Evaluation question 1

1.       My brief was to create a music video that was for an artist of my choice, we made this production in a group and my group included Jazz, Harry and Ben. We chose to make a music video for the song ‘it feels like we only go backwards’ by Tame Impala. We also created ancillary texts which included a digipak and a magazine advert.

My music video both developed and challenged conventions of real music videos in our genre, the song we chose is part of the psychedelic rock genre, this genre isn’t mainstream and the public are not usually aware of the genres conventions, main artists from this genre are from older generations such as Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles. Therefore we feel that we was able to challenge the genres conventions in music videos, but the public are aware of conventions of music videos from other genres such as pop, so we feel we should try and include some of pop music conventions to appeal to a larger audience.
Music videos in the pop genre follow many conventions but there is Goodwins theory which is a theory that stated the typical conventions that music videos follow or should follow to become popular, the conventions include 7 elements such as including close up shots of the artist, timing the shots to the music, relating the music video to the lyrics, including female voyeurism, the inclusion of other brands to advertise and promote. These elements of Goodwins theory set a way for music videos to be made, the audience of the videos enjoy the content and conventions for an artist to move away from this theory it leaves them a risk of being too different and not finding an audience that like the video.
My music video adapts conventions as we have chosen a song that’s part of an abstract genre where the music videos are very alternative, this allowed us to not strictly follow popular conventions and be more creative, such as using filters and editing effects such as a time-lapse. The main reason I chose to adapt conventions of my genre is to allow my music video room for creativity, I felt that the genre would be the best for this as it is abstract and fans of the genre like changes such as the ones I have implemented. My artist is called The White Rhinos which is a name for a band, although in the music video only the singer is seen.

The conventions of psychedelic rock are bright colours through filters, timing of shots usually slower timing to suit slower paced music, editing techniques such as phsycedelic filters and instruments, these are seen in videos such as The Black Angels- Don’t play with guns. I decided to mix the conventions such as timing of shots matching the song (when the artist is singing the lyrics) and using conventions of our genre such as psychedelic effects (kaleidoscope effect)  that were added in the editing stage. I felt that by mixing these conventions of pop and psychedelic rock I would attract the largest audiences opposed to strictly following one genre or the other which some audiences would dislike, our target audience is fairly large as it is from ages 16-40, I feel this is the ages of people who would like our music video. I feel this challenges the real music videos made in our genre are usually mad specifically for the fans of the band and psychedelic rock which doesn’t get the artist the most amount of views as what’s possible when combining the conventions of both genres.

There was three main ways that I adapted the conventions of the psychedelic rock genre in my music video, I had my artist performing the song without an instrument, this is adapting conventions of the genre as my artist is performing for the fans, which builds the relationship between them, but there isn't use of a instrument which is very conventional of the genre, this is adapting conventions as it is taking the conventions from pop genres which often include the artist performing without instruments and implementing them into my music video, this will help my music video appeal to fans of the pop genre.

 I included a time lapse which isn't conventional of the genre to adapt my music video from conventions of the genre. The main reason I chose to adapt my music video is to be creative, the time-lapse was very creative and added a different aspect to my music video, it also added to the narrative and made the audience more concerned for my character as he was acting strange and abnormal during the time-lapse, this is what I wanted to represent my character as. I was happy that this adaption of conventions enabled us to create a more engaging music video.
 I used low key lighting which represents negative emotions from the artist to adapt from conventions of my genre. There was a use of low key lighting that was decided in the planning stage on purpose as it takes away the conventions of the genre which are that shots are bright, the low key lighting and added filters meant we adapted our music video and made it better. The low key lighting was specifically chose as it helped match to the negative emotions that the artist was feeling to the theme of the music video, as if we hadn't have adapted conventions of the genre and included bright colours and filters then it wouldn't have matched the artists emotions that we were using to build the relationship with the artist.

We followed conventions also so that our music video still appealed to the fans of the genre, the three main examples are Coloured filters, kaleidoscope and drug use.
I used coloured filters at various points in my music video, specifically when the artist had taken drugs, I applied them during establishing shots and shots of the artist singing and walking, this was conventional of the genre and helped give the music video the same look as a video from the psychedelic rock genre, this is important as the fans of the genre will want to see some conventions that they recognise.
We used editing styles including the kaleidoscope filter to make our music video more conventional of the genre this was important to show the music video as conventional and show that we adapted the conventions, the effects that we included were shorter than in the music videos that belong to the genre which choose to follow all conventions, we decided to include this effect as it showed the audience that are not familiar with the genre the conventions that come with phsycedelic rock and also shows them that the artist is on drugs which alter his mind.
Drug use was an important element to include in our music video as it both showed the audience what the conventions of the genre are and it also shows them that the artist is reckless and doesn't care about his health, this is conventional of the genre and we found from our research that many artists are drug users and act reckless in their videos.

Final group digipak

Final group advert

Final production post

West Hatch High School- 16807

Luke Durrance- 3224

I also worked alongside Jazz Chrystie- 3214, Harry Hyett- 3242 and Ben Yarwood-3184.

Group digipak- Miss Miller

Intro

·      

      To agree on one digipak as a group we looked through each others digipaks and decided which ones we thought were the best, and that would  go well with the other parts of the digipak, all the different sides of our digipaks were taken from individually made digipaks apart from the front cover which was taken from the magazine advert and changed to suit a front cover of a digipak.

Main

·         Explain why you have decided to use/change/keep the same, certain elements within your digipak and how it has made it appeal to your target audience as well as promote your artist effectively

o   Colours- We decided against using one specific colour scheme, all the sides of our digipak are different colours, with different editing used on each one, we feel that this would still follow the conventions of the genre with the different colour schemes but wouldn't limit us to one specific colour scheme.

o   Conventions of genre – whether have conformed/subverted and why. We have conformed to the conventions of our genre as we have decided to use different editing styles on the images included on our digipak, this is clearly following the conventions of our genre of which it is popular to use a range of editing styles on the digipak.

o   Images used- We have used images that we took during the filming process, they are all taken by us personally, we felt  that this would add an element of originality and uniqueness to our digipak and would create a relationship between the audience and the artist, as the audience see the artist as creative. the front cover is the same images as our magazine advert, which we changed to suit the digipak, we included this as we felt it would be our artists recognised image if we used it for both.

o   Layout/design- We used a simple layout for our digipak, with the front and back cover, the CD, and two middle sides and a side that is a personal message to the fans o the artist.

o   Typography- We used typography that we felt was easy to read, it is the same typography used in our magazine advert, and thy typography was an element taken from my digipak.

o   Language- There isn't alot of writing on our digipak, mainly the song list on the back, the front cover with the album name, then the message to the fans which we felt was important as the fans expect a personal touch to a dgipak as it is more collectible than a normal CD, we included a personal message which we felt would help create a relationship between the artist and audience.

o   Think about connotations of all of the above- From all of the elements we feel that our digipak will come across to fans as a collectible item which shows the artists creativity and the personal message will make them appreciate the artist and they will feel loyal to the artist.

·         Talk about elements that you have taken from each group member, explaining why you have incorporated them (include screen shots of each other’s digipaks – brief analysis of what have incorporated)

·         Talk about the weaknesses and strengths of each group member’s digipak, explaining why

      Harry Hyett- Harry's digipak included heavily edited images that were taken during the filming process, personally I felt that it was too much and that the audience wouldn't like the digipak that is seen as trying too hard to conform to genre conventions. We used two sides of Harrys digipak which was the back cover and a middle side.

      Ben Yarwood- Like Harry's Ben's included heavily edited images that were trying to fit genre conventions, apart from this he had some good images that were suitable for our group digipak and we included and inside part of his in our final digipak.

      Jazz Chrystie- 

Conclusion

·         Do you feel your digipak conforms or adheres to your genre’s conventions? Why?

       I feel that our digipak conforms to our genre conventions well and isn't trying too hard to fit them by including overly edited images, this will show the audience that the album is part of the genre without putting off the audience that isn't a fan of the genre but liked the music video and the magazine advert so want to buy the album, we feel that this will get the digipak more sales. By taking this approach we have suited the wants of our target audience by including conventions of the genre without putting off the larger audience.

· 

·         How did you find working as a group to create one final digipak for your artist?

       i found that working in a group for the final digipak was easy and we all agreed on most points it also allowed us to make a good digipak as our different ideas came together well and allowed us to create a digipak that Incorporated different elements from every ones digipaks.

Rough cut- Miss Georgiou

•Explain why audience feedback is important to a production and why a rough cut is essential to carry out

Audience feedback from a rough cut is important in the process of making our music video as it allows us to see what our audience like and dislike about the music video and what we can change to suit that and make the music video better.

•How did you receive audience feedback from your target audience? (Screening of production, focus group, questionnaires, youtube)

We received feedback through youtube, this lets us put our rough cut music video out for our audience to see and lets them comment, like or dislike the video, this will let us see their feedback easily.

•How would this feedback benefit your production and the music industry?

The feedback we receive will benefit our production as we will change the elements of the video that the audience don't like such as editing or certain parts of the narrative, then we will improve the video using the comments as a guide, the music industry will be benefited by these improvements as we will increase the audience which will increase profits, as the music video can encourage the audience to purchase the song.

Positives 

1) Variety of Shots- This is a good positive aspect to have as it is a element we wanted to make sure was done well, which it is clear it has been, the variety of shots tells the narrative of the music video and will create the relationship between the audience and the artist.
2) Clear Narrative- It is important that we had a clear narrative, again it creates a relationship between the audience and the artist, also the narrative is a main part of our music video so it is important that it makes sense otherwise the music video wouldn't be successful.
3) Editing Techniques / Styles- We have been told we have included good use of editing styles and techniques which is positive as we wanted to tell the narrative and show the performance through a different range of styles, and if they audience like this element then we have clearly done it well.

Negatives 

1) Some shots are too long- The length of the shots we have used have been pointed out as too long, we personally agree with this comment and are going to shorten these lengthy shots so the video is faster paced.
2)Lip Syncing- The lip syncing isn't in perfect time in the rough cut which is something we will definitely improve.
3) Not a lot of performance within the video.- This is another element that will change in our final production, the use of performance we felt is not adequate so we are including more using different camera shots and editing styles. 

•Explain what changes you will make to your music video based on the comments that you received

Based on the feedback alone we will improve the Lip syncing, the length of shots and also the amount of performance within the video, we feel that this will get our music video to the place in which we like it and where it aligns with our original plans. This should be enjoyable for our audience as they have shown what they didn't like. 

•Include images from youtube and the paper assessment, to demonstrate the feedback that you received

Group magazine advert- Miss Miller

Group Magazine Advert – Miss Miller

Intro

We had to agree on one advert to create our group magazine advert, to do this we looked at eachothers and discussed what we liked and disliked, from this we knew whos we prefered, this process also got the points from each magazione advert we liked so we could include it on our joint magazine advert.

We all decided that we liked my magazine advert the best and from that we worked together to make it better and suit the genre better which my advert didn't do at first.

Main

- Colours

We decided to change the colours of my magazine advert, I had made mine simplistic and the colour wasn't conventional to the genre. So when we worked on the joint one we decided to change the colour scheme so it was brighter and more conventional to the genre. This helps it stand out in a magazine and will atract people to the advert. This is conventional and shows the audience that our artist is also conventional which will help gain the artist a fan base.

-Conventions of genre – whether have conformed/subverted and why.

We have conformed to conventions of the genre, we done this by using the colours that would be seen as conventional which are bright and stand out. This will impress our target audience as that is what they like and will also show a larger audience what the genre is like. The magazine advert isn't too diverse so that people are put off of the album, it follows conventions while still attracting people to the album.

- Images used

In my individual magazione advert I used an image that I took myself, which was of a skyline, this image is interesting and suits the genre as it has wavy colouds which are quite rare, this makes the image different to any image I have seen before. In the joint magazine advert, we kept the image but changed the colours so it was even more unique, it now has a puple sky. We have also included an image of a rhino which is in the center of the magazine advert, this is bold and our group incuded it as we wanted to have a symbol for our artist and the rhino fits with the white rhino name o the artist. The use of the rhino isn't conventional as most artist in the genre use themselves on the magazine advert, by using the rhino we have defied conventions and made our magazine advert more memorable to our audience.

- Layout/design

The Layout and design chnaged as we included a rhino in the center of the advert which attracts the readers attention to the advert, apart from a that we made changes to font size and layout, but this was to make the magazine advert more obvious that it was promoting the album which I don't feel like it was doing before.

- Typography

The typography is fairly plain and simple but also unique, We could have changed it to a more conventional font, but we felt we wanted the writing to be readable, which our typography is. 

- Language

We kept a simple amount of language on the magazine advert, it has the name of our atist, the album name and the 'out now' slogan to advertise the album. 

- Think about connotations of all of the above

The connotations that come from our magazine advert are that it is conventional to the genre, this is thropugh the unique image including the rhino, so the fans of the genre will like it, but also the advert is bold and will attract attention from magazine readers, giving us the best chance of making a popular magazine advert.

- Talk about elements that you have taken from each group member, explaining why you have incorporated them (include screen shots of each other’s magazine adverts – brief analysis of what have incorporated)

From my magazine advert we kept the basic layout and the image along with the typography and font.

From Harry and Bens we included the rhino image which they bioth had on their magaizne adverts we decided to incoprperate this as they wanted to make the advert bolder and have a symbol for our artist which the rhino does for us.

Harry's magazine advert wasn't one that I liked, in my opinion the font was to bold and didn't fit the artists image or genre, also the background was very bold and didn;t have any relevance to the genre, the element that we decided to use was the rhino image.

Ben's magazine advert was also bold and the font wasn't very nice to look at and he had two different fonts which didn't go together, he tried to fit conventions of the genre but they din't fit the theme of his other elemnts in the advert. Also the background image wasn't his own and didn't fit the genre conventions. We chose to incorperate the rhino image that he used but we chose Harry's instead.

My magazine advert was simplistic and they felt it didn't catch the readers attention or fit the genre conventions. But we all decided that it was the best base to work on our group magazine advert.

Conclusion

I feel that our magazine advert conforms to our genres conventions as it is colourful but not too bold, the background image is unique and still fits genre conventions, the font and typography allow the reader to clearly see what is being advertisted.

I feel that our target audience would like our magazine advert as it fits the genre conventions whithout making it over the top which could put people off of our magazine advert, I feel we got the balance right.

I found working as a group to be good as we all worked together to create the best magazine advert possible, the ideas that come from every member helped make the best magzine advert possible.