Poster ideas

We had decided to make a poster of the band to give away with the album, one of the ideas we had for the poster was to do an abbey road style picture with the band walking across a local zebra crossing, but we then decided that there were no decent locations.

We then had the idea of doing a evolution of man styled poster so that we could just have a blank background with black and white colored figures as if they were in a text book.

We the changed our idea for the poster layout once again as we decided that a wanted poster like those used in the american south west in the 19th century would fit the band Image and the song ( Aint no rest for the wicked) more appropiatley.

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

Since the start of our Media A-level course I have learnt how to use many new media technologies, which I have exploited and used in every stage my A-2 media coursework.

I used the NVGS5oo video camera to capture the raw footage for my music video, the NVGS500 uses tape which makes it easier for use to cut up when editing the footage, The camera had a wide variety of settings to give different effects, which gave me more creative freedom when using it allowing me to sculpt images to the way i wanted them. The NVGS500 also had manual and auto focus settings which allowed me to get perfectly focused shots when shooting different or tighter shots. While using the NVGS500 i had to make sure that every time i captured footage with it, i was using the same aspect ratio of wide-screen, so that once i had edited the raw footage the end result kept its continuity.












When Editing the raw footage i had captured using the NVGS500, i used the Adobe Creative suite 3 and 5, mainly i used Adobe Premiere and Adobe Photo-shop in the construction of the music video. The Adobe CS3 and CS5 allowed me to cut up the raw footage i had taken, transforming it into lots of singular shots rather than one big take of all my footage. it also allowed me to add on screen text to my music video, add pictures or moving images, picture transitions, and separate audio and video from one another.

When creating the digi-pack cover and magazine advert i used Adobe Photo shop which allowed me to manipulate pictures we had taken to create our band member 'monsters'. it also enabled me to add text, backgrounds and build upon multiple layers.

When shooting our news reader scene we used a Green screen for the background so that we could insert the news room ,we created, as the background to make it look more authentic.



To research music videos for inspiration for my own music video i used the Internet, mainly the Internet site 'YouTube' as it gives anyone who can access the Internet the opportunity to view music videos created by professionals and ordinary people. i exploited the videos i saw on 'YouTube' by making up my own ideas based on what i had seen. i also used the Internet when researching digi-pack covers, as i looked at real ones to get inspiration for the one that i was going to create.

In the planning stage of my coursework i used 'My space' to get in contact with Cage the Elephant to ask their permission to use their song for my music video.




When Evaluating my work i used the Internet site 'Blogger' which allowed me to create a blog to showcase all the work i had done, was in the process of doing or was going to do. through Blogger i was able to customise my blog by adding different font colours, backgrounds, add gadgets to make my blog more appealing and unique.

what have you learnt from audience feedback?

Before i could learn anything from out audience i first had to find out who my target audience was going to be, the way i did this was by thinking what kind of person would enjoy the genre of music i picked which was alternative rock and what that person might be like, as i enjoy alternative music i decided to create an example of my target audience based on me.

My target audience was going to be teenagers roughly around 15 and over, into rock, alternative and indie music, that liked to see music videos with narrative aspects while still focusing upon the band.

By doing this i started to get an idea for what sort of things i would put into my music video, but just to get more than one persons opinion, i created a questionnaire asking questions about what people like to see in music videos and so on.

This is the first questionnaire, which we gave out before we made our music video, the aim of this questionnaire was to find out what people expected to see in a ,music video to give us a better idea of what to have in ours.

Please circle your answer(s)

Age- 12 13 14 15 16 17 18+

Gender- Male Female

Favorite genre(s)- Rock Jazz Alternative rock Metal Pop R&B Country Other please state.........................................................................................................................................

What type of music video do you like to see? Funny Sad Exciting Thriller Action Adventure Other please state.........................................................................................................................................

What do you like to see in a music video? Originality Special effects Band shots A Storyline Extreme camera angles Band promo Other please state........................................................................................................................................

How do you consume your Music media? On-line Radio Music channels iPhone apps Download Cd's Other please state.......................................................................................................................................

Do you know of any Music channels that you like to watch? Yes No

If yes please state.............................................................................................................................................Thank you for filling out our questionnaire.

Here are the results we got from the first questionnaire.

1. Age:

17-8

18-2

2. Favourite Genre (multiple choice):

Rock- 3

Jazz- 0

Alternative Rock- 5

Metal- 0

Pop-2

R&B- 4

Country- 0

Other- 3
Nu-Soul
Folk
Most things

3. What type of music video?:

Funny-8

Sad-1

Exciting-2

Thriller-1

Action-1

Adventure-0

Other-2
Epic
Good ones

4. What do you like to see in a music video?:

Originality-9

Special Effects-3

Band shots-5

A storyline-4

Extreme angles-0

Band Promo-0

Other -0

5. How is it consumed?


Online-4

Radio-5

Music channels-7

iPhone or iPod apps-0

Download-9

Cd's-3

Other-1

All

6. Is there any music channels you like to watch?

Yes-9

No-3

If yes please state-
Viva
Kerrang x 3
NME
MTV Base
Kiss x 2
MTV
Hits
T4
4music x 2
Skuzz

The results showed that the most popular choice of music was Alternative Rock, that music videos that were funny were very popular, that almost everyone liked originality to be part of a music video also band shots and a storyline were important and wanted features too. The questionnaire also made it clear that downloading was the most popular way to consume music closely followed by music channels such as Kerrang and 4music.

Using the information we gathered from the questionnaire we decided we would create a music video that narrated the lyrics of the song, containing humours aspects, while trying to make it as original as possible with shots of the band performing placed in at convenient times such as guitar solos and drum beats.


The second Questionnaire we created was to evaluate peoples response to our music video and find out what worked, what they liked and what didn't work and what they didn't like.

1. Male Female

2. Age

15 16 17 18+

3 What is your favourite music genre? (multiple choice)

R&B Dance Rock Alternative Metal Pop Indie Jazz Country Other

If other please state.........................................................................................................................................

4. Do you think that our music video portrayed the message of the song?

Yes No

5. What do you expect to see in a music video?

Social effects Band shots Slow motion Storyline Animation Close ups Band members playing as the characters Other

If other please state.........................................................................................................................................

6. Did you think that having 3 people play all of the characters in our video a good idea?

Yes No

7. Do you think the mix of humour and adult themes worked?

Yes No

8. Did you find our video offensive?

Yes No

Here are the results from the second questionnaire.

1. Male-10 Female-11

2. Age

15 16-2 17-13 18+-6


3 What is your favourite music genre? (multiple choice)


R&B-13 Dance-6 Rock-8 Alternative-10 Metal-3 Pop-10 Indie-15 Jazz-2 Country-3 Other-1

If other please state- "Filthy Dubstep"


4. Do you think that our music video portrayed the messeage of the song?


Yes-19 No-2


5. What do you expect to see in a music video?


Soecial effects-6 Band shots-15 Slow motion- 4 Storyline-14 Animation-3 Close ups-7 Band members playing as the characters-11 Other


If other please state.........................................................................................................................................

6. Did you think that having 3 people play all of the characters in our video a good idea?


Yes-21 No


7. Do you think the mix of humour and adult themes worked?


Yes-21 No


8. Did you find our video offensive?


Yes No-21

The results we got back from our second questionnaire were slightly different to our first, the most popular music genre was Indie instead of Alternative Rock and more people thought band shots were more important than originality in a music video, fortunately are music video had both. The things that people thought worked well were the use of band members as the characters as well and that they thought our video appropriately portrayed the message of the song. All of the people who answered the questionnaire thought that the use of humour and adult themes worked well in the video which was one of our main aims as we wanted the video to be entertaining, Everyone also said that they did not find the video offensive but i feel that may have something to do with the audience despite them being in the target audience age.

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

The combination of our main product and our ancillary texts is quite effective as they are all linked through the theme of crime, our main product is a music video of the song 'Ain't no rest for the wicked' by Cage the Elephant' which narrates a mans experiences with criminals.

we then created our poster which carried on the crime theme as it was in the form of a wanted poster, which worked on two levels, the first being that the wanted picture was of the characters from the music video and the band so they themselves were wanted criminals, but secondly the band is 'wanted' by the fans who will pay to have the poster of the band because they are fans of the band and want products related to them.

When it came to creating the digi-pack cover we continued the theme of crime, the way that we did this is because we had named our fictitious band the unusual suspects (due to the nature of the band members) which was a link to the film 'The usual suspects' so we had our band members on a police inspection line, only they we rent the band members they were monsters which portrayed the monstrosity and ugliness of crime through the monsters. it also represented unity in our group, as by coming together as a group we created better quality work than we would have individually.

As we had spare time and enough people to spread jobs around we decided we would make some band member playing cards that would be given away as free promotional items with the purchase digi-pack, again we wanted to keep the theme of crime which is why we chose gambling, which is legal but frowned upon by society and in the eyes of the church which was relevant to our music video as we have a corrupt priest. The playing cards that had pictures of the criminals from our music video's band as the face cards to attract the fans so that they could have cards with their favorite band members on.

When we created our advert we decided to use the same picture as our poster as it would then be easily recognisable to fans of the band, and it had all the band members in their characters outfits, when researching real band album adverts we found several interesting things, one was that there are increasingly fewer album adverts in music magazines which now predominately promote music festivals which indicates that's where the money is made now.

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

In my main ancillary text the music video narrates the Song 'Ain't no rest for the wicked' by 'Cage the Elephant' which is one of the main conventions of many music video, especially because i then used a band member as the main character who acts out the narrative and goes through all the situations the song contains such as encountering prostitutes and being mugged, we also used other band members as characters in the story which is another commodity in other real music videos. where our narrative does not use forms and conventions of real music videos is that our main character does not become better off at the end of his journey, in fact they end up worse off as they have to go through several unpleasant experiences and the only slightly positive thing they come out of their journey is knowledge, the knowledge that people will do absolutely anything if it means not having to do an honest days work for money.

In my music video the band shots i used challenge real music video conventions by using fake instruments made out of cardboard, this was done to fit in to the strangeness of our song and band members that appeared in the video, it was also due to the fact that none of the people involved in my music video could actually play a musical instrument. we also wanted the cardboard instruments to carry a hidden moral value that you shouldn't judge something on its appearance as in the world our music video was set in the band consisted of a prostitute, news reader, gangster, vicar and a normal guy down on his luck who all use poorly constructed cardboard instruments, yet where able to produce good music (in their eyes).

The idea of using fake instruments was also inspired by watching a real media product, as the other people in my group and myself are all fans of the American T.V. show 'Flight of the Concords' and in one of their music videos the characters use fake instruments.

The band shots in my music video also go against Andrew Goodwin's 'Star theory' as the main character of our music video is the drummer in the band so he is at the back of the stage and the band shots, with the main focus on the guitarist and bass player at the front. The fact that we do not solely focus on one band member or try to promote the main character more than the other band members symbolises the unity of our group and that together as a band we are better than individuals on are own.

This symbolism is further represented in our digi-pack cover which is the members of our group (Band) dressed in their characters costumes. They have then been cut apart using Adobe Photoshop and rearranged as 'Monsters' using the head of one character, the torso of another and then the legs of the last character, which again creates this notion of unity within our group which is what we see as one of the main qualities about music ; that it brings people together and allows people to be as creative as they want in all aspects of music.

The creation of the Monsters also runs with the theme of our music video which is crime, the ugliness of the Monsters symbolise the ugliness of crime and the effects it has on people whether they are the victims or the criminals.

The camera work in our music video used conventions and forms used in real music videos such as using a mix of close ups, mid shots, wide shots and action shots like in music videos from bands such as Bowling For Soup who in the music video of their song '1985' also have the band members playing lots of different characters ( The characters are actually a selection of different bands from the 1980's) one of which involves several of the band members dressed as women like in our music video. Despite our use of fake instruments we did try to keep in line with convention of the band being able to play there instruments and look professional while doing it in the music video, as Steve Archer said "But it is the lip-sync close up and the miming of playing instruments that remains at the heart of music videos, as if to assure us that the band can really kick it."


Although we used conventions from used in other media products we also challenge them and reality by manipulating time by slowing down, speeding up and reversing time in areas of our music video this suggests that the characters have no control over what happens in their world, it can also act as a symbol that people wish that time could be altered to make up for things they have done that they regret linking in to our crime theme.

We also used and then developed forms and conventions from Film, Television and society when it came to creating the costumes for our characters, for the priest and news reporter the costume design was fairly easy, with the 'Gangster' we used what we had seen from films such as 'Alpha Dog' giving him baggy clothes, a hat, jewelry, a gun and fortunately one of our group members had a tattoo which fitted with the image. when it came to the character 'Champagne' (the prostitute' we went against normal conventions by having a male play a female character, the reasons we did this was firstly because we didn't want to offend any female audience members by representing them negatively we also didn't want to make any female actresses feel degraded for having to be a prostitute, the other reason we did it however was to add a slight comical aspect to the music video by having a male dress in drag like the dame in pantomime productions.

Another convention that we used and developed from other music videos was having several different locations in our music video, the way that we challenged it however was having such big contrasts in location, going from an urban setting, to a rural one then finally finishing in a house. We had such different locations because of the availability we had for example the river was an easily accessible location as we live in Lincolnshire a predominately rural county so we made use of our surroundings.

We also developed and used the convention of collectibles when we created our playing cards that had pictures of the band members dressed as their characters from the music video. The cards would be given away with the purchase of the digi-pack, each pack containing different cards allowing fans to trade and collect the cards, much like 'Pokemon' cards.

A convention that our music video challenges unlike some music videos is that our music video has a completely linear story line, where as other narrative songs often have lots of complex and different non linear narrative fragments making the story hard to visually understand, ours is a start to finish performance of the characters narrating the song's lyrics we decided that this would make it easier for all audience members to have a clear visual and audible understanding of what the song was about.

Deciding upon an appropriate age rating for our media product

To decide upon an appropriate age rating for our media product i looked at the British Board of Film Classification's guidelines, we had initially thought that out media product would have to be a 15 as it showed someone paying a prostitute for sex, when we looked at the BBFC's age 15 category guidelines for sex which stated that "sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail.

There may be strong verbal references to sexual behavior" we then compared this to the BBFC's age 12 category guidelines on sex which were "Sexual may be breifley and discreetley portrayed" and that " Frequent crude reffrences would not be accaptable" which i felt our video featured. Another reason why we have classified it as a 15 is because throughout our video there is the use of a gun by one of the characters, the BBFC's guide lines for a 12 certifictaion said that " weapons should not be glamourised" which we felt was the case in our music video.

This is why i feel that our music video fits appropitley into the 15 cetifiaction, which is what we have decided to give our music video.

Digipak completion

I have now finished creating the Digipak front cover, which involved me using Adobe photo shop to split three images of three different characters and making them into one singular image with the head of one character, the body and legs of the others.

I then placed the 'monsters' in front of a police line up as this is a reference to the film 'The usual suspects' which linked in to our Band name that we had decided upon 'The Unusual suspects' hence the reason for using the police line up.












I then had to add on the DVD logo, the bar-code and decide what the age rating should be.