In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Referring back Andrew Goodwin’s theory we can really see how my music video takes shape with the different types of close up shots to represent the star motif and the relationship between lyrics and visuals. Throughout the music video we can see how the lyrics and visuals really connect with each other with that one telephone being something very dominant in all three settings of the music video, we see how the character shows she is trying to get through to her partner however the phone keeps on taking her to voicemail and she is beginning to become fed up of the partner not picking up the phone. We literally see her slowly depict into madness with the final scene of the character laughing and crying at the same time giving us the impression that she doesn’t have an happy ending. My music video is a non- linear narrative, in my music video the narrative constructed in it, is mainly from todorovs theory where it is constructed with a beginning, middle and end. We see this from the beginning of the music video where the character starts off in daylight setting and then end it as a dark time setting this also follows Levis binary positions using day and night as it all comes into effect within the music video. We see how it starts off with a glamorous character with a lot props and a rather revealing sort of costume which goes to the stereotype of how a woman is represented in music videos, basing it on the lyrics is the way the character acts with it, in order for the lyrics and the visuals not to clash with each other. We don’t really see an equilibrium within the character but we do see it from the characters costume from the first scene, with the big feathered hat, the bright make-up , the high heels, shorts and fur coat, this shows a lot of life to the character however the characters acting is more of an dis-equilibrium , so even although my music video follows the todorov theory it doesn’t follow the todorov order and doesn’t necessarily include the recognition or preparation to go towards a new equilibrium as it does end with rather a angry, mad character , who has completely descends into madness due to her boyfriend not picking up the phone, we see this at the end and the conclusion of the music video. In the beginning we instantly see the dis-equilibrium from the character with a costume she should be happy in but rather she is unhappy and in the second scene we begin to see the dis-equilibrium of the character as she speaks to the answer phone, and also holds onto the teddy bear quite tight showing her desperation and also her emotion towards the fact her boyfriend isn’t picking up the phone. When looking at Levis binary positions I have used different times of the day to also represent the normal and strange as we see the character develop into complete madness. The last scene we can see how the costume has change and also the make-up and the setting. It is more of a dark scene with mainly a black, dark surrounding, as black does follow the stereotypical meaning of death, and also depression, but even also emos as, emos express themselves through the colour black. So I gave the character a kind of emo look with the black dress and black dark make-up, we see how she cries and laughs at the same time with the screen split in floor showing all different types of emotions and behaviour within the music video. The dis-equilibrium plays its to roll very well throughout out the who sequence and we see how the final ending todorov suggests doesn’t come in , so there is no new equilibrium, meaning my music video evidently challenges todorovs theory to a music video and how it should be. My music video has been really influenced by Beyonces music video – “Why don’t you love me.” The theme of the music video is very fast paced, and has different settings into each one with the red chair that she constantly walks around and also the scene when she is on the phone crying and smoking. This is my intertextual reference as you can see I have taken ideas from beyonces music video and developed it more, like the scene with the sofa, and I have the sofa in the middle of the nowhere, this really draws the attention to the viewer of why there is a sofa in the middle of nowhere outside, it is strange and also weird and this is the type of thing that draws people in, to want to watch my music video.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The combination of the main product and ancillary texts are quite effective. During shooting the main product I had taken a lot of photographs throughout the whole process. So this has helped me use the photographs that I had taken for my ancillary texts. Such as photographs of the star motif at the location in the middle of nowhere on the black sofa. Normally a media production will come out before any sort of ancillary text such as the magazine advert or the CD Single. So using photographs from the video shoot for the ancillary texts are very effective as people will instantly notice who the artist is and what song is being sold as a single. The combination of the main product and the ancillary texts is that they really relate to each other, and the media production is still kept alive within the ancillary texts. As with the ancillary texts you have about 17 photographs used on the front cover of it to show different shots of the star motif and then the title of the song in big font and the name of the artist in a reasonable sized font as the title of the song is more important than the name of the artist for the single. The magazine advert is very eye-catching, with the colours used and also the contrasts used within the magazine advert. 66.7% of the people who had taken the questionnaire on the rough draft were females. This was expected as the song of the media production is mainly aimed at females that go through these type of problems with some men and their attitude to not picking up their phones. To really create my star motifs image I have made these ancillary texts more than creative with the type of colour scheme I have used throughout. The colour pink really represents the star motif and gives her, her star images the magazine advert mainly consists of the colour pink and also the CD its self mainly consists of the colour pink. For example an artist by the name of Nicki Minaj her star motif is mainly created through the pink lipstick she wears and has influenced millions of people today to wear bright pink lipstick. The star image I have shown towards the audience is that the star motif is known for the wild colour make up, the tattoo on her stomach and her yet to be famous music video, as the magazine advert is a photograph from the first scene of the music video. The character of the music video has represented as a very glamorous musician with the platform heels, feather earrings, the eyelashes, the fur coat and and the fur carnival hat, this costume really makes a big statement to us viewers showing she has her own style such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna do as Lady Gaga is known for her very quirky, weird out of the ordinary costumes and Rihanna is known for her type of short hairstyles and also red hair, this all builds up the star image for the star motif.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
From my audience feedback I have learnt that from the survey monkey for my rough draft of the media production a majority of people thought that the media production was excellent, thought there were a wide range of media shots, 66.7% said they would recommend the media production to a friend to watch and also they thought that the way the character played the role in the music video was excellent by a majority of votes. 83.3% voted that without being told what genre the media production is, they instantly referred the media production back to the R’n’B genre. Which is a good thing as this is the type of feedback I was looking for, from the audience it was aimed at. 83.3% of the people who had taken my questionnaire were 17 – 19 years old of age which was the audience this media production has been aimed at. In my final media production the audience feedback has been quite positive from a lot of people liking the music video which I posted on my facebook and the feedback from YouTube where I have about 100 views, were positive feedbacks. The significance of the audience feedback I have received has really influenced me to get the final product that I have to its finishing point by knowing what type of shots I need more in my music video and the different types of edits that are needed within the music video. Audience feedback has been highly important as it lets me know where I am going wrong and where I am going right and it helped me to make changes to music video.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
I used the Goodwin theory within my media production by clearly showing the beginning, middle and end. We can see that from the beginning of the media production it starts off nice and smoothly and within the day light, this is the first scene of the music video. When it gets to the second scene we begin to see the characters emotions start pouring out and she also begins to become quite emotional and vulnerable as she hugs on to the teddy bear. Then in the third scene we can see how the character has completely lost the plot, with the costume she’s wearing the dark make-up and her acting in general. She comes across as if she has turned mad by laughing and crying at the same time within the media production, this gives viewers the idea that the conclusion of the girl’s boyfriend not picking up the phone has turned her completely mad. I have used Photoshop throughout for my ancillary texts for my CD cover and also my magazine advert. I have used tools in Photoshop such as the airbrushing tool, flame brush, cloning, liquefy, surface blur, monochrome effect and also the brightness, contrast, and vibrance effect to get my magazine advert and also my CD cover looking the way they are now. I planned my media production by starting off with a story board and with this story board I drew it on paper and then filmed it and made it as a video with imovie and using the track to put on top of it. Even although I drew this story board, my media production came out nothing like the story board and it was rather planned out more as I went along shooting the music video, as I kept on developing different types of ideas for my music video. To develop my music video the way it came out I researched different artists music videos such as Ashanti for my genre analysis and Rihanna for ideas for my star motifs and also the music video by beyonce “If I were A Boy.” All this researched helped me result in the music video produced. From the editing of the music video to the types of shots that’s were used in the media production and also the way it styled the music video, with the quirky types of costumes and also the props that I used for my music video such as the old school telephone, the sofa in the middle of nowhere, the teddy bear, and unnecessary props in the shots just to add that extra effect to it. I have looked through youtube music videos to refer back to one particular one for my music video which is Beyonce “Why don’t you love me” My intertextual reference and on facebook where I received positive feedback on my music video.
