Work Brief

For our A2 Media Studies Coursework our task was to use a song from a unsigned artist based in the Uk to create a final music video and a set of ancillary texts that included a Cd cover (front and back) an inlay along with a print advertisement.

Final Music Video

Final Print Advertisement

Final Cd Covers and Inlays

Media Evaluation:Question One

Media Evaluation: Question Two

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

As a group I believe we have created an effective brand rather than separate pieces of work. I say this because when taking into consideration the design of every element of our products they resemble and replicate the genre we were trying to initially portray. We did this through the choice of costume, keeping it similar and thinking about the connotation the costume may have. We also created branding around the performer we decided to use, as we wanted our performer to look somewhat stereotypical but at the same time challenge some of the stereotypes through the way they are presented in the video.

When it comes to selling our artist it has become evident we have tried to target our audience directly by using and developing some of the conventional ideas that run with the genre of Rap. However we have also made our artist appeal to others through our design elements making the products easy to market and advertise. Collectively the choices that we made for our main product and ancillary texts have an effect on audience appeal and the attempt to sell our artist. In my opinion I feel the artist we have created will be one that our targeted age range of mainly males will find easy to relate to, especially if they take the role of an active audience member creating music themselves. I say this as the artist we have formed doesn't portray the typical luxury lifestyles associated with rap that involves the materialistic side to the career, but chooses to show the ambition routed within a rap career. This lessens the boundaries that are usually in place between an artist and an audience member; this is a factor I believe heightens audience appeal.

There is also the overall consistency that runs through the ancillary tasks keeping the colours similar and representing our genre to the best of our ability. Main images and typography for us proved to be key when doing this as again we wanted our branding to appear strong. This has helped our group produce an artist that seems three dimensional in the sense where you see the fun side present on the inlay and in the video where a lot of the time he is captured smiling or laughing but a more serious side which is present on the main image of the Cd cover.

Within the industry at this current time there is a market of young artists similar to the one we have created that are thriving due to the support they receive from many well known institutions. Well known radio stations and popular music channels dedicate time to promoting artists to their audiences labelling them ‘upcoming artist’ or ‘fresh music’. Saying this if this track was to be shown I feel TV channels such as Channel Aka, an underground music channel that focuses on mainly UK talent would be one of the ongoing promoters of this track as they have become the channel for artists that want to produce and promote UK rap, this is what their audience watch the channels to see. There is also the chance that Mtv Base a very well known channel would have this song and video featured on their ‘Official UK Urban Chart’ this is a chart that features many UK rap artists that are fairly unknown.

Although we were successful when creating the combination of our main product and ancillary texts there is room for the poster to portray our intentions in more depth, as i believe the other products we produce strongly link in with the branding however the simplicity of the poster could be misread by our audience who may not be able to find any direct link.

Media Evaluation: Question Three

What have you learnt from audience feedback?

Audience Feedback 

After collecting audience feedback i feel we have clearly created portrayed the three dimensional artist we wished to create. I say this because we received comments on how the artist was portrayed in the video and also how the ancillary texts we created did not typically represent the rap genre. for us this meant we were successful in creating an image that was appealing to all.

With this being said we made improvements to our poster adding purple as it is present on the Cd covers in an attempt to link the texts through their design.

Teacher feedback

during the productions stages of working we received feedback from our teacher in various areas that had an impact on the final work we produced, these areas include:

• Capturing Footage: After filming and capturing as a group we had to go through the process of sorting through the footage we had collected. Using the feedback gained from our teacher we were able to focus on aspects such as framing and lighting to ensure we were effectively selecting footage.
• Portraying our genre: As a group we had to create a poster each before coming to a final decision as to which would be the design we used. To come to a decision we took feedback from peers and also our teacher who communicated the idea that the colour scheme would be important on the poster, when it came to representing our genre. From this we were able to create a new poster with a simple design that used the images to represent our genre.

Media Evaluation: Question Four

Music Video Story Board

Video Shoot: Techinical Equitment Used

To successfully shoot our video to the best of our ability we will need use the following technical equipment:

• Tripod
• Handheld Video Camera
• Green Screen
• Photography Camera
• Lighting Sets
• Steady Cam

Record Label Logo

This is the final idea for the record label logo, this is an important part of creating a feel for our artist's background because whilst the idea of 'grime' isn't mainstream our design is not explicit meaning it makes way for other music genres and doesn't single our artist out to one specific audience type.

Teacher Feedback

Kharis, your previous target is yet to be met re. evidence of editing. In addition, you must now pull out all the stops to work with your group to finish the prodcution work to a high standard before the deadline.

Teacher Feedback

Kharis, well done for meeting your teacher targets in regards to evidence of work in progress. You will now need to take screen shots of editing work at least weekly with a commentary as to what has worked well and what needs to be done to improve the video.

Vox Pops!



This is audience feedback on our choosen track 'Dreamsville' by TomTripp, that can be viewed below.

Working Progress: Poster

 

Working Progress: CD Inlay

 

Teacher Feedback

Kharis you have made good headway with the ancillary work - well done! in order to achieve your teacher target grade, you now need to work with your team to ensure the video shoot is completed as a matter of priority.