Jamal Jackson's A2 Media Production Blog

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

Our music video uses similar conventions of a music video through the use of lip syncing as it is found throughout most music videos. We also made the main artist the focus of the music video as most of the shots contain the artist in them, we have done this because the music video is about the artist so having him is most of the shots in (his) music video adheres to the typical conventions of a generic rap music video. Our music video uses similar conventions of a narrative music video as it has a beginning, middle and end, and it follows a linear structure. Generic camera work is also used throughout the video as it uses similar conventions of a typical music video, this means abstract shots are purposely not used. We have developed the conventions of typical music videos as we see the artist performing to an audience in his own music video, which makes it a narrative/performance hybrid video. The music video follows lyrics to create a narrative, an example of this is through the use of the stop motion shot of a glass of orange juice being filled up, we did this during the lyric ‘pour me up a glass of simply orange’. We also developed the conventions of a typical rap music video by using the male artist to sing the chorus, as in conventional rap music, the artist (if male) hardly sings the chorus to his own song. We also developed the conventions of a typical rap music video by including a narrative to a genre that is mostly performance based as we followed the lyrics to give us an idea on what the story is about.

Our music video challenges a lot of the typical conventions of a generic rap music video as although our artist is a young black male, he does not dress provocatively with the use of sleeveless shirts and baggy jeans. The artist also conveys a positive message which broadens the appeal target audience to a higher age and even females. The music video challenges the typical conventions of a generic rap video by having a smooth jazz beat piano as the main beat to the song which also sounds like it is a live instrument, this challenges the typical conventions of rap music because a lot of their beats are computer generated. Our artist challenges the typical conventions of an ordinary rap artist not only through his image, but through his lyrics, the artist in our music video does not swear and he conveys a positive message which is making today better than yesterday. Most generic rap music videos are about the artist showing off their possessions, such as money, cars and females, as our music video conveys a positive message we do not show off any of the artist’s possessions. In one of our shots in the music video we use a point of view (P.O.V) shot to give the audience the artists prospective of the scene, this challenges the typical conventions of a generic rap music video as the artist is usually in front of the camera and showing off. Having a P.O.V shot in our music video almost belittles the artist as brings him to the audience’s level and is not about him flaunting his success.

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

We Designed the CD cover and magazine print advert to go with the music video. The CD cover is an image of the artist looking over a river at the city while resting his arms on a bannister, I chose this image because it shows the opportunity that the artist is looking at and it gives the artist and the audience a sense of hope. The location of the CD cover also matches the location of one of the scenes in our music video, this was done purposely. The artist is also wearing the same hoodie in the CD cover as he does in the music video. The artist’s hoodie is burgundy, so I decided to make the title and the artists name match the colour of his hoodie so it connects the artist and the title, this also lets the audience know that the artist is the person in the picture. The pose that the artist doing in the CD cover is mellow and not aggressive which matches his personality and challenges the idea of a typical rap artist as it is generally quite an aggressive genre. The urban setting we have used in the front cover signifies the genre as rap culture is urban and fairly modern. The fact that the artist is on one side of the river looking over at the city which is on the other side of the river could show that there is a division in society as he is looking at the opportunities in the city as he is coming from the ‘ghetto’. The fact that the artist has a backpack on suggests that he is on a journey to the city and the audience can follow him on the journey as it invites the audience to go with him. The buildings represent the future, as the artist wants to be there in the future, also relates to a line in the lyrics. The cd cover could be improved to relate to female audiences more through a change of colour in the sky to make it more feminine. The combination of the music video and the CD cover and magazine cover is very effective as they both relate to each other and everything is done with a purpose which is to sell the artist’s mellow character and to convey a positive message to the people.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback so far and how could you develop your audience research in the future?

During our audience feedback we showed them the music video and the cd cover with the magazine cover and the general feedback was positive, the music video related to the lyrics and conveyed a positive message to the audience which was to make today better than yesterday and the cd cover related to the music video. A few things were pointed out to us which involved making the stop motion images of the glass go in time with the beat which would add to the continuity editing which would further represent the linear narrative. A different type of audience feedback was used before the music video was created which was Vox pops, I did this so I could inform some people of the ideas we had as a group about the music video and what it would consist of, the feedback from that was positive and they gave me ideas I could bring back to the group, one of the ideas was to show the city in the background of the CD cover as it represents opportunity. We also did a questionnaire before we had an idea of what the music video was going to be about, the questionnaire was used to find out what percentage of people listen to rap music and how many of them watch music videos, this information was useful as gave us the knowledge of what people like and find entertaining in music videos and what they dislike. We also asked them what they would expect to see in a generic rap music video, the answers were mainly showing off cars and money which is what we had gone on to challenge. In the future I plan to create another set of Vox pops, I plan to show them the music video and ask them what they think of it and if there is anything they would improve on, I will also show them the cd cover and the magazine print and get their opinion on it. Another thing we are going to do in the future is to upload the music video to YouTube and then send it around to different people and get their opinion on it so we can get as much feedback as possible.

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

New media technologies were used throughout the process of creating the media product and ancillaries. During the research and planning stages we used a camera to take pictures and get ideas on different shots we would use during the music video, we also used the camera and tripod to film our Vox pops. Most of the planning was done on a computer which allowed us to create spreadsheets of timetables which made filming a lot easier and less time consuming. For research and planning we used google drive to create a questionnaire which gave us information on what audiences know about rap videos and what we could use from it. After we had sent out the questionnaire I used a software called Adobe Photoshop to create an audience profile of the type of people that would listen to rap music and the sort of things they would do in life, during this; I used google images to get images off of the internet to put on my audience profile. During the construction stages I used Adobe Photoshop again to create the cd cover which included the front cover, back cover and inlay sleeves, Photoshop was also used to create the magazine print advert. During the construction stages we used a camera and tripod to film the music video which was then uploaded to the computer and edited on Adobe Premier. After the editing was finished the music video will be uploaded to YouTube which is website that allows you to watch videos. The video will be uploaded to YouTube during the evaluation stages which makes it easier to show people and generate more audience feedback. During the research and planning, construction and evaluation process of creating a music video and ancillaries, every step was/will be uploaded/recorded to blogger which is a website that is similar to a diary as you can record your day by typing or uploading pictures and videos.