Music Consumption

The way in which we consume music in this current day and age has changed from flat disc records in the 1890's to MP3 files that we currently use today. Music is easily accessible to everyone without them having to leave the house to buy a CD, due to media convergence (hardware and software combined) people are able to run programs that cover a variety of media platforms for example an iPhone allows people to access iTunes and download music on the go, as well as this they are able to use websites such as youtube in order to listen to music. I found that it is very rare that people buy CD's as they can download music from the comfort of their own home, however there are a small group of people who prefer to buy an Album rather than downloading it as they prefer to have a hard copy that they can keep.

People are able to download music straight to their appliances for example iPhones, tablets and iPods which is an example of technological convergence. 

Evaluation Question 1

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

http://prezi.com/batfz3phwbr1/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Evaluation Question 2

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

http://07callooa.edu.glogster.com/how-effective-is-the-combination-of-your-main-product-and-ancill/

Evaluation question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
We created a survey so that the audience could respond and give feedback to the music video. The survey was not very successful with only a few people replying but stating that they liked the car crash scene claiming it was very powerful and sudden. Due to the sudden cut of the shot and the music so that the only sounds being heard were the sounds of the car crash. Another person stated that they thought our use of camera angles were very powerful especially the scenes in the house showing the couple separated by a literal and metaphorical wall. This was elaborated on by another person who answered the survey saying the emotion between the two main characters was very compelling. 


However little constructive criticism was given and so we set up a group screening and interview of the music video where we asked five questions;

Question One: Is the genre of this music video clear? Does it fit the genre?
All of the interviewees identified the music video's genre as Metal/Rock and saying this was mainly sue to the tone of the video with its dark storyline and slow cinematography as well as he band playing.


Question Two: What do you think the narrative of the video is?
Again all the interviewees correctly identified that the storyline of the music video followed the story of a couple that meet and how their relationship slowly degrades until they argue and fight constantly until the girlfriend is in an accident and dies and the message that the girl is always there no matter what when the boyfriend is filled with the regret of her death.


Question Three: What would be the target audience for this music video?

Would it appeal to them?
The interviewees stated that the audience would be mainly male between their teenage year and 40's which is representative of the music genre's audience. They also identified that anyone in a relationship would be able to relate to it and that the content of the music video was not genre specific as it involved a relationship.


Question Four: What do you think is the most successful part of the music video?
The interviewees identified a variety of specific parts they thought were successful with no one answer being the same to another's. One interviewee said that the use of the black and white filter was very good to convey emotion and that the storyline was very clear. Another interviewee said that the camera was effective to convey her perspective when the first person view was used just before her death. Another interviewee stated that the closeups of the instruments as well as the sound effect of the crash were very effective and helped show the suddenness of death. They also stated that the lyrics linked very well with the tone and story of the video. With other candidates identifying the cyclical structure in the video linking the beginning and the end of the video.


and finally...


Question Five: What do you think could have been improved?
The interviewees said that the singing was out of sync as well as the facial expressions of the actors which weren't convincing enough and didn't show enough emotion. Another saying there should be more storyline, however the majority said the storyline was very clear.


The criticism they gave is completely true and if we had the chance to do it again would certainly make sure they were improved upon

Evaluation Question 4

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

We used a huge variety of technology in order to create our music video and digipak. In the research and planning stage of our music video we relied heavily on software and the internet as it is a huge database of information which helped us create complete our research on music videos, other students work, record labels, special effects and more. We also used software such as Photoshop in order to create our storyboard, I used a Wacom Intuos Graphics tablet to draw out our scenes for our story board. We also used Photoshop to edit the photos of our band used for our photo shoot this involved taking pictures using a Canon camera and editing them. We then used the website Blogger to publish it all.

In the Construction stage we used technology to create and refine our music video and digipak. We used a variety of filming equipment to ensure the best possible footage. This included a Cannon camera and lighting equipment to bring focus to certain shots. We again used Photoshop to create all of the digipak including the CD case itself, the poster and the website art. We used Weebly to create the website where we posted our news and information. The editing for the music video was done in Sony Vegas Pro as can be seen in our Behind the scenes video where we edit and made the music video.

For our Evaluation we used Survey Monkey to create our audience feedback questionnaire and used a variety of social networks to spread awareness to the video. As well as this a variety of technology was used to host the screening for the music video including a projector and projector screen as well as a laptop in order to view it.

Final Music Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j6qPdDHbRXQ

This is our final music video. 

Costume Research

For my costume research I decided to have a look at a variety of different rock bands and the style of clothing/makeup they wore. I researched how fashion within rock bands has changed over the years, KISS a well known rock band in the 1980's, wore outrageous makeup and over the top clothing. Whilst looking at more current rock bands such as Linkin Park and Green day I realised that the style has toned down and is a lot more casual. One reoccurring element within the rock fashion was the colour scheme, it was mostly dark colours that were worn such as black, grey and red. This worked well as it links in with the genre of music as rock is quite a dark genre. I feel that we will follow these typical codes and conventions when creating costumes for our own band as i believe that it works well.