Evaluation

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

The chosen song for our music video is ‘Move It 2 the Drum’ by DJ Chuckie featuring Hardwell (Hatrias Remix). We have studied a majority of music videos that focus on the codes and conventions relating to this song. Therefore researching on artists like Benny Benassi, David Guetta, Lady Gaga and many more, gave us more of an in depth idea on how to play around with the music video.

The genre for the music video is Techno and Dance, therefore following the lyrics within the song, we decided to portray a narrative storyline and an abstract image by making it comical. We did this by the main character ‘Jignesh’, who works in the club as a janitor, and dreams of being a DJ therefore enters a dream trance ending up with different girls, who gradually becomes worse from a ‘Sexy chick’, ‘Buck Tooth girl’ and ‘Transvestite’.

Typically Dance music videos are performed of people dancing without a storyline, however we decided to go against this convention by using a closed narrative structure. One of our influences was Benny Benassi- Satisfaction. The music video uses a closed narrative structure where the viewers understand what is happening throughout the video. We used this as the viewers follow along his

experience within his dream. However unlike the song 'Satisfaction’, we chose to have a linear structure in portrayal to his dream. We portrayed the difference of his reality and the dream by having the reality shots in black and white symbolising his dull and boring lifestyle. However when entering his dream we chose to have it colourful and used a majority of close up and mid shots of the lights and Jignesh playing on the decks. By showing it in colour, it emphasised that this is what he craved by working as a DJ and having many girls dance with him, evoking the male attention. This is similar to the music video of Satisfaction due to a majority of colour used and close up shots displaying the women who are promoting the DIY tools, emphasising the voyeuristic response of the ‘male gaze’.

Dance and Techno music videos are normally shown to be having the man walk off with the hottest girl, however in our video we went against this convention. We made it more comical by starting with the hottest girl becoming worse to another sexy girl who ends up to be shown as a buck tooth woman; this is then followed by a transvestite. As the music gradually got faster, we kept cutting to different shots building the fast pace connoting how it was getting worse and is dream was not going as he wanted it to.

We decided to follow the conventions of a small introduction which is not always used in dance and techno music video. However, this convention allows it to set the scene of the story of his dream through a closed narrative structure.

It is traditionally an important convention to use props and costumes. Therefore using this convention, we decided to use buck teeth for the buck tooth lady, and a moustache and a wig for the transvestite in order to make it comical.

The chosen costume for Jignesh in reality was shown to him being in jeans and a grey hooded jumper with a mop to convey that he hasn’t got a good appealing job. However when showing him in the dream sequence, he is shown to have jeans and a smart black jumper. We chose his hair being flat and messy without being styled at all, until he gets into the dream sequence where it’s shown to be spiked up. This shows that he has gone from a dull atmosphere where his appearance is portrayed to be unappealing towards girls, which is changed in the dream as he is shown to have a big make over making him seem attractive and smart towards the women.

Having 3 other main characters within our music video, we started off with the sexy chick. We chose her to wear a tight grey tube skirt with a low cut black vest revealing cleavage and black high heels. We decided to use this type of costume to portray her as an appealing woman as she would be the girl of his ‘dreams’. Moving on the next character being the geeky buck tooth woman, we had her wearing jeans, top with braces along with glasses and buck teeth. The buck teeth would be slowly revealed as she smiles which then shocks Jignesh moving on to the next character. Transitioning into the next character as we pan up showing the transvestite’s curvy body, in which is then cut to the face showing him as a woman; eventually shown to be a man. We did this by him wearing skinny black jeans with boots and a black top along with a long curly brunette wig. We got him to also wear a gold ring by using bold accessories we wanted to portray the character to be unusual and unique.

Lighting also plays a big part in music videos to establish the themes. Therefore we followed this convention using artificial lighting to convey the nightclub with a suitable loacation. The advantage of this location was that we had great use of the different lights such as strobe lights to create the clubbing atmosphere, and got to use the pioneer decks which are used during the sequence. The setting and props made it clear that the music video is based on a dance club. We made sure that we used a variety of different angles and shots to establish that the setting was in a club, such as a long shot of Jignesh mopping on the dance floor, and close up shots of the disco balls and lights flashing portraying the clubs atmosphere.

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

I feel that our music video links well with our ancillary texts as we have kept the same theme throughout which is shown in the music video. The use of vibrant neon lights connotes the theme of a club. From choosing a techno mix genre, we knew that the conventions within a music video would involve many vibrant colours and emphasis on the artist. We were influenced by many other digipack covers such as Tinie Tempah. The use of violet and white are spotlighted on him with the world in his hands. This would connote that the theme of his album is about discovering himself in the world.

My research findings have shown that the main focus is on the lights and the main artist involved within the songs. Keeping this in mind we combined our influences together in making the front cover of the digipack.

We decided to use this type of font to make it seem more unique and original. The words are shown to be breaking down making it look shattered which links to the music video as we see the dream becoming worse and is shattered. We chose to lay the font out like a drum linking it with the title and keeping the theme in mind.

From the research obtained, I found that the focus on the digipack is mainly on the artist. For example, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Drake are on the main focus on their Digipack front cover. We followed this convention in our front cover as we had shown Jignesh to be the main focus. This emphasised him to be the main character that is surrounded by the sub main characters who are made up in his mind. They had kept the image linked to the music video, which is similar to what we have done as having the characters around him, portrays what the story line of the song is about.

Following the conventions to establish a nightclub, we decided to use vibrant colours that connote this theme such as white, purple, green, orange etc. This reflects the use of artificial lighting used in the music video establishing it to be more like a club.

By keeping the same elements throughout the digipak such as the background, the font, and colours, relates to the characteristics of our music video in relation to the setting and location of a nightclub. Having the main character used in main focus connotes that he is the artist, which is able to link with our ancillary texts and music video.

By the main focus still being on the main character, we decided to add the three characters involved in the music video which still links to the music video. However, still keeping a lively background compliments the busy and live atmosphere created within the music video keeping the main focus on the main character. Therefore having decided on creating the front cover like this enables the audience to absorb and remember the main elements within the music video and digipaks itself. This keeps the theme of the dream continuous aspiring to become a successful DJ.

From the research concluded, we found that in many inside slips include lyrics to the video and information about the song. Taking a similar approach, we chose to add the lyrics of the song shown on the left side, and using thought tracking images of the cast in the music video. By doing this, it still carries the humour in which is created in our music video. This would be appealing to our audience, as they would understand the humour in this situation after watching the music video.

Using mise-en-scene elements such as the bucket and the mop portrays the continuous theme of dreaming and the reality. Having the picture of him moping conveys nothing has changed and he is still portrayed to being sad from the current job he has when he actually aspires to be a DJ as shown on the front cover of the digipak.

Incorporating the main song and track list along with the artists name in the advert creates a brand identity. This allows the ancillary product and music video to create an identity allowing the audience to become familiarised with it. We decided to go for a simple approach when designing the digipaks as we didn’t want to over crowd the design and to keep the whole focus on the main artist and the themes throughout. This was inspired by Nicki Minaj and Mika as they were unique and colourful in a simplistic way; yet appealing to the audience.

Therefore our design for digipaks makes it eye catching and draws your attentions in making you want to watch the music video.

In the advertisement, we have included links that our audience are more likely to be fond with, such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. With these links on the advert shows where the music video can be viewed also promoting it through these links.

We have followed the forms and conventions for the digipak into our advert by using the same image, which is also used in the back cover. The mise-en-scene elements of him with a mop and bucket are also continued on the advert keeping the continuous theme of him dreaming and the harsh reality.

We created a brand identity from the advertisement as well as the digipaks making it more recognisable for the targeted audience.

We included the name of the song, the artist’s name in which the audience can look out for becoming familiarised with the artist. We have kept the advert linked with the digipak covers and video keeping the theme of dreams. We decided to keep the advert simple as we wanted to convey information for the audience on where they can purchase the video and when it will be out by adding the release date. Overall, our

advertisement keeps the characteristics making a link with the ancillary texts and making it more recognisable for the audience.

Following the forms and conventions for the digipack and keeping the same theme throughout the music video combines together to create a brand identity. Overall, the advertisement for our music video both complement each other as the elements within the product are linked together very well making it more recognisable.

We used Photoshop in order to produce the advertisements in which we used to a great extent being creative and imaginative with designing our product. I found the colour alteration tool most eligible for me to use when experimenting with different contrasts and saturation for the main photos adjusting the exposure.

However some photos didn’t have the need to be Photoshopped as their contrast and brightness were perfectly fine. Overall, I think our digipak and advertisement are successful when promoting the music video as it gives an insight to the characters and the lyrics. Keeping the same theme throughout we ensured it is also creating a branding image, which is then easily memorable for the audience by the image and identity. Majority of screenshots from the music video are used creating a link between the music video and the ancillary work giving an efficient combination.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Our initial target audience would be males and females aged 14 to 30 years of age. This was decided because the dance and techno music is a genre that is mainly played in nightclubs for youngsters. Therefore this age group are more likely to have some knowledge on the artists and the music genre itself. We felt that targeting at a certain gender and ethnicity was not relevant due to the song being suitable for anyone in that age group. I also found that our target audience always look for something different in a music video in order to appeal to them. We successfully did this by using a creative mind and taking a different approach to the song making it comical.

From the audience feedback I found that many of our audience enjoyed the music video and were intrigued by the concept driven from it. We took a different approach to the music video by portraying it to be more of a humorous music video in which our audience referred to it as being ‘creative and imaginative’. We found that our audience like aspects such as a narrative creative and unique storyline. Therefore, in conducting this within our music video, having the storyline being humorous, it would focus on the narrative being more visual on what’s happening telling the story itself with the audience left to have their own views on the video. This was due to a majority of our audience who listen to Dance, Techno, and Dubstep which

tend to have a music video with a narrative structure and more focus on the story line which the lyrics are able to connote.

Due to our target audience being appealed to a different and unique storyline, we decided to mainly focus on the visual element within our music video which clearly portrays the theme of the main character ‘Jignesh’ who is dreaming about being a DJ. This song can be interpreted as being a sexual song about lots of hot girls; however we took a different approach and added humour into it. We decided to have the main character dancing with 3 different characters, ‘sexy chick’, ‘buck tooth girl’ and a ‘transvestite’, showing each scenario becoming worse leading to it being humorous. Although our audience wanted the focus to be on the narrative and storyline, we also focus on the main character, whom is shown to fall in the same age category. By intercutting to close up shots and long shots of him in reality whilst dreaming, allows the audience to follow him throughout the journey. They audience could react sympathetic due to his harsh reality, as we stereotyped the way a man with a job like this cannot get a girl. This allows the audience to mock him and laugh at how the different scenarios are becoming worse and he is left with no one.

Our script development allowed us to incorporate the different types of shots we would use to portray and emphasise the fact that he is dreaming and to keep the pace and theme of a nightclub constantly shown throughout the music video. From our audience feedback they found the music video and ancillary products to both look professional to an extent. However, they all seemed to understand the concept of the music video and understood the storyline which was successful and they were able to find it humorous as one referred to it being ‘Hilarious and unexpected is all I can say!’. This is great evidence that the music video had appealed to them being very beneficial for us. However some had stated that we could have included more shots of Jignesh in reality to make it more clearer that he is still dreaming and to portray his reaction within.

From our final print work, the audience were fond of having the theme of dreams and nightclub running through all of them, by keeping the same background, font type and similar pictures. They understood very well on how it portrays that everything was a dream and found that it linked very well back to the music video due to the vibrancy of the colours used, and the cast which are also used. However, one had stated that the magazine advert could have been a bit different to the digipack designs, such as the background and the main picture to make it bolder however it created a memorable

image for the public to have. The majority of the audience really liked the use of colours used in the digipack and advert to represent the atmosphere of a nightclub.

The audience feedback had shown that a majority of them wouldn’t purchase the music video as they would access it using YouTube which is what a majority of the public do these days instead of buying it. Therefore, we would be suited for an independent label due to not having all the technical elements in featuring it as a major record label. However, many of our audience said that they would purchase the music video.

I found that from the audience feedback, the minority of our audience were not keen on the genre of the music, however still enjoyed the music video and were likely to watch it again as they found it interesting and it didn’t get boring. In conclusion, I think that we met the OCR brief of the forms and conventions for our music video and print work in which it appeals to our target audience due to having a more creative interpretation on the storyline for the music video making it more interesting for the viewers.

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

When it came to the research and planning stage I used a majority of everyday search engines such as ‘Google’ (www.google.com) to carry out any secondary research. I had to make sure the site is reliable before using it on the sub genre of techno/dance, such as ‘Wikipedia’ (http://www.wikipedia.org/) as anyone can create this page with unreliable and inaccurate information about the artist. This was overcome by using

a more reliable source of information from the chosen artist DJ Chuckie’s official website (www.djchuckie.com). I also used Google Images in order to convey research on different designs of digipaks to influence my ideas in creating my print

research and final print work. When conducting out specific research on music videos, I used ‘YouTube’ (www.youtube.com) to analyse specific music videos in which related to our genre such as my Similar Textual Analysis. I analysed Benni Benassi- Satisfaction, when watching this, it gave many ideas on what to do in the final chosen idea for our music video. The use of ‘YouTube’ also enables us to watch other music videos related to our genre influencing our ideas. Social networking websites also assisted in carrying out research on the expectations on the artist’s music video from the public. I used ‘Twitter’ (www.twitter.com) to gain an outlook on the public’s expectations of dance and techno music videos. Another website I used was ‘Facebook’ (www.facebook.com) in which we were able to directly communicate with DJ Chuckie’s fans and a pint of view on what they expect of a music video when they listen to ‘Move it 2 the drum’.

Technology played a big part in decision making and helping us decide on what criteria’s are needed for the target audience. I used ‘Hotmail’ (www.hotmail.com) which helped us maintain our group work efficiently meeting our deadlines and ensuring that we are organised and helping our communication and team working skills.

The camera we used was Canon XM2 digital lenses. We used the camera successfully as we had used if before in AS. We also had a chance to use a digital HD camera in our 1st shooting. In the second shoot we were able to use

suitcase dollys in which were used when doing tracking shots making it more fluid and stable. When constructing our music video, we faced many difficulties and problems. When we were in the edit suite, we combined the shots together and found many faults in the continuity.

For the final shoot, we decided to use the Canon XM2, this enabled us to go manually change the exposure and focus. We found that from our shoots before at the ‘Grims Dyke Hotel’ and ‘The Master’s Bar’ they did not have the efficient and appropriate lighting to establish our

setting of a club very well. We then decided to go to a different location for our final shoot which was very beneficial for us as we went to South-end-on-Sea, Essex, at a nightclub ‘The Mansion’. The new location had all the efficient equipment that we needed in order to establish that the setting was a nightclub due to the artificial lighting such as strobe lights.

When editing, we used Apple’s Final Cut Pro software which allowed us to add different transitions and effects to enhance the sequence. We emphasised the theme of him dreaming by using a ripple transition effect into a colourful setting connoting that it isn’t real life. We decided to have the reality shots in black and white conveying that his reality is dull. To show his reality, we included a small introduction clip of him mopping allowing it to set the scene and show the audience the different between his reality and dream.

We enhanced the audio on Final Cut Pro, but had to be aware that the sounds in the background weren’t overpowering his voice. In future use, we would have to take into account to use a microphone such as a boom microphone to enhance the actor’s voice. We used cross dissolve transitions to make the sequence flow clearly and fluidly from the long shots cutting to the mid shots. This was also used when transitioning from the opening titles “By DJ Chuckie... featuring Hardwell”, creating a smooth transition when fading into to the next shot.

From this I also used Photoshop to create the final print work for our digipaks and advertisements. I had designed the front cover of the digipak in which I developed many skills in using Adobe Photoshop in which I have never used before. I learnt many tools in which I included within my cover. I learnt how to change the exposure, contrast and saturation along with making it look as it they are in the dream sequence by

fading the edges of the pictures. I used this when editing the main focus of the picture which is ‘Jignesh’; I enlarged the photo changing the contrast making it seem as if he is in a nightclub atmosphere.

From the foundation portfolio AS, I learnt many skills on using ‘Blogger’ (www.blogger.com) which was a great beneficial element when it came to this year. I already had the basic skills in uploading files from slide share, and on the blog itself. In this I learnt how to change the background and customise it to the genre of our music video by having a DJ on decks making it look more professional. I also learnt how to upload videos from YouTube and adding pictures, as well as changing the layout and sizes allowing the viewers to easily reach the audio interviews and music videos. This enhanced the atmosphere of our blog linking with the genre making it more appealing for the viewers wanting to read it.

Overall, this was a very busy yet fun experience in learning that working in the music industry is not very easy and a lot of dedication is needed. However from reshooting and editing three times constructed and developed out skills making us more aware in what to do the next time round.