Monday, 25 March 2013
In love with Alma Cogan - (Cromer pier)
Coincidentally, a film was released near the time that I constructed my music video called 'In love with Alma Cogan'. The film was based entirely around the location of Cromer Beach - exactly the same location as where I have set the majority of my music video. I looked at the trailer and some shots from the film in order to attempt to gain some inspiration in terms of shots for my music video. See the trailer below:
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Question 3 (unfinished)
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
It was essential to determine my exact audience for my products as I would have to base material around this audience as a result. They act as a target in which I need to aim for with my products to achieve successful responses. After thorough research into what I considered, similar artists, I named my audience as 'indie'. I searched bands that I felt replicated the musical influences heard in my chosen band's music and then looked at bands that are considered by the public as similar to them. I did this by looking at the section 'customers also bought' on popular website www.amazon.co.uk. All of the bands that were suggested here come under the category of the 'indie' genre, whether it be indie/rock, indie/pop, indie/electro etc. This confirmed to me, both the genre of my music video and the audience I will be targeting.
This audience is almost impossible to describe exactly as it is so widely varied in modern day society. The indie subculture has become victim to a bricolage effect in society and now contains aspects of many other subcultures. As a result it is difficult to pinpoint any specific characteristics of the genre that make it stand out. As well as targeting an 'indie' audience, I also included aspects of pop culture into my products as I was aware that the music is edging on the pop genre - I named this as a secondary audience.
Feedback Method 1
Teacher Feedback:
With the blogs being the set up for our coursework, we are able to receive constant feedback via the blogs themselves. Our teachers have constant access to the blogs and each post we upload. This enables them to view and comment on our posts instantly rather than having to wait until we see them to receive constructive help. We are also given the opportunity to reply to these comments should there be anything within the comment that we are unsure of. As well as this we are able to e-mail teachers if easier and they have been responding as quickly as possible to provide us with sufficient feedback.
As well as being given advice on how to improve our posts, it is also nice to read compliments on work when given by a teacher. This increases confidence and allows us to see what we are doing well so that we can continue to do this and achieve as good a grade as possible.
Feedback method 2
Peer Assessment:
I questioned my peers (fellow students) regarding my video. This was not only very easy and accessible as the students were almost always with me during the process of constructing and finalising the music video, but it was also very useful: The students are able to compare the video to their own where necessary and suggest improvements and they can also explain to me how I should altar my material to make it more appealing to them as many belong to the audience I am specifically targeting.
I carried out this method of research by presenting the assessors with a paper questionnaire. This questionnaire contains a range of questions that I feel will provide me with valid feedback in order to aid the success of future projects.
The responses to this question were very pleasing. I received 100% positive feedback with all of the people questioned answering with either a 4 or a 5. As previously stated, because of the people remaining anonymous, it was difficult for me to determine their cultural choices as individuals. Therefore I concluded that my video was edging towards a pop genre, which attracts a much wider audience and can often be associable to many people across different subcultures rather than an individual one.
Question 2 - Did it hold your attention? (Scale of 1 to 5)
Although the answer to this question could again arguably be based around whether or not you like the genre of music in which the video comes under; a video can still hold your attention regardless of this. For example, an individual who considers themselves as a follower of the folk genre could still be very intrigued into a hard-hitting, heavy metal song with a peculiar music video to accompany it and might watch the video to the very end. With this in mind, I was hoping for a high score on this question from most of the people answering the questionnaire as one thing I was hoping to achieve with my music video is an interesting narrative in which two people fight the constraints of love - a popular theme in both modern day society and more specifically the music industry itself.
I was again very happy with the answers to this question. The feedback was again 100% positive with no scores lower than 4. I was not surprised by the feedback despite how happy I was - I worked extremely hard on creating a narrative structure that an audience could relate to. No matter what genre you are interested in or what subculture you belong to, love will always take place in your life and this is the exact theme that my entire video surrounds. Therefore, the story told in my video is one all can associate with.
Question 3 - How do you rate the camera work and editing? (Scale of 1 to 5)
This question is not supplied with a comment box and therefore should a low score occur it will be hard for me to understand what it is that the person feels I need to improve on. Therefore I took the responses as a general and as a result I hoped for more positive feedback. With the research done throughout this media course - both AS and A2 - I feel I have gained a good knowledge and understanding of camera angles and techniques and this being my final production I had hoped that I had enforced my skills accordingly.
Feedback for this question was yet again positive which pleased me greatly. One thing learnt over the course of the last two years is the ultimate importance of camera work and editing techniques in order to portray a message. I focused on detail with my shots and the editing process afterwards in order to attempt to achieve a successful video and my feedback makes me believe that I achieved this goal.
Question 4 - How do you rate the standard of mis-en-scene? (Scale of 1 to 5)
This again was a question that I hoped would receive a positive response. I had researched and planned a lot in the lead up to the music video regarding mis-en-scene e.g. costume, location etc. I feel that the amount of research and planning I did on these aspects should credit success in these areas.
My feedback was as I hoped, positive. I was pleased that my hard work in the research and planning stages of my production paid off. I carefully constructed every minute detail, whether it be the costume on each character, or the location in which the video was set, or even the very few props used in the video. Each detail that was used in the video was used for a specific purpose in order to represent different things. I feel that this is the makings of a truly successful music video and to know that the symbolism and representation is showing in my work feels very rewarding.
Question 5 - Was the music video... too short, correct length, too long, don't know ?
I feel that this question is not entirely applicable to my music video. The story has a narrative structure and I used Andrew Goodwin's theory of 'link between lyrics and visuals' in my video. This meant that I needed the entire song to play in my video so that I could use each lyric in order to tell the story I intended to. Nonetheless it would be interesting to see whether people think the length is either too short or too long as I could possibly consider cutting the music in future projects.
Luckily, all feedback suggested that my music video was the correct length and so I did not have to take this into consideration. I feel that the narrative structure is the main focus in my video and the length is slightly irrelevant - it depends entirely on the narrative.
Question 6 - Would you listen to it again? (Yes, No, Undecided)
This question, alike question 1, depends mostly on the individual and whether or not my music video is of interest to them. At the same time, if my music video was really successful, it could potentially interest an audience from a range of subcultures. This would suggest that my music video belongs perhaps to the pop genre as well as approaching an individual audience.
All people questioned except one noted that they would listen to my music video again. Even the person who did not answer with 'yes' circled 'undecided' - This makes me confident that my video was intriguing enough to interest people in order to watch it again. A reason for these answers is not recorded in this questionnaire, neither an individual profile - it is therefore difficult to evaluate feedback. Nonetheless, positive feedback speaks for itself and I feel confident enough with the answers given here that my music video was interesting.
Question 11 - Does the video reflect the style of music?
This question is arguably the most important of the questionnaire. It is all well and good for someone to enjoy the music video, but for the project to be a true success and the criteria be met, it is vitally important to attract the target audience - in order to do this, the video has to reflect the genre of music in question.
The feedback for this question was 83% positive. Only one person was undecided as to whether the music video reflected the genre of music. I am happy with this feedback. As previously mentioned, a lot of time and effort was put into the research of generic conventions for the genre and planning was carried out accordingly. The fact that I have both developed and in some cases challenged the conventions of the genre could be the reason that the one exception was unsure of the reflection to the style of music.
Question 12 - Does the video successfully promote the artist/band/group? (Yes, No, Undecided)
This question, although relevant and important, I did not consider as essential for my feedback compared to the others. This is mainly because I focused more on promoting the band in my digipak and magazine advert production. Although I believe I promoted the band to an extent in my video, I chose a narrative structure over a performance based video and therefore I feel I had less chance to promote the band and therefore focused on doing this in my print productions instead.
Surprisingly, the feedback was almost entirely positive. 5 out of 6 respondents felt that the band was successfully promoted in the video. I assume that this response is based on the majority shots of the lead singer and they have based this response on this performer individually rather than the band as a whole. I can understand these answers as in modern day music industry we are more familiar with the lead singers of bands over the other band members.
Strengths of research:
Feedback Method 3
Online Survey:
I created an online survey using the website www.surveymonkey.com. The website was easy to follow and this meant that a structured and complex survey could be produced quickly, enabling me to receive constructive feedback that could be considered when editing my video or for future projects.
View and take the survey here: http://charlieclarkea2mediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/survey.html
I chose not to post and publicise my video on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and consequently, the amount of people who knew about my video was limited. The respondents to my survey remained low and valid feedback was not gained as a result.
In future projects I will be sure to post my work across as many sites as possible in order to 'spread the word' and ensure that the maximum amount of people are viewing and commenting on my video as possible.
Nonetheless, the very little feedback that I did receive was entirely positive which gives me the confidence that the skills shown in my video successfully achieved a positive response from an audience.
Strengths of research:
Feedback Method 4
Communal Viewing:
As a class, we watched each video together and provided each other with verbal feedback.
The feedback from my group was mostly positive although some areas for improvement were suggested. I recorded notes for each of these suggestions in order to consider improvements for my video. I also asked the people who did have something to comment, their age and also their musical interests so that I could perhaps understand why they said what they did about my music video and whether or not I should incorporate their suggestions into the edit of my video.
I noticed that the only female respondent really liked the video. She specifically mentioned her appreciation towards the representation of gender which explained the reason why she perhaps liked the video so much. My primary audience was not female and to have somebody from the opposite sex to which I was targeting comment on how much they enjoyed my video made me very pleased. As well as this, it confirmed to me that my challenging of representation of gender was successful.
This respondent addressed individual aspects of the video, particularly location and transitions. I assume that this is mostly because of the fact he is a fellow media student and therefore is aware of the effort put into the details. When asked, he noted that he loves the pop genre and rarely enjoys any other music. This could suggest two things to me: either that my video was so appealing that it reaches a wider audience and is liked by many; or the video is edging towards the pop genre as well as indie.
This comment was the most interesting for me and also most helpful in summing up audience feedback. at first glimpse, the comments seemed contradictory. The respondent claims to be part of the indie culture and love indie music, although he did not like my video that targets this specific audience and at the same time he believed that the music and visuals complimented each other well. When reading more deeply into the comment I was again hinted towards the fact that the genre of my music video is slightly 'pop' and this could be the reason for the dislike towards the project from this person.
Strengths of research:
Print productions
Conclusion
Male and female differentiation:
I expected a male audience to enjoy my music video and appreciate my artwork more than a female audience. This assumption is for two main reasons:
1) I used different techniques in my video in order to gain sympathy towards the male lead singer and as a result I would naturally suggest that a male audience can associate with this character more so than a female audience. My print productions are also dominated by photos of the artists - of which are all male.
2) The audience in which I am targeting is arguably male dominated; a key connection with my audience demographic would be 'skaters' and this hobby specifically is highly male dominated. As well as this, the music industry itself is male dominated - for example the 'similar artists' recommended to me on amazon (mentioned earlier in the post) are 100% male artists.
As a result, I targeted a male demographic with my feedback methods in order to gain useful and valid feedback from an audience that I believe to be the target for my video.
My expectations were somewhat correct as the male audience that reviewed my video responded positively. However, the female audience also seemed to enjoy my video based on feedback. Although a small sample was questioned, the feedback from these was almost entirely positive.
This suggests to me that my video is edging on the pop genre as this is slightly more female orientated with artists such as Nicki Minaj, Beyonce and Rihanna all targeting an audience, hugely female dominated.
I have concluded that the reason for my positive feedback from a female audience is because of the conventional representation challenges I made in my video. The female gender was not objectified or sexualised in my video and I believe that a more mature, female audience will respect this aspect of my video and enjoy the content as a result. On top of this, in my video the female character rejects the male lead singer which goes entirely against the norms in both the music industry and modern day society. It is stereotyped that males dominate females when it comes to relationships and the challenge that I have made to this stereotype, I believe will again be respected from my female audience members.
Demographic alteration:
After thoroughly analysing all feedback I have recorder, I became aware of the fact that perhaps the pop genre applies to my music video and print productions more that first thought.
Audience members who have proven to enjoy my productions have been identified as having interests into the pop genre. As well as this, my productions reached out to a much wider female audience than I first expected. The pop genre is dominated by a female demographic whereas my original genre is not and this adds to the suggestion that the demographic for my audience should perhaps be altered.
My reasoning for this is mostly because of the challenges I have shown regarding stereotypical representation and conventional features of the genre. This was purposely done in order to gain a reaction and I with the feedback received i believe i have been successful in doing this. I intend to remain with the audience I originally named but add a sub-audience to this description.
My new genre and target audience would be: indie/pop.
It was essential to determine my exact audience for my products as I would have to base material around this audience as a result. They act as a target in which I need to aim for with my products to achieve successful responses. After thorough research into what I considered, similar artists, I named my audience as 'indie'. I searched bands that I felt replicated the musical influences heard in my chosen band's music and then looked at bands that are considered by the public as similar to them. I did this by looking at the section 'customers also bought' on popular website www.amazon.co.uk. All of the bands that were suggested here come under the category of the 'indie' genre, whether it be indie/rock, indie/pop, indie/electro etc. This confirmed to me, both the genre of my music video and the audience I will be targeting.
This audience is almost impossible to describe exactly as it is so widely varied in modern day society. The indie subculture has become victim to a bricolage effect in society and now contains aspects of many other subcultures. As a result it is difficult to pinpoint any specific characteristics of the genre that make it stand out. As well as targeting an 'indie' audience, I also included aspects of pop culture into my products as I was aware that the music is edging on the pop genre - I named this as a secondary audience.
It was important to avoid narcissism in the music video and print productions. The audience I intended to target are a demographic who share my cultural view on both the world and more specifically, the music industry. I was made sure of this when looking at the 'similar artists' suggested in my research and realising that each artist put forward, I have listened to and enjoyed their music.The aspirations and appreciation of art, drama and literature are also similar, meaning that I would potentially create a project that appeals to me rather than focusing on my audience specifically. This is not such a negative thing in my case as the audience, as stated, have similar interests to my own; however there are bound to be differential interests and as a result I needed to consider a wider audience throughout the productions of both my music video and print productions in order to avoid this narcissism.
Music Video
Feedback Method 1
Teacher Feedback:
With the blogs being the set up for our coursework, we are able to receive constant feedback via the blogs themselves. Our teachers have constant access to the blogs and each post we upload. This enables them to view and comment on our posts instantly rather than having to wait until we see them to receive constructive help. We are also given the opportunity to reply to these comments should there be anything within the comment that we are unsure of. As well as this we are able to e-mail teachers if easier and they have been responding as quickly as possible to provide us with sufficient feedback.
The teachers are without a doubt the most knowledgeable of everyone involved in this course and to have them at hand to provide you with instant feedback has been extremely useful.
Strengths of research:
- Teachers are knowledgable on the subject at hand and can provide sufficient, general help as a result.
- Teachers have been present throughout entire project and so are aware of individual progress.
- Swift responses.
Weaknesses of research:
- Quantitative data cannot be recorded.
- Teachers are unlikely to belong to the target audience and so some feedback and suggestions could be invalid.
- Sample size is obviously small so only a select opinion is being given rather than a varied one.
Feedback method 2
Peer Assessment:
I questioned my peers (fellow students) regarding my video. This was not only very easy and accessible as the students were almost always with me during the process of constructing and finalising the music video, but it was also very useful: The students are able to compare the video to their own where necessary and suggest improvements and they can also explain to me how I should altar my material to make it more appealing to them as many belong to the audience I am specifically targeting.
I carried out this method of research by presenting the assessors with a paper questionnaire. This questionnaire contains a range of questions that I feel will provide me with valid feedback in order to aid the success of future projects.
Question 1 - How much did you enjoy the video? (Scale of 1 to 5)
The answers to this question would vary depending on the individual. Unlike many later questions, the answer to this will depend entirely on the opinion of the individual. Should the individual belong to the subculture I am targeting then I would hope that the enjoyment rating would be at least 4 or 5. On the other hand, if the person assessing does not enjoy the genre of which the music video is based upon and they belong to a completely contrasting culture, I would expect the enjoyment rating to be quite low. Because the questionnaire is anonymous and the person is not required to give details of their lifestyle, it would be hard for me to respond to the answers to this question.
The responses to this question were very pleasing. I received 100% positive feedback with all of the people questioned answering with either a 4 or a 5. As previously stated, because of the people remaining anonymous, it was difficult for me to determine their cultural choices as individuals. Therefore I concluded that my video was edging towards a pop genre, which attracts a much wider audience and can often be associable to many people across different subcultures rather than an individual one.
Question 2 - Did it hold your attention? (Scale of 1 to 5)
Although the answer to this question could again arguably be based around whether or not you like the genre of music in which the video comes under; a video can still hold your attention regardless of this. For example, an individual who considers themselves as a follower of the folk genre could still be very intrigued into a hard-hitting, heavy metal song with a peculiar music video to accompany it and might watch the video to the very end. With this in mind, I was hoping for a high score on this question from most of the people answering the questionnaire as one thing I was hoping to achieve with my music video is an interesting narrative in which two people fight the constraints of love - a popular theme in both modern day society and more specifically the music industry itself.
I was again very happy with the answers to this question. The feedback was again 100% positive with no scores lower than 4. I was not surprised by the feedback despite how happy I was - I worked extremely hard on creating a narrative structure that an audience could relate to. No matter what genre you are interested in or what subculture you belong to, love will always take place in your life and this is the exact theme that my entire video surrounds. Therefore, the story told in my video is one all can associate with.
Question 3 - How do you rate the camera work and editing? (Scale of 1 to 5)
This question is not supplied with a comment box and therefore should a low score occur it will be hard for me to understand what it is that the person feels I need to improve on. Therefore I took the responses as a general and as a result I hoped for more positive feedback. With the research done throughout this media course - both AS and A2 - I feel I have gained a good knowledge and understanding of camera angles and techniques and this being my final production I had hoped that I had enforced my skills accordingly.
Feedback for this question was yet again positive which pleased me greatly. One thing learnt over the course of the last two years is the ultimate importance of camera work and editing techniques in order to portray a message. I focused on detail with my shots and the editing process afterwards in order to attempt to achieve a successful video and my feedback makes me believe that I achieved this goal.
Question 4 - How do you rate the standard of mis-en-scene? (Scale of 1 to 5)
This again was a question that I hoped would receive a positive response. I had researched and planned a lot in the lead up to the music video regarding mis-en-scene e.g. costume, location etc. I feel that the amount of research and planning I did on these aspects should credit success in these areas.
My feedback was as I hoped, positive. I was pleased that my hard work in the research and planning stages of my production paid off. I carefully constructed every minute detail, whether it be the costume on each character, or the location in which the video was set, or even the very few props used in the video. Each detail that was used in the video was used for a specific purpose in order to represent different things. I feel that this is the makings of a truly successful music video and to know that the symbolism and representation is showing in my work feels very rewarding.
Question 5 - Was the music video... too short, correct length, too long, don't know ?
I feel that this question is not entirely applicable to my music video. The story has a narrative structure and I used Andrew Goodwin's theory of 'link between lyrics and visuals' in my video. This meant that I needed the entire song to play in my video so that I could use each lyric in order to tell the story I intended to. Nonetheless it would be interesting to see whether people think the length is either too short or too long as I could possibly consider cutting the music in future projects.
Luckily, all feedback suggested that my music video was the correct length and so I did not have to take this into consideration. I feel that the narrative structure is the main focus in my video and the length is slightly irrelevant - it depends entirely on the narrative.
Question 6 - Would you listen to it again? (Yes, No, Undecided)
This question, alike question 1, depends mostly on the individual and whether or not my music video is of interest to them. At the same time, if my music video was really successful, it could potentially interest an audience from a range of subcultures. This would suggest that my music video belongs perhaps to the pop genre as well as approaching an individual audience.
All people questioned except one noted that they would listen to my music video again. Even the person who did not answer with 'yes' circled 'undecided' - This makes me confident that my video was intriguing enough to interest people in order to watch it again. A reason for these answers is not recorded in this questionnaire, neither an individual profile - it is therefore difficult to evaluate feedback. Nonetheless, positive feedback speaks for itself and I feel confident enough with the answers given here that my music video was interesting.
Question 11 - Does the video reflect the style of music?
This question is arguably the most important of the questionnaire. It is all well and good for someone to enjoy the music video, but for the project to be a true success and the criteria be met, it is vitally important to attract the target audience - in order to do this, the video has to reflect the genre of music in question.
The feedback for this question was 83% positive. Only one person was undecided as to whether the music video reflected the genre of music. I am happy with this feedback. As previously mentioned, a lot of time and effort was put into the research of generic conventions for the genre and planning was carried out accordingly. The fact that I have both developed and in some cases challenged the conventions of the genre could be the reason that the one exception was unsure of the reflection to the style of music.
Question 12 - Does the video successfully promote the artist/band/group? (Yes, No, Undecided)
This question, although relevant and important, I did not consider as essential for my feedback compared to the others. This is mainly because I focused more on promoting the band in my digipak and magazine advert production. Although I believe I promoted the band to an extent in my video, I chose a narrative structure over a performance based video and therefore I feel I had less chance to promote the band and therefore focused on doing this in my print productions instead.
Surprisingly, the feedback was almost entirely positive. 5 out of 6 respondents felt that the band was successfully promoted in the video. I assume that this response is based on the majority shots of the lead singer and they have based this response on this performer individually rather than the band as a whole. I can understand these answers as in modern day music industry we are more familiar with the lead singers of bands over the other band members.
Strengths of research:
- Paper based feedback pushes for more complex answers.
Weaknesses of research:
- Anonymous evaluation meaning audience demographic is not recorded.
- Time consuming.
- Analysis of feedback takes time to calculate.
Feedback Method 3
Online Survey:
I created an online survey using the website www.surveymonkey.com. The website was easy to follow and this meant that a structured and complex survey could be produced quickly, enabling me to receive constructive feedback that could be considered when editing my video or for future projects.
View and take the survey here: http://charlieclarkea2mediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/survey.html
I chose not to post and publicise my video on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and consequently, the amount of people who knew about my video was limited. The respondents to my survey remained low and valid feedback was not gained as a result.
In future projects I will be sure to post my work across as many sites as possible in order to 'spread the word' and ensure that the maximum amount of people are viewing and commenting on my video as possible.
Nonetheless, the very little feedback that I did receive was entirely positive which gives me the confidence that the skills shown in my video successfully achieved a positive response from an audience.
Strengths of research:
- Accessible to anybody who has access to the internet (almost everybody these days)
- Answers can be given quickly and easily. Time consumption is not an issue.
- Analysis of results is recorded automatically.
Weaknesses of research:
- Sample size is small unless material is publicised.
- The quick and easy method can sometimes result in complex answers being avoided.
Feedback Method 4
Communal Viewing:
As a class, we watched each video together and provided each other with verbal feedback.
The feedback from my group was mostly positive although some areas for improvement were suggested. I recorded notes for each of these suggestions in order to consider improvements for my video. I also asked the people who did have something to comment, their age and also their musical interests so that I could perhaps understand why they said what they did about my music video and whether or not I should incorporate their suggestions into the edit of my video.
I noticed that the only female respondent really liked the video. She specifically mentioned her appreciation towards the representation of gender which explained the reason why she perhaps liked the video so much. My primary audience was not female and to have somebody from the opposite sex to which I was targeting comment on how much they enjoyed my video made me very pleased. As well as this, it confirmed to me that my challenging of representation of gender was successful.
This comment was the most interesting for me and also most helpful in summing up audience feedback. at first glimpse, the comments seemed contradictory. The respondent claims to be part of the indie culture and love indie music, although he did not like my video that targets this specific audience and at the same time he believed that the music and visuals complimented each other well. When reading more deeply into the comment I was again hinted towards the fact that the genre of my music video is slightly 'pop' and this could be the reason for the dislike towards the project from this person.Strengths of research:
- Audience demographic was recorded.
- Respondents were at hand to confer with.
Weaknesses of research:
- Small sample size.
- Class mates = bias responses?
Print productions
Conclusion
Male and female differentiation:
I expected a male audience to enjoy my music video and appreciate my artwork more than a female audience. This assumption is for two main reasons:
1) I used different techniques in my video in order to gain sympathy towards the male lead singer and as a result I would naturally suggest that a male audience can associate with this character more so than a female audience. My print productions are also dominated by photos of the artists - of which are all male.
2) The audience in which I am targeting is arguably male dominated; a key connection with my audience demographic would be 'skaters' and this hobby specifically is highly male dominated. As well as this, the music industry itself is male dominated - for example the 'similar artists' recommended to me on amazon (mentioned earlier in the post) are 100% male artists.
As a result, I targeted a male demographic with my feedback methods in order to gain useful and valid feedback from an audience that I believe to be the target for my video.
My expectations were somewhat correct as the male audience that reviewed my video responded positively. However, the female audience also seemed to enjoy my video based on feedback. Although a small sample was questioned, the feedback from these was almost entirely positive.
This suggests to me that my video is edging on the pop genre as this is slightly more female orientated with artists such as Nicki Minaj, Beyonce and Rihanna all targeting an audience, hugely female dominated.
I have concluded that the reason for my positive feedback from a female audience is because of the conventional representation challenges I made in my video. The female gender was not objectified or sexualised in my video and I believe that a more mature, female audience will respect this aspect of my video and enjoy the content as a result. On top of this, in my video the female character rejects the male lead singer which goes entirely against the norms in both the music industry and modern day society. It is stereotyped that males dominate females when it comes to relationships and the challenge that I have made to this stereotype, I believe will again be respected from my female audience members.
Demographic alteration:
After thoroughly analysing all feedback I have recorder, I became aware of the fact that perhaps the pop genre applies to my music video and print productions more that first thought.
Audience members who have proven to enjoy my productions have been identified as having interests into the pop genre. As well as this, my productions reached out to a much wider female audience than I first expected. The pop genre is dominated by a female demographic whereas my original genre is not and this adds to the suggestion that the demographic for my audience should perhaps be altered.
My reasoning for this is mostly because of the challenges I have shown regarding stereotypical representation and conventional features of the genre. This was purposely done in order to gain a reaction and I with the feedback received i believe i have been successful in doing this. I intend to remain with the audience I originally named but add a sub-audience to this description.
My new genre and target audience would be: indie/pop.
Monday, 18 March 2013
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Question 2
We were aware of the fact that once our music video had been completed, we would have to produce both a digipak and a magazine advert to accompany our videos as a promotional package in order to promote the band and their music.
I felt that it was vital to ensure that the music video was relatable to the print productions. They needed to include the same aspects of mis-en-scen and as a result, highlight the same themes, motifs and representations. This would enable an audience to recognise the package after seeing the video and vice versa.
Due to the thorough research and planning into the construction of our music videos, it was easy for us to determine what the conventional aspects were that we either used, developed or challenged although it was putting this across to the print productions which was the difficult task at hand. It was no longer a video we were working with but instead several still images that need to contain every inch of detail possible in order to connote the themes necessary.
Panel 1
 |
Panel 1
One aspect of my front panel that I would argue relates to my music video would be the performers that are central to the photography. I wanted to use this panel as a way of publicising the band and allowing them to become more recognisable to the public. The front panel is after all, the only thing seen at first glimpse when on a cd rack in a shop. I have also one this to an extent in my video with numerous shots of the lead singer. This allows him to gain publicity and become a recognisable face as a result.
I have used a city based location on my front cover in order to relate to the roots of the genre at hand. I wanted to allow my target audience to understand the conventional features used and what better way than to use a location at the centre of the genre. The brick wall in the background is not obvious to see from a far, however I hoped that the darkness would intrigue viewers and at a closer look the convention could be established. I also included several shots of the city in my video in order to use this convention throughout my video. This link between video and ancillary text is small and not obvious although it proves of high importance.
Panel 2 and 3
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| Panel 2 and 3 |
The ocean reflects the theme of love in my music video; the constant movement of the waves and the waves crashing onto the shore reflect the emotional turmoil that one goes through with the constraints of love and the neglect and trauma they can feel from its consequences. Although not centred in the photography, I wanted to make sure that the ocean was present in my digipaks. It would also be noticeable, recognisable and relatable to my video for its audience because of the fact I have challenged locational conventions with basing my video on a beach. My video differs from the majority and so it is likely that people would make the link between video and print production here.
I intended to capture as much of the beach as I possibly could in the photography. I used both panel 2 and 3 for the same picture in order to capture a wide, panoramic effect for the photograph and as a result, achieve a photograph that has a lot of the location within it. There are various shots in my music video in which I feel I have captured an entire landscape rather than individual aspects of the seaside e.g. the ocean. I have used this technique in both my video and my print productions in order for the audience to grasp a real understanding of location and the way in which I have challenged the conventions surrounding this aspect.
The effect given to the photograph I feel gives it a somewhat surreal effect. The colours, although realistic, are not natural and I would say help to connote the mystical adventure of love. I wanted my audience to feel happy by the end of my video rather than upset about the constraints of love and in order to do this I tried to use bright colours in my video also that help to signify happiness. The pinks, blues and yellows seen in the screenshot taken from my video here, are all colours that stereotypically have positive connotations. By using these colours to symbolise happiness I feel that I have created a recurring motif of this happiness that can result from love - in both my video and my artwork.
Panel 4
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| Panel 4 |
I wanted to include city based locations into my print productions as these are a conventional feature of my chosen genre. The style of music I chose was born in the city and I wanted to address this. In my music videos, the only city based shots that occur are during flashbacks. I wanted to use my artwork as though the stills captured are flashbacks and in order to do this I had to directly associate with the techniques that were used in my video to signify that a flashback was taking place. I used a blurred image in my video which I felt represented the disorientation that can be experienced if a flashback occurs. I blurred the scenic parts of the photo for this panel to again represent disorientation just like in my video.
For the majority of the music video, when he is in the shot, the lead singer is walking towards the camera - I did this in order to symbolise the fact that he is walking into his troubles that love has presented him with. In the last shot however, I contrasted this with a shot where he is walking away from the camera. This is the only time in the video that he does this and I used this as my end shot in order to create hope amongst the audience so that they are aware that it is possible to overcome the constraints of love and walk away from the troubles that it presents. I replicated this kind of shot in the back cover
Magazine Advert
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| Magazine Advert |
I feel that there are lots of juxtaposing images in my video. A juxtaposition is the placement of two things together that contrast with one another. For example, if a halo was placed above the devil's head it would be juxtaposing. For me, the inspiration for this technique came from a shot in the film 'Edward Scissorhands'. I tried to echo this exact shot with the colours used. I wanted the grey of the sky that covers the Norfolk coast to completely juxtapose the bright colours that surround the beach. I feel I successfully achieved this and the shots seemed to look very powerful when played back. Due to the success of these shots in the video I wanted to use something similar in my artwork. My magazine advert was the perfect component for this as I had a large canvas to work with. I filled the majority of the advert with grey sky and injected colour to truly juxtapose the advert. The red-ish colours contrast with the dull grey sky and I feel achieve the exact image I intended to produce.
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| Shot from Edward Scissorhands |
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| Similar shot used in my music video |
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| Similar techniques used in my magazine advert |
Going through the video chronologically looking at individual shots it is easier to see what I mean:
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| Here the weather is extremely dull and forebodes a negative feel throughout the rest of the video. |
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| When circling the boys character the sky looks dull in order to surround him with connotations of sadness. |
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| The girl's characterisation here contains a brighter sky which suggests she is happier at this time. |
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| The boy here is again subject to bad weather in the mis-en-scene. |
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| The sky is again very dull and cloudy which suggests even further his misery. |
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| Here, as the boy walks away from his troubles, the sky seems much clearer and brighter suggesting he is happy now. |
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| Colour of the sky in my magazine advert. |
I wanted to use this technique of pathetic fallacy in my magazine advert also. I achieved this by adapting the colouring of the sky in the photograph to make it appear very grey and dingy. It is perhaps contradictory that I have ended my music video in a happy way yet I am suggesting misery in my promotional packages, however, I feel that this helps to display the ups and downs of love which proves a key theme in my video.
Which magazine would publish your advert and why?
I would name the magazine most likely to publish my advert as NME. They regularly include articles in their magazine regarding new bands and they like to publicise these just as much as the well know, already successful artists. I feel that the music genre of which my project has surrounded is one often included in NME magazine. After visiting their website and viewing various articles I saw that their feature articles regard artists I have previously recognised as similar to my own and they even have a tab at the top of their page labelled 'new music'. I believe that my advert would be perfectly suitable for this magazine.Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Music Video
Costume
The girls in the video are all wearing quite dull colours which was purposely chosen to challenge generic conventions of the genre. Usually you would see at least some bright colours on each character in music videos belonging to the 'indie' genre, however in my video I wanted to portray the girl(s) in a negative light in order to gain sympathy amongst the audience for the main boy character and so I decided to challenge a convention here so that this attempt was successful.
The traditional representation of gender in the music industry is male dominated. More often than not a music video contains a male lead and we always hear of much more upcoming 'boy bands' over 'girl groups'. Take, for example, NME magazine - on the website under the article '20 Most Exciting New Bands Of 2013' 17 out of the 20 new artists were male dominated - this highlights the absolute domination of males in the music industry. You can see the article here:
At the same time I have challenged generic associations of gender in the music industry. A study from 2009 called 'join the dots' looks at how women are objectified. One point made was how men are stereotypically represented as 'independent, adventurous, unemotional and competent'. I clearly chalenge this stereotype in my music video as the main character in the production (a boy) goes through mental instability and has a breakdown. This highlights how he is quite clearly not 'unemotional'.
It could be argued that the female genre are often portrayed in a negative light in the indie/pop genre through use of sexualisation. World famous female artists of today are more often than not, publicised in their music video wearing minimal clothing and acting provocatively - for example: Rihanna, Nicki Minaj - I have challenged this representation by having all girls in my music video, fully dressed, unlike many female artists belonging to my genre in modern day society. Another stereotype that comes with the sexualisation of women is the domination and superiority of the male genre in the music industry. Men are often seen as the superior sex, usually automatically when women are objectified. I have again challenged this with the content of my video. The narrative structure in the video sees the main girl rejecting the lead vocalist (male) and therefore gong against the norms in the music industry regarding gender representation.
Location
I instead, for the vast majority of my video, used the seaside location in order to add movement and aesthetic pleasure to the mise-en-scene. The movement of the sea reflects the emotional turmoil of the performer as he reflects on a broken relationship. The sea here is personified and helps to establish the mood of the character, thus placing us in his position and ultimately meaning we sympathise with him. This technique is used throughout many forms of media, and perhaps most literally in the film '(500) days of summer' in which a drawing of a tree is altered depending on the mood of the main, boy character in the film. E.g. happy character = bright green, summer tree; unhappy character = bare, winter tree. This reference is even more suitable because of the similarity in music between my track and the track list used in the film. Arttists such as 'Regina Spektor' and 'The smiths' are notably similar to my band and this reference is even more applicable as a result. The technique in which weather reflects mood is sometimes referred to as pathetic fallacy and used throughout literature as a generic convention. I have used this conventional feature here.
It is vitally important to be aware of the roots of your genre and I wanted to enforce my knowledge through location to a certain extent. I would argue that the vast majority of artists within my genre are male dominated bands and the stereotypical/conventional assumption for the production of their music originates from the comfort of their own bedroom. With the extraordinary growth in music technology in the last decade, it has become both cheap and easy to produce music from the comfort of your own home and this idea is directly associated with my genre (see section 'independent artists and technology' within link) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_music#Independent_artists_and_technology
Music Video
Costume
The costume in my music video uses, develops and challenges the conventions of real media products. The main boy in the video is wearing a Fred Perry harrington jacket which is a generic association of the genre that my music video is approaching, therefore a generic convention of mis-en-scene is used. He is also wearing skinny jeans and trainers which again can be linked to the generic costume of members from the sub-culture I am targeting. I used the ideas of Andrew Goodwin here and looked at genre and characteristics. Goodwin looks at how there are certain characteristics/specifics of music videos within genres that are recurring factors, and costume is a key example of this assumption - for example the rap genre is known for gold chains and baggy jeans whereas an indie audience might wear skinny jeans and sneakers (like in my video). His clothing is quite bright which could arguably suggest that I have developed this convention further. This was also used as a symbolisation for the eventual happiness of the character as the bright colours suggest a happy feel.
I have also used costume as an aspect of popular culture. The lead singer's costume represents a brand style which is associated with the smart end of high street fashion. With an increasing popularity, this is another feature of music videos targetting a main stream audience.
I have also used costume as an aspect of popular culture. The lead singer's costume represents a brand style which is associated with the smart end of high street fashion. With an increasing popularity, this is another feature of music videos targetting a main stream audience.
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Boy in my music video wearing a Fred Perry harrington jacket over several layers of bright coloured clothes.
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| Artist 'Jake Bugg' wearing a similar jacket but without the extravagant colours beneath. |
The girls in the video are all wearing quite dull colours which was purposely chosen to challenge generic conventions of the genre. Usually you would see at least some bright colours on each character in music videos belonging to the 'indie' genre, however in my video I wanted to portray the girl(s) in a negative light in order to gain sympathy amongst the audience for the main boy character and so I decided to challenge a convention here so that this attempt was successful.
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| Girl in my music video wearing very plain colours. |
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| Girls from a 'Two Door Cinema Club' music video wearing bright colours. |
Gender representation/performers
The traditional representation of gender in the music industry is male dominated. More often than not a music video contains a male lead and we always hear of much more upcoming 'boy bands' over 'girl groups'. Take, for example, NME magazine - on the website under the article '20 Most Exciting New Bands Of 2013' 17 out of the 20 new artists were male dominated - this highlights the absolute domination of males in the music industry. You can see the article here:
I have used this conventional feature in my music video because the main character in my narrative based video is male and I have used different techniques, for example camera angles, in order to create sympathy towards him from the audience and as a result, further emphasise the male dominance and the generic convention when it comes to gender and performers.
At the same time I have challenged generic associations of gender in the music industry. A study from 2009 called 'join the dots' looks at how women are objectified. One point made was how men are stereotypically represented as 'independent, adventurous, unemotional and competent'. I clearly chalenge this stereotype in my music video as the main character in the production (a boy) goes through mental instability and has a breakdown. This highlights how he is quite clearly not 'unemotional'.
It could be argued that the female genre are often portrayed in a negative light in the indie/pop genre through use of sexualisation. World famous female artists of today are more often than not, publicised in their music video wearing minimal clothing and acting provocatively - for example: Rihanna, Nicki Minaj - I have challenged this representation by having all girls in my music video, fully dressed, unlike many female artists belonging to my genre in modern day society. Another stereotype that comes with the sexualisation of women is the domination and superiority of the male genre in the music industry. Men are often seen as the superior sex, usually automatically when women are objectified. I have again challenged this with the content of my video. The narrative structure in the video sees the main girl rejecting the lead vocalist (male) and therefore gong against the norms in the music industry regarding gender representation.Location
I would say that I have both used and challenged generic conventions when it comes to the location in which my music video was shot. The majority of my video is set on Cromer beach. Although with thorough research, it would be possible to find many videos belonging to my chosen genre that used a similar location in a music video, it is not considered a conventional location. It has been done by boy bands before however as this not is not the original conventional location considered with the genre, I would argue that they also have challenged the genre as well as me. This combined with the fact that the music genre of 'indie/pop/rock' was born in the city, brought me to the conclusion that I had challenged the conventions of location in my genre. I looked at the band 'Foster the people' and their most famous song 'Pumped up kicks' as comparable to mine and I could see juxtaposing elements when it came to location which shows that I have challenged the conventions. See some screenshots of the city based locations in their video below:
I instead, for the vast majority of my video, used the seaside location in order to add movement and aesthetic pleasure to the mise-en-scene. The movement of the sea reflects the emotional turmoil of the performer as he reflects on a broken relationship. The sea here is personified and helps to establish the mood of the character, thus placing us in his position and ultimately meaning we sympathise with him. This technique is used throughout many forms of media, and perhaps most literally in the film '(500) days of summer' in which a drawing of a tree is altered depending on the mood of the main, boy character in the film. E.g. happy character = bright green, summer tree; unhappy character = bare, winter tree. This reference is even more suitable because of the similarity in music between my track and the track list used in the film. Arttists such as 'Regina Spektor' and 'The smiths' are notably similar to my band and this reference is even more applicable as a result. The technique in which weather reflects mood is sometimes referred to as pathetic fallacy and used throughout literature as a generic convention. I have used this conventional feature here.
In order to also use conventions of generic location, I ensured that the majority of the flashbacks in my video were in a city based area. I felt it was mimportant for me to reinforce most conventional aspects of mis-en-scene as I wanted to ensure that my target audience remained intrigued to the music that they are used to.
It is vitally important to be aware of the roots of your genre and I wanted to enforce my knowledge through location to a certain extent. I would argue that the vast majority of artists within my genre are male dominated bands and the stereotypical/conventional assumption for the production of their music originates from the comfort of their own bedroom. With the extraordinary growth in music technology in the last decade, it has become both cheap and easy to produce music from the comfort of your own home and this idea is directly associated with my genre (see section 'independent artists and technology' within link) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_music#Independent_artists_and_technology
The genre is often publicised as being created within the walls of a members own bedroom and I chose to highlight this convention with shots of the lead male vocalist in his bedroom (see above right).
Structure (flashbacks)
The 'indie' genre is often publicised by it's performance based music videos. The focus for the genre is entirely on the music itself as it proves so vitally important to each artist. It took me only minutes to find several examples of this which will emphasise the importance of the music to this genre and demonstrate how a narrative based video is not preferred for the genre.
This is most definitely a generic convention which I have chosen to develop in my video.
I have only a small section of my video in which is performance based. The shots where the lead singer is singing straight to the camera are the only shots where i have used the conventional feature. I instead chose to focus on a story surrounding a theme (in this case love) in order to develop the convention.
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Band member Sam Jolly from group 'Eight Legs' in his bedroom in the music video for the song 'These grey days'.
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The 'indie' genre is often publicised by it's performance based music videos. The focus for the genre is entirely on the music itself as it proves so vitally important to each artist. It took me only minutes to find several examples of this which will emphasise the importance of the music to this genre and demonstrate how a narrative based video is not preferred for the genre.
Bloc Party - Two More Years
Two Door Cinema club - What you Know
This is most definitely a generic convention which I have chosen to develop in my video.
I have only a small section of my video in which is performance based. The shots where the lead singer is singing straight to the camera are the only shots where i have used the conventional feature. I instead chose to focus on a story surrounding a theme (in this case love) in order to develop the convention.
I n order to achieve this development I have used flashbacks. The narrative technique was constructed as a theory by Andrew Goodiwn and I have developed this with flashbacks that amplify the lyrics whilst also using the story as a hook which add to the appeal. Used by artists such as Calvin Harris, the convention has been developed previously although the generic assumption remains.
In both movies and television, camera techniques and special effects have evolved specifically in order to inform the consumer that the action now being shown is from the past - for example, the edges of the picture may be purposely blurred, photography may be pixelated or unusual colours may be used, perhaps monochrome when most of the story is in full colour.
Digipak and Magazine Advert
Layout
I have used the conventional, 4 panel digipak design as i feel this best represents my genre. The indie/pop/rock genre tends to attract a wide, varied audience rather than a limited one and I therefore felt that my design would be best suited to a 4 panel digipak.
Panel 2 and 3
Panoramic image
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With this design, you are able to use panel 2 and 3, which appear next to each other on the inside of the digipak, as a base for a panoramic image. I saw this as a great opportunity to provide a beautiful picture of Cromer beach which I feel plays a huge role in the video itself and adds a whole other dimension, almost playing the role of another character in a sense when brought to life with characteristics highlighted, e.g ocean. This technique is not often used by artists and as a result I would argue that I have both developed and challenged the conventional 4 panel design in a way that has allowed me to aid the success of my promotional material. The location is a big aspect of the music video and the characteristics of the ocean connote the emotional turmoil that the lead singer experiences in my video. I would argue that the panoramic image is not only a way to provide a beautiful picture of cromer, but it also helps to emphasise the themes and motifs that are raised within the album I am attempting to promote.
Panel 4
Promoting lead singer
There are no particular aspects of my genre that make it stand out from the crowd. Unlike the gothic genre and the colour black or the rap genre and gold chains/provocative women, my genre changes throughout time depending on what proves popular in society at the current time. I therefore had to search thoroughly into my target audience and the artwork that accompanies their album in order to become aware of any conventional features. As previously stated, the genre is not a stand out one and therefore conventions were difficult to determine. Instead I took certain inspirations from several examples. As well as the fact that it has been used as a technique by several artists, I felt that it was important for me to have an image of the band members on the front panel of my digipak as this is a debut album and it is therefore important to promote the band as much as possible. However, the vast majority of successful bands have familiar artists within them who are well known to the general public: Chris Martin (Coldplay), Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Noel/Liam Gallagher (Oasis) - the list is endless.
I would suggest that a similar target audience applies to all of these artists as well as the band I am promoting and as a result I decided to duplicate their methods of advertisement. It was important to use this convention of publicising a lead singer. As well as this I decided to develop the convention further by presenting the lead singer with an enigmatic presence.
Enigma
"Enigma: A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand."
On the back panel of my digipak I have the lead singer looking out over scenery, however, he is looking away from the camera and his face is not in full vision. This creates an enigma for this person as the audience are unaware of his full characteristics. More often used in film and music videos e.g. Kill Bill, the enigmatic presence is rarely used for album artwork. I have therefore developed this convention. I feel that the enigma means that the audience become more intrigued into the character (lead singer) and as a result, the band as a whole - resulting in success.
Location
I have carried out thorough research into the roots of my genre as I feel it is almost necessity to know in order to create a successful project surrounding this genre. The genre was born in the city with buskers on the corner of streets first presenting the public with this style of music that seems to have taken aspects from the rock, folk and pop genre and mixed it into one. I have not addressed these roots in the most parts of my music video and I wanted to compensate for this in the promotion of the album. No longer am I promoting a single song rather an entire album and as a result the conventions need to be there to some extent.
I have used a classic, gritty, typically British city based location for the back panel of my digipak in order to use the conventional location of the genre. This reminds the audience of their favoured genre and would attract them as a result. It almost gives them an idea of what this album contains, through use of a location alone. Although the album artwork within this genre is not always a city location shot, some form of the album will be, whether it be a music video or even lyrics of a song mentioning the roots. the album artwork was just the way in which I decided to use this conventional feature.
See below examples of artwork from my genre in which the generic location is demonstrated:
In both movies and television, camera techniques and special effects have evolved specifically in order to inform the consumer that the action now being shown is from the past - for example, the edges of the picture may be purposely blurred, photography may be pixelated or unusual colours may be used, perhaps monochrome when most of the story is in full colour.
Flashbacks from my video using a monochrome image in order to highlight the past tense:
Digipak and Magazine Advert
Layout
I have used the conventional, 4 panel digipak design as i feel this best represents my genre. The indie/pop/rock genre tends to attract a wide, varied audience rather than a limited one and I therefore felt that my design would be best suited to a 4 panel digipak.
Panel 1
Band member promotion
A generic feature used for album artwork is simply photography of the band itself on the front cover of the cd case. This panel is the first seen by its audience and unless bought it is a half of what they will see altogether - meaning its importance is very high. Successful bands such as 'The Beatles' and 'The Kooks' have used this feature in debut albums. This is in order to promote the band and allow their audience to become more aware of the performers that they are listening to. I used this technique as I wanted to use the album artwork as a promotion for the band.
The course criteria itself states: 'A promotional package for the release of an album'
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| The Beatles - Rubber Soul |
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| The Kooks - Inside in the Inside out |
Panel 2 and 3
Panoramic image
.jpg)
With this design, you are able to use panel 2 and 3, which appear next to each other on the inside of the digipak, as a base for a panoramic image. I saw this as a great opportunity to provide a beautiful picture of Cromer beach which I feel plays a huge role in the video itself and adds a whole other dimension, almost playing the role of another character in a sense when brought to life with characteristics highlighted, e.g ocean. This technique is not often used by artists and as a result I would argue that I have both developed and challenged the conventional 4 panel design in a way that has allowed me to aid the success of my promotional material. The location is a big aspect of the music video and the characteristics of the ocean connote the emotional turmoil that the lead singer experiences in my video. I would argue that the panoramic image is not only a way to provide a beautiful picture of cromer, but it also helps to emphasise the themes and motifs that are raised within the album I am attempting to promote.Panel 4
There are no particular aspects of my genre that make it stand out from the crowd. Unlike the gothic genre and the colour black or the rap genre and gold chains/provocative women, my genre changes throughout time depending on what proves popular in society at the current time. I therefore had to search thoroughly into my target audience and the artwork that accompanies their album in order to become aware of any conventional features. As previously stated, the genre is not a stand out one and therefore conventions were difficult to determine. Instead I took certain inspirations from several examples. As well as the fact that it has been used as a technique by several artists, I felt that it was important for me to have an image of the band members on the front panel of my digipak as this is a debut album and it is therefore important to promote the band as much as possible. However, the vast majority of successful bands have familiar artists within them who are well known to the general public: Chris Martin (Coldplay), Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Noel/Liam Gallagher (Oasis) - the list is endless.
I would suggest that a similar target audience applies to all of these artists as well as the band I am promoting and as a result I decided to duplicate their methods of advertisement. It was important to use this convention of publicising a lead singer. As well as this I decided to develop the convention further by presenting the lead singer with an enigmatic presence.
Enigma
"Enigma: A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand."
On the back panel of my digipak I have the lead singer looking out over scenery, however, he is looking away from the camera and his face is not in full vision. This creates an enigma for this person as the audience are unaware of his full characteristics. More often used in film and music videos e.g. Kill Bill, the enigmatic presence is rarely used for album artwork. I have therefore developed this convention. I feel that the enigma means that the audience become more intrigued into the character (lead singer) and as a result, the band as a whole - resulting in success.
Location
I have carried out thorough research into the roots of my genre as I feel it is almost necessity to know in order to create a successful project surrounding this genre. The genre was born in the city with buskers on the corner of streets first presenting the public with this style of music that seems to have taken aspects from the rock, folk and pop genre and mixed it into one. I have not addressed these roots in the most parts of my music video and I wanted to compensate for this in the promotion of the album. No longer am I promoting a single song rather an entire album and as a result the conventions need to be there to some extent.
I have used a classic, gritty, typically British city based location for the back panel of my digipak in order to use the conventional location of the genre. This reminds the audience of their favoured genre and would attract them as a result. It almost gives them an idea of what this album contains, through use of a location alone. Although the album artwork within this genre is not always a city location shot, some form of the album will be, whether it be a music video or even lyrics of a song mentioning the roots. the album artwork was just the way in which I decided to use this conventional feature.
See below examples of artwork from my genre in which the generic location is demonstrated:
Magazine Advert
Enigma
I used similar techniques for my magazine advert as I did for the back panel of my digipak. I wanted the enigma to remain with this character and as a result I used a photograph in which his face is entirely hidden. As previously stated i have developed a convention here. It could also be suggested that I have completely challenged a conventional feature of the music industry in general across all genres. In modern day society, successful artists are famous across the world and their face is known to most. The fact that I am hiding the lead singers face here could suggest I am entirely challenging this convention.
Location
I have again used a city based location in order to use a generic convention of my genre.
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