Evaluation

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

Music videos and genres have many conventions that are usually stuck to in order to define their artist's image. When planning our location, colour scheme and costume for our band we had to assess the conventions associated with the genre of rock. As a group we then had to decide whether we wanted to stick to all the conventions or try develop or go against them. 

Used

Instruments

One convention of our genre, rock, is the use of intruments as rock is mostly known for the sound of their instruments. Because rock is so dominatly about the instruments, their music videos will focus mostly on the instruments being played but the artists. We decided to use this convention in our music video as we felt it was important that we displayed our band instrument to firsty show their ability as it is their first album and theyre reasonably unknown, also it makes the audience feel as though the band are performing live as they can actually see the band playing the instruments. As you can see from the images below we have kept strictly to the rock convention as we have an almost identitcal screenshot from out music video to the screenshot of 'Slash' for the music video 'Welcome to the Jungle' by 'Guns and Roses'.

Lip Sync

Lip syncing is a frequently used convention of rock as the audience wants to see the band actually performing their songs. It allows the audience to feel as if the band are singing the song to them, this is usually done using sightlines. Almost all rock music videos include lip syncing due to the fact that rock focuses a lot on the lyrics and they are a main part of the rock genre. As well as this rock is also widely known for having the lead singers of band being the most well known by audiences, in relation to this people want to see the lead singer actually singing the lyrics as they know the band for him and due to research we have seen that the majority of people believe the main focus should be on the lead singer/face of the band. For example, the screenshot below displays an extremely well known lead singer 'David Grohl' of 'Foo Fighters'.
 

 

 

Developed

Performace

A main focus throughout our video is the band performing. Performance is an extremely popular rock convention and it is seen almost all rock videos as it what most rock band are known for. Various shots such as close ups, mid shots and high angle shots were used to accentuate the performance of the band. The images below shows a particular long shot we used during the music video that links to the bands performance, in relation to this we have also taken a screenshot from the song 'Living on a Prayer' by 'Bon Jovi' which also displays the band performing. The use of this shot clearly displays the bands skill level and accentuates the idea of the band being up and coming. Additionally by having the band playing in time with the song helps give the impression that they are performing live. We made sure we stuck to this convention as the performance part of rock is an extremely common  convention.
 

Colour change

Rock videos often show just the performance side of the video however for our music video we used a black and white effect to seperate the performance from the 'behind the scenes'. From research we have discovered that rock bands have used this such as 'Def Leppard' in 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' and 'Bon Jovi' in 'Living on a Prayer'. we gained some inspiration from their video for the use of past and present in ours. I believe the that we developed the idea of the black and white theme to display the 'behind the scenes' into it displaying the band both setting up and messing about, we include clips of the band play fighting, using certain hand gestures and laughing which challenged the idea of just having them for example tuning their instruments for talking to eachother. Also our 'benhind the scenes' includes shots for outside the filming location which also challenges 'Def Leppard's', 'Pour Some Sugar on Me'.

Challenged

Studio instead on stage

For our music video we decided to use a studio as our location for the creation of our music video, this was due to the fact that we could capture both side of the band, the performance side and also capturing the band performing on a personal level. Do do this we had to challenge a bif rock convention of having the band performing on a stage in from of an audience usually in an arena of big, well known location to show off the fame and popularity of the band. Despite this being the case we felt that we could capture the friendliness and personal side of the band if they were to perform somewhere smaller and more personal towards the fans.

Band image

Band image is a less frequent convention used in the genre of rock, however, it is used. It is usually used by the more popular and famous bands as their try to promote themselves more with the overall idea of gaining more fans. On the other hand some small bands may also use it to get recognised and to try and get people to know who their are without having to look into it. We challenged this convention as we believed that as the band are up and coming they would only want loyal and personal fans. This is because they are still only an upcoming band and they have a long way to go to make it so they want people to like them for their sound and not just their appearance.

 

 

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

We answered this question using a video which we created and edited on Final Cut Express. Me and my group discuss the effectiveness of our three products, our music video, digipack and magazine advert. We explain how the three products link together to help us portray our band as well as promoting them.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Below are both our final finished music video and our rejected rough cut. We have annotated the videos to show what audience feedback we were given.

To gain audience feedback we showed our video to a large audience aged 16-19 and gave them a few questions to answer about our music video. We collected all our responses and make a note of each response. From looking at the audience feedback, we seemed to gain mostly positive responses. People seemed to understand the narrative with the contrast between the performance and behind the scenes which we hoped for. Overall, the audience feedback proved helpful to us and we were able to gain constructive criticism which we used and discussed. If we were to carry out this coursework again we would definitely consider the issued raised.

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

To answer this question i created a youtube video. I spoke about all the varieties of technology that we used in the research and planning and production and editing of our Music Video, Digipack and Advert. Each factor of technology that we used vitally helped us and was undoubtably benefitial throughout the making of our three products. In this video i explain how each factor of technology used helped us to research, moniter and produce our coursework, such as 'Photoshop' allowing us to create our Digipack and Advert and 'Final Cut Express' which enabled us to put together and edit our music video. Overall, technology allowed my group to create the Music Video, Digipack and Magazine Advert to our specific preferences.

 

Finished Music Video

Below is our finished version of our music video 'Secret Sin' by 'Raided By Waves'.

Magazine Advert

Raided By Waves Magazine Advert

As well as our Music Video and Digipack for Raided By Waves, we also created a Magazine Advert. Whilst creating it, we had to take into account the meaning and justification behind our certain design choices as well as how it is presented to our audience. All of which were important and helpful when it came to the designing and creating of our advert.

When creating our Rock Magazine Advert for Raided By Waves, we had to stick to the typical conventions commonly shown within the Genre of rock. We included the title of the band, album name, where the album can be purchased and band image.

Digipack Final

Here is our finshed Digipack;

Front + Back Cover With Two Additional Inlays

Inlay Booklet And CD

Spine

Magazine Advert Designs

Below is all of our Magazine Advert ideas that we carried out in order to see which design would be most suitable.

Audience Feedback Results

Questions

1. What is rock - how accurate is our video. Please explain your answer.

2. What impressions do you have of our artists?

3. What parts of the video are particularly effective?

4.Any criticism?

Answers

1. pretty accurate - band, loud music

2. emo rock?

3. the black+white snippets intervened in between

4. bit boring - too much of the same thing happening - spice it up a bit - music needs to be a bit louder (singing)

1. similar to other rock music videos

2.

3. showing the band playing

4.

1. many rock videos involve a band playing their instruments pretty wildly

2. they seem pretty funny. good for the video

3.

4. no real storyline

1. very well done, black and white shots=good and the positions of the sheets

2. fun, friendly, playful?

3. the lighting

4. no actually the musicians looked too shiny

1.a bit but not much - guitar+drums are accurate

2.

3.the black and white shots

4.

1.

2. they are talented and enjoy performing

3.the bits shown of them getting ready

4.none

1.

2.

3. very professional

4.

1.the band being filmed is accurate. very clear filming/professional

2.they look like they're having fun backstage

3. i like the backstage videos

4. more shots could have been used that weren't just of the band playing

1.video very clearly shows a rock band

2.

3. monochrome shots to add emphasis

4.inaudible vocals

1.very-see the instruments, no complex story

2.good

3.different lighting effects

4.no

1.yes its very very accurate - black and white adds effectiveness

2.they are quite skilled, play the guitar well

3.the use of black and white and also the clips shown

4.

1.yes, classic rock style

2.that hes good at guitar

3.the B+W bits

4.bit boring, too samey and repetitive

1.it is accurate description - bordering on heavy rock

2.fun, know each other well - good relationship

3.the relationship between the group

4.cannot really hear the vocals

1.fairly standard "film of the band" rock video so its very accurate

2.stereotypical, comic rock n roll, they seem happy enough

3.black and white sections, close up on instruments

4.there were a couple of odd zoom/fade/wipe transitions which felt our of place

1.quite accurate, hes the feel of a rock video

2.

3.the darker lighting feels black+white

4.the backstage parts are not particularly effective

1.accurate, but could have had a few more different scenes - less of the band

2.

3.when there's shots not showing the band playing

4.no apart from what mentioned

1.very rocky

2.good

3.band playing

4.sound-guitar too loud

1.very accurate and authentic

2.they're all know one another really well

3.authenticity, change from band singing to behind the scenes type footage 

4.no criticisms, however could add more

1.it is rock its not too heavy so its enjoyable+approachable to anyone

2.fit the style of rock very well

3.the black+white bits, the changing scene to retain interest - the make up bit

4.no

1.

2.

3.contrast of camera shots

4.could have focused on the whole band, instead of individuals - although individual shots are good

1.very accurate. it was like a rock video

2.they're having fun

3.the black+white

4.no

1.video reflects song -band shown

2.typical rock artists

3.black+white sections

4.couldn't hear the words of the song

1.very good lighting/shots etc it looks very professional

2.they're very professional 

3.the behind the scenes shots

4.

1.quite accurate

2.they were alright

3.not being able to hear their singing

4. no

1.very, lots of guitar and drums, the artists get the part

2.fun, people that enjoy every day

3.the black+white bits:great effects+camera shots

4.singer looks a bit weird

1.accurate - seemed like they were on tour

2.typical+genuine people

3.real life sections/black+white scenes

4.some of the shots are not very complex

1.quite

2.

3.having clips of the artists being natural/themselves

4.couldn't hear the singers, great video music fits playing - enjoyable

1.could have the video a bit more in a rock style

2.

3.

4.bit more rock

1.fits in with the genre

2.very funny

3.like the black+white "behind the scenes" parts where we see the band not performing - breaks the scary band stereotype

4.

1.

2.relaxed musicians

3.black+white effect, zooms on instruments

4.

1.good, nice set work

2.good

3.close ups on lead singer

4.can't hear singer

1.very accurate - the band in a black studio

2.fun, easygoing

3.black+white crossed with colour shots, ending shots

4.no

1.comes across as rock video

2.they're a bit childish and enjoy a laugh

3.black+white effect seems like a flashback

4.

1.like a professional music video

2.quite fun, lighthearted

3.the black+white messing about shots

4.no

1.the black+white shots are good

2.serious musicians, look dedicated

3.the bits where they are messing around are very effective

4.none other than sound problem is assembly

1.quite

2.

3.like the bits where they were just talking with themselves in the background

4.

1.accurate as it has the video has the band playing live with cutbacks behind the scene in black+white

2.lads on tour

3.the behind the scenes parts

4.the vocals are muffled by the instruments

1.

2.

3.black+white parts

4.

Digipack Images

Below are the original images taken for our digipack;