Evaluation - Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is very important and to find out what my target market thought of my music video and print productions, to find out their opinions I took some surveys. This research method is the easiest way to get simple but useful information from my target audience. I used an online survey site called surveymonkey.com to conduct the surveys so that it was easy for the participants to fill in. I sent the survey’s links to 9 people on Twitter and also put a post on the All Time Low fan club site The Hustler Club and my Tumblr page. The reason I distributed the links this way was so that I could reach my target market. The people I sent the links to on Twitter are people who I know listen to similar bands and like the pop/punk/rock genre. Again this was the same with The Hustler Club and Tumblr because these sites are often used by people who are in my demographic.  Despite distributing the links for my survey I only had 6 people complete one of the surveys and 7 people complete the other, I did expect at least 10 people to fill in the surveys. This lack of response could be caused by many reasons but I believe that one of the main reasons is that as people within my demographic are the same age as me they have a lot of sixth form or college work to do so haven’t had time to fill them in.

The questions I asked in both surveys were straight to the point so that I could get as much useful information as possible. The first question I asked in both surveys was “Name/Sex/Age?” This is a very important question because you need to be able to distinguish between what males and females think of the product as it needs to appeal to both genders as there is a very even split of gender in the pop/punk/rock audience. The next question on the music video survey was “Would you watch the video again?” It was set out as a simple yes or no answer so that it would be obvious to see what my audience’s first impression of the video would be, out of the 7 people who completed the survey 6 people said they would watch the video again. This is good to know as it means overall it appeals to the majority of the target market, even when top artists release new videos or music it will never appeal to everyone in the genre as it is something new.  The rest of the questions I asked were about camera work, narrative and the mise-en-scene, these questions were to be rated out of 5 so that I could get a rough idea of what the audience thought of the finer points of the video. Overall, the 3 questions got a very good rating, at least 4 or higher which means that the majority of sections of my video appeal to my target market. The narrative structure was the part the audience least understood, this is because there wasn’t a really obvious narrative structure to my video as there wasn’t an actual story but if I was to re make the video this is something I would consider by adding a storyline with actors. This was a result I expected though as there wasn’t much I could do to create a storyline with what I had minus the actors. One of the last questions I asked regarding the music video was “What are the best and worst parts of the music video?” I got some unexpected answers such as “there was too many fireworks”. This surprised me quite a bit as the fireworks were only shown during the chorus section, also many of the other comments said that the fireworks were the best part, “The transition to the fireworks for the chorus is the best part.” As this was a qualitative question it allowed the target audience to write what they thought meaning the results are more informative, but in a different way, to the previous quantitative questions.

The survey for my print productions was very similar in its layout and type of questions as I again used the mix of qualitative and quantitative questions. The question I asked which, in my opinion, gave me the best results about my print productions was question 6 “Do the CD panels or magazine advert look like or remind you of any other productions?” This is because the answers were referencing other pieces of work such as Paramore’s cover for Brick by Boring Brick although some of the answers said the print productions were unique. Overall when I was creating them I was trying to make them be as unique as they possibly could be with slight influences to other similar bands, such as how I laid out the track listing on the back similar to that of All Time Low - Nothing Personal and the use of the woods like in Paramore’s video for Decode. Another questions that I have managed to gain some useful information from is question 5 “After seeing the CD panels and magazine advert, would you consider buying the album or listening to the band more?” All of the people who took the survey said that they would either buy the CD or listen to more music from the band, this means I have captured the genre very well as it appeals to the audience in the correct way - making them want to listen to the music and buy the CD. 

Audience Feedback to Music Video and Print Productions

Evaluation - Question 2

How Effective Is The Combination of Your Main Product with Ancillary Texts?

My main product, my music video, in my opinion works well with both of my ancillary texts, my digipak and magazine advert, because of the theme that runs between the three products. To look at how effective the combination is I am going to look at each ancillary text in turn and compare it to my music video.

My Music Video

The obvious link between my music video and my digipak is the way they both visually look. The images I used to create my digipak were photos that were either in the music video itself or were photos that were taken on the same day while I was on the shoot for the music video. This visual link between the two is very important because if the target audience find the music video appealing they will be able to directly link the digipak to the video. Generically, it’s a different style to what you might expect from other bands in the same genre, this was mainly down to a problem that occurred with actors while I was planning and creating the music video. If I hadn’t of had this problem I feel that the digipak would be slightly different as would the music video because it would have included people which would therefore make it appeal slightly more to my target market. If there were people in the music video there would be an obvious ‘motif’ showing the band as most music videos in the pop/punk/rock genre centre on the artist as it’s the main focus for the fans. This relates back to Goodwin’s theory as performance scenes and shots of the artists are very important as its how the fans connect with the band through the products. The front cover of the digipak is the most important as it is what the fans see first and also will connect straight back to the video. The image I picked was one of the most striking and when I edited it in Photoshop using the brightness and contrast adjuster it became more visually appealing. Also, the contrast between the white text and the green leaves of the trees creates a interesting contrast which I believe will make it stand out from other album covers in the genre. The next panel I would expect the target audience to look at would be the back cover as it is where the track listing is most commonly placed. When designing how the track listing would look I took inspiration from other album covers, mainly All Time Low’s CD Nothing Personal, it used the forward slash symbol a lot to separate the tracks which made it more appealing to look at than if it was just a plain list of the tracks. The two inside panels aren’t as important as they are normally only seen after you have bought the CD. The image behind the disk has been edited so that it looks as though its spinning, the image of the windmill also connects back to the music video as there were images of windmills in the video. The final panel includes different lyrics from throughout the song used for the music video and also a very similar landscape image to that actually used in the video. This again creates a strong link between the digipak and the music video.

Panels of my DigiPak

Overall the magazine advert not only links back to the music video but also the digipak too. Again the image used was one that I took while on the shoot for the music video this means it’s very much in the same theme and would be easily connected to the video amongst other videos and digipaks. The use of images from the same shoot across the three products has created a very distinctive brand style which links the three products well.  The magazine advert would still be how it is even if there were people in the video as just the image of a tree adds a sense of the unknown and makes you want to find out more if you were just to see the advert. Because of the genre of the band I think the magazine advert would most likely appear in a magazine such as Kerrang! This is because the band is of a pop/punk/genre and although this isn’t necessarily connoted in the advert itself the music is very much a part of that genre. It would also stand out quite a lot from other adverts in the magazine which could possibly bring more attention to it and lead to more people checking the band out. 

Magazine Advert

Evaluation - Question 4

Advertising and Selling My Digipak Online

The use on the internet and online services is very popular within my target market. Not only for socializing but buying things too.

Social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, etc, are all used by bands and artists these days as part of promoting themselves as a band and getting people to listen to and buy their music. They can put their song on YouTube; connect with the fans on Twitter; put photos on Facebook and Tumblr. Also, they use banners or adverts on pages that they think their fans might look at, just as adverts are put into magazines that their target audience read. The adverts can also be made interactive so if you scroll over them their music starts playing or you can click on parts of the advert to take you to other pages, such as where you can buy their music or the band's Twitter page. Below, I have made an advert that could be placed on a website, such as Glamourkills.com, Kerrang.com, and Ticketmaster.co.uk. These are all websites that I believe my target market use to buy clothes, keep up to date with music news and buy tickets to concerts. 

Note: The font used on this is wrong as it isn't installed on my laptop at home. 

Online shopping is far popular than it used to be and this has subsequently effected the music industry. Lots of bands now sell their CDs and merchandise online as well as in shops as more people are able to access the products, for example fans are able to buy products that are only available in certain countries by ordering them online. The products are also slightly cheaper than when bought online compared to in shops which makes buying the products more appealing. Because of how products are more wildly available this slightly helps the situation where people are only purchasing downloads rather than actual physical copies. In my opinion, I prefer having physical copies of CDs as you actually have something for your money rather than just a digital file, I also find the artwork and booklet interesting to look at because of the photography and lyrics that are often included inside. Some actual copies of CDs can have extra bonus tracks or extra video footage that are only available on the disk. Online stores such as Play.com and Amazon.co.uk are very popular, even HMV who are the leading store selling music across the UK have a website (HMV.com) selling music and films online. This just proves how popular using the internet to buy music is and how traditional companies are having to change to keep up with the trend. Here is a mock up of what a page on Amazon.co.uk would look like if they were to sell my album. As you can see, the album cover is the main image, with the secondary images being that of similar artists work that will stand out the fans. 

All Time Low Concert Review

All Time Low // The Maine // We Are The In Crowd

Friday 3rd February 2012

HMV Hammersmith Apollo, London

On 3^rd February 2012 I went to London to see All Time Low perform at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo as part of their UK tour. They were supported by We Are The In Crowd and also The Maine. While I was there I noticed lots of different things such as clothes that the audience we wearing, the sort of merchandise that was being sold, the demographic of the audience and various other points that I wouldn't have necessarily picked up on before studying media for A-Level.

All Time Low, The Maine, We Are The In Crowd and their Tour Crews.

Firstly, the main thing that I picked up was the style of clothing nearly everyone was wearing. Mostly, people were wearing skinny jeans with a t-shirt and trainers. The t-shirts were in essence the same as they had logos of other bands or clothing lines on them and were also brightly coloured. Most of the band t-shirts were All Time Low ones, either from the present tour or past tours, or they were t-shirts with bands on from the same genre, such as Blink 182, You Me At Six and Paramore. The most noticeable clothing brand of t-shirts was Glamour Kills, it is an American company which is connected with All Time Low and a lot of the clothes that the band actually wears are Glamour Kills. Jack Barakat, a member of All Time Low, even has his own line within Glamour Kills called JaGk which he designs himself. It is very popular with the fans and I spotted a lot of people wearing JaGk.  The skinny jeans were either brightly coloured in colours such as green or red or were very dark denim or black. The contrast between dark jeans and a colourful top is something that is very typical of the genre and is the main basis for the ‘look’ of the genre. Another clothing line that I spotted quite a lot was Down But Not Out, this is a clothing line designed by a member of a similar band to All Time Low called You Me At Six. Their lead singer Josh Franceschi set up DBNO in 2009 and is very popular within the style of the pop/punk/rock genre style. Finally, the shoes people were mainly wearing were Converse or Vans or similar equivalents. Most people choose to wear trainers to gigs as you need to wear comfy shoes as you stand for a long while but this type of shoe is generally worn outside of a gig situation too. This is the point I noticed was most obvious, especially when standing in the queue to get in as there were lots of people about.  

Band T-Shirts

Example Outfit:
Glamour Kills T-Shirt, Skinny Jeans, Converse, Silicone Bracelets. 

Glamour Kills Clothing (Modeled by Alex Gaskarth)

JaGk Clothing - Part of Glamour Kills (modeled by Jack Barakat)

Down But Not Out Clothing

Vans and Converse

The merchandise that the bands were selling was very typical of the genre. There was the t-shirt with the tour dates on the back, t-shirts like this are very common at gigs, I have bought ones similar at gigs such as Paramore and another All Time Low show, also there was a variety of other t-shirts with different band logos on but the tour date t-shirt was by far the most popular. Another item that has become popular recently is wide silicon wristbands. Bands such as Kids in Glass Houses have previously sold silicone wristbands as part of their tour merchandise. Also, part of the subscription pack that you get when you sign up to the All Time Low fan club, The Hustler Club, is a silicone wristband which is exclusive to members of the fan club. Lots of people at the gig were wearing different bracelets like this or old festival wristbands, along with beaded bracelets.

2012 UK Tour Wristband

The Hustler Club Wristband

The demographic of the audience all depends on the genre of the band. The pop punk genre mainly appeals to males and females aged 14-20 years old of a white ethnicity and this was reflected by the types of people I saw while at the gig. Although there were slightly more females than males as All Time Low’s fan base has a larger following of girls than guys. Apart from what clothes people were wearing, this was most apparent right from the moment of turning up at the venue. It was also what I expected the audience to be like because of the type person associated with the genre and also because audiences were similar to this when I have been to other similar band’s gigs. 

Fans at an All Time Low Gig

These are some photos that I took during the gig. As we were in the circle we were looking down towards the stage, we got a good overall view and got to really appreciate the lighting which was amazing. 

Alex Gaskarth

All Time Low

Jack Barakat, Rian Dawson and Alex Gaskarth 

Alex Gaskarth

Magazine Advert

Digi-Pack Panel 4 - Back Cover

Digi-Pack Panel 3 - Inside Cover

Digi-Pack Panel 2 - Inside Cover

Digi-Pack Panel 1 - Front Cover

Planning for Print Productions - Possible Ideas

This is a sketch of some possible ideas that I could use for my digi-pack. The idea of the windmill behind where the CD will sit almost imitates the spinning action that will happen to the disk when it is played. Also, on the first inside cover there will be a nice contrast between the dark background and the white font which will stand out, this will hopefully draw the audience in and make them want to read the text inside the digi-pack. The sunset on the back kind of symbolizes the closure of finishing making the album, like its all finished and over and done with. Where as on the front cover its like the name of the band is emerging from the trees just like they are emerging as a new band on the music scene.

Planning for Print Productions - Possible Fonts

Here are some fonts that I have found on dafont.com. They are all very similar to the fonts that I have looked at on albums in the same genre. My favourite is 'Jump Start' as it is clear to read but also as a sort of grunge effect to it which will contrast against the organic photos of the trees/plants.

Researching Other Similar Bands Artwork

These are some album covers from band's CDs that are similar to The Hype Theory. Each one is highly edited which gives an unrealistic looks to the covers. For example, All Time Low's cover for Nothing Personal and You Me At Six's cover for Take Off Your Colours contain no photos at all, they are made up of completely computer generated and edited images. Nothing Personal looks as though it is almost a collage of lots of different bits and pieces which represent the band, such as the casette and the admission ticket. Where as Take Off Your Colours is like a colour chart which has been mixed together to create a rainbow effect.

The colours included on the covers range from being brightly coloured, like Guaranteed To Disagree, to just black and white, like Sinners Never Sleep. This reflects the personalities of the band and can be to do with a marketing scheme which covers all areas, such as their webiste, their social media pages and their CD album artwork.

Of the album artworks below my favourite is Best Intentions, as it shows the band on the front cover by using lots of little photos which look as though they have been taken on an old polaroid camera and then stuck in a scrapbook. Also, I like the cover for Riot! as you can look at the album cover from any angle and identify which album it is straight away.

The main thing that stands out about each of the album covers is the significance of the bands logos, apart from on Paramore's albums. The logo is what identifies the band, on All Time Low's last 2 albums the logo has been the same and also it ha been the same across their merchandise, website and social network sites, this means that it is easy for the fans to identify the band's products, also it is very unique and looks as though it has been sketched by hand. There has been no flow between the two albums from Paramore they are very different stylistically which reflects the change in musical sound too. On Riot! there is no actually band logo or name but it's such an iconic cover and name that its easy to identify from any other album available in the genre.



All Time Low - Nothing Personal

All Time Low - Dirty Work

Paramore - Riot!

Paramore - Brand New Eyes

We Are The In Crowd - Guaranteed to Disagree

We Are The In Crowd - Best Intentions

You Me At Six - Take Off Your Colours

You Me At Six - Sinners Never Sleep

Media Texts which Represent British Youth in a Similar Way to ‘White Girl’, ‘This is England’ and ‘About a Girl’.

Media Texts which Represent Youth

View more presentations from Vickii Randell.

What Does White Girl Say About Identity, Youth, Modernist Concepts of Identity and Post-Modernist Concepts of Identity?

White Girl (2008)

Part of BBC’S White Season

Director: Hettie McDonald

Writer: Abi Morgan

BAFTA Award for Best Single Drama

Main Characters: Leah and Debbie

Location: Bradford

The film White Girl says many things about youth and their identity. Firstly, youth have a problem fitting in with society so they become isolated and are unsure of their identity. When Leah first moves to Bradford she and her brothers and sister are basically the only white children in the school and they feel left out. Youth is also misguided; they receive none or very little parental guidance or education. This means they are unclear on who they are as a person which means they struggle to find their place in society or their identity. Another thing that White Girl shows about youth is how impressionable they are by what they see and who they are surrounded by, this is why Leah picks up on religion, the Islamic faith to be precise,  because she watches people in the local community and copies what they do, for example, wearing a Hijab. This is a rebellion of sorts and therefore leads to a tension between all of the family members, when Leah comes home wearing the Hijab she is thrown out. She goes to live with her next door neighbour which refers back to the point of no parental guidance. This isolation from her family with only religion left in her life creates a bleakness and hopelessness, portraying that she will have no future which again affects her identity and who she sees herself as.  

White Girl shows a contrast between modernist and post-modernist concepts of identity by almost comparing the way Leah’s family lives and her next door neighbour’s family. The Islamic family who live next door are very traditional they are very family and religion orientated, as Leah learns when she lives with them, they all go to pray together, they eat together, etc, which relates to the modernist concept of identity. Where as her family is fragmented, her mum and dad are separated, there is no stability within the family; their life is constantly changing, reflecting the post-modernist concept of identity.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_(BBC_series)#White_Girl