EVALUATION - Question 1 - Magazine Advertisement

Our Magazine Advertisement

As well as creating a music video and a digipak along side we also had to create a magazine advertisement/poster to promote these products. Similarly to the creation of our video and digipak we had to consider the conventions of magazine advertisements to ensure we created a successful product and met the brief to the best standard possible. The conventions of magazine advertisements/posters we considered can be seen below:

• Name of the Artist
• Name of the Promoted Song
• Record Label
• Image - Usually of the Artist and is usually the same image as used on the digipak to give a sense of "Brand Identity" (the visible elements of a brand (such as colours, design, logotype, name, symbol) that together identify and distinguish the brand in the consumers' mind.)
• Text - Again, usually the same font/colour scheme is used as on the digipak to give a sense of "Brand Identity"
• Release Date

We have used all the conventions listed above to ensure our magazine advertisement/poster meets the conventions of real media products. A convention I would say we have challenged is "featuring" text. The reason we decided not to include this text on our poster is due  to the fact that our digipak only includes the one song that we have created the video for "My Happy Ending". Therefore, we decided that there wasn't really any need to include "featuring" as it is made pretty clear to the purchaser that the digipak only features one song, "My Happy Ending".


Below is an example of our artist`s (Avril Lavigne) magazine advertisement/poster for one of her singles. Typically the poster is very simple, but effective in its design and uses dark colours and a stern image to give association to the rock-pop/pop punk genre. Due to this we wanted to create a similar feel with our magazine advertisement/poster. Therefore, we decided to use the same image as we used on our digipak as we felt it conveyed a sad, bleak message often associated with the rock-pop/pop punk genre and  as identified within the conventions of magazine advertisements/posters would give a sense of "Brand Identity" (the visible elements of a brand (such as colours, design, logotype, name, symbol) that together identify and distinguish the brand in the consumers' mind). This would hopefully create not only a successful magazine advertisement but a successful music video and digipak also as purchasers would hopefully be able to connect the three products (music video, digipak and magazine advertisement) together and  hopefully purchase the digipak being advertised and watch the music video.

 

 A convention usually seen on magazine advertisements/posters promoting pop music to give a sense of popularity and an upbeat feeling are quotes from record labels, newspapers, magazines etc. We decided to develop and use this convention as we used quotes/star rating from Q Magazine and Kerrang as we felt by doing this our magazine advertisement would receive more attention and be more eye catching because the people who would probably look at our magazine advertisement/poster would probably be classified in the rock-pop/pop punk genre and therefore would probably be consumers of Q Magazine and Kerrang. Therefore, by including quotes/star rating from these rock-pop/pop punk companies purchasers would notice the credit our product is receiving from these companies and would more likely buy it than if it didn't have these recommendations/credits.


By including the record label and website at the the bottom of our magazine advertisement/poster I believe we have developed another convention as yes, these conventions are sometimes featured on magazine advertisements/posters but not always as sometimes they can proof a distraction for the viewer. However, we decided to include the record label and website at the bottom of our magazine advertisement as we felt it would create awareness for the viewer. Awareness of  the creators of the music (the record label) and awareness of the artist`s website in case the viewer would like to gain access to this to gain information/extra information about the artist etc.

Continuing the idea of "Brand Identity" we used the same font on our magazine advertisement/poster as seen on our digipak, resulting in the same positioning (across the puppet cross) being used. I believe by doing this with have challenged the  conventions of real media products as the text usually features straight on. However, by placing the text in this way and using a simple font/colour I believe we are conforming to unique, alternative conventions/aspects of the rock-pop/pop punk genre and this results in our magazine advertisement being more eye-catching than the usual magazine advertisement due to the  unusual positioning of the release date and the dramatic, rock-pop style image used.

EVALUATION - Question 1 - Digipak

Our Digipak

In order to ensure we were meeting the brief we also had to create a digipak to go along side our music video. Whilst making our digipak we had to consider the conventions of digipaks and the conventions of our rock-pop/pop-punk genre to ensure that we were creating a digipak suitable to our genre and therefore ensuring we were creating a product that conformed to real media products.

As you can see from the screen shots below we have tried to meet and use the conventions of existing digipaks by featuring things usually seen on them such as:

• Track list 
• Bar code
• Record Label
• Website
• Image - Usually of the artist as the aim of the  product is to promote the artist.
• Text on the Front Cover/Down the Spine - Artist name, Name of song
• Copyright logo

As you can see from the list above we have used a bar code on the back of our digipak as this is commonly seen on products which are sold to the public. However, as well as conforming to conventions we have also developed conventions as we have decided to also place a "QR Code" on the back of our digipak. We decided to do this as we believe it will show that we are trying to keep up to date with technologies  and that we are aware of technologically developments and how they are being used.

Sometimes a promotional sticker can feature on digipaks. They usually feature to promote an aspect of the  digipak which will create extra appeal for the purchaser e.g. bonus tracks, remastered, competitions etc. Due to this we decided not to feature a sticker on our digipak as our  product only features the song "My Happy Ending" which should be made obvious to the purchaser already.

Many digipaks feature the artist on thhe front cover as the purpose of a digipak is to promote the artist. Therefore, our digipak features our artist on the front cover. However, from the digipakks I have analysed and researched such as Paramore, Maroon 5 and YouMeatSix etc not many artists feature on their digipaks because within the rock-pop/pop-punk genre it is more about the music produced than it is the artists appearance. Nevertheless some artists do feature on their  digipaks such as Avril Lavigne and Pink as their appearance and the development in their appearance is part of their "Brand Identity". Due to this we decided to feature our Avril Lavigne/Artist figure, Kate on our front cover, as we felt this would be developing Avril Lavigne`s/the rock-pop/pop-punk style.

As you  can see from the images below, Avril Lavigne`s style started off very typically punk. Featuring her on the front cover of her albums/digipaks looking very morbid and gothic but as time progressed she fitted more in to the pop category of the  rock-pop genre and today we see a more mature, sophisticated side to her.

When creating our digipak we wanted to focus more on and  develop the conventions of the early days of Avril`s career, the punk/gothic side of Avril as the song "My Happy Ending" which we have chosen for our brief would be categorised more as Avril`s early, emotional pieces. Therefore, due to the emotion portrayed in the song, typical of the rock-pop/pop-punk genre we wanted to capture an image on our  digipak that would emphasise the emotion of the song but also relate the content of the music video we have created. We believe the image we have used does this. The low positioning of Kate (our Avril Lavigne figure) suggests a sense of domination and implys she is inferior which can be seen in our music video where Tom (our boyfriend figure) dominates her through the use of puppet strings. Taking this content in to consideration we wanted to use an image which would emphasise the sad, dominating main aspect of our  video and  this is  why we decided to use an eye catching image because the puppet cross instantly catches the eye drawing attention to the sad facial expression of our artist giving  connotations of the type of image usually featured on Avril`s albums in her early career while the image that features on the back of our digipak emphasises that our boyfriend figure is a "bad/evil" character due to the dark lighting we used and the broken rose he is holding in his hands, which relates to the content of our video also because roses feature in our production.

As mentioned briefly above, Roses feature in our music video. We decided to feature roses in our media product as we wanted to conform to the rock-pop/pop punk genre by suggesting connotations of romance, love, emotion and heartbreak, which often feature heavily in this genre as products are often created to express emotions. Therefore, similar to the outside of our digipak relating to the puppet content in our music video and a sense of heartbreak we also wanted this relation process to continue on the inside of our digipak. With this in mind we decided to use an image of a rose with rose petals surrrounding it towards where the CD/DVD would be placed. By using this image and enhancing the bright red against a dark, black background the inside of our digipak is simple but effective which is a convention often seen in thhe rock-pop/pop punk genre as it offers a stern focus on the product/song and the meaning behind it.

As you can see from the images below, the inside of S Club 7s CD digipak, like ours the inside of their digipak features the lyrics. This is conventional for S Club 7 to do this as they are classed as "Pop" and therefore need a fun, capturing element to their product. Nevertheless, although it is not conventional for the rock-pop/pop punk genre to have the lyrics on the inside of digipaks, more likely credits, we have decided to challenge this and feature the lyrics on the inside of our digipak as we feel the heartbreak, romance and emotion of our product needed to be empahsised as much as possible and the lyrics of "My Happy Ending" offer this. Also, by doing this we believe we hhave brought to the purchasers attention the "pop" element of the rock-pop/pop punk genre.

The font we have used would probably be classed more as Gothic rather than rock-pop/pop-punk as it is not as edgey as some of the texts seen on rock-pop/pop punk products such as Paramore`s "RIOT!". I believe we have developed this convention as we have used a more simple text than conventionally used. We decided to do this as the font style and colour we used fitted the overall appearance of our digipak better than a more "creative" font would have and therefore, the text we have used is simple but effective suiting the simple design of our digipak overall and does not take attention away from the main focus of our digipak - the images. The positioning of the text on the puppet cross on the front cover image offers a unique, alternative way of presenting thhe text and puts greater emphasis and focus on the image capturing the purchasers eye in such a way that they will remember and hopefully buy the product.

EVALUATION - Question 1 - Music Video

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


Our Music Video





Many people would class the artist we have chosen Avril Lavigne as Alternative Rock a.k.a. Rock-Pop/Pop-Punk. Lavigne is known for her rebellious personality and care-free attitude, behaviour often seen within this genre. When exploring the rock-pop/pop-punk world it would seem that products generated from this genre usually reflect this edgy style. Artists are usually seen to be in possession of instruments such as electric guitars and drums and their appearance usually makes a statement e.g. big hair, bold make-up, shocking clothing. Rock-pop/pop-punk has been described as an "upbeat variety of Rock", this is usually seen in the performance element of many music videos from this genre. I believe performance teamed with this rebellion is used in order to help the artist express emotions and themselves as the performance element of many rock-pop/pop-punk videos usually holds a sense of aggression or upset. 


While creating our music video and other products such as our digipak and magazine advertisement we have kept in mind the conventions of this genre. Research has been essential in ensuring we understand the conventions of our genre and that we make a product suitable for the rock-pop/pop-punk genre.


 Therefore, coming back to the performance element of our music video and the fact it is often seen within this genre, I believe this video from "Evanescence", "What You Want" amplifies the performance element as the video is mainly performance based and is one of the first things we see creating establishment. This can also be seen in the video by "Halestorm", "Love/Hate Heartbreak", whose lead singer is also Female. Unfortunately Halestorm's video has been disabled for sharing. Therefore, this link will take you to it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7n0iizglK0&ob=av2e




We also see many shots of the lead singer who is female which relates back to our video as we have chosen to use a female artist. The camera then does move on to other scenes and we occasionally see what appears to be a "gig" where the rest of the band feature playing their conventional instruments of guitars and drums. However, the focus always seems to go back on to the lead singer Amy Lee. It could be said that we challenged the performance element of rock-pop/pop punk music videos as our video does not feature a backing band like many videos from this genre do. However, we did use an electric guitar and piano which our actor  Kate played herself as we noted that Avril Lavigne used a electric guitar and piano in the original music video, we also took inspiration from technical choices, hence the arch shot towards the end of our video as Avril uses a similar shot in her video. Artists playing their own instruments is sometimes seen in rock pop videos as a sense that the artist is multi-talented. Avril`s video can be seen below to demonstrate what I mean, and I believe we used this convention in our own production, images from our own production are seen below also.

Therefore, this could be interpreted as Laura Mulvey's "Male Gaze" theory, the theory that women are viewed from the perspective of a heterosexual male. In many music videos women appear to presented in a sexual, attractive way, this is mostly interpreted as beneficial for males. The video by Evanescence could be interpreted as taking the male gaze in to consideration as Amy Lee appears very immersed in the camera like she is trying to please. However, others may view this as confidence typically known within the rock-pop/pop-punk genre, many female artists within this genre represent the rebellious attitude stereotypically known. Therefore, this presentation of Amy Lee could just be her conforming to the genre she is part of. 

In terms of our work we have developed but also challenged the conventions associated with women in this genre. Kate who plays our Avril Lavigne figure plays to the camera in some of our video especially towards the end where it becomes more upbeat and a sense of aggression is created through the lyrics but she does not perform in a sexual manner, she performs in a way suitable for the song, reflective and upset at the beginning when the song is slow and as the song progresses her performance fits the beat and mood as mentioned earlier. The song becomes more aggressive towards the end, a perfect example to demonstrate this is seen below where Kate shouts in to the camera to amplify the aggressive lyrics being sung, the low angle we used gives Kate a sense of dominance and reminds the viewer of the rebellious feel usually felt within the rock-pop/pop-punk genre.

We also used a high angle shot from the top of an outside stair case, filming Kate stood on the ground below. This was to give a more visually interesting shot to our piece and give Kate a sense of vulnerability portraying the idea that the person she is singing about is of higher status due to the high angle used. However, Kate's actions do not present a feeling of vulnerability as she spins around in a circle with a sense of freedom and almost aggression. Therefore, by using this shot we have challenged the shots conventionally seen in the rock-pop/pop-punk genre.

Like many Females associated with the rock-pop/pop-punk genre Amy Lee from Evanescence is presented as very Gothic - black hair, plenty of eye-liner and dark clothing. I believe we developed but slightly challenged this appearance commonly associated with this genre because as you can see from the images below Kate, our Avril figure wore more casual clothing such as Jeans and brighter colours. However, we still tried to make sure there were punk elements within her outfits such as conventional stripes, skulls and studs etc.. Although, some may say by dressing Kate in a less sexual manner and more casual we are still working within the rock-pop/pop punk genre as some, if not many females within this genre dress more casually as it is more about the music and not the appearance within the rock-pop/pop punk genre. A good example of this more casual look is Gwen Stefani in No Doubt's "Don't Speak" video.Overall, I would say we have developed this convention.

Mulvey`s "Male Gaze" because the camera shots and movement creates focus on the artist`s body such as her breasts. We have challenged this in our video as we have not exposed our artist`s body we have kept her mostly covered up and we do not have vigorous camera movement in our video, it is mostly of a still nature. Another good example of vigorous camera movement is Paramore`s "Ignorance". The movement emphasises the beat and pace of the song and as our song changes in pace quite a lot we thought it best to edit our video to match the changing tempo of our song, the speed of editing at different points throughout our production changes to  maintain the viewer`s focus and keep them interested. Focus is essential in our video as it tells a story of love and heartbreak. Many songs within the rock-pop/pop punk genre express emotion, usually related to love or some form of heartbreak - the visuals usually relate to the lyrics, we have tried to conform to this in our music video as does Pink in "Just Like A Pill" - e.g. "Lying here on the floor where you left me".






Paramore`s "The Only Exception" presents a sense of expressing emotion conventionally seen within the rock-pop/pop punk genre. Featuring yet another lead female artist. The viewer from the very beginning of the video establishes a sense of a relationship due the location and the shot. The first shot is of a couple laid in a domestic setting on a sofa, which is also seen at the end of the video. We have conformed to this as our video shows a photo of a couple next to some roses to imply a sense of love which is also seen at the end of our video but torn suggesting like the photo, the couple`s relationship is broken. We also used a variety of locations in our video - some domestic with a sofa and wallpapered background giving the video a home setting.

Locations are key when creating a visual piece. We tried to use a variety of locations, some which may be challenging the usual conventions as most rock-pop/pop punk videos feature inside while most of our locations are outside. Our video could be compared to many locations seen in videos from our genre as they try to suggest a sense of emotion and create a bleak mood, we have tried to conform to this by using low key lighting, particularly seen  in the puppet scene to emphasise a sense of lack of control and dominance by the 'dark/bad' male controlling the female.

Paramore`s "Ignorance" is a good video to compare. The female lead Hayley Williams dominates the band, this is emphasised through the one light bulb used which constantly puts the attention on her and lacks on her band mates. Due to this the location is dark which meets conventional forms for the rock-pop/pop punk genre. This video seems to fit generic conventions also as it is very rebellious in its presentation, fast cuts and eye-catching shots to catch the viewers attention. Although our video is slower in pace we have tried to create a sense of rebellion in our video through facial expressions, dominating shots used and lighting but we have tried to develop this and not have our artist completely rebellious as seen in Pink`s "Just Like A Pill" because we felt although rebellion is a key factor within the rock-pop/pop punk genre too much rebellion within our video would result in a lack of focus on the narrative of a love/heartbreak story within our video and might not fit the pace of the song.

FILMING: Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending

Monday 28th November - Continuing to look at our production in terms of professionalism and quality, looking at our music video lately we have felt that we need one more set of performance shots that are big on lighting and impact to really capture the audience`s focus and emphasise the promotion of our artist. Therefore, today we decided to film in the school`s sports hall against a large brick wall while using a small spot light to create dramatic lighting. We believe this has been very successful as the lighting puts instant focus on our artist and her actions/facial expressions, therefore meeting the brief of promoting our artist. Some of the footage we captured can be seen below.

FILMING: Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending

Thursday 24th November - As our music video is starting to come together nicely we decided to watch our production through as a whole. We felt that the footage we filmed on 8th November (argument and flashback scenes) was not the best it could be. We felt in comparison to the rest of our  footage such as the Piano scenes and Puppet scenes these scenes did not look very professional in comparison and therefore these shots lacked quality. Today we re-filmed the argument and flashbacks scenes.

We decided to film in a room within the school`s Learning Support Department as this room was equipped with a sofa, table, lamp, wallpapered wall etc and therefore we felt this location would be effective in communicating to our audience a feeling of privacy, intimacy and a notion of "behind closed doors" - a domestic setting, a typical placement in which the theme of our music video - love vs heartbreak/ happy moments vs sad take place.

We also decided upon this location as we felt it had good lighting and as it was a reasonably small room more of our focus would be on the framing of  shots as the lack of room meant we could not freely move around and change our shot/framing, therefore we had to make the best of the space we had. We felt this location was a good choice as lighting and framing were an issue in the footage we captured on the 8th November.

As well as filming the scenes with Tom we also filmed Kate`s reaction to the arguments that have taken place. A feeling of anger and upset which we feel our audience will be able to relate to as we have all experienced the after math of arguments and our feelings towards these arguments. In the heat of the moment many people get angry and upset and take it out on people or objects around them, this is an idea we wanted to communicate to our audience. Therefore, we decided to film shots of Kate messing up the room, chucking the sofa cushions and surroundings items around in a feeling of utter anger and upset towards the arguments and her troubled relationship. A screen shot of this footage can be seen below.



To emphasise a feeling of the actions which emotions have caused Kate to do, on premiere pro we decided to speed the footage up slightly and cut some of the footage out replacing it with cross dissolves to create an ellipsis of time and to create a quick, dramatic impact instead of boring the audience with a long sequence of footage.