Evaluation question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

In order to create successful ancillary tasks we were aware that these had to directly relate to our main product. To do so it was important to follow Pink Floyd's original preconceived identity in order to appeal to Pink Floyd's original audience. This said, we also needed to create an ancillary task that appealed to modern audiences, and was bold enough to attract attention whilst shelved. To make this combination we begun with images that had been taken separately from the video whilst at our location that appears in the piece. This meant we also had a link to our main product, therefore meaning that we simply needed to match this with an iconographic image associated with Pink Floyd. For this, I chose both the iconic prism from their 'Dark Side of the Moon' album, where our song appears. And also the interesting typography taken from 'The Wall' album. We believed that actual text was required in order to attract customers who had not necessarily been aware of Pink Floyd before.

From this research I came up with 4 altered images to appeal to the 'Floydian' and not 'Floydian' fan. These consisted of two alternate shots of the location from the outside; one long shot and one close-up of the house. The other shots consisted of one with the protagonist placed within the house against a wall, the other showing purely a skull with the continuation of the Pink Floyd logo.

The image above is the rear cover for our Digipak. The featured image is taken from the location of which we filmed the location of our main product, and the house appears frequently within the establishing shot of our piece. Therefore I believed it would be successful if we were to place this image somewhere within our Digipak. This is due to the fact that this building greatly reflects the themes and emotion we wished to portray within our main product. The derelict nature of the house suggests the isolation and loneliness of our protagonist, and the idea that he has 'let go' of life. Therefore there is already an explicit link to our main product - not just visually, but also in terms of messages and values. To increase the bond further, I chose to add Pink Floyd's iconic typography, taken from their The Wall album. I chose this text due to the fact that their The Dark Side of the Moon album contains no typography in terms of band name, and I believed that trying to create the typography myself would only look unprofessionally due to the lack of text orientated programmes. This said, however, I believe the taken text works more successfully due to the iconic connotations that it has - the could not be achieved without taking an image that already has great established messages. Therefore, I edited the Pink Floyd text into the house image, making it appear as though the text is graffiti on the building - thus adding to the derelict idea further. I then changed the text colour from the original black, to pink - not only matching the band name, but also adding colour to the image which I believed was needed. I believe this rear cover is a great combination to our main product for the reasons I have given. Not only does the image incorporate imagery from our main text, but it also gains an inconic stature by adding the Pink Floyd typography as used on The Wall. The overall image suggests isolation, lack of hope - the feelings portrayed by our protagonist. I have also added the typical logos, text, etcetera that is found on rears of most Digipak's, and also Pink Floyd's own unique additions. 

To the right is the front cover from our Digipak. The image shows in the background, our protagonist propped up against  the wall, within our location. This suggests the connotations of isolation suggested by our protagonist. The shot is directly linked to one of those within our main product, thus creating a link between the two. The choice of using desaturation was key in suggesting the emotions we wished to portray. Foregrounding the image is a translucent skull, an image I was uncertain whether to go ahead with or not. However, this purely adds to the link between our main product and the ancillary task, due to the references to death that are crucial within our main product. Once again we chose to use the Floyd logo, taken from The Wall, and there is also intertextuality in terms of the logo being placed onto a brick wall, similar to that of the one used in the original wall album front cover.

Equally, the image to the right (Digipak front cover rear fold) suggests the combination of our main product and the preliminary task. The use of a skull is a direct link to the themes of death posed within the video. This is then similarly coupled with the Pink Floyd logo, which i have both made more transparent, but also changing the colour to pink in order to both reflect the artists' title, but also helping the title stand out from the imagery, and I believe it does so successfully. The increased transparency helps the title to blend in with the rest of the imagery as if it had been sprayed/painted onto the skull. The dark tones suggest the other themes present in our piece, such as lack of hope and isolation, this coupled with the background smoke adds to a feel of liveliness. This image coupled with both the front and rear cover create a Digipak that makes total and constant reference to our main product, both due to the ideas and themes present throughout either, but also the use of imagery that has often been lifted from our music video text. This is also helped by using the iconic Pink Floyd logo, which is recognisable worldwide, both by fans and people who are not fans of Floyd's work. This combination, therefore, clearly creates a great attachment to our piece which is essential especially through marketing stages. Overall, it is especially helpful to have this attachment, as audiences have a great deal of knowledge about the video, before picking it from the shelf in order to purchase. Therefore, the target audience will be satisfied and have great awareness of what will appear in the piece just by gazing at the album artwork. 

From the image below; which is the advertisement poster for our music video, it is clear how we have visually incorporated imagery from our main product into our ancillary tasks. The image above has been taken to reflect the zoom shot used in our music video. We used this image within our main product to suggest isolation, due to the nature of the building, and also it's location. Therefore, I believed it would be a good idea to incorporate this idea within the poster, to reflect the values we emphasised in our video. Not only have we chosen to use this image, but also we have incorporated Pink Floyd's prism logo, editing this around the image to make it appear as though it frames the house. The use of the Pink Floyd title taken from The Wall album is also constant within the poster. Another effect that I believe has been achieved successfully is the light beams coming from where the sun would be, and fading through the trees. Other features of interest of this poster, particularly those that apply to our main product is the use of colouration; in terms of increased saturation in order to emphasise the moody sky - this greatly suggests the emotion that we have aimed to display within our main product. The image also uses elements of pathetic fallacy, to suggest the emotions felt portrayed by the weather. Therefore, the final Digipak  coupled with this poster make a greatly effective in combination to our main product. This is for a variety of reasons - foremost, the idea that imagery from our main product has explicitly been combined in our ancillary task; this image in particular as I believe it summarises the isolation and loneliness that our piece plays upon. The image has also been edited to emphasise these characteristics, most prominently is the mentioned prism logo that foregrounds the piece. This is particularly relevant as it instantly aims towards Pink Floyd's pre-established audiences, and also any other consumer aware of the iconic symbol. Other imagery I have used in creating the piece is the addition of a skull, as used on the front cover of our Digipak, as this purely emphasises the idea of death that our text entails; thus also giving the audience a great idea of what our main product will encompass before viewing it. Therefore, the advertisement poster is successful in combining our main product to the with the ancillary tasks. 

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

Throughout the production stages of our media piece, we took advantage of the wide range of 'new' media technologies to be found. These greatly helped us throughout these stages in aspects involving both the production of our music video, but also the research and planning stages - for example gaining and analysing audience feedback.

Straight after completing our principal photography, we began to use media technologies such as Adobe's Final Cut Express. Their editing suite was the basis for all aspects of post production of our video, using various editing techniques such as layering imagery, fades, and more complex aspects of editing such as kaleidoscope visionary elements. This greatly helped in us achieving our aim to match the psychedelic genre features and conventions, associated with Pink Floyd, and also the Zeitgeist of that era. The editing stages also greatly helped us achieve the narrative structure and features we hoped to. An example of this is the fade away of the protagonists wife/girlfriend, which clearly emphasises the features of death to the audience visually, reassuring any confusions with the narrative.

The use of social networking was also particularly helpful in both achieving and analysing audience feedback. The use of peer to peer analysis and discussion. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Last.fm were particularly helpful in both understanding audience wants and requirements from the out set, as well as gaining feedback from the completed piece, and if any alterations would be necessary or desirable. This is extremely helpful from a production perspective, as, when producing a piece it is extremely easy to believe that your first idea is developed as far as possible and not aim to work on this. Platforms such as Last.fm and Youtube are also extremely helpful in developing understanding particularly towards target audiences and audience requirements/expectations of both the band, but also the song - in our case 'The Great Gig in the Sky'.

An example of how 'new' media technology, in terms of social networking was used was uploading various clips and sequences of our video onto these sites, such as Facebook. This was particularly helpful in gaining a wide range of critical response from a differing range of people, rather than just a handful or people that could be achieved from viewing the piece on a screen. Therefore it was extremely helpful in gaining, quick, easily, analysable, critical information that could be materialised into a more successful piece with a wider target audience. Once our piece was finished we then uploaded a final draft onto the site in order to gain a large audience perception, and make any corrections or alterations if it was believed these were needed. This therefore lead to us making final changes to our video, in terms of editing and the use of 'green screen' imagery.

Therefore, our combination of both the Blog and our final production suggests how as a group we have successfully used new media, or media 2.0. Using the software as stated above, we have been able to create a successful video using this technology - therefore creating the media content. After doing this we were then able to stream the video back, using both Blogger, but also social networking sites. This then altered our purposes of the video (originally our production was created for entertainment, however, after streaming it back to ourselves the purpose had then altered to the purpose of evaluation.) Therefore, throughout the whole of our production, we have created 'new' media language, then used new media software in order to both show, and evaluate our work.

Other uses of new media technology were also helpful. The website Last.fm was particularly helpful in allowing us to research both the band 'Pink Floyd'; what they stand for, their target audience etcetera, but also the genre conventions, and how best to match these. We aimed to achieve a piece that successfully fulfilled these conventions in order to attract the original target audience, but to also challenge and develop the conventions to appeal to a much newer target audience also. Last.fm was extremely useful in this respect as a large quantity of knowledge surrounding bands and artists can be found there. Myspace, possibly the original social network -  surrounds music, especially up and coming bands. This was also particularly helpful in researching both genre conventions, but also researching areas surrounding recent  popularity in the music business. Therefore we could continue research onto much more modern music videos and gain knowledge surrounding conventions of popular present day pieces, and what is expected/wanted by audiences of a younger age of Pink Floyd's original audience.

To gain further audience feedback, Youtube's services were particularly helpful. Uploading videos here gains almost immediate viewings from critics and general audience interest, and therefore feedback of the piece. This is particularly helpful, as titling the video with the original song's title gains viewers just wanting to listen to the original piece, and therefore almost accidentally analysing our video. Extremely helpful analysis has come from this, and has allowed us to make any necessary alterations. Due to the comments not being from direct peers, this allows for some extremely, at time disheartening comments. However, this only allowed us to strengthen our piece.

In the creation of our ancillary tasks, Photoshop CS5 extended was extremely helpful. Once again created by Adobe, this allowed any necessary integration with Final Cut extremely easy. Photoshop allowed me to create an image for our CD album artwork that integrated with both our piece, in terms of the location we used, as well as the preconceived ideas that Pink Floyd entail, and also any iconography that they have achieved - for example both the prism logo, and also 'The Wall' typography used in our ancillary tasks. Combining this imagery hopefully made a successfully rounded final piece that remains fresh, whilst still appealing to the 'original' audiences of Pink Floyd due to the iconographic imagery used.

One piece of relatively new media technology we did not take advantage of was the use of cameras that write to solid state SD cards. Though more updated than the camera we chose to use, our choice of camera had much superior sound and video quality to these cameras. Due to the fact we recorded onto DV tape, this also meant we no longer had to spend a large quantity of time uploading videos through the Shareware - MPEG Streamclip; that we felt was unnecessary hassle, and also compressed the images making them a quality even worse than that of the original camera. We felt that using the SD cameras would purely detract from the overall video, as on viewing peers' work, it appeared that their videos had become extremely pixelated and at times distorted due to the sheer amount of compression involved - due to the camcorders instantly creating completed .MOV files from the captured footage. With the DV tape camera, the footage is simply taken at full quality from the camera, and added to final cut in sections sized at the up-loaders discretion, rather than automatically being split into small fragments Therefore, our choice to use possibly outdated, but more towards industrial standard equipment was definitely for the better.

Throughout the creation of our text we also use programmes such as Quicktime Player and iTunes. Quicktime is a programme allowing the user to play video files, and this was especially useful in previewing our piece, as it would look, on a larger screen once completed; rather than the minimal size of the Final Cut screen view. This also made it possible to show small audiences in order to gain feedback.

Evaluation question 3: What did you learn from your audience feedback?

After completing the final edit of our video we chose to interview a group of people in order to achieve their personal feedback on our piece. We chose viewers of varying ages and backgrounds in order to achieve a wide range of feedback, and this has shone through with the views stated. Below is a transcript of the interviewees, and what they said about our piece:

Joe Heath (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 Muckle: 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. 

Linda (52): Having grown up in the 70s, I'm well associated with Pink Floyd's music. I felt that the way the video understands the emotion of the song is extremely successful  and does not simply utilize the stereotypes of 70s drug and hippy culture. This really shows an in-depth understanding  of what this decade was really about and what Pink Floyd really meant with the song, rather than what modern culture simply expects.

Ginny (45): I enjoyed the music video, however, I believe that it could've utilized the video effects - such as the hallucinatory  visuals more. It may have been successful to even include the character within these visuals. However, despite this, I suppose it is understanding considering that there is no drug taking within the piece. 

James (48): I thought the video was really entertaining, one scene which really stuck out to me was the anger sequence, where the fast pace and the impressive  performance really shone through. I especially liked the cuts of his girlfriend within the sequence which added emotional depth and helped to explain a motive prior to the final explanation. 

Karen (22): One thing that really stuck out to me about the video was the great use of location. I really felt that this emphasised the isolation and depression that the character portrayed. The dilapidated house really matched the song's emotion, and this coupled with the roughly dressed character, and the surroundings of filth were excellent combinations and helped to contribute to the overall narrative.


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. 
Mary (25): I thought the cd cover and poster looked really good! Definitely could have passed as genuine commercial work, and knowing Pink Floyd's work quite well, reflected their style. I can see how they link to an extent, however, they could have used a bit more visual reference, as the image of the house does not appear much within the video.

What I have learned from this audience feedback is that it was extremely useful to do sufficient audience research before producing the video, as this helped us gain a good idea of what our target audience expected to see before actually making the piece. Therefore, considering the mostly positive feedback that we received for our final production it is clear that we followed these requests successfully, therefore making our piece appealing to large variety of people, whether they be Pink Floyd fans or not. Our research suggests that there are always endless possibilities for improving or altering our piece, however, these are not always possible or necessary, considering that everybody has varying views for what should be included.

Therefore, what I have gained from this feedback is the reassurance that we successfully fitted the psychedelic genre as we wished to. This is obviously shown by the use of hallucinationary imagery within our video. Our alteration of colour within the piece also helps link the video with the emotion portrayed within the song. It is also clear that the audiences believed our ancillary tasks worked successfully with our music video as a product. The focus group also believed that our use of original Floyd imagery such as the prism and also the logo lifted from The Wall worked extremely well with the piece, in combining them. It was also suggested by the focus group that this would attract a large audience just interested purely in products released by Pink Floyd, therefore using their logos and imaging would purely enlarge this audience. The belief that the final ancillaries looked professional was extremely satisfying, as looking unprofessional was a fear that we had, considering the lack of equipment and technology we had in order to create them. 


It is also key that we have matched the emotion that the song entails with the pace of our piece, particularly in the anger sequences where the climax of the song is shown by the use of quick paced cuts. This is something that was needed to be achieved in order to reflect the emotion, as a lack of pace and anger shown by the protagonist would look poor when combined with the climatic times of the song. Therefore, the bulk of our group acknowledged that we had achieve this successfully, at times leaving the audience speechless whilst viewing the video.


There are always possibilities to make changes after the piece is completed, and for our piece there is no exceptions. Taken from feedback across creating the piece (not just this focus group) it is clear that if we were to undergo the task of creating this music video again we would undoubtedly focus more heavily on the anger sequence as a whole. This is because, despite the sequence still portraying the emotion of the character, I still believed this could be worked upon more, further emphasising to the audience the emotion felt. Despite aiming to do so, I do not believe that the anger sequence successfully achieved the emotional climax of the song, and this is something that has been commented on within our audience feedback. However, this is something that is extremely hard to achieve given the actor we had, as it is extremely hard to suggest pure emotion without a professional actor, therefore, I remain content that we achieved the greatest outcome we could with our actor.


Another subject I believe could be altered if we were to complete the task again is still the subject of visual emphasis towards the psychedelic genre. This is something that was originally commented on from our audience feedback - of which we took into great consideration and underwent more filming in order to fulfil the genre more successfully. However,  despite this addition is was still clear that more references to hallucinations were required, therefore, once again we began to edit our video; adding in more visual effects, such as the displacement effect that can be seen when our protagonist falls to the floor. After completing this, it was clear that our video now fulfilled the psychedelic genre, but despite this, our most recent audience feedback suggested that the video still required more visual techniques, despite our efforts. Therefore, if we were to complete this video again it would be necessary to make possibly the main focus on the piece surround the visual techniques such as the kaleidoscope and displacement effect, rather than having these as a background for the action taking place. I believe that if this was done successfully our music video will undoubtedly be of the psychedelic genre, therefore satisfying our audience expectations fully. Despite this, I still believe our video remains faithful to the psychedelic genre, and the feedback is purely picking up on any negative aspect. 

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

For this question we decided to use a commentary on our video, as we believed this would best allow us to show how we have used, developed and challenged genre conventions - due to the ability to combine voice with images - both still and moving (from our piece and others)

The script for this video is as follows:

Tom Bacon (Me)

* The question we are focusing on revolves around the extent to which our music video uses, challenges and develops genre conventions.

* Whilst in the research and planning stages for the piece we watched The Wall a feature length music video, on Pink Floyd's eleventh studio album The Wall. Despite our chosen song not featuring on this album, the conveyed messages and values are still extremely relevant to our piece, as Pink Floyd's conventions can be seen throughout the whole of their discography.

* From watching this we gained a great deal of inspiration, as the video often focuses on similar themes that we were aiming to portray; for this reasons it was extremely useful research, and the inspiration we gained can clearly be seen throughout our finished piece.

* Notable scenes that show this are; the cigarette burning sequence, and also the anger sequence - these explicitly show how we were directly influenced by the music video, and how as a group we have utilized Pink Floyd's pre-established conventions.

* Another use of conventions is shown in our reference to death within the video; particularly surrounding the graveyard images. This is directly linked to the original song title The Mortality Sequence, and the lyrical references to death throughout the piece; "I'm not afraid of dying, any time will do..."

Final Piece

Editing Techniques

The screen grabs above show the transparency technique we have used in editing to show the disappearance of our protagonists girlfriend. This is a technique we wanted to show as it successfully gives the illusion of the ghost of the girlfriend which eventually fades away. This therefore suggests to the audience the death of this girlfriend just through visual techniques, thus showing the audience that the girl still remains heavily on the protagonists mind, in a way haunting him. 

In order to create this technique we had to layer two seperate clips, one of the protagonist walking away from the camera, and a second of the girlfriend doing the same alongside. When the clips are then overlayed, one - of which we chose the girlfriend walking away from the camera, can be made more transparent and then fade away. We aimed to make it look as though the girlfriend was walking alongside the protagonist, as though they are walking happily together - as though this is a dream like sequence. This was difficult to film as it was hard to get both the actors to walk an equal pace and distance so that neither would be in front of the other.

I believe this technique is extremely provocative in gaining an emotional response considering that the audience witness the protagonists mind, and the emotion he must be feeling due to the death of his girlfriend. The sequence is somewhat eery, however, I believe this is desirable and helps to successfully show the themes of death and coping with, that the song entails. 

The screengrab above shows how we have used colour filters in order to increase the houses mood or darkness - reflecting the mood felt by our protagonist. These filters help to add to the idea of dilapidation and falling apart of the building, showing that this is clearly not a welcoming place, or a suitable location for someone to live. This purely emphasises the idea that this man can no longer live without his girlfriend, and this is what has come from her demise.

Similarly, the screengrab above shows our use of the colour corrector tool within Final Cut. This has allowed us to alter the saturation, emphasisng the deep colours that we have purposefully used to portray the anger felt. The colour corrector merely adds to this and helps to fully suggest the anger, and dark emotions felt. It also helps to separate our protagonist from his surroundings showing his isolation.

As show by the viewing area in the screengrab above, another edit we have used to add to the psychedelic effect is a layered split screen effect, and this is achieved by changing the offset of the image. This technique really gives a feel for the state our protagonist is in, giving a dizziness like sensation, portraying the effect that the alcohol has had on the character, but also the hallucinations induced by it.

Overall, editing techniques have been an extremely useful way of emphasising various emotions through hallucinatory like techniques, such as that above. These are not achievable through camera, however they were necessary in showing the distraught nature of our protagonist, and showing the effects that his alcoholism has on him.