FINAL POST

This is my final post on this Blog, I have really enjoyed studying the entire A level media course (AS and A2) and I feel that I have gained so much from studying media. I have developed my skills at working in a group, planning, researching and being more analytical in my work. I have also been inspired to take the subject further and I hope I will be able to study it at a degree level. This Blog is now closed.

FINAL FILM

FINAL ALBUM RELEASE ADVERT

FINAL DIGIPACK

The Track List:
1. Dog Days are Over
2. It's Just Me
3. Mistakes
4. Never Before
5. Lost
6. My Last Resort
7. Unforgiven
8. Wasted Breath
9. Gone
10. Light on Your Shoulders

The font is quite difficult to read so i hope this helps, it is just a list of the tracks in the order they appear on the back cover of my CD case.

EVALUATION QUESTION 4

Media Evaluation, Question 4

EVALUATION QUESTIONS 1, 2 AND 3

Here is a film and interview style of our group answering the evaluation questions 1, 2 and 3.

QUESTIONNAIRES AND AUDIENCE FEEBACK

After reading through our completed questionnaires after the showing of our final music video, we picked out some quotes taken from the question:

"What was your favourite part?"

(It was nice to receive positive feedback, as opposed to more negative comments, since it was our final video that was watched and we could not make any more changes after the showing)

Here are the answers we got back:

1. "Loved the running shots"
2. "Favourite part was the jumping in the rain shot"
3. "Loved the shot of Eleanor facing the train tracks and the lighting - gorgeous"
4. "My favourite part was the stop animation of the daffodils before happiness"

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK ON ABUSE

One of our groups main concerns about the video during construction was the balance of the abuse scenes. We did not want to show too much of the abuse as we felt it would not have the desired effect and shock the audience, however too little would take away the focus and main theme of the video. Therefore we included a question in our personal questionnaire for the preview:

"What did you think about the balance of the abuse scenes, did you feel there was too much, too little or was the balance right?"

Here are the results in the form of a pie chart:

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK FOR OUR FINAL MUSIC VIDEO

A short clip of some Audience Feedback and a bit of fun.

FILMING MEMORIES

Here is just a short video we made showing some of the many beautiful faces of our music video!

PRACTISING STOP ANIMATION

This is just a short video of our stop animation practises, so far we are thinking of using the flowers twisting around (possibly after the sad part of the song, reflecting the abuse, on the beat just before Happiness... another one we might use is the petals, either coming off the flower or going round in a circle at the beginning of the song, on the beat leading up to Happiness hit her...

EDITING - FIRST DRAFT ALMOST COMPLETE

Here is our first draft so far, we have edited up to about 2 minutes in, and then 40 seconds from the end. Once we have completed editing the middle 30 or so seconds we will be ready for our audience feedback.

ANALYSIS OF MY ALBUM ADVERT

Album Advert Analysis

ALBUM RELEASE ADVERT

Here is my magazine advert for the release of our album 'It's Just Me'. It has been advertised to be released for purchase on the 6th of May and is also available to download on iTunes, I included this as more albums and music are downloaded as opposed to being bought in shops in CD form.

FILMING AT 5AM

Me and Elizabeth filming at Hamstead Heath at 5am in the morning.

CONVENTIONS OF A ALBUM RELEASE ADVERT

In class we discussed the conventions of an album advert:
-Genre specific (the advert should adhere to the genre of the artist and the music)
-Image of the album cover
-Image of the artist
-Reviews/ endorsements
-Ratings
-Album name
-Price
-Release date
-Debut album
-Unseen features
-Slogan
-Record label
-Tour Dates
-Outlets available (websites)
-limited edition
-Offers (free downloads etc)
-

ALBUM ANNOTATIONS

A few examples of different album release adverts

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ALBUM ADVERTS

Selection of albums on sale in nme magazine

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ALBUM RELEASE ADVERT - KERRANG

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NEW ALBUM RELEASES

The new album release for, screamadelica, has been advertised on the cover of music magazine NME. The subtitle for the advert "It was Sexy, It was druggy and it was underground" talks about their recent performance of their concert.Therefore the advert is advertising two events and products, the release of the album played at the concert and the concert itself. The Advert is particularly audience and genre specific, "on of the druggiest albums ever" adhering to the trance genre and therefore appealing to a select group. Artists from a similar genre are also mentioned, therefore attracting new listeners who might have listened to other artists.

The colour scheme and layout for the magazine cover is similar to that of the album, showing NME's support behind it's release. The album cover itself depicts a childish drawing of a sun, this can present a carefree attitude within their music and also a basic and primary level, similar to the title Primal Scream. The name Screamadelica reflects the psychedelic genre, possibly a new style for the band which their album is pointing out to the target audience and listener.

The lead singer is holding the album, which has no sight of the name itself or the name of the band, this gives the album identity and promotes it to audiences and NME readership.

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AUDIENCE FEEDBACK TO QUESTIONNAIRES

Audience Feedback Questionnaire GRAPHS

NEW ALBUM RELEASE COMMERCIALS

Here is a short Youtube video advertising the release of Lady Antebellum's new album Need You Now. The advert emphasizes the success of songs on the album, such as 'the new hit single' etc and focuses on the new promotional track (for us this would be the dog days are over).

INSIDE COVER (RIGHT)

The right inside cover is a picture of a tree canopy, which I took on Holiday in Africa, I felt that it was important to make reference to the nature as that is a key aspect and theme of our video. It also represents the Folk/ rock genre associated with our video.

INSIDE COVER (LEFT)

The left inside of my album cover is just a picture taken from the actual music video, I felt that this will help consumers relate the artists album to the video and promote the song. The picture is in black and white again presenting the theme of contrast.

TRACK LIST ON MY CD COVER

The track list for my album cover is as follows:

1. Dog Days are Over
2. It's Just Me
3. Mistakes
4. Never Before
5. Lost
6. My Last Resort
7. Unforgiven
8. Wasted Breath
9. Gone
10. Light on Your Shoulders

I chose the track list because i felt that they were fitting with the indie genre, a few of the songs are taken from indie bands and single female artists and changed the names, for example I adapted Florence and the Machine's Heavy in your arms to Light on your shoulders and Kelly Clarkson's Never Again to Never Before.

The background is just a close up of part of the front cover, the hand is black and white and contrasts which shows a contrast of the themes in the video, and the rest of the album, the black nails adhere to the indie/ rock genre and the image itself also adheres to a rock theme, as our genre is more alternative indie/ rock I have tried to cover all these on my album cover.

DIGIPACK ANALYSIS

For the front cover of my CD I have chosen a picture of the artist lying down with a spotlight on her face, this presents a close up image of the artists face. This will make her age more obvious to the consumer, therefore consumers of a similar age and gender (18 year old girls) then they will be able to relate more to the artist and what she is singing about as they might be in a similar situation. A close up of the artis will also be helpful for buyers so they can link the artist with the video and helps with the promotion of the artist herself. The contrast between the black and white on as a theme throughout my CD cover is similar to the directing contrast of the negative and positive theme in the video, with dark unnatural and light natural lighting in urban and rural locations.

MY DIGIPACK

...AND ON TV

Whilst watching this weeks 'Tool Academy' i noticed they used the Dog Days are Over as the backing song for part of the show, this part was a challenging hike. I feel that this helps further prove the meaning of the song to be overcoming difficult situations and times in your life!

Also, only the instrumental aspect of the song was used, not the words or lyrics. This proves just how well known the song is and the strength of the meaning behind it as the meaning can still be understood without the lyrics!

DOG DAYS IN FILMS!

I just found out today after watching an advert on TV that our song, 'The Dog Days are Over' by Florence and the Machine is being used as part of the soundtrack for a new film coming out 'Eat, Pray, Love' the summary is as follows:

"A married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to "find herself".

I really like the way that the song is being used for a film, firstly involving a relationship and a big change in somebody's life and how they move on form those 'Dog Days' similar to the way in which we interpret 'Dog days are over'!

DIGIPACK IDEA

An idea I had for the cover of my digipack was to use a still from the actual music video, this can incorporate the image that the video presents with the rest of the album. One of the scene I wanted to use would be of that in the woods aspect of the video as the costume presents the indie/ bohemian style of our band and singer as well as adhere to the natural setting of most Alternative folk music.
Here is just a rough version:

EDITING 4-2-11

During an editing session we discovered that some of our footage had been changed and transferred into our final edit, after sorting this out we discovered that our two locations might be seen as boring for the audience and that we should consider using a third location, maybe a studio. However, if we used this new location we want to be experimental with the lighting as our video is generally quite controversial in comparison to standard music videos, we are worried that a studio location will adhere to stereotypes of other genres and thereby change the feel of our music video.

SHOT IDEAS!

Here are just some of the shots which we have used and mentioned when discussing audience feedback and our editing!

-We feel these have helped us advance in our work from As to A2!

PLANNING - NEW LOCATION?

After editing some of our footage we were concerned that the audience might not understand the narrative of our video and were considering adding another location for a clear performance side of the video, e.g. a studio. Here is a small plan we came up with during a group discussion earlier today!

LOST FOOTAGE!

After a problem with one of our macs, we lost a lot of the footage we had obtained. This included the running shots, rain scenes and all footage from the rooftops, however we downloaded our old edits from YouTube and managed to retrieve some of our footage although the quality is very low. we decided to edit the high quality footage in the woods and upload it with the low quality footage from YouTube in high definition, as this would allow us to make a comparison of the two.

ANDREW GOODWIN'S SIX THEORIES

Here is a PowerPoint i have produced on Andrew Goodwin's Six theories:

Andrew Goodwin

HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY OR "MAGIC BULLET"

The "Magic Bullet" or "Hypodermic Needle Theory"
The magic bullet theory, based on assumptions of the time, states that people react to whatever 'stimuli' came along (Lowery & DefFleur 1995). The "Magic Bullet" theory assumes that the media's message is a "bullet fired" from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head" (Berger 1995).
Similarly, the "Hypodermic Needle Model" uses the same idea of "shooting". It suggests that the media sends its message straight to the passive audience (Hoynes 1997). This audience is immediately affected by these messages. Therefore, the public cannot escape from the media's influence, and is therefore considered a "sitting duck".

ANALYSIS OF A CD COVER

Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More

Choosing an artist from our genre proved challenging as Florence and the Machine are generally placed in the Alt. Folk Rock category, however, i have decided to analyse the Mumford and Sons album 'Sigh No More' i felt this was fitting to our band as, not only were they the same genre of music, but also this was their fist album, similar to ours. The band feature on the front of their album and the band name and title of the album is clear and can be easily read by the consumer, all of which adhere to the stereotypical layout of modern album cover, they feature the artist and a clear depiction of the name and band or singers name. However, the band are small and in the background, hidden behind a\ shop window, this could be to suggest that they are not fully famous yet and are not a well know band when they released their album. It can also suggest that also the band connotes to the typical presentation of the modern day singer,in some aspects, they still remain independent and unique (possibly representing their style of music) a smaller, simple font and title express there feelings on the importance of the music and not fame and publicity. Unlike some artists who will display a large photograph of their face with heavy make-up, there is no mention of the music and the product appears to be more of a photo shoot opportunity rather than an album. The use of colour also make the band stand out, the shop in which they are displayed within is white and stands out to the consumer as opposed to the darker houses next door. The back cover (right) has a picture of a window in the middle, this could represent, as the eyes are a 'window to the soul' the back 'window' is a a window to the album as you can see the songs and gather more information about the album itself. The same simple font has been kept for the back of the cover as well as the front, this can be a representation of genre and style, the band stick to a specific style of music throughout the album.

OUR DIGIPACK: IDEAS

Album Covers

DIGIPACK ALBUM COVER RESEARCH

1.

This particular album cover stands out to me, from a consumer point of view, as it is plain and simplistic. To me the lack of colour, 'eye-caching' displays and clever images presents the band to be steering away from the typical pop culture and give the impression of their album 'The Wall' to be more about the music than publicity and attracting consumers.

2.

Rolling Stones album 'Exile on main Street' has used the opposing black and white background images to contrast with and therefore bring focus to the title. However, with the detailed photographic background design the text is harder to decipher, the consumer would therefore have to pick up the album and study it closely to read it. (A good marketing technique)

3.

Ryan Adams album 'Gold' strikes me as

interesting as there is no title or text on the cover, therefore it does not connote to typical marketing of the album as it doesn't try to advertise the artist. Again this could be a "all about the music" approach or simply another technique to encourage consumers to study the album more closely, possibly to turn to the back and see the track list etc.

'ABUSE SCENES' FIRST EDIT

Here is the first edit of our original footage for the abuse scenes in our music video. one of the most highly praised aspects was our tracking, when the protagonist runs out across the car park, through the use of cars we managed to create a successful camera track as she ran, and dolly-type effect. However, there has been discussion on the realistic representation of the female character, as her run adheres to her strong, independence gained and reflected by the song, the acting in the abusive scenes is somewhat girlish, having re-filmed some of these shots we decided to keep the characters portrayal as strong and independent, although a victim in the relationship she will not adhere to female, weaker stereotypes.

NARRATIVE THEORY

NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS

When analysing narrative and decoding to find meaning our audience will study the narrative of our music video examining conventions of:

• Genre (Indie pop/rock)
• Character (Oppressed female striking back)
• Form
• Time

our audience will use knowledge of these conventions to help them interpret and understand our media product.

Theorists who try to reconstruct narrative:

• Tvzetan Todorov - suggests narrative is simply equilibrium (relationship), disequilibrium (abusive relationship), new equilibrium (better alone than in abusive relationship)
• Claude Levi-Strauss - constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness, colourful/bland & urban/natural) or conceptual (love/hate, control/panic), and to do with soundtrack. Binary oppositions.

NARRATIVE MUSIC VIDEO

Using a mixture between narrative elements and performance we were able to create a beginning middle and end to our video, which narrates the story in an obscure but still linear fashion.
Starting in the woods (first location, Cuffley) the performance aspect of the video is set mainly here, it represents the time after her corrupt relationship, when she has moved on, 'The Dog Days are Over' etc.
The video then goes on to show our protagonist being abused and the corrupt and abusive relationship in more detail, (this is location 2, the rooftops) the audience is able to note codes and using Stuart Hall's encoding/ decoding theory establish the negative representation through costume, setting and surrounding. EG the urban setting, metallic and concrete background provides a sense of entrapment and a lack of natural freedom (presented by the natural setting in the woods) the darker clothes and rain all connote to a negative stereotypical setting.
Finally we move to our protagonist running away, from bad times to good. (this again on the rooftops (location 2)) linking the first location to the rest of the video.