My second slideshare shows a whole evaluation of specific aspects that answer the question 'How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?'.

Mise-en-scene:
Mise-en-scene that I used played a huge part in creating successful products. Location, props and costume were the main aspects that I felt created a professional product.
I used various locations, Queen's Gardens been the most popular when answered which location was preferred by an audience. I used a shot from the music video on my digipak, as I felt it created links and added to the popularity of the product.
The main prop used throughout the whole music video was the puppet, which the whole narrative revolved around. The puppet created emotional and physical links throughout the music video and helped to build the themes, such as hope, that were present throughout. Not only was the puppet used in the video, but I also interpreted it into the digipak. I felt this created a sense of continuity and linked the products together to a bigger extent.
The costume used throughout the whole video was the same, to create the sense of how the puppeteer didn't feel he was changing or getting more successful when performing. He wore quite quirky clothing that reflected him as an artists and the indie folk genre of music. The bow tie that he wore was quite a cliché item to add, as it's quite reflective of a nerdy type of character.
The artist's clothing changed in the ancillary text to follow conventions as well as keep an audience interested in the product, as I feel it could get quite boring if everything was constantly the same.

Cinematography: 
I focused largely on cinematography throughout my music video and ancillary texts, as it's a personal favourite of mine. I tried to interpret the centre shots that I used throughout the music video into my ancillary texts. For example, the shots and position of the artist on the back cover of the digipak was important, as I wanted him to be placed at the side and have the track list next to him. I mainly used close ups and medium close ups for the ancillary texts as this seemed to be more conventional. In the music video I used a lot of long shots and close ups of the puppet as I found this is what an audience wanted to see more of. Audience feedback helped with various drafts of the music video, as they informed me of how they wanted to see more shots of the puppet. 


Colour Scheme:
I mentioned colour scheme throughout my powerpoint and it was a great aspect when creating the emotion throughout my music video and ancillary texts. Continuing with the same colour scheme on both the music video, digipak and magazine advert created cohesive products and I feel made them seem more familiar. They helped an audience to link all three products together and made them aware that the products were all combined and actually linked.
I relied largely on the colour scheme to help portray the emotion throughout the music and to help get the messages, values and themes across to an audience. Each colour was an indication of something, like the red representing passion on behalf of the puppeteer.

Target audience response:
My target audience were mainly teenagers and students, who are interested in the indie folk genre. The idea of my music video is quite a young and ambitious one, which may be more appealing to a younger audience. The concept of my narrative also brings in a specific target audience and the fact the song is of the indie folk genre, I aimed towards them. The actor in the music video is a student, which would typically appeal more to that age group. The feedback that I received throughout the whole process of creating my products was mainly from this demographic, which meant I was able to aim it at them more and create products that they would personally like and enjoy.
I created focus group videos that helped me to improve the products and also help me to realise the good and bad aspects of my music video and the ancillary texts. The final responses I received through focus groups from my target audience were quite positive and showed they enjoyed my products.

Theory: 
The effectiveness of the combination of my media products relied largely on following up media theory. Meaning the links made to representation, narrative, genre and audience theory between my products.
Representation Theory:
My product goes against Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory to quite a large extent, due to the main issue that my music video has no women in it and a large part of this theory is that women are sexualised (typically by heterosexual men) based on how they are portrayed. Due to the narrative it wouldn't really be possible to sexualise the artist/video as a whole in any way, therefore making it impossible to objectify any aspect. A downside to this theory is that men are also sexualised throughout the media, but I don't feel this complies with my own product, as it's a different and quirky type of video, with no sexualising or attempts of sexualising in order to gain popularity. I feel this relates to my ancillary texts as well, and as a combination, none of my products follow the Male Gaze Theory.
My product partially complies with Richard Dyer's Star Theory as in both my music video and my ancillary texts I have attempted to make the artist more appealing to an audience in order for them to consume what they see. I did construct my own artist to follow conventions of the genre and make him aim for a specific target audience. The theory says that a star isn't an actual person - it is a persona created for the audience to identify with, which I believe to be true. The artist was created to appeal to an audience and to be consumed by them, therefore making him stand out and not necessarily be himself.
I believe the combination of my products are effective due to following specific stereotype rules. Tessa Perkin's says that stereotypes are assumptions we make based on groups of people and the way they look. By creating an artist that follows the stereotypes of a typical quirky, indie folk, musically creative male I was able to make an audience connect and be aware of what the music is about. By following stereotypes on my ancillary texts I was able to automatically get a specific target audience's attention and make them want to see my music video, therefore making the combination of products very effective through the use of stereotypes.
Narrative Theory:
Tim O'Sullivan (1998) believed that all media texts tell us some kind of story and that media reflects culture, but also teaches the audience about themselves. My aim of the music video was to put across a meaningful narrative, that affected the audience in some way. My ancillary texts were also supposed to intrigue and influence an audience. So to a certain extent I believe this theory to be relevant with my own products.
Sven Carlsson (1999) believed that music videos fall into two rough groups, a performance clip and a contextual clip. Carlsson said that the performance aspect can either be song, dance or instrumental. I added a small amount of lip sync to my music video, but not a lot because I wanted it to be more of a narrative than performance. This created a sense of performance, alongside the aspect that within the narrative my artist was performing, therefore creating the concept that the artist was performing, but really it was within a narrative, therefore having both aspects. The idea of the puppet and the puppeteer was to create a new kind of narrative that hasn't really been done before. Narrative music videos are more typically about a boy and girl situation of romance or problems within romance, but I felt that didn't work as well with my song choice. I wanted something quirky, that matched the genre of music and appealed to an audience in a different way. Overall, I believe my music video follows the narrative side of this theory more than the performance as it's a simple story that's easy to follow, and it creates emotion within an audience that they are able to connect to and enjoy.
Genre Theory: 
The intention of my music video was to follow the conventions of the indie folk genre, such as costume and narrative structure. Jason Mittell (2001) believes that industries use genre to sell products to audiences and that it also allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to fulfil a particular pleasure. I agree with these statements, as in my music video, digipak and magazine advert I followed specific conventions of the
genre by analysing other products within this genre, in order to understand what my target audience wanted. I feel this specific genre theory is correct, especially when linked to how I went about creating my own products. Aspects such as costume was taken from other music videos within the indie folk genre as I knew that's what was appealing to the audience. Having my artist wear clothes, such as jeans, blazers and a bow tie made him more appealing and more likely to be consumed by an audience. Rick Altman (1999) felt that genre offers an audience a 'set of pleasures', such as emotional, visceral and intellectual. My own products comply to the emotional aspect of this theory, as I originally set out to create products that would make an audience engage and feel emotion for not only the character, but themselves. I personally enjoy this from a narrative and feel an audience are more likely to watch something if they are able to connect with it.
Audience Theory:
Audience theory was quite important to me when creating my products, as I wanted them to be able to connect and understand the narrative within my music video.
Stuart Hall's Reception Theory can be linked greatly to my products as it was important that my message within the music video was spread across to an audience. He states that messages are encoded by a producer, and then decoded by spectators, who either take a dominant reading, a negotiated reading or a oppositional reading. I wanted an audience to interpret the narrative however they wanted so it wasn't a huge aim for them to take a dominated reading and believe the intended messages and values. As long as they got the idea of a struggling performer who was quickly losing hope, like some people do in typical every day life, whether it be through school, college, work, hobbies, or ambitions. Colour scheme (as mentioned earlier) played a huge part in conveying emotions and getting messages across, through my ancillary texts.

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In order to receive feedback on my final products I decided to ask various  people, including peers and family, a variety of questions through the use of surveys (both written and online), focus groups and social media. This enabled me to see both the positives and negatives to my music video, including the decision of making any last minute changes. 

Audience feedback is hugely beneficial and definitely a necessity when creating any product, especially one such as a music video, which is aimed to appeal to an audience and make them want to consume it. 

In relation to Stuart Halls' Reception Theory, I wasn't too concerned as to whether my audience took a dominant reading of the messages and values within my music video, as long as they were able to to at least take a negotiated reading and understand that there was more to the story than a puppeteer performing shows. I created the narrative with the intention that an audience would see more than what was just on the screen and would take it quite personally and feel some emotion when watching it.  

Audience Demographic:

Although my specific target audience was teenagers/students, I used people of various ages, genders and social classes to fill in my surveys/take part in my focus groups. I felt varying my audience would create a product that not only targeted one audience, but would appeal and be appropriate for everyone. Ages ranged from 11 up to 55, I had both males and females to complete the survey, all from either a worker or middle class social class. This enabled me to gain fair audience feedback from a variety of people. 

Survey

Throughout the year I created surveys that helped me create my final products. Before starting the products I created a poll to put at the side of my blog, so that people who viewed it could give me ideas as to what they wanted to see in my music video. 

I also created a survey monkey account and posted the survey onto social networking sites, such as twitter to gain ideas for my products. 

After the creation of my products I wrote down a variety of questions that I could use for my written survey in order to get good responses that I would be able to work with. I also created another online survey and sent it to some friends on my Facebook account so they could click the link and fill in the survey straight away. 

This screenshot shows me sending my music video and the survey to a group of friends and family on Facebook, so I could incorporate the idea of social media into my feedback and help gain quick responses on my product.

The majority of my responses via surveys were very positive and helped me improve on specific areas within my music video. I got responses from people of all ages, ranging from 11 to 45 (with the majority of responses coming from 17/18 year olds). Despite my main target audience being teenagers/student, I felt getting a range of responses would be beneficial and help me with the success of my product. 

Q1) Do you think my music video matches up to the indie folk genre? Why?

The responses to this question were all 100% yes. This meant I was successful in creating a product that linked to and reflected the indie folk genre. The results I got for why the video matched the genre were mainly answers like 'because the narrative is really quirky' and 'the mise-en-scene, e.g. the outfits and props reflect the genre'. This meant the creative decisions I made were worthwhile and created a popular product that met my aims and appealed to my intended target audience. 

Q2) Do you think my music video is effective when combined with the ancillary texts? Why?

I got a 100% result of yes for this question in both the written and online surveys I provided. People responded with answers such as 'they're all cohesive and I feel the colour scheme works really well with the genre as well.' This meant I was successful in creating a link between my music video and my ancillary texts, therefore creating a product that looked very professional and making sure an audience liked it and wanted to consume it. 

Q3) What part of the music video did you like the most? Why?

I got varied answers for this question as it's all down to personal preference. Responses I got were 'at the marina', 'the close-ups of the puppet dancing', 'the puppet show', 'I liked the Queen's Gardens scene, as the range of cinematography looks really good'. The puppet was definitely a good idea as it created a quirky alternative to typical music videos that often involve a type of romance. 

Q4) Do you think the narrative is effective? Why

Everyone seemed to think the narrative was effective, which is definitely what my aim was. Responses such as 'it's really original but still matches to the message of the song' and 'the use of the puppet is really different and quirky' were really helpful as it made me see that using different themes and portraying specific messages and values in the way I did was a success.

Q5) What would you change/improve? Why?

I didn't get many responses on what anyone would change, as people seemed to like what I had done. The one response I got was 'it's really good but to improve maybe think about different songs in the melody to fit different times'. I took this on board and mixed some of the editing up to see if it would be beneficial and make an audience more likely to consume the product. 

Focus Group

I did a focus group with Emily and Kayleigh, who also take media because I thought feedback from peers who understood the course would be beneficial to what I would learn. Another focus group was with Kate, who is also a media student as I wanted to vary opinions. I did another focus group with a friend who takes other courses, such as science and maths, as I wanted a variety of responses from people who didn't necessarily understand the course and I also did a focus group with my younger sister as I wanted a variety of ages, therefore using an 11 year would help achieve this, as well as help me gain responses from someone with different ideas. 













Responses to questions on my focus group were all quite similar and definitely positive.
The questions I asked in the focus groups were quite similar to my surveys, therefore getting similar responses:
1) How old are you?
2) Does my music video match up to the indie folk genre?
3) What's your favourite aspect of my music video?
4) Is there anything you feel could be improved?
5) Do you feel the narrative works well with the song?
6) Would you watch my music video again?


Charts
I created both bar and pie charts on the meta-chart.com so I could round up the responses for my ancillary text mock ups. They were a really easy way to present information and responses that I got, even thought they were only responses to the mock ups that I created for my ancillary texts. I asked both family members and friends, ranging from age 11 to 50. This meant I got a variety of answers, which meant my product would be more successful.

The results show that for the digipak, more people preferred number three and for the magazine advert more people preferred number 2. This made creating the real ancillary texts easier as I knew what an audience would want and would be more likely to consume. 

Poll:

I created a poll on blogger before creating any of products and added it to the side of my blog, so that it would be easy to get a varied audiences opinion on what ideas I had for my music video. It proved successful as I got a variety of responses from an anonymous audience, likely to be people who were visiting my blog. The fact anyone was able to complete my poll means my audience is vast and shows how I got different opinions from people who I didn't hand my written survey to, or send my online survey to. This is beneficial to my product, as it makes it more appealing to an audience and therefore more likely to be consumed by them. 

My audience feedback has taught me a lot, from the very beginning of the course, to the very end. I realise how important the feedback of an audience is when trying to create a product that looks professional and will be a success. I learnt that I would need a specific target audience when creating my products, as there would be too many opinions if I tried to aim it at everyone. I feel I still intended the products to be appropriate for all ages, but focusing my mindset on teenagers/students made it a lot easier, especially since I am a student myself.
Gaining both negative and positive responses helped me to create a product that I felt would want to be consumed by an audience and would be successful.

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

Technologies:

• Sony Cx-250 x9
• Tripod
• Nikon camera
• iPhone 5

Computer Programmes:

• Final Cut Pro Version 10.1.3
• Adobe Photoshop CS5
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• iMessage
• iTunes
• Microsoft Publisher

Web 2.0:

• Dafont.com
• Prezi.com
• YouTube.com
• Twitter.com
• Google.com
• Fontspace.com
• Blogger.com
• Safari

Final Products

Feedback and Last Minute Changes to Video

I received some feedback from peers and teachers about what last minute changes I could do to my music video and over Easter I went into college to film a better ending (the main performance) because the lighting wasn't to a good quality, therefore leaving the footage very grainy and unprofessional. Obviously using colleges cameras wasn't going to leave me with the greatest quality overall anyway, but it definitely needed improving. Bringing lighting down from the green room and putting it in the theatre made the overall quality a lot better and made the music video look more professional. I feel it really contributed to creating more emotion as well. By putting flashback clips in I felt it helped present the narrative better and showed the journey of my artist.

Focus Group Questions

1) How old are you?

2) Does my music video match up to the indie folk genre?

3) What's your favourite aspect of my music video?

4) Is there anything you feel could be improved?

5) Do you feel the narrative works well with the song?

6) Would you watch my music video again?