evaluation

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

different genres and styles of music have different conventions and traits that can be seen as a pattern in products produced from within that genre. some artist choose to purposefully break these conventions and be outside the box. Rihanna and lady gaga for example, try to push the boundaries in their video with controversial and unique styles and techniques. during our research and planning we had to make ourselves aware of all the conventions of our artists genre and try to incorporate these into our video. Some of which we did meet. However, some of the conventions we took and developed them slightly. Where as others we challenged and changed drastically.



Used- Steve Archers theory states that music videos commonly cross cut between a narrative/story line and performance shots. Throughout our video we had clear cuts between performance shots of our artist and shots of a narrative. This allowed the audience to see that our artists produces and performs his own music as well as enabling them to become engaged and drawn into the narrative whilst enjoying the song. A lot of indie artist use this to show the way in which they aren't manufactured in anyway and how they produce their own sound and portray an image, ideology or experience through the narrative.

Used- including a musical instrument as a large part of shots. In indie music the instruments being played by the artists are often included to show the legitimacy of the artist and how they produce their own music. During research and planning I found that indie fans look for artists that produce their own sounds and so showing this in music videos is important and very attractive for indie music fans. We used close up shots, mid shots, worm-eye view and other shots to clearly show our artist playing his instrument.
in the first few seconds we had a close up of the guitar and made sure it was a prominent part of our video. in the video for lewis watson's 'sink or swim' a very similar mid-shot is used early on, with him playing the guitar as the main focus.







Challenged- we included a romantic-comedy aspect within the narrative part of our video, where the couple are happy and everything seems to be fine. We used close ups, and fast cuts to emphasise this. We then moved to a slightly moody and tense section of the narrative where we used slow motion, slow cutting rates and lower key lighting to represent the issues and problems of the characters. Then to complete the romantic-comedy story line ended on a high note with a kissing scene, which we integrated with our performance shots using additive and cross dissolves. It also allowed a clear cut between narrative and performance.

Developed- don't see the artists face on the digipack front cover. Normally you would see a clear shot of the artists face if not a slightly distorted one, however on our digipack front cover we kept our artists face covered. His view is concentrated on the lyrics and the wallpaper in the picture, which allows the audience to see him as focused solely on the music and the album, which is an important aspect of the indie genre, yet allows him and the album to have a large degree of individuality.

Developed- the way in which we had a very clear cut difference between narrative and performance. The fact our artist was the key character in the narrative as well as performance is the development, as normally they would be in performance shots only, or be entwined into the narrative somehow. We used a change in clothing, shot’s and lighting to show this clear difference. Our artist wore drastically different clothes in performance shots than to narrative shots. We used shots we had found more commonly in performance shots during research, and used these for performance and more commonly narrative based shots for the narrative sections.

question 2



question 3



question 4

ancillaery texts

music video

Digipack template ideas

 This allows minimal inlays but allows a different and slightly indie design.

 this is an even more individual design. it allows lots of inlays, and a card design, which would fit with he indie genre.

 This is a booklet style template. it allows for many inlays and could be linked include some intertextuality with the way it could link with a book.

this is the traditional CD/digipack design. we have decided to put our own individual pin on this traditional design to give it an indie feel to match the genre and style of the artist. we decided to include a small booklet with the front cover on one side and filled with inlays.

magazine advert anaylsis

Jake Bugg single advert analysis
although this is the advert for a single we can still apply conventions and ideas to our advert as the artist is from the same genre.
We can clearly see links to his website. this links to the fact indie artists want to make a connection to their audience, and so give extra things to them.
it includes very low key lighting, and possibly a black and white effect.  it creates a vintage feel which links to his vintage style music.
The layout is very simple and not too fancy. this links to his indie genre,  of simple and not overly manufactured.
the links to radio 1 is a very prominent feature of the video. it will enable the audience to know he is a legitimate artist and maybe think they will enjoy his music due to the fact they like other radio 1 music.

Vampire Weekend
This, like the Jake Bugg advert, is very simplistic. like a lot of indie artists, they have included the bare minimum, allowing the artist name and album title to be the most prominent feature of the image.

Digipack ideas 2

We are considering including the use of techniques such as metaphors, connotations, denotations, symbols, content signs and font. 
metaphors/connotations/symbols- The title of the album is tearing back the wallpaper, our front cover is going to be a shot of torn wallpaper with brick wall behind it with the lyrics to Hazel Eyes on it. the metaphor that he is tearing back the wallpaper to reveal what's underneath. the connotations/symbols that he has been hiding behind this wallpaper and he is tearing it back to show his true feelings.
Content signs- we are going to include a guitar in the shot of the front cover to represent the fact he is a genuine real artist who creates his own music. 
Font- we have found a font to use on our album cover. 

Digipack micro-elements analysis 2

Colour difference between the front cover, back cover, spine and inlays. 

Newton Faulkner is another indie artist I have researched, and i have decided to analyse his album 'Hand Built By Robots'. 

As you can see the has a background theme of a cloudy sky. On the album this them can be seen across the entire Digipack. the theme is continued on the back cover and both inlays.

However, this theme is not featured on the spine or on the CD cover. Sometimes spines are made a more bright noticeable colour so they can be better seen when on their side. We as a group are planning on using this technique when producing our own digipack.

Digipack micro-elements analysis

Colour difference between the front cover, back cover and spine. 

This is the spine for the album 'Tourist History' by Two Door Cinema Club. The colours used on the spine match those used on the back image. this is a very common concept for album covers. However The front cover is a dark image,  contrasting to the back and spine colours, this allows the album to be shown as breaking conventions and allowing the album to stand out. the inlays on both sides however, both match the back cover as well. 

Another indie artist of whose digipack i have analysed is Ed sheerans album +. this is in a different style to the of the Two Door Cinema Club album. it has the same back cover and spine and front cover design. But it does however have a dark inlay which allows  the orange + on the CD to stick out more. 

i have analysed 5 digpacks produced by indie artists, all of which had a difference in colour or theme between the either the front cover and the back cover, or the front cover and the back cover and spine. We are most likely going to conform to this convention when producing our digipack. however the indie genre is all about being individual and different and we have considered  having all three aspects of the outer digipack (front cover, back cover and spine) different themes/colours as to break these conventions further. or we could challenge this convention by having the front cover and spine different colour to the back cover. 

Mumford and Sons digipack analysis

Mumford and sons digipack analysis on Prezi

Digipack analysis- 3

This is the album cover for 'Last smoke before the snow storm' by Benjamin Francis Leftwich. Like many other indie albums covers it includes and aspect of hand drawn/painted effect on the main image. another convention of indie albums covers represented here is the lack of images of the artist. many recent indie album covers don't include images of the artist, this relates to the rebellious aspect of the indie genre, as most other genres include artist images as the main focus point. 

the CD artwork matches the front cover in terms of colour. they also include the same style of font. the font used is a very old fashioned one. it is elegant also relates to the hand drawn effect of the images used in the cove and others like it. 

this cover of Ben Howard's 'Every Kingdom' also uses this effect/technique and is also of the indie genre. 

it is actually an image taken by a camera but has been edited to create a vintage look, possibly using a sepia filter. The use of large, white, centred  font allows his name to stick out and be the first thing the audience notice. the front image also relates to a personal thing in the artists life, he was raised in devon and surfing has always been a big part of his life. It is common in indie music to relate things to personal issues. 

The indie genre is also very linked to rebellion, and breaking trends. in album covers the front and back covers have the same colour of similar colours, however this album breaks this and the colours are very different. As our artist is of the indie genre we may break normal conventions of digipack style and technique to follow the conventions of indie. 

Benjamin Francis Leftwich- Atlas Hands beach shots analysis

Micro element analysis of Benjamin Francis Leftwich's Atlas hands. i am mainly analysing the camera use and the way the location is used and represented in the video.

Throughout the video a large range of shots are used. An establishing shot is used first to set the scene, in the first few seconds it allows the audience to know that the video is being shot at the beach. 
They use low angle and high angles shots to show things like the characters tying each others hair, the characters are also mainly children. This holds connotations of the beach being a place for children and a place to be immature. we are also following this with the use of shots showing our characters eating ice cream, laughing, joking and flying a kite, all associated with immaturity. 
In terms of editing, the cuts made are not made to the beat of the song, this is a convention of the indie genre and relates to rebellion. 

digipack ideas

For our digipack we have had some thoughts on album title and shot ideas.

For album title we have, tearing back the wallpaper, new beginnings, higher heights, and a fresh start.

We have an idea for our front cover, a mid shot of our artist looking up to a wall with torn back wallpaper, this mainly relates to our first album title idea, but can also relate to new beginnings. 
We are planning to have another group meeting to finalize decisions and to decide on inlay and back cover ideas.

prolgue analysis

We are planning to use a prologue at the beginning of our video, I have found some music videos that use this technique to see what they are trying to show/represent.


This is the music video for Rihanna's California king bed. this has a 32 second long prologue. in this video it is used to set the scene, with close up and medium shots of both the narrative and performance scenes. it shows a direction and a general story line to the video. it allows the audience to gain an insight into the story behind the video and the lyrics and to connect to the artist without music.

planning evidence

Costume and props

planning evidence

We decided to produce a final cut express video showing the timing of the shots we are going to use, matched to the music. this is a moving story board and will help us greatly, along with a written shot list, to film our video quickly and easily.

Costumes and props.

Costumes 

Our artist will be wearing Chino's, a denim shirt, and some form of casual shoe. It relates well to the indie genre and the age bracket of our target audience. We also think that it will make him look casual and comfortable which also relates to the indie genre, due to the idea of being casual in videos and public appearances, which greatly differs from a pop artist.

Our female will be sporting light blue jeans, which are able to roll up. This is so we can easily film the paddling scene. She will be wearing a wax Barbour style jacket

She will also be wearing red vans. We have decided that we want her to be wearing these because they are practical and casual and go well with our indie theme.

Props 

Guitar - By having the guitar is showing that he is a credible artist and can play his own music. it is also a key convention of the indie genre. 

Microphone stand- to show he is singing his own music and its not auto tuned or greatly tampered with. 

 Ice cream and chips- cliche thing for couples in films, videos and television. also links with the beach location. 

Tea lights- surround our artist to create a more meaningful, romantic atmosphere. also a small source of lighting. Camera phone- to create a handheld effect. to emphasize intimacy and romance between the characters.

digipack analysis

This is an analysis of the digipack for the album "love is a four letter word" by Jason Mraz

audience research

this is a video made by one of our group members Danielle, and shows some feedback from target audience members to some questions surrounding the genre of our chosen artist; indie.

audience feedback from our songs

After playing our song to the rest of our class, we asked them what they would include in the music video that we would create.
 These are the results that we got:
 1. -girl he's singing to, walking about singing to a girl, "calling out" to her
 2. -sunset (low lighting), fields, country girls, he sings about her but not too her
 3. -happy and upbeat, urban, love song to or about a girl, dancing
 4. -band playing from the start, a guy singing to a girl, but cant see him
 5. -acoustic guitar, unique voice, mellow, slow, indie rock, love, relaxing
 6. -city scene, see a girl (with hazel eyes), maybe bumps into her a lot, singing as walking, he pictures her in his head, flashbacks, smiling at each other, tries to ask her out but always gets cut off
 7. -guitar (acoustic), sun, drums, love, eyes, beach 8.- urban (maybe cambridge), black and white, looking out of the window, shirt (tie?), guitar- cutting to electric guitar being played by someone else, no girl (maybe photograph), shot of him performing in bar/cafe, following a day, time shots of different views walking around, outdoors but city

 We are still going with the idea that we will film at the beach.we are also going to use the idea of representing a change in time throughout the video, from morning to evening.We will also have guitars featuring heavily in our music video as this is a huge feature of videos in the indie genre.

video group planning meeting

music video location

These are some preliminary shots of the area in which we are planning to film. this is the beach at Frinton, we will be producing a risk assessment in the near future to see if it is an appropriate area to film. 

prologue anaylsis

we are planning to use a prologue at the beginning of our video, I have found some music videos that use this technique to see what they are trying to show/represent.



this is the music video for Ed Sheeran's Drunk, an artist we listed as a similar artist. this has a slightly shorted 15 second prologue. here, the prologue is used to introduce the idea of a man, who is thinking and reminiscing about an old girlfriend. a close up shot of the pictures on the wall subtly shows the main character with the girl. this allows the audience to begin to wonder about exactly what happened or what is happening now, this draws the audience in and makes them want to keep watching.
we are planning on using subtle dialogue to create a story, but still leave mystery as to the details of the narrative of the video, which will be later explored in the video.
it seems the prologues of videos are never any longer than 35 seconds, and this one was around 15 seconds, so we will aim to fit the conventions of the genre and make our prologue about 10-20 seconds.

summer paradise beach shots analysis

we our shooting our music video mainly in a beach area, so i am using this video to gain some ideas and insight into the filming of beach shots.
the first shot we see is an over the shoulder shot, which shows the sunset over the sea, so the first impression of the video that the audience get is that its going to be warm,happy and around the sea.
another wide shot of the sea and sunset. it shows a couple out surfing just watching the sun set. this creates an idyllic image and makes the audience feel like they wish they were in that place.
All the shots of the lead singer from the first 2 minutes of the video all capture the sunset, whether thet be high angle, low angle, wide angle, close up or long shots.
the narrative shots are showing the characters having fun, swimming, joking, driving a boat. we will most likely use the idea of joking and laughing between the two characters in our video, as they share their last day together. we will also use a lot of close up shots. these shots are used to emphasise things, and we will use them to emphasise the feelings between them.

music video analysis- specific performance analysis

I have chosen to analyse the performance aspect of the music video for "You Found Me" by The Fray. this video follows the theory of Steve Archer, who suggest there are typically cuts between a narrative and a performance in a music video. This particular video shows exactly this. we are planning on using this technique in our music video.



the music video starts with a close up shot of the lead singer. this shot is wobbly to crate the idea of him being in the back of a car/on the back of a truck. Throughout the video they use long panning shots of landmarks throughout the city.however as the video goes on we can see that a band member is within one of these shots. this draws the audience attention each time one of these shots are shown. as an audience member watching the video for the first time i found my self concentrating on those shots to try and spot a band member, allowing the audience to be engaged with the video. 
they also have a more obvious performance aspect to the video. the shots cuts between the narrative, the long city shots and these performance shots. in these shots there is a variation of panning, medium and close up shots. at the start of the video they use close up shots to introduce all of the band members. they use these close ups again to show them playing their instruments, to make sure they are represented as real and genuine. a lot of them the member looks up to gain eye contact with the camera to create a connection with the audience and involve them in the video. these cuts are also in time with the beat which allows the video to flow smoothly and to form a connection between the music and the video. we may use this editing technique in our video as a lot of our similar artists have used it. 
they cut back to the performance shots through out the video. they have a full band set up on an empty car bridge this relates to the narrative of a car crash, and how they are involved and have some connection to it. however it doesn't show this completely so allows the audience to think of their own theories. we have seen this type of subtle link between narrative and performance and are considering using the tiechnique in our video to create mystery.

ideal audience member

I am using the audience research gathered by our group to create our ideal audience member. This person would be a male, so there can be some relation between him and the artist and hes lyrics.

He would be 22 years old and at university in England. from similar artist research we could see that this was the main age demographic for the indie genre. the university also links with the conventions of the indie genre audience.

This audience member will play guitar, allowing aesthetic appreciation, and also giving opportunity for him to try and mimic or cover his music to further relate and connect with the artist.

Lyrics and inspiration of hazel eyes