Evaluation of Music Video and Ancillary Texts

By Radhika Barot

An Introduction
We chose, at the beginning of the course, to make a music video for an indie song. This was due to the way Hannah and I knew the genre very well as we predominantly listen to indie and rock music above all else. Marissa and Mark listen to a bit of everything so this was a genre we could all contribute to though the decision laid with Hannah and I. We chose a band we were both very familiar with, Noah and the Whale. We used their song Blue Skies which we loved due to the heartfelt lyrics that can be applied to many people in all walks of life to identify with. They are a very current band and, like our video, use enough indie conventions to establish themselves as indie though challenge some of the norms to have a unique selling point.

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?
Our music video conforms to indie norms with challenges to some conventions to add originality and creativity.

We did this by using indie conventions of settings of the outdoors with a great use of trees and greenery. This is shown in other videos of a similar kind, for example Ben Howards song Keep Your Head Up (right) filmed completely in a forest. We added other scenes in a shopping centre and average British streets to make it realistic to the audience so they feel comfortable, then they receive the full impact of the characters severe actions (left).
The rawness of the scenery also reflected on how the male character was acting on pure raw emotions.

Actions/Behaviour

The severity of the characters actions hit the audience hard as it is something unexpected. We regularly find videos of love and hardships but our video takes it a step further. It shows how he wants and imagines his relationship to go, though his love for this girl blinds him into doing something he doesnt want to do, (partially regretting what hes doing as it happens) nor does he realize how bad his actions are. Thus like all great romances, it ends tragically with death.

Conventions Enhanced
The use of natural lighting is a convention many indie videos use as illustrated in Love; Pass It On by The Middle Eight (pictured). I filmed our video with complete natural lighting though developed this indie convention by using effects to enhance the image colouring and reflect on the nature of the characters emotions at the time. I took the convention and heightened it.

Conventions Developed
Indie videos are either completely performance in out-of-the-ordinary settings or wholly narrative; our video followed the latter. We initially had a completely narrative piece however, based on audience feedback we found it looked better with performance elements. After adding these shots we found an improvement on peoples opinion on the piece. I liked the shots, even though our actor couldnt mime the words very well, they made the video look a lot more professional and gave the piece a more rounded feel, ready for TV airplay. o It wasnt just about having our singer mime the lyrics but also showing him as the performing act we depicted him to be. I filmed him in a way to establish him as a well-rounded performer playing the guitar, even though he did not know how to play either.

Enhanced Conventions
I edited the footage using slight tints of black and white for when the character felt angry and a high contrasts for blue skies corresponding with the character feeling happy or in love and tying in with the lyrics. This is something that gave the video more meaning and we have found from audience feedback, it is something that helps the viewer remember it as of the strong link from lyrics to visual to connection with viewer.

Costume Conventions
An appearance convention of indie artists (such as the band whos song we used) is long hair and suits giving the genre a dapper look which is starting to become more popular. We adapted this aspect as it kept the look current and this was something our actor did normally so it felt comfortable and realistic. The costuming also reflected how he was different from the stereotypical teenage boy and didnt quite fit into society making his battle to get the girl even more difficult.

Inspirations & Intertextuality

The conventions talked about can be found in videos such as SOKOs True Love Never Die (right). This was also used to pay homage to artists we liked and drew inspirations from. We also used an inspiration of Birdys song Shelter (bottom right) with the movement of playing with a strong sun beam with a hand in the forest. We drew from this video as Hannah and I had reconstructed a minute of it as practice of filming and editing. The transitions used in indie videos are very minimal and usually a simple cut or cross dissolve (used in Final Cut Pro).

Conclusion of Conventions
As I have illustrated we used a variation of conventions which ultimately establish the video to fit into the genre so it is familiar to the audience and those who arent necessarily fans of indie music. Though having the conventions in, it enables the video to be identified as an indie video with tributes paid to our favourite artists. However, to add some originality we included our own original ideas of taking lyrics literally with blue skies are calling paired with an extreme version of the lyrics being that the singer is so pained by his break up it leads him to commit the acts of kidnap and murder. Overall, I believe we have a very unique and interesting video proven by feedback and YouTube views. People have given us corrections which we amended to create a better video for those who are our target audience. But ultimately we have made an entertaining indie video that conforms to enough conventions to be established as indie but defies enough to make it original.

What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

Here is a look at how we have learnt from the audience feedback but also acted upon it. The general response was very complimentary reaching an average rating of 9/10 though here is a more detailed analysis.

Audience Feedback/Surveys
We held a showcase event on 19th April in which we took surveys from people of varying ethnicities, ages, genders and musical preferences. This event enabled us to show people our work to get feedback on what they thought worked and help guide us in how to improve. A varied sample like that was very useful as it showed us things we wouldnt have necessarily noticed otherwise and also showed us how even though about 35% of the sample listened to RnB and Hip Hop they still liked and appreciated our work and can tell us it worked. Of the sample about 50% listened to Rock and Indie which was our target group though the surveys proved that our video worked on a more mass scale than originally planned.

Surveys
We asked questions such as the following: Do you think the choice of setting in the video was appropriate? Of which the majority said yes, you had a very good setting, suited the song. However, one person commented on how it didnt look isolated enough, stating we shouldnt have used a public park due to a dog-walker in the background. We amended this issue and this spurred us into developing the scene further making us decide to change the scene. I then edited it to incorporate a shot-reverse-shot of Hannah and our actor Jonathan running toward the camera giving an even more isolated feel, also involving the viewer feeling like they are running toward them. How successful was the video in satisfying the conventions of the genre? Again majority said it was very successful, commenting on how effective[ly] we fit into indie music videos. Another pointed out how it was very clear the genre of the music video was indie.

 How successful is the editing? Many wrote bout how the editing was brilliant and very smooth allowing for people to feel at ease and fall straight into the narrative. We did however, have one person who said that we could use more effects which I agreed with. We added more effects in like some simple transitions as we didnt want to take away from the realism of the story. How successful were the choice of camera angles and movement?

People responded to this stating how there was a sufficient amount of variation to give a well rounded and professional feel to it. This was an area I was very conscious about improving and insuring we had covered and the overall sense was that it was perfect.
Other questions asked if the video worked with the song and based on how we tied the blue skies into the visuals people loved how we linked the two. The commented on how easy it was to follow and the only person to contradict this was an 11 year old, which is understandable as they may not understand the mature themes at that age.

Conclusion of Audience Feedback

Ultimately, the overview of comments allowed us to see what problems there were with the video, most of which we have corrected and has improved the video significantly. Thus proving how vital audience feedback is to the making of our media product. The only comments we havent acted on are minimal scenarios such as dont cut your hair to our actor Jonathan. This was an extreme case in which we had no control over. I feel like it could arguably resemble a change in character how he changed after meeting her and also to differentiate between the actor and singer. We did not reshoot this as I felt the shots we had gained were perfect I didnt think e could achieve any higher so why settle or mess with perfection?

Someone commented on how they didnt think Jonathan should be wearing a suit which is an indie convention that we were adamant on having from the offset so we did not change this. It was also just one persons view out of about 15 people.
The final issue was how the gun we used was blue which doesnt seem realistic however, there is a law in place banning the selling of guns in black or silver as people commit crimes with them. To avoid issues with the law we stuck with the most discrete colour gun we could find.

How Did You Use Media Technologies In The Construction And Research, Planning And Evaluation Stages?

In a media course the use of media technologies becomes vital and a necessity. We used many varying media technologies from the software for editing, to websites to help broadcast our product to the camera we shot on in the first place.

Necessity

I think the most important technology we used was the camera; without which we would not have been able to have any decant footage in the first place.
We were given a Sony Bloggie though we also used Hannahs Canon and my Nikon so capture footage with a stronger definition. I also used my iPhone to catch the images of my chess pieces. Editing gave the illusion they were moving on their accord and reflected on how the lesser male (pawn) took down the queen he was chasing. When we didnt have the group camera we were able tor rely on these technologies to capture the moment and get vital footage filmed.

Computing
The next most important technology we used was the editing suit. This consisted of the Apple Mac PCs and also the software on it; Final Cut Pro. At the beginning of the year our teacher gave us the opportunity to go on a crash course on how to use Final Cut Pro as we were all novices at it and Hannah and I were the only ones to go with our teacher to our local college to learn. This proved vital as we were the only ones who knew how to use it and edit our footage to a professional standard. This was hugely beneficial as we were able to edit at a high level straight away as opposed to having to learn as we go along. We were able to develop our already existing knowledge to become highly skilled by the end of the course. Without the training we wouldnt have been able to make a video as good and as sleek as we did.

Research and Planning

Through the research and planning stages we used many different media to gain the high level we completed at.

The main avenues we used were Blogger, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
We created a blog at the beginning of the year and blogged throughout, showing evidence of our extensive research and planning process. We firstly had to choose a song which we sourced from YouTube and searched for other bands of a similar nature to show us how our artist should be. We later used YouTube to broadcast our pieces of work as it developed. This was very useful as it proved a technology to help with audience feedback helping us with comments on what people like and didnt. I posted the video process on my Facebook channel to get peoples views on it and one girl said how its brilliant, you should make more videos! My Blogger trafficking details show how people also sourced my blog through my Twitter posts.

Media Technologies

People found our video and found my work through the use of social media and this is very helpful as it helps get our work out there, reaching more people than I could imagine from all over the world; the biggest market research you can wish for. Also watching MTV Rocks (in particular) really helped my research process as that is the perfect place for finding music videos of a similar kind to compare and contrast. This helped give us an idea of what style we could go for in the early days though we steered away from it as we didnt want to think about other peoples ideas but come up with our own to rival theirs. There was some intertextuality within our video giving credit/paying homage to those who inspired us and we look up to.

 The use of Scribd has also allowed me to share and present presentations to potentially the world. I make a PowerPoint and upload it to Scribd which makes it look more stylish and more professional. I then post it onto y blog to get even more views. I have only had Scribd for about 4 days and have already reached 40 views which shows the potential these websites have to broadcast opinions and media products, such as our music video. We also created album artwork for a digipak and two posters which I used the afore mentioned websites and tools to create. I was very surprised to find out how much one can do to on Microsoft Word and Paint to make images and enhance their look to give them a very professional sheen.

I thought I would have to be equipped with the knowledge of using Photoshop or a sophisticated tool like that software. However, I made a complete digipak that gained high esteem with Paint and even PowerPoint!

How Effective Is The Combination Of your Main Product And Ancillary Texts?
We had a group digpak though I thought I could do better to establish it as an indie artists promotion as I felt the group texts did not give an indie feel but a dance or techno one (as illustrated left). I wanted to create the best product I was capable of so made one myself (bottom right) and surveyed to see how successful it was and the results came back in my favour.

Digipak, Posters and Music Video

I feel the link between our ancillary projects and music video is s good one. This is due to the way the poster draw from the music video and perfectly encaptured the artist and the character we portrayed. The video showed both a character and an artist, which was a hard blend though I feel we achieved it as the expressions and body language is completely different from the obsessive stalker to singer. The singer in Jonathan (artist name Oliver Fox) showed his emotions in a softer manner and looked more affected by the lyrics of the song as he sang the words.

Characterisation
The way we envisioned an artist, (Oliver Fox) his debut album, (Unrest) and his hit single, (Nights of Broken Sleep) gave us quite a clear idea in which to present him. We even fashioned our own record label and its own logo (right). We surveyed the best titles, names and images for him and the ancillary ideas to a well rounded sample of people to get a trustworthy and unbiased group to get real perspective. This truly helped in forming a link between our singer and the artist we have represented him to be and also a tying together our media product with our ancillary texts successfully. I didnt like the darker promotion advertisement as I didnt feel it captured the indie look and didnt introduce the artist. When introducing a singer you need to make sure people get what his style is and what theyre all about. The darker one did not do this and I felt was misleading.

 The most simple link is the link tie between the single Nights of Broken Sleep and the imagery of the song. The lyric that stays with you if you listen to the song is blue skies are calling, but I know that its hard which when first sung, the visual of birds flying across blue skies. This look isnt as strong as the piercing blue skies later in the video though I like this slightly overcast look to the sky as it gives it the typical London feel for weather that you identify with if you know England well.

Initial Branding
Our original ideas for the digipak images were to create artwork that has a black and white theme though we didnt want all the images to be black and white, we wanted some variation and colour so it didnt give off a negative and miserable feel. We initially had the idea of taking on a look like The Drums but have our own twist on it which unfortunately didnt come together. Though our other strong plan was to acquire images like the one on the bottom right though we were required to purely draw from inspirations of the bike image due to copy write regulations. We did this and I took the images shown in the digipak, what I didnt take Hannah did. Marissa edited the images on the group digipak (middle) though I solely created my own also.

Course Conclusion
Overall I feel all of our media texts link together well and have been created with the utmost precision and effort. They each share individual ideas and themes to reflect different things; music video reflects the character and singers lyrics, the advert introduces and promotes the artist and finally, the digipak shows numerous images reflecting different moods like the journey of emotions the buyer would experience when listening to the full album. Also I feel we made and I edited a successful indie music video that achieved all aims we set at the beginning of the course, maybe even exceeding our imaginations. Paired with the ancillary texts I feel the course has run well and I am proud of how much I have learnt and how far I have come as a media student and Im sad its over.