The task we were set was to create a music video along with two ancillary tasks. The ancillary tasks we could choose from were a website, a DVD/CD digipak or a magazine advertisement. The two tasks we decided to complete were the magazine advert and the digipak. We decided against doing the website as we thought it would take too long to complete and require a lot of technical skills. All these tasks were to promote and advertise the band and any merchandise. When we came to constructing these three elements we had to research our target audience and find out what sort of things they would expect in each of the three products.
For the music video we were making there were a few conventions that we needed to try and follow as much as possible. One of these elements is the ratio of live performance and narrative in a music video. This ratio does tend to vary depending on the genre of music, but in rock music video it tends to be more performance than narrative as fans watch music videos to see bands performing rather than watching a story. This gives the idea of the music video acting as an advert as it’s promoting the band and music. For our music video we tried to keep an equal amount of each performance and narrative or just a bit more live performance in order to keep the audience engaged. Another element in music videos that we had to try to stick to was the typical editing effects, for example transitions and the speed of clips. Depending on the genre of music depends on what editing effects are used. For example if a music video is for a slow paced genre of music then the music video tends to have a few cross fade transitions. An example of this is Leona Lewis’ I Got You (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GIkw4Ij5Fk) whereas a music video from the rock genre, with fast paced beats, tends to have a lot of straight cuts between shots and not many transitions.
Another element is the narrative. Narrative can be used to amplify the lyrics and show the audience the meaning behind them. In most music video the lead singer tends to be in the narrative as well as the performance. This suggests to the audience that the song may have been written from something that has happened to him, for example falling out with someone close to him. Also as they are in the narrative you see everything from their perspective. Some music videos also have the lead singer actually singing in the narrative. This is another example of amplifying the lyrics as it suggests that the singer is saying his feelings out loud, which are the lyrics. Other music videos occasionally use other actors to sing the lyrics in their narrative to give a story from someone else’ point of view.
A final element is mise-en-scene. For different genres of music there is specific mise-en-scene. For example with dance music there are various props, settings and actors used. These tend to be in a night club with lots of bright colours (disco lights) and the use of brightly coloured paint for example in BEP- I gotta feeling (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSD4vsh1zDA). The characters in the narrative in this type of genre tend to be teenagers and young adults of both genders giving the sense of it being a “Friday night out”, with everyone being drunk and having fun with no care in the world. However with rock music videos the mise-en-scene is different. The actors tend to be teenage boys as they connect with the band members which tend to be male. Also rock music videos tend to have more performance shots of the band meaning that the only actors tend to be the band members and a few extras if needed. The setting for rock music can vary depending on the narrative. If the narrative is mainly in one location the band may perform in the location however if the narrative varies in locations, the band may be seen performing in a different location, for example a warehouse or garage. They tend to use this location for performance shots as it is different and individual, which indie rock is all about showing.
During the making of our music video there were a number of different music videos that influenced my decisions. Firstly Simple Plan- Your love is a lie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAbcgmwq3EU) influenced one of my shot ideas as it shows a man looking out of a window onto a street where it shows his girlfriend cheating on him, which we decided to use as a shot to introduce the narrative right at the beginning of the music video. This tied in with the lyrics as the first line is “You’re so Wide Eyed”, suggesting that maybe with her wide eye she caught him cheating on her, instead of not finding out because her eyes are closed and she is oblivious to the situation. Secondly Dido- White Flag influenced another shot as in her music video she is seen on a bed looking at a picture of her ex-partner, which we decided to do to show that Sam was upset about losing his girlfriend. We then decided that he would rip up the photo as we thought it would be a good effect to suggest that he may be
over her. Another music video that influenced our decision for a shot was Taylor Swift- Mine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPBwXKgDTdE). The idea we got from this was to have pictures of the narrative hanging round the band performing. Once we came to filming we scrapped this idea as we had problems with them being blown about and nowhere to hang them sufficiently because of the location we chose. The final music video to influence our performance shots was Paramore- Misery Business (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCyG
vGEtOwc) as we liked the idea of having the band performing in front of a dark background with words written over it. Once we started planning our final music video we decided having a complete wall covered would be too expensive for us to achieve so we had a small part of the wall covered that was in shot through out the performance shots.When we were watching music videos for research we noticed that there were many CU of instruments being played which we decided to add into our music video. As we thought that just front CU of the same guitar throughout the music video would be boring and repetitive we decided to change the angle of both guitars meaning we had a low angle shot of the guitar being played and the other being a shot following the guitar. These shots were effective because they give the idea of the audience watching the band playing live really close up. This is effective because even if you saw a band play live you wouldn’t be able to see them play that closely, so it gives a sense that your are on stage with them, rather than just watching from a distance.
During our research we found that there was certain clothing worn for certain performers. For the band members we noticed that in most music videos they tend to wear shirts or t-shirts with dark jeans and they occasionally wear a tie. The clothing they wear is very causal so they probably decide to wear this to show that they are causal band. It also the typical outfit that teenagers where, so they want to fit in with there age group. Because of this we decided to have Sam (the lead singer) where a tie and shirt to signify that it’s a rock music video and for matt we decided to have him in just a t-shirt and jeans. This shows to the audience which band member plays each role as it shows that Sam is the main member whereas Matt is a background member that doesn’t play a main role. For Charlotte (the girl in the narrative) we decided that when she is outside with her “new lover” that she would wear jeans, t-shirt and coat (weather depending). This idea was because it’s typical clothing that teenagers where when they are going out for the day with friends.
For our ancillary tasks we were influenced by different digipaks and magazine adverts from both pop and rock genres. These magazine adverts and digipaks showed us the typical conventions from each genre, for example star ratings and an eye-catching different front cover image to make it stand out. Firstly we were influenced by Kelly Clarkson- breakaway as on the inside
there is a picture of a woman’s eye, which we thought we would try and use as it symbolises “Wide Eyed” which is the name of our chosen track. Another influence was Riot- Paramore as the album cover has Riot written all over it, which we thought would be good idea as we had the words in the back ground of the performance in the music video. We decided to use words in the background for both the magazine advert and album cover. These words were “wide eyed” as that was the name of the single we used for our music video and we also though it would be a suitable name for the album. We decided to do this as we thought it would be effective and make the album stand out from others as its different. We also thought it would be good as it fits in with the background of the music video. As most magazine adverts had a lot of similarities for example release date and star rating used on them, we decided to add some to our magazine advert. As our digipak was for the Indie genre we wanted to do something different from other digipaks to make it stand out. To do this we decided to use clocks to show the track number instead of a typical 1, 2, 3 format. This clock connected to our visual image on the front cover as it’s a clock with hands made out of the band name. Another thing we did dif
ferently was to use a different font than the typical one used on most albums. We decided to go for a coloured newspaper lettering as that is the font used for the bands logo on the unsigned website.The main media pop theorist that influenced us was Steve Archer. He stated that there needs to a strong relationship between the the narrative and performance. We managed to do this as we decided that the lead signer will also be the main actor in the narrative. This connects the two as it shows that the narrative is from the singer’s perspective and also shows what he is singing about. Another thing that Archer stated was that lip-synching CU and the use of miming instruments is the heart of music, which influenced us as we decided to have CU of instruments being played throughout the song during instrumental parts. We also had the camera showing Sam miming the lyrics whenever the band was performing with lyrics.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
All three texts promote the band as each one show what the band is like and lets the audience know about the band, so they may go out and buy different products from them.
The digipak and magazine advert represent the band as it shows what genre the band probably is. As our digipak has a plain background and a large visual image of a clock, it means its following some typical conventions of an Indie album. As the digipak has an image and some information
about the band it represents the band and tells the buyer more information about them if they are interested. As the inside of the digipak has a black background, which is dark, it connotes that the band is of the Indie genre, as when an album cover is seen with dark colours it is probably a rock album, for example Green Day American Idiot.The three products each work together as a synergy as they each promote each other. The magazine advert promotes the digipak as the audience will see the advert and may decide they want to purchase the album. The digipak promotes the music video as if someone buys the digipak and likes a particular song they may want to watch the music video, to see if they enjoy it as much. The music video also promotes the digipak as if someone enjoys the music video and the song with it, the may buy or download the album in order to own the selected track. The music video also promotes the magazine advert as if someone enjoys the music video and knows the name of the artist, they will instantly recognise the artist’s name if it’s featured on the magazine advert, which may make them buy the album.
Each of the elements will have their own way of being exhibited and promoting the band. Firstly the magazine advert will be exhibited in rock music magazines such as Kerrang!
This is because our target audience is teenagers who like the rock genre, which are the same market as those who buy this particular magazine. This is a “traditional” media and there a few pros and cons to this distribution method. An advantage to this is that we will definitely be attracting the right target audience. A disadvantage to this method is that if people enjoy the genre of music but don’t purchase the magazine, they may miss the advertisement.Secondly the digipak will be exhibited on iTunes and other internet music websites, for example Spotify. This is a new media with pros and cons. An advantage is that the listener can listen to the song an unlimited amount of times. Another advantage is that you can recommend the song to others that may enjoy it, meaning the song will get heard a lot by different people. A disadvantage to this method is that if people don’t know about the artist or the song they may not listen to it, meaning they might miss a song that they could enjoy.
Also the music video will be exhibited on the internet on websites such as YouTube. This is an example of new media, with a few pros and cons. An advantage to this method is that is someone enjoys the music video they see, they can easily pass it on to others through social network sites, such as Facebook, or Blog sites, such as Tumblr. This means that the music video will get seen by a large group of people from different backgrounds, meaning that it won’t only be the target audience that is hit. Finally, the music video will also be distributed on music channels on TV, for example Kerrang! and MTV rock. These music channels will be available to watch by a wide range of people, especially the same target audience as our music video.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
It was important to get people’s feedback to find out if we did the task effectively and find out if the products fit with their expectations.
Before we did the tasks we were set, we asked a variety of people a questionnaire about what they would expect to see in each of the three products. We did this research by sending out questionnaires to people face to face and also emailed people the questions. Once we got the results we analysed them and used them to come up with a suitable product.
After we completed each of the products we needed to find out what people thought about the
products. We did this by emailing some friends and family of different age groups via hotmail; with the attachments of the three products and also some questions we needed answering. We also got people to see the products face to face with us and got them to answer the same questions with writing. We used this idea as we were going to get a video response from people but we went against this idea as we thought it would be difficult getting hold a camera and editing it in the time we had before the deadline.Once I had uploaded the music video onto Youtube I also posted a link on my facebook status. This meant more people watched the music video, that were the target audience, as the target audience for our music video was teenagers and young adults who are the main people that go on social network sites. Once we got a number of questionnaire results back we found we got a range of answers. We asked questions on the lyrics, the music video and both of the ancillary tasks. For the lyrics people told us that they thought it would be about a couple breaking up (perhaps through cheating), with a sad emotional video and at the end of the video the singer would’ve accepted her leaving. Most people enjoyed the music video for different reasons. One reason was because they liked how the singer portrayed sadness, which fitted in with the narrative. Another thing people liked was the ripping of the photo in reverse nearer the end of the video. Also people liked how the lead singer was also the main character in the narrative, which showed that the lyrics are coming from his perspective and shows the emotions of him. The final thing people liked was the end of the video, when there is CU of the words in the background while those words are being sung. However the audience came up with a few suggestions on how we could improve upon our video. These improvements include making sure there is no one in the background of the narrative; this would help show the “loneliness” of the actor. Most people said that the lip synching could’ve been improved as it wasn’t perfect. A final improvement we could make would be to have more shots of the narrative as some people didn’t understand it fully. We asked each person to give us 3 words to describe the music video. Some examples of what we got are sad, solitary, well planned, and lifeless and that the audience felt they could emphasise with the actor’s feelings. We also got mixed reactions to the 2 ancillary tasks. Some people said it was eye catching due to the large visual image, whereas others said different as they felt the words in the background didn’t make the clock stand out very well. One improvement we could make on the magazine advert is to fill in space, as one person said that it looks bare. We also got told that we should’ve used a different font for the magazine advert in order to make the band name and release date more clearer. The final improvement we could make was to have more colour on the magazine advert in order for it to stand out in a rock magazine.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
When we got given the task we were told that we couldn’t use signed artists due to copyright issues. We were given the website http://www.unsigned.com/. When we went on this website we looked through most of the genres that we were interested in. After conversation we decided to go for the Indie rock music genre as we both enjoyed this type of music.
We also thought it would be easier than other genres because of finding suitable locations and possible actors. Once we found Amy Can Fly we decided to use the song “lovers and fighters” however when it came to writing up the lyrics we had trouble understanding what they were saying so we decided to use “Wide Eyed” as it was a slower beat and we could understand the lyrics better. We tried emailing the band using the web address found on there page, but unfortunately we found out they had split up.During the research phase we watched examples of different music videos from the similar genre as Amy Can Fly and thought about typical conventions in these music videos and also things that influenced us in our planning. To find these music videos we used Youtube and Vimeo.
When filming our music video we developed some shooting skills for example different angles. This is because we had to use more in order to make the video interesting. Also when we were editing our music videos we developed some skills as we had to be more advanced with Imovie as we had to use more effects in order to make the music video fit in more with the Indie genre. We also learnt new things such as changing timings of clips in order to make them shorter to fit in with the beat of the music. When were in our planning process we tried using Final Cut express, meaning we learnt how to use parts of that software which we were going to use for our final piece.
During the shooting process we came across a few technical issues. An example of this was shooting in low light. As we didn’t have the lighting correct for filming, once the shot was on the Mac we realised that it was incredibly grainy, meaning we had to reshoot at a later date, using a different exposure. Another problem we had when it came to the editing process was that we noticed Sam either was looking at the camera or was not in time with the music being played. Once we noticed this we re-shot these parts in order to make sure that everything would fit in properly.
For the ancillary tasks I used an editing software called “Microsoft digital image pro 10”. I decided to use this as it’s on my laptop at home so I have access to it whenever. Also as it is the software I use mainly I already knew how to use it and what it does meaning I knew what effects I could use and add to each of the tasks. Other technologies I used were Blogger, iTunes, iMovie
and Google. I used blogger to write about my progress and also get ideas from other members of my class to see what they had been doing, which I could do as well. I used iTunes as this was the only way to put the song onto iMovie in order to use it to make the music video. I also used google and other search engines to watch other music videos and look at media blogs to gain inspiration for my music video and ancillary tasks.Once we had done the music video I exhibited the material online through Yout
ube and facebook. These to distributions meant that many people would see them and they can easily be passed on to others through the URL addresses. It also meant that if people watched them they could give feedback on them by commenting underneath.
