A2 Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I decided to produce a music video for my A2 coursework; my target audience were 18-25 year olds and were either at college or sixth form. The gender of my target audience was both female and male as the music genre I am doing has a wide variety fans. The music they listened to varied from pop, dance and rock. For my music video I decided to do one of my favourite songs as I was a typical person in my target audience and it fit with all the music that my target audience linked in the categories above. I wanted the music video to be mainly about the music and guitar playing emphasizing the passion of the acoustic song.
The research I undertook for this was by watching live performances of acoustic performances which helped me establish the shots of the guitar playing and videos similar to how I wanted mine to be. For the posters and CD covers I looked in music magazines and on the internet for inspiration and information about the specific genres.
I also researched artists who were in the same music genre to see the different videos of how each song and music video was portrayed. Watching the other music videos and live performances gave me some ideas of how I could portray the lyrics through the artist in the video. I looked at 4 music videos for research because they established the music genre and some specific narrative I wanted to have in my music, these were, John Mayer ‘waiting on the world to change’ and a live version of his song ‘Free Falling music video’s because he is the artist of the final song I chose and in these music video’s they had the mix of narrative and solo guitar playing that I wanted to portray in mine.’
I also watched Teddy Geiger ‘for you I will confidence’
because I found the style very easy to watch and the location that the music video was filmed in was a familiar one to my Target audience, making it a video for them to relate to. And Michael Buble ‘haven’t met you yet’.
Researching and watching my chosen music videos taught me about the code and conventions of real media examples, the CD covers I looked at all had a slight graphic touch to them either enhancing the colour or adding effects and the artist name was quite big and clear so it caught your eye straight away telling you who the new artist was.
The photos of certain albums I looked at had very similar poses, which they were up close to their face or guitar. They were posed in very simple locations with few props which means that the main focus is the artist and his/her music. Their album names were very original which made you think what the meaning behind it was. I loved the idea of having an unusual album name which would make my target audience think what the meaning could be behind it.
The music videos I looked at involved learning about the genre and style of the music video as the song has to match the genre of music and so does the style of music video such as with the right clothes and look on the artist/band and the right chosen locations that fit with the lyrics and narrative. I learnt a lot about the editing and frame work of a music video as the editing of the music video has to match the pace of the song as well as keeping in time with the lyrics as change of location and person could be vital in the video to understanding the narrative. The camera angles interested me in this genre because they’re very close up and focused on the facial expression on a specific line of the song or the camera is focused on the guitar playing, Showing a visual link to the lyrics by the artist facial expression. I learnt that the performance of the artist is very important as the song is within a genre of music and that specific genre has certain styles such as with my style, acoustic the guitar playing and looking slightly trendy but casual with jeans and a t-shirt www.topshop.co.uk is within most music videos, it also makes the music video look more real and approachable to watch as the narrative mostly fit within the lyrics of the song.
My aim during this project was to follow my target audience’s preferences to music and narrative with enhancing it my own special touch to make it slightly different and more interesting. That involved my print work being equally as interesting; with my CD cover I used special graphics which enhanced the name of the CD which was called ‘squares’ giving it more meaning and interest. Adding the name I enhanced the front photo with block coloured squares to enhance the name and cover his face slightly, to make the audience think about the meaning, the picture and what the artists songs are really about. I chose the artist name ‘Hayden James’ because it was a simple and slightly unusual name which fit the genre along with the style. And in the slip cover I used natural photos in a film roll style showing the artists personality which the target audience could relate to. 
I used sepia tones to enhance photos because the beige colour reminded me of autumn and the old classic look I wanted from the pictures I also used black, and white tones through the my print work which gave it the authentication I wanted with the font being basic and easy to read so it combined the whole genre and style of the music which is the acoustic music side. Which reminds me of the retro style back when it was in fashion.
The poster I decided to just use a picture of the artist playing the guitar which emphasises the music and true guitarist this encourages my target audience to gigs and concerts so that the true music can be played. And with my music video I wanted it to be a combination of narrative and artist playing solo as my target audience preferred both to one or the other and it also fit well to the lyrics of the song, to enhance this I filmed the girl in the video portraying the lyrics he was singing to give the song meaning and for the target audience to be interested in not just the song but the music video as well.
My decisions about filming the music video in a certain way was chosen because I wanted the audience to be able to relate to the content and the lyrics along with narrative, maybe having been in similar situations them selves. Giving my music video a more personal theme to it.
I used specific codes and conventions to communicate my video to the audience, they helped with the understanding of the video and keeping within the genre. The main ones were the artist performance and the relationship of the song with the lyrics this kept the storyline and understanding of the text. I have used the conventions literally because I kept the video as simple and basic as I thought it needed to be which intertwines with the lyrics and style. I used narrative in my video because I wanted to tell a slight story with in the song which combines with the lyrics as they also tell a slight story of two lovers I chose to do this because the audience can relate to this and it shows more emotion and realism between the two characters.
2.How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The importance of my print work and moving image complimenting each other was very important to get across to my target audience because I wanted to keep a theme going within the two. In my print work I used black and white colour effect to the pictures on the CD cover and the poster, keeping within that theme I put the scenes of the girl in my moving image in black and white also to keep with the synergy and so it reflects back to the print work. From the CD advert I think my target audience would be able to tell if they like the CD as the graphics are quite simple and don’t give much away as to the music side. His guitar is positioned and captured in a lot of his pictures because that is the main aspect of his music., which suggested that the music is what is important and that he is a true musician with writing and singing his songs, establishing the target audience to go out and buy the music book of his songs so they can learn them selves.The enticement of the CD and advert is of course the artist himself but as well as him is his guitar because that is what is his music is about being simple and real.
Image from my video , keeping the synergy 
The styling of my graphics is constant through out my media work because it gives the artist a certain identity which is that he is portrayed to be a very casual guy who is interested in playing and writing music so that the music world can relate to his idea of music and be able to adapt and make their own. All of my photos and style are done in a certain way, like with him and his guitar or looking casual. This branding makes it easier for my target audience to distinguish this artist. The format I’ve used works across all the formats of my media because I have the artist in the positions and similar locations.
If I sold my project to my target audience, I think I would get a good response form fans of similar artist because a lot of the codes and conventions I used, they are the same such as with the passion for acoustic and soft/rock music. Symbolising this with the guitar and portrayal of the artist. The album and CD would be advertised in magazines such as and Guitar. and the song played on radio and music channels such as
and this would give my artist a wide range of coverage for all my target audince to hear. the song could be alos be used in movie soundtracjs and movie trailers for movies such as The Notebook, Twliight Saga, P.s I love you.
3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
My target audience is at school/college in sixth form and is around the age of 16-25 and is female and male as the song appeals to both genders and is either going to university, taking a year out or going to work after school. There interests include music, listening to all kinds especially rock/ acoustic and pop which fits in well with my chosen genre as I am doing an acoustic/pop song. Their hobbies include sport, shopping, fashion, concerts, social events, such as going out and clubs. 
Shopping and fashion plays quite an important part in their lives, being up to date with trends but in a grungy cool way like indie. Everyone of my target audience has a mobile phone and most have an iPod or MP3 player they also listen to the radio such as 
or 
or watch music channels to keep up to date with new releases. They all use the internet for searching and looking at new artists such as
and artists official websites. Finding out this information was extremely helpful because it helped me gage what my audience liked and what they were interested in watching and buying.
My product does attract the right audience because I chose a acoustic/ rock song which was about losing love and falling in love which appeals to both genders no matter what stage of a relationship there in. The emphasis on the guitar and pure music attracts more males, in the live playing and guitar part. The video attracts my female target audience because it shows the hurt and anger when a relationship falls apart which at some time or another a girl has felt the emotion and makes us feel sorry for her and want to help her. My song doesn’t quite attract everyone because some people wanted to see live guitar playing such as a live video where it is just about the music and guitar playing. But as I had already decided my video idea I decided to just add some more images and footage of the artist playing himself.
In my pre production questionnaire they liked the idea of having a acoustic song and listening and watching it. My target audience expected the video to have a good narrative and a good song that they could relate to. They also said it fit with the gnre which was good as that was my main aim for them to understand. After showing them my video to my target audience their comments were kind but critical and said that the narrative was simplicist and obvious and that the artist who was performing was also the ex boyfriend , which was a surprise to me because I didn’t think they would get that bit due to a little less footage. They also said the editing pace was good as it fit with the song which is what I worked on as it was quite a hard song. Some comments I got back were that I would have had more flashbacks of them together and closer ups of the characters showing emotion in their faces and of his hand and fingers playing the guitar. They also said that I could have had a few more locations in to the video and mixed it around a little other than the sofa which he was sat on which didn’t seem very together with the genre. After hearing both and evaluating the before and after poll daddy surveys my target audience liked my video and I thought it co-in sided what they wanted a music video to be but with a few changes.
After this feedback I could change my video by taking more time on shooting the footage I needed and practicing with my actor in advanced a few more times to make sure he looked like he really knew how to play certain cords that co in sided with the song. I also could of made some of the shots shorter so they weren’t dragging on which suggested a little lack of footage. I think I could improve my video by having a few locations in the video which would give it more a surprise element.
My project has represented my target audience by showing some emotions that they go through when in a relationship and by the way they dress and the emotions portrayed during the video. My target audience can relate to the characters in my video as well as the fashion and emotional side but through the music and lyrics as a lot of them played or liked to play the guitar so the song could be a new one to learn for them. 
4.How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout this project I have learnt so much on the new software on the computer such as the video editing software, learning how to edit and use this software helped me immensely through out this project as it has enabled me to learn a new skill and understand how hard it is to edit and keep the timing right. The internet was very useful for researching similar styles and artists and establishing there own styles and how they out there on effect on the genre. After researching similar artists and taking my photos I decided the graphic design I was going to use most was the colour effects.
The technologies were definitely useful during this project but at times some didn’t work or I had to re arrange my idea so that it worked again, the one technology that I liked and used the most was the graphic design 
photoshop for my print work because it enabled me to change the colours how I wanted to and not just on a preset colour, aiding me to add sepia tones through some pictures and tinges of brown giving the effect I wanted. Learning how to use the editing software took a while and made the editing progress longer as I was learning new software whilst trying to put my video together.
Going through this project we continued using word press which I found incredibly useful because through the research planning of our project I could find a picture on the internet that was relevant and a certain music video and put in on the blog to explain why I liked it .I could also up date and keep track of my progress throughout the project. This became helpful because it was your own little portfolio of information and research that was always there and explained a bit more about the depth of the project. When we created poll daddy
surveys for people to respond to this made life so much easier as all the results were on the poll counted and in percentages. Putting all of our progress on Word press made it easier to evaluate and for people to see how we started on our idea and how we finished so all the stages and process are there to see and maybe make better.
I used the internet and video music channels 
for research about my genre and style for my music video because it helped me visualise an idea and style. I researched solo artist such as Taylor Swift http://www.taylorswift.com/,
Jack Johnson
http://jackjohnsonmusic.com/home and Michael Buble http://www.michaelbuble.com/
for different artistry styles for the individuals as they all seemed to have there own style or signature movement and pose by looking at the individual’s website.
At the beginning I also used and produced a pre-production questionnaire to ask what my target audience liked, disliked and how music genre they would listen to, this helped because it helped me understand what they would buy and listen to .To evaluate my project I used poll daddy http://meganneal.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/post-production-questionaire/on word press because I used specific questions and the answers were automatically calculated. This was a great help because it made sure what people thought and wanted out of my video which for an evaluation of how it went, it’s what you want. If I was able I could also put my music video up on Youtube to see what anonymous people thought of my video as another way of understanding feedback.
Also with the use of phones, ipod and their camera technology it’s easy to put up a video and submit it to internet websites like 
and 
to see what people think, which makes it useful for video makers and artist that want to gain some credibility as it is watched by so many people. and I could of used technology a little more efficiently by producing my poll daddy surveys earlier so the results cam back for me to change or revaluate my design or idea. I also could of research a couple more music videos of the same genre to see the complete differences between them and styles of artist also with the music.
