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

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

Research
Before starting my music video, I researched existing videos in my chosen genre and others. I also looked for videos made by previous A level students and videos created by Junior Senior. I am glad I conducted this research as it made me aware of typical codes and conventions used in dance music videos. The video made by Junior Senior for Move Your Feet, is animated, so I was not able to take any codes or conventions from it, except perhaps the colour scheme, and my attempt at putting seemingly 'random' clips in my video. I didn't just look at music videos though, I found some great adverts that were constructed in a similar style that I used for inspiration.
For my ancillary tasks, I looked at all genres of music, some with great examples and some with, in my opinion, not that good examples, so I had a benchmark of comparison for my own magzine advert and digipak. Doing this also helped me to establish a design layout and colour scheme/house theme.

Initial ideas
Before constructing a proper idea for a music video, I thought about what music means to me and what I wanted it to portray, because I was thinking of this video as an extension of myself. I wanted it to reflect my personality so I thought about how music affects me. When I hear a song like the one I am using it makes me feel happy and I can't help but want to dance. I found that it also had the same affect on other people much younger and older than myself, and this was how I decided this would be a good concept for my coursework.
I carried out the same method for my ancillary tasks. By thinking about how I wanted it to affect people, I was able to create a design that I was pleased with and displayed the message set out by my video.

Deconstructing existing music videos
After I made the decision on the style/genre of music video I wanted, I deconstructed already existing music videos of my genre. I made sure to look at very typical dance videos, to learn the typical codes and conventions, helping me decide what worked for me and what didn't. From looking at these videos, I decided very quickly that a typical dance video was not what I wanted. This is why I then found dance videos, that didn't really stick to the typical codes and conventions of a dance music video.

This song Don't you worry child by Swedish house mafia, I found, was a great example of a dance video that challenges the typical codes and conventions. It is still a video that encourages dance, but it is similar to my own in that it has a lot of peoples natural reactions, some people are even featured to be crying in this video. It is done in an almost documented style, but could still be considered a concept video as well as a narrative. I think that as this was their last tour as a band, they wanted a video that was going to bring on an emotional response from their audience, likewise I have tried to create the same effects.

Lighting and effects is a also a huge feature, and they seem to have added them at every opportunity to make the video more exciting, timing them with the beats of the song to make it as visually dramatic an atmosphere as they are able. I also made use of different effects, not on as large a scale because I did not film in an arena full of people. I used colour corrections and green screened a few of my actresses.

Using, developing and challenging
I did not want it to look like a typical 'hollywoodised' glossy music video, that has clearly been made by a professional with a big budget, and choreographer. I wanted my video to evoke a more emotional response and connect on a personal level (still with the dance factor) as most people watch music videos to provide themselves with some escapism. This is where I have challenged the technical conventions of a dance music video. I wanted peoples natural reactions, and so some of the camera shots and angles are a bit shaky, as it was handheld and I was just filming my talent doing whatever they felt like. I think it is codes and conventions like this, that helped me to get the more 'home-video' effect I really wanted to establish. The audience also feels more comfortable/relaxed when watching people in a natural setting. However having peoples facial expressions is an example of a symbolic convention that I wanted to be a central focus point in my video.

Another of the conventions I used and developed in my video, is rapid cutting. My entire video is comprised of short clips that jump from one, to another and back again. I deliberately used lots of cuts to keep up with the pace of my song. I also wanted to avoid any chance of my target audience getting bored, and so the speed of the cuts meant that my TA had to keep watching in order to see everything. I think this convetion is a great way of drawing people in and as a result I used it to its full potential in my video.

I am glad to have attempted to have include a mix of codes and conventions, whilst also not including some more of the typically expected ones as well. I wanted to stand out and so I think making the decision to challenge a lot of the conventions really payed off and I was able to affect people in the way I wanted and I also got similar reactions from people outside of my TA. This is how I feel my media product uses, develops and challenges codes and conventions.

Evaluation: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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

Throughout the construction, research and planning, and evaluation stages of my coursework, I have had to use and develop my understanding of different media technologies, to enable me to produce products that I am proud of.

Some of these technologies include:

• An Apple Mac. 

I am glad to have been privileged enough to use Apple Macs during my AS media studies as well as my A2 studies in media, as it enabled me to embark on this years coursework with more confidence in my ability of how to use them to the full. I produced a lot of my work on the macs and and did almost all of my blogging on them. Using programmes like Pages on the macs enabled me to produce mood boards when beginning the initial construction of my coursework, whilst also helping me to stay organised and keep all of the information in one place. I was also able to make use of safari on the mac during my research and planning stages. I used it to navigate my way through the web to collect sufficient data to begin my creative tasks.

• A camcorder

Producing a video meant that I needed to film a lot of content. For this I used a Panasonic handheld camera with a tripod and took it to all of my locations with me. This was a very valuable resource to me as it produced good quality footage and I was able to gather more than enough content for the video. I did run in to a few problems though, as one of the cameras I used was not working correctly, but this was not discovered until I went to upload the footage onto a mac after returning from a day of filming, meaning that I had to return to my locations the next day and re-film using a different camera.

• A Canon Digital Camera

I was lucky enough to be given a new Canon digital camera in the summer of 2013, which proved to be extremely valuable to me when collecting images for my digipak and magazine advert. The image quality was brilliant and I felt that it produced a professional looking outcome for my ancillary tasks.

• Prezi

Prezi was a great aid to me when producing one of my evaluations and a moodboard back in the early stages of my planning. It was a great way to organize my evaluation, whilst also looking creative and interesting. It is easy to follow and enjoyable to watch. It enabled me to guide people through my audience feedback in an uncomplicated and easy to read fashion.

• Pixlr

This was an editing tool I used when constructing my ancillary tasks. I used it to crop images, change hue and saturation, colour correct, highlight, add text etc. I had already used this technology in my AS studies, and so was confidant on how to edit and construct my images effectively.

• YouTube

This was a great method of secondary research during my planning stage. I used it to look for professionally produced music videos and also for music videos produced by previous A level students. I found lots of great examples, and this enabled me to start building an idea of how I wanted my video to look.

• Final Cut Pro

This was one of the most essential media technologies I used in my A2 studies, as without it I would not have constructed a music video. This took me a long while to understand, as there are a lot of different techniques that can be made use of on Final Cut. Once getting the hang of it though, I was able to cut and edit footage the way I wanted it, adding in effects when needed.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

The Hypodermic Needle Theory (HNT) or the Magic Bullet Theory (MBT) implies that mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audience. In the 1940s and 50s it was perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change.

Several factors contributed to this 'strong effects' theory of communication. Some of these are:
- The fast rise  and popularisation of radio and television
- The emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda
- Hitler's monopolisation of the mass media during WWII to unify the German public behind the Nazi party.

The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by 'injecting' or 'shooting' them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. These illustrations suggest a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver. They express the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message. The audience is passive and end up thinking what they are told because there is no other source of information.

New assessments that the Magic Bullet Theory was not accurate came out of election studies in "The People's Choice" (Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet, 1944/1968). The project was conducted during the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 to determine voting patterns and the relationship between the media and political behavior. The majority of people remained untouched by the propaganda; interpersonal outlets brought more influence than the media. The effects of the campaign were not all-powerful to where they persuaded helpless audiences uniformly and directly, which is the very definition of what the HNT does. As focus group testing, questionnaires, and other methods of marketing effectiveness testing came into widespread use; and as more interactive forms of media (e.g.: internet, radio call-in shows, etc.) became available, the HNT was replaced by a variety of other, more instrumental models, like the two step of flow theory.

I suppose the message I have tried to directly inject into my audience, is about the enjoyment of life. I have tried to communicate to my audience that life is happy and good and should be filled with laughter. However I am not aiming my video at the mass media, but a select group of people. I do not think this theory necessarily applies to my work on a whole, but there is some relevance in that I am trying to spread a message.

Final Digipak

This is the final version of my entire digipak. The top row consists of the three inside panels, and the CD will be placed over the top of the head phones, using them as a round CD template of sorts. The bottom row is my outer panels, the farthest on the left being my front cover, the center my back panel and the farthest left when folded will be placed over the top of the other headphones.I am happy with this result as it is very colorful, all in keeping with my house style and also the images used feature in my music video, making it coherent and the audience is able to establish the link between it and my video.

My Music Video

This is the final draft of my music video. Unfortunately due to time constraints I did not get to edit it to exactly the way I wanted it, however I do feel that the vivid green of the green screen adds much needed colour and also fits well with my digipak's house theme. On the whole I am happy with my final result as I believe it has achieved my desired effect. From observing people's reactions to my final video, I have found that they are exhibiting the exact reactions I had hoped for, they are smiling, laughing, singing and dancing and I have even had comments on what a "happy" video it is. I did originally include some pink and green colour corrections on my video, but the majority of the feedback from this was negative, it was said to be ill fitting with the home movie effect I was trying to incorporate, so although some people liked it, I decided to remove these edits. I have increased the speed of some individual clips to keep it at a relatively fast pace in keeping with the song, and also reversed shots to create a mirroring effect. I continually cut the clips into roughly 3 second segments, to avoid 'boredom', because audience's can lose their concentration more easily when prolonged shots with the same content are played, as they know what is coming and so won't need to pay attention. In conclusion, I think there are some things I could have done better, like a wider range of 'characters' and filmed in some other locations, however I believe that I have achieved what I set out to do - make a music video which spreads a joyful message to my audience.