Personal Evaluation

Media Studies Music Video

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

Within our music video, digipak and magazine ad there are multiple ways conventions of real media products have been used. One form of real media products that has been used has been the bar codes and record symbols shown of the digipak and magazine ad. By using the trust worthy symbols on the media pieces it straight away gives a professional feel to the work and is taken seriously. Also another convention found on the magazine ad is the use of quotes. The quotes shown are taken from well known magazines seeing as they often give accurate detail about the product, this is a huge part of gaining the customers trust. Also a website is given at the bottom of the magazine ad so they can double check they’re interest if the magazine ad looks like it will fit the style of music they enjoy.

Also our music video has followed the convention of incorporated sections of performance. This is shown in the video where the singer is separated in to black and white sections and the band shots are separated in to saturated colour sections. The reason for the choice of single performance was because we were trying to make the main singer come across to the audience as lonely. We aimed to achieve this so that the video would relate to the lyrics of the song because the song is described as sad and lonely. If we had of had more time for filming the media product we could have developed our band shots and used group band settings rather than single instruments. If we had of used group band shots this would have showed the band as a group however still would not include the main singer to enhance the main singer’s solitude with in the video.

Another way our media products uses forms of real media product conventions is relating the video to the music genre. Seeing as Our song was a mix between pop and light rock/indie we decided to base our video on all of them. After researching similar songs and viewing the videos we came up with our idea where it would be a typical pop video showing the main singer close up and following him throughout so he’s the main attention however slight rock elements come into it such as the close up of the band on drums and guitar and the subtle viewings of the drum’s in the streets. Also the text shown on our digipak and magazine ad have a slight rock look which relates to the genre of music. After studying similar videos we also dressed the singer appropriately to fit in with the pop feel of the song. Often video’s that are based on pop songs that are quite up beat show mainly colourful shots however in our video we have challenged this convention by using black and white shots for the singing, this is to enhance the fact the song is meant to be about a sad and dull person.

Our music video also relates to real media products from the use of shots that have been chosen. The way this has been achieved is by taking influence from certain videos. One video that gave us shots ideas for our piece was ‘Thousand Miles’ by Vanessa Carlton. The way we developed our shots from this video were examples such as the close up of her hands playing the piano as well as the general idea of following the main singer throughout the video.


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

There is an effective combination between our music video and our digipak and magazine ad. The way this effectiveness has been built up is from the similar techniques carried on throughout each piece of work. One main technique used has been the use of black and white. We used black and white in our digipak, music video and partly in our magazine ad. By using this technique it creates a powerful contrast effect, this can clearly be seen on our digipak with the black and white contrasted text and photo. Also it relates to the sadness in our pictures and clips of the main singer. Also because of the similarity of the music video and the ancillary texts it shows a relation making it feel a lot more understandable and professional rather than having random unrelated products for each separate piece. There are also relations between the media products such as same texts used for the digipak and Magazine ad and screen grabs being used from the Music video in to the magazine ad and front cover. This is a simple technique but if effective seeing as it shows clear relations between all three pieces of work, it shows a clear indication of what will be found in the music video and looks professional seeing as the pictures showing the genre of music relate to the style of text used.

One strong combination made throughout the main product and the ancillary texts is the relation of the main shot on the digipak relating to the music video. The reason we chose the shot we did was to show a clear distinction between the city and the lead singer. By making this distinction this shows off the main characteristics of the whole video put simply into one shot. This gives the viewer an idea of what to expect in the video before they have seen it.

The choice for the text shown on our ancillary products with the combination to our main product was to relate the text to the genre of the music video. The text chosen has tried to relate to the slight rock feel of the song. By using this text it has allowed the audience to gain an idea of the style of music before they have listened to it so it may influence them to buy it if they’re interested in the genre.

The choice of our digipak and magazine ad layout was decided after looking at multiple ideas of similar genres on the internet. We decided to go for a simple cover which we hoped would be easy to follow and have an effective final result.


What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

After looking at the feedback of our music video, digipak and magazine ad I have learnt that some of the techniques used have been successful however there are some choices of techniques that have confused or been unsuccessful with viewers of the products. One piece of feedback was that the continuity of the Digipak works well showing clear relation. I have learnt from this feedback that it’s better to follow a sturdy plan and stick to it rather than try out new ideas that might not relate or connect well with the work that has been done already. Also the pictures were said to work well with the style of music video and the font used for the front cover and magazine ad. This seemed to be successful due to the fact that it followed the rules of the genre and was clear for the viewer the follow. Also viewers found the front cover picture looks professional, this is due to the skyline, city and main singer all having clear distinction in the photo. One piece negative feedback was viewers had noticed the text to be too gothic. This may be because it was trying to be related to the rock feel of the song however as it was only light rock there fore not all viewers’ will of realised. I have learnt from this piece of feedback that sometimes using more subtle and simple text techniques can look better rather than trying to make text stand out too much. Also the special features page has been said to look slightly out of place. This is most likely because of the colour used rather than it being black and white. However seeing as it was a band shot which in the video is shown in colour we thought by keeping it coloured it would show relation to the music video. I have learnt from this piece of feedback that sticking to a colour scheme throughout a piece of work can look more effective than varying the colours.

One way the audience influenced us to change our media product was when we were about half way through the creating our music video and we received feedback about certain clips being to long. We took this into account and therefore thought shortening certain clips would be a useful decision. The main reason we decided to shorten the clips was because it fastened the pace of the video which allowed it to flow a lot smoother and keep the audience interested. If we were given more time after finishing our final music video the main change we would make after studying the feedback would be to correct some of the camera shots to create a smoother effect throughout the video. One way camera shots could be improved is by removing the slight jolts when zooming the camera in.

The main reason feedback has been so important while producing the music video is because it allows you to get all the audiences views on your work therefore gives you ideas for change and corrections to improve your final media products.



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

Media technology with in our main product allowed us to research, plan, evaluate and construct our media piece easily. One way this was achieved was from the use of Internet. By using this internet during the construction of our media piece it allowed us to study music videos easily as well as allow us to post and review them on the blog. The blog worked as the main planning guide throughout the process of making the music video and ancillary texts so by having the posts off the internet it was a simple way to recap over useful information you had stored previously. Music video’s could be found easily on websites such video.google.com and youtube.com. By having these websites we were able to research many new videos related to the same genre constantly upgrading our idea’s as well as keeping an accurate relation to the media conventions of the genre.

For the creation of our main products we used final cut and Photoshop. These allowed us to construct the main products in a professional manner as well as edit and cut shots to make the video have interest to the viewers as well as smoothly flow with the music. Photoshop allowed us to edit in media convention such as the bar codes and DVD/record symbols making the products look realistic as well as believable.


If you have access to the internet then the availability of the programmes used is quite high. Photoshop and final cut can be downloaded off any computer therefore this means anybody has the means to make the music video.

After seeing our final products the use of the programmes seemed to of gone fairly well. We managed to edit our video with a lot of different styles and techniques, which turned out to have quite an effective result therefore the use of final cut, seemed to be positive. Also the use of Photoshop for our magazine ad and digipak turned out looking professional and believable, as a front cover therefore also seemed to have a positive outcome. If we were to improve on one use of the programmes we used it would be the blog due to the fact that we could have added more research such as pictures and other media relations which would have improved our knowledge and understanding of music videos on the whole.

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