Evaluation Question 1

In preparation for this evaluation question we had a group discussion and went back over all our research on blogger in order to establish where we had met, developed or challenged our genre conventions. We then wrote a transcript, outlining our answer and used this as a script which Ed read over a video in which we included clips of the different influences within the video. 

For the voiceover, Ed used MusicMemos, an Apple application for smartphones and tablets. We then used the app Garageband to eliminate background noise from the recording and cut out pauses or mistakes that Ed had made. After this, using iMovie we pieced together the voiceover with relevant footage from both our music video as well as clips from the music videos we used as research in the pre-production process:

• Elbow - Grounds For Divorce
• Maroon 5 - Harder to Breathe
• Ed Sheeran - The A Team
• Biffy Clyro - Biblical
• Dan Croll - Bad Boy
• Kasabian - Ill Ray (King for a Day)
• Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
• Green Day - American Idiot
• Alt-J - In Cold Blood
• Django Django - Default
• Foals - Mountain At My Gates
• The Rolling Stones - Ride 'Em On Down
• Pulp - Mis-Shapes
• Catfish and the Bottlemen - Twice

Transcript 

Media Evaluation Questions 

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real products? 

Our media product is made up of a series of influences determined by extensive research and planning in our pre-production process. However, we were determined not to make a carbon copy of every other indie-rock music video in existence so we decided to develop some of these forms and conventions and combine them with some of our own ideas in order to create a video easily identifiable as in indie-rock genre, whilst also standing out as unique and interesting to different audiences. 

A key factor in our project was our decision to work with a real band in Leeds, therefore we strived to create a professional looking video to meet the expectations of a professional band. This also meant we had to pay extra attention to the forms and conventions included in our video as we were appealing to a real audience base who’s expectations needed to be satisfied. 

The first thing we did as part of this project was to research Andrew Goodwin’s music video conventions to discover and understand the forms and conventions of music videos as a whole before delving deeper into the specific signifiers of our chosen genre. We included several of Goodwin’s conventions in order to create a successful and effective music video. This included creating a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics which we achieved through creating a narrative about homelessness whilst this theme is being explored within the lyrics. We furthered this relationship between the lyrics and visuals through our digipak, having the focal point of our album cover as a magpie which links to the lyrics’ metaphorical description of the homeless person as a magpie to create synergy and cohesion throughout our products. 

We also created a clear relationship between the visuals and the music (another of Goodwin’s conventions) as the song distinctly describes ‘turning tides’, implying hope for the homeless person in the future. We reflected this through our decision to shift the colour in the video from black and white to colour, with this transition taking place at a clear turning point in the song. Therefore this reflects the changing mood and ensures the video’s tone always matches that of the song in order to create a clear, cohesive relationship between the song and the visuals which run alongside it. 

As we were working with a band, and consequently a record label, we needed to meet the needs  of these two factors (which Goodwin identifies as another convention of music videos). As this was our band’s first ever video, we decided they needed to be relatively heavily featured in order to ‘introduce’ them to their audience. This also tied in with our genre research which identifies rock music videos as containing a lot of ‘live’ performance, therefore allowing us to tick two boxes in one go. Therefore we decided that we should cut between the narrative and performance aspects to create a hybrid music video which covered both bases the band desired - telling the story of the lyrics (as identified by Goodwin as well as being specifically requested by the band) and introducing the band themselves through performance aspects (therefore meeting the needs of the record label, beginning to establish artist iconography, and meeting the indie-rock conventions to create an identifiable music video within this genre). 

Once we understood the general conventions of music videos themselves, we decided to focus our research more specifically on the genre we knew we were working in. It was important to establish a good understanding of our genre as it is a vital part of creating a successful media product as Jonathan Culler said “generic conventions exist to establish a contract between creator and reader so as to make certain expectations operative”. Therefore we needed to understand what our audience expected so as to meet these needs and guarantee their satisfaction with the final product. We did this by conducting extensive research on similar bands such as ‘Pulp’ ‘Kasabian’ and early videos by ‘Maroon 5’ such as their ‘Harder to Breathe’ music video which became a major influence for the performance aspect of our video, even influencing some of the shot types and angles we decided to use. When it came to our narrative we looked for inspiration from videos which explored similar issues such as Ed Sheeran’s ‘A Team’ which also depicts homelessness. This was where we got our initial idea to put the video in black and white to reflect the dire circumstances experienced by the homeless. We also researched a specific director, Samuel Bayer, who has done several videos in this genre, including ones by Green Day and The Rolling Stones to enable to us to understand further recurring themes and conventions. We found that there were a lot of performance based visuals, providing the feel of being at a gig or performance and these focussed on the main singer but also paid some attention to musicians due to the common instrumentals within this genre of music. Therefore, in our video, we made sure to collect footage of each band member individually to enable us to switch between them when their instrument featured in the music e.g. guitar riffs or particularly striking drumming sections. This also helped us introduce each of members respectively, therefore meeting the needs of the record label and further fulfilling Goodwin’s music video conventions.

Furthermore, the feeling of being at a ‘gig’ or ‘live performance’ adds a personal feel to indie-rock music videos, as if the band is performing directly to their fans as done at live events. We really liked the mood and tone this particular convention offered, and decided to further it through our addition of diegetic sound of the band at the beginning and end of the video. This adds a further personal touch, allowing fans to ‘get to know’ the band themselves rather than just their music, and brings them down to a more identifiable level which will help with establishing a firm fan-base, further fulfilling the needs of the record label. Therefore this is a clear demonstration of how we developed the conventions of this genre by combining them with new ideas to achieve or intensify our desired effect. 

We also found that our research showed fairly ‘rough and ready’ camerawork and editing to create a grungier, more edgy mood in the video. To achieve this in our own video we applied similar camerawork including handheld shots and footage where the camera is knocked or zooming in. This makes it look rougher and helps match the video to the tone of the music as well as that of the genre. We incorporated the ‘rough and ready’ theme into our editing through the use of jump cuts which frequented our video to demonstrate the passage of time but also to give the illusion that the video was ‘unpolished’ and stitched together in order to provide a more ‘down to earth’ and edgier tone. We further added to this through our mise on scene by having our protagonist, James, walk through ‘grungier’ locations, such as the scene on Shipley bridge where the mucky sides of the bridge frame the whole shot, encapsulating James in the grungy atmosphere so associated with the genre. 

We continued this theme in our digipak, choosing to make the background of our album a black and white ‘concrete’ effect which was a very close match to the black and white sides of the bridge in the aforementioned scene, creating a feeling of cohesion visually between the different elements of our project. We also used a slightly dishevelled font to further add to this mood and unite the tone of the album cover and video. 

During our artist research we found a video by Biffy Clyro for their song ‘Biblical’ which boasted a repeated narrative with small changes in each one which resulted in different outcomes. We really liked this idea and took it to a concept discussion with the band where they expressed their interest in this form of video. After thorough debates and consideration of our other ideas we decided that this would be the most effective and interesting form through which to communicate the messages of our music video. Therefore this became one of our main influences but we didn't just want to copy it, so we developed this idea, adding in elements such as the colour shift and the introduction of new characters in the second narrative to keep the video interesting and engaging. Therefore we did use this form as a major influence for our video but developed it to keep it unique and fresh for our audiences, developing our own set of conventions within this form. 

Despite all these elements of similarity, we wanted to be sure to add definite elements of difference to our project so as not to create a carbon copy of something already done. We wanted to enable our video to stand out amongst those of the same genre whilst also being identifiable within it. Steve Neale said “genres are instances of repetition and difference…difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre” and it was on these grounds that we decided to add unique elements to our video. 

After hearing the lyrics and message of the song, we thought it would be really suited to a narrative, even though this isn't a classic convention of indie-rock music videos. We spoke to the band and they also wanted a narrative in order to fully convey the messages they intended within the song. Therefore, we developed the form typical of the indie-rock genre by including a performance in the video whilst also supporting a narrative in order to convey the story described in the lyrics, ultimately creating a hybrid music video. 

Furthermore, our narrative has a happy ending, presenting a positive message and leaving the viewer with a sense of satisfaction and relief, a feeling unconventional in indie-rock videos which tend to promote angry and more negative attitudes towards social structures. This was a creative decision we settled on to promote the support of the homeless and demonstrate how one small act of kindness can set a whole trail of change into motion. Therefore we challenged the typical conventions in order to achieve a specific intention identified by the band and represented in the lyrics of the song. 

 One typical convention of indie-rock videos (and Goodwin’s conventions as a whole) is the iconography of the lead singer, most clearly displayed in our research through the presentation of ‘Maroon 5’s’ Adam Levine who clearly has star status within the band. We chose to develop this convention in our music video, still putting a lot of attention on the lead singer but trying to equally distribute the time amongst the other musicians and back-in vocalists in order to meet the needs of the record label by ‘introducing’ each member of the band through their consistent dedication of time throughout the video. 

We identified our genre conventions for indie-rock digipaks through extensive research into similar bands and analysis of their promotional packages to develop a deep understanding of the colour schemes, images, fonts and tones typical within this genre. We particularly analysed digipaks from Kasabian, Coldplay and Biffy Clyro to establish a set of themes and conventions which we could manipulate within our own work. 

We chose to challenge conventions through our digipak which has a dominant light colour scheme on the front cover as opposed to conventional indie-rock album covers which are overwhelmingly dark. We decided to do this to reflect the more uplifting tone of our video and the hopeful message it conveys, in contrast to the darker themes often explored within this genre. However, we didn't want to completely challenge this convention as we still wanted our product to be identifiable within the genre so we inverted the background on the back cover to create cohesion within the two aspects of the digipak whilst providing a darker colour scheme which is more in line with the typical genre conventions. We also used a grungy background to tie into the ‘rough and ready’ convention seen within this genre of music and surrounding imagery through our use of a concrete background and dishevelled font. Therefore our digipak develops the forms and conventions of the indie-rock genre to clearly place itself within this area of the music industry while retaining an identity of it’s own and standing out amongst the sea of conventions displayed by similar artists. 

Ultimately, our video and surrounding products varies between using and challenging genre conventions, overall falling somewhere in-between. Therefore we can say we developed typical indie-rock forms and conventions, taking on board ideas and influences we liked whilst changing and adapting other areas to create a video that will be unique and striking to our target audiences whilst still remaining identifiable within the genre. This makes it easier to target audiences and entice new fans to the band’s music as well as satisfying the expectations of those already familiar with the indie-rock genre. 

Creating the Digipak

Original Cover

The below image was a piece of art created by the band Tranqua Lite as promotion for their song on streaming services. This provided the inspiration for our digipak cover however we knew we needed to adapt it in order to better reflect the content of our music video, so that they were cohesive counterparts.

Whilst we wanted to still incorporate the image of the magpie as we imagined it could create a striking image and logo for the song and also addresses the bird imagery in the lyrics in a way that our video didn't. On the other hand our video is decidedly less vibrant than the colourful image above and is themed on homelessness in Leeds. Our video is in many ways a tribute to the city of Leeds and so it felt apt to include some form of Leeds imagery onto the digipak cover and create a grungier design blending Leeds and a magpie. To get this idea down I created the following concept design:

The concept was to take the black and white pattern of the magpie and make a minimalist image where the black spaces were filled with pictures of the Leeds skyline. I then turned towards Adobe Photoshop to begin to piece together a more professional looking image.

I started with a copyright-free photograph of a magpie, which I cropped so that it was just the magpie and not the rocky background. I then found an image of The Headrow, a street in central Leeds, with the Town Hall clock face prominent in the picture, and placed this underneath the magpie. I aligned the two so that the clock appeared where the magpie's face would be:

I then 'darkened' the magpie so that the Leeds backdrop would bleed through the black sections of the magpie while leaving the white areas intact. I then removed the rest of the Leeds background so there was a plain white backdrop.

Upon looking at the finished image, there was lots of blank space within the magpie that was taken up by plain sky on the Leeds picture behind it so I decided to layer an additional picture of Leeds within it. This made the magpie emblem more colourful and full of more interesting ideas. It also represented the sprawling urban landscape more effectively. Cropping the backgrounds out, I was left with the central magpie logo that would be used on our cover and magazine advert.

At this point my attention turned to arranging the logo within the digipak cover and adding text of the song name and band name. There was lots of discussion about the type of aesthetic we should add:

At first we tried adopting a minimalist style by using simple fonts and layout. Whilst I felt a white background would be more adequate for our logo, Melissa suggested we use a black background as this was more common of indie rock album covers. We also turned the logo black and white to reflect the black and white colour scheme common within album covers within the indie rock genre, and tried incorporating the band's original logo.

We then felt that the simple fonts were reading as too dull and so tried experimenting with a more vibrant style, incorporating bright neon colours and a vintage aesthetic. We quickly realised however that the results looked cheap and very different to the mood and style of our video.

We were annoyed by the fact that the magpie stands out too much against the black background, looking clearly photoshopped and unnatural. By turning the background back to white, this effect was reduced and the images turned out better. We decided to use a gradient background so as not to repeat the photoshopped look from before:

We preferred this look however the text and background both came across as highly bland so we looked online to see if there were any more interesting white background textures available. Thinking about the urban aesthetic, I searched for a concrete texture or something reminiscent of it and found an image that interested us:

Applying this concrete effect to our cover made the magpie look less edited and also added a grungier look more relevant to our video. We knew this was the background we were happy to include:

At this point we returned to the issue of the bland text. Stepping away from the minimalist aesthetic slightly, we looked for edgier and more urban fonts and tried them out on the cover. I also decided to introduce some colour, using a dark burnt orange to echo the colour inside the magpie. We tried various fonts and styles (including trying the band's original logo again, which looked too washed out against the background):

We eventually found a font we liked and initially tried making the font large and eye-catching:

But we noted that the font was bold enough to still be visible even in a small type size. When we made the text smaller and the same width as each other, the overall result was more elegant and quirky and this became our final version of the digipak cover which we consequently used:

Final Cut Audience Feedback

Having completed the video we decided to show it to different audiences to establish a general reception to the product and decide if there are any final changes we needed to make. Overall it was very positive; all the feedback we received went along the lines of 'looking very professional' and being 'aesthetically pleasing' and 'impressive' which is exceptionally encouraging as this is the best result we could've hoped for when we began this process.

Keeping the colour shift in was definitely the right decision - everyone commented on it and how it reflected the uplifting tone of the second storyline. This was really nice to hear as it was one of our original ideas and we're so pleased it's worked the way we intended it to. It also fulfils the band's desire to incorporate some colour into the video as this is a part of their image in promotions.

Another thing people commented on this time was the use of the dietetic sound of the band at the beginning and end of the video, saying it made it feel personal and like a 'gig', making them feel involved in the video. This is really positive feedback as the message will have more of an impact if the audience are invested in the video, which the feedback suggests they are. Furthermore, it's important for a new band  to establish an initial audience base, therefore the welcoming, personal feel the dietetic sound adds to the video makes the viewer inclined to like the band themselves as well as their music.

As well as showing the video to different audiences, we also sent it to the band to get their feedback and to see if we incorporated all the elements they desired to ensure they approved of the final product. They said the video was "excellent" and "managed to capture a few of the topics of the lyrics really well". Even more encouragingly, they said they'd be "more than happy to use this as a 2017 version of the music video for Tempered Tides", asking for our permission to "stream it on (their) youtube channel" and "release the music video in conjunction with the label" they've now signed up to (Monomyth Records). Furthermore, they've asked us to put a credit list at the end of the video so our names will be released along with it to a wider audience which is very exciting.
The only piece of feedback we received from them was on our audio which needs to be "remastered" due to the "distortion" caused by the exporting process. We don't know why this is has happened but we are going to look into solutions to ensure the sound is better quality for the official release of the video.

Overall we are exceptionally happy with our feedback, especially from the band, which is predominantly positive, with the story being clearly communicated through our narrative and the band being presented in a personal, welcoming light.

Our Final Cut

After adding in our final footage we thought it would be very easy to fill in the final few seconds of our music video. However, it was actually more challenging than we had first anticipated as we had so much footage to condense into a short period of time. Furthermore, we wanted to add some more cinematic shots into our montage of James 'recovering' to make it more impactful to fit with the increasing pace of the music; this turned out to be a bigger job than we had intended as the montage was already edited with the correct timings and continuity story-wise we needed to decide which shots we needed to replace and what story we wanted to tell. Therefore we decided to use our free periods as extra editing time to ensure we got this done to a standard we were happy with.

A happy accident during the editing of our final bits of footage occurred when we were editing James donating to the homeless person, creating the cyclical nature we intended in our video. Once we had selected the angles we wanted to use from our footage and managed to condense the moment in the few seconds we had we decided to play it back to see if it ran smoothly. It just so happened that we had forgotten to turn the sound off on one of the clips where money is dropped into the cup, creating a moment of diegetic sound with the coins. We actually all really liked this, even though we hadn't intended to use any diegetic sounds in the video. We thought it brought the issue to life at the end of the video, distancing it from the song and the story and bringing it more directly to the audience, reflecting how the band were influenced by this real life issue in the writing of the song. 

We deliberated for a long time over the colouring of the video. We tried putting all the clips in black and white and compared it to the gradual introduction of colour and, in the end, we decided to stick with the initial colouring we had intended. When we showed our rough cut to audiences they were very complimentary over the colour change and, upon questioning, said it helped them to understand the narrative and clearly connoted a change of tone in the video. Ultimately we agreed with our audience and really liked the way the gradual introduction of colour lifted the video from it's gloomy, black and white beginnings to reflect the hope and uplifting atmosphere we created at the end. Therefore we went through the video and edited the clips one at a time to ensure the introduction was subtle and smooth so as not to jolt the video and we are all very happy with the final product. We felt the addition of the colour added something different making it stand out from every other indie rock music video whilst still containing enough semantic and syntactic elements to make it easily identifiable in this genre. 

We also decided to change the font at the beginning and end of the video. Upon re-watching it we thought the previous font was too blocky and harsh on top of the video therefore we decided to find a thinner, more elegant font to make the video look more professional and mature. 

Overall we are really happy with the completed video and think we've managed to achieve our intention with the presentation of homelessness and hope for those living on the streets. We are now going to show the final video to audiences and ensure the message is clear and the video enjoyable. 

Rough Cut 1

This is the first rough cut for our music video. We have used two setups as part of this video however we haven't included the narrative as we hadn't planned the storyboard at the time of filming. Therefore the video only includes the performance from the band and some establishing shots of Leeds that we shot on the night of the Christmas lights switch on. The video shows a lot of promise as we have given ourselves a strong visual representation of what our final video will look like. The band element had lots good shots as we used a master shot and then several individual shots of each band member. These shots and angles were really effected and showed off the band perfectly. However, a problem with this setup was the lighting and the location. The band were unable to book their usual rehearsal space therefore we had to use a backup venue. This venue ended up being too dark for the cameras we were using therefore the picture quality is grainy and very dark. This means that we will have to reshoot this aspect of the video with better lighting equipment and also preferably in the usual rehearsal space.                                                                                                    

The establishing shots also have a lot of promise as they showcase lots of classic images of Leeds such as "The Light". However, in order to film all these shots we had to rush quite a lot therefore the shots themselves are clearly hand held and shake a lot which isn't good for the look of the video. This means that a lot of the shots we have used in this rough cut won't be used in our final video. However, this filming has allowed us to gain experience so we can improve our technique when we reshoot the video next time. We also have to remember that the narrative will take up the majority of the video and we didn't include it at all in this cut of the video. Meaning that a lot of the images we've used in this cut will be cut anyway.

Another thing we learned from this rough cut is how we will use colour in our video. We want to integrate colour slowly as the narrative becomes more positive. Therefore we wanted to test this integration as part of our rough cut. The results from this were really positive. The colour changes were really subtle and looked exactly as we imagined therefore giving us more confidence that we can bring our ideas to life.

This first rough cut has shown us a lot in terms of what is good for our video and also for what we can do in order to change and improve it. Our next step is to complete the pre-production process so we can begin to film the final video over the christmas and new year period.

Rough Cut 2 Feedback

Thankfully we managed to upload our video as a private link to youtube which has enabled us to show it to audiences to get some feedback without breaching the copyright terms. Although this is a rough cut so there is much more editing we need to do, it has allowed us to get a feel for the audience reactions and responses to the video.

Overall, they have been pretty positive. Everyone who saw the video understood the general gist of the narrative, reporting back their understanding that James had managed to turn his life around from homelessness. This is very reassuring as this is the main purpose of the video - to show that homelessness is a recoverable issue. They also said that it looked very professional and that the narrative was easy to follow despite being interspersed with the 'live performance'.

However, what was commonly not picked up on was the idea of the circular narrative, the fact that the story repeated itself. Although people understood that Jame's circumstances had changed due to him being given money to buy a train ticket, they didn't pick up on the idea that this happened in an alternative version of the same reality. A potential issue is the fact that several viewers picked up on the repeated shots but didn't understand what they meant, resulting in us looking like we didn't have enough footage to fill the video so had to re-use the same shots. This is definitely not the effect we wanted it to have and could make our video appear amateurish. To combat this I am going to show the video to more people asking them to take specific notice of the narrative and question them on whether they think the repeated shots were intentional or a mistake. This way we can determine our audience's interpretation of these shots instead of presuming they thought it was an accident.
Upon further questioning, the problematic shot appears to be the repetition of the bus pulling out of Leeds station. People are unsure of why this is being repeated as it isn't a shot of much significance (like the ones on the train or with the cup which are used for direct comparison). Therefore, I think we should either completely scrap the repetition of this shot and use footage of the band or add in more of the original establishing shots so we can demonstrate how we're back at the start again, rather than it appearing as a one off bus repetition which our audiences clearly don't understand.

Unfortunately, the feedback I received was very complementary of the colour change from black and white to colour. They said it reflected the improving storyline which was exactly what we wanted it to do and added another dynamic to the video. They also raised the idea of it representing new life, like springtime emerging from winter, which I thought was a really nice interpretation of the video that we hadn't actually considered. Therefore we now need to consider keeping this colour change in the video rather than it remaining in black and white. We have a little footage left to film in Leeds and we could focus this on getting some really interesting colours in the shots, possibly of James in front of lights and billboards so when the colour is introduced it is more striking and interesting rather than just being a bit bland.

I asked my audience if they thought the video matched the song and they were very complementary about this. They really picked up on the 'turn the tides' lyrics and linked these to James' life turning around. This improved their understanding of the narrative so our decision to begin the second storyline at these lyrics was definitely beneficial.

We were complemented on the 'smoothness' of our shots and the overall look of the video which we were told was professional and clean. I even asked my audiences what they thought of the differences between the footage of the band and the narrative and they didn't pick up on anything, suggesting that we don't actually need to re-shoot this section which is a big bonus for us.

We have been complemented on our editing too, they liked the way we accented beats and said it fit nicely to the pace of the song. We are really happy about this because we put a lot of effort into working out our pacing and deciding on the bars of music where we wanted to have certain events taking place. We are really glad this has come through in the overall editing of our video.
Audiences also enjoyed the jump-cutting effect repeated throughout the video to show the passing of time and create a motif through the video. They thought this made the video distinctive and gave it a point of differences to other narrative music videos, making it more memorable. This is really positive feedback and we're so happy that our audiences have picked up on the smaller details which we put into our editing process.

Overall, this rough cut has been given quite positive feedback. The majority of our decisions have been recognised and complemented, specifically our editing techniques and storyline, however, there's some pretty significant aspects we need to reconsider such as the presentation of the repeating narrative and the decision as to whether we remain in black and white or shift to colour.

Rough Cut 2

This is the 2nd rough cut of the video. We've started to put the narrative footage in and have managed to edit everything except the final scenes. However, there are still a few points we're not happy with:

1. We need to colour correct some of the most recent footage we added as it is still in colour when it should be in black and white.

2. There are a couple of things that need re-editing as I'm not happy with the pacing, specifically the scene when James walks behind the bench needs re-jump-cutting because the cuts don't go in time with the music and one of the shots is held too long.

3. The fireworks need cutting out because they don't add anything to the storyline and are just a bit random

4. We want to add a few more things to the montage because it's the most upbeat part of the song and it has the least going on in the video. We're filming the final scenes this week so we're going to find some more things we can have James doing that are more cinematic and will better complement the dramatic instrumental