In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My music video uses and challenges the formal conventions of real music videos. It follows Andrew Goodwins codes and conventions of music videos, as it consists of there being a relationship between the music/lyrics and the visuals, meaning that the lyrics of the song relate to the narrative in the video as and pace of the music links with the pace of the editing. The lyrics in my music video are ‘This is your heart, it's alive’ and the visuals in the music video are amplifying the meaning of having fun as the theme is ‘youth’. The words ‘heart’ and ‘alive’ connote the theme ‘youth’ as in the music videos it represents the band having fun by being present at entertaining locations as they are in an arcade, on rides enjoying themselves and on the beach where they are running around together.This illustrates the music/lyrics with the visuals making the music video more entertaining. To also link in the theme ‘youth’, another convention that I have used was the use of intertextual references. I have used the reference to one of the most grossing movies of the year 1986 – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It depicts a story of a young adult having fun and doing everything the character ever wanted to do. I tried to captivate this in my own music video by ensuring that band had the most fun whilst they could with their friends since its binary opposition was adulthood where everything is taken more serious and there is more responsibility. I also developed the forms of a real music video as Andrew Goodwins conventions states there should be a demand from the record company for a variety of close up shots of the artist. In my music video there are many close up shots of the band to develop their iconography, which is important in a music video especially in the indie genre. Since my music video is an indie pop genre, iconography is highly important as they want to represents themselves as people who are free and down to earth unlike the mainstream genre of pop who are more interested in how they represent themselves.
One of the main conventions that I have developed and used from Andrew Goodwins codes and conventions is to choose whether the video is of a ‘narrative base, concept or performance base’. All three have been used, the narrative based part of the music video is of the band trying to have as much fun as possible by going on a journey, which was the beach, arcade and the park. The journey was the most important narrative of the story as most indie pop music videos are mainly concept based and so the journey was developed in order show the target audience that journeys are full of adventures and fun. As well as the narrative there is the use of a performance base in order keep the conventions of the indie pop genre as most use the performance as well as concept based. Most of the codes and conventions from the indie genre have been used such as in the mis-en-scene, we have used low cost locations. They make the music video much more genuine, an example of this is when we filmed in a forest as the scenery is natural highlighting the theme of ‘youth’. Another example is through the costume. The band has an image of a minimalistic look when it’s the performance as they are wearing all black and black leather jackets. Their costume during the narrative represents the star image being down to earth as they are wearing light coloured jumpers and jeans.
Most bands/artist that are categorised as indie would rather have their music to be promoted rather than their star images. However for the mainstream genre this challenged the codes and convention, as the popular music industry would rather have their star image promoted in order for extremely high success and fame. By being part of the indie pop genre it uses more colour to emphasise the fun in music videos, which has allowed my group and I to emphasise our theme of ‘youth’. In addition, the ways in which my music video has been edited follows the codes and convention of indie pop as they are mostly fast paced to amplify the fun atmosphere and it makes it more thrilling and exciting as most indie pop songs are fast and entertaining. Furthermore my other media products such as my album advert also follows the appropriate layout conventions and is further developed. The most important convention for the album advert is to have the name of the artist, which I have used and the name of the album. The album name is larger than the band name since the ‘indie genre artist’ would rather have their music promoted than themselves. As the indie genre promotes their music, the band itself is promoted not always by using their star image, sometimes the album advert is of artworks or of scenery. My album adverts main image of the band is all three females using direct mode of address towards the target audience but they are distorted as they that would not totally sell out their star image as they are people who keep to themselves,
which is why I used an overlay effect in order to show this but also because it is the main convention of indie pop.
Another way in which the band would rather have their music be promoted rather themselves is due the size of the album release date and key singles on the album. They are in black, which makes it bold and catches the attention of the audience. By using black text and having a white and plain background for my album advert fits in well with the indie pop conventions as it gives of a minimalist look, which is what the target audience are attracted to. I have also used general codes and conventions of album adverts by having an image of the digipak (album cover) so that the audience will know what the digipak looks like and so therefore they can purchase it. The artist website, logo of distributor and record and company have also been incorporated into my album advert as it meets copyright terms but to also make my album advert look professional. Another key convention that I have used in my album advert are the star rating from relevant magazines such as SPIN and NME. The indie magazine ratings will helps promote the album since my target audience are attracted to these as they are the biggest selling magazines of indie music and so it will be easier to promote my album. As for my digipak I have also used and challenged some of the codes and conventions of a real digipaks as most indie pop digipaks have artwork for their front cover and all the secondary images, whereas I have used images of the band for the front cover and the inside sleeves. The front cover is conventional for any mainstream digipak so that the audience know what the band looks likes. The inside images are of each band individually so that the audience know who exactly is in the band and that each is has their own independence. The other general conventions that I have used is to out the production credits, record company logo, band name on the spine, barcode in order for it look professional. The track list cover has quite a vivid image as in the indie pop genre it mostly uses artwork and so I have applied this to the track list to make it more attractive. All of my media products use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products in order to make my products as professional as they could be.
My music video uses and challenges the formal conventions of real music videos. It follows Andrew Goodwins codes and conventions of music videos, as it consists of there being a relationship between the music/lyrics and the visuals, meaning that the lyrics of the song relate to the narrative in the video as and pace of the music links with the pace of the editing. The lyrics in my music video are ‘This is your heart, it's alive’ and the visuals in the music video are amplifying the meaning of having fun as the theme is ‘youth’. The words ‘heart’ and ‘alive’ connote the theme ‘youth’ as in the music videos it represents the band having fun by being present at entertaining locations as they are in an arcade, on rides enjoying themselves and on the beach where they are running around together.This illustrates the music/lyrics with the visuals making the music video more entertaining. To also link in the theme ‘youth’, another convention that I have used was the use of intertextual references. I have used the reference to one of the most grossing movies of the year 1986 – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It depicts a story of a young adult having fun and doing everything the character ever wanted to do. I tried to captivate this in my own music video by ensuring that band had the most fun whilst they could with their friends since its binary opposition was adulthood where everything is taken more serious and there is more responsibility. I also developed the forms of a real music video as Andrew Goodwins conventions states there should be a demand from the record company for a variety of close up shots of the artist. In my music video there are many close up shots of the band to develop their iconography, which is important in a music video especially in the indie genre. Since my music video is an indie pop genre, iconography is highly important as they want to represents themselves as people who are free and down to earth unlike the mainstream genre of pop who are more interested in how they represent themselves.
One of the main conventions that I have developed and used from Andrew Goodwins codes and conventions is to choose whether the video is of a ‘narrative base, concept or performance base’. All three have been used, the narrative based part of the music video is of the band trying to have as much fun as possible by going on a journey, which was the beach, arcade and the park. The journey was the most important narrative of the story as most indie pop music videos are mainly concept based and so the journey was developed in order show the target audience that journeys are full of adventures and fun. As well as the narrative there is the use of a performance base in order keep the conventions of the indie pop genre as most use the performance as well as concept based. Most of the codes and conventions from the indie genre have been used such as in the mis-en-scene, we have used low cost locations. They make the music video much more genuine, an example of this is when we filmed in a forest as the scenery is natural highlighting the theme of ‘youth’. Another example is through the costume. The band has an image of a minimalistic look when it’s the performance as they are wearing all black and black leather jackets. Their costume during the narrative represents the star image being down to earth as they are wearing light coloured jumpers and jeans.
Most bands/artist that are categorised as indie would rather have their music to be promoted rather than their star images. However for the mainstream genre this challenged the codes and convention, as the popular music industry would rather have their star image promoted in order for extremely high success and fame. By being part of the indie pop genre it uses more colour to emphasise the fun in music videos, which has allowed my group and I to emphasise our theme of ‘youth’. In addition, the ways in which my music video has been edited follows the codes and convention of indie pop as they are mostly fast paced to amplify the fun atmosphere and it makes it more thrilling and exciting as most indie pop songs are fast and entertaining. Furthermore my other media products such as my album advert also follows the appropriate layout conventions and is further developed. The most important convention for the album advert is to have the name of the artist, which I have used and the name of the album. The album name is larger than the band name since the ‘indie genre artist’ would rather have their music promoted than themselves. As the indie genre promotes their music, the band itself is promoted not always by using their star image, sometimes the album advert is of artworks or of scenery. My album adverts main image of the band is all three females using direct mode of address towards the target audience but they are distorted as they that would not totally sell out their star image as they are people who keep to themselves,
which is why I used an overlay effect in order to show this but also because it is the main convention of indie pop.
Another way in which the band would rather have their music be promoted rather themselves is due the size of the album release date and key singles on the album. They are in black, which makes it bold and catches the attention of the audience. By using black text and having a white and plain background for my album advert fits in well with the indie pop conventions as it gives of a minimalist look, which is what the target audience are attracted to. I have also used general codes and conventions of album adverts by having an image of the digipak (album cover) so that the audience will know what the digipak looks like and so therefore they can purchase it. The artist website, logo of distributor and record and company have also been incorporated into my album advert as it meets copyright terms but to also make my album advert look professional. Another key convention that I have used in my album advert are the star rating from relevant magazines such as SPIN and NME. The indie magazine ratings will helps promote the album since my target audience are attracted to these as they are the biggest selling magazines of indie music and so it will be easier to promote my album. As for my digipak I have also used and challenged some of the codes and conventions of a real digipaks as most indie pop digipaks have artwork for their front cover and all the secondary images, whereas I have used images of the band for the front cover and the inside sleeves. The front cover is conventional for any mainstream digipak so that the audience know what the band looks likes. The inside images are of each band individually so that the audience know who exactly is in the band and that each is has their own independence. The other general conventions that I have used is to out the production credits, record company logo, band name on the spine, barcode in order for it look professional. The track list cover has quite a vivid image as in the indie pop genre it mostly uses artwork and so I have applied this to the track list to make it more attractive. All of my media products use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products in order to make my products as professional as they could be.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary
texts?
The combination of my main product – music video and my ancillary text have been effective as I have represented my band especially the lead singer as artists who are independent, down to earth and happy to in be in a friendship. This is seen in my music video as the band are enjoying the company of each other. As well as that, the narrative of the music video is of the band/group of friends being together and going on a fun journey as they get to go to the beach, the arcade and the park, which was how I wanted to represent the band – a group of friends that are having as much fun as they want. Since the binary opposition to youth is adulthood, I wanted to represent the band as having freedom and to represent them as being different and unique, they all dress differently in the music video when the narrative is being shown in order to highlight that they are unique and have their own star image. When the performance is shown however they are wearing all black to show that even though they have different styles together as a band they are united. This is also shown the ancillary text. All the images from the album advert and the digipak are of the band wearing black leather jackets and black jeans and jumpers, which also connotes a rebellious look, and due to our genre being indie it fits into the category.
In my ancillary texts the close up shots show each of their facial expressions as them being serious about producing music, as it is a close up shot and mid shots there is identifiable iconography with the way they dress –all black. This iconography is typically associated with the indie genre and so the target audience will be able to relate with them as they too have similar styles of fashion. I have made sure that the band is easily recognisable through the consistency of the star image. The star image creates a connection with the audience as they share similar values and ideologies that music is something that can relieve them from stressful situations or make them feel peace and can express their feelings. The representation is consistent throughout making my media products making it more professional. Since it is being consistent the target audience will find the media product much more aesthetically pleasing. As well as this, the design for my artist logo is consistent across the advert and digipak as the logo is simple and bold highlighting the ‘down to earth’ personality. The logo for the album name has more of a gritty design in order to make it seem that the band is free and a bit more rebellious yet again highlighting the theme of ‘youth’. In the digipak, the inside sleeves are of each individual band member in order to express their individuality. The front cover and the album advert cover have the whole band, which is conventional for any media product. I have constructed the representation of my band by using close up shots and long shots mainly since I want my band to have some sense of individuality but also to show that they are a united band, which are shown through the long shots. As they are also represented as youthful, it is being shown through the colours that I have used especially in my music video. I have used a variety to colours, mainly green as another intertextual reference to the ‘Statue of Liberty’ as that monument represents freedom and so clearly links in well in my music video as the lead singer is holding green flare running around emphasising how youth is freedom. Another consistent form that I have used in all my products is by using a motif. The motif is the smoke. There is smoke in mainly the digipak and the music video as smoke is something that is easily spread across the air, which highlights the theme and that fun should be spread. That is shown in the track list and the cd cover of the digipak so that the audience will know that their music will be fun. All the songs have an element of youth. Overall all my media products have an been effective in combining a consistent style of the band being united, as well as that it has been effective as in the music video and the ancillary text you can always see the theme of youth.
The combination of my main product – music video and my ancillary text have been effective as I have represented my band especially the lead singer as artists who are independent, down to earth and happy to in be in a friendship. This is seen in my music video as the band are enjoying the company of each other. As well as that, the narrative of the music video is of the band/group of friends being together and going on a fun journey as they get to go to the beach, the arcade and the park, which was how I wanted to represent the band – a group of friends that are having as much fun as they want. Since the binary opposition to youth is adulthood, I wanted to represent the band as having freedom and to represent them as being different and unique, they all dress differently in the music video when the narrative is being shown in order to highlight that they are unique and have their own star image. When the performance is shown however they are wearing all black to show that even though they have different styles together as a band they are united. This is also shown the ancillary text. All the images from the album advert and the digipak are of the band wearing black leather jackets and black jeans and jumpers, which also connotes a rebellious look, and due to our genre being indie it fits into the category.
In my ancillary texts the close up shots show each of their facial expressions as them being serious about producing music, as it is a close up shot and mid shots there is identifiable iconography with the way they dress –all black. This iconography is typically associated with the indie genre and so the target audience will be able to relate with them as they too have similar styles of fashion. I have made sure that the band is easily recognisable through the consistency of the star image. The star image creates a connection with the audience as they share similar values and ideologies that music is something that can relieve them from stressful situations or make them feel peace and can express their feelings. The representation is consistent throughout making my media products making it more professional. Since it is being consistent the target audience will find the media product much more aesthetically pleasing. As well as this, the design for my artist logo is consistent across the advert and digipak as the logo is simple and bold highlighting the ‘down to earth’ personality. The logo for the album name has more of a gritty design in order to make it seem that the band is free and a bit more rebellious yet again highlighting the theme of ‘youth’. In the digipak, the inside sleeves are of each individual band member in order to express their individuality. The front cover and the album advert cover have the whole band, which is conventional for any media product. I have constructed the representation of my band by using close up shots and long shots mainly since I want my band to have some sense of individuality but also to show that they are a united band, which are shown through the long shots. As they are also represented as youthful, it is being shown through the colours that I have used especially in my music video. I have used a variety to colours, mainly green as another intertextual reference to the ‘Statue of Liberty’ as that monument represents freedom and so clearly links in well in my music video as the lead singer is holding green flare running around emphasising how youth is freedom. Another consistent form that I have used in all my products is by using a motif. The motif is the smoke. There is smoke in mainly the digipak and the music video as smoke is something that is easily spread across the air, which highlights the theme and that fun should be spread. That is shown in the track list and the cd cover of the digipak so that the audience will know that their music will be fun. All the songs have an element of youth. Overall all my media products have an been effective in combining a consistent style of the band being united, as well as that it has been effective as in the music video and the ancillary text you can always see the theme of youth.
What have you learned from your audience
feedback?
From my audience feedback I have gained important feedback as in the planning stage I had to pitch the initial music video ideas to my target audience. From this I received feedback that was very beneficial in improving my concept of the music video and the narrative. I explained all the details of the narrative, concept and the performance including the star image, animatic storyboards, target audience, costume and make up, an artist fact file, locations as well as any other props that my band would use. I received constructive criticism as well as to what I did well. It allowed me reflect back on my ideas and make any improvements that I needed in order to make my music video professional. I also specifically suited it to my target audience.
As my target audience are aged 16 -19, they understood the intertextual reference to the movie I chose (ferris bueller’s day off) since they are interested in watching retro teen movies. During the production stage, I kept doing focus groups so that I can gain feedback from our music video draft. From my tutors and peers I was able to make amendments by ensuring we don’t just film the lead singer but to ensure that we have more clips of the entire band together to reinforce the theme of youth. As it was my first draft there were some continuity editing errors which affected the viewing experience as it didn't match to the beat and it didn't flow as well as it should of. It lacked professionalism and realism as the editing was not consistent. Improvements were made as I recorded the specific scenes that lacked such visual consistency which made the filming organised and straightforward. During the post-production stage I received more feedback about the slow editing pace of the video and how there should be more cuts in the beat and not after a couple of seconds in order to make it more effective. The feedback was useful as it made my group and I more aware of getting the editing more precise such as the lip syncing to be in line with the music and getting specific clips to match the beat of the song so that the visuals compliment the sound.
I carried out more focus groups of my target audience asking them specific questions about the drafts of my music video. I received more constructive criticism that needed to be appealing for my target audience. All the audience feedback has play a significant role across the stages of the creation for my music video. I have learnt that in order to produce successful media products it is essential to receive feedback from the target audience in order for it appeal to the audience. By engaging with the audience through my presentation pitch and focus groups I learnt that I had to improve the theme of youth by adding in more scenes of the band by using wide shots and long shots. My feedback was essential and extremely practical as it stimulated ideas for improvement to make it appealing for my audience, which was the purpose. For the focus group for my final music video was that I received positive feedback as it made the audience feel engaged and feel like they want to go and have fun. They re-watched the music video so that they can take a closer look at the editing techniques and other smaller details. The fast paced editing made the music video more exciting. The feedback that received was that the narrative, concept was clear and that it corresponded with the indie genre. They were all able to note the prominent use of close up shots and the use of the colours that are related with the indie genre. As a result from my audience feedback I learned that it appealed to my initial target audience and they enjoyed the music video from all the positive comments. Better reactions were shown from the first focus group of the first draft. I also used smaller focus groups for my ancillary text so that the album could be promoted with the likes of the target audience. I have learnt that the audience feedback shows an advanced development of the narrative, concept and performance and all the editing, therefore making the music video successful for my target audience.
From my audience feedback I have gained important feedback as in the planning stage I had to pitch the initial music video ideas to my target audience. From this I received feedback that was very beneficial in improving my concept of the music video and the narrative. I explained all the details of the narrative, concept and the performance including the star image, animatic storyboards, target audience, costume and make up, an artist fact file, locations as well as any other props that my band would use. I received constructive criticism as well as to what I did well. It allowed me reflect back on my ideas and make any improvements that I needed in order to make my music video professional. I also specifically suited it to my target audience.
As my target audience are aged 16 -19, they understood the intertextual reference to the movie I chose (ferris bueller’s day off) since they are interested in watching retro teen movies. During the production stage, I kept doing focus groups so that I can gain feedback from our music video draft. From my tutors and peers I was able to make amendments by ensuring we don’t just film the lead singer but to ensure that we have more clips of the entire band together to reinforce the theme of youth. As it was my first draft there were some continuity editing errors which affected the viewing experience as it didn't match to the beat and it didn't flow as well as it should of. It lacked professionalism and realism as the editing was not consistent. Improvements were made as I recorded the specific scenes that lacked such visual consistency which made the filming organised and straightforward. During the post-production stage I received more feedback about the slow editing pace of the video and how there should be more cuts in the beat and not after a couple of seconds in order to make it more effective. The feedback was useful as it made my group and I more aware of getting the editing more precise such as the lip syncing to be in line with the music and getting specific clips to match the beat of the song so that the visuals compliment the sound.
I carried out more focus groups of my target audience asking them specific questions about the drafts of my music video. I received more constructive criticism that needed to be appealing for my target audience. All the audience feedback has play a significant role across the stages of the creation for my music video. I have learnt that in order to produce successful media products it is essential to receive feedback from the target audience in order for it appeal to the audience. By engaging with the audience through my presentation pitch and focus groups I learnt that I had to improve the theme of youth by adding in more scenes of the band by using wide shots and long shots. My feedback was essential and extremely practical as it stimulated ideas for improvement to make it appealing for my audience, which was the purpose. For the focus group for my final music video was that I received positive feedback as it made the audience feel engaged and feel like they want to go and have fun. They re-watched the music video so that they can take a closer look at the editing techniques and other smaller details. The fast paced editing made the music video more exciting. The feedback that received was that the narrative, concept was clear and that it corresponded with the indie genre. They were all able to note the prominent use of close up shots and the use of the colours that are related with the indie genre. As a result from my audience feedback I learned that it appealed to my initial target audience and they enjoyed the music video from all the positive comments. Better reactions were shown from the first focus group of the first draft. I also used smaller focus groups for my ancillary text so that the album could be promoted with the likes of the target audience. I have learnt that the audience feedback shows an advanced development of the narrative, concept and performance and all the editing, therefore making the music video successful for my target audience.
4. How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Media technologies has helped me construct my research and planning and my evaluation stages. I used blogger, which allowed me to organise my research and planning more effectively without the need to prepare a band file. This way I could keep an up to date log that could be easily assessed and updated. As I was working in a group to produce a music video, blogger was useful as my group could go on each other’s blog and help one another on what they have missed out if they could not be present when we were actually planning face to face. By using presentation websites such as ‘emaze, slideshare and powtoon’ it has enabled me to embed my work onto Blogger to make my presentation much more interesting and aesthetically pleasing. Since we are in a digital era it would make sense to present my research and planning onto a website rather than keeping it in a folder. Since blogger is an international website, it is easier to share my blog with others from around the world and them being able to interact with the embedded presentations that I have made for the research and planning and for evaluation. It is has helped me construct my ancillary text as I used the blog poll so that my target audience could help me pick out a font to present the band name that best suited my album advert and digipak. My other uses of media technology includes the use of using imovie. It helped me create my vlogs for the behind the scenes footage when I was producing my music video, it has helped me achieve my aims to create a music video as the vlogs were evidence of how productive my group and I were. It allowed me make the vlogs more interesting as we added different transitions in, which also helped me for when it came to creating the music video as the transition in the final music video made it look more interactive. Final Cut Prowas used to produce the final music video and I have learned how to use it effectively such as using the blade tool, which was essential for the music video as we made each cut, cut to the beat in order for it to be in synch, as well as that the blade tool and the reverse clip allowed my group and I to make the music video more entertaining. These two tools were most effective as it highlighted the theme of ‘youth’ and in our music video you can see that we have used often in order to amplify the theme. Final Cut Pro and imovie were most useful and effective when it came to final music video as it helped us to deal with the tiniest of details as it gave us ‘markers’ so that we can cut the footage right on the beat. As well as that imovie offers a wide range of transition tools, colour effects and sound effects that I was able to incorporate into the vlogs. It helped create a fun vlog, an example being that there was not just talking but it showed my group and I being actively engaged in when we were filming and this is seen in some of the time lapse of our vlogs. Final Cut Pro was challenging at first as it was so slow to render and therefore not being able to meet deadlines. As I used this type of media technology I soon realised that it was extremely effective in producing the music video as we used the cropping tool to make shots more intimate and used the transitions when we cut to different scenes in order to make it seamless, we didn’t have transitions all the way through so that the audience will know exactly when the music cut to the beat. For the music video as well, we used DSLR cameras, which are more practical as we can edit on those camera if we weren’t able to use any video software’s. The reason for using this type of camera was due to the high quality definition that it offered us making all the footage clear as you could see all the different colours that exploded onto the screen including other details. In addition, we not only used the DSLR cameras to film but to also take photographs for the album advert and the digipak. All the images that were taken were in high definition that makes the images as professional as they could be. By using the DLSR cameras were able to play around with different sized lenses e.g. wide lenses & fish eye to make our music video as well as the vlogs more entertaining and vary in shots in order to keep the audience engaged. The media technologies has immensely helped me for the construction of planning for my ancillary texts as I used Photoshop to help create some ideas on how to edit my images for the front cover of my album advert and digipak. By using photoshop it enabled me to create a variety of images to choose from as I was able to create 3D effects as well as other editing techniques. These software’s helped me achieve the result that I wanted for my ancillary texts. They were more easy to use as I have used them before and was aware of what tools were appropriate to use so that I can get the best results. I used a colour adjustment tool frequently so thati can change my images to black and white, which links in well with the indie genre as the most dominant colour in that genre is black and white making it more appealing to my target audience. Tools such as the clone tool, crop tool, eraser, background wand was also helpful in order to construct my research and planning as it allowed me know what I wanted for my final media products. Furthermore, I used other media technologies in order to construct the research and planning and evaluation stage by using online software’s such as picmonkey and pixlr. I was able to use a variety of software’s in order to construct a well explained evaluation and for research and planning. It made my post much more interactive and gave me more knowledge on how to use other softwares, which was what I aimed to achieve. All media technologies allowed me achieve my aims of producing my album advert, digipak and final music video.
Media technologies has helped me construct my research and planning and my evaluation stages. I used blogger, which allowed me to organise my research and planning more effectively without the need to prepare a band file. This way I could keep an up to date log that could be easily assessed and updated. As I was working in a group to produce a music video, blogger was useful as my group could go on each other’s blog and help one another on what they have missed out if they could not be present when we were actually planning face to face. By using presentation websites such as ‘emaze, slideshare and powtoon’ it has enabled me to embed my work onto Blogger to make my presentation much more interesting and aesthetically pleasing. Since we are in a digital era it would make sense to present my research and planning onto a website rather than keeping it in a folder. Since blogger is an international website, it is easier to share my blog with others from around the world and them being able to interact with the embedded presentations that I have made for the research and planning and for evaluation. It is has helped me construct my ancillary text as I used the blog poll so that my target audience could help me pick out a font to present the band name that best suited my album advert and digipak. My other uses of media technology includes the use of using imovie. It helped me create my vlogs for the behind the scenes footage when I was producing my music video, it has helped me achieve my aims to create a music video as the vlogs were evidence of how productive my group and I were. It allowed me make the vlogs more interesting as we added different transitions in, which also helped me for when it came to creating the music video as the transition in the final music video made it look more interactive. Final Cut Prowas used to produce the final music video and I have learned how to use it effectively such as using the blade tool, which was essential for the music video as we made each cut, cut to the beat in order for it to be in synch, as well as that the blade tool and the reverse clip allowed my group and I to make the music video more entertaining. These two tools were most effective as it highlighted the theme of ‘youth’ and in our music video you can see that we have used often in order to amplify the theme. Final Cut Pro and imovie were most useful and effective when it came to final music video as it helped us to deal with the tiniest of details as it gave us ‘markers’ so that we can cut the footage right on the beat. As well as that imovie offers a wide range of transition tools, colour effects and sound effects that I was able to incorporate into the vlogs. It helped create a fun vlog, an example being that there was not just talking but it showed my group and I being actively engaged in when we were filming and this is seen in some of the time lapse of our vlogs. Final Cut Pro was challenging at first as it was so slow to render and therefore not being able to meet deadlines. As I used this type of media technology I soon realised that it was extremely effective in producing the music video as we used the cropping tool to make shots more intimate and used the transitions when we cut to different scenes in order to make it seamless, we didn’t have transitions all the way through so that the audience will know exactly when the music cut to the beat. For the music video as well, we used DSLR cameras, which are more practical as we can edit on those camera if we weren’t able to use any video software’s. The reason for using this type of camera was due to the high quality definition that it offered us making all the footage clear as you could see all the different colours that exploded onto the screen including other details. In addition, we not only used the DSLR cameras to film but to also take photographs for the album advert and the digipak. All the images that were taken were in high definition that makes the images as professional as they could be. By using the DLSR cameras were able to play around with different sized lenses e.g. wide lenses & fish eye to make our music video as well as the vlogs more entertaining and vary in shots in order to keep the audience engaged. The media technologies has immensely helped me for the construction of planning for my ancillary texts as I used Photoshop to help create some ideas on how to edit my images for the front cover of my album advert and digipak. By using photoshop it enabled me to create a variety of images to choose from as I was able to create 3D effects as well as other editing techniques. These software’s helped me achieve the result that I wanted for my ancillary texts. They were more easy to use as I have used them before and was aware of what tools were appropriate to use so that I can get the best results. I used a colour adjustment tool frequently so thati can change my images to black and white, which links in well with the indie genre as the most dominant colour in that genre is black and white making it more appealing to my target audience. Tools such as the clone tool, crop tool, eraser, background wand was also helpful in order to construct my research and planning as it allowed me know what I wanted for my final media products. Furthermore, I used other media technologies in order to construct the research and planning and evaluation stage by using online software’s such as picmonkey and pixlr. I was able to use a variety of software’s in order to construct a well explained evaluation and for research and planning. It made my post much more interactive and gave me more knowledge on how to use other softwares, which was what I aimed to achieve. All media technologies allowed me achieve my aims of producing my album advert, digipak and final music video.
