What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Why are audiences important?

- We produce it for the audience 
- Who we aim at
- To make a text successful

A media text in itself has no meaning until it is read or decoded by an audience.
Audiences generate revenue or discussions and recognition.

I produced a questionnaire so that I could get some feedback on the music video. With the feedback I can then see whether the video was successful and whether the audience understood what I wanted to create.

Question 1 - What do you think the main message of the video is?

 I was pleased with the answer of this question, as song is about treasuring time with your loved ones. The song is quite personal and describes the hurt caused by cancer. I wanted to maintain different emotions throughout the video, the time spent with your loved ones is when your most happy, this is reinforced when the two sisters are playing in the field, the expression on their faces show that they are happy and have a strong relationship. The emotions of when you are alone and effected most, is emphasised when the artist turns to her piano to let out all her emotions, and also the shot of the artist alone outside. 

Question 2 - How did you think the main character is feeling throughout most of the video?

The pie cart represents that the people understood that the artist felt sad throughout the video. However, one person ticked that she felt happy, this is true, that in parts of the video, especially the home video the artist feels happy. The video I wanted to create was not aimed to be all sad, I wanted to get the message across, that don't take life and your family for granted, simply Treasure the Time spent with them.

Question 3 - Did you enjoy the video?

This person enjoyed the video, and says it was emotional, which is what I wanted to create. Many music videos in today's society never face the actual fact of what is goes on in peoples life. I wanted to connect with the audience, as this story happens in many families, by touching the subject makes more people aware of what is going on, and helps people realise that not to take life for granted.

Again, this person has said it was an emotional video. This is the feedback that I wanted, I wanted to make it emotional, so that the audience really gets the subject that I am touching upon. I was observing people when they were watching the video, and I could tell that they were really getting into the video, many students when finishing watching the video, were left thinking about the video. I wanted to create a video that made people think about the actual video itself and its narrative. 

Question 4 - What would you change about the video?

This is my Media teachers response to Question 4 on the questionnaire. He suggested that I should not of carried on breaking up the lip sync, that on some of the shots when the artist is not syncing, she should to let the video flow. The reason why I didn't want the artist to lip sync the whole way through the video was because I wanted to create shots that suggested to the audience the artists thought process. 

After putting the video all together my media teacher noticed that the artist left her phone on the piano, as she left it there when lip syncing. We felt disappointed that we hadn't noticed this before, however as we left it too late, we didn't have time to change it. For the future, I need to make sure that the mise en scene is checked before and after filming.

Question 5 - Would the video encourage you to go out and buy the song/album?

I am glad that people would actually buy this album. The music is aimed at a niche audience, people passionate about music, this doesn't attract all youngsters. I believe the video would attract a range of an audience, as although the song/video is emotional and targets a touching area, people do like to watch this. It is an escapism, I believe the audience I am targeting at, they can relate to the video.

I believe this is a type of music video that will get talked about, that the word can spread about the strong narrative and the sadness, which will make the video popular.

The questionnaire has made me realise the audiences flow of emotion. 90% felt emotional when watching the video, I believe this is a good thing, they understood the narrative, which contributes to the flow of meaning. I believe they all connected with the video, it goes against a 'traditional' sad music video, where normally a love story is involved. This video touches a family relationship, which goes against many music video conventions. 

I decided to film Megan Linnell, the unknown artist. I thought it was vital to achieve her opinion on the video and to see if we did her song justice.

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

Digital technology refers to hardware, software and online technology. So the camera's, computers, the packeages you used and the prograqms online you have worked with.

Panasonic HC-V500 Video Camera

In the construction of producing my music video, a professional camera was vital. The Panasonic camera that we had chosen had a 50x zoom, which meant we could really take advantage of the different types of camerawork and produce a successful piece of film. The lens was 32.4 mm wide, this meant we could get an accurate shot. When we filmed the 'home video' scene we deliberately used a different camera; Panasonic SDR-515. This camera had a 10x optical zoom, this meant that it could not zoom as far as the Panasonic HC camera. The camera has a 23mm width of lens, this again is a lower lens that the other camera we used, which lead us to get a smaller shot. We used a different camera that had different functions deliberately, as the home video was set a long time ago, the effect we wanted to create was an 'ancient feel'. When uploading the film onto Final Cut Pro, the group was extremely pleased with how the film looked.  We also used a tri-pod with the Panasonic camera, the tri-pod was extremely important as we had to make sure the filming was accurate and looked professional. With the tri-pod I could then vary the shots of film. For example, the shot overlooking the artist on the piano, I took the tri-pod down, so it was small, put the camera on top, then I could get a close overlooking shot of the girl on the piano.

iMac


The iMac was extremely important when researching other videos, the use of safari and especially keeping updated on my blogger. To produce a successful video, I had to analyse many different videos, to recognise their successful conventions. Also on the iMac it has Final Cut Pro, this was where our group completed all of the editing. With this editing site we could cut all the unwanted pieces of film and change the duration of the film to fit into the backing track.  In our video we have tried to convey a 'home video' of two younger girls, with the use of Final Cut Pro, we have added an older date at the bottom left of the screen, this suggests the past. Final Cut Pro also allows you to change the effects of the film, as a common convention of a music video the film isn't a natural light, in our film we have enhanced colour at the start and used black and white nearer the end of the film. 

Nikon Coolpix s3100

We had to use a camera when creating a recce. We used the Nikon Coolpix s3100, which is what the school offered us. This was great for us as the camera has a wide 5x Zoom, which meant when we were taking pictures for our recce's we could get a wide shot, so then we had an idea of the real shot for the video. The camera is also 14.0 Megapixels, this means the camera is at a high quality and allowed me to get high quality shots. The image of locations let the group see whether the location would be ideal for filming. The images that we took were very useful as we could clearly see the shot we wanted to create for film. We could also identify the background of the shot. As we wanted to film in the school hall, we could see from the images that we took that there were a lot of tables, and the actual canteen behind the shot. This meant we had to change the position of the piano to get a clear background, the shot of location was extremely useful. After the recce shots, we felt ready to proceed with filming.

Youtube
Youtube was a reliable source that our group used regularly. In order to create a successful video we had to analyse different music videos to identify their conventions. The track that we use for our music video, is also on Youtube, we had to use the backing track when designing the story board, we could choose the different shots and the narratives direction. This caused a slight problem when completing our video, as we had filmed to the 'Youtube version', we asked the artist to record the actual song so we could a better quality of sound. When we had put the recorded backing track and the film together, we realised that due to filming against the youtube version of the song, the recorded version had a completely different time, this meant we had to completely re film. As time was at the essence we thought about just using the youtube version for the real thing, however we thought we had put a lot of time into preparing the video, we wanted to make sure it looked its best.

Blogger 

Blogger was extremely important in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages. When I completed my research, I would always upload the work that I had done to Blogger. Also, Blogger was extremely reliable, I knew that the documents uploaded onto the site would be safe. When evaluating the work that I had done in my blog posts, I would then realise what was the next step for me, it helped me keep organise and on top of things.

Tri-pod
Although the tri-pod isn't actually classed as a media technology, it does contribute towards the camera in making sure the shots looked professional. It prevented me for having the 'shaky' effect, when filming the shots for the video. I could also put the camera at a different angle, to produce different shots, which adds more interest to the shots.

              iPhoto

iPhoto was the site where I edited the photos for my ancillary tasks. iPhoto helped me a lot to make sure the images look professional, and were ready to be advertised. Without the editing site, I would never of been able to change the colour of the images, put them at a different angle nor add text to the image. iPhoto really made me achieve the image I wanted for advertisement and the overall product.

Narrative

Narrative Theory
- The way in which a story is told in both fictional and non fictional ways.

Narrative explores the conventions:
- Genre
- Character
- Form
- Time

Linear Structure 

Beginning - - Middle - - End - -

Open Structure - The audience are left to wonder what happens next

Closed Structure - Definite Ending

Circular Structure - The narrative begins at the end events. The audience are taken on a journey arriving back where they started

Complex Narrative Structure - Today's narratives have become complex as producers know audience have a greater sense of media literacy.

Restricted Narrative - The information is withheld from the audience.

Unrestricted Narrative - What the audience are assumed to know.

In my Music Video, I believe that there is a narrative throughout the whole video, however it goes against a linear structure, there is no beginning, middle and end. The video is left open, so the audience are left thinking about the video. As my video is about the relationship of two sisters, there is no male presented in the video. Therefore the video goes against Vladimir Propp’s idea of their being substantial characters in the video. Therefore I believe my video goes against a conventional music video, which adds more depth and to leave the audience again to think about the message I was trying to achieve. My video does follow Tzvetan Tordorov theory that most narratives begin with a state of equilibrium. The video starts off with the female character simply playing the piano. The state of equilbrium continues throughout the piece, and this is reinforced with the use of mise en scene and lighting. The fact that the mise en scene is very normal, nothing out of the ordinary, and the same with the lighting, the fact that it is ambient mainly throughout, except the use of black and white. The characters are in normal clothing, again reiterating the state of equilibrium. However, there is no conflict in my video, that then leads to a new equilibrium, the main message of the sisters close relationship is presented throughout. I achieved this purposefully as the song contains strong lyrics, that may effect some of my targeted audience, there was no need to add conflict to the upset of the video, the happiness contrasts with the sadness. Roland Barthes theory that suggests that the narrative works with five different codes does link in with my music video. Action Code, which suggests that the audience knows the narrative and doesn’t need explaining, does link in with my video to a degree. The fact the audience does know that the narrative is sad; which was suggested when I gave my audience a questionnaire of the video, they understood the sadness of it. As the song is about ‘Cancer’ and ‘Treasuring Time with your loved ones’, I wanted the narrative to be about loosing someone, however, many of my audiences didn’t actually get the fact that one of the characters had cancer, so I would say that this fits in with the Enigma Code, the fact that something is hidden from the audience, although this wasn’t done deliberately. I believe the narrative also works with a Semic Code, something that the audience recognises through connotations. I believe the use of the two sisters playing outside, and the affection they give towards each other, makes the audience realise that there is a connection between the two characters. I have also used a Symbolic Code, something that symbolises a more abstract concept. In the video when one of the characters is dancing, and the other character is simply watching. The dance actually symbolises the character letting out all her emotions, that it actually presents resentment. Whilst the other character is watching, it again suggests their bond, but also the collapse of it too.

Genre Theory

Daniel Chandler - Conventional definitions of genre constitute on particular conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including structure and style) which are shared by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them. Every genre positions those who participate in a text of that kind.

 

I believe Daniel Chandler’s theory does work with my music video. Above is the shot from the video, where the character is playing the piano. This is an example of our video using other themes from other genres. When looking at other videos it was noticeable that the piano was used often in more subtle tracks by well known, branded artists. My video also does go against this theory. It explores the close relationship between the two sisters, I have yet to find a video that explores that bond, therefore in a way the video goes against Chandler’s theory.

 

David Buckingham argues that ‘genre’ is not simply ‘given’ by the culture; rather it is in a constant process of negotiation and change.

I do believe this theory works with my music video. Genre is constantly changing, the above shot from my video emphasises this. The use of a slow dance would never really fit into a music genre, however with the music industry always changing, I believe it fits into many genres. For example, in Pink’s - Try music video, a dance is included to express her emotion. Pink is a well known rock artist, however the dance goes against her genre, which proves the genres are always changing.

Deborah Knight notes that ‘satisfaction is guaranteed’ with genre: the deferral of the inevitable provides the additional pleasure of prolonged anticipation (1994).

I believe this theory works with my music video. Although the video explores the themes of sadness and loss, the theme of happiness is also presented (above a shot from the video suggesting happier times). I also believe each genre does have their specific target audience, therefore that specific target audience will always be interested in that particular genre, and so satisfaction will always be guaranteed. Also, the video is sad, however it makes the audience think about what they have seen, therefore satisfaction may be guaranteed with the thoughts at the end of the video.
Steve Neale argues that pleasure is derived from ‘reputation and difference’, there would be no pleasure without difference. (1980)

I agree with this theory, as I believe my video is ‘different’. Unlike conventional music videos, my video doesn’t have any male actors in it, it concentrates on the family relationship, which is unusual for a music video. I believe pleasure is achieved, with the difference of the video, the fact I have gone against conventions and touched a strong narrative will achieve pleasure for an audience.
Bordwell - Any theme may appear in any genre (Bordwell 1989)

I believe this theory works for my video. Many themes are presented throughout the video, for example the themes of love, happiness, sadness and loss. It shows that although the narrative in the video is rather sad, it also portrays happiness throughout, with the use of the sisters playing and showing their close relationship. 

MUSIC VIDEO

Questionnaire for Evaluation

 

 

I decided to produce a questionnaire after finishing my music video. I thought this would be helpful when completing the evaluation questions, I can then see if the video was successful and achieved the intention I wanted to create.

 

1.What do you think the main message of the music video is? - I decided to choose this for my first question, as it is vital that the audience understands the meaning of the video. If they dont understand the narrative it won't produce the effect the video is meant to create, which is to highlight the reality of the effects of cancer, and the strong relationships that get ruined because of it.

 

The second question asks the audience the emotion that the actor is portraying throughout the video, again this is important as the intended emotion is sad and was important for the actor to get that across. There are also emotions of happiness involved in the video, this highlights the relationship between the two sisters in the video and the happy moments they shared.

 

The third question asks whether they enjoyed the video, this is an important question to ask as although the video is sad and is menat to be emotional, it's purpose is to be enjoyable for the audience and to leave them walking away thinking about the video.

 

The next question asks about what the audience would change, it is important to recieve constructive critisism from the audience as it then will help me in the future if completing this task again. It makes me realise what I could of improved and what the audience sees from their prospective. 

The final question asks the audience about the future of the song and whether they would be intersted in similar products like this. Again, this is an important question to finish the questionnaire with, it leaves me knowing whether the audience feels the product I created can go further.

Final Digipak All Together

 

I wanted to put the digpak all together to see what it looked like as a final product. I am happy with the way it looks, and can see an improvement from my first draft to the final. What I learnt from the first draft was that there was little colour, which was a danger as it could be seen as 'boring' and 'dull'. I then thought it was vital to include slight colour to attract the audience and create more interest.