Evaluation Question 1- DRAFT

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
MUSIC VIDEO:
Foals My Number music video was our biggest inspiration for the style of our
music video. To begin with, the location in their music video features a stage in a
club environment with an open space full of teenagers and young adults (target
audience) dancing to their music. This influenced our choice of location (Stay
Free Musics Black Studio Room) as we wanted a stage with all of the equipment
a band would use like guitars, drums, speakers, music boards etc. This was
similar to the set of My Number and even included a space for people to party
in. However, we decided not to have an audience as we were filming the band
rehearsing for a performance instead of them performing to an audience. This
why we didnt have shots of the audience in our video. Foals music video also
inspired the style of our music video. We chose to base our video on performance
which features shots of the location (stage space), long shots, close ups, mid
shots, two shots, over the shoulder shots, panning, crane shots and shots using a
dolly. The main shots of the band together (long shots) were inspired by this
video, but the rest of the shots were inspired by a different video. I took
inspiration from Catfish and the Bottlemens music video for Twice as their
video is filmed with a hand held camera. The shots weave in and out of the
rehearsing band and cover every part of the space. This inspired our shots
around the drummer (Louis) and guitarist (Connor) as they perform the
guitar/drum instrumental and captured every moment and looked relaxed
instead of the fixed camera. This was effective when the video was edited
together as we had a mixture of snappy shots and longer shots by the hand held
camera which appeared smoother; giving the video more dynamics and diversity.
Catfishs Twice also influenced the way the camera panned around our lead
vocalist (Hannah) as a similar shot appears in their video. The camera partially
pans around their lead vocalist (Vann McCann) which looked really effective as it
was slower than the rest of the video which had the same effect in our video as,
again, it created contrast between all the fast cut shots. We wanted our band to
act a certain way whilst they performed in our music video (particularly our lead
vocalist Hannah) by making eye contact with the camera/audience while showing
they were having fun. For this, I was influenced by The Hoosiers music video for
Worried About Ray as the band make eye contact throughout the video and it
helps to create a connection between the audience and the band which is
something I wanted to come across with our video. I also drew inspiration from
this video at (0:48-0:49) as they use the Ken Burns effect on a static shot. This
influenced us to add the Ken Burns effect throughout our video as shots of the
band and close ups of the artist seemed too static to begin with, however after
adding this effect to our video we were able to notice the difference between our
static video and our video which flowed and transitioned cleaner. This made our
video look more professional and neater as it was more pleasing to eye and
didnt make the video boring which could have happened had we not added the
effect. The bands style/costume choice was inspired by the original artist of our
music video song Echosmith as they have a trendy, unique style which mainly
consists of monochrome colours. Our lead vocalist (Hannah) wore a black swing

dress, black tights, white converse and her makeup was minimalistic and was
topped with a light pink lipstick to make her lips stand out when lip syncing the
lyrics. Our drummer (Louis) wore a navy shirt with black jeans and black suede
shoes. Our guitarist (Connor) wore a grey t-shirt, black leather jacket, black jeans
and white vans. We thought this would add contrast between the outfit choices
and the lighting used in our video as the clothing was monochrome but our
lighting was a mixture of colours. The lighting for our piece was also inspired by
Foals My Number and Catfish and the Bottlemens Kathleen as they used
bright colours like red, and blue which made their videos look more interesting.
We used similar lighting colours to the ones they used, however we used more
colours like green, yellow and pink which was picked up really well on camera
and they gave the video more of a vibrant feel. We also took inspiration from the
mirrored effect in My Number which we tried to incorporate into our piece.
There was direct correlation between our song, lighting and editing as everything
was bold, fast, energetic and different. This is where we began to apply Andrew
Goodwins 7 key areas to our video as some of the lyrics are were illustrated in
the video. An example of this is at 0:33-0:35 where Hannah looks across at
Connor during the lyrics youve got green eyes. This is the first time Hannah
acknowledges Connor in the video and shows she is referring to his green eyes
which is further portrayed by the shot type as the camera is shooting over
Connors shoulder. Another example is from 2:12-2:15 where Hannah struts
across the stage from the left to join Connor on the right. She does this on the
lyrics lets run not walk which is clearly illustrated by her moving from one side
to another. This not only matched the lyrics, but it also changed the video up by
placing the band in a different position so it wasnt so static in the same
formation. It looked like a natural performance as no artist stands completely still
as they perform which made both the band and the video look professional.
Another theory of Goodwins we used was the use of amplification. This is a link
between the audio and visuals within a music video which is something we used
in our own. Whenever there were significant beats in the song or a change in the
rhythm, we cut the shots. This was to make sure our editing was spot on and
matched well with the song; making it overall aesthetically pleasing to watch as
it wasnt messy. Examples of this are at 0:02, 0:12, 1:53 and 2:00 (these are just
a random selection of shots from the music video).

DIGIPAK:
The simplistic and dull coloured style of my digipak is a feature that I was
inspired by from existing bands album covers (The Kooks- Inside In The Inside
Out, Arctic Monkeys- Favourite Worst Nightmare, Kings of Leon- Only By The
Night) all of which feature very little text apart from the name of the artist and
the album name with images. I was heavily influenced by the album Low Life by
New Order as a variation of the album cover featured 4 images of the band on
the cover. Similarly, Kings of Leons Only By the Night is set in quarters which
inspired me to do the same with my digipak as audience feedback from Kings of
Leons album said it worked well. I used close ups of each member of the band
for my cover. A problem I faced was our band was a trio so I didnt have another
image to place in the final box, however I decided to fill this space with the artist
name and self-titled album name. I used a font which looked quite quirky but it
worked well with the digipak as it wasnt too quirky that it looked out of place. I
also used the same font for the back of my digipak for the title to link the two
together. I close a smaller bolder font for the track list which I was influenced by
Nick Caves Push The Sky Away and I liked the way his text was the centre of
the back cover. My colour scheme was a mixture of grey and purple tones. I
chose these as they are colours which are common within the genre and I was
inspired by the front cover of an edition of Complex Magazine which featured the
grey/purple colours. I also included a barcode, terms and conditions, catalogue
number, album/artist name and the record labels logos. These are all common
features found on almost all existing media products like albums which is needed
for legal reasons. I had an image of the band placed inside the cover to give the
audience an image of the band actually stood together as they are separated on
the cover, but after reflecting on it, I dont think it works well as it doesnt match
the colour effects on the other images and looks odd against the background. I
designed the CD to be plain with no text as I wanted it to follow the minimalistic

scheme like the rest of my digipak. I used a similar shade to the rest of my
colours used so if the CD was laying around, the owner of the album would easily
be able to identify which album it is from and can return it to the case.

MAGAZINE ADVERT:
The styling for my magazine advert was influenced by adverts produced for various
music artists (Arctic Monkeys- AM, Kings of Leon- Only By The Night) as I liked the
way they linked directly to their digipak. I was inspired to use the same images from
my digipak cover on my advert from the advert for Kings of Leons Only By The
Night advert as they also used the same images. I did this to link both my advert
and digipak together so viewers would be able to remember it more if they saw it in
a magazine and then later in a store. I have placed the title and artist name at the
top of the page as that would be one of the first things the reader would see as it is
the largest item on the page; making it stand out so, again, the reader can
remember it more. This is a common feature used on magazine adverts as it is easy
for the reader to identify the artist. My decision for this was influenced by the advert
for Arctic Monkeys AM advert and Bombay Bicycle Clubs advert for I had the blues
but I shook them loose. I have used key information on the advert: artist/album
name, date of release (on a Friday to show my knowledge of the music industry and
how Friday is the adopted release day for albums), released singles it includes and
the record label so I kept my advert simple like my digipak. This was inspired, again,
by Arctic Monkeys AM advert as they had very little text on the page, but the text
used was important and was all the information the reader would need. Audience
feedback I received on this was positive and they liked that all the text was to the
point and it was easy to read. I also added the logo of the bands record company to
the top left of my page for legal reasons and I was inspired to do this by adverts such
as The Killers Day & Age advert and, once again, Arctic Monkeys AM advert.
However, I didnt place the logo at the bottom of the page like they do. The logo for

my bands record label (Sony) was red which added a nice pop of colour to my advert
and contrasted against the grey/purple background.

Both my digipak and magazine advert use the traditional conventions of my chosen
genre (indie rock/pop) and the products itself with their simple approach. I have used
multiple artists to influence my works which I know appeals to my target audience.