Idea's for my music promo

I have found from my Research that my target audience like the idea of a Concept video, so I have been thinking of ideas for this which could work well with my chosen song Heartbreaker by Mstrkrft. I have started my planning with the idea of using skates in my music promo, as I helped my friend film this YouTube video of his brother skating around 6 months ago and really enjoyed it as well as liking how the video looks overall. I have not yet decided if a concept video is the most effective choice for a music promo, although I do have the option of combining both a narrative and a concept music video as my target audience didn't have a strong favourite.
I learnt a lot from it especially when it came to using the camera. For example, I found it's important to use a variety of different angles, as well as close up and long shots as a way of making your work more interesting. And also that you have to retake many things you record, as this will help you when it comes to editing. I will take all the things I learnt from filming this YouTube clip with my friend into account when it comes to filming my own music promo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQALoU0TEhQ&feature=BFa&list=UUlJzrAiN7phiCCLdM8a75OQ

Mrs D

Well done for hitting your first deadline. I look forward to seeing some planing soon.

Email to record company regarding copyright

Hi there, my name's Olivia and I am an A Level student in the UK.
I'm making a music video for my Media coursework, and I would really love to use MSTRKRFT's song Heartbreaker. However, I do not want to breach copyright laws so if you could allow me to use this song that would be great; as I will be creating my own music video for the song, which will then feature on my blog to then be examined.
If I was allowed permission this would mean that Heartbreaker by MSTRKRFT would then be promoted slightly, as I plan on showing my completed music video to many other students as well as it being published on my online blog!
I really appreciate you taking the time out to read this, and it would be great if you could get back to me as soon as possible by emailing back to this address.
Many thanks.

Lyrics to Heartbreaker - Mstrkrft

Remember when I caught your eye
you gave me rainbows and butterflies
we did enjoy our happiness
 when our love was over I was such a mess
I smiled at you and you smiled back
that's when I knew there’s no turning back
you said you loved me and I did too
now that it's over I still love you
you're in my mind you're in my heart
I wish I knew right from the start
 all my friends said you break my heart
A heartbreaker right from the start
I tried to fight it I tried so hard and every day
I pray to god that you and me were meant to be
but you had another you had a lover
And now you’re gone I don't know why
I feel like crying just want to die
I can't look at you and you know why
 no, I tried so hard to catch your eye
you're in my mind you're in my heart
I wish I knew right from the start
 all my friends said you break my heart
A heartbreaker right from the start
you're in my mind you're in my heart
 I wish I knew right from the start
 all my friends said you break my heart
 A heartbreaker right from the start

Possible song choices

It's imporant that my song choice fits in with my audiences preferred genre of music, I therefore need to choose an indie/alternative artist that has a large audience between the ages of 15-25.
Jack Steadman - Good times rolll
Jack Steadman - Travelling song
Ed Sheeran - Lego house
Mstrkrft - Heartbreaker
Lucy Rose - Shiver

Out of all of these possible songs, I think a more upbeat song such as Jack Steadman, or Mstrkrft would be more effective when making the music promo. As my other choices are quite slow paced, this could then effect my marks for my music promo as slow songs often have basic music videos. I say this because slower music needs less cuts when it comes to editing and generally has more basic narratives. I would like to make my music video interesting for my target audience, therefore I think a more upbeat song would be more effective.

Dolby

As part of your research and analysis, it may be a good idea to have a look at specific codes and conventions of print and also the mark scheme for Print as this will help you think about how you can make a successful product yourself.

Product Placement

 I think the most effective way to get my music video across to my audience would be virally, through a YouTube channel.  I found out from researching on BBC news that 15-24 year olds are more likely to watch a music video on YouTube than a dedicated music channel(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7967908.stm) I therefore need to consider this when deciding where to display my music video, as my target audience are both genders from the age of 15-25. To get my music promo watched I therefore need to ensure there are dedicated fans, an easy way of doing this would be for the artist to make a personal Youtube account and upload music promos from there first. This would also allow the artist to bond with fans, as my artist could upload videos answering fan-mail or keeping fans up to date with what they have planned. I think this would be an effective way of building a stronger relationship with fans, and allowing your target audience to see you in a more personal light, which would make it easier for your audience to connect with you. All of this would make an artist a lot more likeable, as audiences really appreciate having their attention. As well as having a positive effect on the fans, it would also allow the artist to promote themselves by keeping their audience up to date with new single or album releases as well as tour dates. As well as a Youtube channel using other social media sites, such as twitter would also have a great effect on widening the artist’s audience as the artist could include a link to a new single through a tweet, which would then hopefully be retweeted by many others helping it become more well known. I think it’s important that my artist was connected with almost all the social networking sites, as this would allow them to have as wide an audience as possible. It’s also very important that these website are kept up to date with all new releases, including features such as countdowns until album releases or videos would be particularly effective to create more of a hype over the artist.

I found out from my questionnaire that my target audience is both male and females that fall into the Indie genre of music, therefore I’ve thought about what music channel my Indie artist would feature on to allow them to be seen by the right target audience. However, it is disappointing that there is not a music channel dedicated to Indie/Alternative music. So I have decided the best possible music channel for my artist to feature on would be MTV Rock, as this channel features more indie and alternative music than rock, so it will get across to my target audience. As my target audience are between the ages of 15-25 I have carefully thought about the best time for them to be watching a music channel, so that I know when my music promo is most likely to be seen. I have asked many people around sixth form who are between the ages of 16-19 when they watch music channels most, which gives me a rough idea of what time people prefer even though I did not manage to ask all of my target audience. The outcome was between the hours of 4-8 which work well with young adults as those are the times that they have either just finished education or even work. This would therefore be the best time for my artist to attract people from the age of 15-25 through music channels such as MTV Rock.

I need to ensure my DigiPak is also featured in the right place to get across to my target market, I think the most effective way of doing this would be to allow the artists album to be downloaded through ITunes, as this is one of the most common ways young adults buy their music and is therefore essential. It would also be easy to advertise this when the album is first released by having the artist feature a link on their social media sites, allowing their audience to click the link and be shown the new Digipak on iTunes, ready for them to purchase. It would be sensible to also have other ways of downloading online, for example through websites such as Amazon and Ebay as this would allow people to buy the album while shopping for clothes and other things.  As well as downloading the artists album, It’s important to remember many people still purchase things in shops for instance specialist music shops such as HMV. There has also been an increased number of album purchases from food stores such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s so selling my DigiPak there would also be effective.

When it comes to advertising the DigiPak, I need to consider the best place to put my posters. For this, I need to take into account the genre of music, and think about where my audience would find it most effective. One of the best places for me to advertise my DigiPak would be in an Indie or Alternative music magazine, such as NME. I think this would help sell my DigiPak, as music magazines are still very popular today especially with people that fall into my target audience. As well as this another effective place to advertise would be on the radio and on trains, as young adults tend to travel a lot and having adverts on both these things ensures my artist will get across to a wider audience.  Radio is still a popular way to listen to music for young adults, so it’s important that I keep this in mind when trying to promote my artist. Radio stations that best fit the genre of my artist would probably be stations such as Radio 1 as they include a lot of new artists as well as alternative genres. 

Real Media Artefact Magazine Advert - The XX

I really love the style of this poster as it is unique, I like the use of patterns that have been used on the page as these are really unusual and draw the reader’s eye in to the centre of the page where the text is featured. I like the detailing on this poster, as the more you look at it the more you see that all the patterns are slightly different and also that the patterns have been carefully placed to ensure they are all perfectly symmetrical, as the patterns at the top mirror the ones at the bottom. The detail on this poster shows could be seen as a way of representing The XX’s style of music, as very precise as well as being quite preserved as this poster doesn’t really give much away about the artist. This links in well with their style of music, as it could be labelled as simple and peaceful music. The use of black and white in this poster fits in well with the band, as you can see in their music videos that they have quite an artist style. Whenever I have seen a music video by them, or even when they have featured in an interview on the TV they always seem to wear black and white clothes, so the use of black and white in the poster fits in with them as individuals as well as their music.

It is unusual that “The XX” has not be placed at the top of the poster, as this is normally where you would find the name of the artist or band being advertised. However, I think having the name in the centre of the page is very effective as it is where your eye goes to first of all on the page. They have chosen to include the name of the band in their logo, which is the particular style of font used. This font features on The XX’s albums so this helps the audience register who they are, letting them connect directly with their target audience. Although the text underneath the name of the band is particularly small, I think it is effective because they have put the support acts in bold font. This draws more attention to the small font, making people more likely to read it as it stands out that little bit more on the page. The use of “/” on the page are more effective than using full stops, as they are more abrupt and to the point, this makes more of a statement to the reader which could help them to remember the information. I like the fact that they have used forward slashes when giving out information and may consider it in my own work when making a poster. Overall, I really like the style of this poster, if I saw it on the street I would stop and look at it because it is very unusual. I will consider doing something such as this for my own poster, as things that are unique will help to widen my audience. 

Real Media Artefact Advert- Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheerans advertisement for his debut album is very simplistic, so I’ve chosen to analyse a poster for his tour that happened previously this year although it is also quite simple as it is in black and white and does not include a lot of text. However, I think this style works well with Ed Sheerans genre of music as it could be seen as quite minimal and stripped down compared to other artists today. The poster could be seen as showing the audience it is not so much about him, as he is not the main feature of the poster, instead it is more about his voice. The cat that is on the front cover of the poster links in with this idea as, a similar cat features in Ed Sheerans music video for the song drunk. Therefore people that have heard his music before will link the cat with that song and the rest of his music. This is an effective way of getting people’s attention, as the cat stands out on the poster as Ed is holding it up to face the camera, this therefore attracts people to look at the poster as it is unusual and eye catching but it is also relevant as it links in with his work.


I like the fact that this poster is in black and white, as it is uncommon to find a black and white poster nowadays. The title of this poster works really well on the page, as it looks as though it has been handwritten. I find this really effective, as it gives the audience the impression that the artist has written it himself, which helps the audience to connect with him and see him as a real person. This is a great way of promoting him, especially when it comes to live shows, as the handwritten font connotes that he is very involved with organising his shows, and gives off the impression that every show will be very up close and personal to both him and the audience. I think this is a really clever way of promoting him and widening his audience, as people will see this and assume that the show will be a real experience for them. The fact that “plus support” has also been written next to his name, shows that he is the main feature of the tour. Normally support names are mentioned on a poster to try and widen audiences, so this shows that Ed Sheeran does not need to advertise other artists as a way of getting people to go to his shows. This also links in with the overall basic style of the advertisement, if you have enough dedicated fans you can get away with doing very little advertising and your tour will still go well. 

Real Media Artefact Advert- Mstrkrft

I thought it would be a good idea to research more into the band Mstrkrft (pronounced master craft) as I am considering using their song Heartbreaker for this piece of coursework. I therefore thought it would be interesting to look at their style of advertisements, to see if they are effective and if so, whether or not I can use those positives to my advantage and develop them in my own work. At first I tried to research posters by Mstrkrft for singles or album releases but I found it very difficult to find posters such as this, so I eventually settled for a poster advertising a live show. I chose this poster to analyse because it is the most eye catching poster by them, the other ones which I found were very simplistic and used minimal colours so there was not as much to analyse. However, I really like this poster as I think it links in well with the bands genre of music, as they are quite upbeat and alternative.


The name of the band is in clear bold letters which really stand out on the page, I think it’s really effective the way that they have split up the band’s name by putting it on two lines, as this makes the readers eye travel down the page. If I do choose to use this band for my own work, this would be something I’d also consider doing. I like the fact that there are lines covering the entire page which join the name Mstrkrft to the image, this is something I have never seen before but I find it works well in this poster as the lines give off an electric feel which ties in with the bands style of music. As well as this, the lines on the page make a pattern, which gives the poster more depth and detail making it look more interesting. This is quite a unique way of making a normal poster that little bit more special. The lines draw your eye down to the middle of the page, as they are connected to what looks like a kind of bulls’ eye in the centre. This circle has purposely been put around the silhouettes which are standing on stage, indicating that the silhouettes are in fact Mstrkrft, this is an effective way of making the band look good and making people want to go and see them. As the poster features an image showing them on stage with an audience that look like they are having a really good time.

I really like the choice of colours used in this poster, this is a clever way to get across to the audience as the hot tones of red and orange connote that the band are exciting to go and see live. The way that the colours subtly change from dark red to yellow looks really effective as it makes your eye travel around the page, making you read the text too! I like the fact that they have not put too much focus on the image; by making it in colour it only shows the silhouettes of the audience and the band. I think this is quite unusual as many advertisements for artists only focus on the artists looks, so it is quite nice to see something that goes against that. I think the band Mstrkrft can get away with not including what they look like because of their genre, because they are an Alternative band their target audience is generally much more concerned with the condition of the music rather than if they’ve had a haircut. This is completely different to other genres such as pop, for example you would always expect a pop artist to be the main/only focus on their poster, as their audience relies more on their looks.  

Real Media Artefact Music Promo - Nero

Nero  - Must be the feeling

The Mise en Scene in this music video is very dramatic, there are blue tones used throughout the entire video. There is not a lot of use of colour in the video as the cold blue connotes there has been a big disaster, as the streets are empty and there are signs in the video saying “Something in the air!” which creates a sense of danger to the audience. The music videos opening scene is very dramatic, and honestly a bit cheesy, as it shows two men walking in through a door with bright blue light behind them, allowing the person watching the video to only see their silhouettes making them seem mysterious, the audience also sees the two men as powerful figures as the camera angle allows the watcher to look up at them, as if they are a big figure. This scene then fades out before the music begins; allowing the audience to get a feel for what the music video is going to be like before the music itself even begins. You are then shown a medium close up of the men, still angled so that you are looking up at them, the choice of outfits are very unusual in this video as they have a futuristic style to them, this could be seen as a way of drawing the audience in as people tend to be interested in things unknown such as futuristic themes. 

This music promo does not have a strong storyline, as it could be seen as quite confusing particularly at the end. However, the main storyline for it is a car chase as the main characters are being chased for going against authority. This is shown through close ups of posters saying “The authority is watching you!” With an image of a gasmask on the poster, this helps the audience register who the authority are when they later chase the two main characters, as they are wearing the same gasmasks. I think this video could be made a lot better by improving the storyline, as they have included great props and the style of the video looks really effective but I find the storyline lets it down. There is a clear distinction between good and bad in the video, as the two male characters are leading the car chase while men with masks on are following them in motorbikes. All the characters throughout the music video have something covering their eyes, whether it is a mask or futuristic style glasses which look like ones you would see in Star trek. I think they have purposely done this to make the narrative seem more mysterious and draw the reader in. The choice of outfits for the good and evil characters contrast each other strongly so it is easy for the audience to understand who is good and who is bad, however this goes against stereotypes as the bad characters are dressed all in white on white motorbikes and the good main characters are dressed in black. They may have done this to give the good characters a sense of mystery and make them look “cool” to their audience. The main feature of this music promo would be the car, as there are many close up and long shots showing the cars detail and overall look, which makes it look more effective. They have also included undertones of the cars growl over the music, so the audience really gets a sense of its power in the promo.

The camera shots in this music video are quite technical, as they have included a variety of shots. The long shots used in this promo are really effective, as it shows the heavy editing that has taken place to create the look of a surreal city. They have also included many close up and extra close up shots of characters in the video and also of the city to show the detailing that has gone into the editing. I think the location of this video works really well with the storyline, as the city really emphasises how abandoned the world in the video is, as well as this the city helps to make the music video more futuristic. There is a scene where the camera pans and shows the electric billboards on the streets of the city, the two main characters seem to be controlling the billboards and start changing them to show the name of the artist and the name of the song. This is quite an original idea when it comes to different ways of promoting yourself as an artist, as it allows people that didn’t know who the song was by to now know the artist.

Real Media Artefact Music Promo - Redlight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFktPeFgUrQ
This music video is quite unusual; it could be seen as a concept video as it is filmed in a foreign country with a fancy dress theme running through it. This gives the audience an idea that it is Halloween, as it features many dressed up children and adults. This music video doesn’t include a narrative; instead it shows different people from the country they have filmed in. Overall, the location looks quite run down and poor however, the people in the video are shown having fun and dressing up for a parade of some kind. I like the fact that this video is quite unique, and also quite positive as this makes you want to carry on watching it.
You can tell from watching the first few seconds of this video that it has been quite heavily edited. I like the fact that the beginning sequence has jumps that fit in with the speed of the music, this is a clever technique which draws the audience in. They have also introduced the singer through the jump cuts in a subtle way, by first showing a close up of her hands, then her silhouette and a close up of her eye. I thought this was a very clever technique that I’m thinking of considering when doing my own music promo. It then goes straight from the close ups of the artists to a close up of a small girl with skeleton face paint on, I thought this was really effective as the face paint is unexpected and it shocks the audience. When the beat finally starts for the artist to start singing the music video changes from black and white to colour, this is also a clever technique that I have considered using as I like the idea of using both colour and black and white. The first words of the song are “Get out my head” at this point the camera cuts to show signs or graffiti, jumping at every individual word from one to another.  Most of this music video is made up of jump cuts, I think this is really effective as they are all in time with the music, and work really well with it. Near the end of the video they have also used different colour filters over certain scenes, which makes the video more interesting and grabs your attention.
In this video there are a lot of close ups of the individuals that live in the location where they are filming, which makes the audience more involved as you can see the peoples facial expressions clearly and you have more of an idea of what’s going on. There are a lot of people dancing in tribal outfits, I think this works well with the upbeat music as it links the idea of fancy dress with the song. Throughout the music promo there is a strong theme of god and religion, I think this is effective in the music video as it contrasts with the scary outfits and the theme of Halloween. There is a scene in the music video where the artist walks into a church and the camera follows her down the aisle, this is quite an unusual scene as you can only see the artist from behind therefore you as an audience can’t see her facial expression making it more mysterious. The camera then shows several close up shots of hanging masks that look like they have been homemade, these masks give off quite a creepy impression and this is made more dramatic by the camera slowly panning round them to add effect. This video is really unusual because there are so many different camera angles and shots used within it, I like how they have included dressed up people and then cut to normal citizens quickly after as this shows the strong contrast between the two and makes it look more dramatic. They have also made this more effective by including children and the idea of religion in the video, as these two things are normally seen as very positive but they are shown in this video alongside Halloween and the idea of horror which is could be seen as quite disturbing.  

Real Media Artefact Music Promo - Ben Howard

Ben Howard – Keep your head up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADP65wbBUpc

The Mis en Scene of this music video gives off a summery feel; the colours featured throughout the music promo are mostly yellow tones. I think they’ve chosen not to include bold colours as outgoing colours such reds would not suit the tone of music. Yellow tones connote happiness and summer which ties in with the storyline in this video, as well as the upbeat tone of music. As Ben Howard’s style of music is very calming, the mis en scene then links in with this. Another example of this would be the choice of outfits in the music promo, as all the characters in the video are wearing basic clothing such as plane t-shirts, comfy sweats or jeans as well as this Ben Howard is not wearing shoes throughout the video, this helps to represent a relaxed atmosphere which links in with the music. Another factor similar to this would be that there are only 3 characters in the whole music promo, again this suggests a relaxed atmosphere for the watcher as the video is quite simple and easy to follow. The video is filmed in the countryside, which includes a clear lake and well as fields with cows in, this kind of environment connotes the idea of a simple life which makes the audience presume this is the life that Ben Howard himself lives, as it matches the quiet, calm style of his music.


The main focus of the video is the artist, Ben Howard which helps to promote him as an artist as it allows his audience to get a better understanding of his personality and feel as though they can relate to him more through the video as it shows him having fun with his friends near the end of the music promo. They have made the artist look very playful and childish throughout this video, which makes him seem more human and I expect this made him more likeable to his audience. An example of this would be the opening to the music promo, as it includes a lot of slow zooms and focuses in and out of bubbles which are floating around. There are a lot of slow zooms used throughout the music video which work well with the slow beat of the music. The takes and cuts vary on the music, as cuts are used more quickly when the song reaches its chorus and the music is faster. This is something I will keep in mind when I am editing my own music promo, as it’s a very effective way of showing the change in pace.  The camera angles in this music promo are very effective, especially at the start of the video as the opening part shows Ben Howards profile which makes him seem mysterious and will encourage the audience to watch the video for longer to find out what the artist looks like, as this song was one of the first singles released from his album. Sun beams are also used throughout the video, which adds drama to the video as it reduces visibility for the audience, making them look more closely to find out what is going on behind the beams of sun. Lots of close ups of nature in the music promo are out of focus, this hazy look ties in with the relaxed atmosphere of the music.


This music promo could be seen as a Concept based video as the video does not link to the lyrics of the song, however it also has a narrative as the video develops, to Ben Howard meeting his friends in the countryside and building a huge waterslide through the fields. This is a very playful idea which encourages people to carry on watching the video. Not many of the scenes in the video mirror the lyrics, normally this is very common to find in a music video but unusually this is done in a very subtle way in this particular video. Fast cuts are used when the friends are making the waterslide, close ups of wood being cut are showed to speed up time, and also include bubbles around the characters which makes the hard work they are doing seem more light hearted and fun.  When the characters are going down the slide, there are many cuts and jumps of them going down, as well as it being sped up which works well to make the scene look more exciting. The overall aspect of this video is very positive which ties in with the title “Keep your head up” I like the fact that the video is light hearted and happy, as music videos can often be dark and negative and it is a nice change to see one that makes you smile.

Real Media Artefact DigiPak - Ben Howard

The front cover of Ben Howards album every kingdom, ties in with many of his music videos as there are underwater shots in most of his music promos. I like the colours used on this Digi Pack, the different tones of blue give off a summery feel and I think this works well with the Indie genre of music, which Ben Howard falls into. The title is bold and stands out as the rest of the page is mostly blues. Your eye is drawn to the title on the page, as the image is dark at the bottom and gradually gets lighter as it goes up, this makes the audiences eye travel to the top of the image and see the title. As your eye is immediately drawn to the lightest part of the image.  It is unusual that the title of the album is so small on the front cover, for many album front covers this is the main focus of the page. However, for this album it is in small font at the side of the image, I think they have purposely done this as they are trying to sell the artist as a whole, as this is his debut album it shows that this album is an attempt to connect with his audience to ensure they will be interested in him as an artist. Overall, I really like this album cover as it is unusual, because of this it is therefore more likely to attract an wider audience as an album cover such as this is quite mysterious and people could be intrigued to listen to his music.

For this album the CD itself is very simplistic, as it is a black CD with no pattern or image on it. This is quite unusual, as normally the CD will have an image on it similar to the one on the front of the album. Instead, the CD has the name of the artist in bold, capital white font, which makes his name stand out on the black background. Similarly to the album front cover, the name of the album is not bold, unlike the name of the artist. This shows they have purposely done this on both occasions to make the artists name have more of an impact. I think the simplistic style of this CD could represent the idea that Ben Howard is more concerned with the quality of his music, rather than how it is presented. This could be seen as a positive thing, as having a simple style for the album makes it stand out. Many artists could be seen as trying too hard when it comes to presenting their work, and this challenges the idea that music artists have to cause a fuss as a way of getting noticed.

Unfortunately I was unable to find out what the back of the album looks like for this DigiPak as well as the inside, when I am researching for my next Real Media Artefact I will make sure that I find all the pages before I start analysing!  

Real Media Artefact Digi Pack - Bombay Bicycle Club

 

I love the style of Bombay Bicycle Clubs album “A different kind of fix” As the title of the album ties in with the image of brains and gives off the idea of mental health and happiness. This clearly links with the image, which looks like a light hearted diagram of the human brain. There’s a lot of detail in the images, and when you compare the two drawing you can see that the patterns in the brains and slightly different, this could suggest that one is male and the other female. I think this detailing adds to the title, as it suggests that “A different kind of fix” could be a love interest. I think the artwork works well with the other colours on the front cover. All the colours used are quite calming, as they are not bold and in your face. I think this links in well with Bombay Bicycle Clubs overall style of music, as they are very relaxing to listen to so this gives the audience a good first impression of what their music is like. The band has included their signature logo, with the name of the band in a box, which also features on their previous album. I think they have purposely put there logo in small text, as you eye is immediately drawn to the unusual drawings and then to the centre of the image showing the name of the band.

I really like the theme of this Digi Pack, because it is so unusual it makes me as the audience more interesting in listening to their music. I expect this is the kind of response that the artists aimed for, as the artwork makes you more interested in the album as a whole. Another thing that is unusual about this CD is that it does not feature the band name, or the album title on it. Normally all CD’s include some text on them, even if it is only a minimal amount. However, I think in this case it’s really effective, as it makes the image the main and only focus of the CD.

On the back of the album, the image from the front cover bleeds through the page onto the back, I think this looks really effective as it makes the audiences eye travel onto the other page. The overall style on the back page is quite simplistic, as it just includes the track list in bold capital letters. This clearly shows the audience the singles on the album with no big distractions of unusual artwork, as they have kept the images to a minimal for this reason.

Real Media Artefact Digi Pack - Florence and the Machine

This is Florence and the Machine’s new album, the overall look of it is very current and stylish which helps to promote the artist, as her audience are likely to look up to her in terms of fashion and style. The colours on the front cover are mainly black and white, which makes her well known hair colour stand out as your eye is drawn to the colour on the page, helping to sell her as an artist. The artists outfit on the front cover of the album is glittery, which could be seen as reflecting Florence and the Machines genre of music, as it is generally quite upbeat and easy to dance to. Therefore the use of black that features on the front cover could connote the nightlife style of music. I think it is effective that they have chosen to vary the font style on the front cover, as the name of the band is written in its usual logo, this helps the audience recognise Florence and Machine as a brand. The name of the album “Ceremonials” is written in a futurist style of font, which makes the album appear new and exciting making it appeal to her target audience and also widen her audience.

The CD itself is quite minimalistic; this could also be seen as stylish to Florence’s audience as the colour of the CD is a nude pink which is fashionable at the moment as well as the CD having a subtle pattern of lines on the front. These lines link in with the overall style of the Digi Pack, as the name of the album “Ceremonials” is written in a font that has horizontal lines coming out of each letter, you can also see this in more detail on the back of the album. If you were going to take this meaning further you could say these lines could also link in with the definition of the word Ceremonials, as this is described as “The system of rules and procedures to be observed at a formal or religious occasion.” Therefore these lines could represent the rules that take place at a ceremony.

The main focus on the back of the track list on the back of the album is again “Ceremonials” as it is written in large bold font across the entire back page, you eye is drawn to the font straight away as it is written in a pale colour and stands out on the page. It is unusual that they have made the name of the album the main focus, as the artist themselves is usually featured more. However, this could be because Florence and the Machine are already very well known so they do not need to worry about promoting themselves as a band too much, instead they are focusing on selling this new album and making sure their audience hasn’t lost interest. The track list for this album is very long as it includes 12 singles; this then means that the text size is very small when it comes to showing all the names of the singles.

Overall I like the general style of this Digi Pack as it looks very stylish and current, I can imagine that this helped to promote the album, as people are drawn to things that look new and exciting.

Ancillary Results

I focused this Ancillary Questionnaire on the Inide genre of music as this was the most popular music choice from my previous questionnaire. The results for this questionnaire should therefore be more exact as I have only asked people that like Indie music, ensuring my results are reliable. My results from this question show that logos are the least effective way to grab the audiences attention, images of the artist are also surprisingly not that popular. I think this could be because Indie artists have less focus on themselves, compared to other genres such as pop artists. My results show that images relating to the song or music video are the most popular way to attract my audience.

I am quite surprised with the results of this question, as I expected blue and purples to be more popular for the Indie Genre. However, the question has given me a clear idea of what colour scheme I should stick to, to give my DigiPak and magazine advert a clear house style. I think I will try and stick to simplistic colours such as Greys, and white as these are seen as quite edgy and cool, suiting the Indie Genre. I may also add in some colour as Red was seen as a popular choice to my target audience of young adults. 

Lyrics are the most expected thing to see inside a DigiPak, it's important that I include these in my own work as they stand out as the most popular choice. A message to the audience was the second most popular choice, as this makes the album seem more personal to audiences. This is seen as a positive thing, as it creates a relationship from the artist or band to the audience.

I found the fact that not many people were bothered or infact didn't want to see the tracklist on the back of the CD cover, I asked the people that said no to this question why they did not want to see it. One said "If you like the artist you will buy the album anyway so it doesn't really matter if the songs aren't on the back." I thought this was interesting and will consider not featuring a track list on my DigiPak, or instead of putting it on the back maybe putting it inside instead or written on the CD itself.

It's important that all of my work links in well together, I therefore need to make sure that my music video has a strong theme which I can carry through and use for both my DigiPak and advert. As this is the most effective way to connect with my audience, as the style of these three things needs to stand out against other competitive artists.

A quote or review is a simple yet effective way to attract your audiences attention, as it gives them and idea of how good the artist is and helps to promote them. This is one of the main things which I will make sure to include in my advert, as it was the most popular choice for grabbing my audiences attention.

The main thing I will be focusing on for my advertisement will be the image, as it needs to be eyecatching and work well with the rest of my work. For example I need to ensure the image on my advert ties in well with the album cover and my music promo, as this will help to sell the artsit as a whole.

Mrs D

This is a good start. Well done. Your analysis for your rma has got some good technical info in it. You need to just add a little more regarding structure/narrative etc. You also need to make sure you post some more research soon.

Questionnaire Results

It was important that I asked everyone that answered my questionnaire their gender, as this will help me understand who my target audience is. As well as this, the gender of my audience could also effect their preferred genre of music, so it was important that I knew which gender dominated my research. I tried to make sure that I had an equal amount of men and women answering my questionnaire, so that I had a wider audience. This is something I need to remember when I start planning, as my music promo and my ancillary tasks need to be appropriate for both men and women.

As you can see from this question, most of the people I asked were between the age of 16-20, this age will therefore be my main target audience. I may try to widen this and try to appeal to other ages, from 15 up to 25 as I think I could easily relate to people like this.

To make my research more exact, I only asked my target audience of people from 25 and under the next questions, starting with what is your favourite genre of music. I found my results interesting as Rock and RnB where not as popular as I was expecting. Indie and Alternative music really stood out as a favourite for my audience, it is therefore important that my chosen artist fits into these two genre's. It may also be a good idea to consider a song or artist that is quite upbeat as pop was also a popular choice.

I found it interesting that my audiences favourite genre of music differed from there favourite genre for music videos, this shows that music videos can have a strong effect on peoples opinions. Alternative music was a very popular choice, and I will research an alternative music video to try and find out why they are seen as such a success. By doing this, it will hopefully help me to take some of the positive effects used within an Alternative music video so that I can develop this in my own work.

I then asked my target audience what there favourite music video was.
Popular answers for this were:
Daft Punk - Around the world
Beyonce - All the single ladies
Katy Perry - California Girls
The Drums - Lets go surfing
Ed Sheeran - Drunk
Lana Del Rey - Blue jeans
Coldplay - the scientist
PSY - Gangnam style

A lot of these music videos are concepts based videos, this shows that my target audience enjoy videos even if they do not relate to the video which gives me more options when planning my music promo.

RnB and HipHop music videos were labelled as very weak by my audience, this is interesting as they are probably one of the most well known and common music videos around. I'm glad that I asked what my audience don't like to see in a music video for my next question, as this gives me a clearer idea of what not to do for my own work.

I made sure this question was an open question so that people could give me a detailed example of what they don't like to see in a music video. It is very interesting that all of the answered to this question were similar, as they all fell into these four categories. This shows me that my audience have a strong opinion against these things, and it is important I make sure my music promo does not include them.

I'm glad with the result of this question, as a Performance based videos didn't really appeal to me as it would have been very difficult to find someone willing to dance and perform in my music promo. Therefore, I am happy that my audience prefers Concept based music promos as this gives me more options to explore when planning my work. I'm also glad that Narrative came a close second as this means I can always include a narrative if I want to.

Ancillary Task Questionnaire

Ancillary Task Questionnaire

What attracts you most to the cover of an indie CD?

Image of the artist
A screenshot of the music video
The band or artists logo
An image relating to the song or album title

What colours would you assume to see on an indie genre Digi pack?

White
Black
Grey
Red
Green
Blue
Purple
Yellow
Other: (Please state)

What kind of thing would you expect to see inside an Indie Digi Pack?

Lyrics
Thank you’s
Message from the artist or band to the audience
Pictures from tour
Pictures of the artist
Other: (Please state)
Fan-mail address

Do you like to see the track list on the back of the CD cover?

Yes
No

 Do you normally expect a music video to link with the Digi Pack and Advert?

Yes
No
Doesn’t matter

What aspect of a CD advert do you find most effective?

Quote or review
Tour dates
Image of artist
Image of CD cover

What attracts you to read an advert for an indie band or artist?

The image
Bold font
The colour scheme
The artist featured

Is there anything else you would like to see in an advert for an artist such as this? Please state .................................................................................................................................

Questionnaire for music video

Questionnaire

What gender are you?

Male
Female

What age range do you fall into?

0-15

16-20

21-25

25-30

30+

What is your favourite genre of music?

Rock
RnB
Indie
Pop
Metal
Dubstep
HipHop
Alternative
Other (please state)

What is your favourite genre for music videos?

Rock
RnB
Indie
Pop
Metal
Dubstep
HipHop
Alternative
Other (please state)

What is your favourite music video?
Why?

What genre of music videos do you find the weakest?

Rock
RnB
Indie
Pop
Metal
Dubstep
HipHop
Alternative
Other (please state)

What do you not like to see in a music video? ...............................................................................

What is your favourite type of music video?

Narrative (Storyline)
Performance based
Concept (Random - not to do with the lyrics)

 

Markscheme

Timetable

Research- 24^th September

Questionnaire

Real media artefact

Focus Group

Interviews

Product Placement

How research will inform planning

Planning 8^th October

Song choice

Proposal

MES ideas

Story board

Email to record company regarding copyright

Letter to allow filming to take place

Filming schedule

Main construction 22^nd October

Filming and editing of first draft

First draft of ancillary draft 12^th November

Second draft of main and ancillary 19^th November

Final Draft and Final Construction deadline

Evaluation

First draft 10^th December

Second draft 17^th December