Music Promo - Midnight Wanderer

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Q4. How did you use Media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout every process involved in our advanced media production, we used various technologies that helped us along the way. We used multiple forms of media to complete each stage and looked at different methods of production and planning throughout.

 

The main technology that we used during our production was Final Cut Express. We chose to use Final Cut as it is an editing software that allowed to use practice more editing techniques than IMovie or any other. Although we were familiar with IMovie from past experience, we found after research into the editing software, that Final Cut allows more precise editing. This benefitted us greatly as we had a large number of short clips that needed to decrease in length. Once we had filmed all our footage for the music promo, we used Final Cut edit our piece and put together a final music Video. During the process, there were several things that I learnt about Final Cut and the way it works.


The main thing that I learnt was how to insert a fading effect into a clip of footage and how to change the timing of an effect. Knowing that we wanted to use an effect for part of the clip, we looked at the different ways to include an effect and how it fits with the footage. To choose a clip, I knew that there was access to a drop down menu that presents a list of the possible effects. However I did not know that the clip timings could be changed. We then found that we could fade the clip at a certain point of choosing and change the timings when we needed the clip to fade. We did this by opening a new editing menu for a chosen effect. This then allowed us to manipulate the transition period and the time it lasted.

To create the ancillaries we used a programme called Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is a professional image editing software that allows you to adapt an image and create documents that can be edited. We used this to create our digipak and the magazine poster. We chose to use this website as it gave us many options to how we wanted to create the ancillaries and the way we can adapt them to make it fit with the music promo. We used a blank document on Photoshop so that we could add our own text and images of our choosing. We chose the images from our music promo, such as the clock, and added them to the document. We then played around with the effects and looked at the opacity. Although we were each familiar with Photoshop and the way it works, there were still several things that I learnt through the process. When I was working on the digipak I learnt how to create a background layer for an individual piece of text. I knew that I could copy text, but I also learnt how to create a shadow behind any piece of text. To do this I duplicated the layer and changed the font and colour of the text to create a shadow. I then placed the shadowed text behind the original layer to make it look like its shadow.


Facebook and sharing the video
A helpful social media website that we used to research the band was 'Facebook'. We chose to use this website as we knew that it is one of the most popular ways for bands and musicians to advertise their music and share information with their different audiences. Therefore, we looked at the site and found that our chosen band had a page on 'Facebook' that had a large number of information that we could use. The page on their site shared all of their songs and shared their upcoming performance dates. Once looking through, we found out more about the band and their inspirations for their music. This gave us a bigger idea of who influenced our chosen band, therefore we could watch these videos and gain inspiration for our music promo. We also used 'Facebook' to share our music promo once it had been completed. We knew that sharing our finished product on this site would attract our target audience and would be a good way of gaining views. Once a member of our target audience had watched the video; they could then share the video with even more people. This helped to make the video more popular and allowed us to exhibition our promotional package further.





This image is an example of one of the ways we shared our music promo through the use of social media. We posted the video to the website 'Facebook' so that any member of the public could watch it and could also give us feedback on our production. This was an effective way of presenting our product to a wider audience and ensured that we attracted our target audience.

 

Q3. What have you learned from your audeince feedback?

Throughout the development of our project and the creation of our ancillaries, we used audience feedback as a basis for improvement. We often shared our ideas with several members of our target audience and asked them what they thought was good and what we could improve. This always gave us ideas of what the audience were expecting and what they wanted to see in the finished product. We used audience feedback when we were creating each of our texts and repeated the process multiple times, to ensure that we met with audience demands.

 

Q2. How effective is the combination of your main product and the ancillary texts?

 

 

 

One of my group’s main intentions was to create both a music promo and the necessary ancillaries that worked together as a package and fitted with the expectations of our chosen genre. We wanted to create a link between each elements of the promotional package and use a recognisable image that came across obviously in all three. We needed to create a clear synergistic link between all three texts through visual imagery and text. We would then use this as a way of advertising the band and the music promo for one of the songs.

 

When we were creating our ancillaries, we created several links between them and our music promo. After deciding that we would create synergistic links between all three texts, we created key images on each ancillary that links to the theme of the magazine advert and the Digipak. The main image that we used is the clock. Above is an example of how we created a link between the magazine advert and the music promo. In the promo, we flashed up several images of a clock between the narrative and performance and we used the same image as the background for our magazine advert.  We also include the same image several times in our Digipak. We thought that if we used the image continually thought the Digipak, we would make the link even more obvious for our target audience. Therefore, a clear link was created between the two texts and allowed us to create a recognisable brand image.

 

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The aim of our task was to create and develop the promotional material for an album release through the use of different technologies. As a group, we had to choose a genre for our project and work towards the promotional package for a chosen band. This included the creating of an album digipak, a magazine poster and a music promo for one of the band's songs. We had to work as group to plan and research our music promo/band and work together to film and edit music promo. We then worked on creating the ancillaries in a way that fitted the same theme and conventions of our music promo video. By the end of the project, we had each successfully created each piece that was required of us.

The main aim of the project was to gain the knowledge of why each part of a promotional package was needed and how it helps to successfully advertise a band's new album. Through a promo music video, the band can release an alternative format for their audience to listen to the song, as well as a downloadable MP3. This increases the chance of a band gaining popularity, as they can use different technologies to advertise and sell their new album or single. Furthermore, the ancillaries that a band uses can help to advertise the music video or the album itself. A band knows that a target audience will look at the adverts for the band before purchasing a song/album. Therefore, if a band creates a   magazine advert that is shown in a popular music magazine such as 'Kerrang' they will attract their target audience and sell their new album release. We used this same idea when we created our magazine poster and the digipak. We chose to use the theme of clocks and time shown in our music video, in our magazine advert and digipak. This allowed us to use a recurring theme throughout all of our material and created and obvious link for the target audience of our product. This would increase the chances of our album gaining recognition through the use of advertising and will sell more copies. Furthermore, we chose to use a consistent house style throughout all three of our texts. We knew that doing this would create a recognisable image between each text and improve the popularity between the three.

The point of a music promo is to entertain a bands target audience through the use of popular conventions and the requirements of typical music videos. When a band creates a music video, they are expected to meet the demands of their target audience, this could be the conventions used throughout the video or the style of the video itself. Depending on the genre of the song, there are certain conventions that the music video is expected to follow. Following these will make sure that the band meets the demands of the audience and fits with the genre of the song. As well as the style of the video, the video is also expected to be easily accessible when released. When a new music promo is released, a band will usually upload the video to YouTube and other existing video websites. This makes it easy for the audience to find the video and watch. Advertising a song like this increases the sales of an album, as more people become aware.

Another key element used throughout a pop video is its use of editing and way the video is cut to the beat. Most modern pop videos have a fast-paced style of editing that fits with the upbeat nature of the genre. The quicker pace gives the song a lively feel compared to other genres such as classical and rock. Therefore, the editing is expected to fit perfectly with the songs beat. When watching a music promo for a pop song, the audience will see that each shot may last between 2-3 seconds before it switches to the next. This vastly increasing the pace of the music video and adds a more lively feel to the song. This depends on the songs style. The upbeat nature of a pop video is a key element that attracts this particular target audience and is the reason they are attracted to the pop genre. We chose to use the same pace of editing in our music promo. After watching several pop promos we found that the editing had an important role in creating a link to the songs genre. Therefore, we knew that making our promo fast paced would make it fit the chaotic nature of the rock genre. Denis McQuail states that media productions use the arousal and diversity of a product to entertain the audience. music promo's such as pop use this in the same way.

Throughout the planning and research leading up to the filming process, we looked at existing music promos of the same genre and the different methods that they have used. We looked at the use of performance and thought about what we could include in our video that would best present the ideas of the song's lyrics. A promo that heavily influenced ours was the video for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by 'Nirvana'. After analysing the video as a group, we decided that we liked the way the performance was shown throughout the video. We liked the idea that the band are seen performing the song in a location that has no link to the narrative. This is why we chose to film our performance in a drama studio. Filming in here allowed us to create a setting that had a plain black background with no images that would distract the audience’s attention. We had access to black curtain that surrounded the room and blocked all corners of the room. Therefore we could film at a 360 degree angle without revealing anything we did not want to on camera. Using this room also gave us access to a double sided lighting rig either side of the room. Therefore we could adapt the lighting the way we intended and could create a similar colour scheme that is seen in the 'Nirvana' music video. The main feature that we liked in the video was the fact that the audience are forced to focus on each of the band members. The lighting is used in a way that creates concentration on each band member and their performance of the song. We wanted to use the same technique in our video. We wanted to create focus on each of our band members and each of the instruments they are using such as guitars and drums.

Ancillaries

MIse-en-scene list

Props:

• Instruments (guitar, microphone, drum kit, bass guitar) - shows the role of each band member. also appeals to the target audience as rock fans enjoy watching bands perform
• Clocks - Element of disjuncture. The main theme in the promo is the loss of time. Smashing clocks at the end of the video will illustrate our character's hatred for his loss of time
• Hammer/bat - will be used by protagonist at end of promo to smash the clocks

Costume:

• Protagonist/singer will wear a lighter denim jacket with a TShirt and dark jeans - conventional to rock genre as it is realistic; not extravagant or expensive looking
• Guitarist - Leather jacket with TShirt and jeans - target audience expects a rock band to be wearing leather jackets
• Drummer - TShirt and jeans - casual, realism

Actors:

• Protagonist/singer: James Girard - has extensive drama experience, will take main stage
• Guitarist: Andy Cartwright - has experience playing the guitar
• Drummer: Michael Montgomery - plays the drums

Lighting:

• Medium-key lighting in the 'clock room' - an aggressive scene. Doesn't want to be too light to spoil the mood of the scene. Also doesn't want to be too dark so that we can not see what's going on
• Low-key lighting in studio - we want it to look professional so we are choosing to use spotlights to illuminate band members

Setting:

• Studio - where the band will perform. Looks professional and we can perform with space in the studio
• Quiet street - Where the protagonist will wonder. We want it to look like a realistic, every-day setting
• Clock room - Where the protagonist will aggressively destroy the clocks at the end of the promo