Maisie Linnane - Question 1

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

I will be analysing my music video using Andrew Goodwin’s ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’’ six point theory. This includes;

1.     Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics.

2.     There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals

3.     There is a relationship between music and visuals

4.     The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work

5.     The is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body

6.     There is often intertexual reference

Andrew Goodwin thinks that all of these are typical conventions of music videos.

I have researched real media products within the same genre as my music video. This has shown me that Andrew Goodwin’s theory is correct as most music videos conform to more than one of his six points.

When looking through other music videos of the same genre it is clear that many of them do follow at least one of Andrew Goodwin’s six points.

An example of a video that follows the first of Andrew Goodwin’s six-point analysis is 50 Cent – Candy Shop. Hip-Hop songs usually include expensive cars, clothes and houses, along with heavy jewellery and alcohol and women portrayed sexually. Most of these elements are visited more that once in this video.

My music video also conforms to this point as typical characteristics of pop videos are that they are colourful, and as we shot outside that brings a lot of colour to the mise-en-scene, as well as costumes. We also use many close-ups of the artist. Another characteristic of pop videos is that they are fun and lighthearted. I think the fun side of our video is shown when the audience can see her running around a park playing hide and seek. Many pop videos also have a narrative, although our video is concept driven in many parts along with performance, there is defiantly an underlying narrative of a relationship.

The second point ‘there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals’ is used amongst all genres of music. Here is an example taken from Rihanna – Umberella. She is holding an umberella as she sings the words ‘umberella’.

My music video has many parts that show a very literal relationship between lyrics and visuals. The first example of this is when the lyric is ‘Stop’ and our artist holds hands up into a stop position. Another example is when the lyrics are ‘or else my heart is going to pop’ and a heart shape is build around her using stop motion and heart shaped sticky notes followed by a heart shaped balloon that pops. The last example that shows a link between the visuals and lyrics is at the end when the lyrics are ‘I want my money back’ and the artist is holding a piece of paper that says ‘I want my money back’ and the paper is passed through split screens.

Andrew Goodwin’s third point in his six-point theory is that is a relationship between music and visuals. An example of this that I found during research was Jay Z – 99 Problems. The whole way through this song shows many cuts, and the majority are in time with the music however at 5 seconds into the song there is a bit where there is a very fast beat and the edits shows this.

My video has examples of this, during the split screen at the end of the video, the stop motion on the bench and also the paper image stop motion as we thought that they all looked much better when in time with the beat of the music rather than the. The majority of all other shots were edited in time with the music as it portrayed a much more professional end media product.

The forth point is that the record label may demand many close ups of the artist and that the artist may develop and motif which will reoccur amongst their work.

I have watched many music videos by Ellie Goulding, as her music is a very similar style/genre to our chosen song.  A theme that I have noticed amongst many of her videos is an element of animation.  There are also many close-ups that help the audience to relate to the artist.

I have many close ups in my music video. I think they help to show the artists personality as a lot of information is given through their facial expressions. 

There is not a motif within my music video as there is only one video, and for a artist to develop a motif it has to show a continuous theme that runs through much of their work, which we was unable to do as we only made one music video. However as we completed an artist profile we realized that a motif she was likely to have would be to have videos or music with a very naturalistic feel to them. For example, we used the park to show this.

My video has a mix of different narrative formats and structures, as it contains some performance as the artist is singing the song. It also contains some conceptual material as some parts have a double meaning (For example, when the artist lets go of the balloon at the end of the video, she is letting go of all her feelings and her relationship which she has been dealing with throughout the song).  However the whole video has a narrative as it is telling the story of her relationship and how she feels about it.

Typical conventional music video techniques are followed through out my music video.  The camera work contains many close up, mid shots and long shots. It does also use some high angle shots to show how the artist is feeling; by having the audience looking down on her, it lets them know that she is feeling sad and not in control of her emotions. The editing is very slow pace and matches with the music, which is typical of this genre. Also the mise-en-scene shows very natural surrounding and indie costumes, which are both, very popular amongst this genre of music. The lighting is very bright but natural; this again is common in pop videos as the mood is always quite happy therefore dark lighting would not match the tone of the video.

We were very much influenced by other music videos of a similar genre but we took time to come up with different ideas that were different to what we had seen. We watched videos by artist such as Ellie Goulding as we think she was the most similar to our style of music/video however we watched videos from Jessie J, Katy Perry and Pixie Lott. We also watched different variations of stop motion videos, as we loved the idea of having stop motion in our video, as it would work well the ideas we had and the style/genre of the song. We wanted to show the conventions of music videos of that genre but did not want it to be the same as something that has already been made. We wanted our video to be unique to us and be something that we could be proud of producing from the research all the way through to post production, and I believe we have achieved this. 

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Georgia Surridge Evaluation Question 4

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


Overall productions

Common websites used for the research & planning of our coursework were Google, Wikipedia & YouTube. These websites were commonly visited as they provided lots of detailed information, which was necessary for our research & planning. For example, Wikipedia was very helpful during the research stages, when we needed to find out characteristics of music videos, music genres & information of artists & albums. As Wikipedia is set out in a clear way it was easy to find the necessary information. You Tube was also very handy. We used this when we researched videos for inspiration & when analysing typical conventions of music videos. Again, this was easy to use as information is labelled & set out clearly, & the videos we needed were easy to find.

Blogger is where we display the work we do in a neat & labelled way so it is easy to find. As we used blogger for our coursework last year, we already had a basic grasp of how to use the website, so it was easy to upload posts & label them into certain categories. We also commonly embedded pictures & videos to the posts, so we needed to know where we could find the embed link on YouTube videos etc. Here are some screen grabs of how blogger has been useful throughout this process:

Video, Magazine & Digipak Production

During the production of our media coursework, we needed a camera & a tripod throughout. We used the tripod provided by the school; they were high quality & easy to use. We also had the option of using a school camera; however we decided to use our own as it allowed us to use it whenever we needed it, rather than needing to rent it out, which led to the possibility of it not being available. The camera we used was also of a higher quality to the school cameras & had more features. A problem we did face however was the lack of memory card space we had. Luckily, I had a lot of spare memory cards to use, but they had little space which meant we constantly needed to swap memory cards to make sure they had enough space. In the end, we ended using approximately 5 different memory cards, so it was often difficult to keep track of what footage was on what memory card & if it had already been imported to the computers. Despite this difficulty, we managed to overcome it by organising the memory sticks & uploading all footage to the computers as quickly as possible so no footage was forgotten or lost. Another issue with the camera was that it ran out of battery quickly. This made it difficult when we were out filming as it would often run out of charge whilst in the middle of filming. This was an irritating occurrence which was not easily overcome, we constantly had to make sure we only kept the camera on at necessary times & shot footage that we had planned & definitely needed. Despite these difficulties, we still managed to film all the shots we wanted, as well as spontaneous shots that we thought looked effective. A final problem that occurred regularely was the time & date being shown on photographs we had taken for stop motion, digipak & the magazine advert. This meant we continually had to use Photoshop to remove the time & date which was time consuming as we didnt want it to affect the quality of the photographs. However, we put in extra time to complete this task & the pictures still looked effective. Here are some photographs of this process;

This is the camera we used during filming: 

Editing Facilities

Programmes we used during the production stages included Photoshop & Final Cut. Photoshop was used continually whilst creating our dikipak, as it was needed to edit pictures & create albums covers, back covers etc. As I already had the basic skills to use Photoshop, I managed to grasp the different features of the programme quite easily; however I did struggle with the more technical aspects. I feel this struggle was overcome once I had completed the digipak as I felt more confident using different tools in the programme due to having so much practice. Another programme used throughout was Final Cut. We used this in our preliminary task where we practiced lip syncing & then made it into a short video. This was a useful task as it allowed us to practice getting lip syncing in time with the music & showed us how quickly cuts have to be made to make the video look interesting. We also had an editing preliminary task where we had to use markers to fit the beat of the music & make the uploaded photos cut to the beat of the music. Again, this was helpful as it allowed us to practice using markers & editing to the time of the beat. As we had used Final Cut in our coursework last year, I already had the basic knowledge of how to use the programme, for example, adding effects & transitions etc. However, this year we needed a high level of skills as we did more technical things in our music video. For example, when we split the screen into four shots & had our performer pass paper through each of these screens. This was quite difficult as we had to line up the different frames perfectly & in time so the paper passed smoothly across the screen.

Here is a screen grab of the editing process of this shot:

The schools equipment did slightly inhibit our ideas as we had some quite ambitious ideas about how we would like to edit our music video. For example, we wanted to put a filter on some of our clips to make them have a cartoon style, however, Final Cut would not allow us to carry this out. Despite this, we still managed to do several technical things with our video such as four split screens, which has been shown in a screen grab above. I believe Photoshop was a useful programme & fulfilled our needs during production. For example, when using stop motion in our film we had to remove the date out of the pictures we had taken. We did this by using the clone tool. It was a long, technical process which needed to be precise to make it look affective. 

Photoshop also slightly inhibited our ideas as we would of liked to do more technical things with our dikipack & magazine advert, but had to simplify our ideas. I believe that despite these difficulties we still managed to produce realistic media products.

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Georgia Surridge Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?


We created a demographic of our target audience which included her name, gender, age, television, magazine & music preferences, hobbies, favourite films, bands & shops; as well as a photograph of what she would look like. Here she is:



This is Alice; she is 19 years old & lives in Brentwood. 

She enjoys watching TV channels such as E4 & Sky Living. In relation to music channels, she watches Viva, 4music, Mtv, The Box & Smash Hits. Her favourite genre of music is Pop/Indie & Indie/Rock.

She typically reads fashion magazines, for example, Vogue, Elle and Look, she also has a Rolling Stones monthly subscription from the US as she is extremely passionate about music. She also reads the film magazine, Empire.

Alice pursues lots of hobbies when she is not studying, for instance, spending time with friends & listening to music on her iPod or on radio stations, XFM, Capital FM & Radio 1. She also likes playing guitar, writing songs, horse riding, jogging & going to festivals such as Virgin Festival & Reading Festival.

Her two favorite films are Juno & Twilight. Ellie Goulding is her best-loved artist & You Me At Six are her favored band.

Shopping centers Alice goes to consist of Lakeside, Bluewater, Westfields & the West End. Her most commonly visited shops are Topshop, Urban Outfitters, River Island, Selfridges, All Saints & New Look, there are also many boutiques and vintage shops in London that she buys lots of her clothes from.

Once we had established our target demographic, this allowed us to carry out research into what their music video preferences were. As Ellie Goulding is a favored artist, we looked at her videos & picked up on key elements, which are targeted at our audience. Such things found were a naturalistic vibe, as well as simple elements, which made the videos effective. They were often conceptual or narratively based. The music video that most inspired me was, ‘Your Song’ – Ellie Goulding. This would be the most similar music video to ours in terms of the themes, mise en scene & locations. We feel this music video also targets the same audience as us, which is why it was so helpful in allowing us to distinguish our audience & helped give ideas for our own music video.

Therefore, elements we used in our video to target our key audience were specific locations. We decided to do a lot of filming in Valentines Park as there were many interesting & varied locations, which were very natural & beautiful, yet simple. For example, the shot below was filmed on a bridge overlooking a small stream, by capturing it from a low angle, this makes the shot interesting, yet it is very simple.

Another element used in our music video to target our audience was the use of costumes. We deliberately chose to use costumes that our target audience would wear, although we exaggerated them so they stood out in the video. It is very common for music videos to exaggerate looks & styles as it makes them interesting & fun to watch. Therefore, we conformed to this common feature of videos, which allowed our music video to be more realistic. Here is an example of a costume we used in our video, that has been exaggerated, which was used to target our key demographic:

As you can see, we exaggerated it by purposely giving her shorts & a cropped top, which contradicts the fact that she is using an umbrella. This makes our character seem slightly strange & quirky, which how we wanted to portray her.

The final element we used to target our audience was the theme of love & freedom. We believed that these things would interest our audience & encourage them to continue watching the video.

I believe that all these elements together make our music video effectively target our audience, however I feel our video is not completely niche, people other than our key demographic will be interested in our video & will enjoy it.

Our audience is asked to put themselves in the position of our main character. The character is often having fun & enjoying herself, which encourages our audience to do so too. Also, she often dressed quite strangely & doing abstract things such as dancing barefoot on a bench, which is shown in the image below:

This shows that our main actor can be seen as a role model as she does not fit the social norms, therefore our audience do not need to try & fit in, and they can embrace who they are. I believe this is a strong, positive message to give our audience allows our audience to feel at ease with the person they are.

We used specific camera techniques to appeal to our audience & allow them to feel certain emotions. For example, we used a high angle shot of our actor sitting on the floor as she sang the lyrics ‘It’s bringing me down’, we specifically chose this type of shot as we wanted our audience to feel empathy for our character.

Once we had completed drafts of our products, we gained audience feedback. This is the feedback we gained from peers after showing them our first rough cut:

• • The first shot was good as it looked simple and pure
  • The lighting in all of our shots were very good
  • They don't like the angle looking down on her as they think it looks as though she is below the viewer.
  • They think that we have understood the idea of the music well
  • They like the settings and think they match the genre of our song
  • They think that it fits all the codes and conventions of the artist
•   Some lip syncing was off but mostly really good with split screen
•   Good effects, enjoyed it
•   Less of the squirrel shot
•  Stop motion was really good
•  Really liked the stop motion & the split screen. The locations were good & fitted well with the song
•  Favourite part was the 'I Want My Money Back' bit (split screens)
•  Do more relating visuals to lyrics
•  Really good ideas, loved the beginning shot
•  Fantastic, have managed to capture a constant atmosphere so far through the film & cover, keep it up with rest of the editing
•  Excellent camera work, covers need developing & advert magazine needed, play with fonts.

After we gained this feedback, we worked upon the areas that recieved more negative feedback & tried to fix them so our video would be more appealing to an audience.


This is feedback we then gained from our second rough cut:

stop motion with bench and heart post-it notes are done well  

the different locations and costumes show how much work has gone into it

although the split screen isnt perfect they thought it looked very good

it makes them want to watch the full completed version

lip syncing was of a high standard

lighting is very good and natural looking

some shots were too long, of performer just singing.

This was the final piece of feedback we were given before we completed our music video.


We then showed our peers our final music video. Overall comments we were given were that the video is of s high standard & is very realistic & professional. The lip syncing is in time well & the stop motion is very effective & precise. Several people also said their favourite shot was the four split screens at the end. To conclude, our audience feedback helped us during the production of our music video as it allowed us to hear an outside view of things that could be improved upon. By making changes to appeal to our audience, in the end, our  music video recieved very positive feedback & comments.


During the production of our digipak & magazine advert, we also gathered audience feedback which helped us to create high quality media products. The audience feedback for our digipak often had similar comments. These included:

• Like the purple colour scheme, goes well with music video style
• The front cover photograph with her blowing our her name is a good idea
• Like how the style is cohesive throughout
• Need to edit picture colours

Here is the audience feedback we recieved for our magazine advert:

• Really like the font & how it is cohesive throughout the digipak & magazine advert
• Like the black & white pictures of the artist against the pink & grey colour scheme
• Looks very realistic
• Need to add a star rating

After recieving this feedback, we went on to complete our magazine advert & dikipak. The final comments on our finished pieces were:

• Looks like real album artwork & magazine adverts
• Like the colour scheme & style which has been used throughout
• Good choice of photographs of the artist
• Would be interested in watching the music video after seeing the dikipak & magazine cover

This positive feedback leads us to believe that we have created realistic final products which target our audience successfully. We used elements which make our products technically similar to real products such as barcodes & star ratings & we kept our genre clear & cohesive throughout.


We believe our music video would be promoted by a major record label as our genre is pop, & is therefore listened to by a large segment of people. We can target many different audiences & we believe it would be popular with different age groups ranging from young children to adults.


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