Evaluation Question 2:

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

Brand Identity

Throughout the music video and my two ancillary tasks i tried to keep everything similar to ensure there were links and that the audience would know who the product belonged to based on the similarities.

The main feature that was continued through the video, the digipak cover and the digipak advert was the colour scheme. The album and song is called Gold therefore gold was an obvious feature of all products. In the video the colour gold helped convey the narrative of the song, which was that the gold represents the values the girl had once she broke up with her boyfriend that she was unhappy with. Therefore the first girl featured in the video wasn't shown with gold at all, apart from in the argument scene when the gold was used to fight with representing it coming out of the skin as they broke up. The tear was also gold as we felt this help show that the gold has been within her the whole time and is coming out of her skin now she's single again. This then created a contrast when the second girl came into the video as her shots were full of gold. There was gold in the bed scenes which showed her as content with sleeping alone and not being with her boyfriend. We tried to make the shots on the field look warmer which kept with the gold theme and having her through balloons around continued the theme. In the studio a lot of gold confetti was thrown around to again show that all her values are back due to her being happy that the relationship has ended. Also in each shot the second girls makeup included a lot of gold glitter, gold stars and her highlighter was warm and these were shown in the many close up shots we filmed. The final way we showed the gold was by including an orange filter in the studio shots. In the digipak cover the images i chose were either close ups to show the gold makeup on the models face which i enhanced to make the gold stand out fully, or the images included a gold prop like the balloons and an image of gold glitter. The images i chose were also warm to continue the brand identity of having gold in each of the products.

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I kept the font the same on the digipak covers and the digipak advert, i chose this font as it was simple and clear and i felt it created an impact as it was clear to read and stood out. I chose to have the artist name in bold as this is the most important feature as without the artist name the audience wouldn't know who the product is created by. I feel the font fits the genre and the artist well however whilst receiving audience feedback i discovered that on the advert the writing would have worked better if it was a bit bigger and bolder so it stood out a bit more.

I chose to have the second girl that appears in the video rather than the singer on the digipak cover and advert as i feel she represents the brand identity of the artist as she is the 'happy version' of the singer. Having the singer on the cover and advert wouldn't have meant i could show the gold on them. If the singer were to release more albums she wouldn't be on the front of them either, the model creates the brand identity. This isn't a conventional feature of an album cover however is done by a few real artists, such as Sia who creates her brand identity by the same girl featuring in her videos and album covers and not having herself in either. The model and the gold that she has on her face will be recognisable so as soon as she's seen the audience will know who's music it is so this creates the identity of the artist.

The close up shots used throughout the video and also used in the digipak album cover is also a common recognisable theme. The reason we used the close ups on the model is to ensure we could enhance the gold used within her makeup. This is used in the video and the album to create a common theme between them both to again make the artist's work recognisable. The black background not only creates the brand identity but is also used to enhance the gold as black is quite a contrast to gold so it means the gold will stand out more than it would on a white background.

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Selling the product

Genre

Digipak:

The genre of my music video is electropop, therefor for the digipak and digipak advert i tried to include a lot of conventions of this genre to ensure the audience knew what genre it was just by looking at it and so it also connected with the video.
The images used on the front and the back are close up shots which enable the gold on the models face to be enhanced. Both by me enhancing the gold manually and also through the close up drawing the audiences attention to the gold straight away. Enhancing the gold in the editing stages it also a convention as most electropop album covers use some form of special effects and also bright colours therefore enhancing the gold is conventional of this.
Additionally, a convention of electropop is to be more focused on a certain concept of the music rather than the artist themselves, so i decided first of all to not have the artist on the front at all and also to have the model in a close up image which meant the focus would be more on the gold and therefore the music rather than the person on the front or the artist.
The image on the front of digipaks for electropop artists usually has some form of link to the music on the album, therefore i decided that each picture inside and outside of the digipak would have a gold feature, including the makeup worn by the model, the lighting, a filter and enhancing the gold in the props like the balloons and the glitter.
The colours used on the front and the back create a contrast as having gold on top of black makes the gold look more vibrant and eye catching, therefore in the inside of the album the tones are a lot warmer and vibrant again which is again a conventional feature, as is using a filter which i also used in the two inside images.
The images of the model on the front and back break the 4th wall. This is a conventional feature as electropop albums are very engaging and direct eye contacts makes the album cover engaging and would appeal to an audience.

Advert:

The image featured on the digipak advert is a wide established shot which means the location can be shown and also the outfit of the model. I added a filter onto the image which is conventional of an electropop advert, it also makes the image warmer which again is conventional. It also is quite an every day location which means it can relate to an audience. The outfit would also relate to an audience as a black dress is quite a mainstream outfit that would appeal to the audience of this genre of music.
The gold balloons is the main feature of the image as i enhanced the gold on the balloons and made them stand out a lot more than they did originally. This links to the concept of the music on the album, which again means the focus is on the music rather than the artist themselves. This is the case again by the fact that the model is facing away so the information on the advert can be consumed rather than the focus being all on the model.
Although the image is in on everyday location, the filters make the image unnatural and therefore quite quirky which is conventional of an electropop advert as it makes it more indie and appeal to an audience that is into indie music.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Evaluation Question 1:

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


CONVENTIONS

Laura Mulvey

Andrew Goodwin: Genre theory

CONVENTIONS USED IN MUSIC VIDEO

Camera:

Long shots:

We included long shots in our music video particularly in order to establish the locations. This was used particularly in the field scenes including shots of us walking etc. 
Close up shots:
Another convention we used was close up shots, this was done for many reasons, firstly to show the emotions of the characters particularly the first girl as we wanted to ensure it was clear she was unhappy in her relationship. For example an extreme close up we used was in the studio when we zoomed in on the gold tear drop as we felt this was a key element of our video and the narrative. 
Extreme close ups:
We also used extreme close ups when we were filming the lip syncing as we wanted the lips to be the focus. Finally we used close ups in an arty way for the second girls in order to show the gold around her face and body. 
Mid shots:
Mid shots were used occasionally throughout, particularly in the studio scenes as we wanted the props to be the main focus and mid shots meant all the confetti as able to be seen in the shot. 
Breaking the 4th wall:
Breaking the 4th wall was a feature that we used a lot throughout as we felt it was engaging and allowed the audience to feel more involved in the storyline and the lyrics. However this was only used in the first part of the song as the girl in the first part is the ‘singer’ therefore it would have made it confusing if the second girl broke the 4th wall in order to sing however she did make eye contact with the audience on multiple occasions.

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Editing:

Speed:

We ensured our editing went with the music by adapting the speed throughout. So for the parts of the songs that had a faster tempo we decided to increase the speed whereas for the slower paced parts we slowed down the shots. 
Reverse:
We added some reverse shots which isn't as conventional however the reason we did this was to make the video seem surreal and quite arty and creative and that is quite conventional of electro pop songs in particular. 
Lip syncing:
We included shots of lip syncing throughout the video, therefore editing these clips well was an essential part of the video. We had to carefully make sure all of the footage of the lip syncing lined up perfectly with the lyrics on the track, we wanted to include lip syncing throughout the video as we felt it helped the video link well and also lip syncing was in almost every real music video we watched on youtube which told us it was a vital part of a music video and we felt we should keep that convention. 

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Mis-en-scene:

Locations:

The first convention that we used from our research was using a location that fit the song, we used three main locations in the video and we carefully thought about each one and why we were using it so the locations made sense for the audience. The first location was in a bed and we chose this as it links to the romantic side of the song, although the song doesn't talk about a relationship in a positive way it makes references to being in a relationship for example “i missed you in the basement” and “but your brother was a good substitute for you”. We wanted a location that reflected this part of the song and showed the ‘sexy’ side of the song and the artist so we felt a plain white bed was perfect as it was simple, the bed was big therefore made the girls look more alone and vulnerable but the shots we used like the birds eye view shot and the fact that the two girls were in their underwear gave it the sexual elements that we were looking for. The second location we used was the field and the original reason we chose this location was because we wanted a golden wheat field which linked well with the theme of gold that ran throughout the video, however it didn't quite work out like this due to the filming being done in the wrong season. However we were happy with the slightly dead look of the grass in the location as we felt it reflected the relationship that had died. We were also happy that the shots of the first girl in the field came out slightly darker than the second girl as this showed a contrast between the emotions of the two girls. The last location we used was the studio, this included a plain background which we knew we wanted as it was a strong convention of music videos. The studio shots were also when we used a lot of our props as the plain background meant the audience could focus more on the performers and the props used. 
Lighting:
We researched into what kind of lighting is used in music videos and discovered that it really depended on the song itself. Therefore we felt it would explain the narrative well if we had lower key lighting for the first girl, which we particularly achieved in the field and higher key lighting for the second girl. For the bed scenes we used natural lighting for both the girls as we felt this worked best for the location, whereas in the studio we used lights to achieve a more polished look against the background. 
Outfits:
We wanted the outfits to be slightly more casual than they may have been in a more professional music video. We didn't feel it would work well if the girls were dressed in an extravagant outfit such as a gold dress because the narrative of the piece was kept quite natural throughout and we wanted the girls to look stylish as we felt the target audience would have an interest in fashion and would also be quite mainstream.

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Laura Mulvey Theory:

Our music video conformed to Laura Mulvey's gender theory that states that women in music videos are 'objects' and appear in a way that would be sexual for the audience. The first way we conformed to this theory was through the choice of camera angles, during the bed scenes we used high angles which allowed the audience to feel more involved in the scene itself, we also used close up shots in these scenes which at times made the girls look naked and therefore come across as quite a sexualised character. The choice of costumes also conform to this as in the bed scenes the girls were just in their underwear making them look naked at times, and in the rest of the video the outfits were quite short and tight. Therefore this could be appealing for a male audience which Laura Mulvey suggests is the only reason females appear in music videos and that the video is always aimed at heterosexual men.

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Conventions of genre I used:
The genre of our music video was electro-pop, therefore prior to filming the video we looked into the conventions of other videos from this genre. We decided to include the convention of bright lighting first of all. Our video as a whole product was lit quite nicely, there aren't any points in the video that look dull or that have shadows and thats because we either used bright natural lighting or a light box to achieve a bright look. The shots of the first girl were purposely not as bright as the second girl however these shots were still light enough to connect with the rest of the video. Fast pace editing was another convention we decided to include as electro pop songs are usually very up beat and therefore fast pace music meant the visuals and the audio related nicely. We did this by changing the speed of the clips in the editing process and also including a lot of short clips in a short amount of time keeping the pace very upbeat. The people that would listen to this genre of music are likely to be quite mainstream therefore we chose outfits that they may like or similar to how they dress so we kept it simple with dresses that are from mainstream shops. Another key convention is having a link between the video and the lyrics, whether this is a narrative or a concept. We had a link between our video and the lyrics by firstly having the argument scene which showed two of the characters that were previously in a relationship arguing and breaking up reflecting the lyrics as she's singing about once meaning something to someone which isn't there anymore. Another way we did this was by continuing the theme of gold throughout, this was our concept as the song was called gold and we felt this created a strong link. In most of the music videos from this genre there was some kind of filter, therefore we wanted a warm orangey filter and achieved this by putting a sainsbury's bag over the lighting box. We realised when we began to edit that we could have done this on Final Cut Express however the sainsburys bag worked well enough for us. Another common convention was a performance from the artist or some kind of dance routine, we didn't want to include this and kept it simple by only having the lip syncing as we wanted the gold to be the main element of the video and felt a dance routine wouldn't have linked well with the narrative and the rest of the video.

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Andrew Goodwin Genre Theory:
Features of our music video conform to Andrew Goodwin's genre theory as the locations, costumes and colours etc of our video help identify which genre the song is which conforms to what Andrew Goodwin states.
There is also a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals in our piece as the song is called gold and makes references to gold so we included many gold features, including makeup, confetti, stars, the warm locations and the filter used. Additionally, the narrative of the video is based on the storyline of the lyrics as its about an unhappy relationship that traps the values of the unhappy woman.
Additionally, there is a relationship between the music and the visuals within our video. When the song sped up we sped up the footage in the video and then when the song slowed down we slowed the footage down and reversed the footage when the lyrics were repeated or where we felt it went well with the music. We also linked the colours with the mood of the song as the beginning is representative of the girls mood being upset so the colours are more dull than the second part of the song whereby brighter lightings used and orange filters.
Brand image is created with the close ups of the two girls and the close ups of the lip syncing. At times the close up shots portray the girls in a sexual way and voyeurism is included in the video through birds eye view angles used in the bed scenes.

CONVENTIONS USED IN DIGIPAK

The front of my digipak was very conventional, i included the name of the artist and also the name of the album in bold letters at the top. I feel this is the most important feature on a digipak as without it it isn't clear who's music it is or what the product is called. The image i chose expressed the theme of the album, which was gold, by the gold highlight on the models face being very intense and eye catching. The front also hinted at the kind of songs that are on the album as i feel the girl looks quite indie and sassy which is the kind of artist that Kiiara is. Similarly the back of the album featured conventional elements such as the names of the tracks, copyright details and the barcode. The image again included elements of gold that is the main theme of the album. In the inside i wanted to include some information about the artist's social media links as i felt this related well with the target audience of the video, young people. This is also quite conventional of this genre as it keeps it all very simple and ensures the audience focuses on the artist and the music. I decided not to include any lyrics in the inside or too much text about the artist or the record company as i feel like the target audience would be more likely to follow the artist on social media to find out more about her rather than reading inside the album cover. One way my digipak was unconventional was by not having images of the artist herself. In our video the first girl that is shown is 'Kiiara' as she's the one that does the lip-syncing throughout the video. However the digipak only includes images of the second girl in the video. The main reason i did this was because the second girl is the 'brand identity' of the artist as in the video she's the one with all the values (represented with the gold) and she would be the performer in all the other music videos that Kiiara would produce.
For the advert i wanted to keep it quite simple so it was easy to see what was being advertised and so that all the information was clear. I included the important conventions including the name of the artist and the album, i included an image of the front cover of the album so if the audience were to go and purchase it they would know exactly what it looked like. I also included a release date and the logos of the platforms where the album was available to buy or listen to. I only included the logo and not the link as i feel the target audience would be keen users of these platforms and therefore would easily be able to recognise them and use them. I included a review from Clash Magazine as this was a common feature of an advert in order to persuade the audience and sell the item. It also makes the music more appealing and trustworthy if a company that famously know what they're talking about would recommend it. The image chose reflects the theme of the album by including a bold gold element of the balloons and also by having the picture with a warm filter.

Music Video Feedback

In order to receive some feedback of our final music video, Devyani and I created a questionnaire via the website SurveyMonkey. We felt an online questionnaire will be more helpful for us than a written one as we were able to reach a wider range of people in a short amount of times. Putting the links on Facebook meant the main people that would respond would have been our target audience as we knew younger people are likely to be on Facebook. An online questionnaire is also easy to use and isn't likely to take them very long.
We choose a total of 5 questions:
1. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the best) what would you rate our music video?
2. What do you think works well in terms of our main themes in the video?
3. What do you think we could have improved on?
4. What do you think the narrative was in our piece?
5. How well do you think our video works with the song?
Overall we felt these 5 questions would help us grasp a clear understanding of the general feeling of our video for the audience, we could see if they were impressed, and why, what they feel could have been better, if they fully understood the message/story we were trying to portray in our video and overall whether for them the video really worked.

These were the results:

Question 1:

Question 2:

Question 3:

Question 4:

Question 5:

Final Music Video

Due to upload reasons our video appears in two parts on Vimeo.

Part 1:

Gold Kiiara - A2 Media Studies Music Video Part 1 from Jessica Granger on Vimeo.

Part 2:

Gold Kiiara - A2 Media Studies Music Video Part 2 from Devyani Tailor on Vimeo.

Completed Digipak

I didn't feel any changes needed to be made to my digipak from my first draft as i felt the conventions were there and all sides relate to the artist and the music.

Editing Dilemma

Once all our footage had been collected, using Final Cut Express we began to edit our music video. We felt very happy with our editing, by the time our second draft was due we had a completed music video to hand into our teacher in order to get a grade and feedback. We went to save our piece and made sure we selected all the correct formats to save the video properly so we were able to upload a good quality video to YouTube.
However, once we had waited around an hour for the video to fully save we were not at all happy with the quality of our video. The footage was very pixelated and looked like it had almost been squashed like in the picture to the right. This was not the quality of footage we had expected when we recorded and edited.
We asked our teacher for help as we assumed we had just saved it in the wrong setting and that's why the quality came out so bad. However this wasn't the case and the issue was that the easy set up settings were wrong. Despite there being posters up in our classroom we failed to realise that before we started we had to have the video in the right set up settings. Additionally, this wasn't able to be changed after editing everything. Our teacher did a lot of research into any possible solutions that would save us starting again and re-editing our whole video and she knew how long we had already spent editing and getting it to the way we wanted. However after trying around 6 or 7 different solutions, the video was still coming out blurry and just wasn't the quality we wanted.
So in order to get full credit for the amount of work and effort we had put into filming and editing good quality footage, we decided the best solution would just be to start the editing again, this time making sure we were on the correct settings before we started.
The re-editing process didn't take too long second time around, we just took note of every video we had used originally and only uploaded them to final cut express and cut them to the same length and added any effects we had previously used, all together it took around 5 hours including rendering time. We felt this time was completely worth it as when we then saved it again the quality was so much better.
We didn't want to hand in a piece of work that we weren't completely satisfied with so were very relieved when the re-edit came out at a good quality and wasn't squashed like before.
Below is a montage of 6 versions of the opening using different settings in order to try and save the video as the best quality possible. However non of these testers where to the quality we wanted which is why we decided to start the editing again.

Digipak Advert improvements

The feedback i got for my Digipak Advert was:
"Good use of conventions. Might be worth seeing if you can add a drop shadow to the 'CD' image to make it stand out. And I'm not sure if the background main image is a little blurry to be used on an advert."

So in order to improve my advert I have put the picture of the CD to 100% rather than 90% so its bolder than before. I have also added a drop shadow to hopefully make it stand out even more. I also increased the sharpness level of the background image. I decided to do this rather than change the image completely as i didn't want the image to be the focus of the advert anyway. I wanted to make sure the text, CD cover and the balloons were in focus and where the main feature of the advert so the image of the girl being slightly out of focus works well for my idea and i feel the image portrays my concept well so didn't want to change it.