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

We have used a number of conventions in our music video, particularly in the fantasy shots. Some examples are:

* The water Lily.

* The trees.

* The sun.

For the fantasy shots in my music video I  have used very posed shots of Dalia, for example when she puts the water lily in the water and when she skips round the maze. This shows that we are not telling a story with Dalia in the fantasy land, there is no narrative structure. It also suggests that the fantasy land is an idea or belief not neccerssarily a real place. It is just a sequence of shots that are visually exciting. The music video flicks between domestic violence and fantasy, in the same way that the music flicks back to the chorus.

I researched a variety of music videos to look for inspiration for my own. One that really stood out was Beyonce's music video to De Ja Vu. It is a very summery video and a lot of the shots are in a forest, this inspired us for our summer fantasy shot; we shot these in a forest at our local university, UEA. We have used shots of Dalia spinning round, which Beyonce does in this video. We also used Gwen Stefani's music video to What You Waiting For as inspiration. We have used a scene of Dalia running round a maze, this was taken from a shot of a girl running through a maze in the Gwen Stefani video. I wanted to use it because I felt it as though I was being taken on a journey with the character in the video and this is the feeling I wanted to acheive with my audience.

I researched previously in to a text similar to the music video I wished to achieve, this was the music video to Love The Way You Lie. This video represents the same issue as my music video, domestic violence. However, I wanted to achieve a different representation than this video did, as I felt it glamourised domestic violence. I wanted to achieve a believable representation of domestic violence (as believable as possible on a low budget). I did this by creating a dull lighting in each domestic violence scene. I also added another element to the video to make it more exciting. This element is a fantasy land, as I felt that the video to Love The Way You Lie lacked the aspect of wanting to escape. However, it was extremely difficult to create dull lighting without having high tech lighting. We therefore had to experiment with a variety of torches to ensure the shot wasn't ambiguous when trying to look dull (as mentioned in a previous question).

The genre of Under China is Indie/Rock, this is represented in a number of ways in our music video. Firstly, the theme of domestic violence could be classed as 'Rock'n'Roll, as a lot of Rock videos represent true and serious issues that could be causing harm to others. The target audience for Indie genre is fairly young, we therefore have used young actors (Fraser: 15 Dalia: 18) so that the audience are able to relate to the characters in our music video.

There is a clear distinction between Dalia's body language in the two different scenes of her. In the fantasy shots, she looks beyond the camera, as if she is avoiding going back to reality. It also suggests that she is confident and happy with her new surroundings. However, in the domestic violence shots, Dalia looks down a lot and her body language is often controlled by Fraser. For example, Fraser pushes her in to the door and in another shot pushes her back in to a wall. When she is in the fantasy land, she controls her own body language and is very free with her movement. She spins around in a few shots and does very exaggerated movements such as, running and skipping. This contrasts with her small amount of movement in the domestic violence shots. The spinning shots (as shown below) are also used as a metaphor for Dalia's life spinning out of control.

There is a shot of Dalia in the domestic violence scene, where she looks directly at the camera. This shot engages the audience, as it is as though Dalia is looking beyond the camera to audiences looking for help to get her out of this situation. It also the moment in which self realisation hits Dalia and she decides that she can no longer lead the life she does and this is the first moment she escapes to the fantasy land.

We have used very colourful and strong mise-en-scene in the fantasy shots, this is because it makes the shots much more visually exciting. It also emphasises the contrast between the reality and fantasy shots. It shows the audience how Dalia's emotion has immediately changed from being very distressed and unhappy to feeling free and happy. This is represented in her facial expressions, in the reality shots she looks very unhappy and serious, but in the fantasy shots her expression changes and she has a constant smile on her face. An example of this is when Dalia steps away from Fraser and there is a close up shot of her face, she looks sad and unhappy and moves her eyes down to the floor to avoid fraser. It then flicks to another shot of Dalia waking up in her fantasy land . A close up shot is used, which emphasises the huge smile she has on her face, making it clear to audiences that she is in a happier place.

This image of Dalia shows the happy expression that she has throughout the fantasy shots.

In the reality domestic violence shots of Dalia, we have used much  more close up shots. This is because I felt it was important to capture the emotion of these scenes and the pain that Dalia is going through with her violent partner. This made the shots more believable, resulting in a more sympathetic audience. On particular close up shot that focuses on Dalia's emotion, is when she has just had a physical fight with her husband and she steps back and the camera zooms in on her emotion. This emphasises her hurt and how she wants to escape. The camera is also a metaphor for how Dalia feels as though her life is closing in on her and she is unable to cope anymore.

So that audiences are able to identify the difference between the two themes, we have used a shot of a spinning sky each time Dalia returns to her fantasy land. This is the refrain and it enables audiences to clearly see when Dalia is going to her fantasy land. The spinning sky connotes confusion and disorientation, this is how Dalia feels about her life and her mind spins out of control to her imaginary land.

My music video represents the issue of domestic violence, this is represented in a number of films:

Title: The Promise
Director: Bethany Rooney
Country: USA, 1999
Plot: Based on a true story. A woman seeks justice after discovering that her sister was murdered by her abusive husband.

Title: Nil by Mouth
Director: Gary Oldman
Country: UK, 1997
Plot: Set in a working class London district, this film looks at the life of Raymond, who is a rough and violent person that leads to problems in the life of his family.

Title: Sleeping with the Devil 
Director: William A. Graham
Country: USA,1997
Plot: After a wealthy man helps out a poor woman, the couple eventually get married. But when the woman attempts to leave the marriage, her husband tries to murder her. This is a true story based on a book of the same title. 

Title: Dead By Sunset
Director: Karen Arthur
Country: USA, 1995
Plot: Brad is a charming, yet manipulative husband and father who hates women. As his marriage evaporates and divorce proceedings begin, he realises there is only one way to get full custody of his sons' -  killing his wife. 



Goodwins theory suggests that The Grand Narrative Structure is usually discarded in music videos, he said that the music video will tell a story but the issue isn't resolved. This is true in the case of my music video, as it shows Dalia being affected by a violent man and her way of escaping it is by going to her imaginary fantasy land. The video ends with Dalia in her fantasy land, but audiences will know that this is not a permanent place for her and at some point she will return to reality- a violent and corrupt life. The ending to my music video is ambiguous, as audiences do not know if this means that she has left her boyfriend to go else where or if she is just in her imagination. It is up to audiences to decide what they think will happen next (if there were to be another video).

The narrative for my music video is not linear, the narrative does not follow in a straight line. The narrative of my music video flicks back and forth, going from fantasy to domestic violence. This is in the same way that a song will flick from a verse to a chorus.

My target audience is males and females of the age 16-40, however the music may appeal more to females as the lead sing of Auction For The Promise Club is female. It may also appeal more to females and a wider audience in general, due to the issue of domestic violence that is portrayed in the video. People that aren't within my target audience may have been affected by the issue represented and will therefore relate to and enjoy the music video.The target audience will enjoy Indie/Rock music, as this is the genre of Under China. I am appealing to this audience in a number of ways. My album cover is quite feminine, as it has a photo of Dalia on the front and back in an elegant dress. The cover contains glitter and uses a delicate font. However, I have used natural colours such as, grey and blue. This keeps the cover unisex. Although, one distinctive colour is pink, which is Dalia's lipstick. I have used this pink to make the album more striking and to give a feminine feel to it.



This is a vdieo of Cage The Elephant- Shake Me Down. Cage The Elephant are an Alternative Rock band, so they fit in with the genre of our music video. This video initially gave me the idea to use a variety of seasons in my music video, as it has shots of snow and summer shots. When watching this video I found it visually exciting, as there was sucha a variety of shots used and this is what I wanted to avchieve with my music video.
The fact that this video used two different seasons and that their target audience are of Alternativ Rock genre, suggests that this aspect will also appeal to my audiences. I also felt that the variety of seasons was appropriate to the fantasy scenes of my music video. This is because, it's an imaginative land where Dalia is able to skip to her favourite seasons- summer and winter. The sun creates a bright mise-en-scene, with it beaming down in a lot of shots. The sun is also used in the snow shots, as it reflects of the snow creating a bright, beautiful and white image!
The theme in this video, however, contradicts the theme that I have used in my music video. They represent Romance, whereas I have used a violent theme. I could have applied a romantic theme to the fantasy elements of my music video, but felt it may be too confusing for audiences to see Dalia in a violent relationship to then being in a romantic relationship, this would have been a good juxtaposition though. However, it could also be seen that the romance element is in my music video, but it shows a very oppisite side to romance. It shows the pain and hurt it can cause. Dalia represents the fact that romance can have a hold on your life and although it's causing you hurt you still hold on to it.

I also used Florence and The Machine's video to 'Rabbit Heart' as inspiration for my fantasy elements. In a lot of their music videos, they use nature and outside shots. One shot in particular influenced me- when Florence is spinning round- I have used a shot of Dalia doing this in a fantasy shot. It connotes confusion, as Dalia is in an unfamiliar place. However, it also connotes happiness and freedom, as many people when they are free in an open space tend to spin round and take the moment in, which is exactly what Dalia does, as she feels so free from her real life.

 

I was also influenced by the shot of Florence placing a candle in the water, as I have used a shot of Dalia placing a Lily in to the water. I thought this shot was very delicate and calming, which is how I wanted Dalia to be represented. The flower was also used as a metaphor for Dalia- the flower representing her old life floating away with the water.

A lot of the shots used in this video have the bright sun shining through, in the same way that my music video does in both the summer and the winter elements, it creates a happy atmosphere. The white snow I have used connotes purity and innocence, as Dalia is both of these.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Questionnaire for ‘Under China’

1. Is our music video visually exciting?

Yes

No

I wanted to know whether people visually enjoyed my music video. It is crucial that audiences enjoy watching the music video, so that they want to watch it again.

2. Is it clear that there are two elements to our music video- a domestic violence element and a fantasy element?

Yes

No

This was a very important question, because there are two themes to my music video: Fantasy and Domestic Violence. If the themes were ambiguous to the audience it would ruin the whole objective of the music video, which is to make people aware of domestic violence and represent and realistic view of it (Dalia needing to escape).

3. Is the narrative clear?

Yes

No

I wanted to see if audiences understood the music video, Libby and myself tried to make the narrative as clear as possible. However, having such a complicated narrative made it difficult to make the narrative clear. It is important that the audience understand what is going on in the music video and the shots are consistent otherwise it can make the music video look badly made and will not be enjoyable.
Goodwin said that the structure of the narrative for music videos reflects the music. Goodwin suggests that music videos don't follow the grand narrative. This applies to my music video, as it does not have a grand narrative.

4. Does the video reflect Indie/Rock genre?

Yes

No

The genre of 'Under China' is Indie/Rock, it is therefore important that the audience identifies some elements of this genre in the music video, so it appeals to the audience that listen to this genre of music.

5. Does the video reflect the lyrics?

Yes

No

Libby and myself used lyrics of the song and applied them to whats happening visually in the video. It will be interesting to see if the audience pick up on this. However, it is not important if they don't.

6. Which age groups do you think this video appeals to? (circle one or more)

8-15 years

16-25 years

25-40 years

40+

It is crucial that the music video appeals to our target audience (16-40 years). We have targeted are video to this audience and they are the people that are most likely to enjoy the genre of the music and the music video itself. Audiences should roughly pick up on which age group it will appeal to.

7. Describe our music video in three words:

This gives participants the opportunity to give their individual opinion on the music video. I will enjoy seeing how other people perceive our music video.

8. If you could improve one thing about our music video, what would it be that you would improve?

This will give participants the opportunity to identify faults with the music video. By seeing the faults that people suggest, it will enable Libby and myself to realise how we could improve the music video if we were to create it again.                                                                                                                                                                                                            

9. What aspect of our music video stands out the most to you?

I would like to see which aspects of the music video stand out most to people. In my opinion the themes stand out the most to me, however people may identify particular shots that they found really worked. It will be nice to see which shots people appreciated the most.


Here is a copy of the questionnaire I created. I have evaluated my reason for asking each question below in purple. I have used a range of questions that will produce both qualitative and quantitative data. The quantitative data will enable me to clearly and quickly analyse my results, but the qualitative data will allow me to see peoples individual opinions on the music video. By using both data's I feel that I will produce numerical data and detailed information, making my results beneficial.

I gave this questionnaire to 50 people (25 male and 25 female). By using a relatively large sample size, I will be able to apply my results to everyone. Participants were aged between 15 and 45. I chose a large age range, that fitted in with my target audience, as their response is crucial. I chose to use equal males and females, to make the research fair and so that I could compare gender responses.

All participants selected 'Yes' for question one, this shows that all participants found my music video visually exciting. This shows that audiences enjoyed my music video, which is extremely important as they are more likely to enjoy the song if they enjoy the video. This tells me that I have successfully promoted the song 'Under China'.

23 out of the 25 males answered 'Yes' on question two and 25 out of the 25 of females answered 'Yes'. This shows that the majority of people thought that the two themes in my music video were represented clearly. I am concerned that 2 people found the themes ambiguous, as the themes were the main aspect of the music video. I wanted to raise awareness of domestic violence and wanted people to feel as though they were able to relate to the this theme and the fantasy theme. I wanted people or people that knew of those that had been affected by domestic violence to feel as though they could relate to the music video. I also wanted audiences to feel like they could relate to the aspect of wanting to escape from your life. There is a clear difference in male and female responses here, males seemed to find it harder to clearly see the two themes represented in my music video. This may be because males are less likely to relate to the themes and therfore are less aware of them. I am representing the issue of domestic violence through images. The wider metaphor for the video is the fantasy aspect. The refrain of the fantasy aspect, is the use of the spinning sky image. The consistent use of this image makes the seperation between the two themes a lot clearer to audiences.

For question 7, I found that people gave a mix of responses this reflects the genre of my music video: Indie. Suggesting that people are individuals. Examples of a few of the words:

* Realistic.
* Exciting.
* Summery.
* Colourful.
* Powerful.

The repsonses were completely unique and individual and this reflects our Indie genre. This aslo reflects Michel Maffessoli's idea that we each belong to a 'tribe'. The tribe for the response to this question would be 'individual' as each person gave a different and unique response.



For question 8, 4 males and 2 females said that the video could be more clear when representing Dalia going to her fantasy land. This tells me that if I was to make the music video again I would create a more distinctive feature to represent the difference between the two themes in the video. Or I would make the themes more dramatic and obvious, for example I could have more violent domestic violence scenes and much more unrealistic fantasy themes. Initially Libby and myself did want the fantasy scenes to be extremely over the top, using ideas from Alice In Wonderland, with Dalia sitting on a long table with imaginary creatures. However, we decided this idea was far too ambitious for students to achieve. My original storyboard contained the Alice In Wonderland shots. The aspects of this idea Libby and myself decided would be difficult was firstly being able to get a long table and china plates etc to go on it and secondly was finding the space to put this table to film it. We decided it was too much hassle and achieved our fantasy shots in a different way. We achieved our fantasy shots through using two seasons (summer and winter) and using different conventions within this to represent the fantasy. Some of these conventions were: Sunlight, Lily, a Maze etc.

We could have used closer shots of Dalia in much more dramatic and bright make-up, adding to the unrealistic element of her fantasies. We could have used inspiration from artist Lady Gaga - who often wears eccentric clothing and make-up. This would have created a much more dramatic and unrealistic fantasy land, which may have been clearer to audiences. Although Lady Gaga is not of the Indie/Rock genre, we could still have used make-up ideas from her, as the point of the fantasy land is to be dramatic and unrealistic; Dalia's make-up does not need to reflect the genre of our music video. We thought the music video would be more exciting and unique if we used elements from a variety of artists and music videos as inspiration. This will also widen our target audience.



This could also be applied to the domestic violence elements, by creating bruises with make-up to really emphasise the point that her boyfriend is violent and physically harming her.

For question 9, 5 males and 7 females said that the snow scenes stood out to them mostly and 2 males and 10 females said that the fighting scene between Dalia and Fraser stood out to them the most. This tells me that mainly females found the fighting scene between Dalia and Fraser the most striking scene. This tells me that this scene successfully portrays the message of domestic violence. The snow shots are also clearly very successful, these shots are my particular favourites, as they are so beautiful and pure with the thick white snow. One female aslo mentioned that the use of two completely different seasons stood out most to them, I am glad that we filmed in the summer and the winter, as it makes the music video more visually exciting with two such extreme different seasons.




I also uploaded my music video on to Facebook, to receive a few responses on there. I did this because Facebook is used so widely and it ties in with the age group of my target audience. However, I only received a few comments just saying that they enjoyed the video.

Overall, by receiving results from the questionnaire I have been able to reflect on the aspects of my music video that worked well and it has enabled me to see what audiences felt didn't work so well. So if I was to replicate my music video, I would know what to do differently in order to create the most successful music video as possible.

Below is a copy of an example of one of my questionnaire responses:

 

What have you learned from audience feedback powerpoint

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The process of making my album cover

This is the original image of the picture I have used for the album cover to my music video 'Under China'. I took this photograph by accident as Dalia flicked her hair. But really liked it and decided to use it as the album cover.

I firstly started by getting rid of the bed in the image, to do this I used the 'background eraser tool' on Photoshop. This took a long time to do and the end result wasn't entirely perfect, but I felt the image looked a lot more professional without the bed. I then brightened the picture, to make it more striking and so that Dalia stood out more. I did this by increasing the brightness on Photoshop. I then wanted to make Dalia's skin smoother, so I used the 'Spot Healing Brush' tool, which makes her face look smoother and creates a softer image.

I then added text to the image using the 'Text' tool. I experimented with a variety of fonts, but decided on this one. I chose this font (Freestyle Script) because it was elegant and creates a much more personal feel to the album. The font looks as though it could be handwritten, which makes audiences feel as though the album is personal to them. 

I then experimented with different lipstick colours. I decided on using pink as it adds to the femininity of the album, which emphasises the fact that the lead singer of Auction For The Promise Club is female.

I also had  to crop the photograph in order for it to be square to fit in with the size of the CD cover.

This was the original image for the back of my album.

I started by getting rid of the trees in the image, I did this by using the 'Background eraser tool', this created a clearer image. I then brightened the photograph, by increasing the brightness. This made the glitter and the image of Dalia more dominant. The brightness also gives off a surreal feel to the album, reflecting the fantasy aspect to Under China.

All I did with this photo is increased the contrast, so that the glitter stood out a lot more.

Audience response to my music video

Here is a video of me interviewing 2 people using my questionnaire.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

When making our music video, we were able to use a number of technological devices: digital video camera, a tripod and adobe premiere elements. The digital camera helped us to view our footage as we were filming. This was extremely helpful, as we were able to film a shot then immediately view it to check it was successful. If it wasn’t we were able to pick up on this and re-shoot it. This saved us a lot of time, as we weren’t having to wait until we put the footage on to a computer to watch it. This also meant that we had extra time to spend experimenting with different shots and seeing which worked and which didn’t. However, the fact that the screen on the digital camera was so small meant that we weren’t able to pick up on all the faults. This meant that we would not pick up on the fault until the footage was on a computer in our next lesson. We would then have to schedule another shooting time to re-shoot. For example, when shooting shots of Dalia on the trampoline, Libby (without realising) was in all attempts of the shot. We were unable to see this when filming, as the screen was too small to identify it. However, when putting it on the computer we noticed it and arranged to re-shoot it. One thing we were able to identify on the camera, was the lighting. This was helpful, particularly for the domestic violence shots, as we were trying to create dull lighting which was extremely difficult without the shot becoming ambiguous. We were able to see a shot back and if it was too dark, we were able to re-shoot it with extra lighting to make the shot clearer.

We edited our music video on an Adobe software. We chose to use Adobe, as it offered a variety of skilful tools. This enabled us to use a variety of effects for our final music video, ensuring we created the best film we possibly could. One effect was especially beneficial to us, this was the cross-dissolve effect. It helped to make sure each shot blended in gently with the next. Making the whole video flow a lot smoother and look much more professional. We had a lot of problems with the cross dissolve effect, as it kept deleting certain parts of a shot or adding extra images in. By persisting with it we eventually overcame this issue. However, we were not able to use the cross dissolve feature in a few shots due to this issue. We also used an effect which blends two shots together. It did this by making one shot opaque so you were able to see another shot beneath it. This enhanced the video, as we wanted to express Dalia’s disorientation in one particular shot. We showed this by having a shot of Dalia singing to the camera (after having a fight with her boyfriend) and we blended in an image of the spinning sky. This helped the audience to understand how Dalia felt disorientated and confused. The sky also represented Dalia going to her fantasy land, making it a lot clearer to the audience that she escapes to a fantasy land. When receiving peoples analysis of our music video, one thing that was criticised was the fact that it was ambiguous when Dalia goes to her fantasy land. Libby and myself discussed ways in which we could make it clearer and came to the conclusion that by consistently using the spinning sky each time she goes to her fantasy land it will become a lot clearer to the audience. When receiving analysis’ of our video again, people said it was a lot clearer and the spinning sky worked very well.

New technology is not only effecting producers and audiences individually, it also effects the relationship between the two. Producers and audiences are now much closer due to new technologies. It has given audiences much more of an insight in to the process the producers go through and has enabled them to feel like a part of it. New technologies have made it possible for producers to produce even more fantastic things than ever before. This makes audiences happy, creating a positive relationship between the two. New technologies also now give students and people like myself the chance to be a producer and broadcast their videos to the world. It has enabled people to produce a music video on a very low budget.

New technologies like You Tube also mean that audiences can view music videos for free at any time they like. This was not the case years ago, audiences used to have to pay to view music videos and they were not as easily accessible.

When researching for our music, we used a variety of websites:

http://www.totallyunsigned.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/
http://www.unsignedbandweb.co.uk/

YouTube was a brilliant way of immediately accessing artists. I was able to search videos for inspiration for my music video, the main inspiration being ‘Love The Way You Lie’. I used certain videos to inspire me for my own, without YouTube I wouldn’t have been able to do this. It was also useful going on websites of artists of the same genre as mine. I was able to pick up on certain themes they had used or certain aspects that reflect their genre and apply it to my own final product. For example, Florence and The Machine’s website http://florenceandthemachine.net/ was very elegant and used a lot of floral patterns. This gave the website a very feminine and elegant feel, which is how I wanted my band to be represented. I used this floral idea in some of my CD cover designs, although I never actually used it. I also researched Bat For Lashes website, as they are a band of the same genre also with a lead female vocalist. http://www.batforlashes.com/ This website gave me inspiration for my CD cover, as it uses very neutral pink and beige colours, which connote elegance and femininity.

We eventually picked a band from www.totallyunsinged.co.uk. We used all the websites for our research and narrowed our choices down to three. We then decided to go with ‘Under China’ by Auction For The Promise Club. We emailed this band to ask for permission to use their song. They were delighted to hear that we were using their song for our media work and have kept in contact throughout the process.
When wanting to receive evaluations of my final music video, I used the social network site Facebook to receive comments about it. This ensured that I had a wide variety of evaluations. I decided to use Facebook, as it is a very popular social networking site for my target audience for my video. I therefore knew that I would receive evaltuations that are relevant.

When planning our music video, certain music channels came in useful for inspiration. The main channel we used was NME, as we knew that bands of the same genre would have videos shown on here. However, it was also useful to use channels such as: TheHits, MTV and VIVA, as pop music has very happy videos which could be applied to the fantasy aspect of our video. We also wanted to keep our options open and not just watch videos of the same genre, but instead use a variety of ideas from different genres.

Technologies have assisted me with inserting and embedding my music video. YouTube has enabled me to broadcast my video to everyone and embed it on to my blog.

I have created a Prezi for this question

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? on Prezi

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

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

The target audience for my music video and my ancillary texts is the same. The target audience is fairly young, ranging from age 14 to age 30. This is shown through many elements of my music video. The first being the song to the music video- ‘Under China’. The genre of this song is Indie rock, which is a sub-genre of the alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1980’s. This genre is very modern, which therefore gives it a young target audience. Our main product reflects the genre and target audience in a number of ways. Firstly, we have used young actors (Dalia: 18 and Fraser:16) this means our target audience will feel as though they can relate to the characters. The theme we have used in our music video is domestic violence. This reflects the rock genre of our song, as a lot of Rock songs are about issues in everyday life. Audiences will appreciate the honesty of the realistic representation of life. A lot of music videos are very optimistic and give a false representation of life, whereas our video does not. Some of our audiences may also be able to relate to the theme of our music video, as they may have been victims of domestic violence or know of people that have been affected by it. Our video also has a fantasy aspect, which all audiences will be able to relate to. Everyone has a moment in their life in which they feel like they want to escape or disappear to a fantasy world. The majority of our target audience for our music video is female, this is due to the fact that the lead vocalist is female. A lot of women may appreciate the music video, as it shows a female overcoming being involved in a violent relationship and escaping it. Some males may feel that they are represented unfairly in this video, however a very high majority of violent relationships are initiated from the male. This was our reasoning for choosing to have a violent male. The music video also reflects the Rock n Roll genre, through the smoking and the violence used in the video. There is one specific shot of Fraser smoking a cigar, which is very Rock n Roll and would therefore appeal to our audience hugely.

Libby and myself had to do a lot of planning and research before creating our final product. We designed two different storyboards before deciding on the theme of our music video. By spending such a large amount of time planning and brainstorming about out music video, we were able to come up with a lot of ideas and combine these together to ensure we had the best idea possible. I came up with the idea of domestic violence, as a song at the time of our planning that was extremely popular was ‘Love The Way You Lie’ which involves a video of a couple that are involved in a violent relationship. From watching this video, I felt as though they glamorised domestic violence and created a false representation of it. I therefore decided I wanted to created a much more realistic view of it and how the victim of domestic violence is desperate to escape. In order to ensure I did this in the best way possible, I took out a lot of research in to it. I researched in to people that had been affected it by it and the way it made them feel, helping me to decide how I wanted Dalia to show her emotions, especially in the close up shots I was going to create of her. The research that helped me massively was the video of Patrick Stewart (posted on my blog).This helped me to understand how an outsider can be affected by domestic violence, my audience were going to be the outsider and I therefore found it very helpful in understanding how the video should make them feel. The lyrics to the song of Under China (posted on my blog) fit in very well with the domestic violence theme. This is important as it helps audiences to understand and focus on the lyrics much more and enables the to visualise this.

When creating our final production, we found it very important to creating an atmosphere through the lighting, location and mise-en-scene. In the domestic violence shots we wanted to use dull lighting, however this was very difficult in ensuring each shot wasn’t ambiguous. We overcame this by using various lamps and torches. This made sure each shot was dull, but still very clear. The fantasy shots had to be bright and colourful, this meant that we had to shoot them at specific times of the day. We shot the first half of the fantasy shots in the summer. This ensured we had bright lighting and colourful trees, grass, flowers etc. We tried shooting some fantasy shots in the autumn, but discovered they did not creating exciting or bright enough shots. We therefore decided to use the opportunity of when it snowed to shoot some fantasy shots. They ended up working fantastically and with the bright sun reflecting off of the snow, creating bright shots. It was also a great juxtaposition, having shots from the summer and then shots of the winter.

I researched in to other album covers when creating my own. I picked three album covers of different genres, to see the way in which the covers reflected the genre. By analysing other album covers, it made me much more aware of small detail on my album cover. It also reminded me of the fact that I needed to reflect the genre of my music video and that I needed to appeal to my target audience. I used Ellie Goulding’s album cover for inspiration, as I decided to use glitter- of which she uses on hers. I feel as though it reflects the fantasy aspect of our music video perfectly. It also draws attention to the album- appealing more audiences. The glitter adds to the femininity of the song and music video, appealing to our feminine target audience. I have decided to use photographs of Dalia and not Fraser, as she is the main character of our music video. I also felt it was appropriate with adding to the elegance and femininity of our final product as a whole.The back of the album cover represents the fantasy, a shot of Dalia jumping in the air, with glitter pouring next to her. The camera is focussed on the glitter and Dalia is slightly blurred in the background. This suggests that she is not really in a fantasy land and it is all her imagination and the glitter represents her reality (which is why it is in focus).

Although my CD cover reflects the genre and target audience, it is much more mysterious than my music video. I wanted to show Dalia’s two different sides- her domestic violent lifestyle and her fantasy imagination- however, I did not want this to be clear on the CD cover. I therefore just used two very different shots of Dalia without making it obvious what these shots reflect. I felt it was important to leave the theme of domestic violence as a mystery, making the music video much more exciting.

For my advert, I decided to use a photo of Dalia face down, giving no eye contact to the camera. This connotes her lack in confidence and vulnerability. The lack of eye contact also adds mystery to the advert, leaving audiences questioning what she is looking at. The reason for having a photograph of Dalia looking down, is because it connotes her looking down on her realistic 'domestic violence' character, from her new fantasy life that she has created. It gives audiences a glimpse of the character of our music video and certain traits she may have. I have used plain colours: grey, black and white. My reason for this is because I feel it creates a classy feel to the advert and I want the advert to reflect Audience For The Promise Club's classy and respected music. The plain colours are also a metaphor for Dalia's dull life, being involved in a violent relationship. So although she is looking down on her realistic life and is in her happy fantasy land, she can never escape her violent boyfriend.
For the advert, I have used an Italic font. This also adds to the classiness of the advert. It also gives the advert and album cover a much more personal feel to it, as it looks as though it could be handwritten. This will make the audience feel as though the album is personal to them.

Overall, I feel that the combination of our final production and my ancillary texts was very effective. The ancillary texts reflect all aspects of the final production and they both represent the target audience and genre. I thought it was very important that they both portrayed the same message to audiences. However, the ancillary texts do differ from the final production, creating an exciting sense of mystery to the audience.

Advert

I have used this image for my CD advert as I felt it was very powerful. I have used the Rule Of Thirds for this image, with Dalia being in the middle third. This means that she dominates the whole image. The title is also central, drawing the audiences eyes straight to it. I have used an image of Dalia looking down, as it connotes her lack of confidence (she is not able to give the audience eye contact). I have used the same font that I used for my album cover, for the same reason that it is elegant and gives it a personal feel.

CD Cover

Back Cover

Front Cover

Inside

I have used glitter in two shots of my album, this is because I feel that it represents a feminine feel. I was inspired by Florence and The Machine, who also have a lead female singer. They use a lot of glitter in a number of their music videos. I decided to apply this to my album cover, as I wanted it to have an elegant appearance and to show its femininity. Here are two examples of Florence and The Machine music videos that use glitter:

I used Florence and The Machine as an influence, as they are such a worldwide success.

Font ideas

I experimented with several font ideas for my CD cover:

I have experimented with a variety of fonts here. My reasoning for doing this was because I wanted to create the most effective font as possible. I could only decide which would work best by visualising them and drawing out my different ideas. I have annotated each design, stating what they connote and whether I feel they will work on my album cover. I found that the elegant and feminine fonts worked best, however the blunt and robotic designs did create a powerful and striking image. I decided I really liked the handwritten design, as it would give a personal feel to my album cover. So I decided to combine both the elegant and feminine designs with the handwritten one. This was my final font choice

CD advert research

Laura Marling

This album cover is very plain, it states when the album is being released and contains a photograph of the album itself. However, it uses very plain colours, mainly white. This makes the advert less appealing and quite dull. They have used two different fonts, one very plain, the other quite feminine and floaty. I think it would have looked more effective if the whole album was in the feminine font, as it gives the advert a personal feel and relates to the fact that Laura Marling is a female folk singer.

The Killers

This advert draws your attention, it is very colourful and bold. The font is very bold and it is all written in capital letters, making it stand out more. The font gives off a masculine feel, this is achieved by the bold font. However, the light purple colour used is quite dominant and this colour can be seen as feminine. The advert therefore successfully appeals to both males and females.

Beyonce

This is a whole page glossy magazine advert for Beyonce ‘I am SashaFierce’ album. The image is a photograph of Beyonce in a couture costume. most of the photograph is in black and white apart from the artists eyes and the main part of the costume. The black and white makes the advert feel classy and glamorous, which are two words that could be used to describe Beyonce as an artist. The  advert breaks a lot of conventions by not saying the name of the artist or the date in which the album is going to be released, it just merely states the name of the album. This is because Beyonce is such a worldwide well known artist that people know exactly who she is just from seeing an image of her. I have applied this idea to my advert, as I am not going to put the release date on it. I will just state the artist and album name. I have done this because it makes the advert feel much more personal and exciting.

Analysis of CD/Digipack box



This is Laura Marling's album cover, she produces folk music and acoustic music. On the album cover, a quirky font has been used, it looks as if it has been hand written. This gives the album a very personal feel (which will be particularly important to fans) and adds to Laura Marlilngs unique style of music.

The colour of the cover gives the album a very dated and vintage feel to it. The album doesn't have a picture of the artist of it, just a drawing of her. This makes the album feel very artistic and creative, it also adds to the vintage effect. The fact that the album cover is fairly basic, consisting of just the artists name, the album title and a basic drawing of the artist. This intrigues people, leaving them wanting to know what the artist actually looks like and what she is about.

The album appeals to both males and females, as it uses neutral colours and is very basic. However, people may feel that it has a feminine edge, as it has a drawing of a female on it and the artist herself is female. From looking at the album cover, I feel that it appeals to ages 18+. This is because, it doesnt use many images or bright colours, which are seen as interesting for younger children. It has a mature feel to it, created by the vintage colour and drawing.

It uses the rule of thirds, with the drawing of her face using up one third of the cover. This suggests that the image is significant to the album. However, the title and artists name takes up almost two thirds. This show's it's dominant and is what audiences will be attracted to first. This is so that audiences know exactly what they album is, as this may not be clear by the drawing of Laura Marling.
It is clear from this album cover that Laura Marling has a close relationship with her audience, this is shown through the personal font used and her intimate drawing on the front cover.

I would like to use a personal font for my CD cover, as it think it's really important that audiences feel as though the album is personal to them. However, I would like to use a photograph for my cover, instead of a drawing. Although a drawing gives the album an artistic feel, I think a photograph can be much more striking and powerful.

Beyonce is an American Pop/Rnb singer and songwriter. Her album cover is very different to Laura Marling's. They are both of very different genres and therefore portray a completely different message through their album cover's.

Beyonce's album cover connotes glamour and sex appeal, which contrasts with Laura Marling's pure and artistic cover. Laura Marling's cover has a dated feel to it, whereas Beyonce's feels modern and new.

The reason this cover connotes glamour, is because of the sparkling diamond top and earrings that Beyonce is wearing. It makes the album sparkle and feel glamorous, it also draws the audiences attention straight to it. I will use this as an influence for my album cover, instead of using diamonds I intend to use glitter. I think it gives off a very feminine and glamorous feel and creates a very striking front cover image.

The cover also connotes sex appeal, this is shown through the clothing Beyonce is wearing. Having so much of her skin on show creates a sexual feel to the album cover. This has been used as Beyonce's music generally appeals to females, but by creating a sexual image it draws males to the album too creating a wider audience.

The font used on the cover is very modern, this gives a fresh feel to the album. It is a type of bubble writing, which can aslo be seen as child-like. Teenagers are a wide audience for Beyonce and this font appeals to this audience, whilst making the album feel very modern. This makes audiences feel her music is new and the type of music that should be listened to at this moment in time.

The album cover is very powerful, with the striking diamonds sparkling and a beautiful image of Beyonce. It is also powerful as Beyonce is giving eye contact, suggesting she is confident and passionate about her music. It also makes it feel as though the album is personal to her fans and this is her gift. The eye contact suggests she is looking out to her fans and thanking them. This gives female artists a strong and powerful representation, which I would like my album to portray. I will therefore use the idea of having an image of Dalia giving eye contact to create the same powerful and positive feel about female artists.

This is Ellie Goulding's album cover Bright Lights. I have decided to analyse this as I feel that it would fit perfectly with the fantasy aspect of my music video. This cover connotes fantasy and euphoria. Ellie's eyes are shut in this photo, suggesting she is in a state of euphoria and escaping to a fantasy land. The spots of light add to the fantasy aspect and create a more feminine feel to the album cover. The lights also link in with the name of the album 'Bright Lights'. I could use this for inspiration for my cover, as I would like Dalia to look as though she is ecaping to her fantasy land, this could be done by taking a photograph with her eyes closed. This will also entice audiences, this is because the lack of eye contact creates a sense of mystery to the audiences, leaving them wanting to know more.

The album also has a very spiritual feel to it. There is a bright light above Ellie's head, which represents heaven. This adds to the euphoric representation of the album and also creates a religious and spiritual cover. This suggests that Ellie's very passionate about music and her music is like a religion to her that she cannot live without. This indicates her strong dedication to her fans.

The pastel colours used on this album cover create a natural feel to it. This reflects Ellie's folk genre of music. The pastel colours also emphasise the bright lights and Ellie's face, drawing audiences attention to her. Ellie's name is written in bold letters and is central.This shows it's significance and means audiences will look at this first, so they're immediately aware of what the album is.

In my cover designs I intend to experiment with different fonts and I feel that the font used on this cover could work well with my album. The glowing colour used would work with my fantasy aspect and the boldness of it would aslo work well in informing audiences of the name of my album.