Evaluation; Question Two

Finished Music Promo Video

Here is the finished music promo video for 'Paper People'

Video Narrative: The narrative of the video is that the protagonist is looking for clarity on a present event, the protagonist has to over come self-conflict and doubt to find the answer which she is searching for.

The Finished Digipak

This is our finished digipak, which I edited using Photoshop.

After much debate, we changed the front cover of the digipak because the original photo was blurred and pixeluated. I think that the new front cover reflects the genre more and it is more stronger visually. It also looks like a real front cover of a CD/Digipak which is an added bonus. 

The Magazine Advert

Here is our finished advert; which I edited using Adobe Photoshop

Proposal How to Expand/Increase Sales

Looking at our target research, and taking into consideration the age-group our target audience are, the music video needs to be entertaining as well as tell a story.
Sometimes with sombre/acoustic music videos the story can overpower the song and maybe discourage people to buy the song, it can have an effect on the artist too as they could be labelled to only do ballad-like songs. 

With the acoustic genre it is very easy to get caught up in the story that the lyrics are telling, however as Jamie Thraves says 'never be too literal with the lyrics.'

To increase sales, and allure our secondary audience, we are going to make the video fun and try to capture a youthful-vibe which should hopefully attract our target audience. People watch music videos because they want to be entertained and they want something visually captivating therefore we need to be creative and come up with some original ideas.

Digipak Ideas

As I mentioned in my last post, we've begun to brainstorm ideas for our digipak and poster.

These are the ideas we have for the digipak design:

This is a rough design of what we want our finished digipak will look like. The digipak design is very important as it hints at the genre and tone of the album/song, and the design itself helps to target a specific type of audience. 

It is vital that when producing our digipak that we keep within the conventions of the genre as well as try to attract an secondary audience in order to expand sales. 

Poster Ideas

My partner and I have started to brainstorm some ideas of what to include on our digipak and poster. We both agreed that we wanted something original and unusual for our poster to make it different from what everyone else is doing in our class.Here's a brainstorm of ideas which we have got now; which we hope to expand:

 

We also researched online and looked at examples of posters and art work to help expand our ideas, this also helped to visualize what our finished poster would look like.

Below are examples of posters/artwork which caught our eye:

This one I thought, the design was very interesting as it was like a mix of modern and vintage- making an artistic statement. 

I liked this poster because it effectively made the artist the centre of attention. The setting is very rural and natural hinting that the type of music would be easy-listening. The red flowers and white in this poster have all been enhanced; this creates contrast and draws the reader's eye to the title. The font is interesting as it is swirly, which can be seen as girly, and it is clearly printed so it is easy to read. 

 

Here is a typical pop (artist's) poster, this poster is very bold and catches the eye effectively. The artist is highlighted as she is in blue, contrasting the hot pink background. The singer's name is in big, bold, capital letters with the band underneath her name; this represents their role as they are the accompaniment supporting her. 

At the bottom is a smaller image of the album also stating that the album is  available to buy now - pushing downloads/purchases. 

Magazine Advert Analysis

Detailed Research into our Artist

Charly Houston like most unsigned artists is on myspace and an unsigned website; but she also has also joined soundcloud and facebook. Soundcloud is a website where you can upload your demos online for others to listen to and also download (optional), this helps to reach out to your audience and other music lovers.

She also has her own Facebook page which she started in 2011 it features information about what gigs she is doing, ticket information, a band page where you can listen to music and view photos. This helps to interact with her fans and post the latest in 'the world of Charly.' Social media such as Twitter and Facebook is widely used and can be used effectively as a (viral) marketing tool as fans can tweet and share material with friends - and of course 'word by mouth' is the most effective tool there is!

Charly has also recieved positive reviews such as the one below:

"As professional as she is talented, Charly Houston undoubtedly has a very bright future ahead of her. I still can't quite believe she's only 15. Her voice has a rich, soulful, husky quality that singer-songwriters twice her age can only envy."
                                                                                        - Duncan Ross (Director, Klocwork)


A positive review can have positive effects and lure in interest from other music fans out there and possibly scouts looking for new, fresh talent.

Marcus Foster "I Was Broken"

Marcus Foster, little known before this video, started to get some attention as his song 'Let me Sign' (covered by Robert Pattinson) was featured in Twilight and another song in The Twilight Saga:Eclipse. Both films helped to raise his profile, so when he released his debut single (and album) Kristen Stewart agreed to be in the music video.
This got a lot of attention for the video as websites published articles and the music video got shown on MTV and other music channels.
In the music video itself is in black and white and there is a fixed close up shot of Marcus Foster's face capturing the pure emotion of the song. Kristen Stewart appears throughout the video looking sultry and moody at the camera in jeans, a plain white t-shirt and her long black tousled hair. The music video also includes dissolves of fields and streets.

Music Video Success Criteria