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

My Music Video had to follow a series of conventions in order to be seen and recognised as an ordinary Music Video. Music Video theorist, Andrew Goodwin, states that one convention of Music Videos is the fact that the visuals and lyrics relate to the song, and my research also stated that the tempo of the song usually reflects the tempo of the visuals, for example the cuts, and lyrics, of which I included in my Music Video. I contained this convention in my Music Magazine, in cases where lyrics flash in time with the lyrics, when there are quick cuts, especially towards the end of my video, which are in time with the fast tempo, and also where the song changes from the bridges and the chorus, I have changed the visuals to make it more understandable. A Music Video typically contains the artist in the video some way or another, whether they are playing the lead role, or maybe the narrator, either way it is unusual for the video not to contain the particular artist. I used this convention in my Music Video, as I included my artist in the video. Record companies normally request various close-ups so that the audience get to know the artist. From carrying out research prior to the task, I learned that Music Videos will usually relate to the lyrics in order to help tell the story of the song.

Artists can also use their Music Videos in order to display their characteristics, and what they are into. Also, researching Music Videos taught me that even if the song being used isn’t that great, the Music Video can make the song. I used this research to my advantage when making my Music Video, as I put footage in places where I felt that my actor’s actions or expressions suited best, as well as where the lyrics were in sync with the miming. Another convention of Music Videos, is the fact that they use a wide range of camera angles in order to benefit the music video. For example, close-ups are normally used during dramatic scenes, to express their emotions and facial expressions, however long shots are to set the scene and show the background, and mid-shots are used to show the artist and context. My song is very emotive, so I used a wide range of close-ups and some extreme close-ups, in order to show the facial expressions of my actor.

I used mid-shots in order to show the artist in more depth, for example she was wearing a Jesus band which shows she is religious. The audience learn a lot about the artist when mid-shots enable costumes and accessories to be seen. Due to new technologies in recent generations, green screen is now available for Music Videos, which enables a background to be edited, I planned on using a green screen but when I looked back at the footage, I realised that as I had included corners and various shots where she is leaning on the wall, the whole video would benefit greatly from me just changing the shots that I planned to use for green screen, to black and white and adding the effect “Levels” to enhance the brightness and contrast.

I decided to use black and white in order to express her being depressed and the video being colourless almost represents my actor as being emotionless, due to all of the pain she has gone through, due to blacks and greys being dull, and almost depressing colours. I contained lyrics in my Music Video, which were all typed up in formal English, no slang used, which is used to represent Becky being a posh, well educated teenager. The shots I filmed outside, were mainly when the relationship was on track, I chose to film these outside, so that there was hi-key lighting, which represents everything being out in the open, there being no secrets and white signifies innocence, which was the colour of the clouds behind them in various shots. For the shots of Beckie, I chose to make them black and white in order to emphasise her breakdown as a character, for example the shots of her on her own are all shot indoors, and I used “Levels” as well as “Black and White” in order to portray her depression. Black and grey are seen to be depressing and lifeless colours, black is worn for very sad occasions, such as at funerals, therefore she is displaying this type of emotion. I used the “Reel 8mm Film” in After Effects in order to differentiate the two types of shots regarding the relationship shots. When the relationship is going good, the reel effect is used which gives the feel that she is reminiscing on the good times and almost gives the feeling that she wishes these moments would last. However, when things are going bad between the couple, there is no reel effect, which shows that this is how things are now and they’re not good memories to hold on to.

The digipak I have created uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products. There are conventions of digipaks which must be considered and taken in to account in the making of my digipak. The digipak covers which I analysed all contained large central images of the artists face taking up the whole of, if not, nearly all of the digipak. Their make-up is bold and vibrant, and they usually represent the artist’s personalities.

The central image I used for my front digipak is a view of her with her back faced against the camera and her turning around. Her face and shoulders take up a wide range of the digipak. Beckie is wearing a fur jacket and an antique look ring, which shows off her unique style. Also, I changed the colour of everything to black and white except from the lips, which I used a lasso tool for. The black and white theme shows the depressing mood she is in, however the red lips show that she is unique and lady like. I have used the convention of using close-ups for the front digipak due to the fact she is perceived as an emotive character, therefore the black and white colour scheme was effective at showing her colourless and emotionless self.

The back page of the digipak is black and white and ties in with the colour scheme of black, white, grey and red. The back page of a digipak normally has a track listing. On the back of my digipak I included track listings, a website where they could refer to the artist’s music and a barcode for when it is sold in the shops. My back digipak is quite plain which enables the tracks to be easily viewed.

My thank you page contains a close-up of Beckie, however my inside pages challenge conventions because it is more than likely that there will be a page with no pictures on, however, I blended the picture into the back ground using the opacity tool, which allowed me to be able to place both text and a picture on the page. I deleted text from the photo layer which meant that there were imprints of words taken out of the picture, all of the words are emotive and relate to her feelings, which again displays that she is an emotive artist.

My institutional page differs from a normal institutional page, as all of the text is around Beckie’s head, whereas normally, digipaks contain straight lines and columns of text. Also, the publishing and editing company’s logo is in the centre of the page, but with an opacity of 16% which means it is visible but nearly see through, which enables me to be able to view my digipak effortlessly but also still recognise the logo. This is another example of me challenging the norms due to the fact that the logo would normally be in small text, or portrayed in a more traditional way.

My Magazine advertisement contains various conventions of a stereotypical magazine advertisement. For example, Andrew Goodwin’s theory can be applied as he states that the record label will want close photographs of the artist, and my magazine advertisement contains a picture of Beckie which takes up half of the page. Also, the fact that the advertisement contains the front cover of the digipak which also relates to Goodwin’s theory of record companies seeking the need for the close-up photographs in order for the audience to have an understanding of the artist’s character. The magazine advertisement itself contains a picture of Beckie smiling, and is a photograph of her with colour, which shows a side to her that the audience may not see when buying the CD, as the album is very emotive and they may see her as a depressing figure. This could be due to the dull colours used, and the fact she has a straight face in the photograph used on the front cover of the digipak. Magazine Advertisements are normally supposed to contain straight text; however I rotated my text slightly where I contained quotes from Music Magazines, in order for the readers to understand that this writing contains a different context than the other writing, which is just information about the album. The image used for the magazine advertisement engages the audience as she is happy, smiling and looks friendly, which is inviting for the audience, they will want to know more about her. This is a specific technique that magazines use in order to catch the audience’s attention. My magazine advert contains institutional and extra additional information at the bottom of the screen, which is what a normal magazine advertisement would more than likely contain. Also, I have used a linear tool to create a line that separates the whole music magazine from the institutional information in order to clearly set out the page.

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

The tasks I had to complete were the two ancillary tasks, which was the Digipak and the Magazine Advertisement, and the main product was my music video.

The main idea I had for my Music Video when choosing the song “Heartbeat” was the actor going through a series of events, which bit by bit showed the breakdown of her and her relationship as a whole. The Music Video was made to add a visual reference to the song, and to give the audience an insight to the artist and what she’s about.

My Music Video contains various close-ups as it is a very emotive song and video, which means that not only are they viewing the visual expressions to the song, they are also familiarising themselves with the artist and her style, for example what she is wearing is quite feminine, so Beckie as an artist is now seen as quite a feminine girl, due to the fact she wears a skirt, and accessorises with jewellery. The Video was also created to give the audience a visual of the situation she is faced with. I believe that my Music Video effectively portrays this due to the fact the audience get to see her relationship from when things were going good, through the breakdown, and right near the end where she is an emotional wreck because of him. This helps the audience work out the words, as the imagery is used to assist the lyrics in understanding the Music Video. I wanted to clearly distinguish the contrast between her happiness, and her sadness, and I done this in a number of ways. I used the black and white effect in order to display Beckie in a very sad mood, due to the low-key lighting and the blacks and greys. I put the “Reel 8mm Film” on the shots were things were working out in the relationship, which portrayed Beckie in a happy state, and almost as if these shots are surreal and only imaginable, when they are in contrast with the reality shots.

I believe that the most iconic part of the video is the very end, where there is a dramatic build-up with the fast cuts, and the tempo also speeding up. I believe that it is effective how the shots change to the beat, which makes the visuals relate to the tempo even more than if they did without changing to the beat, this also relates to Goodwin’s theory of music videos creating a visual for the song, including the relationship between the lyrics, visuals and tempo of the song.

The purpose of the digipak was to accompany Beckie’s album, and to provide an insight in to Beckie’s life and her style. I believe that the digipak has successfully served its purpose due to the fact that each page on the digipak contains a different picture of Beckie, which shows various sides to her, and in all, she is wearing a different costume, which shows her style and characteristics.

The thank you page in particular stands out as I have used the handwritten font, in order to give the audience a sense of familiarity as to what her handwriting would really be like. Also, the photograph used on the thank you page has emotive language cut out of the photo, which represents her, and all that she feels. The back page shows that she is intrigued by antique looking things, as the back page is quite modern and feminine with the whole background effect, the chandelier and the silhouette feature. The front page is black and white which portrays her being depressed, and with the absence of colour, I tried to portray the absence of love and happiness. The institutional page contains the same background as the back of the digipak, and this was in order for the black and grey type of theme to run throughout my coursework. The background is reduced in opacity and placed over the image to make the image of low-key lighting, which shows there are secrets hidden and unhappiness within her. Beckie’s facial expression is almost as if she is confused, this is the mix of the two contrasting features. I tried to explain how she must be feeling inside, she feels hollow, confused, lost and does not know what to do due to this breakup.

The magazine advertisement which I created was to promote and express Beckie as an artist. This magazine advertisement has served its purpose as it shows Beckie in both lights, by containing the front cover of the digipak, which is black and white with the photograph of her with a straight face, and by containing the main image which is in colour, and shows her smiling. The costumes which she is wearing portray her as to be feminine and stylish, which gives the audience an insight in to her life and her styles. It also presents what music critics think of her music, which is why the quotes from music magazines are included.

Through the main task and the two ancillary tasks, I believe I have created a brand image and identity, for various reasons. First of which, is that the whole of my coursework really plays on the element of the contrast between happy and sad, good versus evil, which are called binary opposites. The music video portrays both the good times during the relationship, displayed with the reel 8mm film effect,

and the bad reality shots, with no effect, in order to portray this realism.

The magazine advertisement also shows Beckie being both happy and sad, which shows that she has a series of emotions, but also that she is really a happy person. The photographs used of Beckie, are a mixture of close-ups, mid-shots and long shots, and they contain different costumes in order for the audience to really get a sense of Beckie’s character.

The theme throughout the main product, and ancillary texts displays Beckie’s emotive side, with constant referral to emotions and the constant colour scheme of blacks greys and reds, which are very draining. Also, this mood is contrasted with the shots in the music video which have the “Reel 8mm Film” effect on them, which display a surreal and happy place, and also, the magazine advertisement, which portrays Beckie in a new light, as the photograph is colourful and she is smiling.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I have had a number of audience feedback about my coursework, which includes my music video, my digipak and my magazine advertisement. At the start of this project, I decided that my target audience would be from ages 16-24 as they will be likely to be exposed to the types of feelings I am portraying in my music video.

I have received audience feedback from people in various forms for example, through text messaging and blackberry messenger, also, through webcam videos and “Audience Feedback” sheets. Feedback is critical and important throughout the process of creating something for my target audience, as I need to see if the audience like it and if not, then what can I do to improve. Most feedback was positive, however, of course some were not, and actions were taken in order to please the audience.

My friend from school has watched my video grow and develop, and she gave me some feedback when I showed her what I was doing with my video in terms of adding lyrics.

“I like your video, but there is just one thing I would change. I think the lyrics are a good idea to add to your music video, but you should make them move so that it’s not too boring and the viewers are not bored.”- Lauren Chard.

Lauren is an eighteen year old student, but is not a Media Studies student therefore she does not know how much effort the video took, but what I gained from this is that she liked the video as a whole without understanding the technical processes which my music video had undergone. This piece of feedback I believe was key, due to the fact that only a small population of my target audience will have worked on editing music videos, therefore they do not take in to consideration the hard work, they are just honest and if the music video occupies them, then the video is a success, and if the video does not, then I would need to make changes accordingly. After receiving that advice, I added animations to my lyrics, and made them move and changed the fonts of them, attracting the audience.

My best Samantha Kent sent me a BlackBerry Message through messenger after seeing my final video on facebook, which I took a picture of in order to give evidence of her feedback. Samantha is also a Media Studies student from another school. I believe that Samantha was telling the truth about how she feels regarding my music video, due to the fact that she did not have to message me telling me how she liked it, yet she did. This made me realise that my target audience did like my video, as she is eighteen years old. The screenshot of Samantha’s feedback is also above.

Emily Hines gave me feedback on my digipak and magazine advertisement through an email, which is shown above. She made me realise that the constant theme I was trying to portray had been recognised by her, which gave me a sense of satisfaction as that is what I was trying to do. She also recognised the fact on the thank you page I wanted the thank you’s to be feel as though they were direct and personal. The only criticism is that the magazine advertisement is quite plain, which is what I was going for, as I didn’t want it to be too busy, so it would put the readers off, however I take in to consideration her comments, and as her being my target audience, I understand that not everyone would want such a simple magazine advertisement.

Sarah Carter is an eighteen year old Media Student, she filled out an Audience Feedback form for me which is displayed below. She made me realise I would need to clearly show that the shots differ from the good times and the bad times of the relationship.

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

In my A2 coursework, I used a wide range of technology and software, including digital cameras, video cameras, Photoshop, adobe, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and such online programs such as scribd, and slideshare. At the first planning stages, I had to present things such as costumes, project proposal, audience, design inspirations, props I would use, locations. To present these effectively on my blog, I used scribd and slideshare which convert powerpoint presentations into visual and interactive presentations, which is useful due to the fact they are easy to use, clear to understand and means they can be presented effectively on my blog. The internet as a whole has been very useful to me as it means I could gain information very quickly, which especially came in handy when I was planning and finding out research, e.g. Andrew Goodwin’s theories, and of course the fact that my coursework is based online, on the site “Blogger”.


The digital cameras I used in order to get the pictures which I needed for the digipak, using a digital camera enabled me to take an unlimited amount of pictures, and could view them straight after I had taken them, so that I could make changes accordingly. The fact that I used studio lights provided me with the correct level of lighting in order for my pictures to come out clear and realistic. I then uploaded them via a converter, which meant I could view the pictures faster and larger, and from that, I chose the photos which I favoured most. I edited a number of them in Photoshop, which meant I could alter them in many ways. I edited the background from all of the photos taken which gave me just a plain background so I had the opportunity to choose whichever background I wanted. Photoshop also enabled me to remove spots and freckles from my models face in order to give the model a more professional and glamorous look.

For the front page of my digipak, I was aiming for the image to dominate the page in order to fully represent the artist. I wanted her to be the main focus, which is why the front page is quite simple and not too busy. The black and white effect meant that I was able to eliminate colour, in order to tie in with my continuous use of dark colours and a depressed theme. On the front page of the digipak, using Photoshop I changed the colour of Beckie to black and white but kept her lips red, in order for them to stand out, and to tie in with the colour scheme I had chosen, for which I used the Lasso tool. “Chase and Status” is the second most important item on the page, so in order to make it stand out, I used a large font which was all in capitals and added a bevel and emboss effect on it, which gave it a faded zebra print effect, which is used to reflect the artists personality and love for fashion, prints and textiles. I used the “stroke” effect in order to give the text a red outline which ties in with the colour scheme and used the “drop shadow in order to give a shadow effect to the text. I added the publishers’ logo, the sort code of the CD, and the name along the side of the CD in order to present is like a real CD.

The back of my digipak has quite an old fashioned effect due to the fact that I added brushes to the plain background. I used a photo of Beckie laying on the ground and kicking her leg up. Photoshop enabled me to delete the background meaning there was nothing other than Beckie herself in the picture, which enabled me to carry out the next stage, which was highlighting that whole layer and using the plain circular brush tool, I made the whole layer black. This left me with just a black silhouette version of the picture, which tied in with my colour scheme and the chique feel which I wanted to create. I flipped the photo of Beckie which was previously her kicking her legs to the right, which meant that I could now place her in the bottom left corner as she was now kicking out to the left, which gave the back page sort of an outline which appealed to me, as it was the outline to the centre of the page, which was of course the track listings. I added a black silhouette effect chandelier in the top right corner which I found in Brushes on Photoshop, this added to my modern and chique look and tied in with the silhouette of Beckie. Photoshop also enabled me to easily copy a barcode on to the back page, which is a typical convention of digipaks, and shows a true representation of a CD cover.

For the thank you page for the digipak, I had an idea I wanted to use which was having a black and white picture and writing emotive words over the picture, and then deleting the words from the picture, which meant that the white parts of the picture would stay the same and only the black parts of the picture would have words across it for example her highlighted hair and eyes. I used different fonts for the writing, which enables me to give various looks and styles to my coursework. By doing this thank you page, I had really used Photoshop to the best of my ability, as it was a new experience, and the results were just as I had imagined them to be. The image I used for my thank you page is purposely placed to the side rather than the centre, due to the fact that I put her thank you message beside of her to make the audience feel as though she was actually speaking to them, and to enhance this feel, I used a handwritten font and put speech marks around the text. I then also wrote “thank you…” in a handwritten text, and easily rotated it at a 90o angle anti-clockwise which meant it could fit along the top left side of the digipak.

For the institutions and page, I used a large mid-shot of Beckie, which I added an inner glow which give the picture a different effect than before, and reduced the opacity by nearly half way, which meant the picture is quite see-through. The brush effect that I had used on the back cover of the digipak, I also applied on this page, in order to make sure similar themes were running through the digipak. The institutional information is layed out around the image of Beckie, which I created by using the Lasso tool. Over the picture of Beckie, I have contained the Editor and Publishers Logo, which is also used on the front of the cover, however here, I made the logo the same size as the whole page, and reduced the level of opacity, which means that it is visible, but Beckie can be seen through the logo. I used the opacity tool in Photoshop numerous times in my coursework, I found it useful due to the fact it meant I could have various layers on top of others, and the fact that the layers could have a see through effect, meant it was easy to view them all.

I created the magazine advertisement in Photoshop, which means it is easy to edit, delete or move layers effortlessly. I did not want my magazine advertisement to be too busy and for readers just to turn the page, so I made the magazine advertisement spacious. I placed the image I was going to use towards the side of the page so I had the whole other side to write the information which I wanted. I placed the title “Chase and Status” across the top of the page, in order for it to be easily found, and kept the same font of writing as I used on the front cover in order to create Beckie’s brand image. I used the same large font which is in capitals and added a bevel and emboss effect on it, which gave it a faded zebra print effect, which is used to reflect the artists personality and love for fashion, prints and textiles. I contained a photograph of the digipak on my music magazine so that the potential buyers would know what to look for when purchasing the album. For the image to look as though it was 3D and not just a picture, I added a “Drop Shadow” which gave the picture the illusion that it had a shadow, therefore making it 3D, and “stroke” which gave the whole image an outline, separating it from the rest of the page. The layers on Photoshop made it easy for me to move and rotate the texts and images so that they were just as I wanted them to be.

When making my Music Video, I used the Sony HVR-A1E camera for the indoor shoot, due tio the fact that this camera would enable me to end up with both high quality and high definition footage. I used a shoulder rig instead of using a tri-pod to give the hand held feel, this was because I wanted footage that had a wide range of camera shots and I had previously seen a video hand held which allowed the various shots to be portrayed effectively. For the outside shoot, I used the Panasonic DV cam, due to the fact that I was trying to create a home video that the couple had recorded throughout their time going out, and also, this camera is light and quite portable, which meant that it was easy for me to travel to the locations with the camera. The outside footage was filmed with a tripod, however, in order for me to create the effect that it was a home video; the couple took turns in holding the camera and recording. To add to this effect, the couple placed the camera down on a park bench and ran to the lake to skim pebbles in to the water.

Once I had shot all of my footage, I opened them on to Adobe Premiere Pro, where I cut the footage that I did not want to use, and kept the footage I did want to use.

Premiere enabled me to easily view exactly what I was moving where, across the timeline. I used slow motion for the scene where the girlfriend pushes the camera, then it ends up turning in to the boyfriends hand, that brief clip of him is in slow motion. Premiere also enabled me to edit the clips, for example, the shots where it’s just Beckie in a room, I used the “Levels” effect and the “Black and white” effect in order to create the visualisation of her being drained of colour and love. Premiere also enabled me to add lyrics to my music video, by using “Titles” which meant that I could edit the lyrics too, for example I made the "PAIN" lyrics flash in time with the beat. In Premiere, I cut out the recordings that I did not want to use, and put the ones I did want in sync with the video. Gradually, my video had some shape of form. I could then add new layers of videos, of which I used several times, when I used fast cuts to cut between two clips repeatedly by putting one clip on “Video 1” and placing the other clip directly above, in the column called “Video 2”. I also used the column “Video 2” and also “Video 3” in order for me to contain several different fonts used for the lyrics to appear at the same time. This leads me on to the next feature which the technologies of Premiere which is the “Effect Controls” which enabled me to move the lyrics and make them a different size at the same time by using the “scale” tool. Premiere also enabled me to change the opacity of the lyrics, which meant that I could make them appear and disappear when I wanted to. Through using Premiere, I added fades between the calm shots, so that it flowed nicely, as if it was a montage of memories.The timeline made it very easy for me to see and understand what I was doing, in particular, when editing the end of my music video, I cut the clips very fast simultaneously in order to emphasise the build up to the end of the song, and the build up of her emotional breakdown.

In Adobe After Effects, I was able to add a “Reel 8mm Film” tool which enabled me to select the parts of my music video, which I wanted to resemble an old fashioned home video. This was a key feature in my music video, therefore After Effects enabled me to improve my video vastly.

When providing evidence of feedback, the Blackberry App called “Screen Grab” enabled me to take a picture of the Blackberry Message which I had received. Also, I print screened my emails, in order to include the email in my evaluation. I converted the Audience Feedback Form from a powerpoint presentation, to a JPEG, by using Powerpoint.

The use of technology has helped me through every step of my coursework, for the planning, the production, and the evaluation stages, and has enabled me to create my coursework to the best of my ability. The things that I had ideas about came to life, thanks to technology, but Photoshop, Premiere and After Effects in particular.

Music Video

Audience Feedback

I collected various examples of Audience feedback being offered.

One, being in the form of an email:

Another piece being in the form of a Blackberry Message...

And the last, is of an Audience Feedback Form which has been filled out and sent to me...

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