Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions

(4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning

and evaluation stages?

Once our media assignments had been specified, we had vast opportunities to utilise,

experiment and apply media technologies to the tasks. The three media platforms are

relentlessly used in the music industry. In order to gain detailed knowledge of current

artists, songs and music videos I used the internet to research recent trends and

developments in the music industry. Record labels want their artists to be in constant

view of the public eye as audience impressions and reactions can now decide the

success or failure of an artist or song. The internet illustrated that music videos

represent a crucial part of the music industry and currently the music video is as

important as the song itself. This is because in today’ society appearance is valued,

thus music videos are used as a chance for artists to impress the public, not just with

their vocal talent but also with their style, look and fashion. Here are some examples:

Still images from Lily Allen’s music videos from the album ‘Alright Still’

‘Smile’‘LDN’ e’

The visual images of the three videos are similarly colourful and bright, thus Lily Allen has created her

vibrant, animated and original style. She has produced on original aspect to her star persona by mixing

ordinary features with alluring elements. For example, she has combined trainers with a flamboyant dress

in ‘LND’ and chocolate with excessive gold jewellery in ‘Smile’. Her ability to merge the two

successfully fascinates and charms the audience, heightening her popularity.

Still images from 50 Cent’s music videos from the album ‘Massacre’

‘Candy Shop’ ‘Just a Lil Bit’

50 Cent uses his music videos to parade his exclusive, luxurious and successful lifestyle. His display

of expensive cars, excessive silver chains and fur coats illustrate his glamorous and prestigious star

persona. The beautiful ladies that surround 50 Cent demonstrate his attractiveness and popularity

with females, yet, it may also suggest his promiscuity.

Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions

This research allowed me to recognise the importance of artist image so whilst

making my music video I focused on mise en since, costume and makeup to create my

artist’s star persona.

Whilst researching, I also concentrated on the use of print in the music industry. I

used the internet to investigate how album covers play an important role in promoting

an artist and song. Gary Freiberg, an art director, believes that ‘the

allure of album cover art is that it triggers our personal positive

connection to music, the appeal is the incredible creativity of the art

form, and the visual presentation of an album cover draws the

viewer’s attention’. However, from examining may different album covers, I found

that the detailed and elaborate covers are merely used as a commercial pursuit.

Nevertheless, using Freiberg’s ideas and my personal research I was able to ensure

that my product was creative and original so that just a mention of the album conjures

up a mental picture of the cover but also to ensure the cover would catch the eye of

the consumer, enticing them to buy the CD.

In order to gain first hand experience of music videos, I spent a considerable amount

of time researching music through the use of a television. Broadcasting is the most

prominent platform in the music industry and MTV was the

phenomenon that gave power and importance

to the music video as it marked the beginning

of the music video’s ruling of the industry. I

watched many artists, analysing the trends and patterns across

different kinds of music. This gave me insight into the distinctions between genres

and allowed me to focus my attention on creating the right genre through my use of

camera angles, costume, mise en scene and editing.

Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions

Whilst planning I created a story board to upload onto iPhoto, a

programme used to capture your photos and conveniently group

them. This enabled me to create an animatic that would aid in

secreting my plans as the software provided a simple

construction of the sequence of frames we wished to produce.

The template presented a basic visual image of the media product as the slide show of

photos displayed the various camera angles, locations and mise en scene that I

planned to use. This allowed me to recognise faults and make changes, for example

some of the shots seemed to last too long, thus I altered their duration and included

other shorter shots. iPhoto also facilitated in developing plans for editing as I was able

to trail transitions and the arrangement of the title.

During the construction on my music video, I was able to use a

high definition camera. HD provides extremely clear, crisp

pictures with vivid colours and up to five times more detail than

ordinary standard definition. This media technology is prevailing

and is now considered an essential tool for creating high quality and superior music

videos. My music video includes detailed graffiti and magnificent views of the sea,

thus the HD camera accentuated these images, making the locations seem more

defined and real. Therefore, being able to utilise this piece of equipment enhanced the

professionalism of my video as the visual image on screen is more vibrant and clear.

In order to construct visually appealing images for my album

and advert, I utilised Photoshop, a leading graphic and photo

editing programme that manipulates and enhances digital

images to create attractive artwork. I chose a black and white

colour theme with smears of bright colours. With this software

I was able to create an extreme distinction between the two as I

could insert aluminous colours whilst heightening the contrast of the image. The

enhanced intensity of the images is aimed at attracting consumers as whilst appearing

professional and high quality, it makes the album and advert more stylish and

contemporary. This elegance is developed by my use of effects as I added a slight blur

to my images and utilised the ‘poster edges’ effect to create modern and edgy album

and advert photos.

Maya Pursani Evaluation Questions

Media technologies also assisted the evaluation of my

media products as I was able to utilise an interactive

whiteboard to exhibit my music video to a large audience.

Previously, I had designed a questionnaire which asked the

audience to specify effective scenes, locations and camera

angle. The whiteboard provided a large interactive display,

creating a comfortable and accessible setting for the audience to articulate their

opinions on my music video. It also made the process of evaluation less complicated

as I was able to collect enough feedback from various people in one sitting. The

questionnaire also facilitated me in further evaluation as the audience rated particular

elements of the video out of ten, allowing me to extract numerical data and create a

graph on Excel. I was able to draw clear conclusions as this programme allowed me to

manage and analyse my information efficiently.