Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When approaching the task of creating a music video and additional ancillary tasks, our first action was to research typical conventions of similar existing media products. When we had established the genre of music and style of video we wanted; that being not performance based, but more charcter focussed, we started looking at other videos of this style. We were inspired by and informed of many conventions of these videos in terms of mise-en-scene such as props, costumes and settings. As well as this we took inspiration from editing techniques such as split screen and colour alteration.  

In terms of our digi-pack we both supported and challenged conventions of real media products. We worked from our market research feedback that more often than not digipacks will feature the lyrics of the song, images from the particular video and information about contacting the band/viewing their other work. Our digipak features the lyrics to the song, written in a 'handwritten' format that challenges the usual typed appearance in most digi-packs, it features images of screenshots taken from our music video to work as the background to the lyrics and CD holder. We have on the back of our digi-pak a barcode, the institution logo and link to the bands website - we saw each of these features on existing digi-packs and knew they would be successfull being included in our design. The front back covers of our digi-pack challenge the conventions of most, as we do not use band imagery, but have taken the front and back of a book - this links to the intertextual links within our music of books.

 





A convention of many music videos, including 'Kickstart' by Example (from which the above screenshot is from), use visual aids when building up musically to the climax of a song. An example of this is having opening strong beats accompanied by some form of physical action matching the time and beat - in some cases implying the image is creating the sound, as in this case with the foot tapping. The 'Kickstart' screenshot was taken from the opening of the song where there is a strong beat, clearly building up to the later musical heights, and the beat is accompanied by the tapping of a man's foot as though he is listening to and enjoying the music. As opening strong beats like this are setting up for the rest of the song, they are introductory of what is to come - the use of showing the actors feet is beginning to introduce him into the video gradually, setting the audience up for what to expect from the video both aurally and visually. We have made use of this convention and technique in our opening musical sequence where there is a strong beat that aurally is building up to a musical climax in the song, therefore we wanted to use the idea of introducing the character indirectly to start with, by using his feet - to build up anticipation for what is going to be seen/heard later in the song - Once the music hits it's peak, the actor is then seen in full. We have the foot-tapping in time with the music, ensuring the fluidity of the shot and it's professional appearance, making sure it has similar effect to the atmosphere building foot tapping in the 'Kickstart' video.



A convention of most music videos is the use of performance shots by the band. We decided to not feature images of instruments or musicians, except for the protagonist singing, instead we used the image of a vinyl record player to serve as the source of music in the video. We decided this after researching typical conventions of the indie genre, and the iconic image of an LP record is something the is often wel recieved. The LP player connotes authenticty, traditional conventions of music, and gives the impression that the music is more accessible to the audience, in that the need for a full band isn't necessary, and they can enjoy the music as the singer is in the video. We use the record player to open and close the song, appearing as though it is the source of the actors music, and we cut in quick shots of it throughout the video, often on musical interludes to remind of where the music is originating from.



A feature we saw fairly often in music videos of our chosen genre, was the use of split screen. They were most frequently seen in the form of a two way split screen, ordinarily down the centre of the frame as seen in the image above from 'Kickstart' by Example. We inspiration from these split screen ideas and developed them by increasing the amount of windows in the split screen. For example in the shot featuring our stop motion books we split the screen into 4 windows rather than just two, giving the shot more impact visually. Also an element we developed from this the example music video was the fact that their split screen images, although different shots, were made to match each other in the action e.g. foot tapping at the same time - When we had placed the footage in the multiple frames, we then reordered the stop motion files to cause the books to build up and down at different times and paces in each frame. Which again worked to help us create a visually enjoyable shot, rather than one plain image in the standard frame.

This poster by the Shout Out Louds shows they have consistent design elements in all of their promotional work - from these images we can see their use of simplistic, basic colouring as their posters all focus on one main stand out colour, or little use of it. 

We also established that they consistently use simple, bold and clear typography in all of their work, to ensure immediate recognition and avoid misunderstanding and confusion. We have taken on some of these elements in our magazine advert design; we used the feature of clear typography as it is extremely important for the band to be immediately recognisable and the audience know exactly what the advert is for as soon as they see it. We have used these typical conventions of having the name of the band in larger typography than the names of the songs/other information on the page, having few colours on the image to ensure simplicity and recognition. We also have made use of the simple imagery they use, that doesn't feature the band or instruments.



  

Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?

The task we were set for our A2 coursework was to create a promotional pack for a song of our choice - 'promotional pack' immediately told us that we needed to create the three products (music video, digi-pack and magazine advert) in such a way that informed of, promoted and carried one another. The best way to do this, we thought, would be to establish some sort of brand identity through the use of a recognisable symbol that represented the band/song when used in various contexts - that would become a vertical intertextual reference between each product. After extensive band, audience and genre research we established that an important feature of our promotional package was going to be the image of an LP record - from our research we learnt that vinyl and vinyl players carry connotations of both authenticity, and the quality of the music - as a band using vinyl records need not rely on new technologies for the their music to be successful, connoting the high quality of it. During the music video production process we embraced the idea and decided to cut in shots of the record player throughout the video, with it starting up at the beginning in time with the music, appearing throughout at moments of musical interlude, and at the end where it then stopped along with the music:

Digipack: Once we had completed the production of the music video, we approached the design of our four page digi-pak. We had already decided to use the image of a book for the front and back covers, due to intertextual references to other elements of the video that were important to the theme and lyrics of the song, and our interpretation. Therefore we opted to feature the image of the record seen playing in the video on the inside cover - our idea was to place it behind the CD holder, with the image being the same size as the CD so when it is removed, the image of the record takes its place exactly, giving the digi-pak and authentic appearance, appearing as though the product it hold is actually an LP record, not a modern CD. This definitely  appeals to our target audience in relation to what they expect and enjoy from their genre and associated products, as they can feel they aren't just buying CD, but are being reminded of the original record it could have been recorded on. We took a photo of the exact record used in the video to use as the base image to edit around for this sleeve of the digi-pack, this was to ensure a continuous intertextual reference, guaranteeing that it would become recognisable and audiences would immediately know that the image represents this particular song and band.

Magazine Ad: We finally put our minds toward the magazine advert/poster advertising the release of the previously produced music video. After analysing other posters/adverts by the Shout Out Louds themselves we established several features they seem to consistently make use of, the important one in this circumstance is that they don't use photographic imagery of the band in their advertising campaigns. They frequently use cartoon imagery, or images recognisable from the work they are promoting, like a video or album. We took on this feature due to both this research, previous feedback on promotional products of other bands in the similar genre to ours and from the fact that our video is not focused on band image, but more on being visually interesting and 'different'. We therefore decided to use again the image of the record, taken originally from the music video, to be the central focus of the advert, clearly linking intertextually to the previous two products, ensuring the products could be immediately recognised and linked together by the audience.

Artwork: Throughout the promotional pack hand drawn artwork and imagery is featured. The element again originated in the music video where we made frequent use of DIY animation sequences to play over the top of the filmed action, to create more depth and visual success within the product. We then chose a particular animation section that we all thought was the most successful, which was the falling leaves. On our magazine advert identical hand drawn leaves appear to be 'floating' down the page, forming a direct link between the two that would be recognised by an audience, therefore succeeding in promoting each other which is exactly what we set out to achieve. The use of DIY hand drawn images and text is also used on the artwork of the LP record - we decided to create our own artwork for it to ensure it became an appropriate metonym for the promotional pack, clearly stating the name of the song and band. We created this by hand, with hand drawn pictures of both books and leaves (as seen in the video animation), again linking the products. For the front cover of the digi-pak we used the image of a book and we achieved the successful combination by hand writing the titles of song and band in the same, recognisable font as used on the record design.

I think the combination of our ancillary tasks and our main product are definitely successful in their intertextuality, links and reasons for design choices. We have produced three products which all successfully promote one another in featuring recognisable, memorable metonymic symbols that allow each to be easily associated with another. Each task within the promotional pack offers clear elements that direct to our target audience, and they each individually reflect our audience, genre and band research successfully and have been constructed with reason and evidence behind every decision.

Evaluation question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Here is a short video we constructed to evaluate the new media technologies and processes we made use of across our production process. Below is the script for this video for closer analysis, and underneath that are a couple of videos created to show some of the particularly complex or interesting processes we used.

* Within our production process we made use of many new media technologies which all helped contribute to designing, producing and accessing audience feedback.

* The main programme we used to create our video was Final Cut Express, teaching ourselves fairly complex techniques such as stop motion and split screen in order to achieve the style of music video we planned – that being one following no particular narrative, but being ‘random’, nonsensical and simply visually entertaining.

(whilst speaking, video playing of us creating stop motion section on final cut, and maybe split screen bits)

* An important feature of our video is the overlaying animation – we achieved this effect through using Adobe Photoshop.

It was a lengthy, time consuming process but we are really impressed with the level of animation we managed to produce, seeing as we had never done it before and had to work out how to achieve the effect ourselves, teaching each other the technique as we went. (playing video of animation being made).

To create the animation we had to convert the video clip into Photoshop, where the programme splits the video file into 100’s of frames, that we then filtered through to find the appropriate sections of lyrics for example, then began drawing on the chosen image on every layer (100+) moving its position slightly each time, so when all the frames are played alongside one another, the pictures become a moving sequence.

* Social networking – In relation to audience feedback, we relied a lot on social networking media such as Youtube, facebook, myspace and Last.fm – we used each platform in varying ways to gain the specific feedback we needed.

- We used Facebook and myspace to upload sections of the edit as we went along, to ensure we were meeting the expectations of our target audience, and were keeping every section of the video on track to the best of our ability, to avoid any sections lacking full attention.

- We used last.fm when researching our band to gain information on the genre, their existing work, the demographic of their target audience and their overall style.

- we also used myspace to further this research, gaining knowledge on their audiences in relation to age, gender and social group.

- We used youtube to gain wider feedback other than just from our peers on facebook and myspace – by uploading early edits onto youtube we were able to see feedback from existing fans of the band who would’ve potentially been searching for videos of the Shout Out Louds songs, and would’ve come across ours in their searching – therefore we have a direct response from real fans of this genre and band that we don’t know, giving us real, honest opinions on the work so far.

*  Another fairly new media technology we made use of during out production was SD cameras – in previous years filming for A2 media would’ve been done on DV tape cameras, but we were able to use SD cards which provided us with a much simpler, quicker process when uploading and selecting successful clips.

- When filming straight onto SD the clips cannot go directly into Final Cut, but have to be converted into a different format beforehand. To achieve this we made use of a SHAREWARE programme called ‘MPEG Streamclip’ where you drag and drop a file into the window, select export to Quicktime, then chose the format ‘Apple DV Pal’ – this process is very quick and as soon as it’s done the files are ready for final cut.

After using photoshop to create all of the frames for the animation, we placed them into final cut express and edited them so they were 0.04 of a second long, so when placed next to one another appeared to play as one individual clip.

This is a screen grab of the process of creating the 9 way split screen on the musical interlude sections of our video. We had to use complex editing techniqes in final cut express to make each image appear on the screen in full size, then shrink down and move accross the frame to a certain place. We then did this with each of the 9 shots to create a visually successful nine way split screen.

Here is a screenshot of the calendar dates we uesd on the section of lyrics that read 'watching the days go by'. We used stop motion to create this section: we uploaded many still images taken of the calendar with the date changing every time, and then placed them into the final cut timeline. We then had to cut each image to the same length then order them correctly so that the date changed in chronological order. We also had to edit the colouring of these shots as they weren't as bright as we wanted them, this was done simply through the video filters option of 'colour corrector', where we simply increased the 'highlights' and turned down the 'lows'.

This shows our four way split screen, similar to the 9 way one above, but for this one we didn't use the images entering, they just came into the frame as one image together. We did however have to change the order of the sequences of the stop motion shots for each of the four windows, which was very time consuming! We did this so the split screen wasn't boring having exactly the same sequence playing in each frame, so we made it so the book pile moved up and down in different times and paces in each frame.

Evaluation question 3: What did you learn from your audience feedback?

To answer this evaluation question we had a group discussion of the processes we went through in obtaining and utilising audience feedback and criticism. Below is the video we made of this discussion, featuring screenshots and images from the audience research and the results, to help visualise our points and make clear the purpose and outcome of our audience questionnaire. (Below is the script of this video in case something is not fully audible or understood)

SCRIPT FOR VIDEO. 

Evie

In order to establish our target audience, after deciding which song to use we thoroughly researched the ‘Shout Out Louds’ as a band, through their MySpace site, their Last.fm profile and website. Through looking through the comments posted onto these sites, and also the comments posted on their videos on YouTube we were able to see that the majority of those commenting were both male and female in the age range 18-24 years.

Anna

This discovery was supported by our research into indie music as a genre in general, through which we discovered that it is mostly aimed at and attracts young people in the 18-24 age range due to it’s ‘alternative’ style and colourful and diverse content. We therefore came to the conclusion that our target audience was made up of males and females aged 18-24 years.

Ellie

We collected opinions from our target audience throughout the production and postproduction processes of our video, so as to ensure that we were creating a product that attracted and fulfilled our consumer’s needs and expectations.

Originally our concept involved dividing the narrative between a male and female character – following the idea that the female character was releasing new life and showing the male character “something new”.

Evie

When we had created our first rough edit we asked for opinions from our audience based on this concept and realised after analysing the feedback we received, the relationship between the two characters was unclear and therefore we recognised we needed to make changes in order to improve this as it was such a central part of our product.

Anna

Based on this constructive criticism we received we decided to replace the sections of the film that contained the female character with shots of the male protagonist so as to create an improved sense of continuity and a clearer narrative within the piece.

Ellie

The other main piece of criticism we received was that the shots of the male protagonist lip-syncing in front of the white wall were too plain, especially for the typically colourful indie genre to which the piece of music belongs.  In the feedback we received it was suggested that we could add an element of animation to some of the shots in order to introduce some colour and variation to the overall text.

After discussion we decided that this would be an appropriate element to include due to it being present in other similar texts and also suggested by a member of the target audience meaning that it was likely to attract our target audience in general.

Evie

We also carried out audience research when discussing ideas for our magazine advert and digipack designs. This was in the form of a questionnaire, in which we focused on asking members of our target audience which features they would be most attracted to within the digipack design; for example if they would prefer it in black and white, colour, or a mix of both, or if images from the music video itself should be include in order for the product to be wholly successful.

Anna

We also asked for audience opinions on the content of the promotional products, for example whether the bands website should be included, or if the lyrics of the song should be present within the digipack design.

Evie

We then analysed these results in the form of graphs and tables, and concluded that in order to attract our audience to buy the product, the magazine advert and digipack cover designs should incorporate a selection of colour and black and white elements, and images from the video should be present. The lyrics of the song and the bands website should also be included within the design.

Overall we feel our audience research was effective as it helped us shape a product that attracted the target audience, as well as the promotional texts to support this.  When questioned, 80% of our sample group concluded that they were more likely to purchase the music video on disk rather than download it, if the digipack and magazine advert attracted them. We took into account constructive criticism in order to achieve this, as well as forming promotional products based on suggestions from members of the target audience themselves, in order for us to ensure that the product would sell.

FOCUS GROUP

After completing the both the music video and the two ancillary tasks, we drew together a small focus group who fell into the category of our target audience to collect opinions and thoughts on the final outcome. The majority of the feedback we received was very positive; the group as a whole were complimentary of the links between the main video and the ancillary tasks especially in relation to the reoccurring vinyl record. Another feature liked was the animation which proved successful in adding an element of individuality, colour and 'difference' to the video. In terms of the ancillary tasks the polaroid effect pictures were an element liked by the group, they liked how we used screenshots from the actual video creating a continual sense of connection between the texts, but developing the images cleverly to fit to the different contexts. The polaroids were said to work in furthering the 'authentic', alternative style we wanted to express due to the conventions of the indie genre that we researched earlier in the project. 

The constructive criticism we received was relating to the previously complemented animation - although thinking it was one of the strongest elements of the video, several members of the feedback group would've enjoyed actually seeing more animated sequences throughout the production - we completely agree with this opinion and if our time limit had been less tight, we would've wanted to create animation over several more of the shots, however due to how slow the process is to create these sequences, we simply did not have the opportunity to produce more than what is seen in the final edit.

The group responded to the colouring and camera quality of some of our shots, agreeing with our personal opinions that the quality of lighting and camera were somewhat detrimental to the appearance of the final piece. We were, as a group very unhappy with how these shots ended up looking due to the lack of equipment that other groups were fortunate to own themselves, but we worked with them the best we could and the focus group agreed that what we did in post-production to the clips was credible and successful. 

The overriding opinion of the group was that we had definitely succeeded in creating three connected media products, that clearly promoted one another and represented clearly their purpose and intention. They agreed we had created a strong brand identity that if posed to a real buying market, would succeed in being recognisable, attractive and memorable to the target audience we directed the project toward.

We also posed to the group the earlier research we had done regarding the band Radiohead and their approach to selling their album:

"by releasing the music-only download, and the 'premium' physical edition - Radiohead are embracing the digital era while rewarding more committed fans."

"From what Radiohead are doing in releasing their album digitally, as well as offering a "premium" physical version, we can see that current indie-rock bands want to keep the physical album alive, and keep providing their most loyal fans with good quality, treasurable album packs that will be admired and purchased almost as a separate product as well as the music."

Also we explained about our audience research questionnaire question that asked audiences, 'if they were attracted to the album digi-pack, would they be more inclined to buy the physical copy rather than download the music.' - and how the majority of the following responses were yes, they would buy a hard copy if it attracted them. 

In terms of this information, we asked the focus group if they thought our final ancillary product well represented this research and understanding of digi-packs, and if they would personally be inclined to buy the album if posed with the option of physical or download. Brilliantly for us, an overruling majority of the group agreed that if this album was one they were interested in obtaining, with our digi-pack design they would be inclined to buy the physical copy, rather than simply downloading the tracks through the internet. 

Overall, I believe we succeeded in targeting and appealing to the audience in the way we intended, our three tasks link to one another clearly and effectively, and work correctly in their purpose of advertising the music video through recognisable images and symbols. 

Album front and back..

Our digi-pack front cover clearly states the name of the band and song. From exsisting product research we discovered that it is typical for the song name to be in larger text than the name of the band, so we used this information and made the name of the song the focal point. We have used the image of a book to link intertextually to our previous imagery in the video, where books are featured often in relation to the lyrics and narrative of the video.

We have made sure to include on the back cover of the digipack, a barcode, the copyright information, the logo for the band's record company, and a link to the shout out louds website. This is all information seen ordinarily on real digi-pack products and were things we knew we needed to include for it to appear professional.

Inside Album..

This is the final design for the left inside cover of the digi-pack,  after peer research into what is expected of and received well within a digi-pack we determined that having the lyrics available to be read and learnt if so desired is something highly regarded when the consumer is a big fan of the song/band - so they have access to the exact lyrics of the song at their discretion. Rather than just printing the lyrics as though typed on a computer, we wanted to continue our overarching theme and style of 'DIY', homemade and low-budget - the way we determined would be best to do this was making the lyrics look like they were written by the band members on a scrap piece of paper, to show their natural talent and casual approach to their songwriting. This also works with the laughing shots in our video that serve the purpose of creating a closer relationship between actor and audience, than is normally developed in a music video - having the lyrics in this way does this by allowing the audience to feel on a more personal level with the band members because they are able to see and read their orignal thought processes and ideas about the song, before it was made. I wanted to create this effect by actually writing the lyrics on a scrap piece of paper and scanning it in, but in the end we decided the more effective way of doing creating the effect would be to create it through photoshop, finding and image off the internet of some yellowed lined paper, and writing on it with a 'handwritten' looking font. After the lyrics were written, I decided to using the pen tool to draw some 'doodles' and 'scribbles' around the edge, as well as 'crossing out' some words, to make it appear more real, and like a scrap piece of paper. For the background to this we used the polaroid images used for the background on the other inside cover, and as the background image for the magazine advert. 

This is the final design for the right inside cover of the digi-pack, where the CD would be placed. We decided to use the effectively metonymic image of the LP record, with our personalised design on the front, to be the main image on this cover. The image of this record is one that features throughout our promotional pack, and serves the purpose of a repeated, recognisable image that represents the band/song when out of context, allowing audiences to recognise and relate it immediately back to this band/song. We decided it would be effective placing it on this cover, because although covered by the disc when it's in the case, when removed, the record is the exact size of the CD space, making it appear as though it is still filled - but with an LP record instead of a CD, working to please the desire for originality, classicality, and deeper appreciation for music - which are all carried by the image of an LP, connoting the overall style and themes of the indie genre. For the background for both this sleeve and the one on the opposite page, we have used our research and developed the idea of using polaroid photographs as the basis of the image. We began by taking screen shots of the most interesting and memorable scenes from the music video (to work as vertical intertextual references between the media platforms) and then using photoshop to place them onto a white frame that gave them the effect of being polaroid photographs. Once we were happy that the images looked genuine and as if taken on a polaroid camera, we used a fairly complex photoshop technique to create the impression that the pictures had been scattered over one another on a surface. We had to ensure they overlapped and were layered specifically to imply they were casually thrown, wanting to avoid them looking arranged or in any kind of pattern. After achieving this effect, we were then able to layer the record over the top, completing the cover that altogether carries many fairly explicit connotations of our themes and genre - indie 'DIY', low-budget and personal. 

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