Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
Kodalines High Hopes music video played a crucial part in the making and
production of our music video. The constant theme of the outdoors,
including forestry surroundings and vast open green space and hills is one
convention, which we took from it. For example the first shot of the music
video in High Hopes is an extreme long shot focusing on the impressive
view of the natural sunlight and autumn into winter weather (0.00 0.03).
We took inspiration from this and filmed on top of croft hill near by to
where we all lived. This location provided us with the ability to capture a
vast medium/long shot where the artist Lucas Stoker is walking across
(0.13-0.19) and sitting on the hill framed on the left hand side (1.25-1.30).
In High Hopes the main female performer is wearing a white dress walking
bare footed (0.38-0.31). This type of costume theme is also apparent in
the music video The Things We Lost In The Fire by Bastille (2.42-2.45).
From this we constructed our female performer with a similar costume, a
white knee length dress and specifically shot the white dancing footage in
a white room studio with her bare foot to enhance the very simplistic plain
visual image (for example 0.19-0.24). Many of the shots in our music video
were also similar to those in The Things We Lost In The Fire, focusing
particularly on the interaction between the two performers in the music
video. We decided to take inspiration from the unusual quite mysterious
connection between the two performers and adopted this within our own
narrative convention. We believed this added an aspect of unknown
identity into the story and gives the song a verisimilitude meaning without
actually explaining the full context of the relationship. Therefore we used
an over the shoulder shot over the females shoulder looking through the
camera lense on the left hand side, whilst the male was standing framed
on the right of the shot behind her (0.48-0.56). We also incorporated a
shot where the female is captured running away from the lense,
theoretically suggesting away from the male figure (2.04-2.07). During
editing we added slow motion onto this clip as we felt the pace had to
resemble a more slow progressive movement of the body. This was
already done in The Things We Lost In The Fire however our clip as a whole
was filmed with a blurred lense effect to give the illusion that the female is
disappearing or running into the sunlight. Inspiration from Ed Sheeran
Thinking Out Loud has also been applied to our narrative visuals. At the
start of this music video a female is seen appearing to follow the male
gaze convention. (0.00-0.12) / Fly Away by Christafri is one music video
that gave us an unusual aspect, which we werent aware, could work as a
convention of music videos. The whole of Fly Away is filmed in reverse,
which sparked me to use a specific clip filmed before hand and repeat the
same clip in reverse for effective during the editing process (1.54-1.58).
Throughout the construction of the music video we applied some existing
theorists to our music video (Goodwin and Archer). Andrew Goodwins
music theory can be applied to our own music video as the lyrics are
illustrated through the visuals shown in the music video, due to the
embedded story behind the lyrics that the song gave us the ability to
develop. For example the female spins when the he sings the lyrics the
world keeps spinning around (1.10-1.15 / 2.18-2.30). This is already an

existing convention used in music video, for example in the music video
Let It Happen by Tame Impala the line I can hear an alarm, it must be
morning is followed with a visual image of the actor picking up a large
wooden alarm clock whilst he sits on the end of a bed. The overall idea of
letting it happen referring to natural progression is the central concept
which this music video portrays. We decided to incorporate a central
theme of detachment between the performers in our music video inspired
by Tame Impala. Laura Mulveys male gaze theory is also used throughout
our music video particularly at the start and end of the video when Beth is
looking directly into the lense. This was inspired from the music video
Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran, as the narrative visuals at the start
follow the maze gaze convention as she is dressed in a red dress and is
framed to look attractive (0.00-0.12). During our music video dancing clips
the female also moves in quite a passionate way revealing a sense of
verisimilitude, which follows the convention appeal of the male gaze
(2.30). Steve Archers theory states that there should be a strong and
coherent relationship between narrative and performance. In our music
video there is a constant cut between the two and the performance
immensely compliments the narrative story. He also states that a carefully
choreographed dance might be part of the performance. We constructed
our own dance routine for the female to perform, which we targeted
specifically to a male audience gaze. Our narrative is dismantled and the
layers blended between the singing and dancing to provide the audience
with more of a reveal behind the emotion of the lyrics (3.09).
Digipak
My Digipak reflects an influential, bold iconic inspired design through its
use of vivid colourings (red, white and blue), which are paired together in
a constant repeated pattern for effect and to adopt a look of
professionalism. The leading inspiration and convetions for my Digipak
design is from the Imagine Dragons Smoke & Mirrors album cover. The
idea of smoke was a primary visual image, which I developed from this as
their cover includes the use of a yellow tinged smoke, which a golden
coloured bird is floating/flying within. The positioning of the title of the
album and band underneath was a similar structure to that of the Imagine
Dragons, following a clear-cut design theme. The colours within my
Digipak were inspired by the Panic at the Discos album cover Too Weird
to Live Too Rare to Die. The overall theme is black and white with a slight
gloomy green tint however the product is brought to life through a burst of
multi coloured smoke, which the performer is smoking. The red, white and
blue colours contrasting with my bold black background of my Digipak
reflects the effective convention that clearly works here. The record label
logo Vectro records is found on almost all existing media products such
as Digipaks (for legislation and terms and conditions/ copy right).
Audience feedback on my Digipak enabled me to recognize the smoke
required some more detail, which I sculptured a faded low opacity image
of the artist and dancer within. I also re designed my CD disc with the
identical smoke used on the front and altered its size and angle, whilst
cropping and cutting to create a background circle within the smoke. On
top of this I created a sort of maze concept with the colour scheme
reappearing in the middle in form of diamond shapes. This was mostly
inspired by the colourful illumines work of Tame Impala and their album
Innerspeaker.

Magazine Advert
I wanted to follow the very effective convention of re creating the Digipak
cover on a larger scale with a slight twist for the magazine advert, as seen
with many exemplary products that exist (for example Kasabian
Velociraptor! And Kaiser Chief Never Miss A Beat). Therefore the colours
follow the same format as the Digipak (a strong vibrant combination of
red, white and blue). From my market research I realised marketing was a
key tool when attempting to promote your product to your specific
acquired target market. I decided to incorporate a Twitter and Instagram
account onto the visual display of the magazine advert, which I believed
followed typical promotional conventions, such as those of Bastille and
Twenty One Pilots. The audience feedback received was very positive,
specifically commenting on the structural layout of the advert. I was told
that it provided the reader with clear precise information, which was
needed whilst maintaining a creative repetitive colour pattern throughout.
I do believe that my magazine advert challenges the tradition standard
conventions as it offers a minimalistic approach but I do claim it is original
as I am aware of the broad range of existing simplistic layouts.

Evaluation Question 2
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
It was very paramount that, when creating my Digipak and magazine
advertisement, I took a considerable amount of thought into how they
would correspond with my music video. In order for me to be able to
develop a recognisable and professional branding that would clearly
portray my solo artist 84 Atlas (Lucas Stoker), it was crucial that all of my
three products followed a similar style, genre and aesthetic. I believe that
this was achieved through the transferring of specific aspects from my
music video to the ancillary texts, therefore creating a creating a sense of
verisimilitude whilst maintaining a consistent and direct link between all of
the products.
The Digipak and magazine advertisement are very similar in terms of
visual appearance as they both conform to a simplistic yet resolute and
vibrant image. My draft ancillary texts appeared to minimal and didnt
represent enough of the artists style; therefore I began creating a more
visionary structure of genre indie. This included using a consistent colour
theme of red, white and blue. In our music video very vivid lighting colours
are experimented with, such as tones of purple and shades of blue, which
connate to the striking structural design of my ancillary texts. A blended
picture of the artist Lucas Stoker was blended into the smoke of my
ancillary text, which I previously made, and the performer who perfectly
blurred into the white smoke as the picture is her wearing a white dress.
The framing of our shots were carefully constructed, so that our final
music video had a professional finished display and conveyed similar
conventions to those existing within actual music videos.
Throughout our music video, a mixture of direct eye contact with the
camera lense from Lucas Stoker (84 Atlas) and the female dancer which is
used to connect the audience to the product through verisimilitude. For

example when the petals are rising and falling at the start and end of the
video she stares into the lense. A sense of real emotion is incorporated
into the music video through direct eye contact, as when Lucas Stoker is
framed singing, an audience can more easily feel influenced by the
performance. In the ancillary texts the blended smoke images have been
purposely taken in the same structure so that the performers are framed
looking into the lense. This consistency creates a significant promotional
tool for my central product, as it reveals the artists vacant expressions
through a visual representation.
84 Atlas is apart of the record label Vectro Records, which like any would
demand to create a sense of branding for the band. Therefore we have
achieved the targeting audience range by researching existing structural
conventions, and recreated them to show a reflection of verisimilitude. Our
record label logo features on our ancillary products as this is a generic
convention of Digipaks and magazine adverts. However the logo does not
feature in the main product, as this isnt necessary due to the simplistic
representation of the artist Lucas Stoker appearing throughout. The use of
the record label successfully combines the products together in a
professional manner to create a type of believability for the targeted
audience to relate to.

Evaluation Question 3
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Audience feedback has been a vital part of the whole production process
of the main product and ancillary texts. It has enabled us to constantly ask
for constructive criticism and individuals opinions whilst being able to act
upon it accordingly in plenty of time before a deadline has been able to
pass. We received audience feedback through online surveys and blog
posts on draft aspects of the products by students and teachers.
During the research and planning as a group we accessed online
information, such as UK Tribes, enabling us to select our target audience
on a more detailed scale, which was indie/alternative. The two groups
which stood out for us was the Indie Scenesters and the Creatives,
which we believed appealed to our targeted audience, within a close
distance due to the extensive range of interaction activities they were
involved within. This is how we wanted our ideal audience to be portrayed.
From this we were then able to evaluate the next stages of designing
making judgments as to if we felt it followed the correct conventions.
Before we produced a complete draft copy of the ancillary texts or a
construction of the music video, we created an online questionnaire
through the website, Monkey Survey. We focused on exploring the
preferences of our targeted audience, looking more specifically at their
interactivity with media products and how successful they think marketing
has been for specific products currently on the market. The participants of
the survey were a combination of students from my Media Class, in and
around my school and those apart of my extra curricular Performing Arts
group. I believe that this gave us a beneficial range of opinions but within
the targeted audience area, therefore providing us with reliable results.
The results were as expected, with most participants using an extensive

selection of media technology to access, their favourite music, news,

communication etc. However in comparison there was a mix of opinions
when asked how successful they thought marketing has previously been.
Some commented on the use of consistency and identifiable structure,
enabling marketing to effectively spread a viral brand (for example Bastille
Wild World album). After collating the information we decided that a
more specific targeted audience survey would be appropriate to evaluate
the effectiveness of current digipaks. Therefore we constructed two
questions, asking the participants what they thought about two Digipak
covers (Twenty One Pilots Blurry Face & The Foals Total Life Forever).
Both of these Digipaks follow traditional effective conventions of branding,
using simplistic a layout. However Blurry Face is constructed with more
digital design patterns, where as Total Life Forever uses real photography.
This survey gave us an extensive range of opinions, which we could relate
to when analysing them, such as the easily identifiable fonts both use to
keep the Digipak within the theme of their artists branding. In light of our
audience research we were then able to produce our first draft of the
ancillary texts, using our own knowledge and the preferences of our
questionnaire participants. From here on our teachers and peers were
regularly commenting on our draft work via the blog posts leaving
constructive criticism as to what could be improved and included to
finalize the verisimilitude visual look of our ancillary texts.
When filming our music video we were aware of the significant impact
audience feedback would have on the level of professionalism we were
capable of producing. Therefore we focused on improving our camera
framing and lighting by going into the school white studio room and
practicing by capturing test shots and footage and posting it onto our blog
for constructive comments to be received. We were told by the teachers
that the white studio room lighting and framing wasnt of an high standard
and therefore were suggested to do more research into how to correctly
frame and light a section of the music video. We went away and went on
sites such as YouTube where we looked at how to improve our skills. The
feedback in forms of comments allowed us to constantly develop our
technical ability during the filming process and produce a final music video
that was of a high standard. When we had produced a draft music video
we posted this onto our blog and waited for feedback. We were praised on
certain aspects of the music video, such as the intense vibrant colour of
the lighting, and the narrative story/performance structure. However we
were told that the order of the footage frames didnt work, as it didnt
follow a conventional structure, whereby the same type of clip isnt
repeated consecutively to make the music video engaging for the
audience. We went away after receiving this and began re designing the
clip sequence. The audience feedbacks successfully allowed us too
concentrate on achieving a professional level of work with would reflect
within the main product. The previous surveys we carried out also
benefited us when creating the storyboard and visual structure in relation
to the lyrics. We were able to incorporate shots in a way that reflected the
quirky style of the artists genre. For example the costume of both Lucas
Stoker wearing dark colours of green and black, whilst the dancer was in a
white dress bare footed. The petals and lighting in the white studio room
footage also added to the authenticity of the brand image.

Evaluation Question 4

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

Laptop When editing pictures together to produce mood boards

for the design of my Digipak/Magazine advert and Music Video, the
laptop enabled me to quickly import them online for further use.
Blogger My own blog and the group blog were regularly updated
with research and planning blog posts, which gave us access to a
wide range of audience feedback from the class and teachers (Mr
Ford and Mr Smith). It also provided myself with an organizational
structure for me to follow and meet each deadline.
Google To collect inspiration for mood boards, find props, which
we potentially wanted to use. As well to search for location and
contacts who we could contact to ask about hiring a white room in
our local town (Leicester) as well as hiring equipment.
Gmail This gave me the power to directly approach and contact
shops and studio white room companies, through the format of
email. This was the most effective channel on communication as it
was professional and quick and efficient.
Personal phones (IPhone & Samsung) were a crucial
technology item, which we used consistently throughout the
research/planning stages, for communication between group
members, sharing ideas and organising the filming days with ease.
Facebook This was our primary use of social media, which the
group communicated through, as we created a group chats for the
suitability of everyones convenience.
Twitter I created a Twitter account for 84 Atlas, for promotional
marketing. It also enabled me to work on recreating the same brand
image across the different social medias, targeting specific areas of
our targeted audience.
Instagram I created an Instagram account for 84 Atlas to extend
the broad range of marketing already used to promote the artist
and his album Spirit. Instagram was made to focus on posting
pictures of the band to generate a buzz for the release of the music
video called High Hopes.
Wix A site which enabled me to create a website for 84 Atlas. It
was easy to navigate and make and gave the artist further
displayable information, which held all of the social media content
in one place.
Microsoft Word & PowerPoint Both used to collate all the
research we had done and present it on a page quickly whilst also
looking neat, clear and presentable.
Scribd A convenient website where I can easily upload any word
document and get its embedded code which I could use to publish
the work on the Blogger accounts, in the same format as the
original document itself.
Slide Share I could upload any power point research/planning
work to this website and I would be able to get its embedded code
to use for publishing the slide shows on the Blogger accounts.

YouTube Was used consistently for inspiration, especially

referring to other music video conventions and learning about
improving our lighting and camera work skills through tutorials.
Photoshop Used to create mood boards using my technical skills
to present them in a more complex and professional way (involving
the use of layers).
Construction and Editing

Photoshop This software was used to produce our ancillary texts,

as its a very advanced programme allowing us to manipulate many
complex design tools, such as cropping, opacity fade, liquify, re
sizing, contrast, hue & saturation etc. This made the design process
much easier for us to tailor it to the genre of our artist.
Pentax Olympus K-r This camera was used to record the whole
of our music video, including both the studio white room and
outside footage. We filmed in recording mode and during the editing
process incorporated motion blur and a black and white filter on
selected clips to effectively create the style we wanted to create.
The camera was also used before hand for gaining crucial
experience with camera framing and lighting and then observing
each other and giving feedback.
Vegas Pro This is a professional video editing software which we
used to edit our music video into the acquired length and sequence.
The software was new to part of our group however we all quickly
leant to use it as it follows similar layout to iMovie and Final Cut Pro.
In Vegas Pro we were able to add any required filter effects, motion
blur, reverse film, increased speed, transitions and cropping/cutting.
All of these adjustments complemented the lyrics and made the
visual look of the music video appealing and suitable to our type of
genre.
Apple Mac / Apple Mac Book Both of these two apple products
were used to edit sections of the music video, and view clips before
the finalized edit commenced. The structural software of a mac
appealed to certain group members and therefore made mistakes
(out of time lip syncing / poor framing) more clear to spot and
correct.
Windows 7- This laptop was the primary device we used to
complete the final edit of the music video. This was due to the
software Vegas Pro only being available on it and was the most
convenient in terms of accessing the footage clips from the SD card.
YouTube Our finalized music video was uploaded onto YouTube
after completion to be published for everyone to see. This worked
very quickly due to the internet speed and using the search engine
Google which is most established.
Blogger Our video was also posted onto the group blog for the
examiner and teachers to view and mark. It also follows the rest of
the work which has previously been published in preparation for the
final music video.