Evaluation Question 4 part 2 - Sean Norris

Evaluation Question 4 part 1 - Sean Norris

Evaluation Question 3 - Sean Norris

Evaluation Question 2 - Sean Norris

Evaluation Question 1 part 2 - Sean Norris

Evaluation Question 1 part 1 - Sean Norris

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 4 - Louise Fontava

Evaluation Question 3 - Louise Fontava

Transcript of this video:

As a group we chose Crystal Whites this is because we are all fans of their music. To start our music video, we began researching into their existing audience demographic. However as we personally knew the band before, we felt we had a good grasp of the age range who enjoyed this band.

We went onto their Facebook and Twitter pages to see the ages of the people they had following them. From this, and our own knowledge of the band, we decided our music video would function around males and females around the age range of 16-24. This age was also identified as we have been at numerous Crystal White gigs, where we were able to see those who frequently came along. Luckily, each member of our group liked the Indie/Rock genre and were familiar with various bands of the same genre. These include bands like Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks and The Foo Fighters. We researched into these bands and gathered key elements which we believed were essential at appealing to our target audience. An example of this was to include a subtle yet understandable narrative. Through research we noticed the Indie/Rock genre tends to steer clear of a long narrative as they revolve their videos more around them actually playing. This is something we felt we needed to incorporate into our music video.

You-tube played a key role in letting me see what elements to feature in a music video, but also to visually watch live performances of bands in the same genre, allowing us to analyse their audiences, gaining a clearer understanding of who my target audience would be. Furthermore, radio stations such as X FM enabled us to find examples of bands similar to that of Crystal Whites. We soon realised that the target audience age of the genre was very wide, adding to our decision to focus on 16-24 year olds.

We next needed to attain an understanding of what our target audience enjoys throughout the Indie/Rock genre of music videos. To start with, we asked a random sample of people within my age bracket if they liked/listened to bands in the Indie/Rock genre. This gave us a starting point to our questionnaires. If they liked them, they could respond to my follow up questions, and those who didn’t like them could write that down. In total we found that around 60% of people we asked said they enjoyed Indie/Rock music, whereas the remainder typically listened to other genres like Pop and classical. The next question we asked those who answered yes, was “what element do you think is most important for making an Indie/Rock genre music video successful?”

A: A strong narrative

B: Close up shots of the band playing

C: Both

The majority of people answered C: Both. They felt having both balances out the music video. Additionally, we wanted to see the ages they felt mostly listened to Indie/Rock genre music, so we continued the research by asking “what do you think is the age range for people who enjoy this genre?” These answers were mixed, however the option for older teens still came out to be the most popular. I would say it was important that we carried this out, as we were able to write down what our target audience preferred, and incorporate it into our music video.

Before filming, we presented our idea to a group of people, highlighting exactly what we were planning on carrying out. At the end of the presentation, our audience were able to share their views. At this point, we were certain of an idea of filming on top of a roof, using ‘the stripes’ as inspiration for this. Despite really liking this idea and thinking it could work, our audience told us it just wouldn’t be possible. This was due to a number of reasons, such as; accessibility and heath and safety. We were also asked during this pitch about our narrative, as we group we hadn’t yet decided who would feature in our narrative, however after the conversation during our presentation, we sat down and came up with a suitable person for our video. Without this pitch, we wouldn’t have known how a large group of people felt about our initial idea. From this our good ideas and bad ideas had been highlighted and we knew what we needed to change. This enabled our video to be the best it can be, by listening to our initial feedback.

Once we had finished filming the music video, and had finished the postproduction stage, we presented the first draft of our music video to a number of people within our target audience age group. We felt using single people to give their feedback works better than using a smaller group of around 6 people. We argued that individuals hear what their friends have said and is influenced by their choice. This means our feedback wouldn’t be reliable. To combat this we didn’t include a focus group into our audience feedback, we just stuck to asking single people our questions.

In relation to our print products, audience feedback was vital. We produced a magazine advert and a digipack, however without constructive criticism from our audience they wouldn’t look how they look today. For example we created our first magazine using inspiration from the band “Conduit”, and their album “Funeral for a friend”. We liked how they featured their band members at the bottom of the page. As a result we tried it by heavily editing an image we previously captured of our band. This involved matching our background and following it up to create the illusion of the sky at the top, and the band members at the bottom of the page. Unfortunately due to lack of experience in the Photoshop field, it didn’t go how we had envisaged. Despite knowing our image didn’t look perfect, we played around and created a first draft of our magazine anyway.

We presented this draft to members of our target audience and we attained a number of useful criticisms. For example, we were told our text wasn’t appropriate for an Indie/Rock genre music video. Secondly a lot of people failed to understand all the empty space above the bands image. A common view of our magazine draft was that it doesn’t stand out. Although we created this from being inspired by the band “Conduit”, w e just weren’t capable of producing something similar to that standard. As a result of our audience feedback, we were able to note down the elements our audience had told us didn’t work, and what they felt would work better. However, we decided to just scrap our draft completely and start over. One major element we gathered from our feedback was how most Indie/Rock genres present their band members playing instruments on the cover of their magazine adverts.  This was due to it standing out to an audience and also how it conforms to their genre. Luckily, our process of making a second magazine was a lot easier. We had already been told what our target audience liked from a magazine and therefore felt it was easier. Once our second draft had been completed, we needed to gather another set of feedback. We were told it was very eye catching due to the bright colours and a good representation of members from an Indie/Rock genre. However, a few members still didn’t like it. They argued that something was missing and influenced us to include a quotation. This appears on a lot of magazine adverts and we realised we should include one as it gives an element of realism to our work. Additionally, we changed our font around our digipak outline. This was to increase how much our advert should stand out to our audience. For a final time, we presented our final draft and we were told it was very good. Without our feedback on our first and second draft, we wouldn’t have known exactly what the public didn’t like, and we wouldn’t have been able to make improvements.

Another example of where audience feedback has been essential is through our digipak, including what image to use but also what font to use. In the same way as the magazine we produced a digipak draft. After audience feedback we transformed our digipak completely. After showing a group of people, we were informed the font wasn’t easy to read and it didn’t stand out. Also, our actual picture didn’t enable their faces to be easily seen. A big problem our audience discovered was that our draft digipak shape was rectangle, opposed to square like it was supposed to be. We took these criticisms and went away to plan a second draft. While researching for inspiration, we saw the album cover for “The Stripes”. We used this as an idea to incorporate into our digipak and soon created a second attempt. We showed another group of people and they loved our font choice and the way we had presented our font scheme. We were pleased with our audience feedback upon our second attempt and overall liked how it looked. Without asking our audience again, we wouldn’t have been able to change our digipak to suit the ideas of our audience.

In addition, there was a split decision among the group members as to what logo design to use. We had three similar ones but couldn’t decide which looked more authentic. We asked a group of people to pick which they liked and from this we knew which to pick. As well as questionnaires and individual feedback, we used surveys to find out certain font choices and styles which our audience preferred. These were effective as they gave as a clear to the point answer and we evidence them on our blog.

In conclusion, initial research into our target audience age of the Crystal Whites band, and our audience feedback upon our video and print products played an integral role in shaping our final work. As a group we were able to tailor our drafts, to create a final piece of sustainable work that our audience could enjoy. This was important to us because our main aim of this project was to present our audience with something they like. We took on board all our negatives and positives as we valued the opinion of our audience. This was especially true when members of my group were certain that their idea was best, despite what our audience feedback had already told us. They realised after, that the key element is making sure our audience is happy and soon changed their mind.

Evaluation Question 2 - Louise Fontava

For a band, I feel it is important to create a sense of 'synergy' throughout their products. The word synergy means: 'the interaction or cooperation of two or more organisations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects'

For our music video and print products, it is all about creating visually pleasing products that show a clear match between them. These include; our music video, digipak and magazine advert.

Examples of real media products creating a synergistic element could be seen throughout most Artists or bands. For example:

Rihanna's album - 'Loud'

Here we can see the digipak net for 'Loud' :

And the magazine advert:

Also...

The kooks' album - 'Inside in / inside out'

This is their Digipak:

And magazine advert: 

Both of these examples from artist 'Rihanna' and band 'The Kooks' use a similar colour scheme, creating continuity through their products. Although very different, the colour schemes follow the genre of music they are representing. The bright colours with the theme of subtle flowers are to highlight the pop genre, which the audience will be able to relate too. While the kooks' are more of the indie/rock genre, which tends to stick to simplistic colours, with an element of a bold colour. In the kooks' case its their album name: 'Inside in / Inside out' which is written in red. This stands out amongst the darker background colours.

Rihanna's images are clearly shown to be from the same photoshoot, as her hair and makeup are the same. While the image used by the kooks is the same for the digipak and their magazine advert. These are perfect examples of how synergy has been used to promote their products.

I would argue synergy is a very important factor to take into consideration. While creating our album for 'Crystal whites - To anyone' we felt we needed to impose synergistic elements too.

Our products are shown below:

           

Furthermore, this is our music video:

                         Font cover                                                          

Back cover

CD 

                   

Lyric Booklet

Thankyou Message

Magazine Advert

How do you feel about your final products?

Overall to conclude, I am pleased with the products I attainted in the end. I would argue I have created a strong synergistic element between my products as they all link in with each other. This to me is a big factor in helping real artists/bands gather a large fan base around their albums. It allows a collective feel to an audience which I believe is beneficial to the music producer. Crystal Whites are able to appear more popular with my audience due to continuity between print products and visuals. 

Evaluation Question 1 - Louise Fontava

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Four from Robyn Bowden

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

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

Conventions of an Indie Rock music video:

A typical indie rock music video is about image. Whether it’s about the artist with a particular look or the video as a whole e.g. a certain theme running throughout. It is common for the image of the artist and the theme of the video to relate to enhance the overall product. Within my music video ‘To Anyone’, I tried to represent the conventions of an Indie Rock music video through mise en scene.

Andrew Goodwin:

A music video should represent the song itself, as both a form of advertisement and as a message within the song.

According to Goodwin, there are several conventions of a music video:

        1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals.

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work.

5. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There is often inter-textual reference.

In my music video I've tried to incorporate different conventions of Goodwin’s theory such as creating a 'relationship between the lyrics and visuals' by using a narrative of two characters arguing by the river which could be why the lyrics write 'She's got a secret, my heart will seek it'. 

Also, 'the need for lots of close-ups of the artist' which is shown throughout our music video as there are closeup shots shown on the protagonist in the narrative as well as the band shots.

According to Turrow, formulas are ‘widely recognised principles’ which allow ‘organisational continuity and consistency while not necessarily stifling the creative dimension of media works’

The genre Indie Rock has its own conventions in which they stick too. These include:

-Cutting on the beat

- Close-ups of the artist

- Love/ romance themes

Our genre being ‘Indie Rock’ enabled us as a group to get a wide range of influences and ideas for our music video and allowed us to incorporate a diverse amount of ideas.

The Strypes – Hometown Girls

The Strypes music video for ‘Hometown Girl’ gave us inspiration for our opening shot as we liked the way in which the name of the band and title of the song came up as the camera panned around, this was one of our first inspirations when thinking of the layout of our music video as we thought it was eye catching.

Panning Shot -  

Arctic Monkeys – Why do you only call me when you’re high?

Arctic Monkeys video for ‘Why do you only call me when you’re high?’ gave us inspiration for a key sequence in our music video, as apart from our band shot a visual of the main vocalist walking down past River Themes is a recurring shot throughout the music video which is linked with our narrative. We found it effective in Arctic Monkeys music video as it’s the only time as an audience you’re able to connect with the main vocalist on his journey in the song. 

Closeup shot - 

 

Jamie T –Sheila

In Jamie T’s music video Sheila, a main sequence of the music video was a inspiration to us as we appreciated the way the footage of the protagonist in the music video was presented and the use of camera angles such as the 180° rule and the use of closeup’s on the protagonist walking alone by the river. We found this effective as you are only focused with the central character.

Closeup shot - 

  180° rule - 

In our music video we used Todorov's three-part narrative structure and the change from equilibrium to disequilibrium in our music video for example the starting point establishes the narrative of our main vocalist walking down the river themes, in our video we used a none linear structure, so as the video continues we learn why our key vocalist Adam is walking alone singing. 

As it comes to the middle part of our music video the audience  becomes aware why Adam is walking by the themes, as we are shown a dispute between Adam and his girlfriend Emily, where it ends up him shouting at her and walking away leaving her standing alone. We thought this narrative scene connected well to the song as once listening to learn it’s about a girl keeping secrets from her partner ‘she’s got a secret, my heart will seek it’ a cutaway from this scene to Adam walking alone is then used which creates instability in our music video as we do not know whether this is the end between Adam and Emily.  

The closing shot of end of our music video, shows that Adam isn't returning to Emily, a new stability is established. We see Adam walking up with a long shot of Big Ben looking fed up and reaching the end of his journey. The fade out of the shot shows that this story has come to an end concluding to a termination of their relationship.  

 Digipak Front Cover

When creating our digipak we did a lot of research on different artists in the indie rock genre. Jamie T’s ‘Zombie’ album cover and The Strypes ‘Snapshot’ album took our interest out all that we researched as we liked the way the 3 colours black, white and red stood out. The look is simplistic but draws your attention with the use of monochrome colours with a bold red. We originally were unsure of our central photo as we had such a selection, but after seeing Jamie T and The Strypes album we found having the whole band appearing in the photo was important to the image we wanted to perceive of an Indie Rock band.

DigiPak - CD

For our CD we found that the rest of our digipak followed a simplistic theme, as we didn't want to over power the imagine with too many colours or information as we thought this may ruin the image we were trying to portray to our audience. The image we agreed would look best on our CD was -

This image was decided for two reasons:

1. It's connected to the main single on the album 'To Anyone' as this is an image taken from the closing scene of the music video. This may encourage our audience to want to watch the music video after listening to the album as they are both linked together.

2. We found this image to be simple but effective. By just having our main vocalist in the picture along side a main attraction in London (Big Ben) the image isn't overwhelmed with a lot of colour but the image itself attracts you when first glanced at.

We took inspiration from artist's such as Arctic Monkey's who use simplistic imagery on their CD which we found to be effective as it didn't ruin the sophisticated look their digipak as a whole illustrated.

Magazine Advert

Similarly to our digipak we again did a lot of research prior to designing our magazine advert. We knew it had to be very visual as it’s the main product which would entice our target audience to buy the album. We looked at magazine advert’s from artist’s such as ‘Jamie T’,‘The Stypes’,‘Arctic Monkeys’ and The Kooks’ who all fit into the same genre as our band.

Our final product turned out extremely well, as it’s eye catching and it has synergy so it connects to our digipak which is a key element so our target audience are able to link the two together.

Analysis of music advert

We wanted 'The Crystal Whites' to stand out boldly so our audiences eyes would immediately catch the name of our band, which is why it is centered on the top of our magazine advert in a bold black font. By having 'To Anyone' written in red synergy is created as the font on our digipak is the same style and colour as on our magazine advert.

By using a quote from NME 'Raw Young Talent' we felt as if this would add to our audience appeal as NME has a large fan base and by having such a positive review felt this would expand the audience for the band. Also, we felt as if this brought a unique element to our magazine advert as through research found only selective magazine adverts had NME quotes included.

We've also included the website for the band in the middle of the magazine advert at the bottom of the page along side with social media icons. We witness everyday how much of an impact social media and the internet has on music popularity so we've taken this key element of society and ensured that we are reaching out to all audiences. We also know that social media is the new 'word of mouth' to getting a song's popularity.