FAREWELL BLOG :-(

We hope you have enjoyed looking at out blog and the journey we went through creating our media products

Ciara, Lauren, Hannah & Aaron

Evaluation 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

These different media technologies were a vital part in the pre production , production and post production process of creating our final products , these being our music video and the print products.

- Our camera : The Cannon DSLR 650 D  : 

Ultimatley this played the most crucial role in the process of creating our final product's without it we would not have been able to film the footage which ultimatley constructed the video because of this i would say the camera was the most vital peice of media       technology ,as without it we would have nothing.




- Media platform: Spotify:

I used spotify in order to find songs of the established genre we chose (UK rap), soundcloud shares thousands of people's music for free. Also the artists we chose their main platform of consumption is soundcloud.It was vital in the production of the music video as it gave us a song to make our video about and a basis to sit everything else on e.g what we were going to do , locations , costume ect.




- Social Media Platform : YouTube:

We used the streaming site Youtube as our platform of consumption for pre- production , production and post-production. Not only did we post our final product of our music video as it would reach our target audience more successfully we also posted our own evaluations and critical auidence feedback , which was vital in the     success of our video and print products.







Blogger is a key factor into why both our music video and print products are successful. We used Blogger in pre-production for important research into various different genre's , then developed                                                                                          this for our chosen genre. Aswell as this we used it to gain auidence feedback , which is something that moulded our products quite profoundly as we took on board everything we have been told along the process. Finally for post production we used it to present our final products and now blog our evaluations.




- Editing: Final Cut pro:
Final cut pro was vital into ensuring our music video conformed to it's conventions , as we had predominatley taken shots which were extremely long. Final cut Pro allowed us to cut and add in filter ect to change this , the outcome making it more professional.






-Photo Booth:

we predominatley used photobooth in the auidence feedback parts of production and post production e.g. anamatic feedback and digipak cover feedback. It shaped our products as it influenced how we edited each product.








Adobe photoshop- 

Used in the creation of our print products e.g graffiti on the digipak billboard , it was vital in creating synergy throughout all of our products.





Adobe Premiere Pro-


Used similarly to Final Cut Pro , we took what we wanted to utilise from each editing programme then combined the footage. It was vital in getting genric conventions of our chosen genre.

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

Auidence Feedback:





Overall audience feedback made our final products better, this is because we worked on the feedback that people had given us and made improvements in order to make our video and print products the most realistic covering all generic conventions.

This was our rough cut , in which miss and felicity are analysing our video. They assesed that it was quite slow and did not fit the quick pased nature of other music videos in this genre. They advised that we make the cuts and shots very fast paced and different angles and shots.

 

Throughout the making of our print products , alot of our time was taken up by deciding wether we wanted to put graffiti on the background or not. When we completley put the graffiti in the background it made the writing completley fade and not standing out. Furthermore When it was completley plain it made it looked unproffesional ; and did not include the syngergistic element of the graffiti. As a result we chose the faded graffiti in the back as it incorperated both elements. 

We showed Ramnick and Marion both options and they deicided that the graffiti added something to it and made it look more professional but also the graffiti that completley covered was way too much and took away from the main focus of the artists. 

Overall audience feedback made our final products more realistic and therfore meant we fufilled the conventions of the rap genre. 

Here is an example of where audience feedback changed and shaped one of our final products for the better:

Before:

These were our first drafts of our magazine adverts, we felt like the image was too crowded with long lines of text which made the image less powerful and captivating.

The text of Semz and Zino were not bold enough and looked weak , however we wanted them to look powerful and effective in conveying the rappers to have dominance






After:





Generally the use of audience feedback was helpful in shaping our products as it guided us towards bettering our final products.

Evaluation 2 : How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

As a result of assessing what synergistic elements connect in our music video and print products . It is clear to see that our group effectively combines both and makes our overall final products more realistic.

This is because of the overall  clear links between the boldness of the colour red we wear in each scenes and the graffiti element , which follows through all of our products clearly.

It is what set's our products apart as there is a clear connection for our audience and target audience to make.

which may increase the likeliness of them wanting to buy the products; consequentially making  the song and album more appealing and therefore increasing the sales of our product .

Furthermore, i believe it is the combination of both our main product and ancillary texts which makes us overall more successful and  the synergistic elements which are  so clear and easy for our audience to see.

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 Lauren Gilbert

Overall , our our music video is generally conformist to not only the coventions of a music video but the stereotypes associated to the uk rap genre.

This is done in the ways shown in the powerpoint above e.g. expensive cars, urban backgrounds , although the way we have chosen to portray our video challeneges some of the generic videos we see on social media platforms such as youtube.

we do this through a less diroagtory  attitude towards women and a focus on a love point of view, instead of having them half naked, dancing for the men. We done this not only because we felt it was the best fit to the beat/vibe of the song but because when we researched into that genre we felt it really objectified women. As a result we wanted to take the emphasis away from them being a sex symbol to a symbol of affection of love.

This not only giving the females in the video and more respected, but the male protagonist's then are given a kinder and respectful side to them. Rather than being hard headed and lack of feeling. We got inspired by 'Yungen's - take my number', as it has a similar softer side.

However, there is a clear difference with the use of interacial couples because even though it's not uncommon and frowened apon anymore , in most uk rap videos you tend to see black boys with black girls or mixed race girls where as we have chosen to use two black boys and two white girls . So therefore it tends to divert what you may expect to see when a relationship is dipicted between girls and boys .Although you could infer it is also based on culture and background , who you grow up around is sometimes generally who you are attracted to therfore this may be reason for why generically black or mixed raced girls are used aswell as the fact that white girls may not be used to that culture e.g. types of dancing.

Although , there are alot of interacial couples today therefore we wanted to show this in our dipiction of our music video and how it may subvert what you generally expect.

Example's of genric Rap Music videos:

Conventions of a Digipak include: 

• front cover
• back cover
• inside panels 
• spine 
• leaflet 

overall my product was conformist of a generic digipak , not only this but it included a vibrant front cover with font and colours which would appeal to my desired target audience. Furthermore , the placement of the artists names ensured that they were the key feature and people would know exactly the product they were buying. Also the use of large font when designing the digipak was to ensure that the product would grab the attention of customers when walking past a potential retailers. 

Conventions of a magazine advert include: 

• the release date 
• album/song title 
• image of album cover 
• artists names 
• information about the album 
• where it is available to purchase

similarly my magazine advert was mostly conformist to generic adverts , this is due to the fact i included the key aspects in order for it to be successful. what differed in mine was the use of synergistic elements which flowed throughout each product. In the magazine advert the boys are seen in the colour red , in front of the car which is seen not only in the digipak but the video too. As a result this makes the products more successful. Not only this, but the use of displaying the platforms the music is available on makes it alot more accessible to the desired target auidence and overall hopefully more sucessful. 

EVALUATION: Aaron's Question 4

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

In the following video I explain how the use of new media technologies influenced all aspects of the production process of our projects.

EVALUATION: Aaron's Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Using social media as a form of contact with our target audience has really been beneficial in receiving feedback on our products. We used Youtube, and Snapchat to see how the audience reacted to the products and also asked them for ways we could make the products appeal to them more.