Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

Within the music industry, there are typically three models of music
videos that are created; performance, narrative and conceptual. Before
creating my music video, I had to consider which of the three elements I
wanted to revolve my video around and whether I wanted to use, develop
or challenge the conventions of the three different elements. From looking
at several different indie/pop music videos I noticed they typically include
a narrative story alongside a performance. For example The Scripts music
video Breakeven includes conventions of both performance and narrative
based music videos to present the protagonist very differently. The
narrative elements of the video portray him to be a normal person with
real feelings as he is just a man in love who misses his girlfriend, providing
audiences with para-social intimacy. The performance based sequences,
however show the singer with his band in front of crowds of people
presenting him as a star. This further follows Andrew Goodwins theory of
narrative and performance music videos as he believes music videos
should be repeated over and over again with the narrative and
performance sides binding together to create a music video that the
audience can watch several times without losing interest. I really liked
this idea and therefore decided to use conventions of The Scripts music
video within my own to highlight the protagonists heartbreak after the
loss of his grandfather.
My music video is shown to adhere to a circular narrative as the story of
my video ultimately begins at the end rather than at the beginning. This is
shown at the beginning where the main singer is conveyed to dwell back
on the times he spent with his grandfather as he holds a photograph of
him as a younger boy. The video then continues with scenes of the main
protagonist as he sings snippets of the first and second verse. Flashbacks
also appear in-between to reinforce the idea of him looking back at his
past. The video then ends where it began with the scene of the main
protagonist siting in a chair looking at the black and white photograph.
In terms of representation, I wanted to create the running themes of love
and loss within my music video and decided to focus on Saussures theory
of signs. Regarded as one of the founders of semiotics, Saussure proposed
the model of the sign as being a product of both the signifier and the
signified, arguing that no object is without meaning and no meaning can
be generated without its source. Within my own music video, I presented
the ideal of oppositional forces through the use of camera angles, editing,
sound and mise-en-scene. The use of the dark blue colour highlighted in
my music video suggests feelings of sadness and emotionless, which
ultimately follows the genre of my video as the melody is very sad,
following the story of a male artist who recently lost his granddad. This is
represented through various scenes involving the granddad and grandson
together. The scene of the grandfather and grandson as they tie their
shoelaces in sync suggests the metaphor that they will always be

together. The image of the shoes is seen as the signifier and the meaning
behind is described as the signified. Furthermore, near to the beginning of
the video, a close up shot is used to show the granddad and grandson
playing chess together. The close up shot focuses on the hands of both
players as the older figure is shown to hold the King and the grandson is
shown to hold the Pawn, signifying the granddad to have more power and
authority over his grandson.
During the editing process, I decided to edit my footage and include dip to
black dissolves. I primarily included these when changing from the
performance to the narrative sequence. The idea of dissolves and fades
subliminally informs audience members of the idea of turning back time
and reflecting on the narrative. This is further shown towards the end of
my music video as the main protagonist; Aaron is shown to reflect on the
times he spent with his grandfather as he looks down at the photograph of
my other characters Sam and Victor conveyed in the narrative sequences
of my video. This suggests the idea of memories and looking back on the
past as people generally hold photographs as memories.
Theorist Andrew Goodwin stated that within music videos, the lyrics and
visuals must intertwine with one another. I believe I have successfully
accomplished this convention in my own video as I have thought wisely
about each particular scene. For example, in the middle of the song I have
included a close up shot of the grandfather and grandson hugging when
the lyrics say: Darling hold me in your arms, the way you did last night. I
have also thought about timings as at the beginning of the video, the first
verse begins with Thing were all good yesterday which I have included a
dissolve from the main protagonist to flashbacks of the grandfather and
grandson together. Similarly as the song is quite slow, I purposely slowed
down some sections of my video. For example, I decreased the pace of the
footage to 55% at the beginning of my music video when the camera tilts
from the sky to focus on the house to fit with the slow and steady
instrumental. Slow motions can also be seen in real media texts including
Mikky Ekkos video Pull Me Down where the effect is used to allow the
audience to look more closely at certain shots.
Another element of Goodwins theory I choose to utilise in my video is the
idea of thought beats (also known as seeing sounds). Goodwin pointed out
that songs can be seen as stories as well as music and the artist is the
storyteller, making the music video a communicative device, with the
target audience being the ones listening to the story. My music video fits
perfectly with this category as the video takes the audience on a journey
of the main protagonists heartbreak, including flashbacks of the
grandfather and grandson together when they were young, enjoying time
together. The end scene of the protagonist looking at the photograph
almost acts as the end of the story suggesting he has now come to terms

with the loss of his grandfather. My video also adheres to Vladimir Propps
theory of character types (1969) as he suggested that there are seven
different character types; the villain, the donor, the helper, the princess,
the false hero, the dispatcher and the real hero. In my video, the
grandfather could be seen as the hero as the grandson looks up to him
and admires his strengths. The grandson could be seen as the helper
while the villain could be the Grandfathers illness; Alzheimers disease as
it cannot be controlled or stopped by humans.
Furthermore, my music video uses and develops forms of real world texts
as it follows the ideal of binary opposites developed by Levi Strauss.
Strauss argues that human cultural understanding is based upon a system
of binary opposites (good/ bad; black/ white; male/ female) and that
binary opposites help form a fundamental way of understanding
narrative. My video communicates the age dichotomy of old vs young
presented by the main protagonist and young boy. The use of mise-enscene is important as the main protagonist is shown to wear a tartan
flannel, jeans and converse whereas the old grandfather is conveyed to be
more smartly dressed in a jumper, shirt, trousers and polished shoes. My
video also demonstrates feelings of love and loss as well as pain felt by
those who have lost a close relative.
My advertisement conforms to most conventions of a magazine
advertisement for an album as it includes vital information such as the
name of the artist, album name and the name of Ed Sheerans hit single
as well as other important pieces of information including social
networking sites and star ratings from a variety of different companies. I
have used a large font which sticks to the brand guidelines stating the
brands name and album name which is an essential feature for any
magazine advertisement. The use of the same font throughout allows
easy recognition for audience members and enables fans to instantly
notice the artist the advert is trying to promote. Another convention I
have included in my advert is quotes and star ratings from well-known and
established music companies including the contemporary music magazine
NME. This is used a market sales tool, encouraging audiences to listen and
buy the album. Furthermore, by using the same colour scheme Orange,
White and Black as well as a black and white image, my magazine
advertisement follows a sense of continuity that keeps it connected to the
other ancillary task as well as the main music video.
Similar to my magazine advert, my digipak also conforms to the typical
conventions of real world media texts. Again, I have included my house
style of orange, white and black to stay in keeping with my other
products. I have also included the same image of the grandfather and
grandson on the front cover to make it aware to the audience that this is
another product I have made. The back cover lists all the tracks names
that are available on Ed Sheernans album; this is a typical convention of
all digipaks. On the inside of my digipak I have included credits which will
appeal to super-fans who enjoy knowing more about an artist and an

album rather than just an audience member that would want to listen to
the album and thats it. A thankyou note from the Ed Sheeran himself is
also shown which makes the digipak seem more personal to the fans,
conforming to general conventions of most indie/pop artists.
Overall, I believe all my print and moving image work either use or
challenge the conventions of real media texts, which all work
collaboratively in order to make them look as realistic and professional as
possible.
Q2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary
texts?
As part of my media coursework for my advanced portfolio, I was required
to create a music video as my main product along with my other ancillary
tasks: a magazine album advert and digipak. Throughout the making of all
three products, I ensured there was a consistent house style and overall
theme to form a clear brand identity for my artist and to suit my chosen
music genre of indie/pop.
The main product I created was my music video. The sole purpose of a
music video is to entertain the target audience, enabling them to engage
with the artist themselves. I believe I have successfully achieved this
within my own music video as I have included a variety of camera
shots/angles and costumes to gain the audiences attention and keep
them interested. I particularly used several close up shots of my main
actor Aaron in the studio where he is shown to make eye contact with the
camera. This ultimately creates a sense of direct address, establishing a
personal relationship between the main artist and audience as they feel as
though they are part of the video themselves. Furthermore, music videos
are also used to give audiences a better understanding of the meaning
and narrative of the song. I believe I have successfully accomplished this
within my own video as each particular scene demonstrates the unifying
themes of love, loss and heartbreak. For example, in the middle of the
song I have included a close up shot of the grandfather and grandson
hugging when the lyrics say: Darling hold me in your arms, the way you
did last night. I have also thought about timings as at the beginning of
the video, the first verse begins with Thing were all good yesterday
which I have included a dissolve from the main protagonist to flashbacks
of the grandfather and grandson together, reinforcing the idea of the main
protagonist dwelling back at his past. Overall, this enables audiences to
create an emotional connection with the video and feel sympathy for the
main protagonist.
In addition to my music video, I had to produce a magazine album advert.
The main purpose of an album poster is to promote the artist and album,
appealing to its target audience but also to those who would not normally
buy or listen to that particular kind of music or artist. This would increase
the overall fan base for the artist and therefore increase the amount of

sales and people who buy the album. For my magazine album advert, I
created a hierarchy of information using a variety of different fonts and
font sizes to depict the most important information. For example I made
sure the name of the artist and album were a bigger font size as these are
considered the most vital aspects of an album advertisement. Similar to
my other products, I have used the same typeface Albertsthal Typewriter
for the artists name which makes it easy for fans of Ed Sheerans music to
identify that this is a product by him. I have also included favourable
reviews and star ratings from well-known and established music
companies which help to serve the purpose of the advertisement as they
are essentially used as a market sales tool, encouraging audiences to
listen and buy the album. Furthermore, by using the same colour scheme
Orange, White and Black as well as a black and white image, my
magazine advertisement follows a sense of continuity that keeps it
connected to the other ancillary task as well as the main music video.
Lastly, the final product I made was a digipak. The purpose of a digipak is
not to merely encase a CD, but to give a feel about the music and the
artist themselves. A digipak is seen as a personal item as it includes a
varied selection of features that are not present on digital copies. The use
of images was important to denote the themes of the love and loss that
are conveyed throughout my music video. Similar to my magazine advert,
I used the same black and white image of Victor and Sam together to
show a continued theme through all three mediums. On the inside cover
of my digipak, I also included an image of my artist playing the guitar. This
use of the guitar is important as it suits the purpose of indie/pop music as
acoustic guitars are very common among Indie artists. As with my other
products, I wanted to create the idea of Ed Sheeran having a personal
relationship with his fans and therefore produced a short thank-you note.
This allows the audience to feel as if they, like the artist have achieved
something by being supportive fans. Additionally, by having a personal
letter the artist is able to send a strong message of appreciation out to his
fans and convince them that the digipak was not only made so he could
gain profit, but so that his fans could enjoy his music. This therefore shows
that my digipak is successful in its own right as it is fit for marketing
purposes.
Overall, I believe both my main and ancillary tasks portray a particular
genre by the type of style they represent through the use of consistency
in terms of selection of images, colours and themes.
Q3) What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
The genre of my music video is indie/pop as Sheerans music videos often
include aspects of these genres within his videos. The target audience for
my media products are predominantly men and women from the specific
age group of 16-25 who enjoy listening to Ed Sheerans songs and are
interested in the genre of indie/pop music. I have decided to have a young
audience as I believe this age group is more interested in the music genre

of indie/pop rather than people from the older generation. Furthermore,

the majority of my audience would either be students or part-time
employees who have time to watch music videos and pay attention to the
release of new albums and music videos.
Throughout the construction of my media products, I consistently received
feedback from my peers and teachers. This was an important element in
the production of my music video and ancillary tasks as feedback helped
me to clarify my ideas and highlight my strengths and weaknesses
enabling me to adapt my work and make original changes to suit my
intended audience.
When completing the research and planning process I created a
questionnaire using the free online programme Survey Money to gain a
further understanding of who my target audience was and what they
looked for in all three media products. I asked a vary selection of
questions including closed and open questions to produce quantitative
and qualitative data, enabling my audience to express their opinions and
overall thoughts more deeply. The survey included the following 10
questions:

What is your gender?

What is your age?
What is your occupation?
How often do you watch music videos?
Which of the following music genres, do you usually listen to?
Do you prefer male or female music artists?
Which of the following features of a music video, do you find most
appealing?
Do you prefer a narrative or performance based music video?
Which of the following features would most interest you to buy a
digipak?
Where would you look for music videos?

The first few questions of my survey helped to form the basis of my

questionnaire. I asked the first question to determine how many males
and females completed the survey. My results showed to be non-gender
bias, with an equal number of males and females who took apart. I also
asked my audience how old they were as different age groups have
different opinions on music. The results showed that everyone that took
the survey were 16-24 years old and were students which gave me a clear
and more precise idea of who to specially target my media products
towards.
The next set of questions gave me more detailed and specific responses in
relation to my final media products. The question Which of the following
music genres, do you usually listen to? gave me a stronger idea of what
music genre students mostly listen to. Similar to Ed Sheerans style of

music, the results showed Indie and Pop music to be most popular with
90% of participants voting Indie, and 65% voting Pop. From these results I
then decided, to target my music video and ancillary tasks towards people
who are interested in the genre of indie/pop music. The closed questions
Do you prefer male or female music artists? and Do you prefer a
narrative or performance based music video? helped me to alter my ideas
further. The results showed that 60% of participants voted both, with 40%
voted male artists. Although my results showed that my audience liked
both male and female artists, I decided to include just male characters in
my video as I thought the lyrics mainly revolved around Ed Sheeran and
his grandfather. Furthermore, in some of Sheerans music videos he only
includes himself and no female characters. I also asked which type of
video my audience preferred to establish my ideas on whether to include
elements of a narrative or performance in my music video. Nearly all the
participants voted for a bit of both including both narrative and
performance elements with only one person who voted for just narrative.
From these results I then established my ideas further, concluding that I
would include clips of performance in my music video with a storyline,
hence why for my final music video I included flashbacks of Victor and
Sam together and scenes of Aaron singing on his own in the studio.
I also asked a set of multiple-choice questions which enabled my audience
to give me more concise suggestions and feedback. I asked my audience
what specific features they find most interesting in music videos and
digipaks. The majority of my audience listed camera and editing as the
most important and appealing features in a music video, with a close
following of 55% who chose song choice. From these results, I decided to
include a varied selection of camera shots including close up shots, long
shots, wide shots, and panning shots. In terms of digipaks, 85% of my
respondents agreed a striking cover image would interest them to buy a
digipak followed by a percentage of 75% who believed colours were also
important. I found these results to be very helpful when I came to create
my digipak as I focused heavily on what cover image and colours I was
going to include. For the final question of my questionnaire, I asked my
audience how they typically consume music videos. This was an important
question as it gave me a clear insight on how my music video will be
viewed. The results showed YouTube as one of the most common
platforms where people find and watch music videos as well as Vimeo with
a close response of 45%. I took on board these comments and once I
completed my finished music video I uploaded my music video to both
Vimeo and YouTube.
Furthermore, I also gained feedback from my peers and teachers during
the drafting stages of my media products. After reviewing my second
draft, my teacher suggested I stabilise some parts of my footage, in
particular the piano scene and towards the end of the video as the two
narrative characters are shown to walk away holding hands. He also
suggested I use more cutaways as the scenes of Aaron singing are far too
long. I acted upon this feedback and decided to do another shoot with

Aaron in the studio, filming him from a variety of different angles and
compositions. I also divided my footage up and included more narrative
shots of my characters Victor and Sam to make the narrative parts of my
music video appear longer. I also received several suggestions and ideas
from my peers Sophie and Geeta, including:
-

Video of Geeta and Sophie

I found these responses to be incredibly helpful as they were fellow media

students, providing me with excellent and critical feedback as they have
made similar products themselves. After receiving feedback I made
various changes including colour grading which Geeta suggested as she
believed many colours were missing in the video. I decided to use the
Fast Colour Corrector Tool and changed the colour of my footage, including
the hue angle and balance magnitude to create a blue tone to convey the
sad and emotional lyrics of the song.
Lastly, after I had finished an almost final draft of my music video I
decided to create another questionnaire through the online programme
Survey Monkey which enabled me to receive critical feedback from my
intended audience. In comparison to my initial questionnaire, I asked a
series of open questions such as Looking through my music video, what
areas of improvement do you believe I should alter to make my music
video look more professional and appealing?. Many of the comments
suggested I should spend more time on the performance parts of my
music video and create a diverse of camera shots to make my video seem
more interesting. Quite a few people also suggested I should use the
editing tool Warp Stabiliser on Adobe Premiere Pro as there are parts of
the video which jump to other bits and there are some scenes which are
shaky. Taking these comments on board, I decided to spend more time
editing my music video. After I had completed another shoot with Aaron in
the studio, I decided to edit these particular scenes using the tool Warp
Stabiliser I found this to very helpful and effective as I had used a steadicam when filming which caused my footage to be a little bit shaky. I also
created effective zooms, changing the scale and position of my footage to
create interesting and effective camera movements.

As well as open questions, I also asked several closed questions such as

Do you believe the music video fits with the genre of music and artist - Ed
Sheeran? This question was really important to ensure my music video
fitted with the key conventions of Ed Sheerans music videos. The results
showed that all the participants voted yes conveying my music video fit
the purpose and genre of typical indie/pop music videos. I also asked my
audience to rate my music video out of 5 Using any number from 1 to 5,
where 1 is extremely poor and 5 is excellent, what number would you use
to rate the overall quality of my music video? All of the participants chose

either 4 or 5, which suggested I was doing the right thing and with more
improvements would make a superb final music video.
Overall, I found the most vital format of audience feedback has been
conferring with my peers in order to get a media-influenced, critical view
and also from the clarification of this feedback from my teacher to get an
opinion from someone with an expertise. In conclusion, without the
amount of feedback I have received throughout the project, I feel I would
not have been able to create as effective products that would cater to a
specific audience as much as I have already done.
Q4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
The emergence of digital technology has affected our lives in many ways
and has become a vital creation for all media texts, enabling audiences to
maximise their productivity and enhance their quality of work.
When filming my music video, I used the DSLR camera Canon 550D and a
16GB high capacity SD card. This enabled me to hold around 60 minutes
of footage compared to a tape camera which typically holds around
15minutes worth of footage. Furthermore, as I was using a digital camera
as opposed to analogue, it meant that I was able to instantly review my
footage through the digital viewfinder, avoiding the need to re-shoot. For
most of my footage, I used a prime aperture lens of 1.8mm. This particular
lens allows a greater amount of light in and by utilizing a wide aperture
range I was able to shoot with shallow focus; perfect for my intention of
heavy reliance on close ups. The lens also enabled me to create clear,
crisp shots making a very professional looking music video overall. I also
ensured manual-focus was enabled which allowed me to create some
effective focus pulls for smooth transitions in order to manipulate where
the audience look on a certain shot. I particularly used this tool for the
narrative sequences of my music video including one of the scenes at the
beginning of my music video where the camera focuses on an out of focus
shot of the chessboard. In addition to this, I used 800W Redhead Studio
Lights during the performance parts of my music video. The use of lighting
played a significant part in the marking of my music video as the drama
studio at school is very dark and is surrounded by black walls. I primarily
used the lights as background lighting, creating a spotlight effect on my
main protagonist Aaron, producing a soft and calm effect and placing the
audiences attention on him. Overall, the skills I employed during the
production process of my music video allowed me to create a significant
amount of the look I intended for my finished music video.
During the post-production stage of my music video, the most important
aspect of digital technology was the software Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.
Due to my intention being to ensure the protagonist stood out from the
narrative sequences, I decided to use the Fast Color Corrector Tool. I firstly

created an adjustment layer and selected the tool. From this, I then
changed the color of my footage including; the hue angle -0.0, balance
magnitude -30.68, balance gain 20.00, balance angle 30.1 and
saturation 72.00 in order to create a blue tone, making the video seem
more sad and emotional to support the visuals of the song. Another tool I
used was the speed/duration tool. I particularly used this tool to slow
down particular sections of my footage to keep with the pace of the song.
For example, I decreased the pace of the footage to 55% at the beginning
of my music video when the camera tilts from the sky to focus on the
house as the instrumental is very slow and steady. Furthermore, as some
of my shots were filming using a Steadicam, I found some of my footage
to be a little bit shaky. To adjust these issues I used the Warp Stabilizer
Tool in Adobe After Effects. This enabled me smoothen out my footage and
make it less shaky. Finally with regards to workflow, I was able to use the
multiple layers functions in Adobe Premiere enabling me to separate my
difference scenes prior to final render.
As part of the course requires you not only to create a piece of moving
image but also print, I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 to edit my images for
Magazine Album Advertisement and Digipak. The software includes a
selection of different tools which helped me to ensure my photos stood
out and looked aesthetically pleasing. One of the main tools I used was
the black and white tool. As part of my music video is filmed in black and
white I decided to edit my images in this particular style. I also used the
brightness and contrast tool as my photos looked a little too dark.
Whilst conducting my initial planning and research tasks, I primarily used
the Internet Web 2.0 including the online programs; Scribd, Slideshare
and Blogger to present my work. As I had previously used these selected
programs before during my foundation portfolio, I found the process to be
very easy and stress-free. I found Scribd and Slideshare to be most useful
as they enabled me to upload Microsoft Word and PowerPoint publications
and embed them on my blog. The programs also allowed me to share my
work with others and create a neat, straight-forward presentation. Another
online program I used was Prezi, which is a cloud-based presentation
software tool used for presenting ideas on a virtual canvas. I mainly used
this program for the planning and research stage of my music video to
create artistic publications. The program was very helpful as it enabled
me to easily return back to the software if I made a mistake or needed to
edit it. Furthermore, the software would automatically save after the
changes you make, making it easier for me without having to worry about
forgetting to save the presentation. I particularly used the program for
detailed documents including the The Narrative Structure of my music
video as I able to easily show a step-by-step guide through my music
video with the use of arrows for easy navigation.
Finally, the main program I used was blogger. The website enabled me to
place all my work online so other students and teachers could access the
work I had completed. I found this website very useful as if I was unsure of
what to do I would look at my peers work and see the different

presentations that I needed to completed. Overall, I believe the different

programs and software I used helped create a diverse within my work and
provided me with a lot more knowledge than if I had kept all my
presentation on single print based programs such as Microsoft word or
PowerPoint.