Genre Theory...

In our class discussion we talked about the 'Theory of Genre'

The first question was: What is Genre?
Genre means a kind or a type.

We were asked to list as many genres we could, here is a list of mine and a few of my classmates:

• Vampires (Twilight)
• Documentary
• Horror
• Thriller
• Action
• Comedy
• Romance
• Cartoons
• Romantic Comedy
• SCI-FI
• Western 
• Fantasy
• Musicals

Music Genres:

• R & B
• Classical
• Pop
• Rap
• Hip-Hop 
• Jazz

Genres have characteristics features (certain things are linked/ the style of it)that are known to and recognized by audiences. (If they are aware of the genre). This formula is reproduced again and again. For example in Western we see similar characters, situations and settings. (A man on a horse with hat in a countryside)

Audiences and Genres

Why do audiences find genres satisfying?

Audiences develop an understanding that certain expectations may be fulfilled and they may find pleasure in predicting what will happen next. "It is not always about Narrative"

Example:

The Film 'Scream' tells us the 'rules' (Highlights genre- what the game is) of the genre- what's going to happen and the shows it happening. This movie is extremely clever postmodern movie as Scream begins within a film and the characters continuously talks about horror movies. It constantly makes references to other horror movies and it reminds the audience that it is just a movie.

Audiences recognise the key elements or conventions of a genre and respond accordingly. These key elements are called Paradigm. (Villain coming back from the dead)

There are two types of paradigm:

1. Iconographic: signs and symbols. (e.g the costumes, props and settings in a western) In Scream, the props were masks, knives and telephones)

2. Structural: how structures in the text deals with issues such as ideology and gender (e.g how gender is represented in a Rom-Com) This could be the representation of characters, e.g Women that are pure survived and those who are sexually active were killed. The women are seen as "an object of erotic desires" through the male triple gaze.

Genres appeal to a certain target audiences. For example Soap Operas such as Eastenders, Coronation street and Romantic Comedies, Sex and the City apply mainly to females. Whereas BBC News or Sports will apply to males.
Genre tends to become "tired" over a time (They go out of fashion however few years late they are re-introduced)  with the audiences becoming less interested. Dracula was a movie releases years back and the fashion of vampires came back with 'Twilight Saga"

Christina Metz identified four phases:

1. The Initial Phase
2. The Classical Phase
3. The Declining Phase
4. The Parody Phase (Comedy) 

An example of these four phases:

• The Disaster Movie
• Initial- Airport
• Classical- The Towering Inferno
• Declining- Airport' 80 The Concorde
• Parody- Airplane 

Clearer examples are found in more of the western and horror movies.

EXAMPLE!

Questions:

-Which genres on television are currently the most popular?

-Why are they popular?

-Which Genres are most popular in the cinemas?

INSTITUTION AND GENRE

 Types of institution:

-Recording studios

-TV studios

-TV Company

Producers are of generic narratives depend in a certain amount of immediate communication with the audience. They want the narrative to be easily comprehensible. Genres that use key components that are easily recognisable are particularly important. E.G All 6 movie of 'STAR WARS' start exactly the same way.

Audiences know what to expect from a genre but at the same time they want some variations to prevent dissatisfaction and even boredom. Thus any text in a genre is a combination of the familiar and the unexpected. -(Too predictable = boring!) 

Key Components of Genre:

• STOCK CHARACTERS
• STOCK PLOTS, SITUATIONS, ISSUES AND THEMES (e.g McGuffin)
• STOCK LOCATIONS AND BACKDROPS
• MUSIC AND SOUNDS
• GENERIC CONVENTIONS 
• Female Fatale - Thriller?

Problems of Genre:

• Actually defining a genre is inherently problematic.
• E.g What is the difference between an action/adventure film and a Thriller? or between a thriller and horror film?
• Is 'Seven' a thriller, a horror film or a Film Noir?
• Is Film Noir a Genre?!

How can the audiences identify the genres?

Narrative Theory

What is a narrative?
Narrative is the way the story is organised.

Elements of Narrative:

• Time - What period of time does it cover? Flashbacks?
• Closure - A particular way of ending so that the audience leave the cinema pleased and satisfied - No cliff hangers!
• Enigma- The problems created 

In Real life we have lots of problems unfortunately we don't always end up with closure. e.g Breaking up? However media texts seem to have closure. For example CSI  where at the end all the problems/ mystery is solved.

A Classical Hollywood Narratives usually are:

1. Linear (in chronological order: beginning, middle and end)
2. Few , if any, sub-plots
3. Tendency towards closure 

Not all movies are linear, there are also non-linear movies. For example "Memento" this movie ends where it started. Another movie is "Pulp Fiction" which is an extreme postmodern movie, the narrative of this movie is complex as it is all over the place.

Theories of Narrative:

1) Tzvetan Todorov - A Bulgarian Theorist

• Equilibrium -"Everything is fine"
• Disruption- "Something interrupts/ Enigma is introduced"
• Resolution - Solving the enigmas
• New Equilibrium -Characters have moved on and new story...

A good example of this is seen in the movie "Outlaw Josey Wales"

The Equilibrium is  "Ploughing the fields with a happy family"
The Disruption is the "army of horses and houses on fire"
The Enigma is "Who are these people? Where has the wife gone> and Why did they take her?"

2) Roland Barthes
Barthes described all texts as complex "bundles" of unravelled to create a whole range of different meanings. (Different interpretations)

According to Barthes texts can be:
-OPEN: with numerous 'threads to pull'
-CLOSED:  with only one obvious thread to grasp

Texts that can be read in a number of ways are known as POLYSEMIC texts. "Can it be read in different of ways?"

These 'threads that Barthes referred to are known as 'narrative codes'.
The most significant of these codes is the enigma codes.This is constructed to attract and hold the attention of the audience normally by creating a mystery or puzzle that the audience want to see solved. (A problem is created to be be solved by introducing disruption phase. The Enigma code is usually introduced in the disruption phase of Todorov's model. Enigma codes are designed to attract and hold the audience's attention. For example the use of these is Reality shows such as X-Factor, Britain's Got Talent and Big Brother. Before announcing the winner or results there is often the two mins break or straight cut to adverts or camera shots on faces which causes mystery.

3) Vladimir Propp
"All stories have only 8 characters"

-Analysed Folk Stories
-Identified 8 Character roles in these stories.

These are the 8 identified Characters by 'Propp':

1. The Hero
2. The Villain
3. The Donor (Provider)
4. The Helper
5. The Father
6. The Dispatcher
7. The Princess
8. The False Hero.

Propp argued that the characters could fulfill more than one of these roles and there can be more than one of each character type.

THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE:

In Hollywood films, the narrative tends to be organised in what is called a "three act structure". The writer 'Sid Field' (also known as the 'SCRIPT-GURU') has identified what he calls the 'ideal Paradigm three act structure. (All structured in a movie)

1) The Set up
In this structure, a film must be set within the first twenty minutes before the main character or protagonist experiences a 'plot point' that gives him or her a goal that must be achieved.

2) The Confrontation 
Approximately half of the movie's running time must then be taken up with character's struggle to archive his/her goal: this is the 'confrontation' period. - Adventures?

Field also refers, sometimes to the 'Midpoint' a more subtle turning that happens in Act 2- the confrontation which often has an apparently devastating reversal of the main character's fortune. (e.g The hero gets captured but he escapes)

3) The Climax
The final quarter of the film (the third act) depicts a climatic struggle by the protagonist to finally achieve(or not achieve) his or her goal and the aftermath of this struggle. (The Hero takes in the villain)

Levi-Strauss
Levi-Strauss and Binary Oppositions 
Levi-Strauss argued that a structure of narratives was a dependence on binary oppositions. A conflict between two qualities or terms. (This could be seen in a Romantic Comedy - it is set up most of the time in movies). These binary oppositions can form basis of narratives. E.g Young vs Old, Women vs Men, Rich vs Poor and vice versa.

For Example: 'GENDER' - Narratives can be organised through binary oppositions of gender stereotypes.

Binary Oppositions (Levi- Strauss): Constructions of gender roles in narratives lead to a series of binary oppositions. 'Dominant vs. Subordinate'

DOMINANT (Powerful):

• Male
• White
• Middles Class
• Middle aged
• Heterosexual 
• Able-bodied

SUBORDINATE (Less Powerful):

• Female
• Other ethnic groups
• Working class
• The young, The old
• Homosexual, Bisexual
• Disabled.

Audience and Audience's Theory

Audience and Audience's Theory

So far..

We have studied three theories of audience:

• The Effects model
• The uses and gratifications model
• Reception model

Now we will be looking at "SUTURE" and "Feminist film theory and Audiences".

Suture: Classical Hollywood narrative, editing,sound, , Mise en scene 'sutures' or positions the audience in certain ways making one PREFERRED reading (reception theory)possible, however unconscious the audience is of that position.

Feminist Film  Theory and Audiences:

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist and a film maker. She is known as the "intellectual landscape of media studies. Laura Mulvey is best known for her essay which was written in 1973 but published in 1975 in the British Film theory journal screen. It was called the "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema".  Below  you will find a summary of what she mentions in her essay.



Cinema reflects society: 
Does it really reflect society? In class we had a discussion on whether the cinema does reflect the society, the answer was yes by all the students including the teachers.

Therefore cinema  represents a patriarchal society: 
This means that the society is male dominated, in real life the men are at the top of the hierarchy, For example in the UK women has been banned from being bishops as it has been said that the bible does not allow women to do so. In our government itself, there's only one woman who is important in the parliament and the rest are males. In the House of Lords or Courts, the judges and barristers are mostly men. This shows that the male has a huge impact on society and therefore they dominate.

How does a patriarchal society manifests itself in cinema?
In many movies, it is mainly the male that goes out to work and seem to have the power. This shows that the males do dominate the society and even on screens. It's a stereotype as men are often the "Bread winner", This could be controversial because women these days would refuse to agree because women can do what men can do nowadays so why do we differentiate? There are women out there working as the "bread winner" instead of the man.

The Gaze:
"The gaze of the camera is the male gaze", this means that the camera looks at a woman through a males point of view. As the camera "man" is most of the time males therefore even the camera sees things through a man's eyes. There is only 3% of female directors in Hollywood and the British Film Industry therefore women struggle to make movies however in IRAN the issue is different, most of the film makers there is mostly females.

-The male gaze is active, the female passive.

Within the narrative male characters direct their gaze towards female characters:

 Do women look at males the same way as males look at women? In the class discussion, we found out that males always look at a female character as an object that fulfills an erotic desire.

The spectator is made to identify with the male-gaze, because the camera films from the optical as well as the libidinal, point of view of the male character. Thus three levels of the cinematic gaze "camera-character-and spectator" that objectify the female character.In most movies, females are treated as an object  to be looked at as they're presented as an "object of erotic desires". A woman's role in most movies of seducing men and therefore the man is always the protagonist.

The triple gaze is seen in James's Bond's Dr No.

In this particular scene he camera uses the "male gaze", it begins with a close up shot of Bond's face and it jump cuts to a Long shot of Ursula, We are able to see the expression of Bond's face as he raises his eyebrows which shows he's seen "something interesting". We then switch back to a long, long shot of Ursula  which shows that he is still gazing at her fully. Bond says "Im just looking" which suggests that he is looking at Ursula as an "Object of desire" as if there is female audience watching this movie, they are compelled to watch what the men enjoy watching.

With this theory, the women are forced to look at the screen as if they're males, (preferred reading). Movies are constructed to suit the men's needs which ends up confusing the females, this occurs through the process of suture.

Mulvey's essay also consists of Agency, it's been said that the in classical Hollywood cinema, the male protagonist has agency:
He is powerful and active and is the agent around whom the dramatic action unfolds.

Whereas...
The women are passive and powerless and simply an object of desire for protagonist and audience.
-Mulvey argues that women has two role in films:

• As an object of erotic desire for  characters
• As an object of erotic desire for audiences

In this scene Hale Berry is an "Object of erotic desire" to both the protagonist (Bond) and the audience viewing this scene. Hale Berry uses her body language in order to seduce the audience and protagonist. Bond later says "What a spectacular view" which is obviously referring to her body as his eyes were on her. The fact that there was use of slow motion when she was coming out of the sea shows that it is all intentional, it is deliberately there so that the males can look at Berry as the object.

The completed Music Video.

After all those troubles we've faced, Finally we have the music video!!

Real Artist: Arjun ft Raxstaar

Music: Stargazer

Reception Theory

Give that the Effects model and The uses and gratification have their problems and limitations a different approach to audiences was developed by the academic 'STUART HALL' at Birmingham University in 1970's.

Stuart Hall.

Stuart Hall is one of Britain's leading academic and one of the very first black academic. Also known as founding the father's of media studies.

Stuart Hall has become one of the main proponents of reception theory, and developed Hall's theory of encoding and decoding. This approach to textual analysis focuses on the scope for negotiation and opposition on the part of the audience. This means that the audience does not simply passively accept a text, social control.

Reception Theory considers how texts were encoded with meaning by produces and then decoded by audiences.

Encoded: The original meaning
Decoded: What audiences interpretation was: What they've understood by it.

The theory suggests that:

• When a producer construct a text, it is encoded with a meaning and message that the producer wished to convey to the audiences. (Every text created has it's meaning and message to be sent across)
• In some cases, the audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning by understanding the message intended.
• Sometimes the audiences will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message.

Stuart Hall identified three types of audience reading (or decoding) of the text:

1. DOMINANT OR PREFERRED.
2. NEGOTIATED
3. OPPOSITIONAL

1) Dominant

This is where the audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to and broadly agrees with it. (The right message came across to the audience)

For example: While watching a political message and agreeing with what's been said.

2) Negotiated

Where the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views.(Don't really care or just on either side)

3)Oppositional: Where the dominant meaning or recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons.

E.g Neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested. 

A good example is the Song 'Born in the USA' which was played in support of Ronald Ragen to become president. Many listen to the song and "think" that he's just telling the audience that being an American is a proud and patriotic thing and the citizens of American are instantly drawn into thinking that he may be a good president since he shows much pride. BUT!

What is the actual meaning of the song? What's the singer trying to say?

Looking back at the lyrics, you will find that it's about a hard background of living and being in the USA, it looks back into this person's bitter life who had to go to Vietnam for the war.

This song is an example of Oppositional as many people will agree that being an American is a great thing to do whereas others look at the lyrics and disagree which is what the producer wants.

The uses and gratifications model.

The Uses and Gratifications Model is the 'OPPOSITE' of the Effects model.

It suits everyone different interests and temperaments, gender and age.

The audience are more:

• active and no longer passif
• uses the texts and NOT used by it
• uses the texts for it's own gratification or pleasure.- Your needs and wants are being satisfied.

The power lies with the audience, this theory emphasises what audiences do with media texts, how and why they use them. Audience are free to reject, use or play with media meanings.

Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for: 

• Diversion
• Escapism
• Information
• Pleasure: takes away any stress or anger.
• Comparing relationships and lifestyles with one's own.
• Sexual stimulation.

The audiences is in control and consumption of media helps people with issues such as:

• Learning
• Emotional Satisfaction
• Relaxation
• Help with issues of personal identity
• Help with issues of social identity
• Help with issues of aggression and violence

Controversially the theory suggests the consumption of violent images can be helpful rather than harmful. This theory suggests that the audience acts out their violent impulses through the consumption of media violence. The audience's inclination towards violence is therefore sublimated, and they are less likely to commit violent acts.

Finished Magazine Advert!!

This is the finished ancillary task. I am now going to analyse this advert.

The Heading:

The colour of the heading is red because the it signifies Romance and the fact that it's the only writing that's coloured is because I want it to stand out. The main aim of the video is a love story and the use of red colour sends out the message as red associates with romance and love as well as passion.

The Background/Image:

The image is in black and white, however it was originally taken in colour. Yes, there is a reason to why it is in black and white. These colours you don't often see in magazine adverts therefore it would easily catch the audience's attention amongst those other bright coloured magazine advert. The aim of this whole use of rare colours is keep it sweet and simple rather than packed and filled with bright colours which could grab an individual's attention instantly. The image is of the couple holding hands, holding hands signifies love and attachment which is what this music video is about. It shows that they don't want to be apart from each other...

The Scan Code:

Many youngsters seem to own a blackberry and since i am an owner myself i know how this works. The Blackberry app world consist of an app which you can download for free and scan things to find out prices or where something is available. I think the use of this barcode is effective in my magazine cover because my intended audience is teenagers, Teens usually own blackberry's and thus they would want to scan to find out whats available for them.

HMV/Itunes/Amazon:

HMV is where people usually by music and movies from, having this on the magazine advert informs people where the music is available for purchase. Itunes is also a known software where people usually buy their music from thus as well as it's advertising Itunes, it also helps us get our intended audience to go buy it. Amazon is a site from where you can order things, having this on the magazine advert shows the audience other ways to get hold of the music.

Quotes:

"All I need is a guitar and my baby" this quote is part of the lyrics of the music, by including this on the magazine advert makes the audience wonder what this could be about and it also gives them a hint of the storyline of the music. 

Finished DIGIPAK! :)

After all the hard work and the struggle.... I finally have the digipak!

This is the front cover of the Digipak. I used an image of the couple holding hands because holding hands in my view is a sign of love and never letting go. Having this as the front cover is effective because it gives a message that the music video is about love and romance. I think that the use of a red top or ring would have been effective as it shows more of the love.

This is the first panel that the audience will expect to see inside the digipak.

This is where the cd will go.

This is the image of the main actor and this will also be present inside the digipak.

This is one of the panel of the digipak which is found on the outside. This is a screenshot from the music video, i used this because the audience know what they're looking for in the music video, it almost introduces them to the actors or if they've watched the music video before, it helps them recognise the artist.

This is the back cover where we have the playlist for the CD and the barcode so that when the audience is buying it, it will be easier to get scanned. The playlist consists of real and made up songs by the artist itself or other known signed artists. This makes my digipak look realistic.




The first three panels..

The 3 panels inside the digipak, rotated.

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

While creating this media product, technologies have played a big part throughout.  From new to old, they were all used with my research,planning and the actual media product.I have created a presentation using Microsoft publisher and slide-share to ask this question. The file was too large for it all to fit in one therefore it has been divided into two parts... 

Evaluation question 4 part 1

View more PowerPoint from Chitra Jeebodhun

Evaluation question 4 part 2)

View more PowerPoint from Chitra Jeebodhun

Evaluation Question 3): What have you learnt from your audience research?

While creating any media product, it is important that we have an intended audience in mind. This is because there is many differences between some one from a high social class's choice than someone who belongs to a medium social class. And it also matters when it comes to age, a person at the age of 40 will prefer a different kind of music than a person that's 14-18. 


Before staring with any of our task, it was essential for us to find out whether or not, my intended audience like the music and what kind of things they would want to see of we're making a music video based on this specific music. To accomplish this task, we made a focus group where we asked people to spare a fe moments and give their opinions on the music we've chosen. Below you'll find the focus group.


These are the questions that were asked: 
-Did you like the music?
-Can you think of any alike artist?
-If you were making this music video with the same song, What would your idea for the video be?

What have we learnt? What does the audience want?

By creating this focus group on our music choice, it has helped me and my partner to make decisions on what will our music video look like. Many of the people we interviewed were around the age of 15-18 and this is the intended target audience for my music video therefore it is important to know what they think when it comes to an R 'n' B music. This genre is very famous in our modern world therefore it was approved by the majority.  We found out some ideas we can include on our music video for example use of candles and simple things like that we were told which we included on our music video.Through the focus group we've learnt many thing, for example we learn more of the choice of the intended audience and what is it that they'd liken to see in a music video. A better question i personally think that should have been asked was what is your favourite genre?, Everyone's choice on music varies therefore it would have been good to know what they prefer. Being a teenager myself and being around my friends, i realised that R 'n' B does have a higher popularity than the other genres as we all prefer to listen to it. 

How will it have helped us?

This has helped us in various ways, me and my partner had good ideas of our videos at first but we didn't realise that it will be pretty hard for us to bring action to those ideas. The focus group helped us get more ideas that could be useful, some people suggested that the singer should be driving the car whereas others say he should be sitting on top of the car. Since not many of us drive, it would have been hard getting a guy to drive if he doesn't know how to! Therefore we could just stick to the idea of him sitting on top of a car and singing. It is simplicity of our music video that will make it beautiful to watch.

So...Did it actually help us?

According to me, yes, yes it did help us! It gave us ideas of what to include in the music video and made us aware of what the audience wants and how we c

an fulfill those needs of theirs. I have to admit at first it was hard to figure out a story-line for this. We came out of various ideas but the lack of actors had let us down.


In order to remind ourselves of the audience's needs, we made a wordle of all the specific things they want to see!

The wordle of our findings!

• Now that you've listened to the music, what do you think of it?

• On a Scale of 5, how would you rate it?

• Personally, would you consider this music video if you were making this music video?

• If you were making this music video based on this song, what would your music video be like? As in the story itself? 

11 out of 18 people think that this music is amazing for an unsigned artist.

12 people rated it 4 out of 5.

The majority would consider using this music in their own music video if they're intending to.

Many suggested that the artist should be on a car, there should be candles and roses. 



This is a screenshot of the audience feedback for my ancillary task which is available on my blog.

In the process of creating the audience feedback group on facebook!

I have written down the instructions of what this group is about and what the audiences are suppose to do in order to guide them.

This is the music video that i've posted, however i didnt realise the survey wasn't posted on the comment box therefore i've just posted it again!

I've added the magazine advert and digipak in different albums so the audience will find it easier to search.

Finally, I have posted above the magazine advert and digipak's album, the surveys that they will need to take.


Below is screenshots of my web link survey for the finished main product, however i won't put the digipak and magazine advert's survey on this post as it is more relevant to question 2 however it also answers my question of what i've learnt from that feedback of the magazine advert and digipak.

This is necessary as i wanted to see if i targeted the right audience or not. 

I have included this question in order to find out which gender is more interested in a romantic music video ,

In addition to this, I even posted the music choice on Facebook along with a survey so we can get more people to give their opinions.
I posted my artist's music on Facebook along with a survey from survey monkey. In the survey i have asked some question based on our choice of the music.

This is  really important for us at the moment since mine and my partners ideas are totally different and therefore some suggestions will help us to make our mind up since we really need to get filming or else we're going to be behind which is the last thing we want right now.!

Here's a screen grab of of the survey monkey while it was being prepared.

This a screengrab of me posting the survey to Facebook! 

This is now on Facebook on my t and people have started taking the survey... I will soon be able to have all the results in.


These are the results I've obtained from 18 people.

As you can see from above, these are the results unfortunately we couldn't do analyse it on a chart as i was using the basic version of survey monkey.

From what I've learnt from the survey is that the majority of the audience have appreciated the song by this unknown unsigned artist. And many have given it a rating of 4/5 which implies that this is a good song choice. The majority of my audience was ranged from 17 till about 40 and most of the 17-20 year old seemed to have appreciated the music more than an older person will. I've had one negative review which explains that although there is a majority of 17+ that likes the music, not everyone has the same taste in music.

The actual tasks:


For the Digipak and Magazine Advert, I created a survey on survey monkey which i've posted on my second evaluation question so that people may come onto my blog and take the survey.I intended to post it on facebook however it is difficult to post the survey with the digipak and the survey monkey on Facebook. And also considering the fact that i've posted my other survey monkey survey regarding audience feeback on my music choice on the social networking site, it will be good and challenging to try something different.


The audience feedback for the ancillary tasks informs me of what went good and what could have been better. Personally it is very important that we gain audience feedback as it's better to learn from your own mistakes. Yes, it took effort to make this task but only with people advising us of what could have been better will help us produce better and more effective work.


I have posted the magazine advert and digipak survey along with my music video survey on facebook as i feel that it is easier to get quicker responses. To establish this, I created a group on facebook named the "A2 Media Coursework- Stargazer" where i have added people to come and take the surveys. I have written down instructions for them and posted each post individually so that my audience is not confused.

This is where the audience is able to voice their opinions on what they actually think of the music video and what should have been done for it to be better.

On Facebook, on the group i created for my audience, i posted my music video as you can see from the above images. Fortunately the music video has received many likes which shows that the audience are impressed and they like it. Some people have also commented to congratulate for being able to attempt making a music video.

Some who hasn't taken the surveys have liked and commented on the music video's post instead. It is absolutely pleasing to see that they have appreciated our work.

Looking at the likes and comments shows that people are appreciating our effort, it may not be as expected but most of the ideas i wanted to include was there. If we didn't have to change actors, i personally think it would have been a really good music video as along with the actor we had to change the whole story line. 

As expected, the majority of people that took this survey are in the ages of 18-25 which is actually the mature age for them to understand relationship. This shows that my audience was correctly targeted! 

Here there is an equal amount of boys and girls who have taken this survey which shows that males and females both in that age category are mostly attracted by the romantic kind of music videos. This could be perhaps because this is the age people are starting to look for the right person or is with the right person.

Here, the majority thought that the effort was excellent which is amazing because after all the troubles we have faced with our music, actors and time, it was made to a reasonable standard and many appreciated the effort.

A huge amount of the audience though that the music was really good as they have rated it 4/5. This is interesting because for an unsigned artist, the music is well appreciated and it also helps promotes his music which may be able to help him gain more fans.

As you can see above is 2 screens-shots of the audience's feedback in writing. As well as we got good comments, "Nice job", "cute video", "keep it up", "great work". We were also faced with some criticism which was something expected. As we had a change of actor at the last minute therefore the new main artist was unable to fully learn the song as he tried learning it within 24hours which is not much time for someone to get used to song they've never heard. The lip-syncing is not exactly paralleled to the music, there are some bits that were fine but some bits were not and in order to hide that we didn't have no other scenes as we had a deadline approaching and my partner lost the first tape where most of the shooting had been recorded which we could have used to hide the un-parallel lip-syncing. Unfortunately this was also an issue so we had to stick to the ones that were already captured on final cut express. Due to this some scenes were shaky because they were not the original scenes that was suppose to go in the music video. The audience had a perfectly reasonable reason to critise as it also helps us to know what we could have done or could do to make it better if we were ever planning to re-make.

Overall view if the audiences...

I have taken every feedback from everyone and put them into a wordle so that it is clearer to what the audience think. I have included feedback i received from people verbally or by bbm as I invited my contacts to my website to have a look at my work and do my surveys through my blackberry instant messaging service. I had expected the words "Cute, Romantic and Sweet" because this was the main objective of my music video, to show romance and love. Overall I feel that, though we've faced many troubles, the music video was made to a reasonable standard and what I personally have learnt from it is the importance of planning. If I had found the music earlier, it would have been easier for me to figure out what kind of actors i am looking for. Me and my partner even decided to hold an audition for those who would like to be in the music video however since the music took time and to get hold of copyright took time therefore we just had to find an actor straight away, unfortunately it was a mess as our actor had their own exam to prepare for thus a new actor was needed. These problems have definitely taught me a lesson of planning for the ahead. However I am mostly pleased with my ancillary task as I completed those with my own hard work not knowing how to use a Photoshop. The results for my ancillary tasks were very encouraging. 

Evaluation Question 2): How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

Before making my three media products, it was absolutely necessary for me to find my intended audience. As I am a teenager/adult myself, i decided that my audience should be from middle social demographic group around the age of 18-30. I felt that this age group is more appropriate as it contains elements of romance/love/passion and it's something that people this age is more interested in. I have considered colours that will compliment with the mood of the music video and also applied it to my ancillary tasks. 


Both my magazine advert and digipak compliment each other very well and it also relate to the media product (music video).
In order to create these ancillary tasks, I have been through a lot of researched. From Professional to non-professional magazine adverts on the internet and even  from current and ex student's, these have given me ideas on how i'd like my magazine advert to look like. If you see from my previous posts on Magazine/Digipak Planning Research/Analyse you will find plenty of research that were carried out before the making of ancillary tasks. 
The magazine advert is very simple and basic but it is effective at the same time. I've used very basic and limited colours as in order to create something different it was vital that i challenge myself with 3 colours and a basic picture of the couple.The music video is about a couple in love and in their own world.  

Here is a comparison and analysis of my digipak.

Below is a presentation I've done using slide rocket where i have talked about certain things that links all my 3 tasks...

In order to find out how well my main product compliment with my ancillary task as well as each other, i have made a survey using survey monkey.


I even allowed people to come look at my blog and answer the survey from here too just in case they don't have Facebook.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

I have now received most of the feedback from the audience and have the results to what the audience think of the digipak and the magazine advert.

My first question on the digipak was for the audience to rate the digipak. From the results it's obvious that the majority thought it deserved a 4/5 which is good to see because using photo shop was not a simple task for a first time user like me and to be able to come out with such a fine work is pretty pleasing. It's also good to see that 40% believed it was a 5/5! 

The magazine advert was the first thing i learnt to create using CS3 Photoshop after watching various of tutorials. Having the majority of audience rating it 4/5 is also very shocking for me but it shows appreciation into my effort.

In this question there was a tie! Half of audience though that the colours was very well complimenting each other whereas the other half think that the colours are not too bad.

Again for me, this was shocking but absolutely encouraging to see that people have appreciated my piece of work not even realizing that i am a first time user of that technology. This shows that if i was a good editor and used to the software my ancillary task would definitively have been great! 

Audience feedback on the last question on what improvements they suggest was vital, this was because it helps me to know whether or not they have like my work and what else could i add or do to make it better for next time. Some said that the magazine cover should have been a different colour whereas some said that more red should have been added in order to show that this is a romantic music video's magazine advert. Apart from these criticism, which is helpful, the rest of the audience thought that it was a fine piece of work and both the ancillary tasks compliment each other very well as well as with the main product


Analysis of the audience feedback.

I converted the audience feedback wordle into  a jigsaw puzzle which is fun  and effective! here's the link: http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=369b572562e7