Evaluation, question one: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

The protagonist in Insomniac

 My productions are a short music video for the band The Jubilees, promoting the single Insomniac, in which a young man struggles with addiction and abnormal sleep patterns sharing stylistic similarities with a short film in the vein of noir, suspense or the surreal, as well as a precisely measured DVD digipak of an entire fictional debut album, consisting of a front and back cover, inner panels, CD design and spine. The band was formed in Lincolnshire, England and is classified under the Indie/Indie Rock musical genre. The demographic to which the product is aimed is primarily eighteen to twenty five-year-old, Caucasian British males from middle/working class backgrounds, with interests in the Alternative or Indie genres of media. Both pieces of coursework are influenced by a variety of other texts intertextually.

The narrative structure of the video is somewhat generic when compared with other Indie Rock videos; the equilibrium is the troubled life of the protagonist, followed by the disequilibrium of insomnia, repair through the dream sequence and a new equilibrium as the protagonist awakes. The convention of a live performance from the advertised band, as seen in ‘Brianstorm’ by Arctic Monkeys, is challenged and removed entirely, relying instead on the narrative of the video to spark interest in the consumer. This is executed on the basis that the story of the song and video is equally as important as the quality of the song itself, leaning in favour of a product which requires the audience to look deeper into its meaning. Focusing on the story behind the product provides a canvas on which the audience can impose their own troubles and concerns, due to the subjective nature of the song and the cause of the singer’s woes, which taps into the audience’s own worries, labelling the teenage age demographic as a possible phase of crisis, whether in a consumer’s place in society, desire to rebel against social norms or the contemplation of happiness and even existence. An example of a deeper meaning in real media products is Kasabian’s ‘Where Did All the Love Go?’ which carries a serious message on the nation’s emotional decline since the 1960s/70s, although the video for the single has little to do with the song’s subject.

Shaun in 'This is England'

The story of the video itself also adheres to the genre. Some of Arctic Monkeys’ videos, such as ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ (sourced from the short film ‘Scummy Man’) and ‘Leave before the Lights Come On’, have a similar narratives which chronologically follow the actions of a handful of often troubled or disadvantaged characters (the prostitute Nina in When the Sun Goes Down and the two characters played by Paddy Considine and Kate Ashfield in Leave before the Lights Come On), as does Insomniac with the nameless protagonist, played by myself, who is contemplating suicide. Deviating from the format of the two Arctic Monkeys videos, Insomniac focuses entirely on the protagonist with no input from any other character, which accentuates the character’s isolation from the rest of the world. A film such as This Is England is appropriate in the theme of the disenfranchisement of youth and the reconstruction of identity through peers/tribes, as theorized by Michel Maffesoli, though the camaraderie found in tribal/gang culture is absent in the lonesome setting of Insomniac.

Sam Riley as Ian Curtis

The protagonist is at a similar age to the lower end of the age demographic, and will therefore be easier to sympathise with. During the first few scenes of the Anton Corbijn directed biopic of the life of Ian Curtis from the formation of Joy Division, ‘Control’ Ian is still in education and is only 23 years old by his suicide in 1980. Various similarities in geography and age, coupled with the iconic status of the late front man make Curtis an easy individual to sympathise with for my audience, who may aspire to become an artist working in the music industry or other creative professions. Similarities can also be drawn between the character of Ian in Control (played by Sam Riley) and the protagonist of Insomniac, who himself is facing various troubles including the contemplation of suicide and an unhelpful prescription of drugs, which he neglects to use properly. Control also features several scenes in which Ian flees the situation at home to drink at the pub, which may point to alcoholism. Binge drinking is an issue often associated with British youths, and the protagonist of Insomniac worsens his health in the combination of his medication with alcohol continuously. These instances of contemporary teenage issues can be contributed to Lacan’s theory on identity, in that the audience can engage with the text through these aspects, in which they see parts of their own lives.

First edition cover of Catcher in the Rye

Other characters from which inspiration has been taken include Holden Caulfield, the isolated teenage protagonist of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, a book that has become a symbol of rebellious and troubled youth and is still relevant in contemporary society, especially to Insomniac’s young, alternative audience. Holden struggles to adapt to adult life and is hostile to the ‘phoniness’ and loss of innocence in society. Like the protagonist of Insomniac, Holden is often under mental or emotional strain, and vaguely implies that he has been institutionalised for a temporary period at the end of the book after a probable nervous breakdown; The death of his brother, Allie, and classmate James Castle’s suicide whilst wearing Holden’s borrowed jacket are both traumatic events which could contribute to the mental state of the character. Whether or not a past experience has influenced the protagonist of Insomniac is not made clear, though Holden’s fixation on the trauma is similar to the protagonist’s frequent contemplation of death through the imagery of the graveyard, which culminates in his suicide attempt in the climatic shot. A graveyard also features heavily in the opening and final scenes of The Third Man (see left) as Holly (Joseph Cotten) attends the false and actual funerals of Harry Lime (Orson Welles). The narrow, maze-like and meandering streets of Vienna in The Third Man are also a source of inspiration for the locations during the dream sequence of Insomniac, filmed at Elm Hill in Norwich. The protagonist is lost in ‘streets (he) can’t remember,’ possibly within his own troubled psyche. The canted angles in this sequence are a postmodern revision of the technique used in The Third Man and other film noir material in the confusion and unease they create. These surreal elements are inspired in part by various sources; the Simon & Garfunkel song ‘The Sound of Silence’, which includes the line ‘in restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone’; the short story ‘The Music of Erich Zann’, written by H.P. Lovecraft, and the dilapidated and mysterious Paris backstreet of Rue d’Auseil in which it occurs; the frightened anticipation and disorientation created by the back alleys of Stockholm in the recent PC survival horror modification ‘Cry of Fear.’ These sources of inspiration and reference help to build an air of mystery in Insomniac, which appeals to the alternative youth demographic by subverting the generic format of a closed narrative, instead opting for an ending and composition open to interpretation. The audience is expected to debate the meaning of the video by using prior knowledge of popular culture gained by indulging in the more alternative, niche material such as cult films, an example of which is ‘Donnie Darko’, a source of inspiration in the surreal aspects of the video and the chronically medicated protagonist. The parents of the protagonist have perhaps contacted the authorities and arranged for medication to be prescribed; the protagonist’s background is affluent enough to provide him with comfortable accommodation in a suburban area, as the audience is most likely middle class.

Dark alleys in Cry of Fear, compared with 'streets I can't remember' canted angle shot of Elm Hill in Insomniac

Jake Gyllenhaal as Donnie Darko

The costume, consisting of a pair of blue jeans, unbranded black slim-fit shirt, cheaply sourced brown Velcro strap trainers and, briefly, a grey, fabric-lined jacket, is both generic to the target audience and fittingly casual for the protagonist. The protagonist cares very little for his image due to his solitary lifestyle; washing and shaving are the only basic activities he frequently partakes in, and the bland design of the jacket & cheap manufacturing cost of the shoes implies that he favours function over aesthetic appeal. The t-shirt and jeans are generic items of clothing for young men in the UK of the alternative tribe, specifically the sub-group of Indie, who seek clothing to wear comfortably on casual occasions (weekends, attending college etc.).

Costume in Insomniac (left to right) shirt/jeans, jacket, shoes

Chaplin in 'The Gold Rush'

The editing techniques applied in the formation of Insomniac give the action a frantic and almost comedic speed and enthusiasm. The speed increase makes it clear to the consumer that the events of the video, condensed into little below two minutes, take place over a much longer period of time, specifically a day. In feedback on the video the somewhat exaggerated and swift movements of the protagonist have been likened to that of a Charlie Chaplin film or other silent movies. The physicality of the part can also be linked with elements of slapstick comedy in film. These elements are especially prominent in the continuous shot of the protagonist stirring and failing to go back to sleep, with fast movement from side to side and a potentially humorous over-acted shift into a reversed position, as if the protagonist were a baby moving in a cot.

Bed movement scene in Insomniac

Stair scene in Insomniac

In following Goodwin’s theory, the final edit of Insomniac is cut to the beat and lyrics of the song. The fast movements and quick cuts move with the percussion and go through considerable changes in shot between guitar riffs and sections of the song. The point of view shot moving down the stairs of the house and into the street during the dream sequence occurs entirely in a musical break before the climatic verse of the song, with faded images of eyes appearing as two synthesized effects are heard. The lyrics are interpreted in the visuals, often literally, as lines and verses simultaneously sound with corresponding shots. The first half of the song, charting the difficulty the protagonist has sleeping, is heard with shots of his movement and difficulty settling; ‘mind astray’ is accompanied by a multi-layered shot giving the effect of a darting eyeball, followed by a contradictory shot of the protagonist falling onto the bed and ‘I won’t come down.’ Lyrics involving tiredness and the insomnia itself compliment shots of the protagonist looking tired and irritable; the line ‘chasing your shadows’ is played over various shots of wandering the streets, lending to the ambiguity of why the protagonist is in that location, followed by the canted shots of ‘streets I can’t remember’. ‘So take me home,’ like much of the song, is cut to the rhythm of the lyrics as well as the instruments and accompanies images of the protagonist’s home, specifically his bedroom. The line ‘wasting my lifetime on things I won’t remember’ runs with shots of the graveyard (‘wasting my lifetime’) and the abuse of alcohol and prescription drugs (‘things I won’t remember’). The second instance of ‘so take me home’ ushers in the suicide attempt, possibly to get home from the dream world. As the lyrics end and the song fades, the video follows suit.

Faded ending of Insomniac

Cover of I am Legend

Mental health difficulties are a contemporary issue which is particularly poignant in my audience of British youths, with as many as one in four UK citizens experiencing a mental health problem in a year and ten percent of children suffering from a mental health condition (statistics taken from the Mental Health Foundation http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-statistics/). It is likely that Insomniac’s audience has come across such issues, whether in their own fluctuations in mental health or in the experiences of a friend, family member or peer. Teen dramas on television such as Channel 4’s Skins similarly utilise this material to appeal to the target demographic, with two episodes in series one and two revolving around Cassie, a sixth form student diagnosed with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, who is implied to have attempted suicide prior to the beginning of the series. Insomniac instead uses a male protagonist to increase the appeal for the masculine audience. The issue of race is not covered in Insomniac due to the predominantly white audience; the rate of diagnosis in the black or mixed race demographic for schizophrenia is two to eight times higher than in other ethnicities (http://www.mind.org.uk/help/people_groups_and_communities/statistics_3_race_culture_and_mental_health) , highlighting a clear problem with racial inequality in the mental health sector which has unfortunately not been covered in the video. Depression is a clear candidate for a mental health issue harboured by the protagonist, though he could easily also be diagnosed with Schizoid Personality Disorder, which amplifies the isolation of the character and the indifference to other individuals who may or may not feature in his life. The potentially maddening isolation is inspired in part by Richard Matheson’s novel ‘I Am Legend’, though the mental strain of the protagonist of Insomniac is not a product of his isolation, instead being the cause of it. The novel’s detailing of Robert Neville’s pre-apocalyptic life also influenced the brief flashbacks to prior drug and alcohol abuse by Insomniac’s protagonist.

Kasabian - Velociraptor!

The print production for the album of the same name, on which Insomniac is featured, begins with a front panel in the style of a colour print which has proved especially popular in audience feedback. Inspired by the Kasabian album ‘Velociraptor!’ the panel is formed from a variety of images edited with photo editing software (Abode Photoshop Elements 10) to feature very few colours. The print quality was inspired in part by the work of Olly Moss, a long-admired poster designer who has featured frequently in Empire magazine. His design for An American Werewolf in London, featuring simple yet bright and eye-catching colours, influenced my use of red in the design. The target demographic would appreciate the design in its potentially iconic imagery. The design’s jagged edges and various source images are reminiscent of Dadaist art or anti-art, inspired by collage and photomontage (see right - Hannah Hoch photomontage/collage 'Beautiful Girl') to create an image from various photos of featured props and scenes (the end result is much more a collage than a photomontage, though the piece could be described as a photomontage of objects from Insomniac). Pop Art, a successor of Dada, has also inspired the piece, especially the colourful prints of Andy Warhol (see below right - Andy Warhol - 'Campbell's Soup I'). The line of the bed cover, like the implied French coast in the movie poster, resembles a rip or hurried cut, reinforcing the bricolage elements of the image. The second panel is a rotated and similarly simplified image of the pillow on the bed of the protagonist. The colour palette used in the second panel draws from the same few colours as the front, as does the digipak in its entirety, creating a simple yet memorable design that flows through all four panels. The themes, locations and props from the video also feature prominently to make a clear connection between the products. The panel also features lyrics from the album’s songs, some of which are from Insomniac. The second quotation is from another song on the album, ‘Will I Ever’; the third if from the other listed single, ‘M. Valdemar,’ based on ‘The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,’ a gruesome suspense story by Edgar Allan Poe about the case of a man suspended in a state of limbo through hypnotism. The fourth quote references the Ganzfeld Experiment, a procedure conducted in the 1970s on telepathy in which the participant listens to white noise with halved ping-pong balls over their eyes and facing a light until the participant experiences hallucinations likened to dreaming. The final two and first quotes are from Insomniac itself.

Olly Moss' poster design for John Landis' 'An American Werewolf in London'

Digipak panel one

Digipak panel two

Back & front panels of 'In the Court of the Crimson King'

The third panel, on which the CD is displayed, is a simple, dark design, intended to blend with the prior image, on which a number of stylised eyes are layered, one of which overlaps into the second panel to indicate the flow and continuation of the design - Such multiple-panel designs are often featured on progressive rock albums, such as King Crimson’s ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’. The image of the eyes, taken from a sketch of the second panel and edited to appear as a jagged print, feature elsewhere in the digipak, including the CD, spine and back cover, and are a recurring motif in both the print productions and the video. This motif carries with it a voyeuristic aspect linking to the notion of looking in Goodwin’s theory, as well as giving the audience a design to associate with the band. The CD itself features the gun held by the figure on the front cover, who is implied to be the protagonist, which has been doctored in a similar fashion to the eyes. The gun is important as it brings the concepts of death and mortality, which are so crucial to the video, into the digipak. The band and album name are displayed to minimise confusion if misplaced. Around the centre of the CD is the top-down image of the prescription drugs, with a ‘sealed for your protection’ message, which links the CD to the front cover. The text’s new, ‘edgy’ meaning when applied to the CD promotes the contents in an appealing way to the consumer. To make the design appear more authentic, generic CD labels such as serial numbers, disc format and record label are included. The spine of the digipak also carries these labels and all other necessary information so the product is identifiable when displayed alongside other DVD cases.

Digipak panel two with CD

Digipak spine

Back panel of Canadian copy of Iron Maiden, purchased by myself

The back panel is topped with three star-based reviews from the music magazines Q, Rolling Stone and NME, most of which would be read or regarded as viable review sources by the indie rock demographic due to the magazines’ association with rock music. Two of the reviews are four stars and one is five, connoting the critical praise given whilst avoiding an unconvincing rave review. The commercial success, such as number one singles, has also not been mentioned, as the alternative audience would most likely shy away from blatantly mainstream and commercial bands. Zane Lowe is quoted which increases the appeal of the band on the basis of critical acclaim, and follows the general format for music and film advertisements. Lowe is an advocate of guitar music and is a trusted source for new rock material. The comparison to Kasabian also outlines the possible chart success and the basic genre characteristics of the band. The track list and duration confirms the contents of the product and plays to the general theme of sleep, with song titles such as ‘Night Terrors.’ Below the roughly cut space is a short list of three bonus tracks provided for buying the DVD digipak as a special offer or edition; ‘Lucid’ is listed as a bonus track, encouraging a further investment in the larger album and giving the consumer a feeling of exclusivity by owning the full package; the other tracks are both versions of what may be the most popular songs on the album performed at Reading Festival the previous year. Reading and Leeds are likely venues for the indie demographic to visit, with rock and alternative acts including Kasabian, Foo Fighters and The Cure headlining Reading in 2012. The image of the protagonist on the back panel is one of him performing with an acoustic guitar, presenting him as the front man of the band itself, which would in essence provide an image of the band to sell to the audience in the music video. The digipak is intended to be sold at music retailers, most likely HMV, and features a barcode with randomly chosen numbers for authenticity. Legal information such as copyrights and dates takes up the bottom left corner and follows a format sourced from a Canadian re-release of Iron Maiden’s debut album. The band is in turn signed to EMI.

Digipak panel four

The magazine advertisement is designed to be included in either NME or Q to be consumed by the audience as they browse for new music in their chosen magazines. Only the five-star review is included in the design, as the advertisement is presented as if the digipak is yet to be released (on August 1^st 2012, during the summer holidays, when the young audience is most likely to be browsing record shops) and other magazines may not have reviewed the material. The review is also the highest rated and will therefore be the most efficient in selling the product. Further anticipation is built and the genre is made clear by the previously unused quote from Q, stating that The Jubilees are ‘2012’s best indie band’. Drawing in possible consumers from Kasabian’s fan base and capitalising on the band’s notoriety, the Zane Lowe quote features the name highlighted in red to draw attention. The central and most important image from the front panel is the main design of the advertisement, rotated slightly to fit and hint to the collage inspiration. The image of the album itself takes up the bottom right corner. Singles, released earlier in the year to build anticipation and notoriety, include Insomniac, justifying the production of a video and the Reading bonus tracks to promote the live material. The URL of the band’s MySpace page is provided so the consumer can conduct further research into the band before buying the product, as well as the official page for the promotion of the album. The record label is promoted in smaller print as it is secondary in promotion to the band. I chose to sign the band to EMI Music because of the label’s association with rock and indie, from NWOBHM (New Wave of British heavy Metal) Iron Maiden to alternative rock Coldplay.

Album advertisement

Evaluation, question two: How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?

Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?

The digipak Insomniac, a fabricated album by the chosen band The Jubilees, is closely linked in content and repeated themes to the video for the single of the same name and the corresponding magazine advertisement.

Nighttime shot of Elm Hill and shot of Earlham Road Cemetary

The orientation of the first panel sets the central figure in an upside-down position. The aim is for the design to be somewhat disorienting, though not to the point of revulsion. This aspect of the design links back to the canted angles in the second half of the music video, which also traditionally promote confusion or disorientation, continue the notion that the protagonist is losing his grip on reality. Both the digipak and the video are therefore somewhat surreal in their design. The dark space of the simplified bed covers could be read as representing night or death, featuring in the music video as themes of the story and locations, such as the twilit alleys and graveyard. The rest of the sparse and simple colour scheme is consistent throughout the print productions, creating a recognisable artistic style in the handful of shades and colours. Red is used to highlight the important content, specifically the band name. The figure itself is the protagonist of the video, creating a recurring character that may be featured on later promotional material, connecting the band’s digipak and print products with the original Insomniac video. The figure is also holding the gun with which he tries to take his own life in the video, showing his eagerness to use the weapon. The inclusion of both the character and central prop of the video reinforces the link between the texts and creates an appealingly tense mood in the design. Around the head of the figure are a container of pills, a larger image of the gun and the face of the protagonist staring outward, as if the images are on his mind (or even being dreamt about). The pills and gun link back to the video and the face represents the character’s self-obsession or concern for his own state of health, all of which are laid out around the figure’s head to give the impression that he is thinking or dreaming about the images. The fixation on the eye on the close-up of the protagonist’s face also links back to the notion of looking, as well as the voyeurism carried with the recurring image of the eyes in the video and elsewhere in the prints (see above-right). Elsewhere in the print productions and the video, the eye is repeated in a variety of styles (cut-out, print and faded video) as a recurring motif with which the audience can identify the band’s content.

The title of the album, Insomniac, references the apparent popular single directly linked to the video of the same name. The name suggests the mental health condition the protagonist may be suffering from and the symptoms he shows, such as difficulty sleeping; sleeping is a key concept in the album, with the artistic designs and most of the song names connecting to sleep or the lack thereof. After feedback from teachers, the fast editing and movement in the video has been likened to a comic strip, which could also be linked to the digipak in its printed style. These features culminate in somewhat of a metaphor for the uncertain future and vulnerable emotional state of British (specifically English) youths, with specific emphasis on drinking culture and reports of suicide. The video may therefore be considered a critique of the condition of the country, representing the pessimism and anxiety felt by some memebrs of the population, at time including myself (this personal link to the protagonist may have greatly influenced the mood of the piece).

Protagonist's use of the gun in Insomniac, with alcohol abuse

Panel one

Bedroom in Insomniac

The pillow in the second panel is from the bed of the protagonist and is yet another image which is also featured in the video, specifically during the bedroom sequences. The page is dedicated to various quoted lyrics from the album’s songs. Most of these lyrics, as with the songs, carry connotations related to sleep, confirming the primary concept of the album. Song of the lyrics, including ‘wide awake, I can’t sleep now’ and the final two lines, are sampled from Insomniac in single form. There are three samples in total from Insomniac from the page, compared to the single samples from the other fictional additions to the album, which confirms the popularity of the song and justifies the production of a music video. 

Panel two

Ed Sheeran paw motif

Panel three repeats the motif of eyes at the highest frequency of all the panels, so as to detract from the blandness of the extended bed covers in the background. The cut-out design of the eyes is built upon as a recurring motif for the band, with the concept of the images appearing in all aspects of the coursework and the cut-out format becoming easily identifiable and somewhat unique. As with the paw print motif seen frequently in promotional content for Ed Sheeran, the eye design becomes a brand the consumer associates with The Jubilees to the point of recognising their products wherever the eye is included. Returning to the video, the use of the faded eye is made much more important by its association with the band. The CD continues to use the eye, pills and gun as recurring designs to clearly fit with the rest of the digipak. The spine helps to further identify the band and content of the digipak, as well as the record label associated with the product. The magazine advertisement also uses the EMI logo to attract an audience whose musical interests include artists signed to the familiar label.

Recurring eye motif

Panel three with CD

CD design

Spine of digipak

Panels two and three, laid out in the desired format, showing the overlap of the eye design

The back panel reiterates the importance of the cut-out style throughout the piece as a band-specific visual style. The protagonist of the video is pictured playing an instrument, thus the character takes the role of a band member in representing the artist during live performance. The Insomniac single is also repeated with a live bonus track version, which shows the popularity of the track in the set list of The Jubilees’ live performances and strengthens the popularity of the band itself. The now recognisable brand style of the monochrome eye is continued in a jagged ribbon separating the legal information from the track list, linking the panel to the rest of the digipak.

Panel four

Recent issue of Q Magazine

The magazine advertisement features the same base image of the sleeping protagonist from the front panel of the digipak, altered slightly in rotation and enlarged. The same, recognisable art style connects the advertisement to the rest of the campaign and the product itself. Using the image of the protagonist from the advertisement, the consumer can easily identify the video and digipak (included for reference) through similarities in the visuals, and begins to illustrate the theme of the album. The eye is arranged in the advertisement to be a legitimate part of the band’s logo, confirming its importance as the primary motif. The advertisement is planned to feature in Q Magazine for various reasons; the magazine is a fairly reputable source of popular/British rock music news, frequently covering conflict between the Gallagher brothers of Oasis; the design’s use of bright red chimes in with the colour scheme of the magazine itself as well as being eye-catching in the design, which in itself is far more flowing and asymmetrical than the columnar articles of the publication; the quote is written to be from a past article in Q, which widens the potential audience as frequent readers respond to the positive review; the gloss finish of pages of the magazine would complement the colourful design more than a magazine such as NME, which uses paper with a matte, newspaper-like texture.

Magazine advertisement

Evaluation, question three: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Q3: What have you learned from audience feedback?

During one lesson of Media Studies and an hour of free time outside of lessons, I enacted my audience feedback for the digipak, magazine advertisement and video in the form of a paper based questionnaire. The nine participants in the video questionnaire volunteered during the lesson, reviewing the video as they watched it, of which four were male and five female. The digipak and magazine advertisement were reviewed in digital form during a free period by four peers, two of which were male, the others female. All participants were valid candidates for the 18-25 demographic, ranging in age from eighteen to roughly nineteen.

Example of Music Video Evaluation Questionnaire

Example of Print Production Evaluation Questionnaire (click to enlarge)

The first question of the video evaluation covered how much the audience enjoyed the music video. The level of enjoyment and entertainment gained from the product is vital in increasing the appeal and selling the digipak. If the video had scored low on this question and had not been enjoyed, it would be unlikely that Insomniac would be a financial success. All participants scored between four and five for this question, proving that the video was successful in being entertaining. The positive reactions of the participants may also encourage them to recommend it to others, either by word of mouth or hyperlinks online, widening the audience.

Question two concerned whether the narrative was easy to understand. A middle-high to high score on this question is crucial, as the video contains contemporary issues intended to be contemplated by the audience, such as alcohol abuse and mental illness. If the themes proved confusing, the intended audience may not be reached, negatively affecting the sales of the product. Participants scored this aspect at four and five, confirming that the narrative is satisfactorily clear. The surreal aspects of the narrative were potentially challenging, though the participants were thankfully unhindered.The audience is therefore more likely to understand the themes of insomnia and pessimism in the video.

Question three asks the participants whether or not the video held their attention. If the audience do in fact find the video interesting, they are more likely to be persuaded to buy the digipak. If given a low score, the audience will quickly be bored by the video and move on to another product. Most of the participants gave a high score in this question, through which we can infer that the video held their attention long enough to sell the product. Many of the participants, mostly in the male group, are accustomed to rock and guitar music, so the music itself may have also helped to hold their attention.

Question four asked for a rating of the camera work and editing in the video. Positive aspects of the video can make the product more engaging and entertaining, and the high quality video builds anticipation for a similarly high quality product. If a video in itself is critically acclaimed, it may build somewhat of a cult following or fan base, which in turn widens the potential audience for the band and digipak (bands such as Daft Punk have built an expectation around their videos for iconic or acclaimed content). Alternatively the quality of a video may be so low that it is clearly an amateur production, thus the reputation of the entire advertising campaign becomes damaged. The camerawork and editing proved popular with the participants, scoring at a similarly high level to the other questions, strengthening the appeal and quality of the advertising campaign. As the participants are also media students, and have experience using editing software and working toward a music video as a final product, the positive scores are given with vital knowledge of the process of filming and editing the video, decreasing chances of bias between peers.

The fifth question required a similar rating of the mise en scene in the video. If the visual themes of a video are of a high quality, the video can be more memorable and interesting for the audience, as well as appearing more unique when compared with other music videos. Factors of professionalism and entertainment are again more likely to increase with the quality of locations. On the other hand, a low quality of mise en scene overall can retract from the other features of a video and render the final product bland or boring, which makes it likely for the video to be lost beneath hundreds of other videos of similar or higher quality. The mise en scene of Insomniac was rated between three and four (an average to good score), therefore the quality of this aspect did not necessarily stand out, although it did not negatively affect the appeal of the video elsewhere. Drawing upon the previous scores, the mise en scene was clearly not a major problem for the enjoyment of the participants, and was not scored so low as to be labelled as bad, rather that it is merely of average quality.

A numerical system ranging from one to five, one being poor and five good was used for the first five questions, as it accurately details the opinions of the participants on variable aspects of the video, such as the overall level of enjoyment. This method is also more efficient in identifying the areas of the product that work well when compared with a simple yes/no question.

The sixth question requires the participants to circle the appropriate answer out of a group of four, concerning the length of the music video. Options include the claim that the video is too short, long or at the correct length, with an ‘undecided’ option included in the case of queries. If the video is labelled as the correct length, the potential audience will be widened as it is most likely fit for use on music channels such as MTV, due to its meeting of the typical criteria for length, which in singles is often less than four minutes. If the video is too long, the audience may become bored or uninterested; if it is too short the artist may not be sold successfully due to the abrupt nature of the video. Four participants answered with either ‘too short’ or ‘do not know’, suggesting that the single is on the short side, though most agreed that it was of a suitable length. The length of a music video can often vary by a substantial amount, such as the fourteen minute long video for Michael Jackson's Thriller, so there may have been some confusion in those who answered 'do not know' concerning the apropriate length. They, along with those who answered 'too short,' could also have misjudged the video as cut to a shorter form, as the song is very short and fades out as the opening synthesized section replays. 

Question seven of the music video evaluation asks whether or not the participant would listen to the song again. This question makes it clear whether the song itself was successful in promoting the band, although the video is bound to also affect the appeal. The video would be a success overall if answered with ’yes’, and unsuccessful in enlarging the fan base if answered with ‘no.’ All of the participants answered with either ‘undecided’ or ‘yes,’ with most choosing the latter, therefore the song and video complement each other in their promotional success. Those who did not give so clear an answer still had positive criticism for the video, from which I can infer they enjoyed the video, though their preferred musical genre may not have been Indie Rock. The song itself may also have not appealed to some.

Question eight asks for suggestions on what could be done to improve the video’s appeal. Using relevant advice from the questionnaire I have been able to make subtle improvements to the product. Most of the questionnaires were left blank or labelled ‘no’ on this section, as the appeal of much of the video was satisfactory. One participant suggested adding more generic signifiers, which are made vaguer by a lack of performance from a band or supporting characters. One other participant suggested shots of a band performance, though this was deliberately left out of the production. Some suggested that the fading image of the gun on the bedside table could be altered, which I changed promptly, opting for a longer cross-fade from the previous shot and a fade to white at the very end.

The next question regarded any offense caused by the product, such as the representation of certain races, cultures or genders. If potential customers are grievously offended by the product, it has failed in encouraging them to purchase the digipak. Potential for offense in Insomniac exists in the lack of female representation and exclusive focus on the Caucasian male protagonist. None of the participants were offended, confirming the success of the video in appealing to the audience. As five of the nine participants in the music video questionnaire were female, there is a possibility of gaining a larger female audience for the band as the scores they gave all reached four to five. Racial offense was extremely unlikely as the participants were all of white British descent. The lack of representation for other races and genders is a far less offensive format than an inclusion of another demographic in the form of a token character or needless voyeuristic image of the female body.

Question ten asks the participants if there were any parts of the video which were difficult to understand or confused them. If the product is hard to understand, it may lead to the misinterpretation of themes and ideas which are crucial to the story and message of the video, such as the themes of dreaming and mortality in Insomniac, thus hindering the process of selling the product to the desired audience. Most participants agreed that the narrative was easy to understand, which would contribute to sales in the event of a real advertising campaign. One participant did not understand the inclusion of the shots of the cemetery, from which I can infer that the shots’ connection to the lyric ‘wasting my lifetime’ was not absolutely clear. The change in mise en scene in this sequence is brief and sudden, and the new location is far different to that of the streets and interior of the house.

Questions eleven and twelve respectively ask for the best part of the production to be detailed and whether the video reflects the style of the music. Question eleven confirms what each participant liked the most about the production; more emphasis can consequentially be put on the favoured aspects to improve the appeal. Most participants cited the editing and pace as the best aspect, which supports the findings of question four in the quality of camera work and editing. The lack of other actors and restricted mise en scene may have pushed the audience to compliment the editing, though their experience with editing and camerawork makes them a credible source of praise. Question twelve assures the appropriateness of the video within the Indie Rock genre for the promotion of the single. The majority of participants answered yes to question twelve, having witnessed conventions of the genre in popular British music, as bands such as Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys continue to achieve success in the charts. Some of the participants are avid fans of the aforementioned bands, and their positive feedback shows that the Indie Rock demographic is likely to give the band a postitive reception overall, thus the video is applicable to the genre.

The final question in the questionnaire requires a rating for the product on a scale of one to ten. This rating covers the music video in its entirety, confirming its overall success (or failure). The average score in this question was eight, which gives the video a good or successful rating. None of the participants gave the video a perfect score, proving that there were unbiased in their scoring despite being fellow students. One participant remarked that they would expect the video to be aired on a professional music channel, supporting the good ratings. A section was left for further comments, though it was not filled in on any of the sheets. This either shows that there were no further issues for the participants or that the issues which existed were too minimal or unimportant to the score of the video overall to deduct marks.

Graphs/charts of stastistics taken from Music Video Questionnaire on Prezi

The second questionnaire, given to four peers at a later date, follows a similar format to that of the music video evaluation, with the first five questions following a scale of one to five and others requiring a choice of answers or line to write a response. It questions the design and appeal of the digipak and magazine advertisement. 

Question one asks whether the digipak reflects the genre of music. If the genre is clear, possible customers with knowledge of Indie Rock will be more easily attracted to the product. The rating for question one was high, strengthened by the participants' knowledge of the genre and that the band were classified as Indie Rock, therefore the digipak is successful in appealing to the desired audience. Question two involved a similar question on the magazine advertisement. According to the high score on this question, the magazine advertisement also caters to the target audience and compliments the sales of the digipak. A similar score was likely due to the repeated digipak design, and supported by the quotes in the upper area of the advertisement. Likening the band to Kasabian and including a quote from Zane Lowe were aspects which strengthened the link to the Indie Rock genre.

Question three rates the standard of the graphics in the entire package. Again, if the genre is made clear the product can be relatively easy to sell to the prefabricated Indie Rock audience. A high rating was given by the participants, who were pleased by the cut-out/print design. The heavily edited format allowed for iconic imagery such as the eye motif, repeated as part of the band's logo; the print productions are therefore visually appealing and somewhat professional in their design. Question four focuses on the standard of the album itself. It, like question three, yielded high ratings, as the digipak uses images and an overall design that compliments the magazine advertisement.Most of the participants answered questions three and four with the same number, from which I can infer that the two print productions are of the same or similar quality.

Question five asks the participants whether the ‘Britishness’ of the package is well-established, clearly marketing itself for a British audience. Two of the participants rated the package at three and one at three on the scale, which implies that it is not clear that the prints are marketed for a British audience. One participant scored this question at five, though their prior knowledge of the market may have caused bias. The ambiguity of the nationality of the campaign may lead to success for the album elsewhere, specifically English-speaking countries where there would be no requirement of translation, such as America.

Question six is a ‘yes/no/undecided’ formatted question on whether the magazine advert encourages the participants to buy the digipak, showing whether the promotion of the digipak in the advertisement has been successful. Two participants chose ‘yes,’ connoting the success of the advertisement in encouraging a section of the audience to buy the digipak, whilst the other two chose ‘undecided,’ which may be due to their dislike of the gene or an avoidance of advertisement, particularly after experience misleading campaigns. These results confirm the success of the advertisement though the genre of the music is not preferred by all of the participants.

The question on improving the appeal has mostly been left blank again, improving the success of the package. One participant suggested that there could be a greater variety of colours, although the restrictions on the palette were deliberate. The offense question was left blank as there was no negative representation identified by the participants, suggesting that the video contaisn politically correct representations. Each participant detailed a different aspect as the best; the colour scheme, layout, use of the eye motif and overall design were mentioned, which shows that the design can appeal to the audience’s varied tastes. A one to five scale was used on the rating of the overall package, which scored successfully between four and five.

Graphs/charts of stastistics taken from Print Production (Digipak & Magazine Advertisement) Questionnaire on Prezi

Though the margin was incredibly narrow, the female participants rated the prints higher than the males, which may point to a greater appreciation for the design aspects. The music video was also scored higher by the female participants, possibly due to the appeal of a male protagonist. The female participants also chose specific aspects of the prints (magazine advertisement and eye motif) as the best points, whereas the males chose the wider aspects (layout/design and colour scheme), suggesting that the males may be more objective in their favouring of the designs. In the video questionnaire the participants of both genders rated both wider, editing-based aspects and more minimal aspects such as the shot of the moving clock as the best section. One of the males rated 'Britishness' at a higher value than three, whereas none of the female participants did, which may confirm that the males had a greater awareness of the genre, thus identifying certain aspects as British, such as the inclusion of Kasabian and a '.co.uk' URL for one of the websites. Female participants in the video questionnaire were more willing to be critical on the aspects which did not work as well as planned, whereas the males did not fill these sections in, perhaps not reading as far into every aspect of the video's construction.

Evaluation, question four: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

 Q4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Technology has made a phenomenal contribution to the construction of the Year 13 Media Studies coursework. The work itself is presented on a blog, hosted by blogger.com, owned by Google. Using a blog provides a clear and accessible space online for displaying work in an organised fashion. The comments system of the site allows for immediate feedback from teachers to revise posts and a chance for other students to give feedback on your work. Storing the work online eliminates any risks of permanently losing an important post, and the option to edit work allows for quick revisions, as opposed to re-writing the entire post. Sites including Blogger/BlogSpot give both amateur and professional writers and journalists the opportunity to showcase their work on a regular basis to a growing audience on the Internet. Without the Internet, the immediacy and convenience of marking, writing and publishing the blog would not be possible, as well as the ability to access enormous amounts of resources to research and plan the production, with hyperlinks to sites for further information. Search engines, particularly Google Images, were useful in finding a handful of images for specific objects, such as the cameras.

YouTube Suggestions

When researching possible bands to promote in my video and print productions, I used a variety of websites. YouTube, an extremely popular video hosting site launched in 2005, provided me with instant access to bands’ songs and music videos to refer to and choose from. Searching for ‘unsigned British bands’ via the provided search engine, I was able to find several possible bands (which I later discarded) which appealed to me. After searching for and watching a selection of videos, the site provides a list of recommended videos based upon what you have been watching, which in the case of The Jubilees included Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, Oasis and various other similar bands. If a video was unavailable or cannot be embedded onto the blogs, often due to copyright and regional restrictions, I opted to use Vimeo, an alternative video hosting website on which I found an instance of the Gorillaz video ‘Stylo’ that could be embedded for planning. The Jubilees themselves were found, along with an HTML embedding code for ‘Insomniac,’ on Unsigned Band Web, a site that provides free music performed by and information on unsigned bands. The site was useful for its sub-sections of genres, which include Rock, in which The Jubilees are classified. The social networking site MySpace provided further information on The Jubilees, particularly their perceived subgenres and fans. A variety of signed and unsigned bands have MySpace pages on which their content can be played or ‘liked’ by fellow users, who can show their support and positive criticism for the band by subscribing to their page. By viewing those who comment on and ‘follow’ the band, I was able to identify the audience clearly.

MySpace page of The Jubilees

Unsigned Band Web

Vimeo

When researching similar texts, I used YouTube to easily access artists’ content on demand. I used the site to research specifically into the conventions of popular Indie Rock bands and videos, as detailed in this planning post on audience. YouTube was also useful in researching intertextual references for the video, as The Third Man was available to watch in full at the time of the course’s beginning. The official websites of similar bands, including Kasabian, Klaxons and Arctic Monkeys were also utilised for inspiration on the print productions, as the designs incorporate aspects of the bands’ latest cover art. Wikipedia was used to begin to look into Dadaism as an art form after being suggested by a teacher. Much of the inspiration for the print productions stemmed from Dada and its contemporaries. The work of Olly Moss also served as inspiration, and was accessed directly through his website/online portfolio. The Internet Movie Database was also helpful in sourcing information on similar films and aspects of planning, such as detailed information on ‘Carnival of Souls.’

Researching the audience was partly contributed to by MySpace, which clearly identified which users associated themselves with a certain band or genre. Choosing, identifying and researching my target audience was mostly aided by Channel 4’s ‘Find Your Tribe’ online survey and corresponding site on which the findings were displayed, ‘UK Tribes,’ which contained fairly detailed classifications of the supposed tribes that British youths associate themselves with (my target audience came to be classified within the ‘Young Alternatives’ section). Analysing the layout of the websites for the Reading and Leeds festivals contributed toward the design of the print productions, and helped to further identify the audience, who are likely to attend festivals such as Reading and Leeds.

Canon camcorder (above) & stills camera (below)

During the planning phase, shots of locations, props and actor(s) were taken using a Canon Digital IXUS 960 stills camera already owned by my household. The camera allowed for the viewing of shots as they were taken and afterwards in a gallery, allowing me to assess the quality and viability of shots before transferring them to the computer. Digital cameras are extremely useful for the quick development of images, as they can be directly transferred to a folder on a computer through a USB connector. The various photo options of the camera also allowed for a variety of different shots, especially influenced by the feature of toggling the flash, ruling out any chances of shots being negatively affected by lighting problems. The print screen option on computer keyboards was helpful for creating images for use on the blog of websites and productions during the creation process. The images were cropped and had their colours corrected in Microsoft Office Picture Manager to remove unimportant information, allowing for precise screen captures from sites and videos. Further references were made during planning to sources of inspiration through YouTube and IMDb.

The presentation hosting and creation site Prezi allowed me to publish engaging presentations which were easily embedded into the blog posts, whilst Microsoft Powerpoint 2007 was efficient in creating pre-formatted graphs to fill in with information from the written questionnaires, to be imported into Prezi. A HP PhotoSmart Premium all-in-one printer was used to scan in documents such as the questionnaires. Microsoft Word was used to write the initial plans and drafts for blog posts. Home entertainment was a valuable section of the market to utilise in terms of technology; digital channels such as MTV Rocks were used to watch certain music videos, as well as the ‘Music on Demand’ feature of Virgin’s cable television service, complimenting the already convenient service of YouTube and Vimeo. ITunes was useful in seeking album artwork for similar artists, as well as customer reviews to judge the credibility of chosen bands. When planning the intertextual references and mood of the video, DVDs also proved useful, such as a copy of Carnival of Souls purchased at a mere pound during a shopping trip.

Screen capture of the creation of a graph presentation at Prezi.com

During the construction of the music video, a Canon md205 DV camcorder was rented from the school for periods of forty-eight hours to film the raw footage. Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 was used on my home computer as the primary editing software to create the print productions, using Powerpoint once as the only other program to create a single star design. An older version of Adobe Premiere Elements designed for use with Windows XP was used in the school’s media editing suite to edit the music video. The Canon DV camcorder featured an adjustable screen on which the footage could be viewed during filming and played back afterwards. Being able to review raw footage allowed me to identify viable shots for the final edit during the shoot, thus making progress in the selection of shots.

Final shot of Insomniac

Editing on the computer allowed me to easily alter the speed of shots, increasing the percentage in the editing software and making the movement faster. It also allowed me to make precise and neat cuts between shots and remove undesired sound effects such as echoing footsteps in an outdoor setting. The final shot was reversed to appear as if a peculiar light engulfs the scene, as the original image began dark before having a light shone onto the prop of the gun. The cross-fades and partially transparent images were far easier to create on a computer, as the settings allowed for a precise measurement of opacity. The filter system in Photoshop Elements 10 was helpful in applying professional effects to the print images, such as the cut-out option which was heavily used. The colour selection and fill functions allowed a desired colour to be sampled from elsewhere in the image to fill in a specific section of varying colour. The fonts were chosen from the provided selection and made to appear curved to the shapes of the image by using a custom path. The collage effect was created by using the selection tool to delete spaces around the raw images, which were then moved and layered. The EMI logo, compact disc logo and bar code were sourced from a search engine, edited to be of higher colour quality (through filling the colours) and inserted into the images. The size of the document was alterable to the accuracy of a single millimetre or pixel, enabling me to match the size of the designs with the official measurements of DVD cases, referenced from this site. The quality of the designs was maintained by saving the files in a ‘portable network graphics’ format, which provides 'lossless' data compression for images, as opposed to the ‘JPEG’ format, which can drop in quality as the image size is altered.

Photo editing in Adobe Photoshop Elements 10

Process of cropping an image in Picture Manager

In the evaluation stage, several technologies already utilised elsewhere in the process have been used to improve the presentation of the questions, inserting media for comparative purposes. Questionnaires, magazine covers and exemplary digipak designs have been scanned in via the HP printer. Videos have been embedded from YouTube, a version of the Insomniac single is embedded via Unsigned Band Web and presentations are included from my Prezi account. Images from videos and print screened websites have been cropped in Picture Manager and added, with captions to explain their significance, and works such as paintings have been sourced from search engines. The Portable Document Format (file format .pdf) host ‘Scribd’ was used in a post to embed a document of the Reading Festival line-up. All images have been added to blog posts through an option to upload files from my documents. The wide variety of formats from different sites, especially sized to fit within the boundaries of the blog column, present the songs, videos and written content between paragraphs of work in a flowing presentation of work and research.

HMTL display of a blog post, in which videos and other media can be embedded