How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

As a group we effectively managed to combine the ancillary texts (CD cover and Website) and the main product (Music Video). We made sure that we maintained an underlying theme throughout all three media products By combining the media platforms we created a subconscious link between all three of our products in the mind of the audience. This actively helped promote the other products via the integration of the media platforms.

We deliberately used the image of the horse being led by Maizy for the background of the website and the CD cover to create an association. We not only used the image for the CD cover based around our own video, but we also based it around pre-existing products from bands of a similar genre such as the Mumford and Son album – Sign No More. Their CD cover is a basic picture, which has been adjusted by Photoshop. Our group spent a large amount of time on IPhoto, making minor tweaks to enhance our image so that it would stand out on the shelves in a music shop. The reason we chose to use a photograph, rather than designing our own artwork, was becasue we felt it would look more professional. 

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

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

Our main product (the music video) has conformed to the forms and conventions of real media products in several ways. According to media theorist Goodwin, there are seven key features that a music video must try to achieve (which I have outlined in my earlier post: Music Video Theory). I feel we have successfully included nearly all of the features outlined by Goodwin.

I feel that the majority of the visuals successfully amplify the mood of the song and the lyrics. Since the music is about his heartbreak and lost love, we decided to put a higher emphasis on the break up and her freedom rather than his feelings. Also, instead of blatantly showing the narrative side, we preferred to focus on symbolism. This reflects other media products produced from a similar genre and is stereotypically found in R’n’B and mainstream style. By way of contrast mainstream rock uses a more artistic style to portray the meaning of the song. The horse is an example of symbolism in our music video; the horse symbolises the woman and how she has gained a sense of freedom from breaking the ties in the relationship.

We have also followed Goodwin’s theory by producing a style that we feel is suitable for our music video. The song is quite slow and therefore cutting for editing isn’t as fast as it would traditionally be in the majority of music videos. In this sense it defies the stereotypical music video convention, but we did this deliberately to create a style that could then be associated with the band (Goodwin outlined this to be important). Not only that, but the use of artistic footage helped to develop a style similar to other bands in their genre such as The Fray- How to save a life. As with our video, their footage incorporates both performance and concept. We developed the idea of incorporating multiple styles of music video and to some extent have managed to incorporate all three types; we have Ben singing (performance), the horse (concept) and the burning of the letters (narrative). This is designed to keep the audience engaged at all times. By having a lot of things going on at the same time, this will help prevent the audience from getting bored. If we did not include variation within our music video, it would not be suitable for its purpose (which is to advertise the song and promote the band).

By incorporating a large number of close-ups we followed one of the major conventions in real media products. The majority of our close ups were on artistic shots of Ben's performance. The dancing shots mainly consist of medium shots, with a few high angle shots and the horse shots were mainly establishing shots: this was to establish clear differences within each of the sections.

As a group we deliberately tried to incorporate intertexutal references to other iconic media texts. Examples of this are the throwing of the ring into a pond, mirroring the film Titanic, where Rose disposes of the Heart of the Ocean; burning of the letters – The Notebook which is based around the burning of letters. Since our target audience is relatively old they should be able to pick up on these references.

The only part of Goodwin’s theory we deliberately challenged was voyeurism and females being seen as sex objects. We thought that if we portrayed women in a sexual manner it would detract from the meaning of the song. Even though, as Laura Mulving clearly states in her ‘Male Gaze Theory’,  the sexualization of women is seen across the board in the music and film industry, we felt it would be inappropriate for our video. Not only that, we wanted to use symbolism for representing the woman (the horse) so that the audience can relate to the story and input their own experiences, rather than associating the woman in the video with this song. 

Album Cover Research

Album Cover Research Ideas

After deciding on what song to use for our music video and also after analysing Snow Patrol's, existing album covers, we firstly decided to put together a mood board to help us focus all of our ideas. We evidently wanted to use features from the bands existing covers but we also wanted to introduce some of our own interpretations and ideas into designing the album cover.

The pictures of the mood board we created, were labelled A to E. This then made it easier to analyse and discuss each picture and how we could potentially use it on the album cover.

A = top image 

B= top right image

C= bottom right (horse and man) 

D= bottom image

E= far left image

Image A 

Image A is a good example of a dark, barren landscape which we agreed would act as a good backdrop if merged with other elements from other images. The darkness will be symbolic of negative emotions such as depression, which are heavily incorporated within the song we have chosen (‘You could be happy’) and also match the 'moody' persona given off by many of Snow Patrols songs.

Image B 

Again the backdrop for this image gave a depressing feel similar to Image A. However this image contains the silhouettes of two horses which adds to the eerie feel of isolation. One of our location possibilities, Acton Trussell Farm, has horses which is why we chose this picture. We considered using live animals and applying an artistic twist to the picture, for example, blurring, layering, editing or turning the image into a silhouette.

Image C

This picture is very different to A and B, and is far more colourful in comparison. The man in red walking a horse through a field is far more 'upbeat' and less depressing. We considered using elements of imagery like this (e.g man in red and horse) which is colourful and placing it against a dark background to make them stand out. This would then go with the theme that depression and sad emotions will always be there, but humans are resistant.

Images D and E 

A lone wolf is shown on a white background to represent the feeling of isolation, which again is another negative emotion, put forward by many of the Snow Patrol soundtracks. Our song, "You Could Be Happy", has continuous themes of sadness, depression and regret running through it. It could also be interpreted as one ex partner 'releasing' their ex and allowing them to move on. The lone animal in pictures D and E represent this very effectively. 

Overall, we felt that the appropriate imagery would be someone or an animal being on his or her own, when normally they would be in a group, signifying loneliness. Also, we wanted to create a paradox instead of blatantly stating the mood of the album. We thought of portraying a peaceful image on the album cover and then contrasting that with a completely different title layout. 

Ignite- Dante's Inferno

Ignite- You Could Be Happy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RktQa87JTRo

Filming Diary.

Day 1 –Filming The Lead Singer

Equipment needed: Camera, Tripod, Ladder, 2 Reflectors (one home made one), phone with the song on and 10 torches

Other items: Brownies, Diet Coke, Fleece, Rain Mac and a Giant Umbrella

Time We Started filming : 13.00

Today, we started filming. It has been a bleak and miserable day. Even though it is not the easiest weather to film in, it does create the right atmosphere for the film. We collected Ben and went up to Maizy’s farm. Ben got ready in my car, as Maizy, Matt and I set up the filming equipment. As we were setting up the equipment three geese were trying to chase us Thankfully, Matt took responsibility of geese patrol. Other than being cold, today ran very smoothly, I think we were able to obtain a sufficient amount of footage to create enough variation.

            

Day 2- Filming the Dance

Equipment needed: Camera, Tripod, 2 Leotards, 2 Skirts, 2 pairs of black shoes, black eye shadow, black eye liner, white face paint, red lipstick, 2 top hats, reflector, phone with music on.

Time We Started Filming: 13.00

We arrived at the farm about 12.30, again a frosty day. Beth and I stayed in the car to put on our make up and finishing touches to the costumes, whilst Matt, Lauren and Maizy set up the barn by moving the fences to create enough space for Beth and I to dance in. Again it was a freezing day, however the roof was over us so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. For the majority ofthe time I managed to get my dance moves right and after 2 hours of filming we had a nice range of shots to incorporate into the music video to create a sense of style.

Day 3: Filming the Horse

Equipment Needed: Camera, Tripod, Horse, Horse Food, 3 Combs, Rope

Time We Started Filming: 11.00

Today was interesting. We went up to Maizy’s farm, and captured the horse. Having groomed her for around half an hour, we took her back out to the field. The most difficult part was trying to get her to run, but eventually we managed. I feel like today was a success, especially since the weather was perfect. Not only did we film the horse, but we also managed to take the album cover photo.

Day 4: Filler Shots

Equipment needed: Camera, ring, necklace, letters, dead rose, lighter

Time We started filming : 14.00

Having reviewed our footage, to be on the safe side we decided to film extra footage just inc ase there were flaws in our earlier footage. This went very smoothly and as a team we have become very efficient and we know what needs to be done. Obtaining the filler shots only took half an hour; most of it taken up by filming. I am feeling very positive about our music video.

Actual Location

Actual Location

The location we chose was a farm in Acton Trussell, as it was easy for us to get to and had the right types of environments suitable for our music video. After gaining permission from Maizy’s grandparents, we moved the fences in the barn, drove cars onto the land to use the car headlights for lighting, use any of the animals (if we required them), and had access to the farmhouse for electrical plugs and extension.

Because we had full access to the site and no time restrictions this location was far more suitable than the other locations we looked at,

The Oak Tree 

The Oak tree, located just to the side of the farm house, is extremely tall and old. From a distance it creates a picturesque pattern, especially against a clear sky. The trunk of the tree is approximately 2.5 metres wide, thus meaning it is very sturdy and therefore poses no potential danger to any one or any equipment whilst filming.

We decided to use the oak tree as one of the main focuses in our music video. Our lead singer (mimer) will be positioned around the tree when we film the shots including him. We decided that by creating shots from various angles would show off different views of the tree as well as the lead male. The old oak tree is also symbolic of something 'dying' - the relationship that is referred to in You Could Be Happy is over therefore we thought that the 'dying' aged tree could represent the recently failed relationship. At the end, the singer has to let go of the oak tree which is symbolic of the letting go of the relationship.

The Barn

The barn situated at the farm is also extremely old and dated. The walls are made from concrete and wooden boards which also depicts a 'prison' or somewhere one could feel 'trapped'. This is where the dance routine will be shot and will help to symbolise the woman in the failed relationship before the break up as it is suggested through the lyrics that she was trapped, "Do the things you always wanted to, without me there to hold you back, don't think just do..." On the day of filming, we shall have to clear  the area where the dance routine will be performed by sweeping up the majority of the hay that is on the ground - we do still want a rustic, natural looking environment so we won't worry too much about the neatness of the area. We will also assess what could potentially be dangerous around and inside the barn and remove anything that could be a risk.

The Fields/Animals

The farm house is surrounded by 25 acres of land (fields) and has stunning picturesque views all around them. The fields are separated into different 'segments' creating lots of smaller fields. If we need to, we are able to move the fences which separate the fields to make larger areas to work in. The horses are in the 'main' field day and night so we can move them or even use them if needs be. There is enough room for the horses to run and walk in large shapes. To portray the freedom of the woman sung about in the song after the breakup of the relationship, we have considered using one of the horses being led around the fields by a person (who would resemble the man) and eventually have the creature running free on her own to reflect her new found freedom since breaking up from her partner.