Evaluation Question 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

The audience feedback that we have received from our teacher and fellow students has been very helpful when working on our improvements. Each person who has watched each rough cut has given us 3-4 comments, some have given even more. The comments were both positive and negative, which helped us more as we could then see what elements of the video were popular with other people, and what bits weren't as popular and needed changing.

Our first rough cut :

• Firstly during the editing process we suffered from transition malfunctions which meant we had large portions of our video with a black screen. We saw this as an obvious fault and was something we needed to focus upon quickly to correct.

Rough cut two:

• Here is our rough cut two, we had corrected the previous fault of the large portions of black screen which was a positive, however there are still faults. A main one here is that we decided some shots were in the wrong place and the timing of them was wrong also. This meant we were left here with a very unprofessional look to our video. This is a hard fault to fix within a group as everyone has different opinions to what they want the video to look like so making everyone happy in the group is hard to achieve but very important.

Rough cut 3:

• In this clip we used all our previous feedback from our target audience and improved a lot of the video, however flaws were still present. On many of the shots we had by mistake left the audio on the background from our filming which meant it in some places got in the way of actual song itself and sounded very unprofessional. This was an easy fault to fix but a very important one as it was the difference from a professional music video and a very basic one. at this point the feedback given from our audience was very beneficial as it helped us pick out a small fault.

Final cut:

• Here is our final cut for our music video, we used all feedback from both peers, teachers and our target audience to bring it all together. Here we feel we have eradicated all major mistake and most small mistakes to create a professional final product.  I believe having feedback was very important because it helped us pick up on mistakes we didn't necessarily notice, this meant we could create a much more professional looking video.   

Evaluation - Question 2

How effective is the combination of the main product (your music video) and ancillary tasks (digipak and magazine advert)?

All of the products that we made for the task, the music video, the digipak and the magazine advert, are all linked together, as the ancillary tasks both have pictures of our artist on them, who is located in an outside locations. These are then linked to our main product as the performance shots that are in the main product are located in the same places as on the photos, therefore linking the products together.

To link the main product with our two ancillary products, we used a consistent house style, by using similar images on the digipak and magazine advertisement to which the audience can see in the music video. By doing this, it made it very clear that all the products were linked.

Also to link the digipak and magazine advertisement, we have used the same font, which helps make it consistent and therefore the audience links that particular text to our product. Also we have put our own logo on both so that the audience can again identify a clear link between them.     

throughout the production of our magazine advert we did make various changes to it to improve it and ensure its the best it can be. the changes we made to it were that we changed the font, originally it was a lot larger and a different font all together, the changes we made were positive and we made them through the use of audience feedback.

We also made changes to the digipak, we originally were going to use different images to what are now on it currently. the reason we changed this was to keep the continuity on both products the same. So the audience can see a link between all of the products.

Evaluation - Question 4

 

Evaluation Question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions of real media texts are the certain items/props etc. that you would expect to find in a media text before actually seeing one. For example, several conventions for a music video for a rock band would be performance shots of the group all together, a live crowd, and bizarre clothing on the band members, as these are things that an audience would expect to see, before physically seeing the video.

For our media product, we took on board all the research we gathered to then help us include key conventions of our genre, pop/rock. For example in our research we looked into Daniel Powter's song Bad Day as it followed a similar pattern as what we would like ours to, with a clear narrative and key prop conventions such as the piano. These would help the audience realise the genre of the song and also promote our artist.   

We as a group decided clothing within our video on the characters would be an extremely important area to look at, especially our actor who was playing the role of James Blunt. We made sure he was always wearing mature styled clothing so that our audience would be able to identify our genre and narrative easily. We discovered these themes from watching previous Jams Blunt videos and also other videos in the same genre. For example the screen shot image below shows James Blunt wearing clothing similar to the clothing we have chosen for our music video. The screenshot below the James Blunt video is of our own video, we have made our main character wear a leather jacket just like James Blunt.

 

 

Another area we found important to look at was the setting where we would be filming. This was important as it had to match the genre of our song. We used a variety of slow scenic shots which went well with our slow paced song. We also used some shots of the setting to match the song with the visuals, by doing this it allows the audience to interact with the song and get a feel for the genre.

Throughout our video we used a variety of close up shots on our artist, this helps the promotion of both the song itself and the artist. We felt it was necessary to include this as most songs in the same genre follow this theme, it again helps the audience identify the genre clearly. 

In conclusion I feel our song uses a variety of key conventions throughout to help the audience identify the genre clearly. We decided not to challenge any conventions as we thought that if we leave any out, it may look like we have not actually researched in detail as to what the generic conventions for our chosen genre actually are; therefore effecting our final grade. Also by doing our video in this style I feel it gave our final outcome a more professional look to it.

 

Analysis of Music Video from Chosen Genre

For this task I will be analysing a music video. The video I will be analysing will be “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter”.

Bad Day-

The reasoning for me choosing this music video to analyse is because it is of the same genre of the artist we have chosen to use for our music video. It is the genre of ‘pop’ and  is similar to James blunt. By analysing this music video it is going to mean we might see certain characteristics of the genre within music videos which we might want to use within ours. It also may give us ideas of the style of the music video we use.

 This music videos follows the Todorov theory however it starts at the second stage and ends on the first. So it starts with a problem but ends happy. The narrative is about a man and a women who are going through their day to day life and they are both not happy. They then end up meeting each other towards the end and it turns out to be a happy ending.

 What I liked about this music video is that at the start, it showed the life of the people using three different shots of the same action showing that they are doing the same thing every day. For example they would leave their flat and this shot would repeat 3 times in a row but with different costumes so the audience realise what is going on. This example was shown about 30 seconds into the video however there are more examples beforehand. This could be done by our group when we come to make our music video because we are capable of doing that using the equipment we have. I think it also brings something different to the music video as not many artists have used this.
 

 

The lighting for this music video uses natural lighting which connotes to the audience that what is happening is quite real meaning you can relate to the music video and understand it. For example you might have had days like this when it is not going to well.
Unlike the music video “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt, the character is not played by the artist however Daniel Powter is shown in the clip lots of times in order to promote himself by the audience knowing who he is. He is shown performing a variety of instruments whilst singing.

The editing of this music video is good because it uses split screens. I think this is good because the split screens help to show the audience that time is passing through because again she is doing the same action over and over again which looks like different days. For example in the picture below it shows a triple split screen of her doing her make up making it seem like three days have passed so the audience know the same thing is happening every day and it connotes she might be bored of life.

 

In conclusion of this music video, I think they used the editing really well and it has given me some ideas of what I could incorporate within our music video.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Analysis of Magazine Advertisement by Artist

Here is a magazine advertisement used by James Blunt to promote his album 'All the lost souls'. The advert has James' name in a large font across the top with the album name just underneath, this makes it very clear to the target audience who the album is by and the name of the album. I will try to incorporate this into my magazine advertisement because I feel it is a very clear effective way of promoting James Blunt. I also like the contrast of bright and dark colours they use to make this advert the black background works well with the picture of James' face in the middle this draws all attention to his face. Also the red writing brings the audiences attention in because it is a bright colour that is different to the rest of the writing on the advert the audience tend to look at this first. I've decided I wont put the date of release on the advert as this may confuse the target audience due to the track/album already being released.  

Plan For Magazine Advertisement

Here is a magazine advertisement I have made to promote James Blunts song 'Goodbye My Lover'. I've decided to keep a very dark mysterious design to the advert because I feel this specific song is quite depressing filled with emotion. The dark silhouette connotes this mystery, the title of the song 'Goodbye my lover' makes the audience wonder who the 'lover' is and this is where I feel the mystery comes from. The advert i feel should be promoting James Blunts name the most therefore I have put his name in a large font right at the top of the advert so its unnoticeable. I've decided to put our logo in the bottom left of the advert this acts as promotion to our personal record label, it will trigger interest within our target audience.

Analysis of digipak by artist

Here is the front of the digipak for James Blunt's album 'Moon Landing'. It is clear that James Blunt is promoting himself by having a large image of himself in the middle of the digipak. This also helps the audience identify straight away who the album is by, James is a well known singer who has had many top hits therefore his face is very popular within his genre and the target audience immediately identifies him. Therefore this is a very effective technique in promoting his album and digipak. The colours on the digipak are both dark and light, the darkness may represent how some of his songs within the album are quite depressing with a dark feel about them, on the other hand the light in his face may represent how some of his songs can be very light hearted. I believe this is a very effective way of portraying a digipak and I will incorporate some of these ideas into my personal digipak.      

Magazine Advertisment Analysis 2

This Slipknot concert DVD advert takes up an entire page of the magazine it's in. The cover used for this DVD displays a large image of a devil and the page is all dark colours which fits in well with the bands image and the Rock genre of music.

The name of the band 'Slipknot' in depicted in the centre of the page in the bands signature front and is a bright white which contrasts from the darker coloured background and picture behind it, as well as the other small print which is also white and stands out clearly. Their logo is also used on every single one of their products and is copyrighted because of branding rights.

The name of the DVD 'Volitional inside the mind' however is small compared to the name of the band and doesn't stand out as much. The image of the devil makes the DVD look interesting and relates to a horror film so again works well with the bands genre.

This will help when creating my own Magazine advertisement as I can see what colours and fonts match up with the genre I am using, and how images can effect the style I am working with.

Magazine Advertisement Analysis 1

On this page of album/single promotions, Justin's album "Believe" has the largest amount of space. The cover used for this album displays a huge close up of Justin's face which covers the majority of the cover, most likely because the record label demands it. The close up of Justin also makes him look important and angelic because of how the light is reflect on certain parts of his face, highlighting features such as his eyes and lips, making him also look more attractive. The colours used on the album cover make the artist look powerful and rather angelic, again because of how the light highlights certain features. The font used is rather simple, but all letters are capitals, making them stand out, especially  with the name of the album "BELIEVE" going straight across the bottom of the cover.

The outline of white also stands out well over the darker photo of Justin. Surprisingly  the name of the artist uses a very small font compared to the album title, and is displayed at the top of the cover, which is not very noticeable at all. I think the album cover uses quite simple images and texts to not draw your attention to too many aspects, as the main focus is on the artist face. Next to the image of the album is a little summary and description of the album which ends with the sentence "Another Pop classic", making the album sound really good quality and makes the audience want to purchase it.

Digipak analysis 2

A close up of the artist is used on the front cover as he is famous and therefore attracts audiences who already know him. 

The image has been edited very well and professionally. The effects seem very advanced and are appealing.

The colours used are quite bright, for instance pink, purple and blue. They are also put against a black background which increases how the bright colours stand out and therefore help gain audiences attention. 

The text is placed in the top left corner of the cover so that it does not cover up the image of the artist. 

The watch, the sunglasses and the colours connote the genre of pop and therefore audiences who like pop-music will be interested. The watch and the bracelet as well as the urban area edited onto his jacket relate to the rap genre. Since he is actually a rap/pop artist I think that the visual codes do their job well.

The font is easily readable and whilst the image on the cover is used to get the audiences attention, the back cover is used to present any necessary information. 
The image/colours on the cover clearly link to the back cover showing good consistency.

 

The style of digipak which this particular one has followed isn't really one I will be influenced by as the genre I don't feel the colours and eccentric effects on the images would be suitable for a singer songwriters digipak.

Digipak analysis 1

There are close ups of the artist as she is very famous and therefore recognizable. An audience who already knew and liked her previous music would be more attracted to this digipak as they can recognise her.

The image on the inside takes up all 3 panels which is quite creative and looks professional. The image on the inside definitely links to the cover through using similar colours and also an image of the artist. 

The font used on the cover is easily readable and yet not overpowering at the same time. The images of the artist make her appear quite elegant and the font definitely reflects this. The font is also quite thin and therefore doesn't cover much of the image on the cover. 

The size of the font is suitable for the digipak. It is not too large but is still large enough to read.

The image of the artist doesn't actually show any clothing and the bare shoulder suggest she is possibly nude, therefore being quite voyeuristic. The intention of this could be to draw in a male audience and this also supports the theory of Andrew Goodwin.

 

I particularly like the used of one image spread out over the whole of the inside of the digipak and I really like the thin font as it can be quite large but not cover up too much of the image at the same time. These are two things I will definitely consider using when creating my own digipak. 

Analysis of a music video using Goodwin's theory

Eminem - Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna





The first few shots of this music video already cover two of Goodwin's theories. We are introduced to the video with a close up of Rihanna, there are also multiple other close ups of both artists throughout the whole video, as well as both of the actors since they are very famous actors (Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan). However it is noticeable that Eminem has his own scenery setting whereas the actors share a location and Rihanna shares her location with Eminem. This could be because the song is titled under Eminem's name and is only 'featuring' Rihanna. 

The second of Goodwin's theories which the first few shots cover is the 'star image'. Rihanna's iconic hair colour is noticeable in these shots.

 In the music video there multiple relations between the lyrics and the visuals. One of the most noticeable examples is when we see a shot of Megan fox holding a flame whilst the lyrics "watch me burn" are sung. And there are also shots of both actors covered in flames at other points in the music video relating to the same chorus lyrics. 





















 More relation between the lyrics and the visuals is seen when Megan Fox walks away to match the lyric of "to walk away though". 












 Rihanna is seen wearing a low cut top with her cleavage on show. Also Megan Fox's character is seen in a very sexual way, pinned against a wall by Dominic Monaghan. 

 





It could be argued that this music video supports Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory, especially since the director of the video (Joseph Kahn) is a male, and appears to construct females in other music videos he's directed in a sexual way. For example, in the music video of 'Toxic' by Britney Spears which Joseph Kahn directed, Britney is wearing an essentially see-through outfit with only her private areas covered by a shiny material.

  













 

Initial Notes On Music Artist Poster

Music Artist Poster

 

Many music artists use posters/billboards to advertise themselves, their albums and their singles. It's a really effective way of advertising to their audiences other than having their songs on the radio or having television adverts. I've noticed a large number of posters and billboards around London, this is because thousands of people will walk past them every day, maximizing the recognition. It wouldn't make sense to have a billboard of an artist in the middle of a rural area. 
However it is noticeable that only the mainstream artists have billboards advertising their music, which I can assume is due to the price to have the billboard. The music posters most regularly appear to be in music magazines, and around entertainment retailing companies such as HMV. 

The posters always have large fonts with stand out colours. The artists' name and the album/single is always the thing in the largest font, sometimes taking up the majority of the poster. Any sub-information is in a smaller font. A lot posters have an image of the artist(s)/band which also takes up a large space in order to get noticed, but it was noticeable that the image rarely in the centre of the design and if it was then the text was layered on-top of it as the text appears to be the most important thing. However some of the posters didn't have an image as the text is what they want to stand out. The colours on the page are all made to stand out from each other,  for example a light coloured font against a darker shaded background. 

The amount of text used on the posters/billboards was very limited and basic. This is so the text be as large as possible so that people passing can notice it better. Also if people are only passing it then they wont have time to stop and read paragraphs of text. 

Initial ideas on music video

My personal initial ideas for our music video was to include some kind of relationship themed video as I felt it would meet both the lyrics and theme/genre of our song. I had some rough ideas of locations and costumes also relating to our song. Location wise I felt including some scenic shots would enhance the look of our video and link with the emotional factor of our characters. With regards to costume I felt we should follow similar themes of James Blunt himself as this would link with the genre well.

Cultural effects and theories

Cultivation theory

The Cultivation theory is a social theory which explores the long term effects of media. The main point of the cultivation theory explains that the more time people spend "living" in the on screen world, the more likely they're to believe the "social reality" portrayed on screen rather than in the real world." Cultivation leaves people with a misperception of what is true in our world.

Cultivation theory overall suggests that long term exposure to media "cultivates" viewers' perceptions of reality.


Hypodermic Needle theory

The Hypodermic Needle theory suggests that the mass media could influence a large group of people by ‘injecting’ them with messages designed to trigger a desired response which can have a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences and they will absorb all of the intended information, unknowingly believe anything they see.




Andrew Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin has identified 7 key features in music videos, including - relationships between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics, relationships between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music, genre-related style and iconography present, multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist, male gaze/scantily clad often plays a major part, especially in relation to females and Intertextual references to other media texts may be present.

Male Gaze Theory

The male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey suggests that the audience are put in a position where they view things from the perspective a heterosexual male, music videos and films are constantly focus on women’s curves and events that happen to them are portrayed from a male angle.


I have looked at different theories to get a better understanding of what is commonly seen generically in music videos so that we can use these when creating and filming our own video.

Lip Syncing

What is lip syncing?

Lip syncing is used throughout the music industry, it is where a singer moves their lips silently in synchronisation with a recorded soundtrack. It also includes the imitation of musical instruments in some cases. Singers often use lip syncing in music videos, there are a few reasons behind this. Firstly they may do it because their music video includes a dance routine or something similar this means they may not be able to produce their best singing voice while doing it therefore use lip syncing to hide this. If done properly it can look very professional however if done inaccurately it can ruin a whole music video.

Here is an example of lip syncing used well, it is a take that video called shine they have dance routines throughout and it is clear it is no a live performance therefore lip syncing can be used to effect here and they have done so.  

Digipak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I designed this digipak with the genre of our artist and theme in mind. I tried to keep it simple and not over complicate things by having a large image in the background and simple text as I feel the target audience will find this effective. I've gone with a darker coloured design because 'goodbye my lover' is quite a depressing song. I've included our groups logo in the bottom right for promotional reasons so our target audience know the company that has formed this specific digipak and music video.

What is a digipack?

 A digipak is a form of packaging that holds some sort of disc, whether it be a CD or DVD. It is commonly made up of anything between 4 to 8 pannels (counting each side). They can be made from card or from and fold together to contain the disc. The purpose of a digipak is to hold a disc as well as to promote the disc. A digipak promotes the disk it contains by having images and text on the panels to present relevant information as well as appealing attributes in order to gain audience attention. Although music is more commonly downloaded in modern times, the digipak can be a form of memorabilia/merchandise for fans to posses. Digipaks are important because they help promote both the artist and the song/album if done correctly can help increase sales and popularity of artist and record label.

Here is an example of a digipak: 

 

 

 

Intertextuality within Music Videos

Many artists have incorporated intertextuality in their music videos to make specific references to significant events, people or pictures. The word intertextuality means to merge two text and merge them together, many artists do this for reasons such as popularity as making a reference to a popular book will boost the amount viewing the music video. Intertextuality is often quite hard to incorporate into a music video as usually the thing that is being incorporated has to be well known, easy to create and has to have a meaning for the music video to work. 

However here is an example of intertextuality being used to good effect in a music video. 'Walks Like Rihanna' by The Wanted contains multiple references to other boy bands such as 'Take That' and 'Backstreet Boys'
 

 





Here below I have picked out a specific example of where the video of  'Walks Like Rihanna' uses references to 'I Want It That Way', they are both in an airport wearing white attire.













My second example is from the Take That video of 'Back For Good'  The Wanted copy the black and white style as well as showing shots of the band in-front of a classic car just like in Take That's video.

Lyric analysis and their importance

It is common for music videos to include a narrative. The narrative tends to be based on the lyrics, sometimes the video can be a very literal interpretation and in other cases the interpretation can be a bit more open. Having a relation between the lyrics and the visuals helps to enhance and reflect emotions and themes within the song.

When creating a music video, analysing the lyrics is an important thing to do. The lyrics are the foundations to build a narrative upon. If the visuals clash with the lyrics then the audience may be left feeling confused and the effectiveness of the song and video can be lost.

Andrew Goodwin believes that there should be a distinct relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. This could be to illustrate, enhance meaning or even contradict.

This is evident in Rihanna's music video for her song 'Diamonds'. The song title is called 'Diamonds' and the word diamonds is mentioned in the lyrics. Within the first second of the video we see a shot which has a pile of diamonds therefore creating clear lyric to visual connections.

Andrew Goodwin - codes and conventions of music videos

Andrew Goodwin was a music video theorist and he identified seven main conventions which a good music video should have. 


1. All music videos must generate certain genre characteristics. For example, girl/boy bands should feature a dance routine within the music video, rap/R&B music videos should have a number of women and the artists should be wearing jewellery such as expensive watches and chains ('bling') and heavy metal/ rock videos should have performance shots. 

Screen shot taken from Jay Zs song 99 problems.

2. A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. Themes, mise-en-scene and events match the lyrics of the song to help portray the message of the song.  For example 'Alfie' by Lilly Allen the lyrics match what we see.





3. A relationship between the music and the visuals. This means that the cuts/edits and the movements in the video are in sync with the rhythm and beat of the song. For example, Bruno Mars flicks an drawing of a drum in sync to the beat at a point during his song 'Just The Way You Are'.





4. Due to the demands of the record label, there should be many close ups of the artist/artists'. This is because the record label will want their artist to gain maximum recognition, boosting their popularity and therefore their sales. 

Image from Jay Z 99 problems video, he includes many close up shots to ensure to the audience he is the centre of attention.
5. Reference to the 'notion of looking', in-particular the voyeuristic treatment, and objectification of the female body. The 'male gaze' is often used in music videos to attract male audiences. The 'notion of looking' can also include the artist looking directly into the camera, breaking down the 'third wall' to help the audience to connect with the artist. For example destination unknown by Alex Gaudino.





6. Inter-textual references can be used. Music videos reference other forms of media, most commonly film, but can also be television and other music videos. For example, Linkin Park's music video for the song 'Iridescent' has inter-textual references to the film 'Transformers Dark of the Moon' because the song is used in the film and both media products promote each other. 










7. Iconography or motifs from the artist should be included in the video. This is all about the artist's 'star image'. If the artist has their own iconic style which they have developed in their career or in their other videos, then it should be repeated in the rest of their work to help their recognition. 

 

 

Jay Z uses the same clothing and body styles throughout most of his videos he keeps a continuous theme going.

Music Magazine Advertisements

Music magazines are magazines dedicated to music, music artists and music culture. This is a great place for music artists to advertise their upcoming songs and albums as it is a direct advertising link to their audience. Dedicated music fans buy these magazines and what better audience could an artist hope to get their upcoming singles/albums advertised to. Another benefit of music magazine advertisement is that it's cheaper than some other forms of advertising in the media such as TV adverts.

However a flaw of advertising in music magazines is that only people that buy music magazines will see the advertisement and therefore their audience wont grow as well. This is a huge disadvantage as artists want their popularity and recognition to grow. 
It's noticeable that the things generally found on a music poster are also found in music magazine advertisements. An image of the artist, the song title/album name and the artist's name seem to be the crucial things to be included, which makes sense.

Before actually looking at music magazine advertisements I assumed they would contain more information than posters and billboards as the audience would supposedly have more time to read and look at it. However as it turns out I was wrong, the same amount of information appears to be in both, and they still tend to keep the information as short and snappy as possible which I thought was unexpected.

Something that I have seen on all music magazine advertisements is that they include the artist's website and their record label logo. This is definitely something we will take into consideration for our own products.


Here are some examples below that I have picked out as effective magazine advertisements.