Blog Task 1

Common Generic Conventions of Popular Music Promo Videos

• The explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s “image” (aesthetic/generic/ideological) as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption
• The featuring of the artist (almost without exception)
• A wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement
• Repetition of reoccuring thematic elements and generically specific iconography (one key element often being dominant and providing the skeletal structure for the promo)
• A possible narrative structure
• A possible performance element
• The flexibility to disregard Realism!
• Shots cut tightly to the beat of the track
• Use of special effects (lighting, annimation, CGIs, in-camera effects)
• A carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track
• High impact instantly! (Don’t forget that competition for airplay on the main music channel outlets is intense)
  

In these stills taking from the opening of our pop video it conveys to you a sense of mystery. This therefore coincides with the band’s brand as they are trying give off the message of being a mysterious band that the demographic audience wants to get to know. These images are from a selection of other images that are used in the opening six seconds of the pop video. The lights themselves lead the eye to the next still when the beat in the music changes. They are only stills taken from footage that we shot on our second shoot day and they don’t have any camera movements involved, however the camera angle is straight as it follows the girl through the woods. This therefore emphasizes a sense of normality that the girl portrays which juxta poses to that fact that she is following light bulbs on her own in the woods at night which is seen as abnormal behavior.

This image is the first time we are introduced to a member of the band; this furthermore instantly connects him to the mystery within the woods. The camera angle is high which portrays a sense of rebellion, which consequently is an image that the band is trying to convey in order to sell their brand to a youthful demographic. The use of a close-up shot gives a sense of intimacy with the viewer however the lighting that highlights only one side of the singers face gives an edgy feel. This is furthermore emphasized through the singer moving from the right side of the frame to the left that challenges existing conventions of a pop video as it suggests he is a good and bad person simultaneously. This shot is giving the impression that the band is original as the angle itself down the guitar is edgy yet effective. The angle looking up the guitar leads the viewer’s eye to the next image as it immediately forces the eye to continue being led. The out of focus hand at the back also forces the viewer to look at the focuses hand in the foreground, which furthermore leads the eye. This image also coincides with the rule of thirds as the front fingers on the guitar have been placed within the third hot spot, therefore using the existing conventions of a pop video by not breaking the conventional rules. In addition this gives the band a serious edge that is ultimately one image that the band is trying to sell within their brand.This still from the pop video portrays the band within a dynamic triangle that is pleasant to look at. It exposes the band as united and together, however the guitarist is not present which creates a sense of mystery and rebellion. This is also evident within the colours used as the band members are all wearing black and the background is also dark. There is some evidence of the woods in the background, which links the narrative to the performance. Within this shot the camera angle is directly straight towards the band that gives off the impression that they are relaxed and ‘normal’ individuals that the audience can relate to. This shot shows a close up of the girl within the on going narrative and furthermore emphases that she is following the light bulbs. She is on the left side of the frame, which would reveal her to be a heroin, and this relates to the band, as it suggests that they respect girls as they have portrayed her to be a good person, this therefore illustrates the band to be a respectful. The camera angle has been positioned to show a tight, close up shot on her strong face and the light bulb. The girl within the still has a sense of desperate longing for something new. This then relates closely to the band as they have light bulbs above there head which could be seen as an alternative way of symbolizing then as having halos. Therefore the band is seen as a way out of a desperate situation that the girl is in. This becomes more evident later in the movie however in a different manner. But ultimately gives the impression that the band has a serious edgy even though they are youths which are usually depicted to not be serious. This a crucial shot within the pop video, as it is the moment that the narrative is resolved and the mystery is revealed. It furthermore reveals the band to be the reason for why the girl in the narrative was following the light bulbs. It shows the band as a source of redemption, therefore depicting them reliable yet odd for being in a box in the middle of the woods. However this shows them to be fun people and a band that you would want to get to know in order to live be introduced to their virtual reality. The high angle in the shot therefore suggests a sense of realism due to the narrative coming to a conclusion, however this is contradicted, as the band in to box is not a realistic image.

This is the front cover of the bands CD cover. It shows the band to be youthful simply because you can see all of the bands bodies so you can make the connection between their age and gender. In addition, they are all facing camera therefore suggesting that they are serious artists and consequently serious about the music they produce. Thus portraying them as a professional band. However due to them having their hands in their pockets or behind their backs it also suggests they are relaxed people and yet again symbolizes youth. They are all wearing black, which shows them to be a mysterious band as suggested before in conjunction with their pop video. This image is one of the middle pages from the bands digipak cover. Its main meaning is the sense of mystery that relates closely to the main elements of the bands brand that is trying to be sold. The image itself is from the woods that is the narrative for their first single, sweet disposition. The darkness is effective against the lights as it gives the image depth in order to combine with the x and y axis, a convention of a pop video and the music marketing. This is the bands promotional poster that is the same image from the front of the CD digipak cover. This has been done so that it directly relates to the album cover so if you see the poster you know exactly what to look for in a shop when going to buy the album.

Post-production - editing

For our post production stage of the pop-video we used Final Cut Pro and After Effects in order to edit the rushes.

Final CutPro is a non-linear editing software application which was developed by Apple Inc. Linear editing differs from non-linear due to the fact that scenes have to be cut in sequence from beginning to end. With non-linear editing, sequences can be moved from the same video piece into different locations within that same piece. On the other hand, with linear editing if you want to change the order of sequences you will have to re-edit the entire piece up until the point where you want to make the change. Therefore Final Cut Pro is a quicker way of editing in comparison to the old linear style.

When we were cutting our piece together we did it on a timeline, which added together with other timelines makes sequence. Furthermore sequences can be nested into other sequences, so that a filter or transition can be applied to the grouped clips to have a smoother cut.

We began by rough cutting the sequence together in Final Cut Pro in relation to the storyboard. At the beginning we tried to stick directly to the storyboard but as we went along we began to modify what we had done as we used other shots that we had only planned on doing on the shoot day. We also found that the cuts on the storyboard were generally slow and we found it was more effective to have quicker cuts.

After we had cut it in order we used the programme After effects to create the 3D to 2D effect at the end, light the lightbulbs in the studio and place our images of our woods onto the blue screen. This prooved more difficult than I had imagined because I had never used this programme before so it took some time getting used to. Though after I was aware of the basics of the programme it began to become easier to carry out what we wanted to resulting in our final production.

Magazine Advert

This was also created in Photoshop using the same editing tools to re-adjust the photo and add the text.
Adobe Photoshop, or simply Photoshop, is a graphics prgogram developed and published by Adobe Systems.

The magazine article promoting ‘The Raged Cage’ new single Sweet Disposition is aimed at a mixed audience aged between 16 and 24 years of age. It is an ideal audience for the single as the song attracts both sexes. The band are all wearing black in the advert as the colour emits a feminine energy to attract the female audiences yet it makes them look mysterious to catch the attention of the mixed audience as they will be intrigued to know more which they can find out from listening to their single. The colour black is also associated with potential and power; related to music it could imply that their music has the potential to go far. Yet for the bands star image it gives them the opportunity to release power and gain a following and ultimately achieve loyal fans. The colour black is also related to hiding from the world, this could be seen as a negative yet it can be associated to hiding due to their dedication to their music which increases their mystery factor and makes them a more exciting band.

CD Digipak

Front CoverBack CoverMiddle Covers

These were produced from photos that were taken on the day of the shoot. I created them in Photoshop by editing the colours, size, distortion, text etc. I went about this by firstly choosing appropriate images to use in each section of the digipak. After I had selected these I took some time trying different effects on each picture to see what would be most appropriate. I chose to have the front cover the front of the band and then the back cover the back of the band so it looks like one image front and back, whilst the middle covers are pictures of the woods which I edited the colours of the light bulbs and blurred them to make them look even more mysterious.