Evaluation Questions

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

Our music video uses the conventions of other music videos by using footage of the artist throughout quite alot of the video and shows them singing to the camera so that it is clear who the artist is to the audience. Alot of these shots are close ups so that we could comply to the demands of the record label which are to sell the artist as a product and to ensure the audience knows who the are. We also used notions of looking (voyeurism) as the mime is looking longingly at the girl within the video as he is trying to get her attention which is similar to other music videos within the folk rock genre. A particular example in our video of this which uses lyrics and visuals is where the mime makes a heart shape with his hands around the girl as she walks away down the street as the lyrics say ''loving somebody doesn't make them love you.'' We also used music and visuals by cutting the clips on the beat as it is a reasonably upbeat song so the video is interesting and looks proffesional to the audience. We also edited the footage to look old and grainy like it has come from a mime film and this is also similar to other folk rock artist videos such as those by Bon Iver that have quirky parts to them. We also challenged the conventions of real folk rock music videos by using a mime as the main character in our video as this is very unusual and hasnt been used before.

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

For our poster and digipack we went for a circus theme in a very old style to keep within the mime theme but to have a variation. To do this we used an old circus poster and edited it to show images of the mime doing different actions such as juggling that he had done within the video so that there was some intertextual references. On the poster we also used an image of the artist as the center point so that the eye would be drawn to this first and the audience would recognise that they are the artist which is the most important thing and is one of the demands of the record label. For the digipack we used an old circus ticket so that it felt to the audience as if by getting the digipack they are being admitted to the weird and wonderflu world of Jack Johnson the artist and would get access to exclusive behind the scenes action such as on the video set and tour.which we have included as two of the special features of the digipack. All three products work together to create a slightly eccentric view of the artist but the whole old circus and mime theme is intrieguing to the audience and encourages them to want to find out more by buying the products.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

From the initial pitch we learnt that the unusual idea of a mime was very popular as it would allow us to be creative with effects during the editing stage using old dark and sepia tones and making it look grainy and jumpy with a noise filter. It also showed we could be creative with the filming as the mime could be doing several different actions such as juggling and pretending they were behind glass. It also showed us to focus on the hands of the mime as this is an important feature. The feedback from  the rough cut showed us that we needed more close ups on the artist as we hadnt got and it wouldnt sell the artist enough but the lack of close ups until the end did make the ending where the two mimes meet very powerful. Our final cut feedback showed us that although we had increased the number of close ups there was still not enough so in future products we need to include more.

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

Final cut was used alot during the production of our music video and it helped alot to create the old style atmosphere of the video because of the wide range of effects it has on offer such as the noise filter and colour corrector we used to make it look dark and grainy and in the style of old mime films. Photoshop was useful for creating the digipack as it allowed us to edit the circus poster and ticket we found to show the information we wanted to include. It also helped in the planning stages so that we could create a moodboard with all our possible ideas related to the mime and circus theme. Blogger was useful throughout the project to allow us to write our thoughts about how the different stages in the process were going. The HD video cameras were useful for the production of the music video as it allowed us to produce high quality professional footage. Stills cameras were useful for getting shots of us working on location and for use on the digipack and poster.