Thursday 29 April 2010
Sunday 25 April 2010
Alexander’s Evaluation
Q1. In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Music videos are an effective way of marketing and promoting a single, which leads to the promotion of the relevant album and ultimately the band. Since this band, Tarantula, is a budding local band, our group decided from the outset that we would not deviate too far from the forms and conventions of modern music videos so as to insure the acceptance by the mainstream audience. The music video for their debut single, No More, was therefore decided to have a narrative/performance structure. There is a mild multi-strand element, featuring flashback scenes as well as two simultaneous present day sequences following our male and female lead actors respectively.
The use of the different elements o f the video (namely camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene) varies between the separate scenes. The performance shots are set in the band’s rehearsal space, showing them as a young, local, raw band. The red and blue flood lights, as well as the handheld camera shots and the animated energy of the band, give them a more aggressive, anarchist edge as well as being a visual accentuation on the lyrics “MAYDAY”. All other shots are filmed in middle-class house, showing that domestic violence can be happening to anyone, even our neighbours. The normal present day sequences during the verses use tripods and steady cam shots to connote the menial existence of a battered wife/girlfriend in between her ordeals and the obliviousness of her partner of the effects of his actions. The flashback sequences during the chorus are distinguished by the use of black and white picture effects (connoting the past) and use handheld camera shots to show the intensity and violence o f their arguments. The exception to this rule is the last chorus which features a present day sequence, but uses handheld camera shots to connote the girl’s frantic attempt at escape. As the song ends and she is confronted at the end by her abuser, the sequence is reverted back to the use of steady cam and tripod shots, showing futility of her attempt to break out. Throughout the present-day sequences, Tarantula’s lead vocalist (Sergei) is appears around the house black-clad but the girl never acknowledges presence. The more frequently he appears and talks to her, the more her confidence picks up until she finally attempts to leave and passes through him (achieved through double-exposure). When she is confronted at the door, Sergei disappears. Sergei is used as a symbolic reference of her courage, gradually building until she sees her partner again.
The production of this video, especially the directing, has been heavily influenced by “Stan” by rapper Eminem for its portrayal of domestic violence and use of black and white flashbacks. The difference in genre, however, called for more performance shots in our product to appeal to reggae and hardcore rock fans. Another Eminem song “Guilty Conscience” influenced the decision to use a member of the band as a psychological entity rather than an actual interactive character. The cruel twist at the end with the woman building hope until she is confronted at the door was greatly influenced by the “Saw” film series, where the villain’s prevalence is seen as more likely and thrilling as opposed to the fairy-tale optimism of escape.
Q2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
We intended to portray the band as an unruly band of everyday people. There was no use of flashy accessories or clothing, just what they turned up to the photo-shoot wearing. There was no excessive gimmickry which, in itself, is a marketing ploy on its own to appeal to the anarchist, chaos-loving youth.
The video shows this mainly through the performance shots where the band use their personal instruments in their own rehearsal space with no audience, yet they still appear to get lost in their music on their own. This is all used to show the “we don’t care” and “it’s all about the music” attitude that appeal to younger rebel audiences.
The digipak cover follows through with the “ordinary rebel” image, using plain photographs of the band in everyday clothes of their own choice and at urban locations. The front cover consists of a graffiti-like design which keeps the rebel image without trying too hard to do so. The spine has a more sophisticated design, with a spider used as the symbol for Tarantula. This was used to catch the eye of a passer-by seeing the digipak on a shelf. The front cover design was influenced by comic books and their appeal to the more experimental, open-minded and creative of audiences (i.e. who read comics instead of story books).
With the magazine advert, the group changed its direction drastically. We realised we would need a more interesting and eye-catching appearance as well as the plain rebel image to attract audiences (i.e. the plain front and back digipak covers with the attention-grabbing design on the spine). To achieve this, we decided to produce the advertisement as an imagery representation of the song. We used a blood red rose in the centre with bone-white, flower-like designs sprouting from behind it. These were to represent love or the love that the couple once had which has now becoming unhealthy and out of control. The black stone background represents the woman’s loneliness and isolation (i.e. prison) and the cobweb is used to emphasise the loneliness and long- forgotten happiness (as well as a simple symbol for Tarantula). The Tarantula uses the same graffiti logo so as to relate to the digipak, but this time it is coloured blood red to match the rose. The “No More” text is bone-whit to match the flower design. In all, the advert uses three colours of symbolism; blood red for love/violence, bone-white for fear/death and black for loneliness/loss of hope. The advert was influenced by the covers of the books in the twilight series which feature the same three colours. We discovered when put in a different context, these colours have powerful symbolic meaning.
Q3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The initial target audience profile was defined as early teens to young adults or the “teen rebellion phase”. This was due to the image of the band as well as the music style and was built into the video by using a middle-class house and urban exterior locations. We also had cheap and day-to-day props (i.e. beer can, cigarettes) to further portray the household as ordinary middle-class.
No particular emphasis was made on ethnicity due to the cultural origins of the contrasting sub-genres (reggae and hardcore rock) and there was no gender target either, since there were an equal number of males and females who were interested in the genre fusion.
Since the people who like hardcore rock and reggae preferred performance and story videos respectively, some choosing concept videos as a secondary theme, we sought to appeal to the everyday youth who enjoy raving, as well as the ones who want to listen to a story with an overall concept. The steady cam shots reflect the storyline and the use of handheld shooting was to appeal to the more hardcore “mosh-pit” fans. This fuses all three themes with the necessary balance to satisfy all preferences.
We also saw that there was a more or less equal preference for focus on the band or lead singer, slightly leaning towards the latter. Therefore, we decided to show as much of the entire band as possible in the performance shots and include the lead singer, albeit minimally, in the story scenes to satisfy both preferences.
An equal number of people expressed their inclination towards commercial videos and those with serious issues respectively. Consequently, we chose to include a serious issue but in a commercial friendly way so that it pleases both partialities.
The target audience was also shown to enjoy hip-hop and, to a lesser extent, rock music videos, despite their preference for hardcore rock and reggae music. This inclined our decision to take influence from Eminem music videos (Stan and Guilty Conscience in particular), since although he is primarily a hip-hop artist, he tends to blur the lines between hip-hop and rock. This was an attempt to produce a video that the audience could call their favourite, while at the same time giving them the type of music that they enjoy, rather than the two being separate.
We were also informed that the target audience tends to lean towards cruel twist endings, which we incorporated into the video to satisfy their tastes.
With all this information incorporated into the video, we received a generally positive feedback on all three products. People enjoyed the video, commenting on the aggressive camera shots and editing to reflect domestic violence as well as the balance between the lead singer, the band and the actors from the story. Our use of double exposure was also highly praised. Some people have also claimed that the video can be watch over and over and have been showing it to other people mainly due to the impact of the double-exposure ad variance in pace.
The digipak also received positive review for its colour contrast and its use of simple photographs, rather than elaborate poses and costume. The unique spine was also commented on as very attractive
The magazine advert was proven to be extremely eye-catching and attractive. At second glance it was very strongly admired for its symbolism. We were very pleased with this, since it was the exact desired effect we were going for.
In all, I feel our end products were highly successful and that they have and will continue to encourage the audience to purchase the single, digipak and forth-coming album. It would be better suited to an indie label, due to the raw nature and “young rebel” image of the band.
Q4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The internet played a huge role in the overall production especially the research stages. Google and other search engines helped with finding valuable information regarding forms and conventions and subject matter research. Examples of magazine adverts and DVD covers were also easily found in this manner which bought the research together quickly and smoothly. Facebook was also utilised for the interviews for target audience research and Myspace and Youtube were used to further promote the video for audience feedback, as well as Youtube serving as a platform to embed the video on our blog. All stages of research, development, pre-production, production and post-production were documented on the Blogger website, which helped to keep all individual information available to each other instantly. Tags on each post were used to access certain documents quickly with minimal search effort.
During filming, we used a Canon XM2 digital camera set to widescreen. Red and blue lights were used during the performance shots which were achieved through coloured, translucent gels covering the bulbs of the flood lights. Handheld techniques were used as to pan around the band, as well as to take higher birds-eye-shots which were later scrapped from the production. The only real problem we encountered was the melting of the coloured gels, which we solved by fitting thin foam sheets in between the gel and the bulb and turning off the lights in between shots.
In the editing suite, we used Final Cut Pro to edit the roughs of the video, learning the techniques in cutting clips and applying transitions. The college equipment was especially helpful in the realisation of the double-exposure idea, which came together smoothly.
For the print production, we used Adobe Photoshop which proved to be an extremely valuable tool. We were able to apply the hand drawn Tarantula logo by scanning it and used the orange colour to avoid clashing with the black and white background. All photographs for the print work was done with a digital camera at outdoor locations and cleaned up through Adobe Photoshop and no green screen was used. We had minor trouble making the rose look realistic enough, until we discovered a flower brush on the Brusheezy website which fit our criteria perfectly.
Altogether, the post-production was helped greatly by our study and understanding of the college equipment and facilities, allowing us to realise our ideas and further expand our creative horizons.
Music videos are an effective way of marketing and promoting a single, which leads to the promotion of the relevant album and ultimately the band. Since this band, Tarantula, is a budding local band, our group decided from the outset that we would not deviate too far from the forms and conventions of modern music videos so as to insure the acceptance by the mainstream audience. The music video for their debut single, No More, was therefore decided to have a narrative/performance structure. There is a mild multi-strand element, featuring flashback scenes as well as two simultaneous present day sequences following our male and female lead actors respectively.
The use of the different elements o f the video (namely camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene) varies between the separate scenes. The performance shots are set in the band’s rehearsal space, showing them as a young, local, raw band. The red and blue flood lights, as well as the handheld camera shots and the animated energy of the band, give them a more aggressive, anarchist edge as well as being a visual accentuation on the lyrics “MAYDAY”. All other shots are filmed in middle-class house, showing that domestic violence can be happening to anyone, even our neighbours. The normal present day sequences during the verses use tripods and steady cam shots to connote the menial existence of a battered wife/girlfriend in between her ordeals and the obliviousness of her partner of the effects of his actions. The flashback sequences during the chorus are distinguished by the use of black and white picture effects (connoting the past) and use handheld camera shots to show the intensity and violence o f their arguments. The exception to this rule is the last chorus which features a present day sequence, but uses handheld camera shots to connote the girl’s frantic attempt at escape. As the song ends and she is confronted at the end by her abuser, the sequence is reverted back to the use of steady cam and tripod shots, showing futility of her attempt to break out. Throughout the present-day sequences, Tarantula’s lead vocalist (Sergei) is appears around the house black-clad but the girl never acknowledges presence. The more frequently he appears and talks to her, the more her confidence picks up until she finally attempts to leave and passes through him (achieved through double-exposure). When she is confronted at the door, Sergei disappears. Sergei is used as a symbolic reference of her courage, gradually building until she sees her partner again.
The production of this video, especially the directing, has been heavily influenced by “Stan” by rapper Eminem for its portrayal of domestic violence and use of black and white flashbacks. The difference in genre, however, called for more performance shots in our product to appeal to reggae and hardcore rock fans. Another Eminem song “Guilty Conscience” influenced the decision to use a member of the band as a psychological entity rather than an actual interactive character. The cruel twist at the end with the woman building hope until she is confronted at the door was greatly influenced by the “Saw” film series, where the villain’s prevalence is seen as more likely and thrilling as opposed to the fairy-tale optimism of escape.
Q2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
We intended to portray the band as an unruly band of everyday people. There was no use of flashy accessories or clothing, just what they turned up to the photo-shoot wearing. There was no excessive gimmickry which, in itself, is a marketing ploy on its own to appeal to the anarchist, chaos-loving youth.
The video shows this mainly through the performance shots where the band use their personal instruments in their own rehearsal space with no audience, yet they still appear to get lost in their music on their own. This is all used to show the “we don’t care” and “it’s all about the music” attitude that appeal to younger rebel audiences.
The digipak cover follows through with the “ordinary rebel” image, using plain photographs of the band in everyday clothes of their own choice and at urban locations. The front cover consists of a graffiti-like design which keeps the rebel image without trying too hard to do so. The spine has a more sophisticated design, with a spider used as the symbol for Tarantula. This was used to catch the eye of a passer-by seeing the digipak on a shelf. The front cover design was influenced by comic books and their appeal to the more experimental, open-minded and creative of audiences (i.e. who read comics instead of story books).
With the magazine advert, the group changed its direction drastically. We realised we would need a more interesting and eye-catching appearance as well as the plain rebel image to attract audiences (i.e. the plain front and back digipak covers with the attention-grabbing design on the spine). To achieve this, we decided to produce the advertisement as an imagery representation of the song. We used a blood red rose in the centre with bone-white, flower-like designs sprouting from behind it. These were to represent love or the love that the couple once had which has now becoming unhealthy and out of control. The black stone background represents the woman’s loneliness and isolation (i.e. prison) and the cobweb is used to emphasise the loneliness and long- forgotten happiness (as well as a simple symbol for Tarantula). The Tarantula uses the same graffiti logo so as to relate to the digipak, but this time it is coloured blood red to match the rose. The “No More” text is bone-whit to match the flower design. In all, the advert uses three colours of symbolism; blood red for love/violence, bone-white for fear/death and black for loneliness/loss of hope. The advert was influenced by the covers of the books in the twilight series which feature the same three colours. We discovered when put in a different context, these colours have powerful symbolic meaning.
Q3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The initial target audience profile was defined as early teens to young adults or the “teen rebellion phase”. This was due to the image of the band as well as the music style and was built into the video by using a middle-class house and urban exterior locations. We also had cheap and day-to-day props (i.e. beer can, cigarettes) to further portray the household as ordinary middle-class.
No particular emphasis was made on ethnicity due to the cultural origins of the contrasting sub-genres (reggae and hardcore rock) and there was no gender target either, since there were an equal number of males and females who were interested in the genre fusion.
Since the people who like hardcore rock and reggae preferred performance and story videos respectively, some choosing concept videos as a secondary theme, we sought to appeal to the everyday youth who enjoy raving, as well as the ones who want to listen to a story with an overall concept. The steady cam shots reflect the storyline and the use of handheld shooting was to appeal to the more hardcore “mosh-pit” fans. This fuses all three themes with the necessary balance to satisfy all preferences.
We also saw that there was a more or less equal preference for focus on the band or lead singer, slightly leaning towards the latter. Therefore, we decided to show as much of the entire band as possible in the performance shots and include the lead singer, albeit minimally, in the story scenes to satisfy both preferences.
An equal number of people expressed their inclination towards commercial videos and those with serious issues respectively. Consequently, we chose to include a serious issue but in a commercial friendly way so that it pleases both partialities.
The target audience was also shown to enjoy hip-hop and, to a lesser extent, rock music videos, despite their preference for hardcore rock and reggae music. This inclined our decision to take influence from Eminem music videos (Stan and Guilty Conscience in particular), since although he is primarily a hip-hop artist, he tends to blur the lines between hip-hop and rock. This was an attempt to produce a video that the audience could call their favourite, while at the same time giving them the type of music that they enjoy, rather than the two being separate.
We were also informed that the target audience tends to lean towards cruel twist endings, which we incorporated into the video to satisfy their tastes.
With all this information incorporated into the video, we received a generally positive feedback on all three products. People enjoyed the video, commenting on the aggressive camera shots and editing to reflect domestic violence as well as the balance between the lead singer, the band and the actors from the story. Our use of double exposure was also highly praised. Some people have also claimed that the video can be watch over and over and have been showing it to other people mainly due to the impact of the double-exposure ad variance in pace.
The digipak also received positive review for its colour contrast and its use of simple photographs, rather than elaborate poses and costume. The unique spine was also commented on as very attractive
The magazine advert was proven to be extremely eye-catching and attractive. At second glance it was very strongly admired for its symbolism. We were very pleased with this, since it was the exact desired effect we were going for.
In all, I feel our end products were highly successful and that they have and will continue to encourage the audience to purchase the single, digipak and forth-coming album. It would be better suited to an indie label, due to the raw nature and “young rebel” image of the band.
Q4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The internet played a huge role in the overall production especially the research stages. Google and other search engines helped with finding valuable information regarding forms and conventions and subject matter research. Examples of magazine adverts and DVD covers were also easily found in this manner which bought the research together quickly and smoothly. Facebook was also utilised for the interviews for target audience research and Myspace and Youtube were used to further promote the video for audience feedback, as well as Youtube serving as a platform to embed the video on our blog. All stages of research, development, pre-production, production and post-production were documented on the Blogger website, which helped to keep all individual information available to each other instantly. Tags on each post were used to access certain documents quickly with minimal search effort.
During filming, we used a Canon XM2 digital camera set to widescreen. Red and blue lights were used during the performance shots which were achieved through coloured, translucent gels covering the bulbs of the flood lights. Handheld techniques were used as to pan around the band, as well as to take higher birds-eye-shots which were later scrapped from the production. The only real problem we encountered was the melting of the coloured gels, which we solved by fitting thin foam sheets in between the gel and the bulb and turning off the lights in between shots.
In the editing suite, we used Final Cut Pro to edit the roughs of the video, learning the techniques in cutting clips and applying transitions. The college equipment was especially helpful in the realisation of the double-exposure idea, which came together smoothly.
For the print production, we used Adobe Photoshop which proved to be an extremely valuable tool. We were able to apply the hand drawn Tarantula logo by scanning it and used the orange colour to avoid clashing with the black and white background. All photographs for the print work was done with a digital camera at outdoor locations and cleaned up through Adobe Photoshop and no green screen was used. We had minor trouble making the rose look realistic enough, until we discovered a flower brush on the Brusheezy website which fit our criteria perfectly.
Altogether, the post-production was helped greatly by our study and understanding of the college equipment and facilities, allowing us to realise our ideas and further expand our creative horizons.
Saturday 24 April 2010
Song Lyrics: No More by Tarantula
Song: NO MORE
Artist: TARANTULA
She dont sing no more
Left on that, kitchen floor
Husband went through that door
He left her for that, fucking whore
She dont sing no more
Left with nothing more
Emotions washed up on that shore
Yeah the raven said, nothing more
When I shout mayday
At the top of my lungs
Im left here stranded
Im left here hung
When I shout mayday
At the top of my lungs
Im left here stranded
I wont be, let down
She dont sing no more
Left on that, kitchen floor
Husband went through that door
He left her for that, fucking whore
She dont sing no more
Left with nothing more
Emotions washed up on that shore
Yeah the raven said, nothing more
When she shouts mayday
At the top of her lungs
She's left here stranded
She's left there hung
As she shouts mayday
At the top of her lungs
she's left there stranded
She wont be, let down
Now you know the whole story
Situation got gory
As his shatter unfolds
Nothing left more for her in this world
Tell me who can hold face
Shredded rags, what a disgrace
Waiting for
That ice cold, embrace
That ice cold embrace
That ice cold embrace
That ice cold, woah, woah
As she shouts mayday
At the top of her lungs
Im left here stranded
She's left there hung
As she shouts mayday
At the top of her lungs
She's left there stranded
She's left there, hung
(Ska Rap)
Artist: TARANTULA
She dont sing no more
Left on that, kitchen floor
Husband went through that door
He left her for that, fucking whore
She dont sing no more
Left with nothing more
Emotions washed up on that shore
Yeah the raven said, nothing more
When I shout mayday
At the top of my lungs
Im left here stranded
Im left here hung
When I shout mayday
At the top of my lungs
Im left here stranded
I wont be, let down
She dont sing no more
Left on that, kitchen floor
Husband went through that door
He left her for that, fucking whore
She dont sing no more
Left with nothing more
Emotions washed up on that shore
Yeah the raven said, nothing more
When she shouts mayday
At the top of her lungs
She's left here stranded
She's left there hung
As she shouts mayday
At the top of her lungs
she's left there stranded
She wont be, let down
Now you know the whole story
Situation got gory
As his shatter unfolds
Nothing left more for her in this world
Tell me who can hold face
Shredded rags, what a disgrace
Waiting for
That ice cold, embrace
That ice cold embrace
That ice cold embrace
That ice cold, woah, woah
As she shouts mayday
At the top of her lungs
Im left here stranded
She's left there hung
As she shouts mayday
At the top of her lungs
She's left there stranded
She's left there, hung
(Ska Rap)
Friday 16 April 2010
Institutional Context & Professional Practice
Institutional Context & Professional Practice
Most often, a record label is a company that brands, trademarks and markets music recordings and videos. It also co-ordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, promotion and copyright protection of these music products. Some larger labels conduct talent scouting and development of new artists (“artists and repertoire”/A&R) as well as maintain contracts with artists and their managers.
Recording artists usually rely on record labels to promote their music through radio, television and to market and distribute their products to stores and other media outlets; all to further broaden the artist’s audience. In recent years, however, the internet has increasingly become a way for artists to directly distribute and promote their products while avoiding costs.
Record labels range between small, localised “independent/indie” to large international media groups. The four largest labels are called the Major Labels. A sub-label is a label part of a bigger company which trades under a different name. Some labels are not a company, but only a trademark or brand. These are referred to as imprints.
Major Labels
1. Sony Music Entertainment (SME)
2. Electric & Musical Industries Ltd (EMI)
3. Warner Music Group (WMG)
4. Universal Music Group (UMG)
Most record labels are controlled by a corporate umbrella organization called “Music Group”. Music groups are typically owned by an international conglomerate holding company, which usually have non-music divisions as well. As of 2005, “Big Four” music groups control approximately 70% of the world music market and about 80% of the US music market. Record companies (i.e. Music Publishing Companies, Record/Sound Recording Manufacturers, Record Distributors and Record Labels) can also make up a “Record Group”, which in turn is controlled by a music group.
Artists “signed” or under contract with these labels are more likely to be successful due to the contacts and facilities at the major label’s disposal, however there is a cost. Their contracts are a lot more controlling and constricting as compared to smaller indie labels. Major labels focus on the aspect of making record sales and usually consider artists as mere commodities.
Independent
Record companies not under the big four are generally considered as independent/indie, no matter the size or complexity. They are usually started by an artist or band putting out their own material using smaller-scale methods of marketing and promotion, such as handing out CDs at performances, posting fliers around the locality or internet. Benefits for indie labels;
1. Income- Income from concert ticket purchase and sales of promotional merchandise are spread between less people.
2. Step to Major Deal- Indie labels can be used as a platform for attaining bigger deals. Indie artists and labels can sometimes be signed to major labels. Major labels now pay more attention to genres which were previously practiced underground i.e. Hip-Hop and Latin.
3. Artist Control- Indie artists retain control and profit from their own careers without total submission to a superior.
4. Strengthen Local Economy- Since indie labels start of locally, equipment and employees are also acquired locally. As they become more successful and expand outside their regional borders, they import money. Therefore, indie labels indirectly help they community’s economic base.
Problems for Indies
Although the success of indie labels is much more rewarding, there are many barriers to the achievement of this.
1. Advertisement Competition- Adverts are dominated by entertainment and leisure products from business giants. Indie products have difficulty competing for attention.
2. Access to Popular Media- The conglomerates which control music groups also control television networks, radio stations, magazines, publishing companies and popular websites. Because of this, most music and videos that reach the masses are owned by the conglomerates.
3. Retail Store Consolidation- Retail stores are increasingly becoming owned by larger companies, as opposed to previous privately owned stores which make it more difficult for indie labels to have their products sold by them. Also, the larger music groups buy out entire shop floors, racks and bins for their artists at a time, making each individual slot more expensive and scarce which makes it even more difficult for indie labels to acquire a slot.
The Internet
The internet is increasingly becoming more and more helpful to indie artist, label and major label interests alike. It serves as an ideal medium for advertising and promotion as well as becoming a solution for the increasing consolidation prices of retail outlets. Although this can be seen as a ray of hope for indie artist breakthrough, there are still some pitfalls.
The internet, as vast as it is, still has dominant sites owned by conglomerates which provide audiences with their own material. Indie artists that promote and distribute their own material, therefore, become so common that it is easy for them to become insignificant.
The upside for the indie labels, however, is that although major labels focus on the genres they expect to sell, indie artists can continue to satisfy the wants of the less mainstream listeners with passion, diversity, vitality and creativity.
UK Television Music Stations
Owner/ Station
Viacom/ MTV, MTV2, MTV Base, MTV Dance, MTV HITS, VH1, VH1 Classic, VH2, TMF.EMAP/ KISS, Q, Kerrang!, Smash Hits, The Hits, Magic.
BSKYB/ Scuzz, Bliss, Flaunt.
Chart Show Channels/ The Vault, Chart Show TV, Bliss
Video Interactive TV/ Channel AKA
GWR/ Classic FM
Zee TV/ Zee Music
Station/ Genre or Target audience
VH1/ Rock and Pop- for 24-44 year-olds
Q/ Rock- Designed for people who read the magazine Q.
Scuzz/ Hardcore Rock
Channel AKA/ Urban (Hip-Hop, Garage, Grime etc)-Underground
Flaunt/ Pop and R&B- Feminine
Box/ Across the Board
MTV Base/ Urban- Commercial
Classic FM/ Classical
Kerrang!/ Heavy Rock
Smash Hits/ Pop
MTV/ Hits from all genres
Most often, a record label is a company that brands, trademarks and markets music recordings and videos. It also co-ordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, promotion and copyright protection of these music products. Some larger labels conduct talent scouting and development of new artists (“artists and repertoire”/A&R) as well as maintain contracts with artists and their managers.
Recording artists usually rely on record labels to promote their music through radio, television and to market and distribute their products to stores and other media outlets; all to further broaden the artist’s audience. In recent years, however, the internet has increasingly become a way for artists to directly distribute and promote their products while avoiding costs.
Record labels range between small, localised “independent/indie” to large international media groups. The four largest labels are called the Major Labels. A sub-label is a label part of a bigger company which trades under a different name. Some labels are not a company, but only a trademark or brand. These are referred to as imprints.
Major Labels
1. Sony Music Entertainment (SME)
2. Electric & Musical Industries Ltd (EMI)
3. Warner Music Group (WMG)
4. Universal Music Group (UMG)
Most record labels are controlled by a corporate umbrella organization called “Music Group”. Music groups are typically owned by an international conglomerate holding company, which usually have non-music divisions as well. As of 2005, “Big Four” music groups control approximately 70% of the world music market and about 80% of the US music market. Record companies (i.e. Music Publishing Companies, Record/Sound Recording Manufacturers, Record Distributors and Record Labels) can also make up a “Record Group”, which in turn is controlled by a music group.
Artists “signed” or under contract with these labels are more likely to be successful due to the contacts and facilities at the major label’s disposal, however there is a cost. Their contracts are a lot more controlling and constricting as compared to smaller indie labels. Major labels focus on the aspect of making record sales and usually consider artists as mere commodities.
Independent
Record companies not under the big four are generally considered as independent/indie, no matter the size or complexity. They are usually started by an artist or band putting out their own material using smaller-scale methods of marketing and promotion, such as handing out CDs at performances, posting fliers around the locality or internet. Benefits for indie labels;
1. Income- Income from concert ticket purchase and sales of promotional merchandise are spread between less people.
2. Step to Major Deal- Indie labels can be used as a platform for attaining bigger deals. Indie artists and labels can sometimes be signed to major labels. Major labels now pay more attention to genres which were previously practiced underground i.e. Hip-Hop and Latin.
3. Artist Control- Indie artists retain control and profit from their own careers without total submission to a superior.
4. Strengthen Local Economy- Since indie labels start of locally, equipment and employees are also acquired locally. As they become more successful and expand outside their regional borders, they import money. Therefore, indie labels indirectly help they community’s economic base.
Problems for Indies
Although the success of indie labels is much more rewarding, there are many barriers to the achievement of this.
1. Advertisement Competition- Adverts are dominated by entertainment and leisure products from business giants. Indie products have difficulty competing for attention.
2. Access to Popular Media- The conglomerates which control music groups also control television networks, radio stations, magazines, publishing companies and popular websites. Because of this, most music and videos that reach the masses are owned by the conglomerates.
3. Retail Store Consolidation- Retail stores are increasingly becoming owned by larger companies, as opposed to previous privately owned stores which make it more difficult for indie labels to have their products sold by them. Also, the larger music groups buy out entire shop floors, racks and bins for their artists at a time, making each individual slot more expensive and scarce which makes it even more difficult for indie labels to acquire a slot.
The Internet
The internet is increasingly becoming more and more helpful to indie artist, label and major label interests alike. It serves as an ideal medium for advertising and promotion as well as becoming a solution for the increasing consolidation prices of retail outlets. Although this can be seen as a ray of hope for indie artist breakthrough, there are still some pitfalls.
The internet, as vast as it is, still has dominant sites owned by conglomerates which provide audiences with their own material. Indie artists that promote and distribute their own material, therefore, become so common that it is easy for them to become insignificant.
The upside for the indie labels, however, is that although major labels focus on the genres they expect to sell, indie artists can continue to satisfy the wants of the less mainstream listeners with passion, diversity, vitality and creativity.
UK Television Music Stations
Owner/ Station
Viacom/ MTV, MTV2, MTV Base, MTV Dance, MTV HITS, VH1, VH1 Classic, VH2, TMF.EMAP/ KISS, Q, Kerrang!, Smash Hits, The Hits, Magic.
BSKYB/ Scuzz, Bliss, Flaunt.
Chart Show Channels/ The Vault, Chart Show TV, Bliss
Video Interactive TV/ Channel AKA
GWR/ Classic FM
Zee TV/ Zee Music
Station/ Genre or Target audience
VH1/ Rock and Pop- for 24-44 year-olds
Q/ Rock- Designed for people who read the magazine Q.
Scuzz/ Hardcore Rock
Channel AKA/ Urban (Hip-Hop, Garage, Grime etc)-Underground
Flaunt/ Pop and R&B- Feminine
Box/ Across the Board
MTV Base/ Urban- Commercial
Classic FM/ Classical
Kerrang!/ Heavy Rock
Smash Hits/ Pop
MTV/ Hits from all genres
Daniel's Similar Textual Analysis
‘Basket Case’ – ‘Green Day’
Green Day are a very popular band, but they’re also a controversial band because they continue alienating significant portions of their fan base. I have chosen to analyse this video because of the unusual techniques used in it and in which the way the lyrics correspond to the video, it relates to the ideas my group have produced for our music video featuring a local, unsigned band.
This Music video is set in a depthless world in which musicians lip-sync in simulated depictions of musical performance or act out the fragmented narrative elements referring to the lyrics. ‘Basket Case’ is a track from ‘Dookie’, the three times platinum and third album of American Pop Punk Rock band ‘Green Day’, which was released in 1994. The music the band produces seems to target an audience of males and females ages mainly from 11-18. Whether the band considered this whilst writing their music I do not know. Many of the songs written by Green Day are based on personal or group experiences that have occurred in their lives.
The song is about lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong’s struggle with anxiety. It was written before the front man was diagnosed with a panic disorder as he was going crazy. The lyrics to ‘Basket Case’ tell the story of a man who is paranoid and after and, after meeting with a psychiatrist who tells him that his lack of sex is causing his stress, decides to go to a prostitute. However Doctor refuses to listen, as explained by the lyric. ‘He said my life’s a bore/so quit my whining, cause/it’s bringing him down.’
The video was shot in an actual mental institution called Agnew’s Development Center in Santa Clara County, California.
One of the first sights we see is of men in white outfits and a steel shutter door being closed behind him. Diegetic sound is included right up until the track starts. The whole video was originally shot in black and white and then later colourised, contributing to the unnatural, demented feel of the mise- en-scene. Visible in the first shot is a masked patient whose mask is the only thing that is of colour, making him look unusual and out of place. We see close ups of the music equipment being set up, and a white-suited guy presents a rather nervous and confused lead singer with a guitar. He abruptly comes out of character and begins the song.
The other band members are wheeled in. It is clear that they are all inmates, both by their slightly confused and abnormal behaviour and by the way people in white coats are directing them around. This especially apparent for the bassist, Dirnt. Close ups are used to show the lead singer’s eyes darting around nervously as he sings.
In the second verse, we see front man, Armstrong, standing against a white wall in a bathroom. A high-0angled camera shot makes him look small and insignificant, and yet his dark garments make him stand out. We see drummer, Tre Cool, being wheeled down a corridor in a wheel chair by a white coated man – with another patient similar to the one we see at the start in the background. It cuts back to Armstrong and then to Dirnt, who is looking bored, resting his head in his hands.
The video is somewhat concept driven as it relates strongly tot eh lyrics, but also part narrative as the lyrics do tell a story and the video does contribute to the understanding of the overall message that the song forwards. We see plenty of shots of different band members performing the song together. This is heavily performance driven as it is as though they are performing live, on stage, to an audience. Frequent cuts from different angles prevent the audience from losing interest. A brief cut to Dirnt staring out of a window perhaps in desperation, cuts back to him performing, and then a shot of Armstrong is obscured by a masked figure walking past the camera. A barrage of rapid cuts echoes the machine gun-like drum roll. Throughout the progression of the song, more and more patients appear in the living room. This suggests that more and more normal people are going crazy as well as them.
The drummer is wheeled to a counter where a woman wearing a lab coat provides him with some sort of medicine or drug. He grins as he swallows it. ‘Grasping to control.. .’ sings Armstrong as the camera pans around, showing various people behind him. The pan is slightly unsteady, as though performed with a handheld camera, contributing to the surreal nature of the video. The majority of cuts are all straight cuts. Overall, they are fairly quick paced cuts, yet still dynamic as the cuts are at different lengths to focus on different aspects and sections of the video.
There are a number of high angle camera shots of the lead singer featured as this strongly relates to the fact that he is paranoid, and is particularly effective when he rolls his eyes up anxiously.
Those mental patients in marks seem to be doing a number of strange things, creeping around, playing with exercise balls, and appearing extremely close up to the camera. They remain un-colourised except the masks themselves throughout the video, which makes them all look peculiar. The drugs we are shown close ups of lead to Drummer, Cool, and later Armstrong being surrounded by flying fishes and his own eyes which have been merged into the clip, post shoot. This suggests a hallucination being caused by the drugs seen previously, perhaps?
The video is full of bright colours which makes it seem simplistic and, at the same time, over the top. This contributes to the feelings of psychosis.
At the end of the video, the metal shutter is closed in front of the camera. This place is closed, and it seems Green Day are to remain inside. Through the shutter, we see the band stop playing and are then stationary.
In my opinions, it is clever portrayal of an anxiety disorder. Although it being slightly strange and disturbing for some, it articulates the message of the songs very well, right down to thinking you’re going insane and mixing up words in your head. And the line ‘Am I just paranoid, or am I just stoned?’ gives a good idea of how it feels to be in front man, Armstrong’s shoes.
Final Magazine Advert
The process of editing our initial magazine advert to produce our final piece, took a lot of time and our idea changed drastically. For one I had to change the font from Arial Bold to Chiller because when I received the group logo because it was hand drawn it did not match the plain and simple font. This font works well because it incorporates the theme of darkness and wickedness. We had to design a whole new rose image because the first one was a photograph and did not match the hand drawn logo, therefore we had to design a more artist rose to signify love but be able to match the rest of the advert. Furthermore an obvious change is from the plain white background to a black one with some light. This is because as a group we thought the white looked to plain and didn’t express the dark image we were going for. from the second draft to final version of the magazine advert I added the bands website, a convention of magazine adverts and added a web and white shadow of a spider to corroborate with the bands name. Overall I think our advert looks edgy yet elegant because of the rose design and font.
Thursday 15 April 2010
Daniel's Evaluation
In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media products predominantly use conventions of real music videos, CD/DVD digipaks and magazine advertisements. As the initial purpose of any music video is to be used as a marketing device to promote an artist/band. We decided on a performance/narrative structured video in order to publicise the band. Performance based videos are typically chosen for rock music videos (Firth 1988) an example being Rage Against The Machine's classic 'Killing in the name' (1992).
As the band we are promoting are under the broad 'rock' genre, our video offers 'rock' with a range of strong performance band close-ups with handheld camera movement. It offers a story as something less conventional. This also worked hand in hand with the band members as the whole concept of their music is a unique fusion of Reggae and Hardcore. This format also helped put the bands' message across. Straight away the video is separated from other rock band videos. Including a narrative is a good technique because it adds substance to the video. There is a story for the audience to follow. This means they may need to watch the video more then once to register everything on screen. Creating another dimension or setting to be familiar with.
Another essential convention of a music video is to create an association between the lyrics and the video - especially for one including a narrative (unless the intention is not to). Therefore, we based the narrative on domestic violence as is the theme of the song lyrics. We agreed that this is an advantage otherwise, it may become confusing for the audience and this way, it is more likely to be remembered because the visuals reinforcement the song and can paint a clearer picture in your mind. Our music video also can support Schwichtenberg's (1992) theory, which suggests that males dominate roles in music videos providing the action and women passively react. However because we film from the woman’s point of view, we show this in a bad light, in the form of abuse, which perhaps, in turn, challenges the standard conventions.
In terms of camera work, performance based videos for edgy rock bands usually have many different band close-ups, camera movement(handheld or crane) and also quick cuts to give the audience a sense of energy and being there in the live gig environment with the band. Narrative based videos have a range of shots to grasp the mood and message of a song. I think this media product follows these conventions in an attempt to look professional and to also put the intended message across on the bands' behalf.
The mise-en-scene has a big affect on the overall aesthetic of a music video. Our research on subject matter showed me how other music videos used alternative techniques to hint violence rather than showing it full-on as this would cause controversy. For example, in Ludacris and Mary J Blige’s hit 'Run away love' (2006), they include alcohol and drug abuse as factors that influence domestic violence. Therefore, in our music video, we used empty beer cans to convey the image of alcohol abuse. Furthermore, instead of showing actual physical violence, we used simple but effective techniques we picked up from other videos like using sillhouettes of the confrontation between the couple and bruises on the face of the female abusee. Other conventions we used, within the editing stages, were jump cuts from the narrative to the performance. This is typical of a performance/narrative music video. We used jump cuts throughout the video to keep the performance moving with the storyline and vice versa however I decided, as the editor, that it would make sense if there were quicker cuts in the choruses which are heavier and more energetic which contrasts with slightly laid back cuts for the cleaner, darker sounding verses, not only in order to make the video more dynamic, but to emphasise musical sections of the song, which overall affects how the audience react to the song.
A fair amount of research into digipaks and magazine advertisements (for albums or music DVDs) has given me an insight on the consistent conventions used for both adverts and digipaks. Magazine adverts tend to have a main image that corresponds with the digipak cover however, our ancillary texts don’t have the same visuals, but they both do have a relationship with the music video itself, which challenges the conventions of the ancillary texts. Apart from that, our magazine advert and digipak stick to the majority of conventions and continue the theme with the artists’ name and song in the largest font, a trademark logo and limited information.
The rear of the digipak case features common conventions like the track names and a bar code, the official 'dvd' logo and sometimes a warning about explicit lyrical content, which is up to the label, or in our case the band (as they are unsigned).
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The focus of our music video is domestic violence, for that reason we thought the magazine advert should relate to this in some way. We chose to make the central image a dead rose, because a red rose symbolises love and therefore a dead rose would be a fitting metaphor for love being dead. There were several issues when trying to create the magazine advert with the rose, because we found it difficult to make the photographed image of a dead rose blend in with the hand drawn logo for the band that looked more edgy and artistic. In the end we had to produce our own rose, by using a couple of different brushes chosen from a selection we downloaded for use with photoshop, we then used shadows to make it look darker in tone. We used a texture for the background, which we found gives more of a raw, gritty look, with a slight gradient which acts as a soft spotlight pointing towards the flower. The magazine advert does not use the same image as the digipak, because the digipak focuses more on promoting the band, then the theme of the song. There are different photographs of the band on the back cover, to familiarise them with the consumer. This can be seen as a downside and affect the combo of the ancillary texts as the consumer does not have one significant image to recognise the digipak by. Nonetheless, I think our music video could get away with use of different images, since the video is constructed with both performance and narrative. Photographs of the band are conventional in performance structured videos resulting in the blend of the two modes appearing compatible with that of the ancillary texts.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Our target audience are males and females aged 16-20. We showed our video and print production to a sample of our target audience and asked them to comment on their likes and dislikes. We also put it all up on facebook to show receive some thorough feedback Overall, we received a very positive reply, the majority of people commented on how we cut between performance and narrative in the music video. A handful of people commented on their favourite parts and also on the jaunty camera techniques used for the performance closeups which added urgency. Many people also liked the design and colour scheme of the print production, particularly picking up on the logo and fonts used on both print products. After receiving such good feedback, we felt not to change much as myself and the group were always asking of peoples opinions through the production process. This led to constant idea development, to improve whilst producing.
In conclusion, I learnt more about what catches the eye of the audience, this helped me with choosing colour schemes and simplifying layouts, video sequences or designs in order to make them more big and bold.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
In the research and planning stages, we used the internet copious amounts in order to complete our research document, which then led to the planning stage and continued to be at our disposal throughout the planning stage for idea development or if we had any general queries. Two websites that helped me most were 'Google' and 'Youtube' and were both at our disposal. Google is by far the best search engine and comes up with billions of results relating to your search therefore, it was very flexible. Youtube helped me on having access to watching the majority of music videos that have been released into the media. This is part of secondary research. Its extremely helpful as you have the freedom to find what you intend for free! It helped a great deal for me during post-production, as the editor, it enabled me to find out more about software the college had available as I was a beginner with most of the programmes and had to adapt swiftly. Although our teacher handed out a manual for the 'Canon XM2 Digital Video Camera' we used for filming and one for 'Final Cut Pro'- the editing software we used for the bulk of our video, which both helped a great deal, I did a bit of research for myself about a few techniques and fundamentals used in editing and also asked a couple of professionals for any first hand advice. Finding out simple things for example at the start of editing, how to 'mark a significant beat on the timeline'. This made my life alot easier as I marked every significant beat in the entire track before I introduced any of the visual footage, which later locked onto each clip allowing me to cut to the beat without any worries. Being the drummer of the band and also writing the song, gave me an advantage on the editing side, as I knew the song very well and was able cut clips in time. After I had cut the whole video, I added a grade to the video to give it more of a professional look with 'Quicklooks', a plugin which works in harmony with 'Final Cut Pro' which allows you to edit the colour.
We were provided with the 'Canon XM2 Digital Video Camera' for filming. Digital cameras are of a very high quality and a high resolution, giving the picture better definition over an old film camera. This camera had a number of useful features which helped us in the filming process for example, optical zoom and white balance. The fact it was digital helped us essentially at the capturing and editing stages. If we had an analog, film camera, capturing would have taken a lot longer as it is on tape, and during editing stages, would have taken extremely long, especially if you cut a clip and then decide you need seconds of it back, then you are in a sticky situation.. However todays' computer software technology (Final Cut Pro) has saved everyone from the disappointment and is very straight forward and been reliable with our video.
For both the magazine advertisement and the digipak, we used 'Adobe Photoshop'. This package was very straight forward and user friendly. As it is an 'industry standard' package, it has a range of features. As I have learnt a little bit about the software in A level Photography, I managed to get to grips with the features available, in order to create the digipak dvd cover. I used a logo that I had drawn before-hand, scanned it, cleaned it up in photoshop boosting the hard lines, and filled inside the letters with solid colour for the logo to stand out. For the digipak cover we chose orange as it doesnt clash with any other colours on its background. We changed the colour of the logo for the magazine advert to a dark red, to match with the red rose. But still used the same hand drawn logo type face to be consistent.
Finally, I used Google Documents for most of my essays and reports. It is a fairly new free feature offered by google, qhich allows you to access documents online from anywhere in the world. I uploaded everything to a 'Blogger'. Blogger is a blogspot equivalent owned by Google and enables any individual to store information on a blog of their own. Blogger is unique to its rivals as it is fast and easy to organise the blog, however many posts or members you have on it. Facebook played a prominent role ont he post production side as it allowed us to put our finished products up on there to show our friends and contacts, to then receive criticisms from our peers and most importantly, target audience.
Since the start of this coursework brief up till now, I have learnt a great deal about a range of media technologies. Improving my understanding of it has made me realise how instrumental technology is in society and how it continues to advance a collosal amount every year.
Our media products predominantly use conventions of real music videos, CD/DVD digipaks and magazine advertisements. As the initial purpose of any music video is to be used as a marketing device to promote an artist/band. We decided on a performance/narrative structured video in order to publicise the band. Performance based videos are typically chosen for rock music videos (Firth 1988) an example being Rage Against The Machine's classic 'Killing in the name' (1992).
As the band we are promoting are under the broad 'rock' genre, our video offers 'rock' with a range of strong performance band close-ups with handheld camera movement. It offers a story as something less conventional. This also worked hand in hand with the band members as the whole concept of their music is a unique fusion of Reggae and Hardcore. This format also helped put the bands' message across. Straight away the video is separated from other rock band videos. Including a narrative is a good technique because it adds substance to the video. There is a story for the audience to follow. This means they may need to watch the video more then once to register everything on screen. Creating another dimension or setting to be familiar with.
Another essential convention of a music video is to create an association between the lyrics and the video - especially for one including a narrative (unless the intention is not to). Therefore, we based the narrative on domestic violence as is the theme of the song lyrics. We agreed that this is an advantage otherwise, it may become confusing for the audience and this way, it is more likely to be remembered because the visuals reinforcement the song and can paint a clearer picture in your mind. Our music video also can support Schwichtenberg's (1992) theory, which suggests that males dominate roles in music videos providing the action and women passively react. However because we film from the woman’s point of view, we show this in a bad light, in the form of abuse, which perhaps, in turn, challenges the standard conventions.
In terms of camera work, performance based videos for edgy rock bands usually have many different band close-ups, camera movement(handheld or crane) and also quick cuts to give the audience a sense of energy and being there in the live gig environment with the band. Narrative based videos have a range of shots to grasp the mood and message of a song. I think this media product follows these conventions in an attempt to look professional and to also put the intended message across on the bands' behalf.
The mise-en-scene has a big affect on the overall aesthetic of a music video. Our research on subject matter showed me how other music videos used alternative techniques to hint violence rather than showing it full-on as this would cause controversy. For example, in Ludacris and Mary J Blige’s hit 'Run away love' (2006), they include alcohol and drug abuse as factors that influence domestic violence. Therefore, in our music video, we used empty beer cans to convey the image of alcohol abuse. Furthermore, instead of showing actual physical violence, we used simple but effective techniques we picked up from other videos like using sillhouettes of the confrontation between the couple and bruises on the face of the female abusee. Other conventions we used, within the editing stages, were jump cuts from the narrative to the performance. This is typical of a performance/narrative music video. We used jump cuts throughout the video to keep the performance moving with the storyline and vice versa however I decided, as the editor, that it would make sense if there were quicker cuts in the choruses which are heavier and more energetic which contrasts with slightly laid back cuts for the cleaner, darker sounding verses, not only in order to make the video more dynamic, but to emphasise musical sections of the song, which overall affects how the audience react to the song.
A fair amount of research into digipaks and magazine advertisements (for albums or music DVDs) has given me an insight on the consistent conventions used for both adverts and digipaks. Magazine adverts tend to have a main image that corresponds with the digipak cover however, our ancillary texts don’t have the same visuals, but they both do have a relationship with the music video itself, which challenges the conventions of the ancillary texts. Apart from that, our magazine advert and digipak stick to the majority of conventions and continue the theme with the artists’ name and song in the largest font, a trademark logo and limited information.
The rear of the digipak case features common conventions like the track names and a bar code, the official 'dvd' logo and sometimes a warning about explicit lyrical content, which is up to the label, or in our case the band (as they are unsigned).
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The focus of our music video is domestic violence, for that reason we thought the magazine advert should relate to this in some way. We chose to make the central image a dead rose, because a red rose symbolises love and therefore a dead rose would be a fitting metaphor for love being dead. There were several issues when trying to create the magazine advert with the rose, because we found it difficult to make the photographed image of a dead rose blend in with the hand drawn logo for the band that looked more edgy and artistic. In the end we had to produce our own rose, by using a couple of different brushes chosen from a selection we downloaded for use with photoshop, we then used shadows to make it look darker in tone. We used a texture for the background, which we found gives more of a raw, gritty look, with a slight gradient which acts as a soft spotlight pointing towards the flower. The magazine advert does not use the same image as the digipak, because the digipak focuses more on promoting the band, then the theme of the song. There are different photographs of the band on the back cover, to familiarise them with the consumer. This can be seen as a downside and affect the combo of the ancillary texts as the consumer does not have one significant image to recognise the digipak by. Nonetheless, I think our music video could get away with use of different images, since the video is constructed with both performance and narrative. Photographs of the band are conventional in performance structured videos resulting in the blend of the two modes appearing compatible with that of the ancillary texts.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Our target audience are males and females aged 16-20. We showed our video and print production to a sample of our target audience and asked them to comment on their likes and dislikes. We also put it all up on facebook to show receive some thorough feedback Overall, we received a very positive reply, the majority of people commented on how we cut between performance and narrative in the music video. A handful of people commented on their favourite parts and also on the jaunty camera techniques used for the performance closeups which added urgency. Many people also liked the design and colour scheme of the print production, particularly picking up on the logo and fonts used on both print products. After receiving such good feedback, we felt not to change much as myself and the group were always asking of peoples opinions through the production process. This led to constant idea development, to improve whilst producing.
In conclusion, I learnt more about what catches the eye of the audience, this helped me with choosing colour schemes and simplifying layouts, video sequences or designs in order to make them more big and bold.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
In the research and planning stages, we used the internet copious amounts in order to complete our research document, which then led to the planning stage and continued to be at our disposal throughout the planning stage for idea development or if we had any general queries. Two websites that helped me most were 'Google' and 'Youtube' and were both at our disposal. Google is by far the best search engine and comes up with billions of results relating to your search therefore, it was very flexible. Youtube helped me on having access to watching the majority of music videos that have been released into the media. This is part of secondary research. Its extremely helpful as you have the freedom to find what you intend for free! It helped a great deal for me during post-production, as the editor, it enabled me to find out more about software the college had available as I was a beginner with most of the programmes and had to adapt swiftly. Although our teacher handed out a manual for the 'Canon XM2 Digital Video Camera' we used for filming and one for 'Final Cut Pro'- the editing software we used for the bulk of our video, which both helped a great deal, I did a bit of research for myself about a few techniques and fundamentals used in editing and also asked a couple of professionals for any first hand advice. Finding out simple things for example at the start of editing, how to 'mark a significant beat on the timeline'. This made my life alot easier as I marked every significant beat in the entire track before I introduced any of the visual footage, which later locked onto each clip allowing me to cut to the beat without any worries. Being the drummer of the band and also writing the song, gave me an advantage on the editing side, as I knew the song very well and was able cut clips in time. After I had cut the whole video, I added a grade to the video to give it more of a professional look with 'Quicklooks', a plugin which works in harmony with 'Final Cut Pro' which allows you to edit the colour.
We were provided with the 'Canon XM2 Digital Video Camera' for filming. Digital cameras are of a very high quality and a high resolution, giving the picture better definition over an old film camera. This camera had a number of useful features which helped us in the filming process for example, optical zoom and white balance. The fact it was digital helped us essentially at the capturing and editing stages. If we had an analog, film camera, capturing would have taken a lot longer as it is on tape, and during editing stages, would have taken extremely long, especially if you cut a clip and then decide you need seconds of it back, then you are in a sticky situation.. However todays' computer software technology (Final Cut Pro) has saved everyone from the disappointment and is very straight forward and been reliable with our video.
For both the magazine advertisement and the digipak, we used 'Adobe Photoshop'. This package was very straight forward and user friendly. As it is an 'industry standard' package, it has a range of features. As I have learnt a little bit about the software in A level Photography, I managed to get to grips with the features available, in order to create the digipak dvd cover. I used a logo that I had drawn before-hand, scanned it, cleaned it up in photoshop boosting the hard lines, and filled inside the letters with solid colour for the logo to stand out. For the digipak cover we chose orange as it doesnt clash with any other colours on its background. We changed the colour of the logo for the magazine advert to a dark red, to match with the red rose. But still used the same hand drawn logo type face to be consistent.
Finally, I used Google Documents for most of my essays and reports. It is a fairly new free feature offered by google, qhich allows you to access documents online from anywhere in the world. I uploaded everything to a 'Blogger'. Blogger is a blogspot equivalent owned by Google and enables any individual to store information on a blog of their own. Blogger is unique to its rivals as it is fast and easy to organise the blog, however many posts or members you have on it. Facebook played a prominent role ont he post production side as it allowed us to put our finished products up on there to show our friends and contacts, to then receive criticisms from our peers and most importantly, target audience.
Since the start of this coursework brief up till now, I have learnt a great deal about a range of media technologies. Improving my understanding of it has made me realise how instrumental technology is in society and how it continues to advance a collosal amount every year.
Ameera's Evaluation
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Gavin's Evaluation
In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Music videos can be characterised by three broad categories performance, narrative and concept driven. Our video is a combination of two styles, performance and narrative. For example blink 182 “Adam song” uses both a complex narrative and concept to engage their, challenging the normal conventions of rock videos. In our video we use such conventions, yet reach new standards of new rock videos. This way the audience can relate our music video to famous rock videos as it has aspects of new material out today. This is good because in some aspects it separates the band from other rock bands such as “Linkin Park”. A combination of performance and narrative is a good balance, as it shows footage of the band performing and their performance skills, also shows what the song is about by showing narrative clips.
To help the audience understand the song and video more, we created a relationship between the both. By the lyrics of the song, we were able to create a story which linked our song and human issues which some people could relate to. This helps the audience understand the song easier. In our case the issue was domestic violence, we learnt this through the song lyrics “she don’t sing no more, left on that kitchen floor, husband went through that door, he left her for that, fucking whore”. So we based our story on a couple where the relationship is dominated by the male by using abusive language and action. This resulted in the woman being depressed and eventually leaving the man.
Camera work and editing was very important in our media product as it was a way to capture our audience eye, also small minor details added to our finish product to make it different from others. Our performance clips created a live band performance feel, so people can see the quality of the band and their music. We wanted to create an edgy feel so we used many different angled shots and close ups to create a concert based relationship between the band and the audience. We used different lighting colours which created a bizarre effect. Our narrative clips used normal lighting because we didn’t want confuse the audience too much with the performance, we wanted both conventions to stand out. How ever we did use some effects which would surprise the audience, we were able to create an effect of making our lead singer seem like a ghost and having our female actress bee in the same room but not seeing the lead singer. Little effects like this created our end product. For example Eminem – Stan, this video is also about violence and abuse, this video created a dark and lonely effect, this was created by effects such as lightning, dark lighting and rain noises. Then at the en shot, with Eminem sitting by the window, every time the lightning stroke, a reflection of Stan appeared. We used a similar effect to portray a ghost effect.
Our media product also includes a digipack which includes a DVD of the music video, the DVD front cover and an magazine advert. By research we have gain knowledge of the conventions in album covers and magazine adverts. We wanted to present the DVD cover by focusing on the band, so we used images from a professional photo shoot to portray this. Our magazine advert was a little different however it still had a link to the band. By using dark and sharp colours were able to create an advert which was simple yet eye-catching effect.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Alongside of the music video, the Digi-Pak helps us portray a certain image of the band towards the public. The magazine advert is more focused on the band single “No More”. The song is about a couple with corruption in their relationship, which leads to domestic violence. We tried to show a dark but eye capturing affect. So we decided to use roses to portray this image. Rose can symbolise love, but a dead rose can symbolise dead love, this links to the relationship between the couple as the love between them is dead. We used very dark colours to create a lonely effect to show the emotions of the female.
The DVD cover was different from the magazine advert because we focused more on the band than the single. We used an image of the band which included all the members to show the audience who they are listening to. Also it has in bold letters “Tarantula” which is the band name. We used clear and straight forward methods to present the DVD cover because we didn’t want to create anything complex which would confuse the audience.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
We surveyed a sample of our target audience aged 16-20 both male and female to gain insight into the positives of the video and also any criticism in order to improve the overall material before wider exposure. Asking peoples opinions in different parts of the production stage allowed the constant development of the project. One of our peers believed that a few more effects would have made the video look better and taking that into account we would have done so if we were to film again.
Our target audience’s feedback was generally very good. We received a good response from the production blending and also in good narration of the music video. People also expressed interest in the design and colour scheme of the print production.
From our audience feedback as a group we decided not to change as much as previously discussed due to the overall positive feedback. We did not learn very much from the feedback however it has played a great role in giving us an insight as to how to go about making video and ancillary texts.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Our main source of research was secondary research; the internet was used the most. Search engines came in hand when research was carried out. We used popular search engines such as Google. This gave us a wide arrange of information as it is the most used search engine in the world, however it had its downfalls, because Google was so popular, the search field was too big and caused confusion. Youtube was also a very helpful source, it allowed us to watch professional music videos and see how things are done in the industry. Youtube helped us analyse music videos and compare them to others. Youtube allowed us to stop, play and pause the clips which made it easier to analyse them.
We used the Canon XM2 Digital Video Camera for filming our music video. This camera had many features which were able to help us create a professional media product. The camera had 20x optical zoom and super low light performance.
We used Final Cut Pro to edit our product, this was a major advantage as the software was a new and updated software and we could easily adapt to the software’s features. Final Cut Pro was running on a highly generated Apple Macintosh which was only recently introduced to the college.
To create the digipack we used Adobe Photoshop. This allowed us to improve the quality of the images being presented to our audience. This also introduce new effects that were not commonly known to us to help create a better product overall. Photoshop gives a more professional approach to our product, for example our magazine advert was majorly influenced by features on Photoshop. We took an image of a rose from the internet, however it didn’t blend very well with the band name on the advert, so Photoshop helped us to create colour effects which made the advert easy to the eye.
To gain audience feedback we used Youtube and Facebook. Youtube was very useful as it is a popular online streaming site providing users with a platform to share media, allowing an audience of millions to view and also provide feedback on a video of any production scale. Facebook provided service to share the video amongst our friends and contacts. During our production stage were uploaded our documentation onto a blog. The blog allows the audience to see our production stages and view the types of information were receiving during our research process.
During the production stage of this project, I have learnt many things in the media industry and how thing are done professionally, also on the way I have picked up many skills which would help me in the near future.
Music videos can be characterised by three broad categories performance, narrative and concept driven. Our video is a combination of two styles, performance and narrative. For example blink 182 “Adam song” uses both a complex narrative and concept to engage their, challenging the normal conventions of rock videos. In our video we use such conventions, yet reach new standards of new rock videos. This way the audience can relate our music video to famous rock videos as it has aspects of new material out today. This is good because in some aspects it separates the band from other rock bands such as “Linkin Park”. A combination of performance and narrative is a good balance, as it shows footage of the band performing and their performance skills, also shows what the song is about by showing narrative clips.
To help the audience understand the song and video more, we created a relationship between the both. By the lyrics of the song, we were able to create a story which linked our song and human issues which some people could relate to. This helps the audience understand the song easier. In our case the issue was domestic violence, we learnt this through the song lyrics “she don’t sing no more, left on that kitchen floor, husband went through that door, he left her for that, fucking whore”. So we based our story on a couple where the relationship is dominated by the male by using abusive language and action. This resulted in the woman being depressed and eventually leaving the man.
Camera work and editing was very important in our media product as it was a way to capture our audience eye, also small minor details added to our finish product to make it different from others. Our performance clips created a live band performance feel, so people can see the quality of the band and their music. We wanted to create an edgy feel so we used many different angled shots and close ups to create a concert based relationship between the band and the audience. We used different lighting colours which created a bizarre effect. Our narrative clips used normal lighting because we didn’t want confuse the audience too much with the performance, we wanted both conventions to stand out. How ever we did use some effects which would surprise the audience, we were able to create an effect of making our lead singer seem like a ghost and having our female actress bee in the same room but not seeing the lead singer. Little effects like this created our end product. For example Eminem – Stan, this video is also about violence and abuse, this video created a dark and lonely effect, this was created by effects such as lightning, dark lighting and rain noises. Then at the en shot, with Eminem sitting by the window, every time the lightning stroke, a reflection of Stan appeared. We used a similar effect to portray a ghost effect.
Our media product also includes a digipack which includes a DVD of the music video, the DVD front cover and an magazine advert. By research we have gain knowledge of the conventions in album covers and magazine adverts. We wanted to present the DVD cover by focusing on the band, so we used images from a professional photo shoot to portray this. Our magazine advert was a little different however it still had a link to the band. By using dark and sharp colours were able to create an advert which was simple yet eye-catching effect.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Alongside of the music video, the Digi-Pak helps us portray a certain image of the band towards the public. The magazine advert is more focused on the band single “No More”. The song is about a couple with corruption in their relationship, which leads to domestic violence. We tried to show a dark but eye capturing affect. So we decided to use roses to portray this image. Rose can symbolise love, but a dead rose can symbolise dead love, this links to the relationship between the couple as the love between them is dead. We used very dark colours to create a lonely effect to show the emotions of the female.
The DVD cover was different from the magazine advert because we focused more on the band than the single. We used an image of the band which included all the members to show the audience who they are listening to. Also it has in bold letters “Tarantula” which is the band name. We used clear and straight forward methods to present the DVD cover because we didn’t want to create anything complex which would confuse the audience.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
We surveyed a sample of our target audience aged 16-20 both male and female to gain insight into the positives of the video and also any criticism in order to improve the overall material before wider exposure. Asking peoples opinions in different parts of the production stage allowed the constant development of the project. One of our peers believed that a few more effects would have made the video look better and taking that into account we would have done so if we were to film again.
Our target audience’s feedback was generally very good. We received a good response from the production blending and also in good narration of the music video. People also expressed interest in the design and colour scheme of the print production.
From our audience feedback as a group we decided not to change as much as previously discussed due to the overall positive feedback. We did not learn very much from the feedback however it has played a great role in giving us an insight as to how to go about making video and ancillary texts.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Our main source of research was secondary research; the internet was used the most. Search engines came in hand when research was carried out. We used popular search engines such as Google. This gave us a wide arrange of information as it is the most used search engine in the world, however it had its downfalls, because Google was so popular, the search field was too big and caused confusion. Youtube was also a very helpful source, it allowed us to watch professional music videos and see how things are done in the industry. Youtube helped us analyse music videos and compare them to others. Youtube allowed us to stop, play and pause the clips which made it easier to analyse them.
We used the Canon XM2 Digital Video Camera for filming our music video. This camera had many features which were able to help us create a professional media product. The camera had 20x optical zoom and super low light performance.
We used Final Cut Pro to edit our product, this was a major advantage as the software was a new and updated software and we could easily adapt to the software’s features. Final Cut Pro was running on a highly generated Apple Macintosh which was only recently introduced to the college.
To create the digipack we used Adobe Photoshop. This allowed us to improve the quality of the images being presented to our audience. This also introduce new effects that were not commonly known to us to help create a better product overall. Photoshop gives a more professional approach to our product, for example our magazine advert was majorly influenced by features on Photoshop. We took an image of a rose from the internet, however it didn’t blend very well with the band name on the advert, so Photoshop helped us to create colour effects which made the advert easy to the eye.
To gain audience feedback we used Youtube and Facebook. Youtube was very useful as it is a popular online streaming site providing users with a platform to share media, allowing an audience of millions to view and also provide feedback on a video of any production scale. Facebook provided service to share the video amongst our friends and contacts. During our production stage were uploaded our documentation onto a blog. The blog allows the audience to see our production stages and view the types of information were receiving during our research process.
During the production stage of this project, I have learnt many things in the media industry and how thing are done professionally, also on the way I have picked up many skills which would help me in the near future.
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