There a large number of codes and conventions that must be considered during the production of a music video in order for it to be successful in what it are setting out to do, as offered by the theorist Peter Fraser. When working on the construction of my own video, I tried to adhere to these codes and conventions as much as possible. As outlined by Richard Dyer, one important convention that is very important to a video’s success is the idea of the star image. An artist or band will want to receive as much exposure as possible from a video, so they are usually displayed front and centre for all to see, with the majority of shots focusing on them. For instance, my own video includes a large number of shots of the artist(s) singing and performing, as well as featuring them as prominent figures during the narrative scenes.
Music videos are often shot and edited in a very specific way in order to keep audiences interested. Close ups are often prominent in order to try and create a sense of intimacy with the viewer, and help to make fans feel as they have a connection with the artist. They are often shot in a similar way to a TV advertisement, as they are frequently short and only have a limited amount of time to get their message across to the audience. The most common form of editing associated with promotional music videos is fast cutting. This is often done, as well as to keep up with the tempo of the song being used, to make the images harder to grasp on the initial viewing, helping to ensure repeat viewings from audiences.
In line with this, my own video cuts frequently and never keeps with any particular shot for an extended period of time. I also incorporate a number of close-up shots of my band members, the singer in particular, to help build up the sense of familiarity that is so imperative in promotional videos of this type, the camera also shifting repeatedly to a number of different angles, giving the artist’s performances a more dynamic feel.
Another significant aspect of a music video is the balance between performance and narrative. The narratives found in music videos are more often fragmented and incomplete, due to the limited amount time they have to tell their story. As presented by theorist Steve Archer, the narrative segments may also appear in a non-linear order, which is usually done to have viewers watch the video again in order to catch anything they might not have understood the first time through, aiding in the video’s repeatability factor. The artists may also crop up as prominent figures in the narrative, acting as both narrator and performer at the same time.
My media production uses a variety of these narrative conventions in order to tell its story. Not every shot is shown in the correct order (with the “villain” of the narrative passing by an area where one actor is still shown to be hiding in prior and subsequent shots), helping with its repeatability, and the artists themselves are shown as the key players within the narrative, creating a further connection between them and the audience.
One real media text that I took influence from was Rammstein’s Rosenrot video. A prominent feature of the video, I thought, was that the band members are used as the participants within the video’s narrative, with the performance shots using the same mis-en-scene as the narrative, the two sections often blending together. This was something that I attempted to emulate as much as possible during the construction of my own video, as my actors were all in specific camouflage costume, a costume that they retained during the vocal/guitar shots.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I felt as if my main video managed to create a fairly effective combination with my various ancillary texts. Like with the music video itself, these texts also have a guideline of conventions that they need to follow in order to help them be more successful in what they are setting out to accomplish. For example band websites are often set out in a very specific way, with the information laid out in a way that will make it seem accessible for audiences. They use bold, striking headings with contrasting colours (eg. Black over white or vice versa) with images of the band, and logos associated with them, often at the forefront in order to prominently advertisement them as much as possible. Tour dates and band merchandise are also featured prominently and made to stand out from the rest of the website via larger, emboldened font types, encouraging readers to invest in what the band has to offer.
I tried to apply these things as much as possible to my own website. Band logos are front and centre for all to see and are the first things that will catch the reader’s eye when first opening up the site, using whites, reds and golds that noticeably contrast against the black background.
There are also multiple links to the band’s merchandise store, often in a larger font than the rest of the text so that it sticks out upon first glance. I designed my own logo for the band’s new album that features centrally on my website. This includes a striking image of an upraised fist surrounded by flames, something that I felt fit well with the image the band are trying to create as well as the “Brothers in Arms” theme running throughout my video and the track which it was based around.
One thing that connects my ancillary texts together is that both my website and CD cover use screen-captures from my video prominently, creating an added sense of continuity between the styles used. My digipack is mainly made up of clips from my video merged together, which gives it an instantly recognisable look and will give a sense of familiarity to audiences that would have already seen the video. Because of this, the band is given a significant visual presence on all aspects of the marketing material.
In addition, I think the theory referring to the repeatability factor in music videos may also be applicable to the various ancillary texts. For instance, my CD cover uses a spatter of different images spread around and merged together, urging the audience to take repeated looks at it, perhaps helping it to stand out to potential buyers in a record shop.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Following the construction of my video, website and digipack, I received various feedback comments from my peers, who would also be part of the target audience the materials would primarily be aimed at. In order to obtain this feedback we displayed our work to the rest of our respective media class on individual computers, as well as showcasing our music videos via a projector, giving each other constructive criticism and opinions for each of the three texts.
For my website I received an array of both positive and negative comments which would allow me to improve upon my work in the future. One positive comment I received was that “I like the role-over image of Godsized’s logo in the top left hand corner, the bright lights contrasting with the black and white is very effective.” I also think that worked quite well. Normally the logo is a dull grey that wouldn’t stand out against the rest of the page, and the way it lightens up when rolled over helps it to stand out and help catch the audience’s attention. A negative comment from the same person is that “however, the large amount of text pressed together is very messy, maybe make spacing and put some text on a different section to the website.” I do understand what they mean, but because of the way the website is laid out (divided up into columns) it would be difficult to try and move the text around. To counteract this, I perhaps could have utilised a different font type that may have been easier for my audience to read.
In regards to my digipack, one comment I received was that “the linking between the set of the video and imagery used on the CD is quite effective.” This was something that I tried to do as much as possible in order to try and create an added sense of continuity between my three texts, utilising imagery from my video for my digipack and website that fans would instantly recognise. A criticism for my digipack was that “the yellow writing is a bit difficult to read, maybe choose a different colour with more contrast to the colours in the background”. This was something that I struggled with in the production of my digipack, as due to the background to each page being a photograph of my filming location (a bright, wooded area) it was very difficult to find a font colour that would stand out against it. Even though it still wasn’t perfect, in the end I was forced to go with the yellow as that was the one that contrasted against the backing the most.
One comment I received for my music video was: “good stuff, liked the guitar and the singing, good acting and good video shots / framing using the tree where George is between the tree”. To be honest I didn’t really like how the shots with my vocalist framed between the branches of the tree ended up looking. They’re perfectly adequate for what I was trying to do with the mis-en-scene and overall feel of my video, but I felt that they blocked the screen too much and obscured the view of the artist, who should really be in the forefront of the performance in order to showcase them to the audience as much as possible.
Other pieces of audience feedback I received for my video were “the setting was good and the costume looks pretty awesome...” and “Different variety, singing, acting; tracking blurry shot looked good”. Getting a consistent, original mis-en-scene using the wooded setting and camouflage gear was always going to be a significant aspect of my video for me, in order to create the military “Brothers in Arms” theme that permeates so strongly throughout each of my media texts, as well as the original song. The tracking shot was also an important addition, as it comes up at a point when the song’s tempo is at its fastest as well as when the narrative reaches a crisis point.
The strong use of mis-en-scene in order to create a specific tone / theme is often used in a number of real media texts. An example of this is Mastodon’s Oblivion video, which makes heavy use of specialised mis-en-scene, incorporating multiple shots of the band aboard a computer-generated space-station, wearing space-suits and including interiors full of control panels and engineering equipment. This used in order to display the video’s space-faring narrative, as well as portraying the science-fiction theme/setting to the audience.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages?
During the construction of my various media texts, I had to utilise a number of different technologies in order to complete the tasks set. For the research and planning part of the coursework, both YouTube and Google were invaluable resources for finding relevant information that would provide influence for the construction stages. For instance, I used YouTube because it was a useful source of a vast number of different music videos that would prove relevant to my particular genre (in this case heavy metal) that would be considerably easier to find and access than they would if you searched for them on various music channels (Kerrang, Scuzz ect.) or searching for band DVDs in a video rental shop like Blockbuster. I was quickly able to use the search function to find videos that I thought would prove influential towards my own work.
Blogger itself was also very important in the setting out of my research and planning work. It allowed me to set my work out in an intuitive, well organised way that setting everything out individually into folders wouldn’t have permitted. It is also easier for readers to access and find relevant information this way.
During the production of my music video, the main piece of technology I was required to use was Adobe Premier Pro to edit it all together. Using this software I was able to successfully sync my various shots together to help it flow effectively with the song and have my performance shots appropriately timed and lip synched so that my video would feel authentic to audiences. It was important for me to be able to pull off a number of fast cuts and transitions to keep the audience’s attention and keep up with the reasonably fast pace of the backing track.
One piece of media technology which proved important during the production of my digipack was Photoshop. It allowed me to take various different screen-captures taken from my music video and use multiple blending techniques in order to merge them together to create my chosen design. Photoshop also provided many different filters which would allow me to give my digipack a unique, stylised look that would help it stand out from pre-existing CD covers.
Another program I used thoroughly during the construction of my CD panels was Microsoft paint. This program gave me the option of taking print screens of different parts of my video and then cropping them so that they were ready for manipulation on Photoshop.
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