Final evaluation

http://prezi.com/zonu6dhy4jq0/braille-evaluation/

Please click on MORE and choose full screen.

Final draft of music promo

Final ancillary digi-pack design

Final ancillary advert

Original images

Dolby

I really like the main construction, although the song has no 'major' narrative, it kind of builds up that the girl is killing herself?! Does she get out the bath?! if so, maybe chose a different combination of shots to show that at the end?

Dolby

some nice ancillary work; check that the key details are readable and bold.

Magazine Advert Draft 5

Magazine Advert Draft 4

Mrs D

I really like the front and back covers of your digipak. Your inserts are also successful on their own. However, they are very similiar. You need to remember that this is for an album. How are you creating a view of your artist and showing other tracks on the album? Get some audience feedback to help you. Take some more pictures that would work for the other tracks.

Magazine Advert Draft 3

Braille Digi-pack Draft 3

Magazine Advert Draft 3

Magazine Advert Draft 2

Digi-pack draft

Magazine Advert Draft

Braille 3rd Draft

Braille Digi-pack Draft 2

Mrs D

I really like the composition of your back cover and your use of font and mes. Think carefully about the framing of the front cover. Does it need a bit of cropping and should the feet be chopped off?

Braille Digi-pack Draft 1

Dolby

These are all nice images but i think the simple one of the artist where you can see the word Braille written well to promote artist and album name.

Photos for ancillary

Mrs D

This is a great draft and the lip syncing is much better. The mes is very effective. Don't lose sight of what meaning you are trying to create. Have a look back at some RMAs to help you stay focused on the codes and conventions.

Braille 2nd Draft

Filming day 2

After looking at my first draft and editing together I noticed that my actress Olivia wasn't moving her mouth enough when she was singing, making it hard to edit to the music and didn't look effective. I also filmed used a small handycam so I wasn't happy with the video quality. This prompted me to use one of the schools HD cameras on my second time filming so I had a higher quality product. I went back to Olivia and told her about her mouth movement and showed her my draft and she agreed with the comments and when we filmed did a great job of improving it so I am confident that it will make it easier to edit.
We were very productive and filmed over half an hour of footage with extra scenes so that I have a lot of extra footage to choose from when editing together.

Mrs D

This is a great first draft Laura. Through discussions with you, I know that you have identified the need to re-shoot some shots of the main singer making sure they are 'projecting' the song. The mes and styling is effective. Lets see the new shots soon please.

Braille 1st Draft

Dolby

The ideas behind the styling are great but what about images? Look forward to seeing a more complete digipak; keep with the theme of Braille by adding it to the CD?

Filming day 1

I went to Olivia's house where the video is set, and immediately sat down with Olivia to discuss my ideas for the video and show her my storyboard so she is able to understand the direct that I'd like the video to head in.
She showed me her wardrobe and gave her ideas for the costumes she could wear for different scenes which was great as she really understood the ideas behind the video. She helped set up the windowsill that we decided to use for the window scene. After getting everything set up she got into place and I started to film her. Shortly after starting filming I decided to get her to sing the song while on the windowsill which wasn't originally planned in my storyboard. I felt that the more footage I got the better the video would turn out. I took it from different angles to get a range of shots. Olivia contributed a great idea in which she had lots of faded polaroid pictures that we stuck to along a shelf which worked a lot better than having picture frames as it reflected the faded memories that the song highlighted. It was a good first day of filming and we were able to discuss more things that would work in the video and locations for the next filming day.

Digi-pack trial

Filming

Filming is scheduled to take place on Wednesday the 12th and Saturday the 15th.
A photoshoot will also take place for possible images to be used in the magazine advert and the album digi-pack.

Things to include in my magazine advert

• Artist name


• Album name


• Release date/ out now


• Review


• Artist and record comany websites

Font colours

I have chosen this font even though it's not the most popular choice from audience feedback. I chose it because it will look like it's been etched into the album cover/ the magazine advert, which matches the song in the way that it talks about the markings in her skin. I've decided to use skin/ natural tones for the colour scheme to continue with the feeling of skin and markings.

Mrs D

This draft works well Laura. You have obviously worked hard on it and have some great ideas. When you film, I would recommend that you film a bit more that you think you need as you want something to 'play' with the editing process. The pace is great, but is the same all the way through - this is why you might need more footage in order to create some 'light and shade'.

Final storyboard changes

I have changed and got rid of some of the zoom in/outs to change the effect it gives, I've also changed some of them slightly so they zoom into or away from certain parts of the picture to create an atmosphere or emotion to the video.

Mrs D

The use of repetition and the pace is very effective. You have used a lot of zoom in and out at the beginning - try and be a little more selective where you use it. I look forawrd to seeing a rough cut soon.

Font Choices

Dolby

Well done Laura- i think the recurring imagery works well but would perhaps cut down the song, probably from the mid-section and one of the verses. Also, think about how you can reflect a change in mood and tempo at the end of the song with different images perhaps or use of editing and cuts?

Storyboard analysis

I found that after looking at my finished storyboard the best way to create the narrative is to use repeated shots, so the story has a running theme throughout. I have decided after looking at my media artefacts to use colour to reflect the mood of the song. For example using either black and white or a faded colour to reflect her pain and when the narrative shows her hopes and dreams to use colour to express this.
After asking people to look at my storyboard they fedback to me that they liked how the images repeat themselves throughout the video and they do help to create a narrative and they also like how the opening and closing image are the same as it ties the end of the video together with the music slowing down.
I have learnt that during editing transitions will be very important as they can effect the mood of a shot and as the song is very emotional it will be vital to add the correct transitions between shots to help create this effect.

Storyboard

Story board draft

Mrs D

The layout ideas should help you when constructing. I look forward to seeing a storyboard soon.

Digi-pack side panel layout

Digi-pack insert pages layout

Digi-pack back cover layout

Digi-pack front cover

Magazine layout

Filming Schedule

Scenes shot at house - 3 hours
This will include the window scenes, floor scenes, bath scenes and any other extra shots that may need to take place. I have allowed 3 hours for these shots as I will need to take multiple takes from different angles and will need to take into account the costume and make-up changes and setting up the scene.
Outside scenes - 2 hours
There is minimal outside scenes, however I have allowed 2 hours for this as it's dependent on the weather as it needs to be raining. This is unreliable and may need to be shot on a seperate day to the inside scenes, so I must allow time for this and be prepared for this event.

Letter of acceptance to be filmed

I have sent an email to a girl I'd like to act as the 'star' in my video. I've chosen to have one person acting the narrative and to be the singer. Giving a more personal feel to the video as the song has a very personal subject. The letter reads:

Hi Olivia,

I'd like to ask if you'd take part in my A-level media coursework where I'm making a music promo including a music video, magazine advert and digi-pack. I'd like you to act as the artist throughout these 3 tasks. This involves you taking part in the music video and also feature in the ad and digi-pack.

Thanks very much for your time
Laura

The reply I received:

Hi Laura,

I would be delighted in taking part in your A-level media coursework.

No problem,

Olivia

MES choices and ideas

As I feel the song is about a girl looking at her body and the markings on it, I felt that the MES should be simplistic as to not complicate the lyrics of the song.
I think costumes should show individual style to stick to the alternative genre. But also in some shots when she's looking over her body it would be better if she was wearing less clothing, although when doing this I need to do it in a tasteful way as in my questionnaire people specified that they didn't like to see nearly naked girls as they found it tacky. To achieve a tasteful way to do this, I will probably put my actress into an oversized t-shirt or jumper and combine this with dim lighting, possibly candle light to reflect the emotion the girl is feeling.
I would like part of the video to be shot in the rain, as I feel the rain also reflects the mood the girl is feeling, and people can often related to the weather reflecting their mood.
I'd also like to have a scene set in the bathroom, as people often think about things in the bath and I think this would be a good way to piece the video together.

Email to Record Company

Unable to find an email for Sire Records, I emailed her management asking for permission to use her song 'Braille'

Mrs D

I think this is a really interesting concept. Your casting of the 'star' is going to be very important and you need to consider how you are going to explore the notion of the markings on her skin in a way that reflects the meaning of the song.

Proposal

I've chosen to create a music promo for Regina Spektors song 'Braille' which has a narrative and talks of a woman looking over the scars and markings on her body and reminisses of what she's been through in her life. As the song was first released in 1999 and then again in 2002 I will either make it into black and white or faded colour so that it represents the darkness of the song lyrics. I will try to show the actress looking over the marks on her body and using framing, mise-en-scene and editing to show emotion.

Mrs D

Well done for hitting your first deadline. Don't forget that you need to have a look at the use of camera in RMAs in order to help you with your planning. Keep up the good work.

Ideas

As I've chosen to do an alternative package, including a music video, magazine advert and digi-pack, I'll have to chose an appropriate alternative song.

Ed Sheeran- Miss You
This would be an appropriate song choice as the song is narrative. It tells the story of a boy missing a girl desperately and being completely lost and losing his mind without her. Due to the lyrics telling a clear story it would be easy to incorporate visuals to match lyrics which from my real media artefacts I found is often used in alternative music videos. I will have to make a poster and digi-pack for the single as this is not on an album.

Regina Spektor- Braille
Although this song is not overly alternative, the artist is extremely alternative and usually has very artistic videos. All of her songs have a clear narrative and this song also tells a clear story throughout, making it easy to match visuals to the lyrics. Being very centred around art it would be important to try and incorporate an artistic view so that the viewer still feels like they can relate to the artist. This was first released in 1999 on a demo cassette, but re-released in 2001 on her album 11:11, which I would have to create a magazine advert for and a digi-pack.

Jacks Mannequin- Dark Blue
This song talks about feeling alone and uses the colour to represent the darkness of being alone- if I were to choose to proceed with this song I'd have to try and incorporate this colour into the video so that it helped the narrative of the song. I'd also have to think about using this colour on the magazine advert and digi-pack as it's a running theme and can't be ignored.

How research will inform planning

Looking at all my research I am able to make informed descisions about what direction to take and with my music video, magazine ad and didg-pack, and the key features to include.
My target audience will be 16-19 year olds as this is the age group that answered the majority of my questionnaires. Through my questionnaires I found that alternative is the second most popular music genre of music videos to watch with 30% opposed to 33% RnB. I have chosen to proceed with the alternative genre as in other questions people stated they enjoy music videos more if they're artistic and relatable to their emotions, which I feel is more achievable using alternative music instead of RnB. I'll make a narrative music video as in my questionnaire participants stated that they liked the video to be understandable and to have a story line. I will try to make the story line relatable and relevant to people's feelings as this is the feedback I got in my focus group. Looking at my real media artefacts I found that a sense of location is important in an alternative video and helps to set up the story line, not only this but visuals matching lyrics isn't always clear in these videos but is definately including in alternative videos which will be important for me to include.
When making my magazine advert I found from my questionnaire that most people like to see an interesting picture of the artist and an artistic design and choice of colours was also very important, I will take these things into serious consideration when planning and construction my magazine advert. People also that they like to see some relevance to the CD that it's trying to promote, which might include an image of the CD. Using my real media artefacts for magazine adverts of CD's I found that either using the CD as an image or using the CD image as a background is a key tool that is used for alternative artists.
Looking at my questionnaire analysis I have decided it will be important to include the track list on the back of my digi-pack as 97% of people said they like it. I also found that majority of people like a photo of the artist to be on the front of the CD which I will need to think about including. The most popular things people like to see included in an insert are exclusive pictures of the artist and tour dates. Although in my real media artefacts exclusive pictures were used in both and lyrics were used in one. In my focus group people said they thought the digi-pack needed to represent the artist and have some sort of relevance to the song, which I will try to incorporate into my digi-pack.

Product Placement

I am will be creating an alternative music video alongside a magazine advert to promote the CD and the album digi-pack.
Music video's are used as a promotional tool to advertise an artists/bands song. To promote the song as much as possible to music video needs to be accessable to the target audience and a large amount of people. Using my questionnaire I found that most people watch music videos through the internet and in particular Youtube. Artists can upload their music video's for free onto the site and then they can be watched by viewers around the world for free, due to recent technologies audiences can now watch youtube and music videos on their phones which means they can be watched anywhere. Another popular way in which music videos are watched is through the TV, my questionnaire found that the most popular channels to watch music videos were MTV and NME. It's free for the artists music video to be played onto these channels and then free for the consumer to watch. However this is less popular as you can watch what music videos you like on demand on the internet, but have to be watching TV for a while to see multiple videos.
A magazine advert for an alternative CD is most likely to be seen in magazines like NME or Q as they feature alternative and indie artists. It costs money to buy ad space in a magazine but are very good for sales to the CD if they're seen. The information put on the ad is key as it needs to inform the consumer when the CD is available, where they can buy it, possibly cost and what is featured on the disc. These details can help the consumer to locate where to buy and also encourage them to buy through the use of language.
The album digi-pack should be sold in well known music stores such as HMV and also available on online such as play.com and amazon.co.uk as online shopping has become increasingly more popular and to maxamise sales it should be available as many ways as possible. The album cover should be designed to fit the alternative genre, but also attract people from other audiences as well, this way maxamising the sales.

RMA Owlcity digi-pack

This is the cover for Owlcity's album Ocean Eyes. It features a picture of Dubai's famous hotel Burj Al Arab and the sea lasting until the horizon. This shows him as alternative because the hotel has no reference to his songs or to music, but is seen as a work of architectural art, and he focus' on the beauty opposed to the relevance. His name is in a large white font placed in the sky, the white matches the white from the building and from the clouds. Ocean Eyes is written in a slightly different font but it still matches his name. The use of white contrasts with the dark blue and helps it to stand out.

This is the first page of the insert of his CD. It features a different picture of the sea, and includes the outline of the moon and clouds, similar to the one on the front, but still different. This allows a continuity factor from the front of the album through to the insert. It gives thanks to all the poepl involved in bringing together the album and the font is very small and hard to read, this suggests that they don't expect it to be read by the consumer but is put in for legal purposes or other reasons.

This is the second page of the insert and features a picture of a city on the horizon with the sea before it. This continues the theme of the album and instead of having exclusive pictures of the artist it features exclusive pictures chosen by the artist that he feels reflects the purpose of the album. This is different to what is normally featured inside an album cover and again reflects the alternative genre.

The back of the album features a picture of the same hotel that's on the front, but from another angle, this matches the front so they fit together nicely. The tracklist on the back is numbered and aligned to the left. The font used is the same that's used on the front but in dark blue so it can be ready against the cloudy sky. After the track names it has the length of each track beside it. This allows the consumer to see how long each track lasts before they buy the album, giving them more information on it.

Mrs D

Your research is coming along nicely! Well done. You have some good feedback from your focus group. Try and use your shot terminology to help you prepare you storyboard. You don't really mention the use of the camera throughout your RMAs - whether they are images from ancillary tasks or the actual music promo. Keep up the good work.

RMA Kate Nash digi-pack

The front of Kate Nash's 'Made of Bricks' album suggests she's an alternative genre as she has a small full body picture on the front as she walks up to the main focus of the cover which is a house- linking to the 'Made of Bricks' title. This is different to RnB album covers which tend to feature a close-up of the artist, or Rock which tends to have an artist or band logo on the front, this makes it clear that she's an alternative artist as she's been creative with her cover and branched out from what other genre's tend to do. The font on the front is clear but not bold and in your face, it's simple. The font appears to almost look handwritten, making the album more casual and relatable to the audience. The main house links directly to the album title, so it still fits the theme to the album.

The back of the album has the track list aligned in the centre of the page. The tracks are numbered for easy reference and written in the same font as the title is on the front of the album, this is good continuity and enables the audience to link that style of writing to the album and to Kate Nash as an artist. The way the track names are laid out in a casual manner makes the audience seem closer to the artist as it looks like Kate Nash wrote the tracklist herself.

The insert has lyrics to the songs on the left hand page, with the song titles written in the same font as the title and the tracklist, continuing the theme throughout the album, then the actual lyrics are written in a small font which is clearer to read, making it easier for the audience to learn her lyrics. On the right hand side of the insert exclusive pictures of Kate Nash are featured. This makes the consumer feel closer to her as it seems more personalised. The pictures again establish her as an alternative artist as it shows her to have been cut out and stuck onto another picture. In this picture she isn't the focus- just like on the front of the album, but has reference to some of the songs on her album, such as showing mouthwash on the sink linking to her song 'Mouthwash' and a skeleton linking to the 'Skeleton Song' this promotes her songs from the inside and shows her interest in all of her songs and that they're written about things in her life.

RMA Noah and the Whale- Tonights the kind of night

This is a narrative based video about a boy leaving town on a bus, but is left behind when they stop at the petrol station and when everything is looking down, he meets a girl at the petrol station. This video features visuals matching lyrics for example the lyrics say "there's a boy with his head pressed up to the window of the bus headed out of town" whilst showing visuals of the boy looking out of the bus window as he travels.

Throughout the video clips of the members of the band playing the guitar are superimposed over a clip of the road that the boy is traveling down, this gives the feeling that the band are telling the story to the viewer, creating a relationship with them.

There is a good sense of location in this video as there are lots of long shots showing the setting, helping to give a better understanding of the video.

There are also clips of the band performing together to incorporate them into the video more, these clips are placed in between clips of the story of the traveling boy to break it up from being too much of the same. The message that the band want to give in this song is to not give up hope because things could change- which is the moral of the story in the music video, so they're very nicely linked together.

This music video is used to promote the band as a light-hearted group with a message in their music, which people relate to and helps them to sell songs.

RMA Owlcity- Fireflies

This is a concept video in which Owlcity sit at his keyboard in his room, and as he plays the toys and electronics begin to come to life, and the lights that appear on different toys and games represent the fireflies. The video is supposed to feel magical as he hits a "magic" button at the beginning of the video.

In an unusual way the visuals do match the lyrics as they occasionally come up in time with the song on the screen of a toy. The lyrics "everything is never as it seems" from the song seem to summarise the video nicely as toys aren't alive but they come to life through his music in the video.

This video is used to promote him as a completely individual artist as his video is unique to no other. His video uses lots of different lights and help to captivate the audience with his song and through the visuals.

Editing is used very nicely to fit everything together in time to the music, jump cuts are used to show the speed of which everything is coming to life and then the clips get longer towards the end as the music begins to slow down, showing the objects returning to their original state.

Focus Group Analysis

After looking at the different responses to the questions that I got from the 5 people who watched Kate Nash's video 'Foundations' I am able to to get some information on what they look at and what they think when they watch music videos.

The video seemed to be liked by all 5 participants, because it's "relatable" and "relevant to peoples feelings." I can conclude that it's important when making a music promo that the video and artist are relatable to the audience so that it will be more universal.

The participants seemed to enjoy the narrative in the video at it "tells a story" and "brings you closer to the artist" it's important to make the audience feel closer to the artist as it will encourage the audience to go and buy their CD's as they feel close to the artist and can relate to them. They also liked the video to have a clear story which fitted in with the song and helped to make the meaning of the lyrics clear to them.

The participants mentioned that the filming in some parts of the video wasn't very good and in one scene she's framed very poorly so that she's hardly in the shot. This shows that viewers do have an eye for detail and like a high quality product to enjoy.

When asked about the digi-pack and if it went well with the video some said they went together because they both represented the artist well through use of colours and other things, however others said that there wasn't much relevance between the two.

Focus Group Results

1. What did you think of the music video overall?

Person 1- I really like this video because it's artistic, but not in a confusing way as it's easy to follow and gives you a good understanding about what she wanted the song to about.
Person 2- It's a good video and she features in it a lot. She makes it relatable but in a funny kind of way which makes it a lot more fun to watch.
Person 3- She mocks her feelings a bit but it is still really relevant to a lot of feelings that people have.
Person 4- I didn't really understand the objects moving around in the video at the beginning and I thought it was a bit random, but then I realised that they relate to the message of the song and the emotion that it's supposed to be about but she uses other things to help make the feelings relatable.
Person 5- It's a fun video about a serious subject as it's about breaking up, which is a bit of a contrast and not what you expect, but it helps establish her as an individual as she doesn't do the stereotypical break-up video.

2. What do you think of the concept and narrative used?

Person 1- I like that she's linked the two as it's artistic and creative but with a relevance to the storyline of the song.
Person 2- There is a clear storyline and concept, and she is in the video throughout so it brings you closer to her as an artist but the lyrics allow you to relate it to yourself.
Person 3- I enjoyed the video because she incorporated both of these things. Close-ups and different camera angles made the video not repetitive and she used objects to show how things grow apart which was really creative and interesting to watch.
Person 4- At first I found the objects a bit confusing until I understood that they were linked to the lyrics as well. I thought this was a good song to incorporate a concept like that into as it's easy to objectify.
Person 5- I like the narrative and that she sings and plays along to the storyline as she could easily have had someone else acting out the story. I also like how she used his and her possessions as an indication of what was happening to them emotionally.

3. Do you think the video fits the song well and why?

Person 1- The song is upbeat and quite fast which isn't what you expect a typical break-up song to be like. But there are some quick cuts and camera angles that keep up with the beat of the music and also the way the artist moves keeps in time with the music so I think they go together well.
Person 2- I think they fit well as the video helps you to understand the song more fully because she used creativity to make it clearer.
Person 3- I think the video represents her and her music very well as it's colourful and fun and she is in it a lot.
Person 4- They do fit together well as the storyline directly links to what the song is supposed to be about through the story of the video.
Person 5- The song is about trying to hold on to a relationship because you've drifted apart and the music video makes that clear with the storyline and the way she's represented their relationship in object form as well. So I think they go together very well.

4. What could be improved?

Person 1- I think that you could see more of the relationship between her and the guy and for her to show more emotion in her face, although it's supposed to be light-hearted I think if she showed more emotion it would help the story be more believable.
Person 2- I think there were bits that were clearly less creative than others and were maybe to just fill time so I think there could be more continuity.
Person 3- There's good use of colours, maybe they could relate to something?
Person 4- The guy in the video doesn't seem to be featured much or playing his part very well, he should be more in character.
Person 5- There's a shot where she opens the fridge and is singing along but then she's half in the screen and it seems like the framing of the shot was off.

5. Do you think the digi-pack and the music video go well together?

Person 1- I think that the album cover represents her as an artist. The cover of the album is a house which could be linked to the song Foundations.
Person 2- The album features bright colours just like in the video so the do go well together.
Person 3- Overall the album cover summarises her but doesn't really link to her video.
Person 4- The digi-pack does go with the video as she looks similar in the picture to how she does in the video and she uses bright colours as well.
Person 5- I don't think there's a great amount of linkage between the two but they do go together as they both represent her as an artist.

RMA Magazine Advert -Friendly Fires

The main focus of the advert is the image in the centre, which takes up half of the page. This is the same image that’s on the front of their album so there is continuity between the two and allows the consumers to recognise the image associated with the album. The font is white on the black background, creating a simply yet effective contrast. Friendly Fires is written largely at the very top of the ad followed by “the debut album out now” underneath it, this state’s clearly what the ad is about and is very eye catching. Underneath “out now” it then says “includes ‘Jump in the Pool’ and ‘Paris’” this is so the consumers can associate the songs with the band and will encourage them to want to hear more of their music and therefore buy their CD. This is then followed by quotes about the album from NME, Time Out and The Fly, these are well respected companies in the music industry and give credit to the album as they’re promoting it.
Underneath the picture are tour dates for September and October, this allows them to make not only CD sales but also sales for their upcoming tour. At the very bottom of the ad in a much smaller font are the websites for the recording company that the band are signed to and for the band itself. This can increase the bands popularity and increase more sales of not only their album but concerts and merchandise.

Focus Group Questions

I'll be asking 5 people watch Kate Nash's music promo "Foundations" and then to look at her digi-pack and then to answer some questions on their thoughts and improvements on each.




1. What did you think of the music video overall?

2. What do you think of the concept and narrative used?

3. Do you think the video fits the song well and why?

4. What could be improved?

5. Do you think the digi-pack and the music video go well together?

RMA Noah and the Whale – Tonight’s the kind of night (key notes)

• Narrative based video- boy leaving town/ everything could change



• Visuals match lyrics “There’s a boy with his head pressed up to the window of the bus headed out of town” while showing visuals of a boy on a bus looking out of the window



• Superimpose clips of members of the band playing the guitar over a clip of the road the boys travelling down- as if they’re narrating the story



• Shows other passengers and the road they’re travelling down on the bus giving a sense of location- good understanding of the story



• Shows clips of the band performing together to incorporate them into the video



• Boy is left by his bus at a petrol station and things aren’t going well for him, but he meets a girl there and things look up for him- overall storyline fits the main lyrics “tonight’s the kind of night where everything could change”



• Used to promote the band as a light-hearted group

RMA Magazine advert- The Dresden Dolls (No, Virginia)

The magazine ad features a large picture of the CD taking up half of the page; this allows a clear view of the product so consumers know what to look for when buying. Underneath the picture of the album there is a sentence in a small font talking about what’s on the CD, underneath that it says “featuring the track ‘Night Reconnaissance’” this is a single they released and is one of their more popular songs, this makes people want to buy the album for that song, and to hear their other songs on the album. The colour scheme is brown, cream and red; this makes the ad have a style feel. This fits in with the bad image and promotes the band as an original group with an older feel of music.
In the bottom left and right hand corners there’s a picture of each one of the duo, set in the same place and matches the album cover nicely, as the album cover doesn’t feature the duo, this allows the consumer to see the artists so they get more of an understanding of the duo. In between the two pictures it says “In Stores Now” letting consumers know the album is available right now and they don’t need to wait for it to be released. At the bottom of the advert in very small print the website for the band and the website for the record company are shown. This further promotes the band as a brand and also allows people to go onto the record company’s website to look at other artists and promoting their company.

RMA Owlcity- Fireflies (Key points)

• Concept based video- as he plays the keyboard and sings, toys and electronics come to life


• Visuals match lyrics- words come up on the screen of a toy


• Promotes him as an individual artist as his video is unique


• His music controls the objects coming to life and creating light etc


• Quick jump cuts used to show the speed at which everything is coming to life

RMA Ed Sheeran- The A-Team

Ed Sheeran’s first music video for his single ‘The A-Team’ is a narrative based video, with a story line about a girl who prostitutes for money so she can buy drugs, and sleeps on the street. This is quite a controversial video and Ed only features in his video once when he gives money to the girl on the street. This video is used as a promotional tool to show Ed as an artist who cares about his music and it’s message, opposed to him trying to promote his celebrity through his music video. This helps him stay relatable to his audience as he stays an ordinary person to his audience. The video has clips of a similar length, which are reasonably long so that they give a good sense of surrounding- showing the streets and the bench she wakes up on, further allowing the audience to follow the story of the video. Blur transitions are used in between clips so that one blurs out and the other comes into focus, possibly linking to blurry vision from alcohol or drugs. There are a few times that the visuals match the lyrics, for example the lyrics say “she doesn’t want to go outside tonight” as the visuals show her putting on her make-up as she gets ready to go out prostituting. Another when the lyrics say “her face seems slowly, sinking, wasting. Crumbling like pastry” as the visuals show her beginning to break down and cry. However the video doesn’t often show visuals to directly match the lyrics, as the the visuals throughout the video allow an understanding of the song through the story they tell.

The video is in black and white throughout, showing a symbolism of the darkness the girl feels and the severity of the situation she’s in and it seems to translate that feeling across to the audience. The video is set mostly on the street, with the girl in tattered and broken clothes, wrapped in a blanket. This shows a basic use of mise-en-scene yet is very effective as it makes it so much more realistic. I will look into using a good sense of location in my music video as I thought it was very effective in this video and allowed a good narrative.

Dolby

The key points for your RMA show good understanding of the themes and representation of the artist. When you anlyse fully, look at the technical aspects of the video such as pace of editing/timing and see how this can help with your own.

Questionnaire analysis

I mostly asked 16-19 year olds as they seem to be more interested in music, however I did try to get a range of ages.


I tried to get an even split of gender to make it fair, however I ended up having slightly more male participants than female, although I don't think this greatly effects my results.

Most people watch music videos every other day, and some everyday, this means music videos are frequently watched through different medias. Nobody answered that they never watch music videos, showing that everyone is exposed to them.

The most popular genre of music videos seems to be RnB, although this is closely followed by alternative. Then there appears to be less of a preference and people seemed like like Dubstep and Drum and Bass quite similarly.

The popular way to watch music videos seemed to be the internet, everyone said they watched theirs on youtube, showing that it is the most popular way to browse and watch music videos on demand. However some people said they watched music videos on the TV on channels such as MTV and Kerrang and NME. Nobody seems to watch videos through download or on their phones.

6. What's your favourite music video and why?

I found that a lot of people struggled to pick a favourite video as there are so many that are enjoyable and they couldn't think of one. However some people said they had a favourite as the song and the visuals were relatable to their emotions and their life

7. What makes you enjoy music videos?

Majority of people answered that they like the video to be artistic for this question, and some said they just liked to see what the artist had made.

Most people seem to like a narrative based music video, meaning they like the music video to have a story line and for the visual to match the lyrics. However performance also seemed to be a popular option meaning that some people liked to see the artist(s) performing live at shows etc.

9. What don't you like to see in a music video?

Some people wrote they didn't like to see girls dancing in little clothing which contradicts other peoples answers in question 10, making it quite controversial as they found it tacky. Others said they didn't like to see violence.

10. What do you like to see most in a music video?

There was a variety of answers for this question, some people simply said they like to see the artist, and some said they liked it to be clear what the video was about- so perhaps having a story line. Others said they like to see sports such as surfing and beach scenes. Some people said they liked to see girls dancing around in videos with little clothing on.