Analysing exisiting products

This album cover is for a similar genre ours. The cover is constructing its brand image by having an element of disjuncture which makes it is recognisable as an indie album even if you didn't know the band. The image has no direct meaning or relevence to the audience, making it alternative and qwerky and attracting the target audience of young, individual, hedonistic radicals.






These two covers, again, have the element of disjuncture. The images in both are eyecatching and attractive as they provoke thought in the audinece at a first glance. They have no link to the songs on them or the music videos making them even more 'random' and individual. I think our cover would be slightly different to this as it will link directly to the music video, but seeing as our video has elements of disjuncture it will still be conventional of the indie genre.

Print research and planning

How will the audience recognise the genre of music? How will you address your particular target audience?

The audience will recognise the 'indie' style genre of the music as the images on the front cover and inside the digipack will connote individuality and will be a bit different and alternative from the mainstream R&B or hip hop style, and a contrast to other genres.
We will attract the audience by using a bright and attractive colour scheme and by taking stills from our video which show the simple, homemade, childlike look we were going for clearly. This will give the pack an element of disjuncture as it has no meaning to the audience at a first glance, but catches their attention.

How will you create a ‘house style’ linked to the brand image of your band? How will you link the styles of the video, cover and advert?

Our 'house style' has been created throughout the video, as we have followed the child-like, homemade look - so will portray this onto the print work. Using stills from the video will not only make the album cover recognisable to the audience that have seen the video, but will also encourage others to watch the video.
It will be easy to get stills from our video seeing as it is all photographs so we just need to pick which parts we want to convert to the print work. The style of the cover and advert will reflect the video.

What is the digipack cover for, now that many people buy online?

Digipacks contain not only the album or single but additional special features as well - like a video clip of the band/artist playing live, an interview with the band/artist, or a backstage look into their day to day life.
It gives the audience a bit more than just the song they have been listening to, and makes them feel closer to the band. So if they are really intersted in the band or artist they can buy these instead of just downloading the song and having the file. They are more for the committed fans who like to have something aesthetically pleasing to keep and collect.


How much do ads in these magazines actually cost? Can you save some money by using the same advert online?

I have found out these rates for advertising on an 'magazine advertising rates card'. The magazines stated would be the ones that suit our genre of music the most:


Double page spread
Kerrang! - £9,092
Mojo - £9,291
Q - £17,396

Page outside back cover
Kerrang! - £6,220
Mojo - £6,357
Q - £11,902

Half page
Kerrang - £2,607
Mojo - £2,445
Q - £4,578

Loose insert

Kerrang - £45
Mojo - £45
Q - £45

Internet adverts are free in most places, soit would probably be worth putting the same advert on the internet either aswell as, or instead of a magazine. An internet advert would probably be more appropriate for our band, not only due to their low budget but also their target audience would be more likley to read an internet advert than a magazine one. Also it is extending the audience of the band as anybody can read it, whereas in a magazine it would be a specific kind of person who has gone out of their way to purchase the music magazine they are interested in.

How much money your band would have to spend on marketing – could they afford a quarter page, half page, or full page? What magazines are appropriate for the target audience?

As i said above our band would have a very low budget to spend on advertising as they are starting out in the music industry. Idealy a half page advert would benefit the band, however it is still alot of money. A loose insert would be more realistic but not as effective.
However this list of magazines consists of the major music chains. There are other, more independent magazines and newspapers that would probably be cheaper to advertise in and are exposed to a more non-mainstream, alternative audience which are suited to our bands genre and style more than the mainstream companies like Kerrang!


What will you need to consider when designing it if you want to use it in print and onscreen?

The advert I design would need to be suited to print and onscreen as it would appear on the internet aswell as newspapers or magazines. I would have to make sure it wasn't suited to/looked better on either, it would have to be of a high quality on both. This may mean keeping the design simple and not using high resolution images or anything that may cause blurring or a decrease in quality.

Exam practice 2

How far have you been influenced by existing media products?

Research into existing media products has been a massive part of my A2 production piece. Using the internet to look at videos for a similar genre of music to ours has given me a lot of inspiration and original ideas. The main text that influenced our final decisions on our video was ‘The Cribs’ video for ‘Another number’.
It uses stop-motion animation with props, including toys, which we have chosen to do as well – no actors are involved in either. Both videos, I feel, complement the music well and portray the indie style genre successfully.
‘The Cribs’ video is challenging usual conventions of the genre as most indie music videos are gritty and always feature the band. So creating a light hearted video with no actors portrays the bands independence and makes them seem fun, friendly and not image conscious. The elements of disjuncture that come from this make the video interesting and original. I feel we have achieved this with our video as we have taken the homemade, child-like look of ‘The Cribs’ video and portrayed it in our own way. However you could say that our video is conventional to the indie genre as expectations are that they will be a bit different and alternative- so we are conveying the indie genre successfully.
In parts ‘The Cribs’ video portrays the lyrics very literally. In contrast ours concentrates on the idea of disjuncture and the actions have no particular meaning or don’t tell a story. We thought this would make it more original but also gave us more options of what we could do and what props we could use.
In both videos, I feel the target audience have been addressed successfully. The ‘indie’ audience – young, independent, hedonistic, radicals - expect videos that are a bit different, qwerky and original and the simple, but effective stop-motion and use of fun props and bright colours, in both, attract this audience as it appears unique and alternative.
The song choice for our video is a bit more upbeat and ‘heavy’ than ‘The Cribs’, however I don’t think this effects the impact of the video and the way it complements the music. The only thing that may change due to this is the target audience. People that are into the slightly more rocky style of music may also be drawn to our video – expanding our target audience.

Exam practice

1. How has the internet helped you create your production work?

Using the internet to research existing products on the market has helped me a lot with all my media projects. In my AS production of a student magazine, preliminary project, looking on websites of similar magazines gave me a variety of ideas. I noticed that the conventional medium close-up shot of a student was used on most, as was a masthead, coverlines, straplines, price, barcode etc. So I included these in mine as to follow convention.
It was the same with my A2 music video research as we could use ‘Youtube’ to look into videos for a similar genre to ours and pick out the things we liked. The stop-motion used in a video by ‘The Cribs’ was really effective in conveying the music and went really well with the chosen song, also their childlike, homemade look was something we wanted to convey onto ours.
By using ‘Youtube’ I feel I have built my creativity considerably as, by getting inspiration from others, I can build up my own thoughts and piece together a really original, solid set of ideas. ‘The Cribs’ video I feel was an especially inspirational piece as it was exactly what we wanted to portray but in a slightly different way.
The sudden increase in social networking sites has helped in researching target audience as, for all our projects, we could go onto a member of our target audiences profile and look into interests, hobbies etc – therefore getting a good idea of who you are addressing.
Also by setting up a group on ‘Facebook’, pitching our ideas for A2 music video production to chosen members, helped us get feedback as they could look at our storyboard, listen to the song and write comments stating what they thought, and if we could change anything. This feedback has been useful, as most of the comments are good, so we know we are on the right lines in appealing to this audience. This was also a successful method in interacting with our target audience and bought an element of Media 2.0 into our project – giving the audience a feel of being involved in production and the final product.
Having the use of ‘Blogger’ – a social networking site – has helped in not only presenting work to my Media teacher but also to set out all my plans for both AS and A2 work and is a good way of getting it all organised.
In my preliminary A2 project we used the internet to research how to use ‘Flash’ – an animation programme. We found a full set of instructions so used them to create a small animation which made up part of the video. This was very useful to have as we could follow it through step by step – making it easier to make.

2. In what other ways have you used technology?

The use of the technology available to us has been a massive part of all my media productions. I had never used any of the cameras or software before, so being expected to create a student magazine in the first year was daunting but I learnt a lot through the use of ‘Photoshop’ – editing a picture taken with a DSLR camera, then creating the layout using ‘Qwark express’. Without the software ‘Qwark express’ I feel the magazine wouldn’t have looked as professional or finished.
I experienced a few problems with ‘Photoshop’ but I think this was down to my lack of experience with it. These included the pictures not cropping properly or being unable to cut out background I didn’t want. However when it came to my final AS production, of a music magazine, this went quite smoothly as I knew what to do. So I feel my knowledge and skills of the software and cameras have been considerably improved since September 2008 and I am much more comfortable with using them.
I now have a better understanding of what can be achieved with them, therefore extending my creativity and making my ideas more ambitious.
The use of DV cameras was also new to me so creating a simple preliminary project last year helped build my skills with these and the ‘Adobe Premier Pro’ software that goes with it. Having this knowledge gave me another option for what to do this year so was useful to know.
We have chosen to do a completely stop-motion video, so I need to be certain of how to create a series of movies with the DSLR cameras and use ‘Premier Pro’ to edit them together in post production. This should be ok because full instructions and teacher assistance are available at college.

Question 1b: dominant,absent and alternative representations

My AS production of a music magazine uses mainly dominant representations. The representation of social groups is one - teenagers are used on the front cover, and throughout the magazine, through the image of an up and coming young band. The band are dressed in stereotypical modern clothing and are situated out doors connoting freedom and fun. The photo on the front is quite stereotypical to genre as it contains the iconic 'Beatles/Abbey Road' zebra crossing image. This suggests what the genre is but also attracts a certain type of audience.
Alternative representation is also apparent in that the picture on the front cover is in sepia colour scheme making it a bit different to the conventional teenage magazine. This is because of the genre I was working in - old style music. But in general the image being portrayed is typical to that of modern teenagers.
I chose to use this stereotype to attract the younger audience who are interested in the older style of music, but also to get teenagers interested in this alternative genre.
So by mixing both dominant and alternative representation the magazine appeals to the target audience and is unconventional and a bit different.