Evaluation

As part of my of my coursework I chose to produce a promotional video and for e-media I chose to create a Twitter account and a blog.

The audio that me and the group chose to create the music video to was diegetic sound , it was James Arthur's 'Recovery' song, We chose this particular song because we felt that we could create an effective narrative music video due to the lyrics we also believed we could create awareness around the issues of depression and bullying, a prevalent problem in relation to the demographic of teenagers.

We used a variety of locations both interior and exterior to shoot the footage, these included the main character's home, the school atrium and entrance, the school diner as well as the path which leads to the school entrance to create an effective video that includes a sense of verisimilitude. As well as using a variety of locations we used a small selection of visual effects, however as a group we decided not to use too many so as not to take some of the realism away.

To film the footage we used an SLR camera and a tri-pod to ensure the footage was to a professional standard.  For the characters we used casual clothing as this gave a sense of an average person would potentially appeal to a wider audience. In addition we used a n iPhone 5s as a prop to show the messages the character received, pen and notebook and table and chairs for one particular scene where the character (Charlotte) was being bullied. The use of the right props/costume was essential in creating the representation of the characters within the video.

The lighting used at the start of the video was high-key, whereas towards the middle we chose to use low-key lighting as we wanted to portray the change in mood. To achieve this effect we used a grey filter over the footage. We used many types of camera angles such as: point of view shots when the main character was writing and when she received a message from the other character ,the bully . We also used close ups and extreme close ups when we needed to show detail for example when the main character was holding pills in her hand and also at the beginning and end when the character is seen laying on the floor with pills in her hand. Furthermore we included reaction shots which were very effective as they showed the emotions of the characters which was significant for the type of mood we wanted to create in the music video. 

 We used written codes such as the white text on the footage at the beginning and end of the music video. The text we put on was 'Recovery' and 'By Tyler Cole'. This was edited at both ends to emphasise the narrative structure of the music video.

In addition to the promotional video I worked with e-media to create a Twitter page and a blog. The Twitter page includes photographs of the artist . As per the theorist Richard Dyer mentioned how close ups of the star are crucial as they help promote their music and develop further star status. Twitter also includes updates of when the new song 'Recovery' is released and dates of upcoming tours. This provides the audience with a chance of interactivity and it gives them the ability to know the artist more as they can 'Like' the artists posts and comment. The Twitter page includes a link to the blog and the blog has a Twitter link so audiences can easily access the different sites. For the Twitter profile I have used the same colour scheme as the colours used on the blog. This provides synergy and an overall brand experience of the artist, essential in helping them as a commodity.This was done to create synergy and to emphasis this a little more I used the same images on both the Twitter account and the blog.

Whilst doing this coursework I was able to establish some strengths and some weaknesses. My strengths being that I was able to work well in a team and could confidently use the camera as a result.  In addition to this I was able to film many shots to a good standard. The areas I needed to improve on whilst filming was being able to zoom in/out of the shot at the right speed. For the editing process i was able to make some suggestions and had many ideas to input for the post-production process of the video. 

When carrying out pre-production work I found it hard to find some of the research that was required for example 'How do bands promote their band/artist . For most of my research I found it difficult to locate the right information that was needed. However the strengths of the pre-production work was that I was able to relate my research effectively to the work I was doing.

If i were to design my own print newsletter I would ensure the product used similar fonts, layouts, tone of voice and colours to the promo and e-media accounts. This will create synergy and a sense of brand between the three products. The print work would have a question and answer section with my artist so the audience can relate to them.
The newsletter would be handed out after concerts for bands of a similar genre and therefore have four dates and special offers to win tickets to gigs. There would be all social media addresses added so the audience can enjoy backstage information on the band by going to these links. 

In the post-production process I found it easy to suggest ideas to the group about material to select,however at the beginning I did struggle with trying to import the soundtrack into the Final Cut Pro software. This would be an area i would like to improve on for next time. The final outcome of our video was good in my opinion because we got to film everything and edit everything that we needed. The quality of the our music video was engaging . The audio could be heard clearly and was in time with the imagery.  As a group we achieved what we intended to which was to create a promotional video with a narrative structure.

How existing record companies promote acts

Location Rec.

How do successful music bands/artists create recognizable brands

Codes and conventions of different print formats and how they appeal to the 'Youth based audience'.

There are many different formats of print media and these include: Newspapers, Newsletters, magazines, banners, billboards, books, brochures and flyers.

In this post I will be explaining the codes and conventions of Newspapers, magazines and newsletters.

Newspapers:

Newspapers are one of the most popular form of print media. They are can be at home, or are available at newsstands. They are the most inexpensive way to reach out to a  huge mass of people quickly. Various  types of newspapers cater to different audiences. For example broadsheets are targeted to the upper class people , whereas tabloids appeal more to the working class/ lower class people, stereotypically. A newspaper is divided into various sections  containing current events, sports, food, entertainment, fashion, finances, politics, advertisements, informative articles, and so on.

The codes and conventions of tabloid newspapers are the masthead being right at the top of the page. Below the masthead there is the website for the newspaper as well as the date. The other thing that appears below the masthead is the price of the newspaper and as this one is a tabloid newspaper the price of it is low. The reason for this is because tabloid papers are aimed towards the lower class and working class people with lower incomes.

Tabloid newspapers usually have large text for the title and little writing for the audience to read. There also more photographs on a tabloid as the audience it is aimed at would be more encouraged to read this type of newspaper.

The paper also has famous well known celebrity faces on it. The reason being is so that the newspaper  appeals to the target audience. 

As there are images on the newspaper the 'Youth based audience' are more likely to pick the newspaper up and read it whereas if it did not have this feature they are less likely to do so.

Another typical convention of newpapers is that the stories are often exaggerated for dramatic effect in order to get people to buy it. The lower class and working class people are likely going to need more encouragement in buying a newspaper and this is part of that.

Newspapers usually have the authors name, the by-line above the story just like the example shown above.

This type of newspaper would appeal to the 'Youth based audience' as it has connotations such as : images of famous people , especially 'Justin Beiber' as his fans are typically known to be young teenagers. It may also appeal to this type of audience because the stories are exaggerated, so are more interesting to read. The amount of text on the paper is fairly small so it means that teens would find  it more appealing to read . The low price of the newspaper is probably one main reason why it would appeal to the 'Youth based audience'.  The 'Youth based audience' are likely to have low income jobs as they may have just started employment so this price is likely to attract them more. The use of multiple colours instead of the newspaper being black and white automatically makes the newspaper eye-catching to the 'Youth based audience'.

Newsletters:

A newsletter often covers one main topic. Sometimes, people have to subscribe for the newsletters, they are most of the time free of charge. Newsletters are generally used as information sources for communities, and groups that have an interest about the same topic, or event. They are also used for promotional purpose, political campaigns, or for causes. Newsletters are  used in many schools as a communication tool for parents, which give them information about what is new in the school. Many companies make use of newsletters as a marketing strategy to provide all the information to their customers and employees.

The codes and conventions of a typical newsletter include: The title which is usually just 'Newsletter'. They also usually have the date the letter was printed below the title. The title of a 'newsletter' is often the largest text on a newsletter and itself is not very large either.

Newsletters usually have more than one topic discussed as they are designed to inform the audience of events or 'news'. Other conventions include 'key dates' and multiple pages , however this depends on how much information needs to be given to the audience.

Photographs are not always put on 'newsletters' if they are they are kept minimal because the main purpose of 'newsletters' is to 'inform' and not to 'entertain' the audience.

This particular newsletter may appeal o the 'youth based audience' because it is colourful and has minimal writing.


Magazines:

Magazines provide detailed articles on various topics, like food, fashion, sports, finance and lifestyle. Magazines are published weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. Many magazines are sold all over the world.

Codes and conventions of a Pop magazine include bright colours, a central foreground image of either a band or artist. 

The other convention of pop magazines is that they usually have one main image , the central image as the main focus of the magazine. They have subheadings around the central foreground image. All most all or most of the subheadings are the same colour and sometimes font as the main title or masthead. This creates a distinctive theme for the magazine.

Magazines usually have an 'Issue number' below the title. Another convention of magazines is a barcode usually a the bottom corner of the page or at the top. Sometimes the price is located next to the barcode. 

This magazine would appeal to the 'youth based audience' because it is simple and vibrant. The distinctive theme also makes it eye-catching. The main reasons why the 'youth' would buy this particular magazine is because the artist Katy Perry is on the magazine.e cover. SS
She is well known by the majority of 'youth'. She is probably a person that is looked up to because of her success. On the magazine it is written 'Harry's six pack' with an image of him on it. This would perhaps be eye-catching to many of the female audience as they may admire his for having a 'six pack'. So they may also want to buy the magazine. 

Production Schedule

Production Schedule

Project title: Recovery by James Arthur promotional video.

Week 1- Monday                  

Location:  Charlottes house,  A bedroom

                                                         

Time:     1:30PM  

                       

Scenes:           Shot 1: Charlotte laying on bed with pills in her hands.
                       Shot 2: Point of view, camera pointing towards ceiling.
                        

Equipment needed:  Camera, Tri-pod


Tuesday:

Location: Chiltern Hills Academy


Time: 11:20 AM-12:20 AM

Scene:  Shot 3: Charlotte standing in front of lockers , POV shot.
             Shot 4: Low-angle of three bullies walking towards lockers.
             Shot 5: High angle shot of Charlotte being pushed into lockers.

Wednesday :

Location: Chiltern Hills Academy, by the locker in atrium

Time: 10:00AM-11:00AM

Scene:  Shot 6: Charlotte ducks under bullies arms, Long shot.
             Shot 7: Low-angle shot of Charlotte running towards exit,Transition into next shot.


Friday:

Location:  Chartridge lane.

Time: 11:20-12:20

Scene:      Shot 8: Charlotte walking home, receives text from 'Unknown' number, Point of view shot.

               
Monday : 

Location:  Charlotte's house

Time:      14:00-15:00

Scene:       Shot 9: Mid-shot of a family argument downstairs.
                  Shot 10:  Charlotte slams the kitchen door. Long shot.
                   Shot 11: Charlotte runs down the stairs.  Long shot.


Tuesday: 

Location:  Chiltern Hills Academy, Chartridge Lane.

Time: 3:20-4:20

Scene:        Shot 12: Point-of-view shot of Charlotte sitting at a table writing.
                   Shot 13: Medium-shot of Bullies looking and pointing at Charlotte disgustedly.
                 

Wednesday: 

Location : Charlottes house, Chartridge Lane,

Time: 3:20-4:20

Scene:        Shot 14: Charlotte looks into bathroom mirror with sadness.
               

Friday: 

Location: Chiltern Hills Academy

Time: 11:20- 1:20

Scene:       Shot 15: Charlotte banging on wall manically.
                 Shot 16: Establishing shot of School building (Exterior). (Camera moves gradually moves to a low-angle.)

                Shot 17:  Fade from black to white.

Statement of intentions

I have chosen the brief 3 which is to create a music promotional video. I chose this brief because all of the people in my group though it was the most appropriate for us all to follow. Me and my group felt that because we chose this particular brief we would be able to follow it more accurately than the other two briefs. As well as this we felt that all of the people in the group were more familiar with music videos than narrative film (brief two)  or a product that promotes an current affairs issue (Brief 1)  For our music promotional video I believe that James Arthur would be a ideal artist to pick a song to create the video to as everyone in the group was familiar with him and his songs.  To research for the main task (the promotional video) the group will use YouTube to view and listen to the song we will be making the video to which is 'Recovery'. We will also use YouTube to look at existing music videos and to analyse them. We will look at Pop songs on YouTube as the song 'Recovery' is a pop song so therefore we will need to look for the codes and conventions of a Pop music video.

Our group intends to create the main product starting from January of 2017. We will create it using a professional SLR camera. Once we have all the required footage we will then start to edit the footage on a Apple Mac computer using final cut pro. This is to ensure that our product receives both good editing and a professional finish. We will make sure our video is successful by adding the main convention to it which is the sound and in this case it will be the song 'Recovery'.

Each and every group member will create a script and a storyboard in order to direct us through our production. We will then decide on which script and storyboard we will go along with, This will be an important part of the planning process as it will allow us to decide on what camera angles and movement we should use. It will also show us as a guide to the duration of each and every shot within the video.

In addition to this everyone in the group will be conducting their individual research. This is so that we have as much research as possible. As part of our research we will:

* Research existing record companies and how the promote their acts.

* Research the roles and responsibilities of the marketing department in record companies.

* Research the 'Youth based audience' and how record labels are effective in reaching them.

* Research existing bands and how they create 'Recognizable brands'.

* Research how artists/bands promote their albums and tours.

* Find existing promotional videos on YouTube, exploring codes and conventions of these and what makes them successful.

* Research different print formats. Finding examples to include in our research. We will annotate them and keep in mind the codes and conventions and the aspects which make them successful. When doing this we will think about the 'Youth based market' and what would appeal to them.

* Create a statement of intentions based on the research we carried out.

For the pre-production we will:

* Create a detailed band/artist profile, using original images.

* Create a detailed storyboard for all moving images.

* Create a mock-up of a newsletter/fanzine , making sure it is annotated.

* Write up scripts/ song lyrics

* Create a production schedule , so that our production is as organized as possible.

* Create a location shoot planning sheet so that we know where we should film the music video.