Planning of Locations.

A range of locations are important for a music video as it can allow a narrative/performance to grow whilst also an opportunity to allow the audience to see more about the artist’s life/upbringing in which they will cherish and enjoy causing for a better relationship to be formed- this is one of the most important aspects of the purpose of a music video. The issue we have to be mindful of is that too many locations can ruin the flow of the video and the constant change can cause no relationship to be formed as the video is all over the place, and therefore so is the audience’s viewing experience.

The first location I am thinking about using is my sixth form building; a brick wall in the background or maybe a plain black background. This location will be solely for performance purposes and we will have Ryan/Justin Oakley sing towards the camera. The purpose of this would be to have a background to our product to which we can replace shots that do not work and build a music video upon. This will enable the video to stay in sync more easily and can allow for our vision to flow. The shots we acquire from this location will become an anchor in which the audience can become familiar to because of its reappearances. The major benefit of this location is that it can be re-filmed if needed with weather not affecting the final outcome.

A second location we would be inclined to use is Buckingham Palace; a reason being that Justin Oakley is a British artist and the palace can optimize everything British, I believe it has also become a global landmark which could speed up the process of how we translate that he is British. Secondly by having a regal building in our video it could connote that our artist is extra ordinary- in which would then allow us to follow paradox two suggested by Richard Dyer. In some aspects using a palace is very unconventional because it could isolate members of the audience through class, or political barriers; I believe by using it as a background, which we could, will allow the inclusion of the audience and perhaps they could even relate to the location through trips to the palace or seeing it on the news.

A third location that we are considering is Covent Garden; The reason for this is that it is a naturally busy area with people coming and going frequently and therefore can grant our product with a higher level of verisimilitude, this creates a belief that the messages conveyed in our product more truthful, making the audience more likely to believe the messages and make Justin more memorable against his many competitors as the industry is very competitive.

A fourth location that would be good to use would be a household location, this would primarily be used like Covent Garden as it will improve our verisimilitude of the World we are creating but also allow for our character to be more realistic and believable. We plan for the house to be the location in which the artist is at his most vulnerable point, for instance an argument or a break up scene; we want the audience to feel intimate to the artist within the location. This can be a pivotal location as the audience can be rewarded with an additional insight into his lifestyle.

Iconography

Iconography is a name given to an object frequently used that has connotations attached to it, in which are easy to decipher. Iconography can add to the creation of an artist as well as it has the ability to ruin the creation of the artist.

Guitar

A guitar is an instrument that is pivotal to our music video and features often within our song “I won’t give up” Seeing a guitar and being widely performance based is common in music video, especially so in genres and songs like ours. The main connotation of the use of guitar is that the artist is musically gifted and is not reliant on technology like some artists in the industry are tarnished with.

Sunglasses

Sunglasses is a prop that enables us to encourage the audience into believing our artist is cool and relevant to the trends in fashion at the moment. Sunglasses are conventional to our genre in the sense that the artist is exotic or travels. Journeys often are found in the music video and therefore is conventional as iconography. The connotations of sunglasses can be understood as a disguise, protection and are often seen as a cool accessory for an artist.

Trilby

 The Trilby hat is also a prop often found within the alternative genre. By using a trilby hat we could reinforce the idea of our character being well rounded and travelling- the hat connotes travelling as its use is too restrict sunlight to the top of your head when walking. As well as it function the trilby hat adds a lot to the outfit and can make an adolescent artist appeal to a more mature audience. This piece of the costume is conventional to the genre.

Group magazine advert reflection.

First of all we made separate draft magazines, this was to keep our ideas our own so that the product can be representative of the designer. After we completed the drafts we shared them with each other by making an anonymous collection- so the decision of which was the best to use wasn’t personal or friendship orientated.

This first magazine is created be myself. What I like about the advert is that we can clearly see the artist and it is only the artist that we see. This method could have allowed for a relationship to be formed between the artist and the target audience. I also like that the colours are pure and natural, as this can connote many things, peace of mind and the unity with nature, to name a couple. The language is also simplistic which can make information easier to extract from the advert. Because our artist belongs to the alternative genre we have more flexibility than others in what we can experiment with. The most conventional aspects of my advert is the soft and natural lighting and the image of our artist.

Adam Taylor creates this magazine. What I like most about this advert is the British theme. The artist Justin Oakley is portrayed to be patriotic or in line with his heritage, which is important for his British audience to see, potentially bettering a relationship made as Justin and the audience have a common value. I also like that you can see Justin within the advertIt is conventional as it includes the name of the artist, album name; it includes the record label and has an image the artist. All of which the audience need to see to establish a relationship with the artistThis Advert van be improved better if it displayed a better range of Photoshop techniques to show a s range of skills as it looks as if it wasn’t made on Photoshop.

This advert from Ryan displays a better range of Photoshop skills with the top and bottom of the page being in a black and white effect and the middle of the page is in colour, the reason I like this is because the middle segment is where the audience can see the artist through it being in colour emphasis is placed on his importance. This magazine is conventional for the same reason as the others e.g. showing the artist, what makes this advert unconventional is that it looks like winter and has a festive feel to it, which is unusual for the alternative genre. However it works because the genre is more lenient on its rules.On the whole I think that this advert is successful and I wouldn’t change it.

This is the advert provided by Olivia, in which was our groups favourite. This advert in my opinion displays an excellent use and understanding of the software- Adobe Photoshop. the contrast between Justin and the background is an effective concept in which many deeper connotations can be derived from, an example of this could be that Justin through being in colour and the background being black and white it could connote that he is a fresh addition to the ever growing bland (same-same) industry suggesting he has a uniqueness to offer the industry. There is also an image of the album cover in the bottom corner of the advert, which can help sales as the audience will know what the product is that we are try to sell. It has some text within the upper segment of the advert and the middle to lower segment, in which demonstrates concise publication as it is straight to the point providing the audience with information that they need to know.

I think on the whole the reason for the selection of Olivia's advert was because it was the one that achieved all the functions in which an advert is required to achieve. The concise text is a highly positive  aspect of this advert.This advert is the type that would appear within a gossip magazine, with the reader most likely to be flicking through the pages rather than thoroughly reading each page, the text is effective as it can be consumed within a glimpse rather than the viewer having to skim read for the details as the likelihood is they wouldn't. The clear heading of "JUSTIN OAKLEY" is also a big factor as again it is clear to the audience who and what the product is, but also it can be a device to attract the attention of the viewer as the black writing contrasts against the white background with the font being large. What sealed my vote for us to use this product was her choice in images. Olivia clearly shows the  product and the brand, if we could call it that. The use of Justin's image allows for the audience who may not have heard of seen him before connect a relationship to the two, it also shows what type of person he is which will indicate to the viewer wether they may like his music and also the use of the album cover connects Justin to his product giving the viewer something to look for if they are ever looking to purchase new songs/albums.

Shooting Timeline

Photoshoot

It was essential to carry out a photo shoot because it allowed us to gain much needed imagery to include in our digipak and magazine advert, the images we obtained can allow for our target audience to build a relationship with our artist.

This picture of a guitar is a pivotal photo for me.  As it is an instrument used frequently within our genre we thought it could be used often in our digipak. I wanted to have a theme in my digipak of different parts of the guitar, i.e the strings and the wooden base. We could have used this image on the back slide of the Digipak or the CD imagery.

Another image we acquired was an image of the artist looking downwards. We took the picture in the grounds of a school, in which makes a big proportion of our target audience.  This image is effective as the target audience can see the artist creating a positive relationship, we can also see a green background, which connotes nature a theme of the genre.           

We also took some picture that didn’t make the final cut in which we didn’t use for example the pictures of the Traffic lights and the image of the tree line looking towards an overcast sky. The traffic image was intended to connote a break or stop in the artist’s life.  We chose not to use it as we found that the connotations were not clear and the target audience may not have understood them. The tree line against an overcast sky had no real connotations at all it was more of a quantity over quality picture and I therefore chose not to use it.

Magazine reflection

The first draft of my magazine advert currently seems to not be conventional to our genre. The colours of the advert are black and white, which whilst it connotes a contrast in positioning suggesting a journey or a break up, they are not colours associated with the alternative music genre rather Jazz or Blues. What makes this draft conventional is that it has an image of the album front cover, so a link can be made between the advert and the artist because an image of the artist is not used. The language is simplistic and limited as I feel that people will be more inclined to look at the advert and absorb the information. The layout is simple so that we do not draw attention from the focus points of the advert, e.g. the track list or the image of the album. We also used the colour red for ‘out now’, to draw emphasis that it can be purchased, red also connotes that the artist is in love or has a passion for music.

This advert may make it hard for the target audience to build a relationship with the artist, as they cannot see who the artist is all they can see is the name of the artist. This could be beneficial as it could create a ‘buzz’ for the artist. Although more likely than not it will be detrimental to the relationship of our artist and the audience

To reiterate, we chose the black and white coloured striped pattern in the background because we thought it could be eye catching to attract the audiences attention, but simplistic enough to not draw attention from the key points of the advert. The Image of the album artwork was consolation for not having a picture of the artist; this is so that some connection between the advert and the product can be made. 

This draft has encouraged me to approach my second attempt of a magazine advert in a different manor. I will want to include an image of the artist so that a relationship will be easier to form between the target audiences, I will focus on drawing attention to the artist. I will include the image of the album artwork, as I believe this technique will be successful in attracting sales and potential sales. Unlike this draft I would want to use more naturalistic colours and lighting, to connote peace of mind representing his music will be personal, making a closer link between the artist and the audience. I think my first draft was lacking the opportunity to gain additional information about the artist, so I will want to include a website link. I will keep the list of songs similar.

Digipak reflection

I think the digipak I created was conventional and does follow codes and conventions of digipaks used within the Industry. The image used on the CD and the back slide makes it conventional to the alternative genre. The image we used was the hollow part of the guitar, in which you can see the strings and the bottom of the guitar’s bodywork. This is conventional to our Artist and to the genre as a guitar is a reoccurring instrument that appears within the song and is often one of the leading instruments that the audience can hear, thus relating the genre to this instrument.

I have a six-slide layout, which is common for Digipaks; I believe this will allow the audience to relate best to our artist ‘Justin Oakley’. Each slide of my Digipak is used for a different purpose. Slide 3 for instance is a welcome note from the artist to the audience. I believe that this will be effective in creating a relationship between the artist and the audience, as Justin will be directly interacting to the audience, giving the audience a sense of having role to play in the success of the artist.

Slide 1, my front cover, includes a picture of Justin. This image was used with the intentions to raise brand awareness for the artist, basically so that audience know whom the artist is as he is a new artist. The Front cover also has a white bar along the top and bottom of the slide to add a picturesque feel to the cover, making the artist look extraordinary. The white bars were also used to show the artist’s name; again like the image this was to raise awareness to the artist, as some of the audience may not know his name. By the audience knowing the artist’s name and what he look likes they are more likely to buy albums and make Justin more successful.

We decided to link the CD imagery with the back cover, as I noticed that some of my slides lack cohesion and didn’t look like they belonged to the same digipak. The use of a guitar was pivotal in my planning for the digipak and because of this I thought that the CD image would be a good opportunity to use it, because as the artist consume the product the CD is the last point of contact before it is inserted into the playing device and I therefore wanted the image to be representative of the artist and instantly placing the audience into the mindset that the artist will be exceptional at playing and instrument, in this case the guitar. The decision to use a guitar is conventional in the sense that our alternative genre has a fixation on showing the artist playing the instrument, thus instruments becoming iconography for the genre. Potentially, if I were to change anything I would change the font used. The reason I say this is because I wouldn’t change the image used, as I believe it links well with the back page of the album cover. The font could be changed to something less industrial that looks as if it could be found on word processing software such as Microsoft office.

The welcome note slide has the background of a guitar, with a low opacity image of Justin in the right corner and the message to the left of the picture. We decided to use the guitar again for the same reason as we did in the back slide and CD slide-to create fluidity between slides for the audience to look through, this is far the ease of the consumer so that they do not think it is a hassle to read it and take in the messages of our slides and hopefully develop a stronger likening for Justin. The image of Justin was again so that the audience can develop a connection to him. The choice of language of our message as well is humble to the fans. We did this so that the artist isn’t perceived to be egotistical, but genuine. The main colour used is orange. This connotes warmth and a feeling of summer. This was used for two reason; one, independent research shows that, 17/21 people more likely to consume music from the alternative genre in the summer and therefore the warmth of the colour can remind the audience of the summer tie when they appreciate the music most.

The back page follows the same thought pattern as the other slides; the guitar was used as an anchor to ground the audience into a familiar background. At the bottom of the slide is the songs list and the barcode, we put these there as this is key information and before buying our product I expect the consumer to skim read the front and back and therefore it is vital for the back slide to be appealing. If I was to change anything about this slide I would change the theme of the page so that it suites the front slide rather than being different as it may weaken the bond between the artist and audience. 

If I were to complete this task again I would change some ideas I used, for instance some of my slides lack cohesion in the sense that they do not follow the same theme as the rest, e.g. my front cover looks contrapunctual to the CD slide and the Back slide as the front cover looks modern where as the other two slides look more traditional. I would also change the locations we used as imagery. The locations we used to acquire our pictures we limited due to weather conditions and lighting and we therefore used a local field because we believe it can fit in with some of the expectations of the audience for the artist, perhaps we could have used a broken building to connote the emotional suffering of the artist which is present in some of his songs. Finally I would perhaps change the images we used as they appear at the moment to be distant to the audience, which could be detrimental to the relationship formed between the two, instead we should utilise this space to really draw the audience into a sense of familiarity with the artist.

Planning lighting and colour

Subculture theories, CCCS, Hebdige and McCraken.

The three main Sub-culture theories are CCCS, Hebdige and McCracken.

CCCS suggests that all subcultures are a reaction towards the mainstream, and are created through the suggestion of ideas to the audience-Hegemony, this theory also states that all subcultures start from one culture similar to Theodor Adorno’s theory that music genres have become standardised. 

McCraken disagrees with CCCS stating that there is a vast array of values and ideals and therefore we cannot say that all subcultures come from one culture. McCraken also says that subcultures should be called little cultures and each one is different to the next.

Hebdige concludes that all subcultures only appear to be different, but are fundamentally the same suggesting that genres can easily target a wide range of audience, as tastes in music can be similar.

Copyright

Copyright in Britain is part of the copyright, designs and patents act 1988. It restricts anybody using somebody else’s product without their permission-usually an agreement can be made for a sum of money. Copyright is a method that protects an artist’s brand image as the song and videos can be kept the way the artist intended for them to be-Copyright lasts for 60 years from the release date but can also be renewed by the artist at any stage, it also keeps the song exclusive for the artist as the audience will only know the song in the original version, unless the artist says otherwise. For instance in the 00’s a song ‘Eternal Flame’ was released by Atomic Kitten but it was originally a Bangles song and those not old enough to remember or know the Bangles would believe the song is an Atomic Kitten song.

We are using a song from Jason Mraz -‘I won’t give up’ for our coursework   and therefore we are tasked with gaining the copyright permission from Mraz’s record label-Atlanta records. Getting the copyright for this song is vital as failing to produce such permission in the light of using the product to earn money is an illegal offence as well as suggesting that the product is your own, both offences can result in a large fine,  in which is not optimum for us as the fine would be far more than what we can pay.

The research into copyright not only has highlighted the implications of not providing copyright and the punishments for violating the law, but it also has shown us how to gain copyright. In response to this research the group and I have requested to use the song from Atlanta Records on the terms that we do not try to make money from it, we do not change the sound of the song and we keep some of the original messages within the song. As we are using the song for a school project we are more likely to be able to use this song, whereas a large company like BBC would almost always need to pay a large sum of money for the usage.

Research into chosen artist.

(Source:Wikipedia)

Jason Mraz is very interesting as an artist as his songs are very experimental in the techniques he uses, such as changes tempo of the lyrics and the beat often. He also maintains a constant theme throughout the whole song-which allows for a narrative to be created within the video. One could say that his music is easy listening and can target many different audiences. The idea of attracting mass audiences with a niche style intrigues me as to the limits we can push his music within the video, but fundamentally not change his style in music. As an artist in the mainstream attraction he doesn't break many conventions and expectations from the audience which allows for the audience to understand the audience better which ultimately betters the bond between artist and audience.

Jason was born in Virginia, 23.06.1977. The Genres he covers are broad but he specifically is known for pop-rock soul music. The song that we will be focusing on is I won't give up, arguably his best song. As you can see in the text box above it was a contender for the best love song at the Teen Choice Awards, despite not winning it was acknowledged by its target audience to be a good song that the audience enjoy consuming. Below you can see his sales for each of his songs in recent years. 

I'm yours by Jason Mraz was the song that established him as popular artist. The lyrics 'I'm yours' which is found in the chorus is a connotation of Love, allowing the song to target its target audience- mainly females aged 16-36 who do not live within a city. Mraz is portrayed as a free-loving person who appears cool to the audience-these hones into the Star image motif from Goodwin’s theory. The mise en scene of this video includes multiple locations, costumes and props, also the lighting used is natural throughout.

The most frequent outfit worn by Mraz is a t-shirt, shorts and a straw hat which makes him look normal-Paradox 2 of Dyer’s theory appearing ordinary to the audience giving a better chance for a relationship to be made between artist and audience. The outfits worn by Mraz can connote exploration which can be a reference to the style of music he provides as he is an alternative artist, and throughout the song the many locations can connote the journey of Mraz to creating his music, allowing the audience to feel more intimate with him and again create a strong connection to him. The range of props come from Sunglasses and back pack worn and the methods of transport he uses. Each has their own meanings to the audience, for instance the surf board he appears on suggests to the audience that he is in tune with nature and has cool pass time in exotic locations which can allow Mraz to gain more support from fans that enjoy the artist appearing extraordinary and also fun. He also is implied to have travelled in a private jet which can help attract a more exclusive target audience. Mraz through this video tries to gain as many fans as possible, which is good for an artist as it makes their products more likely to sell which makes Mraz as a product better.

Mraz through this song is able to successfully address his target audience and form strong lasting bonds with them. This is typical of Mraz as within other music videos he uses the same techniques stated above to lure the audience into feeling comfortable and intimate to him.

Target audience research

Questionnaire

Explain why questionnaires are important when considering a target audience.

To cater to a target audience efficiently you must first understand the needs and wants of the audience to give a brief outline of the type of product they are wanting. This understanding can also identify where a niche in the industry may lie. The more a production team understand the audience the more successful the product should be.

Questionnaires are also quick to complete and therefore have more chance from a member of the audience completing one, allowing a large range of sources to be included in your investigation to give your findings more credible as it is more representative of the wider audience, the more people that complete it.

The Data accumulated from questionnaires are often quantitive data, which means they are easy to analyse and compare to other results, which makes concluding what the audience want easier.

Explain why you surveyed 40 people in total and how you shared this in your group.

We used 40 people for our questionnaire, as it will allow multiple views and ideas from the audience to be voiced, which will allow us the ability to understand them more. We also used 40 because we are in a group of four people and 40 questionnaires being given out through 4 people, becomes very manageable. This is how we shared the burden of the questionnaire, four people with 10 questionnaires to give out each.

Pie charts/bar charts. (Questionnaire results)

Explain why decided to create pie charts/ bar charts.

We wanted to use Pie charts because not only does it allow a combination of all results to be centralised in one simple place, but it also is very nice to use, it becomes apparent which option of each of our questions was the most popular amongst our audience allowing us to fixate on providing what is wanted and it also speeds up the time period taken to analyse the results as we are able to group all the results rather than look at them individually which becomes time consuming.

Vox pops interviews

Explain why your group decided to undertake this as a part of your research.

We decided to use Vox pops for our research, as we believe that questionnaires can be too restrictive for the audience to give a reflective answer for how they feel about the topic, we also believe that a vox pop allows the answers given to be a fair reflection of views of the audience which will be rich in detail. We have found in the past that questionnaires and other ways of collecting data are very time consuming and do not always have a range of questions big enough to give the same level of understanding as a vox pop does.

Include a short summary to explain how it went and briefly how it will assist you with planning your music video.

The vox pop from filming to editing was a smooth and swift process. the filming of our samples took all  of half a day and the editing the raw footage together took just one hour after we decided the relevant answers to reflect the average view. Because the Vox pop was straight from the audiences point of view we are now able to correctly provide them with a product that they would enjoy consuming. For instance the common genre our sample enjoyed was alternative and therefore we chose to focus on that as a potential genre for our product.