ALEX HUMPHREY'S MEDIA BLOG

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

The genre of my chosen song, albeit a more mellow choice of the bands work, is of a hard rock/metal styling. The video uses typical minimal lighting that is common of heavier genre, due to budgets, the ideal execution would've been using a black light to give the video a darker feeling. The development of conventions in my product is apparent in my setting. Many bands choose to have a video of them performing, to a crowd, as part of a storyline or individually purely for video purposes. A route less travelled in the performance choice of music video is that of one in a practise area/recording area. This development is both through choice and to give a more realistic presentation of a band in this style. To not bite off more than I can chew the realism of performing in a garage is true to a band that have both made it and far more bands still waiting for a big break. The representation I've given my fictional band is that they are past starting out and have actually committed themselves to being a band through career choice. There is challenge of forms in this product, the video is very obviously a garage, and has things you'd generally find in one. There has been attempts to mask this but through both the low budget of my production and that a band would spend more of their limited time to actually have a video and their limited budget on instruments or travelling to concerts. My media product has usage, development and challenging of forms with a sense of realism that a small, grassroots band would utilise in starting up to identify themselves as a thought out, statement expressing band.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The artwork is definitely able to correspond with the video, it continues the low fi, grassroots ideals and mentality of the band as it is noticeably not a high budget attempt and all photos are of typical and natural things and has been airbrushed minimally. With the magazine advert, the theme is carried over from the artwork. many photos are used again and resized corresponding with my idea to rearrange the artwork for the magazine advert. The various and loosely related aspects of the artwork and magazine, I feel, go well with the video, which in turn is the collection of various aspects of performing, rehearsing, recording and writing a song.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
After collecting 23 various responses through a poll website, youtube comments and collecting in class I feel I have been indicated some of the major problems of my video but due to my audience not having the same musical taste as me I feel some of it may have been because of their disliking of the song. After hearing that people has asked classes of year 7-11s and the general vague response and lack of substance in their response I chose not to ask said people. I used social networks to present it to those who actually listen to the band. Some responded and the general consensus is that it is at parts poorly edited and that characters should be expanded which to me was much better than what my friends had said in a more than likely, softened blow of a response. I learned that, facing the opportunity to make a music video again, I would consider the same idea because rock audiences, especially of a more underground, prefer the DIY aspect I've explored, mainly because it gives people a spark of hope and enthusiasm to do it themselves. I feel that the main problem with my video based on feedback is that I needed a full band as people weren't convinced that it was a two man band. This is completely valid as thrice are a four man band with occasional touring members and that I didn't inform or make it clear a full band was only touring or anything to move away from the idea that only two people are in the band.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The internet was my predominant tool in the research and planning stages. I've been listening to Thrice for four - five years and was first introduced to them via playstation game and later learned more via the web. The idea of my video was based on an hour of watching music channels and what aspects could be imitated in a low budget (I went for the more alternative channels, NME,Kerrang,Q and scuzz) as I didn't think many mainstream pop artists would be on a low budget for their videos. By seeing that many rock bands opt for performance I had my idea in motion. I planned and introduced my video through this very website as well as google docs for the actual presentation. When making the video I downloaded some free software to use in the video to show the recording aspect and living in a very musical home, I had all my props to hand. I used various websites on tips to the editing process as I had a hard time trying to match motion to lyrics at some points and had to find a way of brightening my video without whitening everything as many parts were a tad to dark. For evaluation I tried to get real Thrice fans to watch and review my video through youtube comments, posting on tumblr under the thrice tag in hope people may see it and through asking my twitter followers. I also found that using an anonymous polling website meant people could voice their opinions with less restriction as with my friends, I assumed they found it hard to properly criticise it to my face.