How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

When choosing our song, we had to use a website called “unsigned.com”. “Unsigned.com” is a website where unsigned artists can post their songs for people to listen to, in order to gain popularity and attract attention.  By using “unsigned.com” there are no copyright issues for people such as ourselves using their music for our A level pieces. Once we had found the song we wanted to use we attempted to contact them by email to ask permission to use their song in our project; however the websites given to us were unable to be accessed. Unsigned.com is a social networking site and is also a place for demonstration of existing promos, a bit like Youtube and Facebook.

When conducting research, we chose to use the video website Youtube. This is because it allowed us to explore different examples of videos in order to gain inspiration. Youtube is a free website available to anyone with an internet connection, be it through use of a mobile phone, iPod or computer, as most music channels are only available on digital TV networks such as Sky.

During the construction of our music promo, we used varied technologies to help make the production process as easy and as professional as possible. We used two

Canon camcorders, Final Cut Express (editing software), iMovie, a Mac and stage lights available to us when arriving at our location.

When filming our music promo, we used a mixture of skills we had learnt fresh, and skills we had developed further from conducting our preliminary tasks. For instance, the use of camera framing, such as golden mean and the rule of thirds to film an effective shot.

example of rule of thirds in our promo

Another skill we learnt was to make sure our actor was able to lip sync the song perfectly before moving onto another scene of the music video. By doing this, we were able to make the editing process much easier, as each shot would be more recognisable for the part of the song it was for, and the lip syncing itself would look more convincing. Before we pressed record I would do a test run and change settings to make sure sufficient light was entering the cameras lens. This was important as we were shooting in dark conditions, using spotlights for effect. Not only this, but we wanted to recreate the lighting effects shown in the Mumford and Sons “Little Lion Man” video, with light being used to affect mood and add focus to certain shots.

Here for example, the light creates focus on the guitar in the “Little Lion Man” video, and we tried to incorporate this on the shot of the guitarist within my own video, by creating a silhouette of his face, as it was lit from behind. The spotlight behind (top left of the shot) helps to create a more professional aspect, and emphasises the reality of a real “rock band” at a concert.

shot from our promo

shot from Mumford and Sons- Little Lion Man

As well as learning these new skills I also managed to develop my hand held camera skills when we were filming around Stamford for the flashback scenes.

The editing process for our production quickly became a tedious process, however despite this I did manage to learn some new skills. For the editing process, we used Mac’s provided by the school, on programmes such as iMovie and completing certain effects on Final Cut Express, which was new to me. Using this software I learnt how to use the programme final cut in order to create layers and split screens. I used this method to create the shot of the guitarist with the girl on top, and also the shot with both the singer and a flashback of the girl leaving, to add a more professional view to our promo, and in order to gain experience on a more complicated editing programme, as iMovie is very basic and we were unable to create the image we desired;

Despite using a lot of technical devices, we did encounter some problems during the filming of our promo. The camera life was not adequate for a whole days filming, meaning we had to charge the camera whilst filming our performance side of the video at Stamford Art’s Centre. To get round this issue, we decided to only use one camera for the performance, whilst the other one was charging. In turn this made the filming process longer, but it meant we were able to film all the shots we needed to in Stamford on one trip. Another technical issue we faced was during the editing process when we had to sync the guitar to the track. This was harder to sync as the song uses a complex riff.

In order to create our digipaks, we used photographs taken also by the camcorders and uploaded them onto Photoshop. Using a professional programme such as Photoshop, allowed us to add various effects to our photographs, and insert images typical to digipaks (barcodes, dates, quotes etc) effectively and convincingly.  The shot below shows the transformation between the normal photograph and a photograph after effects had been added;

When the production is finished, putting them online on websites such as YouTube and Facebook is beneficial for receiving feedback from the audience. YouTube is widely accessible by people and is greatly beneficial to gaining feedback from a large range of people all over the world. Although Facebook also has similar benefits, exhibiting the promo on Facebook would only allow people that you are friends with to access the Video and provide feedback. YouTube therefore would be a more beneficial place to show the final production.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Before creating our promo’s or digipak, we created a short questionnaire to put forward to people of different ages to gain information on what they preferred to be in such products. It contained questions on location, their preferred genre of music and their age range. Audience research was important as we could see what people both wanted and expected from the song we chose. As a result, we could aim to produce our products to meet the aims that the public had put forward, rather than just creating what we wanted. For instance, from the results, I saw that there needed to be quite a few shots of the band within the music video, and the video needed to have a fairly strong narrative to keep the audience interested. However our questionnaire only consisted of 8 questions and we only asked a small number of people. If we wanted more in depth results, we could have added more questions and asked more people do give us a bigger range. As a result however, we decided that the audience of our promo would be teenagers of both sexes, ranging from aged 14-40; with a general interest in the indie/rock music genre.

Before filming our promo, we created two pitches that expressed our ideas and presented them to the class. Here, we were able to gain ideas and opinions of the best path to go down when creating the video for our song.  During the editing process, we frequently asked for advice and opinions on our work so far, for both the promo and the ancillary tasks. By doing this, we enabled ourselves to constantly be meeting the needs and expectations of our audience, and also identified with issues within our work that may go against this.

After finishing our promo we uploaded it to the popular social networking site “Facebook”, and the video site “Youtube”. Uploading our video to Facebook meant that our friends and family members could see, play and comment on the video, and uploading to youtube meant strangers could do the same. From looking back over the comments received we can see that people like and enjoy our music promo.

ADD FB SCREENSHOTS

Through conducting our audience feedback, we discovered strengths and negatives about our music promo. Generally, the response was that we had created a professional video that reflected videos of the same genres from proper bands and singers. People said that each aspect of the video, performance and flashbacks, were filmed well with a variety of shot types. The balance of performance and narratives/flashbacks was equal and the moral of the song and what was said in the lyrics was easily follow able through watching the video. People stated that they did not get bored within our video, and could watch it over and over again. The only negative feedback we received was that we could have included more of a break-up scene, to add dramatic effect and attract attention.

From our audience feedback, we were able to conclude that our location worked extremely well for us. The lighting transformed the room so much that people who had filmed there in pervious years were unable to identify the location. The band members were centrally placed, and highlighted further by the spot lights.

People stated that this shot was greatly successful as it once again captured an insight into a real life promo through the way the light had been used. The close up also shows his importance and dominance from the band, as well as the microphone illustrating a live performance.

This shot was quite mysterious and unconventional to the indie/rock genre. Identity is hidden from the audience from the silhouette effect. The lighting from behind gives an interesting effect, as the outline of the guitarist is highlighted.

Layered effects on a shot show a more complex understanding fo the editing softwear, recognising the limitations of iMovie and taking time to understand something new. Not only this, but the layered shots add interest and complexity to the story, whilst maintaining a professional appearance.

Split screen shots also show the complex understanding of the editor, and, like the shot above, show a more professional aspect to the promo.

The shots of lyrics add a different aspect onto the video, with the words coming up one by one in time with the beat of the music. By using stills, a more jagged shot is created.

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

The music promo and the ancillary tasks join together to be part of a promotional package for the band’s new album/single release, and therefore must do so in a professional and appropriate way. Firstly, on the digipak we used the same font as we did on the album cover, to add continuity. We also decided to get the font from a website called “DaFont.com”, to ensure maximum individuality. When creating our digipak, we decided to use different images to that displayed on our promo, as very rarely in real life does the album artwork stem from the music promo itself, and therefore decided to take a separate image of the singer and guitarist.

the image we used

the image after editing on photoshop

The music video helps promote awareness of the Digipak, tempting people to buy it and look into further material created by the band, either in stores or online.



front cover



front middle

back cover

inside left

inside middle- cd holder

inside right- lyrical panel

The modern music industry has broken the mould by reaching out into the internet, either by giving the opportunity of downloading music online or simply gaining information about the band themselves. This, in turn, helps create a significantly bigger audience. Before the days of the internet however, more traditional methods were approached, such as music channels on television, with each channel representing a different genre of music. In the case of our promo for example, channels such as Q and MTV would be most appropriate. The album itself would be available in stores, such as HMV, all over the world, at a price of around £11-16 per album brought. Magazines are also sold in shops such as HMV, but also more locally in newsagents around the country; once again promoting the band themselves. Band adverts, such as the one we created can be advertised in such a place, drawing in new audiences to whoever sees it. Traditonal methods of music production, advertisement and purchase mean that the audience will have a hard copy of the album, although many people do not always have the time to go to such shops or the disposable income to spend on albums. Here, the internet could be used to purchase the album electronically using iTunes, a programme that is getting more and more popular. The internet is also used for advertising, as it reaches a much wider audience without incurring advertising costs regarding printing.

Since apple revolutionized the music industry with the online music store giant, bands albums and singles can be purchased and downloaded right to people’s computers. The downside to this is the buyer doesn’t own a hard copy, so files could get deleted or lost by accident. Many people use file sharing websites and programs such as Bittorrent to download music illegally for free. This is a rapidly expanding problem for the music industry, and particularly damaging for a new artist.

an example of iTunes

The introduction of the internet has meant however that the band can promote their material in a much quicker way. Bands are able to use website such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to talk directly to and build a connection with their fan base before they have a record deal, and afterwards. This helps the band increase popularity, and cuts out the necessity for a more traditional marketing platform in order to reach an audience. The use of the internet also means that music can be played whenever someone wants to hear it, being a more convenient way of enjoying a hobby. Also on the internet, websites previously mentioned allow the bands to keep blogs, allowing their fans to stay updated on band news (gig dates, album release dates etc). Video Blogs allow a much more direct connection between the band and their fans, making the fans seem important both towards the band and in the bands progress, as well as helping their awareness.

Magazine Advert

Digipak- Inside Left, Inside Middle & Inside Right

We decided to use the close up image of the band members on the inside of the digipak, to allow a clsoer connection between addressee/addressor. The colour scheme is fluid throughout and  highlights the faces of the band members.

A brick wall effect was fluid throughout our digipak to add continuity and a constant theme. The editing allows focus behind the CD itself, and gives a more urban feel.

The idea of using the lyrics for a central theme creates a deeper connection. Making the lyrics barely ledgable was the idea we went for, in order to give some mystery untill the song had been actually played. We also didnt want this particular panel to be too overpowering.

Digipak- Front Cover, Front Middle and Back Cover

When finding a colour/effect scheme that we all liked, we were adament that we would make it fluid throughout the whole digipak. We wanted to make our digipak look as professional as possible, and in my opinion, this was to maintain the same appearance. The grainyness of the shot creates a more rock/urban/indie feel, as well as the colours themselves. The font was written in white in order to stand out, and not too big as we wanted the main focus to be on the band themselves.

As for the inside of our digipak, we used a simple brick wall with no text or extra images to create a panel that did not take away from the front and back covers. However, the colour scheme we maintained manages to keep enough interest, and conventionally match the genre we needed to meet.

On the back, we decided to go for the close up view of the members, edited in the same effect as the other panels. This once again adds professionalism to our video and digipak. The barcode and track list are conventional to that of real artists in the music industry at the moment.

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

The task given to us was to create a music promo, a digipak and a magazine advert for an unsigned band that we discovered online. By us doing this, we would give the band a chance to be known, as well as promote their singles and forthcoming albums.

All music promos are different and unique in certain ways. Despite this they all follow a set of conventions that apply to music videos as a whole. These conventions can be split into sub categories such as camera shots (band shots, close ups, zooms in and out, high / low angle shots) and mise – en –scene. The mise – en – scene in music videos regularly consists of a range of locations, such as unknown locations, deserted locations and destroyed or urban locations, as well as lighting, props and costume. A mixture of narrative and performance (such as band shots) are also commonly included, to give the viewer that chance to connect with people they normally would not, with narrative adding a layer within a story. This supports Steve Archer’s theory, of music videos cutting between narrative and performance of the band. We also decided to shy away from the idea of disjuncture and amplification within our promo, as we felt the lyrics told a story and therefore leaned more towards an illustrated video, where the video represents the lyrics of the song.



The idea of an unknown location is evident in Mumford and Sons- Little Lion Man video, as well as the idea of including all the band members in a single shot to increase communications between the addressee and addressor (shown above).

http://ajooo.com/file.php/Oi8vd3d3/LnlvdXR1/YmUuY29t/L3dhdGNo/P3Y9bExK/ZjlxSkhS/M0U_3D/b3/

When creating a real music video, the editing process becomes a lot more complex and expensive. The range of special effects in some music videos is something students like myself can only dream to create. An example of this is the video below by Rihanna;

http://ajooo.com/file.php/Oi8vd3d3/LnlvdXR1/YmUuY29t/L3dhdGNo/P3Y9YjNI/ZUxzOFlv/c3cmb2I9/YXYyZQ_3/D_3D/b3/

One of the most important part of the editing process however is the lip syncing, and the need for it to be perfectly in time to the soundtrack in the background, in an attempt to fool the audience in to thinking they are actually singing the song, often making it note perfect. This is a challenge for every editor and sometimes mistakes slip through into their professional productions. The editing of a music video however usually follows the same style, including both fast and slow cuts throughout the video as well as transitions that cut to the beat.  An example of cutting/editing a video to follow it's beat is evident in the video link below. Here, as the rap kicks in, many shots flash up quickly to reflect the fast pace of the music.

http://ajooo.com/file.php/Oi8vd3d3/LnlvdXR1/YmUuY29t/L3dhdGNo/P3Y9SGEy/bHdyVGM0/QWcmb2I9/YXYybg_3/D_3D/b3/

Also, in Olly Murr's- "Heart skips a beat" video below, at approximately 1.10minutes the editing follows the singer's lyrics and the beat of the music perfectly.

http://ajooo.com/file.php/Oi8vd3d3/LnlvdXR1/YmUuY29t/L3dhdGNo/P3Y9UGtH/VUhnZGFS/cTQ_3D/b3/

During the planning of our music video, we stressed the need to make our video as conventional as possible but with a different twist. The song we used is called “No Reason” by an unsigned band called The Nites, with the genre for the song being Pop / Rock / Acoustic. Within our video, we followed the conventions mostly of a rock genre during performance and a pop convention during the narrative flashbacks. During the performance, the location we chose reflects that of videos of a rock genre, as well as the shots we included. The song has emotional lyrics, hence choosing to do flashbacks as extra narrative. Generally, our video reflected the theories of John Stewart and Laura Mulvey; including women solely for the purpose of display (the use of the girl within our video), and the use of lighting being used on the star’s face (during the close ups of the singer). We decided to go against theories of Steve Archer in respect of the choreographed dance, as it would totally go against the genre of the song, as well as the specific tempo the song has.

We decided the best way to make our video look professional and realistic was too research other videos of a particular genre, and used them to influence our promo. We found that Mumford and Sons was the band that had promos most like the image we wanted to create in our video;

We liked the shots within the videos “The Cave” and “Little Lion Man” due to the close up of shots and the effective and emotive lighting. We believed these videos were different to others we had seen, and therefore we aimed to include this in our promo. We feel we reflected the influences gained from Mumford and Sons in the close up shots we included in our video, in respect of light and unknown location.

In the shots above, we tried to immitate the lighting appearance of that in the Mumford and Son's video. We believe these particular shots were successful in doing this.

We believed it was important to start the song with a close up of the singer, to create an immediate connection. Making the background a dark colour using thick curtains and spot lights, we managed to illuminate the artists face and create interesting shadows. We had given the actor the song many weeks before the filming date to ensure that he knew each word spot on, in an attempt to make the lip syncing in the editing process much easier. We feel this was reflected in the final outcome of our video. Not only this, but we decided to do all of the performance shots in the same place, but with a varying amount of shots including a variety of close ups, mid shots and also wide shots including the whole band, adding to the realism of a real music promo. It was here that was decided to take influence from the “Little Lion Man” video, and attempt to recreate the location using props we had available, such as fairy lights and musical equipment such as amps etc. The image below shows similarities between our video, and the video of Mumford and Sons.

During our music video we included a band performance and shots of flashbacks. The video is mainly focused on the performance shots. 

 

However, we did not only have to create a music promo, but also a magazine advert and digipak for the band. Before we could decide what we wanted both to look like, we did some research on existing magazine adverts and CD covers for guidance and influence.

We liked both these album covers as they were simple enough to be memorable, but also showed a close up picture of the artist themselves. We believed this was important for a debut album to form a connection between the artist and their fans. We also believed the colour schemes worked well, and offered something different to a normal photograph or unrelated image that sometimes appears on CD covers.

There are many conventions of magazine adverts, and these concern to pretty much any genre of music and are vital for a magazine advert. These include:

·                     The Band name

·                     Album names

·                     Album Artwork

·                     List of Singles (taken from album)

·                     Ratings / opinions / reviews

·                     Tour Dates

·                     Record label

·                     Release dates

·                     Nominations / Awards

·                     Website details

·                     iTunes / play.com advert

Both of these adverts included aspects that we were looking for within our own, such as the different fonts and use of colour schemes, along with the photographs of the band members themselves. Fonts were important to us when creating our own digipak and magazine advert, and a number of tests were carried out on each style.

When asking members of our class, they voted that their favourite kind of font to fit our genre and style of video was;

Our finished music package supports a number of music video theories. The video itself has many close ups and interesting mise – en – scene as it was shot in an unknown location. Combined, this supports John Stewart Theory as the video shares the aesthetics of a TV commercial; lots of close ups as well as lighting being used to highlight the band member’s face, which was something we had always planned to do.

still to show lighting on singers face

Our video also supports Steve Archer’s theory as he states ‘Music videos will cut between narrative and a performance of the song by the band’. Our music video follows this statement, and also Steve Archer’s theory, when it mentions that ‘There needs to be a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance in music videos’. I feel that our video does follow this statement as we have narrative in our video that relates to the lyrics and performance towards the end of the song. We decided to link the two as the lyrics in the song tell a story.





To add interest to our video and texture, I learnt how to do different effects using a different programme called “Final Cut”. I found it challenging seeing as it was new to me, but knew the overall affect at the end would be worth it. I decided to take a shot of the guitarist playing, and add a flashback shot of the girl we used and layered it over the top. 

Not only this, but I also discovered how to split a shot in half, and add a different shot to the other side of it. Once again adding interest and a variation of shots. We believed this would add to the overall professionalism of our promo.

The flashback themselves were filmed in natural settings, in order to reflect the normal everyday romance the couple in our video were a part of. We believe our performance location was typical to that of a band as well, being on a stage and with effective lighting.

Initially, we decided to film our music video in Mama Liz's VooDoo Lounge in Stamford. The urban feel and vibe, as well as the lighting available to us would help to create the melancholy feel we are trying to achieve (inspiration from Mumford and Sons- Little Lion Man). The venue itself is appealing to a range of people, and often puts on gigs and festivals of many different genres. Not only this, but the venue was easy enough and close enough for us to get too, without looking too stereotypical or allowing people who also live in the surrounding area to be able to identify where it is, adding to the overall sophistication of our video. In order to make sure our venue was 100% perfect, and also so we can make decisions in advance as to what props we need to take with us, we visited the venue on Friday 4th November before our actual filming date a week later. From doing this, we allowed ourselves to save time and effort on the actual day, and also make sure we had everything with us that we would need.

After visiting the venue however, they rang to tell us that we were unable to use the location on the only day we were available to borrow the equipment due to a band wanting rehearsal time. Instead, we chose to sort our second choice, Stamford Art's Centre's Ballroom. However, after turning up on filming day, we quickly realised that it was a better option for us to film there than Mamma Liz's due to the equipment available to us, and the effects we could create from using them. The Ballroom is shown below;



This is a screenshot of the ballroom after we had used the lights and props we brought with us



The editing process for our music promo was a relatively complex task, as a music video for a rock genre usually consists of fast cuts throughout the video as well as the use of minimal use of transitions or video effects Within our promo, we made the cuts go in tempo with the song, following conventions of most other videos by professional artists. We also used minimal transitions throughout the video’s performance side, as we thought they didn’t suit our music video particularly well. We used stills of the lyrics and inserted them in time with the pace of the music to create a different effect to the video, as wel believed this added interest to the video. Artists such as Rihanna have used such effects in their own music videos, such as the previously mentioned "You Da One"

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