Bailey Danahar
Question 1
Our task
We had to create a promotional music video for an unsigned artist.
Alongside this promo we created a digipak and an advert for a magazine.
Each piece of the mentioned merchandise will advertise the artist and the
artist / band that we chose are called Not My Day. They are an indie rock
band that consist of four members; Adam Cook - Lead singer and
guitarist
Ben Cook- Lead guitarist and background singer
Dan Cahill Drummer
Jason 'JB' Grain - Bass guitarist
Not My Day is based in Oxford, England and we came across them on
Unsigned.com. The song we decided to use is 'It Matters' and we chose
this because the song is upbeat, enjoyable and you can clearly understand
what the band is saying.
Not My Day were influenced by various bands
such as;
The Beatles, Muse, Radiohead,
Embrace
and Oasis. Not My Day found
these
particular bands 'influential'
and this is because they like
their style of music and they
are popular bands that are
dissimilar to other bands.
When promoting an artist the three
materials; Advert, Promo and Digipak need to have synergy between all of
them and this is achieved by having a consistent theme throughout. For
example the colour scheme will need to be the same throughout them all
and so will the font and the size of the typography. The purpose of a music
promo is not just to entertain the audience but to also promote an artist,
song or albums awareness. By increasing the awareness of the artist will
encourage the growth of sales. It is a short film that uses song and images
to create a video. If a music promo is memorable then audience members
will re-watch the promo as it is catchy. Also the magazine advert is to
advertise the artist and to attract their target audience. Once the target
audience is attracted to the artist then they are more likely to purchase
the artists merchandise. The digipak is used to case a CD and they need to
be visually attractive to gain the customers attention. It is crucial to keep
a constant theme throughout as this will then standout to the target
market and they will recognise it because they are familiar with the theme
of the artist.
A Digipak has 4-8 panels but they are different to a normal CD case as
they are made out of different materials. A CD case is made out of plastic,
whereas a digipak is normally made out of card. By having more panels
than a CD case more information can be held by a digipak which means
the customer will pay a little bit extra because digipaks are often sold as
limited edition. This means they may be sold for more money which will be
more beneficial for the artist. When a digipak is brought there is normally
additional merchandise such as a poster or a bonus dick. Audiences
engage in these promotional products because they are collectors items.
This image clearly shows what a digipak should look like.
Bailey Danahar
Question 1
A magazine advert is a
popular form of
advertisement by artists
because a large variety
of people will read a
magazine and see the
advert. The advert
usually covers a whole A4 page and needs to
be appealing to catch the readers attention.
The information provided such as tour dates
and album release dates will need to be clear so
the reader can see and read them. There will be
synergy between the advert and the digipak
therefore the typography will be the same and
the images will most likely be similar.
In order for a music promo to be successful it needs to include the key
conventions; camera work, editing, Mise-en-scene, a performance and/or
narrative and a montage. These conventions work together to create a
strong music promo and will make the music promo enjoyable to watch if
used correctly.
Camera work:
There will be shots that include the whole band and this is because the
band is the product. The audience members will
want to see
the band perform within their music video. Closeups
will also be used on the band to help the audience
get a closer look at them. By using close-ups it
allows the audience to focus on the key
performer in the song. Long shots are used in
music promos to get the whole band in the
shot. This will allow the audience to see the
location of the band and the whole performance.
From a long shot a zoom shot is quite often used
so
the audience can then focus on the band and not
the location. Low angle shots are often used
throughout a music promo and this makes the
performer looks powerful above the audience. Long
shots are often used in music promos and this is because it allows the
audience to see the artist or the whole band clearly. Also close-ups are
frequently used as they are effective when
showing the expression of the actor or
artist. Various shots will depend on the
genre of the song. For example, in rock
promos longs shots that show the crowd at
a concert is very popular. This screen grab
of a rock promo shows the type of shot that
occurs in a rock promo and is a clear
example of what I was stating. By including
the crowd in a music promo will make the audience members feel like they
are a part of the crowd.
Bailey Danahar
Question 1
Mise-En-Scene:
The MES in a music promo
will reflect the song because
the props used will aid the
set the scene and help the
audience understand the
narrative. For example in a
pop promo you will not have
dark colours like
black and grey
because they will
reflect genres like
rock. A pop promo
will be colourful
and include colours
like light blue, pink
and white. The MES
will always change
depending on the genre because if the MES does not reflect the genre
then the music promo will look odd and out of place. Band members who
are playing the instruments will normally have their instruments on them
because this will signify who they are to the audience. If the location of
the promo is constantly changing, this will intrigue the audience as it will
keep them interested. Whereas, if a promo was set in one room, the shots
may be repetitive and boring. This will lose the audiences attention.
Clothing can link the song to the genre and different fashion trends. This
will help create the scene and help the audience understand the era. Also
the lighting used in a music promo will vary on the genre. If the genre is
heavy metal then the lighting will be dark, but the genre is pop then the
lighting will be colourful. The light screen grab is from a pop promo and
this shows how light and colourful the video is. This is because the
audience watching the promo will want to see colour, fame and glamour.
Whereas the rock band on the right have basic scenery with very low key
lighting. This is to satisfy their target audience who will want the band
performing in a different environment. These to screen grabs prove what I
was stating and are clear examples of each genre. The contrast between
these two promos is completely different and by making this happen, it
will attract different audiences for each artist.
Performance and narrative:
Some promos will show footage of live gigs which makes the audience feel
a part of the audience. Most music promos are split 50/50 between a
narrative and the performance. A narrative is the story in a music promo
and these can be linear or non-linear, closed or open ended, circular
narrative, single stranded or multi stranded. Most narratives follow
Todorovs theory. The performance side of a promo is the band or artist
singing and performing to the audience. It is important to include both a
narrative and a performance because the audience would like to see the
artist perform but would like an interesting narrative that grips their
attention. Illustrating is good to use in a promo because when the lyrics
Bailey Danahar
Question 1
match the actions it is effective and enjoyable to watch. If the lyrics have
nothing to do with the action and what is happening in the promo then this
means the promo has a disjuncture narrative. In our music promo we had
a relatable narrative that worked well with the lyrics. Also the locations
used are accessible by the public and the narrative of the final video is
amplification.
Montage:
A montage is a series of images cut together to form a symbolic meaning.
A montage can also reverse the idea of a traditional narrative such as a
storyline. A montage originates from a Russian film maker and theorist
Eisenstein. The effects created are impressionistic and symbolic. A
montage is often used when the director wants to show time passing in a
promo.
The band is Oasis and their poster is a very good example of the
alternative genre as it features the whole band in what looks like
someones living room. They are all wearing alternative clothing and are
all posing for the camera, some in abstract positions and some in normal
positions. For example a band member is lying on the wooden floor when
there is a sofa to sit on; this
implies that he may be drunk
due to a glass of wine besides
him. The typography is bold
and white with a black
background which makes it
stand out clearly. It is stating
the date that the band releases
their DVD on. This poster is
where I got my inspiration from
to have more than one person
on the album cover. Although
Oasis has included all of the band members, we decided to only include
the lead singer but make it different by having
three of the same person in the same place. I
feel this effect of the artist is extremely
effective and also looks very professional.
That is why I was influenced by Oasis
poster/advert and chose to adapt their idea.
Our first music magazine advert was
unconventional because the audience
feedback we received stated that the
typography was difficult to read. Therefore we
took the feedback on board and we changed
our advert completely. We feel that the new
advert is conventional and can be read easily.
Also the feedback we have received shows
that our new advert is a massive
improvement from the original.
Comparing our advertisement material to a
real advert, they are relatively similar. Both
Bailey Danahar
Question 1
bands are an indie genre and have similar typography. Each advert has a
band rating which is clearly shown so the audience can see what the
reviews are like on the band. Also a small quote from someone reviewing
the band is on both adverts and this is to encourage the public to listen to
the songs. The main members of each band are placed on the advert so
the audience will understand who and what the artists look like. The
release date of each band is clearly displayed on both adverts to ensure
everyone who reads it will be able to see it.
We got inspiration from the band Imagine Dragons because they are also
an indie rock band who have been successful in their career. Their Radio
Active video was very influencing because they had performance and a
narrative that used disjuncture and
amplification. The lyrics did not always
match up to what was being said but at
certain points it did. For example; when the
lyrics were talking about ash and dust and
then we saw ash and dust on the guitar.
Also the lyrics say Breathing in the
chemicals and the shot that follows on
from this in the video is of a man smoking a
cigar, this tells the audience that the
chemicals are from the cigar.
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In our music promo when the lyrics say; get to be alone in a position to
please we got the two characters
to be in bed together to make the
relationship between the
characters realistic. We felt this
was an important message
throughout the song because it
expressed how the characters felt
about each other.
