Final Blog Post

Dear Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms moderator, here is my coursework. This blog is now complete and is ready for assessment.
Below is the order that everything is in and months where you can find particular work:
Draft music video making - June
Music video research - September to October
Music video planning - November to January
Final music video creation - February 
Evaluation - January

Q4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

New technologies is always a developing new media which benefits so many industries. Apple's iPhones, iMacs, iPads, Blackberries, cameras, camcorders and editing software such as Premiere Pro and Final cut are constantly moving forward and technical advances. This especially benefits the media industries concerning the way that they can then develop their marketing packages, media texts and interactivity with their customers and audiences. 
Advances in new technologies help to develop the industry's creative process which in result branches out to create these new technological developments within both industries and conglomerates - making them economically more efficient, as well as more popular as a brand and more revolutionary in the society we live in today which revolves round change and technological developments and advances. This is the main relationship between creativity and new technologies.


How I used Media 2.0 technologies to complete this marketing package:

I found that my creativity was enabled greatly by the new technologies which I was using. 

For example: 

• This is because the Panasonic HD DV camera we used had a great depth of field use and was a good portable weight so that I could use it easily to film different angles and at different shot lengths, etc. 
• Adobe Premiere Pro was also extremely useful to branch out creatively, as it enabled me to use the different editing options to split, lengthen and add effects to our footage.
•  Adobe Photoshop was also beneficial creatively for the same reasons, with my digipak. 
• This is because I was able to use items such as the Eye-drop tool to change/copy the hue onto different parts of my digipak's pallets, manipulate the size of the images, add text and change the font and sizing of it, etc. 
• Using the website DaFont also greatly helped my creativity regarding the letting for titles on my digipak and magazine adverts, etc.
• Getting audience responses on YouTube and Facebook enabled interaction with the audiences, making them be actively respond because they are taking control of the new technologies.

The way that these new technologies massively benefited me was due to these creative outlets which it enabled, deeming them very useful as part of the production process. 


This my director's commentary on the creative decisions behind the music video, and how we filmed and edited it overall:



Media 2.0 technologies not only benefited me during the marketing package process, but also whilst writing about my work and blogging on 'Blogger.' This is because:

• I was able to change the colour (hue) of the text, as well as the size, and adding bold, italics and underline options at preference. 
• I could embed SlideShare to demonstrate images and diagrams easily (as it is a smaller development of PowerPoint to post easily around the internet). 
• I could embed YouTube clips which I had previously edited on Premiere Pro or Photoshop.
• I could upload an image around my text, and change the size and position of it so that it could illustrate what my text was explaining in a visual way. 

The theory of technical determinism is something which applies greatly to the making of my marketing package. This theory is based around the idea that the technology of society is the back bone of today's cultural values, beliefs, opinions and most importantly - the social structure. As I come to evaluate the technical determinism against my own work, I do not believe that Media 2.0 (new technologies) influenced the entirety of my work, even though I believe that it greatly benefited it. 

I feel that I kept a certain amount of control over the technology I was using. As example - I was editing on Adobe Premiere Pro and I was using the advances in technology which it gave me, but I used to the extent of it helping my work creatively 'grow' and 'branch out,' because I am aware that there is a line otherwise in danger of being crossed where I could have relied on new technologies too much. 

Do develop on this, an further example would be putting a tremendous amount of effects on my footage to make it have the right lighting/atmosphere, instead of properly setting up studio lights and adjusting the Canon HD DV camera in accordance to them when filming on set. 

In conclusion, we controlled the new technologies skillfully so that there was a great influence of creativity on our part, without letting the new technologies control us, which would have ended up in a great lack of original creativity. Therefore, I am being active instead of passive because I am being in control of the new technologies. However I was being passive when looking for influences on YouTube and Google, because I was 'soaking up' what the media was feeding me - however I made conscious decisions to use my inspirations and influences cleverly so that my final work would use different ideas I found and  developed from it. 

Q3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is a vital part of finding out if the overall marketing package was successful or not. This is because the target audience for this marketing package was the whole reason it was made. 


The hypodermic needle effect theory proves this, as I discovered before I started the planning process of this marketing package. The hypodermic needle effect is based on the idea that:

• The audience are passive
• Therefore we can instantly:
• change their views
• change their behavior
• change their interests 
• change their likes or dislikes
• This is from an "injection" which the media text gives us.

In this case, my marketing package would be giving audiences a message theoretically with 'hope' for life, they would have this 'injected' into them, and come out of viewing my marketing package with a more positive mind.


When undertaking my audience research, I made sure that I kept in mind that my priority for getting decent and reliable results from my audience relied on quality not quantity. In other words, 'Quantitative not Qualitative feedback.' Therefore, I asked my target audience (between 28 to 48) many questions based on th marketing package, so that I got some really in-depth answers, I even kept prompting them if needed be. This showed me what the overall direct effect was, in the audience's reaction to my text.


Firstly, we showed our music video to our class in order to get their feedback on:
If our genre was clearly identified within the music video?
This is what people wrote:

Class Feedback

The overall class feedback that we had was very positive and successful. People responded to our music video the way that we anticipated, and they believed that the style of genre did match the way our music video was presented. 


Below I have calculated some statistics from what the class wrote:
Definite YES to it suiting genre: 11 people agreed.
Definite NO to it suiting genre: 0 people agreed.
BETWEEN YES/NO to it suiting genre: 2 people agreed.


POSITIVE comments (from YES category of people):

• "Cheesy, fits with Christian song."
• "Fits type of music, light hearted, interesting shot angles, lip sync is fine.
• "Choice of ballet suited genre, ending is the favourite"
• "Really good lighting, good story, shots, good mise on scene."
• "Fun, light hearted, lip sync is good."
• "Made me look like this :D"
• "Location is very good, professional video, lip sync is good, fit genre, happy and positive."
• "Dancers are good touch, piano looks good with music, lighting is effective, very smiley."
• "Piano good and lighting."
• "Happy, shots cut well with music, good lighting around piano, good location choices."
• "Good video overall, fit genre, good how some shots match [continuous], glow into sky and start sky lanterns."

NEGATIVE comments (from NO category of people):

This acts as constructive criticism.

• "Actor slightly overly happy."
• "Actor is overly happy."
• "Not sure some of shots needed in some areas."
• "Lip sync could have been slightly better towards in some places."

From this I can conclude that:

• 40% commented on how they liked the lighting.
• 40 commented on how they liked the shots (ie, angles) and how they were cut.
• 30% of the group commented on how they thought the lip sync was right.
• 20% commented on how they thought the locations were good.
• 20% commented on how they liked the contemporary dancing.
• 20% commented on how they liked the piano section.
• 20 % commented on how they thought the actor was overly happy.
• 10% commented that some shots weren't needed in some areas.
• 10% said that the lip sync could have been better towards the end.

It is evident here that the type of pleasure this media text offers to the audience is happiness, this is clearly also how this class was affected by the text, in the way that it changed their mood. This type of cultural capital is reading the text still in a positive way, even though it is not specifically aimed at this age range.

Questionnaire Answers

Here are print outs of the questionnaires. (They are the same ones as in the slideshow).

Click to enlarge. Double click to zoom in.

The overall feedback from my actual target audience was rather successful. However this audience which I questioned had more constructive criticism to say about the music video. This would most likely have been because it was with an audience which had an different social class and Cultural Capital. This audience were mostly from middle class to higher class backgrounds, the would most likely be between C1/2 to A on the Jicnars scale. They may also have a Chrisitan faith.

Below I have written some quotes which stood out to me from these questionnaires:

• "Accompanies music well, gives it interest visually."
• "If for the target audience and older, in some ways old fashioned."
• "Enjoyable but not my style."
• "Made me smile."
• "Could have been a more clear story between the boy and girl, and bigger dancing - or make the camera be more zoomed into them?"
• "It did not have mainstream 'sexy' concepts as most music videos do these days."
• "I was not bored because the shot lengths were quick."
• "Lip sync in some parts [could be improved]."
• "I like short shots and dancing."
• "I guessed genre was Christian related, but wasn't sure what else."
• "Changed my mood - made me happier."
• "Kept me interested and occupied."
• "Short, snappy."
• "Interesting, lots happening."
• "Need more shots of boy miming."
• "More narrative between singer and girl."
• "Young in spirit."
• "Not powerful enough, just happy."

Target Audience Questionnaire - Evaluation:

I felt that I was rather successful with the feedback which I received back from my target audience in these questionnaires. Over the half term (a week previous to my deadline), I showed a group of 8 people who were in my target audience, the final music video which my media partner and I made. Their response and reactions were positive, and this was proved in the way that my audience said the media text affected them, and how it changed their emotional response in the questionnaire - with the majority of the 8 people saying that they felt happier from it, and it made them smile. The majority also confirmed that it was easy to see what the genre was in the music video, and that the music video related to it. As with the class audience response, this target audience also stated in the questionnaires that they liked the dancing. However, unlike the class responses, I got more constructive criticism from my target audience's questionnaires, as discussed earlier; over 20% of my target audience suggested that I could have improved the narrative between the actor (who mimed the lyrics), and the girl. This was also commented on in the class feedback. Less than 10% of my target audience suggested that I was to correct the lip sync, but YouTube may have slowed down the syncing because when we checked it in the Adobe Premiere Pro editing suite, it seemed correct. However, I do agree that, as stated in the class feedback, we could have added more shots of the actor 'singing.' Overall, I feel that the target audience's response in these questionnaires are positive, which shows that we were successful creating the audience response we anticipated for the age range and cultural capital of our target audience.

Facebook Feedback:

We also made a group on Facebook based for audience feedback. We added as many people as we could who were in the age range, and then posted our finished music video on the wall - asking these people to comment on it. Even though only two people commented back, the quality in their answers were very good, and provided decent constructive criticism which we would look at and reflect on. Abbey Scott and Chris Eaton himself commented on the video in this Facebook group, and discussed how they liked the 'collage' of ideas. Her constructive criticism was that we should have thought about how to create the 'sheer excitement of the song,' however, I felt that our very fast pace in editing which we used at the end and start of the music video did this. I also felt that it was hard to capture the said, 'excitement' of this song because it is a very different genre which holds only a certain target audience. 


Someone named 'Leon Evans' also commented underneath our video, saying that he loved the lantern idea, and the energy of the end section. However, as agreed, he stated that we should perhaps have captured some different angles of the singer. I will keep this in mind for future productions because I feel that it is a very useful piece of advice. As Andrew Goodwin's theory stated, music videos mostly have a very close-up relationship between the camera and the singer's face, which is what I did, but I did not use close ups from enough angles.


Here are is more target audience research: 

The audience feedback research evaluation:

From the Interviews, Questionnaires and Facebook Group

I found that overall, my audience's response in every field of the feedback which I created was successful. The audiences reacted in the way which we anticipated, and the way in which we wanted them to respond emotively, as the majority of people said that they felt happier after watching it - this also goes as the audience's 'pleasure' from the media text. I felt that they all understood the genre well, and from what I questioned, most people wanted to carry on watching the music video after the first minute. This is inevitably good. The way that my audiences picked up on the fact that they liked the lighting and cut pace of the music video interested me, because it showed that the editing behind the whole production was seen as successful too. I have learnt how the editing brings alive the 'skeleton structure' of the footage. 


The constructive criticism which was put forward helped me realise what we could do if we had a second chance; but regardless, I shall take on the constructive criticism given and put it into practice in future productions. The lip syncing shall be the first priority next time I ever make a music video, because I feel we could have put more attention towards it. I also agree with what my audiences said, by stating that the narrative storyline between the boy and girl could have been improved, and made more of a feature. I completely agree with this. 

I then had to take the Cultural Studies Approach, decided whether my media texts came under a preferred, oppositional or negotiated reading. I found that the media texts I had produced had no choice but to be preferred text, because my target audience was for an older generation who generally expect to see the conventions which make up a certain style of media text be set in that certain form and style, with no surprises! With the genre of my artist being Christian pop, I knew that I had to make sure that I kept my marketing package specific to that, because this is how I knew that I would make my marketing package coherent and successful to what the audience expected. 


Therefore, my media texts fall into the preferred reading because I designed it so that they would accept the text in a way I intendended which would not challenge their values or beliefs. I can be sure of this after my research, because I know that my media texts do not fall into the 'oppositional reading' category, where the audiences would reject the messages and values of the text; or into the 'aberrant reading' where the audience completely fail to understand the text. However, it is still possible for it to give off an oppositional reading - for example, if it were on MTV, a teenage audience who were not completely under the target audience would take an oppositional reading, because it would mainly not be either music genre choice.


Furthermore, I find that Theodor Adorno's theory comes into place here, as he believed that:

Nothing is from the heart in music - it is all about selling a product. 

This related to stereotyping, such as the format that girl bands are in under almost every record label, no matter what genre. I find that this is also evident for the music video (and overall marketing package), which my media partner and I created. This is because our music video had to come under the stereotype of 'cheesiness' in the music video especially, so that it would sell its genre of Christian pop successfully at the aimed target audience of 28 to 48 year olds. 


The stereotyping of this 'cheesiness' and 'optimism' in our music video in particular, came from the actions of the actor who was miming the main lyrics, as we captured his smile and made him mime with a happy expression. The dancers and pianist were also conventional things which would most likely be expected in a music video with a genre of Christian pop; the way that we dressed the dancers and pianist in formal clothing relates to this also. 


The ideology of Raymond Williams also interlinks with this raised issue, as his theory revolves around the idea of dominant, residual and emergent relations to the audience.

• My music video was dominant because it expressed dominant values, which are current believes and expectations which the society of today has - making the audience respond in an ordinary way to the media text, because it is 'safe' to their expectations and does not challenge them.
• If the music video were residual, it would raise issues and cultural values which are recently being brought into society. 
• If the music video were emergent, it would raise issues which are not accepted by society and its cultural values. 

This all also links to the Cultural Capital, which is how audiences perceive media texts depending on their age and social class. 

• This proved very relevant for my media texts, because my social class was for middle to higher class, who could interpret the text with their Christian beliefs. 
• My target audience's age was also relevant to this, as it was aimed for 28 to 48 year olds, which made it certain that my media texts would have had to be dominant and preferred readings, so that they would be a success with the audience that I anticipated would react to it.

Q2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Right from when I started planning my digipak, magazine advert and music video, I knew that they all had to be coherent with each other - adding up as a package that had a house style and 'co-ordinated' with each other, adding to the overall promotional benefits and success.
This was made clear by the original brief:

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo together with: 

• a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (C/DVD package).

This design brief basically insinuated that I had to make a media package which 'complimented' each other and linked overall with each other. This added up to us needed to make a marketing package. 


When developing the idea of these three media products, I had to keep in mind that they all had to add up as a marketing package as part of the result. 
To make this simpler, I had to use the 4 P's:
Price - is it costing a decent amount which the audience can afford?
Product - are the products of good quality? 
Place - is the place convenient? 
Promotion - is the promotion campaign well thought out? Is it effective?


I researched into the averaging pricing of digipaks, so that my own price stayed within reason too. All of the different products had to be made with having a house style. 

Regarding the intertextuality, I feel that the same overall theme of 'light' was used throughout each different media product which I created. I.e.... 

• I used sparklers and candles for my digipak. 
• I used a sparkler for my magazine advert.
• I used sky lanterns in my music video many times, and ended it with that concept.
• I also feel that this all conveyed the right message for my target audience, as the title was 'Dare to Dream' and I feel that this corresponds correctly with the theme of 'light,' as it symbolizes hope and is also a symbol for Christianity. This is therefore also suited towards the Christian audiences - due to the genre of the artist being 'Christian Pop.'

Regarding the rest of the intertextuality, the fonts were also the same throughout each of the three media products and the 'atmosphere' I feel was too. The target audience was kept strongly in mind throughout the creation of each project, and I feel that this was paid off strongly at the end. 

Furthermore, I made sure that I kept the same: 
Contextual language, linguistic style and mode of address.

Using the same overall theme I feel really helped to put the 4 P's and all these other necessary conventions together in order to make a successful media package.

I kept the linguistic style rather formal, because my target audience was aimed for middle class people, between 28-48. 

The images referenced to Chris Eaton's song message - about 'daring to dream.' (This being the use of light in the majority of the pictures).

The font was also something which I tried to co-ordinate with the images and style - making the font be in a light yellow colour, and having a 'scripture' style font which coincided with the idea of scripture writing.

The use of media language overall here was something kept necessary to be in coherence with each other, so that the three media products overall related and promoted each other beneficially. 

This is because the idea of selling the digipak, magazine advert and music video as a package all comes together by branding. Keeping the niche and style consistent to the expectations of the target audience was the key behind selling the three items together as a package. The brand came from this consistency.

Here I did some audience researching how coherent they thought my marketing package was:

My audience agree with the evaluation below:


In my opinion, the branding of my marketing package is coherent because they link together for different reasons:

• I used the colour white, which is M=0% M=0% Y=0% HTML code - FFFF
• I used white in contrast with black, which is C=10% M=100% Y=100% K=100% HTML code - 000000
• I also contrasted the black and white with bright yellow in all three media texts, which is C=0% M=4% Y=44% K=0% HTML code - FFFF7F
• The advantage of using colour codes are so that you can get the same colour tone used across all texts. 
• I used CMYK instead of RGB because CMYK is the colour coding for printers, and the RGB colour coding is for computer screens. I needed the quality in the print. 
• These colours came very useful in linking the media texts together, as it gave an instant link from first appearance. 
• The font type also plays a part in this, as the fonts in my digipak and magazine adverts are sans serif fonts. I did this to break the informality of the media text.
• My posture and proxemics stood up right across my media texts.
• The lighting was the same throughout the texts, morealess, because of the naturalistic lighting which occurred from the high contrast in lightening objects against dark, such as candles, sparklers and sky lanterns. These light objects appear in my digipak, magazine advert and music video. 
• This makes the ultimate theme which gives coherence to this marketing package; being the authenticity of the theme of light relating all the media texts.

Coherence