Question 2

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

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

Panel 2 and 3

Because the vast majority of my music video was set on a beach, I felt it a necessity to include this aspect of location into my digipak panels. Cromer beach plays a huge role in my video and almost acts as another character. The characteristics of both the sea and the land bring the location, in which my music video was set, to life and add a whole other dimension to the video. 

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

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

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.

Shot from Edward Scissorhands

Similar shot used in my music video

Similar techniques used in my magazine advert

I considered a term called 'pathetic fallacy' when constructing my music video. This is where the weather of the mis-en-scene reflects the mood of the video as a whole. Throughout different times in my video there are different weather conditions - this is not coincidence but rather it is a purposely constructed technique in order to display the mood of the main character in my video.

Going through the video chronologically looking at individual shots it is easier to see what I mean:

Here the weather is extremely dull and forebodes a negative feel throughout the rest of the video.

When circling the boys character the sky looks dull in order to surround him with connotations of sadness.

The girl's characterisation here contains a brighter sky which suggests she is happier at this time.

The boy here is again subject to bad weather in the mis-en-scene.

The sky is again very dull and cloudy which suggests even further his misery.

Here, as the boy walks away from his troubles, the sky seems much clearer and brighter suggesting he is happy now.

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.

Question 1

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

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.

Boy in my music video wearing a Fred Perry harrington jacket over several layers of bright coloured clothes.

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.

Girl in my music video wearing very plain colours.

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:

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=147&title=20_most_exciting_new_bands_of_2013&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

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).



Band member Sam Jolly from group 'Eight Legs' in his bedroom in the music video for the song 'These grey days'.

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.

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.

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'

The Beatles - Rubber Soul

The Kooks - Inside in the Inside out

Panel 2 and 3


Panoramic image
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:

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.

A typical audience member for your music video

Video Analysis: Leftfield - Afrika shox

The music video, Afrika Shox, is by British band 'Leftfield' - the name of the band itself, highlights the political view of the group. It can be related to a left-wing mentality (people who are against consumerism and capitalism) and could therefore show their ultimate hatred towards racism.

The featuring artist in this song is Afrika Bambaata who is an American artist responsible for the growing popularity of this genre. This together with the constant references to America and the city of New York in this music video, demonstrate how this band are aware of the roots of they genre and they respect this in their products.

The opening shot of this music video is of the twin towers in New York City. The low angle of this shot makes the audience feel vulnerable. This accompanied with the misty weather that surrounds the buildings, helps to connote a daunting feel to the beginning of the video. This is known as pathetic fallacy (where the weather reflects the mood of the mis-en-scene). This shot is accompanied by the diagetic sound of street noise e.g. sirens, horns etc. As the music has not started, this shot proves highly significant as we are forced to focus solely on the image rather than any form of music. The symbolism of this shot perhaps came coincidentally, quite a while after the video was in fact made. In 2001 the twin towers were destroyed by a terrorist attack. Anybody who is anybody knows this and this iconic landmark is immediately associated with this and negative connotations when seen. It creates a sense of doom amongst an audience.

The next shot is of a police car with it's sirens on. Not only do the sirens suggest crime and therefore chaos (adding to the negative vibe of the video) but they are also used to symbolise the lights used in a club/disco. This relates to the genre of the music of the video which I would label as electro/pop in which dance is a big element - this aspect will be brought up again later on in the video.

A shaky handheld camera that comes into the video after this shot adds to the chaos and constant movement that the video contains. It again fits with the dance feel that this genre of music attempts to give off to it's audience.

The African American man in this shot is severely struggling to walk. This highlights the historic events of slavery that took place concerning African American people in times where racial supremity was present. This shot immediately springs the poem 'Limbo' by Edward Kamau Brathwaite, to mind. His poem describes the similarity of the game 'limbo' and the movement of African American slaves to the West Indies and America. There are a number of quotes taken from the poem that could be associated with this music video. "and the music is saving me" - many people in modern day society view music as a form of escape from the chaos of the world. Music played a similar role on the slave ships when people would sing and dance in order to forget reality. This perhaps shows that the audience for this video is mainly African American people as the video focuses on their roots.

An editing technique is used so that the man is in focus in the crowds of NewYork meaning he stands out. This is used to highlight his inferiority as it is easy to see how he is struggling to move freely and meet the demands of society. He is also surrounded by a huge field of white people, which highlights the superiority of the white race over the black perhaps.

 

The medium close-up shot of his legs proves quite shocking to look at. His body is abnormally skinny and this connotes weakness. In a bigger picture, the weakness of the African American race is symbolised here and their inferiority in society is suggested. The focus on his legs also refers to the times when black people were made to walk when travelling to America as slaves, again highlighting the inferiority that this race has experienced throughout history as well as suggesting that it is still present in modern day society.

There is a shot of the African American man falling to the ground which is immediately followed by a shot of a 'walk' road sign. Not only is this shot ironic because the walk sign is emphasising that the man is incapable of doing so as he lays on the floor, it is also juxtaposing as the sign is white whereas the man has dark skin. These factors all aid towards the negative representation of the African American race and underline the division that is obvious between cultures.

A close up shot of the mans broken arm falling to the floor suggests that America holds a fractured society. The breaking of the mans arm directly correlates with the way that America as a society and it's morality is disintegrating because of it's racial views that are stll present. Although racism is not a highlighted topic in the city of New York and the vast majority do not feel this prejudice; it is still associated a major problem in southern American states such as Texas. Perhaps Leftfield are attempting to portray the message that until racism is eliminated altogether then it is still the whole world's problem.

This shot shows the man walking alongside a metal fence. This could perhaps again be related to the slavery theme of the video because it is representing the black man, and therefore the black community, as trapped. It is also sugesting a reference to the holocaust in which millions of jewish civillians were practically caged within the confinements of metal fences. It is again a shot that is used to represent the African American man and the culture he is part of, as an inferior group whose historical weakness in society is still present.

This perspective shot of a taxi driver allows us to see the black man standing in the middle of the road. It shifts our sympathy momentarily so that we victimise the black man just like the civilians of New York have done throughout the video. It can be considered a message from the band which suggests to us that we also are culprits of the unforgivable prejudice and discrimination that still takes place in the world today and the blame is on ourselves as much as anybody else. The shot that follows is an extremely powerful close-up shot of the African American man's face. The fear and terror that is etched on his vulnerable face is emphasised because of the zoomed camera and for a split second we experience the same emotions that he does. A clever technique used by the producers that allow us to sympathise with this character and think seriously about the message that is being portrayed.

The final shot of the video adds to the overall irony of the video. The man is hit by a car which, not coincidentally, happens to be a classic New York taxi. This is considered an iconic symbol of the city of New York and for it to be represented in this way (responsible for murder) it shows the corruption and the disorientation of society.

Completed Music Video