Friday, 15 April 2011
Evaluation
Evaluation My brief was to create a promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, a cover as for its release as part of a digipak and a magazine advertisement for the digipak. My target audience was originally young girls from the ages of 13-25. Mainstream pop music listeners because the artist is mainstream and very popular in the UK at the moment. The song is fairly unheard of so perhaps the audience should be young girls who like to be original and find the new trends first. Because it is a mainstream and contemporary artist I assume the listeners will be in the know of the latest trends and up to date with the current popular artists. Ellie Goulding’s sound is particularly unique so the audience may have their own original sound and tastes. I did most of my research based on the young target audience and the song however I recently had to change my song and artist due to timing issues with my performer. Because of this I had to change my entire idea. I chose to play off my AS music magazine coursework and chose to use the same person and chose a song from the same genre. My new idea was to create an indie/ folk music video. My performer is a 21 year old male and the song is “Casey’s Song” by Dallas Green, therefore my new target audience is young adults aged around 16-25. Because the artist is fairly unknown I think my target audience will have unique style’s in the way they dress. They will probably be into the indie/ folk/ acoustic genre of music. I did a lot of research to get an in depth knowledge of my genre and the music industry as a whole. I looked at three music video’s, two were from a similar genre to my original idea and one was from a different one. I did this to get an idea of how companies produce music video’s and why they use certain forms and conventions. I found that the music video for the song “Number One Enemy” by young pop singer Daisy Dares You from the record label Jive uses pastiche in the form of taking the Alice in Wonderland idea for her music video. Her costume for the video is very relevant to when the book came out in 1865. This music video made me realise how important costume is and how to use it to connotate and emotion or anything. Another music video I looked at was the song “A Little Less 16 Candles” by Fall Out Boy from Island Def Jam. The majority of the video is narrative. The music video tells a story and the song is only featured in some parts for example when there is a fighting scene, the music, which is pop rock makes the fighting seem more fast paced. I looked at another pop video by The Saturdays, who are signed to Fascination, called “Higher”. This video is set in New York City and is based on Sex And The City, the audience know this instantly from the steps leading to a door which the shows main star lives behind. This video showed me the importance of how a set can change a video completely. My song, “Casey’s Song” by folk and indie artist Dallas Green centres around the theme of loss and heart ache. I liked the song because anyone can relate to the feeling of loss, whether it be a family member or a partner. I wanted the stylistics of a real indie/folk music video to be represented well in my own. I realised through research that a lot of similar genre songs have the lead vocal just simply singing with a guitar therefore I made it a top priority to have that shot there. The song is also about loneliness and feeling lost and I wanted this to come across through the mise en scene and the cinematography. In a lot of the shots the artist is blurred slightly, I wanted this because I wanted the audience to get the impression that that represented his mind being a haze of emotions. In order to make my video appeal to my target audience I dressed my artist in a way that I thought the target audience might dress and be attracted to but I also wanted the costume to connotate some symbolism for example I wanted him to wear black so that he was a representation of mourning and death and grey to represent bleakness and dullness. I made sure his face was unshaven as during my research I found that a lot of these artists had a slightly unkempt and dishevelled look to them. In the indie genre the focus of a video has a lot to do with the instruments they play therefore I had my first shot to be a close up of the guitar. Although indie music video’s are often just the band playing a live gig I anted to challenge this because Dallas Green is a soloist and I wanted the video to be more about him feeling the lyrics through the narrative of the video. My main narrative structure is that my artist has lost a lover and is feels that his life is somewhat meaningless without her and he keeps having flash backs of her. I showed this by making the apartment seem lifeless and empty. Also the shot of him playing the guitar has a blue background which connotates sadness. I also had hints of a girls presence in the form a handbag in one shot. Another convention of indie music video’s is that the hue depends on the tone of the lyrics. I used a lot of darker lighting and even the outside shots during the day time and bleak and plain colours. And I believe that the mise en scene as a whole reflects the emotions of the song. I wanted the digipak, magazine advert and music video to look like they fitted together as a promotional package therefore I used similar shots and colour tones. The front cover of the CD is an extreme close up of the artist. I wanted him to be the main focus therefore I made the text small and simple and of a similar colour tone. I made the CD cover black and white because I wanted it to represent the sullen feel of the song and music video. I made one of the middle images a colour image in order to bring some light and warmth to the artist. Another of the middle images is again black and white but it also carries one of the key conventions of indie, the artist playing the guitar. I wanted to use an image of the artist playing the guitar because the guitar music is a key feature of the song. The back cover is of the artist sitting on a brick wall. Brick walls are symbolic of being held back and I made the artist and the wall both dark in comparison to the background which is slightly brighter in hue to give the impression that his emotions are holding him back from living his life. I wanted the magazine advertisement to be minimalistic and straight to the point. I used a close up of the artist looking straight toward the camera which I think makes eye contact with the audience. The song title is in large letters at the top of the page in order for the audience to see it clearly and feel sympathy for the artist when they realise it’s a song for a girl. I used a more calligraphic font for the advertisement than the CD package because I wanted the text to add a hint of romance to the advertisement, the font along with the image and the name of the song title I think will make the audience think of love and loss and therefore have more sympathy for, I believe that creating sympathy from the audience directed at the artist is similar to a subliminal message because it makes you feel sorry for him and therefore commit to buying it perhaps. My video is a mixture of both performance and narrative however there is a main focus on performance. I wanted the video to be mainly about the song and the words so I kept the narrative simple. I used a lot of close
ups to show the artist singing and playing the instrument and I also used some tracking shots and jump cuts to emphasize his loneliness. I used slow motion and double speed in some shots to vary the pace of the video. Towards the end of the video there is a part of a song that I thought sounded similar to a heartbeat therefore on these beats I placed 1 second “flashbacks” of a girl. I made these shots 
slow motion in order to bring across the idea that this is the male artist’s imagination or fantasy. I used a questionnaire in order to gain feedback for my music video and ancillary texts to find out if my music video and ancillary texts worked together to create a convincing promotional package for an album. My questionnaire included questions such as ‘do you think the music video fits in with the genre?’ most people from my target audience age range replied with ‘yes’ answers. Another question was ‘what music channel do you think my music video is most suited to?’ and a good majority answered with Kerrang or MTV or MTV Two which is what I believe it is most suited to. I wanted to find out whether or not my work was relevant to my target audience therefore I in particular asked this question ‘do you think the music video is suited to the target audience?’, to people who are in the age range and social group as my target audience. My results showed that I was mainly successful in achieving a believable indie and folk music video. My audience feedback also proved that my ancillary texts and video fitted in and in some way linked with each other. A few people stated that you could tell they were all for the same reason and you could tell this from the soft tones and colours and camera angles of the images and video. One of my questions asked to rate the video out of 10. I tallied up all the results from the answers and came up with the result of 7/10 which I consider to be a fairly successful result. Interestingly my audience feedback showed that males aged 18 would watch my music video out of choice whereas most girls aged 16-17 would prefer not to. A main source of my research was Wikipedia. Wikipedia allowed me to receive reliable facts and information about artists and record labels. I also used YouTube.com a lot to look at various music video’s to gain inspiration from. I used two different cameras to create the music video. The shots which feature just my male artist are shot with a Cannon 550d camera. The scenery shots and the ‘flashbacks’ of the female figure were shot with a Cannon MD205 camera along with a tripod to keep the camera steady. When I had my original idea of using an Ellie Goulding song I used the search engine, Google. I wanted some idea’s to use for the costume of the music video so through the search engine I cam across some fashion blogs such as http://stealherstyle.net/ellie-goulding/ and http://www.sofeminine.co.uk/fashion-trends/ellie-goulding-fashion-ellie-goulding-style-get-the-look-d19457.html in order to get a sense of her style to try and relate it to my video. I think www.blogger.com is an extremely effective way of presenting work. With blogger I am able to upload images and video’s easily and my work looks neat and put together. To create my ancillary texts I used Adobe Photoshop CS3. Photoshop is an effective way of putting together a successful image. When I first started using Photoshop I found it hard to adjust and to remember all of the icons however once you get used to it it’s easy. With Photoshop I learned how to take one simple photograph and edit it to make it look professional. For my ancillary texts I lowered the brightness and heightened the contrast in order to create definition in the face and background through shadowing. To edit my music video I used Adobe Premier Pro 1.5 on an editing suit. It was fairly easy for me to get going with the project because I had used it before when I made a television advert so the skills needed to be able to use this effectively were still there. One problem I encountered was that the Cannon 550d camera was not a correct match for Premier Pro on the first machine I was put on so I was them placed onto a newer machine and then I still had difficulty because every time I added a new shot of my artist onto the time line I had to press ‘scale to frame’ so that it is wouldn’t be as zoomed in this problem caused a lot of time wasting. I enjoyed most of the process of editing as I generally like to edit and I liked that it was all my decision and I could edit it the video how I wanted. I used cross cuts and dissolves to make the video flow better and I used shadowing and the brightness and contrast tools to add definition to the shots. To get the music I downloaded it on my own laptop then used a USB stick to transfer it from my laptop to the editing suit and then imported it onto Adobe Premier Pro 1.5. I used a few shots of the artist alone in his apartment doing day to day activities such as making drinks or just sitting on the sofa and walking around outside alone because I wanted the 
audience to get the impression that he is missing something or looking for something emotionally. And I especially wanted to use the shots of him walking through the park area alone with no other people there to emphasize his segregation. I used a medium shot of the artist against a black wall to signify emptiness and his t-shirt which is clearly visible in this shot has a motif which displays the words ‘disco’ and ‘vive le rock’ 
in white with stands out against the black background of the rest of his shirt. I wanted this because the words contrast with the lyrics and the solemn feel of the video. The end shots are of the artist falling back onto his bed then I used a fade to make it seem like he disappeared mid fall. I wanted this because I wanted to connotate to the audience that he is losing himself. In my opinion I believe that the final outcome of my music video and ancillary texts are basic. If I could start again I would have filmed a lot earlier and organised time better with my artist. Although I wish I could have created a better music video I am pleased with the fact that it is finished and that it is fairly decent.
ups to show the artist singing and playing the instrument and I also used some tracking shots and jump cuts to emphasize his loneliness. I used slow motion and double speed in some shots to vary the pace of the video. Towards the end of the video there is a part of a song that I thought sounded similar to a heartbeat therefore on these beats I placed 1 second “flashbacks” of a girl. I made these shots 
slow motion in order to bring across the idea that this is the male artist’s imagination or fantasy. I used a questionnaire in order to gain feedback for my music video and ancillary texts to find out if my music video and ancillary texts worked together to create a convincing promotional package for an album. My questionnaire included questions such as ‘do you think the music video fits in with the genre?’ most people from my target audience age range replied with ‘yes’ answers. Another question was ‘what music channel do you think my music video is most suited to?’ and a good majority answered with Kerrang or MTV or MTV Two which is what I believe it is most suited to. I wanted to find out whether or not my work was relevant to my target audience therefore I in particular asked this question ‘do you think the music video is suited to the target audience?’, to people who are in the age range and social group as my target audience. My results showed that I was mainly successful in achieving a believable indie and folk music video. My audience feedback also proved that my ancillary texts and video fitted in and in some way linked with each other. A few people stated that you could tell they were all for the same reason and you could tell this from the soft tones and colours and camera angles of the images and video. One of my questions asked to rate the video out of 10. I tallied up all the results from the answers and came up with the result of 7/10 which I consider to be a fairly successful result. Interestingly my audience feedback showed that males aged 18 would watch my music video out of choice whereas most girls aged 16-17 would prefer not to. A main source of my research was Wikipedia. Wikipedia allowed me to receive reliable facts and information about artists and record labels. I also used YouTube.com a lot to look at various music video’s to gain inspiration from. I used two different cameras to create the music video. The shots which feature just my male artist are shot with a Cannon 550d camera. The scenery shots and the ‘flashbacks’ of the female figure were shot with a Cannon MD205 camera along with a tripod to keep the camera steady. When I had my original idea of using an Ellie Goulding song I used the search engine, Google. I wanted some idea’s to use for the costume of the music video so through the search engine I cam across some fashion blogs such as http://stealherstyle.net/ellie-goulding/ and http://www.sofeminine.co.uk/fashion-trends/ellie-goulding-fashion-ellie-goulding-style-get-the-look-d19457.html in order to get a sense of her style to try and relate it to my video. I think www.blogger.com is an extremely effective way of presenting work. With blogger I am able to upload images and video’s easily and my work looks neat and put together. To create my ancillary texts I used Adobe Photoshop CS3. Photoshop is an effective way of putting together a successful image. When I first started using Photoshop I found it hard to adjust and to remember all of the icons however once you get used to it it’s easy. With Photoshop I learned how to take one simple photograph and edit it to make it look professional. For my ancillary texts I lowered the brightness and heightened the contrast in order to create definition in the face and background through shadowing. To edit my music video I used Adobe Premier Pro 1.5 on an editing suit. It was fairly easy for me to get going with the project because I had used it before when I made a television advert so the skills needed to be able to use this effectively were still there. One problem I encountered was that the Cannon 550d camera was not a correct match for Premier Pro on the first machine I was put on so I was them placed onto a newer machine and then I still had difficulty because every time I added a new shot of my artist onto the time line I had to press ‘scale to frame’ so that it is wouldn’t be as zoomed in this problem caused a lot of time wasting. I enjoyed most of the process of editing as I generally like to edit and I liked that it was all my decision and I could edit it the video how I wanted. I used cross cuts and dissolves to make the video flow better and I used shadowing and the brightness and contrast tools to add definition to the shots. To get the music I downloaded it on my own laptop then used a USB stick to transfer it from my laptop to the editing suit and then imported it onto Adobe Premier Pro 1.5. I used a few shots of the artist alone in his apartment doing day to day activities such as making drinks or just sitting on the sofa and walking around outside alone because I wanted the 
audience to get the impression that he is missing something or looking for something emotionally. And I especially wanted to use the shots of him walking through the park area alone with no other people there to emphasize his segregation. I used a medium shot of the artist against a black wall to signify emptiness and his t-shirt which is clearly visible in this shot has a motif which displays the words ‘disco’ and ‘vive le rock’ 
in white with stands out against the black background of the rest of his shirt. I wanted this because the words contrast with the lyrics and the solemn feel of the video. The end shots are of the artist falling back onto his bed then I used a fade to make it seem like he disappeared mid fall. I wanted this because I wanted to connotate to the audience that he is losing himself. In my opinion I believe that the final outcome of my music video and ancillary texts are basic. If I could start again I would have filmed a lot earlier and organised time better with my artist. Although I wish I could have created a better music video I am pleased with the fact that it is finished and that it is fairly decent.
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Audience Feedback
I got over 20 questionarries back however I am only displaying the 5 most varied answers.
1.
Do you think the music video fits in with the genre?
yeah
Do you think the music video suits the song?
yeah
Do you think the music video is suitable for the target audience?
yeah
Do you think the look and style of the singer suits the video and song?
Yeah especially considering the age of the performer.
What music channel would you expect to see this video on?
MTV two
Do you think that the video and ancillary texts look like a convincing promotion for a music video and album?
Yes absolutely.
Out of 10 what would you rate the video and ancillary texts?
10
Would you watch this video out of choice?
yes
What is your gender and age?
Male 18
2.
Do you think the music video fits in with the genre?
More yes than no.
Do you think the music video suits the song?
Yeah pretty much.
Do you think the music video is suitable for the target audience?
yes
Do you think the look and style of the singer suits the video and song?
The voice in the song sound slightly more mature than the actual performer.
What music channel would you expect to see this video on?
Don’t know.
Do you think that the video and ancillary texts look like a convincing promotion for a music video and album?
They suit each other and it’s obvious they all link.
Out of 10 what would you rate the video and ancillary texts?
6
Would you watch this video out of choice?
Probably not.
What is your gender and age?
17 male.
3.
Do you think the music video fits in with the genre?
Yeah I suppose so.
Do you think the music video suits the song?
Yes.
Do you think the music video is suitable for the target audience?
Yes.
Do you think the look and style of the singer suits the video and song?
Yeah because he looks really folky and quite indie.
What music channel would you expect to see this video on?
Kerrang or MTV or something similar to those.
Do you think that the video and ancillary texts look like a convincing promotion for a music video and album?
Yeah they look like a convincing promotional package.
Out of 10 what would you rate the video and ancillary texts?
8
Would you watch this video out of choice?
I think so yes as I like the song anyway.
What is your gender and age?
17 female.
4.
Do you think the music video fits in with the genre?
I suppose.
Do you think the music video suits the song?
I guess so.
Do you think the music video is suitable for the target audience?
I don’t really know.
Do you think the look and style of the singer suits the video and song?
Not really.
What music channel would you expect to see this video on?
Probably a rock one or something.
Do you think that the video and ancillary texts look like a convincing promotion for a music video and album?
No I don’t think they would sell the song together.
Out of 10 what would you rate the video and ancillary texts?
4
Would you watch this video out of choice?
No. but only because it’s not really my type of music.
What is your gender and age?
16 female.
5.
Do you think the music video fits in with the genre?
No. because it has no link or anything to indie or folk in my opinion.
Do you think the music video suits the song?
No however I understand why it is like that however I would have done it a lot different.
Do you think the music video is suitable for the target audience?
Yes.
Do you think the look and style of the singer suits the video and song?
No because its not what the target audience would wear or even look like.
What music channel would you expect to see this video on?
I guess MTV two would most suit it.
Do you think that the video and ancillary texts look like a convincing promotion for a music video and album?
They link in with each other but I don’t think they suit the song.
Out of 10 what would you rate the video and ancillary texts?
5
Would you watch this video out of choice?
Maybe once to see it.
What is your gender and age?
18 male.
1.
Do you think the music video fits in with the genre?
yeah
Do you think the music video suits the song?
yeah
Do you think the music video is suitable for the target audience?
yeah
Do you think the look and style of the singer suits the video and song?
Yeah especially considering the age of the performer.
What music channel would you expect to see this video on?
MTV two
Do you think that the video and ancillary texts look like a convincing promotion for a music video and album?
Yes absolutely.
Out of 10 what would you rate the video and ancillary texts?
10
Would you watch this video out of choice?
yes
What is your gender and age?
Male 18
2.
Do you think the music video fits in with the genre?
More yes than no.
Do you think the music video suits the song?
Yeah pretty much.
Do you think the music video is suitable for the target audience?
yes
Do you think the look and style of the singer suits the video and song?
The voice in the song sound slightly more mature than the actual performer.
What music channel would you expect to see this video on?
Don’t know.
Do you think that the video and ancillary texts look like a convincing promotion for a music video and album?
They suit each other and it’s obvious they all link.
Out of 10 what would you rate the video and ancillary texts?
6
Would you watch this video out of choice?
Probably not.
What is your gender and age?
17 male.
3.
Do you think the music video fits in with the genre?
Yeah I suppose so.
Do you think the music video suits the song?
Yes.
Do you think the music video is suitable for the target audience?
Yes.
Do you think the look and style of the singer suits the video and song?
Yeah because he looks really folky and quite indie.
What music channel would you expect to see this video on?
Kerrang or MTV or something similar to those.
Do you think that the video and ancillary texts look like a convincing promotion for a music video and album?
Yeah they look like a convincing promotional package.
Out of 10 what would you rate the video and ancillary texts?
8
Would you watch this video out of choice?
I think so yes as I like the song anyway.
What is your gender and age?
17 female.
4.
Do you think the music video fits in with the genre?
I suppose.
Do you think the music video suits the song?
I guess so.
Do you think the music video is suitable for the target audience?
I don’t really know.
Do you think the look and style of the singer suits the video and song?
Not really.
What music channel would you expect to see this video on?
Probably a rock one or something.
Do you think that the video and ancillary texts look like a convincing promotion for a music video and album?
No I don’t think they would sell the song together.
Out of 10 what would you rate the video and ancillary texts?
4
Would you watch this video out of choice?
No. but only because it’s not really my type of music.
What is your gender and age?
16 female.
5.
Do you think the music video fits in with the genre?
No. because it has no link or anything to indie or folk in my opinion.
Do you think the music video suits the song?
No however I understand why it is like that however I would have done it a lot different.
Do you think the music video is suitable for the target audience?
Yes.
Do you think the look and style of the singer suits the video and song?
No because its not what the target audience would wear or even look like.
What music channel would you expect to see this video on?
I guess MTV two would most suit it.
Do you think that the video and ancillary texts look like a convincing promotion for a music video and album?
They link in with each other but I don’t think they suit the song.
Out of 10 what would you rate the video and ancillary texts?
5
Would you watch this video out of choice?
Maybe once to see it.
What is your gender and age?
18 male.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
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