Monday, 14 December 2015
Thursday, 10 December 2015
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product is a music video of the genre indie pop and it uses the song 'Grow Old with Me' by Tom Odell. This means that when me and my group planned for and created a music video using this song, we needed to think about the genre generic conventions of indie pop music videos and develop and challenge these conventions to make our music video look like an industry standard music video that was clearly of the genre indie pop.
My music video developed the forms and conventions of real media products when Alex (actor playing artist Tom Odell) wears dark clothing throughout the whole music video with the only exception being when he does the performance shots he wears a white shirt. The reason we get him to wear dark clothing during our music video is because it is stereotypical that the majority of indie artists wear dark clothing (often black). We therefore thought that it would be more clear to what genre our music video is if we stuck to using this convention. An example of an indie pop music video where the male artist also wears dark clothing throughout the whole music video is in the Bastille Music video Pompeii where Dan Smith the lead vocalist wears black the whole time. He is also an English indie pop artist and therefore sticks to the generic conventions of his genre so we thought we should do this in our music video.
Alex wearing dark clothing in my music video
Dark Clothing in Pompeii music video
The reason we got him to wear a white shirt in the performance shots is to make it a little bit brighter and change it up a bit in the music video, as it can be boring seeing the artist wearing the same coloured clothes over and over again so therefore we challenged the genre convention slightly. During these shots where Alex is doing performance the genre convention is also challenged when he is playing the piano on a grand piano with high key lighting in a concert hall. Although we are developing the genre forms and conventions by getting him to play piano (as its stereotypical that indie artists play piano or guitar), most shots in indie music videos are in low key lighting with a standard upright low cost piano. This is because independent record labels often have a low budget and therefore do not pay to use grand pianos and they do not suit the genre. This is wear the pop side to our sub-genre is shown more as Alex plays on a grand piano. An example of a music video that uses low key lighting and an upright piano is 'Hold Me' by Tom Odell.
Although Alex is wearing a white shirt in his performance shots he has his sleeves rolled up which is a generic conventions in a indie pop music video. The artists often do this to show that they are laid back whilst performing and are more about the music than there image so therefore it doesn't matter if they look a bit scruffy whereas POP artists would make sure they looked good all the time and not have any creases in their shirts or have their sleeves rolled up. By having his sleeved rolled up it makes it clear to our audience that our music video is indie pop and therefore we develop the forms and conventions of indie pop music videos. In the 'Hold Me' video Tom Odell has his sleeves rolled up whilst playing the piano and he does this in many of his music videos. Throughout the creation of our music videos we ensured we took some inspiration from some of Tom Odell's music videos because we used one of his songs for our music videos and because he is the genre of the music video that we were creating.
Alex with his sleeves rolled up
Tom Odell with his sleeves rolled up
For our music video we had to consider locations a lot because the stereotypical locations used in indie pop music videos are low budget settings that often do not cost anything e.g. a park, street, house, car park etc. Therefore we decided that it would be a good idea to follow this stereotype to ensure our genre was clear to the target audience and because we did have a low budget to create our music video it worked well using simple locations/ settings. Also due to our storyline being realistic as an everyday life story, it made sense to use normal settings. An example of a location that we used in our music video which is used in many indie pop music videos and therefore develops the forms and conventions of real media products is the park. During the shots where the character 'Tom Odell' and his girlfriend are enjoying a picnic in the winter weather, they are at a park wrapped up warm and playing around together and being silly as young couples do. The reason they wrap up warm is to show the audience what time of year the shots are based as well as there being leaves all around the park (showing its autumn). This shows that costume plays an important role of telling a story and telling the audience something. A real media product which uses this convention is in the music video 'I Know' by Tom Odell. This is set in the woods in the cold weather which is shown by Tom Odell wearing a dark black coat to keep him warm. His coat helps show the audience the time of year.
Alex is at the park
Tom Odell is at the park
Our music video had a strong narrative throughout the whole music video, this narrative was about true everlasting love and it shows a lot about the couples relationship and their plans for the future. This challenges the forms and conventions of real media products quite a lot because although many indie pop music videos are about love just like ours is and there is often a strong narrative, most indie pop music videos are about heartbreak and not about a positive love story. The reason we challenged this convention is because we thought that it would be nice for people to see something happy about love in the media for a change as there are so many sad music videos out there e.g. songs and music videos by Sam Smith and Adele. The original music video for the song we used starts off positive about love but then has a sad ending so my group decided to change this and have a happy ending.
The music video that we have created shows a period of time showing what the artist wants for the future of his relationship with his girlfriend which is to get married, have kids, grow old together etc. This means that the majority of the music video isn't what has happened already but is dreams for the future. Some music videos of the indie pop genre also use periods of time in their music video. An example of this which we did take some inspiration from is 'Wasn't expecting that' by Jamie Lawson, an indie pop artist. However, in his music video it starts with an old married couple then throughout the music video you see them get younger and younger until you see them first start going out in the past (this shows their lives backwards) therefore the shots you see in this music video are actually memories of what happened whereas in our music video they are dreams of what will happen. Although the concept is a little bit similar Jamie Lawson's music video ends on a negative note as many music videos do but ours is still positive the whole time.
At the beginning of my music video of 'Grow Old with me' Tom Odell and his girlfriend are young together.
This is during my music video of 'Grow Old With Me' where Tom Odell and his girlfriend are now old and are married with grandkids around them.
This is at the beginning of Jamie Lawson's 'Wasn't Expecting that' music video, where the couple are older together.
This is near the end of Jamie Lawson's 'Wasn't Expecting that' music video, where the couple are young.
During the editing stage of our music video we added a black and white filter to show the difference in time. This is so that when the camera goes into his eye and show his dreams of the future and what he would like, these dreams are in black and white to show that they are not real and just what he would like. This is so the audience does not get confused and think that they are happening right now, when they are actually just a dream for the future. This challenges the indie pop genre because there are not many videos that use a black and white effect. Although this is slightly different to a stereotypical music video from this genre, we did this to make it slightly different and stand out an audience because they will see that there is a different period of time taking place in this music video and they will want to know what happens in the future for this couple.
It is clear that our music video has been influenced by music videos such as 'Wasn't Expecting that' and many Tom Odell music videos because of our video being set over a period of time and using different locations, settings, costumes, colour etc. Although our music video does challenge the forms and conventions of indie pop music videos at stages such as it being a positive narrative throughout and using a grand piano in a concert hall and the artist wearing a white shirt, I do think that the majority of the music video uses and develops the forms and conventions of real media products of the indie pop genre. This is because we have thought about the low budget settings/ locations and have had the artist wear dark colours for the majority of the music video as well as have his sleeves rolled up etc. Therefore overall our music video does develop the forms and generic conventions for the most part.
My music video developed the forms and conventions of real media products when Alex (actor playing artist Tom Odell) wears dark clothing throughout the whole music video with the only exception being when he does the performance shots he wears a white shirt. The reason we get him to wear dark clothing during our music video is because it is stereotypical that the majority of indie artists wear dark clothing (often black). We therefore thought that it would be more clear to what genre our music video is if we stuck to using this convention. An example of an indie pop music video where the male artist also wears dark clothing throughout the whole music video is in the Bastille Music video Pompeii where Dan Smith the lead vocalist wears black the whole time. He is also an English indie pop artist and therefore sticks to the generic conventions of his genre so we thought we should do this in our music video.
Alex wearing dark clothing in my music video
Dark Clothing in Pompeii music video
The reason we got him to wear a white shirt in the performance shots is to make it a little bit brighter and change it up a bit in the music video, as it can be boring seeing the artist wearing the same coloured clothes over and over again so therefore we challenged the genre convention slightly. During these shots where Alex is doing performance the genre convention is also challenged when he is playing the piano on a grand piano with high key lighting in a concert hall. Although we are developing the genre forms and conventions by getting him to play piano (as its stereotypical that indie artists play piano or guitar), most shots in indie music videos are in low key lighting with a standard upright low cost piano. This is because independent record labels often have a low budget and therefore do not pay to use grand pianos and they do not suit the genre. This is wear the pop side to our sub-genre is shown more as Alex plays on a grand piano. An example of a music video that uses low key lighting and an upright piano is 'Hold Me' by Tom Odell.
Although Alex is wearing a white shirt in his performance shots he has his sleeves rolled up which is a generic conventions in a indie pop music video. The artists often do this to show that they are laid back whilst performing and are more about the music than there image so therefore it doesn't matter if they look a bit scruffy whereas POP artists would make sure they looked good all the time and not have any creases in their shirts or have their sleeves rolled up. By having his sleeved rolled up it makes it clear to our audience that our music video is indie pop and therefore we develop the forms and conventions of indie pop music videos. In the 'Hold Me' video Tom Odell has his sleeves rolled up whilst playing the piano and he does this in many of his music videos. Throughout the creation of our music videos we ensured we took some inspiration from some of Tom Odell's music videos because we used one of his songs for our music videos and because he is the genre of the music video that we were creating.
Alex with his sleeves rolled up
Tom Odell with his sleeves rolled up
For our music video we had to consider locations a lot because the stereotypical locations used in indie pop music videos are low budget settings that often do not cost anything e.g. a park, street, house, car park etc. Therefore we decided that it would be a good idea to follow this stereotype to ensure our genre was clear to the target audience and because we did have a low budget to create our music video it worked well using simple locations/ settings. Also due to our storyline being realistic as an everyday life story, it made sense to use normal settings. An example of a location that we used in our music video which is used in many indie pop music videos and therefore develops the forms and conventions of real media products is the park. During the shots where the character 'Tom Odell' and his girlfriend are enjoying a picnic in the winter weather, they are at a park wrapped up warm and playing around together and being silly as young couples do. The reason they wrap up warm is to show the audience what time of year the shots are based as well as there being leaves all around the park (showing its autumn). This shows that costume plays an important role of telling a story and telling the audience something. A real media product which uses this convention is in the music video 'I Know' by Tom Odell. This is set in the woods in the cold weather which is shown by Tom Odell wearing a dark black coat to keep him warm. His coat helps show the audience the time of year.
Alex is at the park
Tom Odell is at the park
Our music video had a strong narrative throughout the whole music video, this narrative was about true everlasting love and it shows a lot about the couples relationship and their plans for the future. This challenges the forms and conventions of real media products quite a lot because although many indie pop music videos are about love just like ours is and there is often a strong narrative, most indie pop music videos are about heartbreak and not about a positive love story. The reason we challenged this convention is because we thought that it would be nice for people to see something happy about love in the media for a change as there are so many sad music videos out there e.g. songs and music videos by Sam Smith and Adele. The original music video for the song we used starts off positive about love but then has a sad ending so my group decided to change this and have a happy ending.
The music video that we have created shows a period of time showing what the artist wants for the future of his relationship with his girlfriend which is to get married, have kids, grow old together etc. This means that the majority of the music video isn't what has happened already but is dreams for the future. Some music videos of the indie pop genre also use periods of time in their music video. An example of this which we did take some inspiration from is 'Wasn't expecting that' by Jamie Lawson, an indie pop artist. However, in his music video it starts with an old married couple then throughout the music video you see them get younger and younger until you see them first start going out in the past (this shows their lives backwards) therefore the shots you see in this music video are actually memories of what happened whereas in our music video they are dreams of what will happen. Although the concept is a little bit similar Jamie Lawson's music video ends on a negative note as many music videos do but ours is still positive the whole time.
At the beginning of my music video of 'Grow Old with me' Tom Odell and his girlfriend are young together.
This is at the beginning of Jamie Lawson's 'Wasn't Expecting that' music video, where the couple are older together.
This is near the end of Jamie Lawson's 'Wasn't Expecting that' music video, where the couple are young.
During the editing stage of our music video we added a black and white filter to show the difference in time. This is so that when the camera goes into his eye and show his dreams of the future and what he would like, these dreams are in black and white to show that they are not real and just what he would like. This is so the audience does not get confused and think that they are happening right now, when they are actually just a dream for the future. This challenges the indie pop genre because there are not many videos that use a black and white effect. Although this is slightly different to a stereotypical music video from this genre, we did this to make it slightly different and stand out an audience because they will see that there is a different period of time taking place in this music video and they will want to know what happens in the future for this couple.
It is clear that our music video has been influenced by music videos such as 'Wasn't Expecting that' and many Tom Odell music videos because of our video being set over a period of time and using different locations, settings, costumes, colour etc. Although our music video does challenge the forms and conventions of indie pop music videos at stages such as it being a positive narrative throughout and using a grand piano in a concert hall and the artist wearing a white shirt, I do think that the majority of the music video uses and develops the forms and conventions of real media products of the indie pop genre. This is because we have thought about the low budget settings/ locations and have had the artist wear dark colours for the majority of the music video as well as have his sleeves rolled up etc. Therefore overall our music video does develop the forms and generic conventions for the most part.
Wednesday, 18 November 2015
Digipak and CD design
Digipak
This is a draft design of my Digipak, I have explained the digipak design on a previous page and I have used real images here to show what my digipak will look like.
This is a draft design of my Digipak, I have explained the digipak design on a previous page and I have used real images here to show what my digipak will look like.
CD
So that my CD does not cover the photo frame photo which is in the middle of the inside which shows a picture of Tom Odell and his now girlfriend/ future wife when they are middle aged, I have put the photo on top of the CD.
This is the CD
This is what the CD will look like when the digipak is in its template and the CD is on it
Tuesday, 10 November 2015
Magazine advert idea
Why I chose the image used on the magazine advert
For my magazine advert idea I decided to have the same photo as I used for the front cover of the digipak. This is because once people have seen this magazine advert it will be easy to identify in shops what the digipak itself looks like because there is the same recognisable image. I decided to put a photo of the artist and their girlfriend having a picnic at the park on it. They are looking at each other laughing whilst sitting down on their picnic blanket. The reason I decided to have this photo as the magazine advert is because I want the magazine advert and the digipak front cover to follow the narrative of the music video and not just be about the single itself. This helps promote the artist and their music video and therefore promotes the single. As Tom Odell is Indie Pop, the location of this photo for the magazine advert being in the park supports the low budget settings that Indie music often has for their music videos, digipak photos and magazine advert photo locations as the marketing of the artist will be on a low budget. Therefore to make all three of these promotional items relate so that people keep the single in their mind they can think of this photo as it would be used in all three.
Typography
On the top right hand side of the magazine advert it has the artists name 'Tom Odell' on it. At the bottom of the magazine advert the single title 'Grow Old With Me' is written on. The typography will be in a simple font where the words 'Tom Odell' will be in capital letters to make it look bold and stand out to the target market, this is also written in the same way on my idea for a digipak so when the target audience see the single released in shops they will automatically see the artists name. The name of the single will be in the same font but only the first letter of each word will be in capitals. This is because it looks better.
Just above the name of the single 'Grow Old with Me' there will be the information regarding when the digipak/ single will be released and in what way you will be able to buy it including CD, Digital and on iTunes. The reason I put a release date on the magazine advert is because people who are big fans of Tom Odell may want to buy this single straight away when it is released or even pre order it. The reason I have put the ways in which you can buy this song on (through iTunes or on CD etc) is so that if general people or people of the target audience see this magazine advert and think that they would like to buy the song but are not sure in what way it is being sold, they can thing think about whether they would like the CD or whether they would like the music downloaded onto their phone, computer etc.
At the bottom right hand corner of this magazine advert I have put Tom Odell's official webpage. This is to promote Tom Odell as an artist and not just this song specifically. If people who do not know much about him as an artist or if fans just want to learn more about him they can go on this webpage and look at perhaps other songs he is working on, look at previous songs and tour dates etc. This is good because it may encourage people to buy the tickets for his concerts and therefore he will have more ticket sales and people watching him live. Therefore I think it is important that this is written on the page as then it promotes more than just his upcoming single.
Colours used on the magazine advert
The colours of the magazine advert will be reasonably bright as it is supposed to be a picnic during the day and be a positive setting to support the positive lyrics in the song about him loving his girlfriend and wanting to grow old with her. The artist will be wearing dark colours though as this re-enforces that the genre is Indie Pop as many artists including Tom Odell wear a lot of black/grey/brown. The girl in the photo will be wearing jeans and will have probably have a coat on over her top depending on the weather when the image is taken.
For my magazine advert idea I decided to have the same photo as I used for the front cover of the digipak. This is because once people have seen this magazine advert it will be easy to identify in shops what the digipak itself looks like because there is the same recognisable image. I decided to put a photo of the artist and their girlfriend having a picnic at the park on it. They are looking at each other laughing whilst sitting down on their picnic blanket. The reason I decided to have this photo as the magazine advert is because I want the magazine advert and the digipak front cover to follow the narrative of the music video and not just be about the single itself. This helps promote the artist and their music video and therefore promotes the single. As Tom Odell is Indie Pop, the location of this photo for the magazine advert being in the park supports the low budget settings that Indie music often has for their music videos, digipak photos and magazine advert photo locations as the marketing of the artist will be on a low budget. Therefore to make all three of these promotional items relate so that people keep the single in their mind they can think of this photo as it would be used in all three.
Typography
On the top right hand side of the magazine advert it has the artists name 'Tom Odell' on it. At the bottom of the magazine advert the single title 'Grow Old With Me' is written on. The typography will be in a simple font where the words 'Tom Odell' will be in capital letters to make it look bold and stand out to the target market, this is also written in the same way on my idea for a digipak so when the target audience see the single released in shops they will automatically see the artists name. The name of the single will be in the same font but only the first letter of each word will be in capitals. This is because it looks better.
Just above the name of the single 'Grow Old with Me' there will be the information regarding when the digipak/ single will be released and in what way you will be able to buy it including CD, Digital and on iTunes. The reason I put a release date on the magazine advert is because people who are big fans of Tom Odell may want to buy this single straight away when it is released or even pre order it. The reason I have put the ways in which you can buy this song on (through iTunes or on CD etc) is so that if general people or people of the target audience see this magazine advert and think that they would like to buy the song but are not sure in what way it is being sold, they can thing think about whether they would like the CD or whether they would like the music downloaded onto their phone, computer etc.
At the bottom right hand corner of this magazine advert I have put Tom Odell's official webpage. This is to promote Tom Odell as an artist and not just this song specifically. If people who do not know much about him as an artist or if fans just want to learn more about him they can go on this webpage and look at perhaps other songs he is working on, look at previous songs and tour dates etc. This is good because it may encourage people to buy the tickets for his concerts and therefore he will have more ticket sales and people watching him live. Therefore I think it is important that this is written on the page as then it promotes more than just his upcoming single.
Colours used on the magazine advert
The colours of the magazine advert will be reasonably bright as it is supposed to be a picnic during the day and be a positive setting to support the positive lyrics in the song about him loving his girlfriend and wanting to grow old with her. The artist will be wearing dark colours though as this re-enforces that the genre is Indie Pop as many artists including Tom Odell wear a lot of black/grey/brown. The girl in the photo will be wearing jeans and will have probably have a coat on over her top depending on the weather when the image is taken.
Now that I have designed my initial idea for my magazine advert for the single 'Grow Old with Me' I will need to look at the other member of my groups magazine advert idea and together we will design the final magazine advert taking different aspects from each initial magazine advert.
Monday, 9 November 2015
Tom Odell, Long Way Down - Magazine advert analysis
As the music video I am going to be producing is
for one of Tom Odell's songs called 'Grow Old With Me' and I am going to be creating a magazine advert, it is going to be useful analysing one of his magazine adverts so that I can perhaps take inspiration from it as the genre is the same. Tom Odell is an Indie pop artist who is promoting his album 'Long Way Down' in this magazine advert.
At the top of this album the text says 'Tom Odell' in capital letters. This is in capital letters to make it stand out so that he is promoted as an artist and people can see whose album is about to be promoted on this magazine advert. Tom Odell's name is also in brown text on this magazine advert which is a completely different colour to what the rest of the text is in on this magazine advert as that is white. By having his name in another colour to the other text it makes him stand out which promoted him as an artist and not just this current album of his. Straight underneath the his name is the name of the album called 'Long Way Down'. This title is also in capital letters to make it stand out and to promote the album. As in the photo on this magazine advert Tom Odell is standing to the right there is empty space on the left side of the photo. Here it says 'Brit awards 2013, the debut album from the Brits choice award winner 2013'. This is also all in capital letters to make it stand out to the audience who are reading this magazine advert to encourage them to buy the album. This is because it says how good the British public think Tom Odell's album is because they voted it to win at the Brits awards. By having some kind of famous show on this magazine advert it shows that although he is an indie pop artist that there is an element of pop and that people do like his music and therefore they should buy his album as other members of the British audience like him.
Tom Odell is standing in a cobbled street on the photo of himself used on this magazine advert. This is a simple, free, setting to fit the low budget theme of an indie pop album. This is because the marketing side of promoting this artist is on a low budget. The photo has a shot looking all the way down a street but the other side of the street is slightly out of focus/ blurred. This goes with the name 'Long Way Down' and maybe there is a long road to go down his path of life. This will encourage people who want to listen to meaningful music talking about someone's life to buy the album. I think this long street has connotations of what the song is about. In this photo Tom Odell is wearing a dark green jacket and blue shirt, his has also got scruffy hair and is not surrounded by materialistic items. This is a generic convention of indie pop artists as they often wear dark clothing and are not trying to be someone they are not by wearing designer clothing having groomed hair etc. This is the same photo that Tom Odell used for his actual album cover and buy using it again in his magazine advert he is promoting the album because there is a recognisable image. This means that once they have seen the magazine advert it will be easier for people to see it in shops or find it online as they know what the album itself looks like.
By analysing Tom Odell's magazine advert it will be useful for me when creating my magazine advert for a Tom Odell single because I understand the generic conventions that suits the genre and that it is a good idea to use the same image for the digipak and the magazine advert. I also now know that positioning of the text is important and the colour, font and whether it is in upper or lower case letters.
At the top of this album the text says 'Tom Odell' in capital letters. This is in capital letters to make it stand out so that he is promoted as an artist and people can see whose album is about to be promoted on this magazine advert. Tom Odell's name is also in brown text on this magazine advert which is a completely different colour to what the rest of the text is in on this magazine advert as that is white. By having his name in another colour to the other text it makes him stand out which promoted him as an artist and not just this current album of his. Straight underneath the his name is the name of the album called 'Long Way Down'. This title is also in capital letters to make it stand out and to promote the album. As in the photo on this magazine advert Tom Odell is standing to the right there is empty space on the left side of the photo. Here it says 'Brit awards 2013, the debut album from the Brits choice award winner 2013'. This is also all in capital letters to make it stand out to the audience who are reading this magazine advert to encourage them to buy the album. This is because it says how good the British public think Tom Odell's album is because they voted it to win at the Brits awards. By having some kind of famous show on this magazine advert it shows that although he is an indie pop artist that there is an element of pop and that people do like his music and therefore they should buy his album as other members of the British audience like him.
Tom Odell is standing in a cobbled street on the photo of himself used on this magazine advert. This is a simple, free, setting to fit the low budget theme of an indie pop album. This is because the marketing side of promoting this artist is on a low budget. The photo has a shot looking all the way down a street but the other side of the street is slightly out of focus/ blurred. This goes with the name 'Long Way Down' and maybe there is a long road to go down his path of life. This will encourage people who want to listen to meaningful music talking about someone's life to buy the album. I think this long street has connotations of what the song is about. In this photo Tom Odell is wearing a dark green jacket and blue shirt, his has also got scruffy hair and is not surrounded by materialistic items. This is a generic convention of indie pop artists as they often wear dark clothing and are not trying to be someone they are not by wearing designer clothing having groomed hair etc. This is the same photo that Tom Odell used for his actual album cover and buy using it again in his magazine advert he is promoting the album because there is a recognisable image. This means that once they have seen the magazine advert it will be easier for people to see it in shops or find it online as they know what the album itself looks like.
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