You Me At Six- Loverboy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFL9wRLpgng - Loverboy By You Me At Six

After analysing the bands digi-pak I thought it would be beneficial for myself and my group to analyse a video which links straight to the digi-pak as this illustrates a continuous theme.


Something which I really like about this music video is that it links directly to the digi-pak, therefore the audience then know the rest of the narrative behind the digi-pak. I could consider this with my own music video and digi-pak however I believe it would be difficult to do as our narrative will not include any members of the band and our target audience might not understand why we have used those images or think that the people in the narrative are part of the band.

This is a hybrid music video consisting of performance and narrative, as the narrative has already been slightly previewed in the digi-pak it is clear that the narrative is being interviewed in a police station. I like how the narrative and performance are separate but still slightly together because the location is the same for both, I think this helps the music video flow well and link together with the digi-pak nicely. When making my own I could have the narrative and performance link, however this does not generally happen in the indie rock music video’s therefore I would have to discuss with my group whether this is a convention we do or do not wish to follow.

I notice that there are very short close ups of the band and the instruments they play such as the drummer; I like this because that is what is been playing at that time in the song therefore helping the video and the song link well together, it also adds suspense because the audience want to know more about the narrative but are having to wait making them more interesting in the music video. As my band are new to the industry I could do this as a way of introducing all the band members and the instruments they play because then their target audience will know what each member of the band will look like, who they are and what they play.

I also like the way the band has used lighting in the video, as red can connote the devil and with the album being called ‘Sinners Never Sleep’ is creates the idea that they again are the sinners, from this I am now realising that they are making everything link with the digi-pak. I think this is good because it creates a package and the audience will understand everything being together. My narrative will be of someone having a bad day so to help everything relate to this theme I could have different images of either bad things (e.g. smoking, much like on the cover of the arctic monkey’s album) or screen shots from my own music video therefore everything will relate to one.



I particularly like the end shot of the video as it is almost a replica of the cover of the digi-pak, this means the audience will already recognize the image and know the band and the album its from even if they have never heard them before because it will be the same. I like how the band has done this because it means if the audience see the video before the digi-pak they’ll know it instantly or vice versa. I also like the colours in the shot because the audience are then able to visualise what the coloured copy of the digi-pak would look like as it is all in black and white, however I think the black and white looks better than colour because black and what contradict each other more and therefore makes the digi-pak stand out more because it drifts from conventions of the product, whereas the music video has kept to them, which is good because the audience can recognise it better however it means it is much the same as other videos. Therefore when making my own music video I could make some of it black and white because then it will be different to other indie rock music videos and therefore my target audience are more likely to remember it.

By Laura Thorpe

Evaluation - Lewis Finney

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Whilst planning for our music video we thought very carefully about what conventions we will follow and will not follow. One idea we stuck to throughout the video was the clothing being kept smart casual. So the whole band was generally wearing a casual top along with chinos. This kept with whole star image of an Indie Rock Band, how they are being represented through clothing. Another convention we followed carefully was, during research, we noticed that with the narrative clips of the video it generally followed a storyline of some sort, generally relating to the lyrics. With our narrative we followed a storyline that conjoined with the lyrics too. The storyline was a guy has a bad day and everything goes against him. Along with this, we also noticed that videos of our genre were generally a cross between performance and narrative, this is known as a hybrid video. We chose to do this for our video because we wanted to follow as many conventions as we could so we could keep the genre of the video. With our DigiPak we decided to use individual photos of the band members as well as a band shot. This coincides with the DigiPaks that we researched because this was a consistent theme. The Advert we did for our Artist was a Magazine advert. We decided to keep it simple where we had a solid black background with the album cover on. We also included the album title, band name, where to buy it, price, and website. These sort of simple layouts were seen in many other magazine adverts we looking into from Indie Rock Bands. One thing we paid close attention to was the editing, transitions, shot types, and camera movement that was used throughout Indie Rock Band music videos. We mainly paid close attention to the transitions used and noticed that it was generally quick cutting with a possible fade in and out at the beginning and end. So, after looking into this we decided that it would be best to follow this to keep some conventions of the editing the same and we felt this was the most important one. We only kept our camera movement to the narrative side of the video due to the song being fast paced. We did try camera movement whilst the band was performing but we found this shot to be too long and didn’t fit in with the fast pace of the song. Another thing we paid extremely close attention to was the narrative/performance balance of the video and found that it was generally 50/50. So we decided to challenge this because we were doing cuts “off the beat” so we needed to show that the band was an Indie Rock Band. Again we referred to star image for this by using the clothing as a way of representing an Indie Rock Band. With the font of the digipak and magazine advert we decided to challenge the typical Indie Rock font, which would be seen as unisex or manly. We decided to use a girly font as the original idea came from the writing you find on the head of an electric guitar. I feel that we challenged this really well because you would rarely find an Indie Rock Band using girly writing on any of their products.

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

Within both the Music Video and the Digipak we tried to keep the same styled of clothing. This helped keep the star image of a smart casually dressed Indie Rock Band. I feel like the combination of this on both of the products was very effective because it strongly shows that our actors were representing an Indie Rock Band. Along with the research we did as well, both link together very well due to the fact we carefully followed the connections made by well known Indie Rock Bands. The connections we found were that the font is both the same in the magazine advert and the CD cover. Also you always find the album front cover on the magazine advert to. We kept these combinations because we felt that these were insanely important to show that the genre of the music we based our music video on was Indie Rock.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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

Evaluation - Bradley Norris

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

This is a link to the first part of my answer to this question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohzBC4a7fU8

In terms of lighting within music videos I feel that it is essential to create effective lighting within the performance aspects. The main purpose of the lighting we used, was to give a more interesting look to the band. The Arctic Monkeys have created this effect evidently and this is the look we were aiming for. In my opinion we added a more "live band" feeling with the use of the red lighting, but it would have looked more professional if the lighting was more dominant.

By using several mid shots on band members throughout our music video, we have managed to make the video look more like it belongs to the indie rock genre. This is evident as in our research the Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys and The Killers have all included several mid-shots in their music videos. These shots allow the audience to see the detail in the roles of each band member and how they perform. Moreover this draws viewers into the instrumental parts of the songs as the focus is moved to the individual instruments. For example when there is a mid-shot on the bassist, instinctively you would expect the audience to centre their attention to the sound of the bass in the song.

In addition the close ups we have used on the lead singer make the music video more direct and involving. For example the people watching the music video are likely to fall under our target audience; our target audience according to the research we carried out in our questionnaire said that they would expect to see several close ups on the lead singer as he is the most important band member. This is due to the fact that our particular target audience will listen and decode the lyrics, whereas someone who listens to pop music might pay more attention to the melody of the song. Therefore knowing this, the band will have chosen specific lyrics for a meaning, so by adding in these shots it emphasises the meaning of the lyrics.

The idea for having one main character in our narrative also developed through the feedback that we received in our questionnaire. Relating to the theory of synaesthesia, one of our participants explained that when they listened to the song they imagined a person running. We felt it was important to use and develop on our feedback. Although there isn’t much narrative in our song we took advantage of this. Because it is a fast paced song, we wanted to keep the video parallel with the pace of the song. We experimented with longer narrative shots but felt that when compared to the performance shots they didn’t appear as effective. However the narrative sequences do fit nicely with the lyrics and this is due to the fact that when we storyboarded our music video, we purposely came up with a narrative that would match a fast paced song and conjoined with the lyrics.

What's more, when asked in our questionnaire what costumes they would expect to see in our music video, our target audience gave the same answers. They clarified that although the lyrics may be meaningful, characters in the narrative are likely to be in a story that isn’t deep and meaningful; therefore there it would be best to stick to clothes similar to those of the actual target audience. Consequently we kept the costumes of the band members the same because we wanted to portray the band as cheeky and hedonistic, this has become part of their star image.

However, we have also managed to stray from conventions of real indie rock music videos. For example during our production we experimented using a long crabbing shot with the whole band performing in it. Although music videos such as Arctic Monkeys “I bet that you look good on the dance floor”, contain several camera movements, we felt our music video would be improved if ours didn’t.

In addition our digipak and magazine advert consist mainly of Lucida Calligraphy font. This is quite a feminine font, and usually indie rock bands stick to neutral fonts such as the font I researched from the “The Killers’” digipak. 

However our digipak and magazine advert contain the same font and the picture on the front of the digipak is used in the magazine advert. This is conventional of bands and artists - to keep their fonts consistent.  For example Eminem uses the same font for all his albums and his magazine adverts. By doing this it is keeping the band’s style consistent emphasising their unique image.

In the “The killers” digipak I analysed it contained separate images of each band member. As they are an indie rock band we felt it was necessary to include images of our own band members in ours. Therefore we decided to stick to this convention. Their digipak also included a website and various information about the producers. This isn’t stereotypical of indie rock artists but it is universally used in most digipaks. Subsequently we included these details in our own.

We analysed a Florence and the machine magazine advert, and on it, it included the artist’s name, the artist website and where it is available. We decided to stick to these conventions, as the details are crucial and they sell the band and will therefore attract and appeal to the target audience. However the magazine adverts we looked at didn’t include a quote about the album, they only mentioned details such as ticket prices and how to buy them. We felt it would be beneficial to adapt this selling point convention by adding a quote about the album, as this gives the audience comforting evidence that the album is good before they have bought it. In turn persuading them more to buy the album. In addition the Florence and the machine album had a black background. We thought this looked eye catching and appealing, therefore we chose black for our own background.

In our research we found that there were universal conventions included in Digipaks. Some of the examples we followed were having the title of the band on and the name of the album on the front pane. Also an image of the band inside the digipak. On the back pane we included track listing,  a bar code and a band website.  Inside of the digipak we have a circular section where the disc sits. All of the above are crucial to help sell the digipak. Not only do they make the album look more professional and appealing, but they also make the digipak look like a real product. My group wanted to make the digipak look real, therefore we included these conventions.

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

This is a link to my video where I have answered this question.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZJ00t3mrCQ

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

These are screenshots of the audience feedback that my group received via Facebook.

This is a link to a video containing a section of my audience feedback.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcgUpAgldaY

After receiving the feed Back halfway through the production my group made some changes to our music video. As the lip syncing was out of time we re filmed the clips that needed changing and we changed the positioning of the other clips on the timeline. We added in a caption at the end of the music video providing the name of the band and the name of the song. Furthermore We improved the lighting my changing the settings to make it more consistent with the rest of the video and we made the red lights more influential. Additionally We re filmed the first drumming clip so that it looked in sync with the song. Moreover we added more clips of the band members playing their instruments.

Unfortunately we couldn't change the green patch in the background, however when we looked at other music videos the performance parts didn't always have spotless backgrounds. One of the videos where this is clear is the Arctic Monkeys “I bet that you look good on the dance floor” video.

This is a link to a presentation that I have made answering this question. (It may say there was an error and not enough space and ask you to close the tabs), however when I press ok it shows up with no problems).
It may also ask you to log in. My E-mail is Bradders_1994@hotmail.co.uk and my password is abihsot123
http://prezi.com/z2vqena2o3jd/edit/#19_14586512

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

In the planning process of my multimedia project my group used a variety of technologies: Blogger, Prezzi, a DSLR camera, Final Cut, Myspace, Unsigned.com, youtube, Microsoft word, an apple mac.

Blogger/Blogspot is the website where we uploaded all our research and classwork. This website was good because its user friendly and easy to keep your work organised. However it is difficult to upload large memory videos, therefore I had to make hyperlinks instead. It has helped me keep organised with my coursework.

I used Prezzi to make a blog on my research into the uses and gratifications theory. This website is good because there are several ways in which you can choose your own setting to present your work. However I didn’t find the website very user friendly to begin with and I had to work out how to change various features through trial and error. It did make my blog look more interesting overall.

Using the DSLR camera was very beneficial as the quality is HD and it worked well with the tripods we had. In the planning process of our coursework we filmed our questionnaire and our swede with it. However sometimes we had issues where we didn’t film a focused shot and the clips took longer to upload because the camera is high quality. Furthermore the macs that we used in school had trouble recognising the camera meaning we had to upload most of our footage at home. However by using the camera it made our clips look sharper and more aesthetically pleasing.

We used Final cut to edit our questionnaire in the planning process. We also used it to edit our swede. I found the software fairly straightforward, as I have had a years’ experience from using it last year. This was beneficial as I could overcome problems I faced last year. However the software did cause a few problems as some of our clips took hours to render, which meant the whole process took much longer. Although it took longer, the software allowed us to make smoother videos with pleasing effects.

We used myspace to contact the band 10000 pieces to ask for their permission to use their song in our music video. This website was good because it allowed us to contact the band. We didn’t have any difficulties with this website.

Unsigned.com is the website we found our band on. We wanted to find an unknown band so that we would have a good chance of them allowing us to use their music. This website was beneficial as it allowed us to find a good band. We had no difficulties with this website.

YouTube was a very resourceful Web 2.0 site that we used. We used this website to watch other music videos to use for research. It was very beneficial as it was easy to find relevant music videos. We didn’t come across any difficulties with this site. Here are some of the music videos I researched using YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK7egZaT3hs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SxTyvOixJA

Microsoft word is the software we used to write the lyrics of the song we were using on as we could not access the lyrics on any websites. We found this website beneficial as we could easily save and access work to and from it. We didn’t experience any difficulties with it during our planning process.

The apple mac was where we did the majority of our work as all the software and websites could be accessed from there. We found the macs beneficial as we could keep all of our work in one place. However we found the mac difficult when some of the programmes wouldn’t open properly.

In the Production process of our multimedia project, we also used a range of technologies: Blogger, a DSLR camera, Final Cut, iTunes, Photoshop,  an apple mac, digital audio recorders and speakers.

We used blogger to upload our final projects. This was simple to carry out and we didn’t have any problems.

Again we used the DSLR camera to film, however this time we filmed our actual music video. This was beneficial as we could access the camera whenever we wanted as it belonged to our group. However the camera did run out of battery during filming one day which meant the filming process took longer than desired.  Overall we found the camera allowed us to film better material as it was higher quality and simple to use.

Final cut was the software we used to edit our music video.  We found this software beneficial as it allowed us to crop down unwanted footage and add in any effects we wished. We had difficulties with the software however. As the clips were saved onto a memory stick, we could only edit with the memory stick in the apple mac. When we didn’t use the memory stick the files went offline. Furthermore we had to render clips for long periods of time which pushed us for time more. However it did make us produce better work as the raw footage was turned into a better final product.

iTunes was the application we had to use to import and export the song onto. This was beneficial as it allowed us to place the song onto the timeline easier. We had no problems with this application.

We used Photoshop to edit our magazine advert and our digipak. This was extremely beneficial for making our ancillary tasks as we could change the pictures to make them look how we wanted them to. We had trouble resizing the images from Photoshop to match the size of the cd case but we solved this problem. The software overall gave us the chance to enhance our pictures and make them look more stylish for our band identity.

Again we used the mac to use the software on it. We experience no problems at this stage with the mac.

We used an iPhone 3gs to record the song and play it back when we were filming our music video. This was helpful as it made it easier for our band members to play and sing in sync. However there was a limit on the volume of the phone so it only helped to a certain extent.

Although we used the iPhone in order to overcome the problem of the volume limit we managed to play the song through some speakers. This allowed the band to play at the same time as the song. The overall result made our video parallel to the song.

In the evaluation process of my project I have also used various technologies: Blogger,DSLR camera, Final cut, Prezzi, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft word, an apple mac, a windows PC.

I uploaded my evaluation onto blogger as it keeps all my work together. I had to upload the videos I made as hyperlinks as the website came up with errors when I tried to directly upload them.

The DSLR camera was the device I used to record myself in my vlogs that I made. This was beneficial as I could upload the videos from home. I had no problems with this task. As it was my own camera it meant I was able to re film the clips whenever I wanted which meant I could choose the best footage.

Final cut was the software I used to edit my vlogs so that they looked smoother. Whenever I stumbled In a sentence I could crop it out. Therefore the software acted as punctuation improvements.

In addition I used prezzi for part of my answer to one of the questions. This was beneficial as it gave me another way to present my evaluation. However it requires user account setting which makes it more difficult to watch the presentation I made.  However the presentation looks more appealing than an essay.

Furthermore I used Microsoft PowerPoint in order to use another type of presentation. This application was simple to use and it allowed me to note down the key points so that I could expand and elaborate on them in the style of a vlog.

Microsoft word was also a useful application in the evaluation process. I typed up all the things I was going to say in my vlogs on word first so that I could refer to the word document when I wanted to talk about the point I was making.

Again I used an apple mac to access final cut. I had no problem with this.

Moreover I used a windows PC to type up my evaluation and to make my prezzi document. This is because I am more familiar with windows PCs. I found this beneficial as I am confident in my competence to use windows computers. I did not come across any problems I couldn’t solve. As a result I could add everything I wanted to in so that my evaluation was the highest standard I could make it.

Music Video Swede by Lewis Finney

Rockstar by Nickleback

Please go to this website URL to view the video :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6hrjKjVGY&feature=share

Lighting Testing

As we had to shoot some of our scenes at night we had to get extra lighting for our characters to be seen, for this we chose to get torches and see what we could and could not see with them and whether they would be good enough for our shot of not.

By Laura Thorpe

Focus Testing

After watching (now) a blooper whilst filming our narrative we noticed that one of the shots were slightly out of focus therefore we decided to make a short clip testing out the focus to make sure it was perfect before continuing.
By Laura Thorpe

Pop music and the development of technology

The development of technology has devalued music as to be succesful in the music industry today you need to be a 'brand' rather than a 'band' because of how our culture of consumerism has developed. Pop music used to just be live perfromances and the artists music was valued for the audience simply enjoying the music, pop music is culturally defined as teenagers were defined by the music they listen to, this is where subcultural groups developed; differentiated by style of music and dress. MODS V ROCKERS
The development of the music industry means theres more artists to reach a wider audience however the ditsribution and production of music has also developed from it being essential to distribute music through a recording studio technology now allows us to produce our own music from home and distribute it to the nation through forms of web 2.0 such as Youtube and MySpace, for example Lily Allen became famous within the music industry through MySpace and arctic monkeys also became successful through Myspace, which made distribution of music easier, this was however damaging the industries income and people were not going to the record studios and were still being successful in producing and distributing good quality music.
The development of technology also meant that the music industry were loosing out because of file sharing on sites such as 'Napster' meaning people could P2P file share illegally for free, which meant that the artists weren't gaining back the money they spent on producing the music because so many people were illegally downloading and file sharing.
The music industry has now made artists become more commercial using a specific image and brand to promote themselves to make them more appealing to their target audience and because of the competition between existing and new artists to be successful, the audience want more than just music because of our culture
 By Laura Thorpe

Pop Genre

I also chose to look at a very stereotypical pop music video (California Girls- Katy Perry ft Snoop Dogg) with analysis below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57P9C4SAW4

The music video is a hybrid of narrative and performance as she is lip singing the song, I like that the narrative and performance are all in one because it helps the video flow better, however as I am having a band instead of an artist it may be slightly more difficult to portray this as clear as this video meaning it may be easier to make and for my audience to watch if my group and I were to have the narrative and performance separate.

After watching this video I believe that the pop genre has become quite ‘samey’ as they have the same beat to them, but different artists. The California girls video has a very clear narrative and the audience can easily see how it all relates, however the narrative has a hidden meaning behind it that I believe to be quite sexual and unnecessary. This has been shown mostly through the costume as she isn’t wearing very much. This gives the impression that Katy Perry is quite a revealing person, however this seems to meet the typical conventions of a pop music video as other artists such as Rihanna wear little clothing within her music videos. Therefore when deciding what my band shall wear I will make sure it is something that will fit the conventions of a indie rock band and music video as then my target audience will not be ‘put off’ by the band. Her costume may be revealing but it relates well to the lyrics as in the lyrics is talks about sweets and therefore the audience are not shocked to see this kind of imagery in the video, when making my own music video I will have to look at making sure the imagery used in my video links with my lyrics as then the audience will understand them more and the meaning behind them.

Something I specifically like about this music video is the colours, as they are bright and draw the audience in, this would also link to her target audience whom I believe to be of quite a young age, as this means they will find the song and the video fun and exciting (many radio DJ’s called it ‘the worlds summer anthem’). From this I will have to think about the colours used within my music video as that may change what my target audience think of it, for example if I were to use dull and dark colours my audience might think that my song and music video is quite boring. Thinking about Synaesthesia from listening to the song I also think the colours work well with the lyrics because the beat it quite fun and jumpy therefore I imagine bright and fun colours with it as then it will all link together. 

The shots and editing used in this music video are quite simple which I like because it means the video is easy to understand and watch. However I notice that shots have been specifically used generally to show off her body rather than more of the narrative, for example when she is on the cloud moth mid and long shots have been used to show that she is not wearing much rather than helping the audience know more about what is going on. This may mean that she as an artist cares more about her look than the music, this can be very stereotypical of pop and generally bands who produce to the mass constantly produce new music that they don't believe in.

For my own music video I think it will be best if my band and I were to look at a different genre as the pop one looks too much into star image, I want my bands star image to come across as being the type of people who care more about their music than their look, meaning they will not necessarily meet the female gaze, but also that the target audience will be much more niche.

By Laura Thorpe

Evaluation- Laura Thorpe

Conventions and how my media products link.

We decided to stick to many of the conventions of a normal indie rock music video then steer away from them because this then meant that our audience would recognise it for that genre and it would appeal to them because they are used to the typical conventions. For example, as our song is quite fast paste we chose to have fast cuts in our video, much like Loverboy by You Me At Six as this meant our video would flow better with the song. Another convention which we chose to follow was having performance in the video as many indie rock music videos chose to have this, from this is meant that the audience knew what the band looked like which is essential for a new band as this then became a promotional aspect for the band as well as helping them appeal to our target audience. Although we had performance we noticed in our research that many music videos were hybrids of performance and narrative, therefore we chose to have narrative because this made the video more interesting for our audience. Our narrative related to our lyrics well as it is about a boys life and with the lyrics ‘you stole the sunshine out of my life’ it reminded me of good days and bad days therefore when discussing with my group what the narrative could be we came to a decision that this would be appropriate because it can also give the message that everyone has a bad day. After looking through our research we also decided to keep to the conventions of camera shots (generally mid/long and close-ups) because the audience will recognise them and we didn’t want the audience to get confused or feel like they had to think during the video, we mostly just wanted them to watch it and enjoy what they had seen. When deciding what image we were going to have for the band, we chose to have them all be individual because then our audience were able to relate to each one differently. To create the impression of different personalities we showed this through positioning of each band member (I.e. the order), the clothes they wore and they way they looked in the digi-pak with the separate images. This then meant the audience knew what each band member looked like and would be able to pin- point each one out. However there were some conventions in our video which we did not follow such as adding in camera movement. Although there was very little in our video we mostly had it in the narrative because this meant the audience could clearly see the different between the performance and the narrative; however the final clip for our music video is performance with a zoom out, this did not meet the conventions, but we chose to do this because then the final shot is of the whole band and the audience would be able to see exactly where they all were and what they looked like, meaning the image would be more memorable. For our digi-pak and magazine advert we too chose to still have many conventions included into it, for example the individual images of the band members was inspired by The Killers digi-pak, we liked this idea because it meant that the audience can see all the band members. Another convention which we followed was shown in our research was not to have the band on the cover, we chose to do this because it gives the impression that our band cares more about the music rather than their image and as their audience is of an age where school is an important time we thought this would mean the audience would want to relate to the lyrics and the music more than the image of the band, although that would still be important as we want people to recognise the band. There were also conventions of the digi-pak which we didn’t stick to such as the font type used; this seems to be quite ‘feminine’ however we chose to use it because it is the typical font type found of guitar heads and therefore when placing it onto the front cover it didn’t seem out of place. The font could also be seen as the bands usp as it will be something no other indie rock band has meaning even people who are not necessarily part of our target audience will recognise it. Our magazine advert is fairly conventional compared to our other media products as it has the least information on it and when trying to add more information we decided it made the advert look too crowded and therefore little was more in this case. We chose to have just general information on there that is the most important e.g. band name, price etc because the audience would look at it in much detail or for very long because it is just an advert therefore we wanted to make sure only the key information was included so the audience are aware of the band.

We chose to have several continuous themes between our video and ancillary texts such as always having the fonts the same as this meant that the audience would always know the fonts and know who the band is from these. Also to make sure our target audience were appealed to our digi-pak we decided to post all the images were had taken of the band onto social networking sites such as face book and got people to comment and like their favourite ones, from this we were able to learn what they liked the most and therefore knew that our digi-pak would appeal to them because the images were chosen by them instead of by us. To establish our brands identity we used the guitar head within our video, magazine advert and digi-pak. We did this by having the same image on both our digi-pak and magazine advert but also by having the image of the guitar head actually being the same as the heads of the guitar on the lead singer and lead guitarists guitar. We chose to do this because it meant the audience can identify with it and link it to future products of the band. From our questionnaire many of our target audience said that they would like to see images of the artist/ band inside the digi-pak and that they would like to see a smashed guitar or a drunk kit on the front cover. Therefore we chose to listen to them and this is why we have an image of the guitar head as the front cover however it is not smashed because we didn’t want to give the idea that our band is reckless because although they are a boy band who appeal to a youthful audience we still wanted them to be respectable and therefore had images which linked to the band and genre but not ruin our bands star image at the same time.

Feedback from Target audience.

Technologies used

Storyboard

 For our opening few shots we decided to almost have an introduction to introduce the band members and our main narrative character as they are a new band and therefore they need to be seen and recognised to their target audience so make them more memorable. We chose to have the drummer as the first band member to be shown as it is just the drums being played at this moment during the music and therefore makes the music diagetic and understandable for the audience. Also from our research we found that when there are musical solos just that individual band member is shown so the audience can link that moment with which band member, this is specifically important in our video as we have 2 guitarists and therefore the audience will want to know who is playing what part.- Laura

For our next few shots we chose to introduce the whole band together as the audience will then learn their formation. Although this was not always present in our research of indie rock video we decided that it was best to still have a certain formation as the audience will recognise it and furthermore associate that formation with the band. We also chose the show a 'behind the scenes' shot of the lights going up as it gives the illusion that the performance is live and also gives the audience more knowledge as we found from our research of an Arctic Monkeys we saw shows of the crew sorting out the music and lights whilst performing and thought this was good for the music video as it gives the audience a greater insight to what went into this performance.- Laura

This part of our video is all narrative as there has been nothing of great interest at this moment and therefore wanted the audience to be shown more of what is happening. We decided to have everyday things happening in the shots e.g. having breakfast and going to school because the audience are then able to relate to this and feel like the band understand this type of situation e.g. being late for school. This creates the idea that the band are down to earth and 'real people' which can relate to the star image theory as we have manufactured this image meaning that the way they act is fake but portrayed to be real. These shots will be all short and fast to meet the pace of the music as having long shots with little going on wouldn't fit the music and therefore have the video not flow as weel and as we specifically just want the audience to be entertained by the video having shots which don't meet the same pace would make it less entertaining and therefore make it have little purpose.- Laura

We bring performance back into the video at this point as the lyrics begin, thus we are introducing the lead singer who will always be in the middle of every performance and every band shot for our video and digi-pak as when researching videos and albums we found that the lead singer was always to more prominante of all the band members and therefore we predict that he will be the most recognisable in comparison to the other band members, thus having the lead singer in the different clothes in comparison to the other band members i.e. other band members in plain clothes and the lead in patterened clothes. However this was not in our research and may cretae the illusion that the band is not a band but rather just an artist therefore we must make sure when using mise-en-scene that our band looks like a whole band and not just an artist.- Laura

In these shots we show that the main character is having a 'bad' day as he has been given a detention and introduce the rest of the band members and the band together so that the audience are now fully aware of who the members are and what they look like etc.- Laura

The narrative shots have been used to show the argument between the main character and his teacher as this adds to the bad day because he will lose control, thus frustrating him. After looking at a video by the Arctic Monkeys we chose to have a shot of the band from side on as this gives the performance another dimention because the shot will make the room look deeper and therefore the audience will feel like they are actually there.- Laura

There is mostly performance in these shots because we have had chunks of narrative previously to make it flow, however as we are advitising a new band we must make sure they are the main attraction in the video and therefore show several shots of all the band members and the lead singer as there are lyrics during this moment.- Laura

'Out of my life' is repeated several times from around 1:29minutes into the song therefore we decided this would be a key moment to once again have individual shots of each band member singing the lyrics as this creates the illusion that the band are a unit because they are all singing together and therefore I think they will come across as a more respectful band.- Laura

We chose to have several shots of narrative during this part of the video because when listening to the music this is the bridge to the chorus being repeated and therefore we felt that it would be good and also meet the conventions of a music video with narrative to make this the big build up to the most dramatic part of the music video a the audience will still be interested in the video and the narrative. We used mostly close-ups because then the audience will understand what is going on and know what the main character is doing.- Laura

This is still narrative in our video with the end shot being of the argument of the main character with whom will be his girlfriend making the build up to be quite long, this may not meet the conventions of all the music video we've researched however we wanted the narrative to be like a tv show thus from making my thriller last year I know that to build the story up well it must be done gradually as then the audience ill constantly want to know more. Although the build up is long we still wanted the narrative to suit the video therefore the shots will still be quick and the transitions fast as we want a continuous pace for our video because then the music won't look so out of place to what is happening.- Laura

Pitch

Digi-pak Analysis- Laura Thorpe

Target Audience- Laura Thorpe

http://www.nme.com/

2nd Music Video Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SxTyvOixJA 

This music video also comes under the indie rock genre and therefore I have chosen to analyse it because I can draw upon certain aspects that may be relevant to my music video.

I think that the narrative has been used cleverly in this music video. Because the audience are looking at the video from the boys point of view- and only his point of view, it makes it easier for them to relate to him. Whereas if there were to be several main characters the focus would have been taken off of him. For this reason I will make sure we have one actor for the narrative, and have all the other characters centred around him.

In terms of the type of this music video, you can see that it is clearly a hybrid of narrative and performance. I believe the reason behind this is because it makes the video more interesting than having just the band playing for the entire time, and it also splits the narrative up a bit keeping the audiences attention peaked. Although it will be a challenge I believe that this hybrid will be an sufficient choice in my music video.

Again in this music video there are many close ups of the lead singer. This backs up the idea that this is a conventional aspect of indie rock music videos; so I will ensure my music video includes multiple close ups on the lead singer.

In addition I noticed that there are many close and mid shots of the drummer performing. This implies that the drumming is a crucial part to an indie rock band therefore it has to be shown. Personally I think that the mid shots are ideal as they give the audience a good view of the drummer, yet they are close enough to see the emotions in the drummer's body language. Mid shots of the drummer will most definitely be seen in my music video as the drumming is more dominant than the guitar in particular moments in the song. I also believe that by adding these shots in our music video will begin to look more like an indie rock music video, therefore the target audience will be seeing what they want to and will be able to recognise the band in greater depth.

Bradley Norris

Music Video Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK7egZaT3hs

This is a performance music video. From watching this video it has given me several ideas on how my music video can use some of it's conventions.

For example I like the lighting and feel that it is used effectively to add to the liveliness of the music video. They do this by changing the lighting and not having one colour throughout. In my music video I will adopt this idea and introduce red lighting as well as white.

As the song is quite fast paced it seems as though they have edited the shots into fast cuts in order to keep up with it. Bearing in mind our music video is similar paced I will try and use several fast cuts and keep transitions and longer held shots to a minimum.

Furthermore this video contains mid shots of the band members performing frequently. Therefore I feel it would be wise to apply this technique to our music video in order to follow conventions of indie rock music videos.

I find the close ups on the lead singer to be effective as well. It allows the audience to focus more on the lyrics and maybe cause them to think about them more. Again this is a useful aspect and I will try to produce shots similar to this in my own music video.

Bradley Norris

The Final Music Video

Lyrics to the song we are using

10000 Pieces - My Life

It’s easy to criticise from the sideline

Under pressure you cant make up your own mind

Falling back into the hole that you crawled in

Never ever wanna play your game

You stole the sunshine out of my life

Never ever wanna be a part of your daydream

Always wanna be here every night and day

Never ever wanna be part of your daydream

Never ever wanna play your game

You stole the sunshine out of my life

Out of my life

Out of my life

Out of my life

You stole the sunshine out of my life

Out of my life

Out of my life

Out of my life

Semiotics - By Lewis Finney

Music Genre Research|Rap|Eminem - "Toy Soldiers"

When the kid opens up the book you see Eminem wearing trackies, hoodie, and a top which are all way to big for him. This immediately tells the audience straight away that this music is the genre known as rap. It does this by the use of stereotypes. When we think of rap we think of gangsters, when we think of gangsters we think typically of the clothes Eminem is wearing in this clip.
This shows the history of rap because it came from the "hood" of America and this is what they generally, and stereotypically, wear on a day to day basis.

You next see blood all over Eminem's shirt, then cuts to a shot of someone being chestpumped. This brings up the question of "did Eminem violently hurt this guy?"
Throughout the history of rap a rapper would rap about painful experiences within their life and often promote violence. This part of the video shows violence through the use of blood on Eminems shirt, and if you put one and one together, you hazard a guess that the blood is from the guy led on the bed. This suggests to the audience that they probably had a violent fight, and also promotes violence.

When Eminem is in his office a security guy walks in and hands him a bulletproof vest. It then cuts to a newspaper headline which reads "Rap rivalries get dangerous". This then makes the audience think that Eminem is expecting to get shot at some point in his life.
This brings back the history of rappers being involved in gangs and killing people just because they don't like another person. Which is also promoting violence again.

This is a clip which shows Eminem with his gang. This shows the history of rappers generally belonging to a gang. Also you notice that Eminem is wearing a camo styled shirt. This gives the audience the idea that Eminem is preparing for a war, possibly a gang war. Again this promotes violence.

This clips stands out from every clip within the music video. You see a guy get shot from a car window. This is referring to the historical death of Tupac which, arguably, is the most known death of all rappers.
Tupac was shot dead on September 13th, 1996. This killer was unknown but believed to be someone from Biggie's crew. Biggie was another rapper at the time, and Tupacs rival. This shows the historical stereotype of rappers and their crews constantly being violent and creating gang wars. You see the reference to the unknowing of who killed Tupac in this clip by the fact you cannot see who is shooting the guns in the car.
Within Rap history, this is the most known death of all time because of the violence that was arousing between East and West Coast America before and after the death of Tupac.

By Lewis Finney

Final Magazine Advert

This is our final magazine advert. 

Final Digipak

These are all the pictures we are going to have on and inside our digipak.

We considered having a page behind the cd which would have included several pieces of information about the album and the band members. But decided not to as we wanted to keep the digipak simple as it fits with the indie rock genre.
 (This information would go on the page behind the cd)
Engineered by LBL productions
Management: Bradley Norris, Lewis Finney, Laura Thorpe
Band Photo: Laura Thorpe, Bradley Norris Lewis Finney
Package Production: Bradley Norris, Lewis Finney, Laura Thorpe

Harry Hazzard: Lead Singer, The Fun and cocky one
Jack Rose: Bass Guitarist, The happy and funny one.
Lewis Finney: Drummer, The rebellious one
Bradley Norris: Lead Guitarist, The serious one.