Artist Website First Draft and Layout Plan

Artist Website Layout Plan

Website first draft

The first draft of my website has a black and white theme and so goes with the monochrome colour scheme of my first draft of my music video. It has a pop up appear as you enter the site that allows you to sign up for the fan newsletter (seen to below). At the top of the site there is a navigation bar with the pages for "Home", "About", "News", "Music", "Live", "Store" and "Contact", below is the artist name and image and this makes for the 'house-style' that is on every page.

On the homepage there is a  scroll bar with the most recent posts from the site and the option to read more. When you scroll down there is a post on the artists new album and a bit where you can play the single, as well as a section on tour dates and the latest music video.

At the bottom of the page there is another subscription box for updates as well as social media links and copyright information. In my next draft I want to include more information on the homepage and experiment with colour on the site.

Digipak First Draft and Layout Plan

Digipak Layout Plan

I created this layout plan as a reference to use as I create my digipak on PagePlus. It shows where I want to have my details and which conventions of digipaks I have included.

Digipak First Draft

This is the first draft of my digipak, I decided to continue with the black and white colour scheme from the music video to show a connection between the two products. However I think that there should be colour in the digipak as it needs to stand out more and catch the attention of my target audience more. 

I also think that the second draft of my digipak needs to have more details as well as different images. I am going to take some extra photos for my second draft that feature my artist as they are what I  am selling to my audience.

Dolby

The first minute or so sets the tone well and I agree I like the black and white and some of the use of close ups. I think perhaps in places the shot duration is a little long- as the tempo and pitch increases I think that could be reflected in the pace and mood of the editing so that the visuals reflect the music more and we 'feel the music'

Music Video First Draft

This is my first draft of my music video for the song After Rain by Dermot Kennedy. I have experimented with video filters and transitions to make my video look as professional as possible. I think that the use of the black and white filter suits the mood of the music that the video accompanies, however I think that once the shots taken in my nature location are added, the monochrome colour scheme may take away from the colours in the shots that I have filmed. Below is the video embedded from YouTube.



 

After the completion and publishing of my first draft, I had some of my peers view it and give their feedback as to what is good and bad about it. This allowed me to develop my second draft much more easier as I had the opinion from those that are a part of my target audience for the video.

Digipak and Artist Website- conventions and planning

Conventions of Digipaks and Artist Websites

Planning my digipak and Artist Website

For both my digipak and artist website, I have created layout plans. These detail what i am including on each and where I want it to be visible on the product. I can make reference back to these in the construction process of my digipak and website and make sure that I use them as guides. Below are the two plans.

Creating my Digipak and Artist Website

For my Digipak, I am going to be using the software 'Serif Page Plus'. It has so many different elements on offer to help me create a product that looks professional and fits into the Indie music industry. I can important images and edit them, insert texts with hundreds of fonts to choose from and the software is easy to use. If a problem were to arise and I was not sure how to do something on the software, I can ask my teacher for help or search for the answer online. This software will be the best in helping me create my album digipak for my artist Dermot Kennedy.

For my artist website I am going to be using the online website creating site 'WIX'. It is easy to use and free of charge to use. There are so many different elements that can be inserted onto your created website, helping it look professional and like a real website. There are easy to use templates as well as blank ones that you can create your own design on. I can fully experiment with colours and fonts through this software and hopefully create a great website for my artist.

Filming the music video- my progress

When beginning the filming for my music video, I had lots of things to consider before jumping into picking up the camera and filming. With the help of my shooting schedule and research and planning I was able to do all of my filming very smoothly.

The first part of my filming went very smoothly as we were filming inside on a day that was bright and so there was good lighting. As well as this, I had direction when taking each shot and gave clear instructions to my actors so that they knew what they were doing.

One of the main worries of my filming was any complications that I may have encountered; with the most possible being a change in weather. This would have proved very difficult for the second part of my filming that took place outside and needed dry and bright weather. Luckily I was able to complete my filming in great conditions, resulting in clear and focused footage.

After filming each shot I rematched the clip in the viewfinder to see if it was up to my standards, resulting in many shots being reshot if they were out of focus, if the camera was shaky or I just wanted it from a different angle. The multiple shots I took proved useful during the editing process when looking through clips as I had many to choose from.

Overall, down to the planning, organisation and scheduling, the process of filming my music video went very smoothly and was very successful; allowing me to move onto the editing process of my coursework.

Shooting Schedule

The next step in my process was to create a shooting schedule so that I could begin filming. I had to consider when my actors would be available, when there was a day with the correct kind of weather and if the location that I wanted to use each day would be free to use or in good condition. Below is my shooting schedule. It included details of what day the filming will take place and at what time and location. I also included what people were needed for each day and what costumes/ props were necessary, this meant that when I sent the schedule to my actors they would be prepared upon arrive to the location. I also noted down what equipment I would need so that I could make sure it was available.

Day	Time	Location	Personnel needed	Props needed	Equipment needed	Notes/Shots
Tuesday 18th October	9am- 12pm	Bedroom	Crew, lead male actor	Outfits: Lead male- plain t-shirt, black jeans, dark shoes Other: Lilies, bed, white bedsheets, guitar	Camera with microphone, tripod	Close-ups on guitar playing, the strings and hands, mid-shots of bedsheets with light streaming in, mid-shots of lead playing guitar, close-ups on some lilies
Wednesday 19th October	8am- 5pm	Bedroom/ Car	Crew, lead male actor, lead female actor	Outfits: Lead male- plain t-shirt, black jeans, dark shoes, plus change into secondary outfit from Tuesday shoot Lead girl- jumper, jeans, plain shoes, jewellery, make up done Other: Bed, white bedsheets	Camera with microphone, tripod	Extreme close-ups on facial features of both lead and secondary actors, shots of their hands together, lying on bed together If time include extra shots of scenery
Thursday 20th October	10- 11:30	Bedroom		Outfits: Lead male- plain t-shirt, jeans, dark shoes Lead girl- jumper, jeans, plain shoes, jewellery, make up done  Other: Lilies, white bedsheets, guitar, printed photos,	Camera with microphone, tripod	Close-ups on some dead lilies, shots of them taking photos together Shots of them moving apart and the break up- yelling, packing clothes, tracking shots,  Slow zoom on him alone, shots of him looking at polaroid pictures alone Miming shots- mid-shot of lead male alone

Equipment and Props List

Equipment List

Another key part of the planning for the filming of my music video was looking at what equipment I would be using; this included cameras and tripods for the filming of the video but also the extra equipment needed to make the footage available for construction- this included the connection cords, computer and software I will be using for editing.




Camera:
The most important thing to create the music video is the camera; the one that I am using for my music video is the Fujifilm FinePix S4000 14MP Digital Camera. This brand of camera is easy to use, can focus very easily on close ups and can create effortless shots. I chose to use this camera as I can easily upload the footage onto the Mac computers that we will be using to edit our footage on and I own this camera and so have easy access to its use. It can act as a microphone for recording sound for my music video however all sound from the clips will be removed in the editing process due to me overlaying the video with my chosen track.

Tripod:
I will also be making use of tripods for the necessary shots in my music video that require the camera to stay in a fixed position as it will allow my shots to be level and look more professional. I will be using one of my friends tripods as it will have more access to it outside of school hours and so more flexibility for the filming schedule.

Computer:
The computer that I will be using to edit my footage on will be a Mac, this is because this is the brand that I own myself as well as the ones that our school has to be used by media students. This allows easier transfer of files as they will be in the same format.

Editing Software:
I am going to be using iMovie for the editing of my footage as I am able to access the software on my own computer at home, allowing me to maximise on the time I have to edit my music video as I am able to complete part of the editing process outside of school. The software is easy to navigate, has a good range of features available and can help me create a professional looking music video that can seamlessly fit into the industry.

Props List

For my music video, there a very little props needed. However, there are some that are necessary to the set decoration. These include: white bedding, a flower, photos, a guitar and  a phone. These will all be provided by myself or the actors.

Cast and crew list

The crew for my music video shoot will be very small as I am only including two characters in the narrative of my music video, with one of them also starring as the artist for the performance shots.

I will be completing all of the direction, filming and editing myself as I am working independently. I will have complete creative control and since I will be working with only two other people it will be easier to give direction and discuss the process of the shoot more directly. The small size of the crew also makes it easier to create a shooting schedule as there are less people needing to be available for a specific date.

Cast:

Lead Male Actor- Connor

Lead Female Actress- Megan

Mise-en-scene- Lighting and Colour

The elements of mise-en-scene depend on the genre and type of the music video. The main elements that I will be focussing on in the production of my music video are: lighting, colour, props, costume, hair and makeup and location. In this post I will talk about the use of lighting and colour in my music video; however information on location, props, hair and makeup and costume can be seen in other posts on my blog.


Lighting
Lighting is a key part of any music video as it can be used to highlight important characters and objects that are significant in the performance or narrative or a music video. Light can be used to set a mood; with dark lighting for sad and angry emotions and brighter lighting for happier and more positive emotions. Different tones in lighting can also be used according to the specifics of a music video with tinted bulbs or effects being made.
For my own music video I would like to use a combination of both dark and bright lighting to represent the shift between locations and time frames. The more bright/ white lighting will be sued in the shots in the narrative where the couple are happy and together; this will contrast with the darker shots after the couples fall out and the shift in time. I will accomplish the brighter lighting by using natural lighting in a room with bright walls that can reflect the light and make the room seem larger. I will create a darker setting through filming outside when it is later in the day.



Colour
Another key element of mise-en-scene that will feature in my music video is colour. After researching my audience and artist I have decided that a naturalistic colour palette will suit the music video the most. This will include whites and greys, with earth tones of brown and green in the setting of the music video. My actors clothing will also feature greys and blacks as well as some warmer tones of brown and green. I think that overall I want the colour scheming of my music video to be very tranquil and natural; this is important as my video is going to be narrative and the characters cannot look too extravagant for the story that is being told in the music video.

Filming Locations

For my music video, only 2 locations are required; these are a bedroom and a nature setting. I decided to head out and scout some possible locations that I could use for filming. When doing this I had to consider the availability of these locations, any permission required to film at these locations and the accessibility of them for myself and the actors. I also took into consideration the feedback from my teacher after pitching my plans to her and so have rethought the idea of using a beach as a setting. Below are details on each of the different locations that I looked into and my final decisions on my filming locations.

First location- Bedroom
This is a key part of the music video as it where many shots of the two actors together are going to be filmed. I wanted a room that would have good lighting with a light and simple colour palette that I could work with. I chose to use a bedroom in my own house as I would have easy access to it throughout the filming process; making it easier for re-takes and scheduling. The room has all white walls, with white bedding and a large window that allows lots of natural light to fill the room.

Second location- Nature setting

This setting was much harder to scout as the location needed to be quiet so that filming could happen uninterrupted. The location also needed to have good bright natural lighting as well as being able to look good in darker lighting. The local dog walking paths near my house have very picturesque surroundings with many of the trees featuring an array of autumnal tones. There is also this effect of the sun through the trees, as pictured in the first and second photos, that I would like to feature in my music video.  Overall I think that this location will suit the calm mood of my chosen song well due to its tranquil look and its ability to change for the narrative that I will be telling in my music video.

Storyboarding

For part of the planning for my music video I had to create a storyboard that would show the different shots that I had planned for my entire video. This storyboard shows the framing of each shot and even some of the camera movements with the arrows on the pictures.

By creating this storyboard I know that I will be able to better stick to the plan I have for the order of shots and refer back to it when filming to make sure that I am capturing the right kind of shots. However it is also important to use my natural creativity when filming and so not stick to the plan too closely that it restricts what I am able to create.

Recording of pitch and teacher feedback

After completing the research and planning sections of my coursework, my next task was to pitch my music video idea to my teacher and get feedback. We sat down and I began to explain how I came to my final idea for my music video; as I explained the process and my idea to my teacher, she asked me questions and gave feedback on my progress.

During the discussion of my music video idea my teacher asked me about what kind of research I had done on my audience and how this had helped me when planning what kind of video I wanted to make. She recommended that I should look at some more music videos by artists of the same genre as this can help me make sure that my video will fit into the genre and I will be sure to do this.

After talking about the research and planning I explained some of the further details of my video idea and my teacher gave me feedback saying that I didn't necessarily have to make the imagery in the video match the lyrics as this could turn out too cliché. She also gave me some advice on looking at the narrative structure throughout the video, my next step will be to create a storyboard for the video so that there is a clear plan for the order of the video.

We then discussed the star quality and brand of my artist in the video; how I will create an image for them through the use of costume, styling and props and how I should consider creating a reoccurring motif for my artist. I then discussed what kind of message I want to give to my audience through the video and how I wasn't sure how to end the video. My teacher then suggested that I do an audience survey/ focus group to get more opinions of what would be best suited to end the video- this response to be the driving factor in making my final decision for the ending of the video.

Another key element that we discussed was the difficulties that may arise and how I will overcome them. One of the biggest threats to continuity and shooting was the weather as it could change very suddenly making it it harder for us to continue with filming  and differences in lighting can affect the continuity of the entire video. Another problem could be the reliability of actor. For instance if they were unavailable or backed out last minute there would need to be re-casting and even re-shoots if any filming had already been done. To make sure that there are no problems with this I have cast reliable and close friends who are dedicated to helping me and have lots of free time to do filming. My next step is to create my shooting schedule as I can get a lot of filming done in half term and this can get me ahead in my work, I will also get some images of my locations to present in a post about Location.

My next step is to use the feedback I have gotten from my teacher and make some changes to my idea after getting some crucial feedback about certain ideas I had. One of the biggest changes that I will be making is the location of some of my shots. Originally one of the locations was going to be at a beach but after discussion and feedback from my teacher, I have decided that this choice can result in too many difficulties with scheduling and possible things that can go wrong. I will be making a post on 'Location scouting', that will show my research into different locations that are more accessible for filming.

I will also be sure to do all the extra bits of research and planning to make sure that I am completely ready to begin filming. I will also move on with my organisation of the final details of my shooting schedule, location scouting, props and equipment list.

Focus group and Target Audience profile

Focus Group

In continuation from my Audience Questionnaire and other audience research, I decided to do a focus group with members from my target audience. I asked them questions relating to the song that I have chosen and what they think should be in the music video for the song.

I got together a group of 4 members of my target audience and recorded them answering these questions. Below is a collection of videos of their answers that I uploaded onto YouTube and embedded onto my blog.






Target Audience Profile
After researching my target audience, I decided to create an audience profile to show some of the key information about my audience- their likes and dislikes, age range, music they listen to and other interests. I decided to create the profile in the form of a social media page as my target audience widely uses the internet to communicate and listen to and share music. Below is the profile of a member of my target audience.

Audience questionnaire and feedback

My Audience Questionnaire:
To gather information on my target audience, I created a survey using the software Survey Monkey. I made a questionnaire of 10 questions with a range of questions. I gathered information on who my target audience is, what kind of music they enjoy and how they listen to it. The next few questions are about their interest in music videos, so what they enjoy seeing in them. The final three questions are closely linked to my artist and chosen song. They allow me to gather closer information on my audience's opinions of the kind of video it should have and other artists they feel are similar.

My next step is to get in 25-30 responses so that I have targeted a wider part of my audience and to analyse the results I get and feedback the response into my planning and music video idea. Below is an embedded version of my questionnaire so you can see the specific questions that I asked my audience.

  Create your own user feedback survey 

Questionnaire feedback:
After getting responses from over 20 people from my target audience I began to analyse the results. By looking at the results I could determine who I would be marketing towards, helping me create a final product that would be successful in the music industry.

From my first question I found that the majority of my audience is aged 17-21, allowing me to better aim my product at people of this age by making sure that they can relate to the narrative of the video. The second question showed me that majority of my audience will be female, showing that it will be necessary to market my artist towards them; meaning lots of close ups on my artist throughout the video. In response to the question 'What 3 genres of music do you listen to the most?', my results showed a clear favour for the Indie, Pop, Rock and Alternative genres- meaning that it is important for me to included genre conventions and characteristics in my music video. Images of the tables presenting the results of the first three questions can be seen to the right.

For questions 4 and 5 I focused on the habits of the audience in relation to the consuming of music products. I found that the most popular way for listening to music was through the online streaming service Spotify, on the video sharing site YouTube and the radio. This means that when I create my website, I will need to take into consideration the popularity of these sites, so will include links to the Spotify and YouTube pages for my artist so that the audience will have direct access to their music. I also found that my target audience frequently go to live music performances and so it is important that there is an element of live music in both the music video (this will be in the shots of the artist playing guitar and mining the lyrics) and on the artist website (this will be in the form of a 'Live' section on the site that links to information on the artists performances and videos of them).

In the response to Question 6 I found that the majority of my target audience watch the music videos for songs that they enjoy, this will be important in the later stage of my construction when I need to make sure that my music video will draw in my target audience and be successful in the industry. For the proportion of my target audience that does not frequently watch music videos, I can use the website that I am going to create to make it more accessible to view the music videos by having clear links to the most recently released one on the homepage. For question 7, I focused more on the style of video that my audience prefers and found that narrative was the most popular.

For my last 3 questions I asked my target audience their preferences on the content of the music video for the song 'After Rain' after having them listen to the song. The focus group that I had also focused on this aspect of feedback and this information can be seen in the next post. From question 8 I found that my target audience after listening to the song felt that it would be most suited to a narrative video that tells a story, however I will be making the second most popular response, a combination video of narrative and performance, as this style of video most suits my genre.

For questions 9 and 10, I asked open questions that would give me the widest response from my target audience. The first question focused on the genre of the song and asked if the audience knew any other artists of the Indie-folk genre. This will be helpful in the creation of my digipak, website and music video as I can take inspiration from the products of the artists listed and use them to help my artist's products fit better into the genre. The most common responses to the question were the artists James Bay, Hozier, Ben Howard, Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers.
For question 10, I asked my audience if there was anything that should be included in the video; most responses asked about the idea of nature and shots of the guitar. All of the answers featured a note about the setting being in nature. I will be using all that I have learnt from the responses to my questionnaire in the planning and creation of my music video and the answers will also influence decisions I make in the construction of my digipak and artist website.

My music video idea

My music video if going to be for the song 'After rain' by Dermot Kennedy and it is going to be a mainly narrative video with shorter shots of performance throughout the video. My idea for the narrative is the story of a relationship between a boy and girl, their breakup and the effect of the break up on the boy.

At the beginning of the video I am going to open with some establishing shots of the two different locations I am going to use- a beach landscape and a teenagers bedroom. This will set the scene for the video and also help with setting the mood through the use of lighting, colour and props. I am going to begin the video with shots of a couple who are in love, I will show them interacting with each other and expressing their love for each other, as the song progresses I am going to include some shots of the couple loosing their spark and becoming more distant with each other. This will set the scene for the break up that will come around the half-way mark of the song. After including some shots of the couple fighting and the girl walking out I will include some shots of the boy pining over her. I am going to put emphasis on his loneliness- this illustrates the lyrics in the songs, "you won't go lonely", and the lead up to his downfall. The video will then follow his decision to return to the beach that holds to many happy memories of him and her and then show his toying with the idea of killing himself.

I think that my video will fit with other music videos of  the Indie genre and that it also presents conventions of the sub-genre, Indie-folk, that will target the right audience. In my research I found that many Indie music videos are of a narrative style and many songs in this genre tell stories of the artist and that videos that give the audience a narrative are very commonly used. They help the audience connect better with the song and better understand the artist. 

Representation

Intertextuality

Real Media Artefacts analysis- Artist Website

For my second ancillary text, I chose to create a website for my artist. I knew that I needed to look at some existing artist websites so that I could have a better idea of how websites are structured and what they include. By doing this analysis I could see the importance of interactivity for an audience and the importance of an overall house-style for the site that made it easily associable to the artist.

Music video theories

By researching these two music video theories I have been able to better understand the place of music videos within the industry and the importance of how an audience both receives and views a video. A key example of this is the role of women in music videos which I have further analysed within my presentation on Laura Mulvey's theory.

The influence of the research on these two theories can be seen throughout my planning as I had to consider the audience I was targeting when making creative decisions.

Conventions of music videos

During research of music videos it was very important to look at the conventions of music videos. After doing my AS coursework I knew that media products had their own conventions that made them successful products and so I knew that for music videos the inclusion or development of conventions was key. However, it was also important to look at the most common genre conventions as the use or challenge of these would allow for my own video to fit its genre and my chosen artist well.


Music video conventions - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires;

Music video categories

It was very important for me to research the different kinds of music videos before I made any creative decisions about the type of music video I would be producing. Earlier research into real media products showed the basic difference between videos but this further analysis informed me on the key aspects on narrative, performance, concept and combination videos.

Research into the music industry and Age Ratings

The Music Industry

In the digital age of the 21st Century, the importance of media has increased drastically. The use of social media, online streaming sites and new media technology has made the creating and sharing of music easier than ever.

The process of creating a music video usually begins with the brainstorming of ideas, with a focus on the track's genre and the artist's start image. Once an idea has been decided on it must be developed with storyboarding and trial footage. The next stage is location scouting and casting; this means that a  shooting schedule can be created and then followed in the filming stage of the process. The editing stage follows where the different shots and clips are ordered and altered to fit the idea and storyboard that had been created and is then ready for promotion and distribution.

The main purpose of music videos is the promotion of a song. A music video is a means of sharing a track with an artist's audience and a way for the label to expand their artist's audience and so increase revenue for that artist and the label. When the creation of music videos was first introduced into the industry, it was only for the lead singles on albums. Yet with the growing wealth of the industry and artists in it, it is now more likely that a music video will be made for 3 to 4 songs on an album. This is with the exception of artists like Beyonce who released her self-titled album in 2013, which featured 14 tracks with 14 accompanying videos.

Some of the most famous music directors, like David Fincher who has worked with artists like Rick Springfield, Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones and George Michael, have created some of the most successful music videos in the industry. These videos become successful due to their uniqueness, marketing and specific targeting of an audience; allowing them to blow up and become iconic. The average amount spent on music videos varies depending on the budget of the label or independent director; however Fincher spent over 5 million on the production of Madonna's 'Express Yourself', one of the largest budgets in the history of any music video ever.

With the existence of music videos, the development of television shows and channels dedicated to showcasing the videos for those songs in the charts has increased. However, this also ignited the increase in the free streaming of music videos on sites like YouTube, causing an increase in piracy and loss of profit for many artists. Besides the more negative aspects like piracy, new forms of sharing music and music videos have been immensely helpful in the distribution of new media products with many music videos getting hundreds of million views.

Age Ratings for music videos 

In early 2015, a scheme was introduced that called for online music videos to begin receiving age ratings before being posted on sites like YouTube. All videos made my UK artists signed to major labels will be classified before release by the British Board of Film Classification. The rating will be displayed beneath the video as a guideline for its viewers as a means of protecting children from unsuitable content.

The new government-backed scheme only applies to British acts signed to Sony, Universal or Warners and 20% of the initial videos submitted for classification were found to receive a 12, 15 or 18 age certificate. However, labels are not required to submit videos for classification that they feel will not attract a rating. This scheme bring music videos inline with those released on DVD or other physical media that are obliged to have age ratings due to the Video Recording Act of 2014.

Many child safety and protection organisations welcome the new scheme saying that it was "encouraging to see UK music labels and digital platforms stepping forward to help protect children from inappropriate online content".

For my own music video, I am going to include an age rating in the description of the video when I post it onto YouTube. This will make sure that my music video is viewed by the suitable audience. Below is an image from the description box of a music video on YouTube with an age rating:

Primary Target Audience Research

Target audience research is a huge part in the creation of any media product that is going to be released for purchase by consumers. It is important to know and understand your target audience, as well as your artist, so that your product will be successful in the industry.

My artist:
Dermot Kennedy is an Irish, singer-songwriter who is part of the Indie-folk genre. He first made waves in the music industry by uploading his original songs and covers onto YouTube, where he has over 4000 subscribers and one video of a cover of Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' with over 2 million views. He also supported Mick Flannery, an artist of the same genre, and gained many fans with appearances at performances. He has been likened to artists like Ben Howard and Hozier who place a great deal of their music in their own musical abilities with guitar and songwriting. 

Dermott Kennedy

My artists target audience:
Most of Dermot's fans are from Ireland, Dublin, with this being one of the few places he has played live. However he also has listeners in England, the United States, Portugal and Germany. As seen below in images of comment on his YouTube videos.

Many of Dermot Kennedy's fans are aged 15-28, with the exception of those who learnt of Dermot through Mick Flannery, whose own audience is aged more 25-35. With my research I have also found that his audience is fairly balanced with a slight leaning towards being more female dominated.

Mick Flannery

Due to the age of his audience, online streaming sites are popular, with his Spotify account being the cause of many discovering him as an artist with him having over 900,000 monthly listeners and over 13 million listens on his song 'After Rain'. The tickets for his shows are also very reasonably priced (at only £14), showing a consideration for the type of people who are buying tickets and their income. from the types of jobs that those at that age may have.


To further my target audience research, I will conduct a focus group of people aged 16-18 to find out more about my artist's audience, their music taste and opinion of music video and the industry. These can be seen on a later post on my blog. 

Real Media Artefact analysis- Music Videos

For the analysis of real media artefacts, I decided to analyse the music videos of artists whose digipaks I had already analysed. This meant that I can look at the link between each product and how each one connects with the target audience and the indie genre in different ways. Below are the presentations of each analysis of each video; I chose to use the software 'Prezi' as I could easily embed the music video and images from the video in my analysis. 




After analysis these real media products I learned of the importance of audience. For my own music video I will be sure that all of the conventions that I choose to include or challenge are going to help my product target my artist's audience and ensure its success in the industry.

Plumtree

Lucy,
There is lots of detail in this post - you now need to add how these areas relate to the videos you have analysed and how you need to consider these points in your own work.

Real Media Artefact analysis- Digipaks

For the analysis of real media artefacts from the Indie genre, I decided to choose 3 different artists so I could gain a greater understanding of the entire genre as well as the sub-genre of 'Indie-folk'. My first artist, Halsey, is considered to be a part of the Indie genre, yet is under the smaller and more niche section of 'Electro-Indie'. This means that her music is very different from my chosen artist, Dermot Kennedy, and so will be a good comparison to analyse. My 2nd artist is Troye Sivan
who is also in the Indie genre, my 3rd artist falls under the Indie-folk genre and so will be good as they are very similar to my chosen artist and will aid my decisions to create products that will fit the genre well.

By analysing these three real media products I have improved by understanding for the conventions in digipaks and what makes them successful. I have also realised the importance of aiming your products towards your target audience through the design of your products and so will keep this in mind throughout the planning and construction stages of my coursework. 

Plumtree

Lucy - useful to have looked at the prelim task as long as you remember to use what you have learnt from it in your full project.
You now need to publish your video analysis and how this has helped you with your own ideas.

Prelim Task and Evaluation

Our preliminary task was to recreate the first minute of an already existing music video. We chose the song Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus as the music video is set in a school and so would be easier for us to recreate during lesson time. The purpose of the task was to learn how to use the equipment we would be using in our main task and to have something to use as a comparison to our final music video to show how we have developed our skills since beginning the coursework. After completing our preliminary task we were asked to answer the following questions to evaluate what we have learnt from the task. Below is our finished preliminary task and the evaluation questions.





What is the importance of research and planning?

Throughout our main task you will always find yourself needing to look back at your original plans, they are your starting point and give you a sense of direction. It is at the research stage when you establish how many actors you will need, what locations you need to scout, what props you need to organize. The planning is where you storyboard and look at shots and angles; later you will be able to look at the story board to know where to position your actors, props and camera to get each shot perfectly mirroring the original. Planning is also important as you need to organize shooting schedules and check availability of locations.

What technologies did you use?

The camera that we uses was the Sony HDV 1080i and it allowed us to shoot our footage in HD. It was easy to use and we could review our footage very easily in the screen. There was a good zoom/reverse zoom feature that was useful when filming some shots in the video. It was also very easy to get the footage off the camera and onto our computer for editing. The editing software that we used was Final Cut Pro. It was easy to use, we could view our clips and choose which ones we wanted. I could clip shots and arrange them in order very easily. Adding visual effects and audio fade in/fade out was also very easy and overall our editing process did not take long.

What difficulties did you encounter?

One of the biggest difficulties that we encountered was that some of our shots were filmed in HD and some were not; we were never aware of when we were and weren’t filming in the same definition. This meant that our video lacked consistency and continuity. Another problem was that we struggled with was how to mount the camera onto the tripod securely, it wobbled and left shots looking unprofessional. We decided to film all shots free-hand, this unfortunately left some shots a bit shaky- especially in our panning shots of the band and we chose to re-shoot many of the scenes. Another difficulty that we had was in the editing process when I couldn’t import some of the footage and use the ‘log and capture’ section on Final Cut Pro. I manage to resolve the issue with a bit of trial-and-error and by playing around with the format settings and we were able to get all of our footage onto the computer.

How successful was your music video?

I think that our music video was fairly successful. We were able to shoot the first minute of Teenage Dirtbag almost perfectly mirroring the first minute of the original video. I think that we could have been more successful if we had done more planning for our shooting. We could have also created a more professional looking final product if we had done more tutorials in the equipment we were using and the editing software we used.

What have you learned?

I have learnt how important planning is before beginning a task. I now realize the importance of  time management and how useful a shooting schedule would be. Another important thing that I have learnt is that a lot of research into your target audience is necessary for you to be able to create a product that will be popular with your audience. When shooting our preliminary video I have learnt that it s necessary to use actors who are reliable and readily available for shooting and later re-shoots of scenes if needed. Going into my main task I now know the importance of research and planning and how I must always keep a focus on my target audience when making decisions regarding the outcome of my final product.

Copyright Permission Letter

Before beginning the research and planning section of our A2 coursework. I had to email the artist whose song I want to use for copyright permission. I had to be clear in my request that it was not going to be shown to a wider audience and that it was being used for educational purposes. I went onto the artists website and there was a direct email to the artist that I could use. Below is what I wrote in the email I sent to my chosen artist requesting permission:

Dear Dermot Kennedy,

I am an A-level student and I am writing to request your permission to use your song ‘After Rain’. 

With your permission, this task would be used in my current A-level Media Studies project, which involves creating a music video to one of our favourite popular music tracks, as well as producing an album and a magazine advert for the artist.

If I were to receive your permission, this track would only be used in an educational context and be viewed by my media class, my teacher and the OCR exam board moderator. It would not be released to a large audience for consumption. 

You as the artist would of course be fully recognised throughout pre-production and the final video itself. A copyright notice with wording supplied by you can be included in the records of the project. If this is required, please send full details.

I look forward to hearing from you, 

Regards

Lucy De Cort

Edgbarrow School 



Progress Report