Music Video Evaluation

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

Our media products use many of the conventions of different forms of media texts. The main part of our video, the shopping channel segments, follow closely the genre and style conventions of shopping channels, like Bid TV, Price Drop TV and QVC. The props, costumes and general mise en scene in the shopping channel shots in the video, faithfully recreate the shopping channel scenario, whilst poking fun and spoofing the whole look and feel of the effect.

The graphics that are superimposed on the shopping channel segments, were created to follow the conventions of the shopping channel look. Also included in the graphics we made were jokes and small ‘easter eggs’ in the text. These jokes are there for people who watch the video more than once. They don’t see the jokes first time round, so the jokes add repeat viewing value to the video.

Although the shopping channel part of the video follows the conventions of shopping channels, by putting that scenario in a music video, it gives it a unique look and feel, which will help an audience identify the music video easier.

The performance and ‘lounge’ parts of the video follow conventions of indie rock music videos. The costumes worn by the band, the props used by the person by the TV, and the layout of the sets (the band’s ‘performance studio’ and the man’s lounge), all follow music video conventions. The camerawork, however, fits the band performance into the shopping channel setting, allowing for the two parts of the video to flow with each other.

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

The digipack we created was a DVD cover, which didn’t match the style of the music video. Instead, we choose to model the cover on the band’s (White Denim) previous album artwork. Their last album cover had a painted look to it, and in keeping with this, our product had a similar effect. We used a band photo, conventional of most indie bands, then edited it to give it a cartoon-esque look. So whilst following the style of the band’s artwork, we also moved it on and did something different with the look.

The back cover of the digipack contains information that is typical of a back cover of a digipack. This includes the track listing, a DVD logo, screenshots from the music video (which act as a selling point for the digipack) and a list of the special features on the DVD. The background image, is the band photo from the front cover, reversed and silhouetted. This gives the band a distinct image, making them easily identifiable to a potential buyer.

The advert for the digipack, brings together elements from both the music video and the digipack, to give the ancilliary products an effective motif. The advert uses the band photo from the digipack and is silhouetted, like the background of the back cover of the digipack. The graphics from the music video form part of the advert. By using and adapting the graphics from the video and using them in the advert (along with the font and colour scheme), it creates a motif across the products. This would help the sale of the digipack, as people would recognise the graphics from the video, see the DVD cover and go and buy the digipack because it has that video on it.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

When we posted up our rough-cut, most of the feedback we received all said the same thing. The comments mainly mentioned the lack of variety in the shots, as well as a lack of whole scenes, with made the video confusing and hard to follow. We responded to this feedback by filming the shots needed to make the video make sense. This include several scenes involving the band playing on the shopping channel and in the apartment, as well as shots of the apartment and it’s owner, reacting to various band members.

After the final cut of our video was done, the feedback we received on it, was general positive. A few praised the surreal feel of the video, whilst commenting on the fact that the humour work well as was not to over the top. Comments also said that the video had a tacky look to it, but that that work with the shopping channel look. If we could go back and change one thing, we would reshoot the apartment scenes, and make them look less tacky and more like an actual lounge in an apartment.

Feedback from the digipack and advert was also mainly positive. People liked the way the image of the band, and how the overall look and theme carries on over both sides of the box and that the band where the same as they were in the video (the costumes, props and background colour were the same, to add continuity). However, some people did mention that the background picture on the back takes away from the over all look. Looking at the cover again, the image clearly stands out, and doesn’t really fit with the rest of the cover. If we did it again, we would probably make the background image, a little more translucent, to draw attention to the text on the back. The advert was praised for having a good link between the video (making the advert look like a TV shopping channel screen) and digipack cover. It was called unique, and that it is quite recognisable to an audience, making the product stand out The theme and the inclusion of release dates and website, were also liked.

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

During the project, we used several new media technologies. At the planning stage, we used Youtube to research the shopping channel effect. We looked at clips from Bid TV, QVC and many others, to see how the graphics looked, and how they were shot. This massively influenced our music video.

Whilst researching, we found spoofs of the shopping channel format. This were a little more extreme, because they showed things being sold that would never be sold on a shopping channel. After seeing this we realised that to make the shopping channel part work, we would need to make it look and feel as much like the real thing as possible.

We also used Google to research, and acquire still images of, shopping channel graphics and previous digipack covers and adverts. This helped in the develop of all three of the projects we made. A blog was used throughout the project to chart the progress of the products. During the making of the digipack cover and advert, we used the blog as a ‘bin’, putting shots of the digipack on it, for us to take off, copy and use in the advert, and vice versa.

Photoshop was used to make graphic designs for shopping channel parts of the video, as well as the advert. It helped when the graphics were added to the music video, as the programmes Final Cut (used to edit the video) and Photoshop integrate and work together perfectly. We also used Photoshop to make a moodboard to help the creative process. We also emailed the band, White Denim, to tell them that we used their song, and to see if they wanted to see a version of it or not. They didn’t reply, however. At the evaluation stages, we used technologies we used before (Photoshop, Final Cut, Google) to make a group commentary. This helped to see what went well, and what could have been done more successfully.