Question 3 - Miss Georgiou

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

 

 

(written answer to question 3)
There were several ways in which we received audience feedback for our music video, for example, the use of focus groups and questionnaires helped us to identify what our target audience would want to see in an ideal indie music video including the use of an easily accessible location such as the park or train station as this would help to make the video more relatable because it is likely that they would have been to these places themselves. These types of locations are also conventional as indie is not a mainstream genre of music and will not have a huge following, therefore indie artists will not make a lot of money that can be spent on hiring out a studio or using a green screen when creating a music video to make the location appear more exotic. A prime example of this is the music video for Ellie Goulding's song 'how long will I love you' as the majority of this video is set outdoors and in locations such as the train station and forest, which gives the audience the impression that she lives a more natural, down to earth lifestyle. This is subversive of how they would expect someone like Goulding to be due to the fact that the music industry is popular and for that reason can be very wealthy, therefore the audience would expect someone who is high up and well known in the industry to live a wealthy lifestyle.
I feel as though YouTube was the best way to receive feedback from the target audience as the application is easy to use and can be used on a worldwide scale, therefore the music video will be able to reach a worldwide audience. Another benefit of YouTube is that it can show us the number of likes and dislikes that the video received and allowed the audience to comment their opinions beneath the video, which we received notifications about, thus helping us to stay aware of how our target audience were reacting to our video.
The target audience were important to consider during the production stage because they were the ones who could determine the success of the video and the artist herself. This feedback would benefit my production as it would help me to improve the rough cut of the music video and enable me to identify and change aspects that the audience may not like, thus helping to make the final video more appealing to the audience. This was important for me to do because if the audience like the video they are going to be more likely to recommend it or want to watch it again themselves, which has the potential to boost the success of the artist. Moreover, YouTube can link into social media such as Facebook which is becoming a prominent aspect of our society today, therefore this gives me the ability to increase the exposure of my music video. The audience have the option to share the video via social media, and if they do the video will have the potential to reach new audiences of people who may not know who the artist is and will therefore be likely to never have seen the video had it not been shared.
One reason for audience feedback is to foreshadow the success of my product as the audience have the ability to express their likes and dislikes regarding the rough cut of my product onto YouTube, therefore I will gain a better understanding of the aspects that I need to improve in order to ensure that my video appeals to the audience who I am hoping will buy her music. Also, by participating in small focus groups with people from within my target audience I was able to receive face to face constructive comments which meant my audience could clearly express their detailed opinions allowing me to gain a better understanding of exactly what I needed to improve on so that I could target and change these specific areas, for example, one of the constructive comments that I received was the need to include more elements of performance within the music video, however, I purposely decided to make the video heavily narrative based in order to express the deeper meaning of the song and lyrics which is conventional to the indie genre because indie artists are often perceived as writing their own music based on real life experiences, therefore the lyrics are personal and relate directly to the artist which allows the audience to get to know more about the artist. Moreover, lyrics can often be quite ambiguous, therefore the use of a narrative clarifies to the audience what the lyrics actually mean and helps to give the song more meaning. After receiving this comment I decided to include more aspects of performance in the video to break up the longer sections of narrative, for example, in between the shots of the artist and the male character saying goodbye before he went off to war. Adding more performance to the video was easy to do because while we were filming we filmed extra footage of the artist singing to the camera in case we ran short of narrative or needed to include more visuals of the artist just singing. The use of performance shows the audience visuals of the artist which helps to clarify who she is and what she looks like which is beneficial to the artist because she is new to the music industry, therefore not many people will know who she is. Our artist will need to expose herself in order to build up a loyal fan base of people who are going to buy into her music and increase her chance of being successful within the industry.
Another constructive comment that I received for the rough cut was that the audience could not identify a set colour theme throughout the video. This was partly due to the fact that my group had decided that the lighting would become more lower key as the video progressed in order to show the audience that the narrative was developing (suggested by the fact that the lighting was becoming darker), for example, the audience can see that the male character dies towards the end of the video, which is followed by the artist scattering his ashes. These particular scenes are not intended to make the audience feel happy but to show them that there is a deeper meaning behind the lyrics, for example, the line 'the darkest fairy-tale' arguably foreshadows the death scene and will make them feel more emotional when they watch the video which I felt would help to make the video more memorable. However, after looking back over our music video I have decided to enhance the filters that we have already added to the video such as 'combat' in order to make them more visible to the audience. I feel as though by making the used filters more obvious, the audience will be able to understand the mood of the narrative better and see clearly how the artist is portrayed as feeling during specific points within the video.
A positive comment received was that the audience liked the use of fades and transitions between the shots in the video, for example, the most common transition used in the video was cross dissolve. Achieving a smooth transition between scenes was important because they helped the video to flow better which makes it easier for the audience to watch as it helps to make the video feel more like a short film rather than a music video. I also felt that a clearly explained and performed narrative was more likely to be remembered by the audience when compared to only including visuals of the artist singing which they would be able to see in all of her other music videos, therefore this video would have lost its originality. The story would help the music video feel more personal to the artist because it feels as though she has put thought into the music video and has taken the time to plan out a personal story that she wanted to share with the audience.
Another positive comment that I received regarding my music video was that the audience enjoyed how detailed and clear the narrative was. The idea of a using a narrative conforms to the indie genre as indie music videos are often heavily narrative based because indie artists are known for writing their own songs based on real life experiences which makes them more personal to the artist and are usually used to express a deeper meaning to the song which can then be expressed to the audience through the use of visuals. Receiving a positive comment regarding the narrative was important due to the fact that a lot of time was spent on deciding on a storyline and ensuring that the story would compliment the lyrics to the song we had chosen, therefore it would have been disappointing had the audience not liked or understood the narrative.

Question 4 - Miss Georgiou

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

New media technologies refers to the use of blogger, YouTube, Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop CS6 and an SLR camera throughout the various stages of production. The use of media technologies was vital to the success of not only the music video, but the artist as well due to the fact that we were required to create 2 ancillary products (a magazine advert and digipak) in order to advertise and promote the artist to the audience through the use of images that allow the audience to see what she looks like and her name and list of her song names that show the audience what they can expect to hear on the album. Artists often release singles before the actual album, therefore if the artist has listened to some of these singles before and like them, they will be more likely to want to buy the entire album.
During the research stage, for example, the use of blogger provided us with a place to go to in order to confirm and lay out our ideas and to remind ourselves of what needed to be done in order to finish the music video. The use of Google was important when it came to identifying different artists such as Ed Sheeran and Gabrielle Aplin from within our chosen music genre because it enabled us to visit the homepage of these artists, as well as iTunes where we could listen to their existing music, both of which helped us to gain a better understand of their individual style. Moreover, we were required to use YouTube in order to watch existing and successful music videos from the researched artists in order to identify common features from within all of them, for example, in the song 'wings' by Birdy, 'home' by Gabrielle Aplin and 'how long will I love you' by Ellie Goulding the audience are shown close up shots of these artists in order introduce them as the artist into the music video, allow the audience to see what they look like and how they are feeling at specific points within the music video, and to give the video more of a personal feel due to the fact that the close up exposed the artist to the audience, therefore they understood exactly what her emotions were.
During the planning stage, blogger was also used in order to record our group meetings such as the creation of our storyboard and initial ideas so that we had something to refer back to in order to remind ourselves of what needed to be done in order to complete our music video before the deadline and to provide evidence that our final production was actually our own. Moreover, the use of a digital camera and tripod were required when we carried out the photo shoot whereby we took images of the artist to use for the ancillary products (the magazine advert and digipak) that were to be used for the advertisement and promotion of the artist and her album. This was important due to the fact that we had to make sure the audience were aware of who she was and when her album was going to be released in order to maximise her sales and success and aid her longevity within the music industry.
The construction stage was arguably the most important when using new technologies such as Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop, YouTube converter, iTunes and a green screen. A positive of using Final Cut Pro X was that it allowed me to divide up the sections of narrative and performance which helped to make the video more interesting for the audience to watch. Foremost, the use of performance allows the artist to show off her talents such as her ability to play a music instrument which the audience may appreciate as it shows them how committed she is to her music due to the fact that it often takes a lot of time and effort to learn how to play. This may be subversive of what the audience would expect of an artist due to the fact that the music industry is a wealthy industry, therefore people within the industry are often known for being wealthy and people may question whether they do what they do because of the money. On the other hand, the use of a narrative helps to express the deeper meaning of the lyrics to a song due to the fact that the visuals often tell the audience a story and explain to them what the lyrics actually mean. To achieve this division I was required to crop the selected footage in order to make sure it was an appropriate length so that we only incorporated the visuals that were needed. Moreover, it was important for the shots to transition quickly and smoothly due to the fact that we had to tell the audience a story within the space of 3-5 minutes. On the other hand, a struggle when using Final Cut Pro X was making the filters such as 'combat' strong enough for the audience to see due to the fact that I kept the % at which they were applied quite low. I made a purpose of not using too many filters due to the fact that I wanted to give the music video more of a realistic feel to it and to portray the artist as being more natural which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that the indie is often perceived as being old fashioned and not fitting into the mainstream, however, the genre is also more realistic and relatable for the everyday audience who are unable to the idea of wealth that is often associated with the music industry.
A benefit of using Photoshop (PCS6) was my ability to change the images of the artist so that they appear black and white in order to give the products more of an old fashioned feel which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that the genre is known for having a vintage feel and for not fitting into the mainstream like the pop genre. The colours black and white arguably connote the idea of the past which is conventional as indie artists often release songs that are based on real life experiences, therefore the ancillary text will feel more personal to the artist and will allow the audience to get to know more about her. Moreover, I was able to download fonts from 'dafont.com' onto Photoshop CS6, in particular, fonts with a handwritten and typed appearance due to the fact that I felt this style would help my ancillary texts to appear more personal because it looks as though the artist has written the information herself, this included her name and the name of the songs from her album. This is arguably conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music based on real life experiences, therefore the lyrics of the songs will relate directly to their life and be more personal to her allowing the audience to get to know more about her life. The use of a handwritten font such as 'Sunshine' and 'DK Lemon' for the song names could imply to the audience that she has written the songs herself.
Furthermore, a benefit of using an SLR camera is that enabled us to use more advanced and complex forms of cinematography such as shallow focus which can be seen in my music video when the artist is seen walking through a cornfield performing for the camera. In order to achieve this technique we positioned the camera on a tripod at the same height level as the artist herself, therefore the camera was directly facing her eye level. As she walked closer towards the camera, I turned the lens at the front of the camera so that the image of the artist gradually became clearer and the background blurred, thus causing the audience to focus directly on the artist and giving more movement to the visuals. Moreover, the quality of the images from an SLR camera were much better than that of a digital camera, therefore we were able to produce clear visuals of the artist which is beneficial for her and the audience due to the fact that she was new to the music industry, therefore not many people will have known who she was or what she looked like, however, now when they see her image they will be able to recognise her in other aspects of the media which will potentially increase her exposure and boost her longevity within the industry. Furthermore, due to the fact that indie is not mainstream, indie artists will not make a lot of money therefore it will be unlikely that they will be able to afford high quality equipment to film with, however, the SLR camera will help the video to appear as though it has been created with expensive, high quality equipment, thus giving the video more of a profession feel to it. On the other hand, one thing I struggled with when using the SLR was keeping the camera stable due to the windy and outdoors environment that we were filming in, therefore I had to use the stabilising tool in Final Cut Pro X by selecting these specific sections of the video and dragging 'stabilisation' onto it.
In conclusion, new media technologies were important when creating my music video and ancillary texts (magazine advert and digipak) due to the fact that I had to think more about the branding of the artist in order to ensure her longevity within the music industry due to the fact that her career and relationship with the audience is more on-going in the sense that even after the music video has finished she will continue to produce music for the audience to buy. Moreover, the narrative within the music video relates directly to the artist due to the fact that indie artists will often write their own music which suggests that when the audience see her in the music video she is being herself rather than a made up character, thus allowing the audience to get to know the real her. The use of a close up image of the artist in both my ancillary texts and music video helps to give these products more of a personal feel due to the fact that the audience can clearly see what she looks like and how she is feeling which is beneficial to the artist due to the fact that she is new to the music industry, therefore not many people will know who she is. Now, however, the audience know what she looks like and will therefore be more likely to recognise her in other aspects of the media. It is also important that the audience know who's music they are buying into so that they have someone that they can relate the songs to. The main software's used for the evaluation stages of the production were YouTube and Final Cut Pro X, for example, the rough cut of my music video was uploaded onto YouTube 2 weeks before the deadline so that we could received target audience feedback in regards to what they liked and disliked about the music video so far and how we could improve it, therefore we had the chance to go back over the video on Final Cut Pro X where we had created the video and change the identified weaknesses of the music video in order to help our finalised music video appeal to the target audience.

Question 2 - Miss Georgiou

Media evaluation question

Question 2 – how effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

(The written answer for my question)

The main product refers to our music video for the song ‘Salvation’ by Gabrielle Aplin and the ancillary texts refer to our magazine advert and digipak which were created after researching and planning our chosen artist and music genre in order to establish a better understanding of their individual styles and the conventions of the genre, for example, we analysed an existing advert for Gabrielle Aplin and her debut album ‘English rain’ which included a long shot image of her standing in a field which we identified as being unconventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists often produce music that is personal and relates directly to their lives, but a long shot image creates a sense of mystery about her, which she was in the sense that she was new to the music industry, therefore not many people will have known who she was or what she looked like, however, this may have enticed them into wanting to buy her album in order to find out more about her.

In my advanced portfolio I was required to research and analyse the indie genre, for example, successful artists and music videos from within the genre in order to identify the various elements that are conventional to them all, for instance, indie artists are often represented as being more realistic and relatable through the use of affordable clothing and easily accessible locations. Indie is not the most popular genre of music due to the fact that it does not fit into the mainstream, therefore indie artists will not make a huge amount of money that can be spent on hiring out of studios to film their music videos in or for buying designer goods such as branded clothing. In my 3 products (the music video, digipak and magazine advert) I feel as though I have created an artist whom the audience will be able to relate to especially where she can be seen wearing affordable clothing such as a grey dress and black leggings which suggests that she is not trying to flaunt the money that she does have.
I was inspired by Ed Sheeran’s magazine advert for his album ‘+’ to use a close up image of my artist for the cover of my own magazine advert due to the fact that it gave the advert more of a personal feel because the artist is completely exposed to the audience in the sense that she has nowhere to hide due to the fact that the audience can see exactly what she looks like and how she is feeling because of her facial expressions. This is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music based on real life experiences, therefore they are exposed in the sense that the lyrics of their songs will relate directly to their life and will be sharing personal information about the artist with the audience. This will appeal to the audience due to the fact that they will feel as though the artist trusts them with this information and views them more as a friend, rather than just one of the hundred people sitting behind the screen watching the music video. When creating my own individual magazine advert, I decided to use a close up image of her face as this would allow me to introduce my artist by ensuring that she is the first thing that the audience can see which was important to do due to the fact that she is new to the music industry, therefore she will need to establish an audience who is going to buy into her music and who she will be able to target her future music at. She will be able to gain a better understanding of what this audience find appealing in a music video which will help her to become more successful as she will be able to direct her music at this audience who will enjoy her music videos more as she will have included aspects that the audience want to see in them.
In my individual digipak I decided to use a long shot image of my artist walking through a cornfield due to the fact that the use of an easily accessible location such as the park is conventional to the indie genre because these types of places are cheaper to film in which is beneficial to indie artists who do not make a lot of money, therefore they will be unable to spend a load of money hiring out a studio to film in. Moreover, the audience themselves may have been to these places themselves, therefore they will find it easier to relate to the video. I was inspired to use this type of location after analysing Gabrielle Aplin’s digipak for her debut album ‘English rain’ because the use of a long shot image helped to create a sense of mystery about her due to the fact that, similar to the artist who I was promoting, she was new to the music industry, therefore she was a mystery in the sense that not many people will have know who she was. This may have encouraged the audience to buy her album in order to find out more about her due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music based on real life experiences, therefore the lyrics of their songs will relate directly to their own lives
There were various conventions that I decided to use in my ancillary text in order to make my products realistic to and recognisable within the indie genre such as the use of a close up and handwritten fonts to give the products more of an emotional and personal feel. The artist (Gabrielle Aplin) that I decided to create a music video for had her own individual style which consisted of being quite casual and natural, therefore I wanted this style to be evident in my own music video and ancillary texts which I feel as though I achieved through the use of affordable clothing such as leggings and a plain, grey dress and the visuals of everyday locations such as the park and the location of a house which is a place that everybody will know and be able to relate to. Moreover, because Aplin already had an established audience, I wanted them to be able to see my products and associate them with her. This is due to the fact that I felt as though more people would wanted to buy the product or be interested to see my own interpretation of one of her songs which therefore has the potential to increase the exposure of my music video as they may recommend watching it to their friends whom are also interested in Gabrielle Aplin.
A convention that can be seen in my magazine advert was the use of handwritten fonts such as DK Lemon and Sunshine for the written information including the artist name and the list of song names included on the album. This is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music based on real life experiences, therefore the songs will be more personal to them. Furthermore, the handwritten font will make the audience feel as though the artist has taken the time to write the information themselves similar to the way they write their own music, therefore the audience will believe that the artist is completely committed to their music and that they produce their music in order to please their fans. The audience are arguably one of the most important aspects of the music industry due to the fact that without them an artist would have no one to buy their music, thus making it impossible for them to be successful. Another convention that can be seen in my magazine advert is the representation of my artist being realistic and relatable which was achieved through the use of affordable clothing such as a grey dress and black leggings due to the fact that the indie genre does not fit into the mainstream, therefore indie artists will not make a huge amount of money and do not tend to care too much about keeping up with current fashion trends because they are too focused on their music which is arguably why they are often perceived as always being on the road. Furthermore, in the image the audience can see that the artist is sitting in front of a brick wall which implies that she is in an isolated location which is also conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists do not make a huge amount of money because the genre does not fit into the mainstream and will therefore only appeal to a select group of people, therefore they cannot afford to hire out high quality studios or exotic locations, however, this arguably portrays them as being more relatable for the audience who are likely to have been to these places themselves because of how common they are.
The first convention that I have used on my digipak is the use of the colours black and white for the side profile image of the artist. The use of the colours black and white is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that it is often perceived as being old fashioned and as not fitting into the mainstream which is arguably why indie is not the most popular genre of music. The use of these colours will help me to show the audience the relationship between my digipak and my music video during which we included a flashback at the beginning of which connotes the idea of going back in time, which we felt conformed to the indie genre which is often perceived as being old fashioned and would help us to make the video appear as though we are showing the audience a memory from the artist which is conventional to the genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music based on real life experiences which therefore allow the audience to get to know more about them. We also felt the flashback would make our video more interesting to watch due to the fact that it shows the audience two different stories joining together which would help us to hook the audience and keep them curious when wanting to know the relevance of the elderly character in regards to the narrative and other characters. The flashback was important to our music video due to the fact that it helped us to develop our narrative by explaining to the audience who the elderly lady seen at the beginning of the video is by going back in time and showing her journey to the present day. Another convention that I have used on my digipak is a close up image of the artist which can be seen on the front cover. This will be the first thing that the audience see when they look at the digipak, therefore they will immediately be introduced to her as being the artist and will therefore be more likely to recognise her face if they see her in other aspects of the media. Moreover, the image of her face is positioned directly below her name therefore the audience will have no doubt about who she is which implies successful branding and advertising due to the fact that after seeing the digipak the audience will be able to associate the name of the artist with her face. The use of a close up image of her face is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music based on real life experiences, therefore the lyrics on the song will be more personal to the artist as they will relate directly to their life and will tell the audience things about them that they may not already know.
Overall, I feel as though all of my 3 media products promote my artist effectively to my target audience, for example, the use of close up's in all 3 products, especially at the beginning of the music video and for the front covers of my ancillary texts, the audience are able to see clearly what my artist looks like and how she is feeling. This was important for me to do due to the fact that my artist was new to the music industry, therefore not many people will have known who she was, however, after seeing these close up's they will be more likely to be able to recognise her in other aspects of the media, thus constantly increasing her exposure. The use of a close up is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music based on real life experiences, therefore the lyrics of their songs will be personal to them in the sense that they will relate directly to their lives, similar to the way a close up is considered personal due to the fact that the artist is completely visible to the audience. Another way in which I have promoted my artist effectively is her portrayal as being more relatable and realistic through the use of affordable clothing such as a baggy grey jumper which she can be seen wearing in the image on the cover of my magazine advert and everyday locations such as the park as these are places that the audience may visit on a regular basis. This may appeal to the audience more because they will often associate people within the music industry as being wealthy and as living expensive lifestyles, however, they themselves will often work average paying jobs and basic lifestyles.