Section 1: Initial notes on music video

From the point of view of the public, music videos are seen as purely light entertainment. The majority of music videos make the artist seem sexy and as a piece of eye candy to an intended audience. They also demonstrate post-modernism, by using signifiers such as superficiality, irony, playfulness, emptiness and of a serious meaning. Another way a music artist can connect with it's audience is through humour.

However, from the point of view of the record company, music videos are purely for promotion and for advertising the band. Sometimes they advertise other things too, like a film. If an artist agrees to put one of their songs to the soundtrack of a film, most likely the music video will have clips from the film in it. Overall, the aim of the music video is to raise visibility of the band, almost like a visual radio. The music video can then be shown on music TV channels, like MTV; which is famous for beginning the trend for a channel showing only music videos.

The most common element to be used in music videos is some sort of a performance involving the singer and instruments, which usually shows the artist miming/lipsynching live or in a studio. This is important for their star image as it allows them to bond with their audience. A good way of achieving this bond is having the artist singing to the camera. Another element that's frequently used is a storyline/narrative, which conveys some sort of message or meaning. Sometimes both performance and storyline elements are used, using a cross-cutting effect between each scene. For the music video to be successful and praised by critics and the fans, it needs to be stylish. The video's style needs to reflect the style of music, whether that's in the special effects, montage editing, camera use/shots or mise-en-scene. Sometimes artists choose to put extra sound on the video, which isn't in the CD version of the song.

The basic function or purpose of a music video is advertisement. The realisation of the importance of a music video to the industry came in December 1975 when the rock group Queen began its 9-week run at the top of the UK singles chart with the epic single 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' which came with an epic video. Most record companies employ somebody whose task it is to commission videos. This person can be called by a number of titles, for example commissioning editor for video or head of video. A music video usually takes 2 weeks to produce. According to Andrew Goodwin, the 3 different ways in which the visuals in a video can relate to the lyrics of a song are:

• Illustration - The video closely illustrates the song.
• Amplification - The video builds on the song - Adding something to it.
• Disjuncture - The video has no connection to the song.

A music video treatment will, in no more than a page and a half, describe what happens in the video and how it will look. Some of the things to avoid in making a student video are well-known songs, overdone effects and aimless driving around.

Section 2: Close analysis of 3 professional music videos

'Smile' by Lily Allen

GENRE

The video for 'Smile' foregrounds Lily Allen performing the song, as she is miming the words throughout the duration. This performance is also combined with a narrative which matches the lyrics of the song. However, the main genre of Lily Allen's music is pop, but this particular song could be placed in the ska category because of it's beat.

NARRATIVE

The narrative focuses on Lily getting revenge on her boyfriend for cheating on her. Also, the narrative illustrates and amplifies the meanings in the song. The music video has a clear beginning, middle and end. The beginning shows Lily sat at home by herself eating chocolate and being upset. The middle is when Lily is getting revenge on her ex-boyfriend. The end is Lily walking down the middle of the street and being happy. The narrative is generally linear but with lots of ellipsis and flashbacks. For example, at the start Lily is sat on her bed alone, there are jump-cuts to her sat on her bed with her boyfriend and then back to present day again. This suggests that the flashbacks are Lily's thoughts and memories. The characters relate to conventional archetypes, for example, Lily is the hero, her ex is the villain and the people who attack him are the helpers. There are also some examples of binary oppositions in the video e.g. good v bad, male v female, happy v sad, feminine v masculine, hero v villain. These oppositions convey important meanings in the narrative and link to the lyrics.

LANGUAGE - MISE EN SCENE

There are many key signifiers in the mise en scene of this music video. One important signifier is portraying Lily as girly but tough. She wears long dresses and pink eyeshadow, however her actions showing her getting revenge on her ex-boyfriend aren't associated with femininity. Therefore, performance and costume in the video are opposing Lily's image. Also, Lily's facial expressions link to the theme of the song and show the change she's gone through from the beginning to the end of the video. At the beginning she's upset in her room and bored in the cafe listening to her ex, but by the end she's walking down the street and smiling. Another key signifier in the video is the settings. Lily's flat is brightly coloured with orange walls and seems more homely and lived-in, whereas the man's flat has white walls and black furniture and all his possessions are neat, therefore it doesn't really look like someone lives there. This demonstrates the binary oppositions mentioned earlier of male v female and hero v villain, conveying men as the villains. It also allows the audience to differentiate between the man and the woman. The other characters are also important. Their clothing depicts them as 'chavs,' and their actions are a stereotypical view of what 'chavs' do, e.g. beating people up and breaking into houses. The final scene of Lily walking down the middle of the road, shows she's changed and she's now happy to move on. Walking down the middle of the road signifies confidence, rebellion and non-conformity.

LANGUAGE - CAMERA

There are many shots in the 'Smile' video that convey certain meanings to the audience. One shot that's used frequently is close-ups on Lily's face while she's singing. This shows her facial expressions and informs the audience on how Lily's feeling. There are many mid shots used to show Lily's face, hair, jewellery and costume. However, there are longer shots in the bedroom to emphasise her aloneness. Also, in the bedroom there are frequent tracking shots so the audience can see the surroundings as well as the characters. During the violent scenes a hand-held camera is used, which makes the audience feel like they're part of the gang and that's their point of view. This gives a sense of realism and involvement. Overall, there are no overly dramatic shots. Maybe this is due to the budget, because this was Lily Allen's debut song after being signed perhaps her record label weren't sure whether she'd be a success or not so they didn't want to spend much on her first music video.

LANGUAGE - EDITING

The editing for the video is generally fast-paced, so it keeps to the beat of the song, and the fast-spoken lyrics. The first prominent example of editing is the opening flashbacks which show Lily alone, then with her boyfriend, then alone again. These flashbacks represent her thoughts, memories and possibly her wishes of what will happen. Some continuity editing is used in the narrative scenes, for example when Lily is paying people to beat her ex-boyfriend up. There's also cross-cutting between the performance and narrative scenes and the shot-reverse-shot technique is used to show the conversation in the cafe.

REPRESENTATION

Lily Allen is represented as feminine but tough, through her costume especially. She wears lots of make-up and dresses, but also trainers, heavy jewellery and her hair is up. Those last few factors aren't associated with femininity. The main gender representation is between the 2 main characters. In the song lyrics, the female is innocent and the male is seen as the 'bad guy.' However, because the video uses amplification it shows the female being the malicious one by getting revenge, and the male being more innocent. But, listening to the lyrics Lily's actions in the video are justified. Also, the representation of social class is predominant. The setting shows them in a working class cafe, and their flats aren't extravagant or spacious. These characters are represented as just normal, everyday people.

AUDIENCE

The record company would've had to choose a target audience for this video and use techniques to connect with them. In the song lyrics, Lily Allen addresses 'you' or her ex-boyfriend directly. Another technique is occasional eye-contact and sly smiles, which build up intimacy with the audience. Also, the audience, especially females, would pleasure in sharing Lily's revenge. The video might influence female fans to be less accepting of male dishonesty in relationships. As well as that, viewers might find the video useful in thinking about their own relationships.

'The Golden Path' by The Chemical Brothers

GENRE

The Chemical Brothers' video for 'The Golden Path' has a narrative but no performance by the artists. Throughout their career, The Chemical Brothers have developed their own style/genre of video. Therefore, as soon as a video by this artist comes on, fans are easily able to recognise the artist, even though they're hardly ever featured in the video. This is evident in the video for 'The Golden Path.' In relation to the music, the genre is dance music or drum and bass. This is linked to in the video in the dancing at the end.

NARRATIVE

At the start of the video, the man goes to work; the lyrics suggest he thinks work is 'hell.' However, sometimes he escapes to a hippy-populated field. This shows a contrast between the dull setting and characters in his office, to the bright and happy setting and characters in the field. There's a slight connectivity between the lyrics and the video, however the video amplifies the meanings in the lyrics. For example, the lyrics describe some sort of hell whereas in the video he's walking into work. Also, the lyrics describe the devil/demon with flashing lights and the video shows a printer with flashing lights. Lastly, the lyrics talk about a volcano and the coffee flask explodes like a volcano. The video has a clear beginning, middle and end structure. The beginning shows the main character walking to work, where he crosses the road without looking. This shows that his days must be repetitive, because he's so used to crossing that road that he doesn't need to look for cars anymore. Then he gets into the lift. The middle is where he's transported to a better world that contrasts with the workplace because it's happy and colourful. The end is when he escapes the dull workplace for good so he can stay in his happy place. This video is linear throughout. The linear narrative structure provides a sense of progression. There are also clear character types shown in the video. The man's boss is the 'villain' because he gives the main character a low wage. The worker is the 'princess' because he's not amazing at his job, he gets a bad wage and his life seems generally dull, therefore he's sort of a damsel in distress who needs rescuing. The girl and the hippies are the heroes. This is because they're free to do what they want and they save/rescue the worker from a bad life and job. The binary opposites demonstrated are stress/calm, colour/black and white, work/play, control/freedom, good/bad and happy/sad.

MISE EN SCENE

Costume

The main character wears a scruffy suit, showing his low wage. The girl that he meets in the field wears a yellow dress, which is hippy like. Also, alot of the hippies wear some sort of flower/floral clothing to fit with their stereotype. When the man takes off his suit to escape his dull life for good, he wears a white top and underwear which symbolises freedom.

Lighting

There are dull lights in the office, which enhances the natural colourful lights when the video shifts into the field outside.

Acting

The main character is a white male in his 20s. He is also the love interest for the main white female character. She is a hippy and also in her 20s. The boss is older and looks in his 50s.

Make-up and hair

The man's hair is tidy for work and messy when he's in the fields. This highlights the contrast even more, between both the settings.

Props

The following props are seen in this music video:

-Photocopier - Shows working environment

-Computer

-Pay check

-Magazines

-Papers

-Coffee machine

-Doughnut - Represents relationship

All these props represent one half of the music video; the part where the main character's in work. The following props represent the hippy part of the music video: smiley face, yellow campervan, flowers around neck, record player and bubbles.

Setting

The first part of the music video is set in a dull office. It's also dull outside when the man's walking to work. The only place that isn't dull is the hippy field, which is colourful. This links with the binary opposite good v bad and happy v sad, because the field is good and happy, and the office is bad and sad.

CAMERA

The first prominent shot is a close up of the man with the Sun behind him. This shows how miserable he is. Another close up is used showing the pay slip. This shows that the man's job isn't paying well. Next, there's a hand held shot as the boss walks into his office, which shows his boss' anger at him. Then, there's an over shoulder shot as the boss stands over him, showing the boss' power over the worker. When the main character escapes to the field, there's a full shot showing the hippies which highlights their freedom. Then he comes back to work, and realises that the life the hippies lead is much better so he decides to take off his suit and escape back into the happy field. As he's getting unchanged he's shown in a 2 shot, which shows his co-workers confusion at his actions. Finally, a point of view shot is used as the man and women spin around in the field, showing them having fun and being happy.

EDITING

In this music video, there's lots of continuity editing, in order for the audience to follow and understand the story/narrative of the man's fantasy. To highlight even more the contrast between the fantasy hippy place and in work, the editing changes. There are slow cuts in the fantasy hippy place and fast cuts when the main character's in work. There are also various weird, experimental transitions that wouldn't normally be found in a music video.

REPRESENTATION

The idea of the video exactly matching with the lyrics in this way shows The Chemical Brothers as free-spirited, non-conforming artists and the lead male represents this as he is going off into a dream world and not conforming to what's expected e.g. going to work etc. The work place is seen as boring with bland colours which shows the main character's life style. However, the dream world is colourful and everyone is having fun. This shows what he aspires to be.

AUDIENCE

The target audience for this video is definitely youth, possibly people in there 20s who're old enough to be working, so they can relate to the character, but still young. This video would appeal to the audience because it dramatises the fantasies of young people in boring jobs. The audience may be influenced to reject boring work in favour of pleasure e.g. dancing. However, if they don't take action themselves, they will take pleasure in watching someone live out their fantasies.

'Higher Ground' by Red Hot Chilli Peppers

GENRE

This video shows the band performing the song in front of a bluescreen, which is replaced by different images in the background. However, there's no narrative or characters. The genre of the music is rock/funk, which is linked to in the fact that the video shows musicians playing their instrument very dramatically.

NARRATIVE

The song is about the 'world' going round. It also mentions people having wars and serious issues like that. The images in the background link to this general narrative. This video is a montage, therefore it doesn't have a linear narrative structure.

BINARY OPPOSITES

-Black and white v Colour

-Past v. Present

-Band v. World

-Individuals v. Crowds

MISE EN SCENE

One of the first things you notice in the video is the colourful costumes and the bright colours of the instruments, which reverses the stereotypical image of a rock band. Also, the singer is topless, therefore his muscles give a macho image. The blue-screen background allows different things to be portrayed through the setting. The background changes from black and white old footage to colourful animations. Another prominent background that stood out was the kaleidoscope image, where the 4 bandmembers were lying head to head while kaleidoscope patterns rotated in the background. This image of rotating is recurring. It is repeated when people are dancing in a circle. Maybe the rotating theme relates to the lyrics about the world and the pattern and people are turning like the world.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

In this music video, there are a wide range of different shots used. One predominant shot is tracking shots which are used alot, going towards and around the performers. There are also low angles and canted (dutch) angles. Aswell as that, there are high angle shots looking down on the group of people and overhead shots looking down on the band with the kaleidoscope image in the background.

EDITING

The fast pace of the editing reflects the heavy/fast tempo of the song. Montage editing is demonstrated in the background blue screen images. The lipsynching by the band members creates continuity.

AUDIENCE

When this music video was made in the late 80s, it would've attracted a young audience. The bright colours and energetic performance appeals to youth values. The audience would experience pleasure in watching the over-the-top performance by the charismatic singer and musicians. Also, the audience might be influenced by the clothes and the fashions in the video.

Section 3: Close analysis of 2 professional music videos

Paolo Nutini-New Shoes

Genre:
The genre of 'New Shoes' by Paolo is acoustic. The artist performs in his own video but he doesn't play his instrument in it which is unusual for an acoustic artist. The video has a slight narrative in which he wakes up, puts on his new shoes, goes and parties and goes outside because he feels confident now he is wearing his new shoes. This links to the lyrics.

Narrative:
The song is about a man (Paolo) who wakes up and feels something is missing so he puts on his new shoes and everything is fine, and he has a good time. The video also shows the artist's grown confidence now that he has his new shoes on because he walks down the middle of the road singing and dancing. The video has a linear narrative, and is a performance video aswell.

Binary oppositions:
New/Old
Cartoon/Reality
Boy/Girl
Morning/Night

Mise-en-scene:
The start of the video begins with an animation of the camera rolling down the road which links to Paolo walking down the middle of the street throughout the video. A set of titles introduce the video and the artist which give it more of a short film feel rather than a typical music video. All the people in the video wear casual clothing to give a relaxed and down to earth look. Also Paolo's leather jacket signifies that he is cool and his new shoes make him look attractive, shown by the interest he is getting from the girls in the video. In the video there is a tramp (shown through his tatty clothes) which Paolo associates himself with, by patting him on the back, this signifies that he doesn't care about poverty (lyrics-'short of money'). The way that the artist walks down the street, now that he has his new shoes on, shows that he has become bold and brave. In the bedroom there is a guitar on the bed to relate to the genre of music- accoustic.

Editing:
The titles roll in from the side. There is also a match-on-action shot from Paolo closing the fridge door and opening his wardobe door. Little lights are used as an animation to float around Paolo to make his new shoes look that bit more special. This effect would have been put on after.

Audience:
Girls or teenagers would be the main audience of this video because they may find the artist attractive. The video also has a fun and party theme, which could influence that side of the audience into liking the video.

Camera/Cinematography:
There is a point of view shot of Paolo looking into the kitchen at the partying people to make it feel like we are there and involved. A hand held shot in the party also does this, and could also signify the drunken stumbling from the party members. At the start of the video there is an aerial shot to show the messy room and Paolo as the centre of attention. A pull focus is used to show a point of view of him focusing on the time, matching the lyrics in the song.

You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift:

Genre:
American pop/country music

Narrative:
The video foregrounds Tayor's performance of the song. Performance combines with narrative, often merging the two together in the same scene.

The narrative of the story is that of a young teenage girl who is in love with an attractive teenaged boy and in the end she gets the boy. It has all the typical American-esque stereotypes that are associated with high school, the girl is part of the 'marching band' making her a geek of the school and the boy is on the football team making him a 'popular' kid. The boy's girlfriend (who is actually played by Taylor again, but wearing a wig) is head cheerleader which therefore makes her part of the popular kids too.

Beginning:
The two are talking across houses via placards about life in general.

Middle:
The main girl sees the nice boy going out with his 'slaggy' girlfriend.

End:
The main girl ends up going to prom, after telling him she has too much homework and can't make it, she eventually plucks up the courage to show the boy the placard baring the words 'I love you' on them to find out that the boy in fact has the same placard with the same words written on them but in his own hand writing, and she ends up with the boy of her dreams and the 'slaggy' girl ends up with nothing!

The narrative is generally linear, however it does contain lots of ellipsis and jump cuts to show the passing of time.

Binary Opposites:
Geeks vs Slags
Bandies vs Cheerleaders
Scruffy vs Fashionable
Blonde vs Brunette
Innocence vs Experience
Love vs Lust

Meanings:
Don't judge a book by its cover.
Be confident.
Take risks and life is usually rewarding.
Be yourself.

Media Language:
Mise En Scene.
Locations:
Houses, personal bedrooms, school, football field, prom hall, and in a nice red car.
The sets and locations are all stereotypical 'high school girl' locations, like for example the prom hall is all decorated, and her room is very girlie with posters and pictures and light pinks everywhere. Whereas the boy's room is very guy-like with American footballs lying around and American football jerseys. In the prom scene the 'slaggy' girl wears a bright red dress which automatically has pejorative connotations to it, and the dress is very low cut, whereas Taylor Swift's character comes in with her angel-like, white dress with long wavy blonde hair and she looks stunning.

Editing:
The editing throughout is generally linear, except for the scene in her bedroom where we are presented with a lot of jump cuts to show the passing of time and also the different outfits that Taylor Swift's character has in her wardrobe, also a very stereotypical way to perceive a young teenaged girl, obsessed with clothes, shoes, hats and make-up.

Audience:
The audience is generally girls, teenaged girls who have a very fairy-tale view on love and friendship. Its shows the right girl ending up with the boy of her dreams and she 'lives happily ever after.' It's every girls dream come true ending.

Section 4: Target audience research

Questionnaire

Age?

• 16 and under
• 17 to 20
• 21 and over

Gender?

• Male
• Female

What genres of music do you like?

• Rock
• Indie
• Classical
• Metal
• Pop
• Jazz
• R'n'B
• Hip hop
• Dance
• Other

Do you watch a lot of music videos online or on TV?

• Yes
• No

What is your favourite music channel?

Who is your favourite artist?

Do you like music videos to contain a narrative?

• Yes
• No

Where would you prefer a music video to be staged?

• School
• Stage/Gig
• Outside
• Beach
• Park
• Other

Would you like to see the artist appear in the video?

• Yes
• No

Would you prefer a music video to be linear or non-linear?

• Linear
• Non-linear

Results

The majority of people we gave our questionnaire to were aged between 17 and 20, which is our intended audience for the music video. This is because, the artist we have permission from is only young, therefore the audience will be able to relate to his lyrics because they will be a similiar age to him. However, he has quite a mature sound to his music, which would eliminate an audience in their early teens. Also, the majority of people who filled out the questionnaire were female, which isn't related to our target audience because it's not gender specific. However, I do think the artist would appeal that bit more to women because of his appearance. Most people chose indie as the genre of music they prefer, and they also said that they watch music videos alot. 4music turned out to be people's favourite music channel. This could be because it's more accessible; it is available in all basic television packs. Another reason could be because it is branded under popular Channel 4, which mainly shows teen programmes. In the open question of who is their favourite artist, Rihanna was named twice and Beyonce three times, compared to the other artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Calvin Harris who came up just once. Most people said that they would like a narrative in a music video and that they would prefer it to be filmed outside. Also, they would like to see the artist appear in the video and have a linear structure. These answers have given us a clear idea of what our target audience prefer, therefore we will try to incorporate as many of the ideas, they have indicated that they like, as possible to keep them happy and interested.

Section 5: Planning materials for video

Lyrics for 'Marching Band' by Joe Brooks

Notes on the band:

Joe Brooks is a UK singer-songwriter from Southampton. He's been recently signed to Lava Records and has received media coverage based on his topping the UK Myspace charts. While unsigned, he gathered 12 million plays on Myspace which built up a strong Internet following. Brooks has a fan base that ranges from Europe to the United States. Tickets for his shows are currently being sold for 12 times their face value.

Treatment:

Our video mainly consists of a man grieving over the loss of his girlfriend. There are constant flashbacks, shown in black and white, of happier times with his girlfriend and imagining that she's still there. An example of this is in the scene when they're both sat on a bed, watching a film in black and white, then his girlfriend disappears and the colour changes from black and white to normal colour to show the transition between past and present. We allow the audience to come to their own conclusions about what happened to his girlfriend: whether she died or she's just left him for another person. He is also shown trying to deal with the grief by consulting in his friend, who just angers him even more because he doesn't understand. In the end, he decides that he can't cope anymore so he decides to end his own life with pills.

Set/Location details:

Most of the music video is set inside a house as we needed to show the main characters doing homely, couple-like things such as arriving home, watching a film or playing video games to convey their happiness when they were together. The scenes that were set in the present, when the boyfriend was by himself, were mainly located in the house to portray his feelings at losing his girlfriend. He was enclosed inside, which shows that he was bottling his feelings up. We then moved some locations outside to stop the video looking to cramped and isolated. This was shown when the boyfriend was walking along the street and miming to the words of the song. We wanted to show that he was now willing to open up his feelings to his friend, by being outside. A theme that was recurring in the music video is the theme of doors. This relates to the theme of death that was also present in the video, because we wanted to show that death could lead to doors opening to another life, or doors closing on physically being alive.

Casting notes:

Kit Phillips

We cast Kit as our leading male because we know from past experience (working with him before) that he would give a great performance, he's hard working, determined to succeed and is very reliable. He's a very good looking guy who we believed would fit the role perfectly. The emotions we needed from our leading male were very raw and upsetting and we knew that Kit would be up for a challenge.

Sarah Cramp

Also, from past experience we knew that Sarah would not get irritated with her lack of being in the film and we knew that Sarah and Kit have great chemistry together and would be able to pull off being a couple deeply in love.

We also had a little cameo from our good friend Mark Farrent who is best friends with Kit in real life so we needed a strong bond between the two male characters and these two pulled it off exceptionally well.

Costume details:

We went for the casual but 'cool' look to show that our main character was an attractive, well dressed guy. However, because of the flashbacks in our music video, we needed a few outfits, although the change was subtle as all the outfits were similar, but fashionable. He wore a leather jacket - black. Neutral colours, nothing too extreme - blues and blacks. He wore stylish blue jeans.

Shot List: Inside shots:

Shot 1: Tilt up from Kit's feet, and then back down again.

Shot 2: Panning shot of face.

Shot 3: Mid shot of Kit's face, singing.

Shot 4: Steady camera mid-shot, Kit gets up and out of shot.

Shot 5: Long shot in bedroom Kit storming in.

Shot 6: Mid-shot of Kit and Sarah in bedroom playing x-box.

Shot 7: Close up of two linked hands.

Shot 8: Long shot of two actors cuddling on the bed.

Shot 9: Close up of the two cuddling on bed, low angle close up.

Shot 10: Long shot of two actors walking towards the camera, holding hands.

Shot 11: Close up of hand dropping and pill bottle, with pill rolling.

Shot 12: Hand-held panning shot in bathroom.

Shot 13: Close up of actors face singing.

Shot 14: Hand held shots to portray anger and to build tension.

Outside shots:

Shot 15: Tracking backwards shot, hand held of Kit singing.

Shot 16: Long shot with interesting mise-en-scene, singing to song.

Shot 17: Hand held shots of Kit walking home.

Shot 18: Over the shoulder shot of Kit turning the key in the door.

Shot 18: Close up shot of door closing.

Shot 19: Close up of Kit's face singing.

Shot 20: Panning shot of two lads meeting each other.

Shot 21: Mid shot of the two boys arguing and fighting.

Shot 22: Long shot of Kit walking home towards to gate and opening it.

Section 6: Planning materials for ancillary products

Here is an example of a magazine article advertising an album, this picture inspired our final ideas as we wanted to use the overlap tool using our artist, yet make it look artistic at the same time:

Another example that sparked our ideas for a final design was the artistic flair in this picture:

We were also inspired by the enigma codes that this advert provides and hope to be able to create a similar sort of feel:
Digipak research: Digipak is a patented style of compact disk or DVD packaging. Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Digipacks are a type of CD packaging made out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material. Digipacks can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the center portion. Usually, the portion of the digipack that hold the CD is made of plastic like a traditional jewel case CD - the plastic part is simply attached to the paper background.

Our albums track list:

1. Alonz-y Alonso

2. Alohomora

3. Salazar

4. Vashta Nerada

5. Scorpius

6. Rift Through Time And Space

7. The Big Blue Box

8. Marching Band

9. The Master

10. This Is Not War, This Is Pest Control

11. The Mysterious Ticking Noise

MARCHING BAND THE ALBUM's FIRST MAGAZINE ARTICLE:

This is the finished version of our magazine article, we decided to keep it big, bold and simple, because we thought that the 'The Crooked Voltures' article was straight to the point and very effective in catching our attention as potential buyers. Keeping ours as simple as possible, using big bold lettering with bright, contrasting colours for emphasis.

Here is the final design for our digipack:

Album cover:

The inside cover of the album is our 'Marching Band' lyrics page:

The inside of the back cover is a 'Special Thanks to' page:

The back cover:

Section 7: Evaluation

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

As a group, we were given the task to create a music video, a digipack and a magazine advert. We also completed pre-production and post-production work, such as analysing professional music videos, target audience research, lyric analysis, notes on the artist, treatment, set/location details, casting notes, costume details, shot lists and digipack research. All of this work supported and/or assisted in different stages of the production process when making the music video.

We chose to create a music video to the song ‘Marching Band’ by artist Joe Brooks. Joe Brooks is a singer/songwriter from Southampton. He started off by putting videos of himself playing guitar and singing on YouTube and MySpace, gathering a strong following. Nowadays he’s a signed artist currently touring internationally, as can be seen from his MySpace page. http://www.myspace.com/joebrooksmusic The genre of this song can be applied to all 3 genres of acoustic, indie and pop therefore reaching out to a wider audience. The music video was based on the theme of love, which is a stereotypical convention of music videos. However, ‘Marching Band’ converts this stereotype by linking in the unlikely theme of death. Both these themes contrast as love has positive connotations, whereas death signifies negativity. A predominant convention in music videos is a narrative and performance element. The 'Marching Band' music video meets this stereotype as it is made up of mainly narrative; however there are some elements of performance in it. This is similar to the music video for ‘Smile’ by Lily Allen, because this video uses mainly a narrative cross-cutting with performance. The Lily Allen music video and our music video also share a similar music genre of Britpop and the artists are both singer/songwriters who were first discovered through their MySpace page. A music video that didn’t have anything in common with our music video is ‘Higher Ground’ by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. This is because it was made up of all performance which suited the genre of the song which was rock. Our music video had a lot of emotion and meaning in the lyrics so we felt that the song needed a strong narrative to support it.

In ‘Marching Band’ the performance elements are shown through the constant shots of the singer lip-synching along to the song. The general plot shows a man trying to deal with the loss of his girlfriend; however he ends up committing suicide. The music video constantly flashes back showing the couple happy and in love. These flashbacks are made clear to the audience because they’re in black and white, whereas the rest of the video is in colour. There’s a lot of ambiguity in the music video that we allow the audience to come to their own conclusions about. For example, it isn’t shown explicitly what happens to the girlfriend. After various people viewed the music video a lot of them thought that the couple have just split up or she has left him. However, the fact that the girlfriend had died is implied through the mise en scene. The opening and ending shots which show a plain black background is the first signifier of death, because black has connotations of death and implies that the story won’t end happily otherwise we would’ve used a brighter, happier colour. Also, on the ending shot the words ‘Happily ever after?’ are written, because the music video ends in the main character killing himself these words could indicate that the couple are both living happily ever after together in ‘heaven.’ Relating to this is the last shot of the music video where we repeat the scene in which both characters are arriving home, and they’re seen walking through the door and down the hallway holding hands. However, this time there’s a white fuzzy wash put over the scene with a ghostly effect on the movement of the actors which again insinuates that they’re going to ‘heaven.’

The narrative has a clear structure, showing a beginning, middle and end. The beginning of the music video shows the main character alone and grieving for the loss of his girlfriend. There is the occasional fade to a flashback where the protagonist is spending time with his girlfriend and their performances showing them as loved-up and happy. This was done to make the ending even more tragic and have more of an effect on the audience. One particular shot that stands out and shows the strength of the relationship in the beginning is the close-up of the hands interlinking in black and white. This represents that the couple fit well together and suit each other. It is also effective because of the symmetry of the shot and the recurring theme of doors being repeated again in the background.

The middle of the music video shows a dramatic change of location in that there are a lot more shots outside. This change represents how the main character was bottling his feelings up at the start (shown by him being inside), and now he feels ready to go outside and open up to someone. At this part in the music video a lot more low angle shots are used, as oppose to the high angle shots earlier on, to show that although he’s still upset he isn’t as vulnerable and sensitive as he once was. The middle of the music video is also where we started experimenting with special effects on Adobe Premier. For example, there’s a flashback in black and white where the couple are sat on the bed watching TV, but then the girlfriend disappears and the shot goes back to colour. This was achieved by filming the couple together, asking the boyfriend to remain still and removing the girlfriend from the frame so the transition was smooth and unnoticeable to the audience.

The ending of the music video shows the protagonist trying to talk to his friend, but ending up getting angry because his friend doesn’t understand what he’s going through. Then he is shown walking home which demonstrates continuity because of the many different shots that are used in this sequence; however they all link together successfully and smoothly. The music video finishes with the main character committing suicide, which is executed in a subtle way. The main character is seen finding the pills in a draw, and then there is a jump cut to a close-up of his hand falling off the bed with the pills dropping out of his hand and rolling along the floor. This had the strongest effect on the people who viewed the video because everyone commented on how effective and dramatic it was.

Out of Andrew Goodwin’s ideas about illustration, amplification and disjuncture; ‘Marching Band’ uses amplification. The lyrics were interpreted by my group as a story about a couple who wanted to be together but there were other factors that were stopping them. This came across in lines such as ‘Crashing through a deeper ocean, Drowned in waves of pure emotion.’ This first verse shows how upset the songwriter is at having to split up with his girlfriend. He also describes their relationship as ‘a faith like oxygen,’ which connotes that he can’t live without it like people can’t live without oxygen. The two most repeated lines in the song are ‘it’s us against the world’ and ‘try stopping us now.’ However, after watching the music video the lyrics have a different meaning. Now they sound like they’re written after the girlfriend dies, but just before the main character commits suicide. A good example is in lines like ‘I can promise you our life brings lies to pain such a sweeter ending how am I to know if this is our last embrace.’ The words in bold stand out a lot more after understanding the narrative of the video because they have connotations of death. Therefore the video amplifies the original meaning of the song.

How effective is the combination of your main product (video) and ancillary texts (digipack and magazine advert)?

The ‘Marching Band’ music video links closely together with the digipack and magazine advert. The images in the ancillary products were taken directly from the music video. For example, the image on the front cover of the digipack and the magazine advert shows the artist leaning against a tree looking thoughtful, which is also used in the music video. With this shot we tried to communicate to the audience that the lyrics of his songs are deep and meaningful, with serious messages. Also, this image demonstrates the photography element rule of thirds with the vertical lines of the tree and the artist. On the back cover the shot of the pills on the floor from the music video was used as the background image. This was a risky choice as suicide is a serious issue and anyone in the shops can see this image blatantly when they pick up the CD to look at the track list. However, it links in closely to the music video and provides an effective background to the song choices. It is also a very dramatic shot, with a shallow focus technique used and the one pill that is still rolling, which could represent the main character being alone. The back cover shot contrasts with the front cover shot because even though the back cover image demonstrates the rule of thirds as well, this time it’s horizontal with the lines of where the floor meets the wall and the lines of the pill bottle. The rule of thirds effect on an image is used to catch potential buyer’s eyes because people are used to seeing symmetry and the main feature being in the middle of the frame, therefore using rule of thirds makes the image unconventional and different.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To gather audience feedback, the target audience for our video was gathered together in order to view the music video and reveal their true thoughts and feelings about it. We had a series of structured questions to ask, however as we started to engage with our audience the session ended up as a more relaxed conversation about the ‘Marching Band’ music video. During the audience feedback the students revealed that they liked many of the shots, such as the handheld shot tracking backwards and the shot where the pill rolled across the floor. The handheld shot was given positive feedback because it made the audience feel more involved with the artist as he was walking and lip-synching, so it made them feel like they were walking with him because the shot was wobbly and unsteady. The reason for them liking the shot of the pills was because of the way that the pill rolled. One of the students said that it enabled the ending to be more dramatic and it also made them reflect on the tragedy as the pill was rolling. As well as this, most of the audience members were shocked when we told them that the way the pill rolls out of the shot was improvised, because we didn’t plan or anticipate it. The audience also took notice of the way that the girlfriend disappears just as the lyrics say ‘how am I to know if this is our last embrace.’ They thought it was effective that the audio matched the visual exactly at this part.

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

Throughout this project new technologies were used to help in every stage of production, especially digital technologies. The main example is the use of Adobe Premiere. This allowed us to use non-linear editing software, therefore allowing us to be creative in ways that would not be possible with analogue editing. For example, being able to film the shots in any order and move them around on the timeline to create a certain effect. Particular tools that we used on Adobe Premiere are the fades to black and white and transitions such as dissolve. These enabled us to give variety to our music video in order stop the audience getting bored while watching it. It also allowed us to use special effects like in the scene where the girlfriend disappears, which got positive feedback because of how professional it looks. Another example of a new technology that was used during the production is Photoshop. This software enabled us to do things that we would not be able to do with conventional photography/printing technology, because we could create different layers for the text and the images. Also, Photoshop allows you to put a wash over the whole image which links the different layers and pictures together so nothing looks odd or out of place. Lastly, I’d just like to mention Blogger as another new technology, because it has allowed students to submit their work electronically without using up paper. It is also useful for group work as text and images can be shared over Blogger.