How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary products?
In answering this question, I intend to show the strength of my branding across my products. An important element of this, I think, is the continuity of the 'look' of the band. Throughout my video, digipak and poster (as well as the twitter page) Perplexa are depicted wearing the same clothes and same hairstyles. Therefore, they can be identified easily and helps maintain the theme conveyed by my products.
The theme of the products is epitomised in the album title 'Big City Prison' - the feeling of being trapped in their own home city. It is prevalent in both the video and ancilliary products; the characters and artists in the video are shown, on the most part, alone in an urban environment (direct links with 'Big City Prison'). Similarly, the digipak and poster use settings present in the video (as well as the aforementioned costumes) therefore linking the images on them to the central theme.
The digipak front cover, back cover, and poster all use the same setting and similar positioning (a two-shot) of the artists as that of some of the final shots of the music video, reinforcing the continuity and strengthening the links between the products.
As for the inside of my digipak, a 'split-face' technique is used. The inside left panel uses half of Andy's face, and the inside right uses half of Ricky's. This creates the effect of the artists being 'one' in the form of the band. 'Perplexa'. This togetherness is then juxtaposed in the music video, as the artists are rarely featured alongside each other in it. By contrast, a feeling of loneliness is created, which - because of the togetherness portrayed through the digipak -'hits home' more effectively in the video.
I feel the rapport between the music video and the ancillary products has progressed since the inital draft I produced. Whilst some of the ideas of the digipak have remained from the draft, the execution of them has been developed. I also feel like both my main and ancillary products compliment each other well: the music video brings the images seen on the digipak and poster to life and fleshes them out into a true story. It does this by sharing the elements mentioned above. On the other hand, the digipak and poster sum up the theme of the music video in an easily digestible format, able to be used in advertising the video, and giving the products a 'face' to be identified with.
There is also a uniformity between my poster and digipak - both use the same settings, the artists (obviously) and the same fonts. In a way, the poster looks like a larger version of the digipak, converted into an advertisement.
Of course, there are elements which didn't work, that I chose not to bring forward from the draft ancillary products. The most prominent one was my draft digipak back cover. The idea was to use a long shot of Leicester's signature Clock Tower as it's easily identified by the people of Leicestershire and would therefore appeal to the audience as a sense of pride. However, its surroundings are not ideal for the theme I was aiming to convey in my products. For instance, a building adjacent to the clock tower is very Tudor in its style, which is not in keeping with my 'concrete jungle', 'big city prison' aesthetic.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Evaluation Planning Question 2
How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?
For evaluation question 2 i will be picking out all of the elements i used as well as the elements i did not use, which i feel made my music video and ancillary products effective as a combination.
The main thing i will be talking about will be the branding throughout all of my products which was conveyed and how it all works well together. The theme being 'Big City Prison' i will talk about how i have conveyed my artists to be trapped in their life and this is done through the filming and photos for my ancillary products.
All of the filming for our draft video included 2 main locations which were Leicester city centre with different locations within this location and a friends house which we were using for the flashback shots. The flashbacks, however, were taken out afterwards as they did not fit well in the video and so we kept the whole of the video in leicester city centre replacing the flashback shots.
After filming the video, i was able to pick out different elements which would look good on the digipack and poster, including the shots i used for the CD cover which was the same as the poster to show continuity between all three (the video, CD cover and poster).
To show good branding which is the main part of this question, across all of the products, we have been able to do this effectively by having the clothing of the artists kept the same for the video which we filmed on two separate days (three if you inlude the flashback shots which we did not keep).
The elements we used in the video which best represent our artists is the use of rotational shots which we got the idea of from Devlin's music video - Runaway. We managed to simulate this by simply following the artist as he moved on the spot which is a cheap way of doing it because in the Devlin video they put the camera on a track, making it more steady but we were unable to afford a track and having the camera moving anyway made it look good in the end which i was happy with. We have both of the artists in the video in multiple rotating shots for good continuity througout the video. This could be combined with the front cover of the CD as we have both of the artists leaning against the clock tower and the shot used could be looked at in a way as if the camera has been moving around the clock tower and taken a still image of the artists which i think makes a good connection between the video and digipack.
Another element which i best feel represents the artists is the clothing which is kept the same throughout the whole of the video and fits in with the theme of the music as it shows them as being Hip-Hop artists with the trackies, trainers, T shirts and jackets. I wanted this to be the same for the digipack so we kept the clothing the same except for one of the artists jackets, this was not intentional however in the end i thought it looked good because even though it didnt show perfect continuity, it still showed off the artists dress sense and still fit the way we wanted him to look.
The element which i feel represents the artists as a whole is their facial expressions which we have kept as serious and mellow to show to the audience that they are not entirely happy with their lives and it fits in with the theme of 'Big city prison' and the feeling of being trapped which isnt going to cause happiness. Throughout the whole of the video the artists facial expressions do not show any signs of happiness, they show the artists to be serious and somewhat unhappy with whats going on around them, this is continued onto the digipack and poster where we have in all of the camera shots, the artists with straightforward faces which stare directly at the audience and enables the audeince to empathise the artists and get a sense of how they are feeling and could maybe relate to them if they are trapped themselves. the two shots used for the inside of the digipack i feel best show our artists for who they are, as they are both close ups against a brick wall which shows them to be in a sub urban area in the city and the faces of the artists are again similar to the front cover facial expressions where we have Rakesh on the left with the exact same facial expression as he had on the front cover and Andy on the right, with his head held high and serious face to show him getting through all of his trials and tribulations in life and both of them trying to get on with life and keep it together.
There are some things we decided not to include in both the video and in the digipack.
One thing we decided not to include in the video which we edited out was the whole flashback idea i mentioned aerlier, this was because after we had used it, it did not at all look very good and so taking it out and replacing it with more shots of the artists themselves, made the video a whole lot better, and therefore this wouldnt have been carried over into the digipack as it would only be the artists and location in the digipack anyway. This having a main location taken out then only left us with the city centre as our main location for the video and Digipack. I used 3 different locations in the digipack which were all taken from different parts of the video which shows good continuity. The fountain being the back cover of the CD which is shown in the video with Rakesh and Alex being filmed around it, makes it recognisable when looking at the CD as well as the clock tower where we have the artists singing around it is the Front cover of the CD and the Poster.
For evaluation question 2 i will be picking out all of the elements i used as well as the elements i did not use, which i feel made my music video and ancillary products effective as a combination.
The main thing i will be talking about will be the branding throughout all of my products which was conveyed and how it all works well together. The theme being 'Big City Prison' i will talk about how i have conveyed my artists to be trapped in their life and this is done through the filming and photos for my ancillary products.
All of the filming for our draft video included 2 main locations which were Leicester city centre with different locations within this location and a friends house which we were using for the flashback shots. The flashbacks, however, were taken out afterwards as they did not fit well in the video and so we kept the whole of the video in leicester city centre replacing the flashback shots.
After filming the video, i was able to pick out different elements which would look good on the digipack and poster, including the shots i used for the CD cover which was the same as the poster to show continuity between all three (the video, CD cover and poster).
To show good branding which is the main part of this question, across all of the products, we have been able to do this effectively by having the clothing of the artists kept the same for the video which we filmed on two separate days (three if you inlude the flashback shots which we did not keep).
The elements we used in the video which best represent our artists is the use of rotational shots which we got the idea of from Devlin's music video - Runaway. We managed to simulate this by simply following the artist as he moved on the spot which is a cheap way of doing it because in the Devlin video they put the camera on a track, making it more steady but we were unable to afford a track and having the camera moving anyway made it look good in the end which i was happy with. We have both of the artists in the video in multiple rotating shots for good continuity througout the video. This could be combined with the front cover of the CD as we have both of the artists leaning against the clock tower and the shot used could be looked at in a way as if the camera has been moving around the clock tower and taken a still image of the artists which i think makes a good connection between the video and digipack.
Another element which i best feel represents the artists is the clothing which is kept the same throughout the whole of the video and fits in with the theme of the music as it shows them as being Hip-Hop artists with the trackies, trainers, T shirts and jackets. I wanted this to be the same for the digipack so we kept the clothing the same except for one of the artists jackets, this was not intentional however in the end i thought it looked good because even though it didnt show perfect continuity, it still showed off the artists dress sense and still fit the way we wanted him to look.
The element which i feel represents the artists as a whole is their facial expressions which we have kept as serious and mellow to show to the audience that they are not entirely happy with their lives and it fits in with the theme of 'Big city prison' and the feeling of being trapped which isnt going to cause happiness. Throughout the whole of the video the artists facial expressions do not show any signs of happiness, they show the artists to be serious and somewhat unhappy with whats going on around them, this is continued onto the digipack and poster where we have in all of the camera shots, the artists with straightforward faces which stare directly at the audience and enables the audeince to empathise the artists and get a sense of how they are feeling and could maybe relate to them if they are trapped themselves. the two shots used for the inside of the digipack i feel best show our artists for who they are, as they are both close ups against a brick wall which shows them to be in a sub urban area in the city and the faces of the artists are again similar to the front cover facial expressions where we have Rakesh on the left with the exact same facial expression as he had on the front cover and Andy on the right, with his head held high and serious face to show him getting through all of his trials and tribulations in life and both of them trying to get on with life and keep it together.
There are some things we decided not to include in both the video and in the digipack.
One thing we decided not to include in the video which we edited out was the whole flashback idea i mentioned aerlier, this was because after we had used it, it did not at all look very good and so taking it out and replacing it with more shots of the artists themselves, made the video a whole lot better, and therefore this wouldnt have been carried over into the digipack as it would only be the artists and location in the digipack anyway. This having a main location taken out then only left us with the city centre as our main location for the video and Digipack. I used 3 different locations in the digipack which were all taken from different parts of the video which shows good continuity. The fountain being the back cover of the CD which is shown in the video with Rakesh and Alex being filmed around it, makes it recognisable when looking at the CD as well as the clock tower where we have the artists singing around it is the Front cover of the CD and the Poster.
Evaluation - Question 1 Plan
In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Throughout our music video, conventions common in existing music videos are used. This begins immediately with some location shots to set the scene of the video and introduce the location. This is also used in several music videos (such as Diddy - Coming Home). Since our location is Leicester, the artist's hometown, we used various landmarks which are easily identified by residents of Leicestershire, in order to give gratification to any audience from Leicester (similar to the techniques used in Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z) This, in turn, brings the artists closer to the audience.
Then, a long shot of the artists, followed by mid-shots of each artist, are used to introduce them. I felt this was important as 'Big City Life' is the artists' first single. We gained inspiration from 'Need You Tonight' (Professor Green's first single) and 'Lose Yourself' (the single that boosted Eminem's popularity). In order for the audience to identify with the artist, I felt it was imperative that they are seen as early as possible in the video, as other music videos have done.
Another element I took inspiration from existing products with is the use of other characters to support the theme of my products of loneliness in their urban environment (hence, the album title 'Big City Prison'). This is used in other videos (like Devlin's 'Runaway'), to help give the video various subplots. Used in combination with the lyrics, they help convey the message we were trying to put across. This also ties in with theories about characters in narratives established by Vladimir Propp. The artists act as narrators through the words they sing/rap, and look upon the storylines of the other characters (myself and Em). There are various examples of this in our own video and, whilst interaction between the artists and the characters is not present in 'Runaway', it is in 'Big City Life' - we have adapted what we learned from our inspiration and incorporated it into our own video. Also, we have Em loosely playing the 'damsel in distress' in our video; whilst not completely sticking to the conventions of this character role, there are some elements of it displayed. Examples of these include where Em's character drops her bag and Ricky helps her pick it up (she gets 'rescued').
'Big City Life' challenges Todorov's theory when it comes to narrative styles. Todorov explains that when it comes to storytelling, equilibriums are disrupted and replaced with new ones. Our video does not perform this. Instead, our video shows various aspects of big city life through the characters actions and the locations they visit, as they are interpretted by the narrating artists. Overall, our video is more of an observation than a story - no equilibriums are changed, which is perhaps more effective when it comes to conveying our video's theme: the idea is that, the city has trapped our characters and made them lonely, the lack of change in the narrative throughout the video establishes this in a way which most music videos do not. There is no 'happy ending' and nothing changes from start to finish. Therefore it challenges the conventions of standard narratives.
Symbolism in our video is also present in 'Big City Life'. It is quite literal, for example when the line 'all lined in a row' is heard, a shot of a queue in a restaurant is shown. Another example is the line 'take a moment to relax, before you do anything rash' is accompanied by a drawn out shot of one of characters stopping for a moment reflectively, and breathing slowly. This example in particular develops conventions seen in existing media. Of course, literal symbolism is no new thing when it comes to music videos (it is featured regularly in Eminem's 'When I'm Gone', where the lyrics are reflected by what is seen in music video) as it is an effective way of getting across messages in the song in a 'double-barrelled' way - the audience sees AND hears the message. What we have done though in the 'take a moment...' shot, is challenged the way shots are performed in music videos; normally in music videos shots are very quick and take up fractions of a second (this can be seen in our very own music video) but for this particular shot we felt it was important to emphasise the message being conveyed by making the shot in excess of 8 seconds long. I felt this fitted in seamlessly with the rest of video and it stands as a memorable part of the music video because of its non-compliance with the general conventions and forms of music videos.
Then, a long shot of the artists, followed by mid-shots of each artist, are used to introduce them. I felt this was important as 'Big City Life' is the artists' first single. We gained inspiration from 'Need You Tonight' (Professor Green's first single) and 'Lose Yourself' (the single that boosted Eminem's popularity). In order for the audience to identify with the artist, I felt it was imperative that they are seen as early as possible in the video, as other music videos have done.
Another element I took inspiration from existing products with is the use of other characters to support the theme of my products of loneliness in their urban environment (hence, the album title 'Big City Prison'). This is used in other videos (like Devlin's 'Runaway'), to help give the video various subplots. Used in combination with the lyrics, they help convey the message we were trying to put across. This also ties in with theories about characters in narratives established by Vladimir Propp. The artists act as narrators through the words they sing/rap, and look upon the storylines of the other characters (myself and Em). There are various examples of this in our own video and, whilst interaction between the artists and the characters is not present in 'Runaway', it is in 'Big City Life' - we have adapted what we learned from our inspiration and incorporated it into our own video. Also, we have Em loosely playing the 'damsel in distress' in our video; whilst not completely sticking to the conventions of this character role, there are some elements of it displayed. Examples of these include where Em's character drops her bag and Ricky helps her pick it up (she gets 'rescued').
'Big City Life' challenges Todorov's theory when it comes to narrative styles. Todorov explains that when it comes to storytelling, equilibriums are disrupted and replaced with new ones. Our video does not perform this. Instead, our video shows various aspects of big city life through the characters actions and the locations they visit, as they are interpretted by the narrating artists. Overall, our video is more of an observation than a story - no equilibriums are changed, which is perhaps more effective when it comes to conveying our video's theme: the idea is that, the city has trapped our characters and made them lonely, the lack of change in the narrative throughout the video establishes this in a way which most music videos do not. There is no 'happy ending' and nothing changes from start to finish. Therefore it challenges the conventions of standard narratives.
Symbolism in our video is also present in 'Big City Life'. It is quite literal, for example when the line 'all lined in a row' is heard, a shot of a queue in a restaurant is shown. Another example is the line 'take a moment to relax, before you do anything rash' is accompanied by a drawn out shot of one of characters stopping for a moment reflectively, and breathing slowly. This example in particular develops conventions seen in existing media. Of course, literal symbolism is no new thing when it comes to music videos (it is featured regularly in Eminem's 'When I'm Gone', where the lyrics are reflected by what is seen in music video) as it is an effective way of getting across messages in the song in a 'double-barrelled' way - the audience sees AND hears the message. What we have done though in the 'take a moment...' shot, is challenged the way shots are performed in music videos; normally in music videos shots are very quick and take up fractions of a second (this can be seen in our very own music video) but for this particular shot we felt it was important to emphasise the message being conveyed by making the shot in excess of 8 seconds long. I felt this fitted in seamlessly with the rest of video and it stands as a memorable part of the music video because of its non-compliance with the general conventions and forms of music videos.
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Friday, 18 November 2011
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Dipiback Feedback
For my mock up digipack, the feedback i was given was not very good as i got 1 mark for my digipack and 0 for my poster. This is because i had not fully completed it with annotations and colour. i had also drawn all of the pictures and not explained what was going on very well which let me down as it didnt really show much. The annotation i needed to put on was basically explaining everything that would be on the CD casing and poster for the digipack with the shots used, the fonts, colours, sizes of all the text, the backgrounds and also the labels such as the record labels and barcode. For the future i will be able to improve on this by simply adding the annotation needed which will explain to whoever is marking it, what is going on so they will understand what it is about and how it will look when made properly. It would have been a good idea to instead of drawing everything for the digipack and poster, to have instead found existing photographs etc on google and then messed around with these on photoshop and this would have given both me and the person marking it, a better view of how it will look. therefore for my final digipack and poster i will be using my own photos and will make them look as best i can by using photoshop and making them fit in with the theme of the album. I also had layed things out a bit supidly where i had the name of the album on the front cover angled which is not really shown on any other albums. However the first choice of the name of the album being 'Sides & Angles' i thought would look good being angled but i didnt even show this on the mock up i had just written the words 'album name' in a box to show where it would be which let me down also. i had also put in a quote which i saw oin another hip hop album saying 'Straight up hip-hop' which i thought wouldnt look good on the album, but i wnet and put it on there anyway and the marker said that it made it look like a NOW album which i agree with and therefore that will not be goin onto it in my final design.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)