I chose to produce a music promo pack for the song Pumped Up Kicks by indie pop artist Foster The People signed to Columbia Records. "Pumped Up Kicks" became the group's breakthrough hit and was one of the most popular songs of 2011. The song was written and recorded by front-man Mark Foster while he was working as a commercial jingle writer. Contrasting with the upbeat musical composition, the lyrics describe the homicidal thoughts of a troubled youth.
My promotional music video is very different to the original music due to costs and professional equipment. I deconstructed the lyrics which can be seen in my Lyric Analysis, this gave me another area to look at what I can produced in terms of my music video but also gave me a narrative sector for my music video which fits with the lyrics. (I chose to film abstract in the end however as I couldn't think of an idea without it being too similar to the original narrative in the video.) I did this as a part of my research and planning stages to prepare me before I start the filming process. I will evaluate both my music video and the ancillary texts to compare to existing products.
The original song on first listen without looking at the lyrics is upbeat and happy but once you've analysed the lyrics it gives a deeper meaning depending on how the audience views it. This deeper meaning includes links to the growing issue of mental illness in teenagers and being judged in society.
I created my own absract ideas by analysing the lyrics and thinking about the meaning behind them and the overall themes to give an overall meaning but to no narrative therefore the meanings and ideas were applicable to however the audience read and viewed it. In order to create my final products I had to plan out what I was going to do to ensure I accounted for all possible problems and had a video that was well made stylistically and narratively. I also created a 6-panel digipack and a promotional poster for my artist, whom I had to invent a false name for as we were not allowed to use existing branding when creating any of our work. For my work to be successful, it will have to have an individual style and set itself apart but fundamentally it should adhere to the conventions of real media texts if it is to be recognisable and sellable to audiences. This is the reasoning behind why I used the same colour scheme throughout all three products and used the same fonts which I found important in branding the artist so that they are recognisable.
Media texts contain conventions in two key areas. The form itself, this being the conventions of any music video as a medium, and the genre, meaning the set categories that music videos are grouped into to make it easier for audiences and institutions to discuss and discover music. For example, conventions of form are that music videos edit to the beat of the song, contain imagery that is relevant to the narrative of the lyrics in some way and are usually under 5 minutes long. Examples of genre, in my case, would be that often artists favour narrative or abstract videos as many of the sounds are created electronically and a performance video would not feature much of interest, so usually visual metaphors or narrative performances are used instead within my genre.
To understand conventions of indie music I analysed two indie music videos in detail on both an abstract or narrative level and in terms of the micro technical features of film making that were used to construct the productions.
Indie Music Video Textual Analysis
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| Original Video |
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| My Video |
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| Original Video |
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| My Video |
In terms of style I wanted my video to convey the same emotions and themes visually as the music did so I researched the different connotations of colour and exposure within music videos and visual art in general. I realised that an appropriate stylistic choice for my video would be to use earthy, wish-wash colours that are more original and independent. For example bright colours scream pop music which would make my products unsuccsessful in achieving products of the indie genre. This fits with the conventionally dark exposure of similar texts that follow the conventions.
Below is an existing album advertisement shown on a billboard. The artist name and title of the album is conventional as it establishes what is being advertised to the audience and explains the main image. The release date is also shown here. However in comparison to my product there are no ratings which I felt necessary as this gives further information about whether the product is worth buying. For example, my advertisement shows that it was rated 5 stars, this will persuade more people to buy my product.
I have placed my advertisement onto places where the product would be advertised in real life. They are used to spread the word about products to a wider audience than purely the fan base of the artist. I think that the white text on the black background make the text stand out more and make it easier to read.
This prezi presents some of the similarities between my products and existing products, presenting how I have used and occasionally challenged conventions in order to ensure that my product looks professional and is successful in representing its genre and form.
Analysis of my Ancillary Texts - Conventions Used from tashaxgs
Richard Dyer's Theory
Quotes:
" starts are commodities that are produced by institutions "
"A star is a constructed image, represented across a range of media and mediums"
"Stars present and embody certain ideologies"
"Icons and celebrities are constructed through institutions for financial gain"
I chose to conform to Richard Dyer's star theory, to ensure that the rap artist I created was attractive to my target audience, to encourage them to consume it.
Stars As Constructions
Dyer believed that stars are constructed, artificial images, even if they are presented as real people (e.g. by experiencing emotions). If the audience believes that the star is a real person it will be easier for them to relate to the star and therefore consume the star's products.
"A star is an image, not a real person" constructed through marketing and advertising through magazines, film features and musical products etc. They create a persona desirable to a target audience, not a true representation of themselves. It is a constructed identity and constructed ideologies with the aim of making society want to consume them.
In my product there is no star however there are characters. These characters were juxtaposed to explain ideologies of the artist. Therefore even though the artist itself is not shown as a construction, the audience is still seeing the ideas and beliefs of the artist through other people placed in the video.
Stars are represented as real people which we can consume, however this is not the case. They are constructions of themselves, making themselves more consumable. An artist's personality and dress sense will be different when they are not working. A Unique Selling Points (UPS) are given to stars allowing for them to be more desirable. In the case of the Indie genre the costume is relaxed and everyday, therefore my product is challenging this theory. The actors in the video are not 'dressed to impress' as the indie genre is more open minded than the pop genre. I decided this from planning costume ideas. Also as the artist is not showing their own identity they are using their own ideas through other people that the audience do not know. This means that there are no pre-judgements of the artist and how they are expected to look or act.
Sven Carlsson's Theory
Sven Carlson suggests that music videos fall into three groups; performance, narrative and conceptual/abstract. If we were putting this particular music video into a category it would fall under narrative as the audience can easily follow the message and ideologies of the video.
My video is an abstract video as there are no performance or narrative elements.
Blumer and Katz - Uses and Gratifications Theory
The Uses and Gratifications model represented a change in thinking, as researchers began to describe the effects of the media from the audiences point of view. It looks at how people use the media and why in the way that we do. It shows that the audience is not forced into consumption but they control what they choose to consume, the media only creates the product. The theory argues that the audience need social and psychological experiences and needs that create expectations of what they consume. Although underlying this theory, there is the idea that rather than finding out how the media uses us, the model asks how we as the audience use the media and what we gain from it. The four 'needs' of the model are surveillance, personal identity, personal relationships and diversion.
This theory relates to my products as the audience have different ways of reading everything. This depends of social and psychological experiences. I find that this is more interesting for abstract products like mine as it doesn't give away anything such as a narrative or how the audience should read it. The music video may make them happy to watch particularly if they are adventurous people. On the other hand it may make people sad as it could remind the audience of their youth and days where they weren't victimised by society.
Richard Dyer's Theory
Quotes:
" starts are commodities that are produced by institutions "
"A star is a constructed image, represented across a range of media and mediums"
"Stars present and embody certain ideologies"
"Icons and celebrities are constructed through institutions for financial gain"
I chose to conform to Richard Dyer's star theory, to ensure that the rap artist I created was attractive to my target audience, to encourage them to consume it.
Stars As Constructions
Dyer believed that stars are constructed, artificial images, even if they are presented as real people (e.g. by experiencing emotions). If the audience believes that the star is a real person it will be easier for them to relate to the star and therefore consume the star's products.
"A star is an image, not a real person" constructed through marketing and advertising through magazines, film features and musical products etc. They create a persona desirable to a target audience, not a true representation of themselves. It is a constructed identity and constructed ideologies with the aim of making society want to consume them.
In my product there is no star however there are characters. These characters were juxtaposed to explain ideologies of the artist. Therefore even though the artist itself is not shown as a construction, the audience is still seeing the ideas and beliefs of the artist through other people placed in the video.
Stars are represented as real people which we can consume, however this is not the case. They are constructions of themselves, making themselves more consumable. An artist's personality and dress sense will be different when they are not working. A Unique Selling Points (UPS) are given to stars allowing for them to be more desirable. In the case of the Indie genre the costume is relaxed and everyday, therefore my product is challenging this theory. The actors in the video are not 'dressed to impress' as the indie genre is more open minded than the pop genre. I decided this from planning costume ideas. Also as the artist is not showing their own identity they are using their own ideas through other people that the audience do not know. This means that there are no pre-judgements of the artist and how they are expected to look or act.
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| Planned Costume |
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| Planned Costume |
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| Costume Outcome |
Sven Carlson suggests that music videos fall into three groups; performance, narrative and conceptual/abstract. If we were putting this particular music video into a category it would fall under narrative as the audience can easily follow the message and ideologies of the video.
My video is an abstract video as there are no performance or narrative elements.
Blumer and Katz - Uses and Gratifications Theory
The Uses and Gratifications model represented a change in thinking, as researchers began to describe the effects of the media from the audiences point of view. It looks at how people use the media and why in the way that we do. It shows that the audience is not forced into consumption but they control what they choose to consume, the media only creates the product. The theory argues that the audience need social and psychological experiences and needs that create expectations of what they consume. Although underlying this theory, there is the idea that rather than finding out how the media uses us, the model asks how we as the audience use the media and what we gain from it. The four 'needs' of the model are surveillance, personal identity, personal relationships and diversion.
This theory relates to my products as the audience have different ways of reading everything. This depends of social and psychological experiences. I find that this is more interesting for abstract products like mine as it doesn't give away anything such as a narrative or how the audience should read it. The music video may make them happy to watch particularly if they are adventurous people. On the other hand it may make people sad as it could remind the audience of their youth and days where they weren't victimised by society.
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