Evaluation

For my foundation portfolio I chose the task of producing a promotional music video and two ancillary products that would promote the video. The ancillary products I chose were a cd cover from a digipak, and a magazine advertisement promoting the release of the album. To fulfil this task, I had to include a number of research and planning skills, from time management to target audience research. Throughout the research and planning stages I had to incorporate features from media organisations and existing media texts and combine these with my own ideas, to make the products seem individual to me.

I decided to work individually on this piece as I believe it was a more reliable choice. However I did have a little bit of assistance within my production, as a friend helped me with a bit of outside filming for the beach scene. I believe that working individually helped me to rely only on myself and manage my time to complete the project.

In relation to last years foundation portfolio I have applied a number of skills learnt in the first year into this years advanced portfolio. These have been through the use of photoshop, the video editing suites and the use of blogger to display my work.

In my main product I used a number of conventions that are presented within real media texts. I produced these conventions through the incorporation of a number of different skills, including I produced these conventions through the incorporation of a number of different skills, including cuts and dissolves between different scenes so the video would flow together. These types of transitions presented within original media text, such as film trailers, music videos and TV programmes. The cross dissolves that I used throughout my video attached two sections of film together, overlapping them and fading one scene over the other. This allows the video to make the audience feel more relaxed and help the video to just flow directly through one location to the next. These cross dissolves also link in with the song itself and its change in pace/change in lyrics. At the beginning of my video I used a fade in from black which allows the audience to instantly establish the video and the location/characters presented within it. I also used this effect at the end of my video to reveal to the audience the end of the product. This is also a significant feature of a music video, as it allows the audience to decipher the start and finish of the video, as well as establishing location and characters.
On top of the video I added another effect called “Old Movie Matrox”. This effect added grain and jumps to the film itself as were presented in old films. I used this effect as I believe it linked with the colour scheme I used within my video. This effect also relates to the genre of the film, giving it a creative edge that provides voyeuristic pleasure for the audience. I also used this effect to cover small errors in links between the song and the spoken lyrics, which I believe to have been effective.
My video however, does challenge some forms and conventions of typical music videos. This is through the overuse of fades between every different location, which gives no real variation to the flow of the video. However I believe that each change in position and location compensates for this as the audience will see the immediate flow of clip but with the colour changes and performance aspects, these cuts/dissolves only compensate for the movement of clip.
Another form and convention that my music video challenges, is the amount of singing and performance based clips. In typical music videos either the entire song, chorus, or verse is sung by the performer. And performance clips are usually present in the other, or the instrumental sections. Whereas in my music video, there is no distinct link between chorus and verse within the miming and performance clips. They are just presented in a seemingly varied order presenting both performance and miming throughout them with no complete structure or timing between them.

As well as completing my main product I also produced two ancillary texts. These were a poster for the release of the album, and a digipak.

I started off this production feature by completing the digipak first. I decided to use print screen images from within my music video to be featured within the digipak. I believed that this would be an effective production decision as they would link not only with the video itself, but with the genre of the music. This would give the audience an immediate distinction of what the video is about and the performer themselves. From a number of research into existing media products I found this to be a typical convention of a digipak/cd cover. For the back of my digipak I decided to use a half image of the artist and place the textual features around the side of the face. This provides a distinct separation of the music presented on the album, and the image of the artist. On the inner pages of my digipak I decided to use pattern designs. For one inner layer I used a print screen image of the artist within the performance clips, repeating this image 4 times and overlapping it to provide an ghost like effect. For the other inner layer I used a wallpaper style floral print, repeated for times, fitted together to make it look even and clear. The colour scheme throughout my digipak was linked directly with the video. Using both sepia tones, and greyscale. This provides a simple yet effective feature on the product as it not only incorporates the colour scheme of the video, but the simplicity of the digipak itself.

Through research into existing products of both digipaks and poster advertisements I found a number of conventions that seem to be strictly followed within these products. Release posters are typical of including the front album cover, but extended to include textual features. As this seemed to be typical within these types of products I decided to extend my original digipak cover image and then add the textual features on top of it. This allows me to promote the album and help the audience to recognise both the artist and the specific album being promoted.

Through the production of both my main product and my ancillary texts I contemplated features that would be simple to present through both. The colour schemes I used have been simple sepia and grey scale tones which can be incorporated through the use of effects through editing. To provide the audience with a simple understanding of the link between my music video and the promotional tools I have used some print screen images of the film. The images I chose show the genre of the music as well as promoting the artist themselves. The specific print screen images that I chose represented the performance pieces within the video. I chose these particular images as they incorporated both creativity and personality. The performance pieces show the location in which the music video is set, and also the technical aspects of the video itself. Two of the print screen images are medium close ups, as they show the features of the performer and half the body. As well as establishing the locations. The other photograph I used for my digipak, was an extreme close up, establishing just one half of the face and s direct insight into the eyes of the artist. This interacts well with the audience as they are drawn into the personality of the artist/performer.

For my audience research I decided to attach a number of poll questions to my blog asking the audience a set of four questions relating to my products. The questions I asked were closed, which allowed me to gain specific quantative data. Most of my questions consisted of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers which were straight to the point and allowed my audience to direct their specific view.
In the final question I provided four options in relation to the genre of the product. This feedback could be seen as random and not biased as I am unaware of who voted on my product. However these results could be invalid, as questions were not asked to a specific target group. The majority of those who voted believed my product fitted specifically with my target audience and showed codes and conventions from other media products.
However, I believe that if a larger sample of people had voted on my blog, I would have been able to provide a much more representative piece of information.

Through the production of both my main product and my ancillary text I used a range of media technologies. Throughout the research stages of my production I used a number of internet facilities that allowed me to research existing products. Examples of theses were Google, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Throughout the use of these particular sites, I was able to access videos by existing artists and place these on my blog to analyse.
I was also able to find information about the history of music videos and specific genres presented.
Producing questionnaires through Microsoft Word to provide me audience research to help me produce my target audience. Another media technology I used was the use of polls on my blog. This feature gave me quick audience feedback, although it isn’t a very reliable piece of technology. Throughout all the research and production stage, I used blogger.com to hold the information and productions so the audience can view them easily and efficiently. These also show my time management as each post is dated. And each post is able to hold a number of different media texts, for example pictures, videos and text itself.

Throughout the filming process I used a form of hardware, MIniDV and my own personal video camera. I also used a tripod to do some of the filming, in order to keep the camera still and provide a specific accurate focus on the miming shots. Through editing I used the college editing suites, using the programme Adobe Premier Pro, adding Matrox editing tools to add and create effects. These features presented throughout the editing programme, were a new form of technology. And through the editing process I learnt a number of skills. These included transitions such as, cross dissolving, old movie effect, and razoring film footage. All these features allowed me to manipulate the filming I had done, allowing it to appeal more to my target audience and fit along well with the music.

Through producing my ancillary texts I used the programmes Photoshop CS3 and Microsoft Publisher. Photoshop allowed me to manipulate the images I had taken, changing both the contrast and in some cases the colouring of the images themselves. I also used this programmed to layer separate images over the top of each other to create a highlighted effect over one image. I also used a shadowing effect to over lap these images and then contrasted the shadow to make it brighter than the image itself.