How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I have used a wide range of new media technologies to research, plan, create and evaluate my musical package. Many of these were new to me at the start of this project. The more complex software packages have been difficult to learn initially, but with so much practice have become very useful skills to have learnt moving forward.

Software Packages have included:
Adobe InDesign and Photoshop
I used these software packages to create my digipak images, integrating images and text to create my designs. The CD design with its circular text was a challenge at first, but I mastered the technique with help from the internet!

Da Font and My font
These are online applications that I used to develop the Saffron logo. I couldn't find the right font within the Microsoft font library, so looked on these two sites to gain a wider selection.

Microsoft Word and PowerPoint
I used these packages to write initial copy for my blog posts and produce images to then later save as JPG and PNG files for pasting into my blogs. I was able to easily resize images, group and convert to other formats ready to place in the blog.

I used the internet extensively to research the various elements. Using Google Chrome I accessed YouTube, Radio websites, Google Images, Wikipedia and individual artist websites.

The filming was all very new to me but I was able to learn new camera skills and use new equipment:
Canon Digital SLR camera to take still photographs for the digipak. I experimented with different lighting, focuses, zooms and use of flash.
Sony video camera to take video footage. I used the video camera, hand held, on a tripod and even in a moving vehicle to generate different effects. Zooming in and away, panning shots, different angles etc.
I had a problem transferring the video files from the video camera to the computer and needed to buy an additional card for my computer. Storage was also an issue moving around such huge files, but a borrowed external hard drive helped hugely. I also learned just how much footage was needed to create a 4 minute video - hours and hours to select from!

This was my first use of Adobe Premier Elements video editing package. It took a while to get to fully understand this, but it gave me the opportunity to experiment with its many special effects and features. I felt that most of the FX were over the top for my requirements for a more natural look and feel, and chose to use simple fade transitions, colour enhancements, panning and some lighting effects. However, I did find the 'time stretch' feature particularly useful to more precisely match clips with the music beat (exactly place the footsteps on the sand sequence, and bubbles under the lilo in the pool etc.). I had some issues with clips moving when adding in new sections early on, but I found that by creating additional video tracks I could avoid this added complication. Adding 'text messages' to the video enabled me to use the 'title' function, which looked really effective and added narrative to the overall piece.

This project has given me the opportunity to become familiar with writing, designing and releasing blogs. I have used the 'Blogger' site for this purpose. Having to use the blog almost as a diary helped to keep a constant flow of work happening and helped to distribute the work load evenly. I had a few issues with deleting some blog files by accident, but soon learnt to save work regularly and back up the files! I also had problems uploading my final video on to the blog via YouTube, so instead presented it on DVD.

This project has been extremely enjoyable and a fantastic way to research and learn many new and exciting skills. It has also given me the opportunity to appreciate my surroundings while selecting locations for video shoots - I would not normally have noticed a rusting shed on a beach or discarded farm machinery in a field!

Audience feedback on Cloud 9 Music Video & Ancillary texts

After I produced my final products I carried out some audience research to find out what my target thought.  I selected 5 females and 5 males within target age bracket, the females for my immediate audience, then the males as my secondary audience.
I asked them a series of questions, these were:

1. What was your favorite, most effective part of the music video?
2. If I were to make any changes to this project, what would you change, what is missing ?
3. Would you buy this album based on the video and digipak?
4. What's your opinion on the chosen song?
5. Do you feel the music video has met or challenged typical conventions/stereotypes?
6. Are the products clearly linked? and how can/can't you tell?

I have summarised the research findings below:

There was a clear difference between male and female opinions here, the females preferring the visual elements within the acting, with dancing, location and the actors movement - hair flick, jumping into the pool. Whereas the males much preferred the technological effects, like slow motion, the close up shots and the fast moving scenic shots.

Overall it was apparent what changes could be made to this project, and that was the actress, ideally older and less European! They also said collectively that they would like to see more scenes of Saffron singing, I am pleased with this view, as I am happy with the singing close-up sections that I already have, I felt they were effective and worked well with the 4th wall effect.

I am very happy with these results, that the majority would buy the album based on the video and digipak! But it was also clear that females would be willing to buy, which is good because they are my primary target audience and it is them I was looking for most.

This is all very positive feed back, predominantly females preferring the song, which again is good with them being my primary audience means I have targeted the right audience with the appropriate song. I seemed to have also chosen a very likable song, which is obviously the key for success for the artist.  

 My target audience has clearly identified the conventions I strongly put across, such as the use of aspirational locations and sunny weather. They also made it clear that I strongly went against conventions with my choice of a young, white female as my main actor. Also went against conventions by not sexualising women in bikinis, irresponsible drinking and parties and also by not having a strong male character to idolise.

I am glad that most of my target audience felt that all products were clearly linked by the use of consistent artist, locations, font, colours and natural/fresh vibe. Although there was some contradicting to this, as a male respondent disagreed. 

Overall I feel that my target audience feed back has been successful and helped me to see that I have created some successful products that are appropriate for my target audience. It also helped me to see some potential improvements if I were to re-shoot this video, the main one being choice of actor.

How has your target market research affected your music video production decisions?

During the planning of my products I carried out some target audience research to find out their preferences, this helped me to shape my final products in such a way that appealed to them. I asked a sample of females age 16-21, what their preferred genre was, favorite music artists, importance of the music video and how they find out about new music. I also pushed for an opinion on the reggae genre because I was interested in this genre from the beginning, being a genre I enjoy listening to myself and being in my target audience I hoped they'd feel similar. As well as asking my immediate target audience, I also asked males of a similar age, because I figured they would be a secondary target audience, it was also interesting to compare between the two.

One main difference I found was the difference in preferred genre, the males much in favour of Rap, R&B and Dubstep with the likes of artists such as Dappy, Zeds Dead, Skrillex and Knife Party. Whereas my female audience said they enjoyed Reggae, Dancehall and R&B with the likes to artists like Shaggy, Rhianna, Rudimental, Major Lazer and Sean Paul. I also pushed them all for an opinion on Reggae music, they all said they did enjoy it when they listened to it, they liked the way it was fun and upbeat making them feel summery and positive. Some were unsure of what the reggae genre included but when given example artists they admitted they did listen to Reggae music on a regular basis without being aware of it. This helped to confirm for me the Reggae genre I already wanted. When choosing my song I came across the summery fusion between Reggae and R&B of Ms Dynamite and Shy FX, I thought this was perfect, meeting the wants of my female target audience but also compromising with the requirements of my secondary male audience also, which I felt was important.

Another thing I asked my audience is how they discovered new music, they all seemed to use top charts on both TV and Radio, often recommendations from friends, online for upcoming artists, SoundCloud, YouTube etc - looking at other songs by favorite or related artists. When designing my ancillary texts I felt it was important that the album featured other popular artists, that way when they are searching through favorite artists on websites they would come across this single/music video because they are featured in the song. This research also concluded that the way we discover new music is very much digital, therefore I felt it was necessary to include a web address in my texts to create a more interactive approach, engaging the audience with the artist further.

I also discussed the importance of a music video, and what they felt is vital for a music video to include. There was a very mixed opinion on the importance being that some said they didn't bother watching and only wanted to listen to the music, however others felt it was helpful because it allowed them to use sites such as YouTube to discover new music and that they were key to an artists success, helping them to grow in popularity and become recognised.

As predicted, the males felt that sexualising women was a key aspect, the female audience also felt that having attractive male and female models were vital. Overall they felt that it was necessary to feature the artist to help create a strong artist persona, they preferred the fun, exciting videos to the slower more emotional ones. They also liked a narrative music video to help engage the viewer to make it more memorable. Typical to the target audience, they said they also enjoyed a performance based music video as they liked to visit gigs and festivals and they enjoyed the feeling that they are being performed to in a music video.

How my video compares
With my music video I included an attractive female model to appeal to both males and females, she was used predominantly throughout to create a strong artist persona. I believe that I have made the video fun and engaging, including a difference in editing pace to link with the music, various effects and also a summery feel which automatically gives it a happier, more exciting vibe! Although my audience liked the idea of a narrative in the video, I went against this in some sense that there wasn't a specific, obvious narrative to it. However, I filmed it in such a way that when put along side the music, you can make assumptions that the artist is 'in love' and on 'Cloud 9' because of this mysterious man figure in her life. By not including the male figure allows for the viewer to imagine, creating their own idea male persona, which will ideally appeal to my overall female audience. My music video is also very performance based, from my research I felt that it was important to engage with the audience by creating a 4th wall, meaning the artist is almost specifically performing to the individual viewer, this will help to build a strong fan base.

Other aspects that my target audience felt was important was the idea of money and power; fancy clothing; women; fast cars and aspirational locations. However, a few people said that they didn't like the way artists show off and brag about the money and power they have, and felt they would prefer something that they could relate to, with less materialisation, less sexualisation of women and more positive hidden messages and story lines.
I feel I have incorporated most of these ideas within my final music video. My artist (Saffron) doesn't necessarily have money or power, however, you can see a sense of dominance by the way she acts and looks positive and happy, this perhaps might represent a dominance within the music industry.
She is an attractive model, dressed in nice summery looking clothes in some sense making the audience aspire to be like her, she also wears sunglasses which shows confidence and highlights the aspirational location of a sunny beach! Although the music video is set on nice sunny beaches and in a swimming pool environment, rural, derelict areas are also shown, which helps to humanise the artist helping her to be more easily relatable to my target audience and taking away that materialistic approach that many other music videos are.

I strongly agreed with having less sexualisation of females in my music video, so although I included images of my artist wearing skimpy outfits, she was covered enough to make it tasteful and go against the conventions that a woman is just an object within a video and that she actually had the power and dominance. She still has the feminine emotions of feeling in love and her emotional state being controlled by the man she describes as her 'King' in the Cloud 9 song. And again I feel that I have incorporated the aspect of a hidden message, leaving the viewer to decide on the perspective they see the video and what they gain from it.

To maximise viewer engagement I introduced a narrative. The video starts with an emotional letter from her boyfriend who is away fighting for his country and soon to return. Then throughout the video short text messages appear to update the artist on his journey back home, for example, 'only a day to go', 'boarding the plane' and 'just landed'. The viewer is hoping he arrives safely and they can be reunited, explaining the lyrics 'feeling high, high, high'.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

An important aspect of creating the ancillary texts is making all parts tie together, keeping a running theme and consistency throughout. This helps an audience to identify them as one, to create an artists persona through the use of different medias.

When researching digipaks, I looked at three very closely:

Major Lazer - 'Guns Dont Kill People...Lazers Do!'

Conor Maynard - 'Contrast' 

Plan B - 'The Defamation Strickland Banks'.

Firstly Major Lazer use the bright, fun Rastafarian colours of red, yellow and green to highlight the reggae genre. These colours weave all the way through their digipaks, as well as their cartoon theme. They also relate themselves strongly with guns, crimes and women! These aspects shine through, the images of women, guns, bats, lighting etc on the front and also having two large guns featuring on the CD. Another thing they do consistently, is their cartoon theme  - they have their own cartoon character who is 'Major Lazer', he is seen as a sort of tribal worrier, he is featured on both album cover and tracklist to link them all together. In all texts they have a consistent font, all written in black, except the album title.

I then looked at Conor Maynard, his digipak is very different in a sense that it is very minimalist in comparison to Major Lazer's. Images of him are featured on album cover, tracklist and the booklet back, he is a new solo artist so it is very important he gets his image out there, he is a pop artist meaning image is important for the young female fans! The font is consistent throughout the digipak.

Very different to both of these is Plan B's digipak, running throughout is the musical theatre theme. Because he is an already established artist he doesn't need to feature so much, very minimal colours are used; black, white and red which contrast well with each other also the font is the same throughout.

After looking at these three digipaks I was able to see clearly that there is some aspect linking them all together. I used the same font, and the same colour palette throughout, also a common natural outdoor theme throughout. I also noticed that the artist name appeared on most aspects of the digipak, I used that because it was an obvious indication that they are relate to the same product.

Visual links that I have used to ensure my Video and ancillary texts look like a consistent package - they all use:

• Natural theme - outdoors in countryside, the beach, fruits, the sea
• Colours - muted pinks and earthy green/brown colour pallette, in contrast with strong use of black
• Calm, relaxed imagery - non aggressive 
• Prominent stylised artist signature - used both vertically and horizontally
• Album title in defined, consistent font and position relative to the signature
• Natural looking model photography - natural looking make-up, healthy natural long hair and all of the photography used was taken during the same photo-shoot for consistency.

I wanted to conform to reggae conventions by using an outdoors theme, but fuse together a summer beach/pool theme with a more European countryside outdoor feel within my video. I chose to use the countryside location element form the video for ancillary text imagery in my digipak, to appeal to my European audience.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are many conventions when producing a music video, within camera shots, camera movement, editing, post-production digital effects, lighting and mise-en-scene:

• Close ups of the artists, instruments, crowd members and/or body parts such as their lips to show singing - establishing who the main artist is.
• Low angle shots are used to portray a sense of power, strength and dominance of the artist.
• Establishing shots are used to show a new location or show an aspirational location which can also link to the artists status, money and power. 
• Direct address breaks the 4th wall, allowing the audience to feel more personal with the artists which connects the bond between them.
• When running, walking or dancing, a pan, tilt or tracking shot is used to help the audience to feel more involved in the action.
• Handheld camera is used to create a more personal effect for the video as if it’s a diary; the artist is letting you into their personal life in a sort of video documentary style.
• Cross-cutting is used to switch between the story line and the artist, this makes the audience more involved.
• Editing is often fast and structured, jumping back and forwards in time using jump cuts, often involving some sort of montage or slow motion to highlight key aspects of the video.
• Editing needs to be in time with the beat or rhythm of the music, to each section of the song which helps the overall music video flow and work properly together. 
• Lyrics will sometimes appear in a music video which can highlight key words or phrases that are an important part of the song's message.
• Colourisation can be used to create different scenes, to make the day look sunnier, or mysterious and dark depending on the message the video wants to portray.
• High Key lighting is the most common among music videos to enable the audience to see everything in the scene, nothing is hidden.
• Isolating spotlights can be used to highlight a key band member or a key message to the story being told on screen.
• If it’s a happy, upbeat song the lighting will be bright and sunny looking, whereas if it’s a slower, sad song the lighting could be dark, moody and mysterious.
•  Mise-en-scene is used to express an artist’s glamorous lifestyle, setting the video in aspirational locations which is always influenced by the genre of the music. 
• Elaborate costumes and dance routines are created helping the video become more memorable and interesting.
• Very theatrical to exaggerate the lifestyle of a music artist, to also boost their profiles so that fans will want to aspire to be like them. 
• Sexualisation of women is often used; this is shown by the costumes and dance movements. 

Reggae video conventions
My chosen song is a summery fusion between Reggae and R&B, and within these genres there are different conventions that are very genre specific, for example: 

• Summery music video including aspirational locations like beaches and swimming pools.
• Cheerful bright colours.
• Laid back lifestyle is portrayed (Stereotype of Jamaican culture).
• Often family orientated featuring people of all ages, mainly from black origins
• Scenes showing dancing along streets, playing the drums and lots of energy, upbeat and fun.
• Typical caribbean fruit markets, graffitied streets, people dancing in the streets.
• Very basic editing is used to the pace of the music, stripped back with no special effects; more realistic and relatable.
• Wearing casual clothes and big hair.
• Sense of aspiration, however it isn't in the typical British materialistic sense, but in a way that its so peaceful and happy, with a sense of community.
• Sexualising woman explictly, using them as the main focus.
• Love to party!
• Simplistic, not many special effects are used, it makes it more relatable and also easier to aspire to.
• Aspirational locations are mostly used, because the videos are mostly set in the Caribbean on the beaches, gardens and nice houses.
• Repetitive, smooth and slow editing is used to make it flow with the music, make it much more realistic, making dancing the focus.

My music video
I then thought about my own music video about how I used, developed and changed these conventions:

• Mise-en-scene: set on beaches, in fields, very outdoors, the sun shining and the use of high key lighting; cheerful and bright colours, making it look summery linking to the summery feel of the song. Using old vehicles and buildings to have the contrast between aspirational locations and a run down, less materialistic approach.
• Close ups of the artist lip syncing along with the music and also to show emotion on the actors face. Artist thinking about her boyfriend returning home that is making her happy (on Cloud 9!) this is very typical to the female gender, being in touch with feelings and emotions, being 'In Love'.
• Sunglasses to emphasise the summer season, also summery clothes worn by my actor, loose trousers, shorts, crop tops, long dresses etc. showing of female attributes in a less sexualised way. This is definitively going against convention.
• Various special effects, such as slow motions (showing the flicking back of long hair and throwing stones into the sea), fast paced editing (travelling through countryside), fading between scenes (reflecting tempo change breaks in the music), playing scenes backwards (jumping back out of the swimming pool), however it was kept fairly natural looking and realistic and not over edited.
• The use of long pans across beaches and fields to show the aspirational locations.
• Using high angle shots to make the actor superior, on top of the world, on 'Cloud 9'.
My star persona appears to be fun, laid back, very happy, fashionista, who my female target audience can connect with.
• Cutting the shots in time with the beat of the music, flowing as if the audience is dreaming, imagining this 'Cloud 9' feeling. I've also tried to match elements within each clip to the beat - footsteps on the sand, bubbles under the lilo etc.
• Appearance of laid back lifestyle - skipping through corn fields, throwing stones into the sea etc.
• Upbeat, fun and summery, capturing the Caribbean way of life - swimming, leaping into the pool, eating ice-cream etc.
• Adding a narrative to the video helps to engage the audience and bring an emotional connection. By adding an introduction before the music begins, a letter helps set the scene (boyfriend away fighting in the army and soon to return saying how much he misses her), finishing with lyrics from the song. This theme is extended throughout the song with short text messages updating the artist on his return (a few days to go, leaving tomorrow, boarding the plane and just landed).
• Going against convention I combined laid back English countryside with exotic beach scenes.
• Again with most reggae videos featuring a mainly black cast, mine is opposite convention using a blonde white girl.

Inspiration from pre-existing music videos
Throughout my planning, I looked at various example music videos and gained some strong themes and ideas which I developed into my own video:

One of the first music videos I looked at was Beenie Man- 'Lets Go', I particularly liked this music video because of the summery vibe that it creates. It has a simple setting of the beach throughout using the aspirational location in itself to engage the audience, which I carried through to my own music video, simple yet very effective, because when watching it this time of year automatically gives you that feeling of warmth, and summer happiness! The is very typical to the reggae genre with its hot beach climate, drinking rum, dancing and using Caribbean actors. In my music video I carried through the aspirational location of the beach, swimming pool and also the overall summery vibe, with dancing and sunshine! 

Another music video that I gained some inspiration from was Foo Fighters- 'Best of You', this music video is a performance based music video. I loved the idea of the 4th wall, where the artist is singing to the audience individually, these types of music videos tend to work well in high energy music videos and use a lot of close ups to highlight the intimacy between artist and audience. It also highlights the solo artists importance, being alone in the frame, dominating the screen. I used the idea of performance throughout my music video, I used a lot of cross cut editing between performance and other scenes, having constant connection with artist throughout. I developed the way it switches between performance and then to very scenic, location pans and shots of the sea and fields. I split my song into defined sections depending on music tempo and the lyrics, then gave each a separate creative treatment - cutting between more shorter clips in the faster sections and using fewer longer clips in the slower parts.

• One music video that I feel I took most inspiration from was Vybz Kartel- 'Summertime', in this video it includes scenes on the beach, in a pool and also by some run down, Caribbean looking buildings. It really captures how unmaterialistic the genre can be, simplistic locations yet very aspirational to us in our cold climate! I liked how much energy the music video had and I developed this into my own, by using similar locations to really help capture the reggae vibe. I was able to locate some beach side sheds painted in a bright blue that looked very typical of the Caribbean look, as well as a private pool and empty beaches for filming. Back in the UK I was also able to find rusting disused farm machinery to shoot.

• My favourite video that I researched into was Avicii Ft. Nicky Romero- 'I Could Be The One', because it went against the typical conventions of a music video by sexualising women and showing the ultimate 'size 0 model', It instead showed a more average woman being happy in her skin, which is empowering because of how shockingly rare it is! I tried to use the same sort of idea in my music video, although yes I did use an attractive, skinny model, I created no sexualisation of her at all, the angles of the camera were less male gaze, and a more tasteful, respectful approach. She is shown wearing more clothing, loose and long! Although some of the clothing is cropped, it is viewed in a more innocent way because of the use of editing. 

Conventions.. Continued! Digipak & Magazine advert

There are also specific conventions and features for magazine adverts and digipaks, I have researched into these by looking at pre-existing material and I have produced my own convincing ancillary texts. Below I have outlined the various conventions then given a summary of how my ancillary texts have been created using these conventions.

For music magazine adverts you will often find included:

• Image of artist as main focus - launching latest imagery
• Artists name
• Album name
• Release date
• Ways of downloading
• Songs featured, current hit singles
• Other artists included
• Album cover
• Websites
• Consistent font & logo
• Record label

Album Cover:

• The solo artist is usually the main focus
• Simple or on location backgrounds used in photography
• Very posed shots to portray dominance in the industry
• Little text used, just artist name and album title
• Limited colour palette used 

Album Back:

• More artist photography 
• Track listing, sometimes with text wrapped around the artist image
• Barcode to help at point of sales 
• Record label logo and date of issue
• Consistent colour scheme 

Booklet Back:

• More stylised photography, often closeup shots of artist
• Limited or no text included, more space for creating imagery
• Consistent colours to blend with album cover
• Simplistic designs, focus on the artist

CD:

• More simple designs than the booklets
• Patterns and graphics used rather than photography
• Limited text - artist name, album title and sometimes track listing
• Limited colour palettes consistent with rest of the digipak

Most importantly is the way that they whole package works together - synergy amongst all elements, carefully linked in some way. For example, I have used consistent natural colours, photography from a single shoot but with creative crops to suit the required designs. A consistent use of font and stylised signature logo and album name.
The advert brings everything together visually, but also helps to promote the album by showing when it is released, where it can be downloaded, other featured artists and most importantly a web address to drive traffic to the site and give fans access to further information and further engagement.

Ancillary texts - Magazine Advert & Digipak

I have created the following ancillary texts to form my digipak

Magazine Advert:

Album Cover:

 

Booklet Back:

CD:

Back Cover/Tracklist: