WELCOME TO MY BLOG

Over this past year, we have been working on producing a package containing a music video, digipak and website. I have learned alot about the changing music industry, and more specifically about branding and genre conventions of specific music videos. 
On my blog you can find the complete final cut, digipak and a link to the website.
This year i have worked in a group with Sophie and Kristian.

Here is the full digipak I created: 
 
















 The Music Video:




And Website: 

SR: Final Cut

This is our final cut in which I have edited the last few details of the fast paced sequence. Since this was the only thing that was still missing, I tried out 4 different paces in Final Cut Pro, which you can see an explanation and a video on below 

The original pace of each take was only 0.4 milliseconds. When trying to play around with it a bit I had one sequence where the takes were 0.18 milliseconds, one sequence when the takes were 0.12 milliseconds, one sequence where the were 0.8 milliseconds and the original sequence with 0.4 milliseconds. Doing this I was able to compare each sequence and see which one was the best. I ended up with going for 12 milliseconds in the fast paced sequence. Below you can see the video of the different takes. 

DIGIPAK: Final Version

This is the final version of the digipak.  

After getting feedback from my teacher, I have added the following details:

- I sharpened the opacity on the barcode to 100%. I did this because in every example I found, the barcode is sharp.

- I added some bonus tracks to the track listing. As this is a compilation album, it is important to add new unreleased tracks or new versions of songs in order for there to be a reason to buy it, as all the other tracks are on previous albums. The names for these tracks are "BORN", "DIRT" and "THE FIELDS" I like these names as they fit in really with the other grungy titles of their songs, and therefore also fit well with the genre.

-I made the "BMTH" on the spine a lot smaller and put it after the band name as this is much more common that it being before. I also added the SONY logos. and a catalogue number.

- On the front cover, I added a sticker that says "Featuring 3 Exclusive New Tracks" as this will draw attention to the new content and therefore attract the audience to buy the Digipak. I did this in a dark bluey/grey colour as I wanted it to stand out from the black and white colour scheme but also flow well altogether as a whole. 

Evaluation Question 1A

How do your products use or challenge conventions?


Common Conventions of music Videos

• Intertextuality: Intertextuality is the process of creating references to any kind of media text via another media text. There are many examples of this, however a music video in which the intertextuality is very clear is in the music video for Gwen Stefani's song 'What you waiting for'. She references Disney's film 'Alice in Wonderland' throughout the video.
  
• Narrative/Performance/Concept: These are the 3 main different styles of music video. Narrative is when there is a storyline featured. This can be in chronological order, or it could be fragmented.
  
• Dance Routines: Dance routines are a very important aspect of music video, particularly when engaging with an audience/target audience. Simple dance routines are extremely important as they are very easy for fans to copy and recreate. This is something very common in girl and boy bands as their audiences include young female fans, who are more likely to recreate the moves. This links into the uses and gratification theory, which describes the main reasons people consume a media text.  
  
• Stereotypes: There are often stereotypes in music videos, many of which are negative and inaccurate representations. For example, women in music video are often represented as over-sexualized. They are often shown dancing provocatively or wearing tight or little clothing. This links into Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze. There is also the argument of feminism and post-feminism

• Lipsynching: Very important when achieving verisimilitude, there also needs to be convincing playing of instruments/dancing. This is particularly important for rock/metal bands as they want to prove their authenticity: that they do play all the instruments and the vocals are theirs and un-edited.

• Voyerism: Male/Female Gaze

• Special Effects: special effects are very important in music videos, as unlike a film or tv show episode, you watch a music video many times, therefore it has to be interesting. The special effects that are commonly found in music videos are: Layering, Slow-motion, Green Screen, Cutting to the beat and Emphasizing the drop. Long takes must also be avoiding in music videos, again to keep the audience engaged.
  

• Costume Change: This is when the characters/performers in the video change costume. This is to keep the video more diverse and interesting. Although it is very common among female artists, male artists also have costume changes in their music videos. This is also something that fans can re-create.
  
• Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium: This can be applied to the narratives in music videos, particularly linear narratives, as they often start out, for example, as a couple together, happy. There are then a few scenes of them fighting and finally a break up.
  

How did we use or challenge conventions?

(Vodcast)

This is the script I created for the vodcast: 

INTERTEXTUALITY IN OUR VIDEO

In our music video, there are a few cases of intertextual references.

Firstly, the underwater/swimming pool scene references and was inspired by 'This is Gospel' By Panic! At The Disco. 

The lying position from this video is something that we have replicated in our own. It is also quite similar as there is a source of light shining into the water.   

We also were inspired by 'Up in The Air' by 30 Seconds to Mars in terms of the colour powder. However, when we used the colour powder, we focused it on the drums and the end singer rather than a large group of people. 

COMMON CONVENTIONS OF WEBSITES 

Through my research i found the follow common conventions for metal core band websites 

• Black and white/neutral colour scheme 
• Branding is updated to promote new releases (e.g. new single or album) 
• Photos of band/performance
• Simplistic design and fonts (e.g.) not too many photos or links, no over decorative fonts. 

Other Metalcore websites:

 

Our Website:

As you can see, we have used these conventions in order to create a website that really fits well withing the genre and personally i find that it is instantly recognizable as a metal or rock band website.

Evaluation Question 1B

1B: "How do your products represent social groups or issues?"

In order to answer this question, I have created a radio interview. My sister plays the role of the interviewer while i was a producer for our music video. 
 







AGE
Another important aspect of social groups in the media is age. 
All of the characters present in our music video are between the ages of 16 and 20. As you can see, this is not a very large age range. This may be an issue as older fans could feel like they're not being noticed appreciated or represented enough or correctly. Our Target audience:
 




USES AND GRATIFICATIONS

The uses and gratifications theory is a theory that discusses the ways in which an audience view a media text and what they intend to take away from it. 

I would argue that our fans/audience would mainly use our video as a means of diversion and personal relationships.

They could use the band members as a substitute for companionship, as well as imagining themselves in the female protagonists place. 
They could also use the video in order to feel represented and 'less alone' particularly if they have experienced a breakup or gone through difficult times, as represented by the narrative: which features a male and female character fighting and a male character (lead singer) appearing to go crazy and run away from his problems.

                                                                                Here is the script that i created for us to follow. I tried to include some theories/theorists into this question as much as possible. 

 

Evaluation Question 2

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of "branding"? 

In order to answer this question, I created a PowerPoint. I uploaded it to Slide-share so that i could embed it into this blog post. 

 

Evaluation question 2 from Bronwen Vaughan
 
ADVERT
This is an 'advert' that I created to promote the digipak. This advert would appear in magazines, on social media and on posters. Advertisement is a key factor in attracting an audience. This advert also helps really cement the distinctive branding of the band and new album and helps all elements such as digipak, website and social media to further tie together.

This video is of me acting as someone working for a magazine who has created this advert for the magazine. I talk a little bit more about branding. 


Here is the script I wrote for the video, which i added some images to, which will hopefully help to explain the points made. 

 

Evaluation Question 3A

How do your products engage with the audience?

This is a Prezi that I created in order to answer this evaluation question. 

Evaluation Question 3B

How would our products be distributed as real media products? 

In Film, there are the 'Big Six' (arguably big seven) which are the companies that dominate the industry. However, in the music industry, there are the 'Big Three'

This pie chart shows the World music market sales shares, according to IFPI (2005) This chart and information was sourced from Wikipedia. 

The Big Three are:  

• Universal Music Group
• 

• Sony BMG Music Entertainment
  

• Warner Music group

There are also:

• Independent Record Labels
• EMI (Until 2012)

So to clarify Market sales shares: 

-Universal: 25.5%

-Sony BMG: 21.5%

-Warner Music Group: 11.3%

-Independent: 28.4%

-EMI: 14.1%

Decrease in physical music, Increase in online music

In recent years, the demand for physical music/CDs has decreased, as music is becoming more and more easy to access online. Websites such as YouTube and Soundcloud and apps

like Spotify have enabled fans to listen to music and watch music videos for free. Since 2000, sales of recorded music have dropped off substantially while live music has increased in important. In 2011, the largest recorded music retailer in the world was Apple's online iTunes store. 

Competition in the music industry

When an industry goes from many to few competitors, it is called either Consolidation or Concentration of Ownership. An issue with concentration of ownership is that if there is no other competition, prices will rise. Evidence of this can be seen today with the CD industry. As there is less demand for CDs (due to the availability of music online) there is not a lot of competition, and therefore the price of CDs has risen a significant amount recently. 

Advertising

The American Cable company and satellite television network HBO (Home Box Office) has no advertising whatsoever. Because of this, they are allowed to broadcast far more explicit shows than other similar companies. This is because advertisers have a lot of control. They do not like their brand to be associated with shows that are explicit or negative, especially if they are considered a 'family friendly' brand. 

An example of this is Madonna. Madonna had a deal with Pepsi and was working with them. However, after she released the video for her song 'Like a Prayer', which was very explicit and controversial, they pulled out of the deal as they did not want their brand to be affected by the controversy surrounding her. 

Chomsky's 5 filter Theory:

This theory, which explains how propaganda and systematic biases function in mass media. The second filter in this theory is Advertising. Here is a useful explanation of the advertising filter, however this is using the example of newspapers.

Record labels 'dropping' acts

EMI signed the Sex Pistols, suddenly the band came under fire from politicians and the media. EMI dumped them immediately. Their song 'EMI' was written about this. 

Bring Me The Horizon

Bring me The Horizon's albums Sempiternal, and That's the Spirit are distributed by RCA which is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment.If our video was a real media product, it would be distributed by RCA too. I think this because these are considered their most successful albums and we would hopefully like to continue this success with this album. 

Evaluation Question 4

How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online - in this project?






Here is a vodcast in which I talk a bit more about using Adobe Photoshop CS5



Another technology I used was this website that allowed me to create a QR code and barcode for the digipak. 

 

SR: Production Schedule: FINAL

This is the final production schedule, that highlights all of our deadlines in green.

Podcast 23

SR

This is our 23rd weekly podcast. This week we focused on media theories for our written exam and started planning our evaluation questions. Bronwen worked on getting the digipack done, whereas Kristian worked on trying to include the newsfeed on our website by downloading several templates. I created rough cut 16, which should be a final cut next week. Next week, we will also film for our evaluation questions and we intend to have a final version of our entire package including digipack, video and website. 

SR: Production Schedule UPDATE 12

This is Production Schedule Update 12, which I created. In this production schedule I added several  dates for rough cut 14, 15 and 16 and I changed the date for the final cut to the 4th of April.

Production Schedule UPDATE 12 from Sophie2401

SR: Rough Cut 16: Throne

This is rough cut 16, in which I worked on the fast paced sequence when the first beat drops. I put the narrative in black and white because it focused too much on the shot, since it was so much brighter than the other shots used. The next cut will be a definite final cut, since our audience feedback from our teacher was that everything was good except for the fast paced sequence in which I should make the takes longer rather than 4 miliseconds and I should take out the dark shot of the wood running sequence, because it made it look as if I had cut it to black in final cut.

Audience Feedback 11: Rough Cut 15: Throne

This is some audience feedback that we got for our rough cut 15. The video was said to be pretty much done and our teacher argued that all that still needs to be looked into is the fast paced sequence. Also, another student said that in the fast paced sequence one shot was standing out too much, which might be because of the difference in lighting of the dark performance and the bright narrative.

SR: Rough Cut 15: Throne

This is rough cut 15 that I edited after having gotten audience feedback from our teacher. In this version I have tried to achieve good instruments verisimilitude. Also, I have focused on the points my teacher mentioned in the audience feedback such as removing the layer behind the flickering effect and trying to layer the pool shot onto other shots. However, the pool take was too short and so I couldn't put it over 5 shots. Therefore I decided to put it in as a separate shot and not layer it.

SR: Reflection on Narrative Shoot 3

Kristian and I filmed some more narrative scenes, after having gotten audience feedback that our narrativewas a bit thin, because we didn't have enough scenes of our two character's so that our audience could get to know them. 

Overall it went really well, we wanted to include some more scenes of them being happy together, which we did by filming some scenes of them cooking together and smearing cream on each other's faces. It was quite hard to film, because the actor's autmatically moved out of frame, which meant that we had to film 3 scenes in total and they had  but in the end we managed.

Also, we wanted to film some scenes, where our female protagonist burns the pictures of her and her "boyfriend", because we thought that the slap scenes weren't enough, since it is only a few seconds long and we wanted there to be more emphasis on the breaking up and the negative side of their relationship, since we thought it would also link better with the dark metal genre.

However, one problem that we experienced was that we were not able to film the burning pictures  and the cooking scenes at the same day, because it became dark quite early and we had to film the footage of the burning pictures outside, so that our female protagonist could throw them onto the concrete. Also, we had to print out the pictures first, which took some time.

For the polaroid pictures, we asked our two actors to take some selfies of themselves with out phone after, which we printed them out as the sterotypical polaroid picture. We chose polaroids because we would be able to attract a young female audience, due to the resurgance of polaroid pictures lately.