Now the project has been completed it can be evaluated. We are now able to compare our music video to real media texts. Also we are able to evaluate what we learnt from our audience feedback and technologies which we used for the construction, research and planning of our project.
It can be argued that our music video uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media texts. Ways in which it uses forms and conventions is through the narrative told in the music video. We chose a very stereotypical and generic narrative, which is a couple who had relationship problems and the boy ends up missing the girl. This decision was heavy influenced by the song itself but we still decided to keep to the general conventions of music video narratives. Songs can be interpreted in a number of different ways and that narrative which we chose shows our take on the song. Another way in which we use conventions in forms is through the use of flash backs. Many music videos not just in the rap and RnB genre make use of flash backs to help in the telling of their narrative. Below is a screen shot of how are video is similar to Ne-yo’s Mad in terms of flashbacks.
They also use cut scenes of the song being lip synced which we have included in our music video. Because of the advancement of media technologies the use of green screen has now become a common convention in a number of music videos across many different genre including our chosen genre which is RnB and Rap. Green screen therefore made an appearance in our music video. We used it to show how our music video is innovative and a way in making the video aesthetically pleasing to the audience.
Our video didn’t significantly develop conventions and forms of music videos as I don’t believe we had enough time or the sufficient budget to make these developments. A small development I think we made was the use of text appearing in the screen. Although a number of music videos do, do this music videos of the rap and RnB do not as it is seen more as a comic element. However I believe our music video has developed this aspect in a way of making it serious and create an emotional connection to the audience because of the words that are displayed. Below shows our use of the text in comparison with Bad Meets Evil's Fast Lane which is clearly used for comic effect.
Ways in which our music video challenges other music videos of the same genre is that normally with in the Rap genre the music videos often portray a scene of decadence and materialism. This is mainly conveyed through women showing skin, expensive cars, big houses etc. This is not a scene which is portrayed in our music video instead we show a down to earth music video with a connection to the audience as the narrative is one that can relate to everyday life. Another way in which our music video challenges common conventions and forms of Rap music videos is that most Rap videos show gang culture. Our music video could have easily been put into a gang context but we did not want to convey this kind of message as we thought we might put across the impression that we are trying to glamorise gang culture. Many videos of this sort have been seen as controversial and many people react negatively towards them. Because we do not want this we decided to take a different approach.
Our project included the main video then a number of ancillary texts which was the radio spot, the web page and the album cover. Having these subordinate texts with the main music video creates a bigger overall project and shows how we are able to present our artist to a wider audience. These media texts allow for the majority of people to have access to the artist. Moreover the different media texts all serve a different purpose. The music video gives the viewer entertainment and the artist’s interpretation of their song through visuals. The web page gives information of the artist and also their live Twitter feed so the audience feels more connected to them. It also combines the other media texts together. The radio spot is a way in which the song would be conveyed on the radio. A way of accessing the song if someone does not have a TV or the internet. And lastly the album cover is used for when the song is sold in shops. A way of catching an individual’s eye so they would want to pick up the CD and be intrigued to know what’s on it. All these texts being together make the whole project adaptable to real life as each of these texts are used when an artist is releasing a song. Each text helps, promote, advertise and sell the music video that we have created. Also the synergy of these media texts also gives the whole project more depth as there is not just one way the song can be accessed. Because of this people are able to always find out more as after they have watched the music video they will then be able to go on the website and listen to the radio spot. This is what keeps the audience intrigued with the audience and the song.
After creating our music video we wanted to get the audiences feedback so we showed our video to a number of people. We got a mixture of boys and girls as well as different ethnic backgrounds. The audience feedback will help determine whether our video fulfilled its purpose and was interpreted the way we wanted it to be. Even though many interpretations can be drawn it is still important to know whether the narrative was understandable. The feedback will then tell us what we could have done better and what people really liked. From the audience feedback we learned that people were able to understand our narrative. People saw that it was a couple having problems the boy left and at the end of the video he eventually came back. Not everyone, but a fair few people were able to comprehend the intertextuality of the music video. Our audience touched on a number of positives about the video. Ranging from the words appearing on the screen to the green screen and effects that we used. Other positives were for specific camera shots and angles we used. We asked our audience whether their opinion on Kanye West had changed. Many people said that no, it hadn't changed but having said that they still said that they liked the song so our music video promoted the song more than the actual artist.
When there are positives there are also negatives. Not many people had real criticism toward our video, this may be due to they genuinely thought the video was faultless or they were not willing to reveal their true feelings about the video to us. However people were also still able to pick up on a few negatives. Most of these negatives were for, similarly, particular camera shots and angles we used. People said that some shots were a bit shaky or did not look professional enough. Others said that we did not include a big enough variety of camera shots and angles. These criticisms will help greatly in producing future projects. Overall people said that they liked the video, were able to understand the narrative and said that they would buy the album meaning that we had achieved our goal.
Different media technologies came in very handy throughout the entire project. From the planning right through to the evaluation. The planning stages mainly required the use of Celtx. A programme that is used to plan the production of a film. We used this programme to create our calendar, master catalogue and storyboard. Before the project started we used the calendar to set out the days that we planned to film on and edit on. This will make sure that we are organised and we know exactly when and where we are filming. The master catalogue was used to keep details of props, locations, actors etc. This ensured we knew what locations we were using and when we were using them. The same was done for the actors and the props. The storyboard was used so the group knew what shots were going to be used for each part of the music video. The storyboard was first drawn on paper then scanned in and imported on to Celtx.
For the research music metric was used to gain access to data affiliated with our artist. Music metric provided us information about the artist’s music sales and demographic data that would help when creating our music video. Apart from this the only other technology we used was the internet that provided us with information music metric didn’t. This was mainly more general demographic data such as the music sales for a particular genre.
The construction section of the project used the most media technologies, Firstly Adobe Premiere was used to edit the music video. The clips that we filmed were put into a sequence on the programme and the selected clips were then altered and manipulated to achieve the desired outcomes. Adobe After Effects was used for the green screen. The green screen footage was imported into Adobe After Effects and the green was colour keyed out allowing for a different video or image to be placed in the background. Photoshop was used for the creation of the digipak. The front cover, the inside and the back cover, Photoshop was uses as it allows for images and photos to be manipulated and put together to create a completely new piece of art. This programme helped greatly in making our album cover as it allowed for us to achieve a professional look. We also used Photoshop to manipulate images that were then going to be placed on our website. Another media text constructed was the website. For this we used iWeb. Creating the website proved to be a very easy task as templates were pre installed and free to use. Also no coding was involved just a simple drag and drop process. Garageband was used for the construction of the radio spot. Recordings were able to be strung together in conjunction with electronic instruments preinstalled in the programme.
Media technologies used for the evaluation section mainly involved technologies on the internet such as Youtube, Blogger, Survey Monkey and slideshare. Youtube was used to post all our podcasts and the actual music video, Blogger to post uor write ups, survey monkeys to gather audience feedback and also used for the research and lastly slideshare was used so presentations created could be viewed on Blogger. Photobooth was used to film podcasts and reaction videos. These videos were then posted on Youtube. Photobooth was very convenient as no uploading was required because Photobooth makes use of the webacam so videos were automatically saved on the PC.
Our project would have been much more difficult without all these media technologies as they provide us with much help and shortcuts into completing tasks. I believe the overall project was a success however there were many aspects that could have been improved and if we were to do the whole project again we would work much harder to meet our deadlines.
-BYRAN FERROL
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