Evaluation - Question 4

Evaluation - Question 2

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?

The genre of my production arguably falls under many different genres such as spoken work, trance, hip-hop but the stand out and main genre being trip-hop.The digipak and magazine advert were vital components in producing an effective overall product, after completing the music video attention was turned to the digipak and magazine and thought was put towards creating an effective digipak to compliment the music video.

When planning and considering different ideas for the digipak design I choose to look at a vast variety of different album covers, ranging in genres, however looking most in depth at album covers of the trip-hop genre. Looking at these different album covers helped to conceptualize the sort of style and features that would be most effective in engaging our target audience. Album covers that were looked at for inspiration were 'Imagine' an iconic album by John Lennon, 'LP1' by FKA Twigs, 'We sing, we dance, we steal things' by Jason Mraz and 'False Idols' by Tricky.

Digipak - Panel 1 

In order to generate an effective image for panel 1 of the digipak we experimented with many different shot types mainly of the characters face. The decision was made to stick with the close up of the characters face depicted on a blank white background as many artists of the trip-hop genre such as 'Tricky' and 'FKA Twigs' use this approach and by making panel 1 similar to theirs, allowing the audience the chance to relate and identify the genre. The use of the close up also helps to engage the audience with the character as they are clearly able to see all their emotions, as the character in panel 1 has a rather blank expression on his face, it leaves the audience wondering what emotions fill the blank space and creates an eagerness for them to find out. It also helps to create a link between the audience and the character as they have identified him in the digipak and will go on further to identify him in the music video. The use of the close up of the face in panel 1 develops and supports generic conventions of album covers mainly to promote themselves as an artist, an example of this would be John Lennon's album 'Imagine' where a close up of his face is used furthermore supporting the generic convention of this type of album cover.

FKA Twigs album 'LP1' shows a close up of her face with a sense that it's been animated, her album falls under the category of trip-hop similar to that of Fold's music. The album cover for 'LP1' creates a sense of ambiguity meaning the album cover leaves the audiences views open for interpretation. Unlike certain album covers from Iron Maiden which portray features of heavy rock such as band members seen with guitars surrounded by fire, this image leaves the audience wondering what the album possesses and expresses causing an excitement and eagerness to find out. The album 'LP1' was looked at closely when generating an image for panel 1 of the digipak, particularly the facial expression of FKA Twigs herself, which appears to be very blank yet again creating a sense of ambiguity, this facial expression was replicated in panel 1 for 'Fight Back'.

The choice was made to decrease the vibrance on the image for panel 1 and to increase the saturation meaning that the image became a slightly darker and duller tone. This was done to connote what the music video represented, the dull, dark tones can be linked with the bleak hope for this country, in the fact that young people of the UK have no hope against the mighty force of the government and they shall be forever overruled and cuts to education will continue to be made along with the rising tuition fees.

I felt the close up image of the main character as panel 1 of the digipak effectively relates to our music video as I feel the image portrays how voiceless many protesters felt in 2011 across the country and that they were being over shadowed by the violence and criminal behaviour shown by many. The fact that the character is shown to be completely alone in this image supports this point and as he is pictured against a blank white wall, this further endorses this point. The glasses decided to be worn in panel 1 also connote that the character is representing the so called mindless minority of protesters who caused criminal damage and inflicted harm on others at the riots, therefore this image for the album cover arguably represents the two divides of people shown at the London Riots in 2011, the peaceful, voiceless protesters and the violent, aggressive and commonly labelled as 'mindless' protesters. The sunglasses also act as a 'recurring motif' identified by Goodwin as they appear in the digipak and also the music video.

Digipak - Panel 2 and 3

Panels 2 and 3 of the digipak are the inside panels, these can be either viewed as one whole image, or two separate ones, in most cases a whole image is used spread across two panels. The image used for panels 2 and 3 was taken by myself and is of a panorama form allowing the image to spread across two panels forming one whole image. The image was taken in Anglia Square, Norwich which is well known for its bleak and derelict mise-en-scene therefore making it a prime spot for this image as I wanted to display a theme of lost hope and faith. Using this image was therefore effective as the graffiti suggests the place has been neglected by society which could relate to how many people felt during the protests and riots in 2011. Yet again the image has had its vibrancy reduced and saturation increased to make the image a much darker and less vibrant tone. The image also portrays a sense of isolation yet again referencing the emotions many protesters felt during the riots as there isn't much sense of liveliness  as no pedestrians can be seen and the cars look abandoned.

The image for panels 2 and 3 also portrays a good sense of urban life. This sense of urban life is portrayed in the music video for 'Ill Manors' by Plan B, urban surroundings suggest a sense of poverty perhaps offering an explanation about why many people took the riots as an opportunity to go 'looting'. It should be coherent to see that the panels 2 and 3 connote a sense of demonstration, oppression and rebellion as an audience may be able to relate with the surroundings they see in panels 2 and 3 with the surroundings seen during the London riots in 2011.

Similar urban locations from 'Ill Manors' music video and London riots in 2011. 

Digipak - Panel 4 

It was debated to have a screenshot from the music video as my panel 4, but it was overruled as the quality of the screenshot wasn't good enough and felt the quality would have hindered the whole digipak. It would have been effective however as it would have linked visually to the themes of the music video when given some background information about the location of the screenshot. The chosen image for panel 4 is yet again taken from Anglia Square, Norwich. It shows a closer shot image of an abandoned old office block where squatters now burrow and crime is committed. 

The purpose of this image was yet again to display urban life and to replicate surroundings of the riots in 2011 but was also to display a hidden message with the graffiti seen of the little boys mainly focusing on his eyes. The message being that the people are not oblivious as to what goes on behind closed doors in government and their plans to further cut education etc. The graffiti image also relates back to panel 1 in the fact that it is a plain image of a face. 

Magazine Advertisement.

The image seen here on the poster for the digipak is the same image used in Panel 1, this adds a recurring motif within the print production supporting the view of Goodwin. The idea was for the poster to be striking and bold but also for it to encourage audiences to relate it to politics/government/social change. this therefore provides a consistent theme throughout the digipak and music video. I wanted the poster to encourage audiences to relate it to social change and politics therefore when creating the poster I was looking at some political propaganda such as an image of David Cameron's face next to a quote stating 'We can't go on like this, I'll cut the deficit, not the NHS'. The colour theme was changed into black and white, keeping the tones as dark as possible avoiding bright, vibrant colours which represent hope and happiness. 

Evaluation - Question 3

Questionnaires for Print Productions. 

*Advert problems fixed after time of questionnaires, scores for advert stated in evaluation. 

Evaluation - Question 1

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

The genre of our chosen track for our music video; ‘Fight Back’ was one that was hard to specifically define as it includes several aspects from different genres. The vocals in Fight Back are taken from a speech from a 15 year old boy named Barnaby Raine who was speaking at a conference based around education cuts and the controversy that surrounded the riots across the UK in 2011. Therefore this allows the song to be put under the spoken word genre, however accompanying these vocals are a trip-hop and electronic instrumental thus combining several genres together. Fold as a band are currently and aim to in the future keep on making music that tackles and raises awareness for social issues across the world and striving for equality as well as raising money for a number of different charities through their music. A renowned and iconic music video which similarly reflects social issues and focuses on the war on drugs, the treatment of black people by the police, and the difficulties of life in the ghetto. "Changes" remains one of 2Pac's most notable and popular songs. The speech used by Fold in 'Fight Back' focuses mainly on police brutality and unfair policing alongside the main topic of education cuts and repressing the bourgeoisie therefore relates closely to Tupac's song changes, we focused some attention on this music video when making the music video for 'Fight Back' in order to gain and insight into how it portrayed and expressed social issues. I felt it important to reflect and portray the artists interests in the music video therefore focusing on education cuts that have been made by the government and the unfair treatment of the public by the police force.  

Furthermore we tried to include a sense of 'Britishness' within our music video, this can be seen from our opening scene to our music of the character hurling a St George's Cross into the Norwich skyline on top of St James's Hill in Norwich. This shot was inspired by Shane Meadow's 2006 film 'This is England', this opening shot establishes the genre early on as it could connote a sense of lost hope and frustration towards the characters country.

John Fiske defines genre as 'attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture for the convenience of of both producers and audiences'. In response to this theory our music video uses some generic conventions in order to enable the audience to relate to the narrative and issues being covered in our music video, as well as the character and the locations. For example during the protests that took place across the country in 2010 a total of 153 arrests were made, reporting just under 3/4 of these arrests were made to white British males so that by using a white British male as the main character in the music video it connotes a sense of rebellion and identifies an individual who may well have attended these riots.

   

Location.

St James's Hill, Norwich. 

The locations we used for our music video mainly challenge generic conventions of locations used for a music video based on tackling social issues. The song 'Fight Back' captures a social nature exploring amongst other features how blatantly students were being robbed of a future in the name of so called austerity. This all stemming from the London Riots in 2010, our music video challenges generic conventions as an audience would expect a track about demonstrations and oppression to be set in an urban surrounding surrounded with vast amounts of people. The locations we used were mainly isolated and open, displaying views of countryside and tranquility. We thought it may be effective to challenge generic conventions of locations of a track that covers social issues as it may not be easy for our audience to identify the genre of the track intially until it becomes clearer by the shots of the protests through London emerge. This may furthermore create a confusion with the audience and leaves them guessing and wanting to know what the genre of the music video is and the issues it covers.

Painting of the Kett Rebellion ,1549.

The location of St James's Hill located at the top of Mousehold Heath in Norwich lies just in front of the Norwich prison. Back in 1549 this was the location for the famous Norfolk revolt against the up rise of the wealthy under the reign of king Edward V1. It began at Wymondham on 8 July 1549 with a group of rebels destroying fences that had been put up by wealthy landowners. One of their targets was yeoman farmer Robert "Ben" Kett who, instead of resisting the rebels, agreed to their demands and offered to lead them. Kett and his forces, joined by recruits from Norwich and the surrounding countryside and numbering some 16,000, set up camp on Mousehold Heath to the north-east of the city on 12 July. The rebels stormed Norwich on 21 July and on 1 August defeated a force led by the Marquess of Northampton that had been sent by the government to suppress the uprising. This uprising can be linked in closely with the London riots in 2010, in that the everyday normal public felt they were being oppressed by those higher up the social spectrum and those who had greater social power and weren't going to sit back and take it, instead rise up and fight back. I feel the background information about this location used in various scenes in our music video makes it interesting and an ideal location to film a music video about oppression.

 However, we have also included some generic conventions associated with locations, seen by the urban, tattered looking surrounding of Anglia Square in Norwich, which was once a thriving shopping destination now an almost derelict (in some places) and considered a considerably dodgy place to go. Anglia Square has in the past been marked with a history of violence and criminal damage seen in the panorama image above of broken window panes and graffiti. Using such surroundings as this one gives our music video a more urban feel and allows the audience to see it may be similar to the locations in London that were destroyed in the riots. The bleak surroundings of Anglia Square closely relates to the locations used in Plan B's 'Ill Manors' music video, perhaps suggesting its the home to those of the lower social class and a place where violence occurs.

 

Bleak urban location in 'Ill Manors'

Similar shot to that used in 'Ill Manors' music video in the music video for fight back.

Costume.

The choice of costume in the music video had one main objective which was to make the character look like a normal protest character which was based around largely what a majority of young people in society would wear on a casual basis. This allows the audience to identify with the character as his clothing may be similar to the clothes worn by an average individual who would attend/attended the riots. This therefore means that the costume of the character is generic as it based on what a large amount of what teenagers wear in today's society. Music videos such as 'Steal my girl' by One Direction is a prime example of young males wearing casual everyday clothing as all are seen to be wearing plain t shirts and shirts along with plain denim jeans.

Although when researching music videos based around social issues and protests many artists tend to focus on the minority who choose to cause mass criminal damage and display aggressive behaviour such as in Plan B's music video for 'Ill Manors' thus meaning we drifted from generic conventions as we aimed to display your average, everyday protester. An alternative objective for costume for us was the dress the character in clothing so he represented a stereotypical British male youth you would expect to see in some areas of London where the social class is around C. This clothing would be informal and very casual, with the costume consisting of a hoody, tracksuit sweatpants, sneakers and accessories that hides the individuals identity to an extent like a cap or a balaclava. By choosing to dress the character like this we would have been conforming to the generic conventions of costume within a protest related music video. By dressing the character in these clothes the audience would have been able to identify the characters social class and what type of approach they would have had towards the education cuts and mistreatment of individuals by the forces. 

The music video for Chase and Status' 'Time' shows all characters to be shown in everyday, casual clothing with an average individual who be most likely dressed in. 

Hooded 'streetwear' clothing shown in Plan B's 'Ill Manors'

 

 Print Production

 

Within the print productions, it was decided that the costume of the character should be changed. Although the characters face takes up most of the frame, a polo shirt accompanied by braces or 'suspenders' are also visable. The costume used in the print production also uses rather than challenges generic conventions due to use and slight popularity of braces in music and film. The braces are an iconic accessory due to their popularity in films such as 'This is England' making them a commonly used accessory due to the majority of characters in the filming wearing them. The Braces serve a purpose within their background, braces were a common accessory among White British males in 1980's England and those

who labelled themselves as 'Skinheads' who were famously right wing and aggressive, relating to many rioters in 2011 who displayed a lot of aggressive and criminal behaviour. These braces therefore may portray to the audience that the character has an aggressive side amongst his normal casual clothes that he is also wearing. Many famous artists within the music world also wear braces such as Alex Turner (main singer from the Arctic Monkeys) and most famously Ian Dury yet again making this accessory a generic convention.

 



SchoolBoy Q seen wearing sunglasses.

Sunglasses are also an iconic accessory within music, with a vast variety of artists wearing them such as Kanye West, Noel Gallagher and SchoolBoy Q. Yet again this uses rather than challenges generic conventions and also provides a subordinate purpose, in the fact that it hides a percentage of the characters face therefore hiding his identity to an extent relating closely to the London riots of the individuals who chose to hide their image in order to stop themselves getting caught and arrested by the authorities. Aswell as representing the character as the minority who cause havoc and criminal damage, the character is also represented as an average, peaceful protester.



Ian Dury wearing braces on his album cover.

Target Audience for the Print Production/Music Video.

Overview: The target audience for our music video and print production combined would be one of a rather broad spectrum, attracting the demographic of 18-30. This in turn makes our target demographic quite niche as it may be able to attract a vast range of ages. Our music video may relate to the mid teen demographic as the actor himself is of that age, however I feel it would more appeal to the demographic of 18-30 as most people of these ages would have an awareness and understanding of issues surrounding austerity and the current political issues that our music video explores (Education cuts). The music video and print productions wouldn't necessarily not appeal to an older audience as they may still be able to relate closely to the surrounding political issues and have a good understanding of issues surrounding austerity and education cuts, however they may have a slight difficulty when identifying with the younger character shown throughout, Also the target audience would be predominantly white British Male as the dominant and only character in our music video is of this description, this allowing other white British Males to relate closely to the music video as they may see themselves as similar to the actor used. This yet again makes our target audience quite a niche one as no other ethic groups are shown through characters and this as a result may mean that our music video and print productions don't attract a very wide audience meaning it is focused at a niche white British audience.



Unedited image of White British Male
used in print productions.

Furthermore the target audience would mainly be male as I felt the concept of our music video worked better having a male play the main character as during the riots that formed firstly in London and spread to other major cities in the UK as males were the main gender publicized by the media as doing all the wrong and causing criminal damage and havoc. Very rarely were females shown to be doing acts of a criminal nature and rioting. Using a male character we can create a more accurate image for the audience of the type of individual that would have attended such riots. However using a female character would have been an interesting approach as females aren't stereotyped as being the aggressive, dominant gender through the media thus challenging the stereotype, Luke was accessible as the main character as we worked together on this music video.

Dress Code: Many teenagers are placed in social groups such as urban tribes, which are heavily influenced by music, due to the desire to dress and act like the bands and artists. I feel that are music video and genre of music doesn't completely have this desired affect as it is focused less around the band being promoted and more about delving into political issues and expressing their views through music. The dress code for the audience that we are targeting would most likely be a contemporary dress style however this may differ due to the large demographic audience. The dress code of our target audience would probably be similar to that of the character used in our music video, therefore the audience would be expected to wear causal, rather contemporary style of clothing. We would expect for out target audience to wear such brands as Nike and Adidas and for them to wear such garments as jeans, hoodies and t-shirts.

Braces used in Print Production.

Furthermore the dress code of our target audience is closely linked with the social class that our music video would attract, in this case we would be looking to attract the B grade/C1 grade. The higher social glass grades such as the A grade would be expected to dress in such designer wear lik Gucci and Burberry whereas a C grade may be stereotyped to wear more affordable and mainstream brands of clothing such as Topman and Primark. Dress code used in the print productions, the character is seen to be wearing braces over a white polo shirt. Braces were an extremely popular accessory in 1980's Britain and were most commonly worn by those who labelled themselves as 'skinheads' who were notoriously right wing and opposed many views put in place by the government at the time. Therefore our target audience may wear such accessories as braces so they can be easily identified as part of this 'skinhead' collective identity and when attending a protest allowing themselves to be seen wearing braces and for people to recognise them as nationalist and rebellios.



'Combo' from this is England wearing braces

What kind of music would the audience be interested in?

The music produced by fold falls under genre of trip-hop. Therefore the target audience would be interested in similar genres including trip-hop but also electronic, hip-hop and spoken word genres which all relate relatively closely to the work that Fold produce. Fold are a piece band who tackle many social issues such as our chosen track 'Fight Back' which tackles the many issues surrounding the riots in 2010 and education cuts, this allows the audience to engage deeper with the song and requires them to think a bit deeper about what they're listening to therefore the target audience would probably have to have a greater awareness of current issues going on within the world in order for them to be able to relate to the song. Furthermore this form of almost spoken word genre covering social issues from around the world wouldn't probably appeal to a younger audience of 12-15 year olds as they may not be surrounded by this information and won't necessarily have the knowledge and understanding to understand the issues being covered within Fold's music.

    Fold recently released a single titled 'Human Again' which focuses on the urgent humanitarian need in Gaza that is not being adequetley met due to a lack of resources. Through releasing this single Fold are aiming to raise money in order to aid the people in Gaza themselves. This type of work from Fold may attract a different type of audience, one that is very much in favour of charity work and helping others. This may also attract a higher class audience who have money to spare to give to charities and help out in situations such as the one Gaza is facing.

Album Artwork for the track 'Human Again' supporting the strrugle in Gaza.

 

Completed Poster.

 

 

Completed Print Productions.

Panel 1.

Panel 2                                                                       Panel 3

Panel 4.