EVALUATION

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When I began creating this product, I knew that I wanted to make a piece that wasn’t supposed to be mainstream, instead it would be a cult like item that is valued on its artistic qualities rather that its coin value. After looking at the real version of this product as well as similar albums from the genre I found that most drum and bass acts have typically odd and often humorous, dark artwork that supports their music video, which itself can contain the most peculiar of images. For my product I decided to use this idea but to also add a professional approach towards it, due to the fact that it’s a limited edition digipak.

The videos itself challenged the genre by its odd camera work and unlikely theme, as well as its metaphorical and humorous subject matter. Most videos in the drum and bass genre have certain similar settings and mise en scene to create a feeling of energy and ecstasy, and can have shots of the artist, even if it’s not them playing or live on stage. One particular artist that uses many of the same connotations throughout their videos is the Prodigy, pieces such as Breathe, Firestarter, and No Good have the band placed in a staged dark, dingy location where they dance around and interact with strange objects or beings.

My video is nothing like these, and is instead the equivalent to the Prodigy’s video Smack My Bitch Up, which the band took a different direction with and decided to make it a P.O.V only piece. The band I used, chase&status, also have similar videos for their main releases, for instance Pieces, Let You Go and Time all feature themes of relationships, sex, abuse and drugs, so when I chose not to use one of their more famous songs I had to make a similar subjective video.

I developed their use of alcohol and similar substances to respond to certain parts of the song and certain energy levels, and showed this through camerawork and editing. In the section of the video where one character rolls a ‘cigarette’ and they smoke it while drinking, I used angled camera shots that had slow motion effect, as well as less cuts between shots to establish an atmosphere of euphoria, as the scene ended and the music began to pick up again I speeded up the cuts and added more dynamic camera shots, as well as using footage with energetic content.

My magazine advert and digipak have similar artwork and I based them around the idea of this album becoming recognised as a classic, using typical stylings of cinema and photography to enhance this idea. The magazine advert I wanted to look like a film still, as with the art cards, and added a letterbox and black and white effect, this was so it related to the old movies of the 30’s and 40’s, I also made the advert vertical so it had the widescreen look. I personally have only seen such products as Jack Daniels, Stella Artois and many perfume and aftershave promoters use a similar technique and decided to apply it to my product.

 I also used a typewriter font throughout the product, enhancing its classical quality and relating it to literature. One part of the digipak that stands out is the front cover, I chose an image that would become significant to the album, and made it the one image it is most recognised by, a factor common in the original version of the bulldog and yellow writing. I then used many small images of two portraits (chase and status respectively, my own images) and lightened or darken them to create a mosaic effect. This type of artwork has been used in many biographies and portraits by famous artists to join a person and their past/work/connections in a subliminal way. It makes the cover seem like a piece of art rather than an advertisement, and enhances my theme of the album being classically known or famously rated.

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

 When i began creating the digipak i decided that i would make it compact and detailed rather than filling it with lots of extras. i chose the simple four sided layout with a double disc ring on one side, and a booklet slot on the other, i then decided not to include a booklet but would have a selection of art cards dedicated to the making of the album, i also rounded of one corner to make it unique and noticeable, finally i placed a limited edition sticker on the cover explaining its content.

Because the video is unconventional i wanted the album to have the same styling and feel, within the video there are at times a lack of colour variety and even though it isn’t in black and white, it has the same effect where you notice the content in a clearer sense than its presentation. When shooting the video i filmed certain images and locations to make it memorable and unique, for instance the ending shot and the sequence based around the monument, and i included the same idea in the digipak and magazine advert. The front cover of the digipak is of the monument, and i used stills from the video to form the portraits that make up the image, this shows a clear connection between the products and helps notify the themes and subjects it is aimed at.

Another relation between the three products is the idea of darkness, even though the drum and bass genre is very energetic and dynamic, they have a smooth slow rhythm and many of the tracks on this album represent dark subject matters. I wanted to emphasise this as much as possible and that is why i based the video around two homeless men, as one of the worlds most forgotten peoples, they lurk in shadows and the night and both the video and ancillary texts have dark sections and shaded areas. Even the image of different texts (song lyrics) have a night graffiti atmosphere to them, and are based on the vandalism that is created during the darkness and help signify the music videos meaning and representation. The live at nightfest DVD was also included to further my aim of the night and darkness. I used the same style fonts between the digipak and magazine advert to empower my theme of classic movies and literature, and to some texts added the slightest tint of yellow to connect it to the orange, streetlight like aura of my music video.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I posted my music video upon YouTube and facebook, and have had around 85 views with two comments, as for the ancillary texts they are only upon my blog.

What I have mostly learned from my video is that people have liked the idea and they have praised my camerawork and song choice, but that the middle of the video is a little slow, a factor I personally wanted to change if it wasn’t for deadlines and time. I have learnt that my approach to the video was correctly taken but there were many ways I could have created it. it has been said that maybe a more mainstream and typical piece that would appeal to a greater audience, would have gave the video a feel of greater realism, and that if I had put representatives of the band and vocalists singing the lyrics it would have shown them in the spotlight and heightened the videos advertising. I chose not to create such a video because of how the genre and its bands are placed in the music industry, drum and bass has always been a movement rooted from underground nightclubs and artists, and generally their music videos show this part of civilisation. The prodigy are fantastic examples of this motive, they are one of the worlds most famous drum and bass acts and even in their latest work, they still produce videos that represent the genre and music at its source (see music videos such as Invaders Must die staring Noel Clark, a renown underground British film director and actor).

I showed my digipak and magazine article to a friend and he said he was surprised at the style of artwork I chose to represent the artist. As a Chase and Status fan himself, he liked how I portrayed the darker side of their music; he also gave positive reactions to my connection of the album with the film industry and its iconography (the letterbox effect, turning the magazine advert on its side (widescreen)). The effect I used upon the front cover, placing many images together to create one, wasn’t the first time I have used it in my work, I have previously created a large license plate out of many images of cars, another project I showed my acquaintance which he praised, and agreed that it worked well with my themes and artwork, especially as a front cover which is the most recognised part of an album or digipak.

The feedback I received surrounding the genre itself interested me and influenced the outcome of my project. When asking people about what they classified drum and bass as they never gave a direct and simple answer, and instead explained how it is an odd genre that has many different styles and fan types.  When asking them how they would describe a drum and bass music video they responded with ideas of extreme energy, dancing, special effects and plotlines of nightclubs and social events, usually involving alcohol and drugs, I used this information to create a video that showed the typical factors of a drum and bass video, but one that showed them in an unlikely setting with characters and plot points that give it a subliminal meaning, referencing the birth of the genre rather than its current location in civilisation.