Sunday, 29 March 2015
Evaluation - Question 2
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
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.
Monday, 16 March 2015
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.
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| St James's Hill, Norwich. |
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| Painting of the Kett Rebellion ,1549. |
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.
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
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.
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| SchoolBoy Q seen wearing sunglasses. |
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| Ian Dury wearing braces on his album cover. |
Wednesday, 11 March 2015
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.
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.
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.
| Unedited image of White British Male used in print productions. |
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| Braces used in Print Production. |
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Sunday, 8 March 2015
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Further Album Cover Ideas
Below is shown another potential image roughly drawn for most likely the front of the album cover or image to be used for the poster. The artwork of an LP or album can potentially have a large say in whether the album is a success or not. An album cover can go forth and give the audience a representation of what the music will sound like and whether it will appeal to their individual taste.
| Album cover for 'Imagine' by John Lennon. |
Thursday, 5 February 2015
Fold//Fight Back Music video Final Cut.
Due to technical difficulties myself and Luke were delayed by a few weeks as the computer we were working on didn't allow us to edit and when it did, did so at a very slow pace. This issue was adressed and fixed by the technicians about a week ago and we were able to get our edit finished.
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Initial ideas for Print Production
When thinking about ideas for the print production, myself and Luke decided to roughly sketch out ideas on paper. We based these initial drawings around screenshots taken from our music video, we wanted to capture a screenshot that represented the dominant theme behind the music video such as social inequality and the mindless minority surrounded by mistreatment from the authorities. The main aim of our print production is to express the story told throughout the song and the music video we have constructed and to reinforce events that take place within the music video.
Above is shown a quick rough drawn up idea for the front of our album cover, inspiration is given from a screenshot taken from our music video used on a number of occasions throughout the video, it shows the main actor Luke throwing the St George's over the edge of a large drop located in St James' Hill near Thorpe, Norwich. We thought that this particular image would be a strong representation of our music video as it can suggest that people have lost their hope with their country and our starting to repress the government and authorities shown through the lyrics in 'Fight Back'. The film 'This is England' set in a 1980's nationalist dominated section of England also gave us inspiration for this particular shot. The moment in the film where the main character of Shaun is pictured with the iconic St George's flag throwing it into the sea is where we got our inspiration from. I believe that a flag can represent a number of different things, not only does it represent an individual country but represents in more depth, for example it can represent a togetherness, a love or hope. In this instance in This is England Shaun is throwing away the flag as he has lost hope and compassion for those around him and feels he has been let down by his country and subculture he has joined as he no longer feels content and like he can put his trust behind anything anymore. By using a similar shot to this in our music video we create the sense of hope being lost in England and the state. Similar to our music video for 'Fight Back' the St George's cross is crumpled and not laid out flat as to reveal the full flag therefore implying that peoples sense of reality is perhaps distorted in that the protesters of the London riots thought that their voices were going to clearly heard and action would have been taken against their point directly and quickly whereas the opposite happened in that they were oppressed. In relation to This is England Shaun gets to see what the real world is like when he finally sees a African American individual get beaten up and die to reveal that some people in the world are racist and capable of many bad things.

Image from This is England of Shaun hurling St George's cross into the sea.
Above is shown a quick rough drawn up idea for the front of our album cover, inspiration is given from a screenshot taken from our music video used on a number of occasions throughout the video, it shows the main actor Luke throwing the St George's over the edge of a large drop located in St James' Hill near Thorpe, Norwich. We thought that this particular image would be a strong representation of our music video as it can suggest that people have lost their hope with their country and our starting to repress the government and authorities shown through the lyrics in 'Fight Back'. The film 'This is England' set in a 1980's nationalist dominated section of England also gave us inspiration for this particular shot. The moment in the film where the main character of Shaun is pictured with the iconic St George's flag throwing it into the sea is where we got our inspiration from. I believe that a flag can represent a number of different things, not only does it represent an individual country but represents in more depth, for example it can represent a togetherness, a love or hope. In this instance in This is England Shaun is throwing away the flag as he has lost hope and compassion for those around him and feels he has been let down by his country and subculture he has joined as he no longer feels content and like he can put his trust behind anything anymore. By using a similar shot to this in our music video we create the sense of hope being lost in England and the state. Similar to our music video for 'Fight Back' the St George's cross is crumpled and not laid out flat as to reveal the full flag therefore implying that peoples sense of reality is perhaps distorted in that the protesters of the London riots thought that their voices were going to clearly heard and action would have been taken against their point directly and quickly whereas the opposite happened in that they were oppressed. In relation to This is England Shaun gets to see what the real world is like when he finally sees a African American individual get beaten up and die to reveal that some people in the world are racist and capable of many bad things.

Image from This is England of Shaun hurling St George's cross into the sea.
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Intertextual Links
Artist: Plan B
Track: Ill Manors
Release Date: March 12 2012
Genre: Hip-Hop, Big Beat, Electronica, Breakbeat
Director: Ben Drew (Plan B)
'Ill Manors' is a hip hop protest song by English singer and songwriter Plan B, otherwise known as Ben Drew. The track was released in the United Kingdom on 25 March 2012 as the lead single from the Ill Manors soundtrack, a film which Plan B also directed. The song was written in reaction to the 2011 riots across England, and specifically Plan B's perception of "society's failure to nurture its disadvantaged youth". The song deals with both the causes and the consequences of the riots, concentrating on society's attitude towards the disadvantaged youth population of the United Kingdom. Drawing upon Plan B's own experiences of being expelled from school and attending a pupil referral unit, the song sarcastically attacks the media view of working class children: "Keep on believing what you read in the papers / Council estate kids—scum of the earth."
The music video for 'Ill Manors' was looked at in close proximity when filming for our music video, 'Fight Back'. Although different genres, the two songs relate very closely as both focus around the riots that took place in 2011 in London. 'Ill Manors' explores many similar aspects that are portrayed through the lyrics spoken in 'Fight Back' such as police brutality and disadvantaged youth that is the result of the governments 'careless' and 'unthoughtful' actions. A dominant message portrayed through 'Fight Back' is the mistreatment of student peaceful protesters at the 2011 London riots, this message closely relates to 'Ill Manors' as the working class youth shown feel they aren't being treated as equals within society and aren't valued as much as the middle class, therefore in order to express their anger they riot and furthermore promote negativity amongst themselves. However a negative stereotype isn't given to all working class youth in today's society and it is argued that it is the mindless minority of working class youth shown rioting in 'Ill Manors' that represent working class youth as a whole, this relates to the message being expressed in 'Fight Back' as the lyrics suggest that the media fully focused on the violent, criminal behaviour of the minority during the London riots and had little coverage for the peaceful protesters back in 2011. Both Ill Manors and Fight Back show the distinctive divide between the peaceful protesters and the violent, savage protesters who were attending purely to cause havoc and depredation and how the peaceful protesters were massively overshadowed by the bad and didn't even get a mention for what they were fighting for.
Looking at ‘Ill Manors’ music video in more detail, a way young people could be represented is by looking at the individual’s fragmented identity and different pieces form an identity for them. It can be formed by the interests that they are in disagreement with the government and that the lower working class young people not being treated as they should be. When filming for Fight Back we wanted to represent the peaceful protests that were going on to challenge the fact that the media only focused on the mindless minority and show an opposistion to what the lyrics were stating.These form an individual’s fragmented personality and these shared interests can then form a collective identity which shows a group of people belonging in a group and the youth are rebelling against the higher classes who are in power. These youngsters are represented as lower class youths who are misbehaving to get attention. Looking at Michael Maffesoli’s work, the young people can be seen as an urban tribe which he defined as ‘groups of people in urban areas who have close association based upon similar lifestyles or activities’ which the music video shows them all to be outside in the narrows areas causing vandalism and disturbing middle class working people. Maffesoli also stated that urban tribes are young city people that gather in groups and share common interests which differ from the interests of mainstream culture. This is portrayed in the video as a mainstream culture would follow the government and respect the rules and their country but the young people here are shown to be rebellious and distant from the rest of the country, giving them negative stereotypes. Looking at the sense of the young people being a subculture or an urban tribe, they are negatively represented by the devilish ways that are acting and lack of respect they show in society.
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