A2 Media Evaluation

Ben aka Briscoe

IntroductionMy groups task was to produce a music video for either a signed or un-signed artist. The video itself needed to be suitable for the genre of music, and the audience it was targeted at. Along with the actual video, we were also tasked to produce a print based project, consisting of an album cover (front, back, inside left and right sleeves) and a magazine article about the album release. These tasks were achieved by team Briscoe, Bull, Howard and Ahmed. We were all involved in every aspect of completing this task, but all specializing in different fields of the production. My main contributions came in setting up shots, finding and experimenting with different locations, initial editing stages, general organization and research. As stated above, all group members made sure they were involved in all stages of production, we all took turns on the camera, all chipped in in the editing suite and all had a go on Photoshop working on the ancillary tasks. Our video, and the artist we used work at targeting the 16-25 age range, they were our target audience. Our products are very bright, lively and youthful, so would appeal to anyone in the age range, provided they like the pop/punk genre of course! We looked at a few different mainstream videos for ideas.

Research• One of the main themes in our video is the use of ‘guitar hero’ instruments in the

band performance sections. This came from a member of the group watching a ‘Smosh’ video for their song ‘Sex ed rocks’

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_6ItxioUco

Once we had a song, and a band to work with, our ideas were very clear, we wanted a performance based video, with shots of all the band together, the lead vocals singing a couple of verses, and general messing around. We wanted to create an atmosphere of fun and rebellion that our chosen targeted audience could relate to. The ‘Smosh’ video was just a starting point. We liked they way that they used comedy, and we wanted to try and replicate that in our project. The use of ‘band hero’ instruments was also inspired by them, it again went along with the comedic, fun feel.

GenreWe had to take a lot of time thinking about what musical direction we wanted to go in. All four members of our group have very contrasting musical tastes, so coming

up with a band that played music we’d all be able to relate to and enjoy was difficult. In the ‘Black Kids’ we found a perfect balance of pop/punk/electro which was to everyone's liking. Our locations, including a skate park, bandstand, park grounds, inside cars all have links to the pop/punk style genre. We have a mixture of band performance shots, as well as some sequences where we are ‘messing around’ acting like a band would to try and create the feel for the audience. The way we dress in the video was also crucial in creating the right look for the genre. Hood's, hats, big headphones, bright colours and general funky attire have helped to create out band’s brand identity.

Maintaining the Brand• In order to create a strong brand, you need to make sure that everything you

produce is focused around your main asset, in this case our band. Its identity is crucial, so we created a strong, simple, recognisable logo which spearheaded our brand identity. We then used the same theme, the same style and the same colours to create several print based tasks to further our brands recognition. All our print projects have the theme of ‘pop/punk/indie’ e.g. Simple yet striking colours, stylized and creative designs and constant use of the brand logo. Green and Purple/Pink colours throughout have helped to create continuity, and I think that in the end, we have managed to create a very strong looking brand, which judging by the audience testing and feedback, is liked by a vast majority.

Branding

Unique font design stands out

Use of the colour green is key to brand identity, its used throughout

Continuity in colour scheme helps the audience recognise our brand, this logo appears on all ancillary pieces

Logo designed on Photoshop by our own hands completely unique.

Album Covers and Inserts

Front Cover: Band logo is shadowed by the brand name, same colours used as in the original logo, keeping brand identity. Designed using Photoshop, all hand drawn designs. Graffiti style fitting in with the ‘pop/punk/indie’ style of the bands music.

Back Cover: Band Logo is again used, as is a ‘Photoshop’d’ picture of the band, in a stylised pose. Same colours again used. Band logo, Record Label, barcode and Copyright information displayed.

Album Covers and Inserts

This the first of the inserts. It keeps brand identity by displaying our logo several times, also keeps the same colour scheme. The graffiti style is in keeping with the brand identity.

This is the second insert, which again, has the same design of logos going across the top, same colour scheme. We have a picture of the band displayed across the bottom, all in green.

Publicity Magazine Article/PosterSimilar ‘Graffiti style as used on both front and back album covers

Same band photo as used in the album inserts

Catchy slogan used to attract the audience. Keeping the brands identity with green and pink

Logo, ever-present, keeping brand identity, becoming recognised

Title of the single in easy to read font

Use Of Creative TechThroughout the production of our project, we have utilized some of the most up-to-

date editing, filming and print technology on the market. For location shots, elements of research and the print tasks, we used digital stills cameras. These produced high resolution pictures that look great on the big screen. For the filming itself, we had a choice of a standard definition digital video recorder, or a HD alternative. For the editing stages of the project we used the apple mac computers in the media suite. The actual software ‘final cut express’ was new to us all, as last year we edited on ‘imovie’. At first, final cut seemed over complicated and tedious. After a while however, we found it to be very useful, way ahead of the free alternative. The amount of SFX, and sheer detail of the timelines etc was in the end invaluable, as we managed to produce quite an authentic product. For the ancillaries we again used apple macs. All of the group had some previous experience on Photoshop, so that came quite easy. We took all our own pictures, and produced backgrounds on the software. We uploaded the video and texts using USBs and DVDs.

Audience Feedback• We showed our final video and ancillary tasks to a selection of 16-25 year olds

during our audience testing/feedback. Around 20 watched and then looked at our project. We handed out questionnaires in order to gain data to understand and reflect on how our project was received by an audience. We also took video footage of the group not only watching (enjoying!) our video, but also having a glance at our print based work then answering some of the questions from the questionnaires. The video is on the blog for ease of use. The overall feedback was very promising indeed. All the people who watched our video agreed that it was a success, capturing the punk/pop genre perfectly, with a playful, rebellious and overall fun atmosphere. They agreed too, that the print tasks (album covers and inserts and article/poster) were very authentic, and could easily be integrated into the main stream and hold their own. We were a little surprised by the positive reaction from our audience, as we didn't realise how many people actually appreciated this genre of music.

Conclusion• I thought, that over all, maybe we could have added a little more research at the beginning

of the project. Saying that however, our own background knowledge of the genre and conventions of music videos in general meant that we could come up with our own ideas and plans without having to take ideas from elsewhere. When it came to filming, we had the initial set-back of our planned venue being closed, inaccessible due to terrible weather conditions, but we quickly found alternatives, and got out there filming.

Overall, I am very pleased with the way our project has turned out. The final edit of the video looks fantastic, a lot of hard work went into filming and editing, so its pleasing to see that work paying off in the end. The ancillary tasks look very authentic, I especially like how we managed to create our own brand, using simple techniques and a little research. They all follow the same patterns, colour pallets and overall themes.

From day one, its been clear that as a group, we would work well together. We all have different tastes in music and different personalities as well. However, when combined, we are an unstoppable team, who listened to each other, took onboard each others ideas and opinions and in the end, came out with a really decent project.

The End

Thanks to the Black Kids for letting us use their song, hope you enjoyed the video.