Media A2 Evaluation Q.1

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

I have been asked to produce a music video promo, a digipak for the music promo and a magazine advert for the music promo. For my music video promo we used an unsigned a bands song called “Rock Pride” by the band “B.I.T.E”. The songs genre is Glam Rock. Our main aim was to successfully make a Glam Rock music promo that will rival the professional Glam Rock music videos out there. The three tasks we have been asked to complete all join in together very well to promote a band or artist themselves. For example, successful magazine adverts and digipaks help to promote the music promo. An example of a well put together magazine advert is from the band Plan B.

An example of an impressive digipak is shown below. This is Michael Jackson's “This is it” digipak.

As you can see from this successful magazine advert and digipak, these types of promotion and advertisement are put together very well. The types of advertisement help to create hype and interest towards the upcoming music promo. When the band/artist have been advertised then it is time to introduce the music promo which has a more personal side of promotion with it being the main thing that draws in fans around the world. This is because you get to see a physical and visual form of how the band/artists perform and act around others. The music promo will hopefully aim to create a fan base from their specific target audience to help keep them interested in their songs for as long as they are released. I believe that our music promo, magazine advert and digipak combine to rival and seriously contend against the real types of promotion out there. For example we, like the real bands have kept to the typical conventions within these three areas that help keep them successful and popular. An example of a successfully constructed music promo is shown below being White Snake’s “Here I go again”.
 

This is a successful music promo because it is filmed extremely well to help show off their skills. One example would be how there are a lot of performance pieces of filming to help show who the band members are, what instruments they play and how good they are. This is shown through lots of close ups, shots of the instruments being played and especially of the lead singer showing his talents. A music promo is a very important feature of promotion to their target audience so it is important that all the elements included all fulfil their potential.

  In a pop video the performance side will be used to develop the band member’s personality to help make them more personal to the audience so that they have someone to relate to. An example band that uses this side of performance is “McFly”. The narrative side of a music promo is used to tell a story that relates to the song. If the song for the music promo had a low tempo and the lyrics had some lines that related to romance then it is likely that the visual representation of the video will show a love story or something similar. The camera work that is used on a music promo can vary hugely as many different bands and artists choose to use lots of new and interesting camera shots. There might be one music promo where there is only one shot used throughout their video and then there will be others where there are hundreds of different shots. There are some very common shots in particular though that tend to be used often. One of these is a close up of the band members face to show their emotion and interaction with the consumer. The editing process in a music promo is often determined in the tempo and pace of the chosen song. For example if the tempo and pace is high then the video will most likely have lots of fast and quick edits to stay in time with the beats. In a low tempo and slower paced song the editing will not be as quick and the shots are likely to be longer distanced shots to show the person for example moving about easier due to the length of the edited shot. Close ups are used more often in the quicker edited shots as too much movement of a person would result in the introduction of a longer shot.

The actors in a music promo are always the band members in the performance side but the narrative side can often include new actors that are not part of the band. The actors can sometimes be part of the narrative side though as shown in the Glam Rock music promo “If you really really love me” by Steel Panther as the narrative is about the band themselves filming a music video. The video is shown below.

Mise-en-scene can be shown in many different ways like location, props and more. The most important feature would be the mise-en-scene location as it sets the scene for the music promo. The song that is chosen for the particular music promo needs to relate to the location in the music promo. Genre is very important in the music industry as it is used to define the particular song and what sort of music it contains. Some of the well-known different genres include the likes of Rock, Alternative, Pop and more. All genres have their own separate styles. All music promos that are out there stick to the typical conventions for their particular genre. The typical conventions of a music promo are shown below through this link.

http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/16359250

The typical conventions of a Glam Rock music video are shown below through this link.

http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/16359113

In our music promo we have tried to stick to the typical conventions shown in other Glam Rock music promos. The location of our Music promo was set in the Stamford Arts centre ball room/blue room. Some pictures of the exterior and interior are shown below.



We as a group were very pleased with our location as it was suitable to the location ideas that we had thought about. This is because we originally were split between the ideas of either a warehouse or a big hall for concerts etc. To start off with we looked for a warehouse but found that the warehouses that were the right size turned out to be too crowded by cargo and goods. This led to us looking into halls and the Stamford arts Centre fitted our criteria perfectly due to its great size and authentic stage. This helped to create a concert type of atmosphere even without any audience fans available. The location fitted with our style of narrative as well because we wanted the narrative to be based on the band themselves making the music video. This meant that the location was very realistic to our narrative selection. The Ball room in the arts centre also provided some good standard lights that we were allowed management of. These lights are shown below.

The location we choose is similar to some of the locations in which Glam Rock genre bands use. This helps us identify that we are using the typical conventions. Some pictures of Glam Rock locations are shown below and as you can see most of the locations tend to be the same sort of concert style location which we were aiming for. This is challenging the typical conventions of the Glam Rock genre in real media products because these types of locations are often used but we are trying to better them.

When it comes to costumes we wanted to stay true to the Glam Rock conventions and we did this by making them colourful and eccentric. From the costumes we wanted to convince our target audience that the band was instantly part of the Glam Rock genre due to their costumes. The band that we got the most influence on when designing the costumes was “Steel Panther” as they are a well-known Glam Rock band who has had a lot of experience in this genre. A picture of the band and their costumes are found below.

  

As you can see the bands costumes are very creative and this is the type of style that we decided to use as you can see from our very own band photos bellow.

From the pictures above you can see that we have made the costumes very similar to “Steel Panther”. Our costumes are therefore challenging the typical conventions seen through other Glam Rock bands like “Steel Panther”.

In terms of props we needed to make the set on the stage realistic to music promos and our chosen genre. For example we needed a guitar, bass, microphones, drum kit, Amps, PAs and much more to help set the scene. If these mise-en-scene props were not in place then the scene would look unrealistic. All of the band equipment go together to make that concert type of atmosphere which we wanted. Through these props, we wanted to challenge the conventions in real media products by making the props as realistic as they are seen in the Glam Rock promos. A picture of the stage set up with equipment ready for shooting can be seen below.

When editing the music promo we wanted the full feature to run smoothly along with the synced lyrics. To stick with the typical conventions in the Glam Rock genre we decided to include mostly straight cuts in the editing process. This is because the Glam Rock songs are usually fast paced so the slower transitions would not flow as well in a Glam Rock video. We did however use a few different transitions that fitted the scene well. For example one of the best transitions is at the end when we combine all four of the band member’s pictures within the last jump off the stage to end the music promo. What makes this transition work even better is the fact that the change of picture links in with the beats of the song. Another type of editing technique that we used a few times is the Opacity effect. This is where a picture on the screen is overlaid with another. This allows both pictures to be evenly shown or for one to be shown more predominantly than the other. We did this twice in the music promo and the better one was when we had the guitar being played in the background of the drums being played at the same time. We chose to include this transition as it is an easier way to include two pictures in one when there is more than one instrument being played. The shot is shown below. This transition is developing the typical conventions as we are trying to introduce this transition into other Glam Rock music promos as transitions like this are not often used in Glam Rock promos. If the transition is well received then this could influence a new style of transitions into the Glam Rock genre if it was possible to reach a mass audience. We have done this through the precision opacity percentage on the screen. This precision makes sure that the opacity looks effective and professional.

 

Nearly all music promos have both a narrative and performance side in their video. The performance side in our video was set in the ball room in the Stamford arts centre where a stage will accompany the band playing their instruments and rocking out. The performance side is usually shown more in the music promos of other Glam Rock music promos as the bands really want to show off their talents as it takes a lot of skill to play guitar, bass, drums and more. For the narrative side of our video we decided to concentrate on the band themselves and this idea came from the band Steel Panther in their song “If you really really love me” as the promo was based on the band and what they did to prepare for the performance side in making a music video which we also were inspired by. For example in Steel Panther’s video some band members will be sorting their hair out in preparation for the performance side just like in our video. This will challenge the forms and conventions of the real media product being Steel Panthers video. This is because we are using ideas from a Glam Rock band and trying to make it look better. The contrast between the narrative and performance side of the video is shown through the performance being in colour and the narrative shown in black and white. An example of this comparison is shown below.

Media A2 Evaluation Q.2

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

 

 

As you can see we have tried to make our digipak and magazine advert similar to the music promo. The main similarities come within the colours as they are expressive and colourful in the promo and then the magazine advert and digipak has a bright gold background on them. Another feature we have tried to keep the same is the persona as we have a cheesy performance in the music promo with our smiles and occasional cheeky behaviour. Then in the ancillary tasks we have kept the same style with lots of smiles and expressive poses from the band members to make the promotional bundle more personal to the target audience. The magazine advert and digipak both have images of the band members on them which is a feature we wanted to preserve so that our target audience became used to who the band members were and what they looked like. This is so that if we were to make another music album then our audience would be familiar with the band members name and more. When people look at the magazine advert and digipak they should instantly think of the music promo and become interested.

When looking at the music promo and the two ancillary tasks individually, I have found that they all work on their own very well also. For example the music promo would not need the two ancillary tasks to make it a successful piece of media. This is because the magazine advert and the digipak are used to promote the music promo by showing you the band members and what you are likely to see in the promo through the still images and the way they pose. This does not need to be the case though as the promo introduces the band members and the way they perform straight away as we use both full band shots and individual shots of the band members to help get a more personal feel. The digipak is very impressive on its own also as you the audience do not need to know how the band behave to understand that they are from the Glam Rock genre. This is due to the gold colour and the poses which suggest the band members are excited so they want the audience to be excited. The main hint that tells the audience the band is from the Glam Rock genre is from the look of the costumes as they are wearing clothes which people would instantly associate to the Glam Rock genre. The magazine avert can also be a success on its own with its great simplicity with the one band member and the texts on the side with the bright gold background. This works well on its own because you do not need to know who the band are to know that the magazine advert has been completed professionally due to the close attention to detail that has been shown. Even though all 3 media texts work well individually, they all synergistically work even better together in a promotional package as they all suite each other’s needs in terms of promotion.

Exhibition is where each element of the promotional package will be seen. Most music promos now days are shown on their selected music channels through the TV. Then once people watch the videos they can then usually purchase the song via I tunes digitally as it is a quick and easy to use service. You Tube is also now a service which is used to help show people your music promo for free. Magazine adverts are shown obviously through magazines as they are used to promote the rest of the promotional package. The bigger the band the more chance they have of putting the advert in a more well-known magazine. The digipak is something that is purchased via your local CD store. This is becoming a pressing problem though as a lot of these stores are now beginning to become liquidated. This makes it harder for audiences to find a selected store to buy the digipak from.

For our music promo we have choose to put it onto You Tube in order to get some feedback. This is the easiest way to promote our band due to the lack of funds and popularity of the band. In terms of the two ancillary tasks, these were made digitally so they cannot be exhibited but we did ask people in a questionnaire about them just to get some feedback. Exhibiting all the promotional package elements is a good way to promote the band and the type of music in which is played. All 3 media texts will give the audience faces to look for being the band members for the next album release if one was made so that the band becomes more notable.  

 There is a distinct similarity between our ancillary tasks and our music promo. The main similarity was the images of the band members. This is because the band members in the music promo have the same costumes and look about them in the magazine advert and digipak. This keeps all three media texts realistic and a similar style to each other. On their own all of the three media texts are sticking to the Glam Rock conventions by having an eccentric persona to them. Overall the magazine advert and digipak help promote the band for the music promo and the music promo helps to identify the ancillary tasks to the audience as the audience will know what to expect if there was any more promotional materials for another album. For example the target audience would be looking for the typical conventions used in the original music promo in the promotional material like the band members and the band logo. 

A little annotation of each ancillery task is shown below. The annotations will give a little insight into what is good about the magazine advert and digiapk.

 

Media A2 Evaluation Q.3

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Before making our music promo, digipak and magazine advert we sent out a questionnaire which asked people questions within the music industry about their favourite genre and more. We did this questionnaire in two different forms with both being a bit different. The first way was a standard questionnaire with the results shown in graphs and the second was a video response which made the answers more personal and detailed. Conducting audience research is a very important task as it will give bands and artists the chance to get feedback on how well their specific target audience are receiving their songs, music promos, magazine adverts and digipaks. The research can give bands and artists indications to the next steps they should take to ensure they become as popular and successful as possible. For example if a band were well received on You Tube but not at concerts then the band could instantly react to this by advertising their concerts to the general public more and may even decide to make their concert ticket prices lower. The advertisement could possibly be used on You Tube seeing as that is the place where the band is getting the most attention. The strengths of making a video response questionnaire is that it will allow the responses to be more expressive and not just words written on a piece of paper. The questionnaire graphs and the video response is shown in the link below.

 

 

 

 

http://jamiewebba2production.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/music-video-audience-research-questions.html

From these two types of feedback we found out that the Glam Rock genre was quite well known so this indicated that there would be no problem with the popularity factor. The audience also had lots of ideas in what Glam Rock videos contain in terms of typical conventions, costume and more. These results led us to believe that the Glam Rock genre was definitely the right choice of genre. The questions we asked our audience members after our music promo, digipak and magazine advert were created are shown below and then a video showing their answers is shown below that.

 

1.      Do you think that our digipak and magazine advert has an appropriate relation to our music promo?

2.      What features are good about our music promo, magazine advert and digipak?

3.      What features could we improve for our music promo, magazine advert and digipak?

4.      Did our music promo, magazine advert and digipak stick to the typical conventions in the Glam Rock genre?

5.      What did you think about the location of our music promo?

6.      What did you think about the lighting in our music promo?

7.      What is your opinion on the props being realistic to the music industry?

 

 

As you can see from the following video we managed to get a good and positive response for our music promo, digipak and magazine advert. I think that the most encouraging piece of feedback was on how realistic the promo, magazine advert and digipak were to the Glam Rock genre with us trying to stick to all the conventions as much as possible.

Another way in which we got audience feedback was from putting the music promo on You Tube. This use of new media helped to distribute the promo to a wider range of audience. Millions of people use You Tube so this was the best opportunity to promote our product to the world. We had to make sure we credited the band B.I.T.E for their willingness in using their song and the early signs from the video are very positive as you can see below with the video already collecting two very encouraging comments.  

Overall the feedback which we received was very impressive. The feedback gave us a lot of indications into what was good and what could be improved. For example one of the most positive points from our music promo, digipak and magazine advert was the way we stuck to the typical Glam Rock conventions and challenged them to try and improve the selected features. This was highlighted as a positive through the close attention to our costumes, our location and style of the actors. One point that we could have improved on for next time was to include even more shots. This is because one of the feedback comments was to include more shots. This was probably identified as an improvement due to the song being just under 4 minutes long. If we did another music promo of this length again then we would allow more time for the filming of some more shots to avoid the effect of tedium. The audience feedback has been a massive help to our group and is one of the best ways to know how successful our music promo, digipak and magazine advert were.




 

Media A2 Evaluation Q.4

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages
When searching for our chosen song for our music promo we were told to use the website www.unsigned.com. This is because the website gives you a list of unsigned songs that can be used for the music promo because we are not allowed to use songs that are already signed due to copyright. We came across our chosen song through You Tube though. This happened when we found a few songs on the unsigned website but one day some of our group members accidentally found a good unsigned song when typing in Glam Rock unsigned songs into You Tube. The song Rock Pride was very impressive so we got in contact with the band B.I.T.E and were happy to lend us their song as long as we mentioned them when the video was ready to be shared on you tube. The conversation to the band can be found below.

When conducting research for our promotional package, You Tube was very helpful in helping us find good example videos of successful music promos. This applies especially to videos within the Glam Rock genre. What You Tube helped with the most was in finding the song we used for our promo. You Tube can also allow us to take stills from the same genre videos and compare them with ours to see if we have lived up to their standards.

When constructing our 3 media texts we used many different types of technology. For our music promo we used an Apple software called Final Cut Pro on an Apple MAC for editing. On our prelim music promo we originally used i movie but found out that this new software was more responsive, had more features and more technologies. A picture of the software can be shown below, which shows a part of our music promo on it.

For the digipak and magazine advert we used the computer software called Photo shop as this allowed us to make the two ancillary tasks as creative as possible with all the different colours and layouts. The software allowed for easy and smooth editing of the pictures we put together to achieve the designs.  

There are several skills which I have learnt through the filming of our music promo. This is mainly because I was in charge of filming with the cameras. The main thing I learnt from using the cameras was how many different and creative shots I could introduce to the music promo to avoid the effect of tedium. In the promo we wanted to make sure that most of the shots if not all of them had a different camera angle. This is because the song was three minutes and fifty eight seconds long so we did not want people to get bored with the same camera shots over again.

There are also lots of skills I have learnt through the editing process that was not known to me before. For example there was a blade feature icon that we used to split up the clips of footage. This helped with transitions that showed shots and then the same shot after that one. We used this in the last jump off the stage as we cut the jump section up four times in order to put four separate images of the band members in together to get a good mix of all the band members in order to finish off the song in a good climax.  

On the first shoot day for filming our music promo we encountered a few problems that convinced us to conduct a second day of filming. This is because most of the first day’s footage was out of focus. This was due to the cameras not having the right adjustments on the auto focus. We also noticed a distinct difference between Jamie’s camera and Rhys’s camera. We noticed that the footage was coming out a little differently and Jamie’s was a bit clearer than Rhys’s. This led us to come to the decision of only using Jamie’s camera to one keep the footage all the same and two to use the camera which had the better focus. On the second day we had to change the auto focus to manual focus just to get a little bit sharper picture. We also had to change two of the band members for the second day so this meant that most of the first day footage was nearly useless. On the second day though we stuck to a more accurate schedule of shots and got some really impressive footage. The shot schedule is shown below along with some bad footage of the first shoot day. 

 

The Internet is a very useful tool as it has helped us to exhibit our video over the world. For example once downloading the video onto You Tube, we then shared it with Facebook to allow others around the world to watch it. Facebook is a good way to show everybody what we have created. Publicising the video online is the best way to exhibit a video as nearly everyone has computers, i Pods or any other devices that connect to the Internet. People can then either follow the link to the You Tube video or just watch it on the social networking site.

 You Tube is a website which has a good way to see feedback on your videos. For example the public can like, dislike and comment on videos to express their feedback and view on the video. This is why our prelim music video was so successful.

Blogger is a website which we use to post our media work on. I have been using blogger for nearly two years and it is an easy way to organise your work. On blogger the work I produce is available to the world. Blogger will allow me to put text, images, videos and more onto my blog to help include more types of technological features. The teachers will mark my work via blogger but the website will also allow me to see the amount of views on my blog as you can see below.

As you can see so far my new blog for this year has picked up 2107 page views and this increase from last year’s blog is probably due to the higher standard of work I have produced.

 

Rock Pride audience response