Group overall evaluation

The evaluation featured was created using prezi and xtranormal

http://prezi.com/z4quybs5un3p/group-evaluation/

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/12051454/what-have-you-learned-from-your-audience-feedback

http://prezi.com/5fw_dknewma5/new-media-technologies/

Written by Joshua Featherstone, Emily Stansfield, Ana Rita.

Evaluation of group CD cover and Magazine advert

Check out my prezi for the analysis of specific reasons behind the choices made.

http://prezi.com/xfvl-kj6sfix/group-cd-cover-and-magazine-advert-analysis/

Our own Evaluation

(I have had a slight problem with blogger and its layout throughout the year. That is why some of the sentence structure maybe slightly out of sync as well as lack of imagery)

1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In our pop promotional package we have had to increase our understanding from what we thought we knew of the music industry to so much more.
Instead of challenging previous conventions of media products such as pop promotional packages, we followed suit, to a degree and created our own from previously developed promotional packages that had been researched upon.
What is meant by this is by following previous examples of marketing and promoting of new bands we were able to use this as a foundation to build ours upon.
With this the individuals of the group and I had to research into a pop promotional packages in which we all found interesting.
With this we tried to maintain as much of a likeness to the genre. Due to this, matches could be made with typical stylistics that kept creeping up in the pop punk genre.
For instance, themes of pop punk videos tend to be about having fun by incorporating nudity, pranks and getting into trouble with police whilst stylistically there would be
either facial bruises from the extras in the videos, skulls, motiffed t-shirts of rock legends and others.
All of which was making continuous appearances in pop punk videos.
Similar to the humour of music videos so too were the CD covers and magazine adverts/ flyers that were distributed to promote the band. These varied between cartoon illustrations to dark, destructed locations as back drops for the band.
This genre was made possible to portray so that it would be recognisable to anyone who enjoyed this type of music, also taking into account how the band members wanted to be portrayed which was fun and carefree….A perfect description of what pop punk videos usually are.
So with that in mind we made an instantly recognisable pop punk video with certain aspects that challenged the usual conventions of pop-punk.
From the background research of other bands promotional packages such as the one I did on HURTS and NEWFOUND GLORY we as a group were able to approach the task of promoting our band with different aspects gained from one another. Firstly we chose a typical audience that we would catering for and drove to meet that, obviously fans of the genre but the age range of fans were vast due to pop punk being around for a while so it was only right to make the promotional package favour everyone and not just a typical age.
Certain examples would be adding kissing couples to the music video adding a touch of reality to the narrative as well as a sentimental aspect to it. This I felt catered for couples and older fans of the pop punk genre as well as bringing a different more natural feel to pop punk that hasn’t been seen before. With the thought of usual Editing, cinematography, mise en scene, and stylistics that have been associated with typical pop punk videos we chose to Use jump cuts as our main source of editing style to move from shot to shot. Not only pop-punk use this but also every other music video made except the few made from bands such as ‘ok go’ and others.
Another reason for not using a singular shot is lack of funding to do so as well as time and planning that we just didn’t have. The jump cuts also increased in speed, transitioning between different shots at a quicker pace during the chorus to match the beat of the drums to aid in a more interesting music video.
With the choice of shots, again we were limited because of the shooting of the band performance was done inside a studio but this didn’t hinder the aesthetic look we were all trying to achieve.
With the energetic band performance and certain shots we used such as the ‘handheld’ shot with the singer, this helped to cater to the younger fans as well as those who love an energetic band performance and ‘mosh’ when around like minded fans.
The band performed up to 5x which allowed us to take 3 different angled shots and types of shots on each performance.
In the end we had 15 different shots (some where not possible to use) ranging from close ups of the band members and some wide shots which allowed zooming and panning possible.
I liken it too ‘arctic monkeys-I bet that you look good on the dance floor’ which primarily was just different shots of the band performing which was how I wanted it to look.
Clothing was the bands own due to them wanting to stay comfortable and making it a realistic portrayal of themselves and not a fake one such as making them all wear ‘three piece’ suits.
Also during pop punk music video’s bands are rarely portrayed to wear anything but casual clothes.
　
With the CD cover and MAGAZINE advert we blurred a picture of a couple in love that we had shot to further increase the romantic aspect of the song which is about kissing your loved one!
Certain type fonts that we chose in the colour red with a black background played homage to where pop punk integrated from which was punk Connotations of the colour red is usually partnered with blood and the colour black with death. These connotations maybe slightly ‘darker’ than pop punk. This shows a slight challenge to the former conventions of pop punk fonts. We also chose font type ‘times new roman’ to add a more formal approach, different to the usual titles cd/mag advert covers that pop punk bands usually use.
With the CD cover the blurred kissing couple was blurred to such an extent to make it into a kaleidoscope effect. This was chosen to do because of the album name being kaleidoscope in the first place.
With the magazine advert we took aspects/ideas from former print ads that weren’t necessarily form the pop-punk genre. For instance I analysed HURTS and used idea of having the cd cover as the magazine advert. This gave an instant connection due to being the same image which for promotional purposes was great. By using both images a quicker recognition of the band would be possible either when buying the CD and or checking for live performances in magazine’s or the internet.
Areas that challenged forms /codes and conventions of pop promo’s as mentioned before would definitely be the handheld shot by the lead singer as this is one shot I feel I haven’t seen before. Reason of using this was to give the effect of a POV shot in which the lead singer was swinging his partner.
With the addition of the kissing couples narrative this helped to challenge the conventions of the pop-punk genre by changing up the typical acts of their music videos. This narrative gave a more natural realistic feature to it by having random couples kiss/hug and show what love looks like. This idea was second to the former split screen idea that we had planned but due to lack of equipment we couldn’t make this work which to some degree I am glad that had happened. The narrative we used changed the tone to a more emotional feeling which is what the song is about, just with a more rocked up version of the original.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The pop punk music video we created as a group worked well with the ideas that we had chosen to use such as the POV handheld shot with the lead singer. This helped to portray him spinning his loved one which I feel was easy to see being portrayed.
As mentioned before, using the studio had caused a few small problems such as lack of space but this was soon overcome. I think that even seeing the light rigs on some of the shots helped to increase its grungy appearance.
The energetic band performance helped to create the incisive decisions to be made that pop-punk was what was being seen alongside the sound of the music as well as how casually dressed we had allowed our band too look. The long hair of our lead singer also helped to incorporate a rock like theme due to the stereotypes of long hair equally rock!.
The narrative which we introduced as a performance/conceptual basis included the use kissing couples and friends/family embracing and showing love to one another. This definitely provided a more natural un-acted feel to the production. These types of narratives are hardly seen amongst music videos and with this I feel will help our music video stand out from the rest.
With these types of moments it helps to enables a happy content feeling to be felt by the viewer when ‘real’ affection is shown by others. A process that usual cannot be achieved until something of enjoyment has happened throughout the day. This again is another point which I feel will help to increase popularity of the pop promotion that we as a group developed.
The CD cover and PRINT advert together helped to further add the development of unusual art with slight meanings behind them, such as the handheld shot with the lead singer has done as well as other shots feaured in the music video. The main picture of the cd cover is a couple kissing which had been blurred to such an extent that time to look at it would have to be taken.
This would cause a longer time reading to be spent on who the band are which thus creates an intrigue to develop. All great promotional benefits for the band as well as the companies distributing their work.
With the choice of blurring the couples together, this gave a slight kaleidoscope effect which was something subconsciously had been achieved, as we had the idea to call the album that very same name. also, by intergratig the couple as ‘one’, the reason behind it is that once in a relationship a lot of things that are done are done together such as decisions/ choices, going out, being together are all done as ‘one’. true essence of being in love which is what the song is about.
Choice of type font and size of font helped to differentiate ourselves slightly from the usual magazine advertisements and CD covers that are usual seen.
The size in which we wrote was large on the information we wanted to get across to the viewer such as the name of the band and the name of the new album. With this a red colour was chosen and a black background which created a vivid contrast between the two, again something we hoped would stay in the viewers mind once they read it.
All three placed together created different representations of the genre that is pop-punk.
Firstly, with the music video you have a typical energetic band performance, one that is seen throughout most pop punk music videos but with certain aspects such as those already mentioned that has helped to challenge some of the usual forms and conventions that are usually seen. In essence adding a softer touch to a harsher genre of music. In some sense creating conflicting scenes from an energetic, ‘punky’ performance which then also moved to a softer more realistic narrative with our kissing couples.
That softer touch, helped along by the narrative was used to cross over into the CD cover and magazine advert, portraying the bands newest songs as romantic rock songs which is something the band had explained to us that they were. Quoted from James once he viewed the music video “ We feel that pop-punk has always been about having fun and jerking around but the more romantic meanings in the genre’s songs has been something that has been missed out. This is where HOUSE hopes to change this stereotype upon the genre”
In essence the ‘star power’ that has been created by us as group has been towards constructing a typical pop punk band into something different from the usual that is seen within this genre.
Their ‘star image’ has been meticulously broken down and rebuilt, adding in aspects that have been missed from other like-minded bands, helping HOUSE in the long run to last a lot longer then their competition. Currently they are seen as a new upcoming band making they’re way into the music industry, hoping to make a difference to the genre and keep it growing with the times but as changes take place, so too will they to keep on top of the competition.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback

From questionnaires to general research the feedback and personal decisions enabled an overall belief that our music video catered for the age range of anything from 14 upto 30.
Why I have chosen so young is due to the age of adolescence and that one begins to find themselves and start to make their own choices and actions at this age.Typical pop punk bands such as newfound glory play on the immaturity and having fun factors, not only in their songs but also the music videos that they make. Being the age of 14, newfound glory may appeal more to younger ears and to those who have grown up listening to other pop punk bands such as NOFX and Blink 182.
Why I have chosen to 30 and possibly past 30 is down to the fact that the genre pop-punk has been around for quite some time now. If you have grown up listening to that genre, even to the days of punk then you are more likely to continue listening to newer bands of that sub genre that is pop-punk.
If needed to be categorized then our potential audience would be classified to be of a social grade C2 and their VALS to be between strivers and experiences as this covers more of what our believed audience will be, which is a young age with expendable money to buy new clothes, food and in general enjoy what life has to offer but also want to achieve something as well as emulate those that they admire such as the artists of the pop-punk genre. Both of these have definite aspects that were easy to use and relate to the followers of the pop-punk genre.
The main audience attraction we focused on as a whole was use of style and dress attire of the band. This definitely helped to initiate the denotations of band motiffed t-shirts, musical instruments and long hair styles followed by their connotations as a majority of ROCK/POP PUNK.
Certain examples of attracting all of our audience types would be adding kissing couples to the music video which added realism to the narrative as well as a sentimental aspect to it. This I felt catered for couples and older fans of the pop punk genre as well as bringing a different more natural feel to pop punk that hasn’t been seen before.
To start with on our final showing of the finished edit to the band as well as an audience of random participators the overall appreciation of the media text was high. Many believed it to have promoted the band, sub genre pop-punk and the romance of the track itself very well. Due to the narrative of the kissing couples mainly.
This was the feedback generated from our band during their final viewing of the music video.


Are you happy with how you are portrayed?




Yes, it was awesome! I honestly didn't think it would be like that - I really liked it." (Lead guitarist)
"Yeah I've never made a video before so that's really cool, we look like a proper band - Do you have this on Youtube? I wanna show people (laughs)" (Drummer)



What did you like best about it?


Well I really liked the shot with the camera tied on the end of the guitar with the close up of my fingers playing it, it's such a cool shot - I've never seen that before! It looks like I'm actually playing it...but honestly, I liked all of it" - (Lead guitarist)
"Yeah I liked that shot, I also like how you have so many different shots - there was loads" (Guitarist)
"To be honest I cant even remember making that video (laughs) but yeah it's quite good isn't it!" (Alex - Guitarist)
"I like the shots of all the people kissing, the narrative bit. I didn't realise you were going to do it but it works well, it would of just been boring if it was us playing the whole time" (Drummer)
"Oh, and that end bit - where you zoom into my hand after the last strum of the guitar, that's pretty cool" - (Lead guitarist)
"I really wasn't expecting the quality of the cameras to be like that either" - (Guitarist)



Is there anything your unhappy with?


"Hmm I'm not sure really, I think there was too many close up shots of the singer James if I’m honest - there's too much of that" - (Lead Guitarist) (All agree)
"I'm not too keen on that hand held shot of James either really" - (Alex - Guitarist)
"I can't really think of anything, but as a musician, I could tell we wern't really playing live - you can tell I wasn't hitting the symbol" - (Drummer)

"Yeah I noticed that too - the same with the guitars that weren’t plugged in. You notice these things and it didn't look professional. I guess that’s not your fault though!" (Guitarist)

What do you think of the pace and rythm?

"Yeah it worked really well with the song, it was quite fast and there were loads of shots so there was so much to look at. How did you do that?" - (Guitarist)

"Well I wish we could have chose our own song because I'm sure we could make a better rhythm! - but yeah, I like what you've done with it" - (Drummer)



What would you have done differently?




"I'm not sure really, I would probably use more props, make the set more interesting I reckon" - (Guitarist)
"Yeah I probably wouldn't want to do it in that same set, It would of been good to have a proper location" - (Alex - Guitarist)




What about outside?




"Yeah, yeah outside! that would have been good" - (Alex - Guitarist)
"Yeah outside would be good, but I suppose it would be hard to take all the equipment out wont it, plus it was winter!" (Lead guitarist)

Would you make a music video again?

"Yeah definitely! it was quite tedious at the time having to do it over and over - but now I've seen how it turns out, yeah!" (Lead guitarist)
"Yeah I would, it was fun - I feel like a proper musician now, I wish I could do more! (Alex - Guitarist)
"I wish we could do it again, I wasn't feeling well at all that day so I wish I could have put more energy into it" - (Drummer)



Would you hire us if you become famous and need a music video? (laughs)

"Ha-ha, yeah I don’t see why not - you done a good job!" - (Alex - Guitarist)
　
The ancillary texts did have some backlash with the band mainly due to the fact that they were unsure what exactly the picture was meant to be, once described that it was a kaleidoscope effect complementing the integration of a couple as one and trying to relate to the album name then it was understood.
This was a bit frustrating as promotion of the band HOUSE might be hindered by the confusion fans may have on looking at the CD cover and Magazine advert and not knowing what it truly is. This was something we hadn’t thought would occur.
Overall a lot of what was said during the meeting was great although some constructive criticism helped to sum up the overall idea of what may have been done differently and what aspects were truly enjoyed.
I personally would have liked to have gained more time during which it would have been possible to have re-thought the first narrative that was had in mind, the split-screen effect. Also the group including me may have been too lenient towards the whole promo package to begin with and didn’t take the ‘bull by the horns instantly‘, taking too much time over the ideas we had created ourselves.
Secondly I’d have moved the band performance to a much larger venue, allowing more movement and a more diverse range of shots.
Being media students within the 6th from you are limited to resources that are available to you in the sense of technology. Due to this reason, ideas whether they are conceptual or performance based just couldn’t be used because of lack of newer technology and instruments such as the budgeted steady cams that we had.
Due to this we had to scrap the split screened narrative which would have looked aesthetically pleasing to the eye if had been achieved.

4.How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

With the accessibility of pretty much any knowledge that you require allowed research to be carried out with great precision. With this, myself and the others in the group were able to research, in depth enough about promoting the band as possible. With our own separate ideas we could integrate them into one therefore achieving a remotely successful package.
The research underwent was made possible with the access to the internet! It made things a lot easier but not as easy as I’d have liked due to the arduous tasks of trying to gain the correct information such as where and who promoted bands like ‘newfound glory’ and not just repeats of the information that wasn’t needed such as who ‘newfound glory were’ sites such as homepages of the pop-punk bands that I had looked at enabled extra knowledge to be learnt of the bands backgrounds, what made them want to play in bands, past interviews, pictures of the styles that portray them such as in what they wear, how they wear their hair in certain ways. All of this information was taken on board and certain aspects were used with our band HOUSE.
Some of these aspects were the certain style of questioning the bands during our first meeting, developing a good rapport from the very beginning. Checking if what they all wore was along the same lines as the bands I’d researched.
The use of YouTube made the analysis of music videos possible. It gained insight into how bands (not just pop-punk) portray themselves when in front of the camera, the certain shot styles and framing that they use, what are the possible messages/meanings behind the music videos, the dress attire they wear and what possible links to their chosen genre of music that may have.
Through our planning stages the main source of technology used was the animatics on the Apple Macs. These were great in placing your band members into positions that may look acceptable for the end result of the music video.
Though nothing beat the standard A4 storyboard sheets that truly allowed the group free reign of what they believed some of the shots and narrative should like.
The research that was completed was compiled onto our individual Bloggers allowing coverage to be kept of the process I was undergoing in learning what it took to make it in the music industry from the likes of Madonna to the new band that I analysed-HURTS. With Blogger the options it made possible were certain things such as placing certain music videos that had been fully analysed onto them. This was great as you could now refer back to these if in doubt of an aspect that you had chosen to use from them.
Within the actual filming of the music video we had an entire studio to ourselves which meant getting used to the ( two way system from sound booth to studio unsure what that is called)
The camera’s that we used to film the music video were large panasonic studio camera's mounted on to tripods with the ability to move diagonally, laterally, horizontally and turn a full 360 degree's allowing very fluent shots to be taken.
The handheld camera was a panasonic hd/dv which was mainly placed onto a small steady cam which allowed as much shaking to be cancelled out as humanly possible when using a very cheap version of a steady cam.
Once all had been shot it was logged and captured using a firewire on to an Apple Mac pro using the editing software Final cut pro. The editing software was great as it allowed the shots to be placed on top of one another in layers similar to a ‘cake’. The layering process meant that seeing a certain shot, all that had to be done was to cut either a section of the shot above or below it, making it very easy and less time consuming and monotonous. Once the editing had been completed and we had a our final edit it was then compressed into a QuickTime file. This could now be placed onto our individual blogs as well as you tube to try and gain some more feedback into what could have been done differently if given the chance again.
During the print production of our CD cover and magazine advert, the majority of the technology that I felt was used was mainly Photoshop. This was mainly down to my other team mates to complete the cd cover and magazine advert as I had the job of editing but I definitely felt that the ancillary texts they created definitely helped to develop a wanting towards who and what the band HOUSE were actually about due to the strange smudged effect that had been used to submerge our kissing couples into one.
With this evaluation that I have written, the use of technologies that have allowed me to complete this are Microsoft works word processor- this is what my writing was done on. The writing was then spell checked and placed onto my blogger account.
Images that I have used are mainly stills taken from the final edit of the music video but there are some that been included which I have simply copy and pasted from Google images whilst using the internet.
Prezi has been a source of presentation that I have used in some of my main earlier posts but not during this evaluation but Blogger was.
This was so helpful by allowing cross referencing to occur from previous work that had already been written. This helped by gaining access to work that had been completed during septewmeber, allowing information to be taken which I had forgotten about as well as being able to see other members of the groups work and what they may have mentioned that I haven’t about the promotional package or if any of the information was conflicting to others from the group.
　
　

11. Own idea for CD cover and Magazine advert

Check out my prezi on the reasoning behind my ideas of my own CD cover and MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT.

http://prezi.com/y_1p5bcw97pj/analysis-of-cd-cover-and-magazine-advert/

8-12. Group Call sheets etc

7. Group completed storyboard

18. List of all technology used Pre-Post production

Check out the Prezi and see the majority of Pre-Post production technologies that were being used during the second year of A-Levels and the reasonings behind them!

Click on more once you are on Prezi to view the presentation in full screen!


http://prezi.com/z_i1tgks93pd/technology-used-through-pre-post-production/

23. & 24. Completed CD digipak & print advert on blog & analysed.

13. Groups first initial idea

Synopsis: After we came up with our ideas individualy, my group and I got together to put all of our idea on the table. My group really liked my idea of a couple growing old together so we decided to go with that, of corse the location was not possible to go ahead with, so as a group we thought perhaps we could use some sort of tree as a meeting point for the couple - perhaps with a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHoT4N43jK8&feature=player_embedded in heart to represent their lengthy love, with the tree being a symbolisim for something that is alive and growing. The visuals would realte to the lyrics that often reffer to nature 'Kiss me, down by the broken tree house' 'Beside the green green grass'.We also agreed to shoot the band performing in the college studio with interesting spot lights and stage lights focusing on key areas and band members to make it more professional and so they would stand out from the black back ground. Filming in the studio would be a lot more practical for us and the band, we could also use the bigger, more proffessional cameras on the dollys so we could track and pan eaier and smoother.
We agreed costume would be dressed up but casual for the band and we also came up with the idea that one of the actors from the narrative would wear a certain peice of clothing (we thought perhaps the male was to wear a red top throughout the three stages of the narrative) which would help represent he is one person, because of corse it would be hard to find three characters which could pass as the same person.

Treatment: One member of my group also came up with a brilliant editing idea for the narrative - we thought using a split screen (the right side concerntrating on the female and the left on the male) we could also use the different sides of the screen to show the same scenario, but at different angles and different depths. For example, the right hand side has a close up of holding hands, whereas the left hand side perhaps a long shot of the couple holding hands..seeing the whole of their body. We would also follow my original idea regarding cinematography - making sure there are many close ups of intmate expressions or actions, making sure we apply the concept of voyerism (looking) and making kissing a key element . Of corse this means there would be a wide variety of shots and would keep the video interesting and unique..the inspiration for this idea came from 'Stromae's' video 'Alors on danse' - Snap shots of this video can be seen on the right hand side. To achieve our desiered effect for the music video we would need to use final cut pro software on the Mac computers. Here we could easily log on what we filmed to edit and manipulate the shots until we're happy with what we created. We would also use a variety of cameras to film different angles of the performance and narrative, by using three cameras instead of one would speed up the prossess increadibly.

(written by Emily Stansfield)

5. & 6. Group Final Idea: Synopsis and Treatment

With our deadline for course work approaching, my group and I began to panic about our first initial idea. Although it would of been brilliant if it were achievable, we experienced some difficulties during the production stage. Firstly, it was hard to get together 3 different sets of people who were happy to be filmed being intimate and who had enough time to spare to be in our video and the idea of a split screen was too out of reach, especially when considering our time limit. We did actually do a test of split screening where we had to have a grid on the screen of the camera and keep the actor only on one side, for example, when we filmed the female we had to make sure she was on the left hand side of the grid at all times - and using a different camera, the male must stay on the right hand side at all times. After filming we could merge the two takes together to create the split screen effect, but of course to film a whole narrative like this would be very time consuming and difficult to create the exact look we were hoping for.
With that idea scrapped, it was clear my group and I had to come up with a different idea for our narrative quickly, as by this point we were starting to film the band performance.

Final Synopsis: The final idea for our music video would involve a band performance in the college studio, we would have prefferd to locate them somewhere more adventurous and perhaps outdoors but we had to think about practicalities and budget, not to mention we were filming in the middle of winter! Although we have a basic set to work with, our knowledge of lighting and mes-en-scene would help create a professional, interesting 'stage' for the band to perform on. Soft and hard lights would be used in a way to A/ focus on important areas (mainly meaning the lead singer) and B/ To create depth from the black curtains surrounding them, making the band step out from the back ground instead of blending in. The band would be dressed in casual, yet a little more dressed up than everyday clothing - like they effortlessly look 'cool' which would be part of their star construction. Their set-up would be the typical band set up, with the lead singer at center front, drummer at center back, lead guitarist one side and the other two guitarist on the opposite side. We would get as many shots as possible - using different angles, depths and camera movement in order to make sure our video is exciting and fast and also to make sure each band member gets camera time to do their thing and get recognition. Like many similar bands to House, we would like band members to be fun and energetic in performance, with hopefully some sort of interaction with each other to show their closeness, again which wold help their star construction.

Our music video would not only involve a band performance, and like other videos, we would need a narrative. Not straying too far from our first idea of a young couple growing old together with shots of kissing throughout, we decided to get a large variety of kissing and hugging shots from the general public or family members. What we wanted to portray through this idea was a general feel of love and affection, from all age groups and all different reasons to love, it would be quite a personal, emotional and light hearted montage throughout the video which would suit the music and topic of 'Kiss Me'. When regarding mes-en-scene and props, we must consider that our band would only be in a small college studio and not many props would be needed - just having the band stand infront of a black background with spot lights and stage lights surrounding them would be enough, and would also bring all attention to the band - the idea of our video is quite simple and 'home made' as it is, so I think the simple set fits into this theme. We would not really be able control the set, location or props of our narrative montage because we are just going to be asking the general public if they would be happy to quickly kiss for the camera (of course after explaining the reason why we are filming!) - but we're not anticipating a certain location because again, we are after a natural, home-made sequence.

(Written by Emily Stansfield)

19. & 20. Groups roles in the creation of our pop promotion.

My group consisted of myself and another two A2 media students, although our teach chose our groups for us we was all happy to be working together as we each have our strong points within media studies and could take control of our specialized areas to produce our best possible final piece.
As a group we did all take turns in all areas of pre and post production, however for the bulk of it we stuck to our individual roles.

Josh Featherstone: Editor...Camera...Set designer
Ana Rita: Producer...Music control...Set designer
Emily Stansfield (myself): Cinematographer..Camera...Set designer

Description of my role: As cinematographer my main role was to make sure everything on-screen was exactly how we wanted it; this varied from lighting positions, crew and band positions and camera angles (we used three cameras and done three takes with all of them in different positions, ultimatly leaving us with nine takes). I also had to make sure the band was up-to-scratch in performance (although they didn't need much encouragement) and to ensure we have all our desired shots before wrapping up. I enjoyed taking on this role because when I have an image in my head, I will try my hardest to make sure it becomes reality to the best possible standard. During the editing stage, when group member Josh went through our various shots I helped choose what footage is usable and works well.
I also worked behind the cameras during filming, for this I had to ensure we had as many interesting shots as possible. I used zoom ins and outs, tracking and panning in various positions of the room to make sure we cover all areas of the band, I was aware that some moments of my filming was wobboly or just a general bad angle but I knew we had and would get many more shots - although I would still correct my areas to ensure all shots we did get was of a high standard.

Description of Joshuas role:Josh felt the most comfortable when it came to editing, and he really was brilliant at it. For this he used final cut pro on the mac computers and was knowledgable when it came to this software. After we all looked through every take from all cameras and chose which ones we prefferd and what would work best, Josh began to cut takes and put together a rough sequence. I think the hardest bit was trying to make the music and the footage in sync, and after many trials and errors he managed to do this well. Finding the best footage from nine different takes to go in the right space took a fairly long time, but once we was all happy with the rough edit - Josh then began to polish the edit by making cuts sharper and more in tune with the music.

Josh also controled some of the cameras whilst filming to make sure he got shots he was happy with and also helped ensure we were happy with the set.

Description of Ritas role: Rita took on the role as a producer, she helped ensure the rough edit turned into the final edit and that we were all happy with the final production. She also came up with the idea of a montage of couples kissing and went out to get some shots of this from her family. Rita was good during the research stage as she enjoys this genre of music more than the rest of us, so when discussing target audiences and audience profile, her knowledge helped. She also knew the general feel simular music has to offer - so we tryed to portray this throughout our own production. Rita also helped during the filming by working one of the cameras, but what she done more of was the music control - making sure the band knew exactly when to start playing at the right point of the start of the music.

(Written by Emily Stansfield)

19. & 20. Groups roles in the creation of our pop promotion.

My group consisted of myself and another two A2 media students, although our teach chose our groups for us we was all happy to be working together as we each have our strong points within media studies and could take control of our specialized areas to produce our best possible final piece.
As a group we did all take turns in all areas of pre and post production, however for the bulk of it we stuck to our individual roles.

Josh Featherstone: Editor...Camera...Set designer
Ana Rita: Producer...Music control...Set designer
Emily Stansfield (myself): Cinematographer..Camera...Set designer

Description of my role: As cinematographer my main role was to make sure everything on-screen was exactly how we wanted it; this varied from lighting positions, crew and band positions and camera angles (we used three cameras and done three takes with all of them in different positions, ultimatly leaving us with nine takes). I also had to make sure the band was up-to-scratch in performance (although they didn't need much encouragement) and to ensure we have all our desired shots before wrapping up. I enjoyed taking on this role because when I have an image in my head, I will try my hardest to make sure it becomes reality to the best possible standard. During the editing stage, when group member Josh went through our various shots I helped choose what footage is usable and works well.
I also worked behind the cameras during filming, for this I had to ensure we had as many interesting shots as possible. I used zoom ins and outs, tracking and panning in various positions of the room to make sure we cover all areas of the band, I was aware that some moments of my filming was wobboly or just a general bad angle but I knew we had and would get many more shots - although I would still correct my areas to ensure all shots we did get was of a high standard.

Description of Joshuas role:Josh felt the most comfortable when it came to editing, and he really was brilliant at it. For this he used final cut pro on the mac computers and was knowledgable when it came to this software. After we all looked through every take from all cameras and chose which ones we prefferd and what would work best, Josh began to cut takes and put together a rough sequence. I think the hardest bit was trying to make the music and the footage in sync, and after many trials and errors he managed to do this well. Finding the best footage from nine different takes to go in the right space took a fairly long time, but once we was all happy with the rough edit - Josh then began to polish the edit by making cuts sharper and more in tune with the music.

Josh also controled some of the cameras whilst filming to make sure he got shots he was happy with and also helped ensure we were happy with the set.

Description of Ritas role: Rita took on the role as a producer, she helped ensure the rough edit turned into the final edit and that we were all happy with the final production. She also came up with the idea of a montage of couples kissing and went out to get some shots of this from her family. Rita was good during the research stage as she enjoys this genre of music more than the rest of us, so when discussing target audiences and audience profile, her knowledge helped. She also knew the general feel simular music has to offer - so we tryed to portray this throughout our own production. Rita also helped during the filming by working one of the cameras, but what she done more of was the music control - making sure the band knew exactly when to start playing at the right point of the start of the music.

(Written by Emily Stansfield)

21. Feedback on pop promo package from the band HOUSE.

Of course, those opinions who's matter most is our clients - the band HOUSE. If we were to make a music video as a real job and were getting paid for it, its the most important thing to make sure the client is happy with the final product because they are the ones on screen who will ultimatly want to make money off it, promote themselves and impress followers, fans or potential buyers.

My group and I were fairly nervous on the way to meeting our band, hoping they are happy with the work we have created - plus we havnt seem them since filming them a few months back! The whole band apart from the lead singer turned up to view our video, which was unfortunate because the singer was the main focus throughout. Our band, plus a few members of another band crowed round our sceen in excitement to see their very first music video, when the video ended the first thing I heard was 'Wow! that was really good, I'm really happy with that!' - Lead guitarist.

We then needed to get some feedback - hopefully with complete honesty, it was evident the band seemed genuine throughout the discussion, but we needed to bare in mind that the band did not have the same knowledge of media terms as we do

1. Are you happy with how you are portrayed?
"Yes, it was awesome! I honestly didn't think it would be like that - I really liked it." (Lead guitarist)

"Yeh I've never made a video before so that's really cool, we look like a proper band - Do you have this on Youtube? I wanna show people (laughs)" (Drummer)

2. What did you like best about it?

"Well I really liked the shot with the camera tied on the end of the guitar with the close up of my fingers playing it, it's such a cool shot - I've never seen that before! It looks like I'm actually playing it...but honestly, I liked all of it" - (Lead guitarist)

"Yeh I liked that shot, I also like how you have so many different shots - there was loads" (Guitarist)

"To be honest I cant even remember making that video (laughs) but yeh it's quite good isn't it!" (Alex - Guitarist)

"I like the shots of all the people kissing, the narrative bit. I didn't realise you were going to do it but it works well, it would of just been boring if it was us playing the whole time" (Drummer)
"Oh, and that end bit - where you zoom into my hand after the last strum of the guitar, that's pretty cool" - (Lead guitarist)
"I really wasn't expecting the quality of the cameras to be like that either" - (Guitarist)

3. Is there anything your unhappy with?
"Hmm I'm not sure really, I think there was too many close up shots of the singer James if im honest - there's too much of that" - (Lead Guitarist) (All agree)
"I'm not too keen on that hand held shot of James either really" - (Alex - Guitarist)
"I can't really think of anything, but as a musician, I could tell we wern't really playing live - you can tell I wasn't hitting the symbol" - (Drummer)
"Yeh I noticed that too - the same with the guitars that wern't plugged in. You notice these things and it didn't look proffessional. I guess thats not your fault though!" (Guitarist)

4. What do you think of the pace and rythm?
"Yeh it worked really well with the song, it was quite fast and there were loads of shots so there was so much to look at. How did you do that?" - (Guitarist)
"Well I wish we could have chose our own song because I'm sure we could make a better rythm! - but yeh, I like what you've done with it" - (Drummer)

5. What would you have done differently?
"I'm not sure really, I would probably use more props, make the set more interesting I rekon" - (Guitarist)
"Yeh I probably wouldn't want to do it in that same set, It would of been good to have a proper location" - (Alex - Guitarist)
What about outside?
"Yeh, yeh outside! that would have been good" - (Alex - Guitarist)
"Yeh outside would be good, but I suppose it would be hard to take all the equipment out wont it, plus it was winter!" (Lead guitarist)

6. Would you make a music video again?

"Yeh deffinatly! it was quite tedious at the time having to do it over and over - but now I've seen how it turns out, yeh!" (Lead guitarist)

"Yeh I would, it was fun - I feel like a proper musician now, I wish I could do more! (Alex - Guitarist)

"I wish we could do it again, I wasn't feeling well at all that day so I wish I could have put more energy into it" - (Drummer)

7. Would you hire us if you become famous and need a music video? (laughs)

"Haha, yeh I dont see why not - you done a good job!" - (Alex - Guitarist)

(written by Emily Stansfield)

3. Group target audience report.

Male and female group target audience summary.
After much deliberation a summary of our typical audience has been produced.
The typical audience for the genre of our pop promo would be of someone who enjoyed this type of music obviously.
Newfound glory and bands similar sing and write songs about having fun, not working too hard and being rebellious.


A lot of the participants that we asked in the survey who were fans of this particular genre said that what they enjoyed most with the pop punk genre is the live performances that they give. This was helpful toward warning our band HOUSE to increase their performance energy during their video shoot to really impress followers such as those we had answer our questions.
Therefore the typical age range of listeners I would put to this type of genre/band would be of the age of 14-30.
Why I have chosen so young is due to the age of adolescence and that one begins to find themselves and start to make their own choices and actions at this age.
Typical pop punk bands such as newfound glory play on their immaturity not only in their songs but also the music videos that they make. Being the age of 14, newfound glory may appeal more to younger ears and to those who have grown up listening to other pop punk bands such as NOFX and Blink 182.
　

If needed to be categorized then our potential audience would be classified to be of a social grade C2 and their VALS to be between strivers and experiences as this covers more of what our believed audience will be, which is a young age with expendable money to buy new clothes, food and in general enjoy what life has to offer but also want to achieve something as well as emulate those that they admire such as the artists of the pop-punk genre. Both of these have definite aspects that were easy to use and relate to the followers of the pop-punk genre.
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

Rough idea of the pop promotional package

Our music promo is covering a broad spectrum of shots and characters. The main bulk of the video contains the band performing their song in a studio. With this a black curtain has been used to block any light from reflecting of the walls. Hard lighting as well as soft lights were used to focus most of the viewers attention onto the members of the bands.
The added extras to the music videos are to have a part narrative of a couple in love walking and flirting in a split screen sequence (similar to that of the TV series 24) but also to have a vast collection of shots of couples and friends kissing, seeing as this is the main idea of the song.



The CD cover and magazine advert will both be similar in the sense of the design.
The design will be stills from our music video (mainly of the bands performance within the studio).
These will be arranged into a collage covering the entire front and back of the cd. The colours used will be very vibrant and uplifting just like the mood that is felt when in love.
Inside of the CD will be a booklet which is found amongst all other CD’s that are brought but in ours it will be a variety of stories from our kissing couples on how they met and their feelings to one another.



The magazine advert will be the same design as the CD cover but with the addition of details which will include tour dates. Release dates of singles and album and reviews from magazines and interviewees.
The band will be placed within the background so that it can develop as much understanding to the public as possible of who these people are and what they look like. This way the target audience/listeners, which will be those that listen to rock/Indy music will be able to instantly associate themselves due to the similarities between dress sense and hairstyles.
More importantly website addresses, face book and twitter accounts will all be printed amongst the magazine advert so that it makes it very difficult for the band to not be found.

Test footage of the split screen effect

Our main idea was to follow suit of a dance track ‘alors on danse’. this dance tracks music video is all split screened and the way it was done was fantastic.
With this in mind we as a group were determined to set out to achieve a split screened narrative of our music video.
Firstly we did some tests, some with no movement whatsoever so that we could get a general understanding of how to accomplish the split screened effect. (It was quite tricky to begin with just getting your head round the filming two different footages from either the left or right side of the camera).
Then we got to trying the effect whilst the person walks. This is what created a problem!
Reason being that the equipment that we had on offer wasn’t able to provide a stable enough shot once the camera person began to walk also. All we had were steady cam’s but these were of the lowest quality therefore hardly providing any aid once movement began.
The walking effect was also lost during the filming stage but the still split screen test luckily wasn’t.

22. Completed pop promo

21. First audience review of our rough edit viewing

First viewing of our rough edit to an audience received many good reviews which helped increase the groups confidence as a whole due to our previous ‘scrapping’ of our original narrative idea. Once we had to re-think an idea for more of a performance based narrative and not a conceptual type, the confidence we had had before was beginning to waver due to the music video beginning to feel not as strong as it had been. Therefore our first screening definitely helped to boost it back up to previous levels.


Firstly the overall belief was that it faired well with the genre of pop-punk. That the band was definitely performing to their fullest, such is seen from previous pop-punk bands such as blink 182 and sum 41 (bands that have been analyzed in previous posts) Also an overall sense of achievement was felt once the audience likened it to ‘Newfound Glory’ and the type of music videos they made. This was excellent due to ‘Newfound Glory’ were the band that our band were covering!
There was also agreement that the clothes worn helped to convey a more comfortable approach to a band performance instead of having them wear matching tops or accessories etc which was good to hear, especially as the band had wanted this also. The production values were favoured. The shots used especially the zoom into and out of certain band members performing was enjoyed as again it helped to convey a more comfortable perception of the video as well as creating a point of view approach to the music video and also helped to compete against standard conventions of music videos that are seen today. Due to zooming in and out of band performances is a rarity now.


Mise-en-scene such as location used was favoured throughout. The fact that lighting had been used from the top of the studio and from the back of the performers helped to cast a shadow upon aspects of the bands face as well as giving of a slightly angelic effect upon their skin, causing it to glow.
One piece of cinematography that truly stood out to many was the handheld shot of the lead singer. This was created by giving the camera to the lead singer to hold when performing as if to express the feeling that he is singing to you the viewer and you only.
The chosen narrative to replace our previous idea was to collect a large amount of shots of kissing couples from the general public. This again was to convey a more comfortable/natural approach to the music video which was agreed as a whole from the audience. This certain aspect was considered one of the best parts of the music video.


Editing was suggested as good overall and that the pace of which it was being cut too helped to make the music video a success. Specific parts of the video the audience favoured due to the editing is when the chorus of the song begins to end. In this we chose to cut between the different shots that we had of the band to the quickened beat of the song as the chorus ends and the next verse of the song continues.


Specific improvements that were advised to take were as follows. It wasn’t necessarily the band performance that was required to change but the performance based narrative that we had chosen. Firstly a blur into the shots of our kissing couples was believed to be felt a good idea as this would soften the transition from band performance to kissing couples. Secondly, the colour of the kisses should be different. This was due to the colour of the band performance was mainly of a black backdrop with lighting involved to add character to the shoot. This added a more black and white approach to the performance.
These shots of our kissing couples were full of colour and it was criticised by the audience as creating a slight juxtapositioning to the two different shoots. And lastly there was a desire by all to add more shots of kissing couples as it was felt that there wasn’t enough in the music video.


Overall, not too bad a review for a first viewing of our rough edit!

7. Similar music video analysis

The music video I am analysing is ‘blink 182 all the small things’. This is another band similar to ‘newfound glory’ and its genre, pop-punk. They are also signed to Geffen records, same as ‘newfound glory’.

The videos main stand out feature is the continuous parodying of artists that do not follow the same stylistics that make pop-punk. These consist of Christina Aguilera’s ‘genie in a bottle’ video, backstreet boys ‘I want it that way’ and more. This music video by blink 182 helps to establish them as a comical pop-punk band. After my continuous research throughout pop-punk music videos, this seems to be the style/look they all tend to strive for…..a humorous one. The interesting use of locations mimicking the artists they are parodying makes it interesting to look at as it entices you to see more as well as whom else is going to be targeted next. One that works very well is the evening shot of the band lying on the beach picking daisies together. This is the Christina parody shot. Specific dress attire used again mimics the artists they are copying such as the all white suits previously worn by ‘backstreet boys’. This is very beneficial as it makes the viewer instantly aware of who is being copied. Only the popular music videos are what’s being parodied as this will be easier for the viewer to notice. On most of the performances the panning shot is used (left to right and vice versa). Some including a fish bowl lens. Similarities of performance cinematography can be seen between the sum41 song ‘into deep’ and ‘all the small things’.

Throughout the music video the action that is seen on screen cuts to the beat of the song perfectly. This is something that every music video does simultaneously apart from the ones that are deliberately trying to make it uncomfortable, even then its pretty closely cut still. Solo instrumentals are specially used on the drummer and the majority of the artists singing along to the song. Its possible that the drummer is used due to the fact that they are usually at the back of the band when performing therefore not spending to much time in front of the camera. This way, the inclusion of him erases the possibilities of excluding him from the public eye.

This music video is to be sold as a parody of past artists music videos. Blink 182 have been promoted especially in this music video as a band that do-not take themselves too seriously. Something that has been stressed to the fans of the music also. Again, as mentioned before, pop-punk genre seems to follow this mantra through their music and music videos alike. If a newfound glory video were to be watched and then a blink 182 or a sum 41 music video next. There would be instant recognition that pop-punk is what’s being viewed just by the style of childish humour that’s gets expressed.

Voyeurism is rampant throughout the video, mainly of the band but also there happens to be a lone women in the shoot who just so happens to be semi naked and attractive. As well as this there also contains a lot of hip gyrating from band members to entice a sexual meaning from this, or to just take the pee out of past music videos. This video might appeal also to a gay following due to the alluring glances of the semi naked band even though it is all in humorous manner.

The use of Intertextual references is the main idea/purpose for this music video. As mentioned before, a large deal of the music video is filled with parodies of past music videos such as Christina Aguilera’s ‘genie in a bottle’. The way in which its used is by using aspects of the locations, lighting and clothes that were from the previous music videos and integrating them into the bands imitative take of it. Blink 182 music video ‘all the small things’ is performance based. It sees the band performing but to how the original artist they are imitating would have done so. Such as Christina Aguilera was laying by a beach surrounded by flowers. In this the lead singer of blink 182 does the same thing. Overall the music video promotes the band very well. They show what type of band your dealing with which in this case a band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously and what’s to make pop-punk genre something where fun is all that is to be had. From previous pop promos such as ‘what’s my age again’ there seems to be a continually naked themed approach to some of blink 182 music videos. This helps to initiate their fun approach to music/life and this is also re-initiated into ‘all the small things’. This therefore keeps the audience/fans of the band understandable of what to expect when watching them. 　　

14. Group diary through the pre-production stage

• January 2011 has begun and in doing so so has the planning for the filming of our music video ‘kiss me’ performed by house. So far the ideas from myself, Rita and Emily are being scanned through and an overall agreement will be made very soon as to which ideas will be used. First things are to correlate the whole pop promo making sure aspects that are to be used will have a matching style throughout. This will therefore make the overall pop package themed towards HOUSE making it easier to be made aware who and what your looking for.

• 
  
  
  
  Mid January:- After much deliberating we have decided to use Emily’s idea as the narrative. It follows a young couple through their relationship from the beginning through to the near end, transitioning between young couple and old. We will be including my idea of filming this via a split screen technique. This way we can focus on certain affections such as holding hands in one half of the screen and a sexual gaze/kiss from either male or female in the other side of the screen. Rita’s idea of mise-en-scene such as dress attire and locations were taken into account and an overall agreement on location was achieved. The location would be within a park and using a stand out object in the park such as a tree would be where our couple in love would continually go back to. This would also help show the transition from the young aged couple to old aged couple.




• 
  
  
  
  February:- The bands live performance has been shot!!! HOORAH The cogs have finally begun moving as the music video has moved in the production phase. We used the studio in the media department at 6th form and darkened in with black cloth. We then used lighting to develop shadows upon our band members faces and body and back lights to allow light to shine upon the groups figures. This gave out a nice effect especially on the lead guitarist. The only problem we seemed to have was that the studio was quite small therefore we couldn’t help but shoot some of the ceiling as well as some of the members of the band were extremely camera shy whilst others weren’t. This then made some of the shots of the awkward band members hard to use as it was quite dull to be seen!




• 
  
  
  
  Mid February:- Editing has been underway for a while now and the main cause for concern was that we hadn’t shot enough different shots of the bands performance. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if I song wasn’t so fast pace. This therefore needs constant cuts to the music especially when it speeds up during the chorus. This would therefore keep a continuous flow of music:visual, which would also be pleasing aesthetically. this in mind, we are still awaiting our couple of actors who will be playing the part of the narrative which means that more shot sequences will be on the way




• 
  
  
  
  March:- Disaster has occurred! The narrative contained flaws to the overall plan. This therefore has caused we, the group to rethink the whole narrative and approach it at a different perspective. The problems we had firstly were the technicalities of what we were trying to achieve in the sense of a split screen styled music video. Secondly we couldn’t find ANY actors young and or old willing to act romantically in front of the camera. Thirdly, we were running out of time fast. The final deadline for coursework isn’t too far away so our previous idea for a narrative had to be scrapped. The new idea is to collect a vast amount of shots of kissing couples from the general public. This will give the video a more natural feeling. Though the possibility of getting some very negative feedback from the general public is a given! 　




• 
  
  
  
  Mid march:- Ok. Finally we have all the necessary shots that are required to finish of this music video production. With the inclusion of our kissing couples, the video not only will have this natural, comfortable feeling of seeing happy couples kissing but it will also contain a live performance of the band which should make it seem to the viewer that they are there watching this occur. that’s the idea anyway. After the editing is finally finished I will post an overview of what was good/what was bad and what needs to be changed after receiving feedback from the panel of viewers. 　

7.Similar music video analysis

I am analyzing the video ‘into deep’ by sum 41.

A band similar to ‘newfound glory’ who are the band that HOUSE have covered for our pop promotion.
The genre this type of music belongs to is Pop Punk. You can see this by the way the lead vocalists hair is styled which looks similar to how Sid Viscous used to have his during his days in the band ‘the sex pistols’.
The pop characteristics can be seen through how bright and colorful not only the video is but also through the clothes that the band and extras wear.

The visual stylistics throughout the video are to show a light side to ‘getting into deep’ in a relationship.
This is portrayed through the clothing worn through many people in the video. The clothes are almost all very colorful. The day is also sunny so I am assuming this is representing a typical college American atmosphere. The location is at a swimming pool which seems very fitting alongside the songs title.
The majority of shots are long shots, mid shots and close ups mainly to allow most of the narrative and band performance to be seen.
There are also large amounts of zooming in and out of the band performance possibly by the main camera being mounting on wire, capturing a wide range of shots of the performance.

The Relationships between visuals can be seen almost immediately when the band approaches the diving centre. From here you can see where this video is going, for instance “I’m into too deep” is followed by shots of the band vs. jocks in a diving competition.

The Relationship between the music and visuals is perfectly in sync throughout the video.
On certain drum beats the shots of the bands performance and the narrative change by jump cut. If this wasn’t the case then it would be quite messy and uncomfortable to watch because of its out of beat theme of style.
There are solo instrumental parts of the song that are highlighted to make them more visual when watching the video. The one in particular is when the lead guitarist does his dive into the pool and then raises out of the water to do his solo. Once completed he the sinks back into the pool.

The band sum 41 have been presented as a punk pop band due to there not so serious music videos and their light clothing that’s worn throughout most of their performances. This hasn’t changed for ‘into deep’ as they continue to be represented as a pop punk band. This is most probably done on purpose to keep those that buy into the band happy.
The type of music video is very different to their previous music video ‘fat lip’ in the sense of location, extras used and clothes worn.
Fat lip instead has a darker feel. The location is at abandoned land at the side of motorways, the band shave off a girl’s hair, teenage girls being sick behind dustbins whilst the general idea of the music video is to cause havoc amongst each other. Somehow very alike the genre pop punk and the ideology they pursuit.
All in all a completely different feel compared to ‘into deep’.
Though the lead singer keeps his ‘Sid viscous’ like hair style and the band stick to their colorful dress attire, so particular style motifs have been kept.

The video is a mixture of performance and narrative.
This can be seen by the division between the band performance and the diving competition between punk and jock!
The video promotes the band well in the sense that they can defeat the competition in the narrative, so why can they not defeat the competition that is the industry and the numerous amounts of bands and artists. On top of this the image of sum41 is further pushed as being a more colorful pop-punk band. This is achieved (as mentioned before) by the clothes that are worn and the location of the video which is a sun fuelled day in an American pool.
Still staying true to the punk homage by skulls being hung from the drum kit and certain hairstyles still being used.
The audience it is aimed at would be fans of the pop-punk genre. The age range would be from early teens to late 20’s.

.3 What makes a good pop promo

A good pop promo contains a variety of conventions increasing the chance of not only it being repeated in viewings but to also develop the popularity of the band and to increase its numbers of fans and numbers of earnings.
The relationships between visuals and musichelp portray the message or story the song is trying to bring across to the listeners.A great band in doing so would be Coldplay.

Whether it’s a pop promotion of themselves or a live performance. Messages are always included such as the markings on lead singers Chris martins hand. Instantly this caused interest and when asked he exclaimed it to be about fighting for fairer trade as well as looking after the environment. All this from having two black lines on your hands which are always on show due to him being a pianist.

Musical genres each have their own codes and conventions which help cause an understanding to the viewer on what type of music they are listening to just from how the band are dressed. Mise en scene is most likely to be the m

ost important part of a pop promo due to its ability to instantly create

the genre of music through what you are seeing from the get go.
For example if you were to see slipknot come onto your screen you’d know straight away that it is definitely not going to be classical. Also due to their brilliant advertising they have managed to develop their own star iconography due to you instantly knowing who they are and what their genre of music is.
Slipknots star vehicle would be the music videos that they have created which mainly consist of out of control parties or disruptive families in poverty.

Music videos in its own right helps many bands to further their career and earnings due to it constructing bands and driving them towards their own iconography that’s seen today.

The star power consists of a variety of different aspects of the music industry but also business in general.

Firstly the power of economic increase create further revenue for the band which in turn means that they will be around for longer and this is in the form of CD sales, gig tickets sales, merchandise of the band etc.
Secondly the power of the artist. This allows them to develop their own image (or how their owner wants them to look) and how they want to be portrayed and as mentioned before, slipknot have chosen to bear masks which can only be described as modifications from films such as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Jason X which also covers the star image.

An artists star image is very dependable on how they are to be viewed from the public though other influences can depend on their star images also.

Some require extra textual publicity such as Jordan aka Katie Price whose character feeds of media publications and stories being made about her such as those from glossy magazines like heat. If these magazines weren’t to write about her then her celebrity status would not exist. Some artists or celebrities strive for this media spotlight whilst others do-not.

Excess media stories can have a detrimental effect on an artists image, causing them to be seen under a new light which they may not have wanted to be under.

Intertextuality within some pop promos help to hide messages that either do or do not want to be seen within

them. With this if something is believed to be seen this causes deeper attention to be attained from the viewer leading to the overall bands song to be listened to and their performance to be watched. Examples of this would be Bjorks ‘ its oh so quiet’ which incorporates a lot of old style America in the 50’s as well as intertexuality from films such as the wizard of oz.
Voyeurism and exhibitionism also generates a deeper ability to hold

someone attention due to the fact that if someone beautiful is placed onto screen then this will draw the persons attention to it. This understanding has then been converted into pop promo’s to gain a wider viewing of the song, especially if a certain celebrity is to be seen within the clip.