Binary oppostion and cultural myth.

In my answer to evaluation question 1 I mentioned binary oppostion and cultural myth to refer to the plot and hidden meanings within our music video.

Binary opposition.

The definition of binary opposition within the media is something that opposes one another within a text such as Good vs Evil. The use of binary oppostion constructs two characters in the audiences mind along with the stereotypical portrayl of the archetypal character types. An example of this within our music video was the portrayl of our two female characters. Initially, they were both shown to be typical teenagers who were meeting up one another ready to go out for the night, however, as the video progresses the stereotypical female characters become more oppossed to what is typically viewed in the media. The same sex relationship which emerges throughout the video becomes more evident during the underground scenes were me and Lauren are shown as being seperated from one another. This argument clearly highlights me and Lauren as being binary oppostions but within a non-stereotypical relationship. I am shown walking away from Lauren in a slightly brighter light, I am not the one who is underground as I am walking away from our problems into the light rather than being stuck somewhere which gives us negativity. On the other hand, during this argument Lauren is shown sat down, in a low-key lighting and her body language and facial expressions make her seem like she has given up on our relationship. This difference between the two character is further emphasised in the circular shots during this scene where me and Lauren are standing away from each other at either side of the lampost hiding our emotions.

Cultural myth.

The defintion of cultural myth which is most relevant to the media is a popular belief or story that has become associated with a person, institution, or occurrence, especially one considered to illustrate a cultural idea.The media is the prime instiution to indoctrinate a mass audience and therefore any idea or story that it presents easily influences a persons beliefs. That is why many social groups have negative perceptions and are alienated within society because they have had a bad portrayl in the media or have not been noted by the media at all. This has relevance to our music video because the same sex relationship that is the basis of our plot is something that holds a variety of perceptions from a wide range of audience members, some of these are positive but most are ususally negative. There are many ideas that are permantely based on same sex relationships that are not necessarly true and therefore they become a myth which is applied to the majority of people who fit within this category. This theory is extremely prominent in any form of modern media such as realtiy television shows and the American film industry.

Audience feedback video.

After finishing our music video we decided to ask 3 girls at our college what they thought about the product that we had created. We wanted to know if they liked the concept of our video and if there was anything that they would change or re-create.
These girls were the same age as our target audience and therefore gave us a good idea of how our video would be perceived among a larger audience.

Here is the link to the video that we posted onto YouTube:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Dc_QKPPqQxU

 

By doing this audience feedback we were able to gain a general understanding about how people of the young adults age group viewed our video. This was helpful as we then had a rough idea about how successful our video would be in the real world combined with our magaizne ad and CD covers. This sort of feedback would help with the advertising process as we could tell what caught our target audiences eye and what they favoured the best out of the element within our music video.

We used a video camera to carry out this exercise. By creating feedback in this manner we were able to get our audiences real reaction to our music video and gained a more in depth answer about their perception of our video. This allowed us to use a range of technology in gaining our audiences opinions.

(Editing and filming done by Lauren Stone).

Audience feedback- Finished product.

I decided to ask a few people on Facebook messenger what they thought about our final music video and to see whether or not the ideas and messages that we were trying to convey were noted also by our target audience.

Facebook messenger is a really good way to enable us to connect to our audience members in a content which is not intimidating and easily allows them to explain their own thoughts without anyone else's influence.

I asked 4 people, 2 males and 2 females and here are 2 of their responses explaining what they liked about our music video and what they would improve/ change if they could.

Theory- Cinematography.

Much of our audience feedback contained the word 'cinematography' so I thought I would research this theory further and see how the process was relevant to our music video.
The definition of Cinematography is the art or technique of movie photography, including both the shooting and the processing of the image. We practiced the theory of Cinematography throughout the making of our music video in many different ways.
The most noticeable element of Cinematography being used within our coursework is when we initially shot some photos for our album cover and storyboard.
Before we changed one of the actors, we all went to one of our primary settings (the Temple Meads underpass) and took some photos of me and the other Lauren in the positions that we wanted to recreate within our music video. By using the same setting that would be used in our music video, the same outfits and the same 'look' we were able to create images that would look like screen grabs taken from the finished video.
Also the processing stage of these images were important to our video shooting as we were able to see what worked and what lighting or stages of movement looked the best. We later used these images for our album cover so that they seemed memorable to our audience once they watched our music video, we hoped that it would seem like these photos were just taken whilst filming even though they were much more systematically created.
Cinematography is extremely important in the world of advertising which dominates most of the media industry. The reproduction of motion pictures makes them a lot more memorable and therefore persuades people to buy that certain product because they have seen it before. People remember things mostly through visuals so creating something which has come from a high standard of processed images means that the audience members know exactly what the product is about.

What I have learnt.

This experience has taught me many things not only about the media industry but about teamwork. Due to the fact that we had the opportunity to pick our own group, something we had not done before, it really tested the way in which we worked with one another. Seeing as all of my group were close friends already we thought it would be easy for us to work with one another, however, when you are put into this task all sorts of new problems can arise that you have not yet had to cope with before. We had to deal with a number of things such as rearranging our schedules to suit one another, all taking on equal amounts of work and supporting each other without making our work too similar. We managed to overcome all of these obstacles by consistently working through them and coming to a conclusion based on all of our opinions. 
I have also learnt a lot about the production area of the media industry. This experience has really taught me how complex it is to produce something of a high standard. I have learnt that it is extremely hard to create something which everyone in the team is proud of and is exactly what they wanted it to be. There has to many compromises in production but these cannot make the product any less effective. It takes a huge amount of time to organise, create and edit a music video or any type of video which has taught me to create a finishing goal and work towards it. Without all of the effort myself and my team put in and the determination that we had we would not have been able to create anything let alone something we are proud enough to call our video.

Evaluation question 2.

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


Cohesion as a marketing tool in the media industry is extremely important in the production of videos, TV programmes and films. If the advertisement package does not match the primary product then the audience will not be able to notice the connective link between the two. The mass media is becoming more and more competitive each year and in order for each industry to attract their target audience they must make their products noticeable to gain profit. We knew that we had to make our ancillary texts a reflection of the motifs that were occurring throughout our music video so that the complex meanings we were trying to create were slightly easier for our audience to understand. We wanted our ancillary texts to be as striking as our main product so that no intentions of what we were trying to portray would be lost in the publicity process. 

Graffiti effect.


There is a continuous motif of graffiti throughout both products. We chose to make graffiti the artwork for our ancillary texts because it features heavily within our music video so we thought that would create a good cohesive marketing strategy and make the texts more engaging. We chose to feature the urban setting in both products as it is the primary background for most of our scenes within the video. We wanted our music video and ancillary texts to be categorised by the urban setting which consisted of street style, commercial buildings, natural environments and dark, gritty areas because that is the energetic but somewhat strained atmosphere we were trying to create.





Relationship.

There are parts within our main product where I am shown on my own, away from Lauren to try and emphasise the more negative side of our relationship. One of the covers within our ancillary texts is of me on my own and Lauren is not within the frame which again symbolises the breakdown of our relationship so there is a running concept of the negativity which can come from relationships.





Themes and connotations.

We made sure to incorporate the themes of happiness, relationships and isolation within our main product and album package. Throughout the main product there are times where I am shown on my own to highlight my isolation from the bustle of the city, there are parts where me and Lauren are shown doing the stereotypical couple things such as holding hands and hugging and there are times where we show happiness together such as when we are running side by side laughing with one another. The connotations behind these images were to show that when two people are together there will be enjoyable times and there will be harder times but you have to fight through these to reach the outcome that you want to achieve yourself. Even though me and Lauren are not portrayed in the normal heterosexual relationship which is primarily shown across all media platforms, it does not mean that we would not live by the same Morales or do not experience the same problems as a stereotypical relationship. All of these parts have been presented within our ancillary texts as there are images of me on my own to highlight the needs of separation, a common emotion felt by people who are shown to be outcastes from society due to the difference in the way they choose to live their lives from what is shown to be the 'norm' and an image of me and Lauren smiling whilst running side by side to show the contentment we share with one another which is still a primary trait of this kind of relationship even though it is not portrayed as mainstream.
 




Pace and atmosphere.

Lastly, our main product is very fast paced as we have a variety of different scenes as well as a montage of shots to show the speed of our relationship and how quickly time passes when you are with someone you love. We have also made sure to show the concept of movement in our album package, especially in the middle cover photo as it is a freeze frame of me and Lauren running through the Temple meads underpass. This consistency creates the mood of the music video and the atmosphere that is created.



I believe that the combination of our main product and ancillary texts is highly effective due to the fact that we made sure to create an eye catching association between the two. Another reason as to why the album package was successful is because we asked for our target audiences input. We laid out all the possible images which we were going to use for our ancillary texts and let our audience choose which ones they liked/understood the most. This meant that we had the ability to choose our ancillary texts based on what our audience would buy because those images are the ones that caught their eye. This is extremely importance in the promotion of a media product. It is clear from the combination of the two the settings which were filmed  at for the music video, the fact that the narrative will include two females and the genre because of the outfits which we are shown to be wearing and the highly decorative artwork which is pictured inside a grimey city underpass. All of these features create a positive impact on audience members because if they can create links between promotion and the real thing then they are much more willing to buy or watch the product.

Evaluation question 3.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is a key element in the creation of any type of media. Audience gives people in the media industry a target during the production stage. Without audiences there would be no media. By not having a target audience many media industries would fail in the attraction and profit of their products as they would not be aimed at any particular type of consumers. The crucial part of having an audience is that they can provide the industry with constructive criticism as well as productive feedback that will enable that product to become more tailored to the needs of that collective group.

Student feedback.

The main thing we learnt from our audience feedback is that we needed to incorporate more establishing shots between scenes to enable our music video to flow between. We collected some quantitative research and found that 40% of people wanted more shots of the surroundings. We made these changes to the video and found that it did look much better and the storyline was a lot clearer. Another main point that we learnt from our audience feedback was that the relationship between me and Lauren had to be made clearer. 60% of people said that they could not tell whether our feelings were matched or not. We did not want to explicitly show that me and Lauren were a gay couple which is what may have caused confusion but this was purposefully done.
 

Music video analysis.

After watching a Paramore video which features two females 'having fun' with one another, we felt as if we wanted to create the same vibe. In the Paramore video the audience cannot tell whether the two girls are in a relationship or if they are just friends which is intriguing. It is important to create a sense of ambiguity within a music video as it will make the audience members want to watch it again. Due to the fact that music videos are only short bursts of a story that are often played on repeat in social areas, the storyline needs to fascinate the audience so that they will want to watch it multiple times in order to create a variety of conclusions/meanings from the narrative. Throughout the video the audience is left to work out what the relationship between the two characters is which is what we also wanted to create. After telling our audience this, they felt what we were trying to portray was clearer. However, even though 40% of our target audience took the preferred reading approach where they understood that me and Lauren were in a committed relationship, 60% had more of a negotiated reading approach. That 60% saw that me and Lauren must have had some kind of feelings for one another but felt that it was still not clear enough that we were in an actual relationship. This meant that they created a variety of meanings behind the narrative that consisted of themes such as friendship, loneliness and forced love.

Feedback from the band.

We also collected some qualitative research from the band which created the song 'Southern Comforting'. We did this via email, however, we did arrange a Skype call with the lead singer but unfortunately he was unavailable to do this at the time we arranged. We decided to show the finished product to Charlie Kerr who we have been in contact with throughout the whole process and he showed the rest of JPNS GRLS via YouTube. He told us that the idea of having a homosexual relationship was pleasing and he fully supported the message which we were trying to create. Charlie wrote to us saying " I am very excited that you are looking to show that love takes many forms and that you want to use our song as a vessel for that" and he liked that our video contained "Love and beautiful visuals". We were told from our audience feedback that the graffiti we used worked really well to distinguish between shots so it made the move less jumpy and more flowing and it also set the scene for the urban atmosphere (which consisted of a gritty landscape and a lot of street style scenes) and storyline. We chose to add in a few more graffiti shots after an audience member said they made the video "brighter which reflects the relationship that you both are sharing."

Teacher and target audience feedback.

Many of our audience feedback members said that the relationship between me and Lauren was very realistic and kept the audience engaged. We added in a few more shots of me and Lauren together to feed into the idea of us being a couple as that is what our audience members decided they liked. 50% of the audience members we asked said the pulled focus shots that we used throughout the video were really effective. We chose to include as many as possible because we all felt it added an eery aspect to our media video , especially the ones we took in the inner city. The audience really liked the circling shots which we used to show the passing of time. Our teacher said this was her favourite shot of the video so we made sure to include it again in the montage of shots near the end of our finished product in order to emphasise the fast pace of this movement and the desolate atmosphere that is brought in moments of isolation from the bustling city life.

The audience feedback that we collected helped us in many ways to change aspects of our music video and include more qualities that attracted specific collective groups. We were able to create an idea that intrigued and created emotion for our target audience because of the feelings that they portrayed to us whilst watching and contributing to the process of our music video product.