Target audience research

As I have come across technical issues regarding the upload of a powerpoint presentation that I have done, I have decided to print screen each slide and upload them in format of a slideshow.

You can click on the slide for an enlarged image

Website and digipak research

Here is the kings of Leon Official website, the background colour, Text Font, Pictures and text colour are all consistent throughtout the website and CD cover (Digipak).
This common convention is used throughout many Digipaks, CD covers and music promo videos. You can see underneath that the consumer would be easily able to sub-consiously link the products together form the many similarities. This is a clever marketing ploy used by many record companies. The main title is easy to see quickly and draws your attention immiediatly, the white text on the background stands out well to the viewer. Websites stick to common conventions in the way that they are clear and easy to navigate to get to the information efficiently. we will try to adapt and use this convention when creating this our Website product.

On the website there is a central scroll where you can see further information but against common conventions it does not contain any interactive activities for viewers, videos, audio or any marketing for any products other than merchandise internal link and the up-coming tour dates. Hardly any conventions have been adered to which makes the website more unique. We will however try to stick more closely to the conventions of more common websites.



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The CD Covers and Digipak are clearly linked closely and the audience would easily notice this.

The Digipak front cover is well layed out and very simple, it is easy to identify the bands name and the name of the album as they are the only form of text on the front page.

The title of the album is relevant to the picture on the cover, this could help the viewer to recognize the album on a shelf through just visuals alone.

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The common aspects of a reverse digipak are found on this example. You can clearly see the track list, the record label, the bar code and a further picture that is similar in many ways to the front image of the digipak.We will include slightly more information that shown in these 2 example so we can stick to the conventions easier. We will however use some aspects from this successful Digipak when creating our product.

Codes and conventions- Website

Layout and design

• Websites (in order to not create ambiguity) have to be clear, logical and easy to navigate.
• There are many several conventional types of layout and design, they often emulate some form of old media.
• Grid system- Used to seperate certain sections of websites to present information in small, easy to access segments.
• Centre of page- Main content.
• Left hand side- Navigation tools + links.
• Right hand side- More detailed links.
• Background and font colour is often used to seperate different types of information.
• Images are included to add visual interest and stop the information from becoming boring.

Technical codes

• Many sites include audio/moving image content while also incorporating some type of audience interaction.
• Links can be associated with genres/subjects linked with the websites subject.

Content of website

• Websites which contain factual information will look different to those created for entertainment.
• Information will always be linked with the subject.

Genre codes

• Specific genres have specific colours and pictures to subliminally allow the viewer to gauge the genre of the website on visuals alone.

Copyright

All music is protected by some form of copyright. We are therefore going to be using music that is protected by copyright law in our media piece. To abide by the rules and regulations, we have made a letter to the record label, requesting their permission to use their music in the music promo video we will be producing.

Copyright is used to protect the artist, producers and record label, it assures that they receieve the credit for their work, and also receive money when their work is used.

All music which is used by anyone other than the people who own the rights to it (the record label and the band) has to be payed for in the form of royalties. When the music is used e.g. radio, background non-digetic sound in films, adverts etc. they will recieve money from the relevant sources that use them.
We will however not have to pay royalties we will not use the music in a way in which we will promote or recieve any profit (purely for educational purposes)

Promo Video, Digipak and Website

Promo video

Promo being the key word, the music video is to be designed for promotional purposes. We have also incorporated numerous different original ideas that all help to captivate the audience and keep them interested. Our target audience is not niche and as we are using a mainstream song, we would want our video to be suitable for all audiences so our video would have to reflect this.

Digipak

Our Digipak will consist of a main front cover that will be designed to be eyecatching and to draw in consumers to buy the product. The colours will be vibrant and colourful with a colour scheme similar to the hue and saturation levels used in the music video.

Website

The Website will use the same colours and style as those featured within the Promo video and the Digipak, as the style is quite distinctive and unique, it should help consumers associate all three media forms with one another, strengthening the 'brand' we will be creating. Although the Website needs to be similar to the theme of digipak it can't be too exclusive to the song of choice as the band will also have other songs that consumers will be interested in.

Research into similar products

Coinciding with our chosen song (Neon Trees - Your Surrender), to get ideas on all categories (digipak, music-video and website) I will have to choose a song that would fit into the INDIE/POP music genre.

For this reason I will be exploring 'Snow Patrol- If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It'.





Like the song we have selected for our video, this particular track from Snow Patrol has quite deep emotional lyrics, however the actual music is quite upbeat which contrasts with the meaning of the words. Just as we plan to, Snow Patrol have used quite vibrant, high contrast colours. Also, coinciding with Goodwins theory, the whole entire video is crafted with different variations of shots of the main singer of the band. This gives the promo video instant recognition and fans of snow patrol will instantly be able to relate and may have positive thoughts towards the video without even watching it.

The type of shots are thought of well with locations chosen to once again, reflect the pace of the song. An example of this is on the elevator and he's slowly rising upwards. This could implicate a heightened sense of emotion or an uprising/self realisation (positive). Also a clear set of shots with the main character lying down when the chorus is being played becomes recognisable so even when you have no audio you can visually see what part of the song you're at.

Album cover front

The album artwork is very unique and follows the same font and style as scenes featured in the music videos and also follows the same style aswell.

Website

The website clearly displays the band's name, and features the theme of their album. The colours also and design follow the theme established in the album artwork and also the themes included within the music videos. There is a clear display of 'Snow Patrol' branding within the website, and this helps the consumer relate each media form to the other and creates an easily recognizable brand.

Audience Research

During a lesson earlier this week we did a presentation to our peer, showcasing 3 of our ideas for our media film. Each idea proved popular with our class-mates, however one of our ideas (Idea 2, 'Your Surrender') seemed to attract more positive reviews than the others.

Here are several screen shots of our presentation.

Idea Pitch and Feedback

We have announced to the class that we have selected Neon Trees - Your Surrender as the song of choice for our media product (Promo video). As a group we are all happy with the song choice. We also pitched the main ideas we have for the filming and content of the promo video to our peers and teacher and welcomed all criticism both positive and negative. On the whole we were pleased with the comments from the class and feel very optimistic and excited about the production. The class responded particularly well to the storyline and how we planned to match the lyrics of the song to the visuals with many strong links and references throughout.


Our teacher Mr Devita was pleasently surprised with our ideas. He commented on:

• How he felt the time frame we have allowed ourselves for the production is too short.
• How some of the shots we suggested involved using equipment that is expensive to purchase and difficult to construct ourselves.
• How the length of the scenes we had suggested seemed too long and that we should include more scenes to keep the audience interested throughout.
• How our video relied on the locations appearing bright and sunny, and that the weather could change and continuity could be comprimised.

We were happy with the feedback we will take on board what our peers have said.