Final Draft Ancillary

This is the final draft for our Ancillary task. We are pleased with the outcome due to the fact that it has followed the conventions of a pop ancillary task and all images correspond well with each other. 

Our advertisement shows all three members of the group in a mid shot. Myself and Libby are leaning on Maddie's back facing one another whilst Maddie is facing towards the camera. The fact that we are all touching one another reflects the idea of a close bond within the group. Furthermore, we are pulling different facial expressions. Maddie is smiling, Libby is pouting and my mouth is open. This connotes the idea of different personalities within the group and their unique characteristics is what keeps them closely bonded. For our costume we chose to wear typical girly clothing, we wore skirts, blouses and jewellery in order to aim towards the most appropriate target audience. For location we chose the dance studio we wanted a plain background so that the band would stand out and would be the emphasis of the photo. Additionally, the dance studio has a lot of space and so we were able to experiment different shots, long and close. For our band name we chose a girly, pink, hand-writing like font to reflect the femininity within the group. However, for the name of the album and other information we chose a pink, serif font to create the idea that the band are serious about the music and the outlook that it has. We included a website, a Twitter logo, a Facebook logo and the logo of our record company and this seemed a necessary convention. We then increased the brightness and saturation of the image to result in a more vibrant outcome. 

Our CD cover shows six different images: all three members lying on grass, clouds, a pair of patterned heels, a flower, a blouse with hair showing on the left and a blouse with hair showing on the right. We wanted our CD cover to reflect our concept of colour and we also wanted to introduce a clear theme of nature. We felt it was necessary for all three members to be on the front cover as, through our research, we found that all pop artists use this convention. As a result of this image, we chose our back image to be clouds. This was to create the idea that the girls were looking up into the clouds which connotes the idea of a stereotypical girl staring up into the sky and day dreaming. We then chose the image of a pair of heels to create the idea of femininity and fashion. We then positioned the heels on grass to link back to the theme of nature. Additionally, we chose an image of a flower to reinforce the idea of nature. We took a variety of different images to fill in the last two spaces of our CD cover however we chose the two images of different blouses as we wanted something bright and vibrant. In regards to font, we chose the same girly, hand-writing like font that we had used for our advertisement as we felt it was very successful and then for the rest of the information, such as the list of songs on the back and the message to our fans we used a more serious font so it could be easier to read. 

Final Draft Music Video

 

Amie Libby Charlie Feels So Good. from Amie Brady on Vimeo.

This is the final draft for our music video.

The meaning of our music video is the idea that a friendship is the strongest form of bond and our concept is colour. Our music video features a number of different locations including London, park, bedroom and green screen. Location change is a main convention within pop music videos such as Atomic Kitten- It's Ok and Miley Cyrus- Party in the USA. We are shown in a number of different costumes such as disco pants, crop tops and skinny jeans. Costume change is another main convention within pop music videos as it is seen clearly in Little Mix-Move.

4. How did we use media technologies in research, planning and construction?

Media technologies are the objects or software that you use in order to create a type of media. We used a large variety of media technologies due to the fact that it was both necessary and we wanted to challenge ourselves. Some media technologies we had already used such as the camera, the tripod and Photoshop. However, Adobe Premier Pro and the green screens were new to us and so we had to work as a team to use them correctly and successfully. 

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

Our music video is a conventional pop music video and so in order for it to be conventional we had to research other pop music videos. We researched and analysed a number of pop music videos, including Little Mix- Move, Sugababes-Push the button and The Saturdays-Up.  We decided, as a group, which conventions worked most successfully and which were necessary and incorporated this into our own music video. 

 

Similarly, our ancillary task if conventional of other pop ancillaries. In order for it to be both conventional and successful we researched other pop ancillaries. We researched and analysed Little Mix and Atomic Kitten's CD covers and Nina Nesbitt's and Taylor Swift's advertisement. Then, as we had done with the music video, as a group, we decided which conventions would work most successfully and attract our target audience of teenage girls. 

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

Our main product is a pop music video showing three girls performing to song 'Feels so Good' by Atomic Kitten. Our Ancillary text consists of a an advertisement and cd cover. Our advertisement shows Maddie leaning over and the other two leaning on Maddie as we wanted to show the connection within the group, furthermore all the girls are pulling different facial expressions this could reflect their unique personalities within the group. Our cd cover focuses primarily on colour and nature. It shows all three girls lying on the grass, an image of the clouds, an image of a vibrant flower, an image of a pair of brightly patterned heels and  an images of two brightly coloured blouses. 

We wanted to effectively show the combination of our main product and ancillary texts due to the fact that they needed to relate as they were for the same song and same concept. We focused on colour, fashion, nature and the bond of friendship in both tasks. 

           

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

FIRST DRAFT FEEDBACK

                                                               

     FINAL DRAFT FEEDBACK

       

This video reflects the views and opinions of the audience. We chose five different individuals, four males and one female, between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. We chose this particular age group because we wanted to portray our target audience of teenagers. Receiving feedback is a key concept within finalizing a music video due to the fact that the producers, or in our case our group, want to know about what they have successfully achieved and what they can improve on in the future. 

From our audience feedback, we learnt a numerous amount of things such as things we need to improve on and things that went well.  Before choosing who we were going to ask we first had to decide what questions we were going to ask. The questions needed to be appropriate and not too detailed in order to get a range of answers. We wanted to know what the audience liked about our music video? Whether the bright colours and mise en scene corresponded with the rest of the video well? Whether we were conventional of other girl pop bands? And what we could improve on? 

Through our feedback, we learnt that favourite sections of the music video included the slow motion jump, the choreographed dance and movements such as the kick and the cutaways within London. Additionally, we learnt that our bright colours and use of costumes allowed to audience to visually realise that it was a pop music video. Another thing we learnt was that the audience felt that our music video and presentation of the members of the group were conventional of other pop bands. We believed that this was successful feedback due to the fact that we wanted to portray a conventional and stereotypical female pop band. Our final question involved finding out what we could improve on and our audience feedback taught us that we could use a more variety of angles and more enthusiasm within the performance. 

Construction Day: Ancillary Task

Whilst editing we have also had to focus on our ancillary task. Our ancillary task is made up of a cd cover and advert design. We decided as a group that both our CD cover and advert design should be bright, colourful and vibrant due to the fact that we are aiming to be a stereotypical teenage girl pop band. 

For the CD cover, we wanted to focus primarily on the idea of nature and the brightness and colour that is portrayed within nature. We chose the image of us three lying on the grass and facing up towards the camera due to the fact that it is from an interesting angle and we convey an interesting shape. Additionally all our hair is linked together which could suggest our close friendship and bond with one another. We then chose the font 'Fiolex girls' due to the fact that it was in a neat, feminine handwriting.  For our back cover we chose an image that Libby had taken whilst on a plane. It shows the sky and a large amount of clouds. We chose this as our back cover to create the idea that this is what we were looking at in the front cover. We then chose an image of a pair of bright, patterned heels against the green grass this suggests femininity.

For the second cover we wanted to choose another image of all the band. However, this time from a mid shot angle. We were unsure about which image but decided on an image from London. We then edited the image on 'Pic monkey' and created a pink background and positioned white faded hearts on top of the background. This created a girly outlook.

To finish the second cover we needed to find an image in which we were going to place the cd on top of and an image that would be positioned next to it. For the CD position we chose an image of a flower due to the fact that it was in a similar shape to a CD and corresponded well with the rest of the CD cover and linked well to nature. For the other image we chose a patterned top due to the fact that it was bright and the idea of clothes and 'going shopping' links well with a teenage girl lifestyle.

For the advert design we wanted to create the idea of three girls becoming one as a result of a friendship. Moreover, we focused on the idea that each three girls had different characteristics but that is what made them bond. So we set up a photo shoot against a white backdrop. Once taking the image we experimented with Photoshop and edited the brightness, contrast and saturation.