Evaluation.

The brief I chose for my A2 Media Advanced Portfolio was 'to produce a Promotion Package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with, a cover for its release on CD/DVD (digi-pack), a Magazine Advertisement for the release of the singe.

Before starting the project I had the option to work as a group but I decided to work alone as I thought I would work quicker and more efficiently on my own. Also I spent a lot of time outside college on my project therefore thought it would have been harder to work in a group as I would have been relying on someone else, and I have had bad experiences with people in the past with group work. But I do partly regret working on my own as at times it was difficult having to be the director, film the footage and make all the decisions.

The project required me to acquire new skills and develop previous skills. For example, the use of editing suite, I had familiarised myself with it in my first year but developed this skill in my second year. Also shooting for the music video was a more recent skill development, as I used a variety of shots.

In order to answer my brief I conducted research into a range of existing materials from different genres from the past and present to help me gain a better understanding of what the conventions of a music video actually are. After watching the videos on YouTube and linking them to my blog, and analysing them, I discovered that each genre followed its own set of rules, which are the conventions. These allow the audience to identify the genre of the music.

Looking into the History of the music video it gave me a clear understanding of what is expected from a music video and due to digitalization and the technology of today I have a better understanding of how digitalization has affected the music video. If we look at website such as YouTube and MySpace which primarily focus on videos of the public, including music videos of small time bands as well as label bands. This is a form of instant distribution worldwide and a free way to promote themselves.

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

The media mediate reality through codes and conventions which are in place to let the audience identify what is being portrayed. There are three different types of codes: technical codes, which include camera techniques, framing, , lighting and juxtaposition. Symbolic codes, which include setting, body language, clothing and colour. And thirdly, written codes in the form of headlines, captions, speech bubbles and language style. Along with these, all types of media have different conventions which give the work meaning. For example I used a red rose as a symbol for love. Any other flower wouldn’t have had the same effect, so it had to be this red rose which has been a code to symbolise love for hundreds of years, and this same thought pattern applies to everything. This is because conventions are not natural but are cultural, they have cultural specificities and are now universal. The conventions that the media uses have a history - they come from somewhere and they are responsive to historical forces.

I believe that my Media Texts use conventions of the specific medium chosen. By researching other texts, looking at the standard conventions of the music video and I had a strong ideology of what was needed to be produced and how I would build and structure the texts. From my research I discovered that it is vital to show the musicians performing in the video, which I have done. It is also vital to link the lyrics with the visuals, which again I have done successfully. Similarly to most music videos, the narrative is about the heart ache and loneliness of a guy, who feels lost from society, and is perceived as an outcast because of the lyrics: ‘Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner. Sometime I feel like, my only friend. Is the city I live in...’ This linked with the visuals of the actor being on his own under the bridge.
The video is a montage of the musician playing in a club, an old friend dancing, and the musician under the bridge, finally being re-united with his lover. I alternated my editing from cutting to the beat to cutting at the end of a natural phrase in the music.

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

Previous experience of working with Adobe Photoshop meant I found creating the ancillary texts easier than most. In my first year I created an eye catching magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread on Microsoft Publisher, editing my images on Photoshop. But after growing in confidence in using Photoshop I decided to produce all my work using this programme. For the magazine add I had to ensure I included all the essential points for the success of my product which I found out with research: 1)To include a visual image of the artist/ group. 2)To have the artists name/ groups name visible/ make it stand out on the page. 3)To include information about the release of the album/single. 4)To include a review/ something to grab the audience’s attention.

My single cover was also created on Photoshop. I created it from taking influences from artwork and looking at a variety of existing CD covers. This is how I discover which vital information I needed to include on the packaging. This included: a bar code, copyright details, band/ musicians name, tracks on the CD, record label and related imagery. I feel like my ancillary texts linked together nicely as they are colour co-ordinated and use the same fonts and texts.
These two both also link with my music video, mainly because the photographs were taken in the same location as my music video was shot in. But also because they capture both the romantic and edginess about the song and the lyrics. The romantic-ness is linked through all my texts through the use of the red rose. The hard/rock edginess is brought it through the dark shady colours used and the layered imagery.
All in all I feel my combination of ancillary texts and main product link together nicely and have met the brief.

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

Throughout the whole of my media project I relied deeply on many media technologies. Mainly the website Blogger.com, as this acted like my work folder, where I have presented all my work and findings over the course of the year. I first became acquainted with blogger in my first year where we used the site for our course work. Though the site can be temperamental at time, for example not letting me upload images, or see certain images, on a whole it was good to use. It also meant that because it was a website on the Internet, anyone worldwide was allowed access to it at anytime. This made it easier for my peers and teachers to access my work and give useful feedback.
In my research stages I mostly used the website YouTube.com as here I could watch and analyse music videos at my wish.
As for the construction of my texts I produced all my ancillary products using Adobe Photoshop CS3 which I was familiar with as I study A level Graphics and we often use this programme in class. This software was the most appropriate to use as it is more technically advanced than other programmes such as Paint and Microsoft word and Publisher. It gave me total control over my creativity, and allowed me to create my designs with ease.
The programme I used to edit on was Adobe Premiere Pro and again because I had used this software in my first year I already knew how to do the basics, and after getting used to the conrols again I was able to successfully edit my music video.

What can be improved?

As I chose to work solo the majority of the project for example the research and planning, I found easy and it was a process I enjoyed. The difficulties arose when I had to work with other people in my music video, as it was hard to get them together at the same place, at the same time, with enough time to drive to the locations. This has reflected on the quality of my work as I only had time to shoot each scene once, where as with better time management I could have better shots and quality, for example the shots of the musician playing could have been shot live and also some done in a blue room to ensure he was Micky mousing correctly.
As well as general time management problems I believe I could have done more initial planning at the start of the project as it took me a long time to choose which musician/ band I was settled on using and this slowed my whole process down. When I did finally choose my song, I did record my music video late December, but unfortunately my camera broke (condensation leaked into it, causing the tape to corrupt) and it was a long while before I had chance to go to the Humber bride again to film. This again slowed me down, but it was my own fault as I should have made sure my camera was securely in my bag. Also I should have continued with the rest of my production more efficiently.
So if I would have spent more time and effort into the quality of my filming, it would have been a better quality when it came to editing. When using the editing suite I was fairly confident with using the basic controls and tools, but to get the most out of the software I think I should have gained help from my teacher who could have helped me add in more special effects or different techniques to make my video look more attractive.