Evaluation Q2 & Q4 - Final Version

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Digipak - Special Edition - Final

Poster - Final

Evaluation - Question 1 - Final Version

Evaluation - Question 3 - Final Version

Mirrors - Music Video - TV Version

Though many people opt to view music videos online on sites such as YouTube and Vevo, there are also other ways people can view music videos.

One of these ways is through TV channels that specifically air music videos. The biggest of these, and arguably the reason why music videos have become so popular, is MTV. For this reason, I have made another version of my music video with the title of the song and the artist's name at the beginning and end of the video. This is a convention of music videos aired on television, but not of videos posted online, therefore I have made two versions of my video to reflect this.

Mirrors - Music Video - Final

Evaluation - Question 1 - Draft

Evaluation Question 3 - Draft

Evaluation Q2 & Q4

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Draft Evaluation - Q1-4

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

I feel that my media products both challenged and conformed to conventions of real media products. As Justin Timberlake is a successful R&B artist, I wanted to include a performance element in the music video, as the artist’s face will, ultimately, promote the song. The styling of the images used on the digipak and poster is similar to that in the video. This creates a cohesive image that is important not only for the star’s image, but also for a cohesive album look.

My decision to create a narratively driven music video, in which the performer was not playing a character, was rooted in Justin Timberlake’s success level. As an R&B artist, it would be conventional to use Timberlake as the main focus of the video. Though he is featured as a performer, there are four other people who feature in the video almost as consistently as Timberlake himself.

I have chosen to challenge this convention as Timberlake is an incredibly successful artist and even ‘JT’ can be enough for audiences to identify the involvement of Justin Timberlake. His initials alone are a powerful promotional tool. Therefore, it is more important for the music video to be interesting and thought-provoking in order to generate excitement about the video. The audience have seen Timberlake perform; they have seen Timberlake act (in his hiatus from music he had a very successful movie career). Therefore, something different needs to be created in order to hold the audience’s interest.

The image used on the poster is a MS of the performer looking towards the light. The low key lighting means that one side of his face is brightly lit and the other is shadowed. This suggests that there is a spotlight on him, reinforcing his importance as the star. The black background and black and white suit, gives the image a black and white theme. This has connotations of retro and vintage styles, which relates to the throwback ‘neosoul’ genre of ‘The 20/20 Experience’. This retro theme is continued into the styling in all three products. The performer wears a black suit, white shirt and black tie. This smart attire is reminiscent of old R&B performers.

Within the music video there are four characters. The video aims to highlight the similarities within their differences by giving them each very similar narrative threads. Each character, through seeing their reflection, writes the insecurities they feel about themselves on the mirror. This aims to quite literally illustrate the idea that looking in the mirror reminds people of their insecurities.

At the beginning of the video, the audience are introduced to the four characters. The set used for ‘The Heartbroken Guy’ has several stereotypically feminine touches, which hint at a female’s presence in his life. For example, there is a flower on the bedside cabinet, a picture above the bed of flowers and the wall colour is lilac. The jump cut, in which ‘The Heartbroken Guy’ changes position on the bed multiple times, suggests that he is restless. This, combined with the mise-en-scene, begins to indicate that a girl may have left him.

The introductory shots of ‘The Shopaholic’ are a series of CUs of different body parts. For example, there is a CU of her feet, her hand opening the car door and her shopping bags.

Though there are moments that aim to create similarity between the characters, there are also elements of the video that strive to highlight their differences. This is seen particularly in the costumes. ‘The Outsider’ is dressed very differently to ‘The Heartbroken Guy’. Most specifically, ‘The Outsider’ wears a bow tie, which the audience is drawn to through the mid-close up of the actor as he settles it. This shot is shown at the beginning of the video and is repeated at the end. Bow ties outside of a formal ‘black tie’ context are commonly associated with people who are ‘geeky’ or have eccentric style. In contrast, the other male character is wearing a shirt, but the top buttons are undone and it is untucked. As the character has had his heart broken, it is a stereotype for him to care less about his appearance.

All four characters wear neutral coloured costumes, predominantly grey, beige or brown. These aim to reflect the unhappiness of the characters. These colours also display their insecurity and lack of confidence, as wearing bright colours is generally associated with confidence and extroversion.

The female characters have two costumes; a neutral coloured outfit and a bright dress. At the beginning of the video, ‘The Shopaholic’ is seen in a neutral costume. Midway through the first chorus, a MS shows she has changed into a pink dress. In contrast, ‘The Model’ is initially shown in a LS of a photo shoot, in which she is wearing a strapless multi-coloured dress. Midway through the first chorus, a MS shows she has changed into a light grey crop top and dark grey denim shorts. The females represent a distinct binary opposite in terms of their attitudes towards appearance. Stereotypically, a model is perceived to be materialistic, fake and vain as, ultimately, their career is dependent on their good looks. However, in the video, I decided to break convention to portray a character who feels that the perfection created for photo shoots is false and unattainable because she is made to look better through make-up and manipulation of the images. For this reason, ‘The Model’ is depicted taking off her make-up as she looks into the mirror in a combination of CUs and MSs.

This is juxtaposed with ‘The Shopaholic’, who feels she needs make-up to feel happy with her appearance. Therefore, Mid-CUs depicts ‘The Shopaholic’ putting on her make up.

Cutting quickly between mid-close ups of ‘The Model’ and ‘The Shopaholic’ as they do the opposite actions creates a distinct binary opposite between the two characters.

The video clearly comments on the distorted idea of perfection the media has created, and it is unconventional for music videos to portray a message to their audience. Also, the convention of music videos, as outlined by Mulvey, is to sexualise the females within a music video. However, I have chosen to avoid doing this with my video. Breaking convention in this way is rarely seen in music videos for chart music, as this is a risk for artists who are striving to reach success or grow their success. However, as an artist firmly established in the music industry, it is possible for Timberlake to break convention as there is a degree of safety in each of his releases.

The studio set up used for the shots of my performer aim to create a distinction between the narrative and performance elements of the video. The low key lighting and black background suggests that there is a spotlight on the performer. This highlights his importance within the video and as a successful star.

The video has a cyclic narrative, ending with shots similar to the beginning. Therefore, there is no ‘resolution’ at the end, indicating that their problems are hidden, and they continue their lives still feeling the way they did at the beginning. Therefore, this symbolises how everyone has an insecurity, they just might not show it. As a popular artist with a wide target audience, this video would appeal to the mainstream audience, as it is attempting to comment on an issue that affects many people and that the audience would relate to.

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

When creating my ancillary texts, I considered the fact that I was creating a digipak for an album of songs and the poster was promoting this. My main product, the music video, is only a promotional device for one of the singles off the album, specifically, ‘Mirrors’. Therefore, I aimed to create ancillary texts that had some connections to the music video, but did not feel like they were specifically promoting the single, as this is not conventional of real media products.

The video has elements that are easily identifiable as being similar to the digipak and poster. For example, the font used at the end of the video is the same as the one used on the other products. Also, the images used are of a similar style to the shots of the performer in the music video.

Dressing the performer in a suit, white shirt and black tie and having this look consistent throughout all of the products, creates an identifiable image and style. I chose this look as it reflects stage Timberlake was at in his career when releasing The 20/20 Experience. The album, classified as ‘neo-soul’, marked a much more mature sound compared to his previous involvement in music. His comeback was also marked with the success of the album’s lead single ‘Suit & Tie’. Therefore using a suit and tie as the costume for his next video creates consistent image that the audience will identify with. Also, this contributes to the cohesiveness of The 20/20 Experience. Furthermore, the genre ‘neo-soul’ is an old sub-genre of soul music. Therefore, it has retro connotations which could lead into the artist’s styling. In this way, a suit and tie is an appropriate costume choice.

The main purpose of the digipak is to communicate who the artist is and what genre the music is. The digipak I have created aims to do this. The image of the artist appeals to fans who are likely to buy the album. Timberlake has a largely female fan, and his career began in the boy band ‘N-Sync’. Therefore, a large part of Timberlake’s marketing involves his appearance, and using his face as a marketing device.

Furthermore, his face is easily identifiable which means that someone viewing the product is likely to recognize him, indicating who the artist of the album is. Another way I have attempted to communicate this is through the letters ‘J’ and ‘T’ being bigger than the rest of the name. The initials are synonymous with the name ‘Justin Timberlake’. Therefore, ‘JT’ promotes the fact that it is a Justin Timberlake album.

The genre of the album, ‘neo-soul’, is sub-genre of R&B music that is heavily based in soul music and is often a throwback to when soul music was very popular in the 60s. Therefore, the sound of the album has retro connotations, to artists such as Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, which a suit and tie would be associated with. Also, the black background, black and white costume and white text creates a black and white theme. Again, this links to the retro connotations of the album, communicating what sound the consumer should expect.

The poster is promoting the digipak. It needs to create excitement around the album, encouraging people to purchase it. Therefore I have used the phrase “his highly anticipated return to music, as The 20/20 Experience was released by Timberlake after a long hiatus from music, and previous to this break Timberlake was incredibly successful. There is a lot of cohesion between the digipak and the poster, using a similar font and image. The initials JT are positioned in the same way they are on the digipak. This aims to create an easily identifiable logo for Justin Timberlake. It is common for artists to have a ‘logo’ that makes their name more recognizable to audiences. Often, this can use their whole name. However, as Justin Timberlake is successful enough to have his initials used as a promotional tool. This is similar to the eventual substitution of the name ‘Michael Jackson’ for the initials ‘MJ’. In fact, Timberlake one the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs for his lifetime achievement.

The music video is specifically promoting the song ‘Mirrors’. To create a connection between my ancillary and main products, I used the same font for the title ‘Mirrors’ at the end of the video. I also used the same set up when shooting with the performer, so that his parts of the video would connect to the images used on the poster and digipak.

To promote the song ‘Mirrors’, I aimed to create a concept that took the title of the song in a very literal sense. However, as the meaning of the song could have multiple interpretations, I aimed to take music video in a less obvious direction. Therefore, the lyrics “if you ever feel alone and the glare makes me hard to find, just know that I’m always parallel on the other side” suggest that Timberlake is there for his fans if they ever feel alone/sad. Though the lyrics may more obviously be interpreted as a romantic relationship, taking the video in another direction will make it more interesting to the audience, as it is not the expected interpretation.  Furthermore, attaching a deeper meaning to the video creates a discussion point around the video. This could, in turn, create more hype around the song and, ultimately, encourage more people to buy it.

This is particularly important as ‘Mirrors’ is the second single off ‘The 20/20 Experience’, by which time most hard-core fans will have purchased the album, and therefore are unlikely to purchase the single ‘Mirrors’ upon its release. Another way in which I have attempted to improve ‘Mirrors’ change of success is by creating a special edition of ‘The 20/20 Experience’ released specifically to promote the release of ‘Mirrors’. This would include the music video, and an exclusive live version of the song. This would encourage fans who have already purchased the album to gain the extra content.

3.    What have you learned from your audience feedback?

When evaluating the complete product, it is important to gain audience feedback as, ultimately, the product is being made to appeal to that audience. Therefore, if you receive criticisms from your target audience it is in your best interest to modify this.

The target audience for my media products are fans of Justin Timberlake. Due to Timberlake’s success as part of the boy band N-SYNC and his current success as a solo R&B artist, products made to promote Timberlake need to target the large age range of between 18-40 years old. This audience would be predominantly female, as Timberlake has made it onto People Magazine’s prestigious Sexiest Men Alive list multiple times. In fact, prior to the announcement of last year’s list, Timberlake became Twitter’s front runner for taking the title. As a consistently chart topping artist and member of former boy band NSYNC, Timberlake appeals to a primarily mainstream market. He is particularly expensive to see live, therefore, Timberlake is likely to appeal to an ABC1 social bracket, as they are more likely to afford tickets to his concerts. Though Timberlake appeals predominantly to females, he also has a male fan base, therefore males of a demographic were also considered when making my music video.

I gained audience feedback in several ways, including a survey, focus group and the use of social media platforms. Some of the feedback was helpful, whilst some was not so easy to generate meaning from.

For example, sharing my video on the social network, Facebook, generated quantitative data in the form of ‘likes’ and qualitative data in the form of comments. Likes generally weren’t useful, as I was unable to find out what the audience liked about the video. Comments were slightly more helpful. Comments such as “very good”, suggested they liked the video, whereas comments regarding its professionalism were more helpful in understanding what the audience liked about the video.

Data collected from SurveyMonkey, through which I created a survey that I asked my target audience to complete, gathered a largely positive response, with 100% of respondents answering that the video was “very professional”. The survey collected both quantitative and qualitative data. Through the qualitative data, I found that many audience members responded well to the narrative, with comments including “interesting narrative”, “interesting concept” and “WOW! Very professional and tells a story. Helped me really listen to the lyrics.”

Through the qualitative data, I also found that the performer was a strong element within the video, and this was supported in the quantitative results. 75% of respondents chose the performer as one of the most interesting parts of the video. Also, 87% regarded the lip syncing to be “very believable”, with the remaining respondents viewing it as “believable”.

When asked if the video represented Justin Timberlake’s image appropriately, 100% of respondents replied with “Yes”. Optional elaborations included “the suit is closely related to JT”. The inclusion of “JT” in reference to Timberlake supports my choice to use the initials on the digipak and poster to promote the artist.

All respondents believed the music video to be “appropriately cohesive” with the ancillary products, and this was confirmed by the response of the focus group who, upon seeing the products, also believed them to be similar, but not too similar.

However, a constructive criticism I received was that the image on the back cover of my digipak was difficult to see. As I was trying to create a silhouette, in which the outline of the performer is lit, one member pointed out that this was not clear enough. I responded to this feedback by editing the image, so that the outline was much whiter and more visible from a distance.

Lastly, as I uploaded my music video to YouTube, I have benefited from its own analytics system. Most specifically, this has enabled me to get a relative audience retention report, which tells me, on average, how much parts of the video held the audience’s interest compared to other videos of a similar length. As most music videos are around the length of mine, if not shorter, this was an important feedback. Therefore, I was pleased to find that my video held an above average to high level of audience retention throughout the video. However, I found the biggest dip in audience retention occurred during the final chorus, in which ‘The Outsider’ falls to the ground. Therefore, this part of the video seemed to be holding my audience’s attention the least. I then adjusted that part of the video so that there were some shots of the other characters between the shots of ‘The Outsider’, as this feedback made me realize that this section of the music video focused largely on ‘The Outsider’. The audience retention report also told me that the part of the video that held the audience’s attention most was when the characters wiped the words off the mirrors. As this is the main concept of the video, I felt that this feedback was a positive response to the video.

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

Digital technology was vital to the creation of my products. The digital nature of the process, gave me a lot of convenience compared to the more traditional analogue process. For example, DSLRs are much smaller than a film camera. They also allow me to play back my footage and delete anything that didn’t work to create more space. Also, the use of software such as Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 enabled me to make many quick cuts between multiple narratives without having to manually cut and stick together film frames.

In the research part of the process, using the internet was vital. YouTube acted as an extensive library of music videos for me to access, watch and analyse to gain inspiration for my own video. Also, through watching other music videos, I was able to identify conventions and how frequently these conventions were broken. This allowed me to decide how conventional I wanted my own video to be.

The DSLR had many features that contributed to the overall professionalism of my video. For example, when shooting with my performer, I used a lens with a higher aperture as this meant I could shoot with a lower ISO and the footage would not appear grainy.

When shooting on location with my four characters I was shooting from varying distances, therefore an 18-55mm zoom lens was vital for me to be able to frame my shots exactly how I intended. For example, in some of the locations, such as the bedrooms, were restricted on space, therefore I needed to be able to zoom out.

Digital technology was also important in the editing process, using Adobe Premiere Pro to edit my music video enabled me to cut between multiple shots, lip-sync accurately and colour correct the footage.

Through the colour correcting I was able to highlight the distinction between the shots at the beginning which were more vibrant in colour, and the shots at the end that were more desaturated. Using the saturation effect, I was able to depict the characters’ distress by lowering the saturation of the shots so that they looked more grey and dull. With earlier shots, I was able to increase the saturation so that the shots were much brighter than the original. That was particularly visible in the LS of the photoshoot, in which there are many colours (green foliage, multi-coloured dress and red hair).

The saturation tool also allowed me to correct shots of the performer where the bright white lights had washed him out slightly. This gave his face more colour, making the shots look more true to life. I also used the brightness and contrast effect on shots of the performer so that the wall behind was not so visible creating an infinity black background.

In the production stage of making my music video, lighting also contributed to creating the infinity black background. I used a set-up of four lights, one of which being a soft box. There was a light in each corner around the performer, pointed towards him. This caused a spotlight affect, so that the performer was better lit than the background. This meant that even when darkening the footage to darken the background, the performer was still clearly visible in the shot.

In the post-production process, using Photoshop contributed to the professionalism of my ancillary tasks, as Adobe Photoshop is an industry standard piece of software. This allowed me to create layers upon which I could place text and images each upon a separate layer. This meant that I could edit each layer separately. Therefore, I could manipulate images within the document without affecting the rest of the layers. For example, on the back of my digipak, I have a silhouette image of my performer. Though there was an outline around the performer in the original image, this was quite faint. Therefore, I used the brush tool very lightly to increase the white outline so that it is more  visible on the image. This helped to create the effect I was hoping to achieve on the final digipak.

Digipak - Special Edition (Improved Version)

Production Log - Final Improvements to Music Video

I now in a position where my music video is complete, and I am fine tuning it so that it is as effective as possible. My audience retention feedback on YouTube has told me that people lose interest in my video towards the end, where the video focuses largely on 'The Outsider' played by Zak. Therefore, I am going to edit the video so it includes more of the other characters and is not just focused on 'The Outsider'. I feel that this will help to hold people's interest during this part of the video.

Production Log - Improvements to Special Edition

I have created a draft of my Special Edition digipak (that would be released to promote 'Mirrors', the album's second single). However, I received feedback from a fellow student that the red text on the inside of the digipak is too bright, and this made it look like the image was 'stuck onto' the digipak.

Upon reflection, I can see what they mean, and I feel that I will need to darken the red of the text in order to make the text and image fit better together.

Digipak - Special Edition - Draft

Digipak - Final Version

Production Log - Poster & Digipak Improvement

Over the last few days, I have been making improvements to my poster and digipak.

Though I liked the pose of my model and the lighting of the image, it was slightly soft, and this was very visible when compared with the rest of the poster. Therefore, I looked through my images again to see if there were any that suited the poster. I finally decided on using an image that is very similar to the one I used on the inside of my digipak, but a slight variation on the pose. This image looks much more professional than the previous image as it is much sharper, but the lighting is very similar to the image I had on my poster initially.

For the digipak, I have considered doing a 'Deluxe Edition' specifically for the promotion of Mirrors. The disk tray will contain images from the music video itself. I have also considered writing the words that the characters write on the mirror across the inside cover of the digipak. As it is a 'Deluxe Edition' and will be used as a promotion of the song 'Mirrors', the edition will include the music video and a live performance of the song.

Focus Group Questions

1. What are your initial thoughts about the video?
2. Do you think that the narrative was clear and easy enough to follow?
3. Do you feel that the performer's costume was effective and in keeping with JT's image?
4. How professional did you find the use of camera and lighting?
5. How professional did you find the editing?
6. Did you find the lip-syncing effective?
7. How cohesive did you find the music video with the digipak and poster?
8. Do you think there was a good balance of screen time given to the performer and narrative elements?

Feedback Survey

Please could you take my survey regarding the music video, poster and digipak for the song 'Mirrors' by Justin Timberlake.

Production Log - Feedback

Now my products complete and at most only require minor adjustment, I have started to consider gaining audience feedback. This is required so that I can assess whether my products are effective.

Therefore, I am considering ways I can gain this audience feedback.

I intend to make a survey using the online software 'SurveyMonkey'. Their basic package will allow me to ask up to 10 questions, which should make an effective survey. Any longer than this, and some people may be put off from taking the survey by its length.

I also intend to hold a focus group, using both males and females, to gain their feedback on the video. It will be easier to gain qualitative data from the focus group, whereas the survey will generate much more effective quantitative data.

Another way I aim to get audience feedback is through sharing my music video on multiple social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. YouTube also has many devices that can help me assess the effectiveness of the video, and I aim to utilize this, as drafts of my video have been uploaded to YouTube and the final version will also be.

Poster - Version 3

Production Log - Permission to Use Song

As I am using the song 'Mirrors' by Justin Timberlake to produce my music video, I will need to request permission to use it. I do not own this content, therefore I do not have the right to use it unless I have permission from the company who own the song.

For this reason, I will need to look into who I should contact in order to gain such permission. This is most likely going to be an individual working for the RCA Records label that Justin Timberlake is signed with.

Mirrors - Music Video (Improved)

Poster Improved

Digipak - Improved

Production Log - Second Shoot with Performer

Yesterday, I shot with my performer, Nick DeCruz, again, in the black box studio. I experimented with lighting, taking pictures for my digipak and shooting new video for my music video. This time, I had a clearer idea of exactly what I wanted the shots to look like, as I already had a reference (the previous shoot) from which I could work out what looked good the first time, making sure to include these elements the second time around.
For example, Nick blew a kiss to the camera in the first shoot, which was incredibly effective, therefore we did several takes of this the second time so that I could choose the best one for my music video.

Overall, I felt this shoot was productive, and I am pleased with the results.

Below are a couple of pictures, taken during the shoot, which show the set up I used. 

Request for Permission

Above is a screenshot of the email I sent to Johnny Wright's assistant. Wright is Justin Timberlake's manager. I need to obtain this permission in order to use the song in my coursework.

Production Log - Feedback

Today, I have received feedback on my first edit, with ideas for improvement.

Firstly, as a slow and longer than average song, I need to make sure that my video is quick paced, so that the video does not get boring or repetitive.

Secondly,  I need to make my video more fragmented. My first draft has a linear narrative, with each verse or chorus beginning a new 'stage' in the video. Maybe putting quick future or past shots could illeviate this issue.

Another thing I need to look into is the colour correction, which I have already started working on. I am hoping to give the shots at the beginning a warm tone and create a colder tone at the end to reflect their inner turmoil, more outwardly expressed by The Different Character's movements.

Furthermore, the shots of The Shopaholic character at the beginning are a bit bland. I have ideas to improve them to make them more interesting, and to create less segmentation in the first verse. At the moment, it feels very organized in a 'character 1, character 2, character 3...' format. Having several shorter shots of The Shopaholic will mean that I can rearrange the first verse in a way that appears more random.

Lastly, some of the lighting used in the shots of my performer are too light, and this tends to wash him out and make him look very pale. This contrasts greatly to the shots of him that don't have such light, as the colours are a lot stronger.

Draft Poster

Draft Digipak