Evaluation

The main purpose of a music video is to represent an artist and create a sequence which evokes specific emotions and narratives. The brief in which we were given was to create a music video and two ancillary products in order to promote the media product in which we had created. In order to create a successful media product it is the job of the group to choose a target audience in which they will intend to appeal to as well as gaining a wider audience. An audience is very important as this will allow a record company to produce more sales through the way in which the music video is played on various music channels and also through the ancillary products such as CD's and posters. The members of my group included myself, Daisy Morecroft, Emma Harris and Ella Sutherland. W e worked together in order to choose an artist in which we would focus on and use one of their songs for our music video. The artist that we chose was Nina Nesbitt and the song we chose of hers was 'Noserings and Shoestrings'. The role I adopted within the group was director and occasional camera operator. A director occupies a key position in upper management and works to organise the schedule and overall process of the making of the music video. A director will oversee and manage all functions in a specific area or department. I planned filming schedules and any meetings that we needed to have throughout the months of planning and creating. From my director role I learned exceptional leadership skills, managerial experience and be able to set business targets, time lines, plans and financial targets.
The jobs I adopted when I was camera operating included assembling, preparing and setting up equipment prior to filming, which included tripods and cables. I also offered advice on how best to shoot a scene, explaining the visual impact created by particular shots. From this I learned how to use certain equipment at a higher level and also gain more knowledge in how certain camera shots will help the audience gain a deeper understanding into the narrative of the music video.
I feel that my group worked extremely well together as we all were very understanding of each other's views and we all shared the same vision for the final music video. Each member of the group made a great effort to learn how to edit using Final cut therefore we was all able to edit whenever one of us was free. Each member of the group held valuable skills that made the music video process a very successful and enjoyable experience.
I feel that we have made a music video of the Indie genre intended to the target audience of females between the ages of 16-25. Our music video was a successful combination of narrative and performance due to the romantic situation between the artist and her love interest, and the artist singing and playing the guitar. The ancillary products that we created, I feel were also successful because they were eye catching and also showed our artist in the best possible light. We also gave vital and persuasive information in order for onlookers to be interested and then buy the product.

The production brief was to create a music video from a particular genre of your choice and then two ancillary products that will promote the music video. The ancillary products were a digipak and a magazine advert. The purpose of a music video is to promote an artist or song that they have just released which helps to gain more of an understanding about the meaning of the song. Many music videos include narratives that will attract a specific target audience and make the music video memorable. A music video will create a relationship between the artist and the target audience in order to make the artist likeable and more successful. It will also show the audience the personality of the artist. A music video also allows fans to buy into the artists' lifestyle as they may be promoting a specific brand or item in their music video, which would entice a fan to go out and purchase the product this is called intertextual reference.
The style of a music video includes elements of performance, narrative and concept. A performance based music video will include an artist singing or dancing their song through the music video. This evokes a sense of emotion into the music video from the artist themselves. The narrative element would include a story that would run throughout the music video, this creates more of an understanding for the audience and will also make it more memorable. The concept element of a music video presents the audience with an idea or theme that runs throughout the video.
The codes and conventions of a music genre are the factors that make it evident to the audience of the genre of the song they are listening to. Dance music videos include club setting, dancing people, colours and lights. Whereas a pop music video will have a narrative and potentially a love story. It will be bright and may seem 'over the top'.
The indie genre is what we chose to use for our music video. Indie is a short-form of "independence" and is a genre in the music industry.
Indie music originated in the 80's with bands including The Smiths and Joy Division. Indie bands have become increasingly popular in more recent years. The genre is almost a hybrid of Pop and Rock music in terms of the appearance and the music that these musicians play. The style of music you tend to hear in Indie can differ from some artists sounding very clear and using their voice in a more conserved manner such as pop, and I can also be fairly loud and wild, such as rock. The appearance of the artists is also very unique as well and can link in with both how pop and rock are viewed. Unlike rock, Indie artists don't perform very wild or rebellious in their music videos and unlike in pop, they don't perform like they're having the time of their life, but instead they give off a very conservative approach in their performances as if they are just their to sell their music rather than trying to sell themselves. Our finished music video follows the conventions of an Indie music video due to the simplistic setting, priority of music, use of instruments and quirky image.

In order to create an effective magazine advert, my group and I had to do a lot of research into other artist's from the Indie genre's adverts for inspiration and ideas.
The main two adverts that I analysed and took ideas from was our original artist Nina Nesbitt's tour advert and Ellie Goulding's album advert. I found Nina's appearance in her advert was very fitting for our chosen artist as it connotes the laid back attitude in which we want to show for our artist Daisy.  We chose to follow elements of Nina Nesbitt's tour poster  as we felt that her she conforms to an Indie artist as she did not have a magazine advert. The poster is created to inform a specific audience about the artist as she is not as well developed within the Indie genre. The audience in which Nina Nesbitt appeals to is a niche audience due to the Indie genre which is generally received by smaller audiences rather than that of the pop and RNB genre who tend to have a more grand audience. A poster has to promote the artist, the genre and the material in which they have recently produced in order to gain sales. Nina Nesbitt's poster shows the Indie genre through the use of costume, surroundings an font. Nina Nesbitt is known for her quirky and indie image which is shown here by her appearance of clothing and makeup. She is also the central focus which shows Goodwin's theory due to the fact that it will create a relationship between the artist and the audience.
She is a teenage girl who is portrayed to be quirky and to have her own individual style. By having a female like this it will attract a target audience of young girls as many try to experiment in their teenage years, especially with fashion.
. The miss-match of her clothing shows  that she has pulled the outfit together which shows her laid-back attitude to life which is conventional of the indie genre. She is not concerned with her apparence which may suggest she is more concerned with the music that she is making and performing. The oversized jumper shows that she does not wear clothes to assentuate her figure which is unconventional for many young girls which may suggest that she is not a 'girly girl' which makes her interesting and different. The denim shorts show a casual sense of style and also that she is comfortable with her body and her legs even though very little skin is showing in the advert. This shows how Nina doesn't use sexuality to promote her image which is conventional of the Indie genre as the central focus is the music. As a poster is created to fulfil the purpose of gaining sales we feel that this successful poster of Nina Nesbitt's would be a great model for us to build from.

 A digipak that we analysed was from the artist Jack Johnson who is an American folk rock singer-songwriter, surfer, filmmaker, musician known for his work in the soft rock and acoustic genres. The main purpose of a digipak is to entice an audience in order for them to purchase the product in which the artist is a part of. The digipak is personal to the artist including images that represent the artist and their music. Overall a digipak allows the audience to feel more connected with their favoured artist and in turn enjoy their music more because they can relate to it.

 

A digipak differs to a CD album due to the vast amount of additional images we as a consumer are provided with.A digipak will generally have 6 slides and as a group we will create this and produce a digipak including a front cover, welcome page, cd design, two images and  a back page.

Finding a digipak with 6 slides from an artist within the indie genre proved to be very difficult therefore we had to analyse a digipak of four slides from the artist Jack Johnson.

A digipak will need to represent the artist in order to gain success through sales.

This specific digipak by Jack Johnson shows the chilled and laid back atmosphere of the artist which is conventional of the indie genre. This is shown by the specific colours and designs. The colours predominately used are yellow and black which can suggest a vibrant yet melodic album. The colour yellow connotes optimism, happiness, hope and imagination.
The front cover of the digipak shows a large oak tree which are often regarded as wise and humble which may represent the songs within Jack Johnson's album. The front cover is very simplistic with only the tree, the figure representing the artist and also his guitar. The simplicity of the cover is conventional of the indie genre as their music and music videos are generally basic as the main priority is the music. We used this digipak as a model for our own digipak as we felt as it was from the indie genre and shared a theme of nature which we felt would run smoothly along with our music video.

 

Our digipak is conventional to the Indie genre due to the simplicity of the photographs, appearance of the artist and use of fonts and effects.

Some of the images that I have used for the digipak is a shot of the artist in a natural location of an autumn forest. The lighting is naturalistic as the sun is setting and reflecting on the artist creating a magical effect which represents the location as her 'thinking place' in which she reflects on her life and in this case her failing relationship. The bright colours of green, brown and yellows are very clear connoting a peaceful atmosphere which is conventional of the Indie genre as the music is generally laid back rather than that of rock and pop which are energetic. The green  leaves also show growing, nature, freshness and life which symbolise how certain situations have made the artist grow as a person and she yearns for a relationship without the chaos that it entails at the moment. In this image the artist is sitting on the floor showing she is not afraid of getting dirty which shows her appearance is not vital to her and the music is her main focus. 

Our artist has blonde hair that is messy and curly which follows the indie conventions as appearance is not vital within a music video within this genre.
The artist will also wear bold red lipstick which is conventional to the indie genre as it shows individuality and having the confidence to stand out and be different. Many artist from the indie genre will wear bold lipstick to stand out as they are known for their quirky style. The artist also wears minimal make up of subtle brown and earthy colours with provides the audience with naturalistic visuals. This will provide the audience with a relationship with the artist as she will remind them of a typical teenager and they will see her as a 'friend' they can relate to.

The welcome page of the digipak contains a message from the artist thanking everyone who helped her in the process of making the video. She also says that the album is full of personal songs which will help the artist create a relationship with the audience as they will enjoy more emotive and personal songs. I chose to use a white italic font to also show a feminine and innocent side to the artist. The style of writing is also sophisticated as this dialogue is a mature message from the artist in order to thank the audience as well as the production team. The image used for the welcome pack shows the artist looking at the camera with enticing eyes showing a serious yet pretty face.

 

One of the images we have chosen to use for the digipak is one of the artist with a horse. This will give the artist the likeablity factor as she has time for animals and nature. I feel that both our ancillary products work well alongside our music video due to the running themes and extended metaphors that run throughout. The low budget settings such as the forest shows the nature theme that is evident in both the ancillary products and the music video. The artist in our music video is seen performing in the naturalistic setting of the forest with her guitar. This setting is then seen throughout the digipak. The artist's image also runs through the ancillary products as well as the music video. The artist will be seen in array of indie outfits depending on the location of scene and which emotion we anticipate to portray.

We have chosen to stick to having a female artist who dresses in vintage clothes with piercings and messy hair as this shows individuality and as our target audience is young females we want to influence in a positive way showing they should embrace individuality and not follow the crowd.

 

Black tights- The black tights give any outfit that the artist wears an edgy atmosphere showing that she is feminine however she is a strong personality and is not afraid to be different. The tights also cover the artist's legs showing she does not use sexuality to promote her music and her appearance is less important.

 

• Gold and black ankle boots- The black and gold boots create a subtle gothic look showing that the artist s also edgy and confident within herself and her image. The boots are also comfortable shoes rather than heels showing the artist is not high maintenance and is down to earth making her likeable and relatable.

 

• Denim shirt- The denim shirt will be worn by the artist in the  mid-shot performance scenes. This is a casual look showing the artist can relax, however in these scenes the artist is singing about her boyfriend and the issues she faces with them therefore her outfit is least important in these scenes.

 

• Red lipstick- The red lipstick that the artist wears shows passion and charisma. The artist has strong lips with minimal other make up showing that she has a strong personality. The lipstick also shows an attractive side to the artist making the target audience look up to her.

 

• Fur coat- The fur coat is a statement item of clothing which is very fashionable at the moment therefore this shows the artist as current and up to date with latest trends and fashion. This will attract the intended target audience as they will enjoy to listen to an artist who is seen as current.

I feel that it is extremely important to evaluate ones work in order to make changes and highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the material. In the case of the music video, audience feedback is particularly important as the production need to know if they have appealed to their target audience and also if we have conformed to the conventions of the Indie genre. There are many ways to evaluate your work, the first by sharing the video via youtube. Youtube allows viewers to communicate their opinion of the music video onto the website. They can press a 'like' or 'dislike' button which will be shown underneath the actual video, as well as being able to comment their opinion below. As producers of the music video, the opinion of other people will interest us very much as it will allow us to know how the video is being received by an audience and whether or not the target audience was met.
It is important to consider audience feedback as we are given constructive criticism in which we can reflect upon. As we still have the opportunity to make changes for our final music video we will take onboard the comments that we receive.
For example if we receive a message including constructive criticism such as the disliking of a certain shot or clip we will then take time to change the element of the music video in order for the final music video. It is also beneficial to receive compliments on the music video as we will then definitely plan to keep the elements that are liked. It is also important to consider the feedback of an audience as we will want to know if the video has reached our target audience. Our target audience was young females between the ages of 16-21 and we will be interested in whether or not we have met this intended audience. Furthermore by receiving positive feedback we will then gain confidence in our video and promote our video further in order to gain more publicity as we are sure that it has been received well and will hopefully continue to.
We received audience feedback through Youtube and also through asking the opinion of people within my media class and the public. Youtube is a very good way of receiving feedback as it has many pathways that the audience can communicate through. For example every view that the music video receives is counted and the overall number is presented. There is also an opportunity for the viewers to like and dislike the video which also shows a number of how many people are for and against the video. The ability to comment on the video will also give us an insight into how people have received the comments and their personal thoughts and feelings towards the music video. We also held a mini informal screening of our rough cut where our classmates and other people in our year watched the video and told us what they thought about the video. They gave us comments on the editing, cinematography , representation of the artist and how they received the video as a whole. We also posted the rough cut onto social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in order to gain more views and comments from the public.
The feedback we received proved to be mostly positive and constructive. We gained 123 views on youtube and 4 likes. We were very happy with the amount of views we received as it means that the video is getting round and being given the opportunity to be complimented.

We also received this constructive comment from a student who specialises in media completely and we were very grateful for this as once acted on the comment it was very beneficial to us. When we imported the final video we listened to the helpful comment and did export the video to H.264 and it was a great difference.

"The video was really good. I believed the narrative and the settings and image of the characters really fitted with the Indie theme"

Aimee Clark , 18

"I really enjoyed it, A lot of time and effort went into the video and this is evident. I think their could be some more spent with matching up the timing and the miming of the artist."

Sam Cooper, 40

The feedback that we received assisted us greatly in the process of finalizing our music video  as we took all the criticism on-board and made certain changed in order to have a very effective end product. We sorted out any timing issues that had been highlighted in the comments and also focused on any shots that looked unprofessional.

Any positive comments that we received we have kept these things as they were in the final video as they were received well by the audience.

Blogger- this was used to hold all the research in which I had conducted and also all planning. Every aspect of the planning process was recorded on blogger and this was a great way to be evaluated by our teacher but also a good way to refer back to our previous work.

Youtube-  Youtube is a very good way of receiving feedback as it has many pathways that the audience can communicate through. For example every view that the music video receives is counted and the overall number is presented. There is also an opportunity for the viewers to like and dislike the video which also shows a number of how many people are for and against the video. The ability to comment on the video will also give us an insight into how people have received the comments and their personal thoughts and feelings towards the music video. Youtube was also a way of researching music videos for posts such as 'chosen genre', 'chosen artist', 'history of music videos'. In order to gain information about the Indie genre I had to analyse music videos and youtube made this a very easy and accessible job to do.


iTunes- In order to get the music for our music video we had to purchase the song on ITunes. We searched the artist and the song, purchasing it for 69p. We could then transfer the onto our music video in order to make sure that particular shots would coincide with the right parts of the music.

Final Cut

construction

evaluation

stregnths and weaknesses