Music video Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

Acoustic music videos have their own forms and conventions such as having not many cuts or different scenes and a lot of the time there is no strong narrative. I researched into other acoustic artists such as James Blunt and Damien Rice.‘You’re Beautiful’ by James Blunt uses the forms and conventions by the video being a one-shot video in which there are many close-up moments and he’s at an isolated location. ‘The Blower's Daughter’ by Damien Rice also uses many forms and conventions other acoustic music videos do. This is shown with him at a beach, which is an isolated place, and it doesn’t cut between the beach and film clips too quickly. The music video is also in Sepia Tone which gives it a more romantic feel.

James Blunt

Damien Rice

Ed Sheeran

My music video uses forms and conventions by using many close-up shots of Ed (in relation to Goodwin’s theory) so the audience understand he’s the focus point, filming the music on a narrow path way near the sea which was isolated and when I was editing, I didn’t use lots of cuts for the scenes Ed is in and I made the clips of the girl fade in/out which gives the effect of him thinking about her, rather than taking the audience to a different place.I also gave the music video a Sepia Tone effect, as the song is about love and how he misses her.

My music video challenges forms and conventions by not having a strong narrative and linking the lyrics to the video. I didn’t want the lyrics and visuals of the music video to link, because I think a strong narrative would have been a distraction for the song and with just the few shots of the girl the audience understands that he’s singing about her and I think this makes them think about the lyrics more than they would if there was a strong narrative.My music video also matches with two of Vladimir Propp’s ‘Spheres of Action’ which are the Hero and the Princess.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary

texts?

Outside cover

Inside cover

Magazine Advert

I think there’s a strong connection between the music video and the ancillary tasks as for my Digipak and Magazine advert I use a still from the music video and have kept the background Sepia.

Although I used vibrant colours for the text, I don’t think this distracts too much from the image.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Questionnaire resultsI asked twenty 16-23 year old people four questions after they watched my music video.

I created the questionnaire on Survey Monkey and posted it on Facebook.

I found the audience feedback useful, as I had been editing it nearly every day and it was good to get information from another person’s perspective.I received the feedback from my target audience who were aged 16-23 years old. I chose this age range as they watch many music videos and understand the forms and conventions of different genres.

Most people liked the location best. I wasn’t too sure at first if the location was too simple, so it was good to have other people say it fitted the music genre well and meant that because there wasn’t anything else going on behind Ed, they focused on him more and listened to the song better than if the music video would have been filmed in a busy city. Also, as the song itself is slow, there shouldn’t be much going on in the background and the focus should stay on Ed.

 

After I finished editing the music video, I posted it on YouTube and Let Ed know. He said he really liked it especially the shots of him in the car and the music video having a Sepia Tone.

YouTube comments: “This video is beautiful!”

“Wow! Loving this song and the video. I've only just stumbled across this clearly very talented guy. I'm on the hunt for more of his stuff!”

How did you use media technologies in the construction

and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Research

I used Google, Wikipedia and YouTube to research about my inspiration for my music video which I presented on Microsoft PowerPoint and then uploaded it onto SlideShare and onto my Ning page. I also used Photoshop CS3 to edit any photos for the Mood boards.

I used SNS (Twitter, MySpace and Facebook) to contact Ed, see when he had gigs, keep him up to date with what I had done and to listen to more of his music.

I also used Survey Monkey to create my questionnaire. I liked using it as it’s easy to set out the questions and I was able to send a link to the person rather than a document.

Planning

I used my mobile phone to contact Ed about meetings and the day of filming. I found using my mobile to contact Ed was the best technology to use as when I rang him I could ask him a few questions and he would reply straight away. He could also ask me anything he wasn’t sure about and I could let him know then instead of maybe waiting a few days till either of us replied.

I used the HD Camera to record the test footage and film the music video. Although it took me a while to get the right settings, I found it easy to use and produces a good quality image.

For the editing of the music video I used Adobe Premier Pro which I found really useful and easy to use.

Evaluation

I used Microsoft Word and PowerPoint to write up my evaluation and Microsoft Excel to make the Pie Charts. I found Excel easier to use to make the Pie Charts than Word/PowerPoint, because it was quicker. I also used Photoshop CS3 to create my Digipak and Magazine Advert.