Evaluation-Boys Boys

BoysAshleigh Thomas

In my evaluation, I will be looking at my products and comparing them to existing

products of the same genre. I will look at whether my products fit in with

conventions or whether they challenge them and what message my products are

making about the song and artist.

I will now list the typical conventions of a pop music videos and digi-packs and

compare these conventions against my own products.

Conventions of Pop music videos.

• Pop videos are usually colourful as pop music is usually aimed at a younger audience and, stereotypically, younger people are attracted to a colourful and bright colour scheme.

• Close-ups of the artist. These help the audience to understand the emotion of the artist. Alternatively, close-ups do not show the body, which can be seen as sexual and therefore close-ups can be a way of highlighting the innocence of the artist.

• Conventionally, pop videos are light-hearted and have an element of fun in them, this also relates to the fact that they are generally aimed at a younger audience and that pop music itself is usually quite upbeat.

• Music videos in general, but especially the pop genre, have a narrative as this makes the video more entertaining to watch. The narrative usually has some sort of ‘love’ theme, such as having a crush and falling in/ out of love.

In what ways does your media products use,

develop or challenge forms and conventions of real

media products?

My music video fits into the ‘pop’ genre, due to my chosen style of music and the conventions that my video has adhered to. My video has shots similar to those of ‘Katy Perry- Firework’ as they both feature close ups of the singers face singing the lyrics.

I decided that I would use mainly close-ups and medium close ups to ensure that my artist will be attracting the main attention of the audience and, by seeing her facial expressions and singing, they will be able to relate to the singers feelings and also will be able to tell that she is the artist.My video also features many jump cuts, which is a common feature in music videos, thus making my video more conventional. Jump cuts are very popular in music videos as they can heighten a songs pace and set a mood for the song. I used jump cuts in my video to show my actress in different locations, and also jump cuts were used when I changed from my actress singing to the narrative of my music video.

In terms of close-ups, my video fits in with conventions as a lot of medium

close-ups, showing my actresses face as the main focal point of the majority of my video. There are mainly no other shots in my video, and in this case it

challenges conventions as the camera is set in one place throughout the video, apart from in places where aspects are needed to be exaggerated, for example

the vodka bottle displaying the word ‘Vodka’ and then ‘Rohypnol’ as this plays a large part in the humour and narrative

of my music video.

Colour in my music video

Conventionally, pop videos are bright and colourful so that they attract a young audience, however in the instance of my music video, my target audience is of a teenage age and therefore, I did not feel the need to use a lot of bright colours

Instead of using bright colours I used a darker colour scheme of black, white and purple, a colour scheme which is also reflected on my digi-pack. I chose the black and white colour scheme as I felt that it aged the pop genre and would make it appealing to an older audience; I know this because I surveyed people from my target audience and that was the colour scheme that attracted them the most. I incorporated purple into my colour scheme because I felt that a simple black and white colour scheme would be too bland and that then my video would be unrecognisable from the pop genre. Also, I felt that by making my actress wear a colour, she would stand out and catch my audiences eye.

My video goes against conventions in the pop genre as there is an absence of

bright colours. My video operates on a black and white background throughout, with the exception of the scene where

the actors are drinking. These backgrounds allow my digi-pack to match

my video so that my products look similar and can be easily distinguished as

being linked. The black and white backgrounds also ensure that my actress

stands out and catches the audiences eye throughout the music video.

Light-hearted, element of fun in my music video

Conventionally, pop videos have a light-hearted theme and are not too dark. The colours are generally light to set a pleasant atmosphere. This is especially true in Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ however, in videos aimed at an older audience, for example Jessie J, the colouring is much darker to make the video seem older and more mature. In pop videos generally aimed at older audiences, some videos feature an element of humour. This humour, however, needs to relate to the target audience to ensure that the humour can be appreciated and understood. If humour is to be added, then it is usually only in small doses as if there is too many jokes then the video is not generally taken seriously and the audience is left remembering the humour and not the song.An example of an element of fun in a music video is Katy Perry’s ‘California Girlz’, in one particular shot, the actress is shown to be waving at a childlike character, thus leading the audience to believe she is innocent, the next shot however, the character is shown to swear at Katy, who is then showed to be shocked. This adds an element of humour as it is unexpected

Despite having a dark colour scheme, my video fits in with the light-hearted convention

of the pop genre due to the singer showing positive emotion whilst singing and, at the

end of the video the actress winks and smiles which makes the video seem more like fun

than is originally shown. The dark humour of my video both compliment and challenge certain conventions of the pop genre as humour is shown in some videos and this song is usually an upbeat song, such as

my chosen song. However, stereotypically pop songs are generally targeted at a certain age group or are too slow and powerful to contain

an element of humour.

Does my video fit within pop video conventions?

Pop videos conventionally show some sort of dance routine by either the artist or backing dancers or both. Because of this stereotype in pop videos, my video therefore challenges the conventions that are in place as my video features no dance routines and no additional people in the video. My video is also unconventional as there are only two people present in my video, the singer and the actor. I decided to keep the number of people in my video to a minimum as therefore the main characters are grabbing the audience’s full attention. I decided to focus the video around my artist, which is a common feature of music videos in general. However, due to the title of my song, ‘Boys Boys Boys’ my video is, to an extent different as the obvious focal point of my video was boys, instead I decided to focus of my female actress.

Does my video challenge or conform to videos the artist has previously done?

Both of the above shots show the establishing shots of the artist for my video and also for Lady Gaga’s- ‘Bad Romance’. Both shots show the artist looks to the side, not making eye contact with the camera. This adds mystery to the artist and therefore makes people more intrigued about the artist and thus more likely to watch. Another similarity is that both Lady Gaga and my actress are on white backgrounds, which makes them the centre of attention to the audience. Obvious differences is Lady Gaga’s infamous quirky nature so features such as the clothing and hairstyle are bound to be different.

These shots show that similarly to the artist, my actress is shown to be on her side. Both Lady Gaga and my actress are both singing, which supports the pop convention that showing the artist singing is a big aspect of pop videos. Another similarity is the backgrounds. Lady Gaga is commonly shown on black or white backgrounds, which is similar to the backgrounds that my actress is shown on.

Another similar aspect of my video compared to Lady Gaga’s is the pouring of a ‘vodka’ like liquid. These shots make it clear that the video is ideally aimed at an older audience and gives the video a harsher edge and gives the artist a darker side. In Lady Gaga’s video, the drink ends up being some form of poison as the actor ends up dead, however differently, my video shows that it is the artist that drinks the spiked drink and this shows the naivety of my actress and makes the male look bad whereas in Lady Gaga’s video, it is the females who are seen to have the dark streak.

How effective is the combination of your main product and

other ancillary texts?

When making a number of products, it is vital that they compliment each other so that it is clear to the audience that the products are

linked. If all of the products were nothing alike, the risk runs that people would get confused at

what album the poster is advertising and therefore this would be bad advertising. By

having clear links between the products, buyers are able to relate posters to CDs and

CDs to the music video and this is a very effective selling tool. Although posters and CD covers can be dramatically different, I decided that I would rather conform to conventions by

having my poster and CD cover similar.

I decided that in order to make my products look similar, I would use the same font and

colour scheme on my poster and CD cover as this is a simple yet effective way of showing

that the two products are linked. After deliberating what image to use, I decided to

try the same image on my CD cover that I had used on my poster. I then saw that it very similarly to my poster, but that it looked

effective when compared to each other. There is a clear, definitive link between the two

products, which would make it obvious to the audience that the two products are working

together.

My poster and CD front cover

My poster My front CD cover

Similarities and differences in my digi-pack

The similarities in my products is the font that I have used on both products. The name of this font is ‘Gloria Hallelujah’ and

I feel that the font is unconventional for a pop genre as it looks hand written and considerably scruffy. I have, however

changed the outline and glow around the text on the CD cover as I felt that the products look a little two similar if

everything was exactly the same. On the poster, the date has a purple glow around it and, as there is no date on the CD

cover, more focus is paid to the artist and she is therefore the centre of attention. My CD cover therefore conforms to

conventions of the pop music genre as my main singer is the focal point of my CD cover. The poster features the artists name along the top of the poster, which stands out and

catches the audiences eye before the artist, so that they can tell straight away who the artist is.

My CD cover front and back

Front of my CD cover Back of my CD cover

I decided that after using the same image on both my poster and CD front cover I needed to use a new image for the back of my CD cover. I chose my image for the back because I felt that it was the most convenient for me to transform into a CD back cover due to my actress being on one side, thus leading enough room for me to enter

text. Also, I personally like the image as it is different to the image that I have used before. Although the image is different, I have tried to

keep intertextuality by continuing the black and white theme whilst the dress being purple so that

the artist, stands out and catches the eye, and also makes the CD front and back obviously linked

to each other and the poster.

How did I create my products?

I created my poster and CD cover front and back on a software called Macromedia Fireworks. Firstly, I imported my chosen image into Fireworks and then copied it, so that I had two images. I then had to remove the dress off one of my images, so that the dress could be in colour. I did this using the ‘Magic Wand Tool’. This tool enables the user to select pixels to remove via colour. Magic

Wand Tool

I then altered the brightness and colour of the same image underneath, which still had the dress intact. I then selected ‘Colour fill’ from the ‘Effects’ tab. I then experimented with different colours and brightness until I found a colour that I liked, and, more importantly that my target audience liked. Once I was happy with a colour, I added the relevant text.I repeated these steps for my CD Cover front and back.

What did you learn from your audience

feedback?

From my audience feedback, I learnt how to improve my products so that they fitted what my target audience wanted. I found that sometimes, I was surprised at what my target audience wanted because, at times they chose things that I wouldn’t have personally chosen myself, for instance the font. However, I learnt that the audience is who the products have to please and therefore I had to put my own thoughts aside to make a successful product. There were times during my project that my audience was very positive and this enabled me to keep certain aspects of my products the same, or alternatively, I could highlight them and make them stand out more.I learnt that audience input and feedback is crucial in creating a product because they are the ones who will be potentially purchasing the product and therefore it must appeal to them, otherwise the product you have created will be unsuccessful.

Progression of my poster

How did you use media

technologies in the

construction, research,

planning and evaluation?

For my reseach stage, I used a number of websites such as Google, Yahoo Music and

Youtube. I used Google to search for images of posters and CD covers so that I could see

existing products, I viewed these through Google Images. I used Yahoo Music and Youtube for my

music video research, where I watched a number of music videos so that I could get an idea what makes a music video conventional or not. It also helped me to see what aspects of a video make it a certain genre and therefore helped me to construct my own music video and products.

To create my poster and CD cover (front and back) I used Macromedia Fireworks,

which is an image editing software. For my music video I used Pinnacle Studio 14.

Pinnacle enables the user to cut, insert and arrange clips of film to create a movie. A

benefit of using Pinnacle was that it enabled me to insert transitions between scenes so that the video isn’t so harsh with only jump cuts. By being able to change the way that

clips enter the video, the user is able to create a number of different effects and

alter the feel of their movie.

For my evaluation I used the software iMovie on an Apple Mac. This software

enables footage to be taken from a webcam and edited into a short movie. I used iMovie to ask members from my target audience feedback. I decided that this would make

my blog more interesting as there would be different aspects of media on my blog and

therefore shows that I am willing to experiment with different forms of presenting information. I also used

Microsoft PowerPoint as it is a simple yet effective way of displaying images and text.

Other programs I have used is Blogger. Blogger is a useful website that allows a blog to be kept, to act

like a diary to an extent. Pictures, videos and sound can be added through the tool bar, but also

embedded through other websites.Vimeo, for example is the website I used to upload

my music video. Slideshare is a website that allows users to upload

PowerPoint presentations and images.www.dafont.com is a website in which fonts can be downloaded. This is useful because when using a program such as Fireworks, the fonts are limited, whereas by using dafont, there are a substantial

amount of fonts to choose from which will allow the user to create exactly what kind of feel they are after.