Throughout the project I used many different media technologies to create the final project.
Research
To find out about what the music video industry is like we used all sorts of technologies.
Youtube was used to find out the conventions of a particular genre of music that we wished to use. To pick the song that we wanted we also used technologies like MP3's and iPod s to find a song that we all agreed would be good to create a music video for.
We also created surveys on a website called survey monkey that stored our surveys on its website so that we could refer people via a internet link to the survey. This was much better than handing out the surveys by hand as we could save so much time and money as survey monkey is free. By posting the link on Facebook and twitter. This made the amount of people able to take the survey vast.
We also used a video camera to create interviews for people to answer questions about the particular music genre.
This was great because we learnt loads from the fans of the particular genre.
Planning
As one of our media products was a digipak. We created rough drafts out of card and paper before deciding on a final design to do on Adobe photoshop.
As using editing software such a premier pro and final cut pro are difficult to get the grasp of quickly we created a short movie trailer about a Zombie college to edit just like our music videos. That meant we knew how the software worked before getting straight into the editing of the music video.
Construction
We used a digital SLR camera with a tripod to film. It wasn't ideal as it was designed to take photos and not video. It worked okay and the size meant that it was very easy to use.
There was no optical zoom so zoom was not used in our video. The sound quality is very poor on these. that was fine though because there is a song playing over the film.
After filming
We used the software Adobe Premier pro. This software was great and very ergonomic to use once you get the hang of it.
Here is some examples of effects and tools we used on premier
Cut- this helped us shorten the clips
Speed up- This meant that clips could be shorter and more dramatic and fast paced which is what you want in a metal video
Black and white effect- This made the video more of a old style look that gives the video a nicer feel.
What we have learnt from the comments on our video is that we done a good job. We created a video that used and challenged conventions of the existing music industry to create a video the is as Ansel666666 says is 'brilliant guys'
We have also learnt that the video really does fit the codes and conventions of the metal genre. A survey about our music video was sent off to 12 people and found out those exact results.
Adverts are released on purpose at chosen times so that they can all work to make a media hype about the product. This synergy of the media texts make the product well advertised and helps fans be informed and able to find and purchase the product.
We created three media texts in this project. A music video. A magazine advert and a digipak. They worked in synergy to make the product seen in many media forms. The music video will appear on t.v channels and internet video sites such as Youtube and Metacafe. The magazine advert will obviously appear in music magazines. The digipak will attract the audience in the shops when on sale. This synergy of media texts means that the product is well advertised before going on sale and that the media hype is huge.
The digipak was very useful because most music is downloaded from iTunes. This means that the front cover from the digipak is on show before sale and helps the song to stand out from all the rest.
In terms of imagery all the media text are the same. This similar look means that we have created are own style. This feat of originality is great because it means that the style can help to change the music industry. Just like Led-zepplin and the Beatles. The similar style helps the media texts combine and create an overall look that will be recognised.
The audience research helped massively before creating the media products. By knowing exactly what styles to follow to the exact detail of particular bands and videos we can use these conventions in our video. By then using our own origional ideas and combining them with existing ones we created products that would stand out enough to gain publicity. In the media business there is a term "bad publicity is better than no publicity" We used this concept in our products and wrote a new chapter in the music industry.
Our music video contains many forms and conventions of current styles and media products. Our target audience is of those who listen to heavy metal and wear dark clothes. Society would call them Punks.
The whole music video is in black and white, which conveys the message that it is on old recording and gives the effect of being a horror video. We contrasted our music video to make the dark levels stand out more therefore giving horror conottations.
This screenshot from our video shows the dark clothing and the suit and tie that correlate to horror films and usually are worn by the scary villan in most action/horror films and also shows how the contrast has been applied to take the light out of the shot and set the scene.
Other Artists wear suits for there costumes in music videos like this screenshot from Good Charlottes video 'lifestyles of the rich and the famous'.
I our music video we tried really hard to fit as many codes and contentions in as possible of our chosen genre. They are codes and contentions because they work well and are popular. If we could use these well and pull them off then we knew that our video would be great.
The story line in our video was not one that you would find in a love song or pop song. The character gets kidnapped and hurt. This use of force and violence is a common convention in the metal genre and style of music we are using.
Our video uses masks. Masks are commonly used to hide identity and therefore create a sense of bieng uncomfortable for the audience. This works in metal genres because the idea being the band is to be scary and taken seriously. This common metal convention is used in the band slipknot. Here is a caption of them.
The ones with the masks in the music industry are seen as the villains. Slipknot work of this. The people who like them find them different and therefore are making a statement about themselves. We used this in our video because the bad guys are wearing the masks. We twist this in the end of the video the find that the hero was actually one of them.
The lead singer in my video is pulling off the stage move in that looks like they are trying to hurt themselves. This gives the audience the idea that the band is mentally unstable and make them more interesting and make there look more intimidating.
The caption below uses this exact same convention of heavy metal bands. The band is called the gallows and they are also wearing suits. This style just gives off a sort of Mafia look that means im not to be messed with.
The layout is quite in your face as it has a large mask that we used in the video. This is used in the magazine advert because the face invades the readers personal space. This gives the reader the incentive to find out more about the advert.
The reader is attached to the mask due to it being right in the centre of the screen. The lined texture around the mask is sort of hypnotic and entices the reader into the advert.
Font
Our digipak and music video are both in black and white. This is a style we carried on through all are media products. The font is in black and white to convey a dark and gloominess about the band. It shows the genre of music well. The font style also does this because of its bold and grainy effect that goes well with the effects we used in the video.
Important things we wanted the reader to see we put in red. This is very eye catching compared to the rest of the advert.
Imagery
The mask holds the expression of sadness. This makes the reader interested in why the face is sad and attracts the reader to the advert. Also the expression is sad and sadness is commonly used in metal videos to make them seem serious.
Colour
We contrasted out the light levels so that the dark levels would stand out more. By doing this we made the image more vibrant and look similar to our music video. This effect makes the picture and video more cartoon like.
After useful feedback from my teacher He stated that that the digipak front cover did not fit in with the connotations and style of the rest of our media products.
What we did was change the digipak from the one below to the current one posted on my blog.
He said that the font fitted in with the style so we kept that and the black and white style that is apparent in all our media products. The mask has been something that has is a trademark for my media products. It was apparent that this had to be the focus of the front cover. After a bit of work on photoshop our new front cover has been created.
Our video is finally complete. We had allot of fun creating it but we are glad it is over because we started it before the other groups and ended it afterwards. That may be down to the rubbish computer. But we think its due to putting the most attention to detail into it.
ENJOY :)
The village hall location was great. It had everything we needed to create the scenes we wanted and they came out great especially due to the foggy weather that gave to cold winter effect that you can really see when we are editing. The house scene at the end was filmed in our friends house who kindly let us use it. The house contained the style we were looking for such as the old spiral staircase and the large mirrors on the walls.
The location was surrounded by farms. This lack of buildings gave the video the scary feeling of being alone and also the building attracted allot of crows that are known to be a significant asset in scary films.
What didn't go well
Due to our bad organisation skills and rubbish sat-nav getting to this remote location was difficult and took longer than planned. This didn't give us as much time to film.
The camera that we were using seemed to be using a lot of battery power quickly. Luckily we found spares but the camera ate through those as well. We managed to get the vital shots and they were exactly what we wanted.
Being winter it gets dark very quickly. This meant that the car scene didn't have enough light and it had to be filmed another day.
Conclusion
In conclusion we are very happy with how filming went. If we got to the location earlier we could have filmed it all in one day but this was fine because it gave us more time to plan the rest out. If the scenes got deleted by accident and we had to do it again what I would change is the camera we used. It didn't fit on the tripod very well and ate battery power fast. This made shooting that little bit harder. But overall a great result. Lets hope editing goes well.
This is the location for the video. Ryther village hall. 38 Mill Lane Ryther Tadcaster LS24 9EG
The village hall really gives the music video the scary vibe that we where looking for. The hall is very far away from any other dwelling in the area. This will be made clear in our video because what we want is the audience to have a sense of fear while watching the video. This works well in other media productions like horror films and they attract a large audience. The location combined with the storyline and costumes should really give us the edge we need to create a great video.
We asked the interviewees who mainly like the same/similar genre as our music video. This is because we wanted to interview people who would help us in the development of our music video. This meant that the input we received from them would help us even more because they were experts in the genre and know exactly what they think is good and bad.
2. What do expect to see in this genre of music?
Most people we asked said that they expect to see violence and all the conventions that the genre would convey. This included dark clothing and expression of anger. They also said that they expected to see the band on stage playing their instruments in a wild fashion and at a fast pace. The black and white imagery was mentioned. We have heard allot about this and believe that is is something that is used regularly in this genre.
3. Can you explain the bands image?
The interviewees pretty much summed up the overall look that this genre is about. The band image is very crucial when looking at a genre of music. The band has to wear a similar type of clothing to other band who share the same genre. This is because the image also attracts its own audience and this is pretty much what the interviewees where saying. They also mentioned that we could challenge these conventions because that would make us more original and people respect originality as can create a whole new sub genre.
4. What attracts you to this type of music?
The narrative of this type of genre was what really attracted our interviewees because of its strange nature that allows it to be compleatly different and original compared to anything else. They also mentioned the energy in the videos that are shown in the way the band/actors act in the video either on stage or as a character in there video. This can be done in the narrative or the mise en scene. The forms and conventions of this type of video such as fast swooping panned shots add to this energetic way that this genre acts. The editing can also contribute to this with the use of fast change of frames/scenes that allow the action to come quickly or the way that you can edit the frames to be sped up so that its much more fast paced. My interviewees knew that this really attracts them to this genre of video and music.
5. How often do you see bands play live e.g. concerts
This question helped find out about the musical background of our interviewees. This gave us the knowledge of how much they are into the music scene and gave the results of how much expertise they had. As we knew the interviewees before interviewing them due to being friends with them we knew that they had a good knowledge of the music scene. This just clarified that for us.
6.What do you do in your spare time?
Yet again the purpose of the question was to find out how much they care about music. Music taste changes everything about you from your clothes to what you do on the weekend. Music taste helps to define who you are as a character and gives you a sense of originality between everyone else. it can also attract you to certain friend groups.
7. What would you say was your favourite band?
All the interviewees answered with bands from the rock/metal genre. This clarified the choice of music genre to use in my music video. The music videos of these bands definitely helped them become peoples Favourite band. Therefore by looking at the videos of these bands we can learn allot about what to include in my video and what not to. The conventions of the video's will also show me what i can use and challenge to give me a little bit of originality that can definitely influence other bands to do the same. If the music industry is going to learn and grow then originality must be shown.
8. Do you like to see a story line or pure band imagery?
The answers where pretty much split. I think because of this videos should use both. Amy mentioned that we can use more than just this because just pure imagery can just be boring and therefore not sell and promote the record. I have learnt that in my music video I should interlink all these to create a video that really stands out and is brilliant.
9. Do you like to see a clear storyline or abstract imagery?
This relates allot to the previous question as it asks about what style of music video people like to see. I respect the interviewees for there answers as the really gave me information I could use in my music video. They explained that you cannot only use one. You must use both. This interview has done this allot where the answers were combined to give a true personal opinion.
10.Do you like to see the bands you have chosen challenging conventions or fit into them?
The interviewers said that to create a new original style is great because it really changes the music industry for the better. Things can always be improved in life and music in no exception. Therefore what they are saying is that we should use both conventions and new ideas because a totally different idea can be too much to handle where as slowly creating new ideas while using current conventions works much better.
Conclusion
In conclusion to the interviews, they really helped allot with the ideas and inspiration to create a great music video. The interview was allot more help than the surveys when finding out what we should incorporate in my video. This also allowed allot more freedom of speech and constructive input than a survey but with this and the survey combined it gave a great audience research result.
Here are the results from my survey. I posted the link to my survey on Facebook. I then collected the results of the 24 people who answered my survey and put them into pie charts to display my results.
'How old are you?' found that the majority of people (54%) where of the ages 17 to 20 and only a few where of the ages 0-11. This is because I asked people of Facebook and my Facebook friends are of the similar age than me (18) because I have met most of them at school and are in the same college year as me.
My results found that 50% of the people who did my survey where Female and 50% male. This even result meant that the rest of the findings would not be affected due to the amount of similar genders.
'How often do you watch music videos?' allowed me to find out the size of my audience and allowed me to find out how popular music videos are like. My findings found that half the people I asked watched music videos more than once a week. This meant that there is a large audience for music videos. Only 4% said never. This small number means that music videos are popular and that the rest of my findings have been answered by people who have experience of music videos. This result may have been affected by the question 'How old are you?' as age may come in to how much people watch music videos.
Due to the introduction of new technologies like broadband and satellite television means that watching music videos is easier to do. Youtube is popular for listening to music. As Youtube is a video posting website this means you are watching a music video instead of just listening to music. Satellite T.V such as SKY have dedicated channels for music videos like MTV or Kerrang. This affected the result massively.
This questions result is affected by the person who answers my survey's music taste. Different music tastes such as heavy metal follow a story that relates to the lyrics. Dance music has more abstract videos. Chart music also can affect this result. Chart music is what's popular now. This is usually of a similar genre. Mostly Pop music. This genre affects the style of music video.
'Do you prefer a music video that is funny or serious?' can also apply to the music taste of the individual. Funny videos are often produced by artist such as the Foo fighters. They are a genre of pop-rock. Serious videos are more from genres such as metal or rap. The Question really applies to music taste.
The questions
What is your favorite music video and why? And What is your LEAST favorite music video and why?
Collect qualitative data instead of quantified data so therefore had to be answered by text.
This was of course personal taste and gave me a good way of finding out the best videos that I could watch and help me when creating my music video. I could use the ideas and conventions that made these videos so popular. I could also find out what to stay away from in my video.
The front cover of my digipack is of a gun shooting at a 3 dimentional dog. As the genre of our music video is similar to metal I thought that a gun would fit all the conventions of this type of music.
The back has a rough grainy effect
that entices a particular type of audience
to the product.
The centre picture is used to cover up space that is not being used.
I used a stage shot of the drums outside in the street with lamps hanging from above.
Here is were I propose the where the CD would go and look like.
This is the lyric book that lets the fans know the lyrics for either knowledge about the song or to sing along.
This is where the book will fit when in the digipak.
The youth society of today would call my target audience Grungers/greebo's. This is a label that has been essentially put on you because of ; the type of clothes you wear. Social background. Music taste and geographical location.
My target audience likes the dark clothes and the heavy metal music. Here is a stereotypical example of this persons look. I will create my products to attract this sort of individual by using a similar style.
We also created surveys on a website called survey monkey that stored our surveys on its website so that we could refer people via a internet link to the survey. This was much better than handing out the surveys by hand as we could save so much time and money as survey monkey is free. By posting the link on Facebook and twitter. This made the amount of people able to take the survey vast.
