Final Video

WEBSITE

http://arisasalvatore.wix.com/rock-music

Digipak

Evaluation 1

How do your products use or challenge conventions?

From my research on conventions there are basic consumptions in conventions of a music video such as the use of tracking shot, changing of beat , close-ups of the artist as well as having the artist singing the lyrics in the music video.

After investigating in it we decided to use some of the conventions for a music video in our work to allow us to achieve a realistic music video but is adjusted to match with our Indie/ Tropical Progressive House genre.

My music video is portrayed by using narrative the reason for this is because my sub-genre is Indie/ Tropical House/ Progressive music where the beats are very minimal and would not match with a performance type of music video. The main shot type that is used to represent this is that there is a high use of close-ups to focus on the area of the location and the characters within the video. This is also used to show emotions and feelings of a specific character allowing the character to be in the center of attention. This is used as a support for the convention of a Music Video. There is also a use of tracking shot which is one of the narrative elements to follow the singer movement across the location.

The conventions for our music video has a link between lyrics and visuals this is done through using symbolic meanings :


My product also uses conventions by showing a link between the music and visuals.This is done through using the imagery of sadness and * to match with the music which I believe we did really well at portraying the meaning of the music in a form of music video.

Use of intertextuality - references to other texts.

We also use "Voyeurism and a notion of looking” where we present an explicit reference to pictures, mirrors, frames. Focusing on intimate moments . The reason for this is because it * the story altogether.

However we challenged “Objectification" - The thing that stands out is the use of the female perspective so we see things in a more emotional point of view such as sadness in people which challenged the conventions of EDM/ House music where it will be normally from a guy’s point of view and seeing body parts to emphasis on the genre. I believe Objectification plays a huge part in our music video as it is the main element for 

The things we used instead of focusing on the male phisque and bodypart is the parts of the characater which represents melancholy. 

Some expression of the demands of the record label - talk about how the artist star persona is constructed
Generic characteristics associated with the genre is the  way of editing which is similiar to a music video. The black borders along the sides of the music video is done to establish the same way music videos are created which I believe has worked very well to make the project seem more realistic in terms of asthetics and  layout. The other thing that is very obvious is the  footage eiditing where it is  accurately done to match with the changing beat and tempo of the music. In this we use the method of the 4th bar/ 8th bar ( in music) to establish the effect of a changing tone in music to suggest a different mood to the music video. We challenge the convention of music videos by presenting our product without the use of CGI and effects which are done in After effects. The reason for not choosing this is that it will not be effective for our  sub-genre.

( Born to die - Lana Del rey) - close up of the main character/singer to reinforce the main plot.

This is a common shot which will mostly appear in any music video. A close up shot is used to emphasise on the character's feelings.  How the main character is located in the middles makes the audience focus on her because she comes at the start of the music video as she is the first person who is situated in the middle. This establish a sense of attention and the duration of which she presents is abit longer than most of the scenes which further emphsises on the " focusing " effect.

In this case the character is showing sadness and melancholy.  The other thing that uses the convention of a music video is the colour effects. In this music video it is done black and white which is just like 1975's Chocolate music video. 

Also the black and white colour effect is chosen to make it even more relatable to an Indie music video. Most of the music video that are black and white are normally used to establish a hipster feel of art and also to represent sadness or a strong emotion.

In here we use the sky to pin point the plot and the location of the music video. This helps reinforces the plot of the whole story to make the audience understand the whole story better. In this , the music video takes place in Thailand which these things are main symbols of the Thai culture. It also tells us the time of the day it is. 

This is somewhat similiar to our music video as it also focus on the sky where it is symbolic for "change"

Digipack conventions.

In order to know more about  digipaks conventions I decided to do more researches  on digipak. I found that the following convention of a digipak has an artist's name, image, detail of the tracks ,track listing , lyrics. 

We did not only focus on selling the digipak for the audiences but we also have a vinyl version of the CD to target our target audience which are the hipsters who may listen to this type of music. The reason for this is that

We started off researching the Artists which match with our genre of music:

Artist from the same genre. (Similar to our artist) 

1. Robin Schulz

2. Lorde 

3. Grimes 

4. Sky Ferreira 

5. Lana Delby

6. Bjork

7. Lana Del Rey

From my research I found that the type of music matches in general and the type or music video they have. It is very relaxing and quite arty. It is mostly a narrative piece which is not really a performance show. But we also look in more detail at female solo artists like Lana del rey, Lorde and Grimes. The things that they have in common is they show strong emotions in their music videos and most of them tend to have songs which relates to " love". I believe the reason for this is because  the music industry's stereo type of females. Also the female artists in the music tends to be gracefully shown and seen in a beautified version. They way they dress is also very feminine in their music videos the things like makeup and clothes reinforces the female quality and beauty of every female. Their strong emotions are reinforced by the close-ups to their faces as well as OBJECTIFICATION in some parts of the music video to show the female characteristic.Also their music videos are quite similiar to story telling and shows their journey in their lives for example : Lana Del Rey's Ride music video  

The music video tends to follow the main character around showing her perspective and how she communicates symbolically with objects around her.

Also the reason for this is because female dominance is playing a huge part in the music industry these days. So in order to successfully market our product we should follow the trends of the music industry.

The digipak inspiration that we think will me suitable the most is Troye Sivan’s album cover”

It’s a pinting of him instead of a photoshoot. The reason that we use this as an inspiration is to represent the “ Hipster” attitude and the psychedellic sense to the whole album which will be used to attract our target audience which are people who likes art and Hipsters. This gives the buyer the feeling of the album taking them to another world and persuading them to think they will experience another new whole dimension of music. The reason for the “Colour Splash effect” is to fully emphasis on the main points of the whole album which is the rose which is coloured in red and the flag coloured in which contrasts with the black and white background. This shows the important elements within the album cover and hints the audience that it might be about love ( roses) and culture (Thailand).

For our digipak the back cover is intentionally done like this to create a deeper meaning and depth to the overall album. We used the idea of rope to symbolise

and it is used to be a tool of mending and fixing what is broken.

The symbolic meaning or significance of a rope is knowledge. it also mean that the spirit world is handing you knowledge or you were given knowledge you were seeking for where she is learning from love and being heart broken.

 Throughout this album " My Melanie" will be singing songs about her journey through the path of love which she encountered both good times and bad times. Petals is the first chapter to her story which is about her and her loved one. We will be ending the album with "Fountains" 

WEBSITE

Furthermore, we also have merchandise line for Krung Thep where we promote 

" My Melanie "'s product. This is very crucial as it allows fans to stay updated and collect the T shirts. This is benefitical for the long-term as it will allow weares to help promote the artist when they wear it outside.

2

How do your products represent social groups or issues?

In this project we are trying to represent the "Thai" culture by which we emphasise on the Thai values such as being "conservative" in love where they compress their emotions in and will not show their * out for eveyone to see. Thai girls could even be described as keeping their feelings to themselves . In this we tried to show the thought processes and what might be going on through a female's mind this is done through having the main character as a female who seems to be singing her thoughts out to the audience. This outlines the culture of not having the freedom of speech where it is heavily * in Thailand. Furthermore, in this video we are highlighting the issue of " self- alienation" and " self -isolation" which is very common among the Thai youth which is then ironically is considered as socially acceptable due to the persona of being conservative about feelings. Orientalism is a major emphaisis in this project as our theme is " Thai" it strong conveys the Thai attributes and way of life and being " Asian".

( This part where she winks on the beat of the song makes the viewer engaged with the overall music video as it seems like she/he is almost communicating with them through his/her glare)

We used this song for our research on Thai girls where the lyrics is about the persona of a Thai girl.

f religious engagement as a developmental resource that guide youth to become responsible, caring, and civic-minded adults as well as enhances the youth’s prosocial behaviors. Bhuddism is the main focus in our music video. We represent this through bhuddism rituals in our music videos this includes liting candels, praying, the images of temples to fully emphasis the "Thai" culture on the power of religion and idolising a as Bhuddism is  a symbol for the Thai identity.

Where in this we are stereotyping the idea of Asia as being irrational and spiritual where we use the idea of the " Mystic Asian" in this which is the main character and also an idea of female Asians as being vulnerable and

 we were tring to investigate the relationship between religiosity and prosocial behavior by combining the ideas of beign spiritual by showing rituals and at the same time contra?

Our music video is similiar to an art video where almost eveyrthing is symbolic. The reason for this is because we are targeting for a specific social group which are the hipsters for example. Hipsters like to listen to Indie music where the music video and music has a deep meaning and are very symbolic. It is also very visually appealing to the viewer and is more like an art piece than a music video. "Dek Naew" are often teenagers 

this represents this social group because 

Foreigners see Thailand as the land of smile but we are going againist the norm and * by * the * into sadness where melancholy and despair is represent in here which contradicts to the image of Thailand which I believe makes this video more interesting. The obvious issue that we are trying to bring up is the reality of Thailand where it is not as beautiful as it seems such as the people where when they are

people have a  glimpse of sadness under all those smiles and are broken. We showed this by the use of colour effect for this music video. The black and white colour effect adds on a tone to the music video making in ominious and depressing. It represents the sadness and despair of waiting for someone to come back which matches with the lyrics "   "

Our music video also represent the "Thai " idea of love which involves waiting and being conservative.In this  project , Gender plays a huge role in our story line. Thailand is a " male- dominant" country and tends to look up to males in every aspect of life and daily routine but however, in this we are stressing the issue of gender equality by emphasising on " female independence" looking from a female perspective in a relationship. This represents the Thai females

We also place a great emphasis on the location. The location is used to set an atmosphere and mood to the whole music video an the narrative is also reliant in this because the location must match the feeling and the style of the song

 In our music video we are outlining the typical Thai"middle class to lower class. This represents the typical Thai norm especially the market.We are also upbringing the issues such as poverty. We did this by having the main highlight of the video shot in the market and a portrait shot of people at the market. We also have footages of homeless people and things that may seem priceless like the ferris wheel that is so close to be broken. The reason we chose to put these things in is to convey sadness and to set an ominious mood to the whole music video.Youths have dreams, ambitions, and energy. However, they have been affected by the economic problems, There are not enough job opportunities for them and we represent this through the footages of kids looking straight into the camera with a glimpse of sadness.

We also have the elements of the contradiction between reality and dreams. This is done by having repeated frames in the beginning to convey flashbacks. During this frame it also outlines the issues of self alienation and social acceptance which is clearly seen when Melanie is in the middle of the streets and everyone is avoiding her and they think she is weird.

Evaluation 3

4

Question 4

How do your products engage with the audience?

I made my product appeal to our audience because of the music itself. Since it is a mix of Indie and a soft EDM so it is somehting that hipsters would go and listen to. 

From how we chose the genre of our music video , AT ropical House / Progressive Indie we are likely to attract people who like chilled music. Our target audiences ranges from 18 years old hipsters to 40. The reason for this variation is the 

Our music is a mixture of Indie because of the 
The reason that hispters might love our music video could be because hipsters like to listen to hipster music like Indie. Somehow this is a 
Hipsters also like the idea of "Music that doesn't even exist yet" or anything that is not mainstream. This is not an EDM type of music with an upbeat tone to it but rather something that people wold watch when they are alone. It is also quite psychedellic in a way because of the way My Melanie sings the song. It is very extended and has a dreamy feel to it which is very similiar to the Grimes and Shura which sing similiar type of songs.

Our audience is also anyone who is in a relationship and likes listening to loves song which is relatable to their situation. Our song is about love so perhaps it could attract teenage audiences. From a research I have looked at I discovered that people are likely to like somehting that they can relate to and have a common similiarity with. 

We are also targetting both foreigners and Thai audiences because it has an element of Thai value in it which perhaps will attract foreigners and people who likes to travel since our music video is just as similiar to being a post card which shows the insight of Thailand. Westerners also have an Orientalism * towards asian culture.
This type of music will be also played at pubs,bars and beachside where there is a high use of dreamy and flowy music. The reason for this is that these places are for relaxation and this is also a music for anyone who enjoys relaxing or spa as the beat are smooth and quite slow overall. This could even attract people who like to go out with their friends on a Friday night and drinkers and it is a perfect music for listening while doing drugs. Also, Old people would like because it is a calm music as older people prefer softer music than hardcore EDM.

b) Make a list of things/qualities/conventions you think that would appeal to your audience in ALL THREE OF YOUR PRODUCTS (music video, digipak, website).

c) Now use the list to identify key elements of products that you believe will appeal to your audience.

From further research I have came to a conclusion and have discovered the eight powerful creative forces that will appeal to our target audience.

RESEARCH

Carrying out a market research is very important as it will ensure us that the product that we are producing will fit with the audiences that we will be targetting. There are 2 types of method " Product- oriented or Market- oriented. The method that we are using is product oriented which means that we will produce the product first then find a market for it. This will ensure that the product will be able to make sales.

Emotion

"It reported that 89% of the respondents felt personal connection to the brands they buy". I believe that our product is  relatable to majority of people because of the common issue that is brought up, love.

PERSONALITY
we establish a specific personality type to affirm an audience’s belief about a product. The personality for our product is " conservative, classy , passionate" . We show this through the lyrics of the song, digipak and the website. The colour that we emphasise is " Black". Black is associated with power, elegance, formality. Personality also adds depth to the relationship with the audience by introducing a surprising aspect of the product’s persona where it can build a sense of scarcity and desire if it is used correctly.

FRAMING / COMPOSITION

Framing and composition must reflect a product’s personality. Doing this effectively requires a well-designed visual hierarchy. We use the rules of third in most of our work. Especially the digipak. It has symmetry and somehow it is good to look at overall.

MOTION

A slow-moving camera or lens communicates calmness in a music video, thoughtfulness, and confidence. More dynamic motion projects enthusiasm and vitality. The energy provided by camera or lens movement sets the tone and provides the emotional context for the product itself.

COLOUR 

 Colour in a music video, digipak and website convey the emotion that we want, and then using it effectively so that, it leaves a mark on the audience for example the black colour in our music video adds the sense of classiness to our product and somewhat is quite melancholy in the music wear the audience can relate the plot in the video to their lives. e.g. sad. The colour splash effect on the digipak is used to enhance the product physical appeal.Not only do those colors communicate balance and neutrality it allow us to show situations that reflect the audience’s own world and build emotional connections.

LOOK AND LIGHTING

Nowadays visual perfection has become the norm so it is very important for our product to be professionally made as consumers normally associate good looking products of having good quality and high standard. Also as we are presenting a vinyl of a first EDM/ Tropical house we create a "Novelty factor" to out product. This means that consumers will buy our product because of the sense of newness regardless of the price.

LOCATION, ENVIRONMENT, AND DRESS

"Malcolm Gladwell discusses in Blink, human beings absorb information in micro-second bursts and deduce enormous insight from fragments of evidence. This makes the choices of location, environment and dress absolutely crucial."

The layout of the product includes decisions about how products are wrapped or accessorized. It also shows that there is a product stylist for it which persuade the audiences that there is " ADDED VALUE" in the product.

to create "relatedness" with the target-market.

TYPOGRAPHY

"Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed."

what it says about your product can impact an audience for years. It is very important as the Type has its own personality and it reflects the characteristics of the product we want to accentuate. " Krung Thep" for example is a very attrcative word as it is not in the English dictionary. This catches the audience's attention because of it's bizarreness and how it is not cliche and mainstream. Also foreigners who've been to "Bangkok" would expect a party music due to Thailand's reputation of a partying country however, the cover of the digipak suggests something different which will make the consumers wonder what type of music could it be.