Final Product And Ancillary Texts

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

My Music Video Forms And Conventions

You're everything I thought you never were
And nothing like I thought you could have been
But still you live inside of me,
So tell me how is that?

You're the only one I wish I could forget
The only one I love to not forgive
And though you break my heart,
You're the only one

And though there are times when I hate you
'Cause I can't erase
The times that you hurt me and put tears on my face
And even now, while I hate you,
It pains me to say
I know I'll be there at the end of the day

I don't wanna be without you, babe
I don't want a broken heart
Don't wanna take a breath without you, babe
I don't wanna play that part
I know that I love you, but let me just say
I don't wanna love you in no kind of way, no no
I don't want a broken heart
I don't wanna play the broken-hearted girl
No, no, no broken-hearted girl
I'm no broken-hearted girl

There's something that I feel I need to say
But up til' now I've always been afraid
That you would never come around
And still I wanna put this out

You say you've got the most respect for me
But, sometimes I feel you're not deserving of me
And still, you're in my heart
But you're the only one

And yes, there are times when I hate you,
But I don't complain
'Cause I've been afraid that you would walk away
Oh, but now I don't hate you
I'm happy to say
That I will be there at the end of the day

I don't wanna be without you, babe
I don't want a broken heart
Don't wanna take a breath without you, babe
I don't wanna play that part
I know that I love you, but let me just say
I don't wanna love you in no kind of way, no no
I don't want a broken heart
I don't wanna play the broken-hearted girl
No, no, no broken-hearted girl

Now I'm at a place I thought I'd never be, ooh
I'm living in a world that's all about you and me, yeah
Ain't gotta be afraid, my broken heart is free
To spread my wings and fly away, away with you..., yeah, yeah, yeah

I don't wanna be without my baby
I don't want a broken heart
Don't wanna take a breath without my baby
I don't wanna play that part
I know that I love you, but let me just say
I don't wanna love you in no kind of way, no no
I don't want a broken heart
I don't wanna play the broken-hearted girl
No, no, no broken-hearted girl
Broken-hearted girl
No, no, no broken-hearted girl

No broken-hearted girl

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Main Product

Ancillary Texts

To create both of my ancillary texts I first of all took a variety of different images of the character that featured in my music video whilst out on location for filming. I did this to ensure continuity of my character and locations that I used for both my music video footage and my ancillary texts. I uploaded them all onto my computer using an SD card and card reader and experimented with the different images to decide which ones I wanted to use. I tried numerous different styles with the images relating to my research that I did into existing promotional posters and digipack that promote the artist Beyoncé. I took images in all of the locations that i filmed in including: Inside Leah's house, Outside of Leah's house, at the beach, Outside at my house, around the lakes at my house and around the ponds at my house. I used the program Adobe Photoshop to create both of my ancillary texts for my advanced portfolio on a Dell computer. I found creating my ancillary texts challenging and at times slightly difficult. Trying to ensure that all of my images linked together to make them effective and powerful proved to be harder than i thought it would be. I thought it was important that my digipack and poster linked together as well as knowing that both ancillary texts relate to my music video like existing media products. The main ways in which I did this was by using the purple gradient continuously, the same fonts and font sizes and the black and white background grey scale.

Promotional Poster (Advert)

I created my poster before I produced my digipack for my two chosen ancillary texts. First of all I decided out of all the images that I had taken which picture I wanted to use for my advert. I felt that the image below looked the most effective for my promotional poster because it linked with video footage I created for my music video in the same location and costume constructing the same poses for an image as I did for a video. I decided to call my album 'Mirror Image' this gave me the idea to duplicate my chosen image ten times relating to the name of my album and reflecting the pop genre. I edited the image to make it black and white linking to my music video as the majority of that is in black and white. After some audience feedback I then realized that i should add some colour to my poster to bring it to life with effects and link in with the pop genre. I tried different shades of purple added to the black and white grey scale using a gradient for my advert from top to bottom so that the images in the background could still be seen. I then began experimenting with different fonts and text sizes for my poster. I also had to decide whether to use the real name of my character or make up a different performance name. I tried to establish the most effective font style that reflects the pop genre as well as relating to the personality of the artist. I didn't want my poster to look too clustered with writing drowning out the images in the background but focus more on the main elements of the advert to catch the attention of the audience and make it memorable. I stuck to conventions of promotional album posters from my research and included the name of the artist on the ancillary product. I also included some extra features on my poster such as advertising the song that I used for my advanced portfolio music video and the website name promoting my artist. Sticking to conventions means that it creates realism for the best impact on the audience as possible which is what is intended. I set about creating some sort of website information for the audience to be able to purchase the album. I added the artist’s personal website onto the promotional poster to create links and places for the audience to visit. Overall I wanted to make sure the most important thing was that my promotional poster and music video linked together in the form of the ideology I was trying to create as well as the pop genre of my music video.

Editing Process:

This was the first stage in creating my poster as I got the original image and copied it ten times then added the black and white grey scale effect to create my background.

This was the second stage in creating my poster as I added the purple gradient effect over the top of my ten background images from top been the darkest to bottom been the lightest.

This was the third stage in creating my poster as I added four white boarders around the edge of my advert creating guidelines as well as adding the artist’s website name which is: www.leahhaywood.com to promote the artist and advertise.

This was the fourth stage in creating my poster as I added the name of the artist which is: Leah Haywood on top of the background images and gradient showing the audience who the advert is about.

This was the fifth stage in creating my poster as I then added in white font the phrase: Debut Album and the name of the album which is: Mirror Image to show the main features of the advert in different text formats and colours making them stand out.

This was the sixth stage in creating my poster as I added the final bits of text which are connecting to my music video because it promotes the single that I have used as the soundtrack to create a music video and is bold and prominent to the audience.

Digipack (CD)

To create my digipack I decided to use images that I had taken whilst filming just like I did for my promotional poster making location and costume exactly the same. I also took some snap shots from my music video that looked attractive and that I thought would look just as appealing as still images as well as video footage. I experimented with many different images but finally decided to use the images below for my digipack. I got a digipack template from the internet and copy and pasted it into Adobe Photoshop so that I could use it for my final product to make it look exactly like a real digipack. I created each of the six parts of the digipack separately and then when they were finally finished I dragged and dropped them onto my template creating the product. For the front cover case of my digipack I used the same image as I did for my promotional poster I did this to create recognizable products relating them together as well as linking them to the music video. I made all of the images for my digipack black and white using the grey scale just like I did for my music video and advert. For the back case of my digipack I used another image of my artist developing the personality and entire feeling that I wanted to portray reflecting the pop genre. For my CD and DVD I used two different image son top of each other one for the actual discs and another for inside the cases when the discs aren't inside the digipack. I used two outside locations for this to create a calm and peaceful effect using trees on the CD and DVD cover and a blazing fire for the background. For the two inside covers I used the same image reflecting the name of my album again linking back to my artist. The image I chose to use is a picture I took whilst at the beach with my character filming footage for my music video. I really liked the image of the beach and think it sets the scene for my music video because the majority of my footage is filmed at a water location including the beach linking all of my three products together. The images that I used for my digipack all reflect the narrative of my music video as well as my characters personality because of the locations and costume.

Editing Process:

The stages that can be seen below from one to six are the production processes in the coming together of my digipack. I created each individual part of my digipack on a separate Photoshop file then eventually when they were all finished I opened a new Photoshop file and made a digipack template. I then dragged each one of my six parts of my CD and DVD onto the digipack file and positioned them as follows. Finally I added the finishing touches when each of my squares were in place which were: creating the spines of the digipack, flipping the three top images around to make them like a real existing product and adding text to the spines to make it look realistic and professional. When it was all complete I printed off the file and checked that it was correct after folding the piece of paper and making it like a real CD and DVD digipack allowing it to fold in and out.

 

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Main Product (Music Video) Feedback

Audience Feedback Questionnaire (Family)

1. Are you male or female?

2. Do you understand the pop genre of my music video?

3. Do you understand the narrative of my music video?

4. What is your favourite part of my music video?

5. What is your least favourite part of my music video?

6. What improvements do you think I should make?

The questions above are the six different questions that I asked my peers for audience feedback. Firstly I used my family at home. I did this so that I could receive a range of different feedback from different sexes and age groups of people from outside of the college environment.

Family Audience Feedback 

Question One

For my family audience feedback I asked five males and five females to gain opinions from both genders of different ages within my family.

Question Two

All five males and females said that they understood that my music video genre is pop. This suggests that I have successfully followed the codes and conventions of the pop music genre for it to be recognizable to an audience.

Question Three

Three people out of ten said that they did not understand the narrative of my music video. Therefore seven out of ten said that they understood the narrative of my music video. All three of the people that said they didn't understand the narrative of my music video were males from the findings that I gathered together.

Question Four

For question four my family gave a range of different feedback about their favourite parts of my music video none of the answers were the same as each other some were similar but slightly different. Below is a list of the positive things that my audience said about my music video:

• The different video footage of waves at the beginning
• The mainly black and white colour scheme
• Picking the roses apart and putting them back together
• The garden swing footage
• The footage of different types of water (the beach, the lakes and the ponds)
• Two videos merged together with added effects
• The fade and dissolve transitions from one part to the next
• All of the beach location footage
• The slowed down ending as the video finishes
• The reversing of waves on the beach

Question Five

For question five my family gave their opinion on the negative parts of my music video. Some of the feedback that I received for this question was repetitive highlighting the points of weakness in my music video that was recognized by more than one person. Below is a list of the negative things my audience said about my music video:

• The video footage of the garden
• The green looking colour videos
• The colour footage that isn't in black and white
• The ending of the music video
• The footage that is in colour
• The garden swing scenes
• The green video parts
• The black and white theme throughout
• The repetitiveness of waves
• The plain colour video sections

The main area of concern that i can see clearly from this audience feedback is the colour video footage that has a slightly green tint on two of the video scenes because it was filmed with a green screen and had effects added to it. It is difficult to remove the whole green effect around the outline of the artist because of the lighting and green screen in the background. Other areas of improve that are highlighted within the feedback is the footage of waves been fairly repetitive throughout the music video and the scenes that I filmed in a garden.

Question Six

The improvements that my family from the audience feedback have given me has helped me to make some changes already but also think about what I would have done better in the future if I was to repeat my advanced media portfolio with more experience and knowledge. The major thing that I would change if I was to make my music video again is the green screen footage I would think about lighting and the background when filming for the music video in greater depth and plan ahead with an idea of what it would look like when I edited it all together and placed effects on the video footage. I would make my entire video black and white as through audience feedback the majority of my family seemed to like the black and white theme more than the colour footage. I would film at a few more locations that fit in with the rest of the locations in my music video for choice and variety of clips to include. I would make the ending more exciting if I was to repeat my project so that the audience remembered my music video and recognized the ending as much as the beginning. The final thing that I would do would be to lengthen some of the audience’s favourite parts and shorten some of the audience’s least favourite parts.

Audience Feedback Questionnaire (Friends)

1. What is your favourite part of my music video?

2. What is your least favourite part of my music video?

3. What do you think I could improve on?

4. What do you think I should keep the same?

5. Do you understand the narrative of my music video?

6. Do you understand the genre of my music video?

The questions above are the six different questions that I asked my peers for audience feedback. Secondly I used my friends at college. I did this so that I could receive a range of different feedback from different sexes and age groups of people from inside of the college environment. Below is a picture of the Questionnaire that i handed out to my audience for feedback.

Question One

Question Two

Question Three

Question Four

Question Five

Question Six

Overall I think that my music video was successful and effective and my audience feedback reflects this. I received the majority of positive and also some negative feedback which I acted on throughout my advanced portfolio project. When I asked my peers at college if they understood the narrative and genre of my music video I received the answer 'yes' as the majority answer and 'no' as the minority answer. People thought that my main improvements could be: the lighting whilst filming, the colour parts of my music video and the lack of performance video footage. Some people even said that I didn't need to improve on anything at all in my music video. After feedback I changed certain parts of my music video for example I took out some of the colour green screen parts that after adding the editing effects the green screen colour was still visible in the background and also I completely removed parts when the lighting wasn't very good when I was filming.

Ancillary Texts (Advert/Digipack) Feedback

I asked four different questions to my audience which were:

1.     Do you think my promotional poster fulfils its purpose?

2.     Do you think that my digipack is effective?

3.     What do you think I could improve on?

4.     What do you think I should keep the same?

 

Overall I think that my ancillary texts were also successful and effective and my audience feedback reflects this. My ancillary texts didn't take up as much time to produce as my music video but I produced more drafts of my promotional poster and digipack than I did my music video because of the technological difference between the programs that I used for each stage. When I asked my audience if they thought my promotional poster fulfils its purpose and if they thought my digipack was effective they all answered with 'yes'. The main improvements that my audience thought I should make were to my digipack and not my promotional poster. These improvements were:

• Add more life to the inside of the digipack.
• Make the inside of my digipack less plain and boring.
• Take away duplicated images from inside the digipack.
• Use more images of the artist inside the digipack.

The two Go Animate productions that I have created below are from two male audience feedback interviews of peers in my college environment that would happily answer my questionnaire but didn't want to be filmed on camera.

Audience Feedback One by s0014859 on GoAnimate

Audience Feedback Two by s0014859 on GoAnimate

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

YouTube is a video sharing website available to everybody worldwide so that users can upload, watch and share videos with others. The website includes: video clips, TV clips and music videos. It also contains content such as blogging videos which is what I have created a YouTube account and used it for. YouTube is a necessity to upload video footage to blogger which I used for both my AS and A2 media coursework. I have used YouTube for a very long time not only within college but also outside of college since a young age therefore I am positive about how to use the program and understand all of the features and content. I used YouTube to copy and paste the web addresses of certain music videos that I wanted to include on my blog that were posted on YouTube mainly by the VEVO program. I also used it for making my own personal account and adding videos to my account that I could chose to be either private or public to share with my audience. I uploaded videos of audience feedback from my peers so that at a later date I could upload them into my blogger account via YouTube. I added my finished music video to YouTube for feedback and so that it is easily accessible ad available for people to view whenever they want without them having to find my blogger address first.

Blogger is a program owned by Google that is a blog publishing service. Blogs can be seen by audiences worldwide as long as a person’s blogger profile is set to public and not private. I used blogger at every stage of my advanced portfolio media coursework. I have published everything that I have produced myself as well as existing information and products to my blogger account. I have included huge amounts on my blog about the construction stages whist making my music video. I have also included all of my planning and research on my blog that i produced before starting to make my own product. My entire evaluation is published on my blog for it to be seen easily by anybody in the world with my blog address. Blogger is a very easy and accessible as well as useful and effective way of designing and posting my coursework too. It allows you to include video footage as well as existing videos from YouTube. It also lets you add images of your own and from Google and other websites. When a post is published a date and time is shown on the post which can be changed at a later date to order all of your work. I changed the dates of some of my posts that weren't in the right order to ensure everything was on my blog in the correct place. Blog posts have large titles that can be seen to make sure that information and posts can easily be accessed and found by everybody. I used blogger in my AS and A2 coursework projects therefore I now have a lot of experience about the software and what you can and can't do on Blogger.