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

Although our main project was to create a music video, we also as a group had to create a Digipak for the track and a Magazine advert. A magazine advert would be the main tool for advertising our project to our target audience and to get across the real indie band feel we portrayed in the video, on our advert we used a simple image of the band without no commercial big record company buy out feel to it, which is shown in the video likewise.

In both the Music video and the Digipak there is a distinct use of color to get across that upbeat cheerful feel to both products in relation to the overall message of the song.

The yellow red and blue seen on the Digipak on the left is clearly represented in the background of the band scene of the music video shown below.
The color in fact runs through all three of the products and is possibly the most important component in effectively combining our main product and ancillary texts.

The Digipak and Magazine advert have a slightly more serious look upon their appearance however, the point of this was to appeal to a more wider audience then we would have previously with only the target audience of our music video. There is a clear link between the Digipak and start of the music video in the image of the phone and shots of phones on the video, an example of combining our main product and an ancillary text.

Evaluation question 3

To gain audience feedback on our music video my group designed a second focus group in which we asked a few classmates about aspects of our media project. The questions we asked included ' What were your initial thoughts on our music video? ' also ' What do you think about the standard of acting? ' as well as ' What improvements could be made to the video? ' and finally ' Would you recommend the video to your friends and why? '. The overall response was positive, all three interviewees however believed a drum kit would have been more professional than the use of a xylophone. Thankfully all three classmates expressed of how our video reflected a comical up beat feel, that in which we wanted to portray. Below is the audience feedback focus group.

Charlie designed an online Survey on www.surveymonkey.com and encouraged classmates to take the survey to further our audience feedback knowledge, he then plotted the results in the form of graphs, so they are easy to interpret.

From our survey results it is clear that we aimed our music video mainly at teenagers, they clarified that the standard of acting and lip - synching was of a high standard however the ratings out of ten were quite spread out which leads me to believe the overall message of the video was not fully received by our audience.

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

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

Final Digipak

Magazine Advert

Editing the Music video

We are currently in the process of editing our music video. Our editing is done on final cut express. Our deadline on the 17th of december is getting closer and we are in the final stages of editing. The final minute and a half of the song is to be completed today and just now we put out candidate names and numbers onto the music video, show below. 

Focus Group - Audience Feedback

These are the repsonses we got from three students who watched our music video.

Butch Walker Digipak Analysis

Digipak photos

Last week we took photos of all the band members for our Digipak. We edited the images to enhance the effect it portrays. Below are the images we took.

Magazine Advert Analysis

Main image - all of the band members spelling out the word 'booty'' the most used word in our song.   Teenage females may find the main image very seductive as all three boys are shown as very handsome and dominant. The choice of clothing used by the boys suggests they are of an indie genre however with an essence of pop in their music.

Band name/ Song name - The band name and song name are the most eye - catching pieces of text on the advert so the audience can immediately recognise the text.

Website/ Advertisement - the inclusion of advertisement will promote the song and the reputation of the band as well as forming partnerships with other companies for future project relations.

Media ratings - by including ratings by newspapers or websites in the form of stars is a simple but effective way to exaggerate the quality of the product to the artist in an easy way for the public to understand.

Focus Group findings

We interviewed a few people to investigate on their opinions on our choice of song for our music video. 

Below are the questions we posed and the overall response we gathered:

What are your first impressions of the song?

A. It is upbeat and fun.

What genre do you think the song is?

A. Pop 

How does this song make you feel?

A. Makes me feel happy.

From these results, in our music video we will look to convey the upbeat and fun message the song itself suggests in our video to make the audience feel a sense of happiness.

Magazine Advert

whist myself and Angela worked on the digipak, Jake designed and created a magazine advert to a high quality. Using top brands and ratings from time out and the guardian to conveys the professionalism of the advert. Below is the final edited magazine advert.

Audience Theory

Text  - Audience - Instituion

• The consumption of media texts has a consequence.
• The hypodermic model
• Here, the messages in media texts are injected into the audience by the powerful, syringe - like media.
• The audience is powerless to resist.
• Therefore, the media works like a drug and the audience is drugged, addicted, doped and duped.
• Key evidence for the effects model.
• 1. The Frankfurt school theorised in the 1920's and 30's that the mass media acted to restrict and control audiences to the benefit of corporate capitalism and governments. 
• 2. The Bob doll experiment.
• This is a very controversial piece of research that apparently proved  that children copied adult behaviour. 
• This was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandera.
• In the experiment children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo doll.
• The children were then taken to a room with attractive toys that they were not permitted to touch.
• The children were then led to another room with Bobo dolls.
• 88% of the children then  imitated the violent behaviour that they had earlier viewed. 8 months later 40% of the children still imitated the violent media content.
• The conclusion reached that children will imitate the violent media content.
• The film 'Child's Play' in the murder of James Bulger in 1993.
• The game Manhunt in the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren LeBlanc.
• The film A clockwork orange (1971) in a number of rapes and violent attacks.
• The film Severance (2006) in the murder of Simon Everitt.
• In each case there was a media and political outery for the tasks to be banned.
• In some cases laws were changed , films banned, and newspapers demanded the burning of films.
• Subsequently, in each case it was that no case could be proven that the media caused any crime.
• The effects model contribute to moral panics whereby the media produce inactivity, which either makes us students which want to pass their exams or couch potatoes who make no effort to get a job.
• The media produces violent copycat behaviour or mindless shopping in response to advertisements.

 The Uses and Gratifications Model

• It is still unclear that there is any link between the consumption of violent media texts and violent imitative behaviour.
• It is also clear the theory is flawed in that many people do watch violent texts and appear not to be influenced.
• Therefore a new theory is necessary, this is called the uses and gratifications model.
• The uses and gratifications model is the opposite of the effects model.
• The audience is active.
• The audience uses the text and is not used by it.
• The audience uses the texts for its own gratification or pleasure.
• Here, power lies with the audiences with media texts and how and why they use them.
• Far from being duped by the media, the audience is free to reject, use or play with media meanings as they see fit.
• audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for: 
• diversion/escapism/information/pleasure
• Comparing relationships and lifestyles with one's own.
• Sexual stimulation
• The audience is in control and consumption of the media helps the people with issues such as :
• learning/emotional satisfaction/relaxation /helps with issues of personal identity/help with issues of social identity/help with issues of aggression and violence.

Individual Contribution

- Acting

- Choreography for the band scene

- Editing ideas such as shots/angles/effects

- Bass guitar performance in the band scene

- £10 for props

- idea of using vegetables when 'comparing our sizes'

- Lip - synching the lines of Dru wakely 

Suture

Classical Hollywood narrative, editing, sound and mise en scene 'Sutures' or positions the audience in certain ways making only one preferred reading possible, however unconscious the audience is off that position.

Digipak photo

This photo is going to be used on the back of our digipak. We will soon photoshop information such as the track names, tour dates etc onto the white sheet. The photo was taken in the drama room and we will all posed a very dramatic expression.  

Digipak images of band members - problem!

Initially, our idea was to use images of each band member striking a pose under a spotlight to use as a background for three sides of the digipak. Angela took the photos and after an analysis of all three of them decided Charlie and Jake produced a great photo whereas I did not and in her words ' Looked ugly '. As a result of my apparent poor appearance, we are to re-do my photo shoot to produce a more high quality image.

Finished editing - 17th December.

On the day we broke up we finished editing our music video. This was a strenuous task that lasted around two weeks to complete. Although, we were unable to upload the video onto youtube and raise awareness of our finished project because of the school's poor internet connectivity at the time, as a result of this on the 5th January jake uploaded the video after the christmas and new year break.

Call sheet Creation

We created a call sheet.

Filming the band Scene

On the third of december 2011, my group filmed in three hours the band scene for our music video. We acquired the instruments for the band scene from the Music department, Jake operated the xylophone, I was using the bass guitar and Charlie was lead vocal and lead guitar. The boxes that spell booty call that made up the part of the setting of the band scene were purchased from Rhymen stationary in Romford and the setting was chosen because the drama room can provide great lighting and an overall positive mood to fit the genre of the song. Close ups of all three band members were performed and a primary angle which showed all three band members was also included.