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

Our task was to produce a music promo for a new unsigned artist as well as to create promotional items, a Digipak and magazine advert, all in-keeping with a chosen theme, genre and style. The single we chose was 'One More Year' by Fij, an indie band who we found on Unsinged.com.

The purpose of these components are all important in shaping and selling an artist,
Music videos:
Music videos are mainly used to promote a song/artist/band by creating publicity around the promo they are also a key to making money for the record company.
They can give the audience a feeling of access to the band and help give songs understanding. Music videos can be very unique giving them instant hype and coverage especially through social networking.

Digipaks:

These are used to attract the target audience to purchase the artists music. Their key purpose is also to package and protect the actual disk. However in most cases of digipaks they may contain more than a CD due to the extra panels allow for more information such as an artist/band biography, photos, posters or lyrics. Unlike CDs didgipaks are made from card not plastic, this gives a better finish and make the product look more appealing and a much more desirable product.

Magazine Adverts:
Magazine advertising is a great way to reach specific genres through music magazines, the purpose of the advert is to publicise the album/song release, as well as the band/artist in a way which appeals to its target audience. Magazine adverts also allow for other information such as tour dates and reviews.
Music promos are made up of many elements which can make them conventional. These are some of the main features we would see in a music video:

Although many of these may be dependant and vary due to genres there are constants through-out promos

Camera shots

Narrative and performance

 The most common ratio of narrative an performance is 50:50 as this gives

 a good balance of showing off the artists abilities as well as looking authentic, and giving the artist/s a chance to be creative or give a song understanding in order to promote themselves further.
Purely narrative videos are usually seen from unusually ‘arty’ bands who are trying to be unique and make a statement. Full narrative videos are also good for telling a story.

(Alt-J breezeblocks is a full narrative music video used to tell a story)

The other extreme of this would be all performance; this is common in the genre of rock/metal as the music is centred around heavy sounds of guitars, drums and other instruments. These videos are generally lively with lots of crowd shots, close ups of instruments. A benefit of this type of video is that it makes viewers want to see bands/artists live, therefore promoting tours and increasing sales.



(moodboard of performance style videos)

Our Promo had an even distribution of both narrative and performance. The narrative was an illustration of the lyrics which told the story of a life of friends, parties and hangovers. We created our narrative by using lots of extra actors to create the party scenes, we had to frame shots carefully to make them look as busy and realistic as possible.



The performance of the video was singing as we did not know anyone who could play an instrument we chose a track with mainly lyrics and electronic sounds. We had to lip sync the video in order to make it look authentic, we had a lot of practice with this due to our preliminary video which we spend a long time syncing a fish.

Editing

In the majority of music videos are edited in time with the track so that the it cuts to the beat of the music. Different songs and genres have different paces ,this can make videos fast paced or slow paced, either way editing to the music make the video fit the track and seem more effective.

In our video we tried to keep with this rule and used straight cuts between beats as well as using longs shots such as the book for intervals in the music to show contrast between lyrics and instrumental.
Other editing used in Promos are effects and transitions. Common effects used in videos are to alter colours and exposure. For example pop promos are often very bright, colourful and bold, these shots will have been increased exposure, contrast and saturation to make them appear cleaner and more eye-catching.

 However in other genres such as rock black and white effects are common as they create a classic and timeless feel.

In our video we only altered certain shots such as the bottles as these look much more effective when highly saturated as the stood out and looked lively. We also had to change the brightness of some shots of the actor due to lighting difficulties we wanted to keep continuity through out by matching up brightness levels.

The made use of editing in our video was when creating the stop motion footage we had to edit all the photographs we had taken and turn them into film by using imovie, we had to remove and incorrect frames and export the photo sequence as a movie. Then we could change the speed to a suitable pace.
When lookign into stop motion we were inspired by Coldplay's music video 'strawberry swing' as it showed the use of stop motion with drawings and was very creative and colourful:

Another video were where inspired by was Bruno mars 'Just teh way you are' as the ribbon in the tape made the face move in a stop motion style, this was idea was somethign we really wanted to include in our video.

Another editing technique used when making our promo was Imovies green screen.This was the effect used to create the moving face.

To create the effect of a face moving in a book we had to take a very still shot of out actors face so that once edited the face did not move behind the wrong layer. First of all we layer the image of josh over a plain white photo.

Next we used the green screen option to edit the layers.

 Next we used the crop tool to select just the face area that we wanted to see.

We then cropped it and tested the video worked

Finally we used the video editor to make josh's facial features black and white and stand out. we did this by increasing exposure and contrast and decreasing brightness and saturation

This is the final video we created which we will export and then import into the rest  of our promo

Mise-en-scene

Costume:
Costume varies from each genre a typical pop costume would be very stylised and fashionable. Female popstars are well known for wearing revealing outfits to make a statement and appeal to fans. This supports Laura Mulveys theory who said that because film makers are predominantly male, the presence of women in films is often solely for the purposes of display (rather than for narrative purposes). The purpose of this display is to facilitate a voyeuristic response in spectators, which presumes a ‘male gaze’ one that is a powerful controlling gaze at the female on display, who is effectively objectified and passive.

 
In the typical indie genre a similar artist to ours was Jamie T, we base our actors look around these as it looked effective in his videos. The look is casual as gives an urban, relaxed vibe.

We also took a lot of framing and general inspiration form Jamie T's video 'Sticks and Stones' as this  was a very typical indie song with a similar mood and meaning.

Lighting:
Pop promo videos are general very brightly lit as they focus on the artist and getting their face known. The brightness also enhances colours making the video seem more vibrant and interesting to the audience. This bright and colourful style in pop is influenced by the pop art movement.
In contrast to pop, rock promos are conventionally very dark and use very contrasting lights to create shadows influenced by expressionism

In general music videos use lighting to focus on the artist/band. In performance videos flashes in the lighting add to the atmosphere of the gig and make the video seem lively and energetic. The lighting also helps to show contrasts in the band and the audience as it highlights the important people in the video.

Our video used lighting mainly to highlight our actor throughout, although our original plans were to have dark party scenes with just our actors face highlighted which is conventional for this type of shot, we had difficulties as the camera was unable to pick up shots unless they were well lit.

 

Location:
Pop videos are conventionally shot in large studios where backgrounds can be green-screened on, alternatively they are used to show the typical 'popstar lifestyle' and are set in exotic countries with sunny beaches, blue seas and yachts, a clear example of this is from 1980 where Duran Duran made a big budget video for their song Rio. The video is very conventionally pop for its location as well as use of lighting, colour, costume and props which all convey the 'popstar lifestyle'

This may be as pop promos statistically have bigger budgets and spend more money on the video to promote themselves

The indie genre uses less extravagant settings such as rural settings/cities/woodland

as seen in the jamie t video. our video fits this location convention as we have used the locations of  a train station, alley ways and streets, parks and a home.

Props:

Illustration, Amplification, Disjuncture

Within performance and narrative videos usually fit into a category of either Illustration, amplification or disjuncture.

Illustration:
Conventionally illustration music videos use narrative to illustrate what is happening in the lyrics directly.
E.g. REM- everybody hurts, this is a good example as the lyrics are  represented by the images happening.

Amplification:

This is when a section of the lyrics of one idea from the song is taken and amplified into the music video.
E.g. Coldplay- the scientist, This is a good example of amplification. The video revolves around the line 'take me back to the start'

Disjuncture:
Music videos which are unconnected from the lyrics. They often try and create a new meaning for the song using abstract ideas and images. These videos are common for arty bands who are trying express their independence and uniqueness.
E.g.Radiohead- No suprises, No suprises is a great example of didjuncture as it has no relation to the lyrics and is a very bizaire idea.

When we analysed our lyrics we interpreted the song and illustrated the story which the lyrics were telling. We also gained information about the type message being put across from a BBC interview by the band. The song was about having one more year before each band member left for university and the fun times they have had, however lyrics describe a typical night of fun and drunken antics followed by the consequences of the next morning.
We made a conventional illustration of the lyrics by fitting most sentences with a matching shot or putting a series of shots together to tell certain parts of the story:

Genre

Our track was described as an Indie/electro/pop genre.

With relevance to our chosen genre, the indie genre has such a large range of different music styles and sub genres it is difficult to state its conventions.

However traditional indie rock will be quite dark and show props like guitars and drums, most of the narrative will focus around musical abilities.
Pop conventions have influences the indie music scene creating quite upbeat indie music, creating the indie pop genre.
The indie pop genre however is much clearer as it uses bright lighting and focuses its attention around the artist/band. A key feature of this sub-genre is using bright bold colours, similar to the popart movement.

Vampire weekend are an example of an indie pop band who have used colourful props in lots of thier music videos which match the colourful upbeat music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0u11rgd9Q

Electro sounds could also be heard in our track due to the use of electronic production. Conventions of electro music videos often contain bright and very colourful lighting shots as well as dancing and live performance are a common shot seen too.

Justice are an electroband who make some intrestign videos, however these conventions can still be seen in thess videos:

Digipak

Conventions of a digipak are that they show:
-Album name

-Artist name

-Track list

-Album artwork relating back to other promotional materials

-Artist biography with information about them and inspirations/meanings behind tracks

-Reviews which help promote the album and make it look better

-Record/music company credits and/or logo

An example from the indie genre is Mumford and sons, they are a folk/indie band who have chosen a very simple and minimalistic digipak to show that they are timeless and original. It is a 3 panelled pack with a booklet for lyrics/posters/extras in a sleeve, a plastic dick holder and a panel for album artwork. The image is similar to the cover which shows they like to keep a consistent house style throughout. The white backgrounds work well to emphasize the black CD and square windows which the band members are sat in.

Our Digipak needed to be conventional but still stand out to get our artist noticed. We used drawings in a sketch format, to be different compared to other indie digipaks. By using the drawings they also link to our music video, which will bring attention to each of our music products.

To make our digipak convetional we used made sure we had all the relevant features such as:

- the album name and artist name on the front cover,

- we put a track list, bar code and common logos on the back panel of the digipak. 

-We have used artwork which relates to our video, the art work we have used are photographs which we have edited to show only certain colours as this made the digipak look less busy and made the part we wanted stand out. The sketchy images are the main links to our video and advert and are what will make the digipak get noticed and stand out. The CD is a still from our music video which is very significant as it is part of the video which peopel remember and pick up on. The bottom right panel is where our Bonus CD would go, we took lots of stills from the video and collaged them together, this fits with our theme as the collage style relates to the scrapbook with all the photo stills in it.

-We have included relevant artist information and a short band bio.

Magazine Advert

Conventions of a magazine advert are that they show:

-Album name
-Artist name
-Relevant images/artwork which is in-keeping with the theme of other promotional materials.

-Tour dates
-Album release dates
-Album reviews
-cost of tickets/album

Our Advert Is similar to our digipak with imagery and links to the music video too.

To make our advert conventional we have made use we used certain elements:

-The album name and artist name are clear and bold on the advert, they are the largest texts and are what you are drawn to. We have also incorporated them into the image so that they draw your eye to them as well.

-The images used are relevant to our video as the trains and bottles are a frequent image which is making our band recognise able through images. The sketchy theme also has this effect.

-Dates for tours and album release are the information the advert is giving out, these have been kept in the same font and are fitted onto the page to look as though they are part of the paper. We have also used a red circle sticker which draws your attention in and can be used in other adverts.

-Album reviews are very conventional as good reviews are used to make people want to buy the album, we have used reviews in a rating system so that we could incorporate them into the image.

Although most adverts focus around one central image, we have developed this convention to show more feature and collaborate them into one picture as this is more colourful and eye-catching  it also helps to relate images to other promo pieces and therefore create more links and publicity.

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

These are our 3 completed products. They work well together as a promotional package as they link together with common images and themes such as the drawing theme and images of bottles and trains. This on-going theme helps to promote the band as these images will make audiences link to the band straight away. The images used throughout the promotional materials are all colourful, fun images meaning the audience will have a positive view on the artist.

To promote the the artist the texts will be exhibited using new media and traditional media. Traditional media such as music channels for our video, music magazines for our advert and record stores for our digipak. Our music promo will be exhibited in a range of places so it can be seen by everyone. The type of music channel which would show the video would be 4music as this channel appeals to our target audience and plays similar genres. The channel is owned by Bauer Media and we would use this company who would create synergetic links with 4music .We will also used synergy between the music magazines and the music channels.  MTV is a company which uses synergy. By them working together it provides crucial links which our products will follow. If we are shown on the MTV music channel, we may be part of the MTV magazine. This will increased our publicity and market which can bring in profits and make the band more known.


Our digipak will also be exhibited in record stores such as HMV where it can be reached by a range of audiences.
Finally our Magazine advert will be exhibited in magazines aimed at our target audience and genre. although the syngery from MTV will use MTV magazines, NME (new musical express) is a good magazine to use as many artists in NME are often based around the indie genre like our artist. NME is also known for promoting new up and coming bands such as Fij.

New medias will also play a large part in the exhibition. Online methods of promotion:

Facebook: will be used to promote the band and will be used to post all of the elements. Facebook is good as it will allow the band to reach millions of people and instantly share promotional information at any time.

Youtube: will be used to exhibit the video, this also reaches millions of people and can be shared with its web address form Youtube to many other social networking sites.

The internet is a great place for new artists as internet success stars can be made quickly and form large followings, an example of internet success is PSY whos track and video 'Gangnam style' went viral and went of to be watched over 1 billion times around the world.

ITunes: will be used to promote the Digipak. Online distribution is the most popular way to receive music as it is convenient and easy. The Digipak can be ordered online or tracks can instantly be downloaded.

These online methods allow for larger audiences, 24/7 access and therefore will be the most effective at increasing sales and promoting the artist.

These are some of the images from the video which we used repeatedly in the video to firm links with the digipak and magazine advert. We used a range of different bottles as the range of colours looked effective in the video, they were also the most common prop that we used.

The train images we used throughout the video and more in the second half to refer to lyrics in the video of train running late and being at the train station.

We then linked these two images to fit the drawing theme which we have used in the book element of the video. this element was a stand out feature of the video that people noticed and made it feel different. The drawing of the bottle we used in the book from the video is very similar to the one used in our ancillaries. there is a link between all the promotional materials which can make each other be recognised through the use of imagery, theme and house style.

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

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

For our audience feedback we decided to use a few methods of feedback in order to get a more unbiased and fair result.
The methods we used were a questionnaires, a presentation pitch, voting, video feedback and social networking.
The questionnaire was composed of 8 questions on all our promotional texts:

1. What are your thoughts on our ancillaries?

 2. What would you like to see in a digipak and an advert?

 3. What aspects of the advert did you like?

 4. What aspects of the digipak did you like?

 5. What aspects of the advert did you dislike?

 6. What aspects of the digipak did you dislike?

 7. Are the ancillaries conventional?

 8. Any additional comments?

This graph shows us that most people found the ancillary tasks to be eye catching which is important when we are trying to promote our band.

This graph is allowing us to see what our audiences would like to see on the ancillary texts. Our audiences would like to see bright colours on our texts.

 The graph shows that our audiences liked the effects and the detailed drawings most about our magazine advert.

This graph shows us that our audience preferred the drawing of the wine bottle which in inside the digipak.

This graph shows us that our audiences disliked the most about of magazine advert was that there was not much colour on the advert.

This graph shows us that our audience would prefer more information about the band in the digipak.

 This graph shows us that our audience believe it is an overall success which we are happy with.

we used a questionnaire as it could be distributed easily to a wide variety of people ,over all we handed out 20 questionnaires to different age and gender ranges. However questionnaires can be bias as people are subjective to demand characteristics so we also used a video response which would show peoples direct thoughts.
Our target audience is young adults ,14-19 male and female , we have chosen this audience to aim our promo at as it is in keeping with the track as it is relateable and we have chosen to feature this demographic in our video.
The video response included questions just about our video and we chose to interview our target audience to see if we had done what we had set out to do and to compare with our previous audience research video.

Our pitch was our first audience feedback as it helped us to decide which idea to use for the video and therefore which was most suited to our audience.

In our other audience research we discovered that people expected to see a lively dance seen with and even distribution of performance and narrative. Our target audience in particular asked for ‘a fun party to go with the upbeat style of the song.’
What people asked for:

We listened to our audience when making the music promo by using these ideas to create the story the song was telling. We also included our target audience in the filming of the video as this is the age we are aiming at and therefore should see in the video.Throughout the process of making our Digipak and magazine advert we also used audience feedback to help us make the best product for out target audience by creating different versions of the Digipak and advert and asking out target audience to vote on which was preferred. We found that the bolder and more colourful products were preferred the most.In our audience feedback the results we got were fairly positive. People believed we had filled expectations as we had included the many of the things they had asked for such as fun, lively, party scenes and a storyline. In our video feedback these are the questions which we asked:

·         What are your thoughts and views of our promo?

·         What do you like about it?

·         How conventional is our music video?

·         What would you change about it?

·         Any additional comments?

The first question will give us an idea of what each person we ask thinks of our promo. This will give us a good insight into whether we have pleased them or if we have not reach expectations. The second question will give us an idea on what they like about the promo. This allows us to understand what we have done well when making the music video. The same with question four, it will allow us to understand what was not as good as we hope and it will be good feedback when making another video. 

Question three gives us insight to see whether our audience believe the video followed indie conventions or if we were unconventional which may increase us being more noticeable. Where the final question is whether they would like to add any other comments to what they have already said.

here is our video interview feedback, compared with our original research:

We also got some feedback really helpful from social networking sites where we posted the video:

Facebook:

Youtube:

The feedback we revived from Facebook and Youtube came from our peers and target audience, the feedback was very positive and this shows that all the communicating we have done throughout the production has been successful.

overall we found that improvements could be made to the camera work and quality, and believability of some shots and lighting. However the stop motion element and the fun lively atmosphere of the song were liked best.

From doing all audience feedbacks we have learnt what our likes and dislikes about the video. We gathered the following information about our music video and are ancillary texts:

·         Our video was conventional

·         Like the video being a hybrid

·         The sick part was a bit much

·         Like the effects used on the digipak

·         The different range of shots used in the video makes it more interesting etc

Our Questionnaire gave us some feedback on our Digipak and magazine advert.

The most common reply about our Digipak and advert was that the drawings worked well to link the different promotional materials together and the colourful elements made it eye-catching and fun.