• Give a short summary of your chosen brief:  summarise your target audience, your intended output and the research you undertook.

For my A2 project I decided to do a music video with the song “ShesGotStyle” by “NeverShoutNever”. I had to attract a target audience of girls who are between the age of 14-21 and who enjoy listening to acoustic music. I tried to create a music video within this genre that appealed and interested my TA to encourage them to buy or download the song. The research I did to gather this information was from my own media class and from other people in my school, to try and get a wider opinion to try and make my research more accurate. I did this by using PollDaddy on my  blog.

• What real media examples did you look at and summarise why you chose them? – What interested you about them, what particular aspects did you think would be useful – i.e. styling, locations, narrative etc.

I looked at music videos from NSN, Colbie Caillat and Corinne Bailey Rae took a lot of ideas from the original band (I also analysed a music video and an album cover from them)

i.e. I tried to have my artist wearing similar clothing and chose him for his appearance, mainly because of his long slightly messy hair. As well as that he could play the guitar which is what I needed. I didn’t use my first choice for a location in the end which was inconvenient because I moved house before filming began, and then the second location was impractical as it took too long to get to from school in the evening, to film such a short amount (because of the time school ends the sun set within about an hour).  I gave the music video a narrative to make it more interesting as well as having my and singing and playing along to the track. The narrative was the boy meets girl and really like her but at the end finds out she’s with another guy at the same time. With him singing and playing his guitar on screen it would make my TA think that he’s good live and so would then go and see him perform.

• What did you learn about the ‘codes and conventions’ of the ‘real’ media examples you analysed?- consider these areas:

I found that a lot of music in this genre have music videos where the band or artist are playing but it also has a narrative to it, capturing the song and make the video more interesting- encouraging people to watch it to the end because they will want to know what’s going to happen and the performance element will hopefully encourage views to go and watch my artist live.

The style of my video was supposed to be similar to existing acoustic videos as I wanted it to be easily recognisable in these aspects such as having my artist playing his instrument and singing. I used low angles to get clear shots of my artist playing guitar, not necessarily to make him look bigger. The video stuck completely to the codes and convention, from the way my actors where dressed, hair, filming angles and content.

For my photographs on my poster and the back/middle of my digi pack I had to add effects to both as I didn’t feel that the colours where strong enough, as they were cloudy and unclear, creating a lack of inappropriate lighting.

I also added a glowing affect around my artist on the poster so that he would stand out more from the background. I thought of doing this not only for the contrast but also for a way of showing his happiness and innocents shining through.

I had a variety of angles for my project as most of it was filmed in one location and it gave the sense that I was using a larger area.  Trying to get the lip syncing correct I found really difficult however I think over all I managed it fairly well. In the music video I added a sepia effect on the camera in some parts to show the difference between what was happening and what was suppose to appear as hope recording and acts as a memory. I feel that with out this effect the audience would not have understood what was going on.

At the very beginning and the end of my music video I didn’t have any sound at all playing so that it would make the audience pause to here the song at the beginning and I felt that at the end it worked really well. Although at the beginning when my female lead trod on the stick I was hoping for it to snap but it didn’t.

The actors in my film only consisted of three and one wasn’t in until the very end. My artist was the only one who I needed all the way through the video. Looking back on my completed project I should have gotten my actors together more before recording the video to make sure that they knew what they where suppose to be doing because in some section they don’t seem quite ready/ know what to do so I actually had allot of tape which I couldn’t use. Fortunately I could get them both on Tuesdays from 5 till 6.30 and on Tuesdays from 4 till 6.30 however only the times when it was still light was useful and so I only really had a short space of time ever 2 days. I got all my photos taking in an hour long session on a Thursday which was good because it meant that I could spend more time with them on Photoshop. Although looking back I should have planned rehearsal times before I started shooting so that it would have been quicker for me to film.  

For the clothing of my characters I tried to dress them similar in a way because I wanted to show the similarities between them, both where wearing check shirts with jeans and brown shoes. My female charicter was actually wearing brown boots I chose for her to wear these because of the first line “If it’s not those cowboy boots in the summer”. My artist’s costumer remains the same through out the music video however my female character had a costume change, although it is only her top. I chose the colours of the shirts she wore carefully. Kate was wearing a yellow shirt for the majority of the film because this is when she met my artist and the colour yellow is the colour which represents happiness and is associated with sunshine, joy and life.

However it does have conflicting meanings and the others meanings of yellow are cowardliness (which doesn’t apply) and deceit which I feel apply to my video. I chose this because whilst she is seen to be with my artist and happy with him she’s actually already with another guy. Kate changes her shirt to red with is seen to represent passion and love

but also the negative representation is that it can be seen as promiscuous, which I think applies well to the video as she cheats on my artist with her this other guy. Although I did not elaborate on her relationship with this guy as I though that it would be more effective to leave it up to the audience as individuals to decide.

Props I used in my video where only a few for my artist it was his Guitar and at the end a daffodil

(also yellow, showing that she makes him happy) and for my female artist  it was a red apple (also red, she is shown with the apple both time we see her when she first meets both boys). This is where I tried to create synergy in my graphics through using the apple. It appears on my digipack and in my video, unfortunately I didn’t manage to incorporate it into the design of my magazine advert. My CD cover did not use a red apple because during the process of making it I realised that a red apple won’t show up against the red sky and so to make it look better I removed the apple from the cover.

I think that the narrative matches the lyrics and the meaning of the song; the artist revealed in an interview that he wrote this song after one of his girlfriends cheated on him. So I do feel that the narrative applied to the lyrics and worked.

The song choice isn’t that fast and so my cuts in the music video aren’t that fast either because I felt that I wanted it to be in time with the music. By using slower paced cuts I have created a more relaxed video but it also emphasise on parts of my video. Although in my original story board the where many more cuts due to time restraints and a change of mind I decided that there were going to be longer sections before cuts.

My artist doesn’t have a logo as such however he’s name s written in the same font on the CD cover and on the advert and so this is recognisable and doesn’t change so this is his branding.

I wanted to make the album cover slightly creative and so for that I wanted a silhouette against the red sky. This picture is an attempt to try and sum up what my artist means. He’s under a tree because that’s where apples come from but also because people often sit under trees to ponder things. The sky is red, so hat I was trying to stick with the red apple and I needed it to look summer like, although a red apple on a red sky doesn’t work very well so I took the apple off. So by doing this I wanted my artist to come across a deep and meaning full although this was much more difficult that I first thought as deleting of the sky in-between the branches was time consuming and then I had to take photos of the sky and then had to edit them by applying and effect on it and then changing the hue.

For the text on the CD cover and one my advert I wanted it to be in a similar font to that of the original artist and because of this is took quite a whiles as I had to create new letters out of the parts of letters that I already had and then go over it in black. I chose to use this type of writing because it looked youthful and I wanted this to come across on the cover as the rest of it wasn’t.

 I also chose that font for ‘In the summer’ because I wanted a contrast to the text on the cover to what I already had and I don’t think that a more block like font would have looked right.

In my magazine advert I used my artist in the same costumer as I had him in for the music video to create synergy, particularly as you can’t see his face in he photo.

Unfortunately I didn’t manage to incorporate the apple into my advert although at one point I was debating changing the picture to a photo of him holding the apple behind is back but in the end I decided I would stick to my flat plans. The synergy I did manage to get across all the parts of my media was he use of trees, still playing on the idea that he it deep and thoughtful and can be content with being on his own.

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

Discuss how your print and moving image work compliments each other? [Style of film/video reflected in the print work? From the film poster/CD advert would the TA be able to tell whether they will like it or not? How have you done this [or not!] i.e. is the genre/style evident, is it enticing enough? Does the print work reflect the genre of the artist and ‘appeal’ to the TA – how?

My print and moving image work together because I interrelated them to one another, particularly through use of the apple. By using this I could put it in my print work and my moving work, for my actress’s prop. I used a red apple for the symbol for my work because of it meaning, the apple is seen as forbidden fruit in many biblical stories which I then applied to my media in the way that my artists wants the female charicter but can’t have her. Because of this the apple can also symbolise temptation, sin and sexuality which I feel apply to the narrative aspects of my video. I was intending to use another photo for my poster but I decided against it as I wanted to stick more to my flat plans and I think the end product looked better.

This was the pictuer I was thinking about using instead for my poster.

Does the ‘branding’ for your film or band work across all the media formats? I.e. is the styling of you graphics, photos and video work consistent? Why is this important? SYNERGY!!

I tried to create synergy across the parts of my project by choosing a symbol which I tried to fit into as many areas of my project as I could, unfortunately I didn’t fit it into the poster however I did manage t use it on both my CD and in my video. I used an apple

as it’s a fairly common item and so by seeing them around in the real world outside my video it may make them think back to the music video and encourage them to buy the song or album. I wanted to create synergy between the parts of my   project because the results from my pre production questionnaire showed that people don’t like music, posters and album that are completely unrelated. Looking back I should have probably put in more shots of the apple into my music video as this may have helped.

How successful would your project be at ‘selling’ the film or artist. Will fans of similar artists and films ‘recognise’ the codes and conventions and the genre that you have portrayed in you print work and video/film?

I think my project would have sold the artist well because I stuck within the typical codes and conventions of his genre of music. These are appearance, where the I dress him in appropriate clothing, check shirt, jeans and brown shoes and his hair fitted the part already. I had him playing live in some areas on my video to show that he can sing and play but also had a narrative, to keep the audience guessing. I think by adding a narrative to the song as well it interested people more as it would keep them guessing for what happens next. I think the way I dressed my actors make them easily recognisable for the music genre. I also had my artist playing the guitar in the video instead of just singing so that it fitted into the TA expectations which would be that an acoustic artist can sing and pay the guitar.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Firstly describe your target audience: age, gender, aspirations, education, occupation, hobbies, interests, fashion, shopping habits, technology usage, reading interest, TV/internet/music habits, social activities etc and relate this to how you designed your magazine.

My TA is female between the ages of 14-19. I found this TA because of the original planning for the project and the artists fans are female and around this age group. The majority of the TA is female because my actor was a young and attractive guy and so this would gather more female attention than male. Also the content of this song is about feelings which most guys tend to avoid and so this will attract more female listeners than male. Most of this TA is still in secondary education or entering higher education such as college. Because of the age group it is unlikely that they will be working full time, particularly as they’ll still be in school although it is still possible that they can have a part time job. Because of this they’ll still be dependant on there parents to buy things for them as they them self’s aren’t earning.

My TA will have hobbies and interests such as attending live performances and festivals, particularly ones such as Glastonbury and Woodstock

and as there mainly female the most obvious would be socialising and shopping. It appears that a fairly large percentage can play instruments as well so that they can sing and play along with there music and favourite artists. Most of my artists fans are the slightly hippy vegetarian type who attempt to spread messages about caring for the planet.

The fashion of my TA would be similar to that of the actors in my media project, with check shirts and boots. Typical shops would be H&M, TopMan and  wetseal although many other high street shops can sell similar items of clothing. As mentioned earlier that majority of my TA is still dependant on their parents for money and so there spending habits will not be as high as adults, making it more difficult for them to purchase items.

This age group is very active with technology and particular interested in the next big thing. Only a minority of people within this age group would not have access to the internet, a mobile or a MP3 player.

This way a music business could contact them through any means, mobile updates, emails and adverts on the TV. Like the majority of young people my TA will find out of new music by internet sites such as myspace and purevolume as well as on TV and radio shows. It would be wise to create a banner or an add for my artists music to go on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. I wouldn’t put this on Bebo because the majority of the users are younger than my TA and it would not be cost effective.

My TA for this project are more likely to go to festivals than attend gigs regulary. They do attend other live events but ones that they really want to go to rather than a lot that they don’t like so much. When attending music events they’d be going with friends as this would be a social thing for them to do as well as other hobbies and activities that they can do together or in a group.

Does your product attract/address the correct target audience… describe and discuss how and why it does attract or, of course does not!

My audience feedback for the most part was positive, there was an obvious narrative that was easy to follow and kept them interested which was exactly what I intended for it to do.  They also said that the location that I had chosen was good, although it could have been better if there was at least one other location in there but it meant that they weren’t being distracted my constant changing of location.

The audience responded well to the actors I chose for my project and they thought my artist played his role really well. They agreed with the costumes I chose for them both to wear as they fitted the typical codes and conventions of the genre. I did get feed back saying that the clips on my female character where too long and if I where to do my project again I would cut these clips shorter and possibly more frequent.

• Relate this to your pre and post-production questionnaires i.e. what your TA expected and how they consume the media … then relate that to your post-production questionnaires [hopefully this will tell you what they thought, improvements and any problems] and compare/contrast/conclude the feedback from both.
• From this feedback conclude how you could have improved it?

From my post production survey the area which I needed to improve most upon was my music video because only 60% for my narrative obvious and in the question “Which areas need improving?” my video and Digi pack both got 40% of the votes, so Ideally I should have spent longer on my video and had more cuts in it and tried to make the narrative within it even more obvious, I could have focused more on how they met and how little time they spent with each other before he ‘fell for’ my female character. This is pretty bad considering how important the Digi pack cover seemed to be in my pre production survey because I had a high response telling me that bad album cover work would actually put them off of buying a single or album. Although my video was said to have needed improving 80% of people said that they wouldn’t change the channel and watch until the end of the video.

My audience also picked up on the synergy between my part of my project and I’m really happy that it worked.

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

• How have you utilised the DTP, graphic applications, video editing software, cameras and the web to progress through this project.

For my A2 media project I use loads of different computer programs. The first I used was Microsoft word to plan and type up all of my deconstructions before uploading them to wordpress, the blog which we started using last year.

The first software I used for the parts of my project was Photoshop which I learnt how to use last year because of the magazine project. At first when I started using Photoshop again it was really confusing but after a short while it was easier to use. I used this in the first construction stage of my project to create my CD and my poster. For this is had to use a still camera which was pretty easy to use except about 20 minutes into it the batteries die and not having any spare I resorted to using my own little camera. In the end I chose photos which were taken form that camera.

After using Photoshop I had to start recording my video which was fine, although at the beginning I had a bit of an issue with trying to turn of the night vision

• What aspects of these technologies were useful or hindered your progress… how and why?

The iMove software was really simple to use one I got the hang of it, although I found it irritating how when I used a piece of footage that I only had one copy unless I manually did it, which I didn’t realise until quite far into my editing which I found rather frustrating.

I’m glad I used photoshop last year as otherwise my print work would have take much longer. I found it confusing to use it again as I forgot where particular things where although once I used it for a while I got the hang of it back.

• Discuss the use of your word press blog to present your research, planning, ideas and evaluation: how did this help?: [audience feedback, ability to see progress etc]

Using the Word press blog was helpful in getting audience feedback and having my surveys completed. However I found that it was a lot of work due to faffing about and trying to organise categories and getting images not the right place.

WordPress did have uses that I wouldn’t have gotten form doing my coursework by hand or on Microsoft word such as being able to give and receive comments and being able to change a and show people things instantly so instant feed back is a definite plus. Being able to access my work from anywhere was really useful because it meant that I didn’t have to put it on a memory stick or email it or print it, I could just access it where ever I had an internet connection allowing me to be able to work on it anywhere. Polldaddy to get audience feed back was really useful because it worked out percentages for you whilst also showing you how many votes there where for each answer. This made righting my survey analysis far more easy.

• How did you use the internet/TV/other media to help with research and planning?

I used the internet and TV to watch music videos and ideas of what I could do and how professional ones keep the interest of their TA.

I used my artists MySpace to look at their album design and other artist that at in the same genre. I found that whilst my artist use a cartoon picture on their covers other artist chose to use photos, normally of themselves (see CD deconstruction) and I feel that mine was a creative mix of the two by having Maccy in the photo but turning it into a picture.

• How did you use digital media to help evaluate your project [polldady etc]

I used the digital media PollDaddy to help evaluate my project with more audience feedback. This is relatively straight forward but I found that some of my polls don’t show up properly on my blog which means that I can’t get the audience to fill it out.

My video was also evaluated by my audience in a lesson where I got feedback directly from them.

The internet helped me with my research and planning and my audience feedback hugely because I could ask them to access any video or information about music at anytime meaning I would not have to sit around having to wait days for the results. By using the internet I didn’t have to ask people to sit around within MTV between set times for them to be able to give me feed back on music videos.

• Could you have used the technology more effectively?
• How has technologies made access to media formats and direct advertising to the TA easier for institutions [give examples] and how has its also made the general concept of entertainment/information and communication easier to reach their target audience [web presence, phones, iPods, cameras etc]

Technology has made advertising far easier for institutions to advertise their product to the TA. They will have their own websites, an official one and one which fans can follow on sites like Facebook, twitter and MySpace. Mobile phones now mean that fans can be accessed anywhere and that they can access any website back. With the availability of low cost cameras (and camera phones) fans can now takes these to gigs take photos/recordings and stick them up on sites such as YouTube or the bands fan section on there site. They email there TA when they sign up to a bands news letter which can help the company find out more information about the TA habits.

 TA can also sign up for text updates from companies or individual bands, which advertise and makes money for the company. NME and Kerrang! Both do this.

How does this multi-format approach to music products/publications affect how these products reach their TA? Ease of access, constantly available to advertise to, allows TA to interact with the product [how. Why?], be inspired by etc.

The multi format approach to music products makes it far easier now than it ever has been for companies to reach their TA. As people these days are always surrounded by technology it’s so easy to contact them. This can be over the internet via social networking sites, email and adverts place on sites which the TA are likely to use. They can be contacted anywhere via phone and text updates and hearing songs or adverts on the radio. There is almost no place that my TA can not be reached.

Re: Wycliffe College Media Studies Music Video A2 Coursework

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am producing a music video for my A2 Coursework.

I understand that you are the owner of the copyright of the track “NeverShoutNever ShesGotStyle” and I would like to ask permission to use it for my video.

Since we are on a limited budget and the video will be shown only to students and the administration of our school, we are hoping that you will allow us this use without any charge. If this is not possible, please let us know what fee would be required for this use.

Your signature below, under “confirmed by,” will indicate that you will agree to permit this use without payment of a fee. Please let us know if you have any questions concerning this license. Also would you please let us know as soon as possible if this song cannot be licensed so that artistic changes may be made in the songs to be included in the production. You can reach us in care of Mr T Brown, Wycliffe College, Bath Road, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, GL10 4JQ, Trevor.Brown@wycliffe.co.uk

Thank you for your help with this matter and we look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Emily JC

This is my CD cover, I changed the artists name again because it was close to the original and as it only had Maccy in the video I just used his name instead.  

The weather forecast doesn’t go up to Monday, damn the 5 day forecast…. 

Although Saturday and Sunday are sunny with clouds so perhaps Monday will have sun too (if I’m lucky) ^_^ 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Day	Weather	Wind Direction and Speed (mphkm/h)	Humidity Pressure Visibility	Help for Next 5 Days Help
Wed Day weather	Heavy Snow	3°C 37°F	1°C 34°F	Easterly5mph 8km/h	96% 1010mB Very poor
Thu Day weather	Grey Cloud	4°C 39°F	4°C 39°F	South South Easterly9mph 14km/h	86% 1017mB Very poor
Fri Day weather	Light Rain Shower	9°C 48°F	1°C 34°F	Westerly7mph 11km/h	98% 1015mB Very poor
Sat Day weather	Sunny	6°C 43°F	-1°C 30°F	Northerly2mph 3km/h	94% 1021mB Very poor
Sun Day weather	Sunny Intervals	5°C 41°F	2°C 36°F	West North Westerly5mph 8km/h	92% 1024mB Good

 

On the positive side when I was walking back to house I found an even better place to take the photos for my CD ad which is great cause it means that I don’t have to work out how to get my character back to the woods near my house and it’s on school grounds so it’s easy for us all to get to  

 

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I’m also thinking of changing the location of filming from the wood where I live to some woods on a hill near to school, this has multiple advantages which mainly consist of the fact that it’s considerably closer and we won’t have to pay for train tickets. Stupid rail fare rises! 

I also realized our school has trees…. This means that I can also take photos for my CD cover although the ground will have to be dry as I cant imaging people would be happy sitting on the wet grass (Please come out sun!) 

So all I need to do now is arrange a time with Maccy (this is who I’m using to play my artist)and costumes (and check the weather report tomorrow!) 

Oh yes and up load the flat plans  

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So, on Monday the weather was awful and so as a result I couldn’t take my photos and I’ve rescheduled the photographs for tomorrow. Even though the weather looks like rain but I can’t wait any longer or I’ll fall too far behind.

I also STILL need to upload my flat plans ASAP, I just need to bring them to lessons as I keep forgetting- not good!

I sent a costume list to Maccy for the photos but I’ll need to do the same for Kate and keep a copy as I don’t need her for the photos

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So here are some of the photos which I took for my album cover last week, at first I wasn’t to happy with them but once I loaded them up onto my laptop I changed my mind and saw that there were still good to use.

 

I’ll up load the photos I used for my advert in a little bit after I’ve decided which one I want to use.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t so great for when I was taking my photos so I’ll have to take a photo of the sky when its sunny and Photoshop it red and the put it in my album

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So I’d like to start filming my video on Monday and I’m really hoping that the weather won’t be bad because I don’t really want to delay filming although like I’ve said before I need it to be sunny for my video. So now that I’ve changed my location to somewhere nearer to school it should be a lot easier to film although walking up the hill won’t be fun

I think I’m only going to need Maccy for Mondays filming and I can get the rest done further down the week

 

 

This is my CD cover so far… It still need some work doing as the name of the album is missing etc but I’m pretty happy with how the silhouette has turned out ^_^

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So filming hasn’t gone to plan at the moment due to my main actor having sports matches last week so I know that I’m behind schedule with filming already and my intention is to start filming this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon after sports. I also need to inform my actress of when I need her, although I expect she’ll be free more often which is good. So any parts with Kate in a should try and get out of the way asap.

I’ve also finished the back of my CD cover and just finishing the bit in the middle of the digi pack. The back of the CD case doesn’t look exactly like it did in my head, despite the fact that I’ve stuck to the flat plans which is a bummer.

Another thing is that I’ve managed to temporarily miss place my flat plans of the video which I was intending to add more detail to this weekend, so the projects not exactly running as smooth as it could do right now.

 

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Okay so my time planning is beginning to fall to pieces on me as I now need extra footage which I didn’t think about as well as more time in the MAC room for editing. And as we break up from school tomorrow I feel that my luck is about to run out.

 

Video camera & tape

Tripod

Batteries

Laptop (to upload recorded video)

Camera cable

Artist & actors 

Guitar

Car

Wood/campfire

Flowers

Red apple

Lights

Make up (highlight features so that they don’t appear washed out)

Costumes (costume changes for artist and actress)

Fairies lights & decorations (electricity)

Picture of Artist and actress

Music

Locations: Woods, street, garden. Weather would be better if it was sunny because the song is in summer.

COSTUME:

Maccy

Check shirt (s)

T shirts to wear underneath (grey and white)

Hoodie

Jeans

Shoes (not trainers)

Bracelets/Necklaces 

Guitar

From the first question I can see that everyone who took my poll regularly watches music videos and the majority watches the every day and I have found that it is social as people often watch music videos together, suggesting that music videos are a talking point for people, 67% of people watch then daily and 100% of people watch them with other people. Well according to my poll they do…. This can work as an advantage for the music industry as if a person hasn’t already seen a video and their friends are talking about it they are likely to go and check it out online.

I’ve found that everyone who has taken my survey goes on the internet to find and watch music videos too, showing that the audience is active in searching out music videos by bands/artists they like as 85% will search for a new music video produced by a band/artist which they like. The most popular place to look for music videos was surprisingly not the homepage of the musician but on the TV and YouTube/other video sites. Perhaps in music bands and artists should promote their home page more as this is going to have more information on than a site like YouTube or TV and could possibly boost sales in things like tickets or merchandise. I think that teenagers mostly use sites such as YouTube because it’s easy, straight forward and the music video is almost guaranteed to be on there. Because YouTube is the most popular site to watch music videos this would be a great place to advertise, particularly on other similar sounding artist’s music videos as they are more likely to enjoy the music.

I asked about CD’s vs. Downloading and this shows the advances in technology and how times have change because the majority of people would download single where as older people would be more inclined to purchase a CD. This is because downloading is far easier and costs less, so for a teenage who doesn’t have a source of income this is the better option as you don’t have to pay to go to the CD store (i.e. traveling by bus to get there) and then pay more for the physical product. Even if they order a CD off the internet they still have to pay for the delivery charge for the item. I have also found from my results that just because people watch your music video doesn’t mean that they are going to by the single or album as the majority of people said no.

I have also found out that a clear majority of people who watch a music video that they have been anticipating then go to the band/artists website although I should have probably asked what they do on there after this question…

A lot of people said that the music that they listen to influences the way that they dress, not one person clicked no on this poll. 67% of people also seem to wear similar clothing brand, this may be intentional or unintentional. This shows that the genre of music that people have a preference for affects the way in ­which people dress. Thinking about this I then shouldn’t decided to put my actor in a chicken outfit as it probably won’t catch on. Teenagers may be ‘inspired’ to dress in that genres stereotype due to their favorite band/ artist dressing like that and so they’d think it’s cool. By dressing under their music’s stereotype it also defines who they are as a person and can affect which friendships they do and do not form and what they are likely to do with their friends. I.e. go out to a gig or go out clubbing.

As I asked people my age to fill out my poll most people have a page on a social networking site, and I know that the most popular one at the moment is Facebook. A lot of people who use social networking sites not only use them for friends, a lot of these people used these sites for finding new and existing music. This shows that social networking sites have multiple uses, not just for the people but for the music industry as they can advertise and promote their music on there.

People also want text on the album cover, primarily the name of the band/artist but then followed by the name of the album. With half of the vote people want bright and bold eye catching colours to be on the cover of the CD, this would be so that the CD can be easily noticed and possibly because it would be easier to find. This is what I intended to do on my album cover with reds and oranges, so fortunately I won’t have to change my flat plans to what the TA would expect. People like covers which are irrelevant to the band or song and most of the people said that they would actually avoid buying a CD is it had a bad design on it. (Hint- do the CD cover well….)

The votes for the entire CD ad questions where equal and so I suppose that there are many factors which should be taken into account, not just the size/popularity of the band. All the people who took my poll claim that a CD would influence them to go out and buy/download the CD.

In a CD ad most people expect to see a picture of the album cover, 50% of people said this in my poll. Perhaps to see what they are selling, this is then followed by quotes and reviews of the albums, so as to get an outside opinion on the album. Reassurance before purchasing the products. People like to have visual things fairly organized and the majority of people said that they would prefer that the colours used in a CD ad to match the CD cover its self.  Although 85% of people expect the front of the CD cover to match the ad this hasn’t fitted my flat plan. 

From the first question I can see that everyone who took my poll regularly watches music videos and the majority watches the every day and I have found that it is social as people often watch music videos together, suggesting that music videos are a talking point for people, 67% of people watch then daily and 100% of people watch them with other people. Well according to my poll they do…. This can work as an advantage for the music industry as if a person hasn’t already seen a video and their friends are talking about it they are likely to go and check it out online.

I’ve found that everyone who has taken my survey goes on the internet to find and watch music videos too, showing that the audience is active in searching out music videos by bands/artists they like as 85% will search for a new music video produced by a band/artist which they like. The most popular place to look for music videos was surprisingly not the homepage of the musician but on the TV and YouTube/other video sites. Perhaps in music bands and artists should promote their home page more as this is going to have more information on than a site like YouTube or TV and could possibly boost sales in things like tickets or merchandise. I think that teenagers mostly use sites such as YouTube because it’s easy, straight forward and the music video is almost guaranteed to be on there. Because YouTube is the most popular site to watch music videos this would be a great place to advertise, particularly on other similar sounding artist’s music videos as they are more likely to enjoy the music.

I asked about CD’s vs. Downloading and this shows the advances in technology and how times have change because the majority of people would download single where as older people would be more inclined to purchase a CD. This is because downloading is far easier and costs less, so for a teenage who doesn’t have a source of income this is the better option as you don’t have to pay to go to the CD store (i.e. traveling by bus to get there) and then pay more for the physical product. Even if they order a CD off the internet they still have to pay for the delivery charge for the item. I have also found from my results that just because people watch your music video doesn’t mean that they are going to by the single or album as the majority of people said no.

I have also found out that a clear majority of people who watch a music video that they have been anticipating then go to the band/artists website although I should have probably asked what they do on there after this question…

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, PLUS both of these:

                a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);

                a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

1. What are you doing? Artist, song, record label, genre, sub genre?

NeverShoutNever! She’s got style

Loveway records

Acoustic/Indie/Jazz

Happy feel good music

1. Describe style, ethos of artist/band

Relaxed happy and feel good music. Clothing is normally simple, casual cloths e.g. T-shirts or chequered shirt and jeans. Solo artist and writes all his own music on his experiences. Promote love, happiness and other slightly hippy things. Plays at festivals such as Warped tour America.

NSN has been found out that he has experimented with drugs before and also smokes regularly. Other than that he comes across NSN fairly stable person, having broken up with a girlfriend of 2 years and did come from an average American family, but his parents are now in the process of getting a divorce with affected his song writing as he did not upload songs/videos/blogs for a few months after this

1. Describe content, narrative, themes of lyrics

She’s got style- Talking about how you want to get back with someone even though you know it’s no good for you and how you think that there completely unique and irreplaceable. Song writer wrote this song when they where cheated on, but unless you know that you probably wouldn’t come to that conclusion.  

A lot of NSN songs are written about emotions and relationships which seem to fail or end badly [but not all the time!]. The lyrics are not insulting or degrading about the girls that he sings about. He claims that all his songs are written on his experiences which then add meaning/depth to his songs.

1. Describe photographic ideas/concepts/styles,

Needs to all be very natural and relaxed, trying to keep similar clothing ideas to Christopher Drew.  Possibly without shoes as it’s to represent peace and tranquillity especially with nature. I’d like to keep the video very colourful looking and shots looking up at the sun e.g. *

I’d really like to shoot most of this video outside however I’m not sure how possible this would be as it’ll be winter and the song starts off with “If it’s not those cowboy boots in the summer” so it may not be possible to create the loos I want due to the Seasons and the weather.

      *  

General treatment [your idea]:

• Brief description of your video?

‘Home video’ sort of shots with people smiling at the camera and playing around etc. I want to do this so it doesn’t look to ‘professional’ so it looks like it’s based on experiences that he shared with a girl, like he recorded it.

Shots of the two people the ‘artist’ and his girlfriend being happy and having a good time, this needs to be in a relaxed environment e.g. outside in fields and gardens

Shots of artist alone and not looking happy, this would require a change of costume so that it looks like he’s looking back at the past.

• What are the themes, or visual styling?

Relaxed happy vibes when the artist is with the girl but looking more sad when he’s alone.

• Special effect ideas?

I want some of the home video style shots to be slightly sepia or have faint lines run across like they used to in old movies, giving sense of old recordings, looking back on things that feel like they happened ages ago even though they may have only happened a few days ago or something but I don’t want this to be too obvious. It would also be nice you use a type of golden lighting around the girl to create an almost angelic look about her.

• Costume/props/mis-en-scene ideas? Any musical instruments?

Artist: T-shirt with a chequered shirt over the top and some jeans, these may be turned up when shooting outside shots.

Girl: I want her to wear similar clothes to the artist or a red top and jeans for being outside and a white dress when in the garden. I chose red and white for the girl because white represents purity and red represents promiscuousness.  

• Potential needs? Problems with idea?

It might be the wrong season when I start to film this and so I would have to change it to autumn when all the leafs are falling which will still look nice but I would prefer there to be sun, because sun represent light and happiness, so this may change towards the end of the song.

1. Real media examples of similar products – give examples?

• similar videos – needs 2 more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukZ755_tRoQ  < NSN music video to BigCityDreams

• similar alum covers

Those are album covers from NeverShoutNever! similar covers from other artists are:

[Backseat goodbye also make a similar sounding music to NSN]

 similar adverts: I’ve never seen NSN or a similar band be advertised on TV.

1. Target Audience: age, gender, hobbies, interests, education, occupation, fashion, social, aspirations, access to internet, [how and how often], mobile phones, iPods, gigs, tech use,  etc

Age: teenage years, at a guess about 14-18

Gender: I would probably say that girls would tend to listen to NSN music more but there are still male fans. This maybe because the artist is fairly attractive.

Education: Maybe people who have tended to stay on in education e.g. to do college/A levels or are still in education

Fashion: Casual, earth-y and stays pretty constant i.e. doesn’t change every season.

Access to internet: Fans of NSN would defianI imagine that they would be sociable people but I really wouldn’t know, but as I think that the majority of fans are still in education I imagine that they’d be pretty sociable. Because they would still be in education by assumption they would have mobile phone and MP3s. The use of the phone would be for keeping in contact with friends and using the internet when not at hometly have the internet because they are not often played on TV and he uploads a lot of video blogs and blogs to MySpace sites. The main use of the internet sites is to let fans watch music videos and read/watch blogs.

Gigs: I guess they’d attend gigs even if they do not do so regularly because like I said before, NSN are rarely on TV.

Music is downloadable from the artists MySpace page, iTunes.

1. What sorts of other media would be useful to research to support your TA: give examples

 Internet polls and on line questionnaires- survey monkey

NSN uses the internet a lot to connect with fans and put songs up so looking on official and unofficial websites would help me to gather information.

1. Consumption; TV or sat channels particular programmes on TV MTV and TMF

advert for your artist’s album [and thus its supporting video… when would you advertise it…] Would probably be put on the internet as they don’t make mainstream music, fans would then have to go and find the song/ad for the CD if other product being sold. TRL I think featured him playing live sometime ago.

Also website MySpace, PureVolume and other music and personal pages

advertise in what mags? In music magazines but it is not strictly to be put in one ‘genre’ of magazine i.e. it can go in Kerrang and NME

at what festivals? Warped tour, Glastonbury, Woodstock

 in what types of shops? Mainly online stores and stuffs MySpace downloads, I Tunes and Amazon

 newspapers? none

www.myspace.com/nevershoutnever <<< NSN MySpace pages which is where most updates are made.

Media Studies

Magazine Advert– Deconstruction skills

• What magazine was it in and when?

This advert is from Kerrang magazine and was around in

2004 when there album American Idiot was released

• What artist?

The advert is for the band Green Day

• What album is it marketing?

American Idiot

1. Overall Design

• What is the overall graphic/visual theme – what as TA are we supposed to ‘feel’ from looking at it?

The visual theme appears to be dark colours, particularly black and white although there is some text in red. The main image is a close up of Billie Joe Armstrong’s face but from his expression we assume he is or has just stopped playing guitar. 

• How does it appeal to the TA?

This appeals to the target audience in the rock area because it has dark colours, matching his shirt and the way which many of the TA dresses. The font used from writing Wake me up when September ends is written in a way as if it was blood or splattered across a wall, making it look slightly creepy. This make link in which the fact that allot o there TA also watch horror films.

• How does it reflect on the artist/band and the genre?

This advert very clearly puts Green Day into the Rock genre of music due to its colours schemes, writing font and the photo used to advertise the album. The photo used also makes them look like a more established band, I think this because of the makeup, lighting, use of props and costume even though I know it is to do with live performance.

• Has the advert design reflected the ‘ethos’ of the band?

This fits in which the band as they often write songs to do with (American) politics, Wake me up when September ends’ video is about the war between America and Iraq where there was a lot of blood shed on both sides.

• It is a simple promotional advert [i.e. an image of the artist] or is it more of an artistic comment on the artist [a Photoshop effected or illustrated design], or a combination of both?

Whilst the ad is mainly a photo of the artist I do not think that it is a simple advert, I think this because of makeup, lighting, use of props and costume. I think this also because of the fonts used from there writing and the lower half of the advert containing all the information. 

• What is the most obvious and noticeable element? Why?

The most noticeable element of the CD advert is the photo that they have used to promote it. This is because the colours used a predominantly black, white and a little bit of red, it is one of the lightest areas on the page and so I think that eyes are drawn to this point. Once some one is looking at that area of the page they will then notice the text saying Wake me up when September ends.

2. Text

• What text is visible: name of album, band name, release date, gig dates, special promotions, review quotes, competitions etc?

Text visible on this album is:

Name of album: American Idiot

Band name: Green Day

Release date: 4^th July (New single)

Special promotions: Now with free DVD including the making of and the videos for boulevard of broken dreams and holiday.

• How has the font and colour of the text effected meaning to TA or reflected the band/artist or album’s meaning?

The font and colour will not have affected the meaning for the TA because they already know what Green Day is all about. The colour scheme use matches that of the CD cover and so depending on what ‘vibe’ you get from the advert I assume that you will get a similar one from the actual music.

• How has it been laid out and aligned? – Order of importance?

I think it has been laid out in an order of importance, or perhaps this is to catch the readers eye, the band name is in the biggest font on the top and the next from in a smaller size and different font is Wake me up when September ends, one of the songs from the album they are promoting. I do not think that this text is particular important because they could have used any one of there well known song titles.

The next text is of equal sizing and it is about the single and the CD which seem to come across as equally important.

3. Band branding

• How have the band/artist been represented through the design and style of the advert?

The band have been represented as an established well known band (other than that I already knew this) you can tell many through the photo in which the have chosen to promote the advert and grab a readers attention. Through the colour scheme you ca also tell that they are a rock band, the not they use to display there name and to provide information is also easy to read, showing that they don’t have to do anything odd in the ads to get reader attention as they are such a well known band, not just in the genre but across all.

• Does the advert reflect or incorporate the album design, or is it based around the band’s existing branding/image or is it a different photograph or graphic?

I think that the advert is playing on the image which Green day has already developed, it uses the same colour scheme from there album American Idiot–black, white and red. The advert only uses the image that the band has created for themselves, there not trying to create a new image for this album.

4. Graphics & Photography

• What are the graphics?

The only graphics used on the ad are the ones on the album cover of the fist, there than that there is only text and photos.

• Is there any photography [might not be of the band/artist, but of something else]? – What is it, what style, what effect on TA, what reflection it has on the artist’s ethos and image?

The photograph is a close up of the lead singer of Green Day, Billie Joe. The lighting only lights up the far side of his face, as he is not facing the camera his face looks quite dark. The mese-en-scene is very dark al around and this may appeal to the TA

• Any other ‘graphical furniture’ i.e. extra images [photos are computer generated] – if so what, why?

The only other images are the covers of the album and singles that they are promotion, this would be to show that TA what they would be purchasing.

• Is the photography and /or design inspired by the name of the album or the artist/band or something else?

The photography has been taken from a live performance, possibly from a music video and this is why it fits so well with the rest of the ad because they are already in the colour scheme, outfit ect of the ad.

• What is the pose/facial motivation of the artist or image subject, mise-en-scene, lighting etc?

The pose looks the Billie Joe has just stopped singing, because there is a mic in front of him but he is not facing it, or he could be playing the guitar and this is why it looks like a photo taken from a live performance. The lighting has come from one side and this gives it a slight artistic feel but this may or may not have been intentional.  

Corinne Bailey Rae Put your records on music video

1. Lyrics;

1.  
   • What are they about?

The lyrics of the song are all about finding happiness and being content and how it’s okay for things to change and get it wrong.

1.  
   • How is the artist or actors conveying this?

The artists and actors are conveying this by being happy in a very natural environment and through their actions and facial expression which all make a person believe that they are happy.

1.  
   • In actuality, how important are they to the particular visual forms and narratives in the video.

The actions are important to the video because it is all about the artist and so without her portraying the emotion of happiness then there would not be a music video for the song.

1.  
   • Does the video still have the same meaning if you don’t take any notice of the lyrics?

I don’t think that the video would have the some meaning because you wouldn’t understand what’s going on within the video and why they are acting like they are.

1.  
   • Can you sense the meaning without the actually hearing the song?

I think that some people might be able to pick up the songs meaning by only watching the video but I don’t think that all the audience could do that.

1. Narrative:

1.  
   • What is it?

The videos narrative is following the artists around for part of a day and in this day she goes around smiling and singing with a red ribbon with she’s ties on to a tree at the end of the song

1.  
   • Is it abstract or obvious: how, why?

I think it is very clear what the artist is doing in the music video however I am not sure of the reasons why so it can be obvious to an extent but have a deeper meaning.

1.  
   • What is the theme or themes… are they relevant to lyrics or the artist themselves?

The theme again is happiness like all my previous deconstructions which I think is relevant to the lyrics because that’s what the song is about.

     3. Costume/makeup:

• How is this affecting the meaning of the video?

Corinne’s costume and make up is in the same style of Colbie’s which is very natural, barley there make up and a simple out fit which is a white top and light coloured jeans.

• How does it convey meaning about the artist?

I don’t think that her costume has a meaning to or about her I think that it just matches the song better than a whole celebrity made –up look.

• Is it relevant to the narrative, performance or location scenarios?

I think that the costume is relevant to the all of the above mainly because of the lyrics and the type of song it is. I think that the costume and make up almost matches the location, being very natural and pretty.

 4. Performance

• Artist acting

I don’t think that the artist really does any acting but just plays herself, the ‘acting’ which Corinne does it riding a bike and walking/dancing through a field whilst singing.

• Band performing

There are no shots of a band performing within this video even though there are instruments being played in the background, I think that this is so that the attention is fully give to the artist  and there are no distractions for the audience when watching the video. 

• Actors acting

There are other actors up until about half way through the video and the actors are all riding along behind Corrine, this is probably to emphasize her importance.

• Actors performing…

The actors do not perform in the same way which Corinne does, they do not sing along at any point within the song/video.

• Combination of both

Corinne is acting and performing all the way through the video as she is the artist and the video is about her and this song. I think that the video only focuses on her as a person so not to take away attention from her performance and the song.

• How is this relevant to the narrative, lyrics, and artist…what emotions are conveyed: why, how?

It’s important for Corrine to act within this music video because she needs to get the emotion of happiness and content across to her audience in a very small space of time. Without acting this would not be possible.

     5. Camera/lighting

• What angles, framing are used?
• Are the camera styles driven by the artist, narrative, or performance… how, why?
• Tracking, panning, dutch, close up, situation establishing, location establishing… how does the camera work aid the style of the video?

The video is shot from many different angles and uses different framing. The video starts with a variety of follow-on shots following the cyclists on the garden trail. At .17 seconds, the sun’s glare into the lens is intentional, to go with the ‘summer’ feel of the song. The majority of shots in this video are relative to the narrative of the song and video. The camerawork reflects the mood of the song; bouncy and uplifting, with extreme close-ups of the artist dancing around in fields with the sun’s glare directly in the camera’s lens. At 1.11 into the video, there is a short pan around Corrine when she is walking through the fields singing. Throughout the video there are varied styles of shooting, including on-foot and tracking, but there are no static cameras. As previously mentioned, I believe this is relative to the ‘bouncy’ feel of the song; a static camera in this video simply would not suit. The only ‘static-esque’ camera shot is at the end of the video, when the song is finished and Corinne is standing in the field, looking unconditionally happy, and walking off into the sunshine.

     6. Edit, Special FX and overdubbed sound

• Is there any CGI, colorization of the film, non-music sound elements, change of sound source etc?

 There is no computer generated imagery in this video whatsoever. There is one effect that could be put into the editing category, which is the use of the sun’s glare into the lens. The video is shot with a variety of different lens, but the main orient of the video is nature. The fact that the only feature of the video is the artist and what presumably are her friends riding around on bicycles is reinforces to this point.

• How does this aid meaning of narrative, performance, artist etc?

This adds meaning to the narrative t emphasizes how alone Corinne is and how nature is a good thing, because it is shown in a golden light, which is often used to portray innocents and beauty which fits in nicely with the song. With the sun shining directly into the camera it also adds and artistic feel to the music video. 

• How is the pace of edit:  with tempo, against tempo, contradicting narrative and style… why, how?

The pace of edit is in time with the tempo and with the song so that it runs smoothly. By doing this is helps to keep with the relaxed happy feeling vibe that the song gives. By following the narrative and style it gives the finished video a polished look.

      7.Representation:

• Is there any Voyeurism, exhibitionism and star iconography.

There is no voyeurism within the music video, it is all what you would be able to see Corinne do normally and there is no element of her private life portrayed in the music video.

• How does the narrative, performance affect these and how do they affect narrative and performance.

The narrative and the performance affect the element of representation in the music video because they show Corinne in a good and innocent light, this idea that we gather of Corinne and we get it because of how she is being portrayed within this music video.

• Is it designed for the ‘male gaze’?

No.

      8.Target audience:

• How does the video attract its audience?

The video attracts its audience from the start by having the beginning of the video filming trees but you can see moving and it make the audience wonder what it is.

• Is it similar clothing, locations, morals, social/cultural influences etc?

As in my previous analysis I said that this type of song can appeal to a wide range of people and is not necessarily designed for a target audience, possibly cause it doesn’t have a particular target audience.

1. Intertexuality:

• Is there any references to other texts, ideas: what, why, how?

No

• Does it aid the narrative and/or performance: how, why?
• Who will ‘get it’: what particular audience types?
• Is it to attract a target audience?

N/A