What tasks did I carry out during A2 Media Studies

Although we worked as a group, we all undertook individual roles during the production and editing stages, in order to keep the tasks organised. I was actively involved in creating the storyboard, which laid out all the information we needed. I also took part in a lot of the filming, such as filming the dancer on the green screen. I also attended the filming sessions where we filmed our artist in the main location. I acted as a voice throughout the filming sessions, giving my opinion and ideas on what we could improve on. I also created some clips on iMovie, where I filmed people lip syncing to the lyrics. I then edited this using the green screen effect. However, these clips were not used in the final music video because of a lack of space. I still feel that this was an effective use of my time as I developed certain skills, and it it gave us inspiration for other ideas. I also contributed to the creation of of the digi pack, as I helped to chose the font, colour schemes and positioning. Throughout the whole editing process I gave my opinion on what could be improved and what things worked well. I was also a part of our first attempt at the digi pack. I was actively involved in the photo shoot, were we took pictures of the balloons. Although we did not use this digi pack idea, I still feel that this showed initiative and skill.

Final Music Video

Editing Music Video

Final Digi Pack

Front and Back Cover

Inlay One

 Inlay Two

Final Poster

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

Click to enlarge mind map

One programme I used during the research and planning stage was Slide Share, this is an interactive way of viewing power points. I created a slide share about Sven E Carlssons theory on music videos, I decided to create this as knowing the different types of videos was important. In my AS portfolio I used Slide Share a lot to carry our research, however I never created my own one. I feel that by creating my own power point, I was able to construct and lay it out in a way that suited me. I was able to choose which information I wanted to include, therefore allowing me to focus on certain aspects. Being able to include images was also useful as it made it more appealing to look at, and also made links between the text. 

Another software that I was introduced to during A2 was Final Cut Pro. This is an editing software where we uploaded our footage, in order to arrange the shots and add effects and transitions. For our AS portfolio we used IMovie to edit all of the clips, we decided to do this as it was the simpler programme. However, in order to develop our editing skills, we decided to use Final Cut Pro as it is more complicated. The first step was to upload all of the footage we had filmed into the programme, so that we could begin editing. This was very simple, and I faced no difficulties with this task. Next, as a group we deleted the clips that we did not need or felt that the quality was not up to scratch. This was again very simple as we could look through the clips and simply right click then delete. 

The next thing we done as a group was insert the audio. We felt this was vital to do at the beginning of the editing process, as we would be able to successfully sync the clips with the song. This was very simple to carry out; we had to click the music button in the tool bar, then choose the song that we had uploaded then drag it to the time line. This was very similar to using IMovie as both required audio to be dragged down to the time line. 

Next we began to arrange the clips in the order we wanted, as some of the clips were slightly different to our original storyboard, we just tried different clips to see what fitted best. It was very simple to arrange the clips as you could simply move them around by dragging them into the place you want them. As we continued to do this, I began to understand more which clips fitted well together, due to the different lighting's. One of the biggest parts of the editing process was adding the different effects and transitions, Individually we all conducted our own research on different effects and transitions then came together as a group and compared ideas. I focused on looking at pop music videos, to see if there are any trends to what they use. I found out that most of the music videos that had effects, used very fun and bright effects. This is because it engages the audience and makes the overall production more interesting to watch. We did not want to overdo our video with effects, so made sure that we balanced them well. One thing I have learnt is how to make text appear in time to the beats of the music. We decided to have this as the beginning our our video as the black and yellow colour scheme would catch the audiences eye, and engage them for the rest of the video. We wanted to make sure that the text appeared at the exact same time as the beats, otherwise it would not look professional.              

                                           This is how we added effects and transitions

                                       This is what our beginning sequence looked like 

Another programme that we used a lot during A2 was Photo Shop. We used this mainly for our ancillary tasks, as this was the simplest way to edit the images. I had never used Photo Shop before as during our AS production we did not not need to edit any images. Although some of my group members took A Level Photography, I wanted to be involved in the editing process of the images, so that I could develop new skills. The first thing we did was upload the photos onto Photo Shop. This was very simple as all we needed to do was upload the images to the IMac then select the file on Photo Shop. Once the front cover image had been uploaded, we began looking at the different editing tools. We made the image lighter, and also tried it in black and white, however we felt that it made the image look too plain. The next step was to add the text, this is a skill that I developed as I had to practise editing the text, to make it fit the image. 

Once the front cover was completed, we began creating the inlays on Photo Shop,this was slightly harder than the front cover, however one positive of this is that I developed numerous skills and was also introduced to a range of editing tools and techniques. This first thing we did was upload the image of the brick wall. This was very simple as we had already learnt how to upload an image by doing the front cover. For the first inlay, we wanted to have graffiti on the wall. We were thinking about uploading images of graffiti, however to further develop our skills we decided to use the spray paint tool on Photo Shop to draw on the graffiti ourselves. This was very fun to do as I could be very creative, and use bright colours to make the inlay stand out. 

                                                   Choosing our graffiti colours

Another programme I used to present my ideas and research in a different way was Prezi. This is a really creative and interactive way to present information, and allows you to add different transitions to get from slide to slide. I decided to create a Prezi on our chosen genre, to show that I have researched the different forms and conventions. I have used Prezi before as I really like how it collates all of the information, and presents it in a way that is engaging. As I have used the programme before, I decided to use different template and transitions in order to show how I have developed.

Overall, I feel my skills have greatly developed since AS, as I used a range of different programmes, which allowed me to progress my editing skills. I feel that learning how to use Photo Shop was extremely useful, as our digi pack images looked very professional once we had finished editing them. I also feel that I made good use of the different formats in which I could present information on. For both the planning and evaluation, I used a variety of websites that created fun and engaging power points.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The first set of audience feedback we collected was during the planning process, we decided to carry out this questionnaire in order to find out who we should be aiming our production at. We asked a range of different ages and genders, in order to make sure that the results we collected were fair. We felt that it was important to have a clear target audience to aim our video at, otherwise our video would have no continuous themes or features. Also, by finding out our target audience early on in the process, we found out what ideas would not work, therefore saving time in the filming/editing process.

Here are a few examples of the questions we asked

Finding out this information in questionnaire form was effective, as they were simple to distribute and was a clear, visual way of looking at the answers. We feel that our questionnaires were successful, as when we collated the results, we had a clear idea on what ages we should aim our music video at and also additional information that will aid the production process. When we looked at our results, we found that both male and females enjoyed 'pop' music videos, this gave us more opportunities when it came to creating the music video as we could balance both masculine and feminine features.  

Audience feedback on final music video

One way in which I gathered audience feedback was through the use of the website Survey Monkey. This required me to create my own questionnaire, which could then be accessed on line. I made sure that the questions I asked related well to the quality of the video, and also that they varied in order to cover all aspects of the video. One positive feature of gathering audience feedback this way is that it was really simple for people to fill out, this is because the layout is very simple and the answer boxes are clear.

 Making sure that we asked the same amount of males and females was important as we did not want our overall results to be hindered by contradictory typical likes/dislikes. However, from our earlier audience feedback, we found that both the males and females we asked liked our ideas. Therefore, we hoped that the results we collected would correspond with this view.

This was a very important question to ask, as we wanted to mainly aim the questionnaire at our target audience. We felt that this was the most effective age range to ask, as our aims at the beginning of the process were to appeal to a particular section of society. If we did not appeal to our target audience, our earlier planning and research would have no importance. However we did feel that it would be effective to ask some people outside of our target audience bracket, as if they liked aspects of the music video, it would show that our video appeals to more than just the younger generation, and that we have been successful in creating a video that would be popular across all ages.

 This is another important question as it tells us whether or not we have succeeded in meeting the typical forms and conventions of our chosen genre. If we did not meet this criteria, it would show that our prior research had not been as effective. However, from the results I can see that the majority of the people we asked felt that we successfully created a video that suits our chosen genre. This shows that our production as a whole contains features that fit in well with the pop genre. Although, around one third of the people we asked felt that only some parts of our video fitted in with the pop genre. This means that there are certain aspects that we could improve, to further appeal to the audience. From the results below, one thing we could improve on to higher this questions results is the locations. If some of the locations were slightly more appropriate to the pop genre, more of the people we asked would feel more satisfied.

This was a very successful result as 100% of the people we asked felt that our video suited our target audience. This result shows that all of the research and planning we conducted, was effective as we made sure that the things we included in our video, would appeal to people between the ages of 16-23. The fact that the majority of the people we asked, fell into our target audience bracket, further confirms the validity of these results. As their opinion is vital to the overall view of the video. However, the fact that people outside of our target audience bracket find that we successfully created a video that appeals to 16-23 year olds, is also satisfying, as it shows that all ages are noticing the features we added.

This was another successful result, as 100% of the people we asked felt that we included a variety of shots. We spent a lot of time researching what types of shots are included in a pop music video, and also what types would suit our planned ideas. We used a range of shots such as; wide shots, close ups, mid shots and cutaways. I believe that the variety of shots in our music video contributed a lot to the overall successfulness of the video, as they engaged the audience and allowed us to include different locations.

This was one of our less successful results, as over half of the people we asked felt that only some of the locations were good. I feel that as a group we did conduct enough location research, however we could have improved on the shorter parts of the video where the locations do not entirely flow well with the rest of the video. Although, none of the people we asked did not select 'no' for the question, which shows us that they did enjoy certain aspects of the locations that we chose. The result we received may also be because of the range of ages we asked. It is no surprise that the younger generation liked our choice of location, as we included locations such as the graffiti wall. However, people in the older bracket may not find all of the locations appealing, as their idea of locations in a 'pop' video may differ. This is something we could improve on next time by trying to balance the types of location we use more, in order to appeal to a larger section of society.

 For this question we felt that it would it would be effective to use a scaling response, as a simple yes or no answer would not be useful. This was a successful result as the majority of the people we asked said that they found our video engaging, this response involves all aspects of our video, from the camera shots we used to the overall performance. None of the people we asked felt that our video was not engaging, this also shows that our planning was effective, as we made sure that we included things that would appeal to the audience. This successful response may have been due to the type of people we asked, because we asked mainly young people, and our video was aimed at young people, it could be said that this response was expected. One thing we could improve on to make our video more engaging is the locations, this has been a trend throughout the responses, if our locations were more suited, the audience would find the video more engaging to watch.

The majority of the people we asked felt that our music video fitted in 'very well' with our chosen song. This shows that we were successful in creating a video that suited our genre and also that we understood our song as a whole. We spent a lot of time analysing the original music video, to find inspiration and gain an understanding of the narrative. When it came to creating our interpretation of the song, we made sure that every decision we made, would appeal to the audience. One person answered that they found that our video fitted in the with the song "quite well", taking into account the section of society we asked, this person may have been in the older bracket, therefore changing the way they understand the link between a video and a song. To improve, we could have a closer look at the meaning of the song, and try to filter in some of the ideas to make a clearer link. Overall, I feel that we successfully created a video that matched the song, as we spent a lot of time during the planning process making sure that we used the conventional forms of a 'pop' song.

Again, this was a very successful response as 80% of the people we asked liked our use of effects. When we were researching other music videos, we found that some used effects more than others; due to the different narratives and performances. We decided that apart from the green screen, we would use different filters and transitions, in order to appeal to the audience. We felt that we used the right amount of effects, as if we used too many, the audience may loose focus. Two of the people we asked said that they liked 'some' of the effects we used, this shows that improvements could be made. If we were to start the process again, we could collect more audience feedback on what effects they like/dislike, as this would give us an idea as to what our target audience like.

From these results, I can see that the majority of the people we asked found our lip syncing satisfactory. During the filming process, we had a lot of trouble trying to make sure that our artist was in sync with the whole song, however due to the songs change of pace and quick lyrics, we found it hard to make it perfect. I do feel that this slightly effected how professional our video looked, however as a whole I feel that the other features of our video really stand out.

Overall, I found these results very helpful in understanding how well we carried out the task, as we have gathered results on a variety of aspects of the video. I also feel that by the audience highlighting points we could have improved on, we were able to understand what the weaknesses were of our video. To know the weaknesses of your product is important as it allows you to develop and make effective changes that would benefit your video overall.


We posted our video onto YouTube in order to gain more audience feedback. This method differed from Survey Monkey as people gave comments and ratings instead of having multiple choice options. This meant that the feedback varied, as people had control over what they commented on. We chose to upload it onto YouTube as it is a very popular website for younger people. As our target audience is young people, we felt we would be able to reach more by using this website.

This audience feedback focuses on the editing and the lip syncing of the video, they said that the editing and lip syncing synchronises well with the audio track, which shows that our work on Final Cut Pro was effective. Their comment on the lip syncing differs from our results on the Survey Monkey questionnaires, as some people said that our lip syncing was satisfactory. From this, I can suggest that some of the audience did not focus on the lip syncing as much as the others, maybe because other features caught their eye or they did not see the slight mistakes as major. However, from this comment we can see that the lighting of our video effected the audiences response, as they compared it to the original.        

                                                       shot that was made lighter

In this comment the viewer focuses on the beginning of our music video. We spent a lot of time planning the beginning, from the colour scheme to the pace of the letters appearing. We done this because the beginning is the first thing the audience will see, therefore we want to appeal to them from the outset. We edited the letter appearing so that they appeared to the five beats of the song. This comment says that they like how the video cuts to the beat, therefore the audience has enjoyed our decision to edit it this way. They also say that they enjoyed the different camera shots and movements. This is another thing we planned in detail, and I also created a rough diagram of how each shot should be positioned.

Again, this viewer enjoyed the variety of shots in our video, which shows that they were engaged throughout. One thing that has been highlighted throughout the feedback stage is that some of our locations do not match the quality of the others used. I did put a lot of effort into researching and planning the locations, however due to resources and time, we could not film all of our shots in our original ideas. However, to improve next time I would make sure that despite the obstacles we face as a group, we would be more organised when it comes to choosing locations, and take more practice shots to check it is suitable. This viewer has stated that the video suits our chosen genre, which positively highlights that we used the correct forms and conventions to appeal to the audience.





                                             One location we could have improved on

Quotes from friends and family members

" I really liked the male dancer in the video, as his moves matched the song" Elle White, 16, Female

"I feel that some of the lip syncing is slightly out of place, however the performer makes up for it in enthusiasm!" Leanne Savage, 32, Female

"There is some repetition however the editing skills displayed are good" Spencer White, 46, Male

" I could quickly tell that this was a music video in the pop genre, as the shots are fast paced and the beginning is very bright!" Tyler Foster, 18, Male 

Audience feedback on ancillary tasks

In order to gain audience feedback on our ancillary tasks, I interviewed a range of people asking them set questions about each individual production. I made sure to ask both males and females, so that my results were not unfair. Although our target audience is young people, I felt it would be effective to ask a range or ages, to see if the changes we made to the typical conventions appealed to them. From the results I collected it is clear that a majority of the people we asked felt that our album was very professional looking, due to the image and text choice. I am pleased that we had this response as we all put in a lot of time researching different font ideas. Another thing the audience feedback told us is that they really liked the use of the graffiti on the inlay. They felt that it was very original and made a clear link between the album and the music video. One person commented that we could of improved on our lyrics inlay, by making it more eye catching. They said that we could of included an image, however from my research I found that typically images are not included on inlay sheets.

Audience Theory

Stuart Hall's Reception Theory- This theory focuses on how an individual receives or interprets a particular text, and how different factors can affect their response such as; age, class and gender. His theory also focusses on the idea that a producer 'encodes' the work, then the audience 'decodes the work'. This happens because the audience may have a different approach to the producer. However, if a producer uses recognised forms and conventions to fit the genre, the individual will agree with more of the features used. This is why in many music videos there is a trend on things like the artist, outfits and locations. As the audience will be expecting the typical conventions.

Overall Conclusion

After looking at all of the audience feedback we gathered from the different formats, I can clearly suggest that we succeeded in creating a music video that appeals to our chosen target audience and also fits in well with our genre. Taking into account the different demographic groups, I can see that the females commented more on the dancers/dancing. This was expected as it is typical for females to be engaged in this part of the videos. Age is also a factor that affected the overall response of our video. Audience feedback that was gathered from viewers in our target audience bracket strongly suggests that they were engaged in the video, and also liked the features that we included especially for their age group. However as a whole I feel that we did not conform to stereotypes associated with gender, as we balanced a range of features that would appeal to both male and females. We decided to do this as we did not want to isolate people by not making the video engaging for their particular gender.



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

Strengths

One strength of our music video is the beginning shots, we come up with the idea when we first planned our storyboard. We knew that we wanted to have a unique beginning, as this is the first thing that the audience is going to see. We have used bright colours, which will catch the audiences eye, and we were also able to sync the letters with the beats of the song. This took a lot of time on Final Cut, which shows our determination to get the right outcome. We also feel that the beginning is a success as is clearly identifies the song title for the audience, this was important to achieve as the more information that the audience had, the more appealing they would find it.

Another strength of our music video is the green screen effects. We spent a lot of time making sure that we had the right background, and also a lot of time on the filming to make sure that the footage was a good enough quality. We feel that by adding green screen effects, we made our video more advanced, as it shows that we not only used Final Cut, but that we also used I Movie then exported it over. Another strength of the green screen effects is that we were able to get any location, without having to actually go and film there, This opened up many more opportunities when we were planning, as we knew that we would be able to find any background. The green screen effect also adds to the narrative of the dancer, this is because we show him dancing quite a lot throughout the video, therefore the graffiti background links all of the different shots together.

One weakness of our music video is that in some parts the lip syncing is slightly slow. We practised a lot to make sure that we got the lip syncing as close to the song as possible, however it was very difficult to get it perfect. We did try to tackle problem by filming a lot of of footage, in order to have a lot of choice when picking what shots we would use. However, on one part of our music video the artist slightly misses the end of the lyric.

Another weakness of our music video is that we did not use a lot of transitions between each shots. Although we used some such as fading, I feel that we could of inserted some more transitions, to make our look more advanced. However, we did discuss this during planning, and we felt that we did not want to add too many transitions, just in case we made our video look to cluttered. Therefore, one thing I would change if we did the whole process again would be to balance the amount of transitions we use, in order to both appeal to the audience, and make our video look professional.

One strength of our ancillary task is that we provide all the key information for the audience. On our album cover we display the name of album and the artists name. This is important as without this information, the audience may be less engaged if they do not know about the album. On our promotional poster we also included the name of the artist and the album name, as the whole purpose of the poster is to promote the artist and their work. We also include important information about key dates, this is again promotion for the artist. We decided to include a rating from a magazine, this is because after looking at different promotional posters, we found that a rating from a reliable source makes the album more appealing to buy.

Another strength of our ancillary task is the inlay layout. As a group, we decided it would look if we included a CD tray on the right inlay, this is because on the A2 productions we looked at, a CD tray made the inlays look professional and appealing. We did have some trouble finding an inlay that would not cover up the brick wall background, however once we found a suitable one, we felt that the inlay as a whole looked very good.

One weakness of our ancillary task is that the font on our lyrics inlay does not perfectly fit with the other fonts we had used on our other productions. We had a lot of difficulty finding a font that would be easily read over the brick wall background, however the fonts that we used on our album cover did not look suitable. Therefore we had to choose a different font, which did not create synergy between all three of the productions. One pattern we tried to follow was using white font on all of our productions, however on our lyrics inlay we felt that the font was not clear in white, due to it being smaller than the the texts.

Overall, I believe that we did meet our expectations as a lot of our planning was successfully created to a standard that we were happy with. I believe that our decision to retake the album cover image shows how determined we were to reach our desired goal; to create a CD cover that would appeal to our target audience. I also feel that our music video successfully conforms to a lot of the conventions of a 'pop' music video, as we put a lot of thought into the type of shots we would use. However, the fact that we did challenge some conventions makes our video stand out more, as it is these changes that the audience would notice. At the end of the process we were happy with how our ancillary texts came out as they fit the typical conventions of our genre. Our CD front cover also supersedes our first idea, which did not really represent our artist. I feel that our second attempt at the image for the album cover looks very professional and gives the audience more knowledge on our artist. 

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

To present our media product we decided to use Facebook and YouTube, as this was the most effective way for the audience to view it. Social networking is a pivotal part of modern day society, therefore we felt that we would be able to reach a lot of our target audience by uploading it onto these websites. Blogger has been a major part of our A2 portfolio, as it is how we document all of our research and planning. We decided that this would be the best place to present our ancillary texts, as its a great way for people to look easily, without the trouble of having to search for it. We also posted our final music video on Blogger, as it was another way of obtaining audience feedback through the comments section.

Conforming to some of the typical genre conventions of a 'pop' music video was vital in order to make sure that we appeal to our target audience, and create a product that flows well. One way in which we conform to the forms and conventions of our chosen genre is through the use of fashionable/mainstream outfits. In today's music industry (especially the pop genre) artists sometimes base their outfits on what is trendy at the time. We spent a lot of time researching different outfit ideas that would not only appeal to our target audience, but that would also fit in with the song. In some of the shots we decided to dress our main artist James Gomez in a smart black suit with a burgundy shirt, I got the inspiration for this outfit from pop sensation Sam Smith; who regularly wears smart outfits.                            

We had regular costume changes throughout the music video, another example of this was our artists James Gomez second costume. Compared to his first outfit which was very reformed and smart, we decided that for the second outfit he should wear more relaxed attire. In a few of the shots out artist wears a chequered shirt and baseball jacket, this is very modern clothing which would again appeal to our target audience; as they too are young and knowledge on the latest trends. We knew that the costumes we chose for our artist was important for the outcome of our final production, as this is what represents our artist and determines how they are perceived. Another way that we follow the typical forms and conventions of our genre through the use of outfits, is how we dress our main dancer. We decided that he would be a prominent feature of our music video, as his dancing would appeal to our target audience. Like before, we conducted some research on what kind of outfit we should be choosing, by looking at 'pop' songs that feature dance routines.



We gained inspiration from the well known artist Drake, who regularly wears casual t-shirts in his music videos. We decided to follow this trend by dressing our dancer in a casual t-shirt and black jeans, with a beanie. We followed this particular convention, as we understood that popular artists have built themselves an image, by the style of clothes they wear in their music videos.




Another way our music product follows the typical forms and conventions of the 'pop' genre is through our decision to create a performance based production. This is where the artist can be seen dancing/lip syncing throughout the music video, in order to engage the audience. After researching the different ways in which we could structure our music video, we felt that a performance based product would best suit the genre, as artists such Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran follow this method.
By creating a performance based music video, we were able to include a lot of lip syncing and movement, which adds to the up-beat and happy mood of the song. Apart from our artist performing, we do cut to different shots such as the powdered paint in the air, and our two dancers. This gives our music video a range of different aspects, which will appeal to a different parts of our target audience.

By choosing to create a performance based product, we were able to use one of the typical conventions of the 'pop' genre, which is close ups. These are very popular in 'pop' music videos as they clearly show the artists facial expression and they also enhance the lip syncing. We used close up camera shots mainly on our artist James Gomez, as we wanted him to be the focal part of our video. We also used a close up shot on our main dancer, as we felt that by having him clearly lip syncing, it would allow the video to flow well together. Without including camera shots like close ups, the audience would find the video boring, therefore we made sure that we made it appealing to view.

Another example were we followed the forms and conventions of our genre was through the use of our dancers. It was clear through our research that many 'pop' music videos include dancers as it is very modern and makes the video look different from the others in the genre. The typical dance moves are very fast paced and upbeat, and usually fall into the category of hip/hop dancing. We had a dancer who was available, who was also professionally trained, so that his moves were up to standard. We watched how long the dancing shots were in other videos, so that we knew how much should be included in our video. The dancers in the example videos we looked at are very confident and well dressed, so we made sure to project this in our music video as we wanted the same response. The 'pop' genre is known for being a modern style of music, therefore by having modern dance moves, we are able to reach our target audience successfully.

Another way in which we conform to the forms and conventions of our genre is through our decision to use a younger looking artist. Pop music in today's industry is dominated by young male and female artists such as; Katy Perry, Chris Brown and Justin Bieber. This is because the style of music appeals to them most, due to the song content, stereotypical features and popularity. By using a young artist we were able to make his movements look more suitable and fitting for the target audience of 16-25 year olds. The song we chose also effected how we wanted our artist to look, despite the original artist, Pharrell Williams, being slightly older, we still felt he was very modern and trendy, therefore we wanted to convey this by having a younger looking artist.

Many 'pop' music videos use a range of different editing techniques and filter in order to make the production stand out. We knew from the beginning of the planning process that we wanted to use different techniques, in order to conform to the typical conventions of our chosen genre. One adjustment we made was to the lighting of one of our shots. On Final Cut we made the shot lighter which gives the sky an almost cartoon look. We feel that this would stand out to the audience, as it breaks up the shots to prevent any repetition.

During the planning process we did decide to challenge some forms and conventions of our chosen genre, in order to make it more interesting for the audience to view. We also feel that by challenging some conventions, we would be able to demonstrate how our skills have developed around the knowledge of the genre. One convention we challenged was the use of the slow motion effect. Usually, 'pop' music videos are very up beat and do not usually contain many slow editing effects. We felt that by adding this effect to one of our dancers moves, we would be able to highlight the extremity of the move, and appeal to the audience. Although we did use other editing techniques, I feel that the slow motion effect had the biggest impact, as it was mentioned on the audience feedback that the moves was impressive. This shows that our decision was successful, as we were able to take a calculated risk by adding in the effect.

Another convention we challenged was the use of the green screen. As we did not use this in our AS production, we felt that it would be effective to use it in our A2 video in order to further develop our knowledge and skills. In many popular music videos, extravagant and highly propped locations are common due to them having a high budget to work with. Although we did not have the opportunity to film in typically unique locations, we were able to use the green screen to create backgrounds that would not only engage the audience, but also add bright colours and effects. We decided to use our green screen with our main dancer, we also decided to use a graffiti background as this would appeal to our target audience as its very cool and modern. The green screen was a great technique to learn, and it was also very simple to edit on I Movie which made the editing process run smoothly. We feel that the green screen shots we produced looked very professional and fitted in well with the rest of our video.

Ancillary Tasks

As a part of the ancillary task we had to create a album front/back cover for our digi pack. Before starting this process we undertook a lot of research to find out what the common features were. We come to the conclusion that the majority of album covers include the artists name and the the album title. We felt that this was vital information to include, as it is what the audience will first look for. In most of the covers we looked at, the font used was very clear and bold. We decided to follow this convention by using a bold white font, so that it stands out to the audience. Another common feature of the album covers we looked at are an image of the artist. After our first digi pack idea failed to meet our expectations, we decided to change it by including an image of the artist, We felt this was a good decision as it gives the audience an idea on the artists persona. However, one way we challenged the typical conventions of an album cover was by flipping the image over and using it on the back cover. We felt this was a unique choice to make, as not many modern day album covers do this. We felt that it looked very neat and professional, and also looks eye catching when laid out as a template. Another convention we followed was by having the song titles on the back. All albums have these on the back as it gives the audience and insight into the albums content, and what the songs may be about. We decided to structure ours in a list form, as this is the most conventional way to lay them out.

Promotional posters are typically always unique, as the artists want them to stand out and draw the audience in. One convention we conformed to was the information that we included on the poster. Most promotional posters have the artists name and the album title, as this is the whole purpose of the poster, Our text is central on the poster as this is what we want the audience to be focused on. We have also included an image of the artist, which fits the typically features of a promotional poster as they want the artist to be easily recognised.