1. A promotional package for the release of an album, include a music promo video together with two of the following three options:
• A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
• A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).
I worked in a group to construct a music video, for my ancillary texts I worked individually. As a member of a group my role was mainly producer and editor, however I contributed in all areas, for instance; research, storyboard, direct, film, script, and list props.
The music video that we have constructed consists of both narrative and performance clips.
Our music video consists of conventions of both narrative and performance of a music video. Conventions of a performance clip often include a clip that shows the vocalist(s) in one or more setting. Performance can take place anywhere, from bath tub to outer space. Performance can be of three types: song performance, dance performance; instrumental performance - almost every video includes song performance; some video combines song and dance performances.
If a music video is most aptly understood as a short silent movie to a musical background, it is a narrative clip. A narrative clip contains a visual story that is easy to follow. A pure narrative clip contains no-lip synchronized singing. Narrative is a series of actions and chain of events in a cause of event relationships occurring in time and space. In video, time and space can be manipulated. Narrative is a media term for storytelling. Also elements of story are organised. Narrative is making sense of the story in the world in which we live.
Our video consists of conventions of real media products. For instance the video "Here In Your Arms By Hellogoodbye" has the video in sync with the music with the cuts and beats of the music to match the video to emphasis the media text. Our music video also consists of these conventions. [http://sophielia2mediastudies.blogspot.com/2010/10/textual-analysis-2.html] "2 cuts within that scene, this is used to emphasise the beats of music" (from 0:40 to 0:42) our music video was influence by this and we have used similar effects to create catchy hooks and beats. Towards the end of our music video when the music gains more energy, we have matched our clips to the music in order to deliver the energy in the video to be delivered to our audiences when they view our music video.
Diegesis means a filming world, an internal world created from experiences and what characters encounter themselves in a story. In this case music videos follow lyrics for meaning, a none classic narrative structure. Our music video fits in with the narrative theory of Kate Domaille (2001) type "Orpheus", which means the loss of something personal, the gift that is taken way, the tragedy of loss or the journey which follows the loss. Whereas in our music video our character has lost something personal, due to the sins he have committed, which lead to loss of his sanity and family.
A theme is a particular topic or motive. In music it is usually a recognisable musical composition. The theme of our music video is Religion. A music genre is an expressive style of music for instance, Rock and R&B. Our music video/chosen song is in the area of alternative rock, new wave and indie. The mise-en-scene in our music video has followed these conventions for these themes. As we have chosen a religion location for our video to be set in, 2 different churches. We have chosen location such as long quite worn down roads and fields, rather than urban busy city streets, to fit the music video's theme.
Our music video has a linear structure which consists a beginning, middle and ending. The narrative of our music video is that our character, going on a journey (a pilgrimage) to ask for forgiveness due to the sins he has committed. The protagonist is our main actor; the antagonist is the sins he committed and the evil. What disrupted the equilibrium is when the main actor begins his journey; the quest is the main actor on his journey, seeking for forgiveness due to the sins he committed. The revolution is when the main actor makes his journey and has been forgiven. The narrative/story then re-equilibrium.
Our music video follows the conventions, rather than challenging real media texts, as our music video follows the narrative structure, use performance clip of actor singing, that is used frequently in postmodern music videos. Postmodern is a contemporary ideology built from the end of the 20th century suggesting that artists and audiences have expanded the principles of modernist movements of realism and a mixture of disappearance from realism. The use of different types of shots, such as close ups when an actor is singing, framing correctly and capturing the areas wanted, this follows the conventions of a real media text. Audiences would be able to recognise these conventions.
A music video would usually represent a social group or ideology and often teenagers. Hegemony is a dominance or leader of one social group or population over other, can be internationally among nation states, regionally over social class, between languages or even culture. In different areas of a country people would behave differently and respond differently due to their individual experience and knowledge. Jargon is a language that is used within a group, profession or culture, people on the outside may not understand these words and phrases. For example "chip spice" is commonly used in a city called Hull and other cities across the UK would not have heard of this before, and would not have a clue of what it is. Another example is the word "ten foot" regularly used in Hull which means an "alley", "bread cake" means "bread roll". Lyrics used in music may use words like this; some audiences would understand these concepts straight away whereas some wouldn't, as they have not come across with these words before.
Our music video is targeted and representative of a social group of the age range between "16 to 26 years olds", young adults. The social grade mainly of "group E"; students, unemployed, casual and low grade earners. This is because people at the age range of 16 to 26 are all most likely to be students at college and university and only just left university, or those who left school and not attended college are most likely to be at the lower side of the social grade. Psycho graphics audiences who are "explorer" people with energy, who look for autonomy experience, challenges and new frontiers. Brand choice highlights difference, sensation, indulgence and instant effect. These people are the first to try new brands. The younger generation and students fit into this group. Referring back to the age range of "16 to 26". We have challenged the contemporary media texts as our actor is 17 years old, and the conventions for contemporary real media products, the age of the artists for indie music are at least in their late 20s.
The media definition for hypodermic means inject information into a mass audience. Music videos do this as it is broadcast internationally over the internet and nationally over music channels and radios. Two-step-flow are peers getting influenced by one another into liking something. Those ideas from mass media to opinion leader, then to the wider population. This is a modern version of hypodermic model. For example Mr A saw a music video called "White Paper" by The ABC, and asked his friend Mr B to watch the video, Mr B consumed the media text because Mr A is his friend. This can be described as peer pressure when the video was exposed to Mr B when Mr A told him to view the media text.
Uses and gratifications, means depending on a person's occupation and society they're living or bought up. They would choose to watch TV shows and media texts that would make them feel good, due to their standing in society and based on their needs.
The combination of the music video and ancillary texts works together. The image of the magazine advertisement is from the cover of the digipak. The idea came from influences from real media texts. From researching magazine advertisements it can be seen that they often have elements of the cover of an album or digipak on the advertisements in order for audiences to know what the album/digipak looks like when the album is released into the market. My ancillary texts links with the music video. The ancillary texts consists of images of a field in broad daylight, within frame consists of the greenery and sky. Our music video consists of elements of this, as during the chorus of the music video, the actor and the setting is located in a field with clear blue sky.
Initially for the music video, I was going to put "sepia" effects on the clips. Which would meet the conventions of real media products of indie music, as the conventions for indie music are that they often place filters on their video. For our music video we wanted to put this effect on to meet the conventions but also to relate to one of the group member's ancillary texts, as the member has used a brown vintage theme for their ancillary texts. I didn't feel that there was much need for this effect as if the effect was placed on the whole clip, it degenerated the entire colour causing an effect on the link between the music video and my ancillary texts. Whereas if we place the effect on some clips it would look out of place and mislead audiences as they may think it’s a flashback or purposely done to create a different time slot. As a result the team member didn’t place the "sepia" effect on the music video on all clips as it was inappropriate and the video looked more effective without the sepia effect.
I had created a questionnaire for audience feedback that works as a promotional campaign. The questionnaire was given to a class of AS Media Studies from the age range of 16-18, with both genders. I have decided to choose this media as it would be non-biased, as the students in that class would not know who I am therefore they would all respond differently. The class would have a mixture of different students that are into different types of music. Rather than giving the questionnaire to my friends/peers who would all respond the same or be biased as they do not want to offend me.
As said previously our music video is targeted at 16-26 year olds, students.
To gain feedback I had created a questionnaire for my audience to fill in as well as an online poll on my blog previously for research. Research to see what type of music people are into and what demographic, psychometric and age groups they fit in. To create a music video I had to research what music appeals to my target audience.
From the feedback gained for the end product, the audiences pointed out the flaws of the music video and areas that can be improved.
For rating for the digipak design all audiences responded with 6+ out of 10. And all audiences that took part in the feedback all liked the design of the digipak. There were positive comments from audiences regarding the panorama image of the scenery, which relates to the music video. In addition 16 out of 17 feedback audiences said that they would purchase this digipak if it was advertised in a magazine. This shows that my digipak is successful and my digipak appeals to a majority of the audience.
One of the questions on my feedback questionnaire was “which genre do you feel it fits most appropriated with?” (referring to the digipak) the audiences responded with: indie; alternative; alternative rock; independent. Which is correct, as previously quoted, that our music video fits into the genre of indie and alternative rock music.
For the magazine advertisement all audience responded with 5+ out of 10. There are additional comments from the audience saying that they like the font that was used and that the production shows continuity. That is what I was aiming for, so that audiences are able to relate the 3 media texts together. However I received back a comment relating to the design of the magazine advertisement. This audience said “don’t like the image, needs an image of the artist” I take into account of this, but due to flexibility and issue that may raise if using the actor as the cover for magazine advertisement I feel that using the cover of the digipak as the magazine advertisement would create more of a flow between the 2 ancillary texts, and to keep my production simple, strong and effective.
I asked the same question again “which music genre do you feel the music video fits more appropriate with?” however this question relates to the music video, majority of the audiences responded with “indie” and other responded with: alternative indie; alternative rock; alternative/folk/pop. This shows that the video is effective and is getting the message and genre across to them.
I asked my audience what were their most favourable scene and what scene they disliked the most. I have gain a range of responses of what their most favourable scene were from each individual audience, this shows that the audiences are active audiences, they are reading the music video and responding due to their own individual experience and what they have interpretive, this shows that we are living in a postmodern society as audiences are not subjective rather than objective. I have also gained a range of responses of what scene they disliked the most. They all have their own subjective view, a few responses that stands out to me the most is “where you added the background”, “drinking the wine” and “when the male was running in the field near the end”.
Referring to “where you added the background” I think it mean at the beginning of the clip were it green screen is used and the shadow of the actor is visible. When this is filmed I was not there as I was at work, therefore my team member did the filming with the actor. Without knowing that reflections and shadows can’t be edited out, therefore it’s very obvious that the scene is green screened. In addition this scene was placed in the video when once the main clips had been placed in. Therefore we decided to fill the gaps of the video with clips of the actor sing, we were meant to go to the actual location to film initially. However due to the sun set at 4pm to 5pm during winter, spring, we was not able to film in the daylight; with getting the timing right, for the actor, members of the team, due to college and work schedule.
“Drinking the wine”, meaning when the goblet is begin passed round, audience may not know this but the actor is on a journey to get this sin to be forgiven. The goblet has always been in the idea, as we have place this idea on the storyboard before, we started filming. The goblet is an essential scene in the video as it shows that the actor have finally reached his destination and once he has taken a sip of the holy water in the goblet his sin shall be forgiven, however I do agree that its poorly filmed, as this was not filmed at the initially location as well as the lighting is very different from the other clips as this scene was much brighter. If there was time for amendments I would adjusts the brightness and contrast for this clip to match the rest of the music video.
Conversely, the brightness shows light, hope, that the sin of the actor have been forgiven. As the music video does show a gradient, the beginning of the video is much duller and dark in contrast that the ending of the video were it is much more vibrant and bright. We were going to re-shoot, or scrap this altogether and the clips with group and replace them with the actor singing to the lyrics. However I felt strong not to as it would take out the sense of narrative as it’s mainly a narrative music video and not performance. I believe that the video would be dull and have no energy or vibrant in the video, if the video was purely the actor singing all the way through. We didn’t get the opportunity to re-shoot this clip as we could not get the extra actors to all come appearing in a white or black plain top at the same time. However I do agree that I could have improved the clip when editing the video.
Initially we wanted all our actors to come in a plain white top, however not everyone had a plain white top, so we allowed plain black or white top. We decided this because white shows purity showing that these people as also on the journey for their sins to be forgiven, not only the main actor. The narrative of the music video shows the main actor following these people for his sin to be forgiven as well.
“When the male was running in the field near the end”, I never thought that this would get mention at all, the double exposure with the running and map clip might come up, but it didn’t. I honestly can’t see what is wrong with this, as the running creates drama and the energy to correspond with the non-diegetic music. As if we only used still shots it would be the video would be motionless, and to use tracking shots and pan shots would create more vibrant, vivacious tension. Rather than having many still shots that cuts to every beat, as this music video is an indie genre not an R&B or rap that cuts every shot cuts and matches every shot.
Another issue to be raise aware of that for the question “in what areas do you feel the music video can be improved” 9 out of 17 audiences have pointed out that use of the green room can be improved. As audiences have spotted the fault and able to tell that some clips of the video have been green screened. Using green screen should not allow audience know that it is green screened unless used purposely to show irony. I notice this error when editing, however there was nothing I can do on the editing suite to fix this fault. The only option was to re-shoot the clips, however due to timing for getting the actor into college was an issue.
We have had many issue trying to get the actor to corporate after college he’s still at work and he doesn’t get home till 5.30pm therefore he can get ready for 6pm, by the time we get to the location to film the sky will be dark (winter, spring). Therefore we will on weekends; however I have work at 5pm and the team member want a lift as they would not corporate and to meet at the destination, and want a lift home, this causing a time limit, not being able to do as much as we could have done. As when I go to work, the rest of the member can still operate however they choose to not to, causing a time limit issue. As many areas could have been improve if the draft video was complete as soon as possible, given plenty of time for improvements and adjust areas to achieve the highest grade possible.
17 out of 17 audiences feedback feel that the video was in sync, this shows good editing have been used for this. Matching and syncing the video to the non-diegetic sound.
The rating for the music video is from 5+ to 9. This shows that the video isn’t as strong as the ancillary texts. As for the 2 ancillary texts there are rating for “10 of out 10” for them, this shows that they’re very good. Majority of the audience rated the video 8, that the video is above average and that it shows the video is good with considering the faults that was spotted. I’m positive that if the use of the green screen was used appropriately and accurately the video would archive a higher rating. As I am fairly upset for getting any rating under 8, as I want to archive as highest possible grade, which I can archive.
Majority of my audience feedback replied that my ancillary texts and the music video correspond, however I have received one “No”, which left a comment saying “the digipak and advert looks really happy and sunny. The video has a dark feeling about it.” As said previously the beginning of the video appears to be darker in contrast and brightness and towards the end of the video would appear brighter in contrast and brightness. Another point to be raised is that the original photos were different from the image on the ancillary texts, as they have been Photoshop to archive the bright sunny form.
The overall rating for the whole production was from 6+ to 9, with only one responding with 6 and the rest with 7, 8 and 9. The rating for the overall production is better than the rating for the music video itself. This show that my ancillary texts have boosted up the overall ratings, as my audience can see the links and continuity throughout the whole production. Making it visible that the ancillary texts do link with the video, and not that the ancillary texts was considered and designed purposely for this music video, and not purely made without any consideration of the music video in mind.
For this project I have used many different new media technology to construct the production. These are: Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Premiere Pro, Canon MD205 Mini DV, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft PowerPoint, Blogger.com, YouTube.com, Google.co.uk and Panasonic Lumix TZ10 Digital Camera.
I had chosen to use these technology and software in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages, as they are convenience to use and available.
I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 out of all the available software on the market is due to convenience, as it is accessible when need, and not internet connection is require to use this. CS3 is available on all computers and laptop at college, which made it convenience for me to access to design and create my ancillary texts. Anywhere with an ICT technology. Another advantage of using this software is that, I have CS3 on my home IT system, therefore allowing me to construct and complete the design when I’m not at college. As I would need to explore and experience new skill on CS3 as I am not an expert at it, and it would take time for me to get the design in my heart to onto display and appear the way I wish. If I hadn’t had the software on my home IT system, I believe that I would not have complete my ancillary texts sooner than, which would have allowed me to make adjustments and changes to improve the ancillary texts.
Adobe Premiere Pro was the only available software that allowed me to upload clip and edit on precisely. For instance it allowed clips to be edited in milliseconds whereas other software, like Windows Movie Maker only allowed clips to be edited in seconds. Another advantage in using Adobe Premiere Pro was that it allowed non-linear editing. As the previous software that was used were raw analogies material on tapes rather than digital. In the pass when this method was used it editing must be in linear form, and if an effect was place on the tape then the user ended up not liking the effect the whole tape would need to replaced with a new one. However there are disadvantages of using this software as there are too many options to choose from, e.g. types of effects and transitions. End up time consuming for the user. As time is running and limited as there is a deadline to meet, too many options would waste and consume the user’s time to do other activity for the production.
As a group we had chosen to used Canon MD205 Mini DV, rather than the professional, high quality DV recorder because it is much more convenience to more around with the Mini DV as it’s small and light. For instance when we did the tracking shot of the main actor running, we would not have been able to shoot this clip if we used the professional high quality DV recorder as it is too big to fit on the dash board and to hold steadily to time when filming the tracking shot in a car.
I had chosen to use: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft PowerPoint, new media technology in research, planning and evaluation stages as it is convenience and accessibly. These software are available on the college network system as well as on my home IT system, giving me the ability to carry out my project and production at college and at home.
I used Microsoft word to type up my notes and evaluation as it allows me to “spell check” and allows me to view all the text clearly, rather than squashed up in a small box and having to scroll up and down a box to organise my work. Another advantage is that it allows me to carry out my production whilst not connected to the internet, whereas it requires internet connection to access blogger.com.
I used Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft PowerPoint in order to allow me to save text as images to upload on blogger. I choose to use these software, than directly use blogger as it does not require internet connection and it allows me to check my work thoroughly and clearing on a large display than squashed up in a small box.
Blogger.com is used to place my A2 Media Advanced Portfolio, to allow my coursework to be examined. Blogger.com has been a great advantage to use, as it allowed me to publish unfinished post on the blog saving capacity on my flash disk to complete at home. Another advantage is that blogger organise my posts in order my date, so that I do not have to arrange them myself to make it presentable and understandable. As well as displaying my final production on the blog in order for my audiences to respond to the questionnaire without my presence in the room. The disadvantage of blogger is that the space area available for users to post in, as its only a small box, which isn’t very flexible or user friendly to used when checking and organising their post. Another disadvantage is that it in the compose work area users type in paragraphs however when the posts are published, blogger turn the whole post into one paragraph, causing a lack of presentation and confusion as the user would have to go into the html area to place code in where they want paragraphs. That is time consuming if the user has posted a large post with a lot of text and causing them having to place a code for every single paragraph. For instance this evaluation is made up with a continuous prose.
YouTube.com, played a role in part of my production, in order to gain feedback from audiences. To enable my audience to view the music video, was through the technology of YouTube. Without this technology it would be inconvenience for my audience to view the production without my presence in the room.
One of the main and essential technologies that I have used in the construction, research and planning stages is Internet Explorer and Google.co.uk. Without this I would not have been able to create a blog or make an account on blogger and blogger requires the internet and a Google account. Therefore with these technologies I would not have been able to present my work on a blog, therefore everything would need to be on paper copy to be presented and sent to the examiners to be marked, which is not as convenience as having everything on a blog.
And lastly I used a Panasonic Lumix TZ10 Digital Camera during my research, planning and construction stages. The images on my ancillary texts were taken from this Digital Camera. This camera has the function to take picture in a panorama form, which is a great help and advantage to use when doing my ancillary texts. As my digipak is an image of a panorama. This camera also have many functions allowing me to manually adjust the aperture and expose on the camera, in order for me to take the best quality of image that I wish to have. This camera have a megapixel of 12, which means pictures taken from this camera would have a high resolution when place on a large format, whereas my old camera Canon IXUS i-zoom with 5 megapixel resolution would be poor on a large format scale. As well as it is slight faulty, as the screen goes off. Therefore when review the pictures taken at the time, I would not know if the picture I’ve taken were in focus and in frame or not until placed on a PC therefore if it was out of focus or frame I would have to go out and re-shoot all the pictures. This Digital Camera have been a great technology to use as there are many function to choose from to create the ideal picture. Disadvantage is that there is too many functions to use as it’s time consuming to take the same picture in many different forms, where as you can taken one good colour image in focus and in frame and edit the picture later on in Photoshop with any effect that I like. If I taken the image in an effect with the camera I would not be able to take the effect off. Whereas I can place any effect on Photoshop and be able to take it back off, on the same image.
In conclusion this production have been challenging and a huge experience, I have learnt a lot through this production, I feel that my skill have improved a lot during the past year. I would write the skills that I have learn in the past year, however I shall save that to write in the exam.
If this task was given again I would not have chosen to be in a group, as not all member of the group aim to archive the highest grade possible, and aim to get all the production finished before the final deadline. In order to gain feedback at the early dates, to adjust and amend areas that can be improved to get the highest grade that I am capable of getting.
Initially I wanted to do a different brief, that’s the advertisement one, as it is the type of industry that I wanted to go into, and I feel that it would be a great experience to undertake the task and go behind the scene to see how are advertisement produced. However due, to peer pressure and being a pushover I decided to go in a group. The initial leader is the actor in our music video, whom was previously at college however, left college to go onto an apprenticeship, once he had left I have notified the group to have a different actor as the initial leader would be too busy with his own issue rather than our project as it doesn’t affect him at all whether the production is good or bad. However the rest of the group wanted to keep his as the actor, end up causing major issues later on in the year when trying to carry out the project.
However we was able to complete the production at the end at good standards, therefore I’m happy with the production however I feel that there are plenty of room for improvements.
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