The Mirror

David Gauntlett Web 2.0

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

Evaluation Question Three-What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Our target audience would most likely be primarily white British female teenagers aged 16-20 years old. This is because the songs that Lizzie Calvert sings would relate to girls this age as they may have gone through the same thing, or something similar.  

We asked a few teenager girls aged around 17-18 years old and played them our song. I asked them to think of words that would relate to this song and for them to write it down. This Wordle shows what they came up with and what words they felt would relate to the song.  The results show that the girls we asked understood the message of the song. For example, one girl expressed that the song is inspiring for young girls that want to go into that industry. Another girl said that it speaks the truth of the music industry and how it’s based on selling your body in order to be successful. The word pain comes from the song, as one other girl said the song tells story of the pain she suffered trying to get into the industry.

We also used SurveyMonkey before we started the process of making our video, to see what they think would be good to use in a pop genre. One of the questions asked whether they would expect the music video to be narrative based or performance based. Most of our target audience expected the video to be a performance based. We took this into consideration and incorporate performance and narrative into our video. People may have chosen a performance based video because they feel it would more interested than a narrative based video as they can be dragged out a lot and may bore people. We didn’t want to incorporate too much of performance as that’s connected with the rock/punk genre whereas our genre is pop. The next question that we asked was what kind of make-up do you expect the artist to be wearing? The options were heavy/bold, naturalistic and spectacle. We had 5 responses to this question where 2 people chose naturalistic and 2 for spectacle. We incorporated this by choosing the naturalistic style of make-up for our music video. Although heavy and bold make-up is likely to be seen in the pop genre, that style of make-up didn’t really fit our video, so we didn’t really include it.

We also did interviews with 3 young girls asking them about the pop genre and what they expect. Here’s the video of their answers:

Their responses were mostly to do with the fact that they like video which are exciting and attention-grabbing. Doing this you would have to include mise-en-scene, editing and cinematography. One of the girls we asked said that to make the video interesting you would have to include visuals like eccentric colours and look.  One person that we asked said they like music video that supported the lyrics. We especially wanted to include this into our music video because the message that the song has, is very significant and we wanted to get this message out to the public to expose the truths of the music industry. The last question we asked was about the type of music video genre. They both said narrative as they find watching a story is eye-catching and even more the song more appealing.

We showed our media class our music video so that they can give us feedback of what they. Even though the majority of the group are males which isn’t our target audience, the feedback we got did help us to get more perception of what they think our music video message is. It also would help us in the evaluation process and we can see where we should improve.  The overall feedback of what they thought:

• ·        Quite good comment on the music industry
• ·         The portray of an record manager was comically genius
• ·         Understood the main message and lyrics after 1 minute of watching the video
• ·         The narrative side of the video is portrayed negatively on the music industry but also positively on the artist
• ·         Overall Video -Timing could be better
• ·         Good message
• ·         The video is original as it’s tied into the lyrics and shows the message
• ·         Entertaining

From the feedback we got, I feel that the class understood the message that we were trying to represent. I say this because they constantly went to back to the point on every question that the narrative was good message. One of the members of our class pointed out that people in the music industry are too quick to compromise to change their appearance; this goes back to our 2^nd character that is the girl who also goes to the same record manager and changes her appearance. Every single person thought the video gave message about the music industry. Bulmer and Katz theory, Use and Gratifications is about how media is used in different ways. For example this music video is clearly for information and entertainment as it tells the audience about the dark side of the music industry where they can transform a normal girl into a sex symbol, which is portray by a character in the video. Another theorist called Stuart Hall came up with a theory called Decoding/Encoding. He says that directors put things in their music videos for the audience to understand. We used Kerry as a girl that goes into the music industry and gets changed by the record label by getting sexualized.

Music Video Director:Jake Nava

Jake Nava is an English music video and film director. He has directed some one of world's most famous songs and commercials , including Adele 'Someone Like You' and Beyonce 'Single Ladies'. When researching Jake's videos, I have noticed what type of style he has. His videos seem to be quite dark whether it's narrative, performance or spectacle based, the video seems to have some kind of darkness to it. This can be shown through the camerawork, editing or mise-en-scene. For example in Beyonce's Single Ladies video, Jake has used editing to make the video quite dark by using the black and white effect. A lot of his videos are R&B songs which suggests that he prefers that genre of music. Within each video I have noticed that he likes to have close up on the artists. For example in Adele's video Someone Like You, Jake has focused strongly on Adele. This is because the song itself is very powerful so Jake didn't want to use a lot of mise-en-scene or editing to over power the song and has made the video very simple.
Another video Jake has done is Kanye West's video called Monster which is a spectacle based video. In this video Jake has made Kanye look like a very dominant character in the video. For example in one of the screenshot Kayne is the centre of the screen being grabbed and grasped by females. This portrays Kayne as being very important and suggests to the audience that everyone wants him which shows that Jake is also trying to show Kanye as being the traditional man. In the still he is has no clothes which makes the audience focus on his body, just like how most music videos that Jake has directed do but on female artist's videos like Britney Spears ' My Perogative' which is filmed in black and white and like the Beyonce in the Single Ladies video has very few clothing items on and being seen through the male gaze.

Green Screen Practise

Our media task was to create a video using the green screen. Ours was about a girl who was waiting for  someone. We used unusual backgrounds to make the story more interesting, one of the backgrounds used what an old abandoned warehouse and the other was the sea with ice caps melting.The abandoned warehouse background gives off the creepy theme and tells the audience that the girl is doing something that she shouldn't be doing. The next background   In the first scene Asya is wearing a sleeveless jacket with the hood up suggesting that it's quite cold. I think this video would fit in  with the narrative music video genre because it is kind of telling a story but because of the background I think it makes it kind of weird and odd. A video that I do think is sort of like our video is Azealia Banks' video called Atlantis. In this video, the use of green screen is used throughout the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5sItf_UDLo

Record Labels

I have been researching record labels trying to find one that would fit  my artist. I came around a record label called Xenomania Records which has signed an artist called Amelia Lily from the X factor. Her music is a bit like my artist, Lily Carvert, so that's why I think it would be a good choice for her to be on this record label. This record label only has one signed artist but has a lot of artists that have sung Xenomania songs, these include artists and bands like Rebecca Ferguson, The Saturdays. Sugababes, The Wanted, Girls Aloud and many more. Xenomania is a British songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent, England.

Unsigned Artist

The artist I have chosen for my unsigned artist coursework is Lizzie Calvert.
The song I am picking to use is called Listen Up. These are the lyrics to the song:
Is it such a shock I’m here?
Leading myself and I’m female
Your music’s good for a girl
I’m sorry is this 1912?

Don’t you ever say that again
Cos boy I can defend
Listening’s with the ears not the eyes
And I’m not gonna compromise this time

Listen up I’m in the room
Time to make you all look like fools
You never saw me as competition
But guess what you was missing

It’s time for you to listen
It’s time for you to listen up listen up

I didn’t realise you could write like that
I just assumed you were like all the others that,
Stand there, look pretty and don’t even get no where
That’s a pity
Listen here girl you gotta change yourself
Looking like that you ain’t gonna sell us stuff
I don’t wanna here another word from your mouth
Unless it’s making us one hundred grand

Don’t you ever say that again
Cos boy I can defend
Listening’s with the ears not the eyes
And I’m not gonna compromise this time

Listen up I’m in the room
Time to make you all look like fools
You never saw me as competition
But guess what you was missing

It’s time for you to listen
It’s time for you to listen up listen up

What were they fighting for
What did they fight it for
We’re back to how it was before
I don’t wanna live a life where I'm at war
If you’d only understand
Ignorance is letting you down
If they put you down
Stand up and tell them now

Don’t you ever say that again (don't you ever say that again)
Cos boy I can defend
Listening’s with the ears not the eyes
And I’m not gonna compromise this time

Listen up I’m in the room
Time to make you all look like fools
You never saw me as competition
But guess what you was missing

It’s time for you to listen
It’s time for you to listen up listen up

Unsigned Artist

The Coldplay Remake Evaluation

I think the editing of the video was good. This is because I think everything on point with the lyrics and the coordination. However I do think that we should of prepared more by getting a better outfit, I think getting that would have make the video look more like the real version. Other than that I think overall, we did quite good making our props, not having to go outside of the school for the background.

The Link

http://youtubedoubler.com/?video1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZWt8zuAbdec&start1=0&video2=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1G4isv_Fylg&start2=82&authorName=Ann+O%27Nymous

Coldplay Mashup

YouTube Doubler

Evaluation Activity 7: Looking back at your preliminary task9 the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

 Our preliminary task was to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. For this task we drew out a storyboard to plan out what we were going to do. I think we as a group could have done a lot more to make the scene a little bit clearer. Our editing skills weren't very good back then because that was one of the very first times we  used IMovie. However I feel like now I developed a lot of skills using IMovie and the camera. For example back then I wasn't very familiar with the angles on the camera but now I find it easier to show more around use different angles . I have also learnt how important the props and costumes in the frame are. When we did the preliminary task, we didn't think about the costumes and the props to make the scene more realistic. We also should of taken a wide range of shots and used a tripod because it was very hard getting the shots we needed without using a tripod, however it definitely made us use a tripod in the future after seeing how shaking the film was. I think some of the shots we did use, were quite good seeing as we didn't a tripod. One shot that I particular liked was the reverse shot because it was quick and clear. However I think the match on action could have be portrayed clearer and the 180 degree rule shot could have been better if we used a tripod. After looking at our preliminary task and our finished opening scene, I think I have improved on the camera work and editing. I think it has been a very good part of learning how to use the camera. I am now confident on how to shoot different shots and editing our film to make it more sleek and professional. I am very happy with our final piece because it shows how much we have grew to use different technique.

Evaluation Activity 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Activity 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We had to use a mac to do all the editing. The mac was hard to understand at first but when we got used to it, it become much easier. However it did become a struggle when we tried to put the videos on from the camera, it took longer than we expected it would.

We had to a video camera to film the opening scene, we decide to use Ellie's video camera because it was HD and had more effects to use such Night Vision. It was very easy to use except putting the video on I movie was a struggle. The good thing about using a video camera is that you can see what you filmed after.

We used a tripod to keep the camera steady. This was good because it helped us keep control of the camera.

For editing we used IMOVIE, this was the programme that we were mainly using. From using this, we learnt how to do a lot of things such as special effects, like slow motion and fading in and out. We also learnt how to add sound to the opening scene to overlap the video. Another thing we learnt is how to edit clips by cropping videos moving them around etc.

Other websites we used on the internet were Google, to find images and fonts for the title. YouTube to get ideas for our opening scene,  from music to other opening scene. We also used Blogger to put all the work we did, such as planning and research etc. I also used websites like Prezi and Slideshare to show the presentations in a different way. I think Prezi is a good way of showing your presentations, because you can have different themes and make the presentation more interesting, however if I just wanted a simple presentation, I would use Slideshare to put the presentation on my blog. SlideShare is very straight forward whereas Prezi is a little bit more complicated depending on how you want your presentation to be like.For the Christoper Nolan Task, I used GoAnimate, which I found very easy and clear.

Evaluation Activity 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

0:12-0.22 Using an establishing shot for the first shot is very common. However using nigh vision is not common. Films like Sorority Row use an establishing shot for the first shot.
0:35-0:43 The army outfit represents the main character's past
0:27 the main character is similar to 'George Harvey in 'The Lovely Bones'
The music used is very similar to other horror/thriller movies used in the background
The USP for this opening scene is that there's no dialogue involved
For the Opening scene we kept the story line a mystery just what the people that answered the  questionnaire wanted.
We used some conventions of a thriller by keeping the audience excited and not giving much away so they want to see more.
1:37  Some people could relate to the situation because they may feel neglected by a parent or have an alcoholic parent.

Our Movie: Hidden

Evaluation Activity 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is Lizzy Grant, she's 17 and lives in East London. She shops in places like Punk Fish, Primark and Topshop but mostly goes for clothes that are black. The music Lizzy listens to is Dubstep and Indie and watches TV programmes like The Walking Dead, True Blood and Family Guy (all watched on FX). She enjoys spending time with friends and watching scary movies like Paranormal Activity, Scream, Sinister, Silent Hill and Zombieland etc. Her favourite time of the year is Halloween.
I think our film would appeal to people like Lizzy because she's the kind of girl that enjoys things that would scare them so therefore she likes movies that are psychology horrors and have meanings to them.