Evaluation (Part 1)

For our A2 media project our task was to create a music video that would appeal to a
particular target audience. I worked on this alongside my group members: Drew Wyllie,
Jenna Van Bergen and Rhianna Maclaey. My role within the group was mainly on the
practical side - I did a lot of work contributing to the story boarding and editing process.I
was also the artist that was being promoted within the video, therefore I contributed to the
representation of the artist. I think our group worked very well together as we had a great
blend of characters and qualities. Some members were strong researchers, some were
creative and some had a greater knowledge regarding the technologies that we were using
- therefore as a group it think our individual strengths helped and benefitted each other.

The brief was to create a music video to a song of my choice. Music videos are visual creations that are made to promote a song. Music videos generally follow the conventions of the music genre that is being promoted in order to appeal to the appropriate target audience. However, music videos sometimes break the stereotypical conventions in order to appear unique or attract a wider audience. Not only do music videos promote a song, but they also promote the artist. Music videos provide
the audience with a clearer understanding of the artist's personality and style, therefore
allowing the audience to build a relationship with the artist and their music. There are three types of music video:



Performance: a performance based music video is a way to show off the artist's performing skills, whether that be through singing or dancing. For example - Beyonce's 'Single Ladies' music video is a performance based video as it purely shows her singing and dancing, informing audiences that she is a very talented performer.




Narrative: a narrative based music video is one that tells a story. Usually these videos involve a large variety of locations and iconography with a more movie-like feel to it. Some artists prefer music videos like this as they like to promote their music rather than themselves. For example Ed Sheeran's 'Give Me Love' is a narrative based music video as it doesn't involve Sheeran performing. It tells the story of a lonely girl who takes on a 'cupid' role of making others fall in love. Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' is a good example of a music video that has such a dominant narrative that it gives off a movie feel. However this music video also involves a strong element of performance with Jackson singing and dancing.

Concept: a concept based music video is one that sells a theme, moral of ideology to the audience. However, a concept is usually displayed in a narrative or performance based video. And of course a music video can be a mix of all styles of music video. For example the music video to Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful' follows a blend of all three styles above: with a performance segment of Aguilera singing, a narrative of people being ashamed of who and what they are, but a concept of that everybody is beautiful.

Picture: Christina Aguilera performing the song.

Picture: Two homosexual men displaying the concept of the video
– not being ashamed or embarrassed of yourself.

Picture: A girl smiling to explain the narrative of the video 
– over coming self doubt and embracing who you are.

My chosen music is indie/alternative pop. I chose this music genre because I wanted to go for something less predictable so that I could make my video look more authentic, therefore my group and I chose this genre as it is less mainstream. I wanted an upbeat song that doesn't follow the very popular dance genre, a song that still maintains an acoustic feel, therefore "The Apple Tree" by Nina Nesbitt. The typical codes and conventions of an indie music video would be to display the artist's musical talents through performance based scenes, and to portray a sense of normality so that the artist is represented as a singer/songwriter rather than an image or a product. It is also conventional in an indie music video to display a narrative in order to emphasise that meaning of the song. Indie artists also tend to portray a slight quirkiness within their music video or their representation in order to appear unique and individual and therefore break away from the mainstream.

Indie characteristics are demonstrated within Nina Nesbitt's music videos. Besides the simultaneously quirky yet ordinary feel to her "Stay Out" music video, Nina is also displayed playing a guitar whilst singing. This piece of iconography is expected in an indie music video as it promotes the music and the talent of the artist, rather than selling the artist as a product. Along with the performance segments, there is also a clear narrative to the music video, which is displaying a group of friends staying out and having fun together. Nina is represented as a very ordinary girl in this music video. She is presented in very casual clothing, such as a leather jacket and jeans, surrounded by ordinary friends. Her normality is relatable to the target audience (15-25 year olds) and follows people to admire her and aspire to be like her. This relationship that is built with the artist is what sells the song and the creativity of the music video, which is therefore conventional to the indie genre. This understanding of the conventions assisted me with planning the music video as it made me realise that I wanted to break away from Nina Nesbitt's characteristics to make the video my own, yet still maintain elements of indie within our music video. This would then hopefully attract more audiences and be relatable to them.

When planning the music video I decided that I wanted to consider some of the codes and conventions of the indie genre, but also challenge them. Rather than following the upbeat feel to Nina Nesbitt's song "The Apple Tree", my group and I decided that we were going to give out music video a darker storyline with an edgy style. We decided to follow a 'grunge' styles when deciding what to wear. My outfit's and hairstyles were inspired by Rihanna's look in the "We Found Love" love music video. This challenges the stereotypical indie 'look' and is most probably more conventional to the rock genre, however this style works with our narrative. Usually indie music videos use very simple and natural editing styles in order to give a naturalistic feel, however I used many effects and a fast-pace editing style to challenge to challenge the conventions of indie and because again it worked well with the song and our narrative. The concept displays how the influence of relationships, drugs and alcohol can effect individuals. My group and I felt that this narrative worked well with the lyrics of the song and therefore was conventional to the indie genre in the sense that the meaning of the song was being promoted. An indie convention that I did follow was a performance section (with the artist singing and playing guitar) in order to promote the artist as a singer/songwriter rather than an image. The performance sections are evident mainly in the beginning of the video and occasionally throughout. These sections were filmed in a deserted forest - a naturalistic setting that relates to the indie genre. I also felt that the isolation in the forest represents the loneliness of the artist. This appeals to an indie audience as it represents the artist as a genuine musician rather than an image.

Final Music Video

Group Digipak

Group Advert

Digipak Reflection

My aim for my digipak was to make it relatable to the music video and the target audience. Much like music videos, digipaks also represent artists and are supposed to display their image and personality. Like I did with my advert, I used photographs that were taken throughout the performance section of the music video so that both products would link. Here is my completed digipak:

I used photoshop CS6 to edit this digipak. I wanted the design to be similar to my advert so that the two products would relate to eachother. I followed indie genre conventions by using simplistic photographs and simplistic editing styles. However, I incorporated an edgy flavour by using distressed brick walls and graffiti, scruffy fonts and ripped paper in order to give a poster style (much like my advert design). Using these elements also adds quirk and youthfulness which would appeal to teenagers and young adults. I wanted to incorporate the guitar within the digipak as it promotes the artist as a singer/songwriter and musician rather than an image. This definitely follows the conventions of indie. On the front cover of my digipak I deliberately made the image of me darker and the name brighter. This is quite common and conventional within the indie genre as indie artists like to be known for their music and their name rather than their image.

Advert Reflection

As a group we decided to each design our own advert so that we could compare and gain inspiration from each other. It is important to design your advert first in order to investigate what works well and meets the codes and conventions and what doesn't. Here is an image of our individual adverts (my design is on the far left):

From the start I had this idea that I wanted a brick wall within my design as I feel that a distressed brick wall gives a 'grungy/indie' vibe which is very conventional to our chosen genre. I also felt that by using graffiti we could demonstrate the unique twist that we are trying to portray within our project as graffiti isn't really conventional to indie, its more conventional to the urban genre. I also wanted to incorporate my guitar within the advert because instruments are conventional to the indie genre. I think the use of instruments promotes the artist as a singer/songwriter rather than an image which is conventional to the indie genre. 

However I also liked Drew's design. I liked his 'poster' concept as I thought that that was a creative way to display the typography. Therefore we decided to combine our designs:

This is my final design:

I am very pleased with my design as it actually turned out better than I though it would. I used Photoshop CS6 to edit my design. I used photos of myself that my group and I took whilst we were filming. It is important to organise a photoshoot when producing an advert as it gives you the opportunity to promote your artist the way that you want, using codes, conventions and genre characteristics to make the photos and the artist relatable to the target audience. I also used a photo of a brick wall that I previously took. 

Within my final design I cropped the photograph of myself, allowing the brick wall to be visible behind it. This gives that 'poster' look that I admired from Drew's design, however still maintains the same layout as my design. I used the font 'Chalkboard' as it looked like the type of writing that you could find on a brick wall. I decided to incorporate a comment from NME as positive comments like this reassures the audience and persuades them to buy the product. I also used a tag line "Featuring the hit single 'The Apple Tree'". This is something that I noticed a lot of album advertisements use and I thought that it would promote the music video also. I like the combination and the contrast between the 'urban/grunge' styled brick wall and the 'indie' feel to the photograph with the use of instruments. Using genre characteristics I think that this design would be relatable to indie audiences, however the 'grungy' edge makes the design original and unique and could be relatable to other audiences aswell.  

Film Schedule