Evaluation Question 1

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

This Wordle shows many of the conventions, artists and songs within the genre of alternative/indie rock...

In order to ensure that my music video, magazine advert and album look professional and appeal to their target audience it was important that I looked into the conventions of the genre and chose whether to use of subvert them. Kaylee and I chose to create a video for the song 'Like We Used To' by A Rocket to the Moon which is usually throughout of as alternative/indie rock. I wanted to use the conventions of the genre, for example using a lot of natural settings and colours, showing shots of the artist singing and playing his instrument, creating a visual representation of the story the lyrics and music are telling, and also creating a storyline which our target audience of people between the ages of 14 and 20 can relate to and possibly seek advice from. I feel that by following these conventions I can encourage our target audience to watch the video as they will have some expectations of the video and can therefore predict some of the themes of the video and will hopefully choose to watch it based on it. In addition following conventions will help our video appeal to a wide range of people as a traditional storyline can be enjoyed by many, whereas a subverted plot may not appeal to a mass audience. 
Although using conventions has helped us create an music video which is appealing and easy to view, I wanted to avoid following all the conventions of alt rock videos and stereotypes of relationships This is because it could become quite boring for our audience as they are likely to have seen many similar videos before, and this would result in people choosing not to watch the video or turning it off if they became bored. For this reason I decided to include some shots which you would not usually expect in a romance video, for example when Jess puts ice cream on Toms face, this creates some humour within the middle section of the video where it is common for there to be a lack of entertaining and appealing shots. Using some forms of subversion helps to keep our audiences attention throughout the entire video. 
If I was to plan and create the music video again I may consider using some more subversion within our video in order to make it really unique and special. I am happy with the final product and I believe that it fits the genre well, however this could mean that some people may find it too predictable and would be more engaged by a quirky storyline or total subversion of the conventions.

Comparing my music video with another within the same genre...
In the presentation below I have looked at the similarities and differences between my music video and an already existing video; I have analysed some of the shots and discussed how I have used or subverted the conventions of the genre.




I have also chosen a one minute clip from our video and created a directors commentary  looking at the forms and conventions we have used within each shot:



For my ancillary products I chose to use the conventional idea that alternative/indie rock bands focus on freedom and nature, in order to create an album cover and a poster style magazine advert which have clear connotations of the genre. I decided to use a map for the background of the digipak and album poster because this symbolises freedom and journeys. I also followed the convention of focusing on the artist by using him as the main focus within each of my ancillary products. In order to keep the attention on him I have used only one polariod photo on the cover of the digipak which shows him and his guitar as this quickly shows new listeners that his music is focused on his voice and his guitar. On the magazine album poster I have trimmed a photo of him using photoshop and overlapped it on top of a slightly transparent map; the image of him is the full vertical height of the poster and therefore the eye is drawn to him. By using large images of the artist and focusing on nature within my promotional products I believe I have successfully followed the conventions of the genre of alternative/indie rock. 
In the presentation below I have explored the conventions of a real advert and album; I have then looked at the ways in which my products use and subvert these.

In order to assess how well my ancillary products fit with the conventions of the genre or alternative/indie rock music, I decided to place my products in magazines which focus on similar genres of music. This will allow me to see if they looked as though they fit in, and yet still draw the eye. I have used 'Glogster' to present my product placement images and discuss how they fit with the magazines.

Audience feedback

I have shown my video to two different classes; one group of 6th form students aged 17/18, and one group of year 7's and 8's. I decided to ask these different age groups in order to establish the ways in which people will interpret our video and the effect age has on how the video is received. I feel that this is important, as towards the beginning of this project I created a poll about target audience and came to the conclusion that our video should be focused at both genders between the ages of 14 and 20. Therefore speaking to people who are and are not within this age range will allow me to assess whether we have successfully made a video which will appeal our target audience.

This is Vicky. She is 17 years old and likes alternative music. She enjoys listening to music through Spotify and watching music videos on YouTube. I was able to quickly get feedback from her as she could access our video through Facebook and then gave me feedback through chat. She felt that my three products work really well together due to the use of the map background and the font included in my video, advert and digipak. She said that she likes the storyline within our video and she felt a lot of sympathy for Jono. She also praised the editing and transitions within our music video as she said it flows well and although the storyline is fragmented it is clear what is happening and she found it easy to understand how the story was developing. She really enjoyed our video and felt that our chosen song was really catchy and enjoyable.

This is Amber. She is 16 and likes rock music. She loves going to see bands and she prefers buying physical CD's to digital downloads as she likes to collect albums so that bands and artists can sign them when she goes to gigs. I spoke to her in person in order to get feedback. She really enjoyed our video as she loves the song and liked our choice of actors. She also liked the use of maps throughout all three products as she had never seen a product which uses maps before and therefore she felt that our products would stand out from others. She also said that the genre of music was clear from the moment she saw my digipak as she instantly picked up on the maps representing freedom and knew that the music would be indie.



I visited a lower school tutor group in order to find out what younger people think about our music video. Each child wrote down all their thoughts about the video and handed them to me, as I felt that this would give them the chance to give more honest feedback. The majority of the students first noticed the font in the title scene; they liked the "swirly" writing used for the artists name and song title. In addition many of them pointed out the use of pastel colours in the image of the map and said this was pretty and matched the music. One of the main comments which a lot of the students made is that the song is very easy to listen to as they described it as "cool" and "pretty"; this suggests that the song we have chosen can be enjoyed by a wide audience. Many of them gave all positive feedback and wrote that the shots flow well, the storyline is interesting and emotional, and that they liked the romantic scenes. 

However some of the male students felt that the video was slightly dull due to the romantic storyline; however this was expected because our target audience is 14-20 year olds, so I believe we have created a product which is most suitable for this age range as some younger children seemed to find the video boring because they are not as interested in love and relationships and therefore can't really relate to the storyline. Therefore I feel that this feedback shows that our video is most suitable for our target age range. However I have also found out that all the girls in the class liked it, although they are only about 12 years old, the majority of the girls said that they liked the romance and some wrote about wanting a relationship like the couple in the video. This shows that girls younger than my target age range can still enjoy our video; this is possibly because girls mature more quickly than boys, therefore the girls found it easier to understand the storyline and the connection between the song and the shots, therefore meaning that girls younger than about 14 can still enjoy the video.
Following the screening of my video, one of the students went home and watched the video again. She only realised the second time she watched it, that the new boyfriend is introduced during the bed scene. After she realised this she understood the storyline, as before she did not realise that Jonny was the ex and Tom was the new boyfriend. This could suggest that our video fits well with the genre as the story is not totally clear and obvious; whereas many music videos have a clear storyline and the audience can make assumptions about what will happen. However our music video subverts this convention as it makes the audience question what is happening in the video and there is the possibility of finding deeper meaning in many of the shots. This is a USP (unique selling point) of our video because the audience can watch it many times and not necessarily get bored of it because each during each viewing there is the potential to notice more details about the story and find deeper meaning within each scene.

Final magazine advert

Final Digipak

Creating my digipak

Template
I created a template using photoshop and used this to guide the construction of my digipak. This ensures that each panel is the same time and that the folds all line up.

Background for both the front and the inside

Polaroid for the front cover

In order to connect the album cover to the video we have produced I decided to use a polaroid image on the cover, as this relates to the polaroid photo which Jonny looked at  during the rain scene in our video. The use of polaroid also allowed me to use the white space at the bottom to write the artist name and album name; this could make it seem like a note he had written on a polaroid about his life. I also used a font which looks like hand writing as this can create a personal aspect to the album and could allow fans to feel a connection with him as the writing on the polaroid looks like it's been written by him. This also shows the focus on the simple natural things, which are conventional of alternative rock artists, as it suggests that there is no need for hyperbolic colours or fonts; hand writing is more natural.

Shape to put writing on, to make it stand out from the map background

In order to make the text for the track list and the thank you note from the artist to stand out from the map background I decided that I needed to use a shape or background for the writing. It was essential that this connects with the theme of freedom, travel and nature which the map shows in order to create cohesion between the components of the digipak. Therefore I chose to cut out a photo of a piece of paper which had been made to look old, as this connects to nature and could also represent the style of paper often relates to maps and travel.

Photos for the inside panels

On the inside of the digipak I decided to show aspects of Jono's life through smaller polaroid images. These are all photos which I personally have taken, however as the weather has been bad this winter I chose 2 photos from my holiday to french last summer, as these sunny and beautiful shots suggest that Jono has traveled a lot and has experienced many aspects of nature around the world. Some of the images were taken whilst we were out filming and show that he has been through relationships. These polaroids will provide an insight, and a visual representation, of what his songs are about.

Audience feedback about my 3 products

Over the past 2 days I have asked my peers for constructive criticism about my three products. They all felt that my products are eye catching and fit well with the genre of alternative/indie rock. However they also believed that the font I have used for the artist name - Jono is quite difficult to read and could be mistaken for the word 'Jana'. I also visited a year 7/8 tutor group and showed them my products - they also felt that the word Jono was difficult to read. Therefore I decided to edit the font by deleting the joins between the letters in order to make it clear and easy to read.

Here are my updated products:

 

Music video title

Digipak

Magazine advert

Magazine advert progress - audience feedback

Whilst creating my advert I had two slightly different ideas and could not decide which would be most successful  Therefore I decided to put together a rough version of each advert and ask my target audience which they preferred. Below are the two adverts which I constructed: 

Creating my album magazine advert

This is the plan for my album advert. The background is a 

faded map and there is a picture of Jono overlapping this which I have cut out using photoshop. In order to construct this advert I first of all needed to open the map and lower the opacity so that the image became a lot lighter and softer in colour; I felt that this was necessary because it made the background for my advert more easy on the eye and appealing as the colours weren't harsh.

This is what the map looked like after I had done this...

I then wanted to cut around Jonny's body so that the image of him could overlap the map and still show a large proportion of the map. In order to do this I used the quick select tool on photoshop and selected the space which I wanted to cut out of the picture. I was important to have unlocked the layer so that the chosen space was deleted completely rather than just turned white. I have recorded how I did this using QuickTime Player...

Following this I downloaded some fonts from dafont.com and wrote information about the album, such as the artist name, the album name, album release date, star rating from music magazines, a website address for the artist, the See Tickets web address and a his twitter @ so that our target audience could easily access information about Jono, buy tickets and music and watch music videos.

Changes to ancillary plans

I had originally planned on using the image on the left for my front cover; inspired by Jake Buggs cover. I was aiming to make him look serious similarly to how Jake Bugg looked. However after talking to my audience I have found that they believe that this image makes him look very tired and as though he may have been taking drugs, which is not a habit which I want my album cover to promote, as it is aimed at young people who may be influenced by their favourite artists. It was also felt that he does not look very attractive and that although he is making eye contact, this image does not particularly draw the audience in. In addition it was also suggested that Jake Bugg's album was not actually very appealing or eye catching because the image is black and white. In addition my audience felt that I may be more successful creating an album cover and poster which showed clear connotations of the genre indie/alternative rock.  

Therefore I have decided to use a different image (shown on the right) for the cover of my digipak; I will experiment with different ways to edit the colour of the photo I have now chosen, and see which looks most appealing. I also feel that the new image may be more suitable for the genre because it contains more nature which is a convention of indie rock products.

However rather than editing this image to be black and white and making it fit the size of the cover of my digipak, like Jake Bugg's album. I will instead be editing this image to look like a polariod photo for the cover of my digipak -  therefore it will be in colour and have a white boarder around the edge. This image will not fill the cover of my digipak either, instead it will be rotated slightly and placed in the corner of the cover; in the background I plan on using an image of a map throughout my digipak and also on my album advert - this will connote freedom and adventure which relate to the genre of indie/alternative rock. In order to show a visual representation of my new idea I have drawn new plans for my album cover and digipak. Drawing these plans has helped me materialise my ideas and show others how I aim for my final products to look.

Album advert plan:

Digipak plan:

Ancillary task photo shoot

Below are all the photos when Jonny and I went into Ottery St Mary in order to take photos which I hope to use for the digipak and album poster. It was important to take a lot of different images in order to have enough choice to cover the faces of the digipak. It was also essential to consider how the images will all work together and how the products will be assembled, as I will needs to make sure that I take a wide range of good quality photos.

Photo editing research

The use of Sepia - The cover of 'One Day' has been edited with blue/sepia tones, I feel that these make it look very classic and eye catching, however the colour blue could also have negative connotations which suggest that the relationship between the couple on the front is flawed or that something goes wrong within the film. I believe that this would be a suitable edit for my digipak photos because it would be appealing to audiences and would also connote some of the issues Jono covers in the songs on the album. I need to edit the images to look appealing and eye catching, however I also need to ensure that they look natural as this is a key convention of indie/alt rock products. Two albums which have been particularly inspiring for me are Jake Bugg's and Tom Odell's debut albums. The covers of both of there both focus on the artist, showing them with serious facial expressions and casual clothes on. They seem to be standing in the street and the background is slightly blurred. Although I plan on using a map and polariod photos for my digipak, rather than one large image of Jono; I am going to use a large polariod image of him for the cover of the digipak and some will also be positioned on the inside of the digipak, therefore I am going to use Jake Bugg and Tom Odell's covers as inspiration when I take photos of Jonny for these polariods. When I come to edit my photos of Jonny, I plan on experimenting with black and white and the ways in which colour can be edited using photoshop. 

Digipak cover plan

This is a sketch of my idea for the cover of my digipak, it is a close up of Jonny standing in front of a red brick wall, he will be looking at the camera with a serious facial expression and wearing the same coat as he wears during the rain scene in the video in order to show a connection between the video and the album. The photo will be black and white, similarly to Jake Bugg's album, and the font will be white in order to contrast with the dark wall and stand out. I plan on using a border around the edge to make the digipak look more professional and appealing.

Planning my album cover photo

When researching album covers I have been particularly inspired by Jake Bugg's debut album cover; it is black and white and shows him from the shoulders up. He is wearing a serious facial expression which could relate to sadness or anger which are two emotions which the musician in our video feels, therefore we feel that creating a similar album cover could be very successful for out song. His facial expression is also very attractive and eye catching, it will therefore draw the audiences attention and be particularly appealing to females.


The style of Jake Buggs album seems to have been inspired by Oasis and The Beatles; it is likely that the photographer had purposefully positioned Jake Bugg to look like the band and edited the picture to look similar to theirs. Therefore it is clear that not all shots are totally original as they have been influenced by other artists or people. 

My digipak cover will feature a polariod photo of Jonny; I will  position Jonny in a similar stance to Jake as this is very appealing and eye catching. I also plan on experimenting with the use of black and white - similar to Jake Bugg's album cover - as this will protray the emotions he feels during the majority of his songs (as he is an indie rock artist and therefore the majority of his songs are about his feelings).

 I am going to go in to Ottery St Mary tomorrow and photograph Jonny for my album cover and album poster.  In order to show continuity between the magazine advert, album and music video I will use the same fonts for the name of the artist which we have decided to use - 'Jono' - and for the name of the song as this will show that they are both for the same artist and song.