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

We used a selection of new media technologies in the planning and research process, in the creation of are media products and the subsequent evaluation stages.
Planning/research
In order to gain an understanding of the 'indie' genre we would be representing and the conventions of existing media products, we used a variety of video hosting websites, including Muzu, Youtube and Yahoo Music. This meant that we had instant access to existing videos, and were able to specifically search for videos from the indie genre. One of the advantages of using Muzu was that we were able to search for specific artists and study several of their videos, by browsing their 'channels.' Since we would be using an established band on a record label, we had the advantage of being able to access a library of their existing videos. Before the existence of such websites, we would have had to rely on music channels, which would have wasted a large amount of time and meant that we were not able to watch them multiple times in a sitting, pause or rewind- unless we had recorded it from the television. In addition, videos of the indie genre are aimed at an alternative audience, so are not often featured on the main music channels such as MTV, with the exception of some chart-topping 'indie pop' bands such as Kings of Leon. This would mean we would probably have have had to rely on the NME channel, making it very unlikely that the videos we wanted to see would come on.


We were able to ask the band's permission to use our chosen track through a message sent to their Youtube channel. Without this platform, we would have had to write to the band, which would have been impractical and taken a lot longer to get a response.


We also used new media technology for deciding on which song to use for our music video from our band's album "Wall of Arms", as they had given copyright permission for us to use any song from it. We used the downloaded free music programme Spotify listen to the whole album without having to make a purchase. Before the advent of this programme and similar music sharing sites such as Last Fm, we would have had to pay to download possible tracks or had to buy a physical copy.


Another advantage of using the interactive video website Youtube was that we were able to view comments from the target audience on existing videos, which gave us a greater understanding of their expectations. The 'star' rating and number of views also indicated which of the videos we were looking at were most popular and liked by the audience.

We also used 3G phones during the planning process, as this enabled us to transfer the our chosen track which we had downloaded between the members of our group, via the bluetooth feature on our MP3 phones. This meant that we did not have to 'rip' the track from the album or download it individually.

New media technologies were also a key part of the analysis process in relation to our ancillary texts. When researching into digipaks of the indie genre. Spotify allowed us to view the album artwork for the existing Maccabees albums for free, and the 'artist radio' feature meant that we could view a variety of album artwork from similar indie artists, in order to gain a greater understanding of the conventions of the genre. This would previously have involved purchasing or borrow the albums in order to see the artwork, so we saved a lot of time thanks to this programme.We were also able to widen our understanding of the target audience by browsing the website of the indie music magazine 'NME' and 'Uncut' as these are 'alternative' magazines that have the same target audience as our products, so would be a suitable outlet for our advert. It also allowed us to see which artists are currently popular, without having to survey people or purchase the physical format of the magazine.

Construction
We used blogging to organise all of our work and upload files. The 'follow' feature allowed us to share information such as initial ideas for the video and possible photographs for the magazine advert and digipak between our group easily, which saved us having to email them to each other or using a USB stick/CD to transfer them between computers. Another advantage of blogging is that it meant that we could work on our coursework from any computer, at home or at school. This was much easier than having multiple word documents or powerpoint presentations. We also used Fronter for transferring files between computers, as it is a website it was also easily accessible from any computer.

We used Youtube to upload our animatic and video production, which meant that we were able to 'embed' them onto our blogs without using a DVD. This also made it easy for us to share the videos between our group, which were uploaded on one of our Youtube accounts, without us having to add them individually.We were able to transfer the music track for our video onto the computer we would be using to edit using the bluetooth function from one of our MP3 phones. This meant that we did not have to use a memory stick to transfer it.

Our video was recorded using an high definition camera onto an SD card at 720p quality. This meant that the resulting quality was much higher than our previous projects, which was recorded onto a DV tape. Using Imovie HD  meant that we were able to keep the high quality, although when we finally uploaded our video to youtube the quality was greatly reduced and pixelated, as we had compressed it when exporting it from Imovie. This meant that we had to upload it again at full quality, and thanks to the HQ setting on Youtube our video looked much better quality after this.

To create our magazine advert we used an online editing programme called Picnik and Abode Photoshop. This allowed us to layer images and create the 'polaroid' photos seen on the poster, without having to take actual polaroid photographs, as they are fast becoming a redundant format so the camera may have been difficult to get hold of. We used a programme called Paint Shop Pro 9 to create the digipak, which had a 'clone' function that allowed us to stitch images together to make the front cover look like a panoramic photo.

Evaluation
By uploading our video onto the interactive websites Facebook and Youtube, we were able to gain feedback from a wider global audience, rather than our peers and family members, as we had previously done at AS level. We had comments from a variety users around the world, and many gave more insightful and unbiased feedback than when we have done audience surveys in the past, as they had chosen to comment rather than doing it as a favour to us.

We again use the embed feauture on Blogger  at the evaluation stage, in order to share feedback interviews we had each taken between the group.

3. What have you learnt from audience feedback?

 I have answered this question in the form of a podcast:

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

 I have answered this question in the form of a podcast

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

Video
Our video is for The Maccabees song “One Hand Holding.” They are a band which is most closely associated with the ‘indie’ genre, so we studied a range of existing videos from this genre in order to gain a greater understanding of the conventions.
We discovered that videos of the indie genre are typically performance based, focussing on the band playing their instruments in order to promote their music and image, as live performance is a key feature of the genre. (See below)









The Frightened Rabbit video for “Swim Until you Can’t See Land”





The Kings of Leon video for “Sex on Fire”



We subverted this common convention of indie genre by choosing to create an entirely narrative video rather than one revolving around life performance. This is a technique sometimes used in indie videos, which are like short films in their own right rather than simply a live performance of the song. This makes it more interesting and unpredictable for audiences, and fits with the ‘alternative’ philosophy of indie.

Our research also showed that many current indie videos contain elements of surrealism/fantasy, demonstrated by these shots taken from the Cage the Elephant video for “Back Against the Wall.”

These wacky characters are often integrated into everyday situations which are recognisable to the audience in order to catch their attention, create humour and make the artist appear unconventional. In the video for “Coffee and TV” by Blur, (see below) mundane objects- with the main character as a milk carton- are bought to life and given a personalities through animation. In the screenshot below the silliness of a carton of milk dancing is enhanced by the realism of the mise-en-scene.

 This quirky, immature sense of humour is something unique to the indie genre, as the usually fast-paced nature of the music is like an expression of youthful energy, accompanied by roguish band members who unkempt style presents a rejection the expectations of society. The use of bizarre fantasy characters in absurd situations and parody are distinctive to the indie genre. This is uncommon in videos of other genres such RnB, which often focuses on the image of the artist, promoting them as a serious musician and following more conventional storylines such as a difficult break-up, reflecting the emotional tone of the music. Indie videos are usually related to post-modernism, with disorderly rather than linear narratives and subverting audience expectations. Hence, we created a post-modern video, with a fragmented narrative, by including short shots of the girl cutting out pictures to interrupt the development of the relationship between the boy and girl.

We also followed the convention of many indie videos by including elements of the abstract and creating parody. However, unlike the aforementioned video for “Back Against the Wall” and many similar indie videos, we did not want the video to be set in an alternate reality involving strange characters and bright colours. Our limited access to technology and experience with animation meant that it was not a viable option for creating the abstract element of our video.

Budget constraints prevented us from hiring the strange costumes often used in indie videos, such as the gnomes used in “Back Against the Wall.”  The fact that we had received copyright permission from established indie band “The Maccabees” to use our track meant that we could not use performance of the band in the video. Thus, we decided to make our video entirely narrative-based, a technique sometimes used in indie videos, which are like small pieces of film in their own right rather than simply a performance of the song.


The advantage of using an established artist rather than an unknown band means that their image is not essential to show, as it is already widely known what they look like. Had we been promoting the debut of a completely unknown artist, performance would have been a key element to include in the video, as it would introduce the band to the audience and make them recognisable.

We used a similar technique to “Coffee and TV” video, by including an abstract element to an everyday situation which would be recognisable to our target audience. We parodied the generic “boy-meets-girl” love story which audiences will be familiar with, by creating an absurd love triangle involving a child’s doll as the third party. This meant that the audience would have to watch more closely to identify the abstract factor of the doll, and explains why some people we interviewed for feedback said that they did not fully understand the narrative until the boy in the video realises.

 

This is typical of the indie genre, as the rebellion against convention is expected and enjoyed by the ‘alternative’ target audience.  A similar concept is used in the Mystery Jets video “Half in love with Elizabeth”, in which the man in a relationship is obsessed with someone who is not his girlfriend- the Queen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The use of multiple shots of short duration and increasing cutting rhythm as the narrative develops is in some ways generic of indie, as most indie videos have a fast cutting rhythm. However, in the performance-based indie videos, the cutting rhythm relates more directly with the rhythm of the song, with the cuts fastest during the chorus and slower in the verses. 

 

Ancillary texts

From our research of indie digipaks, we had discovered that they often use images of unspectacular urban settings, with muted colours which highlight the often brighter text or motif. This is shown by this Arctic Monkeys album:

We have followed the conventions of the genre more closely in both ancillary products rather than the video, in order to appeal to our target audience. Music videos allow the artist more room for creative expression, as they are promoting a single rather than the whole album, so often differ greatly or are sometimes completely abstract narratives. The use of a panoramic image across 3 panels for the outside of the digipak is also a typical feature of digipaks, which encourages the audience to open them to view the full image. Our use of plain, sans serif font is also typical of the indie genre.

Our magazine advert is also similar to many existing adverts for indie albums, as it uses a post-modern image which will have artistic appeal to the target audience.

 

Digipak Analysis

Digipak Analysis front cover

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Digipak analysis inside

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Completed Digipak

 Note: Click images below to see full size

After initially intending to do a 4-sided digipak, we later decided to attempt the more challenging 6 panel format.

Outside

Inside

Magazine advert- final

This is the finished version of our magazine advert. We have changed the poster in the background in order to make it look less cluttered and more bold. The image of a 'poster within a poster' and the inclusion of the image of the girl walking on the inner 'poster' creates a postmodern effect and creates unconventional indie appeal. This concept has been used in many post-modern pieces of art, such as these works by surrealist artist René Magritte- that show a "painting within a painting."

The intention of the artist's work was to challenge the expectations of reality and force viewers to become sensitive to their surroundings. The intention of the poster is similar- to catch the attention of the audience but also to create a layered effect which challenged the expectations. This is similar to our video, in which 'all is not what it seems' between the boy and the girl, as at first glance they appear to be a normal couple, but as the video goes on it becomes apparent that there is a more sinister nature.

The use of a wall in the background links to the album title- "Wall of Arms."  The images of the band used on the poster were taken by a member of our media group at a Maccabees concert, and this is the only time that the band appear in our 3 products. The use of images from a performance reflects the importance of live gigs in the indie genre. Although we use a screengrab of the doll on the poster, we did not want to make it too prominent, as the advert is for the album rather than just the single.

Intertexuality is created by the use of the same font as the digipak. This relates the products to each other, making them more noticable to target audiences once they have seen one of them. The red font also links to the red motif of the music video and the image of the doll included on the poster is taken directly from the video, so that if the audience have seen it their attention may be drawn to the advert.

We have included the record labels in the advert, as the music industry demands that they feature. However, their position in the bottom corner suggests that they are not a key focus of the advert, which is typical of the indie genre.

The strapline showing the most popular singles on the album will attract the target audience, as they may have heard one of the singles on the radio or seen the music video for One Hand Holding. This means that people who are less familiar with the band but have liked the singles may be tempted to buy the digipak in order to hear the rest of the album

The action line of the website at the bottom of the advert entices modern audiences to seek out the additional information available

Magazine Advert- First + Second Draft

This is the initial mock-up of our magazine advert. We are pleased with the layout but want to change the 'poster' which appears on the wall behind the girl in the image. This is because we feel it looks too cluttered, as it was based on our initial idea of having objects relating to the girl in the music video on a table. We also need to add the record labels and artist website, as these are essential features of any magazine advert for an album release.

Digipak

Initial idea for back of digipak:

 We originally intended  use the image of the doll against the wall as the front cover of the digipak, with the girl on the back next to a "poster" displaying song titles.

We later decided that a panoramic image for our 4-sided digipak using a feature on a digital camera we had would be more effective. However, we found that this would make the height of the image too narrow, leaving a black space above and below it. We instead created a panoramic effect using images which we spliced together in an editing programme and airbrushed to create a single image. This will be the front and back, once we have added the album title and track list

Below is the inside of the digipak/CD tray
1. Without text  2. With "Pretext" font 3. With "Hand of Sean" Font

We originally intended to have the lyrics of each track written on the red section in handwriting-style font, but found that the inclusion of a single verse from the title track looked more visually appealing. One 3. We have kept a handwriting-style font, yet it looks somehow unprofessional compared to 2.