Moderator post
Dear Moderator,
My name is Brandon Poonwasie (0660). I am in Group 3, along with Juliette Wileman (0875) Chrystal LI (0470) and Audrey King Lassman (0397).
If you'd like to view any of my A2 work, just click the labels on the right that include A2 in them, i.e. A2 Research and Planning and A2 Prelim.
Thank you,
Brandon
Group 3
Our Facebook Group
Our Music Video
Our Digipak
Monday, 26 January 2015
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
1. In What Ways Do Your Media Products Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?
The Music Video:
In our music video, we used conventions of the indie-pop genre, and also of music videos overall, drawing upon the theories of Carol Vernallis, Andrew Goodwin and Richard Dyer in order to create this media text.Our music video conforms to Andrew Goodwin's theory that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, and also that the relationship between music, visuals and lyrics must illustrate, amplify or contradict each other. We also ensured the inclusion of visual hooks and intertextual references, as these are conventional and would have appealed to our target audience, specifically to fans of the indie genre.
Through our research, we noticed that it was conventional of indie music videos to include a band performance, and also visual hooks such as CUs of instruments and band members, so we used this convention in our own video to demonstrate the genre to our audience.
Showing two of our main influences, and also our own video, and our use of CUs |
The video obviously had to include 'beauty/money shots' of the of the lead singer, as these are what music video audiences expect to see, and the lead singer is the main star of the band, so his star identity needed to be focused on in the music video. This particular genre signifier allows us to demonstrate Eli as the attractive lead male, playing with the voyeuristic aspect of music videos with the direct addresses and framing. The direct address also serves to make the audience feel included in the video, as if Eli is singing the song to them, increasing the viewing pleasure for them.
Influences shown: 'Love is on the Radio' - McFly, 'Girls' - The 1975, 'Awkward' - San Cisco. |
However, we decided that we should do individual shots of the other band members as well, as this is conventional of the genre, and would both help the audience to identify the indie-pop genre of the music video, and to build the band's image. This was key to showing the variation of racial representation within our band, demonstrating our ethnic mix, while also showing fair gender representation, having an equal split between males and females in the band. This would appeal to our target audience, as indie fans are from all ethnicities and genders, so this widens our potential reach.
Our video also conforms with Simon Frith's idea of there being different music video types - performance, narrative and conceptual. From our research, we saw that the majority of the indie-genre had either performance videos, or a performance/narrative hybrid. We decided to go with the hybrid, as it allowed us to use our narrative to illustrate (and slightly amplify) the meaning of the lyrics, while the inclusion of both narrative and performance demonstrated our genre clearly.
The different coloured backgrounds, costumes and sets all provide juxtaposition during the dance sequence, while each era is repeated throughout. At the end, the video cuts to the drumbeat, having previously cut to the guitar riffs, enhancing the illustrative relationship between the visuals and the music.
In order to intertextually reference the film, iconic costumes and settings were replicated in the music video, but with the action occurring to suit the song, i.e. the dancing in the sports scenes (the last row, above).
Having seen how intertextual referencing had been done, and it's popularity, we decided to create intertextual references in our video, below are two examples of eras in which this has been done:
A sign up page was also created so that the audience could opt-in to receive updates about the band, i.e. about merchandise, tour dates, competitions and giveaways. This meets their needs for surveillance, but also for personal relationships, as the marketing sent to them once they had signed up would seem personalised from the band, so they would feel part of a community.
To show some of our influences of the genre, and how they used both narrative and performance, I created a short video:
We we chose to create the narrative of 'lovers throughout time', both amplifying and illustrating the lyrics of 'born to be together', which imply the idea of love being controlled by fate, and also the interpretation of love as eternal. Our video displays this amplified meaning of the song through the use of different eras, but at first glance it can be interpreted as the typical boy-meets-girl love story, so there are multiple meanings that the audience can draw from it. This means the audience would be more engaged with it, and also widen our potential audience, as each interpretation would appeal to different audience groups, i.e. an ABC1 female indie fans aged 16 to 25, or C2DE male indie-pop fans aged 26 to 35.
Each of our narrative scenes were linear, using match-on actions to ensure continuity, conventional of the narrative scenes in our chosen genre. This both conforms to, and slightly challenges Vernallis', theory, as we use match-on-actions in order to maintain continuity here, and also in our performance bed and dance sequence, which goes against her theory.
A gif showing the way match-on-action is used in the era scenes, as well as jump cuts disrupting continuity rules. |
However, our overall video mostly conforms to her theory, as we use jump cuts and break the 180 and 30 degree rules, alongside jumping from one era to another during the dance sequences. A lot of the frames are juxtaposed in the dance sequence, and there is also a lot of repetition of eras in this section of the video as well.
The different coloured backgrounds, costumes and sets all provide juxtaposition during the dance sequence, while each era is repeated throughout. At the end, the video cuts to the drumbeat, having previously cut to the guitar riffs, enhancing the illustrative relationship between the visuals and the music.
We also chose to include a dance sequence to illustrate the 'Shut Up and Dance' lyric, as well as to suit the music during the bridge and end of the song (see above for cutting to the music during the dance sequence). For this we drew inspiration from videos such as 'All About That Bass' by Meghan Trainor, and also 'Love is on the Radio' by McFly.
Costumes:
When we were creating our costumes, we were influenced by Richard Dyer's theory on star identities, and how they are constructed. Our band costumes were based upon research which we had done into the style and look of indie bands, and were made to be relatively quirky to be conventional with the indie-pop genre. (see prezi below on how we came up with the costumes)
Intertextual referencing:
As in Iggy Azalea's 'Fancy', we wanted to include intertextual referencing that would help clearly define each era, while also engaging the audience. (See below, 'Clueless' on the left, 'Fancy' on the right).
We specifically referenced 'Fancy' by Iggy Azalea although it's not of the same genre, as we wanted to reference the different eras using intertextual references, so we looked at the way they'd used costumes and set to do this with 'Clueless'.
Having seen how intertextual referencing had been done, and it's popularity, we decided to create intertextual references in our video, below are two examples of eras in which this has been done:
70S ERA:
50S ERA:
As seen above, we went through and decided one or two texts from each era that we wished to reference, i.e. Friends for 90s, Grease for 50s, and then we designed the set and costumes so that these references would be clear.
We also had to ensure that the intertextual references would be clear to our target audience, particularly the 16 to 25 year old indie fans, as these signified the era, so the references had to be obvious to them. Bearing this in mind, we knew that they would be most likely to recognise iconic films and TV shows from each era, so we chose the references that would be most obvious to that age group.
Website:
We tried to maintain synergy across both our website and album cover in order to construct a consistent overall brand, by using the same colour scheme (black with neon rainbow colouring) and the band logo across all of our web pages, and on the digipak. This conforms to music video website conventions, as the band logo remains constantly on the page, as seen on the 5SOS website, and also the San Cisco website. It is crucial that the platforms are working in synergy, as the website is the marketing hub of any band, so when the audience gets onto the page they need to be able to immediately identify the band's brand by the logo and styling of the site, even before they look at the content of it.
5 Seconds of Summer have their logo constantly in the top-left of their website. |
San Cisco maintain this banner across all pages of their website. |
We decided to have a landing page to increase the interactivity of the site, and also as it is conventional for indie/indie-pop bands to have these, for example alt-J and 5SOS.
We tried to include as many interactive opportunities for the audience as we could, without ruining the minimalistic style that creates the synergy between our media texts. For example, at the top of our page is a rolling advert, that allows the audience to click any part of the banner and be taken to that page:
We also took into account Henry Jenkins' theory of participatory culture, which is that all are free to contribute, with the circulation of media marketing relying heavily on the consumer's interaction. To ensure that the audience interact with our website and our band, we decided to have the social media buttons constantly on the footer of the page. This is a convention of artist websites, as it is below-the-line marketing, which also offers the possibility of a viral marketing campaign, so we thought that it would be beneficial to our record company to follow this convention.
Having social media incorporated into the site allows the audience to engage with more content, and keep up to date with the band (gratifying the audience's need for surveillance), so we also included a scrolling, social media news-feed on our homepage, making it easily accessible for the audience to interact with, and encouraging them to like and share the content on their own social media profiles as soon as they get onto the website. This aspect is particularly targeted at 16 to 35 year old indie fans, with 98% of the demographic having a presence on social networks, so would be an effective way of targeting them.The institutional information in the footer of our page |
On our contact page, we included a map and our record label's address, so that people can make enquiries about business opportunities such as potential gigs, collaborations and other events. |
The 5SOS institutional information is included at the bottom of the page |
We tried to include as many interactive opportunities for the audience as we could, without ruining the minimalistic style that creates the synergy between our media texts. For example, at the top of our page is a rolling advert, that allows the audience to click any part of the banner and be taken to that page:
The banner at the top of our page. When the audience click it at this point, it takes them through to the competition page. |
We also took into account Henry Jenkins' theory of participatory culture, which is that all are free to contribute, with the circulation of media marketing relying heavily on the consumer's interaction. To ensure that the audience interact with our website and our band, we decided to have the social media buttons constantly on the footer of the page. This is a convention of artist websites, as it is below-the-line marketing, which also offers the possibility of a viral marketing campaign, so we thought that it would be beneficial to our record company to follow this convention.
The social media bar of 5SOS, leading to their band pages on social networks. |
A sign up page was also created so that the audience could opt-in to receive updates about the band, i.e. about merchandise, tour dates, competitions and giveaways. This meets their needs for surveillance, but also for personal relationships, as the marketing sent to them once they had signed up would seem personalised from the band, so they would feel part of a community.
When the audience scroll over buttons such as 'Gallery' or 'About' in the navigation bar, we made it so that a little menu pops up, allowing them to choose which page they'd like to go to within that section.
On our website, we also included content such as our blooper video and behind the scenes images to gratify the audience's need for diversion, whilst increasing interactivity and engagement.
Our behind-the-scenes gallery page, which then contains links for the audience to go through to the pictures from each era. |
In addition to the interactive opportunities, we also included purchasing opportunities on our site, displaying links to the store on both the home-page and navigation bar, and also on the scrolling banner. These encourage the audience to purchase from the site, as they are reminded that the new album is out, and immediately given an opportunity to buy.
The banner on the top of our page, encouraging the audience to buy the album, while also taking them directly to the store page in order to do so. |
The button on the homepage creates a reminder to the audience of the purchasing opportunities available. |
The button on the navigation bar is clear, and the store if therefore easily accessible to the audience. |
We also included a tour page, which informs the audience about our band's upcoming tour dates, and also has a link to ticketmaster, where they'd be able to purchase tickets for particular shows.
The tour page of our website, clearly informing the audience about tour dates, and allowing them to purchase tickets easily. |
Album cover
In order to create our album art, we researched artists of a similar genre such as The 1975 and Daughter, and then found out the conventions of indie album covers.
We conformed to the convention of including information such as the following to ensure that our album cover would be identifiable by the audience as an album cover, as they are necessary in the recognition by the audience:
- The album title
- The track list
- Institutional information (i.e. record label, copyright)
- Barcode
We conformed to the convention of including information such as the following to ensure that our album cover would be identifiable by the audience as an album cover, as they are necessary in the recognition by the audience:
- The album title
- The track list
- Institutional information (i.e. record label, copyright)
- Barcode
As with the 1975 cover, we used the same font for the band logo as the track list, and had the track list centre aligned.
Franz Ferdinand's album had only the album title and record label logo on the front cover, so was a good reference, and similar to what we wanted. |
We broke the convention of having a focal image on our front cover, as it wouldn't have created synergy between the website and album cover, so the design needed to be minimalist.
On our inside cover, we used one picture to cover the two panels, as we felt that it connoted the quirkiness of our band correctly, and also helped to connote the indie-pop genre of our band:
2. How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Ancillary Texts?
Our main product and ancillary texts were created to be as synergistic as possible in this cross-platform marketing campaign, attempting to create a strong brand identity, and also band identity. However, each product is also designed to promote different products whilst maintaining this synergy, with the album cover promoting our album, our video promoting the single, and our website acting as our marketing hub for all interactive and purchasing opportunities, i.e. gigs, t-shirts, albums, competitions.
Creating the band identities was crucial across all 3 of our texts, as we needed to ensure an appeal to the target audience of indie fans. To do this, we created the 'performer' image, then built on this to create the 'pop star' image that Richard Dyer refers to.
'Pop performer' image:
In order to create the 'pop star' image, we needed to first construct our band's persona within their music. Our music video was the main tool which we used to do this, using a narrative/performance hybrid in order to do this.
The band performance in the video was key to building our band's pop performer identity, as it showed them playing the music, with shots such as the ECU of Jacob displaying their passion for what they do.
We also managed to build upon the 'pop performer' identity on our website, especially with aspects such as the 'About' page, which includes pictures of them behind their instruments. This causes the audience to associate the band members with their music and the instruments they play, building their identities with regards to their music.
The album cover was also used slightly to create the 'pop performer' image, as although they are not shown to have their instruments, it is selling their music, so the audience associate the images they see on the back cover (serious facial expressions, conventional of indie-bands) to the music that is available on the album.
(Please note: The PowToon is only fully viewable with autoplay enabled, and if the PowToon does not load immediately, please refresh the page. Full screen viewing is advised, as the PowToon logo may obscure text in the regular viewing area.)
On all three of our texts, we include the same band logo, creating an anchor for the brand identity, and the rainbow colour scheme and font make it stand out, so would be easily recognisable to the audience. On our website, the band logo remains on the page in order to strengthen the brand identity and recognisability, and it is also included on the merchandise in our store, to provide us with both purchasing opportunities for the audience, and promotion when they use our merchandise.
We used repetition of the 'sticky-tape' style across our website and digipak, which created synergy between the two platforms. Originally this began on the website, thinking that it worked with the coloured-frames, and made the site synergistic with the home-made style of our music video, representing the indie-pop genre.
Below is a PowToon showing how 5SOS used synergy in their campaign in order to build brand identity, which we used as an influence when considering how we were going to construct our brand.
(Please note: The PowToon is only fully viewable with autoplay enabled, and if the PowToon does not load immediately, please refresh the page. Full screen viewing is advised, as the PowToon logo may obscure text in the regular viewing area.)
On our website we included a 'Music Video' page, helping to promote the music video to our audience. This would therefore aid they music video in its aim to promote our band's single. |
Band Identity:
Creating the band identities was crucial across all 3 of our texts, as we needed to ensure an appeal to the target audience of indie fans. To do this, we created the 'performer' image, then built on this to create the 'pop star' image that Richard Dyer refers to.
'Pop performer' image:
In order to create the 'pop star' image, we needed to first construct our band's persona within their music. Our music video was the main tool which we used to do this, using a narrative/performance hybrid in order to do this.
The band performance in the video was key to building our band's pop performer identity, as it showed them playing the music, with shots such as the ECU of Jacob displaying their passion for what they do.
Having these shots of Jacob is effective in appealing to the audience, as it presents him as passionate about his music, while also building his own performance style, making the band unique. |
A wide shot of the band in the 1975 video for 'Girls' |
The album cover was also used slightly to create the 'pop performer' image, as although they are not shown to have their instruments, it is selling their music, so the audience associate the images they see on the back cover (serious facial expressions, conventional of indie-bands) to the music that is available on the album.
'Pop star' identity:
Throughout all of our products, the costume and make-up of our band members makes them seem quite clean-cut and innocent, acting as role models for younger fans (and likeable to the older indie audience), while the colour used helps to connote their playfulness as well. This creates a consistent band identity across all of our marketing platforms, and this would help the audience to more easily relate and aspire to our band.
We included 'About' pages on each of our band members, with little interviews with each of them. This would be effective as it would allow our audience to read the content easily, while giving them information about our band members, creating individual identities for each member, therefore making them seem more realistic.
For the construction of their pop-star identity, we used the website the most, and the inside cover of the digipak.
On our website, we included publicity shots of the band without their instruments to show the band's persona outside of their music, demonstrating their upbeat, happy, indie-pop image, and also their more serious side as well. This works in synergy with the inside cover of our digipak, which presents them as quite playful, quirky and outgoing, showing interaction between the band members as friends rather than in relation to their music.
The inside cover of our digipak. This works in synergy with our music video, as they are wearing the same costumes as in the band performance. |
Throughout all of our products, the costume and make-up of our band members makes them seem quite clean-cut and innocent, acting as role models for younger fans (and likeable to the older indie audience), while the colour used helps to connote their playfulness as well. This creates a consistent band identity across all of our marketing platforms, and this would help the audience to more easily relate and aspire to our band.
We included 'About' pages on each of our band members, with little interviews with each of them. This would be effective as it would allow our audience to read the content easily, while giving them information about our band members, creating individual identities for each member, therefore making them seem more realistic.
The inclusion of the blooper reel also helps to further their 'pop star' identity, as it shows them behind-the-scenes, allowing the audience to see them as the individuals on set rather than the pop-performers of the video.
(Please note: The PowToon is only fully viewable with autoplay enabled, and if the PowToon does not load immediately, please refresh the page. Full screen viewing is advised, as the PowToon logo may obscure text in the regular viewing area.)
Brand identity:
Across all three platforms, we attempted to maintain a consistent brand identity that the audience would be able to recognise easily through synergy, and also symbiosis on the website.
On all three of our texts, we include the same band logo, creating an anchor for the brand identity, and the rainbow colour scheme and font make it stand out, so would be easily recognisable to the audience. On our website, the band logo remains on the page in order to strengthen the brand identity and recognisability, and it is also included on the merchandise in our store, to provide us with both purchasing opportunities for the audience, and promotion when they use our merchandise.
An image showing where the band logo is on each of our texts |
We used repetition of the 'sticky-tape' style across our website and digipak, which created synergy between the two platforms. Originally this began on the website, thinking that it worked with the coloured-frames, and made the site synergistic with the home-made style of our music video, representing the indie-pop genre.
This motif is not seen on our music video however, so this feature does not create synergy between our ancillary texts and our main product, but it allows the music video to be an independent, distinct product from the other two, allowing it to promote the single effectively.
Our colour scheme is also consistent throughout all three products, using the colours from the different sets (blue, green, yellow, red, purple and white),
The consistent colour scheme brings synergy to our three texts, and helps to anchor the brand identity, as the audience will begin to associate this array of colours with our band. |
Below is a PowToon showing how 5SOS used synergy in their campaign in order to build brand identity, which we used as an influence when considering how we were going to construct our brand.
(Please note: The PowToon is only fully viewable with autoplay enabled, and if the PowToon does not load immediately, please refresh the page. Full screen viewing is advised, as the PowToon logo may obscure text in the regular viewing area.)
Symbiosis and more
On our website, we included links to sites such as ticketmaster and XFM's website. This was done in order to widen our record label's potential reach, and XFM are known for playing indie artists and bands who are up and coming, so would be an effective use of symbiosis as they have a suitable audience to expose our band to.5SOS include links to their social media on their home-page |
The social network newsfeed is on our home-page, which allows immediate, easy access to the social network for our audience, effectively encouraging them to interact with the content, i.e. sharing it to their own pages.
The content on our social network feed is also very inclusive of the audience, addressing them directly, which contributes to the sense of community for the audience, while simultaneously gratifying their need for surveillance of the band. (see right)
The social media was also used for the competition, compulsory for audience entry, so this would have worked effectively with the 16 to 25 year old indie fans, who are prolific users of social networks. This would have created word-of-mouth promotion for us as well, as fans would discuss with their friends what was going on with the band on social media, such as the competition and tour updates.
Having created strong brand and band identities, we needed to have purchasing opportunities available for the audience, as this maximises our record label's profits:
We have the album available for sale on our website, promoting the album alongside the album cover, as well as other merchandise such as T-shirts and backpacks (see in 'Pop Star identity' section).
As well as this, we have the tour page, on which we have information about tour dates to inform the audience, as well as links to ticketmaster to encourage them to purchase tickets for the tour right then. This would be beneficial to our record label as the audience would be more likely to purchase tickets, as they would not have to search for it themselves, or have to remember it later.
In hindsight, the inclusion of a final frame on our video, perhaps including the url of the website or 'Album available now', could have increased the effectiveness of our music video, and made it more synergistic with the website.
The social media was also used for the competition, compulsory for audience entry, so this would have worked effectively with the 16 to 25 year old indie fans, who are prolific users of social networks. This would have created word-of-mouth promotion for us as well, as fans would discuss with their friends what was going on with the band on social media, such as the competition and tour updates.
Having created strong brand and band identities, we needed to have purchasing opportunities available for the audience, as this maximises our record label's profits:
We have the album available for sale on our website, promoting the album alongside the album cover, as well as other merchandise such as T-shirts and backpacks (see in 'Pop Star identity' section).
As well as this, we have the tour page, on which we have information about tour dates to inform the audience, as well as links to ticketmaster to encourage them to purchase tickets for the tour right then. This would be beneficial to our record label as the audience would be more likely to purchase tickets, as they would not have to search for it themselves, or have to remember it later.
The 'buy tickets' button stands out clearly on the page, to draw the audience's attention to this purchasing opportunity. |
In hindsight, the inclusion of a final frame on our video, perhaps including the url of the website or 'Album available now', could have increased the effectiveness of our music video, and made it more synergistic with the website.
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