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

Throughout our campaign, I believe we have maintained a clear image and theme. Our main aim was to create an indie, gritty, working class product what had a clear influence of the 80's, The Smiths therefore were an ideal band and made this concept work and flourish. Our images within the photo-shoot were taken within the bike sheds of our college, this produced a set of urban, working class themed images what we could then use throughout our digipak. We used the bike shed shots on our website (the header and footer) as well as our CD cover, inside and out. The theme of the bike sheds and working class culture stretched right across our project and was really a grounding for our work. All the images were made to look vintage throughout the work of photoshop, having the same effect on each and every photo created continuity and a definite professional feel to our digipak. Our CD cover and website have both subtle and clear conventions, from the imagery to the fonts, we used the same fonts throughout the whole project to show each piece belonged and was part of a wider campaign. The theme of vintage, retro, indie, working class culture has definitely been evident throughout the project, our target audience I believe is reached throughout our whole work and we are proud of what we've both achieved.

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

I speak from the start till around 4:12.

Enjoy!

Question Three: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To gather audience feedback, we made both peers and strangers watch our film, we then asked them to fill out a questionnaire which aimed to gather a clear view of what others thought of our film (see above).  The general feedback was positive, people spoke of a clear and effective narrative which complimented the performance. People also seemed to be fond of particular scenes, the shots in the pub and certain aspects of the performance, this was great to hear and we were really happy happy with the general feedback. The general criticism's were that there was little variety of shots within the performance and there was also a distinctive lack of transitions, these points are fair and understandable however we did avoid transitions to fall into any cliches and keep our video professional. Another issue was with the lighting, people seemed to think it was dark and unclear, this was a fair point and we have took this criticism on board. Unfortunately the final product was final and therefore once we had completed it we had met the deadline and were unable to change our production. Meaning we couldn't apply our criticisms and create a better/more appealing film what would meet the desires of our peers. However I don't think we would have changed much anyway as we are both very happy with the outcome of the video. I find the audience feedback fair and understandable however I do not agree with everything what was said (lack of transitions), however everybody is entitled to their own opinion and overall the learning experience and genuine fun during the creation of our media product was worthwhile and useful.

Question One: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music videos?

 

                                             The Smiths - There is a light that never goes out

Oasis - Wonderwall

Within our video, we have aimed to both follow and conflict with existing conventions of the indie genre. As you can see in "There is a light that never goes out" video, there are clear similarities to our video. The video aims to create a gritty, urban feel with an evidently British concept. Shots are primarily based around the city, which is what we also aimed for in our video. The Smiths video's all consistently revolve around there roots and have a very British working class influence, this is evident as there locations tend to be within estates consisting of terraced housing. We took on this idea and aimed to keep the shots within urban areas. We decided to follow these conventions as even though we aimed to contradict the lyrics, we thought keeping the secure, British style of The Smiths would show our understanding of the genre and our ability to read and mirror the conventions of the "indie" style. Obvious ways in which we followed conventions are that we used a full band in an urban setting, a house party. This therefore appeals to our target/teenage audience. In our video as you can see above, you see the main character traipsing the streets, visiting the pub and smoking through a vandalized subway, all aiming to reflect his roots, express his british culture and really fulfill The Smiths iconography. 

However following the conventions and style of The Smiths and indie genre, we also aimed to contradict the lyrics and play around with the concept of the title, "This Charming Man". We based our character on somebody who wouldn't traditionally be seen to listen to The Smiths. Our protagonist is a working class "chav" who goes against the idea of a charming man. Stealing, smoking and being rude are his key traits and are literally the opposite of the concept of the song. This adds both a comic and deeper value to the song, also making it slightly more interesting then sticking to the genre and making it less tedious. 

We did not exactly use and apply postmodern ideas within our video, however we aimed to use modern social technology by displaying content from the ever expanding social networking site Facebook. This therefore will appeal to our target audience who will recognize and instantly relate to the reference. This is a form of intertextuality, as we are utilizing another media form for our media form. This can be seen as developing conventions for our particular genre. Within the days of The Smiths and other bands like The Cure, Rolling Stones and other classic bands, the key to promoting there bands was through flyers and word of mouth. We acknowledged this idea and thought of how bands marketed and promoted themselves in a postmodernist society. We then decided that it would only be appropriate that we show this transition of technology and promotion within our video.