Evaluation Q4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation Q3 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I gathered a group of people and created a focus group of 10 people in order to gain primary research and have a better understanding in whether I achieved my objectives or not- which was to create a vibrant and fun pop video for Alessia. Here are my results illustrated in a form of pie charts:

 

I wanted to ask this question because at times I felt hesitant in terms of how I can create a correlation between my video alongside my ancillary texts. I was happy to see that 82% were able to see the connection between our video and my digipak and magazine advert. After gathering my information, I decided to ask those who chose the option, 'Slightly', in order to understand further how I could've improved my work. Here are some relevant quotes I received:

"My favourite thing about the video was the use of kaleidescopes, because it's something I always witness in synth-pop-type music videos, so I think it would've been a really good idea to have incorporated a few kaleidescope patterns in your digipak.... You seem to have embraced a more cheesy pop theme in your digipak and advert"

"I think you could've added bubbles to your poster  and digipak because the artist is seen frequently blowing bubbles in the video."

"The singer in both the digipak and poster is wearing the same clothes, so I think it would've been even better if she had more variation/costume changes to make it more interesting and different to appeal to different styles of teen."

After taking on this feedback I realise that I could've done more in terms of building a better correlation between my video and ancillary texts by using more iconographic features that are seen within our video, for instance the suggested bubbles. The costume changes would, in my opinion, have confused the brand image that I wanted to solidify.

 

I asked this question because I was concerned that the narrative was not made fully clear throughout our video. The narrative plays a huge part because the main themes in our video are of love, heartbreak and betrayal, therefore it was important that Romina and I communicated these themes effectively -  66% of my focus group agreed that our storyline translated well, here are a few quotes I picked out:

"It was really easy to follow the storyline because the actors' use of body language showed that the boyfriend was acting unfaithful to the lead artist. At the beginning there's a shot of the lead singer walking along a path and seeing a couple holding hands, which is followed by a reaction shot of the singer. This helped me immediately understand the plot."

"I think the storyline was mainly about female empowerment and I think that at the end - when she's dancing with her friends - shows that all that matters is friendship. This reminds me of the Spice Girls and their girl power theme'

I am thrilled that they understood the narrative of girl power and the importance of friendship because for Romina and I, this was the main theme that we wanted to portray within the video.

 

Star image was a key aspect that Romina and I aimed to achieve. We wanted to create a distinctive image which would help us target our intended audience (young teens). We spent a lot of time doing in depth, secondary research into the conventions of our genre, and I believe this really helped us create our overall image. Majority of the group studied managed to fully understand the overall image we wanted to create, which was very pleasing. Here are a few relevant quotes:

"There are certain techniques used that really helped contribute to the overall brand image. Her personality shows really clearly."

"I think that her clothes alongside her hair and makeup helped her look more girly and cute, which tells me that her target audience would be young girls who probably look like her or want to look like her."

"Usuallly when I watch synth-pop videos I see a lot of light rays/beams, and I really like how the video uses this technique. It shows the audience what genre the artist belongs to."

After reading over my feedback I'm glad that our secondary research managed to benefit us in terms of building our artist's brand image. I'm also glad that we had the genre synth-pop available to us because we found that there was endless possibilities within this genre - we had so much to work with, which really helped us explore further into our creativity and have fun with it.

Evaluation Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Evaluation Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

CONVENTIONS OF SYNTHPOP GENRE	USE, DEVELOP, CHALLENGE
Bright, neon colours. Strobe lights are often used within music videos of this genre	Use: We loved the idea of incorporating flashing lights into our video because we felt that it contributed to the flamboyancy we wanted to include. Our lights are similar to disco lights in order to make it look like a party.
Quirky, hair/makeup and clothing style	Use/Develop: We definitely wanted our artist to stand out from the ordinary through use of bright coloured clothing and quirky outfits, however at the same time we wanted her to appear approachable and down-to-earth to her young fans. I believe that by deciding not to use an excessive amount of theatrics this would make our artist appear more likeable and relatable.
Attention-grabbing and fascinating camera editing techniques	Use: We had a great time experimenting with Final Cut during the editing process because we got the chance to test out different methods in order to give our video a surreal, fun yet strange feeling. For example; we frequently used the kaleidoscope throughout our video as this is a recurring theme we witnessed in synth-pop videos.
Constant change of setting	Use: The different locations we used in our video contained a restaurant with a performance space, a beautiful park for a few beauty shots for our artist, a café within The Spires which was used for our storyline and a field within our school for the concluding scene with all of Alessia’s friends. For us, using multiple locations helped keep our video interesting and fun, travelling sometimes acted as a burden, however I’m very pleased we decided to make the journey because the result turned out exactly how we wanted.

CONVENTIONS OF THE FORM MUSIC VIDEO	USE, DEVELOP, CHALLENGE	EVIDENCE
1.       A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics	Use: We use this technique by showing our artist constantly pointing a bubble gun at the camera – a play on the title. This also helped us illustrate our brand image (cute but feisty).
2.       A relationship between the music and visuals	Use: We show clips of musicians in order to add a performance aspect to the video. We show a DJ player as well as a drummer moving along to the beat of the songs, showing the audience the relationship.
3.       Genre-related style and iconography present	Use: We aimed to make her appear youthful and fun by showing her blowing bubbles to the camera.
4.       Star image, multiple close up shots of the main artist or vocalist	Use: Numerous shots of main artist being sweet and endearing by winking and playing with her trademark sunhat. We also developed her image by applying a signature style makeup (minimal in order to show her young brand and target audience).
5.       Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females	Challenged: We decided to portray her as a strong and empowered individual, rather than objectify her. We also kept in mind her young target audience, therefore we didn’t want to use objectification.
6.       Intertextual references to other media texts	Challenged: Due to the fact that our singer is an upcoming artist, we didn’t feel the need to include intertextual references, as her main focus is to make a name for herself.	No use of evidence as we challenged this convention.

Conventions of a Magazine Advert	Use, Develop, Challenge? (How?)
Clear image of the artist – They are the main focus and take up a good amount of the page, this emphasises their importance and attracts target audience.	I decided to use this convention, and choose a full-body image of Alessia because I wanted to display the entirety of her style and personality. The image I chose takes up a large amount of the poster, which I believe helps me further illustrate her star image.
Image of artist must reflect the disposition/mood of the album.	I used this convention by making sure to choose an image which I believed reflected our artist’s identity. Fun, girly, cheeky and young - these are words I kept in mind whilst picking my main image.
Must provide important information eg; release date, album title, price also brief review praising the album.	I used all of these features, as I believe they were all relevant and useful in communicating to the public all the information they would need to know.
Typography is often bold, colourful (in order to standout) and large in size.	Once again I used this convention, slightly developing it by playing around with outer glow and opacity, in order to make the font softer and girlier. I also stuck to the same colour scheme I have followed throughout my digipak in order to create some sort of correlation. The font I chose is large and bubbly – reflecting the young and vibrant star image that I wanted to create.

Conventions of a Digipak Form	Use, Develop, Challenge? (How?)
Colours throughout the digipak will reflect the overall mood.	Similarly to my Magazine Advert, as my background I decided to use textures that reflected tie-dye type patterns. This is because at the start of our video we merge watercolours alongside our dancer, therefore I believe that the colourful backgrounds I chose somehow reflected that. In terms of the mood created, I stuck to feminine colours such as pinks, yellows, purples and turquois.
Simple colours and images used throughout the faces of the digipak provides little/ no distraction from music.	I decided to challenge the convention that the imagery shouldn’t distract from the music. Personally, I wanted both the two to go hand in hand and complement each other. The images I chose are ‘in your face’ because I wanted to create my artist to be confident and have the ability to stand out. A lot of the colours I have used are also quite flamboyant because I believe that it’s important that the public know what they are going to expect when they listen to Alessia.
Typography for synthpop style is often in a bold, noticeable font	I used this convention by making my font both bold and colourful (colours are bright and girly), in order to advertise the product to the public.