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Question1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Draft

FEAR THE UNKNOWN are a Metal core band, and so I looked at music videos of bands performing their music to this specific genre.  I looked at what typically occurred in these music videos – and so gained an idea of the ‘conventions’ associated in these. I went about this by asking the band members themselves for their views, asking friends who listen to this genre of music and so watch these videos regularly of their opinions, and also by conducting research myself by watching videos on YouTube.

Goodwin believed that there were 6 typical conventions associated within every music video, these are:

1.      Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics; our video adheres to this in many ways, and I shall be showing this further down within the question.

2.      There is a relationship between music and visuals; this convention is also displayed within our music video – typical ways in which this is shown is when the camera is looking at the performer who is predominantly playing at that time.

3.      There is a relationship between visuals and lyrics; this is shown well in our video, with different lighting being used during different lyrics. For instance, when James (the lead singer) screams, the lighting goes dark.

4.      Close up of artists; during the video we feature many close up shots of the performers. This is because we want to expose our members to the audience as much as possible (especially as this is a debut track) – this is a typical convention of music videos.

5.      Reference to the notion of looking; our video features this convention once – and it can be seen in the free hand capture from over the shoulder of the drummer Callum. We did this in order for our audience members to feel more involved with the video.

6.      Intersexual reference: in the video all of the members wore clothes that they would wear at their gigs. They also all used and played their own instruments which they would also use during these gigs, this was to give an identity about them and make them more recognisable.

Camera Shots:

In our video we decided to use a mix of fixed potion shots and moving shots. We believed that this would allow the band to easily be seen and recognised (fixed), whilst also keeping the audience interested, and reduce tedium (moving).

We also tried to use a lot of close up shots – in order to increase the coverage given to our members faces – and so make them more recognisable. We have seen this done in many videos of which we analysed, including BRING ME THE HORIZON - Blessed With A Curse.

Location and setting:  

After looking at videos of Metalcore, we came to the conclusion that many are shot in indoor locations. We decided to use this convention for a variety of reasons, one being that it would allow the audience to easily recognise what they were watching, and also it would prove easier with logistics in terms of moving instruments. This would also help support our performance based theme (see later on).

Lighting:

During our video we experimented a lot with different non-digetic lighting, trying out common conventions such as reduced light and black and white, and more challenging forms such as ‘cartoon’. After reviewing the different lighting schemes we came to the conclusion that we wanted our video to stand out, and so chose the ‘Cartoon’ effect. We hoped that this would help differentiate our band from other similar bands in order to get noticed. We also used to lights behind where the band were set up in order to create a tempo and pace to the music to give it more effect.

Costumes:

The costumes that the band members feature within our video challenge the typical forms associated within Metalcore videos. The members are wearing clothing items such as shirts, jogging bottoms, and hip-hop t-shits. None of the members were wearing any items of leather– normally associated with metal performers. Once again we were hoping that this would help to portray our band as unique, and so help raise their profile.

 Props:

The instruments that the band members used where the same that they use in their gigs, and so we believe this develops the convention in most metal videos. In videos we have looked at, most bands use the same instruments that they would use on stage, and so our band conforms to this. However we believe that we then further develop on this as we are not only using this idea to conform to a convention, but also to help people recognise band members more with the members and so help to increase the bands profile.

Music video structure:

When making this decision we always felt that we had to feature the band members themselves within the video, and should not use actors. This was because after watching videos of bands in their first years it was evident that this was always done in order to raise the member’s profiles.

We also had to consider whether I video would be performance or narrative based or a mix, and we chose performance. This is because the majority of the videos we saw were performance, and many of the narrative based videos tended to orientate around more established bands. It would also be easier for us in terms of filming to do a performance video, and so it was a fairly simple choice. We chose performance because of being easier as well as raising our bands profile to a greater degree.

Editing:

When editing our video, it was clear to see that we would need to conform to convention of Metalcore videos – that of fast paced editing. We were hoping to reduce the tedium of slow cuts, and keep our audience members interested and interacted within our video – to create a more lasting effect from which they would remember. We also conformed to the form of cutting sequences every 4-8 beats, in which the majority of the music videos do.

Final Digipak and Magazine Advertisement

Final Magazine Advertisemet

Final Digipak Cover

Magazine advertisement

Digipak design

Digipak design

Writing style

On my magazine i will need a consistent writing style and design. This is to allow FEAR THE UNKNOWN products to become recognizable, and adhere to the metal genre.

Slipknots writing style

Magazine Advertisement Planning

This is an example of 'Metal Hammer' magazines music advertisements, it shows a unique style of the band with a forward approach, shirtless guy with arrows in him, this therefore gives of the impression of straight to the point.

The title of the band is also 'in your face' with striking letters and bold outlining. All of these factors put together therefore show a stunningly unique perspective and visual representation of the band that leaves an impression.

If we compare this to a magazine such as 'RadioTimes' we can see that it is a lot less 'serious', more clean edges, neat and tidy. With a striking presentation of the magazine title but less striking band/musician title, suggesting it is more of a general 'chat' than serious PR.

Therefore with this in mind I believe to get the best advertising for 'Fear The Unknown' a specialist music magazine will have to be used such as 'Metal Hammer' or 'Kerrang'.

Target Audience - Survey Distribution

This one of the forums we have used to distribute our sirvey and vdieo in order to gain some more insight into our traget audienece.

Proposed band symbol

Here is my first proposed symbol for our band. It is in its very first stages, however i believe that i should go along with this type of design. It is both simple (four intermixed letters), and has meaning (the name of the band.

Magazine advertisement

For my magazine advertisement i shall be making two A5 sized advertisements. This is because i want to broaden the profile of our new band, and so to do this i have to target a wide range of people, and this can only be achieved by having one advertisement which appeals to metal fans (our target audience) and one which appeals to other music fans.

Here is an example of the band Iron Maiden featuring in a metal magazine and a rock magazine, appealing to different audiences but conveying the same music:

Metal Hammer

Kerrang 

Digipak design

I have decided on which type of design i will be using for my digipak. This design will be a slip case design, the reasons for this being:

• It is cheaper to manufacture
• It is easier to manufacture
• Although being simple, it is bold (and so relates to the genre of our music)

Here is an example of a slip case digipak

Band symbols

After looking at both digipaks and magazine advertisements it is clear to see that many bands have a symbol. This is to allow them to become instantly recognized to their target audience. Here are some examples:

Ramstein

Metallica 

Slipknot

It is evident to me that creating a symbol for the band is a logical way in ensuring that as their profile increase, they are able to be more easily recognized through their symbol.

The symbols also act as a way of showing the bands beliefs, and so many people (our target audience), may buy into this and have the symbol on their t-shirts or wrist bands as well as posters. 

Target audience

After looking in the magazine MetalHammer, it is clear to see the clothing which our target audience will likely be wearing.

This clothing has the following characteristics:

• Bold colours - mostly black with reds and whites on top
• Usually a band T-shirt, either from a gig or album artwork
• Standard T-shirt
• Trousers worn are usually jeans
• footwear is varied - favoured wear however is boots or converse
• Leather jackets are popular - mainly towards the older metal fan

Magazine Advert and digipak analysis

Upon first views it is clear to see that the adverts  in magazines and digipaks have clear characteristics, these being:

• There will be at least one band members face clearly visible
• If not there will be a symbol that is recognizable to the band
• The colours are bold - with red and black being dominant
• There is a large presence of war/death often shown - ways in which this is done is through the colour red being blood like, and through many back ground shots of destroyed landscapes or weapons
• The saturation on the pictures is also lowered, as well is the brightness
• The pictures shown can also show two clear distinctions - the colours and themes are organic, or they are metallic.

Target Audience

I beleieve that the target audience we are aiming for is the following:

• Male
• Aged: focused on late teens to twenties, however widely spread 
• Prefers videos to be a mix between performance based and narrative based
• Main genre of music is Metal
• Favoured magazine is Metal Hammer

Target audienece research

We created this questionnaire in the hope that we would be able to better find our target audience, as well as getting some responses towards our videos.

Unfortunately we did not receive too many results, and so our ideas on our ideal target audience were limited. However, some of the comments we received were insightful and so the feedback we received was valuable.

These are some screen shots from our questionnaire, we haven't had many responses but we can still get an idea of the audience's thoughts and feelings towards our music video.

Generally the survey suggests that the music video we created was good, the audience that responded commented saying that they "The black and white bits were effective, I also like how you introduced each member of the band at the start."

However, they did point out that "Some of the effects look like they've been added for the sake of having them. This then distorts the clarity of the clips."

Considering this feed back we are generally happy with the audience response and our overall music video.

Response to our Questionnaire

I will make a post later in the week in reference to the collation of the response to our survey looking at who exactly our target audience member is, and what our audience thinks of our videos.

Band members

 Zak Kenny - Lead guitarist 

 James Blake - Bassist 

 James Korolus - Lead Singer

 Conner Rutland - Singer and guitarist 

 Callum Woods - Drums 

Application to our thriller video

Descriptive - our thriller shows a would be killer stalking another one of our characters, finally gaining entry to the characters house.

Functional - this may play on the fear of being followed/stalked - with todays media focusing on the celebrity culture and how they are stalked to a degree.

Neale - our thriller opening conforms to many horror films by using restricted lighting, and camera angles to show vulnerability and superiority of the characters.

Sarris - Sarris would believe that i have created my own style of film with the idea of stalking, which is evident in this video and means something to me being portrayed. This meaning is linked to the functional section.

Clover -within our video we have not used a 'final girl', and so Clover's theory cannot be used to assess our thriller opening. We did not use a girl within our video due to wanting to focus on an all male cast. Also, we are always viewing the main character who is being stalked, and never 'on the side' of the victim, and so this is another reason why this theory is not applicable.

Paradigms - our thriller would fit into the traditional thriller paradigm - this being because it creates suspense, following, fast-paced and complicated.

Final Edit

Here is the final version of our video The WatchTower - hope you enjoy.

How are social groups represented in the film Quadrophenia?

This film is great for thinking about subculture. The film looks at ‘mods’ and their interaction with the ‘rockers’. Social groups are represented through their fashion, music, symbols and language. For instance, the Mods wear variations of suits, keeping a neat look. The only coats that the Mods were are also green parker style. Rockers are seen to wear more rough clothing, i.e. leather jackets, jeans and boots. This helps to clearly identify them away from the rest of society. Music is also a form in which social groups are created in Quadrophenia. The Mods listen to more indie bands, with slow tempos, whereas the Rockers listen to rock bands with fast tempos. This helps to further distance these two groups from each other, and define them more away from the rest of society. The Mods and Rockers use similar language to each other, however it is evident from seeing Quadrophenia that both groups use different language around their subculture, compared to when they are alone with their parents or other members of authority. This could be seen as them being rebellious when authority figures are not watching over them. Symbols in this film can also be seen as creating subcultures. The Mods for instance own mopeds; however they have tweaked and changed them to differentiate them from other models. This could be seen as trying to break away from mainstream society. This has also been done with their clothes, especially in the Mods case. They have altered their smart clothes, in order to show their alternative values. Sex and drugs are also used to represent these social groups. In the film both are shown aplenty, and so it can be assumed that the two types of subcultures shown are portrayed to be rebellious.

Location

Here is a picture of where we filmed. There will be a more detailed analysis of the room with where we placed cameras to follow.

Filming update

We arranged to film at Earth Studios in Sprowston on the 19th of December. Although this wasn't our original plan, as we were hoping to film at Taverham High School, we were still pleased with the size of the location and the independence given to us to complete all the filming we needed to get done. We arrived at 13.30 pm and filmed until 15.00 pm. We were happy with what we had recorded and made sure that we had more than enough recorded than necessary just to be sure.