Rough cut - Miss Georgiou

  Audience feedback is essential to a production as it allows you to then enhance your work by taking on the criticisms which your audience identified, changing these criticisms into a strength. To  make sure it is even more suitable and fit for the audience to enjoy, to ensure that the final media product will be a success. It also allows you to know where you went well and what was most effective, this is good to know for the future and to know that your on the right track for production. A rough cut is vital, once we watch the rough cut and form a rough cut version it becomes easier to identify what elements of the music video and what shots work well or not. So we can then easily spot out these discrepancies and make these changes/improvements in our final cut. 

 We received audience feedback through questionnaire sheets along with a screening of the production. We also received feedback through the use of YouTube which allowed us to reach a wide audience as well as our target market.

Feedback/Questionnaire sheets after production screening 

 The positive comments we received were that we followed the indie conventions, good mise-en-scene and good time lapse. This was good to hear as it was something we aimed to do, to stay true to the indie genre through iconography such as plain clothing, guitar, isolated and eerie locations, its great that our audience picked up on the Mise-en-scene and felt that they felt it was indie as that was our aim. We were also told that the time lapse was very effective as it matched the visuals and lyrics. This is great as we aimed to follow Goodwins theory by making the visuals and lyrics/music match. The time lapse was used to add a jump in time and create more pace and edge, but show some more creativity and flare in our music video. 

Conventional - Guitar, plain clothing and a isolated eerie location

 The negative comments were that some of the footage is too dark, when performing only some of the footage was out (lip syncing and shots)and that the narrative was not very clear. During the beginning of our rough cut the filming outside was not very dark at the time, but the lighting was not picked up very well by the camera. This made our video fairly dark and not very easy to understand what was going on at the beginning of the music video. From this comment as a group we have decided to enhance the shots through final cut pro by using brightness/contrast tools to ensure that the audience can identify what is taking place in the shot. During some filming, we were pushed for time and had to quickly film, sometimes not filming enough takes of each lyrical line. When it came to editing we then realised that a lot of lip syncing does not exactly match the pace of the music and some footage was out due to us trying to fill in the gaps (filler shots). We are going to re-film some shots that we are disappointed with to ensure that everything synchronises properly. To make sure this does not happen again we will prepare enough time to get our lyrics lip-synced properly. Furthermore, the clarity of the narrative is not great and we realised that after the audience feedback sheets. We will now aim to add more performance shots and shots of a dad to emphasise why the artist has really runaway from home, which is the underlying theme of the music video. 

 This feedback has definitely let my group know what our target audience think of our music video. As we now know what we need to improve to be able to promote our atist effectively and satisfy/appeal to our audience. Also, we can identify now what we need to work on and plan out times when we can work on this. Carrying out these improvements will make our video more likely to gain more views, become more well known and be a success. I feel that for us to take this feedback serious and make these changes. Will let our audience know that we care about their needs which could make them feel special. It could also allow them to feel like they were apart of making this artist's music video - which could build their fan loyalty to Nico Johnson.

Rough Cut

YouTube Comments 

Individual Digipak - Miss Miller

I designed an individual digipak to discover my own inspirations and ideas. This was also done so we can then feedback to the group our own ideas to then create a final improved design, which is more suitable to our design brief. It will allow us to see the strengths and weaknesses in our own designs and remove more of the weaknesses to make an excellent digipak. 

The front cover of my digipak shows two colours green and black. I chose to use green and black as this was a theme which I was trying to use throughout the ancillary texts. I also felt that green was a colour of good nature, health/wealth and I believed that it would represent my artist in a more positive light. The black also added depth to the front cover and I felt that it would contrast with the green. I also add light green scratch effects to the cover of my digipak, to me I feel that it conveyed the rawness and realness of the music industry. And the urban feel that it tends to have, like when they use graffiti in their graphics. Furthermore, the typography of the album title looked like a stamp, it appears scuffed and old. Which again I feel appeals and follows the indie genre as the graphics tend to look rough and amateurish. To create a very edgy and rugged effect for the audience. The font is also bold but small, it stands out at you and grabs the audiences attention. The image used on the front cover was a close up of my artist I believe that this image created sympathy for the artist. As you could see his facial expressions and emotions, which will allow the audience to feel sorry for him or feel his seriousness. Which can also help imply that his album should also be taken seriously. 

The back cover of my digipak also show a song list which is on the album and an image of the artist with a guitar on his back. The colour is also black which I feel ties in with the front cover. Furthermore, the image of the guitar on the artists back taken in a station I believe is very conventional as indie artists tend to use iconography such as guitars. It is also set in  typical location, this gives the impression that the artist is a normal person, which can allow the audience to relate to him better. The dark colours such as black, represent the artist as edgy, dark and someone with depth. This can attract the audience to become more intrigued by the artist and believe that he is an interesting individual. The layout is very simple all the text is to the left, which can be easily read and understood by the audience. The typography is also in capitals and bold letters to show its importance.

The CD was a grayscale theme to fit in with the magazine advert. The CD is a collage of black and white images taken with the artists name written around the CD with a king logo besides it. The grayscale theme was conventional and added depth. The king logo emphasised that the album name was king, allowing the audience to not forget the artists new album and associate the crown symbol with my artist. I feel that collages definitely appeal to my young target audience and show creativity and uniqueness which are characteristics which I am trying to show that my artist has in order to give Nico a competitive advantage.

The inside of the album were also very straightforward and simple, to display realness. I didn't want to go over board with this design as I didn't want it to appear tacky. But the images placed in the inside album are exclusive and never been seen before which allow the audience to feel very special and important. The exclusive images show Nico on posing on a train in London, again the location is simple and casual allowing relatability for the audience and showing ho normal he is. It also features a signature and short message by Nico which explains why the album was made, what inspires him and what next. This allows the audience to feel like their apart of the artists movement so they will hopefully continue to support him. 

Group magazine advert - Miss Miller

Final advert 

As a group we had a meeting during lesson where we displayed out individual magazine ideas to the group. Once we done this, we looked at the strongest design out of all our magazine adverts and felt that Amber's was the best designed. We then added aspects of the other individual magazine advert to enhance and develop the quality of the advert. For example, the font was changed, it now displays number one album and the colours are more vibrant these are adaptations which derived from Dominico, Robyn and my individual magazine advert. 

Amber's magazine was the design that we stuck to for our magazine advert. The picture below is Amber's individual magazine advert.

The colours and images in my magazines advert have changed. In my own individual advert the theme was black and white, rather dull. This has somewhat been mixed into the magazine advert with half of the poster being black and white and the other being more colourful. The black and white theme remained in the magazine advert as we felt that it was conventional to the indie genre and created mystery for the audience as well as depth for the artist. But in this group magazine advert it is also more vibrant and fun than my individual advert. I feel like this appeals to the young audience (15-25) we are aiming at as it displays boldness and fun through the use of bright colours like reds,greens and pinks. It has made my artist appear as an upbeat musician but also shows edge by displaying of the tattoo parlour. I feel like the mixture of the two colours juxtapose one another in an interesting way. Which I feel relates to the artists brand image and music style showing that Nico is both upbeat and happy but also deep and indie.

The images have also changed, in my own individual advert I used only one image of Nico Johnson. However the main Image displaying Nico is the same picture I used for my artist but with the background edited out. It still has the effect of displaying Nico Johnson as a self-efficient artist. As the picture displays him looking away from the camera appearing very humble and reticent as if the camera isn't even there. This can allow the audience to believe that the artists is innocent and doesn't care about the money or the game. Which can allow them to build more of a relationship with Nico as they feel that he's a good genuine person. It also promotes him well as it is showing his character to the audience and allowing them to understand him through his body language. Indie artists tend to not look into the camera to appear more raw, edgy and real to the audience so this is also conventional to the Indie genre. 

The image of the background tattoo and adult stores for the background show that the artist is mature and is edgy. This can allow the audience to view the artist as someone who is cool which can then make Nico to be viewed and considered as there role model. Which can lead to a more long term fan base which would definitely help increase sales for Nico's debut album. 

Another image used in this advert is the taxi's with Nico holding a guitar on his back. I felt like this was used to connote the fact that the artists lifestyle or life is moving very fast. In terms of his life situations and experiences which could relate to some of the deep songs like Runaway. As you can see it is taken on the street I feel like it will allow the audience to see that my artist is a normal person, strolling through the streets of London so they will be able to relate to Nico's lifestyle more. This can allow the audience to view the artist as someone like themselves. Allowing the artist to form a good representation of themselves helping Nico to be promoted in a positive light. Furthermore, this image is conventional as it displays Nico holding a guitar, autistic guitars are very natural and conventional in the indie genre.

Robyn's original magazine advert was very similar to the group magazine advert, it also used similar typography and the same image of the artist but with the original background.

The typography in this advert is very simple and plain compared to my own individual magazine advert. I much prefer the simple font as I feel that it displays Nico well as he is a very plain, easy going and simple character. I feel that the simplicity of the font really represent his brand and image. Indie artists tend to use normal font to represent how real they are. Also, the boldness of the font to me represents there confidence and strong talent. The font for Nico Johnson name I feel was similar to my own advert as it used overlapping font to show boldness, creativity and uniqueness, giving the artist an edge. For the audience this font and typography style will make him stand out from all the other music artists and give Nico a competitive advantage. Allowing his advert to be promoted effectively. 

The main language use in the advert is 'hit' this term is a British idiom used to describe when something is big or on top. This I feel targets the audience properly as the target audience are mainly British and Indie is much more popular in the UK. So I feel the market is targeted effectively through language terms. This was kept as we felt that it was the most appropriate term to describe that our artists album has been a success. 

The layout and design of the advert is very different, it has many pictures combined into one and many elements incorporated into it. I feel that it made our design very unique and unconventional which fits in with the indie genre. The text is in many different places on the design which I feel makes it more appealing to look it and more interesting. 

I feel that Domenico's design inspired the layout and design of our final advert through the interesting graphics, crown logo and imagery

Strengths and weaknesses

One weakness of my own advert is that my font did not show up so well on the grayscale background as the colour of the font just didn't stand out which would make it hard for the audience to read, however It looked very professional and clean through the use of the images of colour coding. But as mentioned, the font couldn't be identified easily.

Domenico's advert had great design and graphic potential but it was unfinished and lacked general details to inform the audience of what the advert was for, the album etc. But the colour scheme and logo of the king were great ideas.

Robyn's poster was nice and simple, following the grayscale scheme like my own. I feel that it was straight to the point and catchy. However, it maybe lacked too little information as it didn't show where you can buy the album or a website which the artist has. Therefore, if it was a real magazine advert the audience would not be able to keep up to date and in touch with the artist that easily as this information was not put down. But the design is snappy and easily understood. 

In conclusion, I feel that my advert does conform to the indie genre as it uses the grayscale theme, identifies indie iconography such as a guitar, the artist looks indie by wearing plan clothing and by looking away from the camera - portraying a reticent identity. These are all characteristics and conventions which a typical indie artist will display in their ancillary texts. I do feel that it appeals to the target audience in terms of age and interest. The age we aim to target is 15-25 year olds and I feel that by the design of the advert and the bright colours used it will appeal to the younger generation. Also, it satisfies our audience as it portrays an artist who is humble and reticent through Nico's relaxed, easy going body language in the image. This is what our audience of Indie lovers like to see. I felt that it was good working in a group to create this final advert as it allowed us to contribute more design ideas to make our advert appear more finished and flawless.

Individual magazine advert - Miss Miller

A magazine advert is used to promote the artist and their upcoming album. The use of the advert would create awareness and grab the audience's attention, which could hopefully increase sales for the album/single. It also helps the artist to reinforce a particular brand image to the audience, which can compliment or contrast with the artists music style. I created a magazine advert for my artist Nico Johnson, to promote his album and hit single Runaway to the audience, to persuade them to buy it. The magazine advert will also allow Nico to potentially reach more fans. Magazine adverts are vital as it helps to build up the artist into a brand which the target audience adore. The reason we made individual adverts before doing it as a group is so we can form our own ideas and designs, we will then feedback to the group all our individual different magazine advert designs to create an improved and better magazine advert and include group members great ideas/design into one advert.

Colours

The colours used for my advert were black and white (grayscale theme) with some hints of green. I chose to use black and white as I felt that it represents the dichotomy of good and evil which I feel could represent the artist as someone who is edgy but positive. Which could relate to his music, which is deep but light-hearted. Black and white appeals to our audience by displaying simplicity and a vintage, original feel to his image. This will allow the audience to view the artist as someone who is authentic as well as unconventional. This could be a unique selling point for the artist, as he is an indie artist. And the fans appreciate an indie artists uniqueness. This magazine advert appeals to what the target audience expect to see, it has also allowed the artist to be perceived as original, allowing him to be distinguished from all the other artists out there.

Green is another colour shown in the magazine advert, green is a colour of safety, correctness, nature, health and envy. In terms of my artist I used the colour green to send out a healthy, positive and environmentally friendly comforting message to the audience. I wanted it to portray my artist as someone of good nature and transfer calmness to the audience as green is a relaxing colour. This maintains a good image for the artist and keeps fans to admire the artist. This great identity portrayed to the audience could lead to the target audience buying the album, all down to these hidden colour signals. 

Conventions

My artist is in the indie genre, the indie genre carries many conventions, I chose to follow them. In my poster the first convention is the grayscale/black and white theme to display the artist. Indie artists tend to use grayscale to emphasise shadows and add depth to the image. It also reflects the emotions being portrayed by the music which is put out by the artist. It is heartfelt and meaningful and connects to our audiences emotions as the grayscale theme is plain but eyectching with a retro oldern day feel to it.

The artists positioning in the camera (body language and facial expressions) emphasise that the artist is self-effacient this is shown a lot in the indie genre. Sometimes, their identity is hidden to convey mystery and eddginess. It also portrays the artists as humble, not too fussed about their appearance but focus particulary on their musical expertise. It also allows the audiences to want to build a closer relationship with the artist and get to know them better due to this hidden identity. It also displays the artist as not self-centered or vain, but a person who is unpretentious which can allow the audience to like them even more. Even though indie artists tend to not want to give out a image, the self-effacient laid back one is a brand identity for the artist. It will promote my artist well as the musical content produced by the artist is with good intent and respectful relating to his image.

The pictures in the background of the advert also create an indie feel to the poster. The pictures are edgy, unkept and cool looking.

The clothing which the artist is wearing in the advert is plain and casual, this is commonly shown in the indie genre. As artists are portrayed to not be very fashionable but to be laid-back in their choices of clothing. It also allows my artist to be seen as someone who focuses more on their music than their appearance. This is also shown by the styling of my artists hair, its scruffy and allows him to be seen as an easy going guy which allows him to be relatable to the target audience and give my artist a humble cool image. 

Images used

Background is a collage of two pictures together, it is a combination of two pictures merged together, to extend the collage. The collage in the background emphasises the artist as being original and creative in an urban view. The picture also displays the artist as humble and reticent, keeping his thoughts and feelings to himself. Indie artists tend to be quite reserved and I feel that the positioning of his body language portrays him as someone who keeps himself to himself, allowing him to be perceived as mysterious. Which can allow the artist to attract more fans, as fans want to uncover this mystery which the artist portrays - allowing them to be continually interested in the artists true self.  

Typography and layout 

The font used is centered in the poster, this is done to show how important the text is and how important the album and single are. It puts more importance on the album itself than the artists appearance as you can identify that the artist is positioned on the right hand side while the text takes the attention from the audience. Furthermore, the text is very futuristic using upside down triangle type font is very unconventional which relates to the artists music style which is also unique. The font is all in capitals and bold lettering emphasising that the artists music and album is the focal point of the album. It also helps the text stay in the audiences minds, so it will become memorable to the audience. Which can allow the artist to potentially increase sales as it will become unforgetable. The overlapping of lettering which allows the poster to have more depth and a 3D effect, allowing the advert to be more visually appealing to the audience.
  The layout of the poster is landscape, I felt to do that to make the advert different from all other musical artists posters it also allowed me to make a more appealing and exclusive poster which relates to the album being exclusive and deluxe which can allow the fans and audience to feel special.

Language

The language used for the album is serious through the review stating that he is 'very talented, unique and memorable' but it is also easy going by the idiom 'watch out for' an idiom is a dustinct style or perculiar way of communicating with someone. Watch out for would formally mean 'to be on watch for the arrival or approach of someone or something'. So I feel that the term watch out for communicated with the audience as if they're was already a relationship/connection as it is informal. But the seriousness at the start of the quote displays the artists music as something serious which it is, the song Runaway also has a very serious tone and meaning.  

Strengths and weaknesses using photoshop

The weaknesses with using photoshop was that when we had to use the laptops to save the project towards the end of the lesson. It would sometimes take a very long time to respond and their would be a threat of losing our work. But I overcame this with the help of a ICT technician and by using a USB to back up my files in case it deleted or did not save, which reduced that threat. I also found it very hard to remove the background of an image and to rasterize some layers. But by using tutorials on the internet and doing further reading of how to use these tools definetley helped me. However, I was already familiar with many of the photoshop tools.

I also had strengths with using Photoshop, I felt that I could position text and images effectively with no issue and my creativity was not limited by this software as there was so much I could do and so many tools to use. I used tools such as the bucket tool, blur tool and filters (grayscale). It definetley helped me to create a successful advert as it allowed me to create layers, add images, design on them and adapt them which was not complex at all. This helped me to design a clean pprofessional poster.

To conclude, I do feel that my advert follows indie conventions as I used grayscale themes, followed the theme of making the artist appear as self-effacing and serious but also portrayed the artist as someone unconventional and isolated. I believe that these are characterstics which indie artists portray. They also tend to make the audience sympathise with them and I feel like by the positioning of the artists body language and facial expressions in the advert allow the audience to feel sorry for him and build that emotional connection with the audience. This is what I feel indie artists tend to do well. The target audience for my artist is 15-25 and I believe that the poster appears to be youthful and exciting by the use of language and collages in the background, it definetley appeals to the target market through these elements.
  Furthermore, by this individual magazine advert I feel that when we come together as a group to share our individual ideas it will allow us to have an overflow of design options allowing us to be even more creative with our advert and perform a clean and great advert to promote our artist. As all our opinions will be involved allowing us to identify the faults in what we have produced and perfect it.

Censorship - Miss Miller

1. Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets, authorities or other such entities. - Wikipedia 

   
   

   Censorship is used on a music video or the lyrics that an artist is singing or rapping in there song. It is used to block out, cover up these things to keep it hidden from the audience. Due to explicit visuals or explicit language. Which may be inappropriate for some viewers for example, young viewers. 

   
   

Ofcom are the office of communications it regulates broadcasting and telecommunications that are given to audiences. It is government approved. It has rules that TV/music channels should follow and deals with the complaints. 

Examples of censored music videos:

Eminem's music lyrics would be censored on the public clean version due to swear words/explicit lyrics. 

Rihanna's 2011 number 1 song We Found Love. The video featured scenes of Rihanna and an impersonation of her ex Chris Brown getting steamy, taking each others clothes off, Rihanna throwing up on the street, pills and drugs being scattered on the screen, Rihanna and her boyfriend fighting, so this resulted in MTV censoring parts and French authorities banning the video to be shown on T.V in France before 10pm.

In 2012, Rita Ora's "How We Do (Party)" was censored, having the words "Drunk sex", "shot of Jack", and "smoking" silenced from the audio, supplementing the removal of the usual profanities.

PARENTS FOR:

Parents for censorship agree with it because it protects their child from being influenced by these mature music videos. They feel as though these mature and explicit music videos can influence their child's behaviour and cause them to be introduced to topics such as sex, drugs, alcohol, death etc too early. They feel that things they themselves wanted to teach their children in time. Are nowadays being introduced to their children by music artists/music videos in a more positive light. Censoring music videos protect a child from issues that do not yet concern them. It also means parents don't have to worry about what there child is watching as it will be censored anyway.

PARENTS AGAINST:

However, many parents are against censorship as they feel that censorship restricts a child's knowledge. These parents have a more relaxed view on explicit music videos. Believing that their child will be introduced to this sooner or later from peers or some other form of media. Parents against censorship feel that there child will have to choose for themselves whether they want to listen to that type of music sooner or later. They believe that no censorship allows a child to be more mature and decide whether they like that music for themselves. It's just down to the parents to teach the child between wrong and right. Also they feel that censorship is limited anyway and a child can make out what's been censored, making them curious about what was initially there before being censored. 

Artists: 

Many artists would not be happy to be censored. As it can stop them from expressing themselves fully as swear words help to emphasise pain and anger in music. With that being censored may not get the mood and expression across to the audience as well. And it may mean that the artist has to release a clean version replacing the explicit words. But being censored is good as it allows the artist to be more globalised and gain more fans. As it allows them to reach many audiences. It allows them to be positive inspirational role models to their audience especially young audience. Which could be good for their sales and profitability. 

Fans:

Fans would not be so happy with censorship as they would want to see the full artist. With no cover ups. Wanting to see the full artist and everything explicit. So they don't miss out on anything of the artists. And feel like censorship removes a part of the song, therefore removing the artists general message that they were trying to put across through there lyrical creativity and visual creativity. 
Record label:

The record label will agree with censorship as it will mean that they don't recieve negative publicity surrounded around their company and artist. Which could cause them to lose sales. But the record label can sometimes support there artist to not have censorship and therefore not like sensor ship. As it stops the artist being a true individual, being creative and not conforming to societies expectations. And just doing what's true to themselves. As record labels promote individuality. 

British music channels wl appreciate censorship. As obscene visuals and lyrics shown on their channels may cause them to lose views. This would apply to a music channel like MTV as they are very reputable and have a high expectation to live up to with that they show the viewers. As they have a very wide target audience they have to be mindful of what they show. And censorship allows globalisation, so everyone can watch it. Allowing MTV to keep their views high and remain profitable. 

 However, a music channel such as Channel AKA is a niche music Channel. Showing mainly R&B/Rap/Hip-hop music videos. So censorship may not mean as much to them as there music channel is urban. And I feel that they would like the full music video without censorship so they artist can be expressed better to the audience. And so it gives off that urban feel that channel aka aims to do.

British Radio Stations – BBC Radio 1/Capital Xtra I feel would be for censorship. As radio stations are heard by many many ears. So censorship will protect them from playing any music that is not suitable for an audience e.g young people. Which keeps them reputable and trustworthy in the future. As an in censored song played on their radio station could have a negative reputation on the radio station as a whole. Associating the radio station with explicit music. 

To conclude, the main belief on censorship of artists is that it should be done in order to protect certain audiences from being revealed to obscenity.

I believe that music videos should be censored. As a censored video has more positives than negatives and I feel people would all be satisfied as the music is appropriate.  Having younger siblings myself I wouldn't want them to come across an explicit video causing them to change their behaviour and influence their actions. I'd prefer for that to be hidden to keep them protected through their tender ages where their minds are influenced by negative and positive things. 

Also it can confuse some young viewers if they have been already taught that these things are wrong. But they are in front of their face and ears wih little choice - it can confuse their morals and beliefs that they've been socialised into.

In my own music video, I will not censor anything explicit. As my music video will not be shown to younger viewers. But will only be seen by people 17 and above. So I feel that there is not a need to censor the video.