Question 1 by Emily Patrick https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product? en-us 2017-01-06 09:05:44 UTC 2023-01-30 14:43:36 UTC hello@padlet.com emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145640886 For our media product we were tasked to create a music video for an unsigned song of our choice. We had to identify the genre of the video and investigate what other videos of the same and/or similar genres used within their videos. By doing this we could assess what was a necessity within our video so that it would synergise with the music. As well as this we also had to assess music advertisement for the same genres, and advertise our artist and music video. It was important that our advertisement also synergised with our video as well as matching its appearance with the genre of our song.  ]]> 2017-01-06 09:07:01 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145640886 emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145640909 A music promo is made up of three elements. A music video, a digipak and an advert, usually in the form of a tour dates poster. Each element has its own specific purpose: 


]]> 2017-01-06 09:07:18 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145640909 emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145640930
  • Music video = the purpose of the music video is to give a visual representation of the song. The visuals either amplify themes in the lyrics, illustration which follows the lyrics exactly, or disjuncture which do not relate to the lyrics of the song at all. As well this is may also apply a narrative throughout it, be pure performance of the band or apply a mixture of both. Another purpose for music videos is that it enables the audience to watch the band perform a song without having to pay large amounts of money to see the band play live and it is more personal. 
  • Digipak = the purpose of the digipak is to follow the genres and conventions of the artist's music whilst still presenting the artist's image in packaging. The digipak is the product that the audience can buy which contains a CD containing the artist's songs. The digipak often resembles specific themes in which the artist wants to present through the songs and so when the artist releases several albums over time, the digipak changes in appearance each time. It is another way to promote and have the artist recognised as well as being another artistic outlet for the artists themselves. 
  • Advert = can come in many forms, but one example is a tour date poster. The poster will feature the artist as the main and biggest image within it. The artist will take up most of the composition because they are the product that the advert is promoting. Secondly, the artist's name or stage name will be the second biggest object on the poster as it will be the second item on the audience's line of sight. The purpose of putting the name there is so that the face can be associated with a face and vice versa. Thirdly, the details as to tour dates, websites, social media etc... Will be featured at the bottom as this will be the last item people look at. The advert primarily needs to draw people into it and grab their attention so that they'll search for the information once they're interested. That is why the composition and appearance is so important.



    • ]]>     2017-01-06 09:07:37 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145640930     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145640985 2017-01-06 09:08:25 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145640985 [I will place images here of the different shots mentioned to give evidence for the statements mentioned] emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641040 Our video took inspiration from Natalie Lungley's own music video for Secrets. Her video is very performance heavy and relies on the scenery around her to create hints and symbolism towards the lyrics and the underlying storyline throughout them. We felt that this was effective, as our initial idea contained a storyline featuring a male actor but it didn't work well in the first draft so we decided take it out and give more preference to symbolism like Natalie has done in her video. We made sure to make a balance between performance and symbolic shots because we still wanted to acknowledge our audience's feedback from our vox pops: performance heavy videos can become boring after a while. By using symbolism, we also felt that it would make our video more enjoyable as it is open to interpretations for people to try and piece together what they think the narrative is. 

    Typical camera shots used within Natalie's video are midshots and close ups of her performing the song from multiple angles. However her performance shots were long and she only used one location, so we kept that in mind during our filming so that we could use the same camera shots but in multiple locations so that it was more exciting.  We also invented our own camera shots, such as our 360 degree shot and long shots, so that it added more variety and made it more interesting and eliminated repetitiveness. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:09:20 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641040     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641070 Both videos shape meanings of love and secrecy through visual representation. The lyrics promote the theme of love and secrecy themselves, but in Natalie's video she also gives a visual representation. She uses shots of thorns, which we can link to our use of the rose, which can represent a danger from them being together. There are also shots of different greek status which give meanings of exoticness and can link to such deities as Aphrodite, Eros and Cupid who can be associated with love. There are also numerous shots of nature, which could represent the place in which the secrets are kept because it is their secret meeting place. We also used this imagery within our piece, but we also made the addition of the train tracks. We felt danger also created meanings of danger, because a lot of people will go to train tracks to end their life. But we also chose a significant shot of the railway's buffer stop because they're put into place on a railway to stop the train if it does not stop soon enough. We felt that this could link to the idea of the relationship coming to an abrupt and violent stop. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:09:38 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641070     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641169 She also uses clips that start out defocused then come into focus or vice versa. We liked this effect, as we felt it added a softness and anticipation to the video, whilst also giving it a home video style effect. We established our own defocused effects through two ways, firstly we did it through the camera by adjusting the focus and slowly turning it so that it focused on the subject. Secondly we did it in post-production using a plugin called Defocus and edited the keyframes so that it would be defocused at the beginning and fade into focus slowly, much like that of the camera's behaviour.


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:10:42 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641169     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641193 We took advantage of our Mise-en-Scene to represent her. We represented her mostly through our location choices, making references to the location featured in her video. But we also took influence from her costume when we made the decision as to how our actor's costume should be. We tried to represent her in a similar style to her original video. We wanted to emphasise the glamour of her image and try and develop a melancholic feeling to our video which is what sets apart Natalie from other artists.


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:10:55 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641193     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641392 Another conventions that we followed was the use of close ups. We used a lot of close ups on our singer and on objects within the garden to draw attention to specific aspects. They aided us to further present emotions by highlighting objects that could spark certain meanings. For example, the statues being related to gods of love and roses being a symbol of love. We also did close ups of our singer to furthermore emphasise emotions. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:12:56 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641392     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641438 A video that also heavily influenced us during the making of our music promo was Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey. It featured Lana performing her song in a beautiful garden location and it contained narrative elements amongst it as well. It tells the story of two lovers who commit suicide when their relationship comes to an end. Lana uses a lot of imagery of the cross and Christianity within this video, creating connotations of heaven and sacrifice. There has been colour grading applied to the footage as well, with numerous overlays placed above the video so that it looks like a vintage home video which makes it look like a budget video, but it adds to the down to earth and old fashioned American sweetheart image that Lana Del Rey possesses. We took a lot of inspiration from this video, as evident: 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:13:13 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641438     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641470 We had our actor perform the song in the gardens of Grimsthorpe castle. The time of the year was perfect because most of the plants were still in bloom, but there was also some decaying plants around the area. So we wanted to incorporate both healthy and dying plants to show the development of the relationship's downfall. But our choice of location was mainly down to the similar plants and structures that were featured within Lana's video, with the addition of some different structures that we felt were very similar to the structures in Lana's video. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:13:26 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641470     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641490 Another way it was similar was the costume of our performer. Both of them wear white clothing which give connotations of innocence and purity. We also used similar clothing on our actor, with the addition of flowers to amplify the previously stated connotations and to also exaggerate femininity and nature. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:13:37 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641490     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641525 We also used colour grading in our video. Ours is very minimal because we wanted it to still have a modern look to it, but our colour grading does also use purple and red tones like Lana Del Rey has used in her video. We also developed upon the already existing conventions so that they would suit the specific themes portrayed in our song.


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:13:53 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641525     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641557 Overall we have followed conventions typical of the trip-hop genre through the means previously stated. This was of dire importance to our project as it was important to synergise our visuals with the emotions and imagery portrayed through the music’s vocals and the feel of the song. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:14:05 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641557     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641607 When we created our digipak we drew influence and developed conventions from Lana Del Rey's Born to Die ancillary. The most influential piece being the CD. We really liked the way in which the CD was done here, so we took inspiration from it and did a similar design, but chose to do rose petals instead of roses on the CD. It still created the same effect, but also gives a nod to a game that women would play in which they would pull of petals and say 'he loves me' and 'he loves me not' each time they pulled off a petal. Therefore it added to the theme of love that our song represents. We also made our singer center of the front face of the digipak, choosing a photo that we felt made her look most glamorous because trip-hop singers are very expressive and through expression of their emotions in song, then can create quite an enigma of power. Lana also has put the lyrics of each of her song within her digipak on the inside of her ancillary. But because we only had one song and had no need for a track list, we just placed the lyrics on the back and added information about the singer to our digipak. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:14:19 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145641607     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145642073 We think that Barthes' theory can be applied to our video.  Barthes inferred that narrative uses five different codes within it. Action, enigma, symbolic, semic, and cultural codes. We felt that the codes could apply to our video: 


    • Action: a device which sparks a resolution to come out from the action - our actor visiting different locations as being places for her to hide her secrets
    • Enigma: teases the audience by delaying the ending and prompts the audience to work out the puzzles - the imagery of the rose to resemble the relationship and as it decays, it represents the downfall of the relationship that the singer is singing about. 
    • Symbolic: connotations - the various statues and objects featured in the video connote themes of love through associations (e.g: statues and greek gods of love)
    • Semic: denotations - our actor  is by herself the whole video, further adding to the idea that the love is secret because we do not show any other actor
    • Cultural: a recognisable device which the audience can link to being part of a culture - the themes and emotions that is promoted through our song, which is love and heartbreak. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:17:18 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145642073     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145642103 Our digipak draws a lot of attention to our singer. The only other imagery that we use is the rose and petals, but the singer is featured more. Trip-hop music is very expressive and is a emotional outlet for singers, meaning it can be quite personal to the individual. So we felt that it was important that our singer be represented the most on the digipak as it is all about them and their emotions, they're the most important factor of the whole product. 

    We also used roses and rose petals throughout our digipak, with the backgrounds of it being either in the woods or wooden planks. We felt that whilst this gave connotations of love, it also represented nature and a sense of daintiness. Nature can be linked to purity and innocence, something that is too beautiful to be destroyed. We liked the connotations that this brought, because it represented our singer as being down to earth and one with nature whilst also further adding hints to the narrative featured in the lyrics and making her appear even more powerful.


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:17:32 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145642103     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145642165 The font that we used on our text is quite stylised. The font we used for the title is different to that which we used for the song title and the rest of the information that we placed on our digipak. We did this to set apart the title from the information. It also drew the eye to the name of the artist too, which is important because it is usually the first thing that people search for when looking for an album. The font featured looks similar to that of 1920s American stylised font, which gives the whole album a vintage feeling and adds to the melancholic theme that is carried through the music. Then we added the album title and information in another font, which looks more like stylised handwriting. We liked the look of this text because it was somewhat similar to that of love letters that would be written in the eras similar to that of Pride and Prejudice. So we felt it helped present connotations of love and secrecy even more. We also made the font black and red so that it would tie in with the black and white, red isolation effect that we had placed upon the images. It aided the synergy between them and made everything fit together better.


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:17:58 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145642165     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145642283 Our digipak design is very typical, the artist is featured on the outer cover. This is because the purpose of the outer cover is to attract attention and interest the audience into viewing the contents of the product. As well as this, the outer visuals can also contribute to a person's decision, as if the outer cover is aesthetically pleasing enough then it may direct people to buy it just for its artwork. But if the viewer can be drawn in initially by the outer covers then they're more likely to look at the inner contents. Therefore we made sure that we placed all photos of the artist on the front covers of our album and featured information about her so that people can learn about her and learn her appearance so that she can be recognised again in the future.  The content of our digipak is also typical. We placed the CD in the center of the digipak because typically that is where most digipaks place them and we also felt that it was the safest area for it to be placed to ensure a reduction in the risk of damage when it is distributed. We then added any further details on the inside because, like a poster, this will be the last thing people would look add. We added in the lyrics to the song on the inside of the digipak because they're an important factor to the story of our song. By adding the lyrics of our song to the inside of our digipak, it enables the audience to dig into them and analyse them alongside the video to piece together the story of our song. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:18:39 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145642283     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643112 On our music advert, the main image featured is our artist because she is essentially the product that our media product is trying to sell. Therefore when we presented her we wanted it to link in with the themes of the song, whilst suiting the style of the genre. The pose was inspired by the Pretty Little Liars promotional posters and well suited to the idea of secrets that both the lyrics and our video portrays. We also added in roses and rose petals, to tie in with our music video and the connotations of love and decay. The red can also be interpreted as being a representation of passion, or perhaps blood to link into how one can cut themselves on a rose thorn, much like how love can cut into and hurt someone emotionally. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:25:22 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643112     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643142 When we picked our font we wanted it to look quite elegant, to look somewhat like 18th century calligraphy. It reminded us of old fashioned love letters like someone would expect from Pride and Prejudice. Such letters were considered quite personal and hidden from other member of the household. Therefore the text would add even more to the theme of love and the exchange of secrecy. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:25:40 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643142     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643172 Our layout is very typical of poster conventions, with the eye of line being drawn to the artist initially, then their name, then the details of the product. This way it draws in the attention of the viewer, enables them to become interested in the product and search for details of it, then allows them to record the necessary data for them to locate and buy into it. 

    We decided to use black and white in the majority of our poster because we felt that it would fit best to the emotions that are portrayed throughout our song. But we isolated the red colours to link to the rose featured throughout our video. The black and white colours can be linked to harmony as they're colours often placed together because they are aesthetically pleasing together, but are also polar opposites which is something that can sometimes ruin a relationship between two subjects. The isolation of the red colour can link to love and passion, but also death and blood and destruction. 


    ]]>     2017-01-06 09:25:54 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643172     Initial Design emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643281 2017-01-06 09:26:54 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643281 emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643337 2017-01-06 09:27:24 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643337 Final Draft emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643371 2017-01-06 09:27:40 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145643371 emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145755223 2017-01-06 18:18:03 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145755223 emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145756034 The genre of the song was heavily important for the impact of our video. We had to make sure that our video followed the typical conventions of the genre enough so that we could add our own unique twist to it so that it was our own. Trip-hop is a very experimental genre so we wanted to make sure that we also experimented as well as follow conventions. Typical conventions that we found were common in trip hop were frequent performance shots from high and low
    angles visual e4ects and graphic e4ects as mirrored e4ects or light leaks and close ups of the singer or objects. When we created our video we made sure to make some of our performance shots appear at high and low angles. The effect
    that this has glori$es the singer and makes them appear powerful emphasising the emotions portrayed through the lyrics.
    ]]>     2017-01-06 18:21:33 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145756034     emily_patrick098 https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145756685 Natalie also uses a subtle colour grading in her piece featuring purple colours.  Colour grading can be achieved through using a number of plugins the most useful and popular being colour corrector, levels, and colour corrector
    (secondary). The outcome can di4er depending on the program you use as some programs can achieve +etter looks. But we decided to do it in Sony Vegas Pro as we had the most knowledge of how to use the plugins. 0ur colour grading is more subtle than Natalie's But this is because if we created one more like hers, on certain clips they would appear too dark and it the clips would not be clear or bright enough to see fully.
    ]]>     2017-01-06 18:24:21 UTC https://padlet.com/emily_patrick098/2ndxpqrjhtwf/wish/145756685