For my A2 practical portfolio I was asked to choose one brief with which I was to work through to create a full project for coursework. The brief I decided upon was to create a music promotion video along with two ancillary texts in the form of a magazine advert, and a digi-pak design which would contain the single itself, along with the video on DVD, to promote the release of the product. When choosing our briefs we were also given the choice as to whether to work in groups or individually. I chose to work individually so that I could express my ideas and creativity without any restrictions, and so that I could take credit for all the pre and post production work. The journey through this year was a lot more complex than creating my AS portfolio, but I definitely feel that the skills I learned last year were put to good use this year as I continued to progress through my studies in media furthermore. When browsing other peoples videos and subsidiary products at the end, I felt like my promo video was a lot different from that of my fellow classmates work. Therefore I intend to answer the questions given to me below to allow you to understand why I chose to make certain decisions and where my inspiration and ideas came from to create something that I feel stands out from others.
When given the briefs for our projects it was clear that the products we were to produce were not just experimental versions of what we deem to be acceptable to a college standard. These products were meant to be produced to replicate the real media in as best detail as possible so that each one of us could learn as much about the field we were working in as possible. So logically I thought that the best way to get a thorough insight into my particular field would be to do some background research about the music industry to see what I would potentially be competing against in the real world. I therefore obtained some information about the history of music videos, when they first came into real use and who were the people who primarily used this idea to promote musicians through their careers. After this I then analysed artists videos which fell into to the same genre as the one in which I was targeting towards so that I could gain any inspiration or ideas from current products. This turned out to be a great decision as the videos that inspired me allowed me to create something that is contemporary, modern and challenging to my particular target audience. As part of my textual analysis I looked deeply into the conventions and codes of Bon Iver's Wolf video which really motivated me to create something that wasn't a stereotypical promotion video. Due to my own personal taste in music I didn't want to create a corny pop video with people dancing or a huge complicated narrative to the video because I wouldn't have been able to create something that looked professional with the budget I had to work with. Therefore I had a think about videos I had seen that caught my attention, and Bon Iver was one of them. I thought that seen as I was part of my own target audience I should create something that I would deem to be a successful promotional strategy, so that this way I could be certain I was ticking the right boxes in the forms of current conventions of the media.
My final product follows and develops the conventions of the real media in many ways. The most obvious would be its visually contemporary artistic form of video. Unlike typical music videos, my video to Kettering challenges the stereotypical elements of a modern promo product. The video contains no performance narrative. My whole concept for the video was for the visual to relay the state of mind of the artist as he sings the song. As the song's about his lover dying of cancer I wanted the protagonist in the video to remain unrecognisable, as if the disease has completely stripped her of all being and identity. As for the technical codes within the production of the video I used a variety of camera movements to try and add a sense of hallucination and insane perspective on things. For example I used a hand held camera with no accompanying tripod or dolly so that the natural movement of my body could flow through the camera as I myself travelled the route I wanted to film.
As the song is in a depressive state I wanted to bring in the possibilities of drugs and alcohol being in effect whilst filming. Therefore the unsteady and juddery movements of the camera represent this, as he struggles to each reality through the distressing event of her slow death. I used cross dissolved at a steady pace to represent blinking through the state of mind , or the dream moving on in progression. The dark roads filmed within the car were to represent the dark road to death, and again the idea of insanity - the artist not being able to see his own path inf ont of him and not knowing where he is heading. The atmosphere of quite cynical journeying was produced through this too. At one point I merged two frames together, both from the same point in the road, but from different times in the day, so that the light can be seen through the fade of the darkness. This was meant to signify memories of what has been and then reality on what is, connotating hope and the contrast of life and death and the fact that the cancer is dominating and taking over the only light left ahead. I used the zoom towards the sign post too, as the light was reflecting off the surface creating an unrecognisable blur it was like the light at the end of the tunnel finally coming towards reality. I then juxtaposed this with a quick straight cut to the character standing eyes closed being quickly morphed by a bright light as the end of the verse formed the chorus. The further travelling after this was again to signify her journey to death itself, with the hedge hiding the sun with moments where the light beams through the gaps in the branches.
The effects that I put onto some of the slides was a filter called Maxtrox Old Movie. I loved the way the film jumped and there was grain all over the image as it complimented my idea of memories, looking back at the times where his lover was healthy and full of live and playing them over in his head like his own personal memory theatre. I used close up tracking shots of trees and water to show the texture and shapes of his surroundings as he battles with the idea of nature taking the life of his love. Small clips to introduce the character at the beginning allowed me to add effects like lens flares to carry on that use of purposefully placed light to show the taking of a life. I used still shots to try and get into the mind of the artist, and when I was carrying my camera around looking for locations that would be suitable to film I picked areas that I think would make a mad who has lost his mind stare, like the breaking of water on the shore or the light sparkling on the water ripples. These were then contrasted with the over saturated colours of the protagonist moving around a forested area. I thought this location would fit the hint of narrative perfectly as although the woods are enclosed by all the trees huge beams of light are pouring through the top. I thought that using frames with mixed connotations could engage the viewer more, as they can interpret the situation how they like depending on what state of mind they themselves are in. And I think this worked as I wanted the video to be more about an experience, something that will make you think rather than just to sit back and enjoy as I feel that to me, that is what makes an interesting creation of artwork, not just a media product.
Close ups of the leaves and the wood were added to give a sense of inquisitiveness as if the artist is questioning his surroundings and looking for an answer as to why this is happening to him. I took the idea of using a flash light to pan through areas of shrubbery at night from the Bon Iver video to again back up this idea of feeling lost and looking for an answer as to why nature can appear so beautiful yet do such evil things to humans. In terms of real media I used certain conventions through the editing such as the cut of frames to the beat of the music to add a rhythm and pace to the visuals. Slow motion and repeated frames to makes a quick juddering picture altered these paces so that it didn't have a steady flow, again complimenting the state of mind concept and the state of hallucinating. The frames of the girl in the woods shows her ducking and manoeuvring through and around branches to signify life's hurdles that she's has to tackle, the fact that she's still constantly fighting for a safe route out. One of the frames at the end is the camera pointed up towards the tree tops spinning round to represent the need of an escape from his emotions, and the end tracking shots of the female show her walking away from the camera, as if the time has finally come and she can't hold resist death any more. One of my favourite frames is part of the closing sequence, as you just see the girls hand touching the rock but all that can bee seen along with it is a dark shadow, as if she's taking deaths hand in hers after its constantly followed her around everywhere and now she's following it. This is then followed by the light of the road fading into dark and water pouring through the girls hands as if her life is finally slipping away.
Conventions which are similar are the use of angled shots and cross dissolves, tracking and still shots allow the audience to experience the music along with the emotions which are portrayed through the lyrics. Although it's not the artist himself with the band singing its a contemporary out take on the experience and story of the song.In the real media it would challenge artists of the same genre who wish to take the same sort of out take on their music, which is not about getting the faces of the band recognised, but the listeners fully appreciating the music along with a creative visual to help them enjoy the experience more.
As the song is in a depressive state I wanted to bring in the possibilities of drugs and alcohol being in effect whilst filming. Therefore the unsteady and juddery movements of the camera represent this, as he struggles to each reality through the distressing event of her slow death. I used cross dissolved at a steady pace to represent blinking through the state of mind , or the dream moving on in progression. The dark roads filmed within the car were to represent the dark road to death, and again the idea of insanity - the artist not being able to see his own path inf ont of him and not knowing where he is heading. The atmosphere of quite cynical journeying was produced through this too. At one point I merged two frames together, both from the same point in the road, but from different times in the day, so that the light can be seen through the fade of the darkness. This was meant to signify memories of what has been and then reality on what is, connotating hope and the contrast of life and death and the fact that the cancer is dominating and taking over the only light left ahead. I used the zoom towards the sign post too, as the light was reflecting off the surface creating an unrecognisable blur it was like the light at the end of the tunnel finally coming towards reality. I then juxtaposed this with a quick straight cut to the character standing eyes closed being quickly morphed by a bright light as the end of the verse formed the chorus. The further travelling after this was again to signify her journey to death itself, with the hedge hiding the sun with moments where the light beams through the gaps in the branches.
The effects that I put onto some of the slides was a filter called Maxtrox Old Movie. I loved the way the film jumped and there was grain all over the image as it complimented my idea of memories, looking back at the times where his lover was healthy and full of live and playing them over in his head like his own personal memory theatre. I used close up tracking shots of trees and water to show the texture and shapes of his surroundings as he battles with the idea of nature taking the life of his love. Small clips to introduce the character at the beginning allowed me to add effects like lens flares to carry on that use of purposefully placed light to show the taking of a life. I used still shots to try and get into the mind of the artist, and when I was carrying my camera around looking for locations that would be suitable to film I picked areas that I think would make a mad who has lost his mind stare, like the breaking of water on the shore or the light sparkling on the water ripples. These were then contrasted with the over saturated colours of the protagonist moving around a forested area. I thought this location would fit the hint of narrative perfectly as although the woods are enclosed by all the trees huge beams of light are pouring through the top. I thought that using frames with mixed connotations could engage the viewer more, as they can interpret the situation how they like depending on what state of mind they themselves are in. And I think this worked as I wanted the video to be more about an experience, something that will make you think rather than just to sit back and enjoy as I feel that to me, that is what makes an interesting creation of artwork, not just a media product.
Close ups of the leaves and the wood were added to give a sense of inquisitiveness as if the artist is questioning his surroundings and looking for an answer as to why this is happening to him. I took the idea of using a flash light to pan through areas of shrubbery at night from the Bon Iver video to again back up this idea of feeling lost and looking for an answer as to why nature can appear so beautiful yet do such evil things to humans. In terms of real media I used certain conventions through the editing such as the cut of frames to the beat of the music to add a rhythm and pace to the visuals. Slow motion and repeated frames to makes a quick juddering picture altered these paces so that it didn't have a steady flow, again complimenting the state of mind concept and the state of hallucinating. The frames of the girl in the woods shows her ducking and manoeuvring through and around branches to signify life's hurdles that she's has to tackle, the fact that she's still constantly fighting for a safe route out. One of the frames at the end is the camera pointed up towards the tree tops spinning round to represent the need of an escape from his emotions, and the end tracking shots of the female show her walking away from the camera, as if the time has finally come and she can't hold resist death any more. One of my favourite frames is part of the closing sequence, as you just see the girls hand touching the rock but all that can bee seen along with it is a dark shadow, as if she's taking deaths hand in hers after its constantly followed her around everywhere and now she's following it. This is then followed by the light of the road fading into dark and water pouring through the girls hands as if her life is finally slipping away.
Conventions which are similar are the use of angled shots and cross dissolves, tracking and still shots allow the audience to experience the music along with the emotions which are portrayed through the lyrics. Although it's not the artist himself with the band singing its a contemporary out take on the experience and story of the song.In the real media it would challenge artists of the same genre who wish to take the same sort of out take on their music, which is not about getting the faces of the band recognised, but the listeners fully appreciating the music along with a creative visual to help them enjoy the experience more.
In terms of the ancillary texts the magazine advert and the digi-pak design have been created with the same concept as my video. I wanted the character to appear quite angelic but facing away from the camera as to create a hint of mystery and to represent the start of a journey. For the cover I used a beautiful shot of natural movement away from the camera. I think the light coming through the trees makes it feel quite magical and there's quite a feel of innocence to the image. I used a scripted font to make it look like the artist has written it them self, adding a personal touch to the packaging as if more thought has been put into it. I carried the image through the packaging of the forest and the sun beam so that none of it looked out of place and the colours blended together without clashing and looking unprofessional. For the inside panels I used stills from the video of the branches to again represent the different branches of emotion and concepts that are involved within the music.I used a simple filter on the Adobe photo-shop to warm the colours on all the panels to give it a little ageing touch and to make the colours seem appealing and full of life. I kept the layout really minimalistic like the Sigur Ros album I analysed as I wanted the print to be more photographic than informative. I kept the black outline round the branch stills to connotate a film real, this proved useful as I entered the bands web address into the black space and it ended up looking really smart. I used modern abbreviation on the back to add a touch of quirkiness to the text, replacing the word 'at' with the symbol @.
The magazine advert pretty much followed the same codes as the CD cover as I used the same type of image, with the female facing away from the camera shielding her identity. The light makes a beautiful spectrum of colours throughout the image and a natural lens flare can be seen at the bottom of the page making a really attractive picture to look at. I used the same handwritten font and kept the page clean and minimalistic again. The poster challenged other media by demanding the audience to pre-order now, implying that the music is worth buying. The web address is then given at the bottom as do all adverts of this day and age as the internet is such a popular source of communication. I think that the advert would look great in a magazine such as NME or Q as it again brings a contemporary feel to the alternative/indie genre.
I feel like my products combine successfully to to represent the concepts which I wanted to portray through the music itself. As the video was a contemporary take on the musical qualities of the artist, I wanted to again use this contemporary theme in the subsidary projects. I thought that seeing as though I hadn't featured the artists in the video, I wouldn't feature them in the ancillary texts, to give a little hint of mystery and make the audience more interested into what the music is going to sound like. I know for a fact that when I see a picture of a band or an artist I automatically pre-judge as to what the music will sound like, and usually if people don't like the look of an artist then they won't bother to give the music a listen. Therefore leaving the band unseen could potentially invite my audience in more to give the music a try and then make their decision, rather then being put off immediately by the look of the band.
In terms of working well together I tried to match the warm colours of the frames in which the girl is present in the video to the pictures in my subsidary texts. Although I have used some stills from the video (the branches) for my digi-pak I wanted to veer away from using too many, as this could potentially make the whole set boring as the images would be seen over and over again and the audience may think that the producers haven't put much effort into the design. This lead to to take a few pictures on the same day as my filming with my friends professional nikon camera. I didn't want the pictures to look staged or poor quality so I took a few spontaneous shots whilst my cast member was moving around to allow natural movement to flow through the images. I was incredibally lucky that the weather was so intense with sunshine that day as the reflecting light created natural lens flares and the beams of the sun came through the trees creating images that I felt extremely happy with. I wanted the light to reflect the qualities of life and make the character appear angelic so that the audience has no idea about the journey the song will take them on. In a way the ancillary products act as a contrast juxtaposition for some of the dark qualities in the video, but the textures of the images used in both the video and the extra texts combine to represent my contempory take on my project. In my opinion they flow together to show my artistic appraoch to the task and at the same time still carry my theme, alternative genre and concepts of my project. Also because the images are simular in colour and character it would also bring recognition to the audience as if they have been attracted to the magazine advert and then later see the CD in a store they could immediately familiarise themselves with the product, making promotion easier for the artist.
In terms of working well together I tried to match the warm colours of the frames in which the girl is present in the video to the pictures in my subsidary texts. Although I have used some stills from the video (the branches) for my digi-pak I wanted to veer away from using too many, as this could potentially make the whole set boring as the images would be seen over and over again and the audience may think that the producers haven't put much effort into the design. This lead to to take a few pictures on the same day as my filming with my friends professional nikon camera. I didn't want the pictures to look staged or poor quality so I took a few spontaneous shots whilst my cast member was moving around to allow natural movement to flow through the images. I was incredibally lucky that the weather was so intense with sunshine that day as the reflecting light created natural lens flares and the beams of the sun came through the trees creating images that I felt extremely happy with. I wanted the light to reflect the qualities of life and make the character appear angelic so that the audience has no idea about the journey the song will take them on. In a way the ancillary products act as a contrast juxtaposition for some of the dark qualities in the video, but the textures of the images used in both the video and the extra texts combine to represent my contempory take on my project. In my opinion they flow together to show my artistic appraoch to the task and at the same time still carry my theme, alternative genre and concepts of my project. Also because the images are simular in colour and character it would also bring recognition to the audience as if they have been attracted to the magazine advert and then later see the CD in a store they could immediately familiarise themselves with the product, making promotion easier for the artist.
Through carrying out my research into an audience questionnare I feel like I obtained a sturdy amount of feedback to take ideas from. To get the most diverse feedback I could I devised the questionnaire to contain sixteen quesions to do with a few major aspects of the music industry to get a good insight into the field I was working with. Questions contained multiple choice answers, singular choice, and a couple allowed the participants to write their own opinion to the question, allowing a free reign of thought. The multiple questions allowed me to see what my target audience, and out of interest, older generations, preferred within the world of music from festivals to music genres and to specifically promo videos. This allowed me to look at the feedback and see what types of areas to avoid and which to develop in order to produce the most successful product I could which would be able to compete against real media. It also gave me a chance to challenge my audience as when I asked what genres were preferred RnB, pop and indie were the most chosen. Therefore this motivated me to create something that could please these people as well as the people who already like the type of music I chose. It also showed me the increase in using file sharing to aquire music, therefore I knew that I had to create something really appealing in my ancillary products to persuade people to buy the music rather than downloading it off the internet. This is where I realised that if my products were artistic and not typical performance themes then people would be more likely to appreciate the images and then potentially buy to use for their own leisure. I know that when I, myself, am browsing CD's it's the artistic and quirky packaged ones that attract me the most. I wanted the magazine advert to be something that people would rip out of their magazines and put on their wall simply because they liked the image as this would mean that the owner themselves is potentially promoting within their own home.
When making my video I constantly kept my log book at hand and whilst editing and putting my frames together I asked my teachers and classmates if my decisions looked good and what I could do to improve elements of my video. I then wrote these down and continued to work on them right until the finished product. Instead of putting another questionairre on my blog which I thought would have bored my participants seeing as though I had already made them carry one out for me, I just asked them face to face to see their personal reaction to the visuals and to get some honest feedback and then again, jotted this down in my log. When looking at the results from my questionnaire i created a few graphs on Microsoft excel to get a good visual view about the prefrences of my participants. It also allowed me to use different sources of technology to show my skills through the research. Altogether it made me really aware about the specific area I was working in, what to avoid and what to take advantage of in able to successfully promote my product.
Obviously the most useful piece of technology to me was the internet. It allowed me to search for my research topics such as the history of music promotion videos through websites such as wikipedia and search engines like google. Also the website youtube let me search for current media products and analyse them as part of my textual analysis research. If I was ever stuck for inspiration I could always log on and search for videos and adverts that could give me some ideas to motivate myself to carry on. It also allowed me to have the modern codes and conventions of todays real media at hand all the time. Programmes such as Microsoft excel allowed me to produce pie, bar and donut charts to get a clear visual idea about the results from my audience feedback. The programme that I used to edit and manipulate my images for my subsidary projects was Adobe Photoshop CS4 which enabled me to use a variety of effects and filters to really enhance my pictures. Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 was the editing application I used to edit my promotion video. As well as working to piece my sequence together it also acted as an editing station to add effects and adjust colour levels to get the best quality for my video. As for the evaluating, blogger was really the main application that I used to keep log of all my progress and to order my planning and pre and post production work. Although I had used blogger last year to track my progress, I definitely feel that this year I have become a lot more confident using the source to get the most out of my portfolio work.
Altogether I think that my products are a successful attempt at creating a promo video, along with developed promotional products to help the sell of the artists production. I think that I have reached my target audience of approxiamtely 16 - 35 who are interested in the alternative/indie genre. The representations of the concepts I wanted to include in my video were successfully shown through my use of coventions and codes. If i had to improve one thing it would be the quality of the images and I would probably include more narrative next time to make it even more interesting.
