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

The entire process of creating our product and ancillary tasks, including planning, research and evaluation, we used media technology. One example of this is the questionnaire that we used, in order to gain public feedback on how we should construct our music video.

The main aspect of media technologies we used in the research and planning stages was this blog. It allows us to gather information, images, audio files and videos and organize them into one place, utilizing the internet for research. Production of the video was also explicit in using media technology, realizing the amount of different technologies we used; Firstly, we filmed the principal photography using a HD camera, recording onto DV tape and then using the Apple Mac’s to edit on using the software Final Cut. As production stages, this was the technology we used, ranging from cameras to editing software. In editing, we cut together all the footage that we had and put effects, such as the kaleidoscope effect, over the footage to create the hallucinogenic feel as one of the conventions of the music genre. We also utilized Photoshop as we needed to edit the images for our Ancillary Tasks i.e. putting the prism logo on the poster.

Lastly YouTube is a form of Media 2.0 technology that we used, allowing us to get our final edited music video to reach a wider audience and also broadcasting in a  way that would not be possible without modern media technology.

Question 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After the music video was finished we showed the product to a few people in order to get some feedback on how well they thought it accomplished what we set out to do. These are a few of the responses we got:

Joe (18): I really enjoyed the music video, it had some really cool shots and had a great sense of emotion. I really felt that kaleidoscope effects helped to give it a heightened intensity, adding to the emotion. The sequence with his girlfriend coupled with the anger gave a clear impression toward the intended emotional ideas of grief and depression. Over all I feel like that narrative suited the emotion of the song perfectly, even with its lack of lyrics. 

Jacob (18): After watching the music video, it was not what I was expecting. Not having heard much of Pink Floyd's music, I was not expecting to find such emotional power. My expectancies were to find meaningless references to drug culture, something which is synonymous with the psychedelic genre, however, the underlying tones of grief and depression really shone through, as it played on my preconceptions. 

Sara (45): Having grown up during the 70s when Pink Floyd would have been at their peak, I can’t say I ever listened to much of their music but I thought that the video helped to bring across the pain that was in the lyrics and the sound. I did think that the focus would be on drugs too much, but the vivid colours and kaleidoscopic effects worked well in order to create a state of mind that this man is obviously going through.

Steve (16) : I really felt that the combination of your video and your CD artwork worked extremely well. They make great reference to each other, and both the poster and the CD are aesthetically pleasing, so I would definitely pick this off a shelf. Despite not having a huge knowledge of Pink Floyd, I instantly recognised the prism logo, and believed this worked extremely well coupled with the dilapidated house. This gave me a great interest of what was likely to appear within the video.

I learned from doing audience feedback that the use of kaleidoscopic and psychedelic effects worked better than I thought it would and that people seemed to realise the themes that we were trying to express through the visuals. Matching the visuals and the intensity of the music at the same pace seemed to strike a chord with the audience members. That Jacob found that there weren’t meaningless drug references, as he had feared, greatly relieved me as I felt that this was one factor that would be a problem with the product. Steve instantly recognising the prism logo from Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ album also convinced me that we’d made the right choice in including it on the ancillary task as a direct reference to the institution, because it is so iconic.

Attempting to get a range of ages in the feedback also, Sara’s comment that the kaleidoscopic effects worked in introducing the protagonist’s problem also pleased me, in case this was unclear. His state of stability, mentally, is deteriorating and that this was recognisable is, I think, successful on behalf of the product.

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

After completing the music video, we had to decide how to form a Digipak that would be successfully distributed to the consumers. This needed to fulfil the conventions of our genre of music as well as clarifying exactly what our product was and how we needed to market it.

Pink Floyd had originally called the song ‘The Mortality Sequence’ and intended the song to focus on the theme of death and loss. As Pink Floyd are such a worldwide, influential band, we felt that we should include them as an institution and image in the ancillary tasks. Therefore, with the front cover, we introduced the font they used for the ‘The Wall’ album and, in relation to the themes of death throughout the song, layered a faded skull on top to represent the theme of death. I felt that this worked quite well, as we referenced Pink Floyd, whose music is clearly a large influence on the way we structured our narrative for our video, and effectively marketed the song as a song about death and the struggle people have with this. This is indicated through the image of our protagonist, huddled in a corner, with the layered skull almost looming over him.

To add to this, the back cover is, I think, ineffective to an extent in portraying the themes of the song. It does present the idea of loneliness and decay, with a house falling apart in the middle of nowhere, but it isn’t explicit enough. However, it does relate to our video, as this is the house where the protagonist lives and in this respect it effectively takes a part that is unique to the video and brands it with the Pink Floyd signature written across the wall. This effectively references both Pink Floyd and the video.

The poster/insert is fairly similar in that it doesn’t make a direct link to death, but it does have some aspects that mark it out as an effective partner to the main product; firstly, the use of the prism from Pink Floyd’s album The Dark Side of the Moon, which directly references the institution. This also has the ray of light obscured by the trees, showing that there is no happiness in his world since the girl died. Secondly, it again strongly presents the idea of isolation and dilapidation in the building, which is reflected through the character’s anger and upset.

Overall, I think that the ancillary tasks complement the main product fairly well, helping to evoke the themes of loss, isolation, death and also referencing fully the institution that we got our song from, Pink Floyd.

Evaluation: 1. How does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products

Final piece: 'The Great Gig in the Sky' - Pink Floyd

Poster

Back Cover