2. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
3. Our piece develops on the use of a deathbat, which is a typical convention associated
with avenged sevenfold. The main reason we did this is because their albums are part
of their iconography, and with the deathbat being a key part in their music
videos, their album covers, their band merchandise. By keeping this going through a
house style, it means that it becomes highly remembered to the target audience, and
they can make the link with the band and the deathbat. Having the deathbat similar to
the ones on the albums, mostly the “sounding the 7th trumpet” and “hail to the king”
with the white outline, showing a skeletal figure, it shows an evolution of the
deathbat, representative of the death and anguish of the rock genre, but also
symbolizes innocence and weakness, as bats are seen to be quite timid
creatures, though associated with darkness.
Keeping with the typical colours of white, red and black, they stick with conventional
colours of the rock genre, and are often used to emphasize their darkened
thoughts, or the anguish through red and showing rage. As this works well in keeping
the genre as a simple blueprint, it will be easily recognisable by a fan of the rock
genre.
Using the space effect on the back helps to show an egoistic band, such like saying the
“music is out of this world” and having space to act as a selling point for the
product, to seem more epic and visually pleasing to the viewer.
4. The digipak helps to emphasize the darkened side of the rock genre, by having the
“nightmare” appear on the disk, but then underneath it disappears. This was done to
help create a 3D effect into bringing the song to life. By having this “creepy” effect, it
helps to show that the rock genre tends to revolve around weird and mysterious
thoughts, potentially hysteria or insanity, as that is a connotation taken from the face
paint within the video. Keeping with darkness, having the band and the nightmares
wearing heavily dark clothing helps to represent the inner darkness, and how they
portray that by having black clothing and play their emotions through music.
Rock music heavily revolves around an elemental combination. This is shown in many
videos that the artists will tend to be at one with nature, animals and the elements
such as water or fire. We included this by having the artists being close with mother
nature. An example of this is having a combination of drums and leaves to build up the
drum kit, and having a stick act as a microphone to help show that there is a link
between the two. We also show this by having a dog come into the shot a few times
through the video, as dogs are seen to be “mans best friend” as the band is all
males, it becomes the best animal to have represented in a darker music video.
As the stereotypical rock/metal band is to be an all male cast, we used that as it is
more recognisable to the audience but also to follow typical forms from current rock
bands. By having an all male band, it helps link to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male
gaze, because it shows men to be highly masculine by having the rock and elements in
their hands.
5. Our piece challenges the typical conventions of the Rock music industry, especially
with having the multi-coloured deathbat. The reason it does this, is that the use of
vibrant colours isn’t usually associated with any form of the Rock genre, mainly
because artists within it tend to be solemn and wear heavily dark colours, giving them
a social stereotype of secretive and devoid of emotion. However by breaking this
stereotype we have allowed the band to seem as if they have some form of “feeling”
as using a vibrant colour for each one can help represent their type of personality, but
it can also be used to show that each member has their own individuality and role
within the band, giving them a sense of importance within their role. Having that
contrasting with the lyrics “they took for granted your soul, and it’s ours now to steal”
helps to show that they are a group, that are to “take” the soul, referring to the
changing of heart, and swaying listeners to enjoy and effectively “worship” the music
they create.
We challenged the conventions in another way by having the band apparent in the
digipak, by doing so we are creating an identity for the band, rather than them
“hiding” behind their logo/icon of the death bat itself. So by including the band as
themselves, they become more recognizable to the audience, and gives them an extra
selling point in places to come.
6. • How effective is the combination of your main
product and ancillary texts?
7. The music video contains the front cover of the album on the IPod. This is because during
the video, the girl is listening to the song. Because of this we can use cross media
convergence by implementing the front cover across. As in the poster/magazine article, it
contains the front cover of the music video, all of the products are linking into one. The
high use of black across the products, connects well with the conventions of the music
genre, as bands such as “Black Veil Brides” use the theme of “black” in their name, and it
is portrayed in their style of music, and their appearance on stage, as they wear heavily
black clothing, black hair and black makeup.
The “Deathbat” is a key convention used in all of the Avenged Sevenfold artwork and stage
presence. As during live performances, they have a backdrop with the bat on it. All of the
album artwork contains some form of skeletal figure, but it is the more recent albums that
are known for their use of the Deathbat on the front cover. With the heavy use of the bat
throughout their music videos too, we had to implement it somewhere in the video, and
use it as a front point for the album artwork and poster. We used the deathbat in a
darkened form, as from the other album covers use it in a lightened form, besides the first
album, so we did this as a way to recycle a product, and bring the original use of the
deathbat to light, allowing the selected audience (who may not of heard earlier songs by
the artist) can look back to other songs, on a similar looking album, so is then recognizable
for the consumer, and is then maintained within the brand.
We have linked the deathbat to a theme of “nightmares” (much like the title) and as many
people have a fear of clowns, we used this as a way to portray a fear factor to the
video, and to the deathbat. To do this used the “joker” from the “dark knight” franchise as
a way to add a horror side to the deathbat. We preferred to use this form of a clown, as
the dripping face paint, and rushed eye makeup, as this is seen to be scary to
people, rather than the typical use of a clown, which to some people is seen as
amusing, so we preferred to go with a form of clown that can strike terror into everybody.
The group deathbat is representative of the band, as there are 5 members, and each one
playing a different instrument. We chose to use a different colour for each deathbat in the
group, to emphasize that each one is different. Because of the strong use of colours, it
breaks conventions tied with the genre, as in non of the other albums do they particularly
use colour, it tends to be monotone colours on a greyscale. But breaking the conventions
allow the consumers to recognize it as a new product, and the band is looking at trying to
bring in a new type of audience to listen to the music.
8. The music box plays an important role in all of the shots, as it is what defines the narrative of the video.
In every part that includes a form of “nightmare” or reference to it, the music box makes an appearance
in the frame. At the beginning, you see one of the “nightmares” turning the music box, and as it is placed
down, the song begins playing, this then can be seen as the music box is controlled by “nightmares” and
makes them what they are, as only after the music starts, does the “nightmares” play an important role.
With the music box been in scenes that the girl is alone, there becomes some connection between the
two, and this can be seen when she comes to close the box at the end of the video. The music box helps
depicts innocence, as it is usually an item that a young girl would have to put some special
belongings, this then helps emphasize the innocence of the girl walking through the woods, as with her
earphones in, she has no idea that these “nightmares” are following. The music box links in, as for the
CD’s there is a picture of the music box and one of the “nightmares”, but when the CD is
removed, underneath there is just a forest environment, so the same image without the two objects
in, we have done this to show that “nightmare” becomes a figure of our imagination, as afterwards, it is
no longer there. Also, taking the CD out links to the lyrics of the song “now your nightmare comes to life”
referencing that putting the CD into a player, or computer brings these “nightmares” to life, and connects
a digital world with a practical world.
Andrew Goodwin – Looking (mirror scene)
The use of red glowing eyes and mouth, help to portray a “demonic” feel to the album, as demonism and
sachreligion is often a trait to the metal music genre. As the image of the deathbat from the front cover
is in a darkened state, the use of a red glow links to the “nightmares” because they have “blackened
eyes” to help represent a demonic people. This can link to the lyrics “as your nightmare comes to life” as
it poses the question, whether these “nightmares” are a form of cult, wearing black and having a certain
face paint pattern.
A stereotypical part of a metal genre, is that it is heavily linked in with “forests” or
types of woodlands. We included this in the video by having it as a main location for
the band and the narrative, but have used it in the digipak, by having the band, and
narrative play a part within the woods. This then links the products to typical
conventions, and then for the consumers of the products, they can make the
connection between the two, and can link the locations to the metal genre.
9. • What have you learnt from your audience
feedback?
10. From this one of our feedback, we can see that using a fractured/linear
narrative worked very well by having camera affects and the “change
in lighting with the sunset” this shows a linear narrative as the time
has passed by, and it links well because at the end of the song, the
place is dark, helping to reinforce the idea that the “nightmare comes
to life” and referring back to the lyrics of the song. They also said that
the use of woodland was good, as it made the piece seem more eerie.
For feedback they say that we should try not getting houses in the
background, so as a resolution to this, finding a different
woodland, that isn’t surrounded may be better for the
filming, however having the houses and people around can help to
emphasize how they are in a “separate” dimension, and are not
affected by the outside world, and the example for the “storyline” part
could help show that within a nightmare, there isn’t any help or
escape.
11. In this response to our music video, it shows that we managed to link to the
correct conventions of a rock band, by containing the correct instruments. By
doing this we can help boost an iconography for the band, by allowing their
“instruments” to act as a selling point, an example is “Zakk Wylde – Bulls eye
Les Gibson” So by allowing them to contain a selling point, fans are more
likely to want the instruments/clothing that the members of the band have.
“The makeup was very effective at portraying a nightmarish character”, this
tells us that the make up was used well in creating the “Nightmare”
characters that follow the girl. From that it tells us we met the brief, and are
following the conventions by creating a fear factor for the viewer of the video.
In response to constructive criticism, this viewer tells us “make sure you don’t
have cars in the background when filming” however, there are no cars within
the music video, the only thing remotely close is a “dog” that runs past in the
background, and the dog is representative of companionship for the
members of the band, and strength for the genre of rock music. In respect to
the viewer, I understand that they want us to delve deeper into
woodland, and avoid the “outside world” of houses and realism.
12. This viewer has said that it follows all the typical conventions associated with a rock
video by having a “story written into it, and wasn’t just all about the band”. From that
we can see that we did the right thing by having a focus taken from the band, and
implementing a completely different storyline alongside the shots of the band. The
reason we did that, is so we could create two potential readings of what the
“nightmare” is, they are:
1. The band itself being the nightmare – representing their music as something that
the viewer isn’t expected to “enjoy” however becomes manipulated into enjoying it.
2. The creatures with the facepaint – representing the fears behind clowns and fair
ground culture, the darkened area helping to emphasize the idea of being “stuck”
within a nightmare.
We have also being told that we could do with more shots focusing on the storyline, as
some parts did become confusing. I can agree with this part, as for some bits we had
very little storyline, especially through the guitar solo, so the viewer will feel like
something is missing from the video now. To fix this we could of shot much more for
the storyline, rather than resorting to the band shots for the most part.
There is also a comment saying “few more close ups” which is agreeable, as we
tended to have shots that were very far out, rather than focusing on key parts, like
most other rock videos do.
13. • How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
14. Youtube
We used YouTube in a variety of ways throughout the creating and the research of our
piece. One example is how we got information on rock music videos. By watching
current products from bands of the genre, we were able to pick out certain forms and
conventions associated with the “rock” genre. An example of this is looking at “BYOB –
System Of A Down” to see the connotations of the video, the ones we found in that
video are that people become demonized and controlling. There is always something
going wrong. This links with Daniel Dyer’s theory of finding a Utopia, as in this case all
there is, is a disutopia, showing that rock tends to focus around there being no
positivity in the world. Another example is “shadow Moses – Bring me the horizon” as
in that video, it shows that artists are in synch with the elements.
Another use we had for YouTube, is that we could use it to share the finished video
with other people across the internet. As it is a worldwide internet page, that most
people can access, the amount of people that we can get to watch the video is
massive. By putting it on a website like this, the chances are higher for reaching the
target audience. From this we were also able to share the video from this onto our
blogs, and other social network sites, to reach as many people as possible.
With using YouTube as a prime place for viewing the music video, we managed to use
technological convergence, as YouTube is a website that is highly accessible on
phones, iPad and tablets, so with the vast expansion of technology, our product is able
to be watched on the go, rather than on a fixed television/computer screen.
15. Survey Monkey
Using survey monkey allowed us to get the required information we
needed about how to create the Music video. The information that we
received, included the type of people that we were to include, how we
should share the finished video and the age of people that the video
should be targeted at. This was good because we could reach out to
many people, and have all of their input on the video, so we can please
as many people as possible.
We were also able to use the website to generate starts on certain
things, like the age and gender of the potential viewers, meaning we
could cater more towards their tastes, then cater more for a secondary
audience afterwards. From it, we then could see the area of which our
surveyors are from, so we could then look to include/disclude
potential political argument, and/or problems surrounding that
area/country at the time. An example could be referencing war, when
Ukraine and Russia may potentially be going to war.
16. Camera/Editing
Cameras – With using the Cannon 3000 cameras, we were able to get a good
quality picture of filming when creating the video, however one of the cameras
resolution was a lot lower than the other one. Though from this, having two
different qualities of picture, we were able to grasp the rawness that is associated
with Rock music videos, by having a grittier, dirtier look, it allowed the video to
feel more at one with nature, in particular, Earth. The camera also allowed us to
take still pictures, which we used for the digipak. The accessories for the camera
were also very helpful, one of which was the flashlight, as during filming, it was
getting dark, so the light helped to show emphasis on the major parts of the
video.
Adobe Premier – Adobe premier is the software we used to edit the footage of
the music video and create the final product. It was a useful piece of technology
as it could allow us to add effects, such as a greyscale, over the video to make it
seem more grainy and darker/devoid of life. It also contained some transitions
such as “dip to black” which were useful for slower cutting, or dropping into
silence. Having this software could let us sync the music up, then edit around
that, so we could have certain parts of video at the correct points for us. We could
also export the finished video into many formats, that would be compatible for
different devices. This means the video could be watched and accessed almost
anywhere.
17. Photoshop –Photoshop was probably the most useful piece of technology that we
used, as it allowed us to do many things to create the poster and the digipak. One
particular thing was the use of “magic wand tool” as we could then select all the
parts that we wanted to, then change them, or delete them. For example was
deleting all of the background for our drawn deathbat, so it could be just the
outline of the scanned image. We were also able to use many special effects when
manipulating the text we had, like adding in drop shadows, extra strokes around
the outside and bevelling to make it more 3D. Using the lasso tool, we could
select particular parts of things, then change them as a group, an example would
be the group deathbat, then changing them into the different colours we wanted.
From Photoshop, we would be able to combine image and text in a new way, by
having different spacing and more advanced options in editing to make the piece
look as professional as possible.
Macbook – We used a MacBook pro for the editing part of our music video, we
used these as they contain a lot of power, and would make it easier for making
the video look good, with as little time as possible. Because of the power in the
machine to allow us to create the video with speed, it meant that time rendering
and exporting was shortened, so we could then spend more time on other
projects, such as the poster and digipak.
