Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We created a set of questionnaires to give out to 20 people asking for their opinion on our music our music video and features based around the video and the indie genre in general. We tried to ask a range of people, including male, female, teenagers, adults and people who may listen to the indie genre and those who might not. We got them to watch our video then gave them a hard copy of the questionnaire to answer just after they had viewed it.

Here is an example of one questionnaire that we got back:

What does indie genre mean to you?

We began with this question because we wanted to first understand what they knew about the indie genre, to show how interested they were in the music and the lifestyle. This would also give us an idea of how much they would enjoy the music of the band Tell it to the Marines.

Do you think the video represents the indie genre?

We wanted to get other people’s opinion on how much they felt our video related to the indie genre, without knowing all the features of a music video that are needed to make it look like a “real product”.  This question will also help us to know how successful we were while trying to make sure that we represented the indie/rock genre while attempted to appeal to the indie audience.

Which is the best indie icon?

By this, we meant which aspect of the video best represented the indie genre, and we chose to ask this because we wanted to find out what things most represent the indie genre. For example, the costumes, the settings, the instruments etc.

What was your favourite shot during the music video?

We were interested to know which part of our filming was most successful so we asked which shot everyone preferred. If there was a specific shot which many people liked most, then that would give us a good idea of what was the most successful part of our music video.


The next questions have answers on a scale. Mostly giving answers on a scale of 1 – 5 (5 being the highest) or ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, so that people can rate certain aspects of our video giving their own opinion.

Did you enjoy the music video?

We felt it was necessary to ask people to what extent they enjoyed our music video because it would gives us an opportunity to compare and evaluate the answers that different types of people give. For example, we would expect those from a younger audience and who are into the same type of music to give higher scores than the people that wouldn’t normally listen to indie music. Our results showed that the people who answered ‘Yes’ for the nest question, (saying that they listen to indie music) were the people who scored higher for this question, and this shows that we were able to appeal to ‘indie kids’ with our music video. When calculating the average result for this question it came out as ‘4’ which was a very encouraging result.


Is this the kind of music you usually listen to?

For this question, the answers were either ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘Sometimes’. This is similar to the above question; we were expecting the people who gave high answers to this question to also give high answers to the one before. As a result, this is what happened, because overall, most of the answers were ‘yes’ for the people who gave high scores in the question above. And for the people that said ‘No’ or ‘Sometimes’ on average, gave lower marks.

How would you rate the camera skills?

How would you rate the editing skills?

We asked both these questions because we wanted to know how successful our skills were when creating out product. We were interesting to know if people thought that we could improve on any of these skills because then this would help us when using a camera or editing and give us ideas of how well we did. The average score for our camera skills was 3.5 and the result for our editing was 4.

Does the video promote the band well?

Most of the results we got back said that our video did promote the band well, which was promising because this is what we were trying to achieve.

Did it hold your attention?

We wanted to ask this question to see which groups of people would be more attracted to our video and we found that the people from age 16-18 gave the highest scores than the older audience. This may be because the actors in the video are also between that age group, therefore it relates to them more, which is what we tried to achieve. The average mark for the question was a score of 4.

What story does it tell?

The story we tried to tell within our music video was about the band on tour, which shows them enjoying life and travelling during summer. We wanted to create a sense of happiness and freedom. So we asked people what they thought the music video was all about, which would show us how successful we were. There were some positive answers such as: “Touring, summer, and festivals” and “life of a band” which was exactly what we hoped to show. However some people weren’t sure on how to answer the question, and one answer we got back was “Not sure, there are lots of things happening at once”. This answer is true, because we have created a montage of lots different things, which we hoped created a narrative structure, although some people this was not obvious to.

Can you suggest anything to improve?

6 people said that there was nothing we needed to improve when answering our questionnaire, and for the people that suggested things we could improve on, included answers like the stillness of the camera during some of the shots, and a few people suggested that we created more of a storyline.

Do you think the music video looks professional?

The majority of people who answered this question suggested that our music video did look professional. Obviously, there are reasons why it could be improved to look more like a real product because we didn’t have all the advanced equipment to make look at its best standard. For the people who said some parts of it didn’t look professional gave answers such as “some parts do” or “It looks as professional as I would expect”. Which are fair answers considering this is the first time we have made a music video for a unsigned band.

Would this music video persuade you to listen to more of the band’s music?

This question is quite important, as our aim for this project was to promote the band that we selected to create a music video, digipack and advertisement for. 13 of our participants said agreed that it does persuade them to listen to more of their music and 7 of them said that it doesn’t. Even though there were a few people who said ‘No’, the fact that more people agreed, means that we like to consider our music video a successful product.

We decided to create a short video which involved some of our friends answering a couple of questions from the questionnaire. We thought this would be an exciting way of presenting our audience feedback, because it is more intimate and personal, and is interesting to see how people would react to our questions when asked in person. As our target audience is between the ages of 16 – 25, we thought that it would be a good opportunity to ask people at our sixth form what their own opinions were. Also, if we can get to see them on video, it shows what they wear and gives us a slight idea of what personality they have. When asking our friends, we found that the people, who listened to indie/rock music, had the most to say, which showed how it meant more to them than those who didn’t.

We also asked them on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest) to what extent our music video held their attention. The results we got when filming this short video were that 1 person said ‘3’, 7 people said ‘4’ and 6 people said ‘5’. This showed that the majority of our friends that watched our video were interested throughout the video, and this means that we were successful at appealing to the target audience we wanted to.

To get even more information back from as many people as possible, we posted an email thread to some of our Facebook contacts with a link to our video on it. These were some of the comments we got back, once they had viewed the music video.

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?

The theme of summer is represented in my music video product as well as my ancillary texts, which include my album panels and my advertisement.  This still of a sunset at the beginning of our music video adds to the theme of summer because of the sun and the fact that it has been filmed at a music festival. In the shot we can see people hanging around tents, and the idea of camping suggests that these music fans are enjoying life in the summer time. This is the main theme that we wanted to convey within our promotional package.

I also used a sunset image for the front cover of my album, which created a silhouette similar to the shots in my music video. This image also represents the theme of travel which is another theme which is running through my digipack and ancillary. The colour in the sky creates quite a relaxing atmosphere, which suggests that although the band members are always busy, they are still calm and chilled out.

We included a few travelling shots within our music video to add to this theme. For example, this shot from inside the train is a good way to show the movement, and I think it represents that the band are always moving and always on the road and enjoying life on tour. This is why travelling is an important theme in our products because we think that it helps to show what it means to be part of the indie genre. It suggests that as a group they are free and creative, and music is a big part of their life.

I aimed to create a coherent promotional package by making sure that the themes of summer, travelling and freedom run through every one of my print productions as well as our music video. Another theme than continues through my music video is the theme of red. 

We included the this colour throughout the music video and on the front cover of my album, the bright red/pink sky and the font "Tell it to the Marines". This was to create consistency and add the the narrative which keeps referring back to this colour of red, which represents excitement and love within the youths of today, so this helps to appeal to our audience, because these themes relate to their everyday life and past experiences.

 

The inside panels of my digipack are both of the clear blue sky which add to the narrative of summer. The palm tree on the right suggests that it is from a foreign country so this also focuses on travelling. This will appeal to my audience, because it is inspiring and influential because it sends out a message that when music takes you on a journey, it can lead to a more exciting life. On the back cover with the shadow of two people holding hands, I think this represents happiness and playfulness. I think this was important because the audience that I am targeting are teenagers and young adults and because the holding hands suggest love or friendship, this is something that all youngsters can relate to.

 

To add to the theme of youth, I chose to use a handwriting font in my advert, because it gives a quirky, playful effect and therefore adds a bit of excitement. In my advert I used a picture of a beach with the band in the background creating a silhouette. I had used this silhouette effect a lot, so I thought that if I carried this on it would become a repetitive element to my designs, and would help my whole package become coherent and consistent. The size of my advert was inspired by the adverts I researched and found in Q and NME magazines as some of them appeared all one page as quite a small advertisement, and these are the magazines that I think my advert would appear in because they are the type of labels that promote indie music, therefore appeal to my target audience.

 

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Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages?

Construction

During the construction of my music video we borrowed an HD video camera to record most of our footage, and for other parts of it I used my own video camera. Using the camera was fairly easy because we have used them previously in other work, but the fact that we were able to use an HD camera for most of this project was an advantage because we were able to learn about something new and slightly different and although we were not able to edit the footage in HD, the filming looked better on the camera, so made it more interesting to film. The cameras allow us to review all of our raw footage that we have filmed. I think this is a useful feature, because we can easily rewind or fast forward to any part of the recordings and this helped us to get new ideas or decide that we needed to film something again in order to improve the shots. It also allows us to easily delete any clip that we no longer wish to use. We didn't delete many of our clips just in case we decided we wanted to use it once we have put it on the computer and reviewed it on a bigger screen. While filming, we used a tripod for some of our shots which we needed to be at a certain angle.

For example, for this shot we needed to get as much as we good into it, so we positioned the tripod and camera so that we could see all the band's bodies and instruments and the tripod helped us to keep this position still and accurate.

We edited our footage on Adobe Premiere Pro. We had previously used Adobe Premiere, but we decided to use Premiere Pro because we wanted to try something new, as we wanted to experience a different program and we thought that it would help us to improve our technology skills and learning skills. We were able to import all of our footage from both cameras onto this program, and view the clips individually, which helped us to decide which parts we wanted to put into the time line and use as part of our final video. Premiere Pro allowed us to crop each clip into a very small size and put them next to each other so that each shot cut very quickly from one to another at the beat of the music which made the editing very fast paced which helped keep up the rhythm of the music. 

At the beginning and the end of our music video we used a fade in effect and a fade out effect, because we thought that this helped to build up the music at the beginning. At the end we cropped the track slightly shorter and we thought that if we had the video fade out as well then this would be more effective than the last shot turning straight to black because it would be to abrupt and sudden, and it sort of goes with the music as it slows down towards the end.

I used my own bridge camera when photographing ideas for my panels and when creating my print productions I used Photoshop to edit my photographs in many ways. Photoshop allowed me to crop my photos into the correct dimensions for my album panels, and also I was able to put text onto my panels including the name of the band, name of the album, the song titles etc. To find the fonts I wanted to use for my print production and my advertisement I went onto Dafont.com which showed me a range of fonts in all different styles which was very useful and allowed me to download them.I also adjusted the contrast levels and slightly changed the colours of some of my images to enhance the colouring and improve the overall look of the photograph. To show my editing on photoshop I screen shotted stages, and saved them as pictures and posted them onto to the blog to help show how I got to my final outcome of my panels. For one of my ideas, I put my screen shots into a PowerPoint presentation and added notes to explain what I did. Then I uploaded this presentation onto Slideshare so that I was able to copy the embed code and post it onto my blog. I think Photoshop is a technology which offers new opportunities for creativity because of all the features which allow you to create a range of different art. It allows unsigned bands to promote their own music, and this is becoming easier and easier by the proliferation of technology.

Research

When trying to find an unsigned band to promote, there was a list of websites I went on which were quite helpful, but hard to find in the indie genre I wanted to work with. In the end we decided to choose a band that we already knew of called 'Tell it to the Marines'. We first heard of them through networks like Facebook and Myspace and saw them play locally a few time, so we thought it would be interesting to create a music video with the music of a band that we already knew and liked the sound of. By looking through their Myspace page and Facebook page, we are able to see the type of people who are interested in their music through their friends list and comments which are left on the page. It is clear that most of the audience are teenagers or young adults, ranging between the ages from about 16-24.

We researched a lot of music videos on Youtube which were also in the rock and indie genre. This helped us to get an idea of how to construct our own music video using the correct genre characteristics. Some of the videos I researched and analysed included Your Song by Ellie Goulding and Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People.






Many of the conventions and themes used in the video definitely inspired us to use the same sort of methods in the production of our music video, creating a sense of freedom and love for life.

To research ideas for the album cover, I found many different CDs in the same indie/rock genre and analysed three of them and put them onto my blog. This helped me to understand how to design and create the layout of my own front cover. I also looked in music magazines to get lots of different ideas and inspiration to help influence my own ideas, and also get an idea of how the are advertised in posters and magazines which was useful research into my advertisement.

Planning

When planning our music video, we created storyboards which included drawings of certain shots we wanted to use. Next to these drawings we wrote down the props which would be within the shot and the camera angle and the lighting which would be used. We also created a shot list to put onto our blogs, which included all the shots in our video that we were planning to use, this was helpful during the making of our video because we could go back and refer to what we wanted to do and when.

To help us to plan our music video we watched many videos in the indie/rock genre expecially on the NME and Kerrang! music channels; these were useful to help us plan what kind of editing and filming is commonly used in videos of this specific genre. When planning my panels for my album, I sketched many ideas to help to decide on the shots I wanted for each four panels. I also took a range of photographs which I thought I may use, then decided on four final designs when comparing them and asking for other people's opinions. I looked in music magazines, such as NME and Q to plan ideas for my advertisement. For example, the size and the layout.

Advertisements influences

Spine

Front Cover

 

In photoship, I cropped the black from the top and the bottom of the image because it wasn't needed and then I adjusted the contrast levels slightly in order to bring out the sun light a bit more and emphasise the colour in the sky. I chose this image because I thought that it related well to the travelling aspect of my music video because the van is slightly blurred which suggests movement on the road. The silhouette of this image adds a summer evening affect, which adds to our style and genre conventions.

I added the text onto the cover using photoshop. I decided to place the name of the band in the middle, with the words seperated onto different lines. I think this makes the cover look slightly more exciting than if it was spread along one line and I chose the dark red colour because I thought that it was suited well with the sky.

I positioned the names of the album "Bridges" in the bottom right corner, in white so that it showed up clearly on the black silhouette as a contrast in colour.

Left inside panel

Right inside panel

Back Cover

I experimented with placing the songs names on the shadows in a light colour, so that they showed up.

However, I also tried positioning the songs in the centre of the panel all placed one after the other, which I felt gave more of a professional effect.

                                                                          
                                                                                

I found a bar code of the internet, and because it had a white background behind the black bars, I rubbed it out and cropped out the white, leaving only the black bar code, which I think looked much better than having a background behind it.

Inside panel ideas

Music Video Final Cut

Question 1: In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product uses conventions of a music video, for example the genre is indie/rock which is represented through genre conventions within our music video. One of the principles of Goodwin's theory of music videos is that there should be genre conventions included within the music video which is why it is important that we included it in our own product. To establish the genre of a music video Goodwin suggested that videos include features such as dance routines to represent R&B and for rock videos there is normally a stage performance. We included genre conventions by creating a band performance. Also, we gave the actors of the band costumes to wear, including checked shirts, jumpers, converses which all relate to and symbolise the indie style and genre. The guitars and drums shown in the band performance also create a representation of the genre.

Gunther Kress suggests that genre is very important because it gives the audience a sense of comfort and belonging and he believes that genres make audience feel at home. The band members and the people that appear in our video our part of a group who are “loving life” and they are part of the indie style. When our audience watch our music video, Kress would suggest that they will feel part of this group as it creates a collective identity if they are into this genre of music. This is why we tried to relate to our genre as much as possible and used conventions of real media products.

One of the videos that inspired us the most was Foster The People’s music video “Pumped up Kicks” In this product they use the instruments to show how it reflects their indie/rock genre while also cutting between shots of the band messing about and nice landscapes. This helps to show the band enjoying themselves while on tour, which is what we also wanted convey with our music video.

The video includes shots of someone jumping into the water and cuts between shots of the band members on the instruments and just generally having fun. We used this method, by including shots of friends at the beach and in the sea. Also, the shot of our main singer on a space hopper, helps to relate to the conventions used in ‘Pumped up Kicks’ showing the band enjoying themselves as well as how we filmed them playing in a band performance.

 

The editing used in this video is also similar to our product as the cuts between shots are fast paced to keep up the rhythm and beat of the music. We tried to change the shot at the time of the beat in the music, so that the visuals related to the music, which is also a feature of Goodwin’s theory.

Another feature which he suggests is how there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. We tried to include this by relating some shots to the words of the song. For example, when the lyrics are "Alive, alive, alive!" we added footage of people jumping to create a lively atmosphere which is the meaning of those lyrics. There is also a relationship between then music and the visuals. Every time each shot changes from one to another, we edited it so it changed at the time of the beat of the music, which was fast so it kept up a quick pace to keep up with the rhythm of the music.

We also researched into other music videos of the genre to help decide which elements to use such as the quick editing feature. I found that another element which is commonly used within indie music videos is the use of close ups of the artist's face, and also the instruments. We thought this would help the audience to identify with the artist, so this helps them to appeal to an indie audience. However, we didn’t use this convention much, because we had many other shots.

Our target audience is people who are part of the indie tribe, between the ages of 16 – 25 both male and female. The type of people that our music video would appeal to is those who wear similar clothing to the band in our music video. For example, skinny jeans, shirts, lots of jewellery, converses.

Music plays an important part in their life and they are the type of people who play an instrument themselves and like to travel, and are fairly creative. They will be the type of audience who are interested on going on tour, travelling and going to festivals just like the band in the video. Therefore, our video is aiming to influence and inspire our audience.

The type of festivals that they are likely to visit is Latitude because it offers a range of creative opportunities, and a lot of the music they play is indie. We both attended the latitude festival last year and did filming for our music video, so we thought that if we included this footage within our video then it would be the best way to appeal to our target audience. We have developed genre characteristics during the making of our music video to help appeal to them, by using beautiful landscapes which may appeal to the creative side of them because of the use our use of photographic imagery and filming. We have also included shots of the instruments as a genre characteristic, so this convention will relate to our target audience. The theme of our video is representing youths in a fun, creative way by them showing them enjoying themselves and making music. The fact that it has been filmed in the summer helps to create the cheerful atmosphere.

Final outcome

I drew some designs of the type of photographs which I think would work for my albums panels. I think that it is important that I include atleast one photo including the sunlight so that it will relate to the continuous theme of summer throughout my productive work. Also, it would relate to my music video if I included photos of the road, because it suggests the idea of travelling which is also an aspect that is included in my video.

I drew a picture similar to a screen shot from my actual music video, because then it seems more realistic if it includes shots of the band. I chose to draw this because the drums and guitar are shown in the design so it helps to convey the indie/rock genre.

Ideas

I took these images and experimented with photoshop creating an album panel which was just an idea to get me in the creative mood. I realise that this design does not relate to the theme of my music video and band, which is more of an exciting, playful mood and has a summer atmostphere within it. This is why I decided against this idea because I didn't achieve any of the themes or ideas that I wanted to and I don't think that this would appeal to my target audience.