How effective is the combination of your media product and ancillary texts?

Adressing the target audience

When we decided on the genre of our project, indie, we looked at several videos and althoug music itself cannot be restricted to a target audience in terms of age, the videos we looked at did seem to appeal more to those of our own age group, being teenagers and students perhaps from the ages of 13-19. The music itself is subject to the persons taste but visually the target audience we tried to create for were of teenagers between 13 and 19.

We adressed the target audience in a variety of ways, firstly by using actors that were of the same age group as that we were trying to target. All characters in our video, including the girl used to represent the artist, were around the age of 17 and this is made very clear. This similarity in age will hopefully help the audience relate to certain issues raised in the video, some they may have even been through themselves. The most prominent example of this relatabilty being the break up that occurs very early on in the video. Many young people of this age group have been through breakups and by looking at a very realistic circumstance at a realistic age we are targeting our audience completely.

The use of bright colours conforms to the ideals of the indie genre as the vibrant colours are playful and almost childlike, seeing the video and promotional material, such as the magazine advert and digipak, not being made too serious. This use of colour and its childlike connotations also ensure that we are targeting our audience of 13 to 17.

By using masks as a dominant prop we are targeting our audience as masks are again, a fairly playful prop, one that may not be fully appreciated by an older audience. This sees us targeting our audience through visuals and combined with the age of the characters wearing them, sees us using people that would be in our target audience connecting to and targeting those that are potential viewers and customers through the commonality of the age gap.

What did you learn from your audience feedback?

Reviewing our audience feedback was very useful as it enabled us to establish what the audience thought worked well and what they thought could be improved or made clearer. It gave us an outside perspective which proved very useful.

A reoccurring aspect of the video that the audience picked up on was the use of performance shots. It wasn’t so much the shots themselves that was questioned but more the actions of the girl playing the artist. A common aspect of this picked up on was the fact that the girl playing the artist could have been more enthusiastic in her movements and lip syncing, perhaps getting more emotive with her actions as the song progressed.

As well as this it was stated that the role of the ‘performer’ was not understood by all, one audience member did not understand whether she was intended to represent the artist, which she was, or whether she was acting as a second character in the narrative, this coincides with the previous point about perhaps encouraging more enthusiasm from the actor.

The masks were intentionally the most ambiguous aspect of our video and so we were slightly concerned that the audience would not fully understand their purpose, yet this was not the case. The audience members asked found the use of masks very original and appreciated their meaning and the animalistic imagery fully, this being that they represent the fantasy in the girls head and that the mask each character wears represents their personality or their role in the girl’s life. It was found that the masks made the video stand out and conformed to the conventions of the indie genre.

The silent two shots of the video that were intended as an introduction were queried at one point by a member of the audience who stated they were unsure of what it signified or meant. If these two shots were not understood by the audience, an improvement may be to cut them completely so as to have the entire video make sense rather than the majority.

A positive comment from the audience was that they found our video to be balanced throughout in terms of fantasy verses reality and narrative verses performance.

The narrative itself was praised as it made sense and happened over the short time of one day and so was easier to keep with and was complimented greatly by the reoccurring motifs such as the masks. The audience found the narrative very clear and understandable as it was spaced out and paced well, although the animals coming together at the end was questioned by the minority.

The use of the “I Wish” sign was found to be very effective in reinforcing the meaning of the song, more so than merely having an actor lip sync the words. This was further appreciated as the video splits into four screens with the “I Wish” sign in each screen, again emphasising the meaning of the words and their importance to the song.

A slightly negative aspect we found out was that the narrative was thought by some to have outweighed the performance, giving our video the feel of a short story rather than a music video. However it was suggested that if slightly more performance was put into the production it would feel more like a music video. This was already a concern of our but to have it confirmed by the audience helped us realise what we needed to change according to those consuming the product rather than the group creating it

New Media Technologies

New media technologies were of great use to our group during our advanced portfolio work, the music video for the track "Cradle" by The Joy Formidable, and helped us in many ways across the research, planning and evaluation stages.

The technology we most relied on during the research stage was the Internet and this was most beneficial to us. During the initial research we used the website YouTube to watch existing music videos of our genre, indie. This increased efficiency greatly as we were able to understand the conventions of the genre to get a better idea of how to emulate them in our own product. YouTube.com is a search engine of videos which meant we were able to narrow our search to specific videos and artists, for example I looked closely at the video for Regina Spektor "On The Radio" to obtain a sense of the conventions of some videos in our genre and they are handled by different directors. This saw increased efficiency as it was quicker than sifting through vast categories as well as audience control as we, being the audience at this point, were able to actively choose what we viewed.

In addition to this we also used the social networking site Myspace.com to research unsigned bands and possible tracks. Once again we saw minority interest in place as in the 'music' category you are able to search by genre and artist. This increased efficiency as it took much less time than browsing endless profiles of artists not in our genre. Myspace.com also benefitted us as it is an example of media convergence as it is not only a social networking site, but allows browsers to view videos embedded from youtube, read blogs posted by the band themselves, much like the blogs we have been setting up and updating following the progress of our project, and has a music player which allowed us to sample tracks, all of which is free and so provide us with a cheaper media.

During the planning for our music video we used compact cameras and 3G mobile phones to take digital photographs of possible locations for filming. For example, we photographed more than one cafe before deciding which was appropriate to use. We were then able to use multimedia messaging as well as bluetooth on our phones to send the images to eachother. This increased efficiancy dramitically as it allowed us to view, analyse and upload the photographs to our blogs individually, rather than waiting for the group or passing around memory cards which may have been lost or damaged.

The use of MP3 files was also of great use to us, firstly by providing a cheaper media. This is so as we were able to download or purchase the track, "Cradle", from Itunes for 79p as opposed to purchasing the entire album for considerably more. MP3 files are also the most commonly used for music file sharing and are so compatible with MP3 players such as Ipods. This increased efficiency for the group as we were able to download the track onto our mobile phones or Ipods or mobile phones and were then able to develop ideas from the lyrics individually. It also ensured that at least one member of our group had a copy of the track on them at all times. This is also an example of media convergence as 3G mobile phones such as the LG Renoir have recently been updated with features such as music players, providing the foundation of the increased effeciancy previously mentioned.

The social networking site Facebook.com was found useful in the stages of evaluation as we were able to use the messaging feature to confer on what each member of the group thought worked well and could be improved and also to plan filming dates and such aspects such as when we planned to edit the video. This again provided cheap media as Facebook.com is a free website. Its use also increased efficiency as we were able to confer at home as opposed to constantly meeting, this is also helped save time at this stage.

A large amount of our evaluation came from the use of Youtube.com. We posted scenes of and eventually the final product and asked people to view and give feed back on our video. This gave the audience control and allowed audience interaction as they were able to have their own input in what they thought worked well and what could be improved. This is shown by the fact that on youtube there is a feature which allows the audience to post comments on the video they view. This increased efficiency as it is quicker, esier to access and more environmentally friendly than using questionnaires.

The use of the site Blogspot.com has been very helpful and crucial in all stages of the production of all the tasks we were asked to do. During the research stage we used the blog to post analysis of videos embedded from youtube.com in order to attain an idea of the conventions we were working with. This increased efficiency as it allowed us to quicjly access and refer back to the research we had done during the other stages of production. Blogging, during the planning stage, was crucial as it allowed us to create an online schedual of when we planned to film, and to post images of the locations and ideas we had for filming as we progressed. Finally, in the evaluation stages our blog helped us to publish the feeback we had been given, increasing efficiancy as it was very easy to access and reflect on. Blogging has enabled us to keep a working document that we can update at any time. As it is avaliable online it has increased efficiancy dramatically as it is easy and quick to access from any computer, whether it be at home or in the classroom. Efficiancy was also increased by the fact that it did not matter in what order work was published or how it was initially put together, due to the fact that we were able to edit posts at any time and save them as drafts so as to keep working on them as our work progressed. This way of working gave us complete control over the content of our work, and allowed us to add photographs and embed videos which increased the impact of our work as it would have been much more difficult to do all we have if we were working on paper.

Narrative Theory - How concentions are followed or challenged

The narrative of our A2 music video of "Cradle" by The Joy Formidable both conforms and challenges conventional narrative theories and this has had a positive impact on our final product.

The narrative of the product takes form as a whole narrative rather than an enigma or section. As the video progresses so does the narrative as it follows the main character of a girl who suffers a terrible day due to a sequence of frustrating events. The narrative is made whole by the use of a twist at the end, conforming to the conventions of a resolved ending, in this case being that the entire narrative is a day dream and not reality as it is portrayed to be.

The structure of the plot is again conventional in some ways yet does not conform in others. The narrative is not linear, but made up of three layers: a primary layer of the conventional narrative, the second taking form in flashbacks being made clear through the use of black and white, and a third layer signified with masks. the layers are completely separate and yet are spliced into and integrated with each other. This integration is clearly identified by the changing and contrasting locations used. For example, the conventional narrative layer that follows the girl from her home, an urban, concrete city setting, is interrupted with jump cuts to the forest scenes. These ever-changing and contrasting locations echo the change and contrast between how the narrative begins and how it progresses, showing a working narrative. This concept is illustrated through the jump cuts to the flashbacks from the cafe of the boyfriend cheating. The way in which the audience is taken from the cafe to the flashbacks is sudden. It so fragments the narrative while at the same time providing information that informs it. Below are three examples, each representing a layer in the music video, urban, flashbacks and rural.

The narrative is also represented through more than one layer and cab also be represented through the opposites used between the layers. This relates to Levi-Strauss' theory of binary oppositions and is most represented in our production through the opposition of fantasy verses reality. This concept is illustrated greatly in the three shots in which the audience see the girl walk past a boy on the street who crudely approaches her. The audience see the boy as simply that, yet we jump cut to the girl and back to the male and the audience now sees him in a pig mask, emphasising his characters behaviour. This sudden change between fantasy and reality is in keeping with the unique feel of the indie genre and the fact that it happens in such quick succession shows just how fine a line there is between fantasy and reality and how quickly it can be crossed. We also challenge Strauss' approach in regards to fantasy and reality, in that we see the two oppositions collide. This is seen in the shot in the forest where the girl is surrounded by people in masks. She is the only real person, showing that oppositions not only attract but the fact that she becomes a masked character herself sees them collide.

Due to the use of layers to fragment the plot or narrative our video can be seen to embody post modernist characteristics, and its lack of linear narrative allows it to be considered a post modernist production. Baudrillard's post modernist theory of simulara can be seen both conformed to and challenged in our video. For example, despite the fact that the situations presented to the audience are fairly mundane and easily relatable in real society, it is still merely a representation and not reality. However, the second part of our video is not set in reality but in a day dream and so we are not trying to represent reality, contradicting Baudrillard's theory entirely.

Intertextuality is another post modernist technique used, that can seen clearly throughout all three tasks, being the music video, the digipak and the magazine advert. For example, a prominent motif we carried through each task was that of the rural and urban setting. This is seen to be a dominant theme in the music video as we see the girl progress from the urband street areas, such as the cafe and the house she is evicted from, to the more rural areas such as the forest where she is approached by the masked characters. The digipak continues this motif but does invert the chronology of the transition from urban to rural, seeing the four panel digipak begin in the forest on the front panel, and slowly morph into a brick wall representing the urban setting on the back cover. This change in chronology echos the nature of the indie genre, never quite knowing where it is and allowing the childlike mind set of 'anything can happen'. Finally the urban/rural collision is reinforced in the magazine advert which sees the artist pictured against a brick wall, however there are three branches sweeping in from the sides of the frame. This sees rural still trying to penetrate the urban society it has been shut out from, and also echos the concept of fantasy and reality as the rural areas are intended to represent fantasy and the brick wall is intended to represent the gritty, mundane aspects of life. By the vines sweeping across the brickwork it communicates the idea of fantasy seemingly penetrating reality, echoing that seen in the video production.

Our group has embraced aspects of many theorues and yet refuted others. This partial compliance yet remained lack of conformity shows us still being faithful to the genre of indie as its principals are to literally be 'individual', hence the name 'independent rock'.

Challenging forms and conventions

Our music video production was made for the music genre of indie and in producing our video we came across many forms and conventions, some of which we embraced and others which we felt better to challenge.

It is common in music videos for the content of the video to have a strong link with the genre of the music it is representing. This is a very typical convention of music videos and one we tried very hard to embody in our video production. As our genre is indie we watched several music videos to determine specific traits of the genre, for example from watching Kate Nash's video 'Pumpkin Soup' we found that indie videos tend to use high contrast and bright and vibrant colours. We emulated this characteristic in our video by heightening the contrast during the editing process and, as we shot most of our video outside, tried to shoot in sunny areas to give a brighter colour to the shots. For example, the forest scenes were shot mostly in sunlight which made the greens and crisp browns of the leaves stand out and the artist's clothing bright, as is seen in typical indie videos such as The mystery Jets 'Two Doors Down' where their costumes are brightly coloured, as seen below along with a screen shot as an example of the colour we used.

There is a relatively strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals in our music video which we used so as to reinforce the meaning of the song. As a strong genre characteristic of the indie genre is to literally be individual, we found some indie videos not to have an absolute or clearly defined link between lyrics and visuals, such as the music video for 'Cousins' by Vampire Weekend, which sees the hook or dominant lyric "Me and my cousins, you and your cousins" is in no way paired with what is shown on screen, quite the opposite. Our music video challenges this convention by pairing perhaps not every shot or specific objects with the lyrics but by creating links to the lyrics through things such as the narrative. For example, the song 'Cradle' is about a girl who wants a relationship to end and so we took the idea of the girl wanting the relationship to end and applied it to her wanting the terrible day to end, presenting her with difficult situations which echoed not the specific word of the lyrics but the meaning. This is illustrated by the shot that occurs just after the artist sings "I'll pretend a pretty pretend" which then cuts to a shot of the girl hugging the cheating boyfriend. It becomes apparent in the following few shots that the boyfriend has cheated and so the lyric "pretty pretend" emphasises the pretense that the relationship has become and shows a distinct link between the lyrics and visuals, seeing the meaning of the lyrics and sees this meaning represented in the what is shown onscreen. We do at some points illustrate the lyrics literally on screen, the best example of this is the point at which the lyrics state "I Wish". At this point there is a jump cut to a girl holding a sign that literally echos the lyrics as it reads "I Wish". This is reinforced by the next shot in which the screen cuts into four with the sign being multiplied. The use of this shot reinforces the meaning of the lyrics and the meaning of the song by heightening the importance of the words acting as perhaps the 'hook'.

We have conformed to the convention of establishing and maintaining a link between the music and the visuals throughout our music video. The link between the two greatly engages the viewer with the video and helps keep pace throughout the video. A link between the visuals and the music itself can be seen in that the pace of the visuals shown and the cuts used increases as the pace of the track does and are well times with certain parts of the song. This is illustrated perfectly by the part of the song where the guitar suddenly gets very loud and this sudden burst of volume is paired with a jump cut of the girl treading on a stick and is in perfect time with the loud guitar chord. This timing of the music combined with the visual greatly amplifies the sound and the content of the shot itself, the stick breaking, almost illustrates the tone of the music, seeing and angry and spontaneous action echo the aggressive increase in volume and pace of the music. This echoing of the music through the visuals is also seen in well known indie videos such as that of Arctic Monkeys "The View From the Afternoon", specifically in the shot where the music begins with loud drumming and so there is a long shot of a boy literally drumming, making it seem as though he is playing those heard in the track.

The artist and the shots which 'promote' her were a key aspect of our music video, in that the ultimate purpose of a music video is to promote an artist and the single it is presenting , and so we tried to make her shots in the video have certain characteristics or a motif that the viewer would associate with her directly, we found this motif to be that she is filmed in a woodland area. In every shot she appears in she is immersed in or surrounded by trees, leaves and sky and even though these are all aspects that appear in some other shots in the video, ultimately the viewer relates the area of the forest with the artist. This association ensures a sense of memorability to the artist, providing a connection that the audience will not forget and ensuring publicity for the artist. Indie videos often have a separate motif for the artist, portraying them in different backgrounds or in different clothing to others, an example being Patrick Wolf's video for "Magic Position" in which he wears a bright red/ orange shirt at the beginning of the video and even though the colours of the video are bright he begins in a grey room and so his shirt immediately sets him out as the artist and shows his significance to both the track and video. We emulated this by getting the girl acting the role of the artist to wear a checkered shirt to contrast her surroundings, as seen below with a screen shot of Patrick Wolf's video.

The use of close ups to sell or promote the artist is also a common convention which we felt it beneficial to conform to, this is also illustrated by the above example. The conformity to this convention was beneficial as it communicates a sense of the artist's identity to the audience, engaging them with the person singing the track rather than them just hearing the words. We embraced this convention with great success as almost every shot featuring the artist is a close up, literally selling the artist just as much as the track which conforms to the very purpose of a music video in itself.

Goodwin's theory states that there are frequent notions of looking at or voyeuristic treatment of women in music videos. We have challenged this convention to a great extent in the fact that we do not objectify or see characters looking at the main female character for the majority of the video as this was not a characteristic of the genre of indie at all, however we didn't refute the convention completely. This is seen in the scene that sees a male shrewdly approaching the girl and jeer at her as she walks by. This is aperfect example of looking at women in an objectifying manner, however it is not so much a voyeuristic representation.

Final draft of digipak

(click to enlarge)

Here is the final draft of our digipak, which sees the finished design of all four panels and how it would appear as an unfolded album. We were very faithful to the original ideas as can be seen in the sketches previously posted, adding colour, in a very childlike fashion, to rough sketches that were desired to conform to certain conventions of indie album covers, such as that of Jason Mraz's album "We sing. We dance. We steal things." Although he is not typically associated with the genre, his style of acoustic music could be and the album cover, as seen below, embodies the same style of childish sketching that our digipak trys to. The face seen on the cover is loosely drawn with no great care taken to make the drawing perfect and this relates completely to the way we used sketchy and loose drawing as the background for every panel, using a real photograph on the front cover.

This combining of medias can also be seen to echo that seen in albums such Santogold's self titled album "Santogold", as seen below, seeing photography being manually manipulated with the use of glitter.

• The front panel is simplistic in its design and we did not deviate from our initial ideas much at all. The artist's portrait is a crucial feature as it is one thing to promote the album but by having the artist as part of the album cover there will be an instant association created in the audience's mind which will ultimately help better the sale of the album and band. The artist is also placed in the centre of the frame so as to accentuate her importance and to an extent, her fame.
• The band's name, The Joy Formidable, is placed at the top of the frame in a different font and style of writing to the the rest of the words on the cover, this positioning and font shows the band's importance and fame. This positioning also corresponds to most album covers, regardless of genre, in that to promote the band to their full extent they are usually placed at the highest point of the frame, the top. This aspect is also seen in the two examples above as well as our own product.
• The background of the panel is the forest and sees intertextuality in play as it links directly to one of the locations used in pour music video. This background of the forest is the are in which the artist is shot in the video as well as the area in which the character of the girl ends in at the end, so there is automatically a link with the artist as well as the video production. This association will ensure a sense of memorability, promoting the band in the subtlest way possible, subliminally.
• The inside left and right panels see the setting of the digipak change, slowly morphing into an urban setting of a brick wall. The inside left panel sees a brick wall slowly emerging through the trees although the trees remain the prominent aspect of the image, linking to the video again and echoing the sense of the girl being very much in control of her life and to extent, her sanity. This is completely contradicted by the inside right which sees the brick wall very dominant with only a few branches crossing the bricks. This now represents the idea of her insanity deteriating further and it is completely gone by the time we reach the final panel which is complete brick. The transition from urban to rural echos that seen in the music video.

Final draft of magazine advert

Here is the final draft of our magazine advert, produced after some minor alterations which we feel as a group truly help it to fulfil its purpose in promoting the band themselves and the album

• The changes made to the advert ensure that it completely conforms to our original designs and that the changes suggested positively effected the advert. An example of this being that the writing that was somewhat overshadowed by the image in the first draft is now completely bold and eye catching as it now bold white lettering over a black strip. This not only helps convey important information but also conforms to conventions of other adverts such as that for the band 'Hooked', depicted below. This link is not os much in the layout of the advertisement but in the way they have the band name and key information portrayed against a dark background, to enhance the lettering and what it is trying to say.

• The album's title 'Broken Pane' has also been made to appear bolder and so promotes the album further.
• Our magazine advert conforms greatly to the conventions of adverts in the indie genre as it is simplistic, features the band is the fact that it is drawn conforms to the sometimes child-like feel a viewer gets from indie album artwork, such as that of The Cure, as seen below.

Representations

In our video we have established representations of things such as genre, class and gender to aid the understanding of our video by our target audience. These representations are constructed through the narrative and the character's behaviour and in some ways the props used, such as the masks.


Genre:

• The genre of our film was indie, a well known genre and one that has many defining characteristics which we tried to embrace as much as possible. For example, indie videos tend to use bright colours to capture attention and give the video something of an atmosphere, we tried to emulate this by using bright colour wherever we could. We used a cafe with a green front, the girl was dressed in vibrant blue colours and the performance shots were set in the forest in the sunlight which gave the shots a bright and airy feel. to heighten the use of colour in accordance with the indie genre we also heightened the contrast to get the best tone of colour for our product.
• The masks used also play a huge part in communicating the genre, as the indie genre is known for such abstract props. The fact that the masks were of animals also conform to the genre as there are videos such as Santigold's "L.E.S Artistes" who use animal imagery by using actual animals, although our production only used masks the concept was still the same. The masks we also used to establish a sense of character and personality of the people wearing them rather than just have the people's faces, this idea is conventional of the indie genre as it is an alternative way of representation rather than going straight for the mainstream concepts.

Class:

• Class was not a theme that was particularly focused on as it was not as relative to the narrative of our product, however there are ways and moments in our video that can be seen to represent the area of class. An example of this is the fact that the main female actress and the male actor playing the boyfriend are both seen to be well dressed. The girls clothes are brightly colored and fashionable and are neat and clean cut. the same can be said for the male character. He wears a clean black coat and has neat hair and a tidy apparel. Their clothes reflect their place in society, perhaps being middle class or at the higher end of the working class. The fact that they are meeting at a dainty yet pleasant cafe indicates that they have the money to do so as a result of their class.
• This representation of the 'higher' class can be contradicted by the shot seeing the jeering male in the pig mask. This is so in the sense that the boy's clothes depict the typical attire associated with the working and lower class. he is seen in a black, tattered hoodie and combat style trousers accompanied with dirty trainers. His clothes combined with his exhibition of behavior towards others is also associated with the lower classes as it appears uncouth and ill mannered and almost animalistic - this linking with the mask we used to represent his character exactly.

Gender:

• Aside the general representations of male and females in our video, our production seems to find a general opinion of males forming as the video progresses. This view appears, by the end, to be that all males in the video are depicted as cowardly, lying and egotistical. This idea if formulated by the shots that see the girl encounter the male characters throughout the narrative. For example, the first character we meet, aside from the artist, is the character of the boyfriend. He is looking awkward and fidgety, as though he has a secret to hide that the audience is soon to find out. This represents males as secretive and possibly as Liars.
• There is only one female in the video and she is constructed as a strong character that is somewhat victomised by the male society, as the landlord and jeering youth are both male. This victomisation could also be reinforced by the fact that the girl is out numbered by the amount of male characters in the video and so appears vulnerable and this is confirmed as she ultimately yields and becomes one of the masked people.

Goodwin's Theory

During the stage in which analysed music videos I did so in accordance with the terms put forward by Andrew Goodwin. He stated that:

• Music videos demonstrate characteristics of the genre
• There will be a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals
• There will be a relationship between the music and the visuals
• The artist may develop distinctive motifs that may reoccur throughout their videos.
• There is often intertextual reference to things such as existing films etc.
• There is frequent reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeurtristic treatment of the female body.

Most of these ides can be related to our music video as we tried to incorporate certain ones from the beginning, overall conforming to Goodwin's theory. For example we intended from the outset to portray the genre of indie in our music video by conforming to typical conventions of the genre, such as using abstract masks that you would not find in videos of other genres, such as RnB or Metal.

Our video production also has a clear relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, for example the line in which the artist says "I Wish" sees a jump cut to a sign with the words written on it. This in itself establishes a visual link to the words in the music.

A link between the visuals and the music itself can be seen in that the pace of the visuals shown and the cuts used increases as the pace of the track does and are well times with certain parts of the song. This is illustrated perfectly by the part of the song where the guitar suddenly gets very loud and this sudden burst of volume is paired with a jump cut of the girl treading on a stick and is in perfect time with the loud guitar chord.

Audience Feedback

After finishing our video production we felt it constructive to gather feedback from a range of people, below is the edited feedback uploaded to youtube:

We recieved fedback from our teachers after the first production of our video and worked upon that feedback to improve it. The feedback above sees most people acknowledging the improvements made and even though there are still areas that some felt could be improved. The general view that comes across in the feedback is that the video's narrative has been made much clearer, the purpose of the masks that were formerly misunderstood were also said to have been made clearer and the addition of the performance shots helped establish the video as a music video rather than a short film.

Filming and editing again

After completing our video the first time around, we were given feedback that had some suggestions on how we could improve it. Upon looking at this feedback and reviewing our video we felt it appropriate and indeed necessary to make some editorial changes and insert some new shots which we rejected in the first cut. Below is the final cut of our music video after some changes had been been made:

• One of the aspects of the feedback that we were already concerned about and so agreed with was that the lack of performance shots in the video made it seem slightly more like a short film than a music video as it was intended. In response to this we set aside another day for filming where we found another actress to play the part of the artist and filmed several shots of her lip syncing the words of the track. We edited these shots into our original cut and it immediately remedied the proposed problem and made the entire video feel like a music video production. As a result of the inclusion of performance shots we had to cut a lot of other shots down which lead to our decision in removing the scene where the girl misses the bus. We decided this was a wise decision as although it was intended to be another scenario in which the girl's day continues to go wrong, it was not as important as other such scenes. For example, the eviction from her home or breakup were crucial moments and so it would be a wiser choice to cut the bus scene and include performance shots to ensure we followed the main conventions of music videos in having some performance.


• Another crucial aspect of our video that we thought best to change was the ending. We based this choice, again, on feedback we received upon posting our first video on YouTube. A few people commented and felt that the ending worked well but its intended meaning was a little too ambiguous, so much so that they didn't understand it. To rectify this we decided that a better way to end the video would be to do it concisely and end on the artist so that she is the last thing the audience will connect with the track. We thought it worked best to pair the visuals with the lyrics in the last shots of the video. The lyrics being "my vicious tongue cradles just one", we used two jump cuts, one close up of the artist's hand which she holds one finger out to the word "one" the first time it is spoken, and the second time we have medium close up from a higher angle which sees the artist lift her head as she sings the lyrics. This is an absolute and resolved ending with no room for ambiguity and we all felt this was a better ending and that we had made a very positive improvement.
• We also edited the cheating scenes so as to follow the constructive criticism we were given by our teachers. The concern was that the scene was too explicit and so possibly offensive to viewers. Although we originally felt this scene to be in no way inappropriate, we followed the advice we were given and put on a blurring effect combined with the effect 'ghost trails' that ultimately made the shot content go out of focus, so the kiss between the two characters as well as themselves are made out of focus. This insinuates the idea of cheating without spelling it out completely for the audience, adding a sense of mystery to the shot and narrative which I feel to be a great benefit.

First draft of the magazine advert

This is our first draft of the magazine advert where we have the background layer and the photograph merged together, showing how we hope the advert will look in its final stage. Below is the first draft produced:

• We were generally happy how the poster has turned out and do not wish to change it all that much from now on. However we do hope to change a few aspects, for example, the writing that has been placed over the artist is black and is somewhat lost in her clothing. This will be distracting for viewers and may cause them not to fully take in the information being displayed.
• We also hope to have the album title 'broken pane' edited slightly, perhaps given more colour as it seems slightly lost in the other colours of the advert and at the moment false to make the album title, a very important piece of information, almost inconspicuous.

Initial ideas for digipak

As well as the advert and music video, the final task we were required to do was to produce a digipak case for the album, this involving designing each panel of a four panel digipak according to a template we were given. We used this design process to form the initial layout of the digipak. Below are our initial ideas, simple sketches of how we intend our digipak to look when completed:

Initial ideas for promotional poster

In addition to producing our music video we were required to produce an advertisement, advertising the album and the artist and over all promoting the work we had one in a different way. Below are our initial ideas that we sketched out on paper as a foundation to build upon:

• The figure in the centre of the poster is intended t be the artists, centered so as to show her importance to the track and to heighten her status.
• We feature all the key information in bold lettering, such as the release date of the album and band name, so as to catch the viewer and potential buyers eye and to completely sell and communicate when the album will be released.
• The theme of the advert links very well to our music video as it is carrying the theme of rural verses urban as we see the artist stood against a brick wall, with branches or vines coming across the wall and somewhat enveloping her, showing the two areas colliding and doing so around the artist, again highlighting her importance to the project in all areas.

Lyrics: The Joy Formidable - "Cradle"

The Joy Formidable Cradle lyrics

I can see he says what he means
I can't say what he means when he says that
I'll pretend a pretty pretend
When all I wanna see is the end of this

I can see he says what he means
We'll deal him sticks and stones and apologies
I wish
Oh, I wish it was through

Scrape the skies
Get up off your knees
Just lift the marks
And new-found releases
I'll pretend a pretty pretend
When all I wanna see is the end of this

I wish
I wish
I wish the cobwebs would cover me
Cover me
Cover me

My vicious tongue
Cradles just one
My vicious tongue
Cradles just one

Analysis of Adverts:The Verve

• The Band's name is situated in the middle of the image near the top of the page, showing the band's importance and enforcing the band's status and fame through the positioning of the text.


• Below the band name is the title of the album, "Forth". There is a lot of space around the text which somewhat isolates the band and the album. This could be a visual representation of the idea that The Verve, as well as their new album are in a league of their own, completely different from anything the audience has heard before.


• The background image is an aerial photograph of the sky, or clouds that seems to stretch on forever into the distance. This visual is a direct link to the album title as the word "forth" is represented in the image as the clouds literally go forth into the distance, arguably carrying the viewer with it. This image is entrancing and memorable so the viewer will have the album's cover in their minds and this may entice them to buy it.


• The text on the poster uses one of their biggest singles "Love is noise" as a hook to promote the album, planting the idea that the rest of the album is equally as good as that first single in the audiences mind. This may make them buy it out of curiosity as well as out of being a fan of The Verve.


• Included in the text is a small, bullet quote from NME magazine "immense...irresistible". These words are emotive and, again memorable, give the viewer a brief summary of the album as a whole. As NME is a very popular and widely read music magazine, a positive review is highly creditable and the viewer is likely to trust this and buy the album for themselves.


• There are many mediums of buying the album listed such as: CD, LTD edition CD, download etc. With the album being available in so many formats it allows for a wider audience as some may find it easier to download than buy the physical album and so on.


• Audiences also get the added bonus of extra material on some formats of the album, this being another hook for them to buy the album. For example the text states that the DVD includes an exclusive tour documentary and live footage from the Coachella festival. This is seen again as it states that the LP includes two brand new exclusive songs. The prospect of two completely new songs will excite the fans and make them buy the album to hear the new material.


• The sky in the image is a blend of brown, white and blues and the clouds seem to fade into a darker brown towards the bottom of the image. The fact that The Verve's name and album title are situated in the brighter part of the poster could be representative of the fact that their album is literally shedding light onto a new sound they have created with their new album.


• The position of the band's name and album title in the sun/ light part of the image combined with the clouds around them gives the advert an almost Godlike feel. This emphasises The Verve's fame and status as "Gods" of their genre. This concept is also reinforced by the language of the album title itself. The word "forth" means "forward" or "out" but it is the use of the word "forth" that again make it seem almost biblical or Godly.

Research and Planning for digipak

As well as our product of a music video, we must also produce the album packaging. In this case we have been asked to prepare a digipack as opposed to a standard jewel case which is used more often. We aim to produce a four paneled digipack, requiring us to design and produce images for the front cover itself, the inside right, left and back covers. as our genre is Indie, we decided to look at several examples of indie album art as well as some other genres. Below are some examples I have found.

Arctic Monkeys - "Who the f**k are Arctic Monkeys?'

• The digipak is very simplistic with minimal design, seeing the album art made up of two photographs, one on the front and one on the back panel. This simplistic artwork is completely compliant with the indie genre as it is more about the music on the album than the face of the album or artwork.
  The photograph on the front of the digipak is again, simplistic and seemingly rough as though literally taken by the band themselves. This is very typical of indie band album art.


• The photograph is essentially of a mirror that is cracked and scratched. This perhaps alludes to the nature of Arctic Monkeys music, being very homegrown and not entirely perfect. This is also reinforced by the surroundings of the image.


• The album title is written, or scrawled, on the mirror. This sees the band showing irony to the buyer as, as the album title is "who the f**k are arctic monkeys?" and is written on a mirror, an object that reinforces identity.
  
• By using a mirror to contrast the idea of not knowing who they are Arctic Monkeys are also presenting themselves as a new band on the music scene and are almost mocking the way people may receive them.
  
• The inside left and right of the digipak are both plain white, again showing the simplicity of the band and their music, showing they do not need to rely on artistic design to promote themselves.


• The track listing is repeated twice throughout the digipak, once on the back cover where it is conventionally placed, and once on the inside left. By repeating the track list twice the buyer will become familiar with the content, some of which they may have heard before.


• The physical CD itself is the only thing in the inside panels that is decorated, and again it is with a simple photograph of a man with his arms folded. His position or body language could also be related to the title of the album as it is a question and it appears he is waiting for the answer, there being a certain irony that the answer lies on the CD on which he is featured.


• The CD also sees the mention of Arctic Monkeys record label "Domino" conforming to the conventions of information featured on albums and promoting the label to which they are signed.


• On the back cover is another photograph, below which is the track list again. This photograph is of the band in the studio, actively showing the band during the albums production. This is emphasised by the fact that the viewer sees the front man Alex Turner in the forefront of the shot adjusting the equipment.


• The fact that this photograph is featured on the back of the digipak and is of the band producing the album almost acts as a visual answer to the album's title and the question featured on the front cover. This order of the images combined with the fact that the two oppose or answer each other is very appropriate as the buyer usually looks at the front cover and flips to the back to see the track list, enforcing the idea of question and answer presented through the photographs.

Finished Product

After our second say of filming we edited our new footage and edited that into the footage we had filmed on the sunday. Below is the finished video uploaded to youtube.

Analysis of Advert: The Killers

• The bands name, The Killers, is written in large, bright letters against a dark background at the top of the frame, showing their status and fame in the music industry.
• By using short, bullet words such as "greatest" and "hits" the poster is subtly giving the viewer a review of the album and a positive review provokes people into buying it.
• The font is unique to The Killers and relates to their physical album art, so the viewer will already be familiar with the album cover when they purchase it.
• It is their trade mark font, seeing the word created with small circles that provide the image of the band's name in lights. This font style and the imagery it invokes hightens the band's status as it suggests they are famous enough to have their name illuminated.
• The colour purple is carried through the entire poster, starting dark at the top of the advert, around the bands name, and continuing through the image of the Royal Albert Hall and to the bottom of the frame. Purple is associated with royalty and so by having this as the dominating colour in the advert, the band's status and fame is again being emphasised as it suggests they are worthy of such a suggestive title as royalty.
• The poster features the band biggest singles such as "Mr Brightside", "Read my mind" and "Somebody told me", which it is likely fan's or even those who are not would have heard. By featuring some of their most famous hits the viewer becomes curious as to what the rest of the album will be like and so may be enticed to purchase it.
• The easily recognisable Royal Albert Hall, a classic image, is shown to be situated in the desert, surrounded by cacti and sand. This almost uncomfortable combination of classic imagery and outlandish setting emphasises the unique quality of The Killer's music, showing the viewer that they are challenging the conventions of music and are literally like nothing they have seen before.
• The cacti and desert setting also link to many of their music videos they have released, such as "Human" and "Reasons unknown", again creating a link in the fan's mind between their music and the visuals of the poster.
• There is one image in the advert, standing solitary in the centre of the frame. This single image combined with the isolating composition may be symbolic of The Killer's music and general style, enforcing their status as individual artists.
• The image is of the Royal Albert Hall situated in a desert. This image is simplistic and minimalist and the bulk of the design is made up with the circles. This simplicity could be a metaphorical representation of the band's music and the band themselves, stating that what you see or hear is quite literally what you get.
• The image is not a photograph but a combination of mixed media which ties in with the conventions of indie-genre promotional posters as they often present images that are primarily art based.
• The fact that the artists themselves are not being used as a selling point allows the viewer to focus on the information presented to them, such as the release date. Instead of the visual aid of The Killer's it shows the Royal Albert Hall, which relates directly to the text and reinforces what the poster is actually promoting, a live album/ DVD from the Royal Albert Hall.