Music Video:
In order to successfully develop the genre of Ska, whilst integrating it into my 3 productions, it was fundamental for me to research the genre in depth. My music video develops and uses the forms and conventions of Ska, and was influenced by several real media music productions. The first intertextual reference used in my music video is, Sum 41’s ‘In Too Deep’ music video. Sum 41 are a Ska-Pop-Punk band formed in 1996, and target their music to a youthful audience demographic, similar to ‘Smaller Than You’. To generate the genre of Ska I was influenced by the costume, mise en scene, humour and filming of their 2001 ‘In Too Deep’ music video. Although their video is generically high school American, we used generic signifiers to amplify the cultural roots of British Ska-punk, and to represent contemporary life in Britain. This music video uses generic conventions that reflect high street fashion of the Ska-punk sub genre, for example; sweat bands, Etnies trainers (distinctly associated with youth, skating and Ska) and iconic band merchandise, for instance the ‘Iron Maiden’ t-shirts worn by the guitarist, developing references to the underground metal/rock genre.
The performers in the narrative are generically white punk skateboarders (the genre ironically originates in Jamaica, yet the majority of Ska artists are white) seen in the mise en scene of ‘In too Deep‘: some with vibrant pink hair and tattoos, connoting a rebellious stage in youth, appealing to specifically 15-18 year old males (a niche audience demographic). These signifiers influenced the main characters in my music video, for example, the skateboarders in my narrative had tattoo’s and t-shirts referencing rock icons (The Aquabats, Guns and Roses) to give them the specific prototype for the genre. The cast members all wore Etnies and Vans which are part of the generic skateboarding attire worn by young males aged 15-19, and band merchandise clothing which connotes the appeal to Ska punk fans. This video linked with the slapstick humour of the narrative, along with the generic use of skateboarding, that relate closely with the genre.
I challenged the generic form of Ska by having female skaters and band members in my music video. Female musicians in Ska bands are quite rare (The Raincoats and No Doubt are exceptions) and the ratio of men to women is extremely higher, as the genre is masculinised, which is why I decided to promote and strongly represent females in my music video. ‘Smaller Than You’, the band I chose, consists of 6 members, one of them being a female, reflecting the dominance of males in this genre of the music industry. I wanted to increase market sales by including girls in the narrative to broaden their target audience. Thus we female skaters and cast members in the music video, to challenge this generic stereotyping, widening the gender boundaries in Ska music. Having females in this ska-punk music video adds a post-modernist element, and also develops ‘The Male Gaze Theory’, as audiences will view her in different ways, but, we mainly want the audience to view her from within and identify with her. This is significant as Lacans mirror stage theory states that audiences are subconsciously looking for their own mirror image to identify with, within the media, through similarities in the text. Here we have developed a text predominantly for male indemnification, but, have expanded our niche audience for females to be included.
The second media product that inspired my music video was Less Than Jake’s- ‘Does The Lion City Still Roar?’, music video. Less Than Jake are an American Ska-punk band, and like Smaller Than You, share the same fast paced Ska beat. This music video connotes Ska and urban scenes significantly and targets a youth audience demographic, through the use of props, genre and characters, so that this niche audience can identify more closely with the band. This is significant in developing Jacque Lacon’s theory where audiences look for their own mirror image to identify themselves with, in the media. I utilised this in my music video through the social realism approach, (youth, skateboarding, urban scenes, Britain) in order for our audiences to identify strongly with young British band. This is effective in targeting an audience as it enables the target audience to engage, for instance Kres states that genre is “a frequently repeated social occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purposes“, which makes them feel comfortable as they can identify with this lifestyle, social group, and culture, forming a collective group for them to belong too.
This ‘Less Than Jake’ professional music video primarily focuses on desolate contemporary urban landscapes reinforcing the genre’s punk underground roots. The locations in my music video were numerous city landscapes and derelict urban scenes in Norwich’s inner city, linking to British social realism, for instance the grim and desolate scenes in’ This Is England’, immediately signifying the distinct culture of the band.
This social realist film was crucial for my research into the production of my music video, as it conveys and generates strong messages on culture, the importance of the British punk music scene and significantly utilises genre, through costume, location and characters. My music video develops solidarity and creates a collective group, for young people interested in skateboarding and ska/punk music, but it also subverts these British social realist films such as ‘This Is England’ and ‘Fish Tank’ which entail youth alienation, seclusion and crime, which portray British youth in a negative light. Bands associated with this genre also symbolise and reflect British culture through their music video's and lyrics, for example, The Specials-'Ghost Town' entails the band in a utpoic run down urban city, which links to their political lyrics of unemployment caused by Margaret Thatcher, linking to the strong political issues in 'This Is England'.
The narrative of ‘Less Than Jake- Does This Lion City Still Roar?“ symbolises urban scenes along with up-beat filming, which are both associated with the genre of Ska, therefore inspired my production of ‘Smaller Than You- Who Knew’. The genre of Ska generically uses a non linear narrative, focusing on integrating band performance with a slapstick comic aspect as seen in Both these music videos, which I incorporate in mine. The humorous narrative entailed in ’Does The Lion City Still Roar?’ was significantly developed with the use of voyeurism from the sunglasses.
This fashionable prop is enticing, developing an active audience, creating demand. The slapstick sequences in my production involves the constant switching of drum sticks through skateboarders and the band members, injecting the mise en scene with playfulness and energy. These drum sticks were a fundamental prop to the mise en scene as they were the focus of the narrative, enabling it to be significantly developed. Other props we used were the skateboards and a car, which were effective in connoting and reflecting the fast paced melody and the lyrics from the song, for instance, “run from the light“, “actions“, and words of transition and movement. Other phrases from the lyrics of Who Knew‘ we utilised were focused on “the hassle of life“ and “in the minds of the young”, referencing what its like for young people to grow up, reflecting the messages conveyed through my production. This is significant in conforming to Goodwin’s theory in which music video’s should have a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals of the text, therefore illustrating the song through the video‘s amplifying its messages through the communication of the production. I was influenced by Less Than Jake and Sum 41’s bright grading in their videos. I kept the lighting ambient and vibrant to reflect the upbeat pace of Ska, to emphasise and reflect the significant speed and cut of our fast edit. The costume in this video, also like Sum 41, connotes the genre significantly. The use of Vans shoes on the main cast members is a generic convention of the genre. This reinforces the youthful music and reflects the urban sport, as this type of clothing is associated with the generic blueprint of punk, Ska and ‘indie’ personas, thus being recognisable to fans of the genre and sport.
2- How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?
Digital Pack And Magazine Advert:
To connote genre further in my print productions I researched many independent and mainstream Ska, punk and reggae artists. The reason I explored reggae artists was because the roots of Ska originate from reggae and their influences. Although my music video develops and uses forms and conventions of Ska, my digital pack challenges them. I was influenced by Vinyl as it presented the music authentically injecting the package with a sense of vintage classiness, as well as used by contemporary DJ’s. I explored Reggae vinyl such as Studio One as they are amongst the first to record Ska on their record label. ‘Studio One Ska’ is one of their compilations which conforms to the generic Ska form, appearance and signifiers. This consists of : Bold eye catching font, extreme contrasting colours, repetitive images and humour. As appearance was everything, I tried to produce a product that fits the generic Ska prototype, whilst integrating aspects of youth culture.
The Specials were primarily significant in my research as they integrate a band style that relates to their music and image. I used their motif of recurring images, themes, and prints throughout my digital pack to connote and reference Ska. My front image of my digital pack was a close up of two cast members holding the skateboard and is cut up and mirror imaged. I developed this style by manipulating images from the music video throughout the production to reference the video itself. These images I cut up and amplified on Photoshop and created a layout, a lot like The Specials to generate the genre of Ska. I was intrigued how their style was mirror imaged and how that related to their ‘2 tone‘ record label of doubles and tones (black and white). I kept the foreground extremely simple like the specials and then integrated bold colour with an eye catching font. The Special’s font and logo was extremely significant as it was memorable and humorous, reflecting their music. The 2 Tone band kept their costume and style significant in relating to the genre and linking with their products appearance. For my front cover I wanted to achieve this. I took a still image with my SLR camera of two cast members who resembled most, Ska music. I took a picture of them holding their skateboards (from the music video narrative) and manipulated it to appear like a mirror image. Their costume was generically Ska and targeted a youthful demographic, for example, tattoo’s, a guns And Roses t-shirt, on front of a urban scene attacked with graffiti. This, along with the use of the narratives main prop, added to the devolvement of genre on my digital pack.
The combination of integrating the same brand style and appearance through my 3 productions was extremely successful. My music video significantly conveyed and amplified messages of contemporary Britain, youth, and urban culture. I tried to utilise and capture what its like for young people living in contemporary Britain, and convey what these young people are interested in (music and sports), instead of crime. This was significant in contrast to the British social realist film, ‘Fish Tank‘, which focuses on alienation and deviance, whilst ours focuses on a more positive representation of youth as high spirited and full of aspiration. I thought skateboarding was an effective idea as it a diverse democratic sport undertaken by both the affluent and impoverish. The location of my 3 productions were in inner city urban areas which was extremely significant as it signified the underground music and it’s audience. I integrated this style into both my digital pack and my magazine advert. For my digital pack I wanted to promote the music and band but, also the music video itself. I thought it would be interesting to have snap shots taken from the music video so the products came together as a package. This meant that my target audience were likely to buy the vinyl, then watch the music video, or vice versa, increasing the bands popularity and awareness. This was extremely important as the brief was to promote an unsigned band, and the more desirable the product, the better the sales.
My vinyl package:
Front Cover
This front shot I took whilst filming the music video as I thought it would be effective for the promotion of their single 'Who Knew‘. My front cover resembled the music video’s ending, with the two main skateboarders finalising the narrative with an extreme close up of them holding their skateboards and walking off either side. I wanted to accomplish this closure of the music video onto my digital pack, like the end of a theatrical performance. I used the same derelict location with the graffiti background to utilise urban scenes as important in the genre of Ska. There is strong rebellious aspect to Smaller Than You’s music which I wanted to convey through this product. The bands style is extremely bold, fast paced and expressionistic, which I developed through the use of bold colour. I created the brand style of contrasting orange with blue from the colours in the skateboard so it wouldn’t clash with the fusion of colour in the image. I tried to develop the theme and style of urban scenes also through my magazine advert, subverting urban youth rebellion and reinforcing aspirational teenagers full of passion (music and skateboarding). The advert was of the release of ‘Who Knew’ on front of a brick wall which emphasised the culture of their music to their audience. I wanted this image to be striking and eye-catching as it is the image and idea the audience are presented with, therefore had to be effective.
Inside Left
This shot was directly taken from my music video in Norwich’s renowned Sound Clash. Sound Clash is Norwich’s best music store for reggae, punk, Ska and underground music which was significant in connoting independent British music in my music video. It adds to the brand style of utilising how significant music is in young people’s lives and how it is their passion. The ‘Studio One’ Vinyl Sam (the trumpeter) is holding is significant as it is promoting a generic Ska image. The cover is extremely bold and full of contrasting colour and conveys the liveliness and attitude of the music. I wanted Sam to hold this in the scene as it is an intertextual reference to the genre that inspired my productions. I wanted the band to recognise the brand style and name of the band instantly and resistively so I creates this vibrant orange repeated logo to develop this.
Inside Right
This image is what the audience will immediately see when they open up the case of the vinyl. I wanted this to be full of attitude to convey the rebellious underground aspect of contemporary Britain and the messages of growing up ‘Smaller Than You’ want to convey‘. This developed the brand style again through the use of the brick wall, emphasising an urban atmosphere connected to youth. This image is of the bass guitarist, jasper, who also features in the music video, linking these products together. This image conveys youth in contemporary Britain and the grim side of growing up with the temptations of ; drugs, alcohol, crime, giving the young audience something to relate to. This is significant in the idea of my music video developing a collective group, rejecting these temptations and alternatively including themselves in an active group entailing athletics and music to identify and cultivate with. Although this image could see threatening it is a mockery and is tempting youth in to listen to their music and reject this type of behaviour.
Back Cover
The back cover of my vinyl, again, combines visual aspects of the music video. Throughout my digital pack I wanted to reference skateboarding as significant, as it’s an important hobby shared by the band. I think this was significant in creating a brand style as it allowed the audience to see the real artist, almost like a day in the life of them, allowing the audience to see and relate to this passion, voyeuristically. I used the skateboard which was featured in the music video and wanted to capture the boldness and creativeness of the skateboard itself, symbolising youth as creative and talented as this sport quite artistic and each skateboard is unique. For the digital pack I referenced the music video by drawing on the skateboards the artist, the title, and the directors and producers of the video. This was significant as it almost conveys behind the scenes of the music video, enticing the audience.
3-What have you learned from audience feedback?
Music video:
My classmates filled in a questionnaire of feedback of our music video in order to develop my understanding of my audience’s perspective, instead of my groups. This is effective in developing a strong production, as our audience are our main focus so it enables our production to become more skilled, effective and professional. This type of research method used was qualitative as it was opinion based and entailed dichotomous, multiple choice and likert questions, developing a diverse questionnaire for effective and non-bias feedback. The demographic was a year 13 class of nine participants: four males, three of who are 18 and one of 17, and five females four who are 17, and one who is 18. This was effective as this is a youthful demographic, with some who are considered adults with a range of opinions. Interestingly the classmates are extremely different, varying from different collective groups: Emo’s, trendy’s, geeks, social ‘outcasts’, popular people, and chavs. This was significant as each and every participant were individual through their clothing, personality, interests, and particular group they belong too, developing unbiased and varied feedback.
Questionnaire: (below is the questionnaire filled out by a classmate)
Questionnaire Results:Males- The males overall rated our video at 5, which is the highest and seemed to prefer it to the females who answered. This was interesting as our target audience is primarily males, thus meaning our music video was successful in targeting males. All the male participants found no offence or element of our production confusing, compare to females. Three males answered that our production was the ‘correct length‘, and one answered ‘I don’t know’ meaning overall the length was perceived as correct. This was interesting as our group did feel our production was long, as the song and music video itself was 3.39 running length, when generically from research into music video’s they are 3 minutes long. Three of the male participants said they would like to watch it again, which was a success as this music video is significant in promoting the band to their niche audience. The males predominantly rated 5’s (5 being the highest) for the standard of mise en scene, the overall enjoyment of the video and its quality of keeping them engaged, which significantly shows the proficiency of our video, according to young males in these certain areas. This is interesting as we wanted the mise en scene to be injected with engagement, through the characters, costume and props, and double narrative, which from this research was successful. The area’s which the male participants thought our video was weak in was how the end scene of Jake drumming was out of sync with the music, which we had noticed before but could not re-capture this certain scene, so had to adapt and conceal through editing. Others were that they hated the genre of ska, and wanted more ticks intervened in the narrative, but commented on how these tricks of the skateboarders were effective and good to the mise en scene, illustrating that our male audience is interested in skateboarding which may have added to their enjoyment and identification (mirror stage) with our production.
Overall the males seemed to enjoy the skateboarding aspect primarily as it kept their attention, and engagement on the screen. They commented on how our music video reflected the style of music significantly, which was are overall aim in developing the genre for our target audience to identify with, enjoy and be able to distinguish immediately. The males also answered ‘Yes’ for our production promoting the band which is effective as it enables them to se the band, view their passion and identify them for extra promotion.
Females- Females also in this questionnaire, commented on how the drumming towards the end could have been more in sync with the music, which shows how we could have improved the entire appeal and target audience (females) by cleaning up this section, which is a strong area for improvement in our production. The females answered higher than the males in the standard of the edit, mise en scene and enjoyment of the video, showing ho females are also interested in this video, but maybe not for the music: but for the style, and whole production, including continuity and the content of the narrative. This is interesting as this female feedback may have been different if Alice wasn’t featured in the video and women weren’t advocated in this genre, as they may have been offended fro the lack of femininity in this male dominated genre and band. One female participant answered that the video as too long also, so for further improvement we would consider the length of the video to enhance it’s appeal and enjoyment to the audience. The females interestingly found elements confusing, unlike the males connoting how it appealed less to them. These elements were; the shot of Alice, Sam and Rikk in Sound Clash and the significance of the drum sticks in the narrative, which was one of the most important parts in the engagement in our video. This significantly develops the idea that our video engaged more with the males as they could identify with the narrative and seemed to enjoy the slap-stick comedic effect, thus reinforcing our predominate target audience. The females predominantly enjoyed the skateboarding skills of the skateboarders and the effect and standard of the edit, showing how each gender look at elements of music videos differently and like certain aspects more than others.
This questionnaire was significant in illustrating what each gender look for in music videos, and how young males were our predomiant target audience.
Print productions:
For my vinyl package and my magazine advert feedback I asked 10 participants, 5 females and 5 males of my target audience demographic (young and interested In ska music) on their opinion of my print productions. The females found my vinyl package, overall appealing and vibrant, reflecting the upbeat genre of ska, but found the panel of Jasper smoking threatening and offensive. This was interesting as my aim was through this panel was to attract the audience whilst subverting youth crime and rebellion, by, creating almost a mockery through this image. I think this is a fundamental element for improvement in making my package more appealing to my niche audience. Females found my magazine advert appealing but quite masculinised, developed by the format and style of the a5 advert. Three of the females said that the font was eye-catching and significantly reflected the upbeat style of the band and genre, whilst the males didn’t think that most of the font and font style was eye-catching enough. Both gender’s thought that the actual product itself was significantly promoted as it was the central focus and was easy to establish as a product being sold/promoted on an advert. Two of the females commented on how the bottom right picture of jasper on my magazine advert, should have been an image of him looking towards Daniel Tuffs to carry on the pattern between the band members/skaters on the advert. Four males rated the advert at a 3/4 (5 being the highest) and three females thought it was a 3. All ten participants said how they thought the advert reflected the ska/punk genre and thought the use of urban scenes in the background was good in relating to the music video and vinyl package.
The negative elements commented from the males were how the two images of Daniel and Alice were of a different location to the bottom too (the bricks), and would have been much better if they were all the same. Both the genders again thought that the advert was eye catching and would be extremely eye-catching in Outline ( my chosen magazine) and would grab their attention. Males stated that my front cover was the best out of each panel, which is effective as it is what my audience are first presented with, and, said how the format of it being vinyl enhanced it’s appeal significantly. Females stated that the front cover was a bit too simple, and they couldn’t read the writing on the skateboard well enough, but, felt the mirror image effect was creative and good for its sales. Both genders stated that my images were out of focus and seemed pixelated, which is something I would need to work on for improvement as it effects the whole package altogether.
Males predominantly like my print productions better than females which is significant as I made these products with my young male target audience in mind, which shows these were successful I targeting the right gender.
4- How did you use media technolgies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Blog:
My media blog was extremely useful and significant as it allowed me document, analyse and research all aspects of production. As technology availability is increasing and proliferating, the internet, especially, is becoming extremely useful in certain areas. I found my blog crucial as it is the one fundamental element of all 3 of my productions. This type of mass media intermedial text permitted me to add; videos questionnaires, graphic, graphs ,scanned images and even comments to give depth into my findings and progress throughout the practical aspect of my course. It enabled me to primarily research into both the genre of Ska (for my music video and print production) and the thrillers (for my thriller opening) giving me a basis of documented information to look back on, without obtaining files which can easily get lost and damaged.
As research was the most important aspect behind my productions this was extremely useful. After my research into the genre, my blog gave me the freedom to be able to have specific sections I wanted to target. There are many stages when developing a production and the tags provided on my blog, enabled me to section each post to its specific group. This not only broke down the stages of producing a real media product but wil be useful when revising for my written exam. I recorded all types of my independent research into genre and my audience demographic of Smaller Than You.
Aspects of planning the products were crucial on my blog as it allowed not only my group, but the cast members to be able to see filming schedules and the latest footage. After each day of filming I found my blog useful in acting like a journal, enabling me to reflect on my day, how effective the filming was and what improvements could be made. This helped my group in looking back in what we may have missed out or what could develop our music video further. As my blog was accessed via the internet it enabled me to be able to take images and information straight from social-networking and professional sites, giving me reliable sources. For my print productions my blog helped me evaluate each draft and idea and allowed my teachers to comment online which was a more effective way to mark work. In addition to this as it‘s mass media, public views and comments weren’t restricted enabling feedback from audiences and media consumers, developing stronger depth in my work. This type of technology wasn’t time consuming and developed my progression over the course, primarily in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages.
Music Video:
Technologies were extremely useful in shooting and creating a professional finish to my music video. The camera my group used was a Canon Mini Dv and was the sacred element of our production. The tripod we had to film with was extremely useful as we had to vary our shots effectively, but also keep the filming steady giving it a clean professional appearance. The tripod also had a handle which enables us to position the camera at a certain angle without movement (which was safe) adding to the variation of shots. We could position the tripod to extremely low down, and vice versa which prevented us dropping or damaging the camera. The camera was extremely good at recording diegetic sound which was a positive and a negative as we sometimes had higher pitch levels than normal, especially with the skateboarding.
Post production was extremely important in our video as it covered up the errors and related the pace and style of the edit to the pace and style of the music. Adobe premiere Elements was the software I used and had numerous effects to make the video more enticing. This stage of the production was important as it needed to be skilled and effective in order to be desirable to the audience. As the genre of Ska is extremely fast paced and energetic we wanted to keep the cut fast and clean, presenting our double narrative effectively. As we had a non linear narrative which was performance based integrated with a slap stick comedy we needed to be able to shift from one to another rapidly, without looking cluttered and messy. To achieve linking the speed of the song with the edit we found cross-dissolves extremely useful. This effect let use interweave two completely different shots at the same time and gave it a certain quality. Without the cross-dissolves our shots were plain and simple, but we found it interesting to merge, for example, an instrument with a skateboard trick. Although this was intricate, and could have been a disaster, it was extremely effective. Developing this idea we found another way of endeavouring and conveying speed. This was through cutting out certain clips up and take out every other one. This created a comedic effect which we used, for instance, when someone was skateboarding down a hill from top to bottom and the shot was too long, so, by taking out every other interval it gave less un-useful footage and was humorous in creating a comic flipbook book effect.
(below: an example of a flipbook)
We also utilised speed by fast forwarding some of our footage. We used this to fill in gaps in our video and to give variety to the location, conveying to the audience that time has changed in the narrative. This was useful as we started off our narrative in an extreme bright atmosphere and finished it at night so we needed a clip which would be able to show the transition from day to night. This editing software came in useful when we had footage of a cast member running which was faster than the rest, and used this software to manipulate the speed to fit with the rest of the footage to keep continuity. The grading of our music video needed to be amplified and vibrant, due to the genre, and this programme enabled us alter whether it was higher or lower. This is significant as when editing my thriller we needed a lower chiaroscuro grading due to the generic conventions of the genre. The hardest element in post production was to sync the music with the clips of Smaller Than You’s performance. As there were 6 instruments to be filmed this was specifically hard but challenging as we wanted to film all instruments playing the music I the video. This was crucial as in order to have a successful product their needs to be a high standard continuity.
Print Productions:
For the production of both my print productions I used Adobe Photoshop to manipulate and enhance each image’s appeal. For my front panel of my vinyl package I took images on the set of my music video to use. I really liked the last scene of my music video which was where both Chris and Ross held their skateboards and walked off each side of the camera, revealing the graffiti backdrop. I thought this was significant in establishing youth through urban scenes and rebellion, and created a good division through the picture. I cut and cropped the picture in half too form a mirror image, like the style of ‘The Specials’ but subverted as its vibrant and full of contrasting colour. This image was taken on my mobile phone- Nokia E63, which is maybe why the image is quite pixelated, which is a negative aspect of this image. I changed the resolution on Photoshop of this image smaller to make it les blurry, which was reduced but still remained like this. This type of technology was fundamental in developing an effective image as it allowed me to take a basic image and manipulate it into a professional product. I changed the contrast of each image on Photoshop to reflect the vibrant style I was endeavouring, and also downloaded my own font into Photoshop to develop the bands own individual style. For my inside right panel of jasper I added a lens flare to make it eye-catching and more effective for the audience, which also conveyed the sense of a vibrant atmosphere also. For jasper’s image I added (through highlighting tools on Photoshop) a small beard too signify the stage in youth of growing up and to reinforce his masculinity. The burn tool was extremely useful to my print productions as it allowed certain areas to be highlighted and darkened, for example a lot of the writing on my productions was not clear, and this tool illuminated it making it readable to my audience. For my magazine advert Photoshop enabled me to layer the image so that I could easily move around and change the position and style of the image easier. This type of technology was extremely useful as it allowed me to be creative without drawing, but with skills and taught me how to develop something into looking professional and effective. This was also significant as I could save as many copies as possible and it was not as time consuming then drawing.
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