Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Final Thoughts
deo of Sweet Disposition by Temper Trap. The meaning of the song is mysterious and is talking about the difficulties of life “a moment, a love, a dream, a laugh, a kiss, a cry, our rights, our wrongs”. We choose to portray this meaning by having a girl following a trail of light bulbs in a wo
od to try and find a way out of being lost within the world. This also coincides with our band as the bands image is mysterious and rebellious and we tried to convey a message that they could be the way out of the girls trail. However, this was not the case and showed through media language that is vital in creating my preferred meaning in the following ways.
within the band as they were all playing together. We also used close up shots of both the band members and of our girl in the narrative to create a sense of intimacy and make the audience, as Dyer would say “the band needs to be present yet absent”. Therefore the audience can relate to the band yet they are not involved due to them being absent from them in real life. Throughout our pop video we used a side camera angle instead of being straight towards the person in order to stop the image from looking flat. Consequently it makes it mre interesting and also helps to portray the message of depth of field in three dimension. At one point within our pop video during the narrative we used a high angle shot looking down on the girl. We choose to do this as it made the girl look smaller and therefore emphasized her feelings of lost. We also choose to do it because it was t the point with
in the narrative that the girl was opening the box to find the band and possible find hope and an end to her being lost. However, the shot consequently highlights what is about to become apparent that the feeling of hope is not going to continue as she cannot relate to the band as they become 2D, so she still remains “small” within the world. Furthermore the camera movements also helped to create the preferred meaning as we used a tracking shot to follow the girl around the box. This therefore helped the audience understand her frustration in not finding hope. This was because the track closely followed her journey through the box so the closer audience was involved within the action of the narrative and performance combining.
ning as it went along through the lyrics and narrative. We choose to cut to the beat of the music (which is a common convention of pop videos) because then it was effective in showing what was happening and meant that it worked well and flowed. When filming we used a blue screen because it was more practical to film the band inside a studio and then super impose the images of the woods behind the band. This consequently emphasized the band being in a box as the images of the woods were behind them on a blue screen, which also made the link between the narrative of the girl in the wood
s and the box with the woods surrounding it. Therefore hinting as to what the girl may find at the end of her trail.
them seem mysterious which helped to show the bands image of rebellion. The colour black is also related to rebellion. Although we didn’t want our band to seem too rebellious we wanted them to have an aspect of rebellion.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Blog Task 4
To answ
er this question, I need to define the key term media tech
nology. This type of technology underpins all media equipment with binary code, bringing speed, small size, high quality etc. Examples of media technologies are digital still/video cameras, Final Cut Pro editing, blue screen, ATM machines, and the Internet. I used media technologies extensively and at all stages of production from the construction and research stages to the planning and evaluation stages of my pop video.
Research and Development
Within the research and development stage of my project I used new media technologies to increase the depth of my research through the use of Internet and television. I was able to use these various technologies to increase my awareness of related aspects of the music ind
ustry that would help with the other stages in making my pop video, digipak and magazine advert. The 
Internet, as a method of gaining research is generally fast paced and means that I was able to research in depth into areas that were important to the development of ideas. Also within the research and development stage I used new media technologies when producing the storyboard. Instead of drawing it by hand and leaving it, we used a video camera to film each shot on the storyboard and cut it roughly to music. Therefore due to Final Cut Pro and cameras, which are both new media technologies, I was able to produce a more realistic storyboard that was more helpful to see what were effective shots and what weren’t in relation to the music. Consequently the use of these technologies contributed to the form of my pop video as they made it easier to be visually creative which increased the level of sophistication and professionalism with my A2 production.
Construction
Within to construction stage (shoot day), we used the 
JVC1500E video camera that is very involved and produces high quality footage. However, it does require skill to use it to its full potential but since AS I have increased my knowledge of compositions rules and now know of colour, shape, leading the eye and the X and Y axis 
which meant that when using this technology I was aware of what the final outcome would be like. Furthermore this increase in knowledge allowed me to become more creative to use new media technology to help portray these newly learnt different composition rules. In addition, another technology that we used was the blue-screen that immediately contributed to 
the overall function and meaning to my pop video as it permits you to create a scene without actually having to film the scene itself. Normal Films have shots which range between 7 to 20 seconds long, so if they have 21 shots of 10 seconds each to fill the length, then they have a ratio of 2:1. Whereas with a pop video the shots range from 1 to 5 seconds in length. Particularly in our pop video the maximum shot was only 4 seconds long. Therefore it has a ratio of 10:1, so you have to shoot much more shots to allow for this ratio.
Post-Production
Within the post-production stage the difference in new media technology is that editing has changed from the old analogue system (linear) to non-linear. Linear editing differs from non-linear due to the fact that scenes have to be cut in sequence from beginning to end. With non-linear editing, sequences can be moved from the same video piece into different locations 
within that same piece. On the other hand, with linear editing if you want to change the order of sequences you will have to re-edit the entire piece up until the point where you want to make the change. Therefore this change in technology has enabled me to increase the speed at which the editing can be done. It also has more effects and the quality of the overall piece is better. In the construction, post-production stage in order to edit I used a technologies called Final Cut Pro and After Effects. After Effects helped me to edit the image onto the blue screen at a more complex level that produced a better outcome that looked more professional whilst giving me experience in using both programmes. This technology also meant that I could produce the effect of turning our band into 2D people within my pop video.
Distribution and Exhibition
The Internet is being used to distribute our pop video to its demographic. Furthermore we are specifically using www.youtube.com to exhibit it to viewers. The Internet is specifically good at marketing our video because it can be accessed all over the world so a large demographic can view our video. However in order for people to know about it and therefore view it, we have to market it properly in order for people to watch it. This is done 
through the use of Email, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and virtual marketing. The expanding usage and availability of the internet has meant it has become 
easier for us to distribute and exhibit our video to a large audience because most people within our demographic have access to the internet constantly through mobile phones, laptops, computers etc.
Blog Task 3
What I learnt from my audience feedback
I am able to answer this question because I have collected a variety of feedback for our pop video and ancillary products from members of the target audience, and from other audience demographics. These have been collected via You Tube, a focus group and Questionnaire, and other sources.
Our pop video was aimed at a demographic of both girls and boys, aged between 16 to 25 years 
old. In relation to the Jictar scale we aimed to relate to levels A, B and C as we felt their levels of intelligence and lifestyles would fit with the song and the band image that we tried to portray. However, we were not aiming to identify with a certain area, as we would hope that the band and their pop video would appeal to people of a variety of areas. Jictar category A is composed of people and family who are wealthy and educated, such as surgeons, top bankers and millionaires. Category B is made up of intelligent people, who may or may not be wealthy. These are people such as managers and teachers. Category C is made up of skilled and intelligent segments of the population such as electricians and plumbers. All of these categories are intelligent audiences for our pop video.
In order to gain audience feedback and to share our pop video with a large demographic we showed our video on You Tube and 499 people have viewed it so far, yet it has only been up for one month. From this we have received six comments, one was posted by CoombeMedia and s
aid that our pop video is a ‘Great representation of the band. Fits the music really well. Perhaps a little repetitive as times, but the effects from when she goes into the box are fantastic, really beautiful. Well done, this is an amazing piece of A level work’. This comment was very positive yet gave us constructive criticism by stating it was a little repetitive at times. Therefore we could improve our production by taking this comment on board and making it less repetitive. However, it does show that they did enjoy the video and they understood that the girl did go into the box where she found the band. In relation to Claude Levi-Strauss’s theory of universal myths
in which he suggests myths stem from a human need to make sense of the world, solving our cultural and common dilemmas. This comment does show that they understood the underlying myth within our pop video that the girl being the human was following the trail and entered the box in order to make sense of her world. Other shorter responses stated ‘brilliant, very atmospheric’ and ‘I love this song and this video fits it perfectly, amazing job well done!’ These comments furthermore emphasis the fact that people who have watched it and chose to comment did enjoy the video, however these comments don’t give any indication as to whether they understood the message or not. These comments did not explain whether they understood the major conventions we were using either. Consequently most of the comments that were left although they were positive, they were vague and therefore gave us an unclear understanding of peoples responses to our video.
In addition to looking at the comments on You Tube we also carried out a focus group to receive 
further feedback. We gathered together a group of six females and five males in which four were eighteen years of age and the rest were all seventeen. All the people within our focus group were in the age range that our pop video is aimed at, however it is unfortunate that they only represented a small part of the demographic age range.
I choose to do a focus group rather than a questionnaire for
very clear reasons. With a questionnaire you can not be sure that the people answering it have taken it seriously. Also you cannot ask additional questions to push the person responding to extra thought. With a focus group I could control the discussion, keep people serious and ask extra questions if it needed it.
Beforehand we came up with ten open questions that we were going to ask the group, these are as follows:
What did you like about it?
What didn’t you like about it?
What did you think about the transition of the girl from the woods to the box?
Can you think of another way in which we could have done it?
What image do you think the band portrays?
Does the narrative make sense? And if so what do you think it means?
Do you think our chosen band worked well? … Why?
Do you think it’s too repetitive?
Is there any underlying meaning that you got out of this video?
What does it tell you about gender?
After gathering the focus group together, we showed our pop video to them and then asked them the questions to gain audience feedback. It was a difficult task to carry out because the people within the focus group weren’t all that focused and therefore didn’t react in the way that 
we wanted them to which resulted in us receiving some answers that weren’t relevant. In relation to question one, people liked the way that ‘there were lights leading the eye that created a sense of curiosity and it felt dream like, however, when she opened the box it was fake’. This answer does show that they did like the factors of the video that we were trying to get across and therefore it helps in leading us to the conclusion that they did understand aspects of the video. When asking the focus group what they didn’t like about it, they found it hard to answer and didn’t say anything. Although this could be a positive thing as it means that they didn’t dislike any part of it, it was more likely that they didn’t answer as not to upset us or found it hard to criticize it whilst we were present. Therefore in relation to this question it was hard to receive a beneficial answer. When we asked what they thought about the transition of the girl from the woods to the box, they said they liked and understood it, but were unsure how exactly the girl entered the box. As a result of this it stemmed a good discussion for the next question about how they thought we could have done it instead. However the comments they came up with, for example ‘fall in’ or ‘one foot in’, all 
complicated the transition and within our time frame and within our knowledge of the software’s we used it would have been difficult to achieve this. Yet, it was a good point about how we could improve our video and proved to us that even though we didn’t show in the video the transition between the girl in the woods to her being in the box; they still understood that she had entered the box. In relation to the comment on You Tube about our video being a little repetitive, we thought it would be appropriate to ask our focus group if they thought that this was the case. The group claimed that it wasn’t too repetitive because ‘you wanted to find out where she was going, so it captivated you’. This consequently portrayed to us that although the person claimed that it was too repetitive, it is not the case for all of our 
audience and that it was just a matter of differing opinions. Furthermore in relation to the video itself we asked whether the narrative made sense and if there was an underlying meaning that they got out of the video. We were interested to see if they understood what we were trying represent. They claimed that the narrative did make sense and thought ‘the song is about having a dream and the girl follows it but finds that it’s not all that its cracked up to be as the people aren’t real’. Although this slightly differs from our initial thought process behind the narrative it still closely relates to that of the girl being lost and trying to find a way out, therefore this justified that the audience did understand the message and that the narrative makes sense.
In relation to the band image we asked what image they thought the band exposed. In relation to Richard Dyer’s theory of stardom (as explained in his book “stars and stardom” published by the 
BFI in 1982) we wanted to see if our band is depicted in the way that we wanted them to through the range of materials such as our pop video. Furthermore we wanted to see if the focus group would see if our bands star image is incoherent in which the star is simultaneously present and absent and also simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary. Although we didn’t go into this much depth with our focus group, question five and seven portrays to us how the audience perceived the bands image and if it worked well. The focus group said that the band were ‘cool guys who emitted sex appeal’. This is the image that we were trying to get across, as we wanted our band to be people that the audience wanted to know and therefore be ordinary and extraordinary simultaneously. I think we achieved this as the group discuss the fact that they looked ordinary yet obviously what makes them extraordinary is that they are in a band trying to be successful. Relative to the question about whether our band worked well together they thought ‘they did work well together because they looked similar especially as they had similar hair styles and colours’. Therefore this was positive, as we were worried that it would be a negative thing that the band members looked similar however the focus group thought the opposite. They also thought that ‘the lead singer was interesting to look at because he has big lips which works well and as a band the males have an urban and not classically good looking look which works. Also the girl in the narrative is very photogenic’, so particularly the male members of the focus group wanted to watch more as they enjoyed following the narrative. As a result of these questions determined that the bands image was successful and in relation to Dyer’s theory it became evident that the performance provided the completion of the stars image in order for the band to be consumed on the strength of their meanings.
In addition to showing our pop video to a focus group and viewing it on You Tube, I also showed it to my other peer groups, including my friends and family. How
ever this lacked any useful feedback due to them being people that just complimented as to avoid having to criticize something of my own in order to not hurt my feelings. Also my parents and most members of my family do not fit within the age range that we were aiming at so there comments wouldn’t as useful because they are not the relevant demographic. Therefore the Reponses from the focus group and the comments on You Tube are a much better indicator of the audience’s feedback.
Blumler and Katz are a relevant theorist to help me asses the effects of my pop video on an audience. Although they apply their theory to television news I think it can help and be useful about how my audience were affected by my pop video. Blumler and Katz developed the ‘Uses 
and Gratifications model’ that was derived from research carried out in the 1960’s. It states that the audience is far from passive in their approach to the media. They actively choose to consume the media to satisfy needs and gratifications, which they exhibit. The audience does this in four ways, firstly as a diversion that acts as a form of escape or emotional release from everyday pressures. Secondly they may choose to consume the media for personal relationships as a companionship via media personalities and characters, and sociability through discussion about the media artifact with other people. Thirdly for personal identity as the ability to compare one’s life with the characters and situations within the media may help to explore personal problems and perspectives. Lastly for surveillance to gain a supply of information about what is going on in the world.
In relation to our pop video, people watch it and listen to the music as a diversion from everyday pressures. We had the normal conventions of a pop video, which are entertaining and expected of a pop video. We entertained through a high energy performance, featuring a young male band of rugged individuals, linked to a mysterious and very attractive blonde girl wandering through woods at night. She also seemed to be in a trance. The music itself 
after listening to it leaves you with a sense of happiness and mystery and is therefore a good escape from pressures of day-to-day life. Sweet Disposition as a song is a good release from pressures because it gives people a sense of relaxation, which could alter a person’s mood. The audience may choose to also approach this media to satisfy needs as other people that they are associated with may have listened to it or watched the video so it gives them a chance to form a relationship on the basis that they have a conversation topic with others in similar situations. However the audience wouldn’t watch the video for surveillance as it doesn’t provide information about what’s going on in the world in the same way that the news would. So my pop video meets the audience need to use and be gratified on the asis of diversion, personal relationships and personal identity in the terms of Blumler and Katz.
As comments on Youtube and in our focus group stressed, our audience looked to use the pop video in these threee ways. As a YouTube person said ‘Great representation of the band. Fits the music really well. Perhaps a little repetitive as times, but the effects from when she goes into the box are fantastic, really beautiful’. While an 18 year old of average intelligence called Tom said in my focus group ‘the song is about having a dream and the girl follows it but finds that it’s not all that its cracked up to be as the people aren’t real’.
Stuart Hall is another theorist who is very useful in assessing the effects of our pop video on our audience. He has the encoding and decoding model, and another called social mapping. Both are useful.
The Encoding-Decoding model derives from the work of Stuart Hall at the BCCCS. It is a theoretical model, which is based upon the notion that the audience do not act as a ‘mass’, but rather as a collection of smaller groups defined by social and ideological elements. The table below furthermore explains Stuart Halls model:
PRODUCING INSTITUTION /
COMMUNICATOR
MEANING /
MESSAGE
AUDIENCE
PRODUCING
INSTITUTION
>. Sends >>
PREFERRED
MEANING
>> Sends >>
<<>
NEGOTIATED MEANING
OPPOSITIONAL
INTERPRETATION
Hall argues that producers create messages in the media texts they produce, and these messages carry a preferred meaning t
hat the producer wants the audience to accept and understand. We had two preferred meanings in our pop video. The first was to establish a edgy but serious brand image for our band as a group that people would like. The second is to send a message about the song which the audience would get. Hall says that people respond to these messages in three ways. The first is to accept the preferred meaning. The second is an oppositional interpretation, where the audience rejects the message. The third is where the audience takes a negotiated meaning, perhaps accepting part of the message but rejecting or changing the rest. A negotiated meaning can also be when the audience are confused by the message but are trying to understand it. So if the message is ‘the Welsh are a bad people’ it might be that Welsh people would appose that and reject it. Some people might just accept that message. Some might say that some Welsh are bad and some good, just like anywhere else on earth.
In relation to our video the producing institution being our media group gives out a preferred meaning through our song within our pop video. That meaning being that the world is not always what it’s cracked up to be and people get lost within the world ad forget what its like to live in the present e.g. our girl within our narrative, although she feels hope when she finds the band in the box, she cannot relate to them. Therefore it emphasizes the importance of living in the moment. Therefore Stuart Hall would state that after this meaning/message is communicated and the message is sent out in the form of our pop video, the audience then accept the preferred meaning, negotiated the meaning or accept an oppositional interpretation.
In our audience most gave our messages the preferred reading. For instance Ali, 17 from our frocus group said ‘the lead singer was interesting to look at because he has big lips which works well and as a band the males have an urban and not classically go
od looking look which works. Also the girl in the narrative is very photogenic’. This shows that one of the focus group accepted our preferred meaning about our group. Most also understood the preferred meaning of the song as Ben illustrates ‘you wanted to find out where she was going, so it captivated you’. Also Grace commented ‘the song is about having a dream and the girl follows it but finds that it’s not all that its cracked up to be as the people aren’t real’. None of our focus group or Youtube comments were oppositional though we did have three negotiated meaning comments along the lines of Jess, a geeky 17 year old ‘there were lights leading the eye that created a sense of curiosity and it felt dream like, however, when she opened the box it was fake’.
Stuart Hall also says that social mapping can help understand how an audience responds. The social map varies from individual to individual but we all carry a map of what we are interested 
in and pop videos have to appeal to that map. For instance we might be interested in the environment, politics and lead singers with big rubbery lips in pop groups. In which case the pop video would try and appeal to that social map. Our pop video assumed that the audience would like a mystery in the narrative with a attractive blonde girl wandering around the wood in a trance, to find a pop group wrapped in a box. People social map of wanting to know, wanted entertainment and fearing for the girl were all addressed, and worked. As Jorden, 18, a vivacious blonde member of our focus group said ‘I like it, most of the things I like in a pop video are there.’
