1.How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
My video music utilizes the codes and conventions of Indie Pop music videos. Codes and conventions help in understanding the type of media around us. Indie Pop music videos utilize a low-budget setting, set in parks, city streets, woods which reflect the budget limitations. Indie Pop videos promote the artist as an individual, which enables the audience to focus on the artist and their image. The age group targeted for my music video are teenagers 18-25 who are using technology daily in their lives which has brought a big change in their creativity and work. Most indie pop music videos contain a narrative alongside the performance. This narrative normally explains the story behind the lyrics of the song. The genre is stereotypically viewed by melody, lyrics and its own song structure, the elements used in my video are melody and lyrics. Conventions which I used in my music video are, firstly, looking direct to the camera. I used this because I wanted to connect with my audience. The use of natural light reflects the code of an indie pop music video, contrasted with darker lightening used in the final scenes of the video. I use the close up and mid-shots for a better view of the protagonist expressing her views in a particular situation. The use of make-up was minimal as I wanted to keep it as simple as I could due to my subject which talks about getting in touch with nature and a deeper sense of living. The use of a single actor is another code of indie pop music videos because the audience’s concentration is held towards the protagonist. Finally, according to the theory of Andrew Goodwin regarding Narrative & Performance, the artist acts as both the narrator and the participant, which increases the truthfulness of the video. These same codes &conventions are utilised for the digipack, where the theme utilises grey and muted tones, understated imagery and words which reflect it. The name of the album ‘Offline’ reflects the mood. To keep the codes and convention of Indie Pop, I kept it simple with three outfit changes. The conceptual music video represents technology and nature and its effect on the people. The concept revolves around society which is getting too busy in using technology and is facing mental problems, disconnected from nature. The music video utilizes the Relation of Visuals to Song from Goodwin’s theory as the images reflect the song. The use of animal imagery and the forest relates to the lyrics about coming together and rejoicing with nature. Symbolically, fire and water is used to symbolize the heat which is the negativity built up with us, put to rest by the water, which is cleansing and purifying. The issue discussed is not regional, it’s global and for me it was an exciting challenge to develop and shoot such a video product whose message will not be restricted to any specific social group. Anxiety and depression associated with technology social media is a new phenomenon, which according to WHO, nearly a million deaths occur due to it each year. Technology is like a double sided sword where the efficiency and enrichment of available sources comes at a cost of increase in our ‘Fight-or-flight’ triggers, causing us to be more worried and anxious than the situation calls for. My music video uses the aspect of gender to convey meaning. The main protagonist is a woman, is not sexualized in any way to convey the meaning, working against a negative stereotype. Instead the meaning is carried through the meaningful visuals and lyrical content of the song.
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LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO CAMERA
OUTDOOR WITH HIGH KEY LIGHTING
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GREEN SCREEN SHOT
2. How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of branding?
Cross media convergence is produced due to the intervention of the three media product amongst themselves. Branding evolves around creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers. In order to make my product’s branding a good one I searched out some other products branding. This includes the Ed Sheeran website and digipack. What I noticed was the pattern of the colour was the same everywhere because it was giving the audience a clear idea that the things they are viewing are the same product and secondly it itself creates a perception of branding. There are three media products which include music video,digipack and finally the website. These products intervene with each other, hence creating cross media convergence. All three media products are interlinked and have been used to cross-promote each other.
Similar color palettes, house style, the mood and tone, the fonts, Images have been used to create a sense of branding and recognition. The viewers would be able to relate the products in a way that would be unique to this album only. If you look at the products I have created, it looks like one unit. All my products have grey,white,black,blue tones. This is not what most companies want - a customer must have a predictable and consistent experience no matter where, how or when they come across the company. This is the main purpose of a House Style.It ensures consistency. House style enhances the brand image of the company. House style contributes a whole lot towards creating a recognizable brand for the audiences.
I have designed my house style in such a way that my theme gets clear amongst the audience as it is about offline so i use the text font which represents the disconnectivity. The viewers should be able to connect to the product or identify it through a particular aspect of the product. Which in my case would be the Logo. Using two colours I created the logo which includes black and white. The mood of the Music video is serious with a dark and light tone. So, in order to highlight both the mood and the tone the Mise en scene was created accordingly. There is use of dark and light tones of lighting. Most importantly the challenging task was to select the colours of everything. For that I saw many colour platee to get to know about the contrast of the colors. I also created a website which would allow my viewers to get in touch with me. The website would further help me to create a strong customer base by selling merchandise of the band and the album online, such as t-shirts, mugs,books, and so on. By using above and below the line promotions I will sell concert tickets on our website and give online information and updates about the band to my audience. By merging with other platforms, such as YouTube, Spotify, Shazam, Google Play, Pandora, iTunes, Soundcloud, and so on, I can help promote my product even further.
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3. How do your products engage with the audience and how would they be distributed
as real media products?
The target audience for the music album OFFLINE& ranges from 18 to 25 demographic, whereas the psycho graphic segmentation would be more specific. The Album would draw the whole world’s audience’s attention since the topic is a global issue. There are 5.11 billion unique mobile users in the world today, up 100 million (2 percent) in the past year. There are 4.39 billion internet users in 2019, an increase of 366 million (9 percent) versus January 2018. My video allows the audience to relate to the situation going these days, by relating their current happenings in their life with that shown in the video. The purpose of a conceptual based music video is to convey a message. This was the main aim; therefore, my product was engaging and allowed the audience to relate and watch something that is intriguing yet serious. Music is a popular subject amongst all people of all ages. This is cause for conversations taking place. Language and facial expressions will link with the song, and create a serious tone. The natural daylight, instead of being dull and dim will however lift the mood, which is shown when the girl gets into the park and will give the audience the chance to create a message that they think is being portrayed, listening to the lyrics to help. Using camera positions, will engage the audience and allow them to see my artists facial expressions and body language. My album would be made available to a wider audience in many countries by using online distribution and retailing distribution. The album and the main song along with the music video would be shared on social media sites, since its the quickest, easiest and the most cost- efficient and effective way of distribution. Sharing on Facebook, hash-tagging on twitter, snapping it on Snapchat and putting stories on Instagram, my album could be publicized. By uploading the music video on platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud. My whole album could get recognition and would be able to gain profit if it is successful since platforms like these allow artists to be discovered by music companies and agents and channels such as & Vevo & on YouTube allow the artists to distribute to a wider audience and earn profit. Like telephone companies we can also buy emails and phone numbers and start to advertise by texts and emails. By airing it on the television on channels such as MTV, Channel UFX, 4Music, 40 TV, Channel V, VIVA, Scuzz and so on, a wider demographic audience would be able to view the music video. After all, it may go to a much wider audience that some of the very famous anchors call you for the promotion. And FM radio is also popular for the promotion. I have created a website for the artists and the album which would help in distributing the whole package in one go from merchandise to concert tickets, to actually selling the album. This will help me and my artist to be more successful in the future career. A record label could also be used for the distribution of the album, which will produce physical CDs and vinyl’s which will help with the bands exposure and popularity.
4.How did you integrate technologies-software, hardware and online-in this project? As real media products?
The internet is a convenient and cost-effective resource. I researched and observed videos to gain information relating to sound, camera, lighting, editing, distribution, angles and shots. Our professor arranged a visit to a news channel office called & City 42& where we were shown directly how video production is done. We were shown this on Adobe Premiere by a professional and visited many shooting rooms where I got to learn about how to operate the camera and instruct the actors. I considered the preliminary task also as research since the whole experience of planning, producing and editing helped to produce the final task. I used a DSLR camera to shoot my video. Shooting with a camera was a challenging process but using the information about camera angles and shots I learned in the course, it became easier. I learned about different shots such as over the shoulder, closeups, point of view shot, closeup, long shot, rule of thirds and camera movements such as pan movement. I also learned how to control lighting in DSLR manual mode by adjusting the ISO and shutter speed. A tripod helped maintain the camera in a stable position, although my video had some flaws with stability and tracking especially when shooting in the park. However, I did manage to produce a good video by editing it. A tool named stabilization was applied to the video which helps the video get stable. I also did retakes in order to help us decide in the pre-production phase as to which shot was good and would be used in the video. I was making mistakes in directing the video but later with the help of my teacher I ended up producing a good music video. While editing my video, I learned about the following editing techniques: dip to black, fade in, fade out, dissolve, stabilization, crop, selective tools. I also used Photoshop and Adobe Premiere and Filmora. As an editor I learned how to overcome errors such as jump cuts, continuity error and white balance and Hue and Saturation, absorption etc. Enhancing and emphasizing the emotions to give a moody feel to our video by using different techniques of color correcting which includes lumetri colors. By the end of the project I had gained better knowledge about the use of DSLR and editing the video. Due to low budget I was out of some facilities and resources but I managed to complete the project efficiently within the available resources which improved my planning skills. This project improved my production skills and took me a few steps closer to becoming a media producer.
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