Evaluation written document!

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

My media project that I have recently completed for A2 level uses and challenges forms and conventions of real media products effectively. Thinking back to the beginning of summer last year, I did firstly want my product to be based on the genre of either rock/indie. It took me a lot of time to decide with my working partner Abbas on whether we should go for a rock or indie song for our music video. We then came across the famous band Queen and within our research we came across well-known songs in which appealed highly to us. The song we chose in the end to create a cover of was “We are the champions” so therefore as a result our genre was based on rock. When speaking of what ways my product uses and challenges form and conventions of real media products, my music video is not the typical professional video you see on the music channels, my music video is more of a narrative piece in which is demonstrated more of a short-film to effectively link with the lyrics within the song.



Narrative music videos are becoming much more popular now and when I begun reading the lyrics to the song, I strongly believed that a narrative piece would fit well. I was at first going to shoot just the band playing on stage but then I came across a music video by Chemical Brothers – Electrobank http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0dxByaPWhM&ob=av2e in which displayed a narrative storyline in which two individuals were competing in gymnastics and it shown the progression of the brunette girl trying her best to win and even though she hurt herself during the competition, she eventually won at the end and the blonde girl who was stereotyped as the antagonist lost. I really liked the storyline in which were you never give up to succeed. The song lyrics within “We are the champion” related to that type of storyline so as a result it seemed like a good idea to portray that type of storyline within my music video. I chose to have a brunette and blonde girl like in the Chemical Brothers video and at the end to have the underdog (brunette) becoming victorious by winning the race through hard training and effort.



As my final decision for the storyline was linked with running, the ideas of how to shoot the running scene was extremely diverse. I and Abbas came to the decision that we would go find the most suitable running track to film and that we would shoot some test footage because in order for our storyline to become reality we had to develop our ideas by shooting some test footage first. We found a great running track at Maiden Castle which is located closely in County Durham. We had a go at shooting the track and seeing which parts of the track looked most convenient for our music video. I had a run round the track while Abbas filmed me just so we could see what it looks like on camera. I also asked Abbas to film me running up to the finish line so we could see whether it looked effective. The track looked so professional and clean on film as all the tracks markings were clearly there. From having the opportunity to shoot some test footage, it really helped our work come together. For example, after spending a fair amount of time shooing some test footage, we could clearly see that this was the place where our music video would be shot. The week after I, Abbas and my other star actor Bethany went down to Maiden castle to film our first race scene along with my other actor Sophie. As I and Abbas had already investigated the track and which part looked best on camera we knew exactly where we wanted to shoot and how we wanted to look. By shooting some test footage, it really helped our work develop effectively as we knew exactly what and how we wanted it shot.





Moving on to my print products, I did a lot of excessive research on the internet and in stores looking at diverse ranges of digipak covers, digipak booklets and magazine advertisements. One poster that inspired me was for the “Scott Pilgrim” film in which displays a split screen of individual characters with two of the main character below standing back-to-back.

This film poster really caught my eye and I really felt strongly towards using a split screen of my band and have me and my co-star actor Bethany standing back-to-back. I firstly designed a look-a-like magazine advertisement like this one but in the end I used the idea for my digipak front cover.

This is an example of one of the drafts of my magazine advertisement in which I uploaded onto my blog. As you can see I used a similar concept and design to the “Scott Pilgrim” poster in which the two main characters are standing back-to-back and the band are up above in split-screen. I created this on Photoshop in which effectively helped me to create a similar poster to the “Scott Pilgrim” one.

Here is my final piece of my magazine advertisement in which I have just recently posted onto my blog. As you can see this is very different to the one I firstly desired to create. After looking in magazines such as NME and Q the music my ideas changed. I am really happy with how my magazine advertisement looks and again I used Photoshop to create this piece. I did at first try to create it on Microsoft word but the software was too amateur and didn’t contain the appropriate functions and materials. Photoshop has helped my print product to look really professional in which I am thrilled.

This is my final piece of my Digipak front cover in which was uploaded onto my blog last week. The front cover still is slightly similar to the “Scott Pilgrim” poster in which I and Bethany are standing back-to-back and the band individually shot above. I have gone for the contrast of colours black, red and white to fit in with the genre of rock effectively as those three colours are most associated with rock especially black and red. I am really happy with how the front cover of my Digipak has turned out and Adobe Photoshop is the software which effectively helped me create this piece. When I was in the process of looking at digipak’s I found many online. For example, I came across many on the HMV website and as I was expected to do one of Queen’s songs I accordingly had a look at their CD and albums to get some ideas. I looked at a diverse range of album covers and published a few examples onto my blog. I changed my mind a lot during the process of planning and production but now I am finally happy and satisfied with my album front cover. Alternatively, I think my media products use and challenge conventions of real media products as I believe both my print products and actual practical piece look really professional and effective and I even think that they are up to a great professional standard that could actually be used for a professional signed band.

2. How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts?

Both my main product and ancillary texts are effectively combined. Firstly, the genre is rock and looking at both the video and print products, they are both effectively linked. For example, the contrast of black and white is effectively used. Within my music video, most of it is shot in black and white and also my print products are black and white. The reason for this choice is because I think the colours contrast really well together and also the colours are highly associated with the genre of rock which fills my brief quite nicely. Looking at my various products including the magazine advertisement, Digipak booklet and my music video, they all express the same elements yet they are all slightly diverse. Starting with my print products, in both the poster and digipak, images of the band members and main actors are demonstrated. I have focused on both the band and main actors because within my music video, I decided to concentrate on my narrative instead of filming the band throughout the video playing like many stereotypical music videos choose to do. As my music video wasn’t going to portray the band, I decided to go ahead strongly with using images of the band on the advert, front cover of my digipak and within my digipak booklet so that the audience can empathise with the band and become more drawn to them personally.

The clear link between my music video and print products is that there is a clear congnitive narrative link between the three. For example, I have used the actors for my digipak and magazine advertisement from the music video and I have also used pictures of the band on both my print products. The only difference between the three is that I haven't shown the band within my music video

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Here are a few examples below of what minor individuals think of my overall project.

Audience feedback!

Uncle Doug –

I think that both the magazine advertisement and digipak booklet looks really good and quite professional for an A-level student. I can see as I am a qualified graphic designer that she has used photoshop to put all her print products together which as a result looks extremely effective. I think the colours she has used including black, white and red contrast well together and link well with the genre of rock. I particularly love the fact how she has customised each background accordingly within her digipak booklet. This makes the piece look even more professional and innovative. Overall, I think Emily has done a great job and her overall featured print products are astonishing.

Sophie Balfour –

Emily’s print products look really professional in my eyes especially the digipak booklet. As Emily told me that her genre was rock, I think she has fit the brief quite nicely through the contrast of black, white and red and also how she has effectively created black and white images of the band and both herself and Bethany. I haven’t yet seen her music video but I am sure by looking at how professional her print products look, the video will be great.

Becky Walton –

Wow, I am really impressed by how effective Emily’s print products look. I particularly love how she has customised each background within her digipak booklet. This looks really creative and effective and also innovative regarding the band. The magazine advertisement looks great aswell. I think the contrast of the colours black, white and red fit in nicely to the genre of rock. All the information on the front cover of the poster clearly stands out which makes it look even more appealing. Overall, I think both her digipak and magazine advertisement look extremely professional and I was totally impressed.

Conor Martin –

Both Emily’s print products look really creative and professional. I particularly like the front cover of the Digipak. The way how the band is customised portraying a sketchy look is really effective and how the picture of Emily and Bethany is shaded slightly dark. I think it works really well and if I was to see this in a shop I would immediately be drawn to it. The back cover of the digipak also looks really effective and professional as the bar code and everything is there which makes it look ready for purchase. I honestly believe that these print products look professional and Emily looks like she has put a lot of hard work into creating these products.

Audience feedback is extremely vital in order to see whether the product is actually sufficient. I alternatively, obtained some general feedback from my friends at 6^th form. I didn’t receive any negative feedback which proves that my products are effective and appealing to individuals. All the feedback I received was really positive which makes me feel great. They all honestly think my products look professional for an A2 level student. I have learned from my audience feedback that if you work hard and put everything into your projects then the outcomes will be positive. To complete this section, I am also going to attach a short-film/documentary demonstrating on camera the audience’s feedback. As I do have a minor continuity error in my video, my audience didn’t actually notice it which makes me believe in my project more highly because I did worry slightly about how unprofessional it looks with that error in but all the feedback I received was positive and no one even noticed it.

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

Media technology has not always been my strong point but from the beginning of year 12 to now, I feel that I have got to grips with using media technology in the development of construction regarding my media work. First, there is the digital camera. At the beginning of year 12 I found it took a while for me to get used to the functions on the camera but after I was told by my teacher how to work the camera properly I was able to independently use it when filming my first set projects. My work in year 13 has progressed since the beginning of September. As I already was up to grips with using digital technology such as the video camera and editing software, it started off quite easily but as I have already mentioned the weather became a huge issue as it was constantly snowing and the weather was alternatively changing on a daily basis.

For my final project this year, I and Abbas thought it would be easier and make things quicker if he was to focus on the editing and I was to focus on our print products. As I was responsible for producing the print products including the magazine advertisement and digipak, I used adobe Photoshop a lot to help with the creation of them. I did however use publisher to begin with because I believed that publisher would enough functions to help with effectively creating my products. It didn’t seem to be very effective when trying to create my magazine advertisement so I decided to use Photoshop. At first, I got a lot of help off my media teacher because my knowledge of Photoshop was not very efficient. However, after having much assistance I was then able to go off and independently create my magazine advertisement which is completed. I am thoroughly content with how my advertisement looks like thanks to the help of Photoshop. If my school didn’t have Photoshop on their computers then it would have been a constant struggle to create an effective advert. For my digipak booklet, I used both Photoshop and Microsoft PowerPoint to help create the overall product. I used Photoshop when creating the front and back cover of the digipak but for the booklet inside I used PowerPoint as it made things slightly easier for me and I was able to customise each slide independently in creating an efficient digipak booklet. I did at first try and create the front and back cover of the digipak on publisher but again it just didn’t work and give me what I want as there weren’t enough diverse functions to help create an effective front cover. However, by using Photoshop it helped me to create quite a professional front and back cover for my digipak. I am thoroughly pleased with my final product.

Within my project, I have had to accept that there is a continuity error during the second race scene. This is due to the fact of the horrendous weather conditions we experienced through the beginning of the year when I and Abbas were filming our project. As we filmed on separate days, the weather kept consistently changing so therefore this was really unfortunate. As a result I believed that the digital technology would resolve the problem but unfortunately it hasn’t. The editing adobe premier software has helped to improve the filming slightly but unfortunately the continuity error is still slightly noticeable. I accept that we have an error but hopefully this won’t result in loosing many marks because due to weather in the North-East lately with all the ice and heaps of snow, hopefully the situation will be reviewed on behalf of that.

I have been through such a long, yet good process from the beginning of year 13 to now. When I first started my final project for A2 level, I had many diverse ideas of whether to go for a pop song, hip-hop, indie, rock and many more. After a long deliberation, I decided it would be really adventurous and effective to create a music video based on the genre of rock. As I decided to work with my other media student, Abbas he also wanted to create a rock music video. We did a lot of planning and research to find out which song we would use and what type of music video we would create. We came across Queen’s famous songs and ended up choosing “We are the champions” which is a well-known song over the globe. We believed that if we created a cover for this song then we would attract an increased majority of the public because the song is so well-known and popular therefore more appealing to our audience. When planning and creating my music video and print products, digital technology guided me along the way and helped to create an efficient piece in the end. The internet, digital camera, and photoshop and Microsoft PowerPoint, these are all the sources of technology I used in helping of the construction of my research, planning and evaluation. At the moment, I am about to film a short documentary for my evaluation so therefore, the digital technology is effectively helping me to create an efficiency evaluation as I am using a digital camera to film some parts and also Microsoft word to write up an analysis.

Filming the bands first reaction on Thursday!

On Thursday lunch time this week, I and Abbas have booked out our media room so we can film the bands first reaction when seeing both the print products as well as the music video. After we have filmed the bands reaction to our products we have prepared some questions we would like to ask them.

1. What do you think of both the print products and music video?

2. Do you think the main products and ancillary texts link well together?

3. Do you think the products represent you well?

4. How were you approached for permission?

5. How does this compare to similar music videos or products you have seen in the past?

6. Do you think any improvements need to be made?

I and Abbas are hoping for a positive result and by asking these questions and filming it, this will help provide the basis for our evaluation documentary.

Evaluation principles!

For my evaluation, Sir has said to me that I can either produce a written document for my evaluation or produce a documentary on film. I am going to produce a written document as well as filming a short documentary demonstrating my peers views about my products and also I am going to interview the band asking them what they thought of the film and how it could have slighly being improved and etc. I am also going to film myself talking about my product and also my working partner Abbas as I think it will look really effective if our personal views and opinions were expressed on camera. Next week, I and Abbas are going to film eachother expressing our views on how we have improved from beginning to end and the choices we have made. Also, We are going to see when the band is available next week because we are going to ask permission on whether we can film them being interviewed.

Final draft of magazine advertisement!

Improved and changed slides for digipak booklet!

Here is my new changed slides for my digipak booklet. Slide 1 - I moved the writing up a little because it was coming off slightly at the bottom of the page. Slide 2 - I rearranged the slide so that all the writing fit on the page. Slide 5 -I did the same as slide 2, I altered the size of the slide so that there was no writing coming off the page. For slide 7, I added in that all the song were written by Astound because I forgot to include this within my credits before. Last but not least, I added the Sony logo on my back cover because it makes it look more professional.