A2 Media – Advanced Production Evaluation

Question 1 – In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and convention of real media products?

Which type of music video did we decide to produce?

We first researched what music videos are and what types of videos that people produce. For our own work we decided to produce a mix of a performance and narrative based video. This is because we wanted a message behind the video but also performance by the artist to promote her as a new singer.

Music Videos over the standard time of 3 minutes long

At the start of the project we researched into what music videos are and what conventions they often include. We were then able to have an idea of what conventions we were going to follow and challenge in our own work.

We looked at two music videos which were both over the normal time of around 3 minutes. These were Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Michael’s video was released as a short film in the 80’s which had a storyline and plot to the video. This sometimes showed the meaning behind the song. Queen’s video for Bohemian Rhapsody was also over 3 minutes long and introduced a long period of performance time for videos. This is because, like Michael’s, videos over 3 minutes usually had a narrative to them.

We also looked at Taylor Swift’s video for her song Bad Blood. This was also over 3 minutes long with a narrative behind it. We learnt that music videos are used to promote artists and their music. To interest her fans and older target audiences she released a series of advertisements in the style of film posters to show off the different characters who are featured in her video.

In our own music video we came up with a narrative in which we had dialogue at the start. It narrates the video as it explains how her friendship ended. We have taken the idea of the short films and have added this dialogue which gives it a similar feel and makes the video longer. We also had performance shots in our video, although it doesn’t include musical instruments, as seen in Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Taylor Swift has changed the style of her music and has changed her image over the years. As she has grown up her music and videos have become a lot more mature and has attracted older audiences. Although we thought that Taylor Swift’s approach was clever and an interesting way to attract audiences, we thought that as a new singer, our artist would benefit more from a simpler and shorter video. Our artist is younger therefore would attract younger audiences therefore if we took inspiration from Taylor Swift’s matured approach, it may not be as effective.

Did any of these ideas impact on our work and did we use any of them? What didn’t

we use?

Rock Conventions - VideosFor part of our research I looked into the history of rock music videos and the conventions that are used. I found out that a typical rock video consists of the artist performing with high key lighting as they would be doing on stage. This way you can see the artist clearly. In our own video we used high key lighting when we were filming the performance shots as you needed to see the artist clearly. This is because our artist is new therefore the audience need to see her properly to know who she is and identify her. In a rock video it would mainly focus on the band performing and sometimes has a narrative. The genre we chose was country-pop therefore we didn’t choose to focus on the band behind the music and we focused on the narrative. I found out that in rock videos the artists normally wear what they would be wearing on stage. As our genre is not rock we didn’t have the artist wearing what she would on stage as there is a narrative to the video. In rock videos the props are mainly the instruments they play. Our artist isn’t in a band and doesn’t play an instrument so we couldn’t include that in it. Settings in rock videos are usually dark and mysterious because of the mood and sound of their songs. However our song is quite happy and upbeat therefore we wanted to reflect that through bright lighting.

Rock Conventions - DigipaksPart of our project is to create a digipak to go with the music video. Therefore we had to look at different conventions of digipaks.

For rock music we found that album covers rarely have an image of the artist on them. It is, in fact, more likely for alternative rock to have an image of the artist on instead. Rock artists tend to have artwork which represents them or a song that it on the album. This is because the music and the messages they are putting across may be more important than star image for rock artists.

We decided our genre would be pop so we didn’t want artwork as our album cover and theme. This is also because our artist is new so she would want her face on the cover for people to get to know her and identify her.

Pop Conventions - VideosWe also researched pop music to help us compare and indentify common features of different music video conventions. It also helped us to pick a genre of our own based on what conventions and ideas we liked and were inspired by. The typical features of pop videos are pretty obvious. We found that in pop music the artist is mainly singing to the camera with a lot of close ups. There may be dance routines and sometimes they include a happy or fun storyline. Our own song has a mixed feel to it as it is about letting go and moving on from something the artist has found hard to deal with. In terms of conventions our music video does include a storyline and the video itself gets brighter and happier near the end. We found that the majority of pop genre is dominated by female solo artists. They mainly wear dressy outfits such as dresses and skirts although they do wear trousers depending on who the artist is and what they prefer. For example more tomboy-like artists are more likely to wear trousers in a music video. The clothes that the artists wear are normally bold and colourful, is normally what is in fashion at the time, and/or what is suited to the theme of the video. Sometimes they will wear clothing that will show off their body such as tight-fitting tops and dresses. This all adds to star image and how the artist wants to be seen by their audience. In our own video we wanted to link it to the pop style and we did this by having our artist dressed in pretty skirts and dresses in the performances and in shots in the woods. The settings of a pop music videos are pretty bright and are based more in a studio or a fun place such as a club. We took this idea and used it in our own video by having our artist sing and dance in a studio to give it more of a pop feel.

Pop Conventions - DigipaksWe also looked at the conventions of pop digipaks. We found that for rock album covers they have artwork instead of an image of the artist. However for pop artists there is usually an image of the artist and the shot is usually

For rock music we found that album covers rarely have an image of the artist on them. It is, in fact, more likely for alternative rock to have an image of the artist on instead. Rock artists tend to have artwork which represents them or a song that it on the album. This is because the music and the messages they are putting across may be more important than star image for rock artists. However pop album covers tend to have a close up or medium shot of the artist in the centre. The image is usually colourful and bold in order to attract the eye and to represent the artist or their videos. We decided to go for a medium shot for our own front cover of the album. This is because our artist is new so helps people to identify her easily. It also fits with the genre we chose which is country-pop. We found that titles are quite large on pop album covers therefore we made sure that the album title was one of the biggest piece of text on the front cover and the disc.

Pop and Country-Pop Conventions - PostersWe also had to create a poster to advertise the album and the music video. Therefore we looked at Taylor Swift’s poster for her country-pop album ‘Red’ and Ed Sheeran’s poster for his album ‘+’. We found out that there is normally one main image that covers the whole poster which links to the front cover of the album. This makes it easier for the target audience to identify and make links between them. We have decided to use this convention for our own poster by including a similar image to the album cover. We also noticed that the title and the name of the artist is quite large and in the centre of the poster therefore we made ours to go with the genre and to attract the target audience. Like on the digipak posters also contain the record label logo and information therefore we added this to our own. In the Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran posters it includes the album cover. We included it in our first poster draft however we received negative comments from our feedback. Therefore we decided not to include it in the final poster as the image is too similar. Posters also include information about the album and when or how it will be available.

Which theories did we look at and how did we use the ideas in our own work?

For our research we looked at two music video theories. One theory was by Andrew Goodwin. His theory included thought beats, narrative and performance, star image, relation of visuals to the song and technical aspects of a music video.

Thought beats is to do with the structure of a song. A typical order should be verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge and the last chorus. The song that we chose followed this sequence so we made sure to include the whole song in our actual video. Goodwin explained that narrative and performance are both equally as important aspects of a music video because it makes sure that the audience doesn’t lose interest. We took this into account when filming our own video as we included both a narrative and a performance to introduce the artist and to get across the meaning of the song.

Goodwin put across the fact that star image is a very important aspect in a music video. The images that is put across should represent a singers image as a music artist. This is put across using clothes, makeup, hair, and acting etc. The star image also has to be suitable to the target audience. We made sure of this when making our own video. We used clothes and makeup to represent our artists star image and what she is like in real life and made sure that she would look suitable.

Visualisation is also an important part of Goodwin’s theory. This is when the song puts certain images into our heads and what the visuals represent. It is also about how the lyrics link to the visuals. We thought about this in our own music video and made sure that the narrative linked to the lyrics of the song. Analysing the lyrics of our song helped us with this as we knew what we could represent in the music video. He also explained the technical aspects of a music video. This is whether or not an artist plays instruments and uses technical props in the video. However we didn’t use any instruments or other technical props in our music video except for a mobile phone.

Which theories did we look at and how did we use the ideas in our own work?

We also looked at Sven Carlsson’s music video theory. His theory is based on the idea that the artist is represented as a mythical creature or force. This sometimes adds to the star image of an artist and explains the meaning behind the song. There are three ways in which an artist is shown as in a music video. The first is a commercial exhibitionist, second is a televised bard, and the third is an electronic shaman. The idea behind the song we chose was about getting through tough times and knowing that there is hope for the future. We didn’t really feel like having a mystical theme to our music video as it would be our artists debut single. Therefore we wanted to keep it simple and realistic because then our target audience would be able to relate to the whole idea of having the strength to let go of a friendship.

Our target audienceThe target audience we chose was teenagers aged 14-16 because that was the most people who answered our survey on target audiences. Also 70.3% of people who answered the survey were female therefore we would aim our music videos towards girls more. However the meaning of the song that we chose could be aimed at males because it is talking about broken friendships and relationships.

The target audience we chose impacted on the type of music video we were going to make because we needed to make it suitable and include aspects which would be relatable for them. For example, we chose a storyline that most people at the age of 14-16 would go through. Our first idea was to base it on a relationship between a boy and a girl however most people at the age of 14-16 aren’t at the stage in their lives where they have been through a tough relationship. Therefore we based it on friendships and the hardships of getting over the pain and rising above it.

In terms of feedback, we sent out numerous surveys to our target audience so we could get their honest opinions on our work. We also got feedback in the form of videos and written feedback. We got opinions on our target audience, genre, ideas, digipak, inlay, poster and our overall final music video. This helped us identify the strengths and weaknesses of our work and any improvements we could make. In the beginning we sent out a survey asking our target audience what they thought of when they listened to our chosen song. This helped our process as we had ideas from other people, especially our target audience.

Genre

Because we analysed a lot of pop videos we decided to choose pop as our genre. However when searching for our song we couldn’t find any upbeat pop songs. We did in fact find a song that we both liked and thought we could work with because we were interested by the meaning of it. The song wasn’t pop but was leaning more towards country-pop and was quite upbeat on the chorus. Therefore we decided to look into and analyse music videos which were related to country and country pop such as Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift has quite a wide audience but most of it is teenagers. Therefore we chose a song that was similar to her style of music.

We sent out a survey asking our target audience which genre of music they listened to most and the majority said that they listen to pop. As our song sounded like country pop we presumed that they may enjoy it. In terms of conventions, we couldn’t include examples from rock videos as this would confuse our target audience and put them off. Therefore we looked into the conventions of pop and country and mixed conventions we found from there to use in our own work.