Evaluation for music video!

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

The music video our group created both develops and challenges certain forms and conventions that are used in the real life media market today. By conducting both primary and secondary research into our chosen band we were able to use and add to the conventions commonly used by the band in many of their videos. Not only researching the band themselves, but by conducting focus groups with various age groups revealed who Snow Patrol's main audiences were and because of this allowed us to pluck out some ideas that the groups put forward. This was a key into the development of the video as it allowed us to combine conventions and styles that Snow Patrol use, with what the audience wanted to see.

By using Andrew Goodwin's music video theory it is easy to see how our production complies with many of his concepts. First of all, the genre characteristics shown in our music video are clear. The alternative/indie sounds produced by Snow Patrol and similar bands such as the wombats, the kooks and arctic monkeys are often made visual through concept art combined with performance imagery which is what we strove to also achieve as we found from the research that the audience wanted to see abstract shots that had some symbolic reference, rather than a cliche love song narrative story. We also though it important, although we made some key changes in the production of our music video that are adaptations of the usual genre characteristics, we decided it was vital to de-sexualise the women as done in many indie videos. We wanted to show her as beautiful rather than 'sexy' so to do this we represented her by using a horse, a majestic animal.

Goodwin states that there should be a connection between the lyrics and the visuals which in our case was not applicable. Similar real life media productions do not over use the idea of a 'literal' visual interpretation but rather project the overall message of the song through symbolic imagery.

The link between the music and the visuals we found was far more important for our production, as the slow pace of the music meant that cuts had to be perfectly timed and changes in clips had to be carefully selected so that the audience did not get bored whilst watching the video. I believe that the editing and shot length and arrangement was well suited to the song that we chose, and that it was much harder to achieve than it would be with a fast paced song.

The notion of looking put forward by Goodwin is a convention which is massively exploited over many genres in the music industry, especially the R&B and Rap genres. However we questioned weather this was necessary in our production as we did not to represent the women as a sex object. To minimise risk of Laura Mulving's male gaze theory being applicable here, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we decided to go against the conventional decision to use an actual women, and replaced her with a horse. This was to symbolise beauty, rather than sex because the context of the lyrics was not about power or degrading women but rather about love, implying deeper emotions are involved apart from sex.

The final of Goodwin's criteria is the inter textual content which links the music video to other film,radio, Internet or other music videos. Although this was not a large part of our finished product we have included some inter-textual content which is also symbolic to our chosen song. We have included a scene where a ring on a gold chain is thrown into a pond, which of course is meant to mimic the scene from Titanic, where Rose throws the Jewel into the ocean.

Overall, using Goodwin's theory as an indicator of a real media music video, it is clear that whilst our production does meet the the majority of conventions commonly found in our chosen genre (Alternative/Indie) such as using symbolic concepts rather than a narrative style combined with a performance element we have also developed certain conventions to suit the demands required by our particular song. We also challenged some conventions which are often seen in real life media productions for example by de-sexualising the women in our video, instead of showing her in a provocative light.

Our ancillary tasks should also be taken into account when evaluating how we developed and challenged conventions of real media products. For example, through the creation of a digi-pak and website, we have adhered to the conventions of the real music industry, as all bands have a website and usually a CD if they have managed to release. Although we conformed to the convention of creating a band site, we challenged the usual convention of using dark colours by using slightly more natural greens and browns which reflected our digi-pak design and created multi platform links for consumers.

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

I believe that the visual links found between the website, digi-pak and music video are the most important element of our ancillary texts developed by our group. This was an important aspect of the texts, as we wanted to make the connection clear between all of the products so that our target audiences could easily associate them at first glance! To achieve this, we decided a common theme would be necessary throughout the ancillary texts. For example using similar imagery to that used in the video (the horse and the girl) on the front and back design of the digi-pak, as well as on the background of the website we were able to add consistency.

Although a poster was not created, we believed that the music video would be sufficient enough to penetrate directly into it's target audience which would then open up the channels for them to investigate our other products. This is why we decided to follow the theme with imagery directly taken out of our music video. The images featuring the horse and master, make up a relatively large segment of the overall music video and therefore will easily be seen as a key part of the product in the minds of the audiences. The idea is that through seeing the music video on television on mainstream channels such as MTV, consumers will be able to make a clear link when they see the digi-pak. Where the music video will target new fans as well as loyal fans, the reason behind the website containing the image of the horse are to promote the new album to already existing fans in case they miss the music video and simply investigate the website.

We based our digi-pak design not only on the footage from the music video, but we were also inspired by the research we conducted into Snow Patrol's real album designs. We found out that none of their album covers actually showed the band themselves which made our process easier as we only showed the 'lead singer' in our production and did not equate for a band to be created. Following a similar theme to Snow Patrol's albums was important to us as we wanted our product to be as realistic as possible! That is why we decided to increase contrast and lighting and were inspired largely by their 'songs for a polar bear' album design. The internal images where taken directly from the music video itself, and although create a distinctive visual link to the music video but can also be seen as simply generic band shots if the video has not been seen. The simple use of photo shop allowed us to create and edit a set of images and text that looked to a professional standard, maximising their effectiveness as they do not downgrade the hard work put into creating our final piece (music video). These images took time to create properly, however this was important as we had already planned to use the images on not only the digi-pak but also the website.

Overall I believe the combination of our main product and ancillary tasks was very successful. The reason for this being due to the fact we made a strong visual link which would enable instant recognition to any fans interesting in the band and it's products, as well as looking proffessional and appealing to the eye.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback has played a vital part throughout the development of our entire project. We first began the process as soon as we had selected the song. We designed a suitable questionnaire so we could find out the demographics of each focus group as to put the results into context. After identifying which age groups liked the music we then looked over their ideas which surprisingly showed common similarities. We were surprises that many candidates put forward many of the same ideas which were almost all symbolic which is when we learn that they did not want to associate a narrative video to our chosen song, but instead a concept and performance.

This first stage was important as we learn what the audience wanted, and who the audiences were!

Secondly we created our video to what we believed would satisfy our target audiences as we had merged their ideas which would fit with the song, with the conventions that are commonly associated with Snow Patrol's music. It is important to point out here that if we hoped to create a realistic music product we had to take into consideration that bands are limited to change, as their audiences become used to their image, so any huge variances would effect sales and fan bases, that is why we thought it sensible to merge the audiences ideas, with what is expected with this style of music. We showed a specific focus group who we found out from previous research were our target market. We then learnt that the music video was missing something. We were made aware by our focus group that the shots were too long, and there was not enough variance meaning the footage became stagnant and boring quickly.

Taking this in our stride we went away and came up with several new ideas for our video, made shots shorter with an increased number of cuts throughout and fine tuned the whole thing.

After these changes had been made we took advantage of various platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, but also confronted the same focus group as well as a few more. We learnt from this that the changes had made a great difference to the video as the majority of the audience no longer found the footage boring or generic but instead enjoyed watching the whole thing. We also learnt that the deep level of symbolism used in our concepts may have been to complex for some of the audience as we received various comments asking things like 'what was the horse for' and 'why was it in a barn'. We learnt that although the footage was not bad quality, some of the implied meanings within were hard to decode without the summary provided on the blog, and next time we would make them slightly less intense.

Below are some examples of audience feedback from our sample groups;

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video. The theme was clearly evident throughout and the hcoice of the two locations successfully represented the emotional turmoil of the two characters. The open space suggested a long ing for freedom,whilst the enclosed, grey dance space gave the illusion of being trapped. The tethered horse used in the first frame gave the impression of being trapped whilst the shot used later when the horse is loose, represents freedom. The choice of a dark, miserable, rainy day also helped to symbolise the breakdown of the relationship as the raindrops represented tears shed. I suggest that you use a few additional close up artistic, to reiterate and emphasise the symbols you have already used.

Mrs K Moore

Overall, I believe we learned much from our audience feedback at various stages throughout the development of our music video and ancillary tasks. We learnt at an early stage what the audience expected to see from conducting focus groups and questionairs. During the production stages we learnt that we needed extra footage, which allowed us to give the audience a more diverse range of shot. Finally in the post production stage we learnt what we could have improved on, as well as what we managed to do successfully overall.

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

Our group were lucky enough to have a wide range of equipment and media technologies at our disposal meaning we were able to produce, plan, research and evaluate successfully!

When researching I used several different media platforms to gain the research I needed to gain a deeper understanding about our target audiences and the industry on the whole. The first media technology we used, was the Internet. Using various websites such as Wikipedia, news sites and record companies sites I was able to discover more about Snow Patrol. Analysing the band's real website and others from a similar genre allowed me to discover specific criteria that makes a successful site! Wikipedia was extremely useful when trying to find out information about the music industry and how it has changed and developed over the years.

The other media technology we used was word programs combined with printing devices. This was so that we could mass produce questionnaires to give to several focus groups of different ages. This primary research was the most important as it outlined trends in demographics and helped us to establish who our target market were, which then allowed us to filter out the relevant ideas put forward by these individuals.

During the construction of my music video and my ancillary tasks, I used many different media technologies to achieve the finished products. The first of these was again the Internet. As the website design site was online it was easy to upload and edit the site with little hassle. Also, we thought it better to find a site which would allow us to choose our own domain name, and would actually be placed onto the Internet to add credibility and achieve a more realistic finish. To create the digi-pak we used a photo shop program that allowed us to edit the colour and contrast of the photos successfully, which we then were able to merge with the website as the background! The use of the photo shop clearly demonstrates how the use of one media technology can be spread and used across other media platforms. To actually create and capture the relevant footage to create the music video we used a digital video recorder which due to developments in the technology over the years was relatively small in size, and good quality! This combined with the use of a manual tripod allowed us to capture the footage we needed effectively and with few errors. Once we had captured the footage we needed we used I-movie which was can be found on any apple mac laptop. Having access to I-movie meant we had a much wider range of editing choices than if we used a similar competitor such as windows movie maker or others. We were able to add various transitions which made our production flow smoothly and look realistic.

The evaluation of our finished products was very successful due to the use of social networking sites which because of recent popularly meant that the finished music video received a large amount of feedback which was reflected on the view counter provided on the video. Of course to be able to post the video onto the social networking site, we had to upload it onto a video sharing website known as YouTube which also generated interesting comments which were all useful in the evaluation process of the product. It outlined where we may have gone slightly wrong (Some of the symbolism used was to deep) and of course where we went right, and mad the good features clear! Not only did we use these Internet sites to aid us in our evaluation process but by again analysing the data from the comments we later learnt that we were correct about the target markets we chose to aim for, as the majority of the comments were posted by consumers who fell into this demographic.

Overall, I managed to use many media technologies and platforms during the construction, planning, research and evaluation stages. During construction technologies such as cameras, Apple-mac laptops and I-movie where all used to create the film itself. Planning and research stages required a similar combination of technologies such as websites such as Wikipedia, Blogger, Yahoo answers providing secondary information with video cameras and the laptop to record and post our findings. We also used word processor to plan and draft ideas before sharing them. Finally for our evaluation stage I managed to combine the use of technologies such as social networking sites to gain quick feedback, along with audio recorders to provide a podcast style summary. Also the use of file sharing sites such as Youtube allowed us to upload our finished product to the internet which is how we distributed it to get the majority of our feedback.

Director's cut - what I believed wen well, and some evaluation

I thought it useful to create a podcast style evaluation/review of what I believed went well and what we could have improved on. The images used are taken directly from our finished video.

The Dance

Dancers

Having settled on our idea we began to plan out the choreography for the dance scenes we needed. We decided after much debate that two dancers would be enough as we wanted to represent the relationship featured in the song through the concept dance.

Initially we had chosen two, blonde dancers who looks extremely similar. The idea behind this was to make the dancers move in unison throughout the dance. However one of our chosen dancers pulled out nearer to the filming date with little notice, meaning we had to quickly re think our ideas and adapt to the situation. Luckily, one of the group members, Hannah, had studied dance several years before, and was eager to fill in for the missing dancer. This was when we came up with the clever idea to change the representation of each dancer. Since Hannah and Beth (the other dancer) are such opposites in their appearence, we decided that Hannah should represent the male and Beth should represent the female in the relationship.

At the beginning of the dance, Beth began in a submissive possition which showed Hannahs dominence at the beginning of the relationship. The style of the dance (inspired by Hurts - Wonderful life) is very angular, showing the harshness of the relationship. It is iften a common conventions for dance to flow smoothly and look 'beautifle'. However we decided to make our dance disjointed to show how the relationship is falling apart. We have tried to show some of the dance in an almost balletic fashion to show that not all of the relationship was how he describes it and there was moments of beauty throughout. Not only this but we tried to include inter-textual reference to the film Black Swan.

Eventually Hannah and Beth fall out of syncronization and this is where the relationship failing is represented. Also the dance is eventually shown in cannon to show that the couple are no longer together. The end position is vital as it shows how the roles have changed completely; with Beth now in the dominant position above Hannah. This is symbolic, as it is designed to represent how the female in the relationship is no longer trapped but free.

Below is a short clip of the development of the dance, and the practicing involved.

intregating three media technologies

Both the CD and the website contain the still images that are seen as moving footage in the music video. One example of this is the colours used on the CD cover, as we used warm tones and intensified brightness to contrast to the rest of the song and album, which give a suggested theme of sadness. The images contradict this theme, meaning that audiences will be more likely to be srawn to the symbolism, drawing attention to the video aswell as the lyrics themselves. Consistency of themes I believe will be intergral to the marketing aspect of each product, as consumers will be able to clearly link props and characters such as the horse, to the CD, website and music video

channels of audience consumption;

1) Video ->Website -> CD
2) Website ->Video -> CD
3) Website -> CD -> Video
4) CD -> Website -> Video

Option 1 would most likely be the favoured order of distribution by the artist, as it would mean that consumers have directly exposed to the main product (music video), meaning if they like it they may research the band, leading them to the website, and later the CD. This format would usually effect consumers who are new to the bands music, and would most likely source it from watching music channels such as MTV-rocks or through YouTube subscriptions as they are font of similar genres and products created by similar artists.

No matter how the audiences consume the products, in theory all three media platforms are likely to be accessed. However as snow patrol already have such a large fan base, if levels of distribution through number 1 fell or were minimal in comparison to number 4, it would suggest that their fan base is not expanding, and therefore the band are not adapting to the changing market that is music.

Clearly at some stage all consumers will have been a part of all four of the options above, as a band increases it's popularity through effective marketing seen in options 1 and 2, general consumption as seen in method 3 or consumers who are already aware of the bands existence. Bands will eventually reach a stretched audience and the fan base will plateau meaning more methods such as number 4 will become more frequent. This is apparent with snow patrol, who have been in the lime light for 14 years!

Audiences rely on a continuous band image so that they know what to expect, and what they are 'following'. To sell merchandise, it is vital that the band does exactly this, this is why the fan base will struggle to grow after a certain amount of time as band image will only appeal to a certain number of the market, and by changing band image, the artists risk loosing already loyal fans. This is why often, bands who were famous in the past stop producing and have a break, then pick up many years later, reinventing themselves with a new image, and creating a new client base!

Band image and identity is far easy to endorse with modern technological advances making products such as mugs, t-shirts and other merchandise easier to produce and distribute to fans! In many cases, the band becomes a brand in its own right.

Media convergence

Convergence is the process by which a range of media platforms are interrogated within a single piece of media technology.

A good example of this is Apple's IPhone. The Iphone's primary purpose is to be a phone, but also includes an MP3 player, FM radio, and a web browser!

In relation to our chosen industry production, the music industry has to converge with elements of the film industry to produce products such as music videos, as the visual elements are filmed and edited similarly to a film or television show and the audio side of the production which of course stems out from the music industry. A music video does not stop simply at the convergence of the film and music industry's, but later introduces other media platforms into it's mixture when the video is being distributed and promoted.

When the music industry promotes it's products it has many choices, popular choices include convergence with radio, television and online sharing, engaging in a poly-platform infrastructure.

As technology has developed over the years, a greater selection of different platforms are available to converge. For example in the 50's the music industry were severely limited in which media platforms to merge with, as there was not many around suitable, relying largely on only the radio for promotion. Where as today, the development of media platforms such as the Internet (social network, file sharing and fan sites), radio and television.

Our group have converged several media platforms to achieve a realistic product. By merging our chosen song with a visual element we created a proffesional and successful video. Progressing from this we combined the themes and elements developed between the music video and audio track to create a website and digi-pak design to a proffessional standard. I becomes clear that the visual element is key to our convergence of media platforms and technologies.

distribution! methods and changes

Radio Radio was the first way the music industry were able to distribute music to a mass market and due to technological advancements in the early 1900's radios became available on a large scale and were the hub of entertainment in many households. As audio playback machines where not easily accessible, the music industry would have used the radio as a starting point for mass media exposure. Records! In 1930 RCA Victor launched the first commercially accessible record. The revolutionary discs had a rpm of 33 and were capable of long play playback system. The discs were made of plastic and had a diameter of 30cm. The plastic material had the advantage of less surface noise to previous counterparts and was far more durable. The discs allowed space for producers names and logos to be printed in the centre and is where the well known name record 'label' comes from today. Until the 1950's various companies produced records that required different sized needles to play and had different RPMs. In the mid 1950's the record companies decided to agree on a common recording standard called RIAA equalisation. Cassettes! The compact cassette often simply refereed to as a 'tape' is a magnetic tape sound recording format. This style of music distribution was massively used between the early 70's up until the late 90's along side the LP vinyl and compact disc (will be discussed next). While widely accessible and relatively cheap and simple, the audio cassette tape had several issues which home users and professional artists found annoying. Due to variances in tape speed on different players playback pitch was often too high or low and as cassette player speed was fixed by the producer this could not be amended easily. Finally different tape formulation and noise reduction schemes artificially boosted or cut high frequencies which was not always ideal for some consumers. Compact disc (CD) A compact disc or 'CD' is an optical disc used to store digital data. The CD became commercially available in October 1982 and not only was a break through in music technology but opened up the pathway for interactive CD-ROMs, rewritable Cd's and digital video discs! The average CD has a digital memory of 700 mega bites which was previously un heard of and was a massive amount of storage, meaning the quality of music could be improved. Unlike the cassette the CD is still widely used today and its estimated that by 2007, 200 billion Cd's had been sold worldwide. Although still commonly used on a mass basis, the CD is slowly being replaced with digital downloads from online. However this appears more common in the music industry than in others. Digital download Consumers are able to transfer a song/s from an online interface onto a local computer. This of course has become far more popular as Internet has developed over recent years and broadband gives users quick Internet connectivity and browsing. digital downloads of course have advantages such as packaging costs being eradicated and opening up new slots in the market. However the rising popularity of digital download does have its disadvantages. For example not all of the downloads available are provided by the producers of the music, meaning the a loss in revenue would take place. As previously distribution of music was only really provided by the record labels responsible for the production illegal downloads mean that although record labels have broadened their market share by offering a different sales tactic, the truth is, pirate copies will always be a large loss in revenue for the music industry. YouTube YouTube is just one example of a video sharing website but is by far the most famous. The free online sharing site makes music producers able to promote their music for free, and with less risk of copyright as consumers will only have access to the music if they are on the website. The idea behind this is similar to television promotion on music channels. The music producers either make and promote videos for consumers to watch, or simply upload the song with a still picture in the background to act almost as a sample and make viewers want to purchase the music through other channels of distribution. The advantage YouTube and other video sharing site have over TV is that it is in effect music on demand, meaning target audiences can search and access specific music any time, anywhere instead of waiting and watching on the TV. Sotify

Spotify is a free download which allows consumers to listen to music on demand for no cost. The catch is that consumers cannot use the music they listen to unless they are on spotify. This is perfect for music producers as it allows for promotion with little risk of copyright and pirating whilst satifying their target audiences by allowing complete access to the tracks they desire and reccommending similar genres to try.

MOST USED TODAY! Record labels today use a combination of the more recent distribution methods. A combination of compact discs, digital download as well of course promoting music through online video sharing sites are the most commonly used contemporary methods. However radio is still a huge marketing platform and is still heavily used almost 80 years after it became a common household appliance. Not only is radio the only 'older' distribution method record producers use to broaden and target their markets, as many still do press vinyl records and sell them to act more as quirky collector's items rather than a main audio format. The cassette however has been almost eradicated from mass music production as the CD or compact disc can match and outdo everything the audio cassette has to offer.

record labels!

A record label is a brand image associated with the marketing and promotion of music productions and music videos. The label are usually responsible for promotion, copyright protection. The term ''label'' comes from the round sticker in the centre of a vinyl record.

Labels vary from smaller, independent (indie) institutions to ''major'' labels which are bigger and control a string of smaller labels, acting as a ''super power'' on the industry. This of course has changed over the years as various businesses fight for market share.

Major labels (1988-1998) - Big six
1. Warner Music Group
2. EMI
3. Sony music
4. BMG music
5. Universal music group
6. Polygram

Major labels (1998 - 2004) - Big five
1. Warner Music Group
2. EMI
3. Sony music
4. BMG
5. Universal Music group - (Polygram absorbed into UMG)

Major labels (2004-2008) - Big four
1. Warner music group
2.EMI
3.Sony BMG (Sony and BMG joint venture)
4.Universal Music group

Major labels (Since 2009) - Big four
1.Sony music entertainment
2.EMI group
3.Warner music group
4.UniversalMusic group

With huge technological leaps recording music and songs is not what the record labels main function is. With technology such as laptop software, cheap and chearful microphones or even a simple phone recorder, artists are actually able to create and record their own music with reasonable ease and quality. However, it is still far to say that you still need a 'great' song, skillful engineer and a talented, well put together act to make an enduring record. This is what record labels are good at, not simply recording.

Record labels are essential doing what they do now the same as 50 years ago, creating and selling the goods. However there is a noticeable change in the number of smaller boutique labels owned by big artists and fewer 'major labels'. It is quite clear that the general public are getting tired of the same mass produced generic artists and are taking to the more flexible and adaptable variations found through the smaller labels. Many great contemporary artists in fact do not perform under a label and are in fact independent in a different form.

call sheet for filming!

We decided a call sheet for filming was going to be extremely useful as it would outline where and when actors/dancers would need to report on the day/s of filming.

We also knew from our AS production that call sheets also contain other useful information such as contact details such as mobile numbers, emails, as well as script pages! We also found out that advanced call sheets often contain details on weather, locations of local hospitals, sunset/sunrise times and locations of local hardware stores! They commonly have information on transport details, which is vital to ensure everyone is were they need to be.

Filming (Day 3)

This day was dedicated to filming the 'filler shots' we needed to help break up our music video and take stills for our digipak and poster design. From previous planning we decided that shots of a horse galloping through a filed would look great and would fit into our concept style that had been implemented in the rest of the video ! The reason for picking a horse was to again symbolise breaking free from a relationship as at the start of the video the horse is on a rope being guided but then breaks free and gallops away!

Obviously when working with any animal additional safety precautions had to be taken. The sheer size of the horse alone was a danger in itself meaning we needed someone who knew something about the animals and someone who the horse was comfortable to work with.

Again when taking the still shots we decided that the main feature should be a female and a horse. We took many shots to review and pick the best at the end of the day. We also experemented with different lighting levles and contrast settings giving us a wide selection to choose from. The imagry again was linked to our video as the same female is shown walking the horse as on the images. This not only gives the audience the impression that the single which would be on the album is a more well known song, and would give them recognition when buying or watching the video as the two products can be linked easily.

Deeper reasons behind this were the fact that we were inspired by the group 'Hurts' who often use the same actors and actresses in many of their videos. It was because of this we decided to take a similar path and go ahead with the same actress in the video and on the still images used on the cover of the digipak and poster.

Filming (day 2)

On the second day, we filmed the other half of the music video, the dancing in the barn.

After arriving at the location we had carefully selected previous to the date, we began to clean and set up equipment so that the area was exactly how we needed it. We arrived much earlier than the previous day of filming as we were aware that it would take some time to clean out the location and make the necessary adaptations. The reasoning behind the late adaptions was that the barn was regularly used, and as we had been granted access we thought it best to cause as little disruption as possible.

As with the other half of the filming we decided to film the dance from many different angles to ensure footage was not scarce and we have a choice of what to edit, where to cut and to allow the desired outcome to be as closely achieved as possible.

An important element of the day was providing 'warm up' breaks for the dancers. As we filmed in the winter, the temperature was not safe to be exposed in, and with the thin outfits we chose to use, it was important that the volunteers did not become too cold and risk their own health. To counter this effect we provided blankets and additional layers, which we gave to them after every 10-15 minutes.

The dance was choreographed well in advance to ensure the day ran as smooth as possible. With the help of a trained and experienced dancer we were able to tailor the dance to a professional standard as well as meet the demands of the message we were trying to portray. The other dancer had only expierience from a very young age but after learning the dance from scratch and showing her ability we decided she was perfect for the role.

Filming (day 1)

We decided when we planned out our filming schedule that it would be best to focus on both elements of the music video individually so that we could focus on each element separately to make sure quality was as good as possible. The other reason for doing this was so that actors, and helpers were not wasting their kindly donated time by standing around aimlessly, and becoming de-motivated.

On the first day we focused primarily on filming the miming section of the video. To do this we all met up on time at the previously selected location with all the necessary equipment, (lighting, reflectors, props, actors)

to get enough footage, we filmed Ben, one of the main features in the video miming the entire song from many different angles. By doing this it gave us room to play around with footage when editing, with little chance of not having enough to stretch throughout the entire song.

We shared duty's throughout the day and tried to rotate and be fair when allocating. The main jobs we divided out where of course filming, along with lighting, lighting aids (reflectors, filters) and 'water control', which meant keeping equipment dry, as well as the actor and lens of the camera so that the footage was not ruined with unwanted rain and lens marks.

Final location decision!

The actual location we chose was a farm on Acton Trussle, as it was easy to get to and offered a diverse range of locations for us to use. After gaining permission to use and enter the land, we moved the fences and drove up so we could use the car headlights for extra light, any animals (if we needed them) and we also had access to the farmhouse for electrical sockets and power points.

The Oak tree - The oak tree was the one of the main features shown in our music video and digi-pak. Reaching extremely high, and having a trunk circumference of approximately 2..5 metres the tree was extremely safe to be around and was a perfect place to use for our miming scenes. We decided to use the tree as one of the main features in the music video as it allowed us to be able to position our male actor (mime) in various positions around the tree to give dramatic effect. Also the tree was chosen to represent something dying. This was because the relationship in the song is falling apart and in a sense 'dead'. At the end of the song the singer is shown letting go of the tree, which is symbolic for him releasing the relationship and moving on.

The Barn - The barn was also situated on the farmland, and followed a similar theme of old and decaying. The walls were made of concrete and the wooden boards also made the location feel prison like. This is where we chose to shoot the dancing scenes as we could easily represent the female character as 'trapped' as is suggested in the lyrics. ''Do the things you always wanted to, without me there to hold you back, don't think just do...''. On the day of filming we had to arrive earlier to clear and set up the barn. Unlike the other locations we could not prepare earlier as it the barn was actually heavily used by the farmer.

The fields/animals - The farmhouse is surrounded by 25 acres of fields and land making our choices vast of where to film the needed footage. The fields were split into segments, however we were given permission to move fences if necessary to create larger areas to work in. The horses we were given access to were in the main field. There was more than enough room for the horses to run when we filmed creating a great effect of freedom, this was designed and chosen for use as we believed it represented the freedom of the women in the relationship, after the horse becomes free from its master.

Risk assessment form!

We thought it important to assess the risk involved with our filming locations as it was important to be prepared for every stage of planning and filming. This allowed the filming to run smoothly and allowed the group to know what the risks of filming on the farm were!

Because we were handling large animals it was especially important to be safe. We had several strange situations on the day of filming such as being chased by geese, but thankfully, due to previous inspection and note taking of the area, we knew how to drive them away and no one was hurt.

Pitch!

Matt - Initial idea - Our initial idea was to create a narrative music video which told the story of a couple whoes relationship failed due to the main actor being hit by a car. However we decided against this as we would find it hard to make the video a proffessional standard which would mimic the conventions found in the industry.

Hannah - Target audience - After resesrching into our target market we did primary research such as questionaires, focus groups and asked questions online which allowed us to find out that our target market was primarily an older audience with younger audiences not showing much interest in the genre of music. This is what made our group decide to change from a narrative to a concept video. This was due to older generations having more interest in this style of genre (alternative/indie). We also tried to incorporate intertextual references to further entice our targeted audiences. Our main concepts came from a combination of our primary research and they consisted of the use of an oak tree, a barn and a field with a horse.

Maizy - Inspiration - We got a lot of our inspiration from the musical group ''Hurts''. The ballet style outfits as well as the contempory dance moves fitted in well with our chosen genre and song. The Oscar winning movion picture ''Black Swan'' was the main inspiration behind our make up designs and final choices. This was because we wanted a bold image that not only represented our concepts but stood out on the camera and looks elegant.

Lauren - Final idea - For our final idea we finally decided to combine a concept video with a performance style. We selected and used several key elements for our music video which were the use of the barn, the oak tree and the field with the horse. We also incorporated a dance which was symbolic of the womens role in the relationship.

Lighting - experimenting

LIGHTING AND FILTERS

We spent several hours experimenting with various types of lighting and several different filters to find out which would have the best effect. We wanted to test the different types of lighting and filters in different scenarios so on the day of filming we would not have to waste as much time either outside, or if our contingency plan had to be used due to extreme whether.

1) The first type of light we tested was a mains powered yellow light.



This produced a yellow glow on the objects and seemed to have a better range outside with the same effects as the indoor testing. The downside of this lighting is that it requires mains power to work as battery operated equivalents do not have the same life span, meaning filming may become rushed.

2) Secondly we looked into LED strip lighting.


This was similar to the tripod yellow lighting as it required mains power to be affective. However the effect of the lighting was very different to the option above. It gives of 'cleaner' light without the golden tint, meaning a brighter light is visible. This would work well in our indoor back up plan as it is essentially, brighter than the yellow light tripod.

3) As well as LED and tripod camping lights, we came up with the idea of using car headlights as they give the golden tint light the first option described but they have the benefit of not requiring mains power and instead run off the charge of the car battery.


As well as being battery powered the car option has the benefit of having three brightness settings, side lights, beam and main beam which can be changed depending on the levels of light outside. Of course the car can only be used if the outside option goes ahead.

FILTERS

We looked into a couple of different options for filtering and reflecting the light. the idea is to be able to change the tint on the lighting if we wanted and to be able to reflect light to specific place and to remove the intensity of the light.



1) The white light filter allows the intensity of the light to be dimmed and allows a faint glow to be achieved. Alternatively the white sheet can be used to reflect light.

2)



The gold and silver reflector films not only help to direct light as it is required, but also amplified the glowing effect produced by the yellow light and white light on a lower scale. The gold film seamed to be more effective indoors as the gold glow effect it radiates is more visible to the eye under lower levels of external light.


Our homemade aids




We quickly realized that although light reflectors were very effective when used, manufactured products were expensive and meant our budget would be severely damaged and limit other aspects of production. To proceed with the equipment we needed, we created our own reflectors using little more than cardboard and tin foil. We stretched the tin foil smoothly over the cardboard to maximize the reflective quality produced. It turned out that our home made reflectors were far better than the manufactured products as we could make them as large as we needed, and make as many as we wanted. This linked with the fact that the reflectors we made, emitted a 'purer' lighting effect than the ones we purchased.

Pitch - planning

To make our pitch as clear as possible we wanted to plan it carefully before describing our plan, why we decided to do what we did and how we developed our ideas to fit audience expectations and elements often used in the specific genre.

We decided to brake the pitch up into four main points;

1) Original ideas -reasons why we didn't go ahead with our initial ideas

2) Target audience - market research, primary and secondary

3)Inspiration - ( similar genre styles)
4) our final idea - why, what and how

We finally decided on these four headings as they not only covers the main elements of our planning, decision making process and research and analysis but also makes the speech more interesting to watch as there are four points, and also four members of the group, meaning the audience will be less likely to become bored.

To decide on the headings we held group discussions in both of our weekly meetings to find the four headings which would be the most useful to get across exactly why we planned to do what we did. The democratic style of the group allows us to play around with various ideas and test out which work best. This was key to deciding how the pitch would flow and what it contained.

Final makeup and costume decission.

We decided to change the make-up design as the previous design was not bold enough and struggled to stand out on the camera when filmed. The White face paint contrasted well against the black outfits and the image was meant to represent classy, contemporary dance.

The outfits chosen, have inter textual reference to Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. The white faces not only stand out clearer on the film, but they are also symbolic of wiped emotion which also goes against the stereotypical concept put forward by the Male Gaze Theory as the dancers are de-sexualised. It is also important to point out the small feature we implemented, we made the make up under Beth's eye run to simulate that she had been crying.

The costumes consist of black 'netty' clothes because we wanted to get across a classy theme, rather than a sexual one. We were initially inspired by the dancer's outfits in Hurts - Wonderful Life which are shown below. We had to work with a small budget but we believe we have achieved a successful look to suit our genre and song. We decided on a black leotard combined with small top hats with a veil which was not promiscuous, and was exactly what we were searching for. The combination of our chosen items gave an androgynous look to the dancers as there are both masculine and feminine features to the outfit!

ideas for make up!

Since our video is primarily concept, we decided that the dancers should have extravagant makeup mainly to keep the audience entertained more than anything.

We decided on decorating the eye area on each dancer, with eye shadow. The images above demonstrate two different colour designs which the group have been designing and practicing. The black and silver design are more fitting with the outfits each dancer will be wearing, as they will predominately be in black. However, the blue design contrasts better against the black making the shots more appealing to watch. The black and silver design has the advantage where the actual concept is concerned, as it is 'broken dreams' and therefore is symbolic for misery, and also helps to set the ambiance for the depressing theme of the song the video will have to reflect to the audience.

After much experimenting we finally decided that this style of makeup design would not work very well for what we wanted to do. We struggled to pick up the makeup on the camera when using long shots meaning we had to sit back down and come up with more ideas so that the effect of the makeup would be maximised.


This idea was inspired by the film, Black Swan. Which saw as a good example of powerful design and bold imagery.

potential names for the band

We decided to re-name the band rather than staying with the originals 'Snow Patrol'. The reasoning for this was so that viewers who have watched and listen to the original band will not have a fixed expectation as they see the band's name, and instead will have an unbiased opinion of the finished production.

Names -

1) Hole in the wall
2) The Clergymen
3) The untamed
4) The Pigmy's
5) Requiem
6) Sphinx
7) The Wookies
8) Ignite

All the above were chosen largely based on there abstract nature which follows a theme used by many indie/rock bands. For example the indie band The Wombats is a good example of the application of this abstract naming process.

The names highlighted in red are considerations we have narrowed down out of the 8.

FINAL DECISION

We finally decided on the name IGNITE. The reasoning behind this is that it contrasts heavily against the mood the band emits to its audiences. The word ignite means to set alight, and is closely linked to the idea of fire, which of course is bright and warm. Fire is often used as a symbol for energy, happiness, passion and hope. This is why we decided on the name as it brings out much of the implied meaning in the bands songs and highlights sometimes hard to see messages through the grey, dark imagery used. Also the word Ignite, flows well when said and has a rounded sound, making it appealing to consumers. Not only this, but the short, polysyllabic word is easy to remember making it easy to be accessed.

effective advertising record labels use to promote the artist

Without advertising artists wouldn't be able to sell the product. It is important to take the product to the consumer as the chances of a respectable number of 'could be fans' searching for the products are unlikely. This is why the music industry must use the correct advertising to market their products and increase sales revenue.

Website -

Websites are a great promotional tool for musicians, however this online approach only has a large impact when for the use of the bands existing fans, or people who know how to find the website. Websites allow fans to buy merchandise such as T-Shirts, mugs, hats etc. This of course allows the band brand to branch out, meaning everyone who wears the merchandise is endorcing the artists! Websites also allow for music to be bought and many independant musicians offer their music for an optional payable fee, where fans pay whatever they want for the products. This ensures fans are happy, and the independant musicians recieve some funding to keep there careers going.

I-tunes

I tunes of course is a huge advertising opportunity for musicians. The updates main page on the program shows new albums releases by bands and any new singles etc that are released. This platform however does have its bounderies. The limited advertising space more than likely means that the cost will be high. This would indefinatly limit the usage by smaller less established bands and be dominated by the better known musicians.

Amazon

When customers who buy from amazon log in there is a page displayed which has already analysed past purchases and recommends products which are tailored to the individual shopper. This is fantastic for musicians as it means they can rely partly on similar bands from their genre to advertise, and then be displayed in the 'products you may enjoy' section and intrigue consumers to try their products. This kind of sale will more than likely lead to website hits and further merchandise purchases meaning the band/group will recieve increased cash flow.

Spotify

Spotify is a relativly new music streaming download which offers customers free music to enjoy with restrictions of use, as they can only listen to the songs on the program and can not copy. Spotify like itunes has advertisment slots which updates and is a good platform for consumers to get a taste of various genres and artists through suggestions and ads.

Gigs/performances

When bands perform live, they not only have the chance to play songs that their fans already know from past albums but it gives them the opportunity to perform new music which may have only just been released and is not widely known yet.

what makes a good website - For bands fitting Snow Patrols audiences

We looked through Band sites with a similar target audience to Snow Patrol including Snow Patrol's own site to find out what elements make a good Internet site.

After analysing the band sites of, Elbow, Coldplay, Radio Head, Biffy Clyro, and Kings of Leon we depicted several key features that was apparent on each site.

1) Dark Colours

With the exception to the Kings of Leon's site, all others used predominantly dark colours as the background for their pages. Even though the Kings of Leon did not use colours as dark as the others, it still could not be described as vibrant. Black was the most frequent colour used on each website and was often supplemented by colours such as reds and browns. It could be said it reflects the image the band are trying to promote and the themes introduced in their music.


2) Headings and Pages

Several common key pages branch off from the main site on the band websites. Examples of this include, Interviews, Forums, Gig Dates, Merchandise, Gallery.

The idea of this is to give fans any additional information they want about the band, which of course crafts and image of the band to the consumer. Information, gig dates, and forums not only give the audience an entertainment factor but make each band appear more credible. These additional pages usually found of the main homepage, are either located at the top of the site on a navigation bar, or down the side vertically for easy to use access by users.

3) Text used - Fonts, Style, Size

Each site obviously uses slightly different font types, however each use a similar idea of contrasting colours and block writing for headings. The contrasting colours (usually white) make navigating the website much easier as headings and text stand out and are easy to read. Fonts follow a standard sans serif format so the eye can follow the text with ease.


4) Bad Site

A good example of a bad website is Coldplay's site. The colour scheme is hard to read and the site is generally hard to navigate due to the random layout. It does not follow the scheme common in the other band sites such as bold, clear titles and an easy to navigate side/top bar. However again the dark colours are incorporated once more on this website, as are in the others.

MARKET RESEARCH

We decided to use online question forum Yahoo Answers!

My question - 'What makes a good website for an artist or band?'. I posted the question as 'open' meaning that anybody could see and answer it. This would give me a wider range of answers.

Waiting 3 days after posting the question, I then gathered the responses I received and made note of the most popular suggestions. These were:


-an interesting but brief band biography
-members of the band and what they play
-access to play music on the site
-neat presentation
-dates showing the band/artists' next shows or tours
-a link to the artists' store
-a contact page. where members of the industry or fans can contact the artist
-easy to navigate
-consistent colour scheme
-links to Youtube, Facebook, Twitter etc

band site analysis - Coldplay

I decided that looking deeper into band sites similar to Snow Patrol is vital if I am to understand what good features make a band site. The following will look at what the website does and does not do well and will analyse why and how.

First impressions show that the website has adhered to the stereotypical dark background for alternative/indie, however the use of albuminous text makes the site stand out strongly over the others. This does not necessarily mean that this is a good choice by coldplay, as the text may stand out, but is not overly clear and due to a heavy use of text it becomes difficult to navigate.

Above is a good example of how ineffective fonts and colours have been used to voice and represent the band on their website. The squiggly blue text does not contrast very well against the black background and considering that the font used above is so different (capital letters and serif) coldplay are clearly relying on their already established audience to spend time attempting to navigate the website.

Although that the colour and fonts used are not the best selection by the site designers the navigation bar options are quite good. The options fans are available to choose from, cover a broad range. The first option being 'news' first appears to be a useful link leading to band updates. However instead it pointlessly leads to world news, which for incidents such as the Japan Tsunami would give the band a good ethical image but may deceive many eager fans who are not interested. The 'Live' link unlike the 'news' tab, does exactly what it should do, and provides a link to live dates for group performances. The archive and time line links also offer additional items such as videos of the band as well as a timeline of events since the band formed back in 1997. However although these tabs provide the information they say they do, they are poorly laid out and are over complicated making them little fun to use. The recordings tab is also a very clever way to advertise the bands recent and past music as well as give other links to videos and audio tracks. The 'exhibition' tab contains band imagery and album art which is relatively entertaining as it contains a quirky system to access the pictures. However by making the title for this link over complicated, the band may be missing out on vital marketing opportunities and will not be maximising its fan base with product association, since the home page lacks any significant imagery to create a visual link. The mailing list option is however well laid out and contains an easy guide to e-mailing the band directly through using simple 'you fill' text boxes.

My conclusion is that the Coldplay fan site contains many flaws. I believe the main issues which are holding it back are the inappropriate text colour and font combinations as well as a lack of a common theme throughout the website. This is clearly visible when the user navigates away from the home page and is faced with an all new layout and design making it tricky to use the site. Although several of the links found on the nav bar to the left of the site are of good quality, the band seem to have created titles which are over complicated, meaning they may be missing out on potential views and commercial publicity. Luckily for Coldplay, they are a well established band and have been around for many years, meaning their main fan base will have already been achieved. This means that their website is a less important tool, and as long as they can clearly display tour dates and merchandise they will ensure a cash inflow and hopefully expand their fan base.