Evaluation Update

http://sarahmay33.wix.com/evaluation

All of my ongoing work with my evaluation can be found on this website -  this is also where the final evaluation will be found.

Evaluation Update

All my evaluation questions will be placed on a website built through Wix.com, I decided to do this as it adds another platform and a more interesting way to post my answers instead of just putting them all on blogger individually.

Questions 1 will be on wix itself, I feel as if this this be the best way to format it. Screens shots and labels will be used to note on aspects of my products.

Question 2 however I will make a website called Padlet in which I will be able to organise the sections of both my music video and ancillaries.

Question 3, as it is quite simplistic it will be created on Prezzi, as this will allow for the moderator to see clearly my step by step process of my answer.

Question 4 will be created on Real Time Board. Due to the question being based on the advantages and disadvantages of the technologies I have used, a mood board style organisation will allow for my answer to be clearer.

This is the website I am currently working on;

http://sarahmay33.wix.com/evaluation

evaluation draft QUESTION FOUR

Question 4; how did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

1.      Blogger – to post all my current work and demonstrate my progress
2.      Prezzi  
3.      Real Time Board
4.      Padlet
5.      Wix.com – differing ways to present my research and ideas
6.      Mobile Phone – for recording my first attempts and taking photos during the process as evidence
7.      Digital Camera – to records my footage for the video
8.      Apple macs
9.      Final Cut Pro for digital editing – in order to edit and place pieces of my footage together to create the video
10.   Photoshop for digital photo manipulation – to make my photos and screen grabs more interesting and professional for my digipak and poster
11.   Serif PagePlus – the platform in which I created my digipak and posters
12.   Digital Audio recorder – to record directors commentaries
13.   General websites; google, da font, massive attack webpage – in order to carry out research an find appropriate texts/imagery/inspiration for my video
14.   Web 2.0 sites; Youtube, Facebook, Esurveycreate.com – for audience feedback and youtube to post my original footage and edited stages of my video.

evaluation draft QUESTION THREE

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is key when creating any product, therefore when making my video and ancillaries, for them to be the best they can, I wanted the audience to be as involved as possible. 

My first questionnaire that I sent out was based on my original idea and what the audience thought of my; song, video idea and colouring.  From this I learnt that my idea of remastered Massive Attack was liked, and that some members would actually love for this to happen in real life. They also noted that, although the idea of ink was different, it was very interesting, thus they were more intrigued by the video. The initial worry of the video being described as "different" made me think that it would be overly confused and hard to follow, especially when it came to the colouring. The house style of the video was key as it was the medium in which a meaning would be conveyed. Therefore, in order to get as much information from the audience I allowed them to vote for the most appropriate colours, as it meant that the meaning would be clearer to members of the audience.

As soon as I realised that my choice of a concept based video may confuse the audience, I then needed their feedback and comments on my progress of work, aiming for it to be as clear and interesting to the audience as they said in my original questionnaire.

One comment when editing my music video was that the lips were not as prominent as described in my written work, and needed to be bolder and possibly more contrasted. From this I then went onto experiment with colouring. I found that due to the ink overlay, the lips couldn't be fully bright and block red, over wise the ink will be unseen. After a few attempts I came to the conclusion that my lips wont be as pillar box red as I had hoped, however the darker tone I created adds more to the dark and sexualised nature of the piece. 

evaluation draft QUESTION TWO

Question 2; how effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

When creating my ancillary tasks I wanted to create a link between them and my music video this house style and brand identity then would remove any continuity errors and confusion on behalf of the audience. If the audience themselves, do not see a link between the varying products, then they would not understand that they are all to do with the artist; additionally, in industry terms, the company could lose out on earning their highest potential.

The particular house style I followed was coloured; black, white and grey. The reason I did this was to match the colouring with the genre of Massive Attack; like I have said before Trip Hop is a combination of varying genres and artists. Therefore, in order to communicate this to the mass audience themselves, the contrasting colours of white, black and grey that were used in my video - represents the coming of one, like; Punk, Dance etc… Following this, the imagery of the ink from my music video is seen throughout my ancillaries, in order for the audience to make that connection and understanding that all pieces of media belong to the same artists. 

During the creation of my ancillaries, I chose to follow a simplistic yet stylistic approach. This meant that my black, white and grey colouring would be the focal point of my products - although the ink and the lips would be what the audience would be looking at, if it wasn't for he colouring it wouldn't be as attractive and enticing. Thus, by transforming the footage into black and white, it meant that the video would become more dream like and hazy, linking back to the Bristolian saga from where Massive Attack originated. Additionally, as it contains aspects from the original Massive Attack days, die hard fans will see the nostalgic side to the Digipak and advert, and will want to go out and buy the products no matter what. 

evaluation draft QUESTION ONE

Question 1; in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


-         Upon researching real music videos I came to understand the codes and conventions of which they consist of, these can include; Camera shots, Camera movements, Mise-En-Scene, Editing, Lighting, Costumes and Colour. These varying conventions allow for the audience to understand narrative, genre and emotions of the given video. As my music video is concept based, I then instantly reduced my conventions down to a smaller list, therefore I primarily used; Camera shots, Lighting (production values), Editing and colour (post production) to create my music video.
The conventional stereotype for Trip Hop is quite blankly ‘Stoners’, although represented negatively, are generally a friendly minority, peaceful and harmless. Therefore, in order to keep to the Bristolian ideology of a dream world, I wanted to only editing the pace ad colouring of the ink drops as I wanted to keep to the natural ambient flow. Other concept based videos for genres like dance and those similar, all follow a particular style, and as Trip Hop is a combination of all of these, I wanted to indulge the audience with similar codes and conventions as those seen in videos like, Gnarls Barkley 'Crazy' or The XX's 'Angel'. The lighting therefore needed to be as bright as possible in order to fully appreciate the colours used, therefore amplifying the dance iconography. Additionally, this then meant in editing I had clear footage and wouldn't need to re-shoot because lighting was incorrect.
As my video didn't include costumes or a narrative location, I had to create a separate way in which to apply mise-en-scene to my audience. The first way I did this was through colouring then came into the genre of the song, trip hop (a combination of varying genres,). This mass audience, although niche in age range, had varying types and classes of people. As Trip Hop united people all over Britain, the contrasting colours like, white, black and grey that were used in my video, represents the coming of one, like; Punk, Dance etc…
Additionally, I removed actors and any artist performance, (other than the lips) therefore the need for costuming was redundant, which meant I was able to reflect upon the music being the key feature. Although the audience don’t get to see the sexualisation of a full female body, the lips in the video syncing to "you are my angel" and, by directing it at a male audience, (with the additional signifier of red lipstick) creates a sexual theme; you could also suggest that the free forming ink flows represent the curves of a female. Even though the sexualising isn't direct and obvious, I wanted to allow an active audience to see these themes.
- During this research stage I also learned of the conventions of a Digipak, of which follow; Folds, Typography (title, artist, record label, promoters, and info about artist/song/album), imagery, Bar code, Packaging. My Digipak in particular had six folds opposed to the suggested as I wanted to create the album to be a special edition for the audience. The front and back panels are the main ‘promoters’ of the CD and are very much used to draw in the customers, therefore by using the simplistic and stylistic values of the artist, audience members were able to understand who the cd belonged too. The inside of the DigiPak is then used more for information and extra bits to do with the artist/song/album; additionally, the house style of the inside packaging stereotypically is more subtle compared to the outside packaging. It is for this reason the inner right and left panes were used to demonstrate values from the music video, therefore six screen grabs of the ink were placed in each left/right pane. The extra pane, in order to follow the conventions of a Digipak, was used for the lyrics of "Angel" - giving the audience direct information so they don't have to look it up. Finally, you then have the cardboard/paper folds around the plastic case which secures the disc in place; on this particular pane, in order to follow the contouring of the disc holder, I used an image taken during production and edited it to create a circular image. Over lapping this circular image what then Massive Attacks full logo (the only pace on the Digipak where you would actually find the name and logo together). Over all the house style of the Digipak followed that of the music video; black, white and grey.
- Upon researching about Real Advert conventions I found that the poster was split into sections and named from there; main focal point (image), artists name, title, small print (industry information), release date, age certificate/ratings if necessary and finally a tagline. A tagline is use to spark a particular response from the audience, without revealing too much information of the media. As a sort of enigma code, it allows the audience restricted information, causing them to want know more. For example, this can range from song lyrics to magazine quotations, "Most anticipated remake of the year". This then causes the audience to believe that, as other people high up in the music industry find it so remarkable, they too will share the same feelings - in a sense giving the tagline a two-step-flow aspect.
On my Real Advert I included featuring artists, therefore, this in itself will widen the circulation as it brings in a secondary audience. Not only will I gain sales from existing Massive Attack fans, I will also be able to include those of whom are featured on the album.  As I did this, it meant I was able to dismiss typography that included the directors/labels name on the poster - although if I did include their name on the poster, connoting the importance of the creation (If the director is well known then this will help to attract the audience). However, as this is a remake a;bum a sort of 'special edition' it means that an established audience already know of whom the label/director is. Thus, by including featured artists, it creates a fresher and more up to date product for and ever demanding audience.