Evaluation.

In what ways does your music video use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The first part of our promotional package was to make a music video in which we had to find a track, discuss possible ideas with the band and then put them together to create a video to represent the band and the track.

To begin i researched into music videos, there conventions and how they target the audience. I found that Jet Pack Man fitted into the indie genre and had a similar style to The Maccabees and Bloc Party. I wanted to create a disjunctive narrative based video using time lapse. I researched into many different music videos that used time lapse and found that the two that were of great use were Slipknot - vermilion and Orbital - the box.

My music video challenges the normal conventions of an indie bands video. When researching into stereotypical indie bands music videos i found that a lot of the bands would have a performance video, with the main focus on the lead singer. When researching specifically into Jet Pack Man and their influences i found that although they stemmed from the indie genre, they tended to have a heavy influence from art house. So i decided to subvert the typical conventions of the indie video to create something that would represent the band specifically and therefore the video would target the audience well. My music video follows Goodwins theories of narrative structures. My music video is disjunctive as it has no relation to the lyrics, yet still has a narrative as it follows the story line of the girl trapped in a controlling and distorted world. My music video targets the audience well as they would respect and understand the rules and messages within art house film and photography. The ideologies within my music would interest this kind of audience as there are hidden messages that would attract their attention, for example, the idea of being controlled by an unknown force could represent how some people are feeling in their day to day life within a controlling society.

My music video follows Todorovs theory of equilibrium. In the beginning of my music video there is equilibrium as the girl goes into the room to simply play a game. dis equilibrium as she is transported into a distorted world where she has no control. Finally equilibrium is restored as she enter the real world again by jumping of a building. Barthes enigma code - when a piece of media is created and then the audience interpret what they see. This could be applied to my music video as though out the viewer is wondering where the girl is, why she is there, why is this world distorted and how will she get out, they then decide on what they think is going on and what will happen. It is possible to apply Levi Strouce's theory of binary opposites to my music video. Within my video the idea of reality can be applied to the section in the room, then the surreal world is represented in the outside world. The movements define this idea of opposites as well by the juddered movements represent the stress and panic within the surreal world. Within my music video there are some psychological symbols for example, the hand held camera suggests erratic and unsettled state of mind. The scribbles on the paper suggest madness and a crumbled state of mind.

Finally the idea of a Semic Code could be applied to my music video as my music video is of the art house genre and targets a specific audience. This is based on the idea that within a culture there is a link that its members will recognise.

My music video is very similar to The Maccabees music video 'first love'. I have been influenced heavily by this video, i took note of the way that the director has used rules from photography to create shots that are composed perfectly. I tried to use this idea by framing a lot of my shots by using rule of thirds, thinking about balance within the shot and composition. I tried to emulate the art house style within this music video as well as i thought it represented Jet Pack Man and The Maccabees well.

When creating my music video i wanted to link to tradtional themes within art house film, one idea i wanted to experiment with was manipulation of the colour within the film to create a high contrast colour theme. This is evident in a lot of art house film and also within some of The Maccabees music videos like "Love You Better" and "First Love".

This almost creates an over exposed look which is effective in adapting to the art house style. In this screen shot it is also evident that i have used the rule of thirds to frame my shot, as i have previously said this is used a lot within The Maccabees - First Love music video and Anton Corbijn's photography and film.

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

The second part of the promotional package was to create a digipak for the music video. I began by researching into various artists digipak's and album art work to get an idea of how they represented the band and the actual content. I researched into The Maccabees and Bloc Party again as i thought they were very good representations that linked well with Jet Pack Man. I found that their art work linked heavily to the art house genre as it abdicated from the norm. There was very little band shots, mostly art work or some form of photography. The Maccabees used animation to create their digipak, they used child like fonts and child like colours, this linked with the same on the dvd - colour it in.

Bloc party used time lapse photography of city night life to create their front cover as the digipak is called a weekend in the city, this linking in with the art house style of photography as they used slow shutter speeds to create interesting effects with lights. I decided to do some photography, i wanted to link the dvd cover to the music video like the other bands did. I began to think about underlying messages within my music video, i decided that i wanted to create some photography that linked with the idea of being controlled by some unknown force. I began thinking about how i could go about this, i came up with the idea of using a doll within a photograph, as this would like to the abstract ideas of art house photography. I then linked the idea of the doll to the idea of being pulled by an unknown force. I thought about how i could make this work, eventually i decided to hang the doll from a peice of wire and project a studio light onto the doll. I then used my hand to mimic a shadow of someone pick the doll up by the top of her dress. This worked very well as it created a metaphorical idea of the doll being controlled by an unknown force, just like the girl within the music video being controlled by a unknown force in the distorted world. I then researched on the internet for some form of toy block font. I found this and thought it would link well with the idea of the doll as they both represented an idea of play. I used this font for the title 'Jet Pack Man' on the front cover and the spine. I edited around the blocs on photoshop by using the background eraser tool in order to gain a block effect around the edges. I then used a child like scribble on the back in alternate colours to again link with the idea of child's play.

This is also similar to the font that The Maccabees used on their digipak. I then used a series of screen shots from the music video to place them on the back on the cover. I lined up the screen shots, text, and logos so that they would all be symmetrical. I decided to create my own logo for a record company as Jet Pack Man are not signed. I began thinking of ideas for a name and came up with the idea Look Book. I wanted to keep the art house style so i simply drew a book in pencil and wrote LB records on it and drew a box around the edge. I then used a SLR to take a photograph and then uploaded it onto my back cover.

When creating the inner sections to the Digipak i wanted to keep it simplistic yet still link it to the front cover. So i decided to use one block colour, i used a dark grey as i thought it looked professional rather than a lighter colour. I then decided to do another two rows of screen shots like on the back cover. I used shots that i thought represented the video well and that also looked like interesting photographs as this would then link to the art house style.

One Digipak in particular that uses this style is Rancid, they use this simple style in an effective way to create a professional yet grungy image. In inner to the image bellow has two strips of photographs that represent the bands punk image.

The third part of this project was to create a Print Advert for the DVD release. I began researching into various magazines like Kerrang, NME and small independent music magazines. I found that Jet Pack Man would most likely been featured within NME or the small independent magazines as bands like The Maccabees and Bloc Party were featured within magazines like this. I began by planning out my ideas from looking at print advertisements from the maccabees and bloc party. I began by creating a black background as this was simplistic and from the print adverts that i had researched into this was a popular style. I used a simple white font in order to keep the layout simple. I initially wanted to use the doll photograph again, but instead using one of the over exposed photographs as i thought i looked interesting. However, i thought that this did not fit in well with the text as it was simplistic therefore would take away from the NME genres style. I also thought that the doll photography worked well on the digipak as i had the toy block font to link with the idea of play and being controlled. I did not want to do this again, however i still wanted to link the print advert to the music video visually. So i decided to take a screen grab of the opening scene. This image is striking and grabs the viewers eye. I tried to take photographs of this opening scene, however i found that the screen grab looked more effective as i was unable to create a circle effect around the middle within photoshop. I thought that this worked well as it linked well to the video, genre and the overall look on the print advert looked simple yet effective as there was a clear colour scheme that is similar to one that i researched into within NME.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The target audience for Jet Pack Man is teenagers to young adults from the indie genre. Typically they would listen to bands like The Maccabees, Bloc Party, The Cure and Cajun Dance Party. Their style would be similar to that of Topman and H&M clothing shops therefore conforming to a particular style as both have a strong fashion consensus which is a strong factor within the indie genre. I have targeted this audience by conforming to typical conventions and interests that they would be attracted to. For example, the use of art house film would appeal to this audience as many would be interested in art and the more creative ideas behind making a film piece. I used web 2 to target my audience. To begin i placed my video on youtube in order for people to see it. I found that youtube was a very good tool in enabling people to watch my music video as this is a form of convergence as it allows people to watch the video and comment on it. You tube also links to the global village theory as people from all around the world are able to watch it, thus connecting them. I then used the tags to make it easy for people to find the video. I used tags such as 'The Maccabees', 'Bloc Party, 'The Horrors', 'Yeah yeah yeahs', as they are bands that the audience of Jet Pack Man may be interested in. Within a month of being on youtube the music video gained 138 views alone.

I found that the majority of the searches were from people directly searching for the music video. Therefore word of mouth has proven to be the best way for my video. I posted the video onto facebook to see how many people would click on the link. This did not prove to be as useful as i anticipated. 11 views came from people clicking on my video from another youtube video. This is very interesting as it proves that web 2 can gain a lot of publicity for bands as not only do they have to opportunity to send the url out so fans but people could stumble across the page by looking though related videos. I found that this was evident when i saw that people out of the UK were looking at my music video, this proves that web 2 is a very useful and positive way of distributing the band. This also links to Marshall Mcluhan's Global Village theory as people are being brought together in an awareness.

I used Facebook as part of the distribution of my music video, i did not directly place the video on my homepage but i posted it through a private mail to two people. This was then forwarded on to four more people, this infers that Web 2 underlies the global village theory, people are now able to watch videos though the web at anytime, anywhere.

When talking to the band they liked the idea of basing the video within the art house genre as they said this was of a particular interest to them and some of their fans. They liked the idea of using time lapse as they said it was different and also very interesting to watch. I asked them what they thought was best within the video, they replied by saying that they liked the idea of using time lapse and the way that the video has a disjunctive narrative. I then asked them what they would change about the video, they replied by saying they would have liked the girl within the video to represent the indie genre more within her clothing, although she already did they said it would have made the difference if she stood out more. I held a screening for my music video and handed a questionnaire to the the audience.

Here is a copy of my questionnaire:

Jet Pack Man - Prisoned Pulse in Deceased Fortresses.

Did you understand the plot? Yes No

If not, why? If yes, please explain the plot:


What genre do you think this music video belongs to?
Pop Rock Indie Dance R&B Hip Hop

What artists would you link to Jet Pack Man?

What channel would you expect to see this video?
MTV MTV2 Scuzz Kiss VH1 MTV BASE NME

Could you give examples of other videos like this?

This three things you liked about this video:


List three things you did not like about the video:


Any other comments?

I found that the majority of the audience thought that the video suited the audience, they suggested music channels that fitted the genre, for example NME and some specified by suggesting small screenings in art house cinemas like the phoenix in Exeter. Some criticisms were that the scene with the boy and the rose did not fit, however i would not change this as it fits with the art house genre. Therefore targets the indie audience, if the member of the audience is not of this social group then they might not understand. Some positive feedback was that the music video was interesting and held the viewers attention throughout. The time lapse was interesting and visually appealing. The video matched the bands image. Some negative feedback was that on the rose scene, that there was a slight jump between the cuts and that the scene with the boy did not fit. Many thought that the use of time lapse throughout was a good idea as it is visually interesting.In relation to the question about what music channel they would expect to see this video on all of the audience commented saying that they would expect to see this video on NME and that it fitted the indie genre. I am very pleased with this as i wanted it to link to the audience therefore i have achieved this goal. When asked if they understood the music video all of the audience understood the idea behind the plot, interprating it slightly in their own ways, this links to Barthes enigma code theory. Two members of the audience understood specifically that it was a metaphor for the stress and struggles within society today. When asked of other videos similar to my video the audience linked to artists and bands like Bloc Party and The Maccabees and one member of the audience specifically talked about art house directors and gave a reference to a music video called Troubled by Land of talk.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

List of technologies that i have used during this project:

• Youtube
• Blogspot
• Photoshop
• iMovie
• Digital Photography
• Facebook
• Myspace
• Camcorder
• Google

When creating my music video i began by using web2 to research into the genre that Jet Pack Man fitted into. The use of the 'global village' enables people to find out about new bands that are of a similar genre to the one that they are interested in. I began by using the video cameras, as i had learnt the basis in AS i was able to challenge and experiment with new ideas and techniques.

When editing my music video i originally planned on using final cut, however as time progressed i was unable to learn in detail the full effects and how to create a quality piece of work using that specific program. I used imovie to edit my footage, i used similar techniques as in AS, simple cuts and effects. However as i used time lapse i used the fast/rewind tool. When experimenting i found that this tool did not increase the speed enough. I found a way around this, by dragging the desired clip onto the desktop i was able to trick imovie into thinking it was a new clip, therefore able to increase the speed as many times as i wanted. This worked well as i was able to increase the speed as much or as little on different clips. I used the contrast and brightness tool within imovie to create a visual look that was similar to that of other art house films. I found that this worked very well and members of the audience that were interested in the indie/art house genre noticed this style.

When creating my digipak i used a cannon SLR to photograph the doll, as i already study photography i was able to use this effectively. I used the studio lights for this photo shoot, this was new to me and i as taught how to use the lighting. To begin with i used a small lamp, however this did not create the shadow effect that i needed, therefore i decided to use the studio lights as they have a stronger flood of light. I placed the lights on the floor in the correct position and set them to the desired setting. This created a more defined shadow, where as before the shadow was not very strong and had no real definition around the edges.

I used Photoshop to create my print advert. I began by creating layers for the font, photos and background colour. By doing this i was able to create a professional piece of work by emphasizing certain aspects within the layers.

When creating my digipak i used rulers and extras in order to gain a symmetrical layout, i found that this worked very well as i was able to see a clear layout of my work.

I used Google when researching for bands that are similar to Jet Pack Man, i found that myspace was a good tool in finding out information about bands as i was able to see gig listings, photographs, videos, samples of their music and information on the bands. I was also able to see what fans had written of their page, this enabled me to see what they thought was good and band about the content of the page.

Youtube was useful when researching as i was able to see comment made by youtube users. Through the tags I was able to see bands that were similar to the artist I had searched for. This was useful as I was able to see many different artists that I could relate to Jet Pack Man. Through the ‘more’ option I was able to see details about the music video for example the director, producer and special effects about the video. I used youtube to upload my music video when i had completed it. I used various tags to make my music video easy to find. I tagged Bloc Party, The Maccabees, The Cure and Yeah Yeah Yeah's as they are bands that are of a similar style to Jet Pack Man. I used blogger.com to record the theory side of this project, i found that this worked very well as i was able to document all of my ideas and changes to see how my project had progressed.

I used Blogspot.com for my critical side of this project, it has been very important as it has enabled me to keep a record of all my work, and my progress. It has allowed me to upload pictures and videos to my personal blog and also let me link other websites as sources. Feedback from teachers can also be added on any post that i have made. The effect of this has allowed me to be monitored online as well as in school.