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.
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