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Evaluation Question 1
- 1. EvaluationQ1. In whatways does your media product use, developor challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The Music Video For our musicvideowe chose the song‘NotSo Sad’by Faux Pas, whoare a small,unsignedband whobasedlocally.The bandcome underthe indie genre,agenre we haddone countless backgroundresearchintowhenpreparingforthe contentof our videoaswell ascomparingand analysingvideosof asimilargenre.Before decidingupon‘NotSoSad’we had previouslywantedto make the videofor‘NotNineteenForever’bythe Courteenershowever we chose toabandonthis songand switchto the more upbeat,fastpacedsong that was‘NotSo Sad’.We alsosaw a benefitin makingour promotional package foraband that we knew personallybecause we couldworkasif it were a debutalbumdue theirlackof record deal thusfar. Whenstudyingthe commoncodesandconventionsof the musicvideo,we lookedatkeymedia theoristAndrewGoodwin,writerof the book‘Dancinginthe distractionfactory’ (1992). According to Goodwin,there are 6 importantgenre conventionswithinmusicvideos.Theseare: 1. Music videosdemonstrategenre characteristics(forexample,live stage performance). 2. There isa relationshipbetweenthe lyricsandthe visualswithinthe musicvideo. 3. There isa relationshipbetweenthe musicandthe visualswithinthe musicvideo. 4. The demandfromrecord labelsleadstothe frequentuse of close upsof the artistwhich makesthe videomore personal andthe artistmaydeveloprecurringmotifsacrosstheir work,knownoftenasa visual style. 5. There isfrequentreference tothe notionof ‘looking’aswell asoftenvoyeuristic treatment of the female body. 6. There isoftenintertextualityused,thisisreference tofilms,televisionorperhapsother musicvideos. As a groupwe lookedintothe commoncodesand conventionsthatwere specifictoour genre,in thiscase Indie orIndie rock,we lookedintothe commoncharacteristicsof aspectsincludingthe setting,narrative andmise-en-scene of the videostoensure we knew exactlywhatwe shouldbe includinginourownproductioninorderto keepitinline withthe codesandconventionsof the genre. Arguablyone of the most keyandcommonconventionsinthe Indie rockgenre isthe use of live performance footage withinthe video,oftenusedalongsidethe narrative orstoryline toadda differentdimensiontothe videoasa spectacle.Whenlookingatothermusic videosof thisgenre duringourpre- productionandresearchstages,we noticedthatlive performance featuredin almosteveryindie musicvideoandthisis where we firstdemonstrate genre characteristics.Ratherthanfilminglive performance inthe photographystudio available tousat college we chose insteadtoattendone of the band’sowngigsone evening,takingourcameraswithusto capture the song‘Not SoSad’ live inareal venue asopposedtoa more stagedsituationwhere we wouldhave had to use ourselvestosetupa concert-like scenario.We feltthatwe wouldbenefitfromshooting
- 2. our live footageonlocationasthe membersof Faux Paswouldthenfeature inourvideoalongside our actors inthe storyline anddue toseeingoursongperformedlive we wouldbe able totake a numberof shotsof certainsectionsof the song,straightintothe same place inthe video,for example aslyricsresume orduringfastpacedinstrumentals. Ifeel thatthe inclusionof live performance alongside the narrative hadanextremelypositive impactonourvideoasthe video became more interesting,diverse andvariedaswell asthe videonotbecomingsolelybasedaround a storyline. The secondcommonconventionthatwe followedinnumerouswaysthroughoutourmusicvideois Goodwin’sideathatthere shouldbe adirectrelationshipbetween the musicandthe visualswithin the video,forexample manyof ourcutsare made to fitwithcertainpointsor notesinthe musicas well aswhenlyricschangestoinstrumentalsorguitarsolosforshortperiodsof time throughoutthe song.Thisway of editingtolinkthe waythe song isat pointsthroughoutthe videoallowsustoset the moodor actionto the pace of the song or beatand alsoenhancesthe overall qualityof the video whichfeaturesahigherlevel of consistencyandcontinuityallowingit to lookmore professionaltoo. A specific example of thisbesidethe frequent thoughtout cutsis wheninthe final secondsof the videothe pace of the guitarin the songslowsand isput witha clipof ouractor fromthe narrative playing the same sequence of guitarslowlyfrom withinthe storyline. Clearopportunities such as thiswhere the musicandthe pace at which it wassetlends itself toourinclusionof live performance astalkedabout earlieraswell asshotslike thiswhere the protagonistcan become part of boththe live performance aswell asthe narrative thathe initiallybecame associatedwith. There was alsoa lengthyspell of liveperformance thattookoverfromthe narrative whenthe instrumental was longerthanpreviously,we putanumberof clipstogetherforthisas opposedtoputtingjustthe one before returningtothe narrative toput emphasisonanddraw attentiontothe factthat the bandare playingthe songinthe live performance andsothat the patternsand speedsatwhichthe instrumentsare beingplayedalsolinkbacktothe audiotrack of the song. Similarly,inmanymusicvideosthere isalsoarelationshipbetweenthe lyricsandthe visuals,again we have lookedatthisand includedthisinourvideoaswiththe otherconventionssetoutby theoristAndrewGoodwin.Inourvideowe have usedcertainlyricsfromthe songthatwe have broughtto relevance withinourstoryline,howeverbeingcarefulnottoooveruse thisandmake themtoo similarandbasedpurelyoff of one anotherwhichwouldhave lookedpoorlythought throughand cheap. The maintwo relationshipswe builtupbetweenthe lyricsand the visualswasthe ideaof the note ‘beside my bed’featuringasthe note he writesto himself atthe beginningof the songtoget hislife togetherandsecondlythe recurring theme of becoming‘notsosad’which our ideaforthe narrative and the positive changeshe makestothe wayhe livesisbased upon.Ifeel thatwe found
- 3. the correct balanceforthis particular conventionashadwe made everylyricrelate to the visual itwouldhave become very predictable andlessintriguingandinvolving for our audience whoappreciatedthe work we diddo with the lyrics. The notionof lookingisanotherconvention of the musicvideothatwe lookedatclosely, probablymore sothan we didwithothers because of the way we have wantedour audience tobe able to relate toand feel empathytowardsourprotagonistandhiscurrentsituation and the wayhe feelsatthe beginningof the videoasopposedtothe end,creatingapersonal feeling and sense of intimacybetweenthe character and the consumerto establish the audience’sinvolvementinthe story and increasingtheircaptivationasthey followourprotagonistthroughthe production. Twobigexamplesof thiswithin our videoare at the beginningof the video as the protagonistleavesthe house and againwhenhe is seenoutside the shop, comparinghisclothesto those inthe windowthathe isadmiring.These are two shotsthat we had plannedtohelpusdraw attentiontothe characterswill anddeterminationto make the improvementsthathe doesthroughout,the notionof lookinghelpsustoshow how he feelsabouthimself atvariousstages.Forexampleinthe mirrorthe shothas beencleverlyframed frombehind/overthe shoulderto suggestthatit istakenfrom a separate viewpointwhichallowsyoutointerpret it as the protagonistinterpretshimself. Furthermore inthe shoppingsequence we switchfroma matchon action as he approachesthe window before looking downand cuttingto a pointof view shotas hisheadismovinglower.This strengthensthe connection between the character and the audience asyou understandthathe is nothappywith the way he present shimself andyou have sympathyforhimand his desperationforchange. Whenit comesto the commoncodes of the mise-en-sceneparticularlyof videoswithinthe indie rockgenre we lookedcloselyatcostumesin particular,forexample the change in clothingasthe narrative developed
- 4. showinghistransitionfromone outfitto anotherjustoverhalf waythroughthe video,showinghowhisdresssense had changedfor the betterinhisattemptsto betterhimself.There isaclearprogression inhis clothingandsimilarlyhe isdressedin clothingthatsuggestspositivityand improvementsuchasrunningor cycling gear that helpsthe theme flow andbe easy to understand.The certain costumesthat accord to differingsituationsalsohelpto representthe protagonistsjourneyandmake itclearat whatpointhe is at and whathe isdoingat all times. Aswell asthe costumesused,we have alsousedpropsthatare typical of the indie genre such as musical instrumentswhenin the cupboardthe protagonistfindsa guitarwhichhe learnsto playinthe final montage. Intermsof the structure of ournarrative or storyline we chose to keepitlinearandeasyto understandwiththe protagonist havingclearmotivationsandasimply drawnout plotthat wouldavoid confusionamongstaudiences. The Digipak For our secondof three productswe createda Digipakto presentthe CD and DVDdisksin,for thiswe createda frontand back coveras well astwo inside pagesand discartwork.For our imagesacrossboth the back,front and middle covers/pageswe used photographsfromthe same gig that we attendedwhenfilmingourlive performance footage.Thisallowedus to immediatelyestablishcontinuitybetweenthese twosectionsof our promotional package andallowsouraudience tonotice that connectionbetweenthe twoandassociate themwithone another. Thisis a commonconventionof manyartistswhoreuse similar imagestoestablishacertainlookor atmosphere aroundthemasan act, creatinga visual style aroundtheirbranding.Aswell asthe imageswe have usedthe same fontsthatthe bandthemselves have usedoftenintheirownlogosor advertisements. Due toour bandnot havingreleasedadigipakof theirownwe couldhave potentiallyfounditdifficulttolookat whatwouldbe typical of a coverof theirshoweverwe ended up usingthisto ouradvantage as we had lesstogo on. The fontusedonthe frontcoveris one of twofontsthat the band use regularlyandissomethingwe tooknote of immediately,we usedthe straighterof the two onthe frontcoverof the magazine advertandthe digipaktohelpthemlink
- 5. togetherwhile usingthe othermorecurledandwrappedfontonbothdiscsto emphasize thatthey are part of the package and come inconjuctionwitheachother.Forthe back coverof the Digipak the keyconventionistohave a tracklistalongwitha barcode accompaniedperhapsbysocial mediaandthe detailsof the record label.Onourdigipak we displayexactlythis,the image featuresagaininthe backgroundwhichfurther stressesit’ssignificance,sat behindatracklistwithblack panelswithredtextwitha yellow stroke forthe CDand yellow textwitharedstroke for the DVD.This repetition and use of the same coloursthat feature onthe discsand the frontcovermeansthat the colourswill become associatedwiththe bandandthat the lookisconsistentaswell aseasyto read.The colour choice wastoneddownslightlyafterwe receivedfeedbackpreviouslythathadsaidpeople had struggledtointerpretsome of the songnames.Onthe two inside coverswe have the same recurring image againand one side have a piece of writingwe producedasitif were the band writingtothank theirfansfor the supportof theirmusicand the new album.Thisissomethingwe hadseendone whenanalysingotherDigipaks. The Magazine Advert Our thirdand final productinour promotional package was of course our magazine advert.Forour researchinto othermagazine advertsandthe commoncodesand conventionswithinthesewe didanumberof textual analysispieceswhere we lookedata number of different advertsand tourpostersof differentbandswithinthe indie genre. The firstconventionwe noticedwasthatat the top of most magazine advertsthe bandname isused as the title or mastheadinan oftenlarge and boldfontso that youinstantlyrealisethe subjectof the advertand oursis no different,we have usedthe same fontand colourwayforthe textthat reads‘FAUXPAS’as it fillsthe widthof the headerof the page. The fact that the bandname standsoutat the top of the page means thatit isthe firstthinga consumerwill see and be drawnto allowing themtomake an instantdecisionon whethertheyare attractedto the contentof the advertand interestedinlookingfurther.Animage oftentakesthe central positioninthe magazine advertandinourswe have used anotherof our own imagesfromthe concerthoweverthistime
- 6. it ishighlyeditedinPhotoshoptoallowitshare similartonalandcolourqualitieswithourpiecesof texton the advertas well asthe dark backgroundwhichallowswhatisonthe page to look contrastinglybrightandvibrant. The use of linksandthe promotionof social mediaaccountsisanotherconventionwe usedonour magazine advert,we noticedthatoftenonthe bottomof the advertthe bandsusernamesor profiles for a numberof social mediaplatformsare advertisedwhichallowsthe consumertofurtherconnect withthe artistby beingable tosee whoisbehindthe musicandalso to keepupto date withthe bandsschedule andevents.Onourmagazine advert we have includedabottompanel containing the official Faux Paswebsite aswellastheirFacebook,TwitterandInstagrampageswhichhelpto increase the reach achievedfromtheiradvertisements. Justabove ourlinkswe decidedafterourresearchthat the mostcommonlyfeaturedaspectswere eitherthe name of the albumorperhapsthe songin focusin our case ‘Not SoSad’ whichwe movedbelow the image,howeverwe insteadchose whatwasmore importantinour opinionwhichwasthe release date of the album above ourlinksinabold,straight letterfontthatwas differenttothe restof the textonthe page,the effectof thisbeingthatthe date becomesthe focuspointafterthe masthead,withthisallowingthe audience torealisethe importance behindthe date andpotentiallycreate asense of urgencybyencouragingthe consumer to purchase the productbefore itistoo late. At eitherside of the albumname andrelease date we includedshortquotesorreviewsfromlocal musicmagazinesaswell asrecommendationsdue totheirperformancesatfestivals.We hadseen thisdone on a numberof magazine advertsandwe feltthiswaskeyas itencouragesfurtherreading on the advertand showcasesthe positiveresponsesthe bandhas received.The factthat the reviewshave come fromorganisationswithinthe industryalsomakesthe advertmore reputable andreliable.We noticedakey theme wasthe use of a rankingsystemtorate the band or albumand we didthisthroughthe use of 5 stars beneaththe quote from‘SoundSphere’.