Evaluation Commentary

1) Our media products use forms and conventions of real media products. For example Goodwins points is a theory we followed in some aspects. For example 'genre characteristics' is the first point of the theory. We followed this as there wee shots of the artist an actor and an actress, we also have a narrative throughout. The next point is 'lyrics and visuals' we had a strong link as this was a strong focus. For example when the song states the 'stairs' the couple was on the stairs. And so we illustrated the lyrics. The music and visuals vaguely illustrative as both the song and the visuals were long and emotional. Next is the demands of the record label. We did this by having close ups of our artist, as it's need to sell artists. Our visual style from this was quiute basic as the focus was on the narratvie and the meaning of the song. Notion of looking was present as there were photo frames and the notions of looking at the couple/ the ghost. We made intertextual references to the taylor swift video 'mine' with the photos and the shots of the couple.

I developed the genre of the products conventions as in our genre there is a storyline, a variety of shot types, there  is clips which vary in brightness and contrast, good lip syncings, shots of the artist and actor/actresses. So we used these conventions and developed them to fit our song.

I took inspiration from various videos e.g. Taylor Swift 'Mine' inspired me to shoot in the past and present through photos. We used Rihanna 'Unfaithful' as inspiration with the use of photo montages and flashbacks. Beyonce 'Broken hearted girl' used black and white filters so this inspired me to do this to show the past and present. In her video she used the past to be black and white. However for ours we used it to be in the present to show the emotion of the guy on his own. The Leona Lewis video 'I got you' made me think of the framing positions as they always had the actor off centre. And finally we used the conventions in the leona lewis 'Foot prints in the sand' as it portrays so much emotion.

We also fitted the genre conventions in Our Ancillary texts. I did this by looking at existing products and then making sure we had these. These include, record label, dvd video logo, classification e.g. 12, the title of the artist, the title of the album, a quote e.g. from mtv, release date, hyperlinks, barcoding for digipak and bonus material for digipak.  

2) I feel as if all our products worked well together as they all portray the haunted, memories, and losing someone theme. So the emotion of our theme will promote our package. The concpet I was trying to communicate was the pure emotion of the lyrics. So therefore we did this with the contrast of the past and present. The image it creates for the artist is that the focus is in the lyrics and the emotion of the narrative within our video instead of using lots of shots of the artist. So this works as it fits the genre it's in. It will attract the target audience due to the emotion of the song being reflected both in the video and the digipak and magazine advert. Some viewers may be able to relate to this concept and narrative of losing they love. FInally they work as a package as we used the ethos of the video into digipak and magazine advert and therefore viewers will easily recognise them due to the use of black and white, haunted, non vibrant use of colouring.

3) Our initial pitch feedback made me learn several things. For example that we had a strong concept and storyline, with alot of footage possibilities. I also learnt from the feedback that in order for our haunted aspect to work I aould have to research techniques to use to clearly show the past and present.

In our rough cut feedback I learnt that I fitted the goodwins theory well. For example the lyircs and visuals were illustrative, music and visuals were long cuts so fitted the genre, shots of the artist made our video genre specific, and the ghost effect shows notions of looking. So I knew that Goodwins Theory was something we no longer need to really focus on.

Our rough cut feedback was that it looked like a 'home made movie' however we hadn't begun our editing at this point so from this we learnt we needed to focus on editing. I ws told over camera work was good; nice steady shots, good close ups of photos. So I learnt that our audience was pleased with my camerawork. The mise-en-scene was said to be really good, with good ranges of locations, photobook/photos were good. Props were great, they loved the sunset clip, good costumes, and finally some lighting was a little to dark. So overall this showd me that the amount of work I put into getting each aspect of the framing right was portrayed to the audience as the clips which were to dark was going to be editing anyway. Finally 'creativity and performance' feedback at the rough cut stage was that the pictures of the couple together makes it convincing, good contrast of couple together and apart makes it unique. So overall the amount of creativity and the performance was great so this learnt that my efforts payed off again. In conclusion the audience feedback at the rough cut stage was really good. When our teachers gave us feedback it was all positive. The teachers feedback taught me to use cross dissolve transitions to soften the clip changes, use colour corrector to make the past and present even more striking, overlay photos with cross dissolves to emphasise the memory aspect. Overall 'the storyline was very emotional which is great' is a quote taken from the teachers feedback this quote is significant as my aim was to portray the emotion of the storyline. So overall the feedback from the teachers taught me that overall the video is great I just need to concentrate on the editing to enhance it.

The final cut feedback also showed and taught me many things. Such as on the whole it was a great success. For example we fitted goodwins theory very well except 'the music and visuals were said not to match  however the cuts were in time with the music'. However they do match as they are both slowly paced. The feedback from the editing wsa all positive stating we showed the ghost aspect really well. The only thing in the editing section was said to be slightly negative saying the 'clips were too long' however we deliberately did this to show the emotion and pace of the song aswell as being reccommended by our teachers to use longer clips as it's such a slow paced song it wouldn't suit lots of cuts. From the mise-en-scene feedback it taught me that it was very successful. However it did state 'props were good but maybe to many were used' however again this was deliberate to show the memory aspect as it was a strong point of the concept. Finally the camera work was that it was very successful which is great. With the creativity and preformance it showed me that it was successufl too as the emotion was shown to the audience.

As well as our video we also recieved feedback for our magazine and digipak whilst creating. We used an image of the tree which I took during the photoshoot I did and whilst talking to my teacher I came up with the idea of adding an image of the couple on the front but fade the girl into the background slightly to give the haunted feel. With the digipak I then had  the idea of adding the artist into the background but having very faded to give a "where's wally effect" and playing with the 'magic eye'. So this feedback was the key to the success of both these products as this was where I created my ideas.

So overall the feedback was crucial as it showd me how to improve the product and exisiting positives we had. Finally it was crucial because it showed me the target audiences response as taught me that there opinions are vital and therefore it helped me to impoved and fit to their expectations.

4)  We used new media technologiues throughout this task whether it be in the research, planning or evaluation stage. All sources of these technologies helped to prepae and lead to a successful package of products. For example the use of blogger. allowed us to keep a diary of what we had done in each lesson and what we needed to do, so this was key to keeping us on track. As well as this it helped us blog our journey: our research and inspiration to show how we got to the stage of the final video. It also allowed us to recieve feedback, which was crucial to make sure that we fitted the audiences expectations.

The use of HD cameras helped to capture high quality clips which would lead to the success. They also helped us prepare by allowing us to do test footage and see if the concept would be shown nicely of the past and present. The Still cameras helped to create a series of high quality image for our digipak and magazine advert.

Final cut was used used to edit using filters such as colour corrector, which played a key part of showing the past and present. It helped show the creativity as we were able to use cross dissolves which helped to show the memory aspect and haunted aspect.

Photoshop also helped to create successful products. Such as being able to change the images into black and white, altering the hue and saturation and the brightness. It also helped to change the opacity. The use of photoshop lead to the success of the digipak and magazine advert as it helped to make them stand out from the crowd. It did this by allowing us to use filters to make the text seem haunted which was crucial as this was our conceopt. So in a sense it helped to link our ancilliary texts to our music video. So the use of photoshop maximised our creativty.