Evaluation: Question 2 - Part 2

The existing web page for the Sex Pistols sells the band through using a video in the top right of our image. This is an aspect that we tried to include in our work, we placed the video in  the section along with the tour dates and band information. However, because the program we was using (iWeb) didn't allow moving pictures or GIF files we could not recreate what we wanted to. Instead we added a box that included the original video for A Town Called Malice (seen below, right).

The other album cover that we looked at was Never Mind The Bollocks by the Sex Pistols. The album art is very simple, with the main feature being the bands name. This is something that we should be relevant in our work. In some of the our first plans we had a very similar idea to this (seen above, left). With no artist featured on The Sex Pistols CD cover we thought it would appropriate if we did the same, however with nothing on the front that represented the band we felt it necessary to add an image of the fictional place known as 'Malice'. This can be seen in the image below this paragraph. 

Other aspects that we looked at on the website was that of tour dates. I feel tour dates are essential in the production of a website as it lets the audience know that the artist is doing something and further merchandises as they may see a date that they can attend and buy a ticket to the event. Because I feel tour dates are an important aspect to be included on a website homepage we dedicated a large portion of the information box to the tour date list. The overall purpose of our campaign is to promote the artist and the song that we have published and produced a video for. In addition to this, the purpose to our three production is conveying the documentary theme that we decided the project would be based around.

Evaluation: Question 2 - Part 1

Throughout our campaign we have attempted to keep a theme of documenting the fictional location of 'Malice' in all of our work. Whether it be the CD cover, website or final music video every aspect of our campaign in some way relates to a documentary theme or promotes the band and record in question. Below you can see our finished digi-pack which was created and manipulated in photoshop. As a group we all contributed ideas towards how to include the documentary theme of showcasing 'Malice' and this was our final outcome.

Front and back CD cover

Inside CD cover and CD

Webpage

This theme is present in our digi-pack through the images of 'Malice' and it's surrounds that we took. It also features images of our music video and the 'presenter' that is present throughout the production. This allows the audience to see a definite relation between the two media texts. As well as this, our Website conveys a similar look and theme, portraying more than one image of 'Malice' and it's surrounding that we are prominent in our music video. We also used a running colour scheme in the three media texts that we produced of: black, grey, white and blue. The reason that we chose these colours is because they are relevant to The Jam and can be found in their logo. (Seen right) We felt this was important as the bands image and style needed to be maintained in all areas of our work.

In our music video we carried on portraying the theme of The Jam's style and image. Whether it be through colour, the era in which the artist performed and produced music, or the genre in which they belong to. For example, in the first image seen on the left we can see that we use the word 'Malice' a number of times in our music video. This allows the audience to make the connection between the three projects that we have produced and the relevance of our 'Malice', which is heard in the song numerous times to our music video concept.

In the second image down, we can see the surroundings of Malice, which is once again conventional to the overall documentary theme present throughout all area of our campaign. These images of the 'Malice' and the surrounding areas contribute towards The Jam's 'British' style and image that we want to get across in our campaign. Because every shot or picture of the surroundings of 'Malice'  that we used are different, it allows us to use similar images in all ares of our work without it becoming overly repetitive. 

To accompany the surroundings seen in our music video we also added shots of vandalised areas adding to the gritty, alternative style that complements the artist's style. This can be seen in the images the to the right and below.

In the image to the left and below you can see that we used close ups to conform to conventions of music videos. This lets the audience know that the artist is included in the video and the image that they are showcasing to their target audience.

In the image to the left we get a close up of a shot of feet dancing. This also tells the audience that we are aware the music video isn't just a documentary of malice but also is their to promote the record and band as well.

In the final two images we took clips off already existing documentaries and added them to our own project. This gave our music video the final documentary look that we aimed to achieve. By doing this we eliminated any confusion in case the audience didn't know what we were trying to achieve with our video or the style of filming that we were trying to mimic. By making everything in our video convey to the aspects of a media text produced in the 1980's we aim to achieve a look that the target audience (younger and mainly middle aged males) will recognise or at least be aware of.

Evaluation: Question One - Part Two

Example of videos

 with/without sepia

Our campaign developed the existing music video's conventions into a more entertaining modern production by mixing it with a documentary style of filming. However, by keeping the performance of the vocalist in play during the video it still held some of the conventions of an existing video by The Jam. Although there was some performance featured in our production it did not reflect the bands image completely, meaning that we had to reflect the artist through use of mise en scene and camerawork  throughout our video. We did this by giving the video a working class, 'British' feel. This portrayed the bands image and style onto camera and also complemented our idea of showcasing a low class area of the UK during our production. Techniques such as the added sepia effect made the visuals gritty and true to the bands image and sound, with the additional dull surroundings that we filmed, the mise en scene complemented the bands dark and gritty style completely.

Example of a pan in our video

We stuck to conventional filming techniques from both a music video and television documentary in our production. We used shots of a longer length (around 5-10 seconds) as well as using numerous pans and zooms to convey to the style of filming seen in a  television documentary. Whilst simultaneously using numerous close-ups which is a convention frequently seen in almost every music video.

Our music video could be classed as postmodern through using the idea of a hybrid style video. This has been done before as a narrative is unconventional to the original music video's seen in the 1980's. In fact, narratives mixed with performance is seen in nearly all music video's released now days. A perfect example being Lady Gaga's Telephone (seen below). 

Evaluation: Question One - Part One

Whilst we were researching in the planning stages of our music video for A Town Called Malice, we decided that we wanted to stray from the look and theme of the videos already produced by The Jam. The main reason for this being that the original music video for A Town Called Malice (top left) was released in 1982, a time when technology was a lot less developed and music videos played a much smaller role in promoting artists in industry. This was mainly because they were rarely broadcast on daytime television and the internet did not exist. Thus, because the audience was not able to watch a music video, there was no demand for them. As a result of this most music videos of the same era were largely performance based with no narrative, and used only one location. This was purely done for convenience and because it was easy to create, especially if the live performance was already recorded as part of an existing television program. An example being The Jam's video for All Around the World (found below this paragraph) as it was recorded as part of the Marc Bolan Show in 1977. In summery, when the video for A Town Called Malice was released, it's purpose was to convey the bands song image to the audience on a less frequent occasion, and as a result was not made to be as entertaining as music videos of today. However, as the music and television industry has developed they have used synergy to market artists and there music video's to a now demanding audience. To accommodate the now growing demand to see music videos, we had to make the idea for our production more entertaining and relevant to the style of music videos produced today. This meant that we had to flout the original conventions produced by The Jam's existing videos to make our campaign more successful.

To make our idea unique we decided that we needed to combine our music video with another style of broadcasting, and after looking at more modern music videos such as the Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up  (bottom right) it became prominent to us that the music video doesn't always have to feature the artist in it to convey their style. After looking into various idea's we all decided that our music video would be a hybrid of a television documentary and a performance styled music video. With the influence being a old style television documentary about the Birmingham Bullring's opening (bottom left) and the original A Town Called Malice video (top left).

Audience Feedback Mark

I our lesson last week our video was showcased to the class for critique. This helped us with our evaluation and also identified problems that are prominent in our music video. Overall our feedback was very positive, the average score was around 34 marks out of 40 matching the level 4 criteria which is the highest you can achieve. We are extremely happy with the result for our music video and the marks that came with it. 

Wordle, negative feedback

This is a Wordle print that I have constructed with negative feedback from reviews of our music video. The ones that pop up most are close ups, acting and shots. The close up feedback I’m not surprised about because our music video is supposed to be a documentary which doesn't use many close ups. So we were sticking to our theme of a promotional video / report like the Bull ring one. Overall i think we have got some constructive feedback back that I can use and work on in future to make my productions better.

Wordle, Good comments from feedback.

Here is a Wordle print I have done with some comments for good feedback from our music video. the most defined ones are variety, editing and good. Overall there is some good comments in this Wordle that I am pleased to see that people have enjoyed our music video.