Final Music Video

OUR FINAL ADVERT!

How our music video utilises forms and conventions of the medium and the genre

The choice of our song was an indie genre, and we chose ‘The Script – Breakeven’ as our song choice. The main conventions of the music video are to enhance the artist and promote brand new singles. Our group chose a music video of the indie genre, and before we started, we observed different examples in this field, such as the Arctic monkeys, Snow patrol and The Script. This research allowed us to identify the conventions within this music genre. Some of the conventions related to the indie genre include; performance based video, often audience based, lyric to visual relationship often strong. Our group used some of these conventions in order to enhance our music production.


Our Video ‘The Script- Breakeven’ it is a very typical modern video in which we tried to create. Within this music video we tried to integrate various effects and ideas to create a modern day video. Some noticeable conventions in this genre of music video, is the use of serialist type effects as well as a combination of black and white band antics and performance footage. This is mixed with colour footage from other settings to create a visually interesting image as we did not want to use black and white throughout the whole video. This follows conventions of music videos as not all use black and white effects they mix it about to create interesting footage and therefore that are why we have not just used black and white for every clip so we followed conventions of music videos in color terms. We also use this effect as a visual aid to the connotations of the narrative of sadness and breakup of the relationship. The black and white effect shows this as it represents good and evil and the lyrics of the song lead us to suggest that the girl has cheated and therefore this effect represents the lyrics following music video conventions. The emotions of watching this video can be that of sad and it is easy to see that this video has taken an influence from modern music videos.



Another Way we tried following the conventions is by using the band/ artist in the shots. The instruments, such as guitar and drums, are used which strengthen this convention. A real media product in contrast would use an audience of more significance along with better lighting and sound, but due to funds and time elements we were restricted to doing what we could. Real media products would show more literally the relationship between lyrics and visuals, as opposed to ours that challenges this form. Our music video does not show this relationship clearly, we have developed normal conventions to an extent, but we have not shown the relationship between lyrics and the band parts of the videos.



The artist is shown performing, the lyrics of the song influence what is shown in the video, the pace of editing fits the pace of the music, and the codes of dress reflect the mood of the song. This is a general convention across all music videos as generally the artist follows and sings the lyrics in a song and it is only on certain occasions that they don’t. Therefore we are again following general conventions as we want to make our music video as interesting and realistic as possible. The cut rates also signify with tempo of the music. We have used 3-4 second cut rates so that the cuts don’t seem too fast paced for the lyrics or the song, following conventions.
Our video is of an Indie convention there is no set structured design of a typical music video i.e. a rock band would need to be dressed weirdly with fast paced editing and unusual settings, so it suggested we had relative freedom in what we could create. As a group we exploited this opportunity by using experimental camera shots and settings. We used various camera shots and movements such as low angles, close ups, pans and tracking shots, establishing shots. We also experimented by putting two together like a mid shots with a zoom out whilst turning the camera 900 anti clockwise. We used settings like a church and park in with a stage. There is no relationship between these settings and therefore we break conventions by not distinguishing a connection between settings.


Andrew Goodwin suggested 6 points in which shows conventions. The first point says that Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. We have done this by using a band on a stage singing. This is a typical indie convention but however they may use an audience in which we unable to do. The second point suggests that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. We have tried to do this by using the lyrics and then using an image that represents it e.g. ‘’ bad things happen for a reason’’ we have tried to show this via a flashback with a slap. This shows the relationship between lyrics and visuals. The third says the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). We have done this continuously throughout the music video. Whether it was the band scenes or other settings we have used this approach so the audience can identify the artist and they are able to identify themselves with him.


How we used media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages.

We successfully utilised a selection of diverse media technologies during the progression of creating our media products. The Internet was primarily the most significant and the most vital media technology, which was implemented into our designs and products. Critical research was needed for our group to move forward with our ideas for our product. The Internet provided us to research into other music videos that many other indie bands have produced in the past. This helped gain an insight into various methods and techniques used by these bands. To watch these music videos we used YouTube as our main source due to its popularity and big selection of videos from them. YouTube also gave us the help in embedding the video coding for a video into our very own blog so that we could further analyse these music videos on our blog.

The main piece of software in which we have used in editing our music video was final cut express. Final cut express provided us with many editing effects and the sufficient tools to produce a video such as cross fades between each scenes. Other editing options, which we included into our music video, were the colour correction option. This helped us to create black and white imagery, which was relevant to the mood and atmosphere of both the actor and the surroundings. One of the main tools, which we had used for our video, was the pen tool. The pen tool gave us the ability to blend in different scenes at the same time to create different contrasts between these scenes. This program also allowed us to input music into our video which was needed.

Another program in which we utilised to create our ancillary texts was Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop gave us the freedom in manipulating images in the way that we wanted to. ITunes was another valuable program in which we have used in order to research other songs and in which we bought our song off the program in order to put it on the music video.

For most of the filming process of our project we decided to use Sony handheld cameras due to the fact that we knew Sony cameras would have high quality resolution imagery. However we did have trouble with the cameras at a certain stage during the filming. Some of the storage content of the camera wasn’t available which meant that we were not able to upload our footage that we filmed. This meant that we had to re-film most of the footage using another camera. We also used a tripod so that our shots could be as still as they could be to look more professional with our work.

Blogger.com was extremely important for our work due to the fact that we could analyse each piece of work we had done and knew when we had done the work. Blogger also gave us the opportunity to gain inspiration off other people’s music videos in which they had created. Also, blogger gave us the opportunity to analyse comments that other groups have made on our blog on certain pieces of work.

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

To create our CD and advert we used Photoshop because the program had the right features and elements that we needed to create them. We designed our CD cover like we did because the album is called ‘A New Beginning,’ and the main feature of the CD cover is the in the middle where there is a bright light, the bright light is signifying a new beginning and the person standing there being braced by it creating a silhouette effect. We got the idea of the image from our music video and used it as a motif of the main singer. We created the advert like we did because we wanted to make it look as real as possible. The images at the top are screenshots form the video and are there to create interest and are used to show the person reading what kind of style the band are creating. The album cover in the middle is another way to promote it although it is blended in to the rest with the black background. And the tour dates and quotes are persuasive techniques used to try and sell to the customers.

The style of our band is carried through because it is an indie style song and the lead singer is wearing indie style clothes. We have used a modern day style CD cover to appeal to our target audience and this created through the effects used and the appeal of the main singer. We have also made the advert so that it could be placed in the NME magazine, which is a indie/rock based music magazine for younger people who are our main target audience. Throughout out all of the products we have also emphasised the use of black and white because they are connotations of two opposites and the album is about binary oppositions, from going from a bad place to starting a new beginning. This is reflected in the song lyrics and the words said at the start of the video.

We have tried to appeal to an audience according to the ‘Uses and Gratifications Theory.’ We offer the gratification identification because people can relate to their own relationships or problems and might find something in the lyrics that they feel. This will give them emotional feelings in which they can relate too. The main singer may also appeal to the target audience. His a modern day appealing young man in which we are hoping that the target audience can relate to as the same style they have in real life. Social interaction would be used, as people would talk about it amongst their mates forming social groups themselves.

Audience Research

For our audience research we firstly got a group of people to watch our music video and asked a section of questions:

Do they like the opening sequence of the music video?

Do you like the narrative of the story within the video?

Do you like the transitions between shots?

Do you believe the main singer is believable as his part and shows his emotions well?

What is your favourite part of the music video and why?

Do you feel there is a good balance between the narrative and singing parts within the music video?

If you was to change any of the parts within this music video what would you change and why?

From the feedback that we got from the focus group gave us a lot of vital information which has made us think differently about certain aspects of which we will have used within our music video. firstly we found out which features and aspects they liked and will be sure to use similar features if we was going to make another music video. however we also found out a couple of aspect of which the focus group didn't like, firstly there was mixed feelings on the first question of which we asked as some of the focus group liked the open sequence and felt it gave a good feel and opening to the music video whereas others found it confusing and felt the effect was poor. another aspect which they was drawn between was fourth question as some found the singer believable and very realistic whereas others found him over the top and exaggerating certain parts of the song to much one of the focus group said "" he seem to be to exaggerating a lot." The final aspect of the music video which they didn't like was the women as they believe she was not played well as her part and believe her involvement in the music video works well with the story however is portrayed poorly by the women.

Here is our magazine advert which will be used to help advertise The Peakes new album "A New Begging" this advert is very simple containing the album cover as well as a release date. there is also a small paragraph which informs the reader on a few tracks of which the album includes it also promotes the bonus CD which contains the new music video of there new single breakeven. finally at the bottom of the page there is a small section which is promoting tour dates this is a good way to promote tour dates as well as promoting there new album. the advert is very simple however looks very professional in the layout and structure of the advert. This kind of advert would be used in a magazine such as NME and MOJO.

This is our next attempt at an album cover and we think that is more effective than the other one firstly because the title can be seen a lot better than the first one. We also think that the black outline around the picture makes the main picture look more vibrant and standout therefore if it was in a shop you would be more visually attracted. We also think that with the black background works well with silhouette of the person creating a controlled balance of dark and light colours therefore making it look professional. In this album cover we have tried to make it look as if he is holding the sun, symbolizing his power and showing that he is a saviour in a sense of god . We are going to use this as our album cover because it looks professional and has a good symbolic meaning, we also think that it would sell well within shops as it stands out.

This is our first attempt at a album cover, the photo that we took for our album cover was to capture a silhouette of the singer looking as if he is holding the sun. the first thing we done to this photo is we added a mosaic effect which gave the album cover a dated look which linked well with the genre of music. However even with this effect on and the title of the album it looked to empty also the title of the album was too small in the bottom right hand corner and his name was too big. So in our next attempt we are going to take the original photo and make sure that the title of our album could be seen much better as well as making more visually interesting.

completed advert