Evaluation Question 2

When creating my ancillary texts, I knew I wanted them to have continuity with the style and themes of both the song and its music video. Therefore, I decided to use the same style for the poster and digipak as used in my music video, but I wanted to distinguish these designs from the music video and not make them seem like screenshots, giving more the feel of a separate photo shoot as per in a live action video. I recreated the hand-drawn backgrounds in Microsoft Paint, a very basic program but I feel I was able to effectively give the designs a smoother and more ‘poster-like’ feel this way. I was used to working with Paint from experience in animating entire films with the software before, which have gained positive acclaim on YouTube, so I was able to create the images in Paint exceptionally quickly and efficiently.

I included every detail from the original images shown in the music video without any significant changes, except on the digipak front cover, where the main character is alone to show to the buyer who the main character is within the narrative of the music video. This was done instead of showing the real artist of the song on the cover, because the artist is an indie artist who is not necessarily well known and would not be looked out for by a specific fanbase. In addition, I always wanted all of my anxilary texts to have the same style which would become recognisable and would stand out amongst other digipaks showcasing the indie genre.

The designs of the poster and digipak show moments from the music video which, based on my audience feedback, seemed iconic. The same style of art was used across all these products, albeit in different forms of art, which creates a continuous style for all of the products. Both images are long shots which show the main character as isolated, as per in the video.

The band name, ‘Vivid Scheme’, and the song name, ‘Intoxicated’, are clearly displayed in their respective fonts on the poster and digipak. The different fonts were to distinguish the song and band names from each other, such as the name ‘Intoxicated’ for the song adapting a serif font, Poor Richard, which looked much starker and suited the song’s lyrics because the font connotes a seriousness which the song displays within its lyrics. In contrast, a sans serif font was used for the band name ‘Vivid Scheme’, which is marketable because it promotes a fun, playful style, and it would be used as a logo to promote the band. The logo stands out on a poster where the target audience would spot it straight away, and the same for the digipak cover where people may purposely be looking out for it in a retailer.

The logo of the record label, Parlophone, is also clearly displayed on both the poster and digipak. Parlophone has gained much respect for working with big names including ‘The Beatles’ so this would be another selling point. The iTunes logo is also displayed on the poster only to let people know they can download it from the iTunes Store, but the iTunes logo is omitted from the digipak cover where it is not needed. The poster also advertises the digipak and digital download releases of the album to attract its potential customers.

Evaluation Question 3

I found I was able to benefit very much from audience feedback throughout the entire production process of my music video, and it did, in fact, help to determine how the video was filmed in the first place. When choosing the animation style for my music video, I was divided between three options...

-Cutout animation – best known for Monty Python and Charlie and Lola, this is a form of animation where paper cutouts are animated as layers against a background to create movement.

-Digital animation – such as in South Park, the same principle where I create images and animate objects as layers over a background, but all drawn on the computer in a program such as Microsoft Paint.
OR...
-A combination of both, i.e. have paper cutouts in a CG environment or CG characters against a hand-drawn environment.

I asked the audience - comprised of members of my class of the late teens age range (who I felt would form a large portion of the target market) - which they preferred after showing them images of what each style could look like, and pure cutout animation came out as the most popular choice with 6/8 votes, the remaining two both opting for a cutout/CG mix. I agree with the favoured opinion after watching the video back, as it was an interesting challenge compared to digital animation which I am very used to working with.

The animation was also the main aspect of the video which won it huge acclaim, and reactions were positive from everybody I approached for audience feedback after the video was completed. I used Facebook to ask for feedback, and I received comments of praise for the video, largely for the unique animation style.

I had similar comments from the rest of my class when I later recorded audience feedback with them...




I was pleased that I had succeeded with the conventions of my music video, and that for the most part, I had succeeded in making the audience feel sympathetic for my main character. Although there was one aspect I hadn't previously thought of...



I later approached my class about this point again, and found out that all the males in the class found they felt sympathy for the character, whereas the females felt divided between sympathy or if the main character is like a stalker...! This thought had never occurred to me during production, but the initial aim to create sympathy for the main character became more clear as the narrative was explained. I thought afterwards about developing my character's reasons for loving one girl only, but left this in the end due to time restraints and I did not want to confuse the narrative or make the video irrelevant to the song.

There were also comments in regards to the lighting...



The lighting was hard to keep consistent and nearly all of the lighting had to be edited in Adobe Premiere Pro 5.5, but this was always a huge problem on set and again, the above clip highlights positive sides to the outcome.

The comments I have had from my audience feedback were extremely helpful, because they suggest I have succeeded in conveying the narrative and the animation style has also been praised.

The people I asked were all in the late teens age range, both male and female, who I felt were most likely to purchase indie records such as this one because of the interest of youth in music. The positive comments I have had suggest that people would be interested in buying this record and also imply that this concept and the music video could work well commercially.

Music Video Draft

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLBC_rEfVJ8

Here is my music video very close to its final form, with only a few tweaks needed. This is what I have used this week to gain audience feedback

Feedback for the video has so far been extremely positive and the most useful thing I have learnt is that the narrative is clear and very well done. The animation and the style have also been especially praised. I screened the video to the rest of my media studies class and filmed their reactions whilst watching the video, as well as their feedback straight afterwards. I also gained feedback from Facebook.

The feedback I had from my class was similar that the narrative and animation were done really well. The only issues that came up were related to the aspect ratio of the video which would change very slightly at times, i.e. the black bar on the bottom kept bouncing. Lighting was previously an issue but I have been able to improve the lighting dramatically for this draft of the video. I was proud of how the lighting was improved for the scene at the small cafe from 02:11 to 02:34, for example, where the lighting was different in every scene but working in Adobe Premiere Pro, it's now much harder to tell the difference.

Second MV shoot

The second shoot for my music video, where I reshot some of the clips from the first time, was more successful. The problem with the first shoot was the lighting; here problems were still present but this shoot was more successful. I have been using more lights on the set as opposed to one light, so I have had more control with the lighting in general.

With this clip the lighting was better than the first attempt but still in need of improvement.

Ideally the lighting should come out more like this. When obtaining audience feedback this was the shot that got a "wow!" from my class so this does show the importance and the impact of the lighting.

Music Video Preview

Last week I completed a sample of my music video to show what the final production could look like. The video as shown here was edited using clips which were ready to show at the time, but just for this preview I used a different software because I was working from a computer at home (where the clips had been exported to), so the render came out in a much lower quality than what the final production will look like.

Unfortunately, as I've said, the video wasn't fully rendered. The raw footage, as an example, should look more like this:

Feedback so far (from the rest of the class) was extremely positive; the animation style used in the video proved to be a big success. The only criticism I got for the entire MV preview was that the narrative was quite hard to follow because the video was moving along very quickly, at least one other in my class felt more time was needed for everything to be taken in.

I may rethink the pace of the video as it is necessary that these clips are shown, to emphasise the character's emotions, although the video is currently moving along faster than the song which has a slower pace.

The Distribution Company

I have looked at various record labels which could potentially distribute the planned Digipak release of my music video, and I have now chosen Parlophone to handle the distribution of the video in the UK.



Parlophone is a British company set up in 1923 branched off from the 1896 German company Parlophon. I chose this to handle the distribution of my music video because it is a major UK distributor of music videos (MVs) and songs in the jazz, pop and rock genres, as well as novelty and voice recordings. It distributes indie music, so this would be the category for the indie folk song of my MV. Parlophone was responsible for the UK release of Radiohead's 'Paranoid Android', which also had an animated MV similar to the style of video I am aiming to achieve. The company is also notable for working with names such as Adam Faith, Kylie Minogue, Pet Shop Boys, Bernard Cribbins, Peter Sellers, The Chemical Brothers, Coldplay, Jim Dale and being a major starting point for The Beatles.

The parent company of Parlophone is the London-based EMI, which joins Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to form the 'Big Four' major record labels in the world.

Choosing the Final Look of my Music Video

Following on from my latest post, I asked around my class and close friends and family for the most popular form of animation which I would use for my music video. I decided to ask to find out what people would most like to see, giving people the following choices:

• Cutout animation using black and white paper cutouts - the cutouts would be easy as I would just be copying out the designs from my storyboards again, and the black and white would add to the main character's feeling of isolation, a key theme in the song. This method would be effective and take up a decent amount of time.
• Cutout animation in colour - this was a recent idea which came about after seeing the film opening to 'Juno' which was forwarded to me. It would match my vision very well because there are areas of block colour which tie in well with my art style, and the colours would add more interest and be better to look at as an animation. The movements are also very similar to how my final product would probably look, so this method would look the most effective but probably be the most time consuming.
• Traditional 2D computer animation - using images created in Gimp or Photoshop. This would be the easiest method to work with, given that I would create all my images on the computer including each individual frame of animation, so if any errors are made these would be easy to correct, whereas with other methods the whole shot would need to be filmed again.

After asking my class, family and friends, it was decided to go for the second option as had been planned all along. I would agree this is a good decision because it would be best for my music video - computer animation and stop-motion are formats I am experienced with, so whilst cutout animations would follow similar principles, it is something I have not done before and therefore a challenge to look forward to. It also gives the video itself a unique feel and much more independent and artistic tones, whilst suiting the song very well.

Initial Audience Feedback - #1

I have recently received audience feedback for the early development stages of my music video, using other members of my media studies class, close friends and family as critics. Every time the first comment has been the recognition of the "Tim Burtonesque" style which I have chosen to adapt, which thankfully is what I have been aiming for, as made clear with the shapes and formations of the buildings. After seeing the film opening to 'Juno' I have decided to adapt similar colour schemes to the drawings, which are currently black and white but are being amended as I have mentioned here.

Feedback has been positive and sparked interest from classmates, family and friends for being unique as an animated production. My classmates have even wanted to help through sending me potentially similar material to what I want my final production to be like:
http://vimeo.com/30604075
http://vimeo.com/1464977

I hope to obtain further feedback once more material is ready to show, but at present this shows that the music video I want to make is going in the right direction.

Research into Institutions and Audiences

I did research into other music videos prior to creating my own, and I feel that due to the distinguised look of my music video thus far I feel my production will challenge the conventions of typical music videos, because music videos are commonly performance-based (and form the majority of the market for music videos) whereas mine will be narrative-based.

I looked at many animated music videos for research, including:

Radiohead - Paranoid Android http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPLEbAVjiLA&ob=av3n

Queens of the Stone Age http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcHKOC64KnE&ob=av3e

Gorillaz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoQYw49saqc

Aha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914&ob=av2e

Pearl Jam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDaOgu2CQtI&ob=av3e

Unkle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqZtWzPNEJw

Arcade Fire http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqGiCXtvokM&feature=fvst

Fin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXEM70Od7PE

Mogwai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0lYOQYTKVo

B.o.B. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PTDv_szmL0

Skindred http://www.muzu.tv/gb/skindred/pressure-music-video/220987/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_U377vst5o&ob=av3n

I feel my decision to create my music video using animation will be a strong one because even though animated music videos are rare, there is a profitable market for them, as evident from these music videos I have listed. They have a distinguised style from other music videos which makes them unique, so I expect the audience for my video will consist of many different people. This audience will mainly be fans of the band or fans of rock or independent songs, but will also include animation fans and viewers who enjoy videos with a creative aspect.

'Keane - Bedshaped' is a music video which I feel will be hugely influencial for my own music video:


There are many set conventions for music videos typically, i.e. focus on the artist of the song and many close-up shots of his/her face. Whilst even 'Keane - Bedshaped' shows the band through silhouettes, I plan to challenge the conventions of other MVs by having my own driven purely by the narrative. I feel this will be effective because it will give my video a creative aspect which audiences can enjoy, and I feel and hope that audiences will be able to appreciate something unique.