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

Our music video was based on the artist Professor Green with his song “Jungle”. His genre is R n B and Rap and now is one of the biggest artists in Britain. However we have gone for the dub-step version of his song so that it would not be the same and because it is more unique. Dub-step is not a very reputable style of music as there were no real music videos conventions that we had to follow according to its genre. This allowed us to be very creative and have a lot of ideas of our mise-en-scene that are not common, for example, the heavy use of visual effects such as fade to black and dissolve. Dub-step has roots from London’s underground urban Dance and Soho; therefore we felt the need to express this in our music video. We had a large emphasis on both the urban and Soho settings of Trafalgar Square.

Our narrative structure tracks the established codes and conventions of music videos by cutting between a narrative storyline that is related to the lyrics of the song and shots of a performer lip-syncing the lyrics of the song.

Our research on dub-step videos was fairly limited as we could only find two. However we analysed the two videos and both of them were quiet similar in the sense of effects and that it wasn’t linear. Of the two dub-step videos none of them had a storyline to it. They had flashing lights and people’s faces popping up singing the lyrics. Our video has challenged these codes and conventions and has gone for a different approach as there is a storyline to ours. From our research dub-step videos are all over the place and they do not make too much sense. We decided that we wanted to make the audience understand what was going on with our music video otherwise they would instantly loose interest in it. On the other hand we have developed some of the genre’s codes and conventions for example the use of effects such as fade to black, split screens and making a part of the scene black and white. We utilised these effects to make the music video more of a dub-step video.

During our initial ideas as a group we decided that we did not like the approach of dub-step so in order for us to make our music video as interesting as possible, we thought we were going to challenge a lot of its codes and conventions. For example dub-step music videos there are not a lot of vocals in it, mostly just the rhythm.

When researching dub-step videos we found out that they were very fast passed and the editing was very quick and sharp. We used that code and convention in some part of our music video for example in the beginning of the scene as the main character is getting ready to go out. We made sure that the shots were

short and concise and the editing was sharp so that the audience would know what’s going on within the sequence without getting bored. The narrative sections were comprised with straight forward styles of shots including medium shots, long shots close-ups and also establishing shots. We had to make some of

the shots a bit pacey so that it would match the song. Following up to we used many close up shots of the artist which is emerging to be a big request from record labels in recent years. It is used to enforce the concept of the female gaze. The use of camerawork in our music video follows conventional, technical and symbolic codes by using a selection of shots to portray a sense of personal connection between the viewer

and the main character. One way this was accomplished was by using close ups of their faces and objects of which they were holding to construct a sense of virtual intimacy that the viewer cannot ever really experience. The shot were the main character is about to sniff the cocaine is one example of this. We thought it wold be a good idea to have a main vocalist in our so that the audience could understand what kind of role he is. The style of presentation was established from film noirs, which was used to make the audience alert of the character’s cynical personality when he is under the influence of cocaine.

We created a kind of contrast of how London is, for example on one side we see the street lights of London at night which shows an encouraging lifestyle. On the other hand we filmed strip clubs and dark alleyways which may seem like a less desirable place, contrasting the different place and behaviours of London.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

For the digi pack initially the group thought that it would be best to take a freeze frame from our music video however when we did this the quality of the picture was very bad so we thought that we should take a photographed picture that would relate to the conventions of the music video.

The combination of our main product and ancillary texts flows together and are very well linked as they managed to adopt the key elements of branding. This was firstly achieved in our video as we tried to differentiate ourselves from what already existed in the current trend of music videos. We noticed that many of the big acts like Beyonce and Rihanna have music videos that use very surreal and creative ideas in terms of mise-en-scene, but no artist/music video has really

explored in visual effects (other than the use of CGI). Therefore in our music video, we found it important to focus on keeping a consistent mood of obscurity in the stage of editing, rather than the stage of filming, which was achieved by overlaying and modifying colours of clips.

By having adopted the key elements of branding, we were able to develop characteristics from the video into the digipak. For example, our concept of Soho was followed by the use of colours of black and green as it is a colour that connotates a grim and dark atmosphere. The use of this was also so there is a continuation of the mood from what the video gives, to what the digipak gives because both products should complement each other. They should be complimenting each other because if the viewer were to buy the digipak after watching the video, they would be expecting to see the digipak cover with mise-en-scene that was associated with the music video, whether it be the use of colours, location, props etc.

The song that we chose to for our music video was “Jungle” by Professor Green but it was the dub-step remix. We looked at the official video and thought that we should use some of the codes and conventions of the official video and apply it and make it slightly different to make our video more unique. We thought straight away that we had to use props such as hoodies, gangs, knives etc. throughout the product. Our digipack consists of a dark background with a hint of street lights to give it a very shady Soho atmosphere. We made sure to make sure that the colours and the themes were very similar so that it would flow together however we had to differentiate certain aspects so that the audience could recognise that each product was different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHp2KgyQUFk&ob=av2e

We were not really heavily influenced by any adverts or magazines when we had to make our digipak however we were influenced by the original video of “Jungle”. We took the aspects from a scene were we see a gang group with hats and hoodies. At that point the group came to a conclusion that it would be suitable if we had the main character of our music video with a black hood on.

We also thought because the theme of the music video was based on Soho we had to make the background dark. We also decided that because the singer of our video was playing pool we should add a pool table with a black ball and also a sign saying Soho so that the audience could get a vague idea of what could happen

in the music video without having to watch it.

In regard to our digi-pack we created a digi-pack front cover and a back cover for the song “Jungle”. We also made a cover for a magazine and an inside sleeve. Our digipak follows several established forms and conventions, for example, an image of the artist, the name of the artist, the name of the song and a track-listing.

We also followed the forms and conventions of digipaks by not using heavy visual effects on the image of the artist which you would get in a normal dubstep music video. It is more common that the image may be modified in colouration, and we have gone for that kind of image. However we have challenges some of the conventions of some digipaks as most of them use bright colours to grab the viewer’s attention. We have gone for a different approach and went for a dark background and also dark colours to show the viewers that our music video has a dark and gloomy atmosphere.

We put the main characters image on the front cover of the digipak so that viewers will be able to familiarize themselves more with the character and feel more connected with him.

We are very happy with the final product of our ancillary texts that is shown above (figure 1, 2, 3, 4). We thought that the colours that we chose were very

well thought out and the background flows very well. From the feedback we got from the audience, we feel that we did a very good job and it looks very professional.

From observing figure one we wanted to make the magazine cover as simple as possible however as efficient as possible. In my opinion I think we have achieved this very well as the colours and the style of font works very well. The layout where you can see the main character in a hood on the right hand side of the page and then a hint of light on the left hand side to give contrast between light and dark was very much planned out and has worked very well. The images have been very well edited of the main character. We have sort of challenged the conventions as normally you would see the singer on the front cover however we have gone for a different approach.

Looking at Figure 3 the background was carefully planned out and it had to flow with the figure 2. The background of figure 2 and 3 are very similar except there is a tree on the left hand side. The feedback we got was very positive with figure 3 as the colour chosen was good as it allows continuation from the front cover to the spine.

In figure 4 we have taken a shot of china town near Trafalgar square were we film and used it for the inside sleeve. The background corresponds with the other ancillary texts which are very good and the choices of colours are very similar too. In conclusion our digi-pack has been very effective as it does reflect what happens within the music video. It also reflects what might happen in the music video without having to watch it.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Our music video was aimed at audiences from age 15-25 of all genders and all different types of ethnicity because it was this age group that can see themselves relate to our video more. This age group was chosen because it appealed to the group the most and Dubstep is fairly new genre and has only recently been receiving mainstream realisation. The younger audience are more likely to keep up to date with newer artists and music genres.

The majority of people that I showed the video to responded and thought that the video was very good. They thought it was very well edited and the music video flowed very well. Location was a very big part of our music video as it would define the whole film and we got feedback from all apart from one, that our choice of location was very well thought of. The only criticism we had about our choice of location was when the

main character was playing pool, he thought that the location could have been a lot better as the location looked like a garage and was covered in boxes.

The majority of the people that we got our feedback from were mainly into R n B and Hip-Hop and were into a narrative instead of a performance which gave us a bit of a shock. We noticed that R n B and Hip-Hop music are genres that focs more on storyline instead of performance for example comparing a music video of “The Game” and the rock band “Linking Park”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K0q74jtV8shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVTXPUF4Oz4&feature=relmfu

Many of the audience that observed the music video were not into dub-step however they all commented that the music really suited the video and they actually liked the choice of dub-step song that we chose. The majority of target audience said it was very catchy and entertaining. After witnessing our music video most of the observers said that they were going to listen to dubs-step more and wanted us to make more music videos.

Most of the audience thought that we used too much fade to black effects; they advised us that we should have just let the video flow a bit more or used another effect. I told them that we tried to put in different effects into it but the music video was not as efficient and effective as it is now. Having said that, they came up with the conclusion to remove one or two fade to black effects from certain scenes just to see how it looked. The respondents also commented on our camera work and said that the hand-held shots were done very well as they were steady. A few commented saying that there was one hand-held shot that was very shaky, which was when we filmed a Chinese shop that had bright lights on it. They believed it would have been better if we used zoom in that shot.

I presented the digi pack and the magazine cover to the audience for them to hare their opinions on it. They all said that they were very good as each of them flows together and they can see how it suits the music video. They really admired the choice of colours used and the type of images and fonts used also. Not one of them said that they would change anything from it. This proposes that we put a lot of thought into the layout, the images, the font and also the colours

we wanted to put on it. They all said that it fits the codes and conventions of our music video.

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

I used different and multiple types of technologies during the process of constructing research, planning and evaluation. The use of the technologies I used during these stages helped me to develop my skills even further as I had to get used to some of them.

During the research, I used the internet to help me gain knowledge of codes and

conventions of different music genres and to research different kinds of dub-step music. You tube was one of the most popular websites that I used for my research. It helped us with our textual analysis. We selected the video we were going to analyse on YouTube because of its wide range of music videos. It allowed me to look at several dub-step bands and this influenced my music video as I could observe and take out similar bands even though there were hardly any dub-step bands. I used Wikipedia and Google as my main search engine as we did a lot of research on the artist Professor Green since we based the the music video with a remix dub-step version of his song “Jungle”. This was very useful to use as we has to do a subject matter. This required us to find background information about the artist and this improved our knowledge about the kind of songs and genre he was at. Google also provided us with images and videos to what we searched, not just web links. We used blogger to post all our work of research that we did which was very simple to do.

We used Final Cut pro on Mac computers to edit our music video. This was my first time using Final Cut Pro as I was used to use Adobe Premier. However it did not take me very long to get used to Final Cut Pro as I found it very easy to use. I feel that Final Cut Pro is much more efficient than Adobe Premier as it is much easier to use efficient effects and keeping the video is sync with the music was also very simple. We used effects such as split screens and fade to black. Photo shop CS4 and also Adobe Photoshop Element 10 were another

use of technology of computers that we used to construct our magazine and digi-pack. Each member of our group chose which part of the digi-pack they wanted to

do and we each tried to make it so that each of it flows together e.g. same or similar use of colours and font.

To film our music video we used a cannon Legria HF R36 digital camera. The camera was very good quality however the camera man did find it a bit difficult to begin with however he did get the hang of it. Everybody in the group got a chance to record so that we could all become familiar with it. We used a tripod for some parts of the film so that we could get steady shots. The most vital part of our production was the lighting. We had to adjust the lighting of the camera because we were filming at night. I learnt from using this camera that lighting was one of the main things we had to adjust before using it otherwise when editing the video we would not be able to see much.