A2 Media Coursework Evaluation

Hassan Ahmed

Introduction!The project I produced alongside Ben Briscoe, Michael Bull and James Howard was a music video for Black Kids’ “Love Me Already”. The reason we decided to create a music video was because we felt it was a suitable option where we could really unleash our creativity. Particular contributions I made to the group were participating in the research we undertook, the organisation of the filming as well as adding input into the ancillary tasks and the editing of the video.

As the genre of the song is an Indie Pop hybrid we thought it would be perfect for the slightly younger listener from the ages of around 16-25. The people in this age group are very likely to be students who are likely to spend a lot of money on music. The video being rather comedy based, with the album art and magazine poster being quite colourful, bright and outgoing which would appeal to the typical music fan in this age group.

Genre!The genre of the song is an Indie Pop hybrid. With the video we decided to conform to a type of video for our genre. In the Indie Pop genre videos are usually either very performance driven, sometimes with a narrative running through about a love story or, as in our case, a comedic element throughout. (i.e. funny dancing and the use of Guitar Hero instruments inspired by “Smosh”)

As well as the comedic elements running throughout the video the locations fit well with the genre. With those being set in a park, a skatepark, car park, and the rather quirky band performance location of a flat estate.

The decisions we made in making this a performance based video with humour seemed to have paid off as we have managed to gain very positive feedback with 77% citing that the attempt of the comedic element was successful.

With the album cover we decided to base it on the look of the Go! Team’s cover. With it being a very colourful and appealing mish-mash of different images and very importantly being of the same genre.

The finished cover.

The album art work and the magazine article poster we produced, like the video, also got a very positive response.

Branding!

The brand of the band is very simple. It focuses on the music, which is very up beat, and the band member’s individual styles and combines the two whilst spearheaded by the all important band logo.

Video (Branding)

The video is of course the biggest promotional tool for our brand an we use it well. Through the fast pace of the video, the style of clothes, equipment and the locations we shot in this is achieved. Also the comedic elements gives potential consumers an insight to the bands’ personalities which would make them more likely to purchase the music as they may feel they can relate to the band members.

The LogoThe logo was absolutely integral in terms of our brand image. It features heavily on the all of the album art work as well as the promotional magazine poster. The logo epitomizes the concept surrounding the band.

The colour scheme of pink, black and green is vindictive of the band’s music as it gives it a very eccentric look.

The font is very unusual and distinct which makes it very easy to recognise.

The logo is has a British feel about it as the core is a “shield” emblem. This is very important as part of the brands identity is that it is British. (This idea is continued into the video where a shot of the Union Jack is used.)

Album Front Cover

The album front cover really sticks to the band image. The logo is still present whilst being gray scaled and put in the background. In front of it is the name of the band and album in a graffiti style font which is appealing and in keeping with our brand. The artwork around the edges is also graffiti like and keeps with the brand image. Also the main colours of green, pink and black are ever present which again is in keeping with our brand and logo.

Album Back Cover

The back of the album cover conforms to the rest of the brand image just as the front does. The logo is again in the background gray scaled. There is also a “photoshopped” picture of the band in a pose which beams fun, an essential characteristic of our brand. The picture is also used in the poster. As well as that for brand continuity Ben has the same hat on throughout the video and all the ancillaries. A little trademark you could say! Also the song list is pink which again is in sync with our brand. The record label and band logo along with a barcode can also be seen.

Cover Inserts

In both inserts a silhouette of a town/city we made ourselves can be seen. This continues our brand identity as the video is based mostly outdoors. Behind the silhouette on both inserts the brand logo has been multiplied many times which is very aesthetically pleasing and as well as that the repetition further synchronises our brand identity. The differences in the inserts are seen when in one “Black Kids” is written in the same font and colour as the cover and in the other the picture of the band is used however this time in green which symmetrises the opposite insert. Again The main colours are green, pink and black maintaining our brand identity.

Magazine Advert PosterThe magazine advert is very similar to the album covers (front and back). The graphic borders remain pretty much the same. Again there is gray scaled picture of our logo in the background and the same “photoshopped” picture of the band is used, however with green tones this time. “Black Kids” is written again in the same font and colour and the colours scheme of pink, green and black are used heavily. These give the brand a sense of continuity into the advert. As well as that a catchy slogan is used and a date of release is given. It also refers to the first single which is the song for which we made a video which again computes with the idea of keeping everything connected.

InstitutionsAs the actual Black Kids are a signed band an obvious record label which could fund the video and the band would be Almost Gold Recordings. It is a brand of the major label, Universal Music Group. They almost entire enlist indie pop artists and I feel that the product that we have produced would fit in line with the rest of the labels whilst still being very profitable.

They would also be a well suited label as are based in New York and London. The fact that they have a base in London would make it a lot more easier for a British band to be signed.

Audience!The target audience as outlined briefly in the introduction are 16-25 year olds. This is as they would be likely to appreciate the music as most fans of indie pop are in that age range. Also the comical and outgoing nature of the video, the bright and eccentric look of the album covers and poster as a group we felt that our product would vastly appeal to this demographic.

The 16-25 demographic is a great audience to target. This is as most would be students they would not have many financial priorities (i.e. paying bills) thus would have money to spend. Money they’ll spend on purchasing music and more importantly the music of our band. Also as it is a very young audience they are likely to be very loyal to the band as the fans got older.

Secondary Audience?The secondary target audiences would be those slightly older than 25 and those slightly younger than 16.

Through this graph (courtesy of British Music Rights) you can see that the amount of hours people in these age groups, especially our main target audience, is vast. Also 92% of 14-17 year olds own mp3 players which implies that they consume a lot of music.

Audience Feedback

We received information from our audience via questionnaires and also a video of a sample audience watching the music video and looking at the ancillary tasks before giving their opinions on it. The feedback was very positive!

Hardware, software and websites and any other items used in the construction, research, planning and evaluation of this coursework were;

•Camera (stills)•Video camera•Mac•Final Cut Express•Photoshop•Slideshare•PowerPoint•Blogger•Youtube•iTunes

Use of Creative Technologies!

A quick run down of what each tool was used for and how it advantaged and disadvantages us.

Stills camera used for the picture of the band used for the ancillary tasks. Video camera used for the filming of our music video. Both easy to use and did the job however the picture quality could have been better.

Final Cut Express was used in order for us to edit the video. It was hard to master but when we did it worked great giving us a real upgrade on iMovie which we used last year. It made such shots possible like the zoom shot in the corner of the lead vocalist singing. Photoshop like Final Cut Express was

something as a group we had to learn how to use from scratch as it was our first time using it. Like Final Cut Express it was a revelation and helped us produce our album covers, inserts and the magazine advert.

All of the research, editing of video and producing of the ancillaries occurred on the Mac we used. It did the job but despite being known for keeping up with “industry standards” it was only just satisfactory for us.

iTunes was used for the purchase of the song “Love Me Already”. It is quick and simple to use and pretty much every song thinkable is available for purchase.

Youtube was used in order for us to find certain videos of other similar bands for inspiration. It led us to Smosh’s “Sex Ed Rocks” video which despite not being in the exact same genre led us to using Guitar Hero instruments. We also uploaded our music video and our audience feedback video. It worked great in helping us find inspirational material however it was difficult to upload items.

Blogger was as our media coursework “hub”. It contained all research and still does, audience feedback, the final project, ancillaries and evaluations. It worked brilliantly in that sense.

PowerPoint and Slideshare were used in tandem for my final evaluation as well as my team mates, Ben, James and Michael. The use of PowerPoint came without any real flaws at it was something I am very familiar with. Slideshare however threw up many a problem in uploading the PowerPoint.

ConclusionThe research we all partook in was good however it could be argued that it could have been more in depth. Despite this I think we gathered all the data needed to be successful.

And I think we were successful. The ancillary tasks I felt were really good and the quality of the video was also great. I felt maybe there could have been more close ups of the band playing possibly or just generally a bigger variation of shots but I think it all went together well. Maybe if these were incorporated it would have been exactly like the “real thing”. I personally was very proud of the comedic elements and the timings of the shots alongside the video. I think our video literally comes as close as you can to being an actual music video you’d see on your television without actually being one.

At the start of this project it looked like a very formidable task. However working together as a team, adding input, receiving advice from other team members we have been able to conquer this challenge and I for one am really proud of that and think we have made one brilliant music video.

And a Special Thanks...

I thought it would be fitting to give the Black Kids, Genneah Turner, Almost Gold Records and Universal Music Group a very big thank you for letting us use your music. We hope you enjoyed the video as much as we do.

Hassan Ahmed