Final Edit

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

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout the course of creating my media product I have done numerous things in order to get audience feedback and have took feedback on board to ensure my products can be the best they can be.

At each stage of creating my ancillary texts I have asked peers on their opinions, in particular males. This is because the target audience for my product is males. I found this after sending out a questionnaire and looking at some demographics for the genre I am following. However, it was difficult to understand what males would like to see in a music video of my genre, this is because after sending out a questionnaire to the whole college I got more female responses than males. This is normal as a female is much more likely to take a few minutes out of her time to answer a survey than a male. Due to this problem, I had to go through with more secondary research to find out what my target audience would like to see.

When I asked my audience what they would like to see in a music video for the 'alternate rock' genre, the answer I received mostly was performance; I took this advice and included a lot of performance elements within my video. Other elements people expected to see which I included were the use of black and white, abstract effects and lip syncing. Overall, although ignoring some feedback, I would argue that I have taken most advise given to me through audience feedback i have listened to; this is so that my audience can enjoy watching the final product more than they may have done if I ignored their advice.

To further enhance my audience feedback, I produced video footage of me asking them some questions about my final product. These questions are:

1. How old are you?

2. How effective is the combination of my main product and my ancillary texts?

3. Is there anything you would change and why?

4. Do you think my product uses or challenges techniques of real music videos?

My peers gave me some feedback on my music video which helped me understand what I did well and what could be improved if I were to recreate my music video.  This was answered in question 3, which unsurprisingly my audience picked out the same criticisms I had of myself. For example, seeing the Wyke college logo in the background of one of my shots; this was the only shot I thought looked amateur. If I did my music video again, I would have filmed this shot in old town, which would have been a much more suitable environment given the messages and values of my video. My original idea, however due to a number of issues with cast members it was difficult to get everyone needed for the shot to location. Therefore, I decided to sacrifice the location in order to prioritise the cast. However, looking back at my video this may have been a mistake.

Another piece of constructive criticism was the lack of lighting in the shots of the different coloured lips singing “she’ll carry on through it all, she’s a waterfall”. When told this I reviewed the shots and perhaps that was an issue I should have resolved. In the end I decided to leave the lighting as I felt that the darkness of the shots implied a stronger message. Furthermore, I was told that my artist did not sing enough in the video, which is criticism I decided to politely not act upon. This is because I believe that there is already enough performance elements in the video and thought that the video would perhaps become boring and that my audience would lose interest, should it have become more repetitive with performance.

In my questionnaire, I asked my audience how effective they believed the combination of my main product and ancillary texts were. All of which suggested that the combination was effective for a variety of reasons. My audience liked the fact that I made it clear who the artist was with him being shown in each of the products. Furthermore, one also suggested that the poster was conventional due to the tour dates shown on it; they felt that this worked effectively for the product. From the audience feedback videos, I learnt that the messages I tried to put across in them was successful within each of the products. I was pleased with this when Daniel said “they all (products) have the same style and theme”.

My audience feedback throughout creating my product was certainly reliable as it was coming from my target audience. However, when doing focus groups and questionnaires, I believe that I should have asked a wider range of people during feedback, for example older people and more females. Then I would have received a variety of different opinions and maybe been able to create a better product.

Additionally, when creating my product, I applied Richard Dyer's star theory. This theory has three key concepts, which are star as a construction, star as a commodity and star as an ideology. This links with audience feedback as right from the very start of creation, I was applying this by constructing my star to suit the needs of my audience.

My star was constructed conventionally through the use of my music video, magazine poster and digipack; I did this to suit the needs of my audience which allowed my product to be successful. An example of how my star was constructed was the clothing I put on him, such as his leather jacket, blue jeans and polo shirt; these are all conventional items of clothing for an artist from this genre. An extremely popular real life example of this would be Miley Cyrus, as she has been moulded into doing things which she wouldn't have usually done like twerking whilst being scantily clad; following that she used to be viewed as an innocent Disney sweetheart. This is how record labels mould stars based on successful starts before them; in this case I would argue Miley was moulded on Lady Gaga and Madonna.

Similarly, the idea of the star as a commodity is also to do with following conventions of clothing; as if it has been successful and made money before, than it will do so again. An example of this in the real world would be that stars are used to make a profit, and record labels will continue to construct bands and artists exactly like ones who have been successful and made them money prior to their selves; this is why so many boy bands are around who make the same kind of music and dress the same. I have used this in my product by making my band much like The Stone Roses, which ensured my product would be successful as they were based on a band successful before them.

Lastly, the star as an ideology says that stars will represent certain social groups and views and will therefore create certain ideologies. Usually, as a result of this, the band/artist's fans will copy their style and share the same views as them. In my products case, the fans will share the ideology that The Stone Roses are anti establishment and are more for the music and message than making money. Furthermore, a real life situation of this would be Beyonce's specific ideology and view that women are independent and shouldn't be controlled by men; which is a view that her fan's share with her.

Overall, from my audience feedback during my creation of the product, I feel like I learnt what my own personal audience wanted from my product in order for them to be satisfied. I achieved this by asking of their opinions at each stage of the creation, for example which font looks best for my ancillary text and which colour schemes suit the theme better etc. Furthermore, the feedback after my products creation taught me what not to do if I created a music video again and hopefully their constructive criticism is something that will help me in later life.

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

Before I even started to create my product's, I had to research codes and conventions of existing products; which I had already learnt about in Media GCSE, but extensively researched at A-Level. Codes and conventions can be separated into two groups, these are technical and symbolic. Technical codes and conventions include camera shots and techniques, for example making sure the main focus (the artist of a band or a product being advertised) is centred; this is a technique I followed when creating my products. The other group, symbolic, can be written, audio or even something within the mise en scene. These give the media text meaning and determine the response of the reader; much like my product.

My products symbolic codes and conventions would be the continuity of colours and the use of the Union Jack, this was done to create a message which different viewers may respond differently to. When creating my product, I intended to create a strong message about the ideology of Great Britain and how it is fading; which explains the burning of the flag in my music video, and stripping the flag of it's colours (identity) on my digipack. Also, on my poster you can see that the centre of the image is the colours of the Union Jack, with the black and white (modernisation) closing in on it. To cause such an effect on my audience, I followed the hypodermic needle theory and exposed my audience to the message throughout all of my products; leaving them powerless to resist the impact of the message.

The image used on my poster was extremely important, which is mostly due to the colours it consisted of; the red blue and white. This is because they are the colours of the Union Jack, which is symbolic of the message which is portrayed from my product. The post box is also symbolic of the old Britain, before modernisation was introduced; which is why I felt it necessary to include in my product.

On my digipack, colours are extremely important in getting the message of my main product across. This message is that Britain’s beauty is slowly fading away due to modernisation. This is the explanation as to why my digipack has been created using a dark colour scheme. For example, I stripped the union jack of its blue and red patriotic colours and replaced them with the dull colours of black and grey. This therefore destroys the blue and red connotations of passion and optimism and replaces them with the black and grey connotations of death and lifeless. Thus making Britain emotionless and non-energetic and removing the previous ideology that Britain is a confident, strong willed place that through the colour red signifies a pioneering spirit and leadership qualities.

The combination of my ancillary text poster and main product is extremely effective. Straight away due to location it is easy to tell that they match, this is as my music video is predominantly shot in an urban environment. This is key in putting across the message that Britain’s beauty is disappearing as it is being overtaken and dominated by city. Furthermore, each ancillary text are equally combined effectively; this is because of the lack of colour in one another. However, as you can see there is colour however in the post box and the artist posing for the poster. This has been done to show that there are very few objects and people left in Britain who stand for what the place used to be. For example, the artist pictured is meant to have created the song ‘Waterfall’. This means that he understands and is trying to get the point across that modernisation is destroying Britain. Furthermore, the post box is symbolic of the past, this is due to the fact that it probably won’t last much longer due to the effect of modernisation; emails and the internet are taking over old things like the post box. To get this symbolic message across I was originally looking for a red telephone box, however they are hard to find. This is why I decided to use the post box, because I liked the way that the colour red connotes passion and that modernisation is having a negative impact on that.

When creating my ancillary texts, one of the most important aspects is following the conventions of the genre you are making. Due to this, I researched various posters and digipacks from bands of the same genre of my song; the two main bands that inspired my mostly were Arctic Monkeys and The Libertines. With both of these bands being articulate, much like mine, it allowed me to create a strong product. The images below will show a comparison between my products and the products I took influence from.

As well as ensuring that my product had the relevant messages and values contained within it, it also needed to look good; in order to achieve this I used a variety of different editing techniques which the above picture shows. The split screen edit is something I really took influence from real products, and even in the original Waterfall video. I used the colours on the split screen edit at the top of the image in order to create a balance between colour and black and white, even though it is usually one or the other; I wanted to mix things up and challenge conventions to a certain extent which explains my decision.

The split screen with the lemon biting is extremely iconic of the band The Stone Roses, after doing some research on the band I noticed that lemons where a reoccurring theme. Keen on finding out why, I looked into it further and found that Ian Brown once met a Frenchman who was a part of the 1968 Paris student uprisings, and he told Ian that they had to bite down on lemons to overcome the effects of tear gas. I thought that this was an interesting story and therefore decided to include it in my music video. The background of the shot is also iconographic of the band. This is because John Squire, the lead guitarist, is also an artist who's work is inspired by Jackson Pollock; which is why I put a Jackson Pollock painting in the background.

The continuity between each product has added to how well they combine. For example the strong messages and values are clearly evident in all of the products. Additionally,, this is shown in the music video when there is a shot of my actor walking down a tunnel, but in reverse, which suggests that Britain is going backwards and is not progressing in the way it should be. I feel that this message is made very clear in my final products. The strongest point at which this message is shown is at the end of the video when the Union Jack is being thrown into a fire, and also on the digipak when the flag is stripped of it's ideology due to loss of colour.

On the other hand, I also put the message across by having the bands actual poster for the single in the background of a lip syncing shot. The poster shows the flag looking rather fragmented and distorted, as well as putting the stars from the USA flag on it; this suggests that Britain is being outshone by the USA and will continue to live in it's shadows.

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

Audience Feedback Questions

1. How old are you?

2. How effective is the combination of my main product and my ancillary texts?

3. Is there anything you would change and why?

4. Do you think my product uses or challenges techniques of real music videos?

Final Digipak