Question 3

This is our response to question 3, this is also presented by PowToon.

 

Question 2

 

This is our multimedia response to question 2.This is done by the user of Powtoon

 

Question 3 - Plain Text

Upon initial research on the different genres of music, and the music videos that typically accompanied those music videos, we gained an understanding of the conventions of genre. Different music videos suit different genres of music and there are different stereotypes associated with both the content of the music video, the people who listen to the music and those who watch the music videos. Our Last Night produce music that fit into a number of genres from Metalcore to Emo so we thought it would be important to send our questionnaire to people who listen to those genres of music. It has been known that people who do not listen to this genre of music, and listen to genres like pop, they have quite fixed opinions on other genres, for example: “people who listen to screamo are depressed”. Audiences from different genres have created stereotypes for other styles of music, like the example given about those who listen to screamo music. We wanted to avoid getting answers like this so thought it would be more appropriate to find the opinions of those from the genre of music Our Last Night fall into.

Once these questionnaires had been completed, we completed our music promotion package based on our findings and further research. Upon completion of the package we shared them to our audience to source their opinions. Our video was 'Tweeted" to our audience and their responses were kept short through the character limit of Twitter. Amongst the main comments were:

"The story line was a little confusing. I wasn't sure of the relevance of the newspaper..."

"I don't really get it. The part where the main character smiles, but she's committing suicide?"

"The narrative was related to the lyrics but there could have been something more added to make it more obvious"

From this, it has been made evident that the narrative we chose for the music video was suiting to the lyrics, but not made as clear as needed for the audience to fully understand. After reconsideration, we are aware that there could have been another small scene or series of shots added to the narrative to show a little bit of backgraound as to why the character was in that current situation. In our heads, we both knew what we wanted to put across to the audience but that was missed throughout the narrative in the video and made the video confusing to watch. Another point that was identified by our audience was the surprise that was had created a music video for an acoustic version of a song. Acoustic versions of songs from bands of this type are usually ones shot in a studio, or in a location with no narrative. Some of the responses we got were those mentioning us having an ambitious approach because there are very few music videos for acoustic renditions.

Question 1

This is the response to Question 1 of the evaluation. This question is "In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media product?" The format to this question is a PowerPoint with narration exported into a video. This video will answer things from other possible ideas to a timeline of recording time.

As this is a PowerPoint presentation with narration, this video will be best viewed at full screen so all the writing is viewable.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

2.    How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Throughout the whole process of creating our ancillary we tried to make relevant links to our music video.  The first of the ancillary texts that were completed was the digipak; something that we thought was the most important to link to the music video. After completing lyrical analysis of the track ‘Fate’, we decided that we wanted to focus on the subject of suicide for the video. In the music video we featured a tree and a noose, which was the main prop in the narrative of the music video. The whole video revolved around the idea that the character was considering suicide so we thought it was an important part to feature in the digipak design. There is a big contrast in the digipak between the inside and outside, the outside being a busy image along with the text, and the inside being rather minimalistic. The photo shoot that was done for the front and back of the digipak was taken at the same time as the recording of the video, so there was no need to try and recreate the scene again. Upon some initial designs of the digipak with the use of a sourced image from Google, we wanted to create photos that followed the same compositional strategy. The digipak design was made black and white as we felt the music video covered a downbeat subject, so the use of colour for the digipak would be too contrasting to the video. Along the top and the bottom of the front/back of the digipak we added a border, which gave the effect that the page was torn. Although this is not a direct link to the music video, we did burn a newspaper, which I will go into further details about later in the answer to this question. The inside of the digipak was burned paper, which linked directly to the scene in the music video where our character burns the newspaper. We felt that the digipak needed to have a personal approach because the music video was very personal too. The lyrics to the song allow for the audience to have many different interpretations and they can relate to the song in their own way. We wanted to follow through with this personal idea throughout both the digipak design and the album advert. In both of the ancillary texts we used the font ‘Chalkduster’ in Photoshop CS5, our reason being the cursive style which was much more personal than a more professional looking font.

The advert for the album followed the same theme as the digipak and we made references to the music video within the design. One of the main shots in our music video was the close up, slow motion of the burning of the newspaper. We incorporated this into the album advert in a way that was subtle, but those who have watched the music video could make the link.  The colour, or lack of, throughout the album advert and the digipak was kept consistent because of the tone of the music video, but also because the black and white album cover preview on the album advert would have been too contrasting if the advert was left in colour. A separate photo shoot was carried out for the album advert, as we wanted to capture the performers, Mat and Doug in a different environment. This photo shoot was conducted in the studio, as we were able to capture well-lit photographs with the studio lighting and white back wall. Both of the performers were dressed in a similar way to the music video because there needed to be a consistent appearance throughout the texts and the video. Both the album advert and the digipak design had social media icons to show that the band is reachable across Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. We felt that this was an important feature across both texts because social media networks are often the main form of advertising for the bands.

Along side one another the music video, digipak and album advert all link together, mainly as a result of the colour and aesthetics of the burned paper. The inside of the digipak design and the album advert have been kept minimalistic and both texts have a consistent black and white theme. Photographs have been used to make direct links between he text and the video, these being of the performers and the tree scene with the noose.