Evaluation

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

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

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

4) How did you use media in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Target Audience Feedback on final products

To gain target audience feedback on my three final products Alex Saker and I undertook two methods of gaining feedback. Firstly we filmed a video of people looking at our products and then giving their immediate feedback. The second method was that we set up a survey monkey asking people to watch just the music video and answer 3 questions on it.

Here is the video:

Here are the answers to my online survey. Immediately below is a print screen proving I actually undertook the questionnaire and gaining real answers. Then below that is a short presentation of all the answers I received.

Survey Monkey Responses

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FINAL PRODUCT: Music Video

FINAL PRODUCT: Digipack

How we made the above product

I used several programs for completing the above digipack. This includes Fireworks, Paint, Photoshop and Gimp. For the 'crash' pattern which you could see throughout the digipack Alex Saker and I had an art student draw this design for us on paper. You can see this below:

For the images of band members you see on the inside panel Alex Saker and I used a high quality camera to take photos of band members standing in front of a green screen. This made it very easy to cut the background out on Adobe Fireworks. You can see the original photos below:

As regards to the CD panel, here is the original photo of the lead singer:

I then achieved the single colour on the lead singer effect on GIMP, here is a printscreen of me in the process of doing so:

Then simply adding the necessary texts and a bit of tweaking here and there on fireworks this is how we made our final digipack.

FINAL PRODUCT: Advert

How we made the above product

Firstly, using the pictures I had already taken of the band members individually, I cut a silhouette of them on photoshop in the 'crash' font.

Following this step, I then applied the band logo saying 'Road Traffic' at the top:

Next I applied all the appropriate information. One idea in particular was to put on a faked quote from Q magazine calling the album 'album of the year. I just searched for the Q magazine logo on Google, applied it to the poster with the quote and my poster was complete.

PLANNING: Shooting Schedule

Below is the shooting schedule for the filming of my music video:

Wednesday 22^nd February 2012

Time	Action
18:00	Filming crew and actor will meet at this time at the first setting of the music video.
18:15	After discussions about the plan of action and setting up the camera equipment, now begin filming the first scene in Thomas’  bedroom.
18:30	Following the filming of clips in Thomas’ bedroom we need to film him getting in the car and driving to the next destination of Harborough view point.
18:45	Here many clips need to be filmed before we can move on.
19:15	At this point we will drive to the train station to film it coming in as we need to put this is on our movie. Clips of Thomas running for the train will also be filmed.
20:00	When filming at the train station is done we need to drive to the streets of Clipston to film the scenes of Thomas performing to the chorus.
20:15	By now we should be able to bring a conclusion to filming.

Something we have to consider for this day is the weather. We need to make sure on a few things. The first is that by the time we film it will be dark, so sunset should be before we meet. Another thing to think about is the temperature, being February, it could be quite cold at nighttime so we want to preferably find a night with a mild temperature. Also, we don't want rain as this would interfere with the shots. Here is the weather forecast on the day we plan to film:

Sunset is at 17:30 and the temperature is decent, the only thing to be wary of is some rain in the afternoon. This should be cleared up by then so this day seems appropriate for shooting.

Target Audience Feedback on Drafts

Below is a video showing target audience feedback on my 3 drafted products:

PLANNING: Allocation of Roles Within Group

Alex Saker and I shall both have an equal share of input throughout all 3 of our media products. We will both help each other with everything we do, but to make it easier we will have lead roles in certain areas of each. Here is an idea of who will take the lead of what in each product:

Film - Promotional music video

• Alex Saker and I have both co-wrote the storyboard and came up with ideas for the video
• I then sorted the actor and which day we could shoot
• Meanwhile Alex Saker was getting hold of the props and making sure the locations were ready
• We will then both film different shots in the music video with the person not literally filming directing the shot
• We shall both edit the video together

Print - Digipack and Advert

• I will get hold of the location, props and make sure the lighting is right for all photos
• Alex Saker will then take the photos
• I will then use programs Photoshop, Fireworks and GIMP to edit them
• Alex Saker shall then check through the photos and tweak anything I have slipped up on
• The ideas on shots, fonts, styles etc will be joint from Alex Saker and I

PLANNING: Justification for proposed digipack and advert

Justification for proposed digipack

How my proposed digipack represents the genre of indie:

• Colour scheme - The general colour scheme of the album sticks to grays, blacks and white which is done especially to establish the genre of indie. When researching into digipacks I found hardly any colour, so this is why I have done the same on my digipack draft.
• Clothing - My proposed digipack doesn't actually show the clothes that the band members will be wearing, but we will make sure they convene to the genre of indie. So this will be clothing such a skinny jeans, tight shirts and hoodies. 
• Fonts - The font of the crash design on my digipack is very indie. The free flowing scribble look on font is something which digipack representing indie use.

How my proposed digipack represents the brand image of the band:

• Putting lead singer as the main focus - Like in the music video, the lead singer will be the main focus of this product too. This makes the audience very familiar with the lead singer and will recognise him as the brand.
• Car on front - The car on the front of the proposed digipack is a play on the band name 'Road Traffic'. This will link with the other product of the music video so that's why a car will become a brand image.
• Consistent crash writing - On both my proposed advert and proposed digipack the same font for the album name 'crash' will appear, which links the two products together nicely as being part of the same brand.
• Band name logo - A logo for the font of the band name has been created. This will be seen whenever the name of the band is written down on any of our products, so this is definitely brand imaging.

Justification for proposed advert

How my proposed advert represents the genre of indie:

• Colour scheme - The colour scheme for my proposed magazine advert is bland just like the one I researched. Colours are all grey, black or white so this keeps it bland.
• Fonts - The font of the crash design on my advert is very indie. The free flowing scribble look on font is something which print products representing indie use.

How my proposed advert represents the brand image of the band:

• Consistent crash writing - Again, on both my proposed advert and proposed digipack the same font for the album name 'crash' will appear, which links the two products together nicely as being part of the same brand.
• Band name logo - A logo for the font of the band name has been created. This will be seen whenever the name of the band is written down on any of our products, so this is definitely brand imaging.
• Mentions well known singles - The well known singles on the album will be branding of the band from existing fans, so this will be recognisable to them. 

PLANNING: Draft of 4 Frame Digipack and Advert

Draft of 4 Frame Digipack

Draft of Advert

PLANNING: Justification for proposed music video

How my proposed music video represents the genre of indie:

• Colour scheme - The whole music video shall be shot at night time and this will make the whole video quite dark. While keeping well lit the colours wont be too bring and upbeat. As found out in my research indie products tend to not have a lot of colour for emotion, and my proposed music video sticks to this.
• Clothing - The lead singer in the video shall be wearing skin tight trousers and clothes which are seen as indie. Clothes is a simple but effective way to represent genre.
• Emotion - I am hoping to provoke the viewer of my music video into feeling emotions. Scenes of a man rushing for a train to catch his love might be related to by some viewers therefore making them feel sad. Indie is all about emotional products so this represents the genre well.

How my proposed music video represents the brand image of the band:

• Use of only the main singer in the video - The brand image of this band will be the lead singer. He is the only one which we are focusing for fans of the band to recognize. An example of an indie band like this is Bon Iver where most people on know what the lead singer looks like. This will be the same for our band. Only having the lead singer in the video really stamps down brand image and there is nothing else to distract from him in it.
• Driving scenes linking to the name of the band 'Road Traffic' - My media partner and I came up with the idea that a subtle and simple bit of brand imaging through out our products can be cars. This relates to the name of the band 'Road Traffic'. So in our music video we are going to have driving scenes to stamp down some brand image of the band.

PLANNING: Director's Pitch

Clarified Storyline

The promotional music video will begin with a shot of the lead singer sitting at a desk at his house looking at his laptop. The audio being used on the music video has some dead silence for the first few seconds at  the start so this shall cover that. As the music kicks in there will be a shot over the shoulder of the lead singer showing what he is doing on the laptop. We will see him search for a girl on Facebook and then a close up of his facial expression will show he has emotional connections to this girl. Following this there will be another shot of the laptop screen displaying the girl is in a relationship with another man, we will choose a blonde man so that it is clear he is a different person. To conclude this particular verse of the song there will be some on-beat editing. The lead singer will stand up and grab his coat, then when the music tempo goes up on the instrumental he will go into fast motion as he goes out the house, gets in his car and arrives at his next destination.

Following the fast instrumental the song slows down again for another short verse. Here the singer will have come to a different destination to think about his life and we will try and portray his sadness. This will be done in two ways. The first will be a close up of him sitting and lighting up a cigarette to show he his stressed, then the second will be a fast motion shot of him pacing backwards and forwards to show a passing of time as he thinks. As the verse closes the lyrics says ‘we can piece it back together’, so here there will be a shot relating to these lyrics. The lead singer shall get his phone out before trying to arrange a meeting with the girl he is in love with. At this point the chorus kicks in and we will see the first but of performance in a mostly narrative music video. We will see shots of the lead singer passionately singing in street-lit streets at night time. When the chorus finishes the video shall fade back to where the narrative left off, and the lead singer shall get back into his car. When back in the car the lead singer will get his phone out of his pocket to see if the girl has text back, and see she hasn’t. Then with close up shots of clocks a brief passing of time shall be shown before she eventually texts back. The message shall be that her and her new boyfriend are moving to London and are catching a train at a certain time, and that means goodbye between the lead singer and her. Here the chorus kicks back in again which shall be similar as before with mid-shots of the lead singer performing in a street.

At this part of the song there is an instrumental that lasts almost a minute building up to the final line of the song, so there needs to be some good narrative to fill the space. So after the chorus the song will cut back to the lead singer sitting in his car after reading that text looking agitated. Then there will be a close up of him turning on the car engine which shows her is about to go somewhere. During the car journey we will be flicking back and forwards with shots of time passing on the car clock and the lead singer looking stressed. As the music picks up tempo the train shall be shown coming in as the lead singer is rushing to meet it and stop the girl. Then during the instrumental there is a slight dramatic key change so at this point the train will be shown pulling away when the lead singer isn’t there yet. When the instrumental comes to the end there is a final sad line and there will be a close up of the lead singer’s face upset to have missed the train. Here the video will fade out to black and that will be it.

Locations and Props

Locations	Props
Thomas Oriel’s house	Laptop
Naseby viewpoint	Mobile phone
Streets at Clipston	Car
Market Harborough train station	Cigarette
In the car	Train

PLANNING: Proposed Music Video Storyboard

Below is an animated video of my storyboard:

PLANNING: Permission For Use Of Song

At this point it was important to gain permission to use the song 'Shooting Star' by 'Air Traffic' in my music video before going any further. Therefore, Alex Saker and I sent an email requesting permission from the record label EMI - who were the record label thing song was signed on. We were granted permission.

A print screen of this below evidences this:

RESEARCH: Research Conclusions

Below is a slideshow concluding my research phase:

Research conclusions

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RESEARCH: Print Media

To research into album advertisements in print media, I am going to do two different deconstructions. One is a diagram deconstructing an album advertisement and the other is a short video deconstructing an in magazine advertisement.

Kings Of Leon album advert deconstruction

Video deconstructing The Wonder Years album in Kerrang magazine

RESEARCH: Methods Used to Market and Distribute Product

For this piece of research I am going to look at how Air Traffic marketed and distributed their song 'Shooting Star'. First let's look at how they marketed the song:

• Promo music video

Air Traffic released a promotional music .video for the song, to get people into the song. This was done over music channels and the internet, where Youtube is the most popular website for a band to post a promo video onto.

• Social Networking

The second way in which Air Traffic market new songs such as 'Shooting Star' is on the social networking sites of Twitter, Facebook and Myspace.

Above is a collection of social networking sites that Air Traffic use to distribute their music. While the band is currently on a break, these pages are still being updated. In the modern age of technology this is a very god way to market your product.

• Fans talking about them

Word of mouth is a key tool to market a product! When one person they might just tell there mate, or spread it on a social networking site or forum. In the below picture, I just searched on Twitter for their song and the product is still being talked about years after release - no doubt helping them to generate more and more downloads of the song.

• Air Traffic website

In the prime of releasing their album, Air Traffic would have heavily marketed the product on their own website. However, as the band currently are on a break not much is on the website.

• Gigs

For me, as the listener, this is the best way for a band to market a song. If they can go out on stage at a gig and do a great performance of a song, a fan is more likely to buy it!

Now lets look at the tools are Air Traffic actually used to distribute and sell their song 'Shooting Star':

• iTunes

The biggest way to currently sell a product is probably iTunes, where the song 'Shooting Star' is still being bought. Here is a printscreen proving this:

• CD

The second way to distribute the song 'Shooting Star' is through purchases of their physical CD's, as the album or single. This can be instore or over a sight online such as Amazon.

• Downloads

This method of selling a music product is similar to on iTunes, but just downloads of any internet site. There are a lot of other websites were you can download music.

Justification of Song Choice

At the point of choosing the song we wanted to make a music video for, we had done some research and knew we were doing an indie song. There are a few sub genres of indie however, so we had to make a decision of which of the sub genre we were gonna go for. I actually personally conducted some research on Facebook and posted a question asking people to respond. This is a print screen evidencing this:

As you can say indie rock was the clear winner, so the song to do would definitely be an indie rock one. This is due to the fact I wanted people to actually enjoy the song with the video. Me and my friend stumbled across a song we both like, Shooting Star by Air Traffic. This song was of slow tempo and the lyrics were clear. We both had fresh ideas to bring to the music video so this seemed like a good song to do!

RESEARCH: Deconstruction of 'Air Traffic - Shooting Star' music video

Above is the official promotional music video for the song that my partner Alex Saker and I are going to create our interpretation of. Referring to Andrew Goodwin's theory which has been previously written about on the blog, this video is a hybrid. This means the video is a mix of two music video types. One of which is a conceptual video, where the artist portrays their own concept of the song, and the other is performance as there are many bits of the band singing. The whole video is about a girl this guy is in love with, and see's her as his 'shooting star', however things are falling apart. So this is how Air Traffic must have interpreted the video.

Following the research that I have already conducted I can instantly tell this music is an indie product as soon as the music video begins. The colour scheme of all indie products that I have looked at so far have been grey or bleak, and this one is the same as you can see below:

The picture above is of the opening scene, which is a girl standing still with the wind blowing her through the window, this is all in very slow motion. Throughout the music video it switches between the band performing and slow motion shots of this women in different scenarios. In these first few sentences the girl is looking at what looks like love notes, and is throwing them on the floor. This is an indication that there has been a fall out. Although the lyrics at this point are showing how much the boy loves the girl which is a bit contradictory for the moment. The way everyone is dressed, including the band, isn't particularly indie so this isn't the clearest representation of the genre.

After the opening few scenes of the girl looking though love notes, the video stamps down some branding. There is an image of a lamp smashing and then various other things falling in slow motion and smashing. This is very much in the same style of the album cover I have deconstructed so this lets the viewer know which album the song is off. As the song progresses items are still falling and smashing around a couple who are standing opposite looking at each other. Both people are only in there underwear, which is trying to be romantic showing they have been stripped down to the bear minimum, and it's all about them. Following this there are many more performance scenes of the band, who now have things falling around them and smashing. There is no clear on beat editing but there elements of it, as on big drum notes things seem to hit the floor.

During the next verse, the song is about the male and female meeting up and realising what they have is to good to lose. The clothing worn by the couple at this point is very dark, being either grey or black. These colours not only represent indie well, but connote to the viewer that the couple are discussing serious things. After this the video goes back to the band performing, which can be seen below:

Things are still falling around the band as you can see, and a lot is already on the floor. I think this is trying to relate to the song lyrics as the couple still have issues to resolve. Following this the couple kiss and then the song goes back to the woman at the start. This is when it clicks with the viewer that the boy in the other relationship was the boy that this girl is thinking about. Therefore he was choosing between two girls and as he made bad decisions things fell through and he lost his shooting star.

RESEARCH: Deconstruction of Air Traffic album cover

Above is the album cover for Air Traffic which the song shooting star comes from. Most the indie products I have looked at so far show barely any colour, this album cover is quite colourful though. I think this is because Air Traffic are not established enough to just go with a bleak colour scheme, and would go unnoticed. Having said this, Air Traffic have contradicted this but not having much branding on the front cover. If it wasn't for the words 'Air Traffic' in small font then you could not tell who's album this was. The images used of scattered household items around a disk. String seems to be holding the whole set together, and it looks like if they string broke it would all fall apart. Perhaps this is trying to show the music is cool, creative and 'edgy'. This relaxed and random front cover fits the indie genre well. Having said the cover seems random, there is some relevance. I think the relvance is with the name of the album 'Fractured life'. The products all seem fractured and like the string is holding them together.There are a lot of colours on this album cover, which don't seem to connote much. Although, they could be connoting that the album contains a range of songs, from fast to slow indie rock.