Evaluation - Matthew Flynn

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



Our music video does all three, it incorporates the typical conventions of a r 'n' b or hip hop music but takes a U turn with some aspects of the video going to the total opposite end of the spectrum. A lot of r 'n' b and hip hop music features one artist with many girls who would be deemed indecently dressed if they were to walk around in public as they do. A perfect example is Lil' Wayne who countless times is featured in videos where women are objects of power the more the artist has on screen the more power they have, his video for lollipop illustrates this greatly. We wanted to go down the route of challenging these key conventions in a way Usher did previously. Usher's video burn featured him going through a rough time after a break up where the lyrics had deep connections with the video and depression. We used similar aspects in out video by using depression as the centre of our video and build around it much like Usher did. Whereas as Usher added a girl we wanted to develop further on this. We added a girl character in the form of a picture frame and ring (yet you don't actually see the girl character) but we took one step further then Usher and added the serious case of alcoholism. I feel this made the video more impacting on the audience rather than a dramatic love story gone wrong.


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

The combination of your main product being the music video and our ancillary texts work well together as they have the same feel to it. We used images that came directly from the performance shoot of our music video to create a definitive link between the two so that the audience can instantly recognise the two. This works work to allow viewers of the video to then go and buy the digipak. The use of colour I used on the front cover go hand in hand with the actual video bringing religion and concepts of heaven and hell to the forefront. This is shown by the red writing for the album name and artist name representing hell and the blue light swirling around the artist representing heaven. A way to improve this I feel would be to to swap the colours round so that it seems that he needs saving from hell as the lyrics say 'Can you save me from this hell'.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

From my audience feedback I learnt that our video served as a form of education about alcoholism and how even the deepest religious person cannot be saved from the grips reality puts on you. I also learnt directly from Patricia that this video can make people feel sorry for the individual who is in an alcoholic choke-hold. Patricia gave me an insight of how religion can directly relate to most people and we done this in the video via the cross on the artist's hand and the lighting in the performance shots. Broxton's feedback was very useful as he let me know which shot he felt was the best, he spoke very highly of a close of drinking shot we done. Overall my audience feedback gave me an insight in how to improve the video, it has become very apparent that more shots are needed although with a limited schedule due to starting again I done the best I could for this project. A point Patricia made was to have better lighting during the performance shots and this is an agreeable case as the lighting was not to the correct standard and this will need to be improved if a music video is attempted again.

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

I used new media technologies in all of the stages of this project. I used a Nikon D40x with a tripod as well as lights (including flash) and a studio in the construction stage. I used a Digital SLR to produce the best possible image we could for our original artist. In the construction stage I made a slide show for each costume of our original artist to show and highlight why each costume was chose. This is mainly to show which costumes we picked for our final video but due that video ceasing to exist I had to go about a new means of using new media technologies. I also used Adobe After Effects CS4 to put together a slide show of our original artist's make up process which was to show how I made our artist from scratch. Once the new video had begun we proceeded to use the same lighting as before but in different settings. The other techniques used were the lighting in our drama studio which I suggested where we could use the normal, blue and red lights to highlight certain parts of 'Losing my way'. Final Cut Pro was used for both the original video and the 'Losing my way' video (although not much for the original video). With 'Losing my way' I used Final Cut Pro to edit, manipulate and piece together our final video.
I used Youtube to illustrate the videos I researched with my similar text analysis so that you can choose to watch the video as you read my analysis. Another form of media I used for the research part was Facebook as I contacted Patricia and Broxton via Facebook as I knew they would be interested in an r 'n' b / hip hop video. Their views were detailed and informative so I am glad I asked them to do the interview. Both of whom were shocked with the ending but in the same way were pleased with the way it was done.
In the planning stages I used Microsoft Word to write down what we needed each day we filmed in with our original artist. Also due to the group vote to do a green screen shot in the original video I had prepared possible backgrounds we could use in the editing process via Adobe After Effects CS4. But with the change in demands these backgrounds were not needed. With 'Losing my way' I had planned out specific shots that were needed such as the beginning shot starting out of focus and then coming into focus. Another planned shot was the ending which I had planned since the choice of song was made.
In the evaluation stage of this project I kept the faith with Final Cut Pro and continued to use it to edit a short video. This video can been seen in question one where I interview myself. I got the inspiration to do this from football sensation Christiano Ronaldo who before an important match for Manchester United interviewed himself for Sky Sports. I found it amusing but thought it was a fantastic idea to do this. I also used YouTube to take screenshots and to put them into Adobe Photoshop CS4 to view on this blog.


Overall I feel my music video is a success in challenging the forms and conventions of real media products but it needed more time and planning to nuture this music video into something special which could develop on such conventions of dramatic videos such as from Usher and Justin Timberlake. A great beginning and ending was created which I am pleased with. My audience research further emphasises this through Patricia and Broxton both giving positive feedback about these shots.