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

Evaluation: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Following the creation of my music video I created survey to see what people think of it, here are the results:

More females answered my survey, meaning that my results are likely to be biased.

A majority of the people who took my survey enjoyed my video.

For a majority of these results, people chose the positive answers. The only parts of my video that really recieved negative feedback was the song, lip synching and actress. This means that the song is somewhat important to the actual music video, meaning that maybe the idea of the video improving the song may not actually be true. The lower rating on the lip synching means that the technical part of the video make a difference and are very important, possibly more so than the song and video. If it looks professional, people will enjoy it more. The most positive feedback I got for my video was to do with the costume and make up. The make up used is not the usual type seen in videos, meaning that people enjoy seeing something different from what they usually would see.

From these results I can see that people enjoy it when a video and song link in some way, in my case its with the story matching the lyrics and the clear link with the facepainting. They also like the story behind it, meaning that people enjoy a music video to mean something and make sense.

This proves my earlier point of the lip synching being a key part to the video, that it has to be perfect. If the video does not look professional, people are less likely to enjoy it. A range of different locations and shots is also key, if the video revolves around the same thing too often it may become boring andrepertivite. Again, this also shows that the song is key, if people do not like the song, especially if it is long like mine.

As alot of the feedback is positive, it an be suggested that people enjoy things that are different from what they know, they haven't see the story and make up used in mine often and so when they do they are more likely to enjoy it.

From this, I can see that people despite the story line being somewhat complex and confusing, people did understand my video. This means that people like to understand what they watch.

These again reinforce what I have already have found out from this survey.

Here is a video focus group I conducted. Once again, this reinforces what I have already found out from my aducience feedback.

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

Here are some opinions about my digipak and magazine advert. For the most part, people liked my magazine advert and digipak, and though they went well with the music video.

My Digipak and advert both have images taken directly from my video, with the main ones being the final face paint of the girl, which features on the front of the digipak and the advert.

I chose to use this image as the main one as it obviously shows the main parts of my video, conveying it easily. It shows the link between the video and song, the idea of wanting to be part of the outside world, shown by her being part of a tree almost. The make-up is very bold and easily stands out, which will make the person who sees it want to know more.

In the digipak also used the images showing the various make-up stages. This is because this is a key part of the opening of the video, it introduces the idea she is obsessed with the idea of leaving from the amount of detail. if she didn't really care, she wouldn't have made such an effort to paint her face. It again shows the idea of her wanting to part of the outside world.

I also used the images from the forest scene which pushes her confidence right to the top and convinces her it is time to finally leave. In the video the images show on different screens. Originally I wanted to have all these parts together on one screen however I could not do this. So I decided to make this pat of the digipak. Again it shows a clear link to the song.

Throughout my digipak I Use a tree texture and green to really emphasise the idea of the video of her wanting to be free and part of nature. I again use the tree texture on my magazine advert, with dark brown text to give the effect that its been carved into the tree. Throughout all my coursework I make reference back to nature.

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

Magazine advert

Digipak

Here is my finished digipak:

My video

Here is my finished music video.

Genre Theory

Genre means a kind or type of something, a type or film or type of music. Genres include Horror, sci-fi, comedy and romance. These genres will have characteristics which are shown again and again that audiences recognise, such as in westerns we will see similar locations, costume and props.

Audiences develop an understanding that certain expectations may be fulfilled and they may take pleasure in predicting what will happen. The audience recognises key elements or conventions and respond accordingly.

These key elements are known as paradigms, have been identified in two types:

1. Iconographic: Signs and symbols, such as props and costume.
2. Structural: How sturcutes in the text deal with issues such as ideology and gender

Levi-Strauss' Binary opposites narrative theory

Levi-Strauss argued that narrative structures are dependent on two conflicting qualities, or Binary opposites. These groups can be split into dominate and subordinate groups, the most common of these groups are:

Andrew Goodwin's music video theory

Andrew Goodwin identified 5 key aspects to look out for when looking at music videos:

1. Thought beats (seeing the sound)
2. Narrative and performance
3. The Star image
4. Relation of visuals to song
5. Technical aspects

Thought beats

This is the idea of seeing the sound.

• Firstly is to look at the music, look at the structure of the song.
• Next is to look at the artist's voice. Each artist has a unique voice which goes hand in hand with the star image. The voice is an expressive instrument and therefore able to make associations of its own.
• Next is the artist's mode of address. Songs are like stories, and the artist a storyteller.

Narrative and Performance

Goodwin says that songs fail to give us the full narrative, they leave part of the story to the audience to work out. He also says that music videos should avoid typical narratives, they are made to advertise above all. The video should be made to allow repeatability. The artist should also be convincing, the audience need to feel that the video is real.

Star Image

The star image identifies the artist, and makes then easily stand out from others.

Relation of Visuals to song

This can be broken into three parts on how the video can promote the song:

• Illustrate- The video can use images to illustrate the lyrics, genre or a certain meaning
• Amplify- This is when meanings and effects are manipulated to drum the video into the audience
• Disjuncture- This is where the song's meaning is ignored and the video unrelated, possibly making is more memorable or to get the audience think more carefully about the song itself

Technical Aspects

A music video should be edited to the beat or rhythm of the music where possible to make it more entertaining. Colour and lighting are also vital to show the mood of the song and genre or maybe to ignore it completely. Mise-en-scne is needed to be constructed carefully to ensure the authenticity of the video and make it look professional.

The three acts structure

Hollywood film narrative tends to be organised in the 'Three Acts Structure'.

Writer Side Field has identified what he calls the ideal paradign three act structure which says:

• A film must be set up within the first 20 to 30 minutes before the protagonist experiences a 'plot point' that gives them a goal to be achieved.
• Approximately half the films running time must show the protagonist's struggle to achieve their goal
• Field also sometimes refers to a subtle midpoint which happens in act 2, where a confrontation has an apparently devestating reversal of the main character's fortune.
• The final quarter, or third act, shows the final struggle by the protagonist to finally achieve, or not achieve, their goal.

Vladimir Propp Narrative theory

Vladimir Propp Identified eight key character roles in folk tales, which are often also shown in modern media texts.

• Hero
• Villain
• Donor
• Helper
• Father figure
• Dispatcher
• Princess
• False Hero

Characters can fill more than one role, and there can sometimes be more than one

Roland Barthes Narrative theory

Roland Barthes described texts as complex 'bundles' of meaning which can be unravlled to create a whole range of different meanings.

The texts can be:

• Open- with numerous 'threads to pull'
• Closed- with only one obvious thread to grasp
• Polysemic- can be read in a number of ways

These 'threads' are known as narrative codes. The most significant of these codes is the Enigma Code.

The Enigma code is constructed to attract and hold the attention of the audience normally by creating a mystery or puzzle that the audience want to see solved. These codes can often be seen in reality shows such as The X-Factor, where audiences are forced to wait for contestants to be kicked out or win by showing the results 'After the break'.

Tzvetan Todorov Narrative theory

Tzvetan Todorov says that narratives follow the same structure

Equilbrium- This is when everything is balanced, when its normal everyday life for the characters.

Disruption- This is when something ruins the equilbruim, the balance.

Resolution- This is when and how the disruption is solved

New Equilbrium- This is where everything returns to normal, but something has changed, the characters have learnt something new, or their situation has changed in some way.

Some media texts will however not have all of these stages, sometimes a new equilbrium may not be reached, such as in sitcoms, often the 'New Equilbrium' reached is the same as the original Equilbrium, the characters have not leaned anything and are in the same position. Eg, the man and woman are still not together, the character still doesn't have any money.

Narrative theory

As well as audience theory, I will also apply Narrative theory to my music video and thriller video.

The narrative is the way the story is organised in the media text.

Elements of narrative includes:

Time- Time in media texts vary, some will cover hours while other will cover hundreds of years.

Closure- This is how the narrative ends, does it tie up all the loose ends?

Enigma- A mystery that will keep the the audience interested and text going.

The narrative of media texts can also been shown in a Linear order. This is where the text is in chronological order. A linear order can be found n many Holywood films.

Texts can also be non-linear, this is where the narrative does not go in chronological order, it may have flashbacks or flashfowards, or in some cases such as Pulp Fiction and Inception, be totally in the wrong order.

Feminist film theory

Created by Laura Mulvey in 'Visual pleasure and narrative cinema' 1975.

The theory says that cinema will reflect society at the time it was created. Cinema will therefore reflect a patriarchal, male dominated, society. This can be shown through The Male Gaze.

The gaze of camera, due to the patriarchal society, will show the action from a male point of view. This know as The Male Gaze. The media text is therefore constructed as though the audience is male, forcing woman to watch the text through a man's point of view, made possible through the process of suture.

There are 3 levels of the gaze:

1. Audience
2. Camera
3. Male character

The male character see the woman, the camera therefore shows his point of view, forcing the audience into the view point as well.

There is also the theory of Agency. This is often used in Hollywood cinema. The male protagonist has agency, he is active and powerful. He is whom the dramatic action unfolds, he is the centre. Female characters are therefore passive and powerless.

Woman have two roles in a film:

1. As an object of erotic desire for the male characters
2. As an object of erotic desire for the audience

These theories can clearly be seen in James Bond films.

The fact that both these scenes appeared in James Bond films that were 40 years apart suggests that we still live in a patriarchal society.

Creating my magazine advert

Now I have made my digipak, I will now create my magazine advert. I will use inspiration from the my digipak to create the advert, to make it clear they are both about the same song.

Editing one panel of my digipak

This is how I edited and put one possible panel of my digipak together:

This is the original picture I started off to edit. I started by cropping it to get rid of the black background to make it easier to edit.

I started off with tinting the picture a pale green. This was because the original picture seemed a little dull, and I want the digipak to reflect the happier mood of the second half of the video. I only tinted slightly however, to avoid her dress becoming too green as well.

This the result of the tint I added. However, I still felt the image was dull, so I decided to make it more vibrant.

This is what the picture after the vibrance change was added. It looks a lot brighter and greener, giving off the 'happy' feel I wanted to convey.

I then took the other stills like this one, and edited them in the same way. I then put all the pictures on a black back ground together

Suture

Another audience theory is Suture.

The word suture is the technical name for stitches used by surgeons.

Suture is usually applied to Hollywood films, due to the way they put the narrative, editing, sound and mise en scene together, the audience is 'sutured' into one possible preferred reading.

This means that the film will make the whole audience react at the same point, so the whole audience might cry or feel upset at the same point in the film.

One example of this is from the film Crash.

A shopkeeper has one to shoot a locksmith he blames for the break in to his shop, the locksmith saying the lock was replaced by the door was broken and must be fixed, and the shopkeeper didn't get the door fixed. While the shopkeeper talks to the locksmith with a gun pointing at him, the locksmith's daughter runs out to protect her father, as earlier the locksmith gave his daughter an invisible and inpenertable cloak to wear. As she jumps up to her father believeing in the cloak, the shopkeeper shoots.

The shots, lighting and music all cause the audience to feel emotional to some degree.

Reception Theory

Given that both the effects model and uses and gratifications models have problems and limitations, a different approach was created by the academic Sturat Hall at Brimingham university in the 1970s.

This theory considered how texts are coded with a meaning, that the producer wishes to convey, and how this meaning is understood, or decoded, by the audience.

Stuart Hall identified 3 ways in which the audience decodes a media text.

Dominant or preferred reading

This is where the audience decodes the message the producer intended them to, and agreeing with it. For example, if the audience watches a political speech and understands and agrees with the politicion.

Oppositional

This is where the message is decoded correctly, but the audience has rejected it due to cultural, political or ideological reasons. For example, if an audience watches a documentary on dog fighting, withe the message trying to be conveyed is that it is wrong, but the audience thinks the documentary is wrong due to them previously believing dog fighting is good and the dogs enjoy it.

Negotiated

This is where the message is decoded, but the audience agrees and opposes different elements of the text, or is disinterested. For example, the idea of putting a stop to benefits, an audience may agree to some extent as they believe some people do take advantage of the system, but also disagree as it would be unfair on those who actually need the benefits as they can't work, or are poor, or if the audience doesn't care what happens either way.

An example of this theory is Bruce Springsteen's song 'Born in the USA'

From the way it is sung, and the beat of the music and the simple easy to remember repetitive chorus, it seems to many to be a patriotic song. When you actually listen carefully to the lyrics, this however is not the case. The song in fact describes how bad and unfair life in the USA can be, 'You end up like a dog that's been beat too much, till you spend half your life just covering up'. It also says that those who got in trouble would be sent off to fight in Vietnam, 'I got in a little hometown jam, And so they put a rifle in my hands, Sent me off to Vietnam, To go and kill the yellow man'.

Starting to edit stills for digipak and advert

Today I started editing and playing with the stills from my video with different effects. I plan on using the photo editing website, picnik, as I have used this many times before yo edit photos for myself, and is is easily accessible no matter what computer I am using or where unlike Photoshop.

Here are some of the edits I have made so far:

I will continue to edit more stills from the video. These are just some experiments I have made so far.

The Uses and Gratification model

The Uses and the Gratification model is the opposite to the effects model. It says that rather than the audience being passive and unable to resist, that in fact the audience is active, and uses the media texts for its own gratification.

The audience uses media texts to gratify needs for:

• Diversion- Audience use the media instead of doing a task they don't want to do eg. Watch a film instead of tidy the house.
• Escapism
• Sexual stimulation
• Information- eg.the News or documentaries.
• Comparing relationship and lifestyles with one's own- eg. reality shows such as the Only Way is Essex, or makeover shows such as Grand designs
• Pleasure

The audience is in control and the consumption of the media helps people with issues such as:

• Emotional satisfaction
• Relaxation
• Help with issues of personal identity
• Learning- eg. Documentaries, children's shows
• Help with issues of social identity
• Help with issues of aggression and violence

Controversially the theory suggests the consumption of violent images cane be helpful rather than harmful. The theory suggests that the audiences act out their violent impulses through the consumption of media violence. The audience's inclination towards violence is therefore sublimated, and they are less likely to commit violent acts.

The Effects model

The effects model says that a media text will have an effect or influence the audience in a negative way, and that the audience is powerless to prevent this.

Proof of the Effects model:

Bobo Doll experiment showed this idea. The experiment was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura. The experiment had a group of children shown a video, in which an adult attacked a bobo doll. After this, the children were led into a room with a bobo doll to see how they would react to it after seeing the video. 88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour towards the doll that was shown in the video. 8 months later, 40% of the children once again re-enacted the violent behavior.

The conclusion reached was that children will imitate violent media content.

However, some problems can be seen with the experiemnt,

• Bobo dolls were created to be hit and pushed in the first place.
• Children were likely to use the toys as weapons in this way, as that is what they were also made to do.

The effects model is still the dominant theory used by politicains, some parts of the media and some religious organisations in attributing violence to the consumption of media texts.

Some media texts were even called to be banned due to the influence they apparently had on people:

• The film 'Child's Play 3' in the murder of James Bugler in 1993
• The game 'Manhunt' in the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren LeBlanc
• The film 'A Clockwork Orange' in a number of rapes and violent attacks in 1971
• The film 'Severance' in the murder of Simon Everitt in 2006.

However, in each case it was found there was no link between the media text and the violent acts that occurred, but this didn't stop an outcry for the films to be banned, and even for the films to be burned. The films were banned due to the fact that it was easier to do this than for the government to do anything about the major underling problems brought to light by these attacks.

The effects model contributes to the moral panics whereby:

• The media produces inactivity, making us into students who won't pass our exams or 'couch potatoes' who make no effort to get a job.
• The media produces violent 'copycat' behavior or mindless shopping in response to advertisements.

Survey of my video

Following the creation of my music video, I asked the same people who took part in my survey I did as audience research, to see if people had any different ideas after seeing the video.

Here is my survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9JMPQGF

Magazine advert and digipak

Now I have completed my video, I will finally design and make a magazine poster advertising the song and video, and a digipak for it.

Downloading my finished video

Today I finished my video and it was downloaded.

After this, I shall upload my video to youtube to then put onto my blog.