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

Displaying the title is conventional among most music vids; ours opens with a dark frame and title of the band and song in the bottom left which fades into the first shot – we did all of this using Premiere Pro. This first shot is the silhouette of Stevie (aged 18) mourning and thus foreshadowing the narrative that follows. We used a cast of people this age as it relates to the primary age of our audience, this may enable them to connect or empathize with the characters more so than if they were older or younger.

Converging to characteristics and conventions of the rock genre – as identified by Andrew Goodwin – we embedded a significant amount of live footage and close ups of the band to promote identity. In fact it was almost evenly cut between that and the narrative which is incidentally similar to the bands own ratio style. Andrew Goodwin also identifies the frequent notion of looking, and close ups. Both of which we have embed and I have displayed in screen shots below. One of the car wing mirror - edited for circumstantial effect - and the other of the door being unlocked. We also include a close up of a mobile, referencing social media in general and again the generation most relevant to our genre as they are closely connoted with being technology and social media orient.

In the shot to the right we see a worms eye shot of the band (Red Ocean Nectar) performing. The reasoning for this shot was based on angles used in legitimate music videos, symbolising a power or leadership over the crowd.

“It kills me not to know his, but I’ve all but just forgotten, what the colour of her eyes were, and her scars or how she got them”

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“So tell me nowIf this ain't love then how do we get out?”

This is when the idea came about that maybe this was a mans note of apology or explanation for the unravelling narrative. This makes use of yet another convention dually noted by Andrew Goodwin where in the lyrics and visuals hold a relation to one another. And so the concept behind this video became that of domestic abuse and conflicting emotions, raising awareness if you will. Which complies to Rise Against members advocacy of progressive organizations such as Amnesty International (supporting women's rights in places like Afghanistan) It Gets Better Project (supporting young people being harassed - LGBT) and PETA (animal rights) which awarded Rise Against for being the most animal friendly band. We could also suggest it is controversial in comparison to the bands image. This is as cultivation theory would suggest we have exposed the audience to violence and moral instability, influencing their behaviour negatively. However bands of this genre are reputable for mosh pits and aggression regardless, thus in the live footage we included clips of the crowd ‘moshing’.

The original song Saviour does have an official video, however it doesn’t have a particularly strong narrative. Unlike ours – with themes of violence and jealousy – exercising intertextuality of domestic drama and the social media. Other songs by this band however, such as “Make it Stop” target bullying and so are far more emotive. Our initial ideas for the video were predictable but due to audience feedback we scrapped and rewrote the storyboards to meet demands (such as “an alternative interpretation of lyrics”) And so going back over our storyboards; we started a fresh.

Excluding the very start and end to which we applied fade transitions; the majority of our music video used jump cuts. Cutting rate carefully following the beat and intensity of the song. The highlight of timing - in my opinion - was when the first chorus came to a close and a crowd chants “whoooa, whoooa” simultaneously we get a motivated shot of me

picking up the glass of water succeeded by the throw of it over Stevie. Now we have linked not only the lyrics to the narrative,

but the rhythm to the action/intensity of the situation.

We used elements of the album cover as a basis for the ad; setting the tone for the album with washes of grey and white . The recognised band logo of a fist rising up into the backdrop of a black heart was situated in the centre just below the bands black and white image - following the connotations of violence reflected in our music video, and a synergy of colours. The simplification and colours used accentuates and radiates a similarly grunge hostility.

This simplification and the colours used accentuating that, give away just enough to stir interest, but not enough to by any standard oversell it, personifying honest and down to earth traits. To the left of our digipak I have displayed the album produced by the band themselves. The doodle like style of drawing isn’t mirrored exactly into our own; but the concept of artistic expression is.

The digipak of course follows a not dissimilar theme and many common conventions of an album pack. Such as featuring a track list on the back, band name and album title on the front, and use of the bands image and logo within. For the cover we scanned and applied hand-drawn artwork; all of which is demonstrated above. This gives the album a more personalised and less industrialised tone.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? Throughout the three products we have themes of violence. For example the band logo of a rising fist on both the advert

and digipak – matching the conflict narrative of the video. This can be connoted to aggressive stereotypes of the genre such as ‘moshers’, which we see as near silhouettes in the music

video. There is also a very dominant presence of shadows and highlights as appose to generally well lit frames, which

converging with other ancillary texts portrays a shrouded mystery that corresponds with the domestic drama

sociologists refer to as ‘the dark figure’, as most incidents go unreported.

Synergy is also displayed through our use of the album cover as a basis for the ad; setting the angst hostile rock tone with washes of grey and white . The reputable band logo of a fist rising into the

backdrop of a black heart was situated in the centre just below the bands black and white image - following the connotations of violence reflected in our music video, and the photograph reinstating the

bands identity as a group.

The digipak of course follows a not dissimilar theme and many common conventions of an album (i.e. title on the front, track list on the back). For the cover, exerting some

originality, we scanned and applied hand-drawn artwork as for mentioned in the previous slide. Giving the album a more personalised anti-industrialised tone that fits well into the minds of rebellious teens. The interpretation of the drawing is subjective but as the illustrator I can state it was done with the intention of implying life is short, thus a stopwatch in place of an old mans eye. This is a concept many teenagers take

note of, which I can illustrate alternatively with the word “YOLO” – You Only Live Once.

Due to the fact they are a practised and professionally recorded band they’re confidence on stage came naturally which worked in our favour. The members also represented the kind of audience this genre and

song would be directed at in terms of age, class, clothing, interests and hobbies. (15 – 18, flannel shirts, play an instrument, attend concerts, working class)

Through the process of developing our three artefacts we also completely changed the advert. Initially it was of it’s own theme and would seem

unrelated to other ancillary texts. The original - as shown to the left - was produced prior to the digipak (as shown in the bottom middle). After we formatted the grungy washed out monotone colour theme, hand-drawn

album cover and band image to suit; we developed the advert accordingly. The developed one as shown on the right of this text.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

It was due to audience research – conducted on survey monkey – that we completely rewrote our story board in attempt to captivate an alternative interpretation of the lyrics. This caused set backs in our schedule but in the long run was worth the work and development. By utilising this site we were able to reach a wider audience – sharing a link to the survey on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr – providing quantitative (numerical) data that we could stratify and draw conclusions from. We backed this up with an interview providing more qualitative in depth research – although not wholly representative – with Nathan Wilson.

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Generally speaking the audience feedback since making the music video has been positive. Drawing attention to and praising our use of live performance – relative to the genre – and also the range of experimental shots such as in the car wing mirror at 2:35 (1). Although the narrative was slightly too emotive and “strange” for some, others note that it had good acting and a strong/”deep” link to social realism. Reviews were also left commenting on how the narrative fitted the music well – referring there more to the way in which jumps made between the live performance and narrative fit the rhythm and intensity of the music resulting in a more engaging watch. Unfortunately fewer people than I had imagined picked up on the literal relationship between lyrics and visuals but regardless both were credited. Highlighted by several people was the use of flashbacks beginning at 2:50 (2). Clearly this effectively summarised and refreshed the narrative in peoples minds, tying any loose ends in their understanding. It was also timed in sync with the silence of all instruments but the guitar (3), the synchronised sound and visuals keeps focus on crucial points.

*Facebook screen shot*

(1) (2) (3)

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Our coursework has been heavily influenced and assisted by our ability to apply digital technologies to it. Initially we each (Harry, Stevie, Emily and I) set up accounts on Tumblr - a popular site for operatively sharing pictures and videos through - run primarily by the age range applicable to this particular genre (rock). This is where we frequently updated our coursework progress and can be viewed publicly.

We also used Survey Monkey to see exactly what people were looking for in a music video. The survey was taken almost equally by men and women, the majority of which aged 15 – 18 years old, and half of which from a British ethnicity. Of 43 responses, 38 say they watch music videos, and 86% conclude this is primarily through the online services of YouTube. And when asked why, the overruling majority chose for a strong narrative. However other elements such as live footage and an alternative/unexpected interpretation of the lyrics where also highlighted demands. 65.4% of people either somewhat or strongly agreed that when listening to the lyrics of a song they relate to what they are watching. Which in a convention identified by Andrew Goodwin.

YouTube provided the foundation to look at pre-existing music videos by several bands in or around the Rock genre. And once we had selected our song it provided a place to further research the bands published work. Watching these we dually noted impressive shots, angles and effects to later embed in our own piece. For instance a shot from Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Cant Stop which effectively references the notion of looking (another convention highlighted by Andrew Goodwin) which we mimic loosely in the shot of the car wing mirror. The clear difference being in our shot there isn’t a persons reflection at the other end, instead it is looking behind, symbolising the move away from an event or attempt to do so. Another example is in Rise Against – Satellite where Tim McIlrath stands higher than and facing the crowd displaying a leadership over them. Within our video I chose to take this live shot from the perspective of the audience emphasising their status.

When the music video was finally completed which took roughly 2 weeks; we shared it on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr. Thus lending ourselves to wider audience and a wider pool of feedback that in turn is more representative of the general verdict on our work. Audience feedback since making the music video has been generally positive; drawing attention to and praising our use of live performance – relative to the genre – and also the range of experimental shots as for mentioned in previous slides. Although the narrative was too emotive for some, others note that it had good acting and link to social realism. Reviews left also commented on how the narrative fitted the music – referring there more to the way in which jumps made between the live performance and narrative fit the rhythm and intensity of the music resulting in a more engaging watch. Evaluating our own piece myself I would add that more clear and energetic crowd shots would have amplified the connotation of the rock genre and steady frames would have made it more professional.

After configuring a brief story board to account for the shots and give us a structure to begin filming from; we collected required equipment from Gary the media technician. These included a Canon 650, a light to fit the camera for filming live performance in highest possible definition, and a mac book for uploading and compiling the shots into our end product. The mistake we made here was to not also obtain a tripod to steady the shots as these were primarily hand held and noticeably so.

To compile shots we used a program on the Mac called Premiere Pro. Initially having no experience with the software – but a little guidance from Harry – I did most of this myself. Learning in the process how to use tools such as ‘Razor’ to shorten clips, ‘Bins’ to file and organise shots - amplifying organisation and ease - and also the route to take when adding or editing colour effects on frames as seen in the car scene. It was within this period we realized taking longer shots from each angle would have made nit picking shots easier as some favourable ones were short lived.

While that was in process however, we were simultaneously creating an advert and Digipak. For the Digipak cover we used a hand drawn picture of an old mans face, half skeletal. To get the high quality we transferred its image via scanner onto the computer and edited it further on Photoshop. On which I learnt to use the Magic Wand tool, Which will, on mouse click, select any and all pixels (depending on the setting of the wand) of the colour of the pixel that you clicked on. We also made use of the very basic crop tool (you select the tool, click and drag on the area of the photo you would like to keep).