Evaluation - Question 4 Ellie Glickman

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

In the first stages of our video production we had some practise in using Final Cut and how to edit shots to music. Firstly we did some lip syncing practise, which is vital in creating a music video, as a class. We used the song ‘It’s Not Unusual’ by Tom Jones (http://youtu.be/3Zmk6aDvuOc) and as a class we spent a day filming different shots of performance. This gave us the opportunity to see how different shots and angles can be effective and how they look when put to music. It also showed us how important it is to be able to cut shots to the beat of the music, which we also practised with our animatic storyboard (http://gliscoproductions.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/blog-post.html) and the pink panther editing tasks. (http://gliscoproductions.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/blog-post.html)

When we began our A2 coursework we started off by researching different videos that we could use as inspiration using YouTube. We also used Google and Wikipedia in the research stages of production, and once this research was complete we used sites such as Wordle to present our research and help us see our ideas clearly, such as our prop lists and costume ideas. This technology was extremely useful throughout this stage of our coursework production. Here is the link to our Wordle mind maps: http://gliscoproductions.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/word%20cloud

The internet was a major part in the creation of our coursework, not only for research but for presenting and logging our ideas. We used Blogger.com to keep a log of every stage of production, to write down our ideas and to plan what needs to be done next. Every group member contributed to the blog, and our teacher was able to see our work in progress. Blogger was extremely useful in helping us document our group work as well as posting work as individuals. We also used software on the Macs such as Photoshop and Final Cut Express. We used Photoshop for our digipack and magazine advert, in which we uploaded our own images and used the features of the software to change the images to fit our theme and to make our work look as professional as possible. This program was vital in the creation of our coursework, as without it we would not have been able to create the various effects, such as font and backgrounds, on our artwork. At first we found it difficult to use this software as we had never used it before, but once we had used it a few times and had some of the more complicated features explained we found that we were able to use it effectively. We used Final Cut Express to edit our footage for our video. We were somewhat familiar with this program after using it for our AS media coursework, but we felt that it was important to learn how to use many more of its features to enable us to make sure our video meets the brief. We practised using the software with simple editing exercises and this made us more confident when making our music video. Without this software we would have not been able to produce our video to a professional and high standard and were extremely lucky that we were able to use it successfully.

For our A2 coursework we were able to use a Sanyo HD Camera to film our music video, which was very useful and helped us to make our footage look as professional as possible. Using a good quality camera was essential in making our footage clear and this was also useful when transferring it onto the computer. As a group we were very thankful that we were allowed to use such good equipment and it also taught us some of the basic rules of shooting a music video. We learned that correcting the white balance on the camera was vital, as it made the colours in the shot stand out and adapted the camera to the natural light on display. We also used a tripod when filming to stable the camera and ensure the same stability in our footage. The tripod enabled us to film shots from different angles and different heights whilst always ensuring the camera is steady and straight. Our group managed to use this equipment easily and made sure we put it to good use.

Our video is set in various places in London. When filming on location we found that one of our biggest problems was accessibility. As London is constantly busy we found it hard to get some of the shots we had planned due to the large crowds and hectic traffic, including the shots inside the various shops and the panning shot in Oxford Street. This caused us to rethink some of our shots, and eventually we decided to change them to more realistic shots. Another problem we faced whilst on location was the unpredictable weather. Due to the fact that we filmed our video in the November/December months, we were aware that we would be partial to shooting in bad weather. On a few occasions we had to cancel filming due to rain, as we didn’t want to risk taking the equipment out in the rain and we didn’t want to waste time shooting un-useable footage. We also had to ensure that the natural light was the same in every shot, which proved difficult when the weather changed daily. To try and avoid this problem we made sure that we had planned every shoot in advance and had checked the weather forecast daily in the lead up to filming. Despite being inconvenient it ensured that our footage would be of a good quality and that we would not be wasting any time.

In the editing stage of production we used Final Cut Express to complete our music video. Our ability to access the software at school proved very helpful, as this is where most of the editing took place and we were all able to contribute as a group. The various features of Final Cut let us edit our music video to how our group wanted it, as well as making it look expert and in keeping with the OCR brief. We were able to improve some of the mistakes we had made when filming, such as increasing the brightness in some shots and cropping out any unnecessary images. The software also helped us to keep track of our progress and store all of the footage we had shot without including it in our final piece. We made a first draft of our video which helped us to see how well we were able to use the footage and the software as well as looking for changes that needed to be made. Here is the link for our first draft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34pigPEBH3c


After our video was completed we then focused on making our digipack and magazine advert using Photoshop. As I was mainly working on this task, I personally found Photoshop easier to use than Final Cut as I had more time than the other girls to become accustomed to the different tools of the software and to practise using them with multiple images. At first I did find the program challenging as it was something I had never used before but practising with different images and ideas definitely helped me improve my skills and essentially helped me to produce high quality work. The facilities we were given by the school were fundamental in creating our coursework. The various practise tasks we were given, as well as tutoring by our teacher and school technician helped our group to produce a high quality and professional media product.

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Evaluation - Question 3 Ellie Glickman

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To help relate our product to out target audience as much as possible, our group devised an audience profile of a stereotypical consumer of our product. We looked at the punk/rock genre in detail and used BARB.co.uk to look closely at the demographic for viewing figures of channels such as Kerrang, Scuzz, MTV Rocks, NME TV and Q to help us create our audience. 

After conducting this research we were able to create a profile for our typical consumer: a 17 year old male who attends college and listens to music of the punk/rock genre. He enjoys going to gigs with his friends and listening to music on channels such as Kerrang and NME TV, whilst also reading these magazines. He enjoys watching topical music programs, such as ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ and ‘Top of the Pops’. Our fictitious viewer also shops at alternative clothing stores such as Topman, Urban Outfitters and vintage stores such as Rokit.

Once we had established who are audience are we then had to decided what to include in our video that would appeal to them.  We used other music videos for inspiration, particularly ones from the same genre. Blur’s video ‘For Tomorrow’, set in London, also follows the concept of visiting famous London landmarks. The video is shot entirely in black and white which gives the footage a more vintage quality, however we felt that this would not be appropriate for our video, as we are using modern characters and mostly colour footage. We also took inspiration from the Gwen Stefai video for ‘What You Waiting For’. This video is uses mise-en-scene effectively, and we wanted to include this in our own video. The costumes and props make the video more interesting and exciting, while helping the audience relate to the characters through what they are wearing. 

To appeal to our target audience we incorporated various characteristics of the punk/rock genre, to build an atmosphere of rebellion and anarchy that fits with the tone and lyrics of the song. The lyrics of ‘London Calling’ evoke a sense of hatred and bitterness towards the British government, and we reflected this in such shots as the St. Pauls protests and shots of the band performing. This showed a direct link between the lyrics and the visuals while also giving the video a comical and ironic tone. Our target audience would be someone who could see the comedic effect in these shots, but may also have grievances against the government in the same way the protestors do such as student loan cuts etc. However this comedy could also appeal to people from a wider audience. Our target audience may also represent certain social groups and classes, such as the working class or Labour supporters. To ensure out video appeals to them the two characters are repeatedly mocked, appearing to be involved in a romantic relationship, and are shown to be completely different from their real life personas. 

In regards to audience positioning we wanted our audience to be taking the view of the British public, who despite knowing of the problems in our country also take pleasure in London’s many landmarks and the beauty of the city. As a group we included various techniques concerning camera and editing styles. We adapted a very popular style of fast and quick cuts, not only to incorporate all of our footage into the allotted time but to keep the viewers attention and make the video entertaining and exciting. The fast paced cuts can also symbolise the pace of London and show how quickly a day in London can go buy. Another way we engaged our audience was through mise-en-scene, such as the masks. These were a constant feature in our video as well as out brand, and help the audience to identify the characters. Most of the mise-en-scene was used for a comedic purpose, as well as helping to convey the conceptual and performance aspects of our video. 

Audience feedback was very important throughout the creation of our video as well as the evaluation of our final product. We received four different groups of feedback at different stages of production to help us develop out ideas. This feedback helped us to ensure we included certain aspects that would appeal to our target audience and showed us how effective our editing was. From all four stages of production we received very positive feedback from our classmates, many thinking the video was funny and the patriotic theme was portrayed effectively. Many also thought our idea to use politicians was extremely effective. As a group we were very happy with this feedback as well feel our ideas and our hard work was appreciated and shown creatively in our video. We also received feedback for our digipack and magazine advert, again which was very positive. Both our classmates and our teacher agreed that the continuous use of the red, white and blue text worked very well in keeping with our theme and brand. The rebellious tone was also conveyed through the font and images used. We were also very happy with the feedback regarding this. Our intention of keeping the same text, colours, images and background throughout our product appealed to our audience in the way it was intended to and the way we had hoped it would.

When filming we ensured that we included a variety of different shots to enhance the footage and to use the setting as a constant feature in our video. The use of a good quality HD camera along with a tripod was extremely important in doing this. The feedback we received in regards to our camera work was very positive, and many of our classmates commented on how the concept of our video was clearly portrayed through our shots. They also felt that our patriotic theme was felt all the way through, due to the portrayal of the politicians and the setting we used, as well as the constant reminder of the lyric ‘London Calling’. In particular we received many encouraging comments about the acting of our two characters who our peers felt worked very well together and brought a humorous tone to the video as well as conveying their relationship on screen.

Due to the amount of hard work put in by our group and the high standard of our three media products I feel that our work does meet the OCR brief. Our music video contains many of the key elements seen in any video today. The camera work is steady and the shots have been thought out in detail and filmed appropriately. The concept and narrative of our video is clearly displayed in all of the shots and the continuity of them. We also used mise-en-scene, lighting, and the editing facilities to make our video look as professional as possible, whilst also showing off our ideas and creativity. Some of the shots could have been improved if we had access to better equipment, such as the performance scenes, but we still feel that the hard work contributed by all group members is shown through the high standard of our media products.

We also wanted to make our products as exciting and interesting as possible so our audience would be encouraged to buy our digipack and watch our music video. The creation of our brand helped our work to be recognised by our target consumers, such as the continuous use of red, white and blue, and the use of the Sex Pistols font throughout our product. As a group we tried to include as many of the genre characteristics for punk/rock music as possible which would also promote our video and digipack. The audience feedback we received reiterated this as many of our peers could spot the different features we had included. The use of comedy in our video also shows how our product may be attractive to a wider audience.

Our group is very proud of our three products, and we feel that our work is unlike anything else on the market at the moment. I think the unique selling point of our video is the comedic aspect, conveyed through the use of the masks. Many people can relate to comedy in different ways and each person who watches our video takes a different interpretation of the comedy we are showing. I also feel that comedy is very engaging and it is very easy to hook a consumer this way. The use of masks also provides the opportunity for our brand to include merchandise, such as copies of the masks. 

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Evaluation - Question 2 Ellie Glickman

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

When branding our media products, we were very specific about what our brand would include and how our brand would look, as well as how this would relate to our target audience. With regards to our music video we used our characters to establish our brand. We ensured that the two politicians were wearing the same suit at all times, despite filming on different days, to certify continuity. It was also important to make sure our footage had the same light, which we had to alter in Final Cut for some shots, due to the different times of day and weather conditions in which we filmed. The same masks were also used in each shoot as these were a crucial part of the branding and our video.

Within our digipack, branding was extremely important to convey the punk/rock characteristics as well as our British theme. We decided it would be appropriate to use the colours of the union jack, red white and blue, as a constant feature of our brand so our target audience would instantly recognise our product. The image of the union jack is also a key element in our album artwork, as we used it as the background for one of the inserts as well as the image on both of the CDs.

Another creative way in which we branded our product in accordance with our theme was the use of the London Underground tube map in our artwork. The Underground is an iconic British institution and our decision to include this was inspired by the artist called Simon Patterson, who incorporated the tube map into a piece of art called ‘The Great Bear’. As a group we all thought this was a very effective use of a simple image and incorporated this into our digipack. We used the map as the back cover and changed the station names to names of tracks on the album.  We also branded a font within our digipack, which we found online and was inspired by the Sex Pistols, another band similar to The Clash who’s music was targeted towards a punk/rock and rebellious audience. This font is effective as it is very eye catching and can be recognised easily.

Despite our patriotic theme, there is also an element of satire included in our media product; in particular our digipack. We held a photo shoot with the two characters and took these images into Photoshop, where we changed them to convey this idea. For instance in one of the images we added graffiti to show some people’s attitudes towards these politicians and the government as well as making the artwork somewhat comical. Other images showing the characters swearing and mocking each other were also effective in creating a comic and satirical tone while also relating back to the song. In the beginning stages of our digipack we had agreed on a completely different brand, inspired by the Arctic Monkeys album ‘Suck it and See’. We all agreed that the bold simplicity of this cover is what we wanted to achieve in our digipack, and that we could use an image that we had used in our video to convey our theme through this.

The idea of using a cup and saucer was chosen and we started to draft some possible covers using Photoshop. After playing with this possible image we then decided that it would not be as effective as our next idea, as it did not stand out enough and convey enough of our themes and characteristics to be recognisable to our audience. When researching ideas for our digipack we came across two examples that we thought were effective; ‘Breakfast in America’ by Supertramp and ‘Sunny Days’ by Kid British. Both of these covers use imagery to show themes similar to ours. ‘Breakfast in America’ used a famous image of the New York Skyline along with a dinner waitress to portray an American theme, and ‘Sunny Days’ is an ironic comment on British weather which many people are aware of. 

Our magazine advert was also created with our brand in mind. We wanted to use all of the themes from our video and digipack and put them into one image. We used the same font and text colour throughout the keep continuity and to make our advert stand out as much as possible, as well as using our most prominent image from the digipack to brand our advert identically to the rest of our media products. Throughout our whole product the two characters are portrayed in the exact same way, which we feel is a key element of our brand. Our advert follows the conventions of a typical magazine advert as we have included specific features to make it look as realistic and professional as possible, such as album ratings by magazines which follow the same genre characteristics as our product. We researched this using BARB.co.uk where we found specific examples of magazines which are popular with our target audience. We also included logos as a promotional tool, such as iTunes and the record label. 

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Evaluation - Question 1 Ellie Glickman

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

For our media product we chose the song ‘London Calling’ by The Clash, which would be recognised in the punk/rock genre. We used various methods to show how our video and other products conform to the characteristics of this genre. Our music video contains narrative, performance and conceptual aspects, which we feel make our video stand out from others which only include one or two of these aspects. The concept of our video follows two politicians on a ‘date’ around London. We felt that this concept relates to other media products, as well as our target audience, as we have used popular and current figures as our central characters and narrate topical issues. 

When trying to relate to our audience we used Andrew Goodwin’s analysis (Dancing in the Distraction Factory, 1992) was essential, the first point being that music video’s relate to genre characteristics. Our media products are targeted to a punk/rock audience and we felt that our theme of politics and anarchy fit this perfectly. This is shown particularly through the shots of the St. Pauls protests of 2011, displaying hate towards the government and relating to the original message of the song, written in the late 1970’s about the terrible conditions plaguing Britain at that time. We also translated this theme to our album artwork of the two politicians. We manipulated the images of them using Photoshop to make them somewhat satirical, for instance showing them covered in graffiti and showing them swearing. Our theme can also relate to another feature of Goodwin’s analysis where there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. Our video often illustrates the lyrics, as well as amplifying them at certain key moments of the song, such as ‘engines stop running’ and the image of cars coming to a halt and the lyric ‘London calling’ with an image of the phrase.

We also displayed a relationship between the music and the visuals by editing each shot to the beat of the music to help the video flow and to keep it exciting and upbeat. As our video focuses on an iconic song, band and setting we decided that the use of intertextuality would be effective in conveying our theme creatively, as well as conforming to Goodwin’s theory. The shot of the two characters at abbey road follows this idea exceptionally, as this is a well known landmark in British music. The shot of the characters walking copies that of The Beatles and their infamous album cover and is instantly recognisable by our target audience. 

Another way we conveyed our British theme was through exaggerated mise-en-scene. We used costume in particular to do this; such as the masks worn by the characters and their suits. We also used various props that are quintessentially British, such as a cup and saucer, newspapers, the Underground and telephone boxes to not only convey our concept but our narrative as well. When filming we used a variety of different shots, such as close ups, mid-shots and long shots, to keep our video interesting yet simple, as we felt our narrative and concept was strong enough to be shown through simple shots and therefore was appropriate for our target audience. We used a High Definition camera to ensure our footage was of a good standard and quality, and made sure we were familiar with all of the features of the camera, such as white balance and zoom, to help enhance our footage. We used the software Final Cut to edit all our our footage. When editing, we kept the shots short and cut between them at a fast pace making our video exciting and interesting and ensuring the audience is entertained throughout its entirety. We took advantage of the different tools available on Final Cut, such as the marker tool and the razor tool to make our job easier and to make the footage look professional.We took inspiration from the video ‘Country House’ by Blur when making this decision, as this also cuts shots to the beat of the music and keeps them short and fast.

In order to ensure that our music video conforms to the conventions of real media products we looked at and analysed some real music videos in the research stages of production. I looked at the Radiohead video for ‘Just’ and ‘Janies Got A Gun’ by Aerosmith. I noticed that both these videos follow the ideas of Andrew Goodwin’s analysis, such as the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. They also use exaggerated mise-en-scene to amplify the narrative, concept or performance of the video. The video for 'Janies Got A Gun' uses this very effectively, as there are many shots in the video that use the images to amplify the lyrics. 

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