4.How
did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages
When it came to deciding what song and artist we
would use for our ancillary tasks we had to use a website known as
unsigned.com. This is because it has a wide range of artists that are currently
unsigned, so therefore we could use any of the artist’s songs in our promo.
However we had no such look finding a band that would be suitable, so we then
decided to look elsewhere and we were then successful in find a band on you
tube known as B.I.T.E. the song we chose was called ‘Rock Pride’ which was a
glam rock themed song. We then contacted the band and they were happy to send
us the lyrics which were a big help in terms of the promo.
When it came to researching for our promotional
package we used You Tube as it enabled us to find good example videos of
successful music promos. This applies especially to videos within the Glam Rock
genre. What You Tube helped with the most was in finding the song we used for
our promo. You Tube can also allow us to take stills from the same genre videos
and compare them with ours to see if we have lived up to their standards.
When constructing our 3 media texts we used many
different types of technology. For our music promo we used an Apple software
called Final Cut Pro on an Apple MAC for editing. On our prelim music promo we
originally used i movie but found out that this new software was more
responsive, had more features and more technologies. A picture of the software
can be shown below, which shows a part of our music promo on it.
When constructing the magazine and digipack we used
a photo editing software known as Photoshop. This software allowed us to create
an effective magazine advert and digipack due to the range of effects and tools
that can be used to manipulate an image.
During the whole process of the making of our promo
I learnt many different new skills. As my main role was in the editing process
I learnt how to use final cut pro to a high standard and how to constructive a
music video in terms of narrative and performance. I had a small amount of
knowledge in final cut at first however I fortunate enough to get the hang of
it very fast and put what I learnt into the promoI also was in charge of making sure that the
set was as realistic as possible which taught me how to successfully construct
a set. I was also involved in filming which taught me how to use more handheld
shots and making sure that shots where framed correctly.
On the first shoot day for filming our music promo
we encountered a few problems that convinced us to conduct a second day of
filming. This is because most of the first day’s footage was out of focus. This
was due to the cameras not having the right adjustments on the auto focus. We
also noticed a distinct difference between Jamie’s camera and my camera. We
noticed that the footage was coming out a little differently and Jamie’s was a
bit clearer than mine. This led us to come to the decision of only using
Jamie’s camera to one keep the footage all the same and two to use the camera
which had the better focus. On the second day we had to change the auto focus
to manual focus just to get a little bit sharper picture. We also had to change
two of the band members for the second day so this meant that most of the first
day footage was nearly useless. On the second day though we stuck to a more
accurate schedule of shots and got some really impressive footage. The shot
schedule is shown below along with some bad footage of the first shoot day.
The Internet is a very useful tool as it has helped
us to exhibit our video over the world. For example once downloading the video
onto You Tube, we then shared it with Facebook to allow others around the world
to watch it. Facebook is a good way to show everybody what we have created.
Publicising the video online is the best way to exhibit a video as nearly
everyone has computers, i Pods or any other devices that connect to the
Internet. People can then either follow the link to the You Tube video or just
watch it on the social networking site.
3.What
have you learned from your audience feedback?
When we were in the process of planning our promo we
sent out a range of questionnaires in order to gather research into what the
target audience would want from a music promo.We did this
questionnaire in two different forms with both being a bit different. The first
way was a standard questionnaire with the results shown in graphs and the
second was a video response which made the answers more personal and detailed.
Conducting audience research is a very important task as it will give bands and
artists the chance to get feedback on how well their specific target audience
are receiving their songs, music promos, magazine adverts and digipaks. The
research can give bands and artists indications to the next steps they should
take to ensure they become as popular and successful as possible
From the feedback we gathered we found that people
had a good knowledge of what the glam rock genre is and what they would expect
to see in the videos they created. We found out that the glam rock genre is
generally a well-known genre and the from our feedback we gathered good
knowledge of what sort of mise-en-scene they expect and what the types of shots
they expect to see. Below is the questions that where asked.
1.Do
you think that our digipak and magazine advert has an appropriate relation to
our music promo?
2.What
features are good about our music promo, magazine advert and digipak?
3.What
features could we improve for our music promo, magazine advert and digipak?
4.Did
our music promo, magazine advert and digipak stick to the typical conventions
in the Glam Rock genre?
5.What
did you think about the location of our music promo?
6.What
did you think about the lighting in our music promo?
7.What
is your opinion on the props being realistic to the music industry?
From the audience
feedback videos you can see that we got very good feedback in terms of all our
ancillary tasks. The feedback indicated that we had done a good job in keeping
to the conventions of a glam rock promo
2
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Above is our finished magazine article and digipack
and the first thing you will see is that they are very similar to the promo
itself. The costumes are all the same as what is seen in our promo therefore
the similarities carry on throughout. The expressive gestures from the band
members and the bright colours reflect on the promo and are very similar to
what is in the finished promo. We wanted to keep the similarities flowing
between the promo and both the magazine advert and digipack as we felt that
they are all best promoted together. This is so that the target audience see
them as a bundle which they can purchase.to increase the popularity and
presence of the band members we put them on the covers in order to make them
more well known. All of this is to overall make the band more well-known so
that if another promo was to be made people would know who they are and what to
expect. And I believe together these make a great promotional package in which
the target audience can purchase and enjoy.
There is a distinct similarity between our ancillary
tasks and our music promo. The main similarity was the images of the band
members. This is because the band members in the music promo have the same
costumes and look about them in the magazine advert and digipak. This keeps all
three media texts realistic and a similar style to each other.
Q.1 ‘In what ways does your media
product us, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our task was to create a music promo
based on the music genre we had chosen then also to create two additional
promotional related materials. The promotional materials we created were a CD
digipack and a magazine advert. These materials will go to advertising the
chosen song and artist. When it Came down to choosing the chosen song and
artist we had to make sure that it was both possible to create a successful
promo and also an artist who we could create our promotional materials around.
The song we chosen was ‘Rock Pride’
which was created by a band called ‘B.I.T.E’ and with this song and artist we
sculpted our promotional materials. The aim was to create a successful promo,
digipack and magazine advert in order to promote the song and artist to the
desired target market. This promotion of the artist would hopefully create a
fan base and give the target audience a taster of what the band is about.
The aim of the digipack is to promote
the band to its audience therefore it has to be eye catching and draw the
audience in to buying it. The promo will help to promote the artist as a whole
and will indicate to the target audience such things as their personality and
style of music. The viewer will then create their own opinion of the artist and
may go on to follow them. As a digipack are a form of advertising they must be
aesthetically pleasing and most of all meet the needs of the target audience.
Above is a picture showing what a traditional digipack has to it. Digipack
often have bold and eye catching titles and images which are all designed to
grab the attention of the audience.
The more and more conventionaldigipack CD or DVD is a type of packaging
that contains traditional discs or blu-rays. They are normally made from card
or heavy duty paper/cardboard material. They often have extra information in
and even provide behind the scenes disk. An example of these extra information
packs are such things as a band having a biography or pictures/posters of the
band. There are also a lot of different types of digipack, as some open in
different ways or some have more sections to open. this ranges on the preference
or accessibility. The same applies for a DVD digipack case, in the way that
they can both store sufficient amounts of extra photos/information, however the
difference in the two are those aesthetically and sufficiency. A DVD digipack
would often include the DVD and a blu-ray disc on top of that. There are
certain advantages and disadvantages that come when using a digipack case aside
from a plastic case. Some of these are shown below.
Advantages
-
Customer is getting a lot more in regards to content
- Helps a band to promote themselves
when first starting out.;
- They are prone from cracking
- If the teeth break you can still hold
the disc
- More environmentally friendly
- More collectable
- Look more aesthetically appealing
- Store more information inside
Disadvantages
-
Cases can rip easier
- Cost more money to produce
- Cost more money to buy
- They can get tatty faster from over
use
- Can come in different sizes which is
insufficient for storage
When it comes to the music promo,
production companies spend vast amounts of money in order to create an
effective promo that will create a buzz for the artist. These videos create an
image of the artist and promote the artist and there album in order to be seen
by large amounts of viewers. Music promos will mainly consist of a wide variety
of shots and either a narrative or performance based video. It will also give
an idea of the genre of music that is being performed. Depending on the genre
of the music being performed the composition of the promo will be different.
To keep viewers interested music promos
have to show lots of energy throughout the editing and mise-en-scene. The flow
of the promo also have to keep in sync in order to create either an effective
narrative or performance piece. The way in which the promo is edited can also
depend on genre of music but most are edited with straight cuts and show a
range of performance and narrative shots however in other genre’s they may have
a range of fades and have either very slow or fast editing. Conventional promos
will often cut all of the diegetic sound and then add the track, but more
unconventional videos now use the actual sound from the filming in order to create
an effect on the audience and make the promo seem more realistic. Music promos
gives the viewer a chance to see them perform without having to be close to
them and gives them a different view of the performer to a concert etc. The
miss-en-scene in music promos is different in nearly every video but will range
on the genre and style of the music. For example a rock/classic rock video
would normally be set in a dark but effective location where as a pop song
would be set in a a place in which is very effective and more than likely
relates to the lyrics.
Narrative in music promos can be key to
the success of a music promo. The narrative will vary from genre to genre but
most will be simple as they will focus mainly on the performance area of the
video. The narrative will often show the emotion of the artist and portray the
way in which the video is wanted to be seen as.
Unconventional videos may even decide to
use all narrative or even none at all but most conventional will have mainly
performance but with an effective range of narrative shots. The way in which
the narrative of a music promo is created can be based round many different
ideas. One of the most common is amplification, where the lyrics of a song are
taken and a key idea is created in which the narrative will be based
around.This type of narrative often
makes no sense to the viewer but can also be extremely effective. Another type
of another narrative would be illustration, in which the narrative is created
solely round the lyrics. An example of disjuncture in the narrative of a music
promo would be ‘Mike Snow’- ‘Paddling Out’ this video is very different and
unconventional. To create an effective promo piece a number of different
miss-en-scenes , shot types and editing techniques can be useddepending on the way the artist wants to put
across the emotions and style of the promo. the genre often effects the style
in the promo due to the pace or rhythm of the song. We can see this in videos
such as artists like “James Blunt”, the genre that this artist would be classed
under would be acoustic so therefore the songs are conventionally slow which
will affect the promo as it can’t be face paced as it may not make sense.
However bands like “Steel Panther” who come under our chosen genre of glam
rock, have more gimmicky lyrics and faster paced music so their promos tend to
be less serious than other genre’s.
After looking into the genres music
videos, we found that the performance dominated over the narrative in our
genre. This is to show what the band can do, and encourage people to a live
gig. This is a convention to the genre, as they almost always have more
performance. We also found that most of the time, the narrative didn't make
sense, and wasn't completely clear about what was going on. This is to keep the
audience on the edge of their seat throughout. Sometimes the narrative is
justified at the end by a clear ending, others are left a mystery. The
narrative is usually edited like a montage, to add to this confusing element.
Glam Rock is performed by singers and
musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly
platform-soled boots and glitter. The flamboyant costumes and visual styles of
glam performers were often camp or androgynous, and have been connected with
new views of gender roles. Glam rock
songs will often have simple
drum patterns and Guitar laden melodies often relying on riffs. One of the main
conventions of a glam rock band will be they normally have a catchy or gimmicky
chorus that was written to be memorable and lyrics that can be interpreted many
ways which are most often sexual.
“Steel
Panther” is a band that have influenced our promo a huge amount due to them
being a very traditional glam rock band. There range of videos have a unique
style and are also very impressive in the way they are composed and shot. The
video that mainly influenced our promo would be there song “If You Really
Really Love Me”.
This promo has a conventional
composition as it has mainly performance based scenes in it, yet has a very interesting
narrative which is very unconventional as it shows the shooting of the video.
From this style of promo we got many great ideas and I believe that the style
of promo is effective to the targeted audience. The shot bellow shows the
similarities in the shot composition and how it influenced our promo.
For the location of our promo we wanted
a similar location to what is seen above, however with the budget we had we
could not get an empty space this big. We did not want to be to unconventional
with the location so therefore we decided on filming in an empty hall. From the
two shots above you can see the location similarity.
Our music promo challenged many forms
and conventions of traditional glam rock videos. In most glam rock styled
videos we see that the shots are mostly straight cuts. We stuck to the
convention and kept the types of edits to a minimum however in some places in
the promo we had to use transitions in order to create an effective shot or
composition of a shot. Below is an example of having to use transitions due to
the quick change in lyrics and continuity of the shot change.
With mise-en-scene in our promo we
wanted to stick to a very conventional style of video and I believe we did this
as the costumes and style of the band members are very similar to that of a
modern day glam rock band. Our promo follows many forms and conventions
throughout the 4 minutes. With the mise-en-scene we kept strictly to the
conventions as the mise-en-scene in a glam rock promo is one of the main
characteristic of it. Consume wise I thought we did very well as the way the
band members where dressed is very similar to what we would see in a glam rock
band such as “Steel Panther”. The location of the promo is also conventional
due to it being set on a stage which is what a wide range of glam rock videos
are set on. The location is also very conventional in the way that the location
is not to dramatic and is simple, which emphasis the bands presents. Prop wise
we kept to the obvious of having an electric guitar, a drum kit, a bass guitar,
and amps. As for the camera shots we analysed many different promo in order to
see what range of shots where used. From the research we gathered we found that
there was a lot of handheld shots used and close ups of the band members. Many
glam rock promos also use extreme close ups in order to get an expression
across or also to show a sexual reference which is very common in this genre. When
It came to editing we kept very much to the conventions of having straight cuts
and using quick shots in order to keep to what a traditional glam rock video
would have. However in some parts of our promo transitions where needed.
In a glam rock
promo the venue is often very similar as they will often be set on a stage of
some sort. The room displayed below is the ball room which wemainly used however at the top right of the
picture there is a door which leads to the blue room. The blue room is where we
will film a small chunk of our narrative. The ball room has a fairly small
stage however it has full use of the lighting equipment, and having this access
allowed us to create a satisfactory lighting scene. The reason why we picked
this venue is due to it having a stage and being a very clean and spacious
venue. Having the stage fits into the conventions of the glam rock genre, as in
glam rock videos there tends to be bands playing on stage and 'rocking out'.The
stage will really emphasis the fact that we are filming a music video as our
narrative is concentrated on the band filming the music video being the
performance side. We looked for a suitable location for many weeks and we
managed to find this. A first they wanted to charge by the hour but we managed
to get it down to just £40 both days. Other venues such as the vodoo lounge
wanted such prices as £100 a day, which was too expensive for us to afford. The
only downfall to this venue is that it is over 15 miles away and is in a very
congested area that has very few car parking spaces.
When it
came to the constume and props we wanted to keep verymuch to the conventions as
I belive the costume’s are what make a glam rock video. To keep to these conventions
we had to make the costumes very bright and dramatic and make them very
simmilar to what you would see from a conventional glam rock band. We got our
main influneces costume wise from “Steel Panther” as there costumes (seen
below) stick to these exotic convetions.
When it came to props
we needed to make the set of the video as realistic as possible In terms of the
genre we chose. For example we needed a guitar, bass, microphones, drum kit,
Amps, PAs and much more to help set the scene for our promo. The miss-en-scene
in our promo was one of the key things to get right as we felt it is what makes
a glam rock video. Through these props we wanted to challenge the conventions
in real media products by making the props as realistic as they are seen in the
Glam Rock promos. Below is a picture of the props we used.
Once we had gathered all the footage we needed we
started the editing process. In the stage of the making process it is key to
make the video in which it flows and makes sense. When it came to challenging
the forms and conventions we felt that we had to stick to having mostly
straight cuts and quick paced editing throughout. This is because in most glam
rock videos the pace of the song and editing is very fast in order to create an
effective promo in which the viewer is enticed to keep watching. In most glam
rock styled videos you would also rarely see transitions and effects however in
our promo we used a small range of transitions and effects in order to make our
promo flow. Without putting these transitions in our promo would simply not
work. One of the main areas in which we used these transitions in when we show
all four band members within the jump in the last few seconds of the promo. For
the narrative in our promo we decided to make it black and white in order to
show a contrast from the narrative to the performance and we also used opacity
in a few places in order to create an effect in which the viewer is kept interested
in the promo. below is an example of the opacity where one clip is layered over
the other. You do not see this often in glam rock promos therefore we are
developing the forms and conventions.
Nearly all music promos have both a narrative and
performance side in their video. The performance side in our video was set on a
stage in the Stamford arts centre. In more conventional glam rock videos you
will see that there is mainly a performance side due to them wanting to show
off and be more eccentric.. For the narrative side of our video we decided to
concentrate on the band themselves as we felt this would be a good way to
challenge the forms and conventions of glam rock promo. the main influence for
this would be from Steel Panthers song “If you really really love me” as it
focused on the making of a promo and them preparing for the performance side.
We felt this was a very effective way of composing a promo and therefore took
this =ideaq and adapted it to our preference.
From the two shots above you can see the similarities
as both are very dramatic and explicit in the way the band members are
presenting themselves. The miss-en-scene is also very similar due to the way
the members of the band are dressed and also the location of the shot are also
similar due to them being very dull which makes you focus on the persons in
questions.
This is a draft created by Jamie Moulds, it is a digipack for the band B.I.T.E promoting the new music video
that me and my group have made. The digipacks design will link directly to the magazine
advert as this is a key feature that I we found when researching advertising
techniques. . The design has the same principles such as the B.I.T.E logo.
This second clip has also got many problems with it. The main problem once again is the focusing which in this shot is due to the movement of the subjects in the shot. Another key problem is the framing of the shot as it has the roof and left side in shot. This makes the shot look highly unprofessional and lack of understanding of shot composition. The scarf on the mic stand also is a mistake as it takes up a large amount of the shot. However we learnt from our mistakes and we was able to get a similar shot to this to work.
Below is the a small section of our footage from our first shoot that had many problems.In the video there are such problems as bad focusing and unnecessary movement. Throughout this shot the focusing goes in and out, this is due to the camera being on automatic focusing and the low levels of light and also the quick movement. These 3 problems put together create a piece of footage that is unusable. On the second shoot we corrected these problems by putting the camera on manual focus which enabled the operator to focus the shot to a point where the subjects in the shot are in focus all the way through shot. We also improved the lighting to make sure that the balance of light in the shot enabled to camera to adjust without major movement of the subjects in focus. Due to the other aspects of the problems being fixed there where no adjustments needed the choreography of the movement of the band.
