G324 Advanced Portfolio in Media

Loving Someone Evaluation - Question Two

Q2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

In order to create consistency throughout my main product and ancillary I had to maintain factors which allows an audience member to recognise the similarities between the two.
When looking for conventional typography often seen within the indie genre research enabled me to recognise 'avenir' and 'sans serif' as a popular font choice. This has been used in indie artists such as 'The Kooks' and 'Bastille'.

Another important factor when relating my main product and ancillary text was to have a consistent theme when using colour. I decided that having a blue house colour was conventional for the indie genre. An example of a band that uses this is 'The 1975' as their bands ideology was rebranded from black house colours to pink.
During post-production we added in our house colour in the background for our text and also in the blue flashes when transitioning to a separate shot. It was effective to use the same blue house colour when creating the digipak and tour poster as it enables easy identification and a viewer passing by may become familiar with the colour and become intrigued as to what the band is about. This is an example of the cultivation theory. Indie bands often use house colours within their ideology, for example Arctic Monkeys.
 Having an ancillary colour that is also seen within the main product is effective when creating merchandise as the house colour blue is a part of the bands ideology. This will help boost brand awareness and heighten profits. Potential fans can be attracted to the merchandise and research further into it, discovering the band and their music. Another factor that will arise from merchandise is the already fans being drawn to each other and bringing together the fan base and having a communal group of fans. An example of a band that promotes merchandise is 'The 1975' with items such as hats and t-shirts.

When creating the digipak I took into account how the locations shown in the imagery will link to the demographic and psychographic of our target audience being between the ages of 15-25. Candles seen within a church will attract the 'strugglers' psychographic of our audience as the candles are set in an empty location and are connoting loneliness. This would conform to the 'strugglers' audience members as they would see themselves as 'out of the norms' and cannot conform to modern society. This choice of location is also challenging the conventions as the audience are looking at themes they would not normally explore. This may help them seek guidance which therefore links to the uses and gratification theory.

The imagery within the digipak also links to the music video as the connection is within the identities of the protagonists behind hidden. Within the digipak imagery the female is shown with her back towards the camera. This style of imagery is conventional to the indie genre as having their back turned emphasises their disconnection to society and lack of identity. This is a continuous motif throughout my products. Again, emphasising their 'strugglers' psychographic. However, due to the ending of my production showing the protagonists walking towards the camera this is showing that they have discovered themselves and reminds the audience that they are not alone.

Overall, the combination of our motif product and ancillary texts are targeting the conventions of the indie genre and our target audience. By using house colours and similar typography this enables my product to be what an active audience member would expect. The blue filtered imagery of the female within the digipak also aims towards our target audience and our motif as the colour blue is a continuum within our product.

Loving Someone Analysis Question One

Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When deciding what music genre my group should study and develop, we decided that the indie / alternative rock genre was best suited as this is a sub-genre which allows us to delve into creating new conventions.
We chose the song 'Loving Someone' by The 1975 due to ideologies which grip the audience. This song fitted best with our initial ideas for our narrative based music video because we focus on themes that are not too far from reality. Therefore, making an audience member gain a sense of identification through the lyrics and applying the uses and gratification theory.

From carrying out the questionnaire, the target audience for the indie genre are teenagers and young adults. This is what lead us to use teenage protagonists within our product. An example of this is in 'Robbers' by The 1975 and Fall Out Boy 'Dance, Dance'. Enabling us to gain inspiration and conform to our genre. Our target audience will feel as if they can relate to our protagonists and feel a sense of escapism as they may be effected by one of the issues we focus on, applying the uses and gratification theory.
The majority of our target audience fall within the 'strugglers' psychographic. This is what lead us to focus on subjects that are relevant and engaging as they could possibly relate to the protagonist and empathise. The topics we focus on are bullying, prostitution and alcoholism. Focusing on issues that are apparent within society conforms to the indie genre as it is seen often in music videos, for example 'Cigarettes And Alcohol' by Oasis. This is creating a sense of verisimilitude for the audience.
Research also showed that it is normally the female protagonist who is seen to be the 'damsel in distress' referring to Props 8 stock characters. This is seen in 'Arctic Monkeys - Snap Out of It'. In order to challenge this common convention and make our music video relate to a wider target audience, we included a male protagonist to play this role. Also, this creates a sense of escapism for our male audience members and links to the uses and gratification theory.

Throughout our music video we used a style of filming to create a sense of verisimilitude this was created by using conventional shots to the genre. An example of a shot we used to create this is point of view shots. Research into our genre allowed us to notice the common conventional shots used. The use of a mid shot continuously throughout 'Panic! At The Disco - This Is Gospel' is what lead us to use this in several shots of our product and conform to our genre.
We had also taken inspiration from the extreme close up shot seen in 'Kings of Leon - use Somebody', adapting and using it in our introduction. An extreme close up of eyes doesn't allow the audience to see the facial expression of the individual, creating an enigmatic effect. This shot was adapted to highlight the individuality of the teenagers shown. Enabling the teenage audience to be aware from the outset that the video will be targeting issues that they can relate to.
A reverse shot seen in 'alt-J - Breezeblocks' was also a shot that we decided to adapt to fit our product. It is not often seen within the indie genre but by editing the shot in post-production to be reversed, we believe this plays an important, effective part towards the end of our music video.
Due to the indie genre being a sub-genre we had noticed that indie bands such as The 1975 and Arctic Monkeys take inspiration from alternative genres and their imagery. The use of a projector to shine against a subject matter is also conventional in pop genres, for example it is used in 'Rihanna - We Found Love'. Nevertheless, the indie genre challenges conventions, which enabled us to use this imagery but conform it to our own production.

Also, through the location was where we wanted to challenge our genre. A church location is something thats not often seen in Indie videos. Our stereotypical audience member would normally rebel against such strict, confirmative ways of life. However, our choice to film in an empty church signifies how our target audience may feel as if they do not fit fully into society. By directing our protagonists to misbehave in the church emphasises their disconnection towards the community. Therefore, making our music video relatable for our 'strugglers' audience members and applying the uses and gratification theory.
In order to challenge the conventions of the Indie genre, the final outcome of the protagonists was that they restored their faith in society through the church. An older audience member may be able to relate to this as they may have put an end to their 'rebellion' phase. This is therefore creating a new equilibrium which creates an enigma at the end of our music video.

Through our research we had learnt that the indie genre normally has both performance and a narrative within their video, this is seen in 'The 1975 - Sex' and 'AWOLNATION - Sail'. This is what lead us to challenge the conventions and create a multi-stranded music video and not conform to the conventions of the indie genre.

Conventions such as having a narrative either through the lyrics or the music video is something that has stayed the same through the years when looking back into my research. From the outset it was originally seen for the music video to have only performance while they express the narrative vocally.

Something that is not commonly used in the indie genre are titles. From carrying out our research we had noticed that it has been used in '30 Seconds To Mars - City Of Angels' and also 'The Killers - Shot At The Night'. This creates a cinematic feel from the outset. Drawing focus to the message behind our product as it is conventional for a film to have a meaning behind its narrative. Therefore, making the audience aware that within our multi-stranded music video there is a message to be found. We are therefore challenging the conventions of many indie products.