EVALUATION

(To hear audio commentary, click both play buttons, and lower audio on video.)

1)In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media projects?

Our media project used the convention of stereotypes shown often in real media projects to portray the image of “nerds” and “greasers”, similar to that of Weezer's music videos.



The media project also illustrates some parts of the lyrics, such as “we came for seconds and thirds” and “we like chasing butterflies, and watching birds”. However, most of the video amplified rather than illustrated, following a vague narrative that appeared more structured at the start and end of the video than in the middle, but still made sense when combined with the song itself.


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

I believe that the combination is successful due to the variety of nerd-related images used in the poster and digipak designs. While one of the first scenes in the video is also displayed in the ancillary texts, there are pictures displayed on the digipak that could have done with improvement to make it better relate to scenes or lyrics in the video rather than representing the overall theme. However, I believe that the combination still looks effective in my eyes. The theories and general rules that Andrew Goodwin describes closely matches that of our video, such as the guidelines (See Section 1).


3)What have you learned from your audience feedback?



From our audience feedback we received some positive results as well as some constructive criticism. A large majority of those questioned thoroughly enjoyed the video and commented that it portrayed the images and references we intended to do, so overall I believe we achieved what we set out to do. However, there were obviously aspects of the video that needed to be improved. From the video of the feedback (shown above) and the other audience feedback results it was determined that the costumes for the nerds and greasers, while relevant and got the image across, they weren't realistic or properly suited to the 50's era, due to the paper bow ties and the fact that one nerd had piercings which didn't match the 50's nerd stereotype. Again, the 50's theme was another thing that needed to be improved in locations, as while we tried to get permission to film in a 50's themed diner, we were unable to get permission which meant we had to film in locations like a park. If we could do this again, I would make sure that we did have locations that would suit the 50's theme, such as that of a diner or an American college.


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



We used a variety of new media technologies in the production of our music video. During the research stages we used the internet to gather information and inspiration in the form of images and that of YouTube to study existing music videos, also used during the evaluation stage for comparison.



We also used Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel during our research, planning and evaluation, to study feedback and information, and to arrange our work to be placed on Blogger, which is also another website we used, as can be seen.



During the construction of the video we used the X-12 camera for filming, along with specialist equipment such as a "steady cam" to keep some shots stable while moving.



We also used software during editing such as Adobe Premiere, combined with Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to add some special effects to the video and also for use in producing the poster and digipak.