EVALUATION QUESTION 1: In what ways does your music promotional package use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of existing music video/promo packages?

As my early research showed, the conventions of music videos vary greatly depending on many aspects including genre, pace, narrative, tune etc. One convention featured greatly in both mainstream and subculture music videos is the artist ‘performing’ their song, whether that be live at a gig etc. or miming the lyrics in something similar to our own idea. We decided to have Sam lip-syncing at set intervals in our music video and because of this decision we had to be very particular with our editing as one key thing I learnt from my research and preliminary task is that good mining/lip-syncing makes or breaks a music video. As I have explained, towards the end of the project we began to have problems editing the lip-syncing scenes into the main video and this led to sections of the music video being low quality. Our creative decision to not always have lip-syncing occurring in the video and instead have a storyline not only challenges this particular convention but was crucial in the portrayal of our narrative. It is also similar to the existing video for this particular song as that combined performance with a storyline. When researching music videos I discovered that they often feature some form of loose storyline, based on the lyrics or mood of the song. This was particularly easy for us to develop as we had specifically chosen a song with emotional lyrics. We also had meanings about the actual song (collected from the internet) from the band – The Fray, which we applied to our idea. Much of my planning looked at what the lyrics of the song meant, especially the repetitive phrase ‘How to save a life’. This was the main development for this project as it encouraged me to consider many alternative narratives and apply the most appropriate and fitting to the lyrics. Due to our work on our fixed narrative, we refrained from creating a disjuncture video, something completely abstract although we did manage to explore one specific concept – losing someone. Although these concepts are generally only loosely explored, our rendition of the song explores it more deeply. A compulsory measure for the majority of songs shown on TV channels such as MTV and Kiss, to ensure the viewers are aware of what video they are watching, is to include both the artist/band name and also the title of the song. As you can see from the screenshot to the right, I and Chris did this at both the beginning and end of the video although we used two different effects. At the beginning of the music video we chose to use a basic and traditional method, including a small title in the bottom right hand corner of the screen whereas the end title was more original, using a whole screen and a list of special effects to create something similar to what is already present in the existing video for ‘How to save a life’. Although this was not a traditional decision, we both felt it looked very effective and wanted to create something original which applied to a selective target audience. Although it was not done purposely, due to the intro of the song our narrative began with a short narrative, showing Sam walking towards the bridge, something which is considered to be a frequent convention of many music videos both in the past and present day. To make this fit in before the lyrics began, and to add effect to the piece, we chose to use time skipping as a way of speeding Sam’s walking pace up. In our particular idea, it leads the viewer to feel like there is some kind of mystery as all they see is this man walking towards the camera without any explanation as the song/lyrics have not yet began telling the story.

One major finding which I found out both in my research and through the process of forming my own music video is that music videos rely heavily on post-production effects. Throughout the editing process we focused on interweaving many different angled shots as this made the whole piece a lot better and as described in my research, the majority of music video rely heavily on montage editing with many different types of footage juxtaposed. Although at first we only used a small selection of angles, as our video came together it became apparent that to make the best music video we needed to use a higher amount of shots/angles. This was crucial in making the music video effective and to also keep the viewers’ attention because unless it is carried out for effect, one single angle does not look as effective. Another post production effect which existing music videos rely on largely is the varying cuts and speed. This is obvious in every video that i have watched and it is normally associated with the music genre such as R&B music videos are normally composed of fast paced cuts with a lot of speed and action whereas our chosen song had a much slower pace meaning we chose to use a much slower form of cut and changed the shot less frequently. Whereas if we had chosen a fast song by an artist such as Rihanna we would of required more shots, our particular song choice resulted in us needing slow shots lacking in action meaning it was quite simple for us to film Sam lip-syncing on a wall as this fitted the particular pace of the video. An overall outlook on how crucial edits are in our own media piece includes our edits flow in time, although, unlike the traditional music video, they do not reflect the song’s structure, where traditionally a cut will occur when a new chorus or verse begins. One reason this occurred was due to the lack of timing we gave ourselves to carry our final filming and editing as well as

us wanting to concentrate more on the narrative towards the end of the music video than the lip-syncing. After much consideration over the plan it was clear that editing a narrative would be a lot easier/quicker compared to how long it would take us to edit lip-syncing effectively. Although we have challenged this particular convention, due to the storyline of the song I do not feel it is that noticeable and in fact is quite effective in its role. We have also used other effects, such as blade and cross dissolve which was present on our editing software, final cut pro, to create an effective and visually pleasing edition of the song through visual aid. One thing which I was surprised by when looking through existing music videos was that only a few of the videos used any type of effect such as a blur. Even with this knowledge, me and Chris felt it appropriate to use a ‘cross dissolve’ as it fitted with what we were trying to create visually, shown to the left.   At the very beginning of this project I researched what a music video was and how it aided the creation of a star image. One of the things that I discovered was a quote by John Fiske which was:

“Music videos foreground the signifier over the signified”

While creating our music video I was consistently reminded of this quote because as I have discovered through both my research and my production process, as long as a music video looks good to the naked eye, the video will always be good. Although our final piece could have been slightly improved during the editing process if we had more time, I do feel that our music video provides the viewer with an exciting storyline which is easy to understand and has high quality footage. The technology that we have been able to use, both during filming and editing, as well as the technology we used during the creation of our promotional package, including the digipack and promotional poster aided us greatly as they were all of a high quality industry standard and allowed us to form almost any idea we wanted to. One problem which we faced largely compared to the existing music video by The Fray was the lack of actors we had willing to help us. Whereas the whole band were present in the original video, we were unable to find four actors so therefore we had to just focus on the one and this made it seem extremely weird. As I will explain further on in this answer, this made it extremely hard when designing a digipack or promotional poster for a band as we only had one artist to focus on.

The creation of my digipack followed the majority of conventions I had uncovered due to my detailed research. One of the most obvious that I can pint point is the information provided on the back cover of my digipack which includes a list of songs present on the CD included and also legal information about Copyright etc. This information is provided for many reasons which I have briefly explained in the screenshot below although I do wish to explain them in more detail. A bar code is a key convention of album covers/digipacks as it necessary for shops to sell the product to consumers and after so many years of it existing, consumers just expect it to be there. As you can see from the images below and also other images earlier on in my research, the bar code is normally placed in a bottom corner, exactly as I have done. Whereas the example I have used below has is tucked deep in the corner, mine was a little higher but this was mainly due to the risk of it being cut off in printing if it was too close to the bottom. The information about copyright which is provided on each cover I have looked at is necessary to ensure that no other outside company can use the design and gain from someone else work. This type of copyright is carried out on most products in the modern world but this little declaration, which I have included on my own work just like many before me, is essential in ensuring people are aware of who the design of the CD and the actual songs on the CD belong to so that no-one else can benefit from it other than the band and the record label. A major visual feature which is present on all CD covers that I have looked at is a list of songs which are featured on the CD and the majority of these do it using a number list whether it be a very organised one such as the ones shown below or a very original concept based one where the words and placed according to the idea of the design. This is crucial in informing the consumer what songs are on the CD and they also use the information when trying to search for a specific track. As I have created a digipack cover for a single I am only have a very short list although this can alter greatly in length depending on whether the cover is for an album or a single. My list is very basic but this fits in with the genre of my song and also the simplistic idea of my digipack design. The record label logo is always present on the back of a CD cover as it highlights to the consumer who is responsible for producing this. Some consumers may be very specific with their song choice and choose to listen to certain music by particular record companies and this is an indicator for this reason as well as aiding star image.

I also followed some basic conventions on the front of my digipack cover, including a band name and song title as apart of the design. As you can see from the screenshot below, I have chose to follow this particular convention very loosely, not forming a specific logo but using a basic font and rearranging the words on the page to make them look more effective. As I will explain in a later evaluation question, I have used this exact same logo on the front of my poster as well to show continuation between the two separate products. I have used One Direction as my example because the font used in this particular album has also followed through on to their new album showing how important it is to use repetition in products because it begins to create star image and the consumer relate the visual aid back to the band/artist. The layout of my digipack is very basic although it has been stylized that the sky will be very light blue, similar to that of One Direction, because it looks more real life than if we had edited the sky to a bright blue. The placement of the text has been greatly assessed to creative something attractive just like many of the other CD covers I looked at in my previous research. The other convention which I followed from my research into existing products is to include a spine and on that spine I have put the band name and song title once again. This is exactly what all other digipacks do because it is a quick way for a consumer to figure out what CD it is without looking at the front cover.

Although my research into promotional posters was minimal, I did understand the basics that much of the design which is shown on the CD cover is transported over into the poster. This is especially true with the examples shown to the right of this paragraph which are the exact same image although the information has changed and more required details have been added to the poster. Although me and Chris did wish to use the image from the front of our digipack, we also wanted to create something more original and that is where the idea to manipulate the colour of the sky came from. When we combined two of the images from the digipack it didn’t really resemble the same front cover anymore but it defiantly looked a lot more attractive and we felt it would stand out a lot more. Some of the key information that must be included on promotional posters includes a list of tour dates. Me and Chris have included a miniture one in the left as we felt it more important to get information about the release of the single across as that was what were trying to promote. As you can see from the screenshot below, one key feature common on most posters of this type these days is the iTunes logo to try and influence the consumer to purchase the logo of iTunes. The main way for people to purchase or get hold of music these days is through downloads although a lot of downloads happen illegally so by placing such a big iTunes logo on our own piece of work we are trying to prevent illegal downloads and encouraging people to purchase the song correctly. Another way designers highlight where the song can be purchased is by including the logo of a shop such as HMV. Other logos which we could of included if we so wish was the Facebook and twitter logos which provided details to the band/artist homepages. This would of been a good creation of star image but me and Chris both considered the target audience of our music and felt that it contained older generations as well as younger and if the older people saw them logos they be put off because they may not know what they meant. As you can see, we have used the exact same logo used in the digipack design although we have used a more eye-catching text for the song. The difference between an album cover and a poster is that the poster is supposed to be quick to read and eye-catching and for this reason I wanted to make it stand out as much as possible. The ratio of text to image in both products is also completely different but this is a great way to sell the music to the consumer.

The conventions of exisiting media products has not in any way placed restrictions on my creative decisions and I have been able to adapt any idea to fit around them, creating industry based products.