Evaluation of advanced portfolio

Question 1:In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Question 2:How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The products I have made as part of my advanced portfolio in media are effective in some ways as evidenced by my audience feedback. As part of my audience feedback I created a survey on survey monkey and posted it in different groups on Facebook. These groups all contained university applicants for 2016 and the age range was varied. This meant that the opinions expressed in the feedback were from different audience so I could see a difference in opinion between the different audiences. One of the questions in the survey for my music video was do you think the music video is effective in illustrating the meaning of the song. The responses for this question were mostly that it did. This shows that the music video may have been effective in this way.

The music video also have effectively used conventions of the genre. One convention of the genre that my music video uses is the use of narrative. Many music videos of this genre choose to use narrative as a way of illustrating the meaning of the song. My music video uses narrative throughout. An example of the use of narrative to illustrate the meaning of the song is the structure of the music video. In the music video it shows a couple who break up and then shots of each of them apart from each other along with flashbacks from when they were together to illustrate that they are deciding to be apart. This use of narrative to illustrate this meaning to the song is conventional for this genre meaning that the music video may be effective in this way.

My music video may also not be effective in some ways. One way it may not be effective is in how professional it is. The music video does not look very realistic as the editing and shots could be improved. This means that it may not be effective in actually looking like a music video and therefore is less effective in other areas as well. One way that the video looks less realistic is the lighting of some of the shots. They are very dark and therefore the shots can not be seen as well making it look less professional and less effective.

This is just one example of a shot in the video were it is too dark to see what is happening very well making it less effective.
My ancillary texts are a digipak and a magazine advertisement.
These products combined with the music video may be effective in some ways.
The magazine advert may be effective as it uses a main image of one of the actors in the music video. This helps to link the ancillary text to the video which may help the audience realise they are connected and make it a more successful and effective product.

The main image on the ancillary text uses a photoshoped screenshot from the music video along with another photo of the main actress in the music video. This will help bring the products together and help the audience to link the advertisement and the video to help the product be more successful.

Another way in which the magazine advertisement may be successful is that it successfully relates to the genre. During the survey i conducted as part of the audience feedback one of the questions was what genre of music do you think it advertises? The responses were almost all indie or folk rock making is successful and therefore effective at relating to the genre. 

The ancillary text also has an image of the album cover which is a convention of a magazine advertisement. This will also help to link it to the digipak and therefore help the audience link all of the products together making it more effective.

The ancillary text may also not be effective. Although all of the conventions of a magazine advertisement were followed the audience feedback suggests that it does not look like a magazine advertisement which will make it less effective as a product.
The comments suggest that it does not look specific enough to a magazine which may mean that the audience may be confused as to what the product is advertising making it less effective as a magazine advertisement.

My digipak may also be effective in some ways. The digipak follows all of the conventions of an album digipak for this genre. An example of this is the use of house style with the font used on the digipak. This font also matches that of the magazine advertisement. This may make it more effective as the audience are more likely to be able to link the products together which may make it more successful. The use of conventions may make it easier to identify the product as a digipak which may mean that the digipak is effective in its purpose. The responses from my audience feedback also show that the audience think that it looks like a realistic digipak which may mean that it would be more successful and therefore more effective.

The digipak may also not be as effective as the house style of the CD cover and does not continue onto the CD and behind the CD. This may mean that it looks less professional and therefore may be less effective as a product.

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Question 4:How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Music video and ancillary texts together

Music video

Album advertisement

Digipak

Music video

Album advertisement

Digipak

Products in locations

Bus stop:

Ipod:

Magazine:

Shopping centre:

Train station:

Music magazine website:

Making my digipak

Making my album advertisement

Album cover drafts

Draft 1: The first draft of the album cover uses images from google and the real bands name. One side is dark to represent the lack of freedom and happiness when they are together whereas the other side is light to represent the opposite for when they are not together. They are at a field as this keeps with the theme of the real Kodaline album cover for the album which this song is a part of. In the future drafts the location will be and original photograph and the bands name will be different. I have decided to use the fake name four swords as all of the members of the band grew up in Swords, Dublin and there is already a band called Swords for the same reason. I added the four at the beginning to make it unique.

Draft 2:  This is the second draft of the album cover for all comes down. I have changed the bands name to the fake name and have changed a lighting error at the bottom to make it look more realistic.

Draft 3: This third draft uses an original photo so that the location looks more realistic. The picture is of a better quality and has been edited to give the same message as other drafts.

Draft 4: This fourth draft has a lighting adjustment to make the bottom left corner darker as this will portray the message better. I have also used the sponge tool to make the left side of the picture less colourful for the same reason.

Draft 5: This draft will be one of the final drafts and any further ones will be minor adjustments. I have fixed a colour problem caused by the lighting adjustments on the left so the colouring is less pink. I have also added shadows the the people to make it more realistic and have used the sponge tool to remove more colour from the left.

Album cover location ideas

These locations are all in the village I live in so they are easy to get to and they all would fit the style of the front cover. I have chosen Mill Lane as it does not have a road but instead has more of a path/track which makes it look more like it is in the countryside. In the lighting it will be taken in you will be able to see the sky as it is on Google maps which will make it easier to edit. As it is only early March the trees will be bare however i do not think this will change the meaning of the image. I have chosen a location like this as the trees on one side essentially trap the people that will be edited into the cover and the bareness may symbolise the state of the relationship. The open field with the natural lighting on the other side will symbolise the freedom that they would have and wish they had if they were not stood together on the other,darker side. The countryside setting allows for this and also matches the theme of the song and the conventions of the original album cover by Kodaline.

Other products

Image research

A convention for the images used on indie rock products is the use of scenic images and locations. This may be because the different environments can portray different meanings which could relate to the theme or mood of the album. For example sunlight in the image may mean the album has a lighter mood whereas the use of violent weather may mean the album has a darker mood. The use of natural lighting is also very simple which like the text may be part of the way the genre uses mainly non-synthesise sounds. This use of these images makes it easier for the audience to get an idea about the theme or mood of the album making it easier for them to decide whether to buy it or whether they want to listen to it’s music. This helps the artists to advertise their product and it’s message.