Our Target Audience

For the music video we have produced I believe our target audience will be for young adults, this therefore starts from the ages 14 to 18 as the basic age range however it would not be subjected to only these ages, as suggested by our target audience. As this age would be our intended demographic we would use viral marketing, due to the progression and development in technology, this would be the most effective for this age range. We would use websites such as twitter, Facebook and youtube, this would be effective as these age range usually are consistent users of theses sites, accessing these through apps, I therefore highlighted these feature in my magazine poster and digipak stating the artist's links of these websites, this is common feature done by artists in all genres, as shown in my research into other artist posters ad digipak.

Intertextuality in Artist's Posters (50 Cent)

50 Cent

•  All the poster connote an sense of danger and fear through the use of dark colours ( ex. black and dark red). 
• Violence is presented as an theme in all the posters through the iconographical features of gun, the smashed glass and gun bullets. This is an common convention of the rap genre, as there is a affliction with violence and crime linked. Artists usually presented this through their miss en scene, this would be an expectation from the audience due to the aritst personal background with crime and having been shot 7 times.
• The artist is placed in the centre of the frame, breaking the rule of thirds, creating an intimate tenor between himself and his fans, as well as an intimidating tone through is breaking of the fourth wall, as he looks directly into the camera. 
• In all the posters the artist is presented not wearing a top, highlighting to the audience his physical appearance, and his strong physic. Using his appearance to sell him self to the audience. This creates a universal tone to his poster as he presented to the male audience as inspiration and someone to aspire to, and to the female audience is presented as a 'sexy symbol', and some in which they want to be with. 
• The mise en scene is significant in creating the artist 'image'. Through the presentation of showing off his tat tots reinforces the image in which her is trying to create, of a strong male, this is common in the rap genre. 
• In all the posters the artist is wearing expensive jewellery presenting wealth and prestige. He is wearing it in all the poster creating a link between all the texts. 
• All the posters feature the artist 'logo' name stamp. Usually placed in the right top corner of the poster, near the head of the artist. However this logo is not large, therefore not drawing a lot of attention to the artist name, suggesting that he is well established and the audience would know if name.
• The poster all have low key lighting, creating a mysterious tone. 
• The serious facial expression from the artist sets the tone for the poster presenting the artist, as a serious character. This is common from artist from the rap genre as they present themselves as 'hard' and not to mess with, due to the violent, crime association in which they have as suggested through the use of the gun pointed towards the audience/camera. The smashed glass also suggest a sort of violent connotation. 

Beyonce - Poster Analysis

• The colour scheme of the poster is similar to the artist album, 'I am Sasha Fierce...', having the same grey gradient font colour. 
• The font and style of the poster is the same as the album, creating consistency from the artist and her works. 
• The simplistic poster follows the artist album cover, common convention from posters from the Ballad genre. 
• The placement of the artist is in the same place of the album, adding consistency, creating a link between the poster and album. 
• The mise en scene of the poster, illustrates the artist as a glamours, illustrated through the sequinned floor length dress, as well as the seductive pose from the artist, looking into the camera. Through the pose the artist she is highlighting her figure, to attract the fans. 
• The 'Encore' text looks like her signature, showing how famous she is.
• The subtext is in capitalisation, illustrating that although the text is in a smaller font, the information is still important. 

Britney Spears - Poster Analysis

• The use of primary colours creates a universal tone towards the target audience, allowing it to aimed towards women and men, as well as all ages. 
• The boardered edges follow the conventions of the cirques poster which is the theme in which follows. In addition to following the style from the the artist's current album. 
• The style follows the format/structure/font of an orginal cirques posters.
• Subverts from Dyer's theory of 'Star Quality Image', as there is no picture or representation of the artist other than her name. 
• The iconography of the stars promotes a sense of high quality from the artist. 
• Change in font when wanting to highlight important information to the audience 'womaniser'. 
• The font of the artist name is larger, highlighting it's importances. 
• The text is capitalised showing its importance. 

Evaluation Questions

The Questions 

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

2)      How effective is the combinations of your main product and ancillary texts? 

3)      What have you learned from your audience feedback? 

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

STATIC Digipak

Here is an Vlog where I explain all my choices I made.

UPDATE: after creating this video I changed certain elements of my digipak, therefore this is an update on the changes and why I made them.

Front Cover

Using the symbolic mirror shot as the cover, a self reflecting element, helping introduce the narrative in addition to helping set the tone.

Introducing the grey scale, a common feature used in the genre, keeping consistent to our music video.   

The juxtoposion of the artist in colour and grey scale effect helps create the narrative as it presents the notion of 'looking in', almost like observing another world. 

Using the same font as in the music video, creating a link. Helping create a band identity, as the artist name is consistently in this font it creates an sense of familiarity to the audience. 

Back Cover

Being inspired by Taylor Swifts album, I wanted to replicate some thing similar where her track list alternates between her colour scheme, however I wanted to adapt this to alternate between the two different fonts. However after trial and error I decided that it was not ascetically  pleasing, and decided to keep the same font as the album name, as it is also a track too.

I followed the colour scheme of grey, white and black throughout, following the grey scale effect which is used throughout the music video. 

The track list is all capitalized as I thought this was more effective and as recently become a more popular tend in albums, as shown by 'Lana Del Ray' and '1975'.

Using another shot from the end of our music video emphaise our inferred reading (Stuart Hall). As well as conforming to our vague ending, adding mystery to the ending. 

The back cover also features an bar code and an Parent Advisory Label  which is an common feature of digipaks from all different genres. 

Inside Panels

After reviewing our audience it was made clear that the concept of the pebbles, and the link to the biography of Virginia Wolf's suicide was not made clear, therefore by highlighting this icognolgrahical feature in digipak may highlight this element of the narrative. 

The CD will also follow this theme, creating the setting  as the audience are 'picking out' some pebbles when taking out the CD. 

The lyric book is a common feature in many albums therefore conforming creates a more realistic digipak.

The use of the qr code allows the auidence to access more of the star, this is highlighted in the text which states their links.

FINAL VIDEO

Lily Allen -Digipak Analysis

As our music video follows exclusively Stef flowing our 'Star Image' conforming to Richard Dyers theory on Star Quality Image. I decided to look at other female solo artist and their digipaks. I though Lily Allen, a young female artist would have the same demographic in which we were aiming for and therefore our albums would help us see what would apple to our intended target audience.

Her 2006 album 'Still Alright'.

• The album title 'Still Alright', isn't the main featured on the cover, suggesting how she is an established female artist, therefore the title will be known by the audience. 
• The cover is packed with different iconography features, linked to her type of music of being up beat and fast past. 
• There is a colour scheme following black/grey and white, as most of the cover's mise en scene follows this. However this for the album title is in red subverting from the colour scheme of the album, highlighting the album name, as it is hidden by all the miss en scene's props. 
• The type of font is similar however not the same for the artist name and album title.  It is in block font which was a popular font type in the 2006, illustrating being on trend. 
• The direct mode of address in the artist cover subverts from the artist being straight on, as shown in Lana Del Ray's 'BORN TO DIE' front cover. This creates a more colloquial tenor in from the cover, which may be prefer from the audience during that period of time. 
• A common feature of mise en scene from male artists is the feature of flashy jewellery, Allen subvert from the convention as on the album cover she highlights this feature despite it not being a convention for female pop artist. 

Taylor Swift Digipak Analysis

• There is a direct link with the title 'RED', and the colour of the capitalised title. 
• The capitalisation of the font is consistent throughout the whole album as well as the colour scheme of white and red. 
• Follows the Richard Dyer theory of Star Quality Image, the close up of the artist highlights her importance to the audience. 
• The red lipstick uses reflects as well as links the artist to the album. 
• The use of large font of the album cover clearly illustrates the album as well as making it recognisable. 

• The back is the same as the cover but with a red tint, removing the vintage feel but reflecting the music and the tone. Keeping consistent throughout. 
• There is no track numbers for the song list which recently has become more popular feature in albums. 
• The song names are written in capitals, keeping to the convention of the album as the artist name as well as the album title is written in this style, creating a consistency from the artist.

• The CD foollow the red and white colour scheme as well as the style of font and size.

Showcase Evening and Audience Feedback

We had our showcase evening were able to show our music video to a large audience, ranging from 60 plus to 16 years. This allowed us to talk to people after viewing and get some audience feedback and she whether our concept was understood. We were able to explain what gave us inspiration and what we were trying to achieve. This was really helpful (and nerve-racking) experience as we after months of work it was officially finished. We left a green sheet of paper on each seat, with a set questions for the audiences to answer to help us with our evaluation.

These are some photos I took.

Adele '21' Digipak Analysis

• Uses a black and white colour scheme, a common code and convention from the slow ballad genre. this cover is universal not really targeted to a certain audience. 
• Conforms to Richard Dyer's theory of star quality image, highlighting to the audience who the singer is through a close up of her face. the position of the artist illustrates her to be sad, as she isn't smiling and looking down, reflecting the tone of the songs. 
• The artist name is clear, written in white against a black background, with the album title written next to it in a slightly off white/grey - showing that it is the title. 
• Both the title and the artist in the same font and size following the pattern, staying consistent. 
• A contrast to the the cover, it is in a bright green which is a contrast to the black and white. introducing a pop element to the CD.
• The 21 is a contrast to the font and size of the CD.

Music Industry Apps

Spotify is a commercial music streaming service that provides digital rights mangment restricted content from record labels. Music can be browsed or searched by artist, album, genre, playlist, or record label. Paid "Premium" subscriptions remove advertisements and allow users to download music to listen to offline.
Spotify was launched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB; as of 15 September 2010, the service had approximately 10 million users, including 2.5 million users with paid subscriptions.The service reached 20 million users (5 million paid) by December 2012,and 60 million users (15 million paid) in January 2015.
Source: Wikipedia

Tidal App according to iTunes description is the world's first music service with high fidelity sound quality. Created by artist Jay-z this recent 2015 app is signing a various of different artist. The app is similar to the popular app Spotifier. 
Source: iTunes

Digipak Ideas

So following the theme of our virgina wolf suicide, I thought following the theme of water and other of the element which we included in our video would be a good idea to use for our digipak. Adding consistency to the brand of our star image, Stef.

The pebbles shot in our video is critical to video as it adds content to the other shots, tying it all together, as well as adding a narrative. I thought the pebbles would be nice to be highlighted in the album digipak, as it links it to the video, as it is the EP  album.

This is what I'm thinking of for the CD of my album.

The black and white, grey scale photo is consistent with our music video as it is all in this filter. However i'm not sure if this is differently the the CD that I will use in my digipak. 

Adele - Someone Like You

Adele's, someone like you video is were some of our inspiration came from, when me and Stef were filming during our lunch break I decided to take some shots of our star, walking, to add some motion to our quite static video footage.

Adele's video, for the whole song is the camera on a dolly, following  her singing by bridge, with a city miss en scene. The video has a grey scale title on throughout which is something which we also wanted to use, as we through it help emphasis the lyrics as well as suiting the tone of the song. The video is all one shot, which is well suited as it is a balled, this is a common codes and convention of this genres music video.

Questionnaire Audience

As our media showcase is coming up in a few weeks, we thought it would be a good idea that after the audience view our opening we would ask them questions on our music video. Allowing us to have a wider range of feedback as people from all ages and genres were coming.

We thought we would as questions such as:

• What do you think is the intended audience for our music video?
• Is the editing style suited to the song?
• Do you understand the narrative in the music video?
• Any specific shots or camera movements that you liked?
• Any specific shots or camera movements that you didn't like?
• Even better if...?