Magazine Promotion

Most pop groups and singers in the modern digital world make their money more from touring than from CD sales. So when a new song is issued a campaign is mounted through the pop video and the digipack to drive punters to the concerts, where the main money is made. This is argued by Negus and Fiske in their various books. The magazine advert has to play off and use the same images as the pop video and the digipack if a ground swell of interest and support is to be created in the potential audience.

Our magazine advert is dark, suggesting a bleak view of the world, yet D'Artagnan, the name of our artist, connotes fighting for freedom and justice with its links to The Four Musketeers and All For One and One For All. The very word plays on the idea of a good gang. The advert also follows the rule of thirds and suggests through its black and white colouring that we are in a world of art.

Digipack

Creation of the Digipack

The digipack is a crucial tool in selling the artist and his brand or image. It has to work with and play off my pop video and my magazine advert to create a constant image in all of them.

A digipack is essentially what comes in a CD, the booklet of the inside, the front cover, the back cover and background for where the CD lies. It contains the track list for the album on the back cover, it will detail the production information for each song, and sometimes the lyrics for the songs. The digipack is what sells the CD to the public, it has to be eye catching, and informative. The font we used on our both our digipack and our magazine advert was a digital looking font, reflecting the nature of the music of the artist which is all electronic. The insider left cover details a picture of the DJ being photographed, coupled by a quote from Marianne Williamson about the ability of human beings, and that mediocrity for the sake of others is a sufferance to oneself. The inside right cover, where the CD sits in front, is an image from one the DJ live shows, wherein the lights obscure the DJ's image, and the only thing left is the crowd clearly enjoying the show. The front cover needed to be edgy and rebellious, similar to the artist's image, so we chose to make the image black and white, showing only one half the outline to his face in white, and his head phones highlighted in red, this is coupled with artist's name, d'artagnan, and the eponymous single of the album "We Are From Venice". The back cover shows the DJ's decks, again with the headphones highlighted in red, the back cover also shows the publication company (Downtown Publishing) and the record label (Fool's Gold Records). There is also the necessary copyright details, the track listing and a barcode.

Task One : In What Ways Do Your Media Productions Use, Develop, or Challenge Forms and Conventions Used by Real Media Products?

When we initially began the research stage of the production of our pop video, we looked at real pop videos, to try and get an idea, or an inspiration to form the basis of our pop video. After looking at "Declaration of War" by Hadouken! and "Stress" by Justice, we decided that we liked the extended use of documentary style filming, and we liked the gritty and seedy realism that it promoted through the use of handheld camera shots, almost as if to put the audience in the midst of the chaos. The main story arc conveyed a group of teenagers, no older than myself, wreaking havoc around the city they lived in, somewhere in Paris. The gang were menacing, and as a member of the audience I felt repulsed and dragooned by them. We knew from that moment that we wanted to create the same fear and repulsion as Romain Gavras (The Director) had done, this coupled with the sense of nothingness and disequilibrium we felt was the foundation for a good pop video. It was at this point we knew that we had to subvert all, or at least some, of the main conventions set out by Negus. We also knew that we had to work in plaisir, the thrill the audience expects from a pop video, but we felt more drawn towards Barthes' terms of jouissance, the unexpected.

One example from this in our video, may be the ending, where instead of the video coming to a definitive end, the video merely fades out, leaving the ensuing conflict unresolved, this in itself is a reflection on modern society wherein most conflicts of a similar nature are left unresolved, such as knife crime and the progression of gang warfare in London. In order to gain the ability to use these conventions well, we had to understand the main conventions of pop videos, and learn them in order to insert them effectively into the narrative. As Negus explains, the main conventions of a pop video are; the explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s “image” as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption; the featuring of the artist; a wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement; repetition of reoccurring thematic elements and generically specific iconography; 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; a carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track; high impact instantly. We had initially chosen a quite difficult song to invent a video for, as the song we had chosen had no lyrics, so the message of the song, is personal and individual to every viewer. For us, we saw a liberationist agenda, and to a certain extent a post apocalyptic era. In many ways the video is hugely stereotypical, as all the gang members look dangerous, and it seems their sole motif in society is to cause disruption and disregard the rules. Our personal agenda probably was a little temperamental, and we know that not all members of gangs are this way inclined, and we know that if we had not followed this stereotype, we would not have gained the same vivacity we achieved in the final product.
The lack of lyrics in the piece made things seem distorted, which inadvertently worked in our favour, as this was exactly what we were trying to achieve. We had no intention of showing a band or main leader, because this was not how we wanted to portray our artist, we in fact actively tried to obscure his identity, we wanted to subvert the convention of "shameless" promotion of a star, and we wanted it to coincide with the recurring theme of the enigmatic in our piece. A large part of our mentality was to let audiences make up their own mind about the artist as they watch the video, we didn't try to make him a hero, more a kind of ethereal middle ground between two extremes.

The narrative in which we see the DJ, imitates a number of Negus’ conventions; the featuring of the artist, repetition of reoccurring thematic elements and generically specific iconography and shows that it is cut tightly to the beat of the track. The scene subverts the rule of thirds, as the DJ was intentionally positioned in the middle, subverting the conventions of composition, to create a rebellious attitude, not just in his performance, but also in the filming.
One of our final scenes, was the scene detailing a rusted old burning car, that clearly integral to one of the bands daily activities. In this instance we challenged the normal conventions of pop videos, by leaving the audience on a cliff hanger, and instead or telling them what happens, we leave it to individual interpretation. However we do conform to Negus' convention of "high impact instantly". Everything in the gang scenes that we shot was decided on location. Filming as quickly and with as much improvisation as we did, it is hard to remember the sheer number of shots individually, but we were definitely trying to reflect the pace of the song through the pace of our work and ultimately the pace of our finished product. We did however have to carefully plan out two scenes, as we only had one chance at these, the scene wherein the fridge was smashed, and the final scene depicting the flares, so for these two shots we imitate the main conventions of constructing a pop video.
With regards to camera movement, we in essence were wholly spontaneous, naturally the DJ shots took a lot of planning and preproduction, but everything, other than the two previously mentioned shots, that we shot on location was improvisational, as we chose to use ideas that we conceived on the day. To obtain the handheld, documentary style that we highly sought after, we had to forget about the conventions and do some very avant-garde filming. In terms of Negus, we did imitate his convention of "the flexibility to disregard realism", because had we been realistic in shooting the gang scenes, the final product would have looked more like a news-piece than a music video.

Handheld documentary filming meant that we could take the audience into the middle of the action, giving them a very intimate feel for what was going on and the characters involved. We were also not afraid to let the shots run very short or very long, nor to be out of focus at times or to have odd angles. This all gave the piece a feeling of fly on the wall observational documentary, as explained by Michael Rabiger in his book 'Directing the Documentary'.

The Bloody Beetroots - We Are From Venice

Task Four: A Director's Commentary on How I Used New Media Technologies in the Construction, Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages

New Media Technology is digital technology based around digital storage and communication of data, using binary code to compress the data into tiny packets, which give greater speed, quality and huge amounts more of storage space for data. This is far better than the analogue system of communication and data storage that preceded digital. Digital technology underpins computers, mobile phones, modern video and still cameras, editing, the Internet, MP3 and iPhones, modern radios, modern movie projectors most technological equipment ranging from in hospitals to schools and transport. Digital technology means that media productions are of higher quality, with proliferation, interactivity and convergence as advantages for the viewer. For the producer of media products the advantages are speed, lower costs, higher quality and ease of productions. These are especially crucial in producing, distributing and creating films for television and my pop video.

We used digital technology extensively during all stages of production. We used the Internet to research our song and videos that influenced our video, we used mobile phones to plan and communicate, and we used digital HD cameras that recorded directly onto SD Card. We used Final Cut Pro to edit the shot product, and our group used Pro Tools LE to edit and shorten our song. We also used the Internet in the distribution and evaluation stage through screening the music video on sites such as Vimeo and YouTube, and we evaluated the product through the online service Blogger.

In the research and development stage, we used the internet to a great extent to research the song and artist, The Bloody Beetroots, and the kind of record label artists like them were signed to, also we changed the song twice, it was originally a remix of Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine, then we changed it Black Gloves by Goose, then we changed it finally to We Are From Venice by the Bloody Beetroots. We also used new camera technology to screen test our eventual actors. We took digital stills of the location and the actors in order to procure a sense of preparation for the digipak we will eventual construct. The Internet was an invaluable resource at the end of the day, because the trouble we went through to find a location was all on the internet. We needed a place that we could basically destroy without people caring at all, but both of the locations we found on the internet were owned, and we needed forms filling out and an ambulance on call and the list goes on.

On the shoot day itself, we used two JVC HD Cameras, and lighting that was all digitally wired into one desk, and imparticular the movers which shifted and changed colour.The camera itself allowed us to change shutter speeds, ratio, lighting and ISO with real ease. In post-production we used Final Cut Pro to edit the song and cut together the video. We didn’t need to use After Effects at all, which was a planned decision because we thought as a whole After Effects at our level looked particularly tacky. We also got the idea that the gangs needed authenticity, so we decided to make gang signs, and we used the internet for this to come up with a two hybrids of already known gang signs.

The post production element of production was the most technologically dependant. We needed the aforementioned Final Cut Pro editing package, and the Pro Tools LE package which other groups didn't need, because their songs were an already appropriate length. But we had to finely cut ours down, so that there was no noticeable cut in the song. We did this by using a collection of waveform information and we chose where the song had lost its peak. Final Cut Pro was the tipping point of our production, had it not been for Final Cut, we would not have had the professional, glossy music video that we now have.

In terms of Distribution and Evaluation, we distributed the video through YouTube and Vimeo, and I have also posted the video on Facebook to try and draw attention from the social network. All the sites have had nothing but positive feedback. If we were marketing the song as a whole, we might go about purchasing adspace on popular websites such as Google, Facebook, YouTube and Amazon. The Internet is the key to our distribution.

The links to two of the relevant sites are below.

http://www.vimeo.com/17954809

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpnR1uOxC-M

The strength of the internet for distribution is clear, you can reach potentially millions of people, as they have to be persuaded to visit.

In terms of evaluation, the comments on YouTube are very valuble, we thought about putting a questionnaire online, but we decided that a focus group had more strengths as we were able to see that people took it seriously, and ask them supplementary questions. Where as a questionnaire can be filled in without people being serious about it.

Editing

To see the finished product: http://www.vimeo.com/17954809

After months of deliberation and about twenty hours spent in front of a computer screen, I have finally finished editing my pop video. The editing package we were entitled to was Final Cut Pro with Adobe After Effects, although in the end I didn’t need to use Adobe After Effects because of the calibre of the footage we shot on our shoot day. As I edited my pop video, I found more and more that I was taking the pop video in a better direction than our storyboards depicted, thus I built on my own ideas as opposed to the ones I had previously laid out. This isn’t to say that we changed the idea; some of the elements we had pre-planned were included. For example the introduction wherein the DJ is clapping or the scene with the man walking away from the car.
As far as a rough cut is concerned, my pop video was already at its final stages; I never actually had a designated rough cut. I went straight to my fine cut. I had various alterations to make to the structure after the film in itself was ‘finished’ and I still needed to make sure the film stuck to its continuity style of editing. An example of one error I made in terms of continuity is where the gang scene breaking the fridge are doing their ritual of blood brothers, I cut in a shot that portrayed someone different performing the act, this didn’t work as the focus was taken away from the grim nature of the act, and left the audience confused. I changed this by putting in an establishing shot of the gang.

In terms of selling the song, I tried to subvert the stereotypes laid out by Keith Negus by editing the video to obscure the DJ’s identity and not make him into one of the leather-clad lotharios that plague the world of the popular entertainment industry today. I wanted to establish the identity of the artist similarly to how Daft Punk and, the original artists of the song, The Bloody Beetroots.

I chose to use continuity editing because discontinuity editing would have, in my opinion, taken away from the main narrative. Continuity Editing is when you edit a video to make sense visually, for example a man wearing a red hat continues to wear the same red hat throughout the video. Discontinuity is where you edit a video to create a sense of unrest in the viewer, usually building to some kind of climax.

The above is an example of The Rule of Thirds. The eye is immediately drawn to the gang member's cigarette, and then to his young looking face, which connotes feelings of a kind of sympathy because this 'boy' is effectively throwing his life away on the destructive course that he is on.This is another example where I have used the rule of thirds, the eye is drawn to the obscured face of the DJ, wherein the point of this shot is to subvery stereotypical star promotion, most pop videos would have a the lead star spangled and front and foremost in their pop video, here we have chosen to obscure the DJ's face because it is not about who he is or where he was come from, but about his music and the narrative.