1. 1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of a real media product?
There are several ways in which our media product uses/develops and challenged
forms and conventions of official media products. Our structure and format follows
the customary forms and conventions of music videos by having a storyline which is
also related to the limited lyrics in our video. Our product mainly follows forms and
conventions of real media products. The music piece we chose to do was DJ
Chuckie- Move it to the drum. Our genre of music is tech-mix; this is an extremely
popular genre within the age group aimed at. Our product mainly follows forms and
conventions of real media products; we have intentionally done this because it would
appeal to our target audience which are teenagers and young adults. Our music
video is mainly performance based, which also associates with the lyrics of the song
and exhibits a positive, humorous feeling through the actions of the characters. Our
performance is based upon a young guy who dreams about being a DJ and to dance
with a lot of pretty girls, however in reality he is just a cleaner in the club in which he
works at. This consequently supports the forms and conventions of music videos in
the present day, for example many music videos are all about dancing and set in a
club, which verifies that we have maintained this aspect to the mass audience.
However we have also challenged forms and conventions of music videos as there is
no reference to voyeurism, which you would see in many of the music videos in the
present day.
In my opinion, our use of camera follows the forms and conventions which is merely
due to the fact that our research shows that specific shots are most effective in these
kind of music videos, for example many close ups are important so we get a clear
perspective of the main characters facial expressions, weather his shocked, happy or
disappointed with the encounters he has with the girls in his dream. Also long shots
are imperative in our music video because it shows a whole situation and to get a
better understanding of the different situations taking place.
Long shot of dance floor & close up of facial expression
Editing is the most
vital part in a

2. music video, where everything comes together in a very effective way. It makes a
music video flow smoothly, without any editing taking place the music video would be
very rough cut. The editing follows the traditional style of cuts between the beats on
the music, which typical ‘techno- mix’ genre music videos also do. The visuals
accolade the video. However, when the beat drops in the beginning half of the song,
faster transitions took place which compliments and impacts the energetic feel.
Mise en scene is tremendously significant in music videos, especially in techno-mix
music videos; this is because it represents feelings, which are generally positive in
these videos. Our music video followed forms and conventions when referring to the
mise en scène; this is because it’s set in a club scene, with flashing strobe lights and
a lot of dance involved. With many music videos, it is common that big budgets will
be given to stars that are in the top of the charts, nevertheless we have still managed
to get an ideal location that they would have to pay a lot of money for. For example,
by building a network of contacts, we had admittance to film in a club called
‘Mansion’ (which we did not have to pay for) in Essex. In terms of intertextuality, our
use of forms and conventions from music videos show that we have been influenced
from other similar genres and music videos. For example, our use of a music video
that is very performance driven has been influenced by techno mix dance music
videos such as ‘Ayo-hyper crush’; it’s very common for them to be performance
based and full of people dancing, having fun.
2. How effective is the combination of your media product and
ancillary texts?
The song we chose was “Move it to the drum”. From the name of the song, we knew
that our product would have to involve a colourful dance theme throughout the
product. Our Digipack, CD cover & advert consisted of a bright multi coloured
background. We were influenced by other music video advert which has the same
genre as ours; it influenced our group because we wanted to think of something
original as we decided not to make our digipak cover too simplistic, which as the
research suggested, normally are. We then contrasted other Digipack covers such as
Dizzee Rascals and David Guetta. We found a frequent convention which the CD
covers consisted of having the main artist on the front cover.
Our digipak cover, inside leaflet, advert and music video all go well together, as there
is a continual theme throughout; we developed characteristics from the video into the
digipak. For example, the concept of bright lights that were in the
music video was followed by the use of bright colours as the
backgrounds of our ancillary texts. Both the music video and
digipak should compliment each other; there is a continuation of
the mood from what the music video gives to what the digipak
gives. It’s important for them both to compliment each other as
they have to link in, because if a viewer wanted to buy the
digipak after watching our music video, they would be
anticipating that the digipak ties in with what they have seen.
Multi-coloured background-continual theme throughout

3. My ancillary text encloses and presents full attention to the
main artist, with the main guy being the centre of attention;
which makes him easily identifiable. The digipak cover consists
of the four main characters, however the artist is slightly
enlarged, which helps to recognize the main person, this is
different to the advert as it’s only got the main guy on it; I have
related all three of the ancillary texts together. Within my final
productions, I have mentioned a major record label; ‘Sony BMG
music entertainment’, this would help in order for attracting a
larger audience as it is such a big well known label. Having the
logo on the ancillary texts shows that the artists must be really
good; this is because they are signed to such a well known
established company.
I think my ancillary texts help greatly to promote my music video; the public can
easily identify the artist and genre of the music video due to the conventions that I
have used within my CD Case and Advert. As it is easily recognisable it will help the
targeted audience be attracted to my products which will inevitably lead to more CD's
being sold and even more profit coming in; after the promotion of the main product it
will help become more successful around the world which will make the targeted
audience become greater. Our digipak follows several established forms and
conventions, for example, the image of the main character/artist, name of the song,
and a track listing.
With regards to the magazine advert, we tried to achieve branding by keeping a
consistent theme. The magazine advert and digipak both use the same font type
which is on all the ancillary texts, it makes it stand out and eye-catching for viewers.
It also gives a sense to what is expected in the video. The viewers should be able to
recognise that the two ancillary texts come from the same music video as we felt it
was important to create a sense of permanence, continuity and immovability.
3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Our initial target audience were male and female aged 12-24. When looking at target
audience research, from the results received, it is obvious that people enjoy music
videos that portray emotion and is relatable to them and which portrays the song in a
suitable way that matches the beat and emotions of the song. The results from the
interview tell us that both the music and lyrics are very important to the success of a
song. In our music video the lyrics of the song are limited, there is one phrase sung
at various stages of the song to which adds as a constant reminder to the audience.
The phrase is “Ah damn girl, I like the way you move it to the drum”, since this phrase
is replayed a number of times it makes it easier for the audience to remember. Also
the phrase links to the name of the song, also creating an easy way for the person
listening to the song to get excess easily through downloading sites such as ‘iTunes’,
which makes it easier to gain views and sale. This helps the profit margins and helps
the song travel higher in music charts.

4. The lyrics of the song make the audience think of girls dancing sexually, the word
“Ah” itself acts as a sexual motif to make the song more likeable with the male
gender.
From our audience feedback, the majority of people thoroughly enjoyed our music
video and thought that it all fitted together really well. They got the concepts really
clear in the video, and the felt that the black and white helped to show an
understanding of our music video. Our aim when creating our music video was that it
should be entertaining, funny and enjoyable to watch, all 5 people interviewed
commented on the way they really enjoyed the video. They also all said that the
ancillary products all resemble and link to the video. When asked to grade my music
video the majority gave me a seven or above, showing that my music video consists
of the main conventions that are generally used in techno-mix music videos.
Negative feedback was mainly that the text colour/font used in the music video did
not compliment the video, other than that, there was overall positive comments
throughout.
4) How did you use new media technologies in the research,
planning, construction and evaluation stages?
Most of our planning and research was accomplished by getting information from
search engines and the internet. Search engines such as www.google.com provided
us with many images and videos to help us with our research. Also
www.youtube.com was used to help us with our similar textual analysis, as we
selected which videos we wanted to analyse. I also used www.facebook.com, this
was to get the audience feedback results after they viewed our music video. To
complete our music video successfully I had to research several other music videos
of the same genre. This helped me with the development of my own ideas.
Researching music videos was the most significant in getting my own ideas as it
gave me a clear vision of the types of things I could include and it also showed what
elements make it enjoyable to watch. Also using primary research which was
conducting questionnaires was very useful as it showed what most people would
want to see in a music video and what they expect. The difficulties I had
encountered whilst conducting my research was putting all the individual thoughts in
the group all together and fitting it into the final proposal. The planning was all very
useful when we got to the production phase. For the edifice of our music video, we
used the Canon XM2 camcorder. To make sure our recording was clear; we had to
set up a few controls. By using manual focus, it enabled us to capture very clear
shots from a distance.
One of the main digital technologies that I have used for the process of my project
was ‘Blogger’ itself. ‘Blogger’ enabled me to store my work efficiently and it was easy
to access. ‘Blogger’ enabled us to upload our video clips of our final cut. When it
came to blogging I felt that I was very creative as I changed the text formats and
inserted images. However, we decided to upload our evaluation via slideshare, which
then went on to our blog. Another digital technology which I have used are the search
engines on the internet; websites such as ‘Wikipedia’ to find out about the artists.
With these I was able to research the music video genre.

5. I used these search engines for my research as well as
my evaluation as I have been linking these websites to
the different films mentioned throughout my evaluation.
We used Apples’ Final cut pro to upload our footage.
The upload to final cut pro was quick and easy. Once
our footage was on it we were able to sort out our clips,
deciding which clips we were going to use. After we had
done this we were then able to cut and edit our clips
using the cutting tool which was fairly easy to use. Final
cut pro also enabled us to add filters, transitions, visual
effects, sound effects and text on to our music video.
Whilst taking our footage we used camera XM2 camcorders.
This enabled us to take footage efficiently and we were able
to capture the shots we wanted. However one problem we did
find with these camcorders was that the sound that we
captured on them was not very clear. However I was able to
zoom in and out of a shot smoothly using the zoom tool. I
also used a scanner to upload storyboards that we had done on paper. This was fast
and efficient and meant we were able to include our storyboards within our blog. All
of the software I have mentioned above was used through a Mac computer. The
Macs enabled us to use the software’s, whereas if we had been using a PC we
wouldn’t have been able to use them. I was also able to upload footage and photos
onto the Mac computers quick and efficiently as well as storing our work in our
individual folders.
Most of the technology techniques used were learnt during AS. Whilst importing all of
our clips onto Final Cut Pro, in which we used the log and capture feature. One of the
new techniques we learnt was adding visual effects and transitions into our video. As
for the construction of our digipak and magazine adverts, we captured still images
from Final Cut Pro whilst we were editing, and used them in our ancillary texts. Our
advert, inside leaflet, front and back cover were all designed on Adobe Photoshop,
we knew how to use it because we were taught the basic from tutorials given in
lesson.