Using, Developing and Challenging Conventions

Using forms and conventions of real media products:-

Our music video:
*Represents the youth of today, as we found many music videos did. (such as The Kook's Naive)
*By dressing our central protagonist in typically ‘indie’ clothing, synergy was created between our bands genre and our music video, which also links to the idea of conformity.
*We decided to choose a grainer, more saturated effect. This style reflects the ideologies of our target audience who are attracted by vintage products and whose lifestyle is fashionably grittier. The effect was also employed by The Cribs' music video for 'The Mirror Kissers'.


My digipak:
*I have used the conventions that I have noticed from other real media products, in terms of layout, page design, fonts, text size variation, use of language and integration of illustration and text.
*I have conformed to the loose convention and ideology that an arty illustration rules over the inclusion of the protagonist from the music video.
*I have ensured that the most important information is presented larger in the design. For example, in other real media texts such as Delphic's debut album where their band's name is very large on the front page compared to the 'small print' on the back. I did a survey to find out which information the target audience seeked most and ensured that this was the boldest.
*I have ensured that the format of the digipak conformed to the industry's format.
*I created a complex design which was common in real media texts for the Indie genre. This was evident in Little Boots' album called 'Hands' and in Friendly Fires' debut, too. When collecting information from the survey on digipak designs, these complex designs were rated highly.
*Through researching bands' linking album covers and music videos: I found that a convention was that the faces of the bands - nor the representation of them used in the video - weren't used in the design of the digipak. Often, an interesting illustration was used instead. Therefore there was not much synergy between the album covers and music videos in real media texts. Hence, there is not much in mine (however there is on the other 3 sides)

My advertisement:
*Uses the conventions that I had found were common in real media texts. The information provided was particular to music advertisements that I had found in magazines like NME, which my target audience would read.
*The information provided was presented in a similar way to real media texts: for example the text sizes used varied and so did the fonts that were used.
*Similar to other adverts I've seen, larger fonts were used to promote the most important parts of information.
*Imagery in the background was common, and so I used this convention too.
*When comparing real media texts of advertisements and digipaks, I noticed that there was a strong link between the imagery, text and fonts used. For example, Marina & The Diamond's album cover design was used in the advertisement.
*I used phrases like 'Out Now!' which were evident in others I had seen.

Developing forms and conventions of real media products:-

Our music video:
*I was initially planning on adding a translucent layer of flickering stars onto my music video, however, my trial for Adobe Premiere Pro had expired.
*We noticed that saturation was fashionable by the way that Indie followers are interested in vintage. We used iMovie to go through each clip to add this effect.
*We used a 'Romantic' effect that was a preset on iMovie to improve the lighting, as it was filmed in a party atmosphere.
*We experiemented with camera movements that reflected the Indie followers lifestyle - carefree and lively. We saw some evidence of this is The Kook's 'Naive', which is where we found the inspiration. It also invites the viewer to feel as if they are at the party as it mimic their movements.

My digipak:
*I wanted it to appeal to my target audience as much as possible, and so made a survey to see what they were attracted to in a design.
*After having noticed and researched into the convention of the use of triangles, I decided to develop my design to fit it. I added these triangles to act as symbol of the Indie culture which the target audience could recognise and relate to.


My advertisement:
*I developed my design for the advertisement in the way that other real media texts tend to use the same layout of imagery and text for both the digipak and the advertisement. I did not adhere to this convention as the survey I complied showed that 87% were interested in the design being a reflection, but not necessarily a copy. Therefore, my advertisement uses the same imagery but in a similar (not identical) layout. To me, this is more effective as if I had used the same layout, it would have looked silly considering an advert has a different shape to a digipak.


Challenging forms and conventions of real media products:-

Our music video:
*We adopted a voyeuristic feel that is not evident in many media texts. It is difficult to find music videos that use jerky camera work, but initially we were inspired by the camera movements in the Skins' promotional video. Our sometimes exaggerated camera movements were embraced in our production as we felt that they reflected the madness of the party scene; the state of a tipsy youth; and the stereotypically jerky dance movements that are associated with Indie music followers. Our style is much grittier and careless when compared to the conventions of the highly polished Hip Hop music videos. This 'gritty' and 'careless'ness would appeal to the target audience who is between 0-35 (but mainly 16-25, says the survey) and belong to the 'indie' stereotype. This stereotyped group is often un-materialistic, spontaneous and un-vain, unlike the stereotyped R&B follower. Also, our jerky documentary style camera work contributed to the voyeuristic feel that we used to create realism.
*The music videos tended to feature the band members either performing or as the protagonist however due to the fact we downloaded our music from a copyright free website we are unable to feature the band.
*As our budget is a lot less, our mise-en-scene won’t be as professional looking; and our lighting will not be either. This could be argued that it makes it seem more realistic.Other real media texts would use more professional programs for editing the footage, and better quality equipment that offers a professional aesthetic. We were mainly limited by iMovie's amateur features. However, I was able to use Adobe Premiere Pro to create the introduction, using a complimentary trial of the program. This meant that I could attempt to mimic the special effect used in Ellie Goulding's video 'Under The Sheets'.


My digipak:
*Does not challenge the forms and conventions in many ways, except one. This is that many Alternative/Indie digipaks are often covered in a cardboard sleeve. My digipak does not have this feature.
*I did not want to challenge the conventions as it was important to me that the audience could recognise and relate to my product.

My advertisement:
*My advertisement does not challenge the forms and conventions in any way.
*I did not want to challenge the conventions as it was important to me that the audience could recognise and relate to my product.

Basic Design

Spatiality

Symbols

People

Happening in the Background

Language

Fonts

Aesthetic Decision

Mood

Relationship between pictorial elements and wriiten material

Analysing a magazine advertisement for a band [Marina &The Diamonds]

CD COVER [LEFT]
MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT [LEFT]

SYNERGY AND INTERTEXTUALITY:
The same imagery etc is used for the digipak as in the advertisement. This is to create an identity for the band. It also ensure that the consumer knows what to look for in, say, HMV, when they want to purchase the product.












ANALYSIS

Basic Design
Triangular composition
No symmetry and no appararent reason for this

Spatiality
Filled spaced with graphic and copy elements
No use of white space, thus a messy, unclean look is given

Symbols
Open mouth = sexuality, sexual connotations
Jewel coloured vintage fabric = reflects the bands' name "Diamonds" and the albums' name "Jewels".

People
Facial expression = sexy (open mouth)
Position = laying down (implies sex)
Age = 20s (target audience)
Hair colour and style = brown (sultry) = loose (carefree)
Other people? = No, she is the only one (Implies she is main singer)

Happening in the Background
Head is superimposd onto vintage fabric
Sharp back and foreground
Vintage fabric = links to today's youth and their obsession with vintage objects.


Language
Simple Information
Short and Snappy
Different size fonts
- What it includes, when it is released, name of debut album and its release, how to purchase, formats available, quotes of reviews, website of band.

Fonts
Handwriting = carefree; implies lyrical notes; old fashiones which reflects 'The Family Jewels'
Sans-serif = Other side of youth (use of technology) (moderninity); smart and legible for information to be comprehendable.

Aesthetic Decision
Copy is arranged to follow the slope of Marina's photograph. The copy above her slants and the copy below her is horizontal - fitting around her face and body which lays central and horizontal in the composition.

Relationship between pictorial elements and wriiten material
The Family Jewels = Links into the colour scheme.

Attitudes
Economical and Social attitudes are perhaps portrayed.
Economical ===> An image of weath (The family Jewels and imagery of vintage fabric and old handwriting all evoke the idea of inheritance from a written will).
Social ====> An image of sex via her position and open mouth [and sex sells!]. The Family Jewels is also the youth's expression for testicles.

__________________________________________________________________

How will I take this into account when I design my advert and digipak?

I will:
* Ask the audience about whether they like it when there is synergy in the designs
* Ask the audience about whether they like the jewely colours
* Ask the audience about whether they like that you can see the 'face' of the band.
* Ask the audience about whether they like complex (Marina & The Diamonds') or simple (Field Music's) designs.
* Take all the aspects that I have analysed into consideration when I design mine.

Researching Features of a Music Magazine Advert

Our second ancillary task is to design a magazine advert for our band, and thus their digipak.
I have begun to research into some bands' magazine adverts and have picked out features that they include in order to publicise their digipak.


These are all possible information that can be included in magazine adverts for music:-


Name of Band/Artist
Merchandise that is available
Release Date
Content of product
Bonus material
Title of the album
Title of hit singles
A website link
Reviews
Record Label
Outlets where it can be purchased
Tour dates
In what formats it is available


I think I should pick a few of these - but not all, otherwise it would result in an information overload.

Analysis of My Own Digipak Design

EXPLANATION OF MY DIGIPAK DESIGN:-


















IMAGERY:


Colour Scheme: Jewel colours give the appearance of quality and make the consumer want to look closer and admire the design. I chose to keep the image of the starry sky (and nebula) blue as it reminded me of The Empire of the Sun's album cover. The orange of the nebula creates interest.

Stars: This image is from Nasa.com. I was inspired by Little Boots' album cover to include this. These images of space are frequently used in 'indie' covers:- for example Friendly Fires and Empire of the Sun. To me, it illustrates to the consumer how their music will act as a means of escapism. Alternative music, to me, tries to be different and unique deliberately; the way space is seen as being so different to Earth is maybe a link into their own 'difference'.

Legs with Rollerskates:

• The rollerskates are a symbol of fun, youth and the youth's need to speed through life. The target audience of Alternative music like ours would be a young group of people who may stick to the motto: Live Fast, Die Young.
• The rollerskates also link into the idea of speed and thus the title of the album: Look At That Rabbit Go!
• The positioning of the legs makes the girl they belong to look as if she is sitting on a cloud and dangling her legs happily. This evokes a happy image of her and thus links to the band's name Happiness. (I say that she looks like she's on a cloud only because of the rest of the design being of the sky).

'Rabbit' from the video sitting down: Used for synergy and continuity.


'Rabbit' from the video standing up: Used for synergy and continuity.



The fact that the images are starry: Reinforces the other-worldly-ness. It gives continuity to the design and 'pulls' it all together.



Polaroid picture with 'Rabbit' from the video sitting down: Polaroid photographs are linked to the youth and their current obsession with speedy results, creativity and vintage goods. Polaroids are 'cool' within the young Alternative consumer group. To reinforce this, you would not stereotype a RnB consumer to use a Polaroid camera!



FORMAT:

Sans-serif font: Conotes moderninity. Would appeal to the young target audience because of this. For instance, the target audience would not be attracted if the font was Times New Roman!

The fact that the font is starry: Reinforces the other-worldly-ness. It gives continuity to the design and 'pulls' it all together. Would appeal to the young target audience.

The sticker: Inspired by other digipaks I have seen. I have given it a colour that I have already used in the imagery on my digipak, so that it 'pulls' it all together. I have made it round, mainly because other stickers are generally this shape on digipaks, but also because for aesthetic appeal. I have tilted the text on the sticker so as to give it an appearance of being casually stuck on. This casual placement reflects the casual attitude of both the band and the listeners. Casual and careless is 'cool' to youth.

The sticker giving information about bonuses: Gives the consumer a feeling that they should buy the product as they will be a part of an elite minority who has the chance to see 'Limited Edition' footage.


The list of songs: No title to show what the list is of. We assume the consumer knows from experience.

The list of bonuses: A titles is given as bonus formats are not usually given. The word 'Exclusive' in 'Exclusive Interview' attracts the consumer as they feel as if they are part of an elite minority who has the chance to see 'Exclusive' footage.


The small print: a universal feature of a digipak. Implies professionalism.


The barcode: a universal feature of a digipak. Implies professionalism.

Digipak - Progress

I've been using Adobe Photoshop to edit different components together to construct my final digipak.
*a CD
*the small print from The Futurehead's digipak
*a polaroid from Google.com/Images
*a picture of rollerskates and legs from Flickr.com
*a photo of the protagonist from our photo shoot
*stars from NASA.com





























Inspiration: Little Boots' album; Friendly Fires' album; Empire of the Sun's album.

Inspiration for Final Digipak. [[Friendly Fires]]

Inspiration for Final Digipak. [[Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream]]

Inspiration for Final Digipak. [[Little Boots - Hands]]

DIGIPAK OF 'LITTLE BOOTS' - AN ALTERNATIVE SINGER

ELEMENTS THAT I LIKE:
The use of the starry sky
The use of an image the main girl
The simplicity of the information given (just the Singer's name and the title of teh album)







The use of the stars, as well as the triangle is quite common in Alternative bands' album covers.

Maybe I could incorporate these so as to conform to the genre.











I don't wish to include numbers on my song list, as it is quite old fashioned in my opinion, and I want to portray moderninity.

I like the composition here. I would like to have an image on the right and the song list on the left.









I wish to have the same theme of background running through my digipak. Here, you can see that the pastel coloured sky is used for each section of the 'pak.

Second Try at Designing the Album Cover - JUXTAPOSITION

For this try-out I have experimented with an image that juxtaposes the word 'Happiness'.

I have used sans-serif text to appeal to the modern target audience.

Hoever, it seems quite lacking - Compared to other Alternative covers which are generally quite messy and don't use much white space.

I need my composition to be a lot more crammed (if that's the word?) so to appeal to the target audience. The target audience would be a youth group who would favour carelessness and casualness over neat and tidy.

However, I will keep the modern sans-serif text in my final design.

First Try at Designing the Album Cover

Researching for Inspiring Images [for album cover]

I began my research by scanning through flickr.com and google.com/images by entering keywords such as: CRYING; ROLLER SKATES; DURACELL BUNNY; SAD CHILD; STARS; VAGABOND; HOMELESS WITH SIGN; PAINT POTS; MONEY; SMILING.

I chose to search for words that either: -

implied happiness, like the bands' name.

or

contrasted hapiness.

CRYING; = JUXTAPOSITION

ROLLER SKATES; = CONFORMS

DURACELL BUNNY; = LINKS IN TO IDEA OF 'LOOK AT THAT RABBIT GO'

SAD CHILD; = JUXTAPOSITION

STARS; = CONFORMS AND WAS INSPIRED BY 'LITTLE BOOTS' ALBUM COVER

VAGABOND; = JUXTAPOSITION

HOMELESS WITH SIGN; = JUXTAPOSITION

PAINT POTS; = CONFORMS

MONEY; = CONFORMS

SMILING. = CONFORMS

Synergy in Real Media Texts - (Not so much)

Considering the fact that the survey said that 70.0% were more attracted to an interesting design that doesn't include the face of the protagonist from the video, I found myself inclined to research into other real media texts that did not include this aspect of synergy.

I have now noticed that in the Indie genre, it is not a convention that there must be firm synergy between the album cover and the music video.

There is evidence of this as shown below.

To me, I feel justified to design my digipak in such a way that:-
*does not hold strict synergy with the video
*does not hold this synergy with the video, especially on the front cover
*does not feature an image of the protagonist from the video on the front cover
*favours good design and interesting imagery over a recognisable face

I am doing this as this is what my target audience are evidently interested in.

I am doing the above because I received unenthusiastic comments towards featuring a face in the design, like:-

• when it's their face it's pretty unoriginal and unquirky, maybe?
• i like it when there's a weird picture to look at
• it's boring if it's just their face!
• indie covers usually dont have anyone on the front
• i don't care as long as the music is good!!
• a nice illustration or peice of photography is nice
• the face isnt important to me, i like interesting imagery
• i like art work

However, at the same time, I will be including the protagonist on the other sides of the digipak and on the discs, because I cannot ignore the fact that others said:-

• it's nice to have a face to put to the name
• they're usually quite nice on the eye
• when i see the video, it's easier to purchase the cd if i can make a connection between the faces. sometimes i'll buy a cd if i recognise the face especially if i cant remember the name of the band!

DELPHIC
































FRIENDLY FIRES

Results from the survey about digipak designs.

I advertised my survey on Facebook via http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/P7MXYC3

SURVEY ON PEOPLE'S PREFERENCES ON DIGIPAK DESIGNS.

NOTE: I stated at the beginning of the survey that "you should only take this survey if you have an interest in the music genre: Alternative/Indie". This meant that I could find my target audience.

1. 16-25 year olds are are target audience

2. Females and males are our target audience

3. They are at university or college.

4. The majority did not realise what a digipak was before reading the explanation.

5. They preferred the digipak packaging to the jewel case packaging.

6. A complex design, bonus videos and any bonuses on a separate DVD are what they seek.

7. They prefer the design of 2 disc digipaks.

8. They seek interesting imagery, band name, album name, bonus material and song names when reading a digipak.

9. All 3 album cover designs were appreciated and they would buy them regardless of the music.

10. 67% found interesting designs that did not include the face of the protagonist from the video were more attractive.

Obviously, I will bear these in mind when I create my digipak. For example, ensuring that the essential information that they seek from a digipak is included and prioritised in size - meaning I would not favour the small print, record label or website in the design. Another example would be that I will take into consideration that my target audience appreciate an interesting design even if it doesn't include the face of the protagonist from the music video.

Construction and Feedback on the Introduction in Adobe Premiere Pro

I used the ProCamp effect which adjusts the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and split percent of a clip's image.

I ajusted the Opacity so that it was translucent, so that it was possible to see the layer of footage beneath.

I added Noise, as this graininess is the intended effect.

I added a Luma Key which creates transparency for darker values in the image, leaving brighter colors opaque. It creates a subtle superimposition or keys out dark areas. I used it on the section where the protagonist is cheerleading to key out her figure so that you can see underlying footage of flickering.

____ADOBE PREMIERE PRO____

How I made the introduction to the music video:-

I used Adobe Premier Pro.
I had some previous experience from a course I had partaken in.
I wanted to achieve an effect that enticed the viewer, in particular the target audience.
The original footage looked too bland to appeal to a younger audience. The survey showed that they were interested in visual effects, and so I added flickers; used Lumakeys and colour keys to adjust the aesthetic; and overlayed two layers of footage. This to me added interest. Being the age of and having the same ideologies of the target audience, I was able to judge for myself as I produced it whether it was appealing.

However, to ensurethatthis was not a biased opinion, I asked others too.They reported back via Facebook Chat saying: "It looks much better that before! I like the way you've overlayed the two pieces of footage. It creates interest and is more unique than other ways I've seen people represent someone getting ready for a party"...."This reminds me of Ellie Gouldin;s music video! You know the bit when you can see two of her!? Cool!".
It's interesting to note that the editing technique used in Ellie Gouding's was raised! She has actually been an influence in my production; and this assures me that I'm on track with conforming to conventions of real media texts!


Feedback about the introduction to the music video

According to the feedback given by a 21 year old male and 24 year old female who enjoy Indie music:-
* "There was definite link between the design of the digipak and the advert despite their layout being different."
* They claimed that they would be able to link the digipak to the advert if they had been looking for it in HMV.
* They claimed that "it doesn't matter that the protagonist in the video wasn't on the advert/digipak" as they liked the design and were enticed by this. They appreciated the design as they were able to spot the iconography/symbolism.
* They did say that I could have made a connection between the three texts more powerful by using stars as an overlay on the music video [which I may try using Adobe Premier Pro]. However, initiallly, the fact that the artist was introduced in the video; that there were images of her on the other sides of the digipak; and that she is wearing the same outfit, all made up for it!

________ ADDING THE INTRODUCTORY TITLES TO THE INTRODUCTION_________

Adding the introductory titles

We later decided, after having uploaded it, to introduce the song and band in a similar way a music channel would. We looked at how MTV did this, and took influence from it. This would add verisimilitude/REALISM as the viewer will be familiar with MTV and recognise these introductory strips that appear. The viewer may even be concvinced that our music video is a real media text!
Using iMovie, we chose a coloured strip to appear with sans-serif fonted copy. Sans serif is considered modern, which appeals to the target audience.

Using iMovie

This year we have a newer version of iMovie to edit our footage.
This will improve the quality and professionalism of our production.
Today we went through all the footage, cutting to the beat. This was fun and interesting to me especially after having learnt how to do this on my recent work experience in France.
We went through the footage recently, using ellipses editing to get rid of any footage that was unentertaining to the viewer, and that included cast that were not wearing suitable clothing!
Through the editing process, I have learnt how to include approriate transitions. For example, we all decided that transitions like 'Ripple' were completely unsuitable for our production as it was not a convention in real media texts.

Filming Day to show off our Lip Synching Skills

Today, as planned, Rebecca and I filmed some additional footage for our music video.

We felt that the video was lacking in the way that it did not include anyone singing along to the words.

We felt that this was lacking, especially after seeing many Alternative music videos had included this key feature.


An example [BELOW OR CLICK ON THE TITLE] is Vampire Weekend's "Cousins" - in which, the entire song is performed directly to us, the viewer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0u11rgd9Q


So, for the filming, we:-

• We knew that we wanted to shoot the Rabbit and the Fox singing along to the song.
• We knew that we wanted the composition to be different for the Rabbit and the Fox. Thus, we shot the Rabbit on the left of the frame, and the Fox on the right.
• We knew that we wanted the female Rabbit to be superior to the male Fox as this fit with the idea of the fox chasing the rabbit. ======>Thus, we have shot the Rabbit on a metaphorical pedestal (on the kitchen counter) and the inferior Fox in the metaphorical pits (on the kitchen floor).
• However, we also wanted to reflect the vulnerability of both characters. ======> Thus, we have filmed both characters in medium-angle to give this effect.
• I (The Rabbit) put on the same costume as I wore at the party - for continuity.
• Rebecca (The Fox) wore black androgynous clothing and a fox mask.
• We shot it in darkness with just a lamp - to give the effect that it was shot at the party.
• We shot it in a kitchen, which could have easily been the kitchen we used for the party.