Media Evaluation

1. Media Evaluation By William Griffiths

2. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? • We tried to follow the classic conventions held within real life media products in our music video, Digipack and advert. • Our chosen genre was pop, so we looked similar artists who had similar styles and videos. such artists included Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Demi Lovato in order tohelp us follow the typical conventions that you can usually identify in a pop music video.

3. When creating our storyboard as well as additional material and drawings to have as a guideline for our music video we concentrated on creating a narrative that would flow, and would be easy to understand, as well as trying to make it fit with the conventional features for the pop genre. All this lead to a strong narrative. Were Trouble. • Artists with simple narratives include Taylor Swift.

4. For the Mise-en-scene we decided to use typical forms of Mise-en-Scene relating directly to a pop music video. An example of how we did this would be showing a female protagonist in a high school, chasing the “guy of her dreams” who already has a “pretty girlfriend.” A way we decided to challenge and develop the Mise-en-scene would be to not show rivalry between the two girls (both played by Lois Lame – another conventional theme for pop videos) and also to show the protagonist not getting the guy in the end.

5. We have chosen to use typical forms of real media products to represent Lois Lame to our target audience. We have shown her as being a independent young woman who doesn’t need to be attached to and/or controlled by a man, we wanted Lois Lame to be an inspiration to young girls worldwide. • We created a Star Image that I believe to be unique to the industry today. Like “Hannah Montana” and “Superman” we have created two sides to Lois Lame.

6. The first side is the average girl that gets by which would resemble “Clark Kent” or “Miley Stewart” (from the television show Hannah Montana on Disney Channel) and then there is the superhero side: “Superman” and also “Hannah Montana” • we decided to do this to create two different personalities for Lois Lame. The star image is conventional for the pop genre, Lois Lame is bubbly, outrageous, and lovely, this has been adapted from other main artists in the pop music industry such as Demi Lovato, Kelly Clarkson and The Saturdays

7. I expressed the star image through my Digipack and album advert as well as my music video. On the front cover of my Digipack I displayed Lois Lame as her stronger “Super Woman” side. I did this to show that everyone can be strong, and also that we may need someone to look up to someone we want to be. As long as you have someone real and down to earth nearly anyone can be a “Lois Lame”.

8. The nerdy glasses are a key part of Lois lames look as well as her style, It is part of her star image. I included a picture of the glasses on the inside of the case underneath the CD. The glasses help to show innocence and quirkiness. • We have used conventional camera shots in our music video from the pop genre. For example, we have included close-ups, mid shots and cut-ins during our music video to help indicate the narrative to the audience.

9. In editing we included a montage to help explain the progress during the narrative. • For my Font Selection I wanted to make it seemed comic book or pop art themed, to fit in with the idea of a Superhero. I made it continuous in all 3 media products to express my theme.

10. I have tried to link my media products to the conventions of today’s pop genre. I have done this by following todays conventional pop and also by challenging some forms to make way for new conventions that I could create and play around with in my media products. • Another artist that developed the pop genre in her music video is Demi Lovato. In her video Skyscraper instead of bright colours and dancing she has filmed the video in very dull monotone colours and also includes simple yet expressive movements.

11. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? • Through-out the 3 pieces of work I have produced: the music video, Digipack and the album advert, I have created a recognisable house style. • One of my main house styles is the nerd glasses. This helps show the house style throughout my products and also expresses the star image.

12. Another way I created a house style is from the Mise-en-scene. I have done this by including a white background as a constant theme through my final media products. • Another house style I created was the superhero theme. You can see this present in the Digipack, album advert and the music video. This is also part of the star image. I adapted the colours of the superhero costume into the text used in the poster as cd cover. The flower dress and guitar I have included into my media products as it is part of the tar image and also helps with the house style I have created.

13. I believe I have effectively combined my main product with my ancillary texts using the house style I created and by adapting the Star Image to fit in with all of my media products. By using simplycolours mixed with unique and complex fonts in my ancillary texts it is open to a mixed audience of both genders. For this reason I believe it appeals to the target audience. • Also with it being a pop genre which is dominated my so many chart topping female artists the target audience is swayed to be a much more of a female target audience. I believe my products appeal to this kind of target audience as Lois Lame can be seen as relatable to the target audience.

14. What have you learned from your audience feedback? • We set up a screening for people in our class the majority of which we believed would best resemble our target audience for Lois Lame’s work. And asked them questions that we asked them to answer regarding our music video. What do you think was successful? Can you think of any improvement that could be made? Who do you think the target audience is, and does it appeal to them? Does it fit the genre? What is the narrative? Is it clear to the audience? Do you really like my work?

15. Out of the three groups we asked they all agreed that we had a clear narrative and an easy to follow storyline that followed the pop genre and was easy to identify. The groups also said we used a variety of different shots. They all expressed that the lip synching needed improving and the guitar playing needed adjusting as well. Finally each group explained that it appealed to the target audience which they believed to be Teenagers and that the lyrics were very well interested.

16. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? • We have created a Portfolio online by writing it out in blog form using Word Press. This was a practical blog site to use as we could also access it from our smart phones on an app. During research, YouTube was a big help in comparing music videos from different decades of the same genre and learning how to analyse them.

17. Social Networking sites also played a major part through out this module. We used Facebook as part of a communication tool between my group. It was an easier way to communicate and save pictures for evidence of our work. We also used Twitter as part of pre-production to ask Katy Perry permission to use her song for our music video.

18. During production we used different digital technology skill to help with the making of our music video. For example to help with the lip syncing we had the track playing in the background coming from an MP3 player. While location filming we used a Mini DV camera – Canon Liguria HV40, this was handy to carry around with it being small and also easy to use. When filming in the TV Studio we used HD Cameras – Canon XF305 these were brilliant to use as they captured a sharp and clear image.

19. During editing we used the software Adobe: Premier Pro. This was very practical and easy to handle. • When creating our Digipack and album advert we used Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to edit the pictures we took using a Canon 600D. The Adobe software was easy to adapt to once being shown how to properly function it.

20. During the evaluation process of my portfolio, I used Microsoft PowerPoint to lay out my evaluation questions in an easy to follow stanza. To reveal my final product I uploaded the music video to YouTube and was able to access it from the urn link. For the director’s commentary side of the evaluation we again used the HD camera in the television studio as well as green screen to portray the video behind us as we discuss our intentions.