Our Final Product

The Walls - Miss Alissa:

The Walls Website

Here is The Wall's website: http://deanandalexmusic.wix.com/thewallsband

Updated Digipak

We presented our album cover to the class as we wanted feedback from our completed album cover. Everyone seemed to like the cover especially the 'Walls' logo as one said, 'it looks original and makes the band seem organic and approachable'. However, they thought the back cover needed tweaking as the song names were in a strange order ending at 7 then the next column going to 11. Therefore we changed it to make it 6x6. Also they thought that the inside cover photo should take up most of the space to give a better look of the band. Lastly the text at the bottom seemed too conversational so I tweaked it by changing it to... 'with thanks to toe rag studios, domino and beggars group for the recording and production of this album'. It sounds more professional. So here is our final album cover....

Evaluation Task 4

How have I used digital technologies in the research, planning and creation of my products?

Without an increasing knowledge and understanding of online media and digital technologies, I would have not been able to create my A2 coursework to the high standard and ability that I have this year, compared to my AS project. Through the use of 'Blogger', Google's online blogging service, I would not have been able to display and share my work as clearly and sufficiently as I would have without it. Being able to constantly update, edit and share my work digitally has provided me with a platform for successful coursework.

When sharing our final product, and focus group interviews, we used 'YouTube' as a platform for display. This is a website on which you are able to share, view and like videos. Not only was this useful for us in sharing our project, but without having YouTube to explore other artists work, we would not have been able to take inspiration from others and create a piece that was as successful as it was. In creating our start image, we observed other similar artists and images that we wanted to replicate, and we wasn't have been able to do this without today's technology.

We further used search engines such as 'Google', to see what was relevant in current popular cultures, and say that we could create an artist that would appeal to target audiences of this generation. Moreover, we were able to do research on music video's similar to our idea and see if they were well-received or not. As a result, this made planning our idea and the shooting of our video a lot easier as we were a lot better planned.

Furthermore, social media such as 'Facebook' allowed us to keep up with the times and fashions, and to incorporate this into our final product. Bands such as 'Arctic Monkeys' and 'Jake Bugg' were major inspirations for our star image and their social media sites and website were extremely useful in understanding what is liked by audiences and viewers which we could target our specific audiences with.

Moreover, new media technologies such as my phone (iPhone 6) acted as a brilliant camera when taking shots of our progress to update directly onto my blog, or to film the target audience interviews to gain an insight into what they were looking for specifically in an artist. We were able to refer back to the footage taken and analyse the information taking into account audiences preferences, to ultimately create a cohesive, and successful band. 

Without some of these technologies, I would not have been able to create and show my production and media coursework to the audience. From this I am able to freely make these products and get feedback from them to improve it. As such, I knew to change some of my shots and focus on having less location shots, replacing them with shots of the audience and a crane shot to highlight the setting of a live studio performance.

During AS, we made a storyboard and referred only to this when filming our final piece. During A2, with my increased knowledge of technology, I was able to create an animatic, with images from storyboard cut in time the music. This gave me a much more complete idea of what I needed to shoot for the final product, and where each shot would go exactly in time with the accompaniment.

When actually filming the music video, the entire project took about two days, as opposed to a few hours in AS. This is because the music video is longer than the projects we completed in AS and required a larger variety of shots. Therefore, we spent time setting each shot up for it to look how we wanted it to. During AS, we were more free to make it up on the spot, but during A2, we had much less room for error. This is why being able to manage the equipment efficiently was imperative to the overall success of our product. Furthermore, we not only used a camera (Sony FS100) but we also had the use of lighting to enhance the live studio setting of music video. Hence, we had to make sure that the camera was set up and rolling so that I could then control the lighting whilst the camera was filming. 

When editing our video, there was quadruple the amount of footage that we had to work with. This is because in AS we were following a select shot list where we could film each individual shot and just cut them together. Although this is a positive, as there was no shortage of footage, there was loads of good work that we had to cut out. As well as this, our more unique shots which would take minimum 20 minutes to record, had to be cut down to a three seconds shot in the actual product. We had to use far more editing techniques, including changing the colour of all shots and enhancing the brightness to highlight that the music video was set in the 1950s. The music and video was edited using 'Adobe Premiere'. This enabled me to organise and edit my clips with discontinuity devices in accordance with Keith Negus' convection such as cut to the beat as well as using special effects with After Effects to add the greyscale effect. This allows me to convey the fact that this was a pastiche to TV shows such as the Ed Sullivan show set in the 1950s that hosted bands such as The Beatles.

The tools on websites such as surveymokey.com allowed me to get instant online audience feedback online by using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Asking questions such as ‘What would you improve in the video?’ allowed us to make to vital changes in post-production such as changing the penultimate shot of the video where one of the band members sticks his tongue out at the camera. As it was all done online, we were able to attach a link to our music video with the questions allowing them to access it instantly, and answer the questions after viewing our product. This was effective as we didn’t have to be present for this.

The website was created using Wix.com. It’s a website that enables anyone to produce their own website. It provides a template, making the experience user friendly and far easier than coding an entire website. You can add images, videos and link to social networking, keeping that constant contact. The website is primarily to promote Benjy and his music and I made sure that I used my research to guide my decisions such as creating a page where merchandise was available to those who would want to purchase it, and where tour dates and tickets were available in just one click.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     The internet was key for my research into digipaks and websites. I often referred back to ‘Arctic Monkeys’ etc. when researching ideas and themes for my digipak and website.

The digipak was created using Coral draw/paint. I aimed to create an organic, effortless styled digipak to attract our target audience by representing 'The Walls' . I was far more creative this year because after learning how to use the programs I was able to manipulate the images to further convey the star image to the target audience. I was able to take a picture of the band in front of a wall similar to Pink Floyd and then manipulate the image to look how we wanted it to.

The use of Wix, blogger, YouTube and social network has made me into a prosumer. It’s had made me both a consumer of media products as well as a producer of media products. Digital technologies allow me to share The Walls' products worldwide as the technologies I’ve used are all free and accessible. YouTube and Facebook allow the audience to like, share and comment giving me the necessary feedback and praise in order to improve my products. All of these new skills learned on this course have enabled to gain experience not only as a user of digital technology, but also become a producer. This is important because it gives an understanding of the media in the online age.

Evaluation Task 3

Here are the videos taken from our focus group:

Feedback Problems explained:

Feedback Strengths explained:

Ideal target audience:

This is an example of our idea target audience. We want our audience to be at quite a mature age, 16+. The reason for this is because most fans of indie rock music are of this age. The genre is mostly mixed genre and the ages range from 16 to 45. Dave Taylor fits our target audience perfectly as you can see he is about 18 and is a big fan of music, particularly indie/punk rock. It is clear he is a fan of indie music but not just from his liked pages. You can see his hair is slightly brit pop similar to Noel Gallagher and Jake Bugg. In terms of teenage vals, Dave seems like the rebellious type as Arctic Monkey and Royal Blood give off quite a rebellious vibe.  

You can see from his 'Liked Pages' where has a liked pages of 'Arctic Monkeys' and 'Oasis' that it is likely Dave will enjoy music from 'The Walls' as they are a similar band to those and play similar music and convey a similar message of defiance. Further, his profile picture gives a message of rebelliousness which means he may find it easy to relate to 'The Walls'. 

Evaluation Task 2

Keith Negus said that the 'pop music video is used as a promotional tool.' We promoted the Perfect Fall by using visual images in order to market the band despite them being an organic artist. The star image is used to brand the product. Branding is then used by the music industry to create a range of products for audience across a range of genres and musical styles. This is used to create what Anderson calls the Long Tail. A band like ours is aimed at a niche audience, and being an organic band, we regard them as having a long career in the music industry. A way we promoted the music video was having it on our home screen on our website. Everyone that clicked on the website will have seen the video as soon as the website comes on.

Also, we were able to promote our band's digipak on our website and making it available to buy for the consumer. This is encouraging people to spend more money on the merchandise as we have also promoted the band's image and name by selling t-shirts, bennies and jumpers. This is a marketing strategy in order to promote the band through word of mouth as when friends who have similar tastes see it they may want to watch the music video themselves. This helps us market the band as we have a lower budget than other established bands in the market.

Furthermore, in our music video when uploading it onto YouTube, in the video description we used it as a chance to promote the band by including links to the store in the website and also having links to buying the digipak. On the front cover of the digipak I used an image of the band in order to match the historically typical way for marketing a music video. CD digipak covers are crucial artwork which markets the image of the artist before the music is purchased. Music Artist Websites are a common part of any marketing strategy, particularly in the online age.

The visual 'star image' according to Dyer, communicates important messages to the audience. Audiences often associate the look of an artist to a style of music or its genre. We promoted our band and represented them as being rebellious who have formed a subculture by diverting against the norms of mainstream society. We portrayed this by including close ups of the lead singer, Dean, kicking the microphone and used close ups of James, jumping of the stage for his solo; which helped engage the band with the audience.

Websites contain information which publicises and promotes the artists image and a range of information to an audience. Often, this is organised into what Boyd has termed co-option.The website includes a number of images of the band which we thought was essential for an up and coming band so the audience could identify the image of the band to their name. We also used a number of photos of the band in order to reiterate that they are in the Indie-Rock genre. Therefore the pictures of the band were of them showing their individuality but also made to look sexually appealing.

Our website was typical in the sense that we prioritised promoting our band and providing the latest news from the band. They fall into 3 main categories:

1. promotion of single or album released
2. promotion of a tour or live appearance
3. merchandising

My Digipak was carefully constructed so we could focus on introducing 'The Walls' with their debut album. The brand image is one of rebelliousness, but also of old-school rock and roll.
The wall is emblematic of fighting against the system. The wall in Pink Floyd album is a metaphor for going against the system. I therefore used the wall as my background on my digipak as it is symbolic of urban decay. The VALS in our audience are that of being a subculture diverting against mainstream norms who were under the category of rebellion. We also marketed the band on magazines that appeal to our audience getting articles in magazines such as Kerrang and NME.

We would be selling our music on ITunes, make it available on Spotify and by promoting our band on Kerrang we decided that we would give readers a code that they could enter in order to make it available for Kerrang Readers for free. This could help us build our fanbase and get our name heard in the post hardcore community.

We also made a fun version of the interview for audience entertainment...

Evaluation Task 1

Andrew Goodwin is a media theorist who identifies the key features of a music video. He argues that there are seven defining factors, which include shots cut to the beat, a relationship between the visuals and music, a relationship between the visuals and lyrics, close-ups of the artist and band, references with the notion of looking (scopophilia: Greek for love of looking), some form of narrative and performance element, and intertextual references.

Forms and conventions are codes that identify what type of media text or genre it is. These are things that an audience expects from a particular type of text and from different types of genre. Conventions make it easier for an audience to understand what type of text they are consuming and enables them to situate a song and artist within a music genre.