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

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

The original idea behind my promotional package was to completely contrast and challenge generic conventions of country music. As seen in the pitch (http://helenaokeeffea2mediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-pitch.html), our intentions were to go against 'normality' to create a new and inspiring piece of work.

However, we conducted a lot of research after our first initial ideas and found that it was not uncommon to mix the 'country' and 'grime' genres together. The artist that inspired me the most was 'Hugo' who created his own cover of the famous '99 Problems' by Jay-Z. The levels of entropy in this piece (produced through taking a very well known song and changing the forms of it completely) provoked me to explore various techniques and be adventurous with my ideas. 



I developed these forms in my own work by combining country and grime imagery. The song used was 'Waiting On You' by Wooden Horse. This is very stereotypically of the country genre with the use of musical instruments such as a slide guitar and lyrics connoting heartbreak: 
'When I meet that woman,
the devil's gonna have his way'.



My digipak design challenged the conventions of the country music genre on a multitude of levels.  Through the use of research, I found that a common feature of country digipaks is sepia toning or dull contrast. In order to oppose this, I used vivid colours juxtaposed with 'mundane' imagery that holds connotations of the 'grime' genre. The image of a horse typically connotes the country genre and elements associated with it, I however overlaid this with graffiti in order to combine the country and the grime genre. This has a level of entropy as whilst the horse is typical of the music genre, the idea to combine it with a very contrasting image of graffiti surprises the audience and provokes thought into the underlying meaning. 
In other ways, I have closely stuck to the conventions of a digipak design. I included important information such as the band name, album name, institutional information and track list.
This means that my design works closely under Steve Neale's theory of repetition and difference. Although I have tried to focus more heavily on incorporating 'difference' and contrast into my digipak through the use of entropic imagery and innovative design, the elements of 'repetition' are essential in order to keep it coherent and professional. 







In a similar way, the magazine advert I produced followed the same conventions of my digipak design. I used entropic imagery and vivid colours to contradict the common images associated with the country genre and add elements of interest to the piece. I added multiple images of the horse in order to add depth to the image, it was important that the overall piece had different layers in order to keep the audience interested and intrigued after seeing it more than once. Again, as Steve Neale suggests, I used instances of repetition in the design through the use of font and colour. I ensured that the font remained constant throughout my digipak and magazine advert design as well as the colour palette. I used a simple palette of brown and cream, this links directly to the country genre and also provides connotations of sepia tone or a 'washed out' effect so commonly seen within this genre. 


In some ways, it could be suggested that the combination of contrasting images is developing to become part of my own auteur style. I created interesting and unique effects through the combination or overlaying of opposing images, this can be seen throughout my whole coursework project. The positive response from the audience has prompted me to keep a similar style in my future work.

Following the forms and conventions of a genre can sometimes lead to a redundant text that cannot be used by an audience, in terms of diversion or personal relationships. It is important to therefore create innovative ideas that can inspire the audience and provide a suitable 'escape' from their daily routine. With this theory in mind, the uses and gratifications of my own video could be diversion however the lack of a coherent narrative may mean that it lacks the potential to provide personal relationships. This again opposes the conventions of the country music genre as it is not uncommon for a strong narrative to feature within a music video, in turn providing the audience with an opportunity to develop a connection with the characters.  

The music video challenges conventions of real country music products through the obvious focus on grime genre. I have used entropic images of 'youths' throughout the video in order to provoke thoughts about the underlying meaning and direction of the video. 

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback was essential in improving the video throughout production and provides material for evaluation on the success of the completed product. 


During production I uploaded the first section of the video to the social networking site 'Facebook' in order to get initial feedback and still have time to make alterations depending on the result. 

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

Evaluation

Over the next couple of weeks I will be reflecting on all of my production work.
I will consider how well I stuck to my plan, what worked well and what could be improved. 
I will express this through the use of varied technology with prompts from my target audience. 


Here is a compilation of all my original, production work. The promotional package includes a music video, a digipak design and a magazine advert. 

Finished Video!

We have finally finished our video!

Audience Feedback

We put the first 70 seconds of our video on YouTube and asked for feedback from our target audience.

We asked what they thought so far and what improvements they would like to see.

Liam: The sign for the youth club might be better displayed for a second or two longer and the runner disappeared a little too soon, I would prefer to see where he is going rather than just vanish. other than that I like it just the way it is Hele!

Sophie: Good video Hele! There's a section near the middle where there's about 3 different street shots in a row, maybe they could be shortened/blended into each other more? I like the bits where you fade between shots and the bits with the boys against the wall, looks good!