A promotional package for the release of an album for an unsigned British band or artist, to include the following:
- Music Promo video
- Cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
- Magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).
In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My production uses the Ska genre because I researched costumes alongside locations and classic codes and conventions of the genre by viewing more successful existing media texts. For example I originally analysed music videos from bands such as Madness and then began to develop a more detailed search into bands with a more similar and close genre such as Reel Big Fish. Although the bands I researched were massively different within the same genre I could choose to mix and match different aspects of ska into my video, for example the dress code in the opening sequence was much closer related to Madness.
however as the video progressed and changed so did the styles later on we see the drummer dressed in a much more modern style of ska clothing for example jeans and a colourful tee-shirt and grey hooded jumper, inspired by Reel Big Fish dress code.
Although I used the costume ideas from these existing videos I did not necessarily copy the ideas of locations. In the video ‘One Step Beyond’ by Madness there is a very heavy implication of patriotism and a large amount of British iconography which in it’s Ska style reinforces genre whereas with Reel Big Fish a more American cultural feel is applied to the videos due to the fact they are an American band. My music video doesn’t have a huge national influence which is perhaps where it looses some of its effectiveness, ideally I would have included imagery from London for example red double decker busses and red phone boxes as these are British icons that dominate British TV drama’s such as Doctor Who and Spooks. And would have created a much more Ska feel, as with the ska genre reflections of a sense of patriotism and pride for your country.
In Ska music videos such as; Baggy trousers by Madness, we see the band joking and dancing around, this would be described as music videos demonstrating the genre as Andrew Goodwin states in Goodwin’s music video theory. Using this theory I made my video my original and relevant to the genre, through aspects such as synchronizing lyrics to visuals, I used this idea in my music video, the chorus is ‘she’s a money grabber’ therefore I had imagery of people grabbing monopoly money off of a table
When creating the digipak I wanted to continue this idea of lyrics to visuals however I was unsuccessful and was told through peer and tutor evaluation that two of the four panels were not as powerful or successful as I had first intended. I used an image of monopoly money (as used in the video) scattered over a table with hands reaching towards the money, this was to achieve the reoccurring theme of money grabbing.
My second panel on the inside cover featured images of the band members that we had used however due to one of my actors not belonging to the school it was incredibly difficult to get hold of her to take a photo that matched the other three images I had already taken. Therefore I had to rethink this panel. I began to research existing photography featuring multiple models and people. I discovered a photograph of the Marx brothers taken by the highly experienced professional photographer Andy Warhol.
I decided to try and replicate this image through Photoshop and was pleased with the result I had achieved I handed this image in to be assessed and I got very positive feedback. This then inspired me to create another more unusual montage of the actors used. I put all four band mates in the corners of the digipak and used the blur tool to swirl them all together into a spherical image, this idea came to me when looking for a way to highlight the CD and draw attention to it. I am very happy with the result.
Goodwin’s theory helped me greatly when trying to establish a genre, especially as ska is such a wide and varied musical style, using the Goodwin theory allowed me to link the genre into the music video.
When beginning to create the music video I had to take into consideration, the target audience demographic. I researched what ska listeners and fans were like. I had a large amount of difficulty doing this because as it turns out Ska audience demographics are vast and have huge differences, as there have been many tones and waves of ska over different generations, this means there are people of all ages in the fan bases anywhere between 14 and 40. I decided to narrow it down to Ska fans between the ages of 14 and 20 the young ska enthusiasts of both genders. I challenged a generalised rule of voyeurism, the lead singer in the video is a young teenage girl however I have not represented her as a sex icon as the videos of Beyonce for example baby boy.
Instead I represented her more as a tom boy, the fact she is dancing and spending time with all boys, and not wearing short skirts and revealing tops, thus I challenged the music industry and the way in which women are sexually exploited to gain success.
Another aspect of planning I had to tackle was the representation of youth. The youthful market or demographic are often represented as violent drunken and outrageous, for example channel 4’s teen drama Skins.
I didn’t want to represent youth in a negative way to avoid this I stayed clear from imagery such as alcohol or drugs or sex to avoid any false or negative representations. However teenagers and young people are often associated with underage pregnancy.
I wanted to show sexuality and heterosexual relations. I did this loosely through the narrative which involves the drummer looking into the mirror a cross fade then brings in the lead singers face making it appear as if they are getting ready to meet each other, I am a little disappointed that I didn’t reinforce this idea however I am still confident that this idea will translate.
A detailed and proficient response. Your references to how you challenged the music industry female objecified stereotype is interesting. Do watch your use of capital letters Harley!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOverall your enagement with question 1 is interesting and reflects mainly confident understanding of the genre. Some generalisations detract.