Final Digipak

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The Young Pretenders - 'Play The Game' Music Video

Task 4 - How have I used digital technologies in the research, planning and creation of my products?

Task 3 - What I have learnt from audience feedback

General music video research

From this information in which we gathered, it became apparent that a vast majority of the people that we interviewed would prefer to see a music video that had a story-line and involved the story-line matching the lyrics, and the lyrics matching the visuals. Therefore, we felt it appropriate to create a music video which had a narrative and matched the lyrics and visuals. We also noted that due to most of our interviewees criticizing music videos for involving women who are being sexualised and provocative, we would have our music video include men instead, in order to avoid this. Additionally, we would avoid having our music video in black and white as a critic in our research has stated that they would like music videos to involve as much colour as possible.

Pre-production research

After deciding what genre of music we would like to do, we created a poll on Facebook where we asked our Facebook friends whether they like listening to alternative rock music or not. We asked 150 people between the ages of 13-80 and out of the 150, 81 replied and 62 said they did, 19 said they did not, and the rest did not answer the question. We analysed the results and found that the younger they were, the more they enjoyed it. Most people between the ages 16-25 liked it, 26+ did not like it, very few under 16 year old's who answered the question liked it. When we asked the people who said they did not like rock music and they informed us that rock music is not for their time and that they have more traditional tastes in music. Therefore, it came to our awareness that we should aim for a target audience of 15-25 year old's.

Interviews about our idea with focus group

This group stated that they would like to see how we incorporate the band travelling on public transport into the video as it really shows off London and their urban nature and they think it is quite exciting how the band will be included in the hustle and bustle of London.

We noted that this group of girls commented on how they thought it was inspiring how although each of the band members are scattered all over London and do not live near each other, but music is the one thing that brings them together.

These girls said that they think the idea is really creative and they would definitely watch it as it is something that they have never seen before and is therefore really original, thus making the band organic.

This boy stated that he thinks its a very creative idea of having four people from across London meeting together to be in a band and that he would be very interested in watching it.

Overall, after listening to this feedback and researching into which age groups and types of people would watch our indie-rock music video, we concluded that our idea for our music video would appeal to a target audience of people between the ages of 15-25.

First draft feedback

From our first draft feedback, we overall noted that we needed to edit some parts of the video where the lip syncing was out of time and that we should have added in parts where the band performs together. However, we could not do this as the footage that we had was not good enough and we therefore had to make do with what we had. We also learnt that the audience liked the shots that we used, especially the low angle ones as they thought it made the music video as a whole look very professional, and that they thought the locations were relevant to the song lyrics, therefore our lyrics matched the visuals. 

Second draft feedback

After attempting to fix the parts of the video where the lip syncing was out of time, we showed our video to another group of people and they also gave us feedback. We learnt from them that they liked how the video matched the lyrics and they thought that it worked well with the music. They also appealed to the montages/time-lapses that we created at the beginning and that the video as a whole was very uplifting. However, at this point, we had not put the filter on the video yet and so we had to do this.

Final draft feedback 

From our final draft audience feedback, we learnt that they liked how the lead singer portrayed his emotions with passion to the camera. They also liked the camera angles used, especially the low angles and the locations used were exciting. However, we were criticized on using the low angle shots against the buildings too much. They complimented our choice of narrative and noted how it worked really well with the video, as well as saying that the lip syncing looked a lot better. The audience all found that the narrative was clear and that they understood the story-line of the band members meeting up. They thought that our band was very similar to other indie-rock bands such as the Arcitc Monkeys and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and that our band was original and organic. 

Digipak first draft feedback 

From this feedback, we learnt that we had to change the font of our digipak as it was too plain and basic, and this took away the effectiveness from the background picture.

Second draft feedback

However, from our second draft feedback, we learnt that it was clear to them that the genre was a form of rock from the denim jeans that they were wearing and the way in which their hair was styled. Therefore, we were successful in getting this across. Additionally, they said that they would call the band organic due to the way in which they style their hair as long hair on a male is something that is very original and unconventional. However, they did mention that a way in which we could improve was by having the full name on the spine of the digipak, instead of just having the abbreviation of their name as they are a new band and people may not know what "TYP" is or stands for. 

Post-production research

All together, the feedback from our survey was extremely positive. We mainly got comments on our editing techniques, the use of the time-lapses, the variety of shots that we used and overall how the video as a whole looked very professional. We received quite high ratings on website, and were told that it was really clear, easy to use and matched the theme of the digipak and music video. We were informed that our lead singer was very attractive, thus representing the band well and helping the star image of the band to be shown positively. Moreover, it became apparent that our package matched the expectations of an indie-rock band as it included the aspects of one and portrayed our band to be very organic and original. The only criticisms we received were about not including a performance scene and not having the drummer in the music video. However, as we had stated beforehand, we could not add in the performance scenes as the footage that we had taken were not of a high standard and after researching into other music videos, we discovered that some bands do not involve their drummers in their music videos as he is always in the back and does not sing at all. Overall, we have learnt from audience feedback that we produced a successful and effective cohesive package through our professional-like editing techniques, camera shots and computer skills.

In analyzing the data taken from our music video on YouTube and seeing who has watched it, we discovered that a majority of people who viewed the video were males from the UK and USA. Although we aimed our video at a target audience of both males and females in the UK, we expected a majority of the audiences to be males as rock is a more male-dominated genre of music. Although we were successful in achieving this aim, we did not expect to have viewers from USA, Brazil, Russia and Turkey as well. However, we were pleasantly surprised that our video had been spread across the world as it meant that we were overall successful in advertising the video.

Task 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Keith Negus states that the "Pop music video is used as a promotional tool" and we promoted our band, 'The Young pretenders' by using images of them on the website and digipak. This was done in order to advertise them as a band, and their star image to give them a brand. Although they are an organic band, we had to do this for them to be known as they are a new band. We also wanted to create a range of products for their audience to create what Anderson calls the Long Tail effect. As our band is aimed and promoted at a wide range of audience and is organic, this will allow them to have a long lasting career in the music industry. Additionally, a way in which we promoted our music video was by linking it to all of our social media pages and attaching it to our website. This therefore gave audiences easy access to watch and share it. 

We were also able to promote our band's digipak through posting it on our website and making it available for the consumer to buy. This encourages the audience to spend money to support the band and promotes their star image. We were then able to further promote their star image by selling merchandise of hats, t-shirts and badges through the website. This market strategy promotes the band through word of mouth as audiences and fans will share it to their friends. Therefore, we have marketed or band successfully whilst on a lower budget than other bands.

Moreover, when uploading our music video onto YouTube, we included a link in the biography to the website so that after watching the music video, they could explore the website for tour dates, merchandise and the digipak. This enabled us to further promote the band quickly and effectively, and allow the audience to access their music in the online age.

Furthermore, I promoted the band through the use of the digipak as I used pictures of them on front of the album, as well as in the middle pages. This promoted them as it allowed the audience to know who they are, whilst keeping them organic through the use of colours, font and text.

According to Dyer, the visual 'star image' communicates important messages to the audience and audiences associate the look of an artist or band with the genre of the music. We represented our band as being urban, edgy, teenage boys who are chasing their dreams of being in a band. We demonstrated this by having tracking shots of the band members walking and singing around big buildings, symbolizing success and conveying their urban nature, thus giving them an indie rock genre.

Websites should publicise and promote basic information about the band and their star image to their audience. We did this by including a variety of pictures taken from a photoshoot of the band, promoting the star image of the band and their name. This is essential for a new band so that the audience can get to know them. We used images of the band standing in front of walls with graffiti on them, expressing their edgy image as a band and reinforcing their indie-rock genre. Our website prioritised promoting the band, and is typical of other websites for new bands. Just as other websites do, mine promotes the album released, promotes a tour, and includes merchandise.

We purposefully created our digipak so that we could make it prominent that our genre of music was indie-rock and to convey their organic individualism.

The art on the walls behind each band member is emblematic of being inspiring and artistic, and the colours of greys, reds and blacks symbolise the rock genre as they are typical colours for the genre. The brick wall signifies their urban edginess and the walls or obstacles they have had to overcome to get to where they are.


Furthermore, we included a photo of the band standing on different steps of a staircase, representing their journey that they had to go on and that they still are on to get where they want to be with their music. Additionally, the message they have written on this page relfects their organic nature as they care about their fans and thank them for helping them on their journey.

We also made a Spotify page for the band so that their music would be promoted to everyone who can access the website/app. This included a biography section so that the audience would be able to connect to them whilst listening to their music. This would help to build their fanbase to a wider audience and get their name heard via popular sites. 

Task 1 - Conventions of real media texts

Codes and Conventions

Codes and conventions are the predictable and familiar forms and techniques used by media in order to communicate certain ideas or convey a desired impression. There are signs systems and their conventions or rules and the reading of signs is therefore essential in analysis and this way of interpreting signs is called semiotics, and is applied to reading visual imagery. Additionally, signs can offer denotations and connotations to the audience. On the other hand, conventions generally establish ways of doing something. They are an unspoken rule that we have learnt to accept and identify. Conventions become so familiar and natural that they become something that we, as audiences, expect to see. They can be used, supported or reiterated, as well as subverted. Different conventions can be applied to different media concepts such as narrative and genre. Both codes and conventions are used to create meaning and as a method of communication. They make it easier to create a product for a specific genre as you only need to repeat the conventions. This is very useful for producers as they can easily target their audience. It can be safer to stick to conventions rather than challenge them.

Types of codes

Codes are used as signs to depict meaning, and are divided into three categories. First there are technical codes, which includes the camera angles, sound and lighting, the framing, juxtaposition and composition and the depth of field. Secondly, there are symbolic codes, which include the mise-en-scene (clothing, body language, actions of characters and locations). Lastly, there are written codes which includes the headlines, captions, style of font and graphic design.

Keith Negus

Negus states that there are many features needed in a music video in order to match the generic conventions. He identifies two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry. These ideologies shape the way in which the artists' images and careers are developed, and he way that they are marketed towards specific target audiences. These are the organic ideology of creativity and the synthetic ideology of creativity.
Organic artists develop careers initially independently of the music industry, they tend to write and play most of the instruments on their songs and they develop through playing live venues before singing with a record label. In addition, they have more freedom initially to choose their image and songs for release and they may start their career independently. They take a 'naturalistic' approach to artists whereby the image of the artist is 'enhanced' by the record company and the artist is given time to evolve and progress through their career.
However, synthetic artists are manufactured by the record labels and TV demands, they generally have an image that is directed towards a tailor-made audience, and they begin their career recording songs either written for them or chosen by record companies, with limited freedom of choice.

Andrew Goodwin

Goodwin states that in a typical music video, there are certain conventions that are met. This includes a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, music videos usually cut to the beat of the song, particular genres may have their own video style and iconography music videos have close ups of the main artist, the artist develops their own iconography in and out of their videos, the camera is used to reflect a male point of view through the male gaze to sell women sexually, music videos pay a reference to other films, such as Bad Blood by Taylor Swift, compared to Charles Angels, most music videos follow a pattern of having a narrative and performance elements combined, the narrative follows the verse, and the chorus matches the lip-syncing.