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

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

Evaluation question 1 from Amani_Sweeney

Question 3: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Question 3: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Before we had created our music video me and Josh had already come to a decision on what our target audience would be that we are aiming our products at. This is because we needed to establish who we were targeting our product at. 

Throughout making our product, we had to always consider our audience and make sure that we were appealing to their needs. In order to do this, audience feedback was crucial to implement. We gather audience feedback in various stages, before making our product and once we made a rough cut edit of all our products. 


This is the demographic breakdown of our audience and who we mainly received feedback from:
Age: 16-30
Gender: both, but mainly males
Ethnicity: all, but agreed mainly black people as they are most interested in this genre of music
Occupation/Social category: D-E as it reflects working-class tastes of music. Mainly students will be interested in our music as the themes reflect them 

Hobbies and interests: singing, drinking, dancing, partying, socialising with friends


Audience feedback pre-shooting: QUESTIONNAIRE

Before we shot or decided on anything, we needed to make sure there was an audience for our idea. Josh and I initially had different ideas on what we wanted to make, so we both created a questionnaire to get feedback and then compared them to see whose idea was more popular. We analysed the feedback and decided that my idea of doing 'Wavey' would be the best option. This was the first instance where we learnt something crucial from our audience feedback. 

We created our final questionnaire in order to receive critical insight into our audience and what their expectations were of our product. Here we were able to choose specific questions of interest to help initially plan our idea. We asked about the genre, artist and use of conventions in order to find out what they wanted. We were also specific to who we gave the questionnaire to, as we needed to give it to people who liked the UK Rap scene.

(image above: Questionnaire for music video)

As mentioned in the Final Idea research post, it is key that the audience enjoy the music video because if they do then they will watch it more and spread positive word about it, however if the people dislike it then this would mean that people will dislike it on YouTube and it will gain negative feedback. This would be bad for the entire campaign because this is the official soundtrack that is released to promote whole the album if it was to get a bad first impression people won't purchase the album because poor reception was received from the soundtrack put out and they would think the the album would be bad also, which means that for us making it the way the audience preferred their music videos was critical.   

Here is some of the feedback that we had received after distributing the questionnaire to the people about what they're preferences are when watching music videos.

Key questions and answers:

In the results for question 12, we found that many people wanted to see the use of slow motion effects within the editing of the music video. This was crucial feedback from the audience as it allowed me to implement this technique within my video to meet their needs.

We managed to supply the audience demand for the slow motion via the Final Cut Por X application on the Apple Mac an example of when slow motion scenes can be found is on the music video during times:

1:24

3:14

3:25

Another question that we had to deliver for the audience with was question 18 - Would you prefer to see a music video in Black and White or in full colour? (diagram of answers that we had received below)

Another factor that we managed to deliver for was providing both scenes of black and white as well as scenes of colour throughout the entire music video. This is beneficial as with the help of editing and by editing clips into a series of straight cuts as well as special transitions we were able to add scenes where are artists are shown with a black and white filter as well as give scenes with full colour. These scenes can be found in the timings below in the video.

Black and white scenes:

0:18

0:35

0:52

Coloured scenes:

0:03

1:14

3:11

We also received key information on how the audience want the video to be edited on a whole with question 11 - Do you think the pace of music should match the visuals?

Because we had found that the majority of people in the audience wanted the music video to match the pace of the soundtrack  and some didn't we had to find a method to ensure that both types of viewers are accommodated when watching the video, we managed to do this by at times creating edits to match with the beat in order to for the visuals to go in hand which can be found during times:

1:02-1:03 :When artist 1 MD is performing his verse the instrumental begins to tick continuously at a fast pace and we managed to fit in a series of fast straight cuts to fit in sync with the beat in order t emphasize the secondary sound and make it more noticeable.

1:49-1:54 : The base of the soundtracks instrumental begins to make a beat in which we used again to make a series of random cuts of some of our additional shots that we wasn't going to fit in to our music video as these scenes changing at varied times helps the visuals to work with the soundtrack.

3:07-3:09 : As the instrumental plays again as if it was on a slightly out tuned radio it also makes the reversed sound as it was rewinding, however this is just a transition to bring it back to its original sound style, to work with this we edited in the same clip the the artists where lip syncing with however we put a fuzzy TV edit over it and reverse the clip to make it sound although the same thing was happening in the visuals. 

however there are times that we also had footage that didn't go to the same pace as the soundtrack which can be found at the following times:

1:14-1:16 : a clip that has been fast forwarded and then slowed down to show performer 2 SWEENEY's watch upon the rapper MD mentioning it within his lyrics, however footage does not work with the pace of the soundtrack. 

3:11-3:14 : Fast forwarded excess clip that is then slowed down to capture the two artists MD and SWEENEY that does not work with the soundtacks pace. 

3:31-3:32 : This clip is another excess fastforwarded clip that was placed at the end to shot a series of excess shots that was taken throughout the music video campaign. 

How did this help us make decisions during production

By gaining the answers to exactly what the people wanted to see within the music video this helped me to give them exactly what they wanted whilst shooting as I could better shoot clips and scenes for them to purposely be used to accomidate certain edits that were used within the editing stages, for example the cloning scenes that were taken we the artists have a clone that is also syncing there lyrics or performing the adlebs. We was able to do this by purposely placing the tripod in one place and shooting the scene twice the first time having the artist doing the main lyrics one side of the cameras view and the second shot being just the adlebs on the opposite side, then when editing we was able to line the clips up to play at the correct time and be on screen at the same` time. 

Focus group activity 

During the focus group session we had some of the students in school come to view our products both music video and ancillary texts in hopes of gaining constructive feedback to further improve our products, here are some images of the session. 

Image of music video focus group 1

Image of music video focus group 2

Image of advertisement focus group 3

Image of digipak focus group 4

We also have a print screen image of the comments and likes left by some of the audience that have viewed the music video via YouTube.

Here is the music video itself which you are able to view by clicking the video below. 

We also have a print screen image of the comments and likes left by some of the audience that have viewed the music video via YouTube.

We decided to put the video on YouTube is because it is the biggest possible platform for mp4 videos on the internet which means that it could gain the most amount of views as possible, this was needed also as it is easy access and well known so if you want your video to be seen by the people you have to ensure that you are using websites and software platforms that are commonly used by the public. YouTube also allows people to leave comments and like the videos which means we would gain true understanding to whether they liked it or not and they can comment what they thought to compliment on it or leave constructive criticism 

Below is some comments made by the viewers after view the products during the focus 

group via sound cloud audio: 

Berci's feedback for wavey music video after watching it for the first time during the focus group sessions.


Zahir's feedback for wavey music video after watching it for the first time during the focus group sessions.



Kamal's feedback for wavey music video after watching it for the first time during the focus group sessions.

From this I was able to gain constructive criticism in order to make improvements to the music videos lighting and colour as well as hearing what the viewers thought about the music video and what they liked about it when watching the music video.

Facebook and Instagram

We also posted our music video onto social media such as Facebook and Instagram to further encourage the public to click on the link and watch the video on YouTube after its release. 

We decided to put it up onto the social media as websites and applications like Instagram and Facebook are known on a global scale and are visited by millions of people on a daily basis, so if we promote the video on it we are bound to find people that are keen on viewing the music video and listening to it as we have posted it on the internet for the public to see. 

Putting the music video on social media websites such as on Facebook and Instagram helped us to promote our product be promoted on my profile, which means that I could share it with a select audience, family and friends only This was beneficial because we were able to have a conversation about the music video and it allowed me to gain a highly detailed response from them what they liked disliked and what they felt could have been improved. It is also a free effective form of advertisement because people can easily re post the information which helps it to spread around a lot faster.

What did you learn from this audience feedback in terms of whether you created a conventional and successful music video?

By gaining audience feedback this helped me to gain insight as to if the people themselves considered my music video to be successful and why as well as if it carried the correct conventions to best suit the genre of music. We were able to measure the success rate of the music video via the view count, likes and the comments that were given by the people on YouTube. According to the overall feedback that we had received, other than 2 negative comments that we had taken in (one via Kamal's Soundcloud post and the other being Michael Okafor's Youtube comment.) The music video has been deemed as a success according to the audience.  

To conclude, I learnt to use a variety of media platforms and software which were used to help my group to raise awareness for our music campaign by promoting our media products to the public. having received feedback from the viewers after the focus group and publishing of the music video this helped me and my group decide on whether we had created an overall effective campaign. As a result of the majority of people liking the campaign and it's products this tells me that we had followed the correct themes and conventions that the majority of people had wanted to see.

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts

             

Evaluation: Question 4 - How do you use media technologies int the research, planning and production stages of your coursework?

Evaluation: Question 4 - How do you use media technologies int the research, planning and production stages of your coursework?

                               

Final Product: M.D & SWEENEY Wavey Music Video

Final Product: M.D & SWEENEY Wavey Music Video

Final Product: Digipak

Final Digipak

Digipak layout:

Final product: Final Advert.

Final Advert

Poster:

Planning: Drafts of digipaks

Drafts of Digipaks

Before making the digipak, drafting had to be done as we needed to make sure the digipak looked conventional to what you would expect from a music album. Each time we made a new draft, we asked people who liked the UK rap genre for feedback because we knew their feedback would be helpful. Also, during this process we looked at existing products online to help strengthen our ideas.

Draft 1:

Positives:

-colour scheme is very good

-clear consistency and style

-good images provided and used

Typography is good and suits the style

Improvements:

-Def Jam goes on the back

-production company details missing

-Inside panel is not white

-CD looks a bit boring

Draft 2:

Positives:

-front and back complement each other very well

-good artistic style and theme to the product

Improvements:

-inside image does need to be circular, distracts from the CD panel

-lyrics are blurred and looks odd

-think about what else you could put in the inside panel

Draft 3:

Positives:

-really good consistency across all panels

-layout and artist image is conventional to the genre

Improvements:

-album name on front?

-some green noticeable on MD’s face on the front

-instead of “Ying X Yang” on the inside, can you think of other words to use?

Conclusion:

It is quite clear that over the drafts that Josh and I created, our work got better and more conventional/professional looking. Like all the drafting we have done, this process has allowed us to make a product that we know will hopefully appeal to our audience and reflect our genre. I will take into consideration the feedback received in draft 3 to ensure that the final product is a desirable one. 

Planning: Drafts of Adverts

Drafts of Advertisement

Before creating our final product, Josh and I had to go through various drafting to ensure we were creating a conventional product. Each time we developed a new idea or made changes, we received feedback from our teacher and peers that we knew liked the UK rap genre, as their feedback was beneficial for us in order to make improvements. 

Draft 1:

Positives:

1) Clear consistent campaign relating to digipak.

2) Colour scheme compliments the eye.

3) Relevant/ key information on poster.

Improvements:

1) Cropping around artist 1 (SWEENEY) head to eliminate all green areas.

2) Looks like a movie poster, very similar.

3) Parental advisory symbol (Digipak only).

Draft 2:

Positives:

1) Photoshop is much better around the artists

2) Layout is complimentary to the theme of the advert

Improvements:

1) Try and crop even smoother around SWEENEY'S image

2) Where you write about where it is available to download from, change typography 

3) The symbols of availability should be the same size

Conclusion: 

This process has been crucial in order for us to ensure that we create a product that is complimentary to all our other products. Further, the feedback has been invaluable to allow us to make the appropriate changes needed to reflect our genre. As this is a product that will be on public display, we need to ensure it is eye catching and I believe that if we make the changes advised in our draft 2 'improvements', we can do this. 

Planning: Creative brief for advert

Creative brief for advert

When making our creative brief for our advertisement we had to create a brief which would help us to better create a visual representation of what we want to make and want to have on the advertisement of our project, this is important because we have to ensure that we gt the visual portrayal of the album correct, however we also have to make sure that we don't make the poster identical to the digipak as we would lose buzz and interest of our project.

Josh and I created this together so we had a brief to follow when launching this product.

Who are they and why they are collaborating?

The artist we have created go by the name of Sweeney and MD who are both R&B/ Hip Hop artists from the UK Rap scene who are now releasing their new collaboration album 'YingYang'. They recently just came off their individual tours around Europe which sold out immediately in most places including London, France, Germany and Belgium. Both Sweeney and MD's tours have allowed their names to stardom into fame, placing their top singles at the top of the charts in the UK underground scene. The demand for both artists to collaborating has been hyped immensely on social media which for both artists, is another great opportunity to gain more success. Their loyal fan bases have been trying and worked together for quite some time to finally convince the two artist to collaborate. This album will hopefully please each artists fan base and satisfy their demand for this star combination.

Album and print advert concept

The two artists both being at the top of their careers means that this album must create no controversy between the ''favoritism'' that could possibly shown within their album Ying&Ying. Each artists has their own fan base mainly from the UK who we are hoping will increase due to this collaboration. Therefore we will produce the two artists with a 50/50 split ratio throughout the album. We will do this by consistently showing clear opposites between the two artists by: in music videos we will have one artist dressed in white and the other in black, on the album cover, one artist will be represented in white and the other in black.

With our print advert, we want to able to promote this idea through various forms of print media, where it can be displayed at bars, clubs, billboards and UK music magazines. We want to increase the visual promotion of this album concept which is why Josh and I believe that if we make an advert that stands out visually, it will attract many, existing and new fans. 

Comparable products

These two artists are a due who go by the name of Ying Yang Twins which immediately grabs the theme of ying and yang. There albums follow a similar idea of ours as they are also represented as 'opposites' through the use of color within the the of the digipak and also their clothing in which they also consistently follow their black vs white them throughout their campaign. Although their idea is very much like ours we will portray the concept of Ying and Yang to a further extent as we will include this in our music videos.

Audience

As both artists are from the UK Rap scene, they will have a similar, loyal audience. The audience will mainly consist of young males who are aged between 16-25, working class, audience category of C2-E and the ethnicity that will mainly be interested in our product will be black and Asian males. 

The two artists both being at the top of their careers means that this album must create no controversy between the ''favouritism'' that could possibly shown within their album Ying&Ying. This is taken into consideration as there are many stereotypes within collaborations between two artists. One of the main ones being audiences will tend to favor one artist more whereas some audiences would favor the other, therefore conflict and controversy would occur if artists are 'better' that the other artist on the album. 

Launch days

Album Release: 30th January 2016

Press campaign: 9th January 2016

TV Launch: 13th January 2016

Conclusion

I believe that creating the brief was beneficial so we could give the members of our group a crystal clear idea of what we are trying to create with the advert as some people may not fully understand and get the wrong interpretation of what we are trying to present. 

Research into conventions for the advert

Research into conventions for the advert

Intro:

The reason why we have created an advert for our album is because we are promoting the musical campaign of 2 artists collaborating on a single album visually. The poster will help to raise awareness as well as building a higher level of anticipation for the album before its release. 

Which two you looked at and why?

Me and my group looked at two artists, Jay Z and Skepta that portray similar artist representations that we wanted to portray within our two performers. The main representation were young black artists coming from a ghetto background however instead of portraying the stereotypical and negatively viewed black artist we wanted to portray artist that will be a positive influence on their audiences. 

Our two artists 'Sweeney' and 'MD' will 

This is sketch of the type of advert design we would like to create. My music video concept being 'ying and yang' showing complete opposites between the two performers is the same idea we want to portray within the advert. This sketch is close up shot of both performers heads edited and cut in half to be morphed together as one head. With the ying and yang logo as our background both faces will be edited to show a clear dividing in half in between the logo.; Sweeney being on the white half of the Ying & Yang logo and MD on the black half of the logo. The main idea is to show a clear 50/50 ratio between the two artist. Our idea is very similar to an existing collaboration album by Chris Brown and Trey Songz.

The conventions I would like to apply as a result of this research activity are...

• Album title (placed at the top of the poster)
• Artist name (Color coordinated with the design
• Artist image (clear 50/50 ratio of the showing of both artists) 
• Production company (will always be next to the album name to show who owns the album)
• Where the album is available e.g iTunes, 'In Stores Now', Amazon etc. (placed at the bottom of the poster, with the brand logos of the apps/companies you can purchase the album from.)
• Main singles from album (Can be listed next to the brief details of the album which gives teasers to the audience, attracting them to the album with known, top of the chart singles.)
• Parental advisory log if required. (if needed, the logo will be placed 

Overall, this research has been helpful to our planning because... 

We need to enhance the star image in our poster which allows the people and fans to see who's album it is, as well as it presenting to the people the first primary and initial theme that holds the project together. 

Research: Censorship

Censorship

Censorship within media is something that comes up and is always tested. In the music industry censorship can be pushed to its limits as it can be seen as hard for artist and audience to find the line between freedom of speech and expression also known as 'art' and what is seen as inappropriate. 

If explicit content is mentioned or seen in a music video or soundtrack it is usually followed up with the 'Parental Advisory' symbol. This symbol is used to notify the public of its explicit content and that it is up to the parent or guardian's consent that any person under 18 can be exposed to this. 

Genres that have been known to carry the 'Parental Advisory' symbol:

• Hip-Hop - Violent, sexual and drug abusive content.
• R&B - Sexual content within lyrics. 
• Rock - Violent and drug abusive content.

There are 14 topics that have the right to be censored if presented in either a sound track or a music video, these are:

1. Shock - Footage that the audience could find traumatic and disturbing.
2. Violence - Scenes too violent can also be deemed inappropriate. 
3. Graphic Representation - If scenes are considered as to graphic (gory or explicit) the can be censored. 
4. Language - Explicit language may be found as inappropriate by the audience.  
5. Sexual Violence - Sexual Violence is a topic that could make viewers very disturbed and uncomfortable. 
6. Domestic Abuse - Scenes of domestic abuse and violence could possibly upset the viewers. 
7. True Events - Using true stories and events is a very sensitive subject as people that where possibly affected by these events could find it upsetting or offensive. 
8. Culture - If culture is shown in the wrong way it can be seen as offensive by others which is why it gets censored. 
9. Race - Racial misinterpretation can also be seen as offensive.
10. Class - Like racial interpretation social classes can also find misinterpretation offensive.
11. Corrupting the young - Corrupting children and youth (underage) can lead them to do things such as copy what they see or be influenced by things they do not fully understand which is potentially dangerous for them to do so. 
12. Political Controversy - Political controversy has the right to be censored as it could slander a  political figures reputation and change the peoples political views which could lead to problems such as rioting and disruption within society.  
13. Nudity & Sex - Sex and nudity can be seen as inappropriate in the eyes of young children hence the reason why it is censored. 
14. Drug Abuse - Drug abuse is an illegal activity which is why it is not often shown and is censored. 

All 14 topics can be censored because a large group of people can come to disagree with what is shown and might find whatever is shown as offensive, upsetting or inappropriate for viewing, hence the reason why is can be censored. 

Wavey music video

In this music video the music video itself does not breach any rules of censorship for any scenes of it to be censored out  as it is not an excplicit music video, however the sound track contains diluted explicit lyrical content (very few swear words) and the N word which is said twice by artist two (Youngs Teflon) which would offend our viewers, it is for this reason why we have planned to censor out the lyrics of the soundtrack and blur artist lip sync within the music video. 

To conclude, my understand of censorship has been beneficial because it is something that me and my group have to consider because our music video contains themes of drugs and violence within  the music video's soundtrack and visuals which viewers could potentially find upsetting which means that we need to be careful about what we show to the people when filming the music video so that we film enough to make it enjoyable but not too much to make it explicit to the highest possible level.