video production Section 7 - In The Middle

HMV advert print work

This is my advert which i have desingned on phtoshop. As you can see i have used various conventions when creating this. for example

-The HMV dog symbol- the reason for this is so that there is easy recognition between gaining the audiences attention and recognising what it is. I have used the small symbols which represent different aspects to what HMV have to offer

-I have used three colours in the poster so that it does'nt confuse the audience and so that the text stands out from the background. when there is a sinifigant part of a sentense i have used a different colour to make it jump out more.

-In our modern world today the internet is a huge part of many peoples lives. For example Ebay and Facebook are popular interent sites. On the HMV it gives u the option to download music from there site. The sybols premote this option at the bottom left hand corner. i have added minute text to create a more realistic feel to the poster.

-Another convention which hasnt been used recently by HMV is the use of free give aways. When premoting the release of the digi pack i have included a free poster when ordered of the HMV site. Not only am i premoting the product but i am increasing the chance of the HMV site being used.

I have created this as my front cover for my album art of the digi pack. The choice of loaction is quite signifgant towards the stroy line. The main character (warren=me) feeling are important and are very unhappy and lonely. i have chosen a long shot of the church as it portrays his feelings as 'dead'. This is because he is lonely without sorrel who is his x-girlfriend and now he feels emotionless and cold without her. the charcole effect that i have used helps add to the cold feeling towards the image. on the text i have used an outglow which gives the sence of ghoustly. i decided to use the symbol of the parental advisory to help create the feel that its a real product.

digi pack middle sections

I have chose these images as i think the fit in well with both the front and back of the digi pack. i have added the same charcole effect to keep the feel consistant through out the digi pack. These images will be behind where the cd's go. The image with the stone wall gives the feeling that your unbalanced and in a different dimension. This also reflects on warrens feelings. The other image on the right shows the lead singer. This is benifitial to the target audience as they will be huge fans and what to see simular things like this.

spine of digi pack

I have created this part of the digi pack which is the very back part, on photoshop. What i have done is i have kept the theme consistant by adding the charcole effect again. This time i have used it so that warren stands out the most in this picture to show that hes the main character. The fact that hes white reflects on his feeling as he is feeling very transparent as sorrel keeps on engnoring him. He looks very distant and ghoustly which is the effect i wanted to achive as it comes together with storyline quite well. As you can see i have added the small print and record lables to make it seem like a real product. The barcode also adds to this effect. I have also included a web adress of the band so that fans are informed about its exsistance. The interent site will then allow them to acsess things like
-Gig dates
-Competitions
-Photos
-Music
-Chat to the fans
-A place to sell other products

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

I have used several conventions when creating my advert; designing a large mast head and a certain symbol which is the HMV dog. The reason for doing this is so that it’s a recognizable symbol. I created a colour code between the background of the advert and the text. I used a black back ground and pink and white text. The colours contrast against each other which means the text will stand out better which therefore means the writing is more likely to be read. They also use large text which is easily read by the audience. With our target audience being teenagers they, stereotypically talking, could not be bothered to sift through screeds of text. I tried to keep my advert short and simple so it comes across effectively but at the same time it gets the point across. When our audience buys our product I have designed a poster which represents the band to be given away free with the purchase of the CD. This is to also hopefully help the increase of sales of the product. The offer of the free poster only applies when the CD is bought online. This is to also help encourage the number of sales online. The poster will hopefully end up being on out audiences bed room walls therefore they will recive a constant reminder of the band and to encourage them to listen to the bands music.

At the beginning of our video the music has a slow tempo with the solo beat of the guitar. This then allowed us to bring in slow fades and transitions. This is similar to the begining of Theory Of A Deadman’s video ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’(can be found in playlist). This slow intro is like were almost waiting for the build up. Throughout Theory Of A Deadman’s music videos the band members and actors wear Indie/retro style clothing. A variation of locations was also used. We have used this convention in our music video as it keeps the audience ‘busy’ and so that their not going to get bored and tempted to change the channel. During the video ‘since you’ve been gone’ they use a past and present sequence through out. In our video when the lead singer is reminiscing about the time where sorrel and him are walking In Jesmond Dene I used an effect to separate the two scenes. The effect was a glare which created the affect that its being replayed in Warren’s head. It made it obvious between past a present. We used the same glare in the Tyne bridge sequence as I thought it worked well. In the video ‘ All or Nothing’ (can be found in video playlist) they used people as a metaphorical meaning. What I mean by saying this is that in the video there is extras walking past the lead singer which makes us feel like he is stuck in that position on the other hand people are still carrying on with their lives even though he’s stuck in that position. We used this similarly with the cars on the Tyne bridge which is symbolizing that Warren is not moving on as he is sat still and the traffic is passing him. As he is static this connotates that he is in limbo. I can relate this to uses and gratifications as people can gain insight into circumstances of others; social empathy. The fact that the lead character is reflecting on his actions and is feeling regret people can relate to this as it could of happened to them before. As our music video progresses and the tempo gets quicker the cuts get faster too. I find that our story line is vital using conventions which works very well and gathers a large audience as the majority of people could relate to it. Me and Ian thought of the idea of being about a relationship as lyrically the music is about this subject.

When looking back at our story we have used Todorov narrative structure theory. His theory looks at the structures of stories. He said that what ever they story it will fit into the narrative of his five stages. In our modern world we apply this theory to media studies. My story has a start, middle and end but when looking into Todorov theory it goes deeper than that. He said that every story has a equilibrium, disruption, realization, struggle and resolution and then ends with a new equilibrium.

Ÿ Equilibrium
The equilibrium at the start of my story line is that everything is happy and jolly between warren and sorrel. We can tell this as they are laughing and joking with each other. Also the lighting in the room was quite dark which gave of a romantic feel between the both of them.

Ÿ Disruption
The disruption that happened in out story line was when sorrel looks at the phone and finds a text of someone else. This other person is called Helen and with it being a girl who us getting in touch with warren she isn’t happy about it. After she sees this she then storm out of the restaurant leaving her coat and knocking the menu of the table on the way out. We done this on purpose to show that her feeling were starting to go cold for warren and that things are unsteady between them.

Ÿ Realization
The realization in the story is where warren starts to get flashbacks. How we got this across is the scene before we see the flash back there is a shot of warren thinking and who clearly shows body language that he’s upset. Then the flash back started. We used a glare to show that its past tense and slow dissolves to show that this might be slipping away from him. Know that he’s realized that he’s made a mistake he then has the urge to go back out and make her his again.

Ÿ Struggle and resolution
The struggle and resolution part of Todorvs theory fits into out story quite nicely. We tried to get the point across that sorrel isn’t having warren back and shows how angry she is by having scenes were warren is following her. This shows how much that warren wants her back. In quite a lot of the scenes we shot we have had warren walking in a lot of them. This is to show how quickly things can change like the sway of the sea (hence the beach scenes).

Ÿ The new equilibrium
The new equilibrium is where sorrel turns round realises how much warren is trying to put things right which shows how much he cares for her. To show that the tables are starting to tern we filmed this on a bank with warren at the top and sorrel at the bottom. Sorrel then turns around walks back up the hill and hugs warren. This is to show that warren is forgived and things are starting to go back to normal. We also had a rewind of the shots previous in the production to show that he is forgiven and she is forgetting about things that have happened in the past.


· What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We aim for our target audience to be an estimated age group of 13-25 year olds. A lot of teenagers like rock which was proven in our questionnaire which then explains our choice of music. Another reason for the choice of audience is not only because teenagers are increasingly taking a liking to rock music but the fact that the majority have a disposable income. This is due to either a part time job our money from there parents.
The fact that they have a disposable income then means they can spend their money on:
Ÿ Downloads
Ÿ Going to gigs
Ÿ CD’s
Ÿ Wear, in their opinion, appropriate clothing
Ÿ Other merchandise in conjunction with our product i.e. posters

To attract our target audience we had to use several conventions to help reel them in. We want our lead singer in the video to be an inspiration so that out target audience can relate to or aspire to be like him. We had to think carefully about the routes we could take.

Ÿ Clothing -The lead singer wore rock/alternative clothing with some of them having skulls and other various patterns on which have the connotations of rock. He also wears jeans and converse trainers which are also recognized as part of the rock style. With our target audience already liking this style they will in effect, hopefully like it and then go out and buy similar clothing. Essentially its almost creating a market and advertising these products. This again can relate to uses and gratifications as people look for a sense of identity because this genre of music is a part of their identity. Therefore they will respect the values that it has and maybe try following the dress code of the characters that are included in this production.

Ÿ Hair styles- The hair style of the lead singer is important as long hair also has the connotations of a rock genre and proven in my research tends to be continuous within Indie and rock stars.

Ÿ Locations- Locations are important as various locations are included in videos because we want to keep our audience occupied. We decided to include live performance, not only due to the fact that it’s a music video but going off the stereo type of our target audience they go to gigs, which will hopefully make them want to aspire that they were and then wish to go and see them live. The branding of the group as “performance artists” is vital in selling them as a music loud image is arguably secondary in the Indie/rock genre.

Ÿ Story line- In music/music videos it’s a noticeable convention that love stories are incorporated into them. This is a clever convention as the music/video tries to communicate with the audience as love stories is a common factor in life. Nearly everyone will have some experience with relationships going sour or something bad happening within (which in this case warren is cheating on sorrel). This then allows the audience to read into it in their own personal way as they have undoubtedly had something bad happen in a relationship and relate to the video/music.

Ÿ Technology- Our target audience age group is from 13 to 25 year olds. With our society today being so modern nearly everyone has a mobile phone. We pictured a mobile phone in the music video as how Sorrel found out warren was cheating. This creates room for people who have actually had this done to them and also the fact that with technology being a vital part in our society today our target audience can relate as will most undoubtedly own a mobile phone.

When interviewing people who we would call our target audience after the production has been made the reactions that we had received were what we wished for. Our audience managed to connect with the story line and understand the feeling Warren had for sorrel. They commented on the seamless editing we have used and it came together nicely with the music. This is what they said (videos of people comments).

Now that we have created the production and they have given their opinions I now no the conventions to go by and what not to do. If some feedback comes back negative we can use this to our advantage and not use the conventions that they have mentioned that didn’t’t’t work.

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

When creating the music video, album art and advert we had to use various technologies in the research, planning and evaluation stages. In the research part of this project we used a wide range of technologies such as the internet. This is due to the fact that the internet is a multi media source. This is a good source which connects people word wide where people can express their opinions freely. This would be fantastic for feedback for our media production because not only is it free but we can receive opinions from different cultures. I managed to look at several music videos in the genre that I wanted to look into. Looking at the music videos helped me analyze, deconstruct and recognize the conventions that have been used to produce the music videos.

On the subject of the internet, I have created a blog which is also a multi media source built out of videos, photos and of course text. The blog allows me to publish and distribute my music video at no cost allowing my audience to view the video and leave comments. The blog also gains potential access to many people as there aren’t many people (including my target audience) that don’t have the internet which means it’s more likely to be seen and commented on. Also with the internet being on mobile phones it allows them to gain access to it when there on the go at any time. This then also fits into the criteria of my target audience as most of the younger generations have mobile phones. With mobile phones they have technology like Bluetooth. This allows transfer of files free between people. This could also include the music video that we have made.

As I have used the band Theory Of A Deadman they have a MySpace site. This then allows their fans to access them and get information about gigs, competitions, new releases, ask questions also access to there music, videos and pictures off gigs. If I had a real band and wanted to distribute the video I would use sources like social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube), as word of mouth is a powerful thing. YouTube is also important too as this is another form of distributing the video at no cost. This then allows people like me (non professionals) producers of real media texts. It also has the advantage of allowing people to comment and give ratings on the video. This is also another method of gaining audience feedback.

Although downloading music is a popular thing people still do purchases CD’s and even download of sites like iTunes. Even if you do download it illegally the cover art still comes with it. When I researched the cover art the internet was useful but so was iTunes. On iTunes, once downloaded a song, it comes with album cover art. This allowed me to view cover art and analyze the conventions.

When we where filming our production we had the lyrics on had and the main character had to lip sync with the music. This was proven hard in editing buy looked much better as the lead character can concentrate on his actions the most. In some scenes it goes from me walking to the on stage. This is so that it can fit in with the lyrics of the song and can allow more leeway for the character to express his actions more clearly.

Steve Archer quoted
“often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band…sometimes, the artist…will be part of the story, acting as narrator and participating at the same time. But it’s the lip synch close and the miming of playing instruments that remains at the heart of music videos, as if to assure us that the bad can really kick it”

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

The main goals when making a band successful would actually mean making the band known to the public. The primary goal of the band is to make money, so in order to do this, we want them to be recognizable and unique. As, in the real music industry, we would be developing phrases, slogans and logos for the band, I also did so, making my product as real as possible. What I have included as an extra in my advert is a free give away poster. This technique is used in magazines of this genre of music such as kerrang!. To get the band known in the real world I would have posters, billboards, mobile phones, adverts on the Internet and television. The Internet is a great thing as it promotes the band through websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Blogger and Myspace. What they all have in common is that it is giving the audience contact where they can enjoy and express their opinions. I could use YouTube as one of my main distributors as it is not only free, but it gives people the opportunity to give feedback about the production, weather its critical, or just pleasant feedback. However, if I received critical feedback from my audience, this would help me to identify what it is I have done, or not done to satisfy their needs. Social networking sites are a great help when advertising my product. This gives the audience a reminder about the product, which then could provoke conversation, and this then leads to viral marketing. When looking at my album art in comparison with other examples, such as:
Theory of a Deadman – Scars and Souvenirs
Linkin Park – Minutes to Midnight
ACDC – Back in Black
I feel like I have been successful, as I have followed and used conventions that are included within this genre such as the clothing of the lead character. I have used the similar clothing to what rock stars wear. The main character is wearing denim jeans and a t-shirt with skull patterns on. This then has the connotations of the rock genre. The main character in the video is wearing the same clothes in the album art therefore the audience will be able to make a connection and recognize the character through the clothes that he is wearing. The audience when looking at the clothing will automatically assume the genre of music it is as the type of clothing is common within this genre of music.

The album art is meant to give a visual insight to what the album portrays. The album art achieves this by the location that he is at. When thinking of locations to film at we thought deeply because we wanted to link the locations with the feelings of the character. The front cover of the digi pack is of a church with an empty seat outside of it with an added charcoal effect. The reason why I chose this image is too show the feelings of the character. His feelings at this moment of time very empty and lonely. This is because of the break up between the couple which shows that he is lonely with out his girlfriend. On the back part of the digi pack is the lead singer but is a white shadow. This is to show that this individual is important. I have also made it so it looks like he’s a ghost and hollow like to give the impression that he is empty and nothing with out his girlfriend.

When creating this video I have went through the stages that professionals would to create a successful media product. This would include audience analysis, which means analyzing feedback, location scouting and analyzing existing media products. We have posted the whole process onto the blog and have gone from being consumers to ‘prosumers’ of media texts and now became producers in the age of web 2.0. With this production being on Blogger allows an audience, which can range from millions who can view our whole process of creating this production.

outtakes and bloopers

Audience Feedback

back cover of digi pack

This is another piece of my research were i have analysed the back part of digi pack. I can see it has the original features of a bar code, small print, logos of music copy right holders, a general back ground, and information about the digi pack. these are all comon features of a the back part of a digi pack. i have included prity much all of these conventions to try and gain the most realistic effect possible.

What is becoming continuous through out my research is the use of a three coloured system. This is used to help not confuse the reader and to keep it simple which allows them to be attracted to certain parts of the poster. for example the use of the pink helps the reader to relate it to HMV as its commonly used in their products and it stands out againt the white/grey background. The black also contrasts with the white and pink which can help give certain pieces of text importance. For example the slogan at the top and the price of individual products. The use of symbols and slogans are very important in advertisement as the main goal is to attract you audience and to gain there custom. Having symbols slogan etc allows the reader to relate and remeber the company and the service they might have recived in the past which gives the supplier a high chance of gaining there custom again. The most famous symbol that HMV has is the the dog. Recently HMV has included symbols at the bottom left corner of the poster. These represent different services they have. Having these symbols gives the reader a quick reference, if remebered by the reader, on what services HMV provide. I have included this in my own work as i think it informs the reader well in very little time. Time is the key as readers soon get bored after reading a paragraph which could not be nesisary to what they want (hense the symbols for quick information).