Final Music Video

Evaluation 4

Evaluation 3

Throughout my media project, audience feedback has been the basis of my work and has helped me a great deal when i am in need of improving my work in order for it to better appeal to the target audience.

The first piece of audience feedback we received was when we presented our pitch to our media class. We gained feedback through the use of a guided conversation, in which they wrote their thoughts and feelings down based upon a set of qualitative questions which we set out for them. Our audience feedback helped us to make a rather large valuable decision within our project, as we had first planned to film our music video on a beach setting. However with the help of our target audience we decided that this option was not a sensible one, due to a number of reasons including the distance. This helped us extremely as we were able to come up with a more feasible option of filming our video in the forest nearby.

Later on in the process we then gained some audience feedback on the rough cut of our music video. We asked a group which we felt fitted our target audience to watch our rough cut, and provide us with information on what aspects of the video they felt were good, and which they felt needed improvement. From the audience feedback, once again we gained valuable ideas as they pointed out that the performance element of our video was not up to a professional standard and found that the lip syncing was very off. Therefore from analysing our feedback we have been able to further improve our video for our final cut, by producing an improved performance element, which we are much happier with, and which our target audience also feel is much more geared towards our target grade and gives a much more professional image. 

When I started creating my print products I also gained a range of audience feedback. First off I ensured that my target audience played a key part within my creation of the print work by asking them which font and colour scheme they preferred. After taking their views into consideration I then went on to use their choice within my print work. This paid off as I then gained feedback for my final pieces of print work. They found that the products looked very professional, but needed a few adjustments in order to make it look professional and up to date.

How have the audience read the values expressed in your video?

The cultural studies approach states that there are three ways in which media texts can be interpreted, preferred, negotiated or oppositional. From the feedback we gained from the rough cut, I believe that our video has had a preferred reading. As they noticed that the video was aimed at teenagers due to the fact that we used people of a similar age to our target audience within our video. They also recognised that the brand of our video was indie, due to the style of clothing in which our actors wore.

To ensure that our audience feedback gave us a clear insight into what our target audience truly thought we ensured that we used qualitative research throughout. This meant that we used open ended questions when interviewing our target audience in order for them to be able to elaborate on their initial thoughts and to allow them to give us feedback that would help us identify what we have done well with our project, and what aspects need to be improved on in order for us to reach a higher grade and to create a more professional, appealing package.

If I were asked to complete this project again I think I would ensure that I experimented widely with a different variety of techniques for my print work, in order to create something that totally appealed to the target audience by getting them more involved within my decision making process. I also would ensure that we had more time set out to film our music video, as we were quite rushed for time due to the fact that we had to re-film the performance element. 

Evaluation 2

Evaluation question 2 from bethfrancis

Evaluation 1

Where have your ideas come from? How were you inspired to do what you did?

As a group we decided to use ‘Cala Cola’ by The Miracles as we felt that this song gave a truly indie feel, and was typical of the range of songs that we listen to. After looking at music videos produced by bands that offered the same sound as The Miracles, such as Vampire Weekend, The Wombats and Noah and The Whale, we found that the beach was a common theme throughout the genre. So therefore we decided to plan our own music video around this convention. We brainstormed a number of ideas, and planned to document a road trip to the beach within our music video. However due to our location, we decided that the beach was not a feasible option as it was too far away. We therefore adapted idea and decided to keep the idea of a road trip but with a different location, camping in a forest. The idea of a forest came from Noah and The Whale’s video ‘First days Of Spring’. We felt that this idea would conform to the tastes of our target audience, as through research we identified that road trips were an interest for the genre. In order to document our brainstorming ideas, we compiled them all onto a prezi, in order to present to our fellow media students in order to gain some feedback on our ideas, which proved to be successful.

For my print work I researched a number of indie digipak’s and adverts in order to identify common connotations used throughout the genre that would link with my own project. Each piece of print work represented the style of the artist and reflected parts of their personality, which I tried to produce within mine also. I realised that each digipak/advert had strong links with the music video, which I also tried to incorporate within my print work. 

How did audience research direct your creativity?

 Throughout each stage of my project I have used audience feedback in order to identify possible improvements I can make to my work in order to make it appealing to the audience and to make a professional product. I have used the opinions of my target audience to improve the music video by firstly allowing them to identify the problems which we would face when filming at the beach, followed by then allowing them to identify that the performance element of our music video needed to be improved. Alongside this the target audience have helped me to decipher which fonts/colours schemes would be best suited to my print work. Throughout the whole project I have referred back to my mood boards and audience profile in order to ensure that my ideas for each stage would appeal to the target audience, and to ensure that the theme of my project was consistent in order to ensure a professional product was produced at the end.

How different are your products to ‘real’ media products?

Due to factors such as time and budget, our video was not able to look as professional as ‘real’ music videos as we did not have the money to cast professional actors, nor to use top of the range cameras and editing footage. However we were able to use an extensive range of camera angles and shots, lip syncing and editing in order to try and represent ‘real’ music videos to the best of our ability. For my print work budget and technology also restricted me on being able to produce a product that had the conventions of a ‘real’ media product. However I feel that our photo shoot portrayed a slight essence of professionalism, and that I was able to use ideas that I had identified through researching print work earlier on in project such as positioning of text, filters, copyright logos and so on in order to try and portray a typical convention of a media product. 

To what extent have you been ‘original’?

I believe that our video has a mixture of entropic and redundant elements. Within our genre a range of artists sometimes use very entropic videos that can often be complicated and not necessarily make much sense to the audience. This can be a risky option as unless the band is well established, it can often have a negative effect on the brand image. Therefore we decided to conform to the redundant theme that other artists in our genre have used by following a journey within our video, which is used in many music videos throughout many genres. Therefore by basing our video around a redundant plotline, we were able to use a few entropic features in order to differ ourselves from other music videos to make it interesting, but not so much that we were at risk of making the video to complicated or diverse for people to not enjoy. We wanted to create a simplistic theme that would appeal to the audience due to the fact that it connoted some of the activities in which they participated in. we have used entropy slightly within our music video as despite the fact that a journey very few videos have documented a road trip. The use of entropic settings such as within the car, the petrol station and picking the actors up all make the video relatively different from others as they are not a general convention of music videos. This therefore makes our video different and from what we have gathered from our audience feedback, very successful. For the performance element of our video we tried to produce an entropic theme by performing within the settings of the road trip, which we show in our rough cut. However from our audience feedback we established that this was not appealing to the audience. In order to make our video more professional we decided to use redundant performance elements by having them in a performance setting with a blank canvas behind them.  

Digipak Feedback

In order to gain feedback for my digipak I asked my target audience one question: 'What aspects of my digipak are good/bad and are there any improvements that you feel I could add to my digipak in order to make it look more professional?' These are the answers that they gave me:

'that looks great, the colours and the font connote the indie genre well. However I think you need to add some elements such as the logo of the record label plus some copyright info, apart from that great work!'

'Everything works well together, like how you have chosen to use a white font as it makes it stand out extremely well. My only criticism is that you do not have a barcode on the back cover, which is shown on the majority of digipaks, and also you haven't got any copyright information.'

'really like the choice of photographs used, i think they show off the artists brilliantly and that the filter you have used gives a vintage feel to the pack. But as the others have said, you have not included any form of copyright information or barcode, which is what will make your work look more professional, you also need to add a website for the band as this is also a typical convention of a digipak.'

Advert Feedback

Digipak Final

Like my advert, I gained audience feedback for the first draft of my digipak also. Some vital improvements were pointed out to me, such as placing the record label and band website onto the back of the digipak as this is a typical convention of all digipaks. They also pointed out to me that the copyright information and barcode needed to be implemented in order to create the professionall image  By acting upon my audience feedback I feel that my digipak looks a lot more professional and that it will appeal significantly to the tastes of the indie genre, and promote my band successfully.

Advert Final

After gaining feedback on the first draft of my advert, my target audience gave me some tips on how to improve my work in order to make it more professional and appealing. They suggested that I had missed off a vital part of an advert - the record label. So I therefore implemented this onto my advert and also added the website of the band as suggested by the audience. I feel that my advert looks much more professional now after making the improvements, and that it will appeal to the tastes of the indie genre.

Digipak First Draft

This is my first draft of my digipak. Like my advert I have used conventions that are typically seen on a digipak such as the track listing and placing the title of the album on the spine. I have also used the same font that I used for my advert in order to create a sense of continuity throughout my work. By using the picture of Matt (one of the performers) by the lake also creates a sense of continuity as it links in with the setting for our music video.

Advert First Draft

This is my first draft for my advert. I have included typical features of an advert from the indie genre that I researched such as reviews from music magazines, the release date of the album, plus the forms in which the audience can buy the album. I have also used the font that my target audience chose through my feedback, and I have used a filter for  the image in order to give it a vintage feel which is commonly seen within the indie genre which I feel will appeal to the target audience.

Advert Production Stages

This shows the stages I took to make my album advert before I made improvements due to the audience feedback I received. 

Digipak Production Stages

These images show the stages in which I took to produce my final digipak. 

Location

Audience Feedback

I also asked a group of 20 people from my target audience which colour scheme they felt best represented an indie vibe. As the bar chart shows colour scheme 1 was the most popular, so therefore I am aiming to try and incorporate the colour scheme into my digipak and advert where possible. I think colour 3 was the least popular as despite the fact that muted earthy tones are common within the indie genre, this colour scheme was slightly too dull, and would not stand out and appeal to a target audience who represent a fun, relaxed lifestyle. In my opinion colour scheme 1 was the most popular because it connoted the muted earthy tones alongside having a range of colours to make the digipak and advert look appealing and intriguing.

Audience Feedback

In order to decide which font would appeal best to my target audience, I chose 20 people which i felt best fitted my indie genre to take part in a survey to state which font they liked best and primarily which they felt would best portray 'The Miracles' style. As the pie chart shows, font 4 is by far the most popular with the target audience, so therefore this is the font that I will use for my digipak and advert. Font 1 and 3 both had the least votes, this could possibly be because the fonts were more representative of a rock genre rather than a relaxed indie genre. I agree with the opinion of the target audience as I feel font 4 has a quirky relaxed vibe to it, but will still look professional and easy to identify on the front cover of a digipak and on an advert.

Digipak Design Ideas

Here I have produced two possible ideas for my Miracles digipak. I have not added colour to them as of yet as I am still waiting to gather my audience feedback for the colour scheme. Once the colour scheme has been chosen I will apply it to whichever design is chosen to be used.

On the front of this first digipak I have placed an image of a coke can. I will edit the photo using photo shop to create a blacked out background with an edited coke can.

The back cover image will be a mid-close up shot of the performers in the video. I will edit the photo using filters in photo shop, and place the song titles between the heads of the two performers.

For the inside image, I will take a photo from the video to place onto the digipak in order to create continuity. This will also link in with the research I did on digipak’s from the indie genre, as nature will be featured within this shot, which is a theme which I have spotted whilst researching the genre.

The image for the CD holder of the case will be the same as the front cover image, but I will add a different filter to ensure that the picture is slightly different, but that the continuity is still apparent within my digipak.

For the front cover of this digipak, I will use a mid-close up of the performers from the video, possibly in grey scale or sepia. I am unsure as of where to put the album and the band name on this front cover, so I am planning to experiment once I have the pictures.

For the back cover of this digipak, I plan to use a photo (possibly from the video) of the location where we shot the narrative parts for out video to ensure continuity is apparent throughout.

For the inside cover, I thought I would take photos from the video, and place them in a collage form to create a quirky vintage style which is sometimes seen within the indie genre.

Continuing with the theme from the inside cover I will place more photos behind the CD holder. 

Colour Scheme

After analysing other digipak's/adverts from the same genre as our chosen band, I found that the colour scheme is generally muted, earthy tones rather than bright, fluorescent colours. So, based on this, I have therefore picked these 5 colour schemes, which I am going to put to my target audience to allow me to decide which one will best fit my own print work. 

Font Experiments

I have selected 5 fonts using the website Dafont.com to experiment with font styles that i feel will fit in with my indie genre and will appeal to the target audience. From my research I found that the majority of print work/digipak's within the indie genre use relaxed sans serif texts so I tried to combine an indie vibe with a laid back quirky feel, to link in with my genre.

Digipak Analysis

Print Research: Album Advert Analysis

For my coursework I am going to make an album advert for our groups artist, so therefore I am going to analyse adverts of artists from the same genre as our band ‘The Miracles’ in order to gain some insight into what techniques are used to appeal to the target audience.

Florence is a well-established worldwide indie/pop artist. She has a very vintage image which appeals to the indie target audience as their style choices can often be similar, although possibly less extravagant, to Florence’s. Due to her versatile brand, she can also be popular within alternative genre circles such as soft rock.

The font that has been used for Florence’s advert is one that is used throughout her work. The use of the brand motif, creates a brand identity for the artist, which is an advertising technique used by many artists to promote themselves as stated by Andrew Goodwin. The font for the rest of the advert is very simplistic and vintage, that links in with her vintage style choices. Brief pieces of information have been placed on the advert, with the album title, release date and ways of release all being stated. Due to the wide range of release formats, this allows Florence to again appeal to a wide range of audiences, for example by offering  her album in vinyl format, links in with her vintage style, as this may be a preferred way for some of her audiences to listen to her sound.

The image used for the album, is the same that is used for her album cover. This creates a sense of continuity throughout her brand, allowing it to be easily recognisable for potential buyers. There is a contrast within the image, the use of floral patterns allows Florence to appeal to her female audience who possibly look up to her as a style icon, it promotes a sense of femininity in a subtle way, which is shown through Florence’ style. Her outfit and wavy hair, also links in with the feminine theme, with vintage style also being portrayed. However, by using the image of the lungs outside of her body, creates an alternative vibe within the image. It is a very quirky, entropic way to promote the name of the album ‘Lungs’, which will link in with the personalities of the genre. 

This is the promotional poster that Noah and the Whale used for their album ‘The First Days of Spring’.  There is a retro vibe being given off from this poster, through the use of scroll style font and the pastel colour scheme. The retro theme is commonly used within the indie genre, with many of the sounds being influenced by bands such as The Beatles.  Through lack of eye contact and restricted body language, the advert can be portrayed as quite distant however through the use of long grass and clear blue sky  which links in with the title of the album, a sense of continuity is produced, but also a sense of warmth and happiness making this advert appealing to the target audience. The quirky, unpolished finish of the advert would appeal greatly to the target audience, and would also appeal to alternative fans as it does not connote to a mainstream style.

The photo of the artists has a blurred effect to it, with the lead singer being the forefront. This is a redundant feature as the lead singer is often the most recognisable out of the group, therefore by using him as the forefront of the picture, fans are able to easily recognise the group from this photograph, this links in with Goodwin’s theory, and his idea that close up shots are often demanded by record labels, which seems to be the case in this scenario.

The font used for the band name ‘Noah and the Whale’ is the same font that is constantly used throughout the bands media. This is creates a brand motif for the band, which Goodwin suggests is often demanded by the record companies in order to promote the band, and to make their brand recognisable.

The advert consists of brief text including, the album title, the release date, versions of how it will be released, and some quotes from reviews. The font as mentioned before has a simplistic quirky style, which is to the point. This is appealing to the indie/pop genre linking in with their relaxed, chilled out style. The colour black contrasts well with the light blue background which makes the text stand out to make easy reading for the viewer, alongside making the advert more striking and eye catching.