- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My music video follows and abides by the rules of a real music video, my music video has a narrative genre music video where it shows in complicating Act 1, the artist as like all musican's who starts of with nothing and is shown in his bedroom, writing lyrics, rapping, practising beats on a keyboard, on his computer and rapping into a microphone. Complicating Act 2 consits of him walking around the streets which is a place associated with rappers and they practise and rap on the street, he is shown walking and the audience can see he is heading somewhere but are unaware of where, until complicating Act 3 where he is shown rapping at a gig. Perfroming live infront of his fans rapping lyrics we had seen previously and what we had seen him practising and producing in the first scene. This shows he has finally made it and although it is tough to get to where he is, he was jsut liek everyone else and started off with nothing and had to make and write everything for him self and he had a break and now is rapping infront of hundreds and has a fans, which many future artists dream of just as he did.
Throughout i use a number of camera shots (medium shot, close up, cut zoom in, cut zoom out) angles (low angle, high angle etc.) and edited it together mainly using cross dissolves which is most oftenly used but i have also used other editing methods such as the wipe left and wipe right in certain stages where the tempo is quick in the song and also used a circle open edit where the beginning of a clip is zoomed in on the checkered shirt and it zooms out which i believe to look a very proffesional clip and the editing fits in with the clip/image. I have made sure all of my shots are not longer than 5 seconds to reduce the audience from getting bored. I have taken a number of different shots from different angles and edited them together abiding by the 180 degree rule, all of these things allow the music video to continue it's continuity and look more like a real music video, instead of just having long and seady shots for a 5-10 seconds, having lots of shots and angles, edited well together improve the quality of the video.
For the lighting i have changed all of the footage to be in black and white as this is to show the past and when the artist was first making his music and inspired to be well known and recognised for his music liek his heros in music, which it shows a shot of. The shots then show him practising in his bedroom, younger pictures of him as a boy. Then it moves on to the artist walking throught the streets and is it clear to the audience that he is heading somewhere but it is not know to the audience until the last scene, where he is at a gig and playing infront of all of his fans showing he has know become well known and recognised for his music, the gig photoage is in colour as this is the present and also the happy side of the story, showing that he was jsut liek any other rapper where it all started on the street and the bedroom and he got his break through and is now doing gigs and live perfromances for his fans.
I have challenged the conventions of a real music video, and edited the lighting not only to make the quality of the clip clearer due to the quality of camera i used was not that great but mainly as the black and white is to represent the past and when complicated Act 3 starts it is in colour to show the present and also the happy side of the story to show the audience he has made it and had a break in the music industry with his music, showing it is possible for young hopefulls.
At the beginning of the music video the bedroom part i edited the lighting and made all of the clips the same saturation and colour to make sure the clips went together and it looked well edited to keep a good continuity throughout, because if different saturations and colours where used the clips would not go together causing the audience to recognise this and think something is wrong or it is poorly edited.
My music video follows a strong narrative as it is almost about his music career and life, it shows how he started and now where he is in his young future of his music career and this also encourages other young rappers to carry on and not give up and that some day you may have a break just liek my artist and liek many others.
I also have followed Andrew Godwins theory this is where the video clip represents the lyrics of the song e.g. in my video when it mentions my granma looking down on me and my sister it shows a shot of a painting of me and my sister, this to represent my grandma looking on us and watching what we do just as the lyrics in the song say. This also is the idea of editing the clips with the mood and beat of song and not just the lyrics, so when the chorus kicks in especialy at the end the shots are alot quicker at the gig footage and this is to keep up with the quick rapping in the chorus.
Propps theory, I have only included one character and this is the hero.But music can be seen as the doner as he is tested by making music which is shown in act 1, act 2 is where the hero leaves home and into an unknown destination (absentation), with act 3 the hero is recognised and signing his own song (recognition).
The CD package follows the rules of and looks like a real similar media text, the front cover involves one main image of the artist who is viewed in close up, the image takes up a large percentage of the front cover.
I have edited it and changed the lighting of the image to make him stand out more and improve the quality and any fauts with the image, e.g. hair out of place.
The masterhead it situated at the top of the page in a large, bold font. Here it shows the name of the artist 'Just Muz' and the albums name ' Soulfull Stuff'', it has been presented in creative font with a outer glow and large spread which enables it to stick out which is exactly what it needs to do to catch the eye of it's audience. Many CD cover albums have large basic writting as it is more easy to read but i believe that it is still easily read but just aids the front cover having a glow and using a unknown font. I also have used text on the side of the front cover, this is known as a subheading/subtitle which alot of big released albums do, mentioning their awards and success with songs in the album etc.
I have used the background throughout my front cover to keep a good level of continuity and make the front and back look as one and also the inside using the same colour on both. Also have used the same front as on the front and back to show continuity and make it look proffessional and when the CD cover is actually open both the front+back and inside cover will match and look as one.
The back cover has the basic track listing alligned to the left of the page in 1 colum, in plain basic writting that is easy to read and all track's are number. The main thing that i have used on my backcover is the black bar at the bottom this is often done and seperates the page up, here it gives information all about copyright, disribution, exhibition etc. Also presented in the bottom right hand corner is the bar code, which is out of the way not effecting the look of the cover but mine is like all CD's need to have one if wanting to sell it.
For the inside cover i have used 2 images that are not similar but i do believe it splits the inside page up nicely and seperate the CD holder and the information given about the CD. Although the images are not similar in colour i have carried on the yellow theme from the photo and used it behind the vinyl record to keep the continuity on the inside pages.
The left hand side of the inside cover uses 1 strong image of the artist and also with text wrapped around him this text informs it's audience a bit about the album, the artist and his thourght on the lyrics, songs and album. The CD vinyll which i used on the other page i thought was a very clever idea it has not been done before and was my own creativity this represents where the CD will sit when not being used, it is clever as using a vinyll record is very ironic as this was how listening to music started but it has now all evolved with CD's being used and now even digital songs rather than CD's.
My magazine advert follows the codes and conventions of a real music advert.
It has 1 main image that takes up most of the page, this is positioned int he centre as it is the main attraction to a poster, but i have challenged the codes and conventions as i edited the photo and used an effect on it to make it unusual and unlike many posters used in the music industry where they are normally just clear images of the artist/band, which i believe makes it stand out even more using a sketch design on the image, also this fits in with the genre and how rappers are associated with graffiti.
The master head is at the top of the page and is alligned with the image, which makes it all square and look it's best. The text at the top of the page is large with the artists name 'Just Muz' larger than the album title which is presented just underneath ' Soulful Stuff'. This text is in a pale yellow colour which is the same as the text ' available now on download' which keeps the 2/3 colours being used on a front cover.
Under the image is text all about the CD release the formats you can buy it now. The text is all basic and simple as it want to be easily read after the image and poster has caught the audiences eye. Also at the very bottom of the page in small text is the artists website, company and who helped make it etc.
One thing that i did copy from music magazine adverts was the idea of showing the CD cover on the page as many adverts have their CD cover or photo used on it as their main image for the advert, i did not go along with this idea but did have the CD package on the bottom right hand corner which gave the read to see it and known what it looks like in case they want to go out and buy it knowing what it looks like is a great help.
- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
My CD cover and magazine advert has used the same text as it is very creative and eye catching so it will be easily recognised and can be related to my artist as it is unusual for a CD cover and magazine advert. Both the images i have used on my CD cover and magazine advert involve mise-en-scene such as the microphone and headphone, this suggests that music is the subject and you could tell from jut looking at the image not needing the CD cover or advert.
My music magazine advert includes the CD cover and therefore the enables the audience to see what it looks like and allows the target audience to wander into a shop to see the connection between the CD and the music magazine and also the music video and therefore this increases publicity of the product and the artist.
Mise-en-scene is very important in the music industry and we recognise clothing and relate it to a genre of music, for example skinny jeans are related to indie music. In my case rappers are associated with girls, money, jewellary, drugs etc but this is more the american opinion and in Britain we recognise rappers with large headphone, studio work and not so much girls and money as not many english rappers have made it and been very successfull like in America. But more and more are now starting to get noticed and rewarded for all their work such as Chipmunk, Tinchy Styrder, Frankmusic and Akala. My music video does this and relates to rapping and living on the street which is more the life of british rappers and working hard in studios rapping and producing new music and even recording if successfull, and even performing live at gigs and concerts, which my music video does.
- What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Hearing the advantages of other people is a good feeling but also hearing the disadvantages from my audience feedback is not that so depressing as i believe the products to be successful and hearing them make me think about how i could improve it which i did in some cases, or i explain why i did that and that does effect their thourghts on the products.
Having someone evalutating my product who had not seen me make it my self, is the best type of audience feedback i could get and also this genre of music aiming at teenagers is perfect as i am in the sixthform full of teenagers, but i did make sure i did ask people that have not been in my media class, so they have not seen the products from a step by step process as this could have an effect on there thourghts. Also i have asked peopel within my media class so they can give a more indepth analysis of the products.
In some cases it is a disadvantage though as they may not understand, how hard something may be to do and not appreciate how much time and effort, went into something that may look so simple such as the lighting of the images on the poster and CD, editing the clips where someone from my media class could talk about that in more detail.
- How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
During my project i used a number of different softwares and media technologies.
For my music video i used the new imovie to edit all the clips together, this was hard to use at the start but once i learn't how it worked it became easy and enjoyable, the only disadvantage with using the new imovie is that it does not have many effect and the ones that are on it are very basic. I was used to the old imovie and new that it had a number of different affects and only became aware of the minimum number of effects half way through on the new imovie.
When videoing the shots for my music video i used a Panasonic SDR-S26 camera this camera was very easy to use and to transfer the clips onto the computer this was also helped as i had used it the camera before. I used a tripod to stablise the camera and make sure the camera clips were still and not shaking.
In my evaluation i used a flip camera which is a small camera that is also a USB and connect to the computer this enabled me to film the people i was asking about my project and show what areas they were talking about on my products.
Using all of these softwares and technologies, I believe that I have used all of them to a high standard and have shown a good understanding and capability with all of them. I feel that i am now improved as i have learnt how to use the new imovie and seen how technology has changed as the new imovie is very different to the old one, this is also the case with photoshop which i used. I also used the Internet to aid my project as, when I did not know or understand how to use a certain button i searched the net and looked up about the button so i had a better understanding of it and how to use it properly.
