Question 2

Question 1

At the beginning of term, my objective was to produce a three to five minute long music video, using a song previously created by an artist of a certain genre, and either conform of subvert the stereotype of this genre through the use of conventions. As well as creating two ancillary texts, a magazine advert and digipak. I chose to use 'Blue Jeans' by Lana Del Rey through an RAC Remix therefore including both indie and house genres. I chose to use the indie genre as the genre is known for being 'individual' and diverse, therefore I would be able to create a diverse and creative video for my niche audience. I was also asked to create two ancillary texts, a digipak and magazine advert for my chosen artist and album, which would compliment the music video. A music video can be defined as a series of clips or images played in synchronisation to a musical track, created by the artist.

Vasil Nikolov and Ayesha Bhatti worked alongside me when creating these products. There were many roles that me and my group needed to take on. For example, my role was to act as the artist within my music video therefore, I needed to be able to film and needed to commit to filming and the music video. This allowed me to work well the rest of my group as I needed to be more involved and communicate well with the people I worked with. From fulfilling this role, I learnt how an artist can be conventional to their genre through costume and overall persona therefore I now possess a more detailed insight on artist representation and how important following conventions are to a niche audience and to become a role that the audience can build a relationship with and will continue to buy into.

I made sure to research into my chosen indie genre as well as conventions and artist representation, therefore I firstly analysed previously created music videos to gain more knowledge for when I needed to create my own production.

Music videos should include certain elements as well as researched theories in order to become successful. For example, through research for my own product, an inspiration of mine was the 'Robbers' music video by 'The 1975'. This video contained many micro elements that highlighted the indie/electric genre, represented the artist and overall influenced me within my own production. Firstly, this video includes elements of Goodwin's theory, linking to ideologies/elements that successful music videos contain, an example of this is the direct link between lyrics and visuals. A shot of Matty, the lead singer is added as a long shot is used to show his partner drag him away from a gas station after a failed robbery. This editing used in sync with this long shot is much faster, linking to the upbeat part of the song and lyrics 'now everybody's dead' which is sung louder, with a more shouted element. This all works together to create a hectic and much more tense atmosphere as opposed to the romantic array of shots previous to this. This causes the audience to feel for the artist due to the context, which links to a part of Adorno's theory as an effect on the audience is created as they watch a product that causes them to copy the emotions shown within for example, despair due to the shooting. The audience are also more interested in what they see due to the visuals used as the pace is changed up, creating more action which further highlights the electric genre, also.

This music video also includes elements of mise en scene that I wanted to incorporate within my own production. The iconography used is explicit as the drugs and alcohol highlight various messages for example, the theme of addiction, which can link to love and romance, further. This causes the target audience (18-28 in this case) to relate to the artist as well as raising the idea that the artist is deemed as normal and possessing addictions and habits like everybody else in the world. This element also conforms to Dyer's star theory as the artist portrays rebellious values. This overall conformed to the indie and electric genre, as artists within these genres portray smoking or drinking habits as a way of exposing parts of their life to the audience.

Lastly, this music video follows Goodwin's theory of a structure through a narrative and ideologies of a concept. The music video is based on the idea of Quentin Tarantino movies, specifically 'True Romance'  and also the context behind Bonnie and Clyde. This includes the idea of a unique love that causes the couple to feel that they are the centre of the universe. This is constantly portrayed through reckless acts that the couple take part in together without any remorse. This appeals to a universal audience as this is an ode to relationships that everyone in the world wants to experience and is also conventional to the indie genre as artists within this genre typically highlight elements of their lives to their audience as a way of creating a bond to strengthen their fan base.

I have overall chosen these three elements as they create an impact and created a successful music video. All elements are conventional to my chosen indie genre, also as the artist portrays element of their lifestyle to create a deeper relationship with their audience. Our music video contains these elements and also develops the indie genre as more elements are used for example, the inclusion of autumnal colours through filters and naturalistic forest settings and the use of vintage costumes. The indie genre is developed further through the song itself through the use of a remix therefore the added house genre will interest a wider audience.

The indie genre is followed within my music video through the idea of conventions. This can be seen through mise en scene, specifically setting. This is due to the fact that I placed my artist within the forest in flashback scenes when she first introduced to the main love interest. This creates a romantic and mythical theme, highlighting the artists true feelings, causing her to open up to her audience, causing them to respect her and idolise her. This overall appeals to my target audience of 16-18 year old females as this gender stereo-typically enjoy the idea of love and romance, especially through my narrative as the artist and her boyfriend break up, which females within this age category can relate to.I overall chose to conform to the indie genre as videos within this genre typically include a cheap, naturalistic setting to make the artist the main attraction, therefore allowing the audience to see their idol through out.

I continued to follow indie conventions within my music video, in order to appeal to my more niche audience by changing up the visuals/effects of the music video. I completed this through editing on Final Cut Pro X through applying the filter Aged Film to clips when the artist first meets the main love interest. These filters were layered over flashback shots which provided them with more of a vintage vibe, which is diverse and changes dynamics compared to pop/chart music videos. Changing up dynamics through conventions such as editing are aspects that indie artists enjoy to apply for their niche audience, in order to differentiate their look compared to other genres in order to become more noticeable.

I then made sure to conform and subvert conventions of the indie genre to continue to change dynamics and add new elements to the genre. This was completed through the use of costume, and a long shot to highlight the artist in her vintage clothing and high angles to highlight her casual clothing. Adding a range of costumes and connotations of clothing, creates a more diverse and memorable video for the audience to enjoy and for female members of the audience to aspire to.
The use of ranging costume also conforms to the indie genre, as the artist's look is typically simplistic to become relatable to the audience linking to the idea that the artist wears her boyfriend's checked t shirt which is relatable to the female majority of the audience, as they may have been in this break up situation in their past, therefore they are able to trust and respect the artist. However, I also subvert the indie genre as the artist also wears more expensive clothing, to highlight how she took care of her appearance when with her boyfriend. This overall links to Dyer's Star Theory as in his first paradox he believes that an artist can be ordinary and extraordinary, simultaneously. This is evident within my own music video as her more expensive clothing links to the romantic lyrics, highlighting her extraordinary talent and clothing choice as well as clips of her singing sadly to the audience, in her ex-boyfriend's shirt which is more ordinary and attainable which is conventional to the indie genre and also appeals to the target audience especially females therefore a relationship is created which strengthens the artist's fan base as she is so relatable, causing her products to be continuously bought into.

Next, I decided to conform to the indie genre further by using other conventions such as iconography, specifically drugs and cigarettes, and making them the focal point through extreme close ups at the end of the music video, as the artist drops the alcohol bottle and takes drugs, using the kuleshov effect as a death is inferred. This is relatable to the indie genre as artists within the genre typically highlight elements of their life with their audience in order to create a bond and open up to them. This then appeals to the target audience as they can relate to her habits and even bond with her emotionally as a negative break up has caused to take drugs and drink, including Adorno's theory of a passive audience once again, suggesting that the possess false needs as they believe that they need to be in a happy relationship to be happy and like their idol.

Within my created music video, I have added elements of Goodwin's theory as a way of making my music video conventional to the indie genre, to please my niche audience. This was completed through adding a link between the lyrics and visuals for example the fast lyrics 'I stay up waiting, anticipating and chasing' to different shots of the artist walking around the room and waiting sadly for her boyfriend. By synchronising two elements together, both the song and music video become more memorable to the audience, creating larger promotion for both products as well as creating negative imagery, making the audience feel for the artist and possibly relate to her life.

Lastly, I included cinematography techniques to highlight conventions that conform to the indie genre. I used a panning shot when my artist skate boarded in a park, to highlight the action. Skate boarding are activities conventional to indie artists and are evident within many videos. This shot also develops to the house genre as I used fast editing on Final Cut Pro X through the re time tool by 25%. This shot creates the convergence of two genres, which would appeal to a niche audience as well as becoming conventional enough to appeal to a wider audience, therefore increasing revenue.


Fundamentally, I believe that I have created a successful music video as I gathered a large amount of research into the indie genre pre-production and during, by analysing into my artist's success and life style as well as analysing previously created music videos for codes and conventions in order to discover how to make my products appeal to my niche audience. I overall chose to conform to the indie genre through artist representation by creating my artist 'Autumn Healy' who is conventional to the indie genre as she is relatable to the target audience due to themes associated with her (romance and reckless behavior) as well as conventions such as clothing to create a more realistic artist. Conforming to the indie genre became the best decision as I began to analyse diversity within the music industry and how more creative music videos are appreciated by a niche audience causing products to become more successful and unique compared to pop music.

Question 4

Question 3

What have you learnt from audience feedback?

Evaluating work is extremely important for a number of reasons for example gathering feedback. It is important to gain audience feedback on works that have been created, especially for my group. It is crucial as I used feedback to strengthen my final product in response to comments from my target audience. A target audience can be defined as a particular group of people that are identified as the intended recipient of a product. The purpose of a target audience is to identify which elements and conventions to include within a music video to be able to appeal to a certain group of people and in order to create a successful music video. 

My group played our rough cut to a group of peers in order to gather this feedback. After the video had finished, I provided the group with a number of questions asking how I could improve our video and their overall opinions based on aspects that would be beneficial for my products. This evaluation stage is crucial in order to identify whether my products are successful and if there are aspects I could include to improve my products. From evaluating work, I gathered a more detailed knowledge on the genre and the elements and conventions within in the genre and how to conform to the genre more effectively. By producing my rough cut to a group of peers, I was able to gain varied comments and allow others to evaluate my production.

From this I gained positive comments such as 'Conventions of the genre are highlighted effectively through out' and 'features a varied use of micro elements such as cinematography.' However I also gained more constructive comments such as 'Too many repetitive clips, which causes the narrative to become unclear', 'the use of the same editing techniques causes the video to become boring' and 'there is not enough performance'. From a more professional perspective I saw these comments as being more constructive than negative and after watching the video back my group even agreed with these comments and we were ready to take them on board in order to improve my music video to cater to my niche audience. From these comments, I gained fair opinions from viewers suggesting how my music video could be strengthened. 

The comments were extremely useful and have influence me as I have changed elements of my group's music video to incorporate these comments. I started to feel more confident within my producer role from these comments, as I now knew aspects that my niche audience wanted to see. The first constructive comment related to the repetition of clips causing the narrative to become unclear. To overcome this, I deleted these shots and re-filmed new ones such as the artist on a skateboard and on a roller coaster. I believed that these shots and events were more exciting to watch due to the nature of the clips and what the artist is doing, causing the video to include elements of the house genre as well as the shots are faster, which causes a change in dynamics which is more interesting and is also more diverse for my niche audience. The second constructive comment linked to the overuse of editing techniques therefore, I deducted editing techniques that were included a high amount of times such as the glory filter and added more filters through through Final Cut Pro X such as the Aged Film filter over the flashback sequences of the artist and her boyfriend reliving positive memories to adapt to our indie genre by creating a vintage theme therefore to appealing to our niche audience and lastly the last comment regarding lack of performance I made sure to re-film and add in shots of the artist singing to the camera, specifically romantic lyrics such as 'I will love you til the end of time' in order to build a relationship and promote the artist further. 

I chose to upload my rough cut to Youtube as I was able to identify a more niche audience that enjoy the indie genre therefore, I was able to gain more constructive comments based on how to improve my music video and if this target audience would be able to relate to my artist. This website also enabled my production to expand to a wider audience which is a positive aspect, as I became able to gain more varied comments. Youtube allows individuals to view/comment/share/like videos which would cause a music video to gain more views, and shared through the inclusion of twitter and facebook buttons, causing the music video to be promoted on a much wider scale. Youtube is positive website to use for every type and scale of artist. For example, small scale artists are enabled to promote and share their music globally and on a larger scale due to the amount of people on Youtube worldwide, therefore feedback is gained from a larger audience and comments are given to help to develop to a more professional producer as comments are taken on board.  

Feedback is crucial to have when working in the music industry as the artist is provided with comments based on what they should improve, therefore they are well respected for taking audience's points on board as well as strengthening their products due to constructive comments, therefore the artists create higher quality products for their fan base that would continue to buy into them. From taking on roles in regards to the music industry and gaining feedback, I was able to develop through the production stages as I used new websites such as Youtube to promote the artist and music video and then use these comments from the website to create a stronger and more entertaining music video. This technology would be a positive element within the music industry as feedback from this website would be able to be used to develop in order to succeed within the business. These comments will allow me to strengthen as a producer as I was enabled to change more unsuccessful elements within my music video in order to take on board other people's opinions in order to create a more successful music video.

Final Group Music Video

West Hatch High School 16807
Lily Badcock 3204
I also worked alongside:
Ayesha Bhatti 3018
Vasil Nikolov 4240

Final Group Magazine Advert

Final Group Digipak

Group magazine advert- Miss Miller

To create an establish and successful magazine advert, myself and my group took part in a meeting in order to present our previously created individual magazine adverts in order to create a finalised group magazine advert using ideas each group member had previously incorporated. This allowed the group to construct a final product that promoted our artist in a certain way as well and portraying conventions of the indie genre. Alike our individual magazine adverts, we created our final group magazine through the use of Photoshop software where we were able to use various tools to create our digipak such as the lasso tool for cutting around images, and then filters for editing. By comparing ideas and choosing the positive elements, we were able to assemble a magazine advert that we considered a success.

My group compared all of our ideas and previously created individual magazine adverts together to create one finalised group magazine advert. We chose my initial magazine advert to work from, however would adapt elements for example, the text to make it easier to read by using other texts within my group member's individual adverts. I believe that the group worked together to adapt the individual magazine advert by all members having input on what we believed should be added from each idea and what elements should be changed or adapted. 

From Vasil's individual magazine advert, the group took on board elements of the text used as well as conventions of our chosen genre. The text type chosen from Photoshop looked extremely person and hand written, giving the impression that this came from the artist herself. Personality is often portrayed within the indie genre and causes the advert to appeal to the target audience as a bond is created through these personal elements. The group also agreed that elements of the backdrop such as a tree gave a positive vibe and portrayed a direct link to the artist's name. This also highlighted conventions of the indie genre due to the naturalistic features. Although these are positive aspects, there are aspects within this magazine advert that the group thought were too bold and completely subverted the indie genre as well as theories we had previously gathered. For example, this subverted aspects of Goodwin's theory as the artist only appeared in a small space, therefore was not promoted well enough and should be the main focus of the advert. The pictures did not blend in to the scenery and overall, the artist should be promoted more to the audience and within the music industry. Lastly, although simple and short language is a positive element, we thought that the amount of text added became too impersonal therefore we would add more so that the audience would build a relationship with the artist. 

From my individual digipak, the group have chosen to use the writing style, layout, and elements written. This advert includes a mid shot of the artist, so that the audience could clearly see her therefore developing a bond as the artist is looking into the camera lense as well as promoting her image and album successfully to the public and music industry. The image also contained aspects that conformed to the indie genre due to the appearance of a cigarette that indie genre tend to convey bad habits to show parts of their life to their audience. The group believe that the text type was the best option to use in our final advert as the text seemed hand written, causing our creation to become more personal from the artist, therefore creating a bond. The elements written were also appreciated by the group as the artist's name and album name are written in a larger font, causing them to become a focal point as well as including a positive promotion tool. The website added is also a positive element to include as the audience are able to connect with the artist and the use of this causes her to become promoted on a wider scale. Although this was the advert the group chose to adapt, some elements would be changed. For example, we believe that the text was difficult to read due to the darker colouring within the picture, therefore we will focus on changing the filters and adapting this to the colour of the typography.

Firstly, the group decided to make the artist's name blue and bold and also in a hand writing font to make the look seem feminine and personal, the boldness also highlights the importance of the artist and causes her to become the focal point. Her name is also centred in the middle of tree, highlighting the artist's importance and promotes her to a wider audience. The colour blue also connotes the traits of intelligence and trust, and as her name is written in this colour, the artist is aligned with this positive traits which causes the audience to idolise this. The album title is also in bold as well as the same blue colour and is presented in a type written style, to show the theme of vintage alike the artist's clothing and musical style and again, makes the cover more personal, appearing as this came from the artist herself, which highlights that she takes her work seriously and enjoys involving the audience. We chose to apply these types of fonts from mine and Vasil's individual magazine advert as this is more personal from the artist and causes a bond with the audience. The group also used more white text from Vasil's advert as this is more visible on the trunk of the tree, aligning herself with the nature and also promoting aspects her album successfully as they become easier to view, for example the artist's website. This colour links to the idea of purity which links to themes within the artist's songs, which is conventional of the indie genre as artists within this genre add elements on to their album that link to their songs, which causes links for their audience, making their products more memorable. The group agreed that adding bold colours and fonts would make them appear more prominent and not sink into the picture and disappear. 

The group decided to change the picture from a close up to this image to differ from the images used within our digipak, providing the audience with more images of the artist. However, the artist is still shown conveying a vintage style with a floral two piece and a flower head crown. From this shot, the audience are able to see the artist's entire image, and show her vintage yet relatable look to the audience. This representation still conforms to the indie genre as her look is interesting and unique which the audience would admire. We also decided the artist should still be holding a cigarette, which conforms to the indie genre as the audience view parts of the artist's life and also highlighting her relatable elements due to the smoking habit, much like a few members of her audience, which shows that she also possesses 'everyday' habits. This image of the artist causes her to become the main focus of the advert, which promotes the artist further and makes her look powerful and strong. 
She also leans against a tree which highlights the idea of nature, which conforms to the indie genre due to naturalistic themes. The use of this scenery creates a clever way to add the text, causing it to become visible as well as adding a simplistic setting that doesn't take attention away from the artist. The artist again is dressed in a floral, vintage outfit, head crown, large backcombed hair and 60s makeup for example nude, plump lips and cat eye eyeliner. This creates an effortless look, intriguing female audiences and exciting male fans. This causes the artist to be seen as an idol and makes her seem more important as she links to Hollywood movie stars from an earlier time. The relatable look also creates a relatable artist which appeals to the audience as she is impressionable therefore they would want to recreate the look themselves. The look incorporated also links to the sound and ideologies of the artist's music which highlights the indie genre. 

The group chose to use elements of my layout as it is not complicated, and overpowering which causes the artist to stand out, showing her importance and promoting her to the public. This idea links to the indie genre as the idea of simplicity is apparent through out the use of these elements. The picture also contains elements of naturalistic features as the artist is surrounded by trees and is pictured having flowers in her hair. This is conventional of the indie genre as this contains naturalistic themes such as the forest. The group decided that we should keep these features to appeal to the target audience and include direct links to the indie genre. Inspirations from research inspired this as indie artists such as Florence and the Machine and naturalistic features to their work. Through this layout, the artist is the main focus of the advert through the use of the chosen image, which highlights her importance as well as her involvement within the album which causes to be promoted and receive attention.

Many of the the elements included within our final magazine advert conform to the genres that we have selected. The group discussed that my advert did not include enough elements of the house genre, as we are also choosing this genre as the song used is a remix.This finalised magazine advert also includes conventions of the house genre for example the use of bright colours, which causes the advert to stand out and highlight the house genre therefore connecting to this audience type. We also added in elements of the indie genre such as naturalistic settings with added trees and darker, autumnal colours which connects to the sound of the original song. Due to the mix of genres, we incorporated aspects of both into our final magazine advert, which will increase the artist's revenue as this targets two different types of audiences.

Lastly, the language used within this final advert is shorter and colloquial/informal including elements from my advert as well as expanding Vasil's one and making the text more detailed. This element is enough to stand out to the audience as well as not diverting attention away from the artist. This feature is highlighted through a shortened date, which can make the date of release more memorable to the audience. Also, the use of the colloquial phrase 'includes hit' gets to the point and expresses the successful song 'Born to Die' to viewers showing the artist's success and promotes individual songs to her fans as well as the album, which highlights her successful career to the wider public. 

Overall, I believe that this final magazine advert has proven extremely conventional and conforms to the indie genre. This is apparent through the use of imaging for example, as the scenery is extremely naturalistic which we found from artists within this genre such as Ellie Goulding conforms to. The artist also wears vintage clothing and brings back fashion from an earlier time, which also highlights features of the indie genre. I also believe that this advert appeals to my target audience as aspects chosen were specifically added for the audience to create a bond with the artist for example, the hand written style typography causes the advert to see more personal, which builds a relationship with the artist. This highlights that the artist were extremely important through the production of the overall album. Working in a group for this magazine advert made the creation run efficiently as each member supplied ideas and roles that the fulfilled for example, one member worked on Photoshop, the other would research and another group member would contribute creative ideas. Through working successfully as a group, I believe that the final magazine advert has been completed professionally and successfully.

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Group Digipak- Miss Miller

My group compared all of our ideas and individual digipaks together to create one final group digipak. We chose my initial digipak however, chose to include Ayesha's front cover as it fit the theme and held more connotations. The group worked together to adapt the original digipak by all having input bases on what we thought should be changed or adapted. 

 This is Vasil's individual digipak. From this, we chose to adapt the font and the use of the artist's signature. The group found that the text used included a hand written style which will allow the audience to bond with the artist as the font provides authentic and personal themes, which is also conventional of the indie genre. This links in with the added signature on a quote page, causing the digipak to posses more personal qualities and is more important to the audience. The image used is also an element we may take on board as the artist creates a bond with the audience as she looks straight down the camera lense, causing them to look up to their idol. The image used is also conventional to the indie genre due to the use of mise en scene, for example costume as the artist wears a flower crown. This is conventional to the indie genre due to the use of naturalistic attire and also connotes romantic themes within the songs. Although the group chose to adapt a number of elements within this digipak, we also expressed elements that we thought would not represent or promote the album and artist in a successful way. This is due to the mismatching images for example, the front cover of the artist with the outside scenery behind her does not link to the other images including a restaurant and a poker game. The mixture of images and layouts can prove too confusing the audience, and highly subverts the indie genre as attention is taken away from the artist, which causes a lack of promotion.

Next, from Ayesha's group magazine advert we chose to adapt the layout of the front cover, the text and the extra images. The elements used within the digipak included many positive elements that would successfully represent the artist as well as the indie genre. The image used causes the audience to bond with the artist due to eye contact causing audience involvement. The element of mise en scene clothing, is also conventional to the indie genre and represents the artist in a positive light, appealing to female audience members due to admiration and males due to an element of a natural appearance as well as flirtatious elements due to plumped lips, and feline like eye make up. The overall layout of the front cover proved conventional to the indie genre due to the use of romantic flowers and involved connotations of naturalistic features. The font is included in a hand written style, which causes the digipak to become more personal from the artist, creating a bond with the audience. Lastly, the layout is extremely eye catching due to the colours used as the whole digipak links together however, the group will look at changing/adapting the colours as the pink convey connotations of the 'pop' genre than our chosen indie genre.  

Lastly, from my own group magazine advert we chose to adapt the layout of every page but the front cover, the text, the extra images, note to fans and overall imaging such as the CD disk. The elements used within the digipak included many features that would be applied to represent the artist successfully as well as conforming to the indie genre. Many of the element added purposely connote a range of themes, for example colour choice such as red connoting love and passion, which is conventional to the indie genre, highlights the themes within some of the artist's songs and causes the target audience, mostly females, to bond with the artist and relate to these added elements. The text used within the fan acknowledgement page and song list is used to form a bond with the audience. This is because type written text is used that looks more authentic and personal from the artist and also conforms to the indie genre as features are purposely added to make the audience bond with the artist. Images were added to appeal to the target audience for example to mid shot extra image, as females would admire the effortless yet attractive look and males would find elements attractive such as the make up and outfits. The group chose this digipak as out main focus as many aspects such as the layout is conventional to the indie genre and completely involves the audience for example, the romantic inclusions of the rose on the back page, as a sign of love and admiration from the artist, for her fans. Although this digipak featured most of the elements we will be using, the front page does not blend well as an image, as the black text is not very visible on the floral background, therefore we will use Ayesha's front cover as an influence. 

We chose to edit the front cover so that the colours and font compliments the other pages within the digipak however, we kept other elements the same as we believed that they promoted the artist well to the audience whilst conforming to the indie genre. This final digipak appeals to our target audience as it includes romantic themes that females can relate to as well as highlight elements of the indie genre that our niche audience would appreciate. This also promotes our artist effectively as the connotations that appear for example, the idea of love and romance, cause the artist to portray a positive vibe and traits to the target audience.

Firstly, the colours I chose to apply within the digipak are used to exploit the themes of the music and represent the artist as well as the genre. The colour red is used within the roses on the CD, with a white background to make the flowering and colouring stand out. This highlights the idea of romance and causes the audience to view the artist's feminine side, causing her to promote the idea of love to a wider audience. This is a common colour used within the indie genre as love is a conventional theme that indie artists portray to their audience as they show their fans elements of their life such as experiences such as relationships and break ups, causing them to create a strong bond with fans. The same red rose appears on the back cover along with the red lyrics 'I will love you til the end of time' on the fan message. This shows the artist's love for the fans as well as the theme of love and passion that is reflected within songs on the album. This overall shows appreciation for her fans as this message came directly from the artist, creating a bond. On an extra picture, the artist is wearing a blue co-ord suit which is a colour connoting trust, wisdom and intelligence therefore,the artist is promoting herself in a positive way, as she links herself to these traits which also adds to her character and the audience's opinion on her as she shows elements that can be idolised and highlight other features than her talent specifically. The colours of black and white are used on the front cover to connote the idea of good vs evil which are themes raised within her songs, causing them to become more memorable. A deep red is used for the text on the front cover to highlight the artist's name and the album name 'Nostalgic' highlighting that love is a theme through out the album and promotes these memories to her audience, which is also conventional of the indie genre as artists open up to their fans and share life experiences with them.

The artist, Autumn Healy is placed in the centre with the use of a mid shot, which promotes the artist further. This highlights the artist's importance as she is looks straight into the camera lense which causes the audience to look at her, which is inviting and causes a relationship to build. This also causes her to look confident as she smokes and looks into the camera, showing evidence of Dyer's theory as she shows her rebellious side, which is conventional of the indie genre as dynamics are changed. The artist also wears natural make up in each picture, reflecting an old hollywood look which is both unachievable and achievable as the look is simple to re-create. The artist also had back combed hair, linking to this and with a flower crown which is conventional of the indie genre as naturalistic features are included caused that artist to look unartificial. The artist also holds a cigarette in the extreme close up of an extra picture. This exposes and promotes the audience as she takes up the whole back page, following Goodwin's theory and also conforms to indie genre as habits such as this link to depressed emotions which link to the sound of the music and the messages within, this can link to older members of the artist that also possess the habits. The other extra image is a mid shot of the artist standing and smirking at the camera as she's placed in the centre of the shot. 
Another extra image is used as the artist is placed in the middle of the shot as mid shot is being used to show this. This promotes the artist further as she becomes more recognisable.  The artist wears traditions 60s/vintage clothes reflecting that of an earlier time which is conventional of the indie genre and causes the audience to look up to her new/revolutionary image. Autumn also wears natural makeup, with an element of the 1960s for example nude, big lips and winged eyeliner. This causes her to look more natural and not over done, which causes women to look up to her and also appeals to male audience members as she looks flirtatious and intriguing therefore, her image can appeal to a wider audience.

Next, the design and layout of the images within the digipak include scenaries that are not overly attention grabbing, the background is naturalistic which links to indie genre and also does not take attention away from the artist, promoting her further to the audience and highlights the idea that she is the most important element of the album. The background elements make the pictures more interesting to look at especially the black roses on the front cover however, are still natural and the artist is still in the centre of the images therefore, the audience focus on the artist mostly building a larger bond with her especially as she looks straight at them through the camera angles. The creation of a relationship with the audience conveys love messages within the songs and the roses on the front cover and CD disk as she shows care for her audience and the appreciate this, as her songs and music videos become more personal from the artist. This again links to the front cover as roses are used behind the artist. 

The name of the artist, 'Autumn Healy' is written in bold, red writing at the top of the front cover in a 'snell hound' handwriting font from Photoshop which adds a more personal element from the artist to the audience, on the front cover. This causes her name to stand out on the black background and is in the centre alongside her image, which causes her to become the focal point and more recognisable in stores, which highlights Goodwin's theory as the artist is promoted, intriguing and exciting fans. The album name on the front is written in the same colour font adding a personal touch also, as well as being extremely feminine and vintage, linking to her look and romantic themes within her music. The song titles are written in black and dark red to stand out to the public as well as being written in a type written style which is diverse and links to the indie genre and also makes the back cover look authentic from the artist. The note to fans is written in the same style, adding personality and creating a bond and showing that she cares about them due to this acknowledgement. A signature from the artist is also added at the bottom, making the digipak even more personal and important to the fans.

Also, the language used within the digipak is extremely informal and features everyday language that the audience can relate to. This is evident through her note to fans and she shows a lack of formality and she describes her life to the audience, aligning herself with them. This is seen through the use of the common metaphor 'this past year has been a roller coaster'. The use of this language causes the artist to engage with her audience and the audience would respect this in return.The use of shorter structured sentences makes the digipak easier to read therefore more memorable, which is a positive element to apply when promoting and selling the digipak which is conventional of the indie genre as the audience are appreciated due to the idea that the album is for them as proposed by the artist.

Overall, the devices that I have used within my digipak all connote various messages. The black and white within the front cover cause the theme of good vs evil, an ideology that appears within her lyrics and highlights that she has faced both good and bad moments in her life, and her fans can relate to that too. This is conventional to the indie genre as artists usually add elements that connote a deep ideology. Many aspects are used to make the audience bond and build a relationship with the artist, for example the use of the notebook alongside type written text. This becomes more personal from the artist showing her love for her fans, also becoming an idol due to her appreciation. This also creates a vintage effect that is conventional to the indie genre as vintage aspects are diverse and individual. I have used other indie digipaks to influence me in including the use of vintage filters and aspects and create unique styles. This notebook layout is used further on the note to fans to create a personal element, which also links to the use of the rose on the back cover which can connote love for her fans or even for a man in the artist's life, as roses are a gift that hold connotations of love and passion which covers the main themes within the lyrics, causing them to become the narrative to the audience. This links to roses on the CD disk, with no artist's name showing that she believes music and ideologies such as romance matter more than branding her own name. This shows how down to earth she is and causes a relationship between herself and the audience. 

To conclude, from applying each individual member's elements that appeared successful within their initial digipak, we have created a successful group/finalised digipak that conforms to the indie genre due to the use of the personalised hand written font, the naturalistic background, inspired by Ayesha's front cover due to the use of roses containing romantic connotations. These conventions also causes the artist and album to become more unique compared to other artists. Through the use of these conventions, the digipak appeals to my target audience for example, the romantic features such as roses and red colouring appeals to females as they can connect with these elements and artist as well as idolise her natural/achievable yet vintage appearance, which appeals to make also due to small flirtatious elements such as plumped lips and feline like eye make up. Fundamentally, I believe that creating a group digipak proved much easier than an individual version as each member possessed personal ideas that caused the production of this to run efficiently. This includes the use of Photoshop as some members were more experienced that others therefore, each member had a role to fulfill for example, a group member would map out ideas whilst others would work at portraying these ideas on to the software.

Photo shoot- Miss Miller

The group needed to take pictures to represent the artist that is conventional to the indie genre. These pictures will be used for the finished digipak and magazine advert. It is important to take a variety of different pictures so that the artist gives off the right vibe that will sell the music and the genre. Fundamentally, a variety is needed for planning reasons, so that the group doesn't need to go out on location again due to lack of photos.

The group decided to take a picture of the artist with a cigarette, and looking straight down the camera lense, this was chosen as she looks strong and powerful. The artist's facial expression is clear to the audience and provides the with a clear indication of her emotions which creates a relationship. The audience are able to view their idol and the public feel almost a part of the picture as she looks down the lense of the camera. I intend to use this photo for my digipak, possibly as the front cover to promote the artist as well as creating a bond between herself and the audience.  This picture is conventional to the indie genre as a cigarette is visable and bad habits such as this are typically connected to artists within this genre to highlight their personal lives. to highlight elements within the usual indie genre as bad habits are usually included. A close up is also used to get the audience to connect with the artist, which is also conventional to the indie genre as the artist is promoted within the music industry. The picture quality is high, and the artist is dressed in feminine clothing and has a flower crown in her hair, which is collides with the use of a cigarette. This builds a relationship with the audience as the artist has many layers to their personality and look, making her 'cool' and unique to fans and they feel a connection as she looks directly forwards. 

The next image that was taken was the artist pictured within the leaves and we decided to take this picture for the natural and pure background and the naturalistic features appearing around the artist including the leaves and trees, providing the images with more depth. The use of this setting linked to the artist's name: 'Autumn' which created a direct link, therefore causes it to become more memorable. I intend to use this picture on the digipak, for example the back cover. This picture is conventional to the indie genre as typical images of artists within this genre show naturalistic features such as forests and flowers. Again, I believe that the artist being placed with leaves around her, gives the image some depth and relates back to the indie genre. The artist is also looking straight down the lense, causing the audience to connect with her and she is positioned in middle of the picture, linking to Goodwin's theory as she is promoted to the audience. 

The group wanted to take a picture where the artist is actually blowing the smoke to create and unique/conventional effect. This image also works well in representing the artist to the audience, as she looks at the camera through the smoke, allowing them to bond with her as well as presenting her character. Here, the artist portrays elements of Dyer's theory as she seems rebellious which differs from the clothes she is wearing. A variation of elements with the videos is able to appeal to a wider audience. I intend to use this picture as the magazine advert to promote the artist and introduce her to a wider audience. This picture is conventional to the indie genre as cigarettes are again used, and her rebel like behaviour and ability to do as she pleases is conventional, also. The bad habits also link with negative emotions, which most indie songs are linked to. The smoke gives a really unique effect, and gives the video depth and an interesting look, therefore will be able to build a relationship with the audience as they are given more information about the artist as well possibly being relatable to older fans. Lastly, the picture almost looks like the artist is blowing the smoke towards the audience causing them to be involved and in a way, imagine being in her life style.

Lastly, this image includes the artist placed in a forest. We used a mid shot to get a view of the artist's clothes and surrounding so that they can connect with what they see as well as gather connotations from the setting. The artist is placed in a naturalistic setting which is conventional of the indie genre as artists within this genre are placed in natural settings, mostly as a way of keeping the attention on themselves by using a simplistic background as well as causing them to seem natural and pure for example, the Florence and the Machine 'Lungs' magazine advert. I intend to used this picture for the digipak, possibly with the artist's message to fans around/within the image to involve the audience especially placed with the fan message. This image is conventional to the indie genre as again, the artist is smoking and is placed in a natural setting to show diversity and individuality to other genres. The shot is different from the last and allows the audience to see a full view of the artist. The artist wears clothes from and earlier time/conventional clothes within the indie genre for example, the flower crown. This causes fans of the genre to connect with and believe her image as well as build a relationship with the artist and enjoy the elements used within the image. 

Overall, I believe that taking pictures in the photo shoot went successfully, this is because we researched the genre before hand and how we wanted our artist to be represeneted. I think that the camera shots used and the chosen surroundings made the pictures more conventional. However, as a group we struggled with the setting/surroundings, as there would be members of the public trying to intervene. To overcome this, we'd find places within the park that seemed more low key. These images conform to the indie genre and give our artist naturalistic features. The artist also has a unique was of acting, as she seems to be wearing feminine and pastel clothes however, picks up a negative habit. Next, each group member will be creating drafts of digipaks and magazine adverts on paper and then on Photoshop. This will be done individually. Then, we will combine our ideas together, take positive elements from each, draft a group digipak and magazine advert on paper and them our actual group projects on Photoshop using these images.

Rough cut- Miss Georgiou

Audience feedback is extremely important to a production this is due to the idea that I can gain comments that are positive within my video and that I can keep the same as well as constructive comments that I can take on board and adapt, causing my production to strengthen. Gaining feedback is also crucial within the music industry as artists are able to gain comments from their fans based on their created products, therefore they can strengthen them, causing more sales.

I received feedback from my chosen target audience through a number of different resources. Firstly, I created questionnaires including questions based upon my production for example "within a music video, do you enjoy seeing a love story evolve?' as well as questions asking if the audience enjoy my chosen indie genre as well as my artist. I also used Youtube as a device to upload my video, which is a positive promotion tool as the video can be shared through various social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook and video can also be commented on by viewers. Lastly, my group played our rough cut of our music video to our media class. I then provided my peers with hands outs within their groups, allowing them to note down both positive and more negative aspects of our production.

The feedback I gained from these aspects will benefit my production as I aim to take on board the more negative comments so that I can change them, which will cause my music video to become more successful. This is also common within the music industry, as artists can use constructive comments to apply to their products, in order for their work to appeal to a wider target audience.

From these resources, I gained many positive comments through my production;
“A varied use of cinematography techniques”. 
“The music video contains aspects that conform to the group's chosen indie genre". 

"This music video contains varied editing techniques such as filters".

From these positive comments, we decided to keep these aspects the same within our production, as many members of out target audience enjoyed these aspects. 

From these resources, I also gained many constructive comments that I could use in order to make my production appeal to more members of the audience. These include;

"The narrative within this video is unclear".

"More performance clips should be included within the video".

"Some clips within the music video are too repetitive for example, when the artist and love interest are dancing together".

Based on these constructive comments, I will firstly, film more clips of the artist singing and playing instruments such as the guitar, which is a conventional aspect to the indie genre. The artist is also promoted and exposed more, which also builds a relationship with the target audience. I will also deduct the clips of the couple dancing and add more clips of the artist performing. Lastly, once more clips are added, that look more professional and aren't too repetitive, I believe that the narrative I have created will become clearer. Fundamentally, I believe that applying this feedback will cause my production to strengthen and promote the song and artist to a wider audience. 

Individual magazine advert- Miss Miller

I have created an individual magazine advert to execute all of the ideas for artist and genre representation and how they will appeal to an audience and promote the song. Each member of the group will be creating their own magazine advert which means that once these are complete, the group can compare ideas, choose the elements that promote our artist and the indie genre positively and then create an even more successful completed advert containing elements we believe to be the best from our original work. 

Firstly, I have decided to make the artist's name black and bold and also in a hand writing font to make the look seem feminine and personal, the boldness also highlights the importance of the artist. Her name is also centred in the middle of the album, highlighting the artist's importance to the audience and promoting her name to the public. The album title is also in bold and a type written style, to show the theme of vintage and again, makes the cover more personal, appearing as this came from the artist herself, and inflicts a positive message to fans highlighting that she is in charge of her own music and works hard to make everything herself. The use of the colour black highlights the theme of death which is an occurrence within lyrics of the album songs, this is also paired with the white text underneath, inferring the idea of good vs bad and life vs death, showing more intelligent and intellectual meanings. This is conventional of the indie genre as artists usually add elements on to their album that link to their songs, which causes links for their audience, making their products memorable. This is also a bold and dark colour, making everything on the page more prominent, and causing the white font to show up on the artist's body, possibly highlighting the idea of purity. The colour black however, subverts the indie genre as it is more grunge but, this causes the artist to become unique and more interesting which appeals to a niche audience. 

I have chosen to use a mid shot to show the artist on the advert, which makes the artist's face and upper body visible. This causes her to become the main focus of the whole cover promoting her further and making her look independent and powerful. The camera is also tilted, as she looks down and fans look up to her highlighting her an idolised figure and a powerful female. This further shows her as an independent individual, vocalising the idea that she works hard and this album came from her hard work alone. The artist is also dressed in a vintage shirt and wears a floral head crown, back combed hair and 50s make up for example, nude lips to create and effortless vintage look. This creates something new whilst bringing back elements that are historic within fashion from stars such as Audrey Hepburn. This causes the artist to be seen as an idol and makes her seem more important however, the effortless look causes her to become relatable to her audience, and her simplicity causes her to become impressionable as younger fans may want to follow her, and create her look on themselves. This look overall matches the music within her album and conforms to the indie genre as her look follows the typical artist within this genre of music. This links to the artist holding a cigarette, causing her to seem rebellious and not conforming to a typical feminine image. The use of this can link her to her older fans that may have the same habits as her. The cigarette also links to negative habits that are typically portrayed within the indie genre as aspects of artists lives and usually explored. The smoke appearing within the image creates more depth and makes the image look ghostly and dimensional making the advert more visually pleasing and linking again to to the songs and the usage of the colours black and white.

The layout is not complicated, and overpowering which causes the artist to stand out, showing her importance and promoting her to the public. This idea links to the indie genre as the idea of simplicity is apparent. The picture also contains elements of naturalistic features as the artist is surrounded by trees and is pictured having flowers in her hair. This is conventional of the indie genre as this contains naturalistic themes such as the forest. Although the magazine adverts highlights naturalistic scenery the main focus is the artist acknowledging her importance and making her apparent to her audience and standing out within a magazine and receiving attention, which is a positive promotion tool. 

The language used within the advert is short and colloquial/informal and doesn't take away attention from other key features such as the artist. This is shown through a shortened date, which can make it more memorable to the audience. Also, the phrase 'includes hit' gets to the point and expresses the successful song to viewers showing the artist's success and promotes individual songs to her fans, and highlighting a successful song to the public, which can causes them to purchase the album as other songs may be a success, also. Lastly, the advert also adds a website for the artist, giving fans an easy way keep up with their idol and giving new viewers an easy device to search and share her music. The use of a website is a positive promotion tool and causes the audience to feel connected to the artist and with each other. 

I used Photoshop software to create this magazine advert. I had many strengths when using this software, such as creating new layers to make the text and finding colours and the correct fonts that matched well with my chosen vintage theme such as 'snell roundhound', and I believe that this helped me create a more successful magazine advert as the text should stand out to the audience, I believe that the text I chose to incorporate through the use of this software is able to conform to the indie genre and make the advert more personal from the artist to fans for example the use of type written wording. However, I did struggle with the editing of pictures as some filters such as 'cooling' effects would change the look of the font as the wording became difficult to read. To overcome this and make the font more prominent, I changed the colour off the text to darker colours such as black, and dragged them to different locations of the page. I also changed the filter to overcome this problem by adjusting the hue/contrast/brightness.

I overall believe that my advert conforms to the indie genre conventions due to mise en scene for example, the costume that the artist is wearing such as vintage clothes and make up and setting as an example, as artists within the indie genre are typically shown within a naturalistic background. I believe that this advert appeals to my chosen target audience as every aspect was chosen in great detail to make the audience bond with the artist for example, cinematography as the artist looks down at the audience creating a person connection and involving them into what she is doing. Fundamentally, I believe that creating an individual magazine cover will help ensure that my group will produce a final successful cover as we will meet and discuss any positive features within each and how the will be incorporated into one, the representation of the artist and indie genre will be taken mostly into account and how the audience will react to them.

Individual digipak- Miss Miller

I have chosen to create an individual digipak as firstly, this is a popular style recently and provides the audience with a special edition album and more information from the artist. Digipaks are unique as they feature more elements that a traditional CD for example, bonus tracks and higher quality images. Lastly, each member of the group will be creating their own digipak which will give us an opportunity to compare ideas to make the final product as successful as possible.

Firstly, the colours I chose to apply within the digipak are used to exploit the themes of the music and represent the artist as well as the genre. The colour pink is used within the roses on the front cover and the clothes that the artist wears which highlights the idea of romance and causes the audience to view the artist's feminine side, causing her to promote the idea of love universally. Love is a conventional connotation that indie artists portray, as they show their fans elements of their life such as experiences, causing them to have a stronger bond with the people who buy their music. I have also chosen to use the colour red on the artist's nails, roses on the album and back cover and on some of the text such as 'I will love you 'til the end of time' in the fan message, the use of these images link together and promote the idea of love and passion further. This is evident through the colour being used in the fan message, highlighting the artist's love and appreciation for her fans. The artist also wears blue in an extra picture, which is often associated with trust, wisdom and intelligence therefore,the artist is promoting herself in a positive way, which also adds to her character and the audience's opinion on her. The use of this deep colour is extremely eye catching and is used to show the lyrics within the song and the album name 'Nostalgic' highlighting that the artist reminisces about love related memories. Most of the text such the artist's and the album's name which overall causes them to become more vivid which can be identified in stores and even explores the idea that the artist is the focal point of the whole album. 

The artist, Autumn Healy is placed on the side of the front cover however takes up most of the space with the use of a mid shot to highlight her. This shows the artist's importance as the main focus is on her as she also looks straight into the camera, causing her to look confident and at her audience, creating a bond. The artist wears natural make up and a flower crown in her hair, relating to the indie genre as artists within this usually have a naturalist attire. She also holds a cigarette as a piece of iconography as this conforms to the star theory as the artist seems rebellious which is again conventional to indie genre as artists usually promote their habits such as smoking and drinking alcohol to give the artist and in depth view on their life. This is also seen through an extreme close up used as an extra image as the artist exploits her smoking habit further. The artist is again the main focus of the whole image showing her importance linking to the crown ring she wears, linking to the idea of royalty. Another extra image is used as the artist is placed in the middle of the shot as mid shot is being used to show this. This again causes new fans to become more accustomed to the artist's image as she is the only person in every picture chosen. The indie genre is also highlighted here as the artist wears traditional clothes that are quite individual and vintage. Autumn also wears natural makeup, with an element of the 1960s for example nude lips and winged eyeliner. This causes her to look more natural and not over done, which makes her relatable and promotes the idea that she isn't take to the artist and that her look is achievable. The vintage elements causes her look to become more interesting and iconic. 

The design and layout of the image includes the use of a simple yet naturalistic background. The use of a park and trees are used to make the pictures more interesting and create depth as well as conforming to the indie genre as artists within this genre typically use naturalistic settings. However, this does not take the focus away from the artist. This highlights the importance of the artist even further, causing her audience to straight look at her. This again links to the front cover as roses are used behind the artist. The colouring connotes love and passion causing the audience to link these connotations to the artist. Due to this, the artist's personality is more visible to the audience which creates a bond and makes her songs more personal.

The artist's name 'Autumn Healy' is written in bold, black writing at the top of the front cover. This causes the name to stand out and make it recognisable to the the public, promoting the artist. It is also written in a type writing style which adds a personal touch. This links to the album name 'Nostalgic' being written in italics/a hand writing style, causing it to become more personal, from the artist to the audience as well as including a feminine touch. The writing used on the back cover (song titles) and not to fans is also in a type writing style, exploiting a personal touch and also adds to the vintage effect and overall makes the digipak more interesting to look at. Personality is conventional within the indie genre as artists typically include features that make the link to their audience by adding their own personal features within the album for example, the red writing 'I will love you 'til the end of time' which as well as being colloquial, is a lyric for the artist's song, creating a relationship between the artist and fans. By doing this, her lyrics are also promoted, making the audience remember them and connect with the song even further.

Linking to this, the language used within the digipak is extremely informal and features everyday talk which is evident in the note to fans, which also causes the audience to align themselves with the artist as she uses common metaphors such as 'this past year has been a roller coaster'. The use of this language causes the artist to cooperate with her audience and the audience would respect this in return.The use of shorter structured sentences makes the digipak easier to read therefore more memorable, which is a positive element to apply when promoting and selling the digipak.

Lastly, the elements that I chose to include within my digipak used connote varying messages. The back cover and message to fans is presented as a note book with type writing text.This adds a vintage element and causes the digipak to become more personal. Vintage elements such as this are conventional to the indie genre as they are extremely unique and create the look of a more interesting item rather than a typical CD case. Artists within the indie genre use 'individual' and unique styles within their albums to interest an audience and to promote the idea that their music is different from every other artist's therefore, I used other albums from this genre as inspiration and applied elements that make this digipak more interesting and visually pleasing. This notebook layout is used on the note to fans to create a personal element, which also links to the use of the rose on the back cover which can connote love for her fans or even for a man in the artist's life, linking to the notepad background, which can infer the idea of a love letter. Red roses are used on the CD cover which was an influence from Lana Del Rey which connotes the theme of love and beauty, linking to song titles and the title of the album, as the artist can possibly reflect on her love life which causes the audience to connect with her music, which is also conventional of the indie genre as the artist's thoughts and feelings are always touched upon.

I used Photoshop software to create my digipak. Overall, I believe that I had many strengths in using this to create a successful digipak. An example of this is the editing of pictures, I believe that I was able to edit pictures of the artist in a positive way for example, changing the brightness and applying filters for example the 'cooling' filter without making the artist look fake to the audience. I also believe that my text choices were positive for example, the handwriting text called 'snell roundhand' which makes the digipak seem more personal. However I did struggle with using some tools within Photoshop for example, applying the rose pictures on to the CD. Initially, I wanted to apply a whole rose to fit into the circle however, I found the cutting tools such as 'lasso' difficult to use. To overcome this, I cropped around the rose and duplicated them on to the CD in different sizes which I think creates more depth as opposed to my original idea.

To conclude, I believe that my digipak conforms to the conventional within the indie genre. This is evident through elements used for example, setting within the pictures. This highlights conventional naturalistic themes without being too dramatic and distracting focus away from the artist. I chose to conform to the genre to appeal to the target audience. I did this by adding elements that will make the audience bond with the artist for example, the notepad backgrounds of the note for fans page, and he artist's signature which makes the digipak more personal linking further to the rose added on the back page, acting as a declaration of the artist's love for her audience. I believe that creating an individual digipak will help ensure my group produces a successful final digipak as we can discuss and share ideas from our own creations and choose the best aspects that will represent our artist and the indie genre in positive ways.

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