My Evaluation Prezi

http://prezi.com/aixctnubatb-/

My DVD Digipack

This is my digipack for my DVD cover, I created this by using microsoft PowerPoint.

Inside Cover

This is the inside part of my DVD case preliminary task. The inside, as was the outside, was created using Microsoft PowerPoint software. I have used this as I know how to use the software well as I have shown in creating the outer layer of my DVD case. The images I have user are of the band as I felt it fitting to have imaged of the band on the inside as well as the outside of the DVD case. These images show them smiling and interacting with each other. This would give the audience the impression that as well as being in a band together, they are also good friends and get on with each other well.

I have used a black and white colour scheme to keep continuity with other products and to also keep continuity with the out part of the DVD cover. This was because, through extensive research into inner layers or DVD cases, I found that commonly the inner layers are the same colour and continue the same themes throughout.

From my research I also noticed that a band usually have the lyrics or a small biography or even commendations to those whom had helped on the video. In my DVD case I decided to include a short autobiography of the band Crescendo. This is to give the audience a look into how the band formed and what success they have already had as a band. Furthermore it would also give the audience something to relate to if they are an upcoming musician and see this autobiography and can relate to it, they may feel they are going in the right direction and continue to perform to the best of their abilities. As this is an autobiography the audience would be able to see how the band interacts with each and how their pasts relate. Furthermore it feels as though it is the actual band talking directly to the audience.

Outside Cover

The idea of this DVD cover was to stand out againsst the rest of the colourful, exstravigant DVD covers you may see on the selfs. This DVD follows the conventions by displaying the name of the band, the title of the DVD, a blurb on the back of the DVD giving audience details of what is on the DVD, Stills from the film its self to allow audiences to get a quick glimps and it has all the appropriate certification and logos needed on a DVD Cover.

This DVD cover stays in continuity with the rest of my products as the colour scheme of the band itself in White and Black. These to colours appear on my music video in the form of the artists costumes and again as the main colours on my advertisement.

Evaluation

Evaluation

For my main task this year I have chosen to follow the brief to promote a band’s latest music video. To do this I would have to firstly make the video, and then for my ancillary tasks I would create a DVD cover and a magazine advert to promote the sales of my DVD.
The band I chose to promote ‘Crescendo’ is a boy/girl acoustic duo from Norwich. As the band consists of a male and female, according to the Uses and Gratifications theory, the audience would be able to relate to the band in a sense of style and in relation to their music. Furthermore this band would become a talking point for both sexes to enjoy.
The target audience for my productions would be aged 14 – 30 as I believe the style of the band and the type of music the band plays would relate more to this age then any other. However even though this is my target audience, anyone outside the target audience could seek entertainment from this band.
For my video I presented 3 ideas to the band and allowed them to choose one they liked. This enables the band to have a say in what happens in the video and also allows me and the director of the music video to come to terms with what the band are prepared to do for a music video.
My first idea was to follow both members’ full days, from when they rise to when they return to slumber. I believe that this would challenged the conventions of a music video as it would show the band members in a different environment to what the audience would expect.
The second idea I had was to not show the band, but an have actor mime the track. This would challenge the conventions of a music video as it doesn’t show the band at all within the music video. However going into further research I found that really only well known musicians, like Elton John for example, would be able to do this as his face is known by nearly everyone, whereas ‘Crescendo’ would not be known. It would be a better idea to put the band in the music video. Furthermore I believe having the band in the music video would allow their personal qualities to shine through much more than an actor trying to portray these qualities.
My third idea would be to show the band running to meet each other. Whilst doing this the band would pass some memorable monuments, in their home city of Norwich. I believe that this would enable people from Norwich to relate to the band and furthermore would give people from Norwich a great incentive to support the band. Whilst this is happening there would be interjectioned shots of the band playing at a venue which would turn out to be their final destination whilst running around Norwich. This would conform to the conventions of a music video as for the duration of this music video a number of different images would need to be used which is a common convention in all music videos.
After careful consideration the band chose to go with my third idea. I was happy with their decision as for this particular idea I knew they would have a lot of fun filming and I had a number of ideas to put into practice.
The plot of this music video would see the band chasing each other around Norwich attempting to find each other and their final performance destination. Along the way there are some close shaves where the two nearly meet each other, but this doesn’t happen until the end of the music video. There are interjected shots throughout the video of the band playing at their final destination. The location of the final destination was ‘The Garage’ a performing arts studio, where I used the stage to shoot the performing aspect of the band. I used a range of shots including, long, establishing and close ups, to conform with the conventions of a music video as a range of shots are used in many music videos across time to show all aspects of the artists and to create a sense of change throughout the music video. According to Goodwin’s theory, within music videos there is a call for lots of close ups from producers of bands as the artists may be able to develop motifs which will then occur across the rest of their work. An example of this is the singer David Bowie who famously had his face painted for a number of his music videos. This image of Bowie became a motif of his and had influence on the rest of his future work.
The ‘characters’ used in this video are the band themselves. I decided to use the band as this would promote the appearance of the band and furthermore would show them in a different light to how they were usually represented to the audience. Marcus, who was played by myself, is shown wearing a white shirt, black tie, jeans and trainers. I believe this is a very smart/casual look for a male, and shows how he does take care of his appearance except his hair which is shown to be a complete mess. Sophie, played by Sophie Connors, is shown wearing a black shirt, jeans and converse. This again is a very smart casual look for a female. Overall the appearance of the band keeps up the clean-cut look to show not all teens are the antisocial citizens you may often see represented in the media. Furthermore as the band is not seen wearing designer clothing or jewellery this will make their appearance more appealing to the audience as they will know that too look like Crescendo is affordable. Some of the landmarks the band ran past in Norwich are well known around the UK, for example the Forum and the Cathedral. Including the monuments in the video allows the audience to relate to the music video if they are, or have ever been to Norwich. This according to the Uses and Gratifications theory allows some of the audience to gain an identity as a citizen of Norwich; this will be due to recognition of the band and Norwich. Furthermore the audience could see Norwich as a representation of their own city/town, so there is a sense of national representation within this music video, with audiences relating Norwich to their own city/town. Here again whilst running past the monuments of Norwich many camera shots will be used to give the audience the best view of the action. In this way this video is conventional. However my video would challenge the conventions as, unlike many music videos nowadays, I have not used any special effects to build upon the appearance of the band or the video. I believe that by not using special effects I showed how realistic my video really is at it gives my video more naturalistic.
Usually there are titles at the opening and the end of any music video; however on my music video I have only shown titles at the end. These are introduced with a fade in and then are faded out at the end of my video. I have done this because I wanted to convey the band themselves and not just their name. This was an easy video transition to edit as I had learnt the previous year on my AS course how to do such transitions. This conforms to the conventions of a music video as there are titles shown at some point in the music video. This gives audiences the information needed to then do further research into the band’s music and other merchandise of the band and buy their products.
I am aiming to show this band as ‘a band your mother would be proud of’. This means the band would be a clean-cut, couldn’t-do-anything-wrong-type of band. This is shown in my music video by the band not doing anything antisocial or above the law. The video would also show the band to be ordinary in a way that the audience is able to relate to them and fun by showing no negative attitudes between the band or anyone else. This band would provide good role models for younger audiences who would also be able to relate to the band in terms of dress sense and behaviour towards others. Another aim of this video is to show that this is a local band from Norwich, which other local bands can look to for inspiration. This is according to the Uses and Gratifications theory, suggests which audiences are able to gather inspiration from other influences.
When looking into the conventions of a music video and deciding on my own ideas for a music video I looked at 3 genres in particular: R’n’B (rhythm and blues), Acoustic and Alternative rock. Below are my own evaluations of each video I watched.
One video I watched which was entirely random was The Strokes video for the song ‘Hard to Explain’. In this video there are a number of different pieces of video from all different places. Although all these pieces of video had nothing in common the video worked, as it was in time with the music which is what a music video needs to do. This video does challenge but yet abides by the conventions of a music video. It challenges the conventions of a music video by not having a narrative so this may confuse the audience. However looking further into the music video in relation to the title of the track. ‘Hard to explain’, there is a link between the two. This according to Goodwin’s Theory shows that there is an illustrative relationship between the title of the track and the music itself with the craziness of the music video it is ’Hard to Explain what is happening. Further more the speed of the shots in certain parts of this music video relate to the speed of the lyrics and music. when the tune speeds up, so do the images on the screen. This video would not be seen as a stereotypical Alternative band music video as it only shows the band playing in small amounts of the video, where most alternative bands appear in their own music videos i.e. Muse, The Killers and The Kooks. From this video I liked the speed of the transitions between shots. Furthermore, I liked the way in which the director used interjected shots of the band playing within the music video. As this shows the band in two lights. One shows them in their everyday environment which is playing at a gig. This is a common sight and one which is expected by the audience. The second is the band maybe doing something more active for example, a narrative, which shows the band going on an adventure. I have used these two techniques in my video.
Another video I watched was Lady Gaga with the song ‘Paparazzi’. This video did have a narrative throughout; it was more like a short film, which showed how a famous husband and wife had been corrupted by the media not leaving them alone and in the end the wife finally kills the husband by poison. This is a stereotypical R’n’B music video as a lot of music videos which surround this genre have narrative behind them. This video according to Goodwin’s Theory shows intertextuality as it is in close relations to a short film. By doing this it enables the musician, Lady Gaga in this case, to show off her acting skills to show her talent at all aspects of performing arts. This music video is a typical R’n’B video as it shows women in few clothes dancing and straddling objects and men.
‘Beautiful’ by James Blunt: this video doesn’t have a narrative and the lyrics do not really relate to the music video in a way which is recognisable. James Blunt is an acoustic artist, and stereotypically, usually acoustic artists are very relaxed and laid back when creating their music videos. This video does challenge the conventions of a music video as it doesn’t actually show the artist playing their instrument. This is not common in an acoustic music video as artists are usually seen playing their instruments in a way the audience would expect to see them. In many acoustic artists’ music videos it is commonly the musician playing their instrument, as there is not much of a beat behind it, and furthermore majority of acoustic music is very slow based and sad which doesn’t provide the best material for creating an up beat music video. There is a small amount of transition between shots and there is not a range of shots in this music video. The transitions are made to look like camera movements. An example is when the camera is stationed and then slowly moves up, which provides the audience with a scene of change of shot. According to Goodwin’s theory, the demands of the artists’ record company would require lots of close ups of the artists; this will enable the artist to develop motifs which then recur throughout the rest of the artists work. A motif is a certain characteristic of a person which is easily recognisable and which continues throughout that person’s work. An example of this is the extreme dress sense of certain artists. i.e. Lady Gaga and Rhianna. There weird and wondrous choice of clothing crops up in nearly every music video or appearance these stars make.
The technology I used to edit my music video was Adobe Premiere Pro. I had learnt to use this last year for my AS course and from that I feel as though I have improved my knowledge and skills in editing. Other technology involved the cameras. On the shots at The Garage in my music video the quality of the film is poor compared to that of the other shots outside and around Norwich. This is due to the poor lighting in The Garage and the poor quality of the tape we recorded used. However I did notice this and changed the tape to get a better quality of film. Even though the film was not the best quality we had learnt from AS that on the editing software. It is sometimes possible to in some cases improve the quality of film. However If I had more time and money then I would have gone back to The Garage and filmed this section again; this was not possible due to the lack of time and the cost to rent out The Garage.
From audience feedback the music video has proved a big success with all who have viewed it. Some did comment on the quality of The Garage scenes, however once I had explained to them the situation they saw how I could not re-do this particular piece of film. One person said “This music video rocks, the parts where the band nearly meet each other are really well planned by the director!!” This person obviously liked the idea when the band almost meet each other. I think this was because I added these pieces of film to provide a sense of humour and also give the audience a hint of what the narrative might be, before they are finally told when the two meet. According to Carlsson’s theory, the director will come up with a few ideas and these will be then repeated and varied throughout the music video. I did come up with the idea of nearly making the two meet and thought of as many different situations I could put this scenario in.
The first of my ancillary tasks was to create a DVD cover for the music video. When doing research into DVD covers I looked at a range of different styles and genres. The two I looked at in particular were DVD covers for Muse and Franz Ferdinand. These both showed the typical conventions of a DVD cover for a music video or gig. Both included a short blurb on the back to provide further information on the band and what was on the DVD itself. The DVD also included reviews from other media institutions i.e. NME, The Sun and The Mirror. Furthermore logos of the band’s record companies and other sponsors of the band are on the DVD. These are all conventions of a music video, and I feel as though my DVD cover has conformed and challenged these conventions.
On the front of my DVD cover there is the name of the band and the name of the DVD. The name of the band is actually the band’s logo which is on all of their merchandise. The background colour of my DVD cover is white as I believe that it would stand out more against the darker colours which are associated with DVD covers. Some people have said that this is a very ‘boring’ colour. However I believe it gives a clean, new appeal to the band, as this is the way I want the band to be represented. On the front of my DVD there are images of the band. I have increased the colour of the images to make them stand out more against the white background and to make the DVD stand out more. On the front I have included a one word review from Q music. I believe this will also attract the audiences to buy this DVD. This according to the Uses and Gratifications theory would provide further information to the audience and attempt to influence them whilst buying this product. On the back of my DVD cover I have included a blurb which gives the audience more information on what the video is actually about and I have also included some more reviews from other media institutions which conform with the conventions of a DVD cover.
On the back of the DVD I have included stills from the video itself. This is so the audience again can have a sneak preview of the video. I believe I have shown the main conventions of a DVD cover on my own and I am sure that this will catch the attention of the audience buying the DVD.
To create my DVD cover I used PowerPoint. I believe that this was the best software to use as, I had already used it previously so knew how to work the program, and it was the only software we had at school which could enable us to create such pieces. For this I also set up my own photography studio in a friend’s room to use on my DVD cover. I used Paint to edit some of the photos on my DVD cover as it is good software for editing photos as it is simple and easy to use and is a decent enough editing tool for the editing I wanted to do.
From people’s comments they do like the look of my DVD cover. I was intending to change the colour of it to black, however people who commented on my work said they preferred it in white. One person said: “White looks better as it is a lot cleaner and would stand out more that a dark background which is commonly found on many DVD shelves”. I did take these comments onboard and kept the DVD cover as a white background.
The second ancillary task I had to create was an advert for my music video. This would have to be a magazine advert and I would also have to take into consideration the Advertising Standards Authority’s rules and regulations for advertising. For my research into advertising of DVDs I looked at a few adverts. The first was an advert for U2’s newest DVD; I liked this advert as it really stood out amongst the rest of the content in the magazine. This was because of the colours used in the advert – black, white and orange – which when against a black background really stand out and grabs the audience’s attention. All fonts in this advert are again used to catch the eye of the audience. The font and colour schemes relate to the actual cover of the disc. This begins to bring together the brand image of my band and shows continuity of products as I have attempted to do this with my own product.
For my own product I have used a black background, the same as the U2 ad as this will make the advert stand out more because the image of the DVD is white. In keeping with continuity with all my products I have only tried to use the colours black and white. I believe these colours to be smart and are great colours to contrast each other. However in contrast to my DVD cover where I used mainly squares, for my magazine advert I have decided to use circles. This is because I wanted to show the range of techniques I have adopted since the beginning of the course and to show them in this way would show how my photo editing techniques have grown.
Another way in which I have kept continuity between the two ancillary tasks is by including the record label logo on both of them. ‘Red Recording’ is a fictional record label. This conforms to the conventions of an advert for a DVD as the record label is present on the advert, so publicity is then given to the recording label as well. Another convention I have used is displaying stocklists in the bottom right hand corner.
The technology I used to create my magazine advert was PowerPoint. Again this is great software for creating adverts as it is simple and really effective when creating such products and as I had used it before during my GCSEs I felt confident enough to make my magazine advert on this. The other software I used again to edit the photos is Paint. As with PowerPoint I was confident that I could edit photos on this as I had had previous experience using this software.
Many people have commented on the way in which the advert stands out to them more than any other advert they had seen before. After my first draft, one person did say how boring the advert looked as there was not that much colour. I changed this by introducing red to the special features bubble on the advert. This would maintain continuity with my other products at the ‘Red Recording’ label is present, so this could then refer back to the recording label.
Overall I believe the combination of my tasks work amazingly well. I have kept with the black and white theme throughout all of my tasks (both main and ancillary), and the images I have used on all of my tasks also refer back to the main music video. I believe the effectiveness of the combination of all my tasks is very good as they are all easy to recognize and they all advertise each other this could also be reffered to as brand image.
If I could have done anything better it would be to improve the quality of the filming at The Garage .When I was able to review the film I did notice that the film was a poor quality. However I was unable to return to The Garage to film again due to cost and the time we had to film the sequence at The Garage. I think if I had my chance again I would have chosen a better track to use on the video to. The song is very catchy; however it is very hard to relate the actual music video to the track. The only way I can relate the two is by saying they are both craving their partners. The music video shows the two members of the band looking for each other and the song is about one man trying to prove to his partner that he will always be there for her and when they lose each other he will always try to find her.
I have learnt so much over the past two years, in terms of editing and when creating print based products. In AS I did have little experience, but it was shared between my partner and I however in the A2 course I have had to learn a lot more about the technique of timing and providing a range of shots. Furthermore I believe from A2 my range of ideas has expanded as I have come up with more and more shots every time I go out to film. So in that way I think my skills have improved from the As course.
In conclusion I have shown here how my video and ancillary task came to be and I have also shown to what extent my skills from the first time I filmed have also improved.

Sven Carlsson’s theory Music Video Analysis

Sven Carlsson’s theory  Music Video Analysis.

Carlsson says that ‘Music Video is a form of audio – visual communication in which meaning is created via carriers of information such as;

 (1) the music

(2) the lyrics and

 (3)the moving images.’

 He talks about music video being a combination of performance and conceptual clips, and lyrics being combined with images to create meaning to the audience.
Carlsson also says that the director will come up with a few ideas for a music video,and these ideas will be repeated and varied throughout the video. Re-arranging these visual motifs is said to be the key to making the music video work. He says that a music video is a combination of the provocative modern art tradition and a cultural interpretation of the teenage rebellion.

Goodwins theory of music analysis

Goodwin’s theory of music analysis

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
(e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

Research – The Conventions of a Music Video

The Conventions of a music video:

Convention = the way things are done within the video, which makes the music genre immediately recognisable to the audience.

1. Shows the band playing at a gig/private venue
2. The lyrics of the song influence what is shown in the video
3. The editing is synchronised to fit the pace of the music
4. The band are shown in the music video
5. Band always looks their best or live up to expected image
6. Title of the track and name of band always appears at the beginning and at the end of the music video
7. The use of different shots in the music video i.e. long shots, establishing shots, close-ups.
8. Use of special effects in music videos

Link to Music Video

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

This is the youtube link to my music video

DVD Cover

This is the first draft of my DVD Cover

Outside Cover

Inside Cover

DVD Advert

This is the first draft of my DVD advert for a magazine.

This is the final draft of my DVD Advert. The black background really makes the advert stand out against the other advertisements and articles in the magazine. The main image of this advert is the front cover of the DVD case.  This allows the audience to know what to look for when they want to buy the DVD. Furthermore, I have shown the special features on the DVD in the advert (highlighted in red) to allow the audience to have an insight into what is on the DVD and persuade them to buy the DVD.

DVD advert Research

This is an advert for the new Deluxe edition of a U2 CD. The main image on this advert is the album cover. The black background shows off the album cover to its finest quality. The colour schemes for this advert abide by the colours of the CD cover itself (black, white and orange). These colours really stand out against any other advert present in the magazine. All the font is in capital letters which also makes it stand out.

This magazine advert does not stand out as much as the U2 advert due to the colour scheme of this ad (blue, white and black). As before all writing is in capitals to stand out more and the main image this time is not of the DVD front cover but is of the artist herself. In the bottom left and right corners of the adverts we see certain logos. The ones in the left-hand corner are the production and record labels of the artisits. The ones on the right give information about where the DVD/CD are available.