Evaluation Question 2

How Effective is the Combination of your Main Product and Ancillary Tasks


When making a series of inter-linked media products, it is absolutely vital that there is synergy between them. It is the main way to demonstrate the fact that they are linked to the audience, without synergy audiences could mistake them as being completely different media products. This is particularly important in the music industry, due to the fact that artists have many different products and it is important for the audience to know that they all belong to one particular person. The artist want the audiences to take one look at their music video, or album and know instantly that it is their work. Throughout the whole process of creating the music video, I was constantly considering the different ways I could link the music video with the ancillary tasks. The overall theme of the two ancillary tasks stem from the music video, as obviously the main purpose of these products were to promote the artist and the music video.

For example, when Katy Perry released her 'Teenage Dreams' album she ensured that a link was evident between the different products that link to the album.

'California Gurls' was one of the hit singles from the album. Clearly in the music video the theme involves sweets, bright colours and pastel colours. 

This theme is then continued in the album cover, as the text on the cover look like Candy Cane sweets, and there are still light and bright colours being used such as the bright red and blue in the text. The light pastel pink carries the theme that was also in the music video. They also created synergy through using an image very similar to a shot in the music video, whereby Katy Perry is laying on a pink cloud that resembles candy floss. 

The album advert also features the bright colours. The audience can see that the artist is wearing a pastel purple wig, again matching the colour theme in the music video and the album cover. The text of the artist's name is also in the same typeface that is on the album cover. 

This creates a brand image for Katy Perry as a sweet but bright and bold artist. All the different themes that are evident in all these products are clearly to promote one another. People who are not fans or the target audience of Katy Perry will be still easily be able to identify these products as hers, had they not been labelled. This is all down to the consistant branding and synergy throughout the products. 

I created a  brand image in my 3 media products. The most obvious way being the black and white filter over all the products, creating visual continuity. I also ensured that all shots of Sam showed him with a serious facial expression to highlight that this album is about reflecting and accepting that he has to move on with his life. All images featured on the digipak resemble different shots in the music video.

The back cover being the most obvious. The wide shot of London used for the back cover is extremely similar to the tilt wide shot of London used in the music video. 

The shot used on the front cover also resembles this medium shot that appears in the music video. However, it features the female actor rather than the artist.

This shot is also very similar to not only the inside left of the digipak but also the advert. By using similar shots across the 3 media products, it makes them all memorable for the audience. It also creates visual continuity as, everything looks similar and synergistic. I felt it was very important to do this due to the fact that the artist is not particular well known, therefore it is important to give unfamiliar people ways to identify the artists products. It also helps to portray the artist to the audience. These different products represent the artist as an emotional person. 

How will the advert 'sell' the digipak to the audience?

The digipak advert will help to 'sell' the album to the audience. Using the artist's face in the advert would be one of the best attractions to the digipak. This is down to the fact that people are often more familiar with faces than names. Therefore, when seeing the artist's face they remember the music video or the single that was released prior to the release of the digipak. I chose to keep the advert as simplistic as possible, so that the main focus is the information translated through the text. 

I made sure to include the name of the album and the artist, where the audience can buy/ download the album, the hit single featured and the artist's website. This information is shown in large clear text. I wanted to make the name of the album the largest text, followed by the artist's name, as I felt these were the two most important parts. Mostly because, people would be likely to recognise the name, therefore if they do it could engage more consumers attention. Encouraging them to look that the rest of the information, then allowing them to find out more information. Including the name of the single is very important with regards to attracting the target audience. The single is the pre-release material, teasing the audience as to what to expect on the album. Therefore, if they see that this is the album the single comes from, then they know what to expect of the rest of the songs which, if they like it they will be inclined to buy the digipak.

How will the digipak design 'sell' the album to the audience?

I used minimalistic imagery to stop the digipak from being too busy, mainly because I wanted to ensure that the audience focus was on the artist. On the front cover, I clearly placed the album name and the artist's name in large letters to ensure they recognised who the artist was. This was extremely important as, the artist is facing away from the camera. I did this in order to make the artist seem mysterious, they will want to be able to see more. They also may wonder why he is facing away from the camera, especially as the title is 'Moving On'. They may be thinking what is he moving on from? Therefore, to find the answer to their question buy the digipak in the hope the tracks will answer their questions.

I also used familiar locations to the ones in the music video. The music video is the pre-release material, therefore the audience will link these similar images to the music video, making it more memorable due to the synergy. The audience will then have an idea of what to expect from the rest of the album, therefore if they liked 'Good Ones Go', they will be easily attracted.   

I also included a little bit of information inside the digipak based on how the artist created the album and what he used as inspiration for the songs. This could influence the audience to buy the album as, people really like it when the artists clearly work hard on their album and write songs that have meaning to them personally. It allows them to find out a bit more about their personality and things that have happened to them. Audiences prefer this to albums that artists have written for them, as they feel it is not their work. 

Which elements of the digipak & advert communicate the genre and style of the artist?

I think one clear indicator of the genre of the artist is the use of black and white. Throughout R'n'B music videos and albums their are many artists who use black and white in many of their media products. Usually, R'n'B is based on love & sexual relations or heartbreak and sadness. My use and black and white was to indicate the sadness in the artist and the emotions that this album was inspired by.

We also represented the artist's style as quite urban. The use of the subway as the location of the front cover of the music video helped to do so, this was backed-up by the wide shot of the London Skyline on the back cover.

Strengths of the Digipak

• All the sides of the digipak fit together - creating synergy.
• I created a conventional digipak - making it realistic.
• Many links to the music video - again creating synergy 
• clearly signifies the genre of the album.

Weaknesses of the Digipak

• The image on the side that holds the CD does not hold any particular significance.
• Could have experimented more with different editing techniques, as for the front cover there was not much editing involved.

Strengths of the Advert

• Links to the digipak and the music video - creates synergy.
• Shows all the relevant information i.e. where to get the album and what single it features etc.
• Follows the common conventions of digipak adverts i.e. simple, links to the artist.

Limitations of the Advert

• Very simplistic - only had the artist's profile as the image.
• Not particularly eye-catching - only black and white was used, but this was to create synergy between the different products and to create the gloomy atmosphere  therefore fit with this particular genre.

Overall, I feel that all the media products have strong synergistic connections. They all create a strong brand image for the artist, that he is a modern young artist who is in touch with his emotions. The audience would clearly be able to match the three media products to each other, therefore they do their job well.

Evaluation Question 3

What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Feedback?

After finally completing my three finished media products for 'Good Ones Go', I wanted to see what our audience thought about my work. I was keen to find out what they felt the strong parts of my work were but also what they felt could have been improved.

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First of all I wanted to get feedback with regards to the music video as, this was the biggest piece out of my three products. I felt it would be good to film the interviewees giving their feedback. The majority of our feedback was quite positive.

Quite a few of the audience members commented on the lip syncing. They felt that in the shots whereby the artist is lip syncing, it was in time perfectly which, they said made the video look "very professional". They also commented on how the voice of the artist suited Sam, therefore making it even more realistic because it looked as though it could be his voice.

These two shots were also elements that the audience really liked in the video. They felt that they were rather effective, due to the fact that our whole music video was in black and white other than these two shots. They also felt it was a good idea because the colour red is more often than
not associated with love which, clearly our song is related to. They also believed that the black and white filter helped to create a gloomy atmosphere and communicated the genre quite clearly.

The wide shot of the London skyline was loved by our viewers. They thought the location matched the romantic theme, and helped give it a romantic feel. It was again mentioned that they felt the shot looked professional as a result of the shot being so steady and clearly shot.

They also thought that the black and white filter went really well with the theme of the music video and also made it look more professional.

We also had comments made about the locations of the music video, We had 3 different locations. The main two being in the forest and central London. They felt that the locations made the video more interesting, and showed that the music video was well planned out rather than just using easy locations such as school or a local park.

Another shot that the audience particularly liked was the locked off camera shot of the two characters on a step whereby the female disappears as the male appears. They felt that it clearly demonstrated our creativity and editing skills.

We pretty much only received negative comments with regards to the repetitiveness towards the end. We knew that this would come up in our feedback, as we could see the repetitiveness as we were editing. We did not have enough varied footage as, we used most of it for the first half of the video. We also had a last minute change of plan. We originally planned to use shots of the forest and central London throughout. However, when editing, we felt that it made the music video slightly messy and confusing. So we decided to start off in the forest and then move to the new location of London, to demonstrate how the artist is moving on with his life. This is the main reason as to why the ending became slightly repetitive, as we could not actually use some of our footage that we shot in the forest. We did plan to film some more shots, however we had such a tight amount of time and we did not want to let this set us back and fail to meet the deadline.

As a whole, the audience feedback was very positive. It shows in the comments that we have created a very professional music video. Due to the quality of some of the shots, and the themes that are shown throughout the music video is fairly realistic as, it looks like a real music video. We included a variety of shots and used plenty of different editing techniques, which the audience  could see and felt really help tie everything together. If I was to learn one thing from the feedback, it would to maybe be a bit more organised with regards to time. If we had started editing earlier, than we would've have realised that we needed to re-film earlier. Had we of had this extra time, we would've been able to film some more shots up in London. Therefore, the ending would not be so repetitive.



Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 1

In Which Way Does Your Media Product Use Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products 



My A-level coursework involved making a music video for a song of my choice. I chose to create a video for Conor Maynard's cover of 'Good Ones Go' by Drake. Once the music video was completed I then had to complete two ancillary tasks. A digipak and advert for the album. Before completing any of these tasks, I conducted some research to learn more about the music video industry. An important part of this research was finding out more about conventions of music videos. I then used the information I found to create my own product, one in which looks realistic and is identifiable to the audience. I included many conventions of the particular genre that the song I chose to do is (RnB). I felt it was extremely important to ensure my products included common conventions, so that the audience can easily consume the products.

Music Video

A key thing that helped us create a conventional music video was Andrew Goodwin's theory. He created a theory based on what he felt are the key aspects of music videos:

• All genres have different characteristics.
• Women are often sexualised.
• There is a relationship between the song and the visuals.
• There are lots of camera shots making the artist the centre of attention, thus creating a star image.
• They often include intertexuality.  

Although we did not include all these aspects, almost all of them can be linked to particular moments throughout the music video. What we felt was a particularly important element to have in the music video is the large quantity of shots making the artist the centre of attention. It is vital to include these types of shots in the music video, to help engage the audience and build a connection between them and the artist. 

An effective shot for this is a close-up shot. We included many close-up shots of the artist singing. It allows the audience connect with the emotions of the artist as, they will be able to clearly identify the artists emotions. In the close-up shot above, the artist is looking directly into the camera. Due to the eye contact it will feel a lot more real to the audience as, it will feel as though he is singing to them.

Frank Ocean - 'Novacane'

Selena Gomez - 'Good For You'

This shot is very commonly used in music videos. Especially for Pop and R'n'B. Songs that come under either of these genres often have the subject of love in the song. This could be why directors choose to use close ups like this. As it makes the audience connect more with how the artist is feeling and the meaning behind the song.

Whilst researching the R'n'B genre signifiers, I found that there is often a wide shot/establishing of the location somewhere in the music video. It usually is a very scenic location, such as a mansion or an exotic holiday destination. As we did not have access to either of those locations, we chose to include a wide shot of London. We felt that this would go well with the story line as, it is about the boy moving on in his life and focusing on his career. London being the capital city could be associated with success. This is because, stereotypically, Londoners live a fast moving and expensive lifestyle. Therefore, people sometimes think, if you can make it in a big city such as London, then you can make it anywhere.



A$AP Rocky ft. Miguel & Rod Stewart - 'Everyday'

Jeremih ft. Krept & Konan - 'London'

The locations usually look like rather expensive or luxury locations. Therefore, this shot may be used to really highlight the setting to the audience. If the shot establishes an expensive looking location then the audience may start to link that to the artist. This would then represent the artist as luxury and make them seem like they have money. It is something commonly used amongst R'n'B artists especially males. They want to be associated with money so that they are seen as powerful and successful, the two things that often come with money.

Usher - 'Burn'

Another shot commonly used in all types of music videos are extreme close-ups. These are often of the mouth area. Placing the shot on only the mouth places emphasis on the lyrics of the song. This is usually used at a moment where the particular lyrics are significant and the artist wants the audience to think more about what is being said. It encourages them to do so as, they have nothing distracting them from the actors mouth. We only included this kind of shot once. We made the shot very short and subtle. As seen in the clip above, we lowered the opacity of the footage. The shot shows the female actor lip syncing to the lyrics "haven't changed". We edited it to be quite transparent so that the audience can tell it is not something that actually happened. It is really the artist wishing that his ex-girlfriend will come and tell him he has not changed. The audience will be able to see this because the lips are overlaid on top of an over the shoulder shot, whereby the male actor is pondering whilst looking out a window.

Goodwin also felt that there are clear relationships between the lyrics and the image featured in the music videos. This is something we definitely followed throughout the video. The moment with the lips that I previously spoke about is one example of this. We also included images such as the female actor walking away from the camera whilst the lyrics "the good ones go" are playing. It helped to illustrate the song and the story behind it. We wanted to do this to make the story line easy to follow and understand.

We wanted to represent the artist in an unconventional way. Instead of doing the usual and making the male look like they are in full control and have the females running after them, we have done the opposite. In the story line we chose to make the artist be the one who wants the girl back however, the girl does not want to be with him. The whole video is more about him realizing that he really misses her and know he has messed up by risking loosing her.  By choosing to represent the artist like this, it makes him seem like he is more emotional and caring than some other male artists represent themselves. Considering the main target audience is young girls, representing him in this way will make him more likable as, he does not seem like the typical 'player' male.

Chris Brown - 'Back To Sleep'

It is very common in R'n'B music videos for the male artists to represent themselves as ladies men and be surrounded by girls. More often than not these girls will be half naked and sexually objectified. They occasionally show the artist with one girl. In this case they will usually show that there is not a serious relationship between the two characters but more of a sexual attraction.  

Mis-en-scene can also be used to represent characters in certain ways. Mis-en-scene refers to the way everything in the shot is placed, this includes anything from colours, props, lighting, location etc.

Robin Thicke - 'Blurred Lines'

Ariana Grande - 'Dangerous Woman'

It is common for female artists to be dresses in dark clothing if they want to be seen as sensual and provocative. Men are often dresses in dark clothing to indicate that they are powerful. Like many other music videos we dresses our characters in

Costume No. 1

reflection of their feelings. When it comes to sad songs, it is common for the artist or any other key characters in the video to wear dark colours. The dark colours will help to reflect the way the characters are feeling, as it brings dullness and a melancholy look. Whereas, bright colours will make the characters look happy as they are more vibrant and alive. Our artist's costume was a black bomber jacket and black jeans. As I have already stated this represented his character as sad. It also made him look powerful as black is a strong and bold colour. We also dressed the female character in dark colours too. Her costume at the start were Adidas leggings and a matching hoodie in black. Throughout the rest of the video she wore a black off the shoulder jumper. This helped make her look vulnerable as a bit more skin was shown. She is then seen as wearing a navy coat and blue jeans. Blue is a colour commonly associated with sadness and therefore it continued to represent her feelings to the audience. Costumes can tell the audience a lot about the artist and even the meaning behind the song.

Kanye West - 'Wolves'

There are common ways in which different music videos are edited. After watching a number of R'n'B music videos, I noticed that a lot of them are shown in black and white. It really helps to bring the overall mood down and instantly emphasises the sadness that the artists feels. It is also sometimes used to make the video more sexual due to the fact that it makes it look more mysterious to the audience. We felt that putting a black and white filter over our music video would be perfectly suited with our storyline. We wanted to use it for the effect of sadness.

Trey Songz - 'Can't Be Friends'

We also made use of the different transitions to create some special effects. During the part in the song when he sings "still wishing I was with you right there, but girl it's all changed now", we again wanted to illustrate his wishes with the image shown on screen at the time. For this reason we used the 'dissolve' transition to make two different shots look like one. It gave the effect that that when the male artist appeared on the screen, the female character disappeared. It revealed to the audience that it is a wish that is not possible. It helped demonstrate the fact that they were not actually in the same place at the same time, as she disappeared out of the shot. This effect is commonly used for the same purpose or to create a montage type of video as, it is important to ensure the audience know that the

scene is in the artists head either reflecting on the past or wishing for the future otherwise they could completely misinterpret the storyline.

Overall, our music video conformed to many of the conventions commonly found in music videos, especially R'n'B signifiers. We chose not to challenge many of these conventions as we wanted our music video to be as realistic and identifiable as possible whilst making it easy for the audience to follow and understand.

DigiPak

There are also common conventions found on digipaks. A digipak is a particular type of packaging for CDs. It usually has between 4-6 sides. Artists tend to make their whole digipak synergetic, so that it all comes together nicely.



Drake - 'Nothing Was The Same' Album Cover

Chance The Rapper -  Acid Rap Album Cover

This is my completed digipak front cover. Usually digipaks have the artist's face on the front cover, just so that people easily establish who's album it is as, a lot of people know the face but not the name. I chose to go against that convention. The main reason I chose to do this is due to the overall story of the album. As the audience can see the title of the album is 'Moving On'. The fact that his back is facing the camera and he seems to be walking away signifies that he is walking away and letting go of the past. However I did follow some conventions of front covers.

Usually, the album cover gives the audience some kind of hint as to the feel of the album, or what the album is about. Clearly the name of the album hints to the audience that the songs may be centred around moving on with his life and growing up. Also the black and white colour theme is another hint. The audience may relate the gloomy colours to the idea of the artist being sad. Digipaks also often reflect the music video in some sort of way. I chose to do this to create synergy between the two products. I feel it is important to create a link between the different products that the artist have made, so that the audience automatically associate the two together. It will make all the products more memorable as, they will see the album and think of the music video, vice versa. The most obvious way I created the synergy was through the use of a black and white filter. Also, the shot used on the album cover has the same location as one shot in the music video.



This is the shot in the music video.

The image above is the back cover to my digipak. A major thing for the digipak to contain is synergy between all the different compartments. It has to fit together, otherwise it will not look very pleasing to the audience. It also will not have a good reflection of the actual songs themselves as, if the whole thing is different it'll be difficult for the audience to find hints about the stories they might find in the song. This is again why I chose to put a black and white filter over it. I also chose to use special effects to create the illusion that it is raining in the image. Both these elements helped to keep up the gloomy and sad atmosphere. It will also create a link to the music video as, this is very similar to one of the shots included in the music video. Again I felt it was very important to create synergy because it will make the audience associated the two products with each other which, could help to attract a wider audience as well as the target audience because they would be less familiar with the artist and his album in general. Therefore, it would be likely that they would have seen the music video somewhere in the media before. So these shots would make it easier for them to identify the artist and some of his other work which, may encourage them to listen to the artist's album; if they liked the music video. 

I followed a few common conventions found on the back of digipaks. The most obvious being the tracklist. This is almost always where the tracklist is found, so that when looking the album the audience can quickly identify what songs the album features.

Jhene Aiko - 'Sail Out'

Chris Brown - 'EXclusive'



J Cole - 'Born Sinner'

On the inside left part of the digipak, I chose it to be a close up of the artist's profile. It was again in black and white, still creating synergy between all the media products and among the digipak itself. Over the top of the image there is text. In the text it provides the audience with a bit of information as to what inspired this album and the process of producing this. It is very common to find this in digipaks. Sometimes it will be a booklet instead or tell us a bit about the people who helped make each song. Either way, it allows the audience to have exclusive access behind the scenes and gives them an insight into the artist's work. I wanted to do this so that the audience are aware of the effort the artist put into the album and that they worked on the writing of the songs rather than having others write songs for them. It highlights the real talent that the artist holds.

Digipak Advert

Usually, the conventions found on the digipak print adverts are the following:

• artist's name 
• the name of the album
• artist's official website
• where the audience can purchase/download the album
• the release date/ if it has been released yet
• a featured song - usually the hit single

I decided to include all of these elements in my advert. I felt all these elements were really necessary to create an advert that sells the album to the audience. It is the vital information that allows the audience to know where and when they can buy the digipak. It also gives them the information as to the artist's website, whereby they can find more information with regards to the artist and the album itself. This will then build the relationship and connection the audience have with the artist as, they will feel as though they know more about him and what the album has been inspired by.

Digipak adverts tend to be very simplistic. They often contain as little information as possible and do not put to much to look at on it. For example. in my digipak all I featured other than the information was a close-up of the artist's profile. I put a shallow focus on the background of the image, in order to make the background as simple as possible. The main reason for this is because the places where this advert will be displayed are locations such as billboards and bus stops etc. All places that consumers

could pass on the move, Therefore, the advert needs to be simple enough for them to gage the relevant information needed about the release of the digipak.

Ariana Grande - 'My Everything'

   

Jay-Z - 'Blueprint III'

           

Another common feature of digipak adverts, is to have the artist's face the main image. It is very important to included this particularly when the artist is not particularly well known. Often people can identify the face, but not the name. Therefore, people who may not know the artist so well, will have a higher chance of identifying whose album is being advertised.

Our Final Draft For Good Ones Go

Conventions & Purposes of Digipaks

Conventions - What you would typically expect to see in a certain media product. It allows the audience to identify aspects of a product, in this case genre signifiers. Having conventions are crucial to give the audience a idea of what to expect.

What is a Digipak?

A digipak is a patented style of packing for CDs, it is typically cardboard with a plastic interior. They normally have the gatefold similar to a book. This type of packaging is usually used on special editions of albums. Digipaks first became popular in the early 2000s.

Layout of Digipaks

Folds

The front and the back is usually used as the main 'promoters' for the CD. The main purpose of the front and back is too draw the customers in and grab their attentions.

The inside is more informative and involves extra bits related to the album. Usually there is a small booklet inside, which can have information on the artist, the tracks on  the CD etc.

The Front

Front covers usually have a big, eye-catching images on them. It commonly involves something that relates to the artist or the songs. It should also include the name of the album itself.

 The Back

The track list is always placed on the back cover. This is to clearly tell the audience which songs they will hear on the album. This is also the place where the audience will find the copyright information, so that it is easy to find and clear. The production company include this to ensure that nobody wrongly uses their property. The back cover usually includes some album artwork that is similar to the front cover, as they have to make the back engaging and look aesthetically pleasing.

Inside Left 

The inside left usually contains a lyric booklet. The audience like it having something like this as it allows them to fully learn the songs of their favourite artists. Within the booklet there is also usually information behind the songs, such as why they wrote it or the meaning behind it. The audience also enjoy that element to it, as they are given the chance to see behind the scenes. 

Completed Digipak