In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I used for my media product conventions of real music videos, for example CD’s, digipaks and music videos etc. I tried to put as many ideas from other videos into my video to make it better. I was trying to focus more on the artist and I was trying to tell more about him and his life style. I didn’t use so many people in my video because like I said before I was trying to focus on the artist, because normally the conventions is using more people in their videos, so I have chosen to get a bit away from the conventions. I looked at many videos with and without many people in their videos to make my decision easier or even harder, and also at videos that where trying to tell a story rather then focusing on the artist. I think my digipak differs from all other digipaks that you can buy, but I also have seen some digipaks that are similar to mine, but mostley they come from the same kind of music. My digipak has everything on the front cover the name of the album and also the name of the artist so similar to the conventions. My Digipak also has inside like the convention the tracklist and thanks to everyone etc. And I think it fits quiet well in there. So if I would compare my digipak to other Albums for example ‘In between dreams’ from Jack Johnson the same artist I used as well, it is quiet similar because it has that special feeling of freedom and the easy life that the artist is trying to bring over to the audience with his songs. The software I was using played a big part in making for example the blog, Digipak and the video and it was the main part for the good result I got at the end, some software’s I used where for example Final Cut Pro, IMovie, Microsoft Power Point , Adobe InDesign and also Adobe Photoshop. And when I think about it it also challenged myself to get better in those programs so at the end of the project I expand the technological knowledge of this programs.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I think the combination worked quiet well right here. I linked every product together that wasn’t easy but at the end it was worth it. I made the CD and the website the same way like I did my music video because I think it would be the best way so the people can recognise a particular style from a particular artist like other artist in the real world have their own style as well, so the Digipak and the CD features the same material I used for my music video so I think that worked quiet well. I was also trying to hold the fonts quiet the same so that people can recognize it also on the advert where they could pre order the album. I was using this way because I think this would also be the way how they would have done it in the real media world as well, because this is the only way how you get recognize, so the artist has his own brand loyalty and brand recognition, so this was increasing the popularity of the artist. When I established the fonts and when I was designing I was trying to make the similarities clear for everyone, for example I used the same background at the advert and the album cover, I was just changing some thinks but I just changed the things so that the people can still recognize it.
What have you learned from the audience feedback?
I found the audience feedback very helpful in any kind of way, it just helped me to make a much better final product, I mean in any way whether in my digipak, the advert or even in the music video. Also my two media studies teachers helped me a lot because from them I got some great support and some really important feedback from a potential audience, so that I could make my music video more realistic and some important changes to it. I also had a good feedback from friends or my whole media studies class, I found it really helpful because I told them to be honestly about it and they took it seriously so that was helpful because I also asked them many questions how I could improve my video. It also helped me to be more critical about my own music video so I was changing quiet a lot of things all the time because I was trying to get the best out of the video. So I changed the whole colour of the video to like a sunnier and happy style, because this is the massage from the song, and the audience liked it and I was ok with it as well. So I think the most important point in my video is the actor and the way the artist is acting in his own video and tries to deliver the message from the song and the happy and full of freedom song.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
I was using new media technologies in any stage of my coursework, because it was the main part of it for me. At the beginning I was using the software I Movie and Final Cut Pro to edit and to make my music video. It wasn’t easy to use those programs at the beginning because they are very hard to use for people who just started to do such things. But the teachers and also other students where helping me how to use such programs and how to work with them, by the end of the whole project I felt confident in using the programs. I used also Adobe Photoshop to produce the CD package and background of the magazine advert. I knew how to use this software because we used it in AS Media Studies as well so I knew how to use this software and felt confident. I also used Power Point but not that much like the other programs. But one of the biggest parts in all this was the whole Internet like for example I used YouTube because YouTube is offering many music videos and I used them quiet well. Then I also used Blogger to present everything I invested and it was helpful to list everything so that everyone can research it in one view. So I listed up many new media a technology that I was using, that shows that I’m very confident in using those things. Most of the things I didn’t used before for example in AS Media Studies I wasn’t using those stuff because I wasn’t able to use it at all but in A2 it was very helpful and the most important thing to use new media technologies. By using my Blog everyone was able to see my changes in my media studies project and also me and my media studies class we were able to talk about our blogs and give us each other’s tips how we could make it better, but not only the students helped me also the teachers they gave me good support in all this. Without the teachers I would not have such a good result at the end because they teached us how to use and work with the new media technologies. Also I was able with all this products to put special effects in my videos or make it look more professional then with other products, so I also was able to use all the new media technologies in my free time on my Mac Book because those programs are for sale, so I bought them to use them and work on my music video whenever I wanted to. However at the end of the project I found it very easy to use all this stuff because like I said I was lucky enough to have a tutorial and also the support from students and teachers around me.
