Question 1.

 

For our A2 media course we were asked to create an album release which would include a magazine advert, a digipack and music video. Our band that we chose from unsigned was called Echotape and the song we chose to create a music video for was their newest release Whiskey Bar.

Music videos have always played a big part in promoting an artist’s/bands new song or album and are often very high budget in order for the artist or band to represent themselves as being unique and help them to differentiate them from artists of the same genre. Because of the way that we no costume digital media which makes it very easy to share photos and videos across multiple social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Meaning that music videos are now easy to watch and promote and artist rather than the only being on one TV Chanel (MTV) and Top of The pops.

Although the distribution of media is increasingly becoming digital, artists still promote themselves in specialised music magazines and newspapers. By doing this it will widen the audience therefore getting the artist the publicity it needs. Artists will also sometimes include there web address or Facebook/ Twitter account in order advertise upcoming gigs or a link to ITunes to buy their songs. 

Digi packs are also an important part in the artists/bands promotion as most are very well known and instantly recognisable, examples shown below. It is also a way for fans of the artist/band to collect memorabilia as digi packs are often collectors’ items in order to boost sales. They will most commonly include extra information like lyrics to one of the songs, behind the scene photos of the artist/band or even sometimes a promotional offer, for example a free download of their music video.

 

 

Every music video is affected by the genre of the music and there are common conventions/ stereotypes associated with them. For example a rap music promo will usually be set in an estate and contain close ups of designer brands and the artist rapping. During the research and planning stages of this project we learnt that out genre, indie rock, audiences expect fast paced editing (usually cut to the beat of the song), a little or all narrative and in order to display the talent of the band there are often shots of performance. By doing so it allowed us to be creative with our shots in order to appeal to our target audience for example, we took inspiration from Two Door Cinema Clubs, an indie rock band, music promo for their song ‘Next Year’.  From watching music videos from Two Door Cinema Club we got ideas like scenes that are slightly unrelated to the song, for example in our music promo we have included shots like a girl having paint thrown on her and others dancing when there is no singing.

 

 

 

 

I feel that our music video has also challenged the conventions by having no narrative. While conducting our research we found that this is unlike nearly all of the music promos of the indie rock genre. We decided against having a narrative as we felt that in order to be different and have a USP we needed to only have shots of band performance and unrelated scenes. On the other hand we decided to include conventional shots of performance. We chose to do this because we felt that if we didn’t, our music video wouldn’t show the band’s skills as musicians. We also found through our research that a common convention of music videos of this genre contain women between the ages of 18-22 years old. This is why we chose Charley, Leueen and Georgia to be in our promo because of their ages and lively attributes.

 

The image on the left is a screen shot from the Two Door Cinema Club music promo and the one on the left is from our music promo. This is an effective shot because not only does it show the skill involved in playing an instrument but it also represents the genre of the band as there is a clear link between the two images.

 

 

 

  

 

 

Mise-en-scene is also a big part in representing the genre of the band and appealing their target audience. Here you can clearly see that we have taken inspiration again from Two Door Cinema Club but this time from there music promo for there song ‘Sun’.  As you can see we have tried to dress our lead singer in a fairly casual outfit which we feel would appeal to our target audience which makes the band more relatable to them.

 

 

Shows the different sections of the music video and helps to link them all togeather.

            The bike is also included in our Digi Pack, linking both products togeather.

               

 

 

 

 

 

-              This is an effective shot because it is creative and shows the fun side of the song. We

-              Typical setting for the genre.

 

 

This is the location that we selected to film our bike scene and for the sections with the lead singer, girls dancing and charley having paint thrown on her we filmed in my garage. We chose the location pictured above because the road was a lot more peaceful than others we looked at. It is also straight, meaning that it would be easier to ride the bike for long distances. We chose to use my garage as it was convenient for all parties involved as we all live fairly near each other and it was the most appropriate sized room we had which was well lit.

 

 

Question 2.

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

Whilst planning our production and ancillary tasks as a group we felt that in order for each product to link there needed to be synergy between them in order for our target audience to recognise that one product links to another. We did this by having a consistent house style between them, for example the font type was the same for each product and the main image for both the Digi Pack and magazine advert is the same, making our products instantly recognisable. This is effective because it means that if the band wants to release an EP between albums, by using this house style their audience will automatically know the band.  While making our ancillary tasks we took inspiration from other bands in the same genre of ours in order to make sure that our finished products appealed to our target audience. As you can see below in Two Door Cinema Clubs poster they have a distinctive font type which is something that I feel we have achieved in both our Digi Pack and magazine advert.

 

·         Same font type meaning that they are easily linked together and the colours could be used in other products like T-shirts or memorabilia.

·         Links to social networking sites and the bands website encourages people to go online.

·         Same photo for Digi Pack and magazine advert plays a big part in tying the products together and therefore making it easier associate them with each other.

·         Paint splat colours are the same as background for the music videos, linking the Digi pack and Music promo together.

·         All three have the same band member included, making sure there is no confusion.

Our Digi Pack includes the band member’s signatures on one page and lyrics and information about the band on two others. We chose to include a page of signatures because we felt that this would be a desirable part of the overall product as it would only be on the Digi Pack and not the CD. We also chose to provide information about the band in order for our audience to feel that little bit more connected with them by knowing something about how they became a band and background information about each band member.

It was important for us that our products were all exhibited in the right places in order to get the most views from our audience.

Question 3.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Whilst planning and producing our music video we relied heavily on audience feedback in order to develop our ideas and to make sure that it met the demands and expectations of our target audience.

Whilst carrying out planning we put together a focus group of mixed gender 16-18 year olds, our target audience. During this focus group we asked them questions about the indie rock genre and our chosen band.

First of all we asked them what they thought of our song. By asking this it helped us to generate ideas for our music video based on their interpretations which was important because we wanted our music video to appeal to them. The general reaction of the song was that they liked it but some of the focus group thought it was reparative and the lyrics didn’t grab them at first. This told us that in order to get our video out there it needed to be very creative and eye catching as well as appealing to our target audience.

Next we described our concept to them and gave examples of ideas we have had and how they link to other similar styles of music. Overall they liked the idea of the lights on the floor, like the Ikea advert and the split screen idea. This has told us that creative thinking and simple yet effective camera shots and editing effects will appeal to our target audience.

We also asked them what they expected an indie rock band to dress, what setting they would place them in and what would be the stereotypical audience member watching them play. So age, dress sense, hobbies etc. we found that the most common answer was that indie bands wear black skinny jeans, with white/graphic t-shirts and leather jackets, overall a fairly rough look. We also found that the stereotypical audience member would be between the ages of 16-19 and would most probably be in education. This told us that in order to make our product appeal to this market we needed to look at bands that appeal to this target audience and analyse what they have done.

During the planning and production of the ancillary tasks we constantly fed back of each other and got feedback from friends that we felt were best suited to represent our target market. This helped us to decipher both the good and bad parts of our Digi Pack and magazine advert and adapt accordingly. We also did this with our music promo which helped us to achieve, I feel, a professional product.

In addition to this we felt that in order to get much better feedback we would use social networking sites and online questionnaires. By doing this it helped us to get a lot more opinions on all three of our product which helped to make them the best they could be.              

Question 4.

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

In order not to cause any legal issues regarding copy righted songs, we decided to go on to www.unsigned.com and discover a band/song that we liked and felt that we could make a music promo for. At first this was quite hard as we knew none of the bands out there so it was a case of scrolling through the recommended artists and listening to their music.

Social media also played a big part in our research and planning as we often used it to gather feedback on products. For example we posted our music video on Youtube and shared it on both Facebook and twitter. The feedback from this backed up earlier points of conventions because the larger group of people that liked it were between the ages of 16-19, our target audience.

 

We could also tell that it was a big hit because it reached nearly 200 views within the first week and is now on 297.

 

 

 

Over the production period I have developed my skills in using a camera to create interesting shot types without them being shaky or blury. I felt that this was a fairly difficult action because the camera needed to be moved in one motion but still remain the same level. I also learnt, looking back at my AS level work, that I needed to include much more interesting shots in order to grab the audience’s attention. This is why in the planning phase we focused on shot types that we could use. We found inspiration from YouTube which was a big help throughout the project. By using YouTube it enabled us to find inspiration from other videos out there. It also helped us in regards to using final cut pro were we needed help on the tricky parts of editing.

While filming the scenes in my garage, the lighting was coming Down from the ceiling and not straight at the singer/dancer. In order to overcome this we decided to take the light down off the ceiling and place it on the ground opposite the singer/dancer. This helped to minimise the amount of shadow on the actors face and bodies.

 

We also came across some problems in Photoshop were, because of the similarities of the colours of the back ground and shirt the singer was wearing it didn’t allow us to magic tool the background. Because of this it meant I had to rub out most of the background myself which wasted time. I have now learnt that in order to save time I would need to pick a more contrasting outfit for the lead singer to wear.

 

 

We also used the photo studio to take the pictures of our lead singer for our Digi pack and magazine advert. Whilst doing this we found that it took a while to set up but it was well worth it because we wanted our products to look/be as professional as possible.  We felt that by taking 40-50 photos of the lead singer we could easily narrow them down to 5-6 and then get feedback from teachers and fellow pupils.

Early digi pack ideas

Cutting To The Beat

Location

For the location, we thought that an outside place would be good, this is because it represents freedom which is a key theme throughout our song. This is one of the places that we decided to look at for shooting. We decided against this location because the road looked dirty on the day we wanted to film, there was also a few buildings in the background and also tractors working in the fields. We felt that these factors would ruin the rise-en-scene.

This next screen shot is from our second location, in the end we chose to film here because the road is longer and straighter meaning that there was more space to film. And it was also a quieter road which resulted in less disturbance from cars and also made for a safer place to film.