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.
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Monday, 28 November 2011
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.
Friday, 25 November 2011
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.
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.
Monday, 14 November 2011
ANCILLARY TASK: Magazine Advertisement - Final Product

The above screen shot shows the final version of our magazine advertisement. We are very pleased with the result as we believe it fits the conventions of existing magazine advertisements as it includes information usually seen on musical advertisements such as:
- Photograph of the Artist
- Name of the Artist
- Name of the Album
- Record Label
- Website
- Company Quotes
- Release Date
This accompanied with the dramatic image of Kate as a puppet which relates back to the content of video and creates brand identity in relation back to our digipak, we believe creates an effective advertisement.
ANCILLARY TASK: Magazine Advertisement - Designing our Advert
As mentioned earlier Brand Identity is a key convention within the music world of promotion. Therefore we have decided to use the same image as on our digipak of Kate (our artist figure) posed as a puppet, we have also decided to use the same colour scheme. The screen shot below shows the first stage of our magazine advertisement demonstrating what I have just mentioned.

From the Magazine Advertisements we have seen already, websites are usually including somewhere on the advertisement to ensure the purchaser is made aware that the artist has a website and can seek out additional information if they would like to. We have noticed that the website does not feature heavily on the advert as this would take attention away from the main idea. With this in mind we have decided to place the website at the bottom of our poster. As you can see from the screen shot below we also decided to include quotes from Q Magazine and Kerrang as these are companies usually associated with the rock-pop/pop punk genre. As the editing process went on we felt that the quotes did not stand out as much as we would have liked them to against the dark background. Therefore, we decided to add a white shadow to the text to make it stand out more.

Final Edit
Below is a screen shot of our final magazine advertisement. As mentioned above you can see we have added the white shadow on to the quotes from Q Magazine and Kerrang, this had made the text stand out a lot more which is good for promotional purposes because people who are part of the rock-pop/pop punk genre hold these sort of recommendations in high regard and this could influence their decision to buy or not.
The screen shot above shows our original decision of "Release Date: November 30" but as you can see from the screen shot below we decided to change this to simply "21st November 2011". We made this decision because we felt that "release date" is not usually seen on advertisements like the one we are trying to create. Therefore, we thought a simple date would work as it would stick in the viewers mind and hopefully they would remember this simple date and buy the product when it is released. Also, you may notice we have changed the release date to "21st November 2011". We decided this as music products are usually released on a Monday and this date is a Monday meaning that we are meeting the conventions of real products.
We have also included the record label of our artist in the bottom left corner of our poster so viewers are aware of the artist's creators. Originally it had a white background on it but we edited this out as it stuck out on our poster and by editing it it was more integrated in to the poster.


From the Magazine Advertisements we have seen already, websites are usually including somewhere on the advertisement to ensure the purchaser is made aware that the artist has a website and can seek out additional information if they would like to. We have noticed that the website does not feature heavily on the advert as this would take attention away from the main idea. With this in mind we have decided to place the website at the bottom of our poster. As you can see from the screen shot below we also decided to include quotes from Q Magazine and Kerrang as these are companies usually associated with the rock-pop/pop punk genre. As the editing process went on we felt that the quotes did not stand out as much as we would have liked them to against the dark background. Therefore, we decided to add a white shadow to the text to make it stand out more.

Final Edit
Below is a screen shot of our final magazine advertisement. As mentioned above you can see we have added the white shadow on to the quotes from Q Magazine and Kerrang, this had made the text stand out a lot more which is good for promotional purposes because people who are part of the rock-pop/pop punk genre hold these sort of recommendations in high regard and this could influence their decision to buy or not.
The screen shot above shows our original decision of "Release Date: November 30" but as you can see from the screen shot below we decided to change this to simply "21st November 2011". We made this decision because we felt that "release date" is not usually seen on advertisements like the one we are trying to create. Therefore, we thought a simple date would work as it would stick in the viewers mind and hopefully they would remember this simple date and buy the product when it is released. Also, you may notice we have changed the release date to "21st November 2011". We decided this as music products are usually released on a Monday and this date is a Monday meaning that we are meeting the conventions of real products.
We have also included the record label of our artist in the bottom left corner of our poster so viewers are aware of the artist's creators. Originally it had a white background on it but we edited this out as it stuck out on our poster and by editing it it was more integrated in to the poster.

ANCILLARY TASK: Magazine Advertisement - Final Choices
When thinking about what we wanted our magazine advertisement to look like we decided we wanted an image that would capture focus and create dramatic effect as we believe our digipak achieves this, so we wanted our magazine advertisement to be similar.
Therefore, we decided to use the same image we used on our digipak, this gives connotations of "Brand Identity". If we use the same image on both our digipak and magazine advertisement then people will be able to relate the two images and recognise that they are promoting the same thing.
Continuing with Brand Identity we have decided we are going to use the same text on the magazine advertisement as on our digipak, this gives a sense of similar style.
As we are trying to promote a product towards the rock-pop/pop-punk genre we have decided we are going to include quotes from companies associated with this genre such as Q Magazine and Kerrang. This is because the people who we are aiming our product at are likely to know these companies well and therefore if these companies have praised or recommended the product then people will know the product is likely to be good.
Therefore, we decided to use the same image we used on our digipak, this gives connotations of "Brand Identity". If we use the same image on both our digipak and magazine advertisement then people will be able to relate the two images and recognise that they are promoting the same thing.
Continuing with Brand Identity we have decided we are going to use the same text on the magazine advertisement as on our digipak, this gives a sense of similar style.
As we are trying to promote a product towards the rock-pop/pop-punk genre we have decided we are going to include quotes from companies associated with this genre such as Q Magazine and Kerrang. This is because the people who we are aiming our product at are likely to know these companies well and therefore if these companies have praised or recommended the product then people will know the product is likely to be good.
We are going to put the release date of our product on the vertical of the puppet cross. We believe this will capture the viewers eye and is different to the normal positioning of text on magazine advertisements, therefore this will give our advertisement the alternative edge usually seen in the rock-pop/pop punk genre.
ANCILLARY TASK: Magazine Advertisement - Analysis of Existing Advertisements
Paramore - "Ignorance" Advertisement
Most magazine advertisements usually promote an album not a single. However, this advertisement promotes Paramore`s single, “Ignorance”. This could be due to Paramore or their record label (fuelledbyramen) wanting to promote the single first before releasing the album it features on “Brand New Eyes”. If they promote a certain single off the album and its successful (which it was) then this may encourage people to buy the album when it is released.
The overall design, colours of the advertisement help to reflect the pop-rock/pop-punk genre Paramore belong to. This is due to the black and white effect, which helps to create a dark, serious feel to the advert. In turn this reflects the bands circumstances, as this was their first single after nearly splitting. Therefore, it could be said that the simplicity of the advert is an indication of the bands progression, maturity and unity since their near split. The cover of the album that the single features on is simple in its design also. This amplifies the band maturity and almost gives an idea of brand identity, as the album and advert are similar in their design. The album features an image of a butterfly, butterflies formulate from caterpillars suggesting a sense of maturity.
Musicians categorised in the “rock” genre are often presented as caring less about their appearance and more about the music they produce. Therefore, the fact both the album and the advert for the single do not feature an image of the band present an idea of the band being serious about their music resulting in a suggestion of maturity. The advert is different to Paramore`s usual edgy style of bold text and unusual images implying their progression as a band and uniting once more.
Although, some may say that the image used on the advert is unusual in its style as it presents two dolls next to each other, which makes the viewer ask why? I believe this image is used to further amplify the bands maturity but particularly the lead singer Hayley Williams, as it is very feminine in its approach. This sense of femininity could be created as Hayley was rumoured to be central to the bands arguments and conflicts. Therefore, this image could be said to remind the viewer of the troubles the band have overcome and the respect Hayley`s band members now have for her.
The information shown on the advert is: the band name, which is featured in the band’s “trademark font” making it recognisable for the viewer creating brand identity for the band. The single title, the band’s website and the band’s record label. The appearance and colour (white) of the text makes the white and black background it is featured on appears even darker emphasising a dark, bleak feeling often associated with the rock-pop/pop-punk genre. The italic font has a feminine feel to it that relates to the feminine image of the dolls. This font emphasises the important text “the new single”,” ignorance” this catches the eye and helps the viewer to establish what is being advertised.
The layout of the advert is significant. The text is featured on the left hand side of the advert and the image on the right hand side. The text features in order of importance. “Paramore” is positioned at the top of the advert as it is instantly recognisable to the viewer who are probably fans of Paramore`s so will instantly recognise their “trademark font” and for people who don’t this “trademark font” will create a wider fan base for the band as people will begin to recognise this font. It could also be said that the band’s name is featured at the top to create promotional excitement for the fans as this is the first single Paramore are releasing since their come back. The name of the single, “Ignorance” features in italics directly underneath the dominant name of the band creating instant association between the two, which is aimed to create promotional value as by associating the band name with the name of the single the target audience will hopefully purchase the product. This promotional process is continued by advertising that the single is “out now” which is featured in the same italic font as the name of the single amplifying the purpose of the advertisement. The less important text such as the record label, website and tour dates features at the bottom of the advert in a smaller text. This is a common convention on most advertisements as it is usually required, additional information but is not necessarily the information we want to look at so therefore is usually in a smaller font.
I believe this advertisement is effective due to its simplicity. The dominance of the image draws the eye in and creates focus. The colour scheme and appearance of the advertisement appeals to the target audience of the rock-pop/pop-punk genre as there is very little colour present portraying a bleak theme, which is a common convention within products aimed at the rock-pop/pop-punk genre. The relation between image and text works effectively as they are of similar colour and are opposites sides of the advertisement, which results in one element drawing the eye to the other. Brand identity is created and established as the same image featured on the advertisement is also seen on the cover of the single. This is a common convention seen in products produced for promotional purposes as it creates recognisable elements which people identify and pair together. Although, the advertisement is simple in its design, which creates instant focus, I think the name of the single and “out now” text could be bolder in its appearance as the image dominants the advertisement lacking focus on the text.
The first thing most people would notice about this advertisement promoting You Me At Six`s album "Hold Me Down" is the image. Similar to Paramore`s "Ignorance" the advertisement features the image used on the album art work, therefore giving a sense of "Brand Identity" (MEANING OF BI).Yet again, similar to Paramore the advertisement does for YouMeatSix does not feature an image of the band. This could be for the same reasons as Paramore, due to the rock-pop/pop punk genre they belong to their music is more important to them than their image or it could be that like Paramore they already have a well established fan base so an image of the band is not necessary.
The decision to have no image of the band and the choice of image is very typical of YouMeatSix from the knowledge I have of them as a band. As far as I am aware they have not yet released an album which features an image of them on the front. I believe this is due to the edgy persona of the band and is part of their image. As you can see from the image featured on the album and magazine advertisement I am analysing and the images below of the band`s other album art work, the images used to promote the band tend to be a bit alternative, quirky and eye-catching. This could be due to their record label (Virgin Records) taking this decision to establish their image or it could just have been a decision in order to attract people interested in the rock-pop/pop punk market as no image is a very typical convention of the genre and is a recognisable convention for the type of target market the band are trying to attract.
The image itself is the main attraction of the advertisement as it is vibrant, colourful and unique with its use of different images linked together to create one large image. It is due to this combining of different images that the viewer therefore looks closer at the image which in then maintains their focus as they analyse the different elements of the image. The flamboyant image dominates most of the advertisement which results in it being instantly eye-catching and interesting for whoever sees it as it is quite alternative which links to the "alternative rock" a.k.a rock-pop/pop punk genre the band belong to. However, some may class YouMeatSix as a more "indie" band and therefore would argue that the bright colours and unusual image have been used for this reason, as the "indie" genre is usually quite upbeat and colour is usually used to express this.
All the text featured on the advertisement is pretty simple in it`s style. The text that features biggest is the band name and the release of the album which is in the same style but the release date is in yellow. This is significant as the advertisement is aiming to promote the album and it`s release so by placing the bands name in the same text as the release date the viewer will probably look at this aspects of the advertisement first as they stand out most so imply to the viewer that this information is of most importance. By placing the release date in yellow and in the same font as the band`s name the eye is instantly drawn to it creating focus and remembrance resulting in the viewer hopefully buying the album.
The name of the album "Hold Me Down" which is in an italic font also features on the advertisement and is directly under the band`s name. This font is featured on the actual album also, yet again giving a sense of "Brand Identity" which is probably why the album name is in a different, smaller font as the target market will probably already be aware of the album being promoted as they may have seen it elsewhere. Therefore, the name of the album does not feature heavily in comparison to the band`s name etc but the italic font gives it importance.
The presentation of the text is siginificant as I believe it relates to the rock-pop/pop punk genre and takes in to consideration the target market (teenagers). The name of the band is placed on what appears to be torn paper, this suggests to the viewer a care-free, rebellious attitude often portrayed within the rock-pop/pop punk genre and is often the attitude associated with teenagers which is furthermore emphasised by what appears to be sticky tape holding it in place which has a crinkled, worn effect to it which amplifies the rock-pop notion that artists care more about their music than their appearance.
This significance in presentation creates focus on the expected, important aspects of the advertisement (the name of the band and the album) which is made more pronounced by the flamboyant image above this text. However, due to this emphasis on image and text the viewer then takes in the other information on the advertisement such as "The New Album", "CD/Download" and the information at the bottom of the advertisement which inform the viewer of the band`s website, record label and where the album is available from, "Play.com", a well known website which teenagers, the target market are probably aware of and are likely to use, making it more likely that they will buy the album it is advertised that it is available to buy from a website that they regularly.
Overall, I think the general layout and appearance of the advertisement works effectively due to the choice of image and colours used. The bright colours almost exploding out on to the page against the darker background helps to catch the eye and maintain focus which creates further focus on the other information on the advertisement i.e. the release date, new album etc. The relation between image and text and the way it is layed out has been thought out with care as the image is the central structure to creating focus on other aspects of the advertisement and does not distract but capture the viewer in it`s unusual but complimentary choice of colours and image. There is not much I dislike about this advertisement, the only thing I would say that could be changed slightly would be the style and size of the name of the album as it seems to get lost in the extravagance of the advertisement.
ANCILLARY TASK: Magazine Advertisement - Conventions
In order to make sure the creation of our magazine advertisement fits the conventions of advertisements usually seen we have had to identify the conventions of magazine advertisements. Below is a mind map of the conventions of magazine advertisements which I created myself.
ANCILLARY TASK: Magazine Advertisement - What is Brand Identity?
Now we have created our digipak the OCR spec states that we now have to create a magazine advertisement to advertise and promote our digipak - A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with a cover for it`s release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package) and a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).
Magazine Advertisements usually have a similar visual look about them in relation to the product being advertised. For example, when creating our advertisement we will need to consider the font, colours, images etc used to effectively reflect our product while taking in to consideration the conventions of the genre our artist (Avril Lavigne) fits in to (pop-rock/pop punk). When advertisements relate to the product being sold and are of similar style this is called "Brand Identity".
Brand Identity is the visible elements of a brand (such as colours, design, logotype, name, symbol) that together identify and distinguish the brand in the consumers' mind. As you can see from the images below, Avril Lavigne has considered brand identity when promoting and advertising her album "The Best Damn Thing". The same image has been used on the advertisement as on the album as well as the same font used for the album title. The same colour scheme of pink and white has been used which draws the eye to the promotional information on the advertisement such as the release date.
The Album.
The Advertisement.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
FILMING: Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending
Tuesday 8th November - Today at lunch we filmed the argument scene between Tom and Kate in which we planned for the couple to be all loved up with one another and then they go to kiss one another in which Tom then grabs Kate and pushes her to the floor highlighting to the audience that Tom is a "bad/evil" character. During this time we also filmed scenes of the couple arguing. These scenes were filmed in the Drama Studio as we felt the plain white wall in there would give us a nice blank canvas to keep our audience`s focus on the couple arguing as arguing contrasting with the couple`s happy moments is the main theme of our music video.


From the screen shots below you can see how these argument scenes and Tom acting like he is going to kiss Kate but then pushing her to the floor turned out once we uploaded it to premiere pro. In terms of the pushing shot we are thinking about putting this part in slow motion to emphasise the brutality of Tom`s act to our audience but to also give connotations of the happiness they once had slowly slipping away due to the arguments they keep on having.


While in the Drama Studio and while we had Kate and Tom together we decided to film "loved up/happy" shots of them so we could construct flashback scenes to offer a contrast to the couple arguing. By doing this we feel the theme of love vs heartbreak/ happy moments vs upset and sadness will be strongly communicated to our audience. An image of these flashback moments can be seen below.

Also, during Lunch we filmed the shots for the line "you`ve got your dumb friends, I know what they say". We filmed these shots in the common room kitchen as planned but not in the common room sofa area as with it being Lunch the sofa area was occupied by a lot of people and filming would have been difficult. Therefore, when everyone had used the Kitchen we decided to gather together Kate, Tom and a group of Tom`s friends to film the scene in which Tom is chatting, joking about with his friends and totally ignoring Kate who is upset in the corner of the room due to the Tom`s friends "sayings" about her and the lack of attention she is receiving from Tom. We are either thinking of fading Kate out of the shot to amplify her "disappearance" in concern with Tom or fading Tom and his friends out of the shot to emphasise to the audience Kate, stood in the corner looking emotional while Tom and his friends are happy and joking around her not taking any notice of her and her upset.
The "you`ve got your dumb friends" shot can be seen below in photo form and screen shot form once we uploaded the footage to premiere pro.

From the screen shots below you can see how these argument scenes and Tom acting like he is going to kiss Kate but then pushing her to the floor turned out once we uploaded it to premiere pro. In terms of the pushing shot we are thinking about putting this part in slow motion to emphasise the brutality of Tom`s act to our audience but to also give connotations of the happiness they once had slowly slipping away due to the arguments they keep on having.


While in the Drama Studio and while we had Kate and Tom together we decided to film "loved up/happy" shots of them so we could construct flashback scenes to offer a contrast to the couple arguing. By doing this we feel the theme of love vs heartbreak/ happy moments vs upset and sadness will be strongly communicated to our audience. An image of these flashback moments can be seen below.

Also, during Lunch we filmed the shots for the line "you`ve got your dumb friends, I know what they say". We filmed these shots in the common room kitchen as planned but not in the common room sofa area as with it being Lunch the sofa area was occupied by a lot of people and filming would have been difficult. Therefore, when everyone had used the Kitchen we decided to gather together Kate, Tom and a group of Tom`s friends to film the scene in which Tom is chatting, joking about with his friends and totally ignoring Kate who is upset in the corner of the room due to the Tom`s friends "sayings" about her and the lack of attention she is receiving from Tom. We are either thinking of fading Kate out of the shot to amplify her "disappearance" in concern with Tom or fading Tom and his friends out of the shot to emphasise to the audience Kate, stood in the corner looking emotional while Tom and his friends are happy and joking around her not taking any notice of her and her upset.
The "you`ve got your dumb friends" shot can be seen below in photo form and screen shot form once we uploaded the footage to premiere pro.


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