Question 4

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

We used a range of technologies throughout our assignment for preliminary, research, planning and production, this allowed us to acquire useful knowledge that was before unknown. The preliminary task was to recreate the first minute of a music video as closely as possible in order to learn new skills which would help us in our final videos. Within our preliminary task we used different technologies such as Scribd and YouTube for presenting our work; Scribd enabled us to adapt our word documents and PowerPoints into a version that would be easy to embed onto our blogs, however there was some difficulties in using this software as sometimes it would change the layout and words that were in the document but after a few tries and tweaks it looked like the original again. YouTube gave us the ability to upload our video to one of the internet's most popular streaming sites for free, making the video available to public views and feedback. In the production of our video we used an iPhone to film the footage as we found it to be easier to film with for the close-ups which were heavily used in the video we were copying; to edit the footage together we used iMovie as it was readily available and easy to use. From this process we learnt key skills that would help us in the coming months to produce our final production; skills such as cutting to the beat which is where a transition between shots occurs on significant beats or parts of the melody and creates an overall more effective video as it makes the video move smoothly and creates a feeling of continuity between the video and song. It introduced us to thinking deeper into the connotations of certain elements of the mise en scene and editing and how every shot has a relevance, this made us think about what camerawork and angles would suit particular genres. We learnt the skill of lip syncing and making sure that in post production the vocals match up to the movements of the mouth to avoid any odd looking shots. From producing our preliminaries we found that the performance aspect is key and that there needs to be some kind of performance from the actor in many different locations to make the video look effective and interesting. 

Within my research I used Padlets, YouTube, a Prezi and a Word Cloud to present my work; Padlets are a free online presentation maker that allows information to be presented in a unique, aesthetic and different way than the standard blog post. I used Prezi to make an interactive presentation to make the experience of the post more interesting and entertaining for the viewer and a Word Cloud to present key words appropriate to the blog post in a more visually pleasing way to avoid a repetitive format; we also took the chance to take our own photos on an iPhone camera and upload them to our blogs. When researching a suitable unsigned artist we found a website which would then lead to our chosen song called natalielungley.com, this is the official website of our unsigned artist and contains information and videos of songs she has covered and even written herself, from this we chose her original song 'Secrets'. Through our research we learnt various skills that would prove useful in the production stages such as looking at the style of the song and choosing if illustration, following the lyrics word for word, amplification, developing on a particular theme within the lyrics, or disjuncture, completely irrelevant to the lyrics, would suit the song. 

When planning we once again used software such as Padlet, Prezi, Scribd and original blog posts to present our work on blogger. I also used PowerPoint and Word Online which is where you can embed your documents from the Microsoft One Drive straight into your blog without having to go through the process of Scribd, however Scribd was still used for various documents to keep the diversity of technologies. Screenshot images of Facebook messages were uploaded as proof that contact with the artist had been attempted as well as uploaded iPhone and DSLR camera images of our audience feedback and original images. The performance aspect was developed here when we learnt that having many performance based shots in many locations would be more effective as it keeps the video interesting and fresh and the mise-en-scene would need to fit the conventions of our specific genre. 

In the production stage of our assignment, PhotoShop was used to piece together the ancillary tasks of creating a digipak and magazine advert. Using PhotoShop allowed us to explore various editing tools and techniques and what particular mise-en-scene and effects suited our genre of choice. Having had previous experience with PhotoShop in years prior to year 13 we had a chance to hone the skills we had picked up over the years and develop them. Using this software we used healing tools and paintbrushes to airbrush the face and lengthen eyelashes, we also managed to slim the face down using a distortion tool to provide us with the Hollywood look of perfection where every model is heavily made up and edited. To add atmosphere to the overall look we layered a grey-scale filter over the images and blended them together so they transitioned smoothly into one another, on the grey-scale filter we erased some of it to allow colour through where we wanted it, we chose to focus on all the red accents on the ancillary pieces to give us our colour scheme. We found the petals slightly harsh and a little too dark against the lighter colours which was drawing too much attention away from the model who was the focus; to combat this we altered the opacity of them. Drop shadows were added in under the text to make them stand out more against the grey-scale background, this gave the font a little more presence within the composition of the product so it wasn't getting drowned out by images. We shot the footage on a DSLR camera that was placed on a tripod for stability although some shots came out shaky due to weather conditions so were excluded from post-production; we used a projector to project a video over our subject and filmed the result which created quite an effective shot for our genre, this idea was influenced by Lana Del Rey's video 'Summertime Sadness'. 

Question 2

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

Throughout our three different products we have created synergetic links through them all so that a feeling of continuity may be established; these links are comprised of colour themes, imagery and typography mostly. We have decided to include this synergy as we feel that it helps with recognition and advertising of the album when marketing it as people will put two and two together to make it easily understandable that they are all advertising the same artist and album. 

We have decided to synergise the colour theme between the advert and the digipak to grey-scale and red, which also connects to the continuity of the image of the rose which is present in all three forms of product. We chose red because it is the colour most often associated with roses and that was a key theme we wanted running throughout and decided on grey scaling the rest of the colours to make the red stand out even more and to make the image look less busy. This idea enhanced our products to give the audience a definite visual link between the ancillary tasks and the main task. 

   

Another link is with visual imagery, we have used the same model in all of our products to establish that recognition and association between our digipak, advert and video. We have also used images of forests and trees in our ancillary as that is one of our visually stronger locations but doesn't have a too busy background so that it is visually distracting to the main image. Forests also connote freedom which is a message we are trying to convey in the music video's narrative where the main character is being freed from a toxic relationship. There is a strong thematic link with the visual of the rose as it is shown regularly in the video and appears in both ancillary tasks, we are using the rose as a representation of the romance that is being displayed in the main characters relationship, we wanted the rose to start of vibrant and alive and slowly die with the relationship throughout the video as the girl frees herself. We used vibrant petals in the digipak and advert as we didn't want the symbolism of the togetherness of a full rose but we also didn't want to give away that the romance was dying and reveal the ending of the music video, this is a method to keep the audience in suspense and to keep them interested in the outcome of the music video upon release.

We decided to include two different fonts to be used throughout all our products, this is because we wanted a particular font to be associated with the name of the artist and another font to be directly associated to that particular album. This is because most artists we looked at had a signature typography or style for their name to make it more unique to them and recognisable to their main style and adheres to their generic conventions for their music; however they had a different font for all other typography within their product as it was specific to the style and genre of that particular album.  

The magazine advert has been designed to inform the audience of a release date for the distribution of the album alongside any smaller bits of information like websites and download stores where it can be accessed digitally. An advert shouldn't provide too much information as the audience may overlook it if it had too much writing, instead it has to rely on visuals to get across the message of what the album's style and genre is. It provides a sneak peek for what is to come and builds up the anticipation for the release date as it is like a countdown, this can draw in people who are already fans and it can also pique the interest of new audience members constantly widening the target audience. It advertises the artist and the image they want to convey to their audience, this may be presented in the imagery they use, the colours, the typography and mise-en-scene; we presented our genre of being quite melancholic and haunting through the use of our colour scheme by using a very subdued colour palette with an enhanced colour of red. This avoided the advert looking too cluttered but drew attention to a key object in our narrative. A magazine advert also spreads the word for the artist and their album so they get as many viewers and audience members on the day of release as possible it also creates a buzz in the target audience as the build up to release draws closer giving them something to look forward to and anticipate.

The digipak provides the target audience with a collective piece of merchandise for the album which appeals to collectors and super fans alike as they want as much material referencing their chosen artist as possible. A digipak can also be used to give further information on the artist and often supplies the audience with a small factual biography of the artist as well as multiple images of them; it can give websites relevant to the artist and lyrics associated with the title song. They allow the album to be owned in hard copy which can be ideal for those who do not have the access to the platforms that digital copies are available on. 

A promotional music video is used in modern day marketing due to digitisation of media to visually promote the chosen song and artist and the image they want to portray for themselves or the album, it allows for stronger visuals on themes that may be present in the lyrics and enables the narrative to expand and look deeper into a particular theme that may want to be focused on. A video can be used to strengthen an artist or songs style and genre through the mise-en-scene provided on camera and the editing of the video; through stimulating the use of two senses, sight and sound, a music video makes for greater entertainment value. 

In order to exhibit our products there are two ways in which it can be done, through using traditional media or new media. Traditional media has been around for many years advertising, marketing and distributing different media texts; traditional media can mostly be found in the form of television, radio, magazines and newspapers. Whereas, new media is more recent forms of media texts and has been brought around by recent digitisation of the media world, a popular example being the internet. 

When looking at traditional media there are specific options I would chose to advertise my chosen artist and album that would suit the style and genre, I would choose to advertise and market our products in a music magazine, a music channel and a music selling store, using media convergence to target different branches of the audience so it appeals to a diverse range of interested members. The music magazine I would choose to advertise with would be NME; over the years NME has advertised a range of different genres which is why I think it would be appropriate as it doesn’t target a specific one as our the genre of our song is quite obscure and not very well known. NME was launched in 1952 and is a national selling magazine to UK customers, it has a weekly release date so is updated quite frequently and circulates around 308606 people nationwide each week. It is a free title which appeals to most people as it is something that they can pick up without being put off by making a purchase, because of this it will get around in more populated areas such as London as they look for entertainment on their daily commutes. It also showcases popular and upcoming artists which would be perfect for Natalie Lungley who is an unsigned artist who is not very well known but has evident talent. 

The music channel I think would be most appropriate for the chosen track 'Secrets' would be 4MUSIC; it was launched on 15th August 2008 and is broadcast nationally across the UK thanks to the digital lifestyles of modern day living providing most homes with a means to view these channels. It is free to view on channel 18 where there is a special broadcast called 'Upfront' and 'The Official Box Upfront Chart' where new and upcoming popular artists are presented and showcased. The target audience would be 16-34 year olds as that is the typical target audience for the music channel with a slight female bias and demographics of C2, D and E. There are up to 80000 viewers during early and late peak times which makes for a popular music channel, this would be ideal as it would broadcast the video to a larger audience to promote the artist and product further. 

A popular store that sells music would be HMV, this is where I would advertise, market and distribute the product as they are a very well known brand, being Britain's biggest music retailer, and are increasing in popularity as traditional media is making a comeback. HMV was founded on 20th July 1921 and is available in several countries including UK, Canada, Ireland and Hong Kong and makes a revenue on its products of £1956.7million. It sells a wide range of genres which is ideal as 'Secrets' has quite an obscure genre of trip-hop which can be related to several different genres such as indie, soul and pop. 

Digital media mostly uses the internet for viral marketing on various platforms and medias such as social media, websites and viewing sites. Advertising on social media is considered viral marketing and it can be extremely effective as the word spreads quickly from mouth to mouth, the most popular platforms in use for effective advertising would be Facebook and Twitter as they are commonly used by most people and will reach more audience members. I would also use an official website for Natalie Lungley to present any information and videos that may interest the target audience to keep them engaged, we found that Natalie Lungley already had an official website which provides appropriate and sufficient information. Viewing websites would be extremely useful when presenting our products as they would allow the video to be digitally streamed via websites such as YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, SoundCloud, Tidal and Google Play. We would try and have it available to stream on as many of these sites as possible so that the accessibility of the track is available to as much of the target audience as possible. 

There are advantages and disadvantages of using traditional and digital media; traditional media has been making a slow and steady comeback over the years which is increasing its sales and popularity, this particular form of media appeals to collectors and super fans as they want various forms of hard copy media to keep as keepsakes for their chosen artist. Traditional media is more accessible to those who do not have the platforms available for new digital media, they can also be used in old stereo systems that are available in most cars. Hard copies are readily available from music stores however there is limited stock and can run out if in popular demand, traditional media can cost more to advertise and distribute as packaging and production costs can be quite high although they can be advertised almost anywhere. On the other hand social media has endless possibilities for advertising online but some particular websites require payment for advertising space but this is usually a fairly small cost compared to traditional media. The distribution of the product is quick and easy, most places only requiring a single button click for the product to be available to the viewer, this is showing advancements in technology and how the music industry is adapting to the digitisation of media. Although new media is only available to those with the correct platforms which may not always be affordable to a lot of people, narrowing down the target audience and digital booklets aren't highly sought after or in popular demand. 

Synergy is an important part of marketing and distribution as it brings together two texts that could appeal to different audiences to make one, this one end product then appeals to both target audiences making it increasingly popular. It allows for synchronisation across different texts, allowing them to be linked to one another so that it is easily recognisable for the audience.