Evaluation question 1

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

Our promo package consisted of 2 parts, firstly the music video and secondly the digipack and advertisement. Looking specifically at the music video we had to find a local band or artist to give us permission to use their track and discuss possibilities of what type of music video i would create in order to match the representation of the band and to appeal to the target audience. We spent alot of time looking at different genres and what type of music videos were generally made within the genre. The genre of Os Vampiros was indie music, so i researched music videos by Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkeys. Deciding that with a debut video of the band they were quite simplistic and involved the band therefore deciding that that is the route i would go down. Also they involved the band actually performing with in some cases having like an unknown narrative which shows the band outside their performance. To support the representation of the band.

Using my research i decided that i would use Goodwins theory of creating a video that is disjunctive, illustrative or amplificitive and create a disjunctive video, as i felt that that was what alot of indie bands did. As a performance video didn't really have any link to the lyrics of the song. I came up with the idea of using a performance video in their rehearsal hall, as this was a debut video so it wouldn't be a mainstream high budget video, also i got inspiration from Arctic Monkeys debut video " i bet that you look good on the dancefloor" and Vampire Weekend's "a punk"



This video is simplistic, part performance and still representing the band as humorous and creative. This is what alot of my research of indie music agreed on.

With a variety of routes to go down i believe my music video agrees with Goodwins theory of amplificitive, illustrative or disjunctive. I believe my video fits nicely in the disjunctive category as the video has no relevance to the lyrics and is seperate from the song. To achieve this i read and understood the lyrics however talking no notice of them when it came to creating the video. My music video has no narrative however looking into the lyrics the song is slightly depressing as its about the worse day of your life, however I've gone against the conventional sad, slow paced video and contrasted it to create an energetic, lively video as that is the way the band come across.

If i was going to create a performance video i would have to have fast pace editing with a variety of shots, to give the audience a focus.

This way it targets the audience and keeps them interested paired with fast cuts always means the audiences eye has something to focus on. I felt that a performance video alone would not appeal to my target audience which is both males and females between the age of 17-30 according to my background research. So i decided to have a second story line going on at the same time, with no narrative just a sequence of short scenes to represent the band in a humorous rock and roll way.

I made a clear distinction between the performance and the band not performing by having the performance in black and white and keeping the other footage in a sepia theme to make the clear distinction.

When there was a prominant instrument playing whether it being a continual drum beat or a guitar solo i often cut to close ups of that particular instrument to show shot variety and to draw the attention of the audience to this particular band member and instrument.I believed this worked successfully as it added more pace with fast cuts between different angles of the instruments.

I used alot of long shots in order to frame the band as a band together as usually the main focus is on the lead singer with alot of the close ups on the singer alone for example arctic monkeys "i bet that you look good on the dancefloor" had alot of the shots on Alex turner singing. And this is the way they wanted the band to be represented with a clear front man. However shots including close ups of the other band members were used but not as often what i decided to do.












Yet Vampire Weekends "a punk" had some focus on the lead singer but also had alot of focus on the other band memebers which is what the band wanted to do, for each member to have equal chance. This is were using longer shots helped as it shows the whole picture of the band playing together, with the use of close ups not to emphasise the lead singer alone but to draw the eye of the main focus part of the song.













So by incorporating shots of the whole band gave the impression that no one was more superior than the other. And shows all the band members playing their own instruments. With the more cuts between the long shots, close ups and the outside the performance part of the video creates pace within the video to match the pace of the song. Although the song meaning doesn't match the pace of the video, i decided to contrast the meaning of the song with the video itself, as they may create unhappy songs but that doesn't necessarily mean that they want to be represented that way. The song is pacey and thrives in strong individual instruments such as the guitar solos, the drum beat when everything else is quieter, and the singers voice all individually stands out at different parts of the song, this contrasts with other indie songs as the guitaring, drumming is usually in the background compared to the singer which is usually why the singer gathers the main focus. So I'm following the convention to a certain extent of having the main focus on the prominent part of the band because in my case they all are.














I decided to go along with the conventional performance video as that is what my research inspired me to do. As this is an upcoming recently signed band which means many people may not have heard of them. So the first impression is always important and that is another reason why we decided on a performance video so that audience are able to recognise what the band look like if they were ever to see them at a gig or want to buy their music.

Looking into other theories my video doesnt have a narrative so is therefore hard to link to Propps theory of roles as there are no roles to allocate within my video. Or Todorov's equilibrium/disequilibrium as there are no two states of emotions contrasting in my video. This is because its too complex and within my genre the videos are kept simple and easy to follow without a narrative in most cases.
My video was in no way enigmatic as it was kept simple and showing the band for the people who they are. However a semic code is used as it is showing how characters, settings, props take a meaning within a culture. With the influence of smoking as a cool thing and contributes to the rock and roll image. Also 1950's hollywood of style and rebellion. And again the influence of drinking which within todays culture and is seen as a cool thing to do and is what the rock and roll culture is all about, rebelling against todays society. My opening shot is the band walking down a grungy bridge, again shows the rawness of there locality and emphasisng the fact that they aren't big or mainstream. Also their clothing and the way they walk just says to the audience that this band are cool with a certain swagger about them.

The band wanted me to represent them in a cool, laid back, humorous way. Taking this into consideration matched perfectly with the research i found of indie videos as that is they way the majority are represented. I decided that a way to represent the band in a humorous way was too show they love what they doing but not taking it serious, i did this by adding cuts of the band playing each others instruments, but with the camera in the same place it flows much better and isn't as easily noticed as what the audience would think. I also decided to film the band in a car park without them knowing i had started this had shown the bands more natural side and what they are like together. Again contributing to the humorous representation as without them knowing i was recording they were messing about with each other and pulling tricks and showing them laughing was my main plan. I believe this worked well within my video as it lightens it up and shows the band aren't serious people and like to take things as a joke which is exactly what i managed to do. This is similar to Vampire Weekend's "a punk" as although they are playing their instruments they are messing about with different props and is one long take so all changes are made within the frame and contributes to the humorous representation.
Noticing in my research that the style of the band was very important and that the clothes they were tell alot about a person, like i mentioned before first impressions are important.

I researched the types of clothing indie band members were and skinny jeans was the most common type of clothing with polo tops, printed t shirts or shirts. This is the look the band go for anyway so this wasn't a problem and i believe they achieved the indie look well as they look smart however still mocking society by wearing ties and leather jackets. So this continual representation is carried on throughout. Also i decided that a black white colour scheme worked well as the backing curtain in their rehearsal hall was bright green and would draw alot of attention to that so by changing it to black and white meant that all the band members were equal as none were outstandingly noticable and that black and white is much smarter as its simple and is the colour of clothing most indie people wear. This links in with Barthes' cultural code, the image is recognised as 'indie' within the western pop culture.

By coming to a conclusion i decided that my music video matches the indie conventions of a performance video the representation of the band in a cool, rock and roll way. These type of videos by the Indie bands are primarily found on NME channel and MTV 2 as those channels play videos by upcoming Indie bands in order for them to be seen and promoted. I think the label in which my band would suit would be an independent label and potentionally onto XL recordings as they have such a wide variety of bands/artists from upcoming bands to mainstream artists and such a variety in genre's. This follows other indie music videos yet achieving this in my own way but still sticking to the normal conventions. By representing the band in this way it is also influencing the audience that this is what is cool, smoking and drinking and living the rock and roll lifestyle which alot of indie followers aspire to do. So unintentionally its going against todays society, which makes the representation semi-rebellion as expected in artist/band representation. Indie bands today rely on gigs and concerts and that is were the money is made, if a band can perform live then they are worth the audience spending their money on.

advert1 vs advert 2

Given that I decided to make 2 adverts relevant to the band and in the style of adverts similar in genre within NME. i decided to upload both to facebook and let the audience decide which one they felt was more representative of the band after watching my video. I tagged any previous media students, any present media students, any people within the indie genre (band members) or any other people that I felt would be able to give me a valid reason as to why this advert was better and more relevant to the band. This is then allowing the audience to choose which one they would rather see. I will upload several comments later on after I feel people have had enough time to comment and choose. Allowing web 2 to have power over the advert that is used for the band and for my coursework.

DVD advert 2

I decided to make another cover. Before coming up with ideas for my DVD cover i went and took more pictures of the band in hope it would inspire me for the DVD cover. I didn't really get the chance to use my photos and decided to make another DVD cover using them and give the band the choice of which one they would prefer. This is kind of letting the audience decide on what they would rather see and what they feel represents the band the best.
This DVD cover I kind of went on a similar route to the last one when it comes to font size and the style of the font. However i changed the colour scheme from black, white and red to black and white. By having colour photo in the middle of the advert with more colours the advert was already busy enough, so I decided to just keep the writing white and the background black so again the focus of the reader will go straight onto the band. So in both adverts I decided to make the band themselves stand out so the main focus goes straight to them.

With such a detailed bright photo i decided to reduce the information on the front again and get rid of "featuring tracks" this just means the writing on the front is the bare minimal which is what a lot of bands do in order to keep it simple and draw attention to the main graphic or photo. The name of the band, the name of the DVD/CD, the release date, their web 2 pages and the record label.
It also has the rule of thirds to break up the page. With the main third of the band. Several Indie bands do this in order to have their main graphic as the main focus. An example of an advert i looked at in NME was Delphic. Here they have used an abstract graphic as the main design. The name of the band is in the largest font across the middle of the page to draw main focus to the graphic and the name of the band. There is sort of a colour scheme of black, white and greys. And at the bottom is the necessary information, they have only used the bare minimal in order to keep it simple and to have more focus on the graphic. Its simple, catchy and draws the reader in straight away. When reading NME and coming across this advert it caught my focus straight away and that is what I would like to achieve, so I followed similar conventions to these types of Indie adverts in order to achieve the same effect

DVD advert 1

I decided to make this style of advert because when i researched other debut CD/DVD adverts they used the same graphic on the CD/DVD on the advert. This is because when it comes to an upcoming band not many will know who they are and by keeping the same graphic the audience will realise that the DVD is "that one from the magazine" as its the same design. Also by using the same its promoting the DVD/CD itself which is why alot of bigger more mainstream bands do the same idea.
During my research in NME several of the adverts I looked at kept the design simple, I decided I would do the same thing. By keeping it simple and minimalistic, it means the audience will want to find out more and do there own research by possibly buying the DVD or looking on there myspace/facebook (web 2 ) pages. Also by having less writing it means the first thing the audience will look at is the main graphic which is the 4 members of the band, but hiding their identity by adding a colour overlay to continue with the colour scheme.Looking into other bands adverts they too kept with a colour scheme in order for it not to look messy but more smart and clean and by keeping it simple.





















The font size is important when it comes to deciding what size font to use. Looking at other fonts, the largest is the name of the band and is usually at the top or middle of the advert. I cant put mine in the middle as you wont be able to see the writing because of my colour scheme, so i decided to put it at the top in the largest font but again not too big (size 68). The name of the DVD/CD itself was in a smaller font, so i decided i would do the same, this isn't drawing attention to it too much but still big enough to be recognised. Looking at other adverts the writing was usually central this is because they don't know which page the advert would be on and if its on either side then the positioning isn't even and then certain information may not be noticed as its not within the eye of the reader when turning the page. This is why i decided to keep all the information in the middle of the page so that if its on the left or right of the magazine, the information wont go unnoticed.

Final Digipack

My digipack follows the conventions of a digipack of the same genre. Other indie bands digipack I looked at were, Muse HAARP. They had the main title as the largest letters with small silhouettes of the band and there instruments within the writing. I similarly used silhouettes of the band to hide there identity and create an abstract look, also by doing this I added a colour overlay to the members of the band to follow my colour scheme, black white and red. This again is similar to Muse as they had black, gold and silver. My background colour is grey, this way it wasn't to strong on the eyes and felt as though the grey worked better than solid black, this is because a lot of indie bands have used solid black so i went against the conventional slightly in order for it to stand out above the rest, plus with it being grey it means the main focus will go straight to the red and white silhouettes rather than anywhere else.
On the back of the digipack is the 4 band members but they are reversed which will make the audience look at it twice as the band members are facing a different way and in a different order to those on the front. However this time there is no cover overlay this is crucial for a debut DVD as the audience its appealing to may not even know what the band look like. So adding the band members in a unconventional way, which will trick the eye as they are in the same position but because i flipped it over the band are facing the opposite way and looking the opposite way which may confuse whoever buys it.
Iv'e stayed with the same colour scheme throughout as this is what is used in the majority of DVD's I researched, too many colours make it look busy and unappealing to the eye, using a simple colour scheme gives the audience something to look at and focus on.

  

As this is a digipack i had to design the 2 inside panels as well. I decided to add a photo of the band. This shot is a close up allowing the audience to see the bands faces. This photo has alot of colours however this is different to the front cover so all in all it's not too much going on and sort of contrasts each other but links at the same time as the band that are on the back cover are wearing the same as what they are wearing in the inside panels. 

Looking at other digipacks such as The Clash, on the front cover is more graphic based and artistic with a green and yellow colour scheme whereas on the inside it is the band performing with a red filter over. I've followed similar conventions where on the front its artistic based and more graphic work. And on the inside is just a simple photo acknowledging the band. With sticking to my colour scheme on the outside but changing it on the inside. Although i have the band on the front as well as the inside is slightly unconventional as The Clash didn't do that they only featured the band on the inside, however The Clash are a much bigger more mainstream band they don't need to show themselves as they will already have a fanbase who know exactly who they are and what they look like. Whereas Os Vampiros aren't a mainstream band and actually are just an upcoming band, therefore the more i show of the band the more the audience will recognise them. If Os Vampiros were a bigger band then yes i wouldn't feature them on my front cover as this is what my research has showed me. 

more pictures i took

we went back to the tunnel in order to get some better quality photographs to give me more option when it comes to creating my DVD cover. I managed to take quite a few so i can play about with poses and positions for my main graphic on my DVD cover.

magazine advert design

Looking into more NME magazines to give me a wider variety of different adverts, i found that there are between 15-30 different adverts advertising gigs and albums. Both are quite similar as the tour for the gigs are usually to promote the new album and therefore involve the album artwork. I think i will use a similar technique because the band are an upcoming band so many people may not actually know who they are so to have the band featured on the front in some way. Either that or use the same design that is on the dvd cover so that those who see it in the magazine will then instantly recognise it in a music store or on the internet. They primarily have a main graphic, with the bands name in the largest font, followed by the name of the DVD/CD/GIG name in a smaller font. Some have a line about some of the songs which feature in it. "includes "hollywood", "vanity kills" and " i am the resurrection". Not all have any of the logos so i wont have to do this, although the majority are albums and wont need a CD logo, whereas mine is a DVD and therefore this should be recognised. And at the bottom involves an official website or any web 2 links to there page, e.g. myspace or facebook. And in some new CD's or DVD's include a release date to ensure the audience when they are able to buy it from. I will take all these conventions into consideration when deciding on the idea of my advert so that if it was in NME it wouldn't look out of place. I have decided that i will use the same design on my DVD cover for my advert as that has what all other bands have done, because if it is something different it may confuse the audience in what the band are actually trying to promote. I will stick to the original colour scheme of black, white and red as those colours work well together and stand out due to the simplicity of my advert. Also this is the same colour scheme of NME on the front cover which shows that they work well together and that it does stand out compared to other magazines front covers. The dimensions of my advert will be 24cm wide and 30cm long, these are the same dimensions on a full page advert in NME.