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

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What have you learnt from audience feedback?

As a way of gathering feedback I had to come up with a range of ways to gather some comments about my music video and take note of the thoughts and reactions of the audience, as well as whether my music video was successful in general in terms of the genre it was associated with. I was hoping to put my music video on Facebook so that it could be accessed and commented on by large numbers of people. However, after a long thought on this idea, I concluded that it would not be a wise idea. I believe that if it was on Facebook, some people may not comment in a mature manner which I could then use in my evaluation.  As a result, I decided to gather a focus group. The focus group consisted of ten people being my family and friends. Their ages were between 17-50 so the general feedback from the individuals was not very one sided in terms of age, but rather varied. In terms of gender, the focus group concisted of mainly young women. However, I did include my father, two uncles and my cousin.The questions I included were aimed to produce both qualitative and quantitative data. I believe that this would product a good variation of feedback which I can then organise and compare.

1. What genre would you classify my music video as? Please tick more than one box if needed.

This was a highly important question in the questionnaire as it is vital for the audience to recognise what genre my music video is, and it would also highlight whether the conventions of the R&B genre that I have included has shone through, therefore making it successful. Here are the results shown below:

As shown in the graph above, 14 out of 15 people would associate my music video with the R&B genre and only one ticked the genre of Pop. This indicates that the conventions that I have used in my music video reflect the genre of R&B to the audience which I was extremely happy about.

2. What aspects of my music video would influence you to think it is associated with this particular genre?

This was also an important question in the questionnaire as it was vital for me to know what conventions caught their attention the most. A large number of  participants stated some of the conventions which I had included. For example, one person stated “A female protagonist presented as vulnerable is something that we would usually see in R&B genre music videos. I remember watching Rihanna’s Unfaithful which is really similar to this”. Another participant said “the flashback with black and white effect birthday cake scene really reminds me of Mariah Carey’s music video ‘Love Story’. On the other hand, one of the participants stated that the song was an indicator to the genre. This may suggest that the conventions were not as highly recognisable as they should have been, or may merely of been because they were not aware of the conventions of the R&B genre.

3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of my music video?

This question enabled me to reflect on my work as a whole and what others think about it. This question allows the focus group to write about any negative aspects of my music video which they believe I could of improved on, but also comment on any aspects which they believe I had done really well. There was a large amount of feedback to this question, but some in particular said that “I really like the breaking glass bit. I love how its in time with the music and I believe it really puts emphasis on how the girl is torn apart and literally broken into pieces.” Another participant stated that “There is so much emotion in the music video. The beginning section really works well to show how far the protagonist has come in comparison to the flashback”. One person commented on the lip-syncing and said “it was really in time with the song”. Some comments on the negative aspects of my music video were on how I could of cut shots to the beat a little more often.

4. What genre of music do you listen to? Please tick more than one box if needed.

The aim of this question was to discover what genre of music people in the focus group liked to listen to. This would portray what percentage of the focus group were familiar with the R&B genre, and would allow me to see whether that influenced any of their comments in the questionnaire. Some people ticked more than one box; here are the results below:

I was happy with the results as a large number of the group had ticked R&B which made me conclude that there would not be a large amount of misunderstanding of what conventions the R&B genre commonly consists of.

5. What music channels do you watch?

This question also followed on from the previous question and was included for the same reasons as before. The majority of the focus group noted channels such as Chart Show, Flava and MTV. However, there were a few which wrote down ‘Kerrang’ and ‘MTV Dance‘. As a large number of the participants wrote down channels such as Chart Show and Flava, I felt happy that the majority should be aware of the R&B conventions through watching those music channels which are very R&B orientated.

6. What music channel do you think my music video is more likely to be shown on? 

Every questionnaire stated that they were more likely to see my music video on channels such as MTV, Chart Show and Flava. I was very happy with the results as these programmes consist of mainly R&B music, and I believe would fit my music video extremely well.

7.  Overall, what would you rate my music video out of 10? (1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest). 

Digipak and Advert

Another way in which I gathered data was through gathering my members of class and asking them to annotate around my digipak and advert. The feedback consisted of mainly what they thought worked really well, what they thought did not work well, conventions that they noticed that I had used etc. Here is an image of the brainstorm:

For my advert, a number of people commented on the boldness of the artists name and the fact that it is very eye-catching. Others picked up on the artist being presented as "dangerous" and referred to the artist as "femme fatale". Overall, I was happy with the feedback as I believe people have picked up very well on the conventions that I have tried to incorporate into my advert. On the feedback regarding my digipak, many people commented on the font, the overall image that the artist is presenting. However, a criticism that was provided was on the advert, where someone noted that the bottom phrase "Including the hit song Leaving" could have stood out more and as a result, I definitely understand where the weaknesses are in my texts. 

To conclude, it is clear where the strengths and weaknesses stand. As a result of this task, I have understood the importance of audience feedback. The audience feedback really is the time where your work is judged and seen whether you have completed what the task was. I am very happy that many people highlighted the different conventions which I have included in my texts. I am glad that overall the texts that I have made are quite suited towards the genre of R&B. 

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Target Audience

Throughout the creation of my text I have kept in mind the aspects that would appeal to my target audience (consisting of young women around the ages of 15-25). Here is some points of my texts which I have highlighted as relating to my target audience. 

I have a used a number of items of clothing in order to appeal to the target audience. For example, in the beginning of my music video I used a mid-shot of the protagonist wearing a leopard print dressing gown which was purchased from Topshop. In my research into my target audience (shown previously) I collated the hobbies and interests of Amy Harlow. This item would attract someone such as Amy to my music video as this piece of clothing is sold in a shop that is her favourite. 

Similarly, this shot would also appeal to my target audience. Particularly in the winter, these thick knitted scarves are trendy and therefore would attract my target audience as they would have a passion for fashion. For example, this would relate very well to Amy who is also a student at the London College of Fashion. Also, the blazer that the protagonist would also attract my target audience blazers are a very smart but chic piece of clothing. 

The concept of love and relationships explored in my music video would also catch the attentions of my target audience. Whether they are currently in a relationship, or have had a break up, they may be more sympathetic towards the protagonist and can therefore relate to the music video. 

I have also tried to incorporate aspects which would be appealing to my target audience in my advert. Firstly, the fact that the artists face is on the front cover instantly acts as a brand identity, and associates with the music video where the artist is first seen, therefore making it appeal to the target audience who have watched the long and laborious journey that the protagonist has been on. Secondly, in the creation process of my advert, my aim was to make the main focus of the image the protagonists face. The artist relies on the use of make up to symbolise her fierceness and her animalistic personality as she is fighting her oppressive relationship. The make up would be attractive for the target audience as they have an interest into anything relating to beauty and fashion. The fact that the album names is "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" emulates the target audience into admiring the artist who shows such positivity and strength.  The text used is striking and bold, but also relates to more of a female target audience as the colours are quite feminine such as the pink. 

The album has also included aspects similar to those of my music video. The posture of the artist on the front cover presents her as dominant. This relates to the target audience who have one been in a relationship or a part of a break-up. The artist acts as a role model. The albums name "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" has the same affect of showing superiority, and showing women in a positive light. The aspect of make-up is also used in the front cover and back cover, where the leopard print eyelashes are clear. The writing on the back cover also presents a number of feminine colours that can relate to both male and females but mainly females through the use of pinks and purples. 

FInished Product

Over the past three lessons I have been working on my advert and the final product looks like this. Overall, I am happy with the result and believe that it looks very well next to the music video and digi-pak due to their similarities. I asked 5 members of my media class whether they thought that you can tell there were connections between all the texts and they replied that there was which was a positive note. I decided to use this image as I believe it fit in very well with the conventions of the R&B genre, and would be easy to associate to it. It presents the artist vulnerability through her head looking down, and it looks as if she is staring at the text which the girls commented on was quite interesting. Despite this vulnerable side of the artist present, this is juxtaposed with the use of the leopard print feather eyelashes, a theme used in all of my texts, which signifies a sense of rebellion and dominance of the artist. My chosen font text was called ‘Bebas Neue’ downloaded from www.dafont.com, as previously used in my digi-pak. I believe that it would work really work as it is bold and eye-catching. I reused the mocha colour which was also shown in my digi-pak of the artists name ‘Kassie’. I made sure that this was placed towards the middle of the frame and would be spotted first. I also increased the size so that it was more noticeable that the other texts in the image. Moreover, I used images of the iTunes and Amazon logo which would inform the audience where they can buy the album. The fact that I used such brands to advertise my product gives it an advantage as such companies would be willing to sell the album. One issue that I encountered with the advert was the layout. I was quite unsure on where I should place the layout so I gathered a group of girls and asked them their thoughts on the two different layouts which I then collated into a tally chart.

*Insert image of the adverts side by side*

The phrases "The new digipak including the hit song 'Leaving'" were initially placed in the same rotated position as the artists name along with the album name just underneath. The positioning of the image of the digipak left a blank section on the bottom left-hand corner which looked quite odd. As a result, I decided to rotate the text back to its normal position, and drag it more towards the bottom of the frame. However, this was not undergone without the advice of members of my class. I decided to put the two different images of the adverts side-by-side (one with the text underneath the album name, and the other positioned on the bottom left-hand side) and I gathered members of my class who then chose which one they thought would be better. After gathering the results, I organised them into a tally chart:

Planning and Ideas

After gaining more of an insight into the conventions of R&B genre adverts, I have been brainstorming a number of my own ideas for my advert. My first initial reaction to this task was that I did not want to use to same image as used on my digi-pak. I believe that this will be too repetitive and dull. I want to use an image that I have not used in my digi-pak to add some variety to my ancillary texts. I had another look at all the images that I had taken and have come up with a few options that I think would work well on the advert.

*Insert Images*

I have also been thinking about fonts. I believe that the font which I used for my digi-pak would work really well for my advert. It contains all the qualities that a font on an advert should; it is eye-catching, bold, and can easily be spotted from a good distance away. I am also thinking of using a variety of colours to help the advert stand out but I am hoping to avoid colours such as red as I think it would depict the wrong message. 

My aim is to achieve a strong advert which connects easily with both my music video and digi-pak. I want the artist to be perceived as strong and powerful, hence the use of the images I previously took using the leopard print feather eyelashes, but also differ from my digi-pak in which the image shows the artist as paramount and strong. 

Research - Adverts

Album adverts are used primarily to promote the sale of the album, whether it be physical copies or downloads. Album adverts usually only feature very basic information such as band/artist name, album name, release date and where abouts to purchase from. Everything is kept minimal; the colour scheme, the typeface, the layout and the information. Usually found on billboards, the internet and inside magazines, the idea is to keep the design simple yet recognisable. They are used to supplement the other forms of advertisement such as radio, talkshow appearances, music videos and television adverts. Most album adverts just feature one image which is usually of the album cover in order for the audience to identify the album quickly and easily. Occasionally, some adverts will include short quotes or ratings from music-related sources such as well-known magazines, newspapers or other artists. These one-sentence reviews and star ratings give the audience an insight into what to expect on the album. Also, it may boost the perception the audience have of the album before they even hear it if the reviews are positive and praising the record.

To gain a wider insight into the specific adverts of the R&B genre, I undertook some research into R&B adverts to help me with the creation process of mine.

One of the most prominent album advert is Rihanna’s ‘Rated R’ advert. The overall look of the visuals evokes  a sense of rebellion, dominance, and aggression. This look is created through the use of various techniques. For example, the lighting is very dark and there is a lack of colour. The aggressive look created in the advert is always but emphasis on  through the use of mise-en-scene of the make-up. Her hair has a very ‘rock-chick’ look to it. It is shaved on one side, maybe signifying her masculinity, and the rest of her hair is placed on the other side of her head, having a messy look to it. The heavy eyeliner makes the artists eyes look extremely bold, and creates quite an devilish look to the artist. The use of the black lipstick also has the same effect; the audience cannot depict any symbolism of innocence or purity but rather the opposite. It is clear that the artist wants to create a strong, masculine type look through their music video’s, digi-paks and adverts. This is supported by the view that the R&B genre has changed significantly. A typical convention of the R&B genre is the use a female protagonist who is commonly oppressed in a relationship. However, the modern R&B has gone through a number of changes; one in particular is the use of a female protagonist who is presented as quite masculine and superior. Although Rihanna is a prime example of this, other artists such as Ciara who takes the role of a man in her music video ‘Like A Boy’, and Beyonce ‘Run The World’ are other ideal examples.

 Moreover, her posture is strong but there is definitely an element of secrecy through the use of her covered face. Rihanna still uses her appearance to market the album, as she still looks attractive, although not using complete sex appeal to sell it. Aggression and a slightly depressive look is used to match the themes in the album with the advert, so the audience can expect to hear music that is similar to the vibe that they get from seeing the advert, they can also expect that the music won’t be the same genre that is in her usual albums and that the artist is experimenting with her music. The album advert has similar characteristics to that of a simple promotional advert, as Rihanna’s look is used to market the album as she is the centre of attention on the advert. As well as this, the information on the advert is clear and fits in with the ‘punk’ design of the advert, as well as making the advert look more interesting and still stands out. The use of text further depicts the overall vibe that the advert is giving to the audience. The text is bold, and extremely conspicuous. It is clear that the intentions of this advert is to definitely stand out, which is a common technique that Rihanna uses in her designs. The fact that Rihanna’s name is placed in the centre of the frame suggests that Rihanna’s image and name is used as a marketing tool, as she is such an established artist with a huge global fan base, she only needs herself to sell her music.

The main text visible on this CD album advert is the name of the album (Rated R), the name of the artist and her two famous songs ‘Russian Roulette’ and ‘Hard’, instantly enticing the audience to purchase it.  The font styles reflect the meaning of the album as all of the text is clearly visible in bold, unfeminine and edgy fonts (also in capital letters, which is more aggressive) and can suggest that the album contains more controversial and aggressive songs, maybe aiming at a slightly older target audience. The name of the songs ‘Russian Roulette’ and ‘Hard’ also depict a sense of danger . The ‘Rated R’ is also of significance as it relates to the PEGI rating system for films and video games (Rated 18 for example). The font is rough and untidy and the colours consist of black, white and red, colours which are very dull but also eye-catching.

 The cover is quite conventional, with the photograph of the artist large on the cover (highlighting that it’s the main selling point of the advert) and the text at the bottom. The order of importance is quite obvious on this CD album advert, mainly because of the size and colour of the different texts which make them stand out.

Creating the net.

As I have finished my digipak, it was time to transfer my digipak onto a net which we could then fold up and take pictures of to include in our adverts. 

Here is an image of what mine looked like:

To create the net my first step was to edit the pictures to make more like a net. For example, the image on the top right had to have a section cut out from the left hand side. Secondly, I inserted a slip onto the image which I then wrote 'Lyric Booklet' on. After that image was completed, I inserted a CD template onto the image on the top left for it to be the CD case. After all the editing was completed I created a new background and opened all the images separately in the background of the computer. I dragged the four images onto the white background and arranged them according to which would be the front, back etc. The last step was to rotate the two images at the top 180 degrees making it upside down.

This was an entirely new thing for me as I have never done this before, but it really made me realise how all the small aspects of the production does make a large amount of difference. Next lesson, the plan is to start researching on adverts.