QUESTION TWO - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? (UPDATED)

My promotional package (Digipak/Poster/Video) are not all completely linked aesthetically but are more linked due to the genre and linked via their symbolic codes. When researching music videos of the same genre a lot of them were relatively story based, they also linked to the lyrics a lot. However, their album covers were very simplistic. For example, I looked a lot into Catfish and the Bottlemen.

I had a pharmaceutical theme after looking at the album Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space.

This influenced me because I also employed the metaphorical concept
of pharmaceutical drugs as a way to cope with the struggles
of the modern world.

It shows how we are simply all people making pointless relationships although we are just floating in space and are at some point going to die. This is very much the approach I took. I chose to show how the world is an awful place where as humans we rely on drugs and alcohol to kill pain, whether it be physical or emotional. My video links to this as it shows the breaking down of a relationship and how the male character remembers everything that she did and not so much what he did. There are very small links to these 'painkillers' throughout the video that can be hard to spot (the female character and her friend drinking, the tobacco). To engage my audience I wanted to create audience involvement by having tinfoil over the CD and the CD needing to be popped out similar to a pill. I believe this will pull the entire digipak together and make it slightly different and quirky. The tinfoil is covered in the name of the album and also has the band's name on it much like those that cover normal drugs/painkillers.

I decided to keep my poster and digital very close related and concise to ensure that they could be memorable to a consumer so that when the album came out they would recognise it. On one hand, because I wanted to keep my entire concept very fandom based and driven I believe those who would be fans of Ego Honey they would know it was one of their videos. This would be due to the references and the style of the shots and video overall. However, it could also not be known to those who aren't huge fans due to all of them not being so closely similar. I do not think this would affect my video/digipak as because of the way in which the digipak is made/designed I believe it would be interesting enough for someone to pick it up.

I used inter-textual references throughout my video that could also be considered effective. I used a 'Friends' like moment within the video that depicts the female character jumping into a setting. This is seen in the opening credits of the 90's show.

I also took a lot of influence from other music videos such as the use of the mainly narrative aspect from 'Ammonia and Bleach' by Emily's Army. I liked the way in which the band members are involved within the narrative of the story, and although I didn't specifically use it I did consider it. I did however take the aspect of the conflict between the couple and have that of a focus of the video.

I think that I definitely created 'band identity' through the use of genre links. These would include creating story throughout the video and the use of drugs and alcohol to follow the 'rock and roll' lifestyle that most bands follow. My aesthetic also promoted the band identity as it was something that can either be very obvious to be the band or not. The aesthetic also linked closely with the genre as I have explained above.

Music Video Rough

I decided to include a section without film towards the end as it created a break for the audience and gives them the ability to think about what has happened within the video.

Poster Final

Digipak Final

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

YouTube is an overall very empowering section of the media. It allows anyone to access videos on anything from education to gameplay. YouTube has a large variety of content that has helped me in creating my music video as it has shown me how music videos of my genre are usually shot and made. It has allowed me as a media creator also to understand the collection of music videos out there, as well as the difference in styles depending on genre. Green Day's 'Still Breathing' video inspired me to use a woodland setting to inhibit natural connotations within my video. They also use a fade filter over a lot of the shots which gives the video a somewhat dark and gloomy aura, I found this very interesting as they gave certain colour schemes and filters to a different character, this was something I wanted to use within my video. On the other hand, SWMRS' 'Figuring It Out' inspired me to use a lot of handheld camera within my music video. The use of 'outtakes' within the video also makes the video seem a lot more personal which is something I incorporated into my music video as I think it gives the video if not a little bit of comedy some relief of dark and gloomy. These two videos enabled my creativity as they gave me ideas that I could have probably not thought of myself and therefore furthered my creativity.

By doing this I have been able to keep my music video very refined and suitable to my genre of indie rock. It has also allowed me to access a wide range of audiences to gain an understanding of what different audiences like and dislike.

YouTube has made it easy for me to put my content out there and made it easily accessible to show others to receive feedback. This makes YouTube as a company very empowering as it allows anyone with a camera and the internet to become media producers. Although YouTube can become a job for some people a lot of independent media producers create videos just because they enjoy it. YouTube can be considered a democratising platform because of these aspects as well as giving anyone the ability to not only create but also to be an audience. 

I used Blogger as my main application of media to express my media and coursework in a creative way. I used hosting sites such as PowerPoint and SlideShare to express parts of my coursework in a different way that was more interesting than to just have a document 'essay' style. This helped me express my creativity as I was able to express the ways in which I learn best. By using PowerPoint / SlideShare I'm able to section each of my ideas clearly and have different slides for different aspects of what I'm trying to talk about. However, I did enjoy using simple 'essay' style as it is a simplistic and more descriptive way to get my ideas across. I think that customisation was a very important part of having a blog as it meant that the blog was mine and it wasn't so uninformed and boring, although it is very simplistic it's still something personal to me that I have worked on. Having a blog to me was a very empowering section of the course as it meant that at any point in time I was able to access it and add anything I wanted and express my ideas whenever they occurred. I also enjoyed having a blog due to its collaborative aspects, due to the comment section I was able to receive feedback on my posts and learn how to improve them. As well as this the ability to look at other people's blogs was very important to me as it meant that I could gain knowledge on what else I could use/say within posts or learn about other hosting sites/software I could use on my blog to express my ideas.

I used social media in a similar way to which I used Blogger. Overall the most used social media I used was Facebook Messenger. I used this because although I did all the filming alone I used it to keep in contact with my actors to arrange times for filming. As well as this I used it to send links to friends and family to ask for feedback on what they thought of my video. Therefore social media enabled me to collaborate with others as well as communicate. 

I used both SoundCloud and Spotify as my main access to music artists. This is due to its wide variety of artists both signed and unsigned. By having the ability to access artists that are unsigned it empowers them as artists to put their music out there without the worry of not getting 'big'. It also empowered me within this coursework as it meant that I was able to easily access their music and use it. SoundCloud also gives you the ability to quickly communicate with the artists that use it. By having this, artists are able to receive immediate feedback as well as giving me the ability to easily get in contact with my chosen artist (Ego Honey) to ask permission to use their song. Both Spotify and Soundcloud also give you the ability to see related songs and artists. This helped me throughout my coursework to broaden my knowledge on the genre and listen to bands/artists that have influenced the indie rock genre. On a creative aspect, SoundCloud allows anyone to post music and therefore allows anyone to be their own music producer. This is also a very accrediting aspect to the outlet as it grants those who may live in small areas and don't get the chance to put their music out there an easy way to allow people to enjoy what they do.

Within the production and post-production of my film, I used a lot of media technologies to allow my music video and digipak to be the best that it could. I used 2 different programmes throughout the process called Photoshop and PremierPro, both in which were very easy to use. Photoshop allowed me when making my digipak to easily switch between different panels to ensure they were all tightly synchronised. Due to its many different styles and tools, it also allowed me to easily create and adjust anything I wanted to throughout the creation of my digipak. When using Photoshop I also used a graphics tablet to help me when drawing both the pill bottle and syringe. This helped me when creating fine details as well as having a clear view on what I was drawing. This also meant I was able to be a lot more creative with my digipak as I was able to change anything I wanted to straight away rather than having to redraw the entire thing and then export it again to Photoshop. 

When creating my film I had the ability to do non-linear editing which made it a lot easier when shooting as well as editing. By having this ability when editing I was able to re-arrange sections and also put shots into place wherever I wanted. Secondly, PremierPro allowed me to edit the look of shots. Specifically, within my video, I had to brighten up shots as well as colour correct as some of them were too dark or the colours needed to be brought out more. It also allowed me to cut down shots that were too large. Within my video some of the shots were not planned and just managed to work really well, these shots were embedded within long clips. When actually shooting my music video I used an HD camcorder. The HD camcorder didn't give me the best results when shooting my film, however, it did allow me to film hard to reach places due to its adjustability. Also due to it having a hand strap the HD camcorder was easy to use when I wanted to do any close ups. 

Rough Poster 9/3/17