Evaluation

For my A2 Media Studies, I had to produce a music video by recreating an artist’s music video, using my own ideas and imagination. I had to choose to ancillary texts to do for my product, which was a six section of a digipac and a website to promote my music video. For my music video, I did the song ‘Diamonds’ by Rihanna. Initially, I had a lot of ideas which linked with the song; I firstly did a mind map of ideas which linked to diamonds, and especially the narrative which could link to the song. The official music video for Diamonds had not yet come out when I started to create and develop my ideas making it exciting and challenging to see the video once it came out. Creating my music video has been exciting, hard work and very challenging. I am going to discuss how I developed my product and the how I challenged the forms and conventions of real media products, showing the codes and conventions that I used. I will also show the impact of my audience and also what I have learnt from it. I am also going to show how I did my research, planning and construction of my texts, and what technology I used to do this.

The genre of my song is pop. I researched the genre of my choice and different artists that use the same genre. The music of genre defines pieces of music in different categories which all group shares their own different set of conventions. The conventions categorises each genre by the codes used in the same genre. I researched my music genre and clearly show some examples of the different codes and conventions used within the chosen genre of my choice. I also researched the music genre of pop and the theory behind cinematography and mise-en-scenes. ‘pop’ has a variety of genres, such as, funk pop, dance pop, country pop, Indie pop, urban pop, pop rock. I analysed the music video Rihanna we found love and two other videos of the similar genre, Kylie Minogue can’t get you out of my head and Katy Perry California Girls which are all in the same genre; therefore, this gave me an idea how to develop my work and challenge the forms and conventions of real media products. 

Firstly, pop originated in the 1950’s from rock and roll. Pop has many elements from different genres, such as, urban, dance, rock; they all define pop. It’s up-tempo music with strong beats, which creates catchy tunes for people to listen too. The structures of the songs are normally easy to understand, such as the narrative and lyrics of the song. There are numerous artists and groups who perform in that genre; Examples of artists such as, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Kesha, Madonna. All these artists have had hits within the genre of ‘pop’ and many are well known songs. Also, groups such as, ABBA and Bee Gees also performed in that genre. All these songs have many codes which all become and convention of the genre pop, although my main focus was on the three music videos that I have analysed.

All three videos have catchy lyrics, which are simple to understand. 'We found love in a hopeless place', the lyrics in Rihanna's video are repeated a lot throughout the song; this applies to the other two videos also. The simple lyrics then become memorable to the audience; likewise, there might be memorable dances throughout the music videos as the genre ‘dance-pop’ is dance orientated. All these music video clips all have a dance nature to them. For example, normally in the genre there is lots of performance, polished productions and videos, which keep the audience entertained and hooked whilst watching. Performance in the videos such as, dancing to beats of the music, sometimes a story alongside it, depending on the specific song. In Rihanna's video, at the beginning it has non-diegetic sound, which was used effectively and created an introduction of the story between the two characters.

The lighting is normally high key lighting, which adds a glamorous effect and also makes the artist/group look important. Over the top clothing of the singers in the videos attracts the attention of the audience and makes them focus on the singer throughout the video. Also, the clothing that they wear might become memorable and even influence their intended audience. For example, Kylie Minogue and Katy Perry are both positioned closer to the camera whilst the backing dancers are shown behind them. They are also positioned in the centre of the screen, which shows the importance of the person. In Rihanna's video, close ups of her singing are shown occasionally, although, most of the video consists of her acting.

The lighting in my video is high key lighting which gives it a glamorous effect and makes Katie look important to the audience. 

In the story of Rihanna’s video, there are two characters focused on in the video. She is shown with a man. The man looks like he has the more dominate role between the two characters. The representation the two characters signify a couple. This then may make the intended audience to relate to the story line of the video. It is clear to the viewers that the narrative of the story is about drugs as pills are shown dropping and clips of them smoking together. Also, the effects used emphasised the drugs. For example, the camera zooms into the eye as it dilates, creating a chilling effect, suggesting the consequences of the drugs. Also, the cigarette lights up different colours with the beat of the music, which makes it fit with the dance nature of pop. As my song is very upbeat too, I chose to make my video have a narrative of a relationship by fast cut clips of different scenes which made the video keep up with the pace of the fast genre of 'pop' music. 

The genre of pop is also represented through the music video of Kylie Minogue and Katy Perry. For example, Kylie is moving to the beat of the music whilst she lip-syncs the song. She is shown in driving a car, representing her wealth and power. Moreover, she is dressed in a white flimsy outfit. The connotation of white suggests purity and innocence, goodness and the colour of perfection. She also has red lipstick, which captivates the audience’s attention from the contrasts of white and red. The connotation of the colour red suggests energy, strength and passion.

The reception theory is an important theory for how we view and analyse the videos, as the audience will have different analysis. For example, the preferred reading of Rihanna’s video is seeing the ups and downs of the relationship between the two characters and the intriguing and thrilling scenes such as, in the Skate Park and takeaway. The representations of the characters are both rebellious. Whereas the negotiated reading of the music video could be the imitable behaviour, suggesting their relationship and actions is the norm to today’s reality. All videos in the genre are risk taking with not just the video but also with the song. The theory behind cinematography and mise-en-scenes is the theory of semiotics. Semiotics is the ‘science of signs’, which has two sides, the signifier (denotation) and the other side ‘signified’ (connotation). The theory was created by Ferdinand De Saussure and is the theory on behind how we view our media texts. You cannot separate the signifier and the signified as it would not make sense. For example, when we look at the car in Kylie Minogue‘s video, we automatically label that a ‘car’ because it’s a cultural meaning in our visual society.

Also, before I started creating my music video, in groups of four we were set a task to re-create 30 seconds of a music video. Our group chose Rihanna and Calvin Harris we found love from 1:16 to 1.46. Firstly, our group discussed and decided which music video we would recreate. We finally made a group decision of the music video of we would choose. We then produced a 'production plan' of our roles of the group and the locations where we would film each clip. This helped us to organise our group and video. Then we started to plan and time the video for when we started to record. We examined and analysed each clip of the 30 seconds we chose. We did this by, timing each clip and when it changes, the camera angle and distance and the actions of the characters in the video, this also made us organise for when we started to film. This also gave me an idea of the genre of 'pop' as my music video was also that genre.

Here is the original music video of 'We found love' by Rihanna and Calvin Harris:




Here is our 30 seconds of it: from 1:16 to 1.46

Before I started, I chose my influential music videos, which were:

‘Beyoncé-broken hearted girl’, ‘Coldplay-the scientists’, ‘Ellie Golding-anything can happen’.

The mise-en-scene in Beyoncé’s video, ‘broken hearted girl’ inspired me at the beach, as she reflects back on the memories of her relationship. The clips change from her singing to the cameras she tells a story, and then changes to the memories she reflects back upon. Also in her video, effects are used to overlap some of the clips, which is similar to some of my parts in my video, which I've shown below.

This above is beyonce's music video.

Below is mine.

Beyonce relfects back on the memories of her relationship whilst she's on the beach.

I chose to present my character in a long, white dress throughout my music video. The white dress connotes innocence, wholeness and completeness which symbolises how feels complete in her relationship and happy. The character is genuine and honest in her relationship, and also the white suggests the perfection of her relationship as she sings, ‘we’re beautiful like diamonds in the sky’ shows how strong the relationship is and how they are unbreakable to her.

If I had more room to improve I would have made sure who I definitely wanted to star in my music video which would handle time management much better. Originally, I was going to star in my music video myself as I thought that it would be easier as I knew what I wanted it to be like. Although, I found it hard to shoot the scenes as I had to get my cousin to hold the camera which became difficult to get the variety of shots and angles that I wanted. Then, I asked my cousin to be in the video and filmed some scenes of her doing it, although, the performance skills from her was lacking and affected the main performance of the video. In the end, my friend stared in the music video, and her acting for the video is faultless.

 
Here are pictures of my draft one to show the development of my work. You can see that it was originally me as the main singer. Even though I didn't use some footage, it gave me an idea of what the final video would look like, such as, mise-en-scene and camera angles. 

  
My ideas have also changed from when I started the storyboard and planning it out, such as, the falling on the bed. I thought it look really effective, especially in slow motion, although the timing needed to be altered to fit with the beat and when she hit the bed. I struggled with the camera angle and trying to fit the bed in portrait so I had to film it landscape, which didn't look as effective as I thought, as all my other clips were portrait. Also, the quality wasn't the best, as it had a yellow/orange tint which I didn't think looked very professional, therefore, I decided to change it.

My main scenes were filmed at Hornsea beach. I chose this as it linked to the narrative of my music video. The beach is place where it is peaceful and a reflective place for time to think. I put a lot of things in my music video to show the narrative which I was trying to portray. The motif of the balloons represented the memories and past which the persona that I created, could not let go of, yet. Also, it shows strength for the character.



Throughout my video, the balloons show, although, at the end, they let go of them, setting themselves free from all the bad and hard things they have faced along in their relationship, becoming at peace with themselves.

The song is an uplifting and positive song, which shows a girl who is in a relationship with someone she adores and loves, and is trying to keep it together. She is doing this by telling the audience that their relationship is strong throughout all the troubles they have faced in the past. Even though she is telling everyone how they are strong and shining like ‘Diamonds’ she still knows the relationship she has is toxic but seeing it as its best, trying to fix a troubled relationship: She shouldn’t be with him, but it makes her ‘Shine’. It is very reflective throughout.

In my video I have shown the bad side of their relationship, not just the good as they fight and argue. I chose this mise-en-scene, inside my house as it reflects gives it a realistic effect of relationships. I made them centre in the shot, with a medium long shot to show them both equally within the shot. It was difficult to make the fighting look realistic and not fake, so when I was editing I made the clip faster so the slap looked more effective.

 The lyrics say ‘I chose to be happy, you and I, you and I, were like diamonds in the sky’

‘I chose to be happy’ suggesting, that it was her decision and still is, and she chose to be in this relationship and be ‘happy’.

‘Were like diamonds in the sky’, suggesting that to her, they are strong and that nothing and no one can break them’. Although, the arguments and fighting suggests is it all as good as it she makes it out to be? Is she in a troubled relationship and trying to hide the bad parts?

Other disadvantages were the weather. As my main scenes were on the beach, it was very cold the times we filmed which meant we couldn’t film for long. We also got a lot of snow around the time that I was filming which became a problem as I needed a clear sky setting, although, I didn’t let that stop me re-filming when I needed too. Through constructing my video, I did many re-takes of the scenes at the beach.

I filmed a close up shot of Katie looking at the camera whilst she rested on the back of Jamie's shoulder. This represents the closeness of the two characters in my music video which I want my audience to see. Also, suggests to the audience that she's saying that 'he's mine'. The clip doesn't last that long which creates short sharp clips of the memories that she remembers of her relationship.

This shows the two characters laughing and smiling to each other, as I change to the clip to Katie straight after.

The mise-en-scene is in my kitchen which I tried to make it look romantic as if they were having a date. I also presented candles  on the table to make it look more realisticThey both face each other which shows the connection between the two characters as they talk and laugh to each other.



































This is a tilted shot looking up towards my characters.










I chose to put sparklers in my video as one of the memories as it goes with the lyrics, 'feel the warmth we'll never die'









































'When you hold me
 I'm alive'














Throughout my video, my main mise-en-scene was at the beach and showed Katie wearing a long, white dress, so I decided to make her wear something different showing that she's been there before as she reflects back on the memories. I only decided to change and put this clip in on my last draft. I think it looked good for a change of just seeing her in a white dress.










POOL SCENE:

I was lucky enough to be allowed to film in the Beverley swimming pool. This mise-en-scene fitted perfectly for my music video as it linked with the sea.


In this clip I combined the clip of Katie in the pool with the sea. This made her look like she  was underwater whilst singing which looks very effective.









I filmed of her under water,  coming up from underneath. This looked effective and is one of opening clips in my video. It suggests that she is free and the colours of white link with the diamonds and colour theme throughout my song.

I thought of the idea of twisting in the water, creating a circle around her as she moved fast. In my video I slowed this clip down so you could see the movement and water splash more clearly. Also, I reversed the clip, which links to when I reveresed my clips earlier in my music video.














 

For my ancillary texts I chose to do a website and digipac to promote my music video. For my digipac, I did my research on the codes and conventions of digipacs by using the internet. My digipak and pictures for the design has helped me promote my music video.

I planned out my draft on Publisher. Then later to developed my work by using Photoshop to edit my images. Although, I found using an online site 'picmonkey'  more simple to use and I preferred the effects and text you could use for your images.

Rihanna’s website:

Layout and design:Different pictures of Rihanna change, which changes the whole background like a slideshow. Each section has different colours and fonts.

The technical codes:All the navigation links are on the top of the page, and are shown simple and clearly.

The content of the website: The content of the website is to inform her audience about her new releases of music, etc. But also to entertain; if it doesn’t look eye-catching then it won’t be as successful. Genre codes:Music

Target audience: The target audience will be to Rihanna’s fans, as it is interactive with Rihanna on twitter, showing and following what she’s doing with pictures which interest her fans. The audience will be a mass audience, with many views daily.

Cheryl Cole’s:
Layout and design:The layout and design on Cheryl Cole’s is fairly similar to Rihanna’s, except it’s more of a simple design.
The technical codes used:The technical codes used are fairly similar to Rihanna’s. The navigation bar is presented at the top of her website, clearly.
Content of the website:Informative, entertaining
Genre codes:Music
Target audience:Cheryl’s is also a mass audience, appealing to all her fan base.

Front cover-
On my front cover, I placed Katie in the centre of the image which makes her look important and the main focus in the video. Also, the main mise-en-scene is at the beach which shows the shared elements as the beach is combined in the background of her resting on the wall

 

CD- This is my design of my CD for my digipak. I edited the picture using an online editing site called 'picmonkey' which is a great and simple way to create different effects and texts for images. I chose this picture as it's a representation of discovery and finding of something special, which makes my CD of my digipak the main part. It was also taken on the beach which has links to my music video and the mise-en-scene. The silver chains in my hands also links with diamonds which shows the cross-form synergy of my product and ancillary texts.

For my website, I also researched the codes and conventions of different websites. I researched many celebrities’ websites, such as, Rihanna’s official website, Cheryl Cole’s and the codes and conventions of these websites. What makes them appealing? Are the layouts a similar style? Are all the designs completely different? What technical codes have been used?  Is the content of the website just music, inform and entertain? Who is the website aimed at? What target audience?

I used a site called ‘Wix’ which I found straightforward and easy to create and design my website.

This therefore makes my audience understand and recognize the genre of my video and the themes, shown my the codes and conventions of my main product and ancillary texts.

Since doing my audience research, I defined clearly on who my audience is. Earlier on my blog, I stated that my audience is more of a female based audience because my song choice will be a song by Rihanna, many young girls look up to her as a role model, therefore making it a mass audience. Nevertheless, the song I chose ‘Diamonds’ is very popular song, as I reached how popular it was and the audience reviews on YouTube.

Audience

Top demographics

Female, 13-17 years

Female, 18-24 years

Male, 18-24 years

The results on ‘Audience’ on YouTube show that the audience is mostly young viewers. Starting with a young audience, from 13 years to 17 years of age, which is female. Then up to 18 years to 14 years of age, also female. It shows the average age of males is 18-24 years. Therefore, I think it’s more appealing to a younger audience, rather than old, although it is still a catchy and repetitive song to sing along and dance to which puts people in a good mood.

At the beginning of my blog, I created eight question polls for my audience to answer. The questions were a mixture of Psychographic data and Demographic Data. Here are my results:

The majority of people who voted on my pole lived in East Riding of Yorkshire, which is where I live and come from. My audience is mainly students that study media and journalism. The most popular genre of music my audience are interested in is Indie music, followed by R+B, pop and club music. The genre of my music video is also pop, so it meets to the need of my intended audience. My audience prefers a narrative form of structure form of their music videos with also performance. In my music video, I have the narrative line of a relationship, showing the different stages, and I also have a lot of performance, as she sings with strong emotion on the beach. The most popular way of consuming their videos is by YouTube and the television, i.e. Music channels.

I have also asked for audience feedback throughout my blog. I collected some Qualitative data such as, interviews which provided a more in depth description when I got people to answer my questions. This was because everything they said and responded will be seen. Whereas, I also have got some Quantative data which is questionnaires, which many people find them easier to answer. Here is the questionnaire I asked my audience to answer:

Before I started to produce my music video, I was interested to see what my audience thought of my song and my ideas. ‘Do you like the song choice, Diamonds?’

‘Is there any bit in the song which stood out for you?’

‘Do you think the song is boring or catchy?’

‘Do you think the song can have a strong narrative line to it?’

‘Do you think my ideas will be possible to make?’

‘Are there anything that you would change?’

This is a questionnaire which I created for my audience to answer after my last draft before my final video.

I asked the following questions: ‘Do you think the theme and the story of my music video fits with the song?’ After my audience watching and listening to my song, I wanted to see whether they think the narrative of my video links with the lyrics of the song. ‘As the song is an upbeat and catchy song, does the video make you want to watch it or do you lose interests at some points?’ It was important for me to see if my audience loose interests at any point of my song, so that I could make improvements for my final video. Also, the genre of my music video is ‘pop’ which is very upbeat and keeps the audience listening; therefore, I have to make sure it fits to the codes and conventions of the genre of my video.  I then asked the question ‘Is there anything which stands out and memorable to you?’ This was to see the positive comments on my video so I can then reflect back from it and find out what worked well to improve my video. ‘Is there anything which you think didn’t work partially well and room for improvements?’ I asked my audience if there anything they thought that didn’t work well so I could improve for my final edit of my video. This then fits to my audience needs. Lastly, ‘Do you understand the narrative of my music video which I have tried to convey?’ It is important that my audience understand the narrative of my music video as it’s a main feature in my video.

Here are some of my results:

Audience feedback by s0014028 on GoAnimate

Video Maker - Powered by GoAnimate. Ruby by s0014028 on GoAnimate

Animated Presentations - Powered by GoAnimate. Callum by s0014028 on GoAnimate

Animated Presentations - Powered by GoAnimate. Jamie by s0014028 on GoAnimate

Animated Presentations - Powered by GoAnimate

Also for my audience feedback I used the social networking site 'Facebook' to interact with my friends to see what they think of my final video. I linked my video from you tube so people could view it. I was interested to see what everyone thought about it and I got some promising reviews and comments:

I did fast cut editing to keep up with the beat of the song.

At the beginning of my music video a clip of Katie is shown as she leans on the wall, showing a long shot of her white, long dress. I slowed down the clip by changing the speed of it, so it flows with the start of the song. Then the beat hits, making the song faster. I reversed the clip and made it faster which I thought looked effective.






I also reversed the clip of the beach with the beat of the song. A bird fly's past in the sky which makes the reverse more noticeable.

 

I used a block of white in my music video to make a flash just before Katie begins to sing on the beach, 'Find light in the beautiful sea'.















What tecnology I used-

For editing my photos I used an editing site called 'PicMonkey', which was great to edit my photos for my digipak and website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I edited my music video on Adobe Premiere

My camera I used is a FUJIFILM camera. I love my camera as I think it's great quality and focus.

In conclusion  I am very happy with my music video. Through my time of creating it and editing it, I began to worry about whether it would look as good I originally designed it to be, as some of my clips and shots were letting me down. Although, just before my final edit, I went out to re-film and improved on the things which were lacking.