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EVALUATION - Question 1

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

I believe my music video follows the conventions of music videos established by Andrew Goodwin and Carol Vernallis. According to them, music videos do not seem to have a traditional narrative structure, which is true of our music video as it does not carry a story with continuity, it simply shows the artist wandering around the city and singing. My music video fits with the amplification type of structure in Goodwin’s theory. We wanted to really incorporate the mood of the song in our music video, which I believe we did effectively by contrasting the loneliness of our artist Ray Jones and the business of the city, as well as through the use of blue tones to create a cold atmosphere and get the touching message of the lyrics across the audience through the video. In real media products it is also common for the artist to play the role of both performer and character, which we also use in our music video. Most of the time we have Ray Jones singing looking at the camera (sometimes playing the guitar), which presents him as the performer of the song. However, in between these performances, we also have various tracking shots of Ray Jones walking around the city on his own, without performance, that represent his role as the character of the lyrics. A very similar structure was used in the music video “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” by ‘The Script’, a real band similar to our created artist and that had strong influence on our music video. You can see both samples below:

My video

The Script

Vernallis observed that the editing in music videos is much more obvious than in other media products. My music video does follow her theory in a way, although our editing is not as obvious as in it would be in a pop music videos, there is some obvious editing in a more subtle way because of the indie genre.  Like for example, we do use some jump cuts that match the piano rhythm; at the opening of the music video we use a fast cutting between different shots of Ray Jones walking that also follow the catchy beat of the song; slow motion is used to dramatise certain parts of the music video and it is a technique conventional of slow songs. The most obvious editing was the blur in the background in the chorus shots.

In addition, Vernallis believe that the rules of continuity are broken in music videos, which is also true of my music video, since we jump from cuts of our artist performing, to traffic shots, or his walk through the city, without really having a continuous link between one and the other. Most importantly, Vernallis notices that in music videos it is commonly used a base track. In my music video, base tracks are effectively used like in real media products, we have various different base tracks used specifically at different parts o the music video. Like for example, at the beginning we have the base tracks of Ray Jones sitting on the pavement, then in the chorus we move to the base track of Ray Jones singing walking towards the camera, later a base track of Ray Jones sitting on the pavement and playing the guitar is introduced. Base tracks were essential to the construction of our music video. We have filmed several base tracks in different conditions (at day, night, different clothes) so we could pick the ones we thought were more appealing. The base tracks create a sense of repetition that is also found in real media products, especially the way we chose to use the same base track every chorus. The base tracks are mostly medium close ups and mid shots to keep the focus on our new artist and getting the audience to familiarise with his face, which is also reinforced by the repetition.

The Script music videos

My music video

In terms of genre and musical style, my music video follows most of the conventions of real media products. Looking at the original artist Ed Sheeran, his music videos are often minimalistic and show him as a normal individual rather than having an opulent production to impress. It is all about the music and the lyrics, which is not only common in Ed Sheeran’s music videos but in indie music videos in general.

The same way Ed Sheeran is portrayed in his music videos dressed casually, often with a jumper, we also portrayed our artist in a casual style that is kept throughout the whole music video and my ancillary products. The blue effect is also a technique very often used in Ed Sheeran’s music video, which helps to create an emotional atmosphere that goes with his touching songs. In my music video we used this blue effect to create a cold atmosphere and catch the sad mood of the song.

My music video also incorporates many conventions of real media products that belong to the same genre, being inspired by other existing music videos like ‘The A Team’ by Ed Sheeran, ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’ and ‘We Cry’ by ‘The Script’. These three music videos I mention have the street and the urban area as their main location, which is also the main location of my music video. Urban areas seem to be popular within the genre, the use of streets as the setting make connections with the real world and ordinary life, which suits the musical style and makes the audience see the artist as an individual, creating a closer connection with the audience.

My music video

We used the same technique of ‘The A Team’ which is to start a shot out of focus and slowly get in focus, we have also used many shots of people walking by and our artist lonely contrasted with all those people, just like in ‘The A Team’ the girl who is the character of the lyrics is shown lonely in the streets contrasted with a lot of people that walk by.

See between 1:11 - 1:20 and 1:39-1:43

The editing technique of traffic lights and people in fast motion was inspired by the music video “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” as well as the way they are placed in between shots of the artist singing, we used it to create the busy atmosphere of the city, since the lyrics are about London.

See between 3:20 - 3:44

Some long duration shots in the chorus of our music video are also related to the Ed Sheeran’s music video ‘Lego House’ in which you get long duration shots of Rupert Grint walking. Long duration shots however are not so conventional of music videos in general, but can be used in slow songs like ours.

See example below at 0:22-0:31

Musical instruments are an important prop for the indie genre, since the purpose of the genre is to sell for the music rather than for the appearances. Acoustic guitar makes its appearance in some of Ed Sheeran’s videos, since his songs also have some acoustic style and he is a minimalistic artist. Guitars are very relevant for the indie genre since it is an ‘independent’ genre and the artists can play the instruments themselves, differently from genres such as pop and R&B where the artist is usually just the singer and someone else is responsible for the musical composition. In my music video we used an acoustic guitar as we felt it would be a very essential convention of the genre, the acoustic guitar also keeps the minimalistic style and can relate to the original artist Ed Sheeran. 

Ed Sheeran's videos:

My video:

Other videos of the same genre:

As my music video is heavily inspired by the minimalistic style of the original artist and it follows most of the conventions of the indie genre and the theories by Andrew Goodwin and Carol Vernallis, I conclude that my music video uses and develops the conventions of real media products.

As for my ancillary work, I carefully looked at real media products of the same genre and I followed the conventions of ancillary print products and the conventions of the musical style. I did not want to challenge the conventions of ancillary print products, so I kept a colour scheme of two colours (blue and white); I used only one font that although its style is not the most basic, it copies a typewriter font style that gives a vintage feel and suits the genre; and I used clear images and placed my text appropriately. I tried to make my text as visible as possible, giving emphasis to important information.

My ancillary products are heavily inspired by the original artist Ed Sheeran.

I kept the outside panels of my digipak as simple as possible. The genre is a simplistic genre, and Ed Sheeran is a minimalistic artist. I used the idea that Ed Sheeran uses orange as his brand colour because he is ginger, to use blue as my artist's brand colour and create visual link with the blue effect used in the music video. Ed Sheeran uses a colour scheme of three colours, orange black and white being orange the predominant colour. I established a basic colour scheme of two colours, blue and white, being blue the predominant colour. Ed Sheeran's official font has also inspired me with the choice of my font, which is a very similar one and it has the typewriter style. 'Plus' is Ed Sheeran's debut album, although in this genre many digipaks do not have the artist's face in the cover, it is very conventional of a debut album by an unknown artist to have a close up of his face on the cover. In Ed Sheeran's cover his face has an effect that feels a bit grainy and vintage, in my cover I decided to leave Ray Jones face as clear as possible and easy to identify, with some blue tones to suit the colour scheme and create connection with the music video.

I based my inside panels in Ed Sheeran's different types of artwork, which mostly rely on illustrations like drawing, painting, graphic, digital art. The use of illustrations is not only commonly found in Ed Sheeran's artwork, it is also very popular in other artists of same musical style/genre.

In real digipaks the artwork is important to give the audience a feeling of having something extra for their money, a feeling of having something special and exclusive. I believe this is one of the reasons why illustrations may be quite popular, as well as because the genre is very simplistic and the artists often portray themselves in a ordinary but original way.

My magazine advert has a very similar layout to Ed Sheeran's advert. Although Ed Sheeran's photograph is a studio shot and most of the magazine adverts use studio shots, I wanted to use an outdoor shot to keep the connection with the other products. As my music video and main single is 'The City', I thought that having the street as the setting was appropriate to create familiarity, especially since it is the main location in the music video and it appears in the digipak. I also think it suits better the title of the album "Escape" because when you think of escaping you automatically think of getting out rather than being indoors. Like Ed Sheeran's I also use only one type of font, which is the same used in the album, and the same colour scheme used in the album. Ed Sheeran's photograph has a sophisticated black and white effect, which has some orange tones. Not only it looks vintage, as it also suits his colour scheme that has orange as the predominant colour. I have done something similar with my advert, by using a sophisticated black and white effect with some blue tones. I decided to have the artist making eye contact because I think it would be more appealing to the core audience mainly consisted of females, as well as it helps to promote his face as a new artist more clearly. The text is placed on his shirt, and the emphasis is on the artist's name and album title, just like in Ed Sheeran's magazine advert. I also decided to add big emphasis to the release date, which doesn't happen in Ed Sheeran's advert because the album is already released, but it is very common in other real media products to have the release date very large with a lot of highlight. In all real adverts an image of the digipak cover is presented, and if not, the same photograph of the digipak is used for the advertising (as you can see in Ed Sheeran's online advert). In my advert I present all the conventional information that will help to promote my artist and his digipak, therefore I believe I have followed most of the conventions of real media products.

EVALUATION - Question 2

With that I conclude that the combination of my products is very effective because they are all visually linked together and that will make my artist very memorable to the target audience, especially because of his face which gets a lot of emphasis on the main product and the ancillary texts, and because of the constant use of blue.  This clear connection that you can find between my main product and ancillary texts is very important in real media products because it is a way of reinforcing the artist's style and what they have got to sell. I think the audience will be attracted to them because I believe the products supports each other creating a strong overall promotion of my artist. The artist is portrayed with a certain individuality in all products, this idea gives a more personal feel to the products that will make the audience feel more strongly connected to the artist because it is very accessible to any ordinary people. I think the use of the artist in all products and the special focus on his face is the main thing to attract the core audience of young females. The blue tones also give a emotional feel that may be appealing to these girls, as well as it may encourage wider audiences including boys to sympathise with the artist and feel attracted to the products.

EVALUATION - Question 3

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

Animatic:

Quick demonstration of how I used Final Cut Pro:

Quick demonstration of how I used Photoshop CS5:

EVALUATION - Question 4

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

When the music videos were all finished, the college booked a cinema screening of all music videos in the Screen on the Green cinema. The reaction of the audience after the screening of my music video was quite exciting as most people seemed please by the music video. After the cinema I was able to hear some feedback from a few classmates about my music video. Overall I got some very positive comments about my music video, although I could not record everyone's comments since the battery of Mahbuba's phone died and we didn't have any other equipment to record.

The feedback above was given by Rochelle, she is a big Ed Sheeran's fan. It is difficult to hear but she talks about how she thought the shots of our artist walking and performing (the chorus shots) was very effective, and how she really liked the blur effect around him.  She also adds that she wouldn't change anything and that even though some of the base tracks were repeated often she didn't feel it was annoying or repetitive. From her feedback I have learned that the effects and the types of shot in a music video could really catch the audience's attention and make them create a positive response to it. I am glad that she enjoyed our music video since she is part of our core target audience, which means we attended our audience's expectations. This is very important in the music industry, since the function of a music video is to promote the artist and if we appealed effectively to our target audience, it means we promoted our artist effectively. 

The feedback above is from a girl who didn't know our chosen song 'The City' yet. She says that she found the music video interesting and she liked the performance of Nimar. She also adds that she cannot think of many changes she would make, and that she liked the location and thinks the location suits the genre. She suggested that maybe we could have used some studio shots, which is also popular in Ed Sheeran's videos. From her feedback I have learned that the location of a music video is also something very important to the audience as it can make a music video more interesting. It is good that she mentions she didn't know the song and she didn't have any expectations about it, because if she enjoyed watching the music video, it means that the music video could effectively appeal to someone who is not so much attracted to this kind of music, broadening our audience. 

My music video was identified by many people as "the one with the guy playing the guitar". This tells me that the guitar was a noticeable prop in the music video and that it was something of high significance for my audience. It also tells me that the audience understood the message I was trying to communicate, that by having the artist playing a guitar in the music video I am promoting him as an artist who can play instruments and create his own music, selling for the quality of his songs rather than for impressive appearances. Most people in the cinema also thought that the music video suited very well the song. I believe this is because we used all the conventions of the genre and musical style, making a simple music video that can relate to ordinary people. From that I learned that keeping the conventions of the genre can make the music video feel more appealing to the audience, since music videos are meant to give visual pleasure and it might be confusing and unpleasant for some people to watch a music video that doesn't suit the song.

Later I asked some friends on Facebook who I know listen to Ed Sheeran. From these friends I was able to get more critical feedback. However, putting altogether the feedback that I received from different people, what some people seemed to dislike, other people seemed to like. From that I learned that there is a variety in taste within my audience, that it might need to be considered.

                    

Final Advert

Final Digipak

Outside Panels

Inside panels

Production - Advert

Production - Little change in the inside panels

This is what my inside panels were looking like before I showed it to Marisa. She said it was looking very good, but that having the name of the artist and the title of the album again made her think that this was my album cover. The reason why I put them there it's because that side was feeling a bit blank and empty and I didn't want to add any other images. I tried writing some lyrics but I didn't feel it worked so well. However, she suggested I could add some thank you text or try to make a signature from my artist. Considering what she said, I didn't want to add any thank you text because I think it doesn't go very well with the genre, but I liked the idea of maybe having like an autograph. This would make my digipak special and encourage fans to buy it, as well as it would give a personal sense to it, making the fans feel closer to the artist. This idea also goes well with the genre since the indie style portrays a 'do it yourself' feeling, reinforced by the artist's own signature. To try and do this, I have downloaded a font that would look like a signature.

And this is how my inside panels are looking now:

I think it looks much better and special now with his autograph. I have used the free transform tool to make it look inclined, so that it doesn't look too perfect and adds a more realistic feeling to it. I have also noticed the adidas symbol on his coat, and I used the healing brush tool to delete it, since I don't think is very appropriate to have a big brand symbol in my digipak, especially because of the genre. 

Production - Outside Panels

Production - Inside Pannels

Production - Editing the album cover photo

This is the original photo that I chose for the cover of my digipak. To make it look better  I have used photoshop to digitally manipulate the image. I have many different 'Actions' downloaded in my computer. These actions are ready configurations that will give a different effect to the image. You can see below in my 'Actions' tab that I have used the selected action number '7'. I firstly experimented many different actions in my image to see which one looked better, but the effect I liked the most was action '7'. In the history tab you can see what configurations were set in the image after I used action 7.

The effect it added to my image was the following:

I adjusted another couple of things like the brightness and the curves of this image, but most importantly, you can see that this action already added a slightly blue effect to the image, and to make it look even more blue I changed the colour balance to blues and cyans, so it will connect with the music video.

The final result that I am going to use as my digipak cover is the following:

The image is now slightly sharper and the lighting looks better and less saturated. The blue tones is something that already comes from the music video and create a sense of loneliness and sadness (also commonly created by the genre). I believe the image looks now very effective to be my cover as it shows the artist's face clearly and it is edited to make it look more appealing.

Research - Indie visual style

I have already talked about the conventions of ancillary products which are general and often used in any ancillary product. However, there are also the conventions that go with the musical style of our artist. I have already analysed in detail all of Ed Sheeran's ancillary products and other three artists that are similar to him, but I  decided to have a look at a couple of more album covers and artwork that belong to the same genre.

There is a variety of colours, some of them are very colourful others are more dull, however the colours are kept basic, they are not too vibrant or phosphorescent. Black and white are very popular in the colour scheme of this genre. The fonts are usually quite simple, sometimes they have some stylisation, but it always suit the genre. The covers overall are simplistic, they do not have a lot of fancy effects and many of them use graphics or illustrations. They all seem to be simple but with some special touch to it, like for example Arctic Monkey's cover is just  a black and white photograph of a building, in which the special detail is the colourful graphics in the windows, or like in Alice Gold's in which the cover is just a photograph of her standing in a clean background, and the special detail is the rainbow colours filter. 

Illustrations like graphics, drawings, painting, are also commonly found in the artwork. I plan to use this  idea for my inner panel and have a city as an illustration as well as have my artist. You can see in both Lily Allen's and The Script's products that there is the use of city illustration. The indie genre is often connected with an urban atmosphere, therefore using urban settings/images in my digipak would suit the genre as well as connect with the music video. 

Progress Review blog

Planning - How to make the artwork

Planning - Photos that I plan to use

In this slideshow there are the photographs that I am planning to use in my digipak, there is a caption at the top of each one indicating where I plan to use them. I will explain why I have chosen these photos:

The album front cover - In this photograph I have used artificial lighting, which gave a nice illumination to the artist's face and it gives a sense of street lamp's light. It is a median close-up and shows his face clearly, ideal to cover the function of promoting a new artist, and also very appealing for the core audience consisted of young females. The street lights in the background connect with the music video 'The City' as well as he is wearing one of the costumes used in the music video. I want to create a blue tones effect similar to the music video, so this idea of the blue colour can become like part of his brand (similarly to the original artist Ed Sheeran, who uses orange as his brand colour because he is ginger).

The back cover - I am still unsure about whether I should use an image of the artist in the back cover or not, since the idea is to keep the minimalistic style. But I might consider using this image, selecting Ray Jones out of it and placing him in a dark blue background at the back cover. I chose this image because is a full body one and I think it would work nicely at the back, and also he is holding the guitar which is  conventional of the music style and it is a prop used in the music video.

The inside panels - I plan to use this photograph of Ray Jones sitting on the pavement and add a drawing/painting effect, transforming it in the same blue used in the background of the outside panels. The idea is to place this image together with other images/graphics (buildings, etc) to make it look like artwork (similarly to Ed Sheeran's artwork). I plan to use the image of the guitar in the CD part of the inside panels, probably cropping it to a close up, and adding a blue filter to it so that it suits the artwork. I might consider trying to add a drawing/painting effect to this image too.

These are the photos that I am thinking to use in my advert. I am planning to use one of him leaning back on the brick wall. The full body one does not give me space for the text, so I cropped it to have space for the text on his black top (similarly to Ed Sheeran's advert). There is a landscape photo of Ray Jones leaning on the brick wall, which could be an alternative and I may crop it as well to get more of the artist in the frame. The one of Ray Jones sitting on the pavement is a last option, that I could also crop to get space for the text on his black top. I chose these images because they are different from the digipak and they show the artist's face looking at the camera, which is good for promoting him as a new artist. I am planning to use a portrait format for my advert and I believe that the portrait image of Ray Jones leaning on the brick wall could work well with this format, the other ones if cropped might work as well.

Planning - Mock up of advert

Planning - Dos and Don'ts

The ancillary products have very clear conventions that must be followed strictly in order to achieve a successful outcome.

click to enlarge the "Dos"

click to enlarge the "Don'ts"

I have made an example of how my ancillary product should NOT look like:

In this example I have used 4 different fonts, all of them very stylised and not so easy to read. I have used a variety of different colours, which makes the digipak look very busy. The colours are also mostly not conventional of the genre. I have stretched both images and they look strange because of that. I have used unnecessary effects that don't suit the genre and makes the digipak look very busy as well. I have used colours that hurt the eyes to see, and I have placed the text incorrectly on the artist. I used a bad image for the front cover, where you can only see the back of the artist and the photo is slightly shaky, the name and the title are covering him, which does not help with the promotion of a new artist. In the back cover I have used an image that you can see just a little bit of his face, but the effects distort it and the track list covers it, and there are misspellings in the track list. I should avoid all these things when making my ancillary products, especially since they very clearly do not suit the indie pop genre.

Research - Analysis of three adverts

Audience Feedback

 Audience Feedback