Advanced Media PortfolioAdvanced Media PortfolioAlexandra Turnbull

Evaluation

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

Throughout researching the electro-pop genre, I came across many codes and conventions of that particular genre. For example in my research I found Calvin Harris and Swedish House Mafia, these all follow the same codes and conventions of real media products

The ways in which our three media products (Advert, Digipak & Video) uses, develops and challenges the forms and conventions of real media products around are by having researched into the genre, and looking at how they have followed the conventions in order to appeal and attract their audiences. We researched real life digipaks and this was when our ideas first came to mind, we thought in order to attract our audiences, we could use the certain styles and conventions, but develop them in our own way to make them attractive to our target audience.

Advert.

In our Advert we have used the same style font and layout that is used in our digipak, this is so that our audience will know instantly who the artist is by the font.

When deciding on what sort of image we would use for our advert and digipak, instead of shooting various images like the real media products, we thought it would be affective if we just shot our actor in various positions and chose the one we thought went best with our media products. We decided on this one because the image is "cool", fits well with the style of our audience and our real media products.

Looking at the two adverts, they are both very similar in style. Our advert is different from the real media one because our title was created in a different style font, this is so that it wasn’t replicating the exact advert. Also the image on our advert is the same style studio shot, yet we have produced a different image so they are not completely identical.

The writing on each of them is clear to understand, we decided to use the same style font again with the advert as we new this would be following the codes and conventions of real media products.

For our editing we wanted it to fit in well with the music and the beat of the song, so in some places we have fast, quick edits and in others we have some slower edits to show the story. Our mise en scene fits in with the codes and conventions because the costumes that people are wearing are young, stylish and fit well with the style of music.The setting for our music video fits well with the conventions that are used in other media products, our location is set in a house and researching into other products like ours, they are all similar in locations. Also having our location in a house relates to the storyline, as many young couples would live together.

Our Music Video.

The types of camerawork, editing and mise en scene that is used throughout our video was inspired by our research with the other videos by example, the camerawork is various shots including close ups, medium shots and long shots, we decided on these because when analysing the videos, these were the popular choices of shots used, also they are in keeping with the codes and conventions of this genre because they are used throughout other videos like ours.

Looking at our Digipack, you can see that our ancillary texts are similar to the real media product, this is because it keeps the continuity throughout our products so the target audience are able to spot our product in a music store, and will recognise who it is instantly. Our product uses the conventions of real media products because the band name is clear at the top, this being it is easy to look for in a shop, also the title of the album is clear just like the title on the real media product, this is how our group has used the forms and conventions of real media products.

Also looking at the barcode and the small printed information on the back of the album adds to the conventions of real media products, as this is one feature that is on every album. Having the record company logo on the back of the cover adds also to the conventions.

Digipack

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

Our groups main aim was to make sure our three media products worked together on a promotional level, and they would be able to promote the album. Also the products were created as a package which would create a whole product, this is so that they would be linked together and provide continuity throughout.

When first deciding how we were going to design our Advert and Digipak, we researched into others that are in the same genre as ours, this meant we could analyse those and come up with ideas in order for ours to work and follow the conventions of real media products. I researched into albums such as "Oracular Spectacular by MGMT" and "Frankmusik - Better Of as two",

I also analysed an official real media product for example, an advert promoting their album. This helped me when creating our groups advert as we wanted to carry on the trademark title that they use in every digipak, advert and merchandise. The first image is the official example logo, and the second is our groups that we created.

The ways in which we used our target audience to help us when creating our three media products was by producing Questionnaires.

This helped us as we took their feedback so we could create three products they would be interested in and buy/download. This also I think helps when making sure our products promote each other, by having the same style logo and writing on each one, it shows the audience that they all link together, also having paint splats used on the advert around the title, and then to have them used on the digipak shows that the advert is representing and promoting the album as they are virtually the same.

The products will work together because if one of our target audience is reading a magazine, and they see our advert, they would read it because they know who it is and will go buy the album when it is available. The same with the video, if our target audience are watching music channels and our video came on and they liked it, then it promotes the album as its a sneak preview of what the music will be like. So over all the Advert and Music video work together to promote the digipak.

What have you learned from your Audience Feedback?

When in the process of planning our music video and two products, we wanted to make sure we designed them so that our target audience would be attracted and enjoy them. In order for this to happen we created 2 questionairres for our audience to fill in so that we could get feedback and incorporate it into our plans.

First of all we created a questionnaire on a website called surverymonkey, so that we could upload it onto Facebook. This was because our target audience would all use this hugely successful social networking site, it was a easy way to get in touch with our audience.

This type of technology would have been so much harder for us if we were using older generation products, for example being able to create a questionnaire on the internet to then broadcast it straight to our target audience, this would have to be done by writing out questionnaires to then going out to hand to our target audience.

Also from our audience feedback we were able to gain ideas about what we could use as locations for our music video, and what styles would interest our audience for our Digipak and Adverts. This is so that our products would appeal to our audience and they purchase our album.

Asking our audience these types of questions, allowed us to get back information that is critical when designing a product for a specific audience.

We are able to use this information to create a product that is what our target audience want and would be attracted too.

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

For the construction and research stages of our portfolio, the technologies that we used in order to help us enhance our project was first to set up a blogging site. I have never used a blog before so this was my first time using this technology and understanding how it all works. I decided on using Tumblr as for me it was the easiest one I could understand.I used this media technology as a way of displaying my work, I would update what I have done, researched and designed in each of my lessons so that it showed a timeline of my work from when I first started to the end of the project. The use of this media technology helped me during this project because it was a simple way of presenting my work neatly and professionally.Using this technology gave me the chance to explore a new way of communicating with someone, as it is ideal for posting quick updates, adding images and video and also getting to post multiple drafts of my work, where as if I was using traditional technology this would all be difficult.

Tumblr –blogging site

Internet

Using the Internet played a huge part when it came to researching real media products, this was because we could use the internet to find out about the particular band/artist we were producing our products for, also looking into other real media products that were in our genre. Another way we used the internet was when we were using our blogs, this was because the blogging sites were all only accessible on the internet e.g. www.tumblr.com . We also used the internet to find our location for our filming, we used Google maps to help us to this. The internet was also a good way of being able to communicate with my group as we all have Facebook, so sending each other a quick message or update about a certain task was simple. This helped as it was easy to get hold of someone quickly. Also being able to have access to the internet meant that we were able to produce a questionnaire on surveymonkey, this helps us because we can then broadcast our questionnaire on sites like facebook, and get the feedback we need.

This technology is such a way of life nowadays as millions of people use it for so many things. If we were to use the older technologies, it would be a lot more difficult to find information as we would have to use magazines, and read articles and books, where as nowadays everything is practically on the internet.

Mobile Phones

When we first got into our groups, we made sure that we each had a note of our phone numbers, this was because we could easily contact each other, if we needed to find something out, get in contact quickly and just general safety. This helped massively because we could get in contact easily without having to worry about leaving it to the next lesson to find something out. This new technology is nowadays extremely useful for everyday life, where as if we had to use traditional technologies it would be harder to get in contact so quickly.

Microsoft Word

Using Microsoft word helped when we created our Shooting Schedule, we were able to create a table and fill in the names of our crew, the names of our cast members, the specific times we want to start filming and what shot it will be, with the specific activity we are doing. This was helpful as it was simple enough to create and insert the information into. Being able to use a technology like Microsoft word is useful if you want to present work neatly and effectively. If we were to use older generation technologies we would have to write it out instead of being able to quickly type if on a computer.

DV CamerasHaving the opportunity to use the Digital Video Cameras meant that we could make our music video to a high standard. We were able to take them away on location and film multiple shots on a tape, so that we could choose which shot worked best and if any shot went wrong we were able to do it again until we got it right. We could also experiment with different techniques of how to use the camera, so that our video was at a quality of a real media product.

If we were to use traditional technologies when filming our music video, it would be extremely difficult as the standard of the cameras would be harder than the ones today. Also the picture quality would be less advanced than today’s technology.

PhotoshopUsing this programme helped my group as we could produce two of our products at a high standard to real media products. (Advert & Digipak). We produced our Advert and Digipak using Photoshop, and all we had to do was shoot studio shots to use as our images. Once we had the images of our main actor, we could insert the chosen one into Photoshop and create our products. When we first started using Photoshop I was unsure on how to use it, but as we went along creating them, I soon started to pick up how to do certain tasks. Using Photoshop has made our task of creating the Digipak and Advert an easy job, as all the actions on the programme meant that we could use high standards to make sure our work was at a real media product stage. If we had to use old technologies in order to create our products, then it would be extremely difficult as we would have to draw it out instead.

Premier:

Using this programme has made a huge impact on the way we edited our music video, we were able to incorporate Special FX, various fades and dissolves and also have someone disappearing on screen, without this technology it would have been a lot harder for us to edit, as we would have to use the older style editing machines which would make the process even longer. We were able to upload all of our footage quickly and easily so that we could start editing straight away.

As I hadn’t used this programme and never edited before, I found it difficult at first to get used to the various tools used to edit our video, as I started to understand what to do, I was able to produce scenes myself and add effects. This is a definite skill I have gained from using this programme.