Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Evaluation - Question 3
COULD NOT UPLOAD VIDEO
Transcript of Question 3.
It is important to gain audience feedback as the audience are essential in any media production, as they are the ones who consume the products. If my group were to be a real production company within the music industry, it would be my target audience which would bring in my company’s revenue when consuming my products, leading to the artist’s work becoming more credible and also making the music video popular through watching and sharing my music video.
My aim was to please and build a relationship between the audience and both artist represented therefore I must ensure the tasks I have carried out have fulfilled that aim. Target audiences are the people who I hope, as a producer will consume the products or services of my artist. If I as a producer know what group of people I am trying to appeal my artist to then I can find out what common interests/needs or wants that group of people are looking for and work towards meeting them. I may choose meet those needs by creating a music video in a certain style, or follow certain codes and conventions which would attract that particular audience. This would hopefully, make my music video more likely to be successful, as I am aiming to meet a criteria rather than just randomly creating a music video in hopes that it will appeal to someone.
The comments my music video recieved will not only help us know whether we have been successful in relating to that target audience of 16-25, however also let us know whether our primary research was accurate and whether we listened to the feedback we received rather than following what we would expect in a music video. If not, we can use the comments we gain back from the audience as constructive criticism and can aim to change anything they do not like and keep anything they do like. Leading us to create a final music video which we can be confident in as we have received the feedback and done anything we can to make our music video more appealing to the audience.
My group and I chose YouTube to broadcast our music video. We chose this channel as it is widely available as anyone using the internet can gain access to it. It also allowed us to see statistics which may help us when later reflecting on how successful our music video was. These statistics consisted of how many views it received, how people liked or disliked the video, and any comments we had received from the audience. All together these factors helped us reflect on how successful our music video was amongst the audience who consumed it and also helped us receive constructive criticism. Unfortunately nobody commented on our music video however it did receive 35 views with 5 likes and no dislikes.
Although we did not receive any comments through youtube, we received plenty when sharing our music video amongst our friends, family and media class. Presenting our music video to our media class was especially helpful as our media class also had produced their own music video and would be able to recognise elements such a camera shots and editing techniques they did not like. It was also helpful as our classmates and friends consists of boys and girls, all ages 16-19 therefor they fall into the group of our target audience which allowed us to gain direct criticism and praise from our target audience as well as media students.
Out of all the comments we received, I chose 6 to represent our viewer’s opinions.
‘I thought the music video was very good and I really enjoyed it, I like how the music video matches the fast beat throughout most of the video but also slows down at some points to portray the narrative of the boys’ Lee-ann 40
‘I like how Jake and George were represented as normal people throughout the music video rather than letting fame take over them, nice to see how they are down to earth artists who are beginning to find themselves just like I am’ Anna, aged 20
‘The use of fast editing and straight cuts helped portray the upbeat music and really made we want to go on a night out with all my friends and dance!’ Martha, aged 16
‘I thought that towards the end the music video got boring as there was too much of a story, music videos should be performance based” Daniel 19
‘I love how you have followed the main conventions of the genre and managed to create a positive vibe as I was watching the music video, however I feel the music video is has too many straight cuts which makes it seem jumpy, more fading transitions are needed to prevent this’ Rhiannon, aged 18 (Media Student)
“As a group you have been successful in using a variety of camera shots and angle to portray the boys and their lifestyle, this will help you relate to your target audience” Drew, aged 17 (Media Student)
These comments made me feel very confident as a producer as they confirmed that my group and I have managed to follow the conventions of the dance genre and create a positive vibe amongst the viewers! I was pleased that the colour scheme used within the music video had been commented on as it was one of the main focuses throughout my ancillary product. I was also please that we had managed to relate to our target audience through following the conventions of genre as a majority of comments from our target audience where positive. Our narrative and concept of finding yourself was also successful as someone had said they could relate to the narrative. Again, this comment made me feel very confident as I was worried that the audience may not understand the concept behind the music video.
Along with the positive comments, we also received some negative comments which we decided to use as constructive criticism. One of our downfalls was during post production when editing, some of the audience felt our music video was slightly jumpy as a result of too many straight cuts. We used this criticism to solve the problem and replaced straight cuts with fading transitions where appropriate but still kept some straight cuts as some of our audience thought the fast editing went well with the beat.
Another negative comment we received said that music videos should be performance based, and the narrative got boring towards the end of the music video. We did not try to resolve this much, as we was confident that there were plenty of successful concept and narrative based music videos, such a Avicii’s ‘Silhouettes’ and ‘Hey Brother’. However we did try to condense the second part of the narrative so it any unnecessary shots where cut out in order to prevent our target audience getting bored.
I feel audience feedback is crucial within the music industry and has highlighted the important of planning and research when creating a music video.
Transcript of Question 3.
It is important to gain audience feedback as the audience are essential in any media production, as they are the ones who consume the products. If my group were to be a real production company within the music industry, it would be my target audience which would bring in my company’s revenue when consuming my products, leading to the artist’s work becoming more credible and also making the music video popular through watching and sharing my music video.
My aim was to please and build a relationship between the audience and both artist represented therefore I must ensure the tasks I have carried out have fulfilled that aim. Target audiences are the people who I hope, as a producer will consume the products or services of my artist. If I as a producer know what group of people I am trying to appeal my artist to then I can find out what common interests/needs or wants that group of people are looking for and work towards meeting them. I may choose meet those needs by creating a music video in a certain style, or follow certain codes and conventions which would attract that particular audience. This would hopefully, make my music video more likely to be successful, as I am aiming to meet a criteria rather than just randomly creating a music video in hopes that it will appeal to someone.
The comments my music video recieved will not only help us know whether we have been successful in relating to that target audience of 16-25, however also let us know whether our primary research was accurate and whether we listened to the feedback we received rather than following what we would expect in a music video. If not, we can use the comments we gain back from the audience as constructive criticism and can aim to change anything they do not like and keep anything they do like. Leading us to create a final music video which we can be confident in as we have received the feedback and done anything we can to make our music video more appealing to the audience.
My group and I chose YouTube to broadcast our music video. We chose this channel as it is widely available as anyone using the internet can gain access to it. It also allowed us to see statistics which may help us when later reflecting on how successful our music video was. These statistics consisted of how many views it received, how people liked or disliked the video, and any comments we had received from the audience. All together these factors helped us reflect on how successful our music video was amongst the audience who consumed it and also helped us receive constructive criticism. Unfortunately nobody commented on our music video however it did receive 35 views with 5 likes and no dislikes.
Although we did not receive any comments through youtube, we received plenty when sharing our music video amongst our friends, family and media class. Presenting our music video to our media class was especially helpful as our media class also had produced their own music video and would be able to recognise elements such a camera shots and editing techniques they did not like. It was also helpful as our classmates and friends consists of boys and girls, all ages 16-19 therefor they fall into the group of our target audience which allowed us to gain direct criticism and praise from our target audience as well as media students.
Out of all the comments we received, I chose 6 to represent our viewer’s opinions.
‘I thought the music video was very good and I really enjoyed it, I like how the music video matches the fast beat throughout most of the video but also slows down at some points to portray the narrative of the boys’ Lee-ann 40
‘I like how Jake and George were represented as normal people throughout the music video rather than letting fame take over them, nice to see how they are down to earth artists who are beginning to find themselves just like I am’ Anna, aged 20
‘The use of fast editing and straight cuts helped portray the upbeat music and really made we want to go on a night out with all my friends and dance!’ Martha, aged 16
‘I thought that towards the end the music video got boring as there was too much of a story, music videos should be performance based” Daniel 19
‘I love how you have followed the main conventions of the genre and managed to create a positive vibe as I was watching the music video, however I feel the music video is has too many straight cuts which makes it seem jumpy, more fading transitions are needed to prevent this’ Rhiannon, aged 18 (Media Student)
“As a group you have been successful in using a variety of camera shots and angle to portray the boys and their lifestyle, this will help you relate to your target audience” Drew, aged 17 (Media Student)
These comments made me feel very confident as a producer as they confirmed that my group and I have managed to follow the conventions of the dance genre and create a positive vibe amongst the viewers! I was pleased that the colour scheme used within the music video had been commented on as it was one of the main focuses throughout my ancillary product. I was also please that we had managed to relate to our target audience through following the conventions of genre as a majority of comments from our target audience where positive. Our narrative and concept of finding yourself was also successful as someone had said they could relate to the narrative. Again, this comment made me feel very confident as I was worried that the audience may not understand the concept behind the music video.
Along with the positive comments, we also received some negative comments which we decided to use as constructive criticism. One of our downfalls was during post production when editing, some of the audience felt our music video was slightly jumpy as a result of too many straight cuts. We used this criticism to solve the problem and replaced straight cuts with fading transitions where appropriate but still kept some straight cuts as some of our audience thought the fast editing went well with the beat.
Another negative comment we received said that music videos should be performance based, and the narrative got boring towards the end of the music video. We did not try to resolve this much, as we was confident that there were plenty of successful concept and narrative based music videos, such a Avicii’s ‘Silhouettes’ and ‘Hey Brother’. However we did try to condense the second part of the narrative so it any unnecessary shots where cut out in order to prevent our target audience getting bored.
I feel audience feedback is crucial within the music industry and has highlighted the important of planning and research when creating a music video.
Evaluation - Question 1
Introduction
In order to complete my A2 media coursework I was required to complete a series of media products in order to represent and promote a new artist. The first media product I had to create was a music video, which was essential as I needed to portray the artist and their lyrics in order for the artist to build a relationship with its audience. After this I was able to design a magazine advert which further helped me represent the artist as well as informing the audience of important information such as their debut album release. In order to promote the album release further along with the artist, we created a cd digipak design. All of which were vital in promoting our new artist and portraying their image and lyrics correctly to our selected target audience plus other audiences in order to gain a wider fan base.
My group was made up of 3 members; myself, Jake Poulter and George Hoy. The three of us had to perform as a production company when producing our media products, we decided to name our group JAGA productions, this would be the name of our record label/production company representing our artist if we were actually in the music industry.
The song we chose to use was ‘Wake me up’ by Avicii. However instead of portraying one artist throughout the music video, we chose to portray 2 artists who acted as DJ’s together within one group. Firstly, we decided to represent the artists as DJ’s rather than singers because it was most conventional to the dance genre, because DJ’s are the people who actually produce the music. The lyrics can actually be sung by anyone whether they are part of the dance genre or not. For example Aloe Blacc, who sung the lyrics for ‘Wake me up’ over Avicii’s music was actually a Jazz and Soul artist, which was not the genre we wanted to interpret. We chose to portray 2 artists rather than one for many other reasons, the main reason being that we was inspired throughout our research of music videos and the dance genre. Music videos like ‘Hey Brother’ by Avicii inspired us to recreate a ‘bromance’ as the sibling relationship between the two brothers within the music video is very touching. DJ’s such as disclosure also inspired us as they are also two friends who have the same passion and enjoy doing it together! We feel by creating a connection with the boys we will be able to attract audiences as there is something more to see rather than just a DJ performing, the audience will also be able to see a close relationship between our artists who are both best friends. The final reason we chose to portray two artists is because we thought both the representations would work well with the narrative we had in mind as we wanted to contrast two separate lives at the end of the music video. We used George to represent one lifestyle which consisted of being able to go home to a family after being out with friends, which then helped us contrast the loneliness of Jakes lifestyle, who only had friends and no family to go home to.
Within my production group there were many roles which had to be shared out amongst us equally, however although we each had our own roles we still helped each other and discussed important decisions between us. The main roles I adopted where director and occasional camera operator. As director I carried out meetings, risk assessments for my group to follow when filming along with a filming schedule and over looked the filming process to ensure my group used our time efficiently and got all shots which needed to be filming within the allocated time. Within this role I learnt proficient managerial skills and learnt how planning is essential for every task, I also learnt that it is important to divide roles equally within the group and ensure that people are capable of adopting these roles. When sharing the roles, camera operator was one we all wanted to be part of. For this reason we shared out the role of camera operator in each location. I chose to film the party scene as I wanted to gain more experience in filming and operating the camera, which I managed to as I carried out a variety of camera shots such as high angles and panning shots. After everything had been filmed my group and I decided we would also share the responsibility for editing, this is because we each had our own ideas we wanted to input in our music video, for example the editing technique I found in order to create a flash back effect when the party scene on the phone screen filled the whole frame. Through my part in editing I learnt lots about the basic features of the software (Final Cut Pro X) such as retiming, adding editing techniques, lowering sound and adding transitions however I feel that other group members where more advanced at editing therefor they carried out more editing with their skills. However I still played a role in editing some of the music video and also inputted ideas of how to edit our music video. I feel my group worked well together from the start as we were all eager to input our ideas and listen to each other’s ideas and inspiration for our music video. It was also helpful that we had some common interest so did not disagree on much and when we did we was very understanding towards each other’s opinions. We also was very fair in sharing our responsibility’s, making sure no one had more to do than the other group members and helping each other with any problems we had, by combining our skills. Overall we all put equal effort in towards our final music video and ancillary tasks therefor I felt my group worked very well together.
Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
As a group, our brief was to create a music video along with two ancillary products in order to promote a new artist. The ancillary products we needed to create to further help us promote our artist where a magazine advert and cd digipak design. We also had to select the target audience we wanted our music products to appeal to and aim to meet their expectations and needs of an artist of our chosen genre, as well as trying to appeal to other groups in order to gain a wider fan base for our artist’s. After carefully considering the genre and song we wanted to use in order to create a music video we has a rough idea of what target audience we wanted which was adolescents. After carrying out primary amongst the public such as questionnaires and vox pops and secondary research which consisted of us researching similar artists and music video we decided that our judgment was right and we would aim to appeal to the ages of 16-25, as we felt our music video would most likely appeal to them.
My music video and ancillary products should all work together and aim to represent the artist to my target audience through the style of our music video, whilst conforming to conventions of the genre or going against them in order to create a diverse music video.
A music video is simply a short sequence of visual images. There are many purposes of a music video however they are generally used as a marketing tool, to promote an artist, their song and sometimes brand names. This is achieved by representing the artist and their lyrics to their target audience and any other audiences the music video may appeal to. Music video’s may also allow viewers insight to the artists life which may help them build relationships with the artist, leading to further promotion and a larger fan base. Music videos are also more widely available than for example an artist promoting themselves by doing a tour as they can be accessed through some music channels (depending on the content of the music video) and the internet, allowing the message and image of the artist to spread worldwide. A music video can have three styles to them, the sequences of visual images used may form a narrative, performance or concept based music video in order to achieve its purpose. A performance based music video would consist of lots of singing and dancing and performing talent to the camera whereas a narrative based music video generally tells a story to the audience and a concept based music video sells ideas and concepts in the audience. An example of a music video which consists of all three styles is Christina Aguilera’s music video for ‘Beautiful’. The video shows different images of Christiana singing the song throughout (performance), telling a number of different people stories within her lyrics (narrative) and selling a concept to the audience which is that everyone is beautiful in their own way no matter what they look like or how different they are (concept). Music videos may also follow codes and conventions of the genre they fall under. These are elements such as setting or theme etc. which the audience may see re-occurring throughout other music videos from the same genre. For example an rnb music video generally consists of elements such as; slow pace music gradually becoming more upbeat, stylish clothes, materialistic items, dancing without routine, and a theme of love or heartbreak. Whereas a pop music video may consist of bright and bold colours, artists being portrayed as happy and content with life, fashionably mainstream clothes and lyrics associated with love.
As a group the genre we chose to create a music video to was dance. There are many different dance music videos within the music industry however there are still many generic codes and conventions they tend to follow just like other genres. The dance genre typically represents artists who are DJ’s as they create the beat to the song. The music within the songs are very upbeat and fast. The genre can adopt any style, performance is typically seen when the DJ is performing his music for the crowd whereas concept and narrative can come from the lyrics put over the music the DJ has produced. To accompany the fast beat, a club setting, where there are lots of low key lighting followed by flashing lights, people dancing, crowds enjoying themselves is usually portrayed within dance music videos. Themes which usually run throughout a dance music video are usually very positive vibes as the genre is all about having a great time. Fast editing is also a common convention in dance as fast editing can be used to enhance the beat of the song visually for the audience, making them want to party. Dance music videos usually focus on the crowd enjoying themselves rather than the DJ therefor; there are lots of close-ups of happy faces along with high angle showing people dancing rather than close-up of the DJ entertaining the crowd. ‘Don’t you worry child’ is one example which follow all but one of these conventions. The music video consists of huge crowds attending the final concert of the group ‘Swedish House Mafia’ and lots of different camera shots including close-ups high angles and mid-shots portray the audience having fun and enjoying their music. There is also low key lighting when the song is being played and lots of strobe, laser and flashing lights. This is very conventional to the dance genre however the music video focuses a lot on the artists in contrast to other dance music videos like ‘the sun don’t shine’ when the artist is not even seen. However this is because the band are splitting up and this is there last music video and really want to say goodbye as over the years they have built up a relationship with their loyal fan base which typically ranges from the ages of 17-27.
My group and I chose to follow a majority of the above conventions of a dance music video however did decide to add elements to the music video which were not conventions of dance. Allowing us to conform to the conventions but also challenge them. Our music video starts off with a panning shot of London, this is not immediately conventional to dance genre as the audience may expect to be introduced to a club setting however I thought it could still relate to the dance genre as London is very fast paced in itself as a city which relates to the fast editing we used and upbeat tempo of our chosen song. The camera then shows a long shot of Jake and George on a bench looking like they have fallen asleep on it whilst they are drunk, this is clear as they have opened bear cans in their hand and look rough, this is very conventional to the dance genre as alcohol is associated with clubs and having fun. The boys who are being portrayed as the young DJ’s then walk off looking puzzled. They are trying to find their way home as they got lost after a night out the night before and have woken up in the middle of London. Eventually more conventions are followed as there is a flashback of the night before. The flashback shows the party that Jake and George where at. In this music video Jake and George are not actually seen DJing as we wanted to follow one of Dyer’s paradoxes and portray them as normal teenagers, partying and having fun with their friends in order to help them relate and build a greater relationship with their audience. Although this challenges the conventions, it is obvious to the audience that Jake and George are the DJ's through promoting them through our ancillary products. The party scene consists of lots of high angle shots which highlights the crowd dancing and having fun and also mid-shots and close up which portray the boy’s happy emotions and positive vibes. There are lots of bright flashing lights (such as pink and green) at the party accompanying the low key lighting and also alcohol, this is conventional as it displays a typical club scene where dance music is played. The scene then moves back to the boys trying to find their way home in London and then again switches back to the party. This continues for about 2 minutes which highlights the fun the boys where having the night before compared to the slight regret they feel for drinking a bit too much. Jake and George finally go their separate ways and arrive back home. Jake goes home to a tiny, messy flat which doesn't even have a bed whereas George goes back to a warm tidy home where his bedroom is bigger than Jakes flat. Jake then goes on to sitting down and looking depressed to be home whereas George seems happy with his night out however also happy to finally be home and go out again to work. This is where our narrative does not follow the conventions, however we have purposely done this to create a beginning and end within our narrative and have a concept to it. The narrative shows Jake and George waking up from a messy night out the night before and how confused they are to wake up in such a place, they then make their way home whilst remembering all the silly antics they got up to the night before. The concept behind this is that the boys are young, they will do silly things and make mistakes just like any other young person does when discovering partying and alcohol however, they will learn from this as they get wiser and older and laugh at their irresponsible behaviour although they didn’t realise it at the time but for now they want to start their life of by enjoying it. This concept shares a close relationship with the lyrics ‘I can’t tell where the journey will end, but I know where to start’ ‘when I’m wiser and I’m older, all this time I was finding myself and I, didn’t know I was lost’ which is why we wanted to portray it. The second half of the music video does not follow as many conventions and therefor challenges our chosen music genre, this is again because we wanted to portray a narrative and concept. The ending which shows Jake and George going their separate ways to completely different life through mid-shpts, close-ups and split screens aims to show the audience the meaning of family as so many teenagers are caught up with their friends. My group aim to show the audience that they can go out and have fun with their friends as much as they like while manipulating them into asking themselves how they would feel if they came home to no family in comparison to how much they enjoy their home time. Although we did not follow as many conventions throughout the second half and portrayed the boys as ordinary boys rather than DJ’s I feel my music video was still successful in following the conventions of a dance music video and also feel it would appeal to the majority of audiences who enjoy the dance genre, as throughout we still input fast editing to enhance the fast beat and party lifestyle however again some slow editing to portray the more sad emotions at the end of Jake putting his head in his hands. Therefore my finished music video conforms to most conventions of dance however has added elements which we chose to include as they allowed us to create a music video which mostly follows the style of narrative and concept in order to get across our message rather than a 100% performance base which may have portrayed no message at all. I feel my music video will be successful in relating to my target audience of 16-25 year old as they are in the stages of finding themselves or have just found themselves and therefore can relate to the narrative. I also feel the conventions followed throughout develop the conventions of dance and may also attract any audiences who enjoy house as throughout there is a positive vibe and the concept ‘family is just as important as going out and making mistakes with your friends’ is also positive as it will reinforce what is important in life.
When creating my ancillary texts my group and I decided to follow the conventions we had within the music video in order to attract our target audience and promote our artist’s as dance artists as we did not feel that we could portray our concept through images of London ect. The first ancillary product we produced was an A4 sized magazine advert. The purpose of a magazine advert is again to promote the artist by presenting their image however also inform the audience of any vital information such as album release dates or up-coming tours. It is important that the artist is represented in a way the target audience can appeal to, and also important to ensure the magazine advert attracts the artists target audience. This may mean following conventions through the way you portray your artist, colours used, typography etc. We chose our magazine advert to inform the audience of our artist’s first album release whilst representing Jake and George as new artists to the music industry. My magazine design very much follows and develops the conventions of dance and also relates to my music video. The images I have used in my magazine advert conform to the conventions of dance and portray George and Jake. For the background, I used a picture of a dark tunnel, this is to portray the boys being lost and finding their way as artists. I then edited in a ball of bright green light flares which contrast the dark looking tunnel. I chose to add this in as an image as the purpose of my magazine advert is to portray my artists and their upcoming album, the ball represents all the happy and sad emotion they feel and have put into the album they have worked together to create as I want to promote the artists album as meaningful. As the ball is very bright and created by blurred lights it is conventional to the dance genre as clubs use lots of flashing light which contrast with the low key lighting in the club. On each side of the ball I have inserted pictures of my artists. On one side there is a faded image of George looking directly at the audience and on the other side, there is an image of Jake, also looking directly at the audience. Although they are slightly faded into the background I feel that the pictures will still catch the attention of my target audience, this is because the boys are looking directly at them as if to say that they want people to come and listen to their music! The boy’s facial expressions and emotions do not particularly look happy within this poster but rather serious. I chose to use more serious images as I wanted to focus on representing them as serious artists who genuinely wanted to create music as a career rather than doing it as a hobby. This is because the music industry can be a tough one to get into, and I want my artist to be successful within the industry. Although the images of Jake and George challenge the conventions of dance, I chose to balance this out with the colour scheme I used which was pink and green. These colours appear frequently in the club scenes within my music video and therefor the audience will be able to relate both of the products to gain a n even more detailed portrayal or the artists and genre. As well using these colours because they related to my music video I also used them because they are very bright, bold and positive colours which are the conventional to the dance genre which gives of positive vibes through its bright colours. I incorporated these colours into my image by editing the gradient and balance of colour which affects the colours of the images used. I wanted to keep the typography within my music video very plain and bold as I felt this would contrast with the busy background and bright colours and hopefully draw in the audience attention. The text I used was white, and plain, this also made the text easier to see and understand for the audience. I didn’t include much text as when analysing magazine adverts like Avicii I felt like some text was unnecessary and a bit boring for an audience to read. Therefore I simply included the artist’s group names ‘Infinity’, my productions team’s name ‘JAGA productions’ and the album title ‘Wake Me Up’. Behind the group’s name I have also added an infinity sign as this is scene on iconography such as beer cans throughout my music video. This sign alone appeals to the dance genre as it means forever which is a very positive outlook on life and is something that my artists would portray throughout their album if they were to actually make one.
The next ancillary product I had to produce was a digipak design. The purpose of a digipak is to represent the artist as is more personal than a cd case due to the wider variety of pictures and details it includes. My album digipak consisted of 6 sides; a front cover, cd, a thank you note from both artist’s (as we portrayed 2 as part of a group), song names and finally a back cover. My digipak also followed and developed the convention of the genre and related to my music video. My front cover consisted of an image of the party scene therefor the dance genre was represented through people having fun and partying with their hands in the air. I then added a picture of Jake and George, wearing the same clothes as they were wearing in the magazine advert so all 3 ancillary products worked together. This image also helped me follow the conventions as I placed it so it looked like the boys where partying with the dark crowd as they look like they are having fun in the picture however where in higher contrast so they could be portrayed as the artists. I also enhanced the lighting to make it stronger as bright lights are a key element within the dance genre and finally the text I used was very simply and bold which I feel developed the conventions as dance music is generally associated with speakers and music equipment which is very bold. The CD was similar to the front cover as I wanted the conventions to flow throughout my design and also use similar colours so each side looked like it was part of one product rather than 6 different products. However in the CD cover I did not choose to represent Jake and George as I feel the CD’s purpose is more to do with the music therefore I focused on representing the dance genre through lights and images of people partying. My thank you notes for Jake and George where two separate sides as they each wanted to write their own personal thank you note. Both sides where similar however different colours and both represented the dance genre well. For Jakes, I chose to use a close up of Jake laughing with a green opaque overlay over the side with bold text surrounding him in the background which was his thank you note. I did not put the text over Jakes face as I wanted to represent him as a dance artist giving off positive vibes, laughing and thanking the audience. I also did this with Georges thank you note however I used a pink over lay and a picture of him rather than Jake. I feel using both these colours and the close-ups of the boys helped me portray the dance genre as they are colours seen as flashing lights and also the boys are reflecting positive vibes to the audience, helping them build a relationship as they are talking to them on a more personal level. The side in which I listed the song names on the album was again very conventional as I enhanced the bright lighting used however still kept some low key lighting in the background and used bold text to go over the image of people partying. The final side, which was the back cover was very similar to the front cover as when closed both sides would be seen as the outside of the digipak. The back side consisted again of people partying with their hands in the air and again some enhanced bright lighting to make it appeal to the audience as they would enjoy the bright colours. I also included an infinity sign at the bottom of the frame as it appears throughout the music video on items such as beer cans and is something Jake and George as artists want to trademark for themselves. This would help appeal to the audience as they know that the infinity sign means forever and would hopefully see this as portraying Jake and George in a very positive light, leading the audience to wanting to hear their music.
In order to complete my A2 media coursework I was required to complete a series of media products in order to represent and promote a new artist. The first media product I had to create was a music video, which was essential as I needed to portray the artist and their lyrics in order for the artist to build a relationship with its audience. After this I was able to design a magazine advert which further helped me represent the artist as well as informing the audience of important information such as their debut album release. In order to promote the album release further along with the artist, we created a cd digipak design. All of which were vital in promoting our new artist and portraying their image and lyrics correctly to our selected target audience plus other audiences in order to gain a wider fan base.
My group was made up of 3 members; myself, Jake Poulter and George Hoy. The three of us had to perform as a production company when producing our media products, we decided to name our group JAGA productions, this would be the name of our record label/production company representing our artist if we were actually in the music industry.
The song we chose to use was ‘Wake me up’ by Avicii. However instead of portraying one artist throughout the music video, we chose to portray 2 artists who acted as DJ’s together within one group. Firstly, we decided to represent the artists as DJ’s rather than singers because it was most conventional to the dance genre, because DJ’s are the people who actually produce the music. The lyrics can actually be sung by anyone whether they are part of the dance genre or not. For example Aloe Blacc, who sung the lyrics for ‘Wake me up’ over Avicii’s music was actually a Jazz and Soul artist, which was not the genre we wanted to interpret. We chose to portray 2 artists rather than one for many other reasons, the main reason being that we was inspired throughout our research of music videos and the dance genre. Music videos like ‘Hey Brother’ by Avicii inspired us to recreate a ‘bromance’ as the sibling relationship between the two brothers within the music video is very touching. DJ’s such as disclosure also inspired us as they are also two friends who have the same passion and enjoy doing it together! We feel by creating a connection with the boys we will be able to attract audiences as there is something more to see rather than just a DJ performing, the audience will also be able to see a close relationship between our artists who are both best friends. The final reason we chose to portray two artists is because we thought both the representations would work well with the narrative we had in mind as we wanted to contrast two separate lives at the end of the music video. We used George to represent one lifestyle which consisted of being able to go home to a family after being out with friends, which then helped us contrast the loneliness of Jakes lifestyle, who only had friends and no family to go home to.
Within my production group there were many roles which had to be shared out amongst us equally, however although we each had our own roles we still helped each other and discussed important decisions between us. The main roles I adopted where director and occasional camera operator. As director I carried out meetings, risk assessments for my group to follow when filming along with a filming schedule and over looked the filming process to ensure my group used our time efficiently and got all shots which needed to be filming within the allocated time. Within this role I learnt proficient managerial skills and learnt how planning is essential for every task, I also learnt that it is important to divide roles equally within the group and ensure that people are capable of adopting these roles. When sharing the roles, camera operator was one we all wanted to be part of. For this reason we shared out the role of camera operator in each location. I chose to film the party scene as I wanted to gain more experience in filming and operating the camera, which I managed to as I carried out a variety of camera shots such as high angles and panning shots. After everything had been filmed my group and I decided we would also share the responsibility for editing, this is because we each had our own ideas we wanted to input in our music video, for example the editing technique I found in order to create a flash back effect when the party scene on the phone screen filled the whole frame. Through my part in editing I learnt lots about the basic features of the software (Final Cut Pro X) such as retiming, adding editing techniques, lowering sound and adding transitions however I feel that other group members where more advanced at editing therefor they carried out more editing with their skills. However I still played a role in editing some of the music video and also inputted ideas of how to edit our music video. I feel my group worked well together from the start as we were all eager to input our ideas and listen to each other’s ideas and inspiration for our music video. It was also helpful that we had some common interest so did not disagree on much and when we did we was very understanding towards each other’s opinions. We also was very fair in sharing our responsibility’s, making sure no one had more to do than the other group members and helping each other with any problems we had, by combining our skills. Overall we all put equal effort in towards our final music video and ancillary tasks therefor I felt my group worked very well together.
Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
As a group, our brief was to create a music video along with two ancillary products in order to promote a new artist. The ancillary products we needed to create to further help us promote our artist where a magazine advert and cd digipak design. We also had to select the target audience we wanted our music products to appeal to and aim to meet their expectations and needs of an artist of our chosen genre, as well as trying to appeal to other groups in order to gain a wider fan base for our artist’s. After carefully considering the genre and song we wanted to use in order to create a music video we has a rough idea of what target audience we wanted which was adolescents. After carrying out primary amongst the public such as questionnaires and vox pops and secondary research which consisted of us researching similar artists and music video we decided that our judgment was right and we would aim to appeal to the ages of 16-25, as we felt our music video would most likely appeal to them.
My music video and ancillary products should all work together and aim to represent the artist to my target audience through the style of our music video, whilst conforming to conventions of the genre or going against them in order to create a diverse music video.
A music video is simply a short sequence of visual images. There are many purposes of a music video however they are generally used as a marketing tool, to promote an artist, their song and sometimes brand names. This is achieved by representing the artist and their lyrics to their target audience and any other audiences the music video may appeal to. Music video’s may also allow viewers insight to the artists life which may help them build relationships with the artist, leading to further promotion and a larger fan base. Music videos are also more widely available than for example an artist promoting themselves by doing a tour as they can be accessed through some music channels (depending on the content of the music video) and the internet, allowing the message and image of the artist to spread worldwide. A music video can have three styles to them, the sequences of visual images used may form a narrative, performance or concept based music video in order to achieve its purpose. A performance based music video would consist of lots of singing and dancing and performing talent to the camera whereas a narrative based music video generally tells a story to the audience and a concept based music video sells ideas and concepts in the audience. An example of a music video which consists of all three styles is Christina Aguilera’s music video for ‘Beautiful’. The video shows different images of Christiana singing the song throughout (performance), telling a number of different people stories within her lyrics (narrative) and selling a concept to the audience which is that everyone is beautiful in their own way no matter what they look like or how different they are (concept). Music videos may also follow codes and conventions of the genre they fall under. These are elements such as setting or theme etc. which the audience may see re-occurring throughout other music videos from the same genre. For example an rnb music video generally consists of elements such as; slow pace music gradually becoming more upbeat, stylish clothes, materialistic items, dancing without routine, and a theme of love or heartbreak. Whereas a pop music video may consist of bright and bold colours, artists being portrayed as happy and content with life, fashionably mainstream clothes and lyrics associated with love.
As a group the genre we chose to create a music video to was dance. There are many different dance music videos within the music industry however there are still many generic codes and conventions they tend to follow just like other genres. The dance genre typically represents artists who are DJ’s as they create the beat to the song. The music within the songs are very upbeat and fast. The genre can adopt any style, performance is typically seen when the DJ is performing his music for the crowd whereas concept and narrative can come from the lyrics put over the music the DJ has produced. To accompany the fast beat, a club setting, where there are lots of low key lighting followed by flashing lights, people dancing, crowds enjoying themselves is usually portrayed within dance music videos. Themes which usually run throughout a dance music video are usually very positive vibes as the genre is all about having a great time. Fast editing is also a common convention in dance as fast editing can be used to enhance the beat of the song visually for the audience, making them want to party. Dance music videos usually focus on the crowd enjoying themselves rather than the DJ therefor; there are lots of close-ups of happy faces along with high angle showing people dancing rather than close-up of the DJ entertaining the crowd. ‘Don’t you worry child’ is one example which follow all but one of these conventions. The music video consists of huge crowds attending the final concert of the group ‘Swedish House Mafia’ and lots of different camera shots including close-ups high angles and mid-shots portray the audience having fun and enjoying their music. There is also low key lighting when the song is being played and lots of strobe, laser and flashing lights. This is very conventional to the dance genre however the music video focuses a lot on the artists in contrast to other dance music videos like ‘the sun don’t shine’ when the artist is not even seen. However this is because the band are splitting up and this is there last music video and really want to say goodbye as over the years they have built up a relationship with their loyal fan base which typically ranges from the ages of 17-27.
My group and I chose to follow a majority of the above conventions of a dance music video however did decide to add elements to the music video which were not conventions of dance. Allowing us to conform to the conventions but also challenge them. Our music video starts off with a panning shot of London, this is not immediately conventional to dance genre as the audience may expect to be introduced to a club setting however I thought it could still relate to the dance genre as London is very fast paced in itself as a city which relates to the fast editing we used and upbeat tempo of our chosen song. The camera then shows a long shot of Jake and George on a bench looking like they have fallen asleep on it whilst they are drunk, this is clear as they have opened bear cans in their hand and look rough, this is very conventional to the dance genre as alcohol is associated with clubs and having fun. The boys who are being portrayed as the young DJ’s then walk off looking puzzled. They are trying to find their way home as they got lost after a night out the night before and have woken up in the middle of London. Eventually more conventions are followed as there is a flashback of the night before. The flashback shows the party that Jake and George where at. In this music video Jake and George are not actually seen DJing as we wanted to follow one of Dyer’s paradoxes and portray them as normal teenagers, partying and having fun with their friends in order to help them relate and build a greater relationship with their audience. Although this challenges the conventions, it is obvious to the audience that Jake and George are the DJ's through promoting them through our ancillary products. The party scene consists of lots of high angle shots which highlights the crowd dancing and having fun and also mid-shots and close up which portray the boy’s happy emotions and positive vibes. There are lots of bright flashing lights (such as pink and green) at the party accompanying the low key lighting and also alcohol, this is conventional as it displays a typical club scene where dance music is played. The scene then moves back to the boys trying to find their way home in London and then again switches back to the party. This continues for about 2 minutes which highlights the fun the boys where having the night before compared to the slight regret they feel for drinking a bit too much. Jake and George finally go their separate ways and arrive back home. Jake goes home to a tiny, messy flat which doesn't even have a bed whereas George goes back to a warm tidy home where his bedroom is bigger than Jakes flat. Jake then goes on to sitting down and looking depressed to be home whereas George seems happy with his night out however also happy to finally be home and go out again to work. This is where our narrative does not follow the conventions, however we have purposely done this to create a beginning and end within our narrative and have a concept to it. The narrative shows Jake and George waking up from a messy night out the night before and how confused they are to wake up in such a place, they then make their way home whilst remembering all the silly antics they got up to the night before. The concept behind this is that the boys are young, they will do silly things and make mistakes just like any other young person does when discovering partying and alcohol however, they will learn from this as they get wiser and older and laugh at their irresponsible behaviour although they didn’t realise it at the time but for now they want to start their life of by enjoying it. This concept shares a close relationship with the lyrics ‘I can’t tell where the journey will end, but I know where to start’ ‘when I’m wiser and I’m older, all this time I was finding myself and I, didn’t know I was lost’ which is why we wanted to portray it. The second half of the music video does not follow as many conventions and therefor challenges our chosen music genre, this is again because we wanted to portray a narrative and concept. The ending which shows Jake and George going their separate ways to completely different life through mid-shpts, close-ups and split screens aims to show the audience the meaning of family as so many teenagers are caught up with their friends. My group aim to show the audience that they can go out and have fun with their friends as much as they like while manipulating them into asking themselves how they would feel if they came home to no family in comparison to how much they enjoy their home time. Although we did not follow as many conventions throughout the second half and portrayed the boys as ordinary boys rather than DJ’s I feel my music video was still successful in following the conventions of a dance music video and also feel it would appeal to the majority of audiences who enjoy the dance genre, as throughout we still input fast editing to enhance the fast beat and party lifestyle however again some slow editing to portray the more sad emotions at the end of Jake putting his head in his hands. Therefore my finished music video conforms to most conventions of dance however has added elements which we chose to include as they allowed us to create a music video which mostly follows the style of narrative and concept in order to get across our message rather than a 100% performance base which may have portrayed no message at all. I feel my music video will be successful in relating to my target audience of 16-25 year old as they are in the stages of finding themselves or have just found themselves and therefore can relate to the narrative. I also feel the conventions followed throughout develop the conventions of dance and may also attract any audiences who enjoy house as throughout there is a positive vibe and the concept ‘family is just as important as going out and making mistakes with your friends’ is also positive as it will reinforce what is important in life.
When creating my ancillary texts my group and I decided to follow the conventions we had within the music video in order to attract our target audience and promote our artist’s as dance artists as we did not feel that we could portray our concept through images of London ect. The first ancillary product we produced was an A4 sized magazine advert. The purpose of a magazine advert is again to promote the artist by presenting their image however also inform the audience of any vital information such as album release dates or up-coming tours. It is important that the artist is represented in a way the target audience can appeal to, and also important to ensure the magazine advert attracts the artists target audience. This may mean following conventions through the way you portray your artist, colours used, typography etc. We chose our magazine advert to inform the audience of our artist’s first album release whilst representing Jake and George as new artists to the music industry. My magazine design very much follows and develops the conventions of dance and also relates to my music video. The images I have used in my magazine advert conform to the conventions of dance and portray George and Jake. For the background, I used a picture of a dark tunnel, this is to portray the boys being lost and finding their way as artists. I then edited in a ball of bright green light flares which contrast the dark looking tunnel. I chose to add this in as an image as the purpose of my magazine advert is to portray my artists and their upcoming album, the ball represents all the happy and sad emotion they feel and have put into the album they have worked together to create as I want to promote the artists album as meaningful. As the ball is very bright and created by blurred lights it is conventional to the dance genre as clubs use lots of flashing light which contrast with the low key lighting in the club. On each side of the ball I have inserted pictures of my artists. On one side there is a faded image of George looking directly at the audience and on the other side, there is an image of Jake, also looking directly at the audience. Although they are slightly faded into the background I feel that the pictures will still catch the attention of my target audience, this is because the boys are looking directly at them as if to say that they want people to come and listen to their music! The boy’s facial expressions and emotions do not particularly look happy within this poster but rather serious. I chose to use more serious images as I wanted to focus on representing them as serious artists who genuinely wanted to create music as a career rather than doing it as a hobby. This is because the music industry can be a tough one to get into, and I want my artist to be successful within the industry. Although the images of Jake and George challenge the conventions of dance, I chose to balance this out with the colour scheme I used which was pink and green. These colours appear frequently in the club scenes within my music video and therefor the audience will be able to relate both of the products to gain a n even more detailed portrayal or the artists and genre. As well using these colours because they related to my music video I also used them because they are very bright, bold and positive colours which are the conventional to the dance genre which gives of positive vibes through its bright colours. I incorporated these colours into my image by editing the gradient and balance of colour which affects the colours of the images used. I wanted to keep the typography within my music video very plain and bold as I felt this would contrast with the busy background and bright colours and hopefully draw in the audience attention. The text I used was white, and plain, this also made the text easier to see and understand for the audience. I didn’t include much text as when analysing magazine adverts like Avicii I felt like some text was unnecessary and a bit boring for an audience to read. Therefore I simply included the artist’s group names ‘Infinity’, my productions team’s name ‘JAGA productions’ and the album title ‘Wake Me Up’. Behind the group’s name I have also added an infinity sign as this is scene on iconography such as beer cans throughout my music video. This sign alone appeals to the dance genre as it means forever which is a very positive outlook on life and is something that my artists would portray throughout their album if they were to actually make one.
The next ancillary product I had to produce was a digipak design. The purpose of a digipak is to represent the artist as is more personal than a cd case due to the wider variety of pictures and details it includes. My album digipak consisted of 6 sides; a front cover, cd, a thank you note from both artist’s (as we portrayed 2 as part of a group), song names and finally a back cover. My digipak also followed and developed the convention of the genre and related to my music video. My front cover consisted of an image of the party scene therefor the dance genre was represented through people having fun and partying with their hands in the air. I then added a picture of Jake and George, wearing the same clothes as they were wearing in the magazine advert so all 3 ancillary products worked together. This image also helped me follow the conventions as I placed it so it looked like the boys where partying with the dark crowd as they look like they are having fun in the picture however where in higher contrast so they could be portrayed as the artists. I also enhanced the lighting to make it stronger as bright lights are a key element within the dance genre and finally the text I used was very simply and bold which I feel developed the conventions as dance music is generally associated with speakers and music equipment which is very bold. The CD was similar to the front cover as I wanted the conventions to flow throughout my design and also use similar colours so each side looked like it was part of one product rather than 6 different products. However in the CD cover I did not choose to represent Jake and George as I feel the CD’s purpose is more to do with the music therefore I focused on representing the dance genre through lights and images of people partying. My thank you notes for Jake and George where two separate sides as they each wanted to write their own personal thank you note. Both sides where similar however different colours and both represented the dance genre well. For Jakes, I chose to use a close up of Jake laughing with a green opaque overlay over the side with bold text surrounding him in the background which was his thank you note. I did not put the text over Jakes face as I wanted to represent him as a dance artist giving off positive vibes, laughing and thanking the audience. I also did this with Georges thank you note however I used a pink over lay and a picture of him rather than Jake. I feel using both these colours and the close-ups of the boys helped me portray the dance genre as they are colours seen as flashing lights and also the boys are reflecting positive vibes to the audience, helping them build a relationship as they are talking to them on a more personal level. The side in which I listed the song names on the album was again very conventional as I enhanced the bright lighting used however still kept some low key lighting in the background and used bold text to go over the image of people partying. The final side, which was the back cover was very similar to the front cover as when closed both sides would be seen as the outside of the digipak. The back side consisted again of people partying with their hands in the air and again some enhanced bright lighting to make it appeal to the audience as they would enjoy the bright colours. I also included an infinity sign at the bottom of the frame as it appears throughout the music video on items such as beer cans and is something Jake and George as artists want to trademark for themselves. This would help appeal to the audience as they know that the infinity sign means forever and would hopefully see this as portraying Jake and George in a very positive light, leading the audience to wanting to hear their music.
Audience Feedback
It is important to gain audience feedback as the audience are essential
in any media production, as they are the ones who consume the products, and as a production company we must see if we have been successfully in meeting the target audiences needs and if we attracted any new audiences to our product. Target audiences are the people who will consume the products or services of my artist. If I know what group of people I am trying to appeal my artist to then I can find
out what common interests/needs or wants that group of people are looking for
and work towards meeting them. Hopefully making my music video more succesful and production more efficient as i am aware of what element I should be including into my music video in order to appeal to my audience
We can use the comments we gain back from the audience as constructive criticism and can aim to change anything they do not like and keep anything they do like. Leading us to create a final music video which we can be confident in as we have received the feedback and done anything we can to make our music video more appealing to the audience.
My group and I chose YouTube to broadcast our music video. We chose this channel as it is widely available as anyone using the internet can gain access to it. It also allowed us to see statistics which may help us when later reflecting on how successful our music video was. These statistics consisted of how many views it received, how people liked or disliked the video, and any comments we had received from the audience. Unfortunately nobody commented on our music video however it did receive 35 views with 5 likes and no dislikes.
Although we did not receive any comments through youtube, we received plenty when sharing our music video amongst our friends, family and media class. Presenting our music video to our media class was especially helpful as our media class also had produced their own music video and would be able to recognise elements such a camera shots and editing techniques they did not like. It was also helpful as our classmates and friends consists of boys and girls, all ages 16-19 therefor they fall into the group of our target audience which allowed us to gain direct criticism and praise from our target audience as well as media students.
Out of all the comments we received, I chose 6 to represent our viewer’s opinions.
‘I thought the music video was very good and I really enjoyed it, I like how the music video matches the fast beat throughout most of the video but also slows down at some points to portray the narrative of the boys’ Lee-ann 40
‘I like how Jake and George were represented as normal people throughout the music video rather than letting fame take over them, nice to see how they are down to earth artists who are beginning to find themselves just like I am’ Anna, aged 20
‘The use of fast editing and straight cuts helped portray the upbeat music and really made we want to go on a night out with all my friends and dance!’ Martha, aged 16
‘I thought that towards the end the music video got boring as there was too much of a story, music videos should be performance based” Daniel 19
‘I love how you have followed the main conventions of the genre and managed to create a positive vibe as I was watching the music video, however I feel the music video is has too many straight cuts which makes it seem jumpy, more fading transitions are needed to prevent this’ Rhiannon, aged 18 (Media Student)
“As a group you have been successful in using a variety of camera shots and angle to portray the boys and their lifestyle, this will help you relate to your target audience” Drew, aged 17 (Media Student)
These comments made me feel very confident as a producer as they confirmed that my group and I have managed to follow the conventions of the dance genre and create a positive vibe amongst the viewers! I was pleased that the colour scheme used within the music video had been commented on as it was one of the main focuses throughout my ancillary product. I was also please that we had managed to relate to our target audience through following the conventions of genre as a majority of comments from our target audience where positive. Our narrative and concept of finding yourself was also successful as someone had said they could relate to the narrative. Again, this comment made me feel very confident as I was worried that the audience may not understand the concept behind the music video.
Along with the positive comments, we also received some negative comments which we decided to use as constructive criticism. One of our downfalls was during post production when editing, some of the audience felt our music video was slightly jumpy as a result of too many straight cuts. We used this criticism to solve the problem and replaced straight cuts with fading transitions where appropriate but still kept some straight cuts as some of our audience thought the fast editing went well with the beat.
Another negative comment we received said that music videos should be performance based, and the narrative got boring towards the end of the music video. We did not try to resolve this much, as we was confident that there were plenty of successful concept and narrative based music videos, such a Avicii’s ‘Silhouettes’ and ‘Hey Brother’. However we did try to condense the second part of the narrative so it any unnecessary shots where cut out in order to prevent our target audience getting bored.
I feel audience feedback is crucial within the music industry and has highlighted the important of planning and research when creating a music video.
We can use the comments we gain back from the audience as constructive criticism and can aim to change anything they do not like and keep anything they do like. Leading us to create a final music video which we can be confident in as we have received the feedback and done anything we can to make our music video more appealing to the audience.
My group and I chose YouTube to broadcast our music video. We chose this channel as it is widely available as anyone using the internet can gain access to it. It also allowed us to see statistics which may help us when later reflecting on how successful our music video was. These statistics consisted of how many views it received, how people liked or disliked the video, and any comments we had received from the audience. Unfortunately nobody commented on our music video however it did receive 35 views with 5 likes and no dislikes.
Although we did not receive any comments through youtube, we received plenty when sharing our music video amongst our friends, family and media class. Presenting our music video to our media class was especially helpful as our media class also had produced their own music video and would be able to recognise elements such a camera shots and editing techniques they did not like. It was also helpful as our classmates and friends consists of boys and girls, all ages 16-19 therefor they fall into the group of our target audience which allowed us to gain direct criticism and praise from our target audience as well as media students.
Out of all the comments we received, I chose 6 to represent our viewer’s opinions.
‘I thought the music video was very good and I really enjoyed it, I like how the music video matches the fast beat throughout most of the video but also slows down at some points to portray the narrative of the boys’ Lee-ann 40
‘I like how Jake and George were represented as normal people throughout the music video rather than letting fame take over them, nice to see how they are down to earth artists who are beginning to find themselves just like I am’ Anna, aged 20
‘The use of fast editing and straight cuts helped portray the upbeat music and really made we want to go on a night out with all my friends and dance!’ Martha, aged 16
‘I thought that towards the end the music video got boring as there was too much of a story, music videos should be performance based” Daniel 19
‘I love how you have followed the main conventions of the genre and managed to create a positive vibe as I was watching the music video, however I feel the music video is has too many straight cuts which makes it seem jumpy, more fading transitions are needed to prevent this’ Rhiannon, aged 18 (Media Student)
“As a group you have been successful in using a variety of camera shots and angle to portray the boys and their lifestyle, this will help you relate to your target audience” Drew, aged 17 (Media Student)
These comments made me feel very confident as a producer as they confirmed that my group and I have managed to follow the conventions of the dance genre and create a positive vibe amongst the viewers! I was pleased that the colour scheme used within the music video had been commented on as it was one of the main focuses throughout my ancillary product. I was also please that we had managed to relate to our target audience through following the conventions of genre as a majority of comments from our target audience where positive. Our narrative and concept of finding yourself was also successful as someone had said they could relate to the narrative. Again, this comment made me feel very confident as I was worried that the audience may not understand the concept behind the music video.
Along with the positive comments, we also received some negative comments which we decided to use as constructive criticism. One of our downfalls was during post production when editing, some of the audience felt our music video was slightly jumpy as a result of too many straight cuts. We used this criticism to solve the problem and replaced straight cuts with fading transitions where appropriate but still kept some straight cuts as some of our audience thought the fast editing went well with the beat.
Another negative comment we received said that music videos should be performance based, and the narrative got boring towards the end of the music video. We did not try to resolve this much, as we was confident that there were plenty of successful concept and narrative based music videos, such a Avicii’s ‘Silhouettes’ and ‘Hey Brother’. However we did try to condense the second part of the narrative so it any unnecessary shots where cut out in order to prevent our target audience getting bored.
I feel audience feedback is crucial within the music industry and has highlighted the important of planning and research when creating a music video.
Group Digipak
After myself, Jake and George had completed our final designs it was time for us as a
group to decide whose design we would use as our final digipak. We all aimed
to portray a digipak that promoted our artists in a positive and developed the
codes and conventions of dance whilst appealing to our target audience making
them want to buy the album and listen to Jake and George’s music. The final
product would have to fulfil this purpose and work effectively alongside our
music video and magazine advert.
In
order to share our designs around, we sent our designs to one
another, this then gave us time to individually analyse and compare our digipak
designs and weigh up the positives and any changes that may need to be made. We
then came together as a group and had a meeting where we discussed our thoughts
which lead to our final decision.
George used a consistent colour scheme of pink and green
throughout his digpak which works well with our music video and magazine advert
as it helps toward developing the codes and conventions of the dance genre. His
front cover contains image of him and Jake which are duplicated backwards,
those duplicates are filled with colours of pinks and green and create a good
effect as it helps portray the repetitive beat of ‘Wake me up’. The pictures of
George uses of Jake and himself throughout his digipak are conventional as they
portray positive vibes as the boys are smiling and messing around in them.
George also continued to use images form the party in order to follow the
conventions of dance as dance is generally played at parties where people
dance. The only thing I feel could be changed within the digipak is the cd design
and the grey scale background which George uses in some of the sides. Although
the cd is conventional through the dark colours which contrast with striking
colours of pink and green which look like lasers, I feel that it looks too
basic, this design may have been better if George was to decrease the opacity
of the strikes of colour as then it would make them seem like actual lights
making the design more realistic and conventional. I also think that George
should not have used a grey scale background as it does not go with the colour
scheme used throughout or follow the conventions of dance. However, I like how
George has portrayed the genre positively throughout the use of his images and
added effects such as outer glows to highlight him and George as the artists.
Overall I feel the use of his colours and images have been successful in
portraying the positive vibes that dance brings to the music industry. For this
reason I feel that George would be successful in attracting an audience who
enjoy the positivity of the genre and going out listening to dance as the
colours would appeal to them. |
| Georges final digipak design Jakes digipak was also consistent throughout each side. This is because he used the same image of our party scene throughout. These images made Jakes digipak instantly conventional as party scenes where used in my music video and are a very typical convention of dance. As the image was taken from my music video the colours where also conventional as the image consisted of low-key lighting contrasted with bright lights such as pink, green and blue. Jakes front cover involved an image of our party with images of him an Jake in front of this image either side. Jake lowered the opacity of these images to create an effect, which made the boys look like part of the lighting within the party image. This is very conventional in following the conventions of the dance genre, as lighting is key within party scenes. He also used this effect for the text used within the digipak, which was the boys group name ‘Infinity’. The text was very bold which relates to dance music as it is very loud and consists of bold beats. His next two sides where Jakes thank you note and Georges thank you note. These sides contained the same party image along with the same images used of Jake and George in the first side however separately on their own individual side with their own thank you note. The text used for the thank you note was green, which is a conventional colour to the dance genre as it is very bright and connotes happy moods however, I felt the font of the text ‘noteworthy’ was very childish and basic and was not conventional to the dance genre, it also did not stand out from the background as it was not bold enough therefore I would advise Jake to make his text bolder in order to stand out. The next side informs the audience of the song titles within the albums. This side again uses the same image of the party scene and also the same texts used for the thank you notes, I feel this text still does not work as the text does not stand out against the background despite the bright colour used because it is not bold enough. The CD also used the image of the party and this time used a bolder text to display the name of the group. ‘Infinity’ is written using the same text used on the first side and is successful in standing out against the background however I feel Jake should not have used a colour as dark as black to display this text or should have made the texts more opaque as the CD comes across too low key and is not contrasted enough with bright lights to portray the positive vibes that are conventional to the dance genre. The last side is the same as the first however has a barcode at the bottom to allow people to buy the digipak. Overall, I feel that Jake is successful in using images to portray the dance genre conventionally as these image consist of party scenes and bright colours which help portray positive vibes and people having fun living the party lifestyle. He is also successful in representing artist as they are looking directly into the camera however I feel the over use of these images make the boys look moody and do not attract the audience who will be looking for artists who enjoy dance. I also feel that Jake has used the party images too much as the digipak does not flow, it just repeats itself. This may bore the audience, as they would expect more form a digipak as they are paying a higher price.  On the first side (front cover) I have used images from the party scene within my music video which show people parting with their hands in the air connotes that they are having a good time which also relates to the positive vibes which is conventional to the dance genre. This image shows the crowd being low key therefor you can only see their outline however this is contrasted with the bright artificial lighting which I have enhanced above them which follows the conventions of dance as it is a typical dance scene. In front of this image, I have inserted and image of Jake and George so they are placed at the same level with the crowd, however the boys are in colour so that you can see their facial expressions as they are the main focus however them being with the crowd on the same level connotes Dyers paradox which states they are ordinary and extra ordinary as they are just normal boys who would party with other ordinary people. I have also included the groups name ‘Infinity’, for this text I used the font future, which is a bold/boxy text. This text follows the conventions of dance as it represent the boldness of the beats used within the genre, I have decreased the opacity of the text by 20% in order to create an effect where the text looks like it is above the light which makes both elements flow together while still making each individual element stand out. The side with the song names continues this theme as I have again used an image from our music video, however this time there is bright bold text over it in order to inform the audience of the songs on the album, I used the same font to display the song names as wanted my digipak to be consistently conventional however this time I used a bright pink outline so the text would stand out further against the green in the background. The next side is my CD, where I have again continued to represent the dance genre through party scenes. I decided not to include images of Jake and George on my CD design as I feel the CD should focus solely on the music genre, however I have put the boy’s group name so the consumers can recognise the CD when they see it. For the thank you note I used images where the boys facial expressions are both connoting happiness and welcoming their fans to listen to their music, I then shaped the bold text (future) around their face so the audience could see the artists while reading their thank you note which would them build a relationship with Jake and George on a more personal level by thanking them. For the back of the digipak I decided to use a different image of the party scene, this is so the back and front fit in together and flowed without repeating. I also featured the infinity sign as I feel it can help the artists recognise Jake and Georges branded image whilst relating all 3 products. Overall I feel I was very successful with developing the conventions of dance and portraying Jake and George positively whilst appealing to my audience as I feel the images, bold text and colours used throughout will draw in the audience as they will recognise that it is a dance genre CD and want to buy it. For this reason my group decided to go with my design. Although George and Jakes design was also conventional we felt that my design was more consistent throughout and worked more effectively with our other media products. |
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| My final design/Groups final design |
Group Magazine Advert
After
each member of my group had created their magazine advert design, it was time
for us as a group to decide whose design we would use as our final magazine
advert. We all aimed to portray a magazine advert that promoted our artists in
a positive and developed the codes and conventions of dance whilst appealing to
our target audience. The final product would have to fulfil this purpose and
work effectively alongside our music video and digipak.
In order to share our designs around, each member sent their designs to one
another, this then gave us time to individually analyse each other’s magazine
adverts and weigh up the positives and any changes that may need to be made. We
then came together as a group and had a meeting where we discussed our thoughts
which lead to our final decision.
George’s magazine advert also used a picture from the party scene within our music
video. However, he used a slightly different image which had bursts of brighter
colours like pink and green, rather than low colours like Amiee’s did. He then
continued this colour scheme of pink and green throughout his magazine advert through
the texts he used. The texts George used was very circus like, and I feel that
although it was bold which relates to the loud music, it did not develop the
conventions of dance as stereotypically circus’ are an event for children and
not teenagers/grown adult therefor I feel his choice of texts would not appeal
to our target audience. George also used the colour scheme when adding editing
effects to his magazine advert. George duplicates the images of him and Jake
and filled the duplicated images behind them in different shades of pinks and
greens. I feel this editing effect relates to the dance genre as it portrays the
repetitive beat of our song. George also incorporated the infinity sign into
his magazine advert which will help the group to brand the image of the boys if
we do use this as our final magazine advert.
Although George explored and developed the conventions of dance I feel there
are element in which he could improve on. Firstly I feel that his choice of
text would not appeal to our target audience as it is to childish and very
complicated making it harder to understand, I feel that it would be beneficial
for him to choose a more plain, bold or simply text which could get the message
across and be easy to understand. I also feel that he has not prioritised the
text as he has put the production company’s name in a large size font whereas
he has put the album name, group name and release date in smaller text. I feel
the sizing of the font needs to be reversed as the group name, album name and
release date are the vital pieces of information which the audiences will be
looking for. One last criticism of George’s magazine advert is that the
pictures of him and Jake end suddenly in the middle of the magazine advert, I feel that although
George has positioned the images of him and Jake in the right place, he need to
work on editing the images so they fade in, as this would look more professional.
Finally,
I will be analysing Jakes magazine advert. Jakes magazine advert highly develops the
codes and conventions of dance as he has creates lines of pink and green which
look similar to laser lights which you may see in a club setting. Yet again,
Jake follows the colour scheme of pink and green which is seen frequently
throughout our video, helping the products become part of one. I like the way
Jake has made the images of him and George the central focus in his magazine
advert as they are the artists and it is vital for us to portray them to the
audience in order to help them build a relationship with the audience. The
background image consists of an image from the party which shows people partying;
however the images of Jake and George are covering a majority of the scene
making it hard to see. Jakes magazine advert also follows the purpose of the
advert which is to promote the album, this is because he has put the album name
on the front of the magazine advert.
Although Jake is successful in meeting some of the conventions of dance, I feel
that a downfall is in his images of himself and George. Jake has edited himself
and George to look like they have been in a fight with black eyes and blood
over them, I feel this totally goes against the conventions of dance as it connotes
violence to the audience. Although challenging conventions is fine, I feel that
positivity, being one of the main focuses of the dance genre still needs to be
followed as positive vibes will attract our audience whereas negative vibes
will turn them away as nobody wants to be negative. However, this could be
Jakes way of drawing the attention of the audience as they would wonder why
Jake and George are being portrayed in this way and want to get to know them
more. Jake also challenges the conventions of dance when he used a swirl like
front for his text, this font highly connotes the 1960’s however we are trying
to represent dance music of 2013 therefore I feel he needs to consider using
bold texts which would stand out against his magazine advert.
My
final magazine advert, also follows many of the conventions my group has
followed. One difference is that rather than using images of crowds from the
music video which would visually relate both products, I have tried to use
images which would relate the two products through their concept. The
background of my magazine advert is an image of a dark tunnel with a ball of light in
the middle of it, like Jakes magazine advert this light look like laser lights which are
typically seen in a dance/club setting therefore this image is conventional
visually. These images also aim to represent the concept of my music video, the
tunnel represent Jake and George finding themselves and being lost and the ball
represent the emotion they have put into their song to create a narrative and
concept based music video. Beside the image of the ball of light, I have placed
an image of George one side and Jake on the other. I have used the same images
which my fellow group member use as I feel these images portray a mixture of
emotion as George looks happy whereas Jake looks more mysterious and emotional
which again follows our narrative as George is portrayed as happy and Jake is
portrayed as more emotional and in an unknown position in his life. Like my
group members, I have followed the colour scheme of pink and green as I feel
this would help my audience relate my magazine advert and music video together,
I also feel these colours will work effectively to develop the conventions of
dance as bright colours connote positive vibes.
An improvement I feel I need to make is my text. Although I think I have been
successful in choosing a style which is bold and stands out from my magazine
advert, I feel that I needed to include more vital information like a release
date. I also feel like I need to put less important on the production company
and more on the group name and title of the album. However this is not a huge
problem as my magazine advert still serves it purpose and states that the album
is already out.
After discussing between my group the positives and negatives of all our magazine adverts, we chose to use my magazine advert as our final design. Although we were open to combining each other’s ideas, my group felt that my design was consistent with our music video and was very meaningful with a lot of thought put into the way in which the genre, concept and artists where portrayed through it. My group also felt that my design showed complex editing skills and that my magazine advert looked very professional and successfully developed the conventions of dance. This meant that my magazine would appeal to our target audience who are lovers of dance and therefore would understand the conventions and also attract the right age group as the magazine advert is sophisticated in how it all blends together to form one image.
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