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

The Music Video and Digipak production that we have made represent the target genre that we intended to go for. We had done this in many different ways. First of all we research all about our specific target audiences of similar artists and bands and worked from that. we looked at bands such as the 'Foals' and 'Heavy Vegetable'. The specific target audience was indie/folk. The main generalization of a person would be skinny jeans buttoned up polo shirt or just plain tee, with longish hair and some sort of plimsolls shoe e.g. Vans or Converse.

'The Foals'


This is an image of the foals, which represents the target audience of indie/geek rock.

 

 The way we chose the actors to adjust the way they behaved throughout the video in the shoot. We planned quite a lot before hand to know what we were doing with the costume and what was happening within the shots to specifically suit the target audience and therefore they can relate or see themselves reflected on to them. This links in with the (Lacan theory)of the audience being able to view themselves or what they look like through media. The costume we decided to use in the music video shoot fitted well with the specific genre of indie folk which the dress code was based on a 'geeky masculinity theme'. The costumes alone, we dont think was enough to make the video all the 'indie' genre, so we decided on touching on other little things such as the mise en scene like the bicycle and the whole theme of the beach. We realised during our research that the specific genre of music type was very dominated by the male gender, so therefore we made sure this suited our music video as well.

Research into similar artists and their album covers and adverts showed us a lot about the genre, so therefore when i had done my digipak i had made sure that it didnt look to mainstream and indie/folk music is more low fi music. So when i chose my format of the CD case i decided to chose a simplistic format with just the fold in and out case. On top of that the font that i used seemed to fit well as it looked handmade and amateur yet artistic and stylistic.

Our music video has many conventions of the intended genre thqat we were going for, which includes the narrative and how it is simplistic but yet has chapters to give it a good storyline. The lifestyle which is represented by the narrative and actors is very carefree and relaxed which i believe sets the scene to the intended target audience and therefore they can relate to it well.

Also the other part of my coursework shows the same intention of the genre but as a digipak and an advert. As we researched into similar artists from details from the content, e.g. the NME rating (the indie/rock/folk genre would be in this particular magazine) to just the layout of the advert and all of the album cover (front, insides and back). I think that the imagery and font work particuarly well with the genre as the font is artistic yet amateur and the images used are of the actors in their costumes so it suits it well.

Todays youth is predominantly seen as either a 'hoody' or some other sort of word which comes across as threatening, as teenagers today have a very negative representation. During the video shootand the album cover artwork, we and i tried to make to the audience seem rather carefree and fun, therefore showing the opposing side to the negativity of teens.

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

During the research and planning process during year 13, I have used many programs and software which have allowed me to accomplish the things I have wanted to. I used such websites as Youtube to get the music video planning that I needed which I either made a presentation in Microsoft power point or write an essay in Microsoft office word. Posting all my research and planning to a blog (blogspot.com or blogger) saves the hassle of all the paper work and also it is just in one place and as the majority of people having internet nowadays it is a lot easier to access. Blogger or Blogspotis a lot more interactive with multimedia as it allows your to embed videos and stills from the internet. Allowing you to put this in to your work for easier understandment or just to interact with your essay or planning.

During the construction of our music video and the digipak product we used a lot more programs. For the music video we used Premier Elements. This software allows you to put clips from your own video camera and connect them together using effects. The program is very helpful mainly for our age group as it is relitively easy to use but at the same time not to complicated to use. It looks a lot more professional compared to another movie maker software like windows movie maker. The effects we used helped us a lot mainly just to brighten the scene of the whole video, such as playing with the brightness and contrast of the video image.

The song we used, we decided, was too long for the footage that we had and wanted to use. Therefore we had to use another program called Audacity to cut the song to the right length that we wanted it to be at. It allowed us to open the song and to cut it precisely to the beat to fit the on screen action.

The digipak i believe was the hardest to make out of all of the media we have used in year 13. This is mainly because i have never used photoshop before. But the more i used it, the more i got used to it. Photoshop allowed me to edit the image by changing the contrast and tone and even just putting an image on top of another without it looking daft or unreal.

Whilst at the evaluation stages, it was a good idea to use different types of media for each question on the evaluation. So for example for a question i may use a Prezi (online presentation) and for another just a word document or a powerpoint. Another way we could do it is either a video-ed or recorded interview answering the evaluation questions. This gives it a nice variation instead of looking at the same old blank document of word on the blog and changes it up a little bit. It also allows teachers to teach students about new media technologies so if they go on to further education or into the media industry they have an insight of what they are going to.

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

The music video and ancillary texts were quite similar to each other in different ways. They linked in many ways, but the main way was that I used stills from my music video to be in my CD case and magazine advert. I used these as I thought they represented the genre of music well and they were strong, stand out images. I edited them using Photoshop and changed the colouring on the images and put a flourish in the backdrop to make them look different and more outstanding for the digipak.

As our music video target audience and target audience for our band was males, around the ages of 16 to 20. Therefore in our music video, we casted our actors to this specific target audience. This then allows the audience to relate to it as its like mirroring themselves (Lacan Theory) and then the stills in the CD and advert. They also can connect with the sense throughout the music video of the teenagers having fun and just chilling on the beach and just being carefree. This also represents an ideology to our target audience illustrating a carefree and fun lifestyle.

The location of the beach in our music video is the main location which connotates happy and fun as most beaches do. The British beach senses some sort of danger but fun at the same time with the concept of weather and lack of sunlight. The beach theme also links with my digipak based on the flourish I used in the backdrop of most of my photos gives it the beach theme towards all of the photos I used including the actual CD.

Our target audience links with the stylistic genre of the digipak and music video. The genre would have to have an indie/folk characteristic to it as the music for the video is in that genre of music. This means that the style, feel and image of the music video and CD had to be ‘in sync’ and coherent. For the CD and advert we did this by researching similar artists such as ‘foals’ and progressing from that. It was the same for the music video but we had to do extra to make sure it looked like we wanted it to suit the genre.

Target Audience

Planning Prints Production

Actors and Casting

Shooting Schedule

Media Theory

Hypodermic Needle Effect

This Theory suggests that the information from a text decodes into the audiences minds unmediated. This means that it goes in uncritically and you take it in with out questioning. This theory is still used by parents, politicians and pressure groups, and is explained why certain groups in society should not be exposed to certain media texts, e.g rap/hip hop videos or olden comics. this is as there could be a cause that they could act out what they see e.g. sexual or violent behaviour.

Uses & Gradificactions

Texts that reflect Personal indentity. This suggests that the recepetion of media is often dependant on the context. E.g. Director Encodes a text and then the text is decoded on the audiences. Preferred readers agree with the directors intentions and abberrant readers disagree with the directors intentions.

In 1948, Lasswell suggested that media texts had the following functions for individuals and society : surveillance, correlation, entertainment and cultural transmission.

Researchers Bulmer and Katz expanded this theory and published their own in 1974, stating that individuals might choose a text for the following purposes:
Diversion - Escape from everyday problems and routines.
Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction.
Personal Identity - Finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts.
Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living.

Since then it has been extended further, particually as new media forms have come along, eg Internet and Video games

How Does your Production target a specific audience demographic? and What Aspect of your Music Video will your target audience identify with?

The demographic of our audience would probably be for teens around the ages of 16 to 20 but also probably C2 and C1 catorgory for demographics. The genre of the music video and song is mostly represented as ‘Indie’. This is teens who usually shop in stores like top shop or h and m, who wear skinny jeans, vans trainers and buttoned up shirts or polos. In our video most of the people are wearing something that teens would wear so they can relate to them, as well as other elements of the video.



Our audience is likely to consume culture and bands like 'the foals' and less heard of bands. They prefer more alternative to mainstream music, more of a niche audience. i dont think you can put such specific things like video games as everyone is different and some people play and some people don't. Our audience is probably more likely to buy items of the internet on ebay or amazon. these include DVD's and cd's. items which are more media orientated. they would also use sites like youtube to access music and music videos and maybe social networking (facebook, myspace or twitter) or blog sharing websites.

I think that many aspects of our music video can relate to our target audience in different ways. Firstly the fast cuts used in the music video keep the viewer interested by helping to create a sense of action.

In the music video we have the location of a beach. This itself con notates fun and enjoyment. We have a lot of actors in the video just having fun and having a laugh on the beach in simplest terms, therefore making the target audience or people watching the video share the feeling and character of it.

At the end of the music video we have shots the actors with flares running around. This could be considered which dangerous yet adventurous which many of the youth culture today will enjoy.

Answers from questionaire

I asked about 10 people to tell me about how they found music and how the use it etc. these are the results that came back.

Question 1 - The most Common answer was youtube. This is a free browsing and video uploading website that is available to anyone. The next following answers were itunes and illegal downloading.

Question 2 - People surveyed and came out with the answer ipod. this is probably the most common piece of technology used today. Some other people came out with Computer and Radio.

Question 3 - There were many variations of answers for this question including the usual youtube and itunes but also fiding unsigned artisit through friends, social networking and gigs or festivals.

The next questions are more personal answers so i have shown the personal favourites.

Question 4 - 'music videos are good for marketing brands as the videos empathise the messages trying to be sent out by the lyrics/artist'

Question 5 - 'You need to experience some sort of emotion, joy/sadness/mystery etc'

Question 8 - 'I think people who support this band all recognise what this band did for music both at that stage and where it is now, so it does make me feel part of that community'

Question 10 - 'alternative until they lose their identity in the mainstream'

How do you access music? Ie YouTube, iTunes, illegal downloading, retail etc
How do you listen to music? iPod, computer radio etc

How do you find out about unsigned bands? Social network, YouTube, gigs/festivals etc
Do you think music videos are a good way to Market a band?why?

What do you expect from music videos?fast moving images,performance shots etc

Identify an artist/band which has influenced your values/ideology, dress code, lifestyle choices, aspirations

Can you identify an artist you strongly identify with?

If you belong to a strong fan base does this make you feel you belong to a community? Why?

How often do you go to live performances?

Do you prefer alternative to mainstream?