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Final Magazine Advert

The main, small adjustment made to the magazine advert is the font of 'Teenage Fantasy'. To show a clear correlation between the album as a whole and the single we made the music video for, the font is similar to the opening credits. Also, the title was made all capital letters to match the album. 

Final Digipak

• As with my magazine advert, I used a font (with serif) that gives the impression of mixing the traditional with more contemporary aspects.
• Promotes the mixing of the two genres - R&B and soul. 
• White background - quite simplistic with inspiration taken from real media products (see blog post) 
• Clean straight lines in the cover - replicate the idea of division in my music video. 
• For the strips of the images of Julia on the cover, I added an effect called "film camera" to relate to my idea on longing for fantasy in contrast to the clear images of Sam and I. 
• The images used on the interior of the digipak focus on urban environment - further appealing to a more youthful audience as well as identifying with the individuals on the cover.
• Also, I took inspiration from the disposable camera/Polaroid effect from an article of the original  artist (see blog post) for the images on the interior by added a slight effect to them on my iPhone. 
• Inclusion of conventional information like record label, website, bar code, artist name, album title, copyright information, reviews and track list. 

Evaluation Question Four

Evaluation Question Three

Evaluation Question Two

Evaluation Question One

Making Evaluation Question Four

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




For my fourth evaluation question, I decided to use Microsoft PowerPoint and then convert it into .mp4 format and edit in voice over. This was a clear way of demonstrating the specific hardware and software I used throughout making my video, digipak, magazine advert and evaluations. The video above is the original .mp4 format of the video before recording and layering voice over in iMovie. 

Making Evaluation Question Three

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I decided that for my third evaluation, I wanted it to be more vlog style, using images and voice over (edited together in iMovie). To have more variety in my use of technology, I added footage of Katie's individual feedback. 

Making Evaluation Question Two

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

For the second question, I decided upon a vlog style video with cutaways to my digipak and magazine advert to demonstrate the links between them and my music video. 

Making Evaluation Question One

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

I decided that the clearest way to demonstrate my use, challenging and developing of convention was to play my video and add voice over. On finishing my voice over I realised that there were moments of silence when some key examples were being demonstrated. Instead, I decided to add the song 'Teenage Fantasy' at a lower volume (around 70% and have it fade in and out to the voice over section). Above is a screenshot from iMovie editing before I changed these features. 

Varying Audience Feedback

After finishing my digipak, I asked a number of closed questions about the effectiveness of it in relation to my magazine advert and whether it looked like real media products. An simple way of collecting this data was with a tally chart. Rather than propose an entirely different version of my digipak and magazine, I gave a couple of people the products open in editing software to change anything they thought necessary. The few changes made were largely to do with slight alterations to positioning and sizes of words rather than the style as a whole.

However, in collecting data I realised that my research was often heavily focused on my young audience. Though this did prove most useful, I wanted some variation in responses. Therefore, I asked for feedback from my parents who usefully commented on the relationship between the urban environments and youth. 

My Magazine Advert Analysis

Katie Feedback

Final Digipak (Seperate)

Conventional Genre Style

Our chosen song 'Teenage Fantasy' falls into a number of genre categories, notably soul and R&B. Therefore our choices in mise en scene, style, narrative and camera work took inspiration from contemporary examples of the genre. 

Stylistically we took inspiration from the director Yoni Lappin who worked on a number of music videos for Mura Masa who frequently collaborate with R&B artists. Key features include:

• Highly saturated colour palette
• Hand held camera work 
• Urban environments/settings
• Simple, personal narratives as opposed to complex, unrealistic ones. 

A number of these ideas are shown in the video below:

The most notably subversion of soul genre convention use of lips syncing or perforamce. 
We merged the popular use of performance in traditional soul music videos with aspects of narrative in more modern R&B texts. In breaking the fourth wall the audience becomes a part of the narrative essentially, concluding our music video on the line including "we" affirmed this. The male character's unawareness of this furthers the relationship between audience and character. 

Possible Distribution

• Conventional CD release in physical copies.
• Available on sites like iTunes for audiences to buy and download directly.
• Music video and possible lyric videos for other tracks available on sites like YouTube and Vimeo. Promotion and sharing on social media sites, namely Twitter and Instagram. 
• Vinyl has become increasingly popular, with artists releasing new albums in record format. This kind of distribution would be in keeping with the artist's merging of traditional and contemporary styles. Appear to be as accessible as CDs, available in shops like HMV, Urban Outfitters and supermarkets. 

Main Record Label Options

Maverick Sabre - Mercury Records
Ella Mai - Interscope Records 

Finding appropriate record labels that suit the artist has been quite challenging. Record labels seem to represent an array of artists from different genres, sometimes divided into smaller companies. Therefore, rather than research genres in their entirety, I looked for similar artists in terms of style or genre then looked into the record company that represented them. The two names above are the two I thought seemed most applicable. As well as this, some aritists that appear less renowned in fact share record labels with much bigger artists. It's difficult to distinguish what record labels suit the artist on solely genre as, Sony Music for example produces songs for artists like Oasis in complete contrast to A$AP Rocky. 

Original Artist in the Media: Jorja Smith

"rich melting pot of jazz and classical influences" as the linked Clash article describes. 
The idea of mixing more traditional or classical styles is evident in both music and within covers as shown above.
Correlation between style and music genre - her 'image' goes beyond the music genre she's assigned to.

Bright bold colours, links to presentation of youth and individuality. 
Being on the cover of a fashion publication has the immediate association of being current, in keeping with trends. 
This is relevant to both the ASOS and Phoenix covers - immediate connotations of style and individuality. 

Again, the idea of making the classic or traditional current is a pattern in coverage surrounding Jorja Smith. An article, linked below, from Vice includes these Polaroid style photos - visually inkeeping with her "star image" as defined by Dyer. 

Hand held camera

Throughout our filming our music, we were insistent on using hand held camera work rather than more structured look achieved using a tripod. The main reason for wanting to have a hand held camera was to involve the audience in the narrative and create a more personal feel. This in combination with some POV shots immerse the audience within the story rather than just being a passive viewer. Hand held camera suited the two narratives well and our intention to allow the audience to adapt the message/narrative to themselves. In getting class feedback we asked specifically about our use of hand held camera work and we received really useful, positive feedback. 

In doing a bit more research into hand held camera work, I found this useful, concise website about the main reasons for the use of hand held camera work. The second point made is most applicable to our media product: Narrative Function of Hand Held Camera Work

Audience Theory

In beginning to evaluate my music video more deeply and analytically, I've paid close attention to a number of audience theories. 

Stuart Hall 
Hall's Reception Theory focuses on how an audience receives and interprets the intended message. The fundamental message of our video was to have two narratives side by side, a girl longing to be out of a relationship and one longing to be in a relationship. This was centrally focused on playing with the idea of 'Fantasy' as referenced in the songs title. Although we had a clear message, the way it was communicated allowed for the audience to interpret their own message. Therefore, it falls into Hall's notion of accepting the dominant reading OR the negotiated reading. 

Young and Rubican

Their psychographics places audiences into groups with labels that suggest their position in society. The audience of our music video falls largely into the category of  reformers, defined as "seeking enlightenment". 

• Freedom of restrictions and personal growth 
• Social awareness and independent judgement 

Jump cuts

"A jump cut is a transition between two shots which appears to jump due to the way the shots are framed in relation to each other. Jump cuts are usually caused by framing which is quite similar"

Within our music video, we decided to explore using jump cuts. Initially, we found that the sequences were too long and untidy so we shortened the length of the sequences. The main reason for us choosing to include jump cuts was to highlight the tediousness of the relationship for the female character. I think this is most obvious in a quick sequence of jump cuts of the couple sitting on a train. In doing so, the repetitive nature of some shot composition is emphasised, demonstrating explicitly our creative intention. Using jump cuts firmly positions the target audience of teens and young adults in the point of view of the female protagonist.