Evaluation Q4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation Q3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We uploaded the video to Facebook, in order to get some audience feedback from other users. Generally people liked the video; however, there were one or two criticisms. The fact that someone had said the phone number idea wasn’t very clear made me think that we could have illustrated this in a much better way. Our initial plan was to have someone giving the main character the number at the beginning of the film, however due to complications with filming we never managed to get the shot. I think if we had done this, it would have shed light on the whole idea of the video, however I quite like the way that by not including this, the narrative of the video is slightly ambiguous. In addition to this, the way that (as noticed by Paul Waiting) we made sure the moment that he picked up the phone the sample of the girls voice comes in gives the audience a clue as to who the number belongs to.

Another comment was that the editing was slightly slow in parts, so we lost the energy of the song. I would agree with this and I think had we the chance to do it again, it would work better if the cutting rate had increased at the time that the song became louder and more energetic. I think when editing the video, we were more concerned with the narrative and almost lost sight of the relationship with the music unless it drove the story forward. I think this also led to the point made that there perhaps wasn’t as much footage of the band as there could be, however many music videos of a similar genre don’t feature the band at all, so I think this could be really down to personal preference.

We also carried out a focus group within our media class and got feedback from our classmates. Comments from them were all very positive and examples included; ‘The dissolves worked really well’, ‘The split screen in conjunction with the colour and monochrome really helps to separate the narrative from the band performance’, ‘The narrative of the following of the thread is really engaging and the video is edited very well as a whole’. Another aspect that was mentioned was that we had made use of Barthe’s ‘hermaneutic’ or ‘enigma’ code very well in the sense that there are many questions that arise in the audience’s mind in response to watching the video such as ‘who’s number is that?’, and ‘where is this thread leading?’.

Evaluation Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

We tried to make our package work as a whole by ensuring that there was a running theme throughout. The overall theme of ‘blue’ (background of advert and digi-pack, and a recurring colour within the video itself – mug, bed clothes, sweater) references the nickname ‘the blue album’ which fans coined the album shortly after its release, as well as tying the three new products together.

There are many clear links between the digi-pack and the magazine advert. The way the album artwork is featured on the advert means that if a consumer were to see the advert they would be able to easily identify the album within a shop and because of the rating included on the advert (***** - Q) will be more encouraged to buy it (the Two-Step Flow Model). By doing this, we have stuck to the conventions of existing products as many other bands do this, for example Nirvana - using the swinning baby from the covewr of Nevermind on their tour poster, and R.E.M who also depicted the cover of their album Green on an advertisment. These album covers and posters are featured below. In addition to this, we have used the traditional ‘Weezer font’ of Century Gothic on both the digi-pack and advert – meaning that it is obvious to the audience and fans that the album is a Weezer product.

We decided to make the artwork of the album fairly song specific to The Sweater Song – including a photograph of an unravelling sweater and ‘sweater texture’ as the background of a number of the panels (all blue to maintain the brand image) - as we had seen a number of albums that also use this technique (Jens Lekmans’ Night Falls over Kortedala – featuring the artist having a haircut which reflects the lyrics in the song Shirin and The Pixies’ Doolittle – featuring a monkey with a halo and the numbers 5, 6 and 7 reflecting the lyrics of Monkey gone to Heaven ‘If man is five and the devil is 6 then God is 7’). We decided to follow these guidelines, not only because its conventional (and Weezer are a very conventional band) but also because it implies to the audience that this particular song is an important one to the band, which could be the selling point to someone who is considering buying it. 

In addition, the way we have included the ‘special features’ sticker on the front of the digi-pack mirrors the little information given on the advert, which further persuades consumers to purchase the album. 

Evaluation Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Finished Music Video

Magazine Advert

CD Designs

This is our design for the main 'Deluxe Edition' CD within the digi-pack. We used the TV featured on the cover of the digi-pak as the background of the CD to create a 'running theme'. Also we have used the TV to enable the audience to distinguish the difference between the main disc and the bonus CD's. On top of the TV, we added Weezer's logo, which adds the 'brand' of the group to the digi-pack as a whole. As their logo is already well established, it seemed acceptable to cut a part of it out of the CD for the purpose of having a well fitted size ratio compared to the screen. As its already well established as its used regularly by the band, people will be able to recognise the logo without it being completely visible.

 

Examples of Weezer's logo being featured in a lot of their promotion and events.

Both of these CD's were inspired by the original Weezer 'blue album' CD designs, by doing this we have stuck with the conventions of the band. By using the same textured background that is present on the digi-pack, it means they are integrated well within the product, and the 'theme' is still present as we are referencing the digi-pack itself. This can be seen on many other existing CD designs within a similar genre;

Smashing Pumpkins - 'mellon collie and the infinite sadness'

Radiohead - 'in rainbows'

R.E.M. - 'green'