Evaluation Question 4

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

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

During this project I have collected audience feedback on three separate occasions. The first was done in the form of a focus group during the research stages of my project along with collating qualitative and quantitative data to find out exactly who my target audience is and how I could reach them. This initially was to help discover my target audience and what they expect from the indie rock genre. This is what I found:

This along with much other research into the genre and existing videos I was able to construct a music video of my own with it meeting not only the conventions of the indie rock genre but also the wants from my target audience. Finding out who my target audience were was extremely helpful as it enabled me to find a way to directly contact them through the use of social media. During the mid stages of my project I collected audience feedback through Facebook after uploading the following rough cut on YouTube:

This is the audience feedback that I collected:

From this I took my rough cut and improved it further where I took on board my audience feedback and reacted on it. My final interaction with my audience was when all work was complete, meaning my main product and both ancillary texts were done, I showed them all three finished products then asked them to fill out a short survey on surveymonkey.com. The questions included were as followed:

What is your gender?

Female

Male

What is your age?

Under 16

16-17

18-19

20-21

Over 21

Overall, how well does the music video, digipak and promotional poster meet your expectations compared to that of a professional company?

Extremely well

Very

well

Moderately well

Not so well

Not at all well

How visually appealing is the music video, digipak and promotional poster as a collective?

Extremely appealing

Very appealing

Moderately appealing

Not so appealing

Not at all appealing

What do you like most about the music video, digipak and promotional poster?

Compared to our competitors, is the music video, digipak and promotional poster quality better, worse or about the same?

A great deal better

Quite a bit better

Somewhat better

About the same

Somewhat worse

Quite a bit worse

A great deal worse

If you are not likely to use the product, why not?

Do not need it

Do not want it

Not interested in the genre

Satisfied with competing media currently available

Other (please specify)

In your own words, what are the things that you like most about the music video, digipak and promotional poster?

If this product were available today, how likely would you be to buy it?

Extremely likely

Very likely

Moderately likely

Slightly likely

Not at all likely

Which produce created do you like the best?

Music video

Digipak

Promotional poster

And these are the responses that I received:

This audience feedback has shown me that I have managed to stay on target and complete my tasks to the viewers needs. Everyone who answered the questionnaire was within the age range expected from my previous research at the beginning of my work, meaning that throughout my work I have stayed on track and got appropriate feedback from the correct people that my genre is catered for. Overall they responded positively to my work and are pleased with then results. The majority of comments that I received said how professional and consistent my work was, showing that I have a wide range of skills within media. In conclusion I am happy with how my target audience have responded to my work and confident that should this be a real campaign it would be a successful one.

Evaluation Question 2

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

There are many similarities in my main product and ancillary texts that correlate with those of a professional standard. As a collective everything that I have created has had a running theme to help keep it to the theme and genre of indie rock. This meant sticking to the conventions such as the high use of black and the style of mise en scene. These rules were applied through research, planning and the practical tasks such as filming and editing. I also explored the ideologies of relationships, specifically teenage relationships.

Creating my main product was my first priority. This is where I began to create my own style within the indie rock genre. I began with creating storyboards of what I wished my final product would look like. Once this planning was completed and preparation was put in place ready to film I began to shoot my clips. During the filming stages I ensured that I had a vast range of clips to enable the best results when it came to editing. Once I had collated my clips and arranged them how I wished I set up my rough cut and uploaded it to the video sharing website, youtube. This is when I gathered audience feedback on how they felt with my recent progression and what they wish me to do to improve it.

Taking everything that I had learnt from making my main product I took this and followed the same theme with my ancillary texts, starting with the digipak. I began with typography as this is not something that I had yet used meaning that I had no previous guidelines to follow. For this I took the official typography for the original band and created my own using the same style. I then used photoshop to manipulate a number of pictures. I experimented with both black and white with silhouettes. I done this whilst still maintaining the conventions and key features of a digipak along with the indie rock genre.

Along with the digipak I also created another ancillary text, a promotional poster which would feature in a magazine of my indie rock genre. This was pretty simple as with my digipak I had already identified what typography and images I wished to use. All I had to do is apply the key features to the promotional poster and ensure the layout was suitable for my genre.

Throughout all of this work I have kept a running theme of black and white, keeping to the conventions of the indie rock genre. I have also consistently featured the band that I used in all of my work. I made sure to include them in everything as I feel this shows a strong link between all of my work and shows my consistent style that I have applied to each thing individually yet also as a whole.

Evaluation Question 1

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

This prezi breifly explains what I have done to ensure that my music video follows the forms and conventions of the indie rock genre and how this relates to the industry itself and what they do.



I feel like I have kept the indie rock genre tone throughout my music video extremely well. This is because in the research stages of this task I managed my time to research genre seperately but also to carry on interlinking it throughout all stages of my research. I started by look at the settings, typically in an indie rock music video the settings are kept simple with the use of home made studios, cities, parks and remote unknown locations. I tried to replicate these locations as close as possible within reason of the low budget I was on. For this I took advantage of my beach hometown and shot some footage on the beach itself along with the local park. As well as this I created my own version of the home made studio in college. This enabled me to use all of the professional equipment that larger companies are able to use. I feel like the overall look of my video could be compared to Blink182's music video of 'First Date' although they are typically a rock band they do follow the same individual style that I was looking to achieve.

Here we can see the Blinks home made studio set up compared to my own. Although the difference in genre is recognisable I feel like I have successfully replicated the high standard that is shown through large professional companies on my own budget using resources around me.

As well as the band setting the narrative was also closely replicated to larger companies results. This was done using a range of locations in my local town.

I also found that the mise en scene is a critical factor to the overall video to represent the genre. I replicated the style of the band itself in the band members that I included in my music video through the use of props and costume.

The first image here is taken from the original band, the second is from the band I used in my filming. I think it is clear to see that I have replicated the same indie rock mise en scene. This is something I was able to do within my budget at the same high standard as other larger professional companies, both resulting in the same high standards.

When researching performance I found that this is where performers show their emotions the most and make the music video meaningful.

Here you can see two images of close ups during a lip sync in a music video. One is taken from a professional music video, the other from my own. I am extremely happy with the results as I feel like mine is to the same high standards as any other big time music company.

Camera angles and techniques in the indie rock genre can vary depending on the style, this helps express the flexibility of the genre and how conventions can be broken.

My camera techniques were planned using my storyboard then applied to the location on the day of the shoots. The band were shot from a range of angles to enable me to get the best result possible in the stages of editing. I learnt that this was the best to do as professionals ensure they have plenty of footage before collating it all into the editing software. I have taken this and applied it to my own work to keep the high professional standard that larger companies use.

With editing I kept this minimal as during the research stages of this project I discovered that a convention of the indie rock genre is to apply a black and white filter to the footage and occasionally a subtle fade at the end of the track. I applied this to my own work to ensure that the genre was clear and that my target audience were happy with the finished result.

This was the last stage in enabling me to present my genre in a way that matches that of the professionals who are working in the music industry.

My digipak and promotional poster have been made to show a running theme between the music video and the print tasks. This not only helps me to understand the marketing and promotional skills required for this industry but also helps me to visualise a package in which all elements are linked and able to be identified to a certain label/genre/band. I done this with the use of the black a white effects in images and videos.

Overall I feel like my music video and print tasks have been a complete success and I have been able to convey the professionalism and the same standard of results as large companies whilst developing and challenging the forms and conventions of real media products as well as representing the indie rock genre in a way that is positive, capturing this in all of my texts.

Music Video Final Cut

Promotional Poster Finished

The final finished image for my promotional poster: 

I am extremely happy with the results of my finished promotional poster and i feel like it meets all of the criteria for what is expected. I have for a few members of my target audience to take a look at the finished product and this is the responses that  received:

- Would expect to see this in the music magazines that I read

- It is keeping to the conventions of the genre

- Like the typography used

- Like the simplistic styles, doesn't look over crowed with information

From this I conclude that my audience feedback is positive and that they are happy with the finished result.

Music video rough cut and audience feedback

I have finished the rough cut for my music video and uploaded it the video sharing website YouTube. I then posted a link asking for feedback on my rough cut straight from my target audience using the social media website, Facebook this is the feedback that I received:

From this I understand that the audience are happy with the rough cut of my music video and I have had some useful tips to help with my synchronisation. The problems that occurred during the upload to YouTube seem to happen a lot so when converting my final video I will be shifting the sound slightly to stop this from happening. Other than this I don't want to make too many changes to my rough cut other than getting rid at the prolonged ending as I feel that tampering with this work too much could result in it becoming over edited and having a bad influence on my already completed work. I will be looking for small things to tweak whilst in these final stages of editing to make sure that my final cut is up to a professional standard.

Promotional poster plan

This is the plan for my promotional poster, it will keep to the before theme on black and white to keep my look coherent throughout my work but also to keep to the indie rock genre. These posters will be featured in the appropriate magazines to reach my target audience and make them aware of the digipak available.

Digipak finished

The final finished images for my digipak:

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside Cover

Front Booklet

Back Booklet

Inside Booklet

Inside Sheets Booklet

I am extremely happy with the results of my digipak images and I feel like all elements have been done exactly to plan. From here I will be printing this off and creating a exemplar of how this will look if taken to a manufacture.

The finished product:

Front Cover

Inside Digipak

Inside Digipak

Front Booklet

Inside Booklet

Inside Booklet

Back Booklet

Back Digipak

I am extremely happy with the results of my finished digipak and i feel like it meets all of the criteria for what is expected. I have got a few members of my target audience to take a look at the finished product and this is the responses that I received:

- It is up to a very high standard and looks very commercial

- It keeps to the conventions of the genre

- There is a clear theme running between all three pieces of media, being the video, digipak and promotional poster

- The booklet is a cool added feature to the digipak and makes it look a lot more professional

From this I conclude that my audience feedback is positive and that they are happy with the finished result.