Existing Digi-Pak Analysis

Slipway Fires - Razorlight

This album cover is definitely artist orientated, and the cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, Mercury/Vertigo, or the graphic artists. The use of medium close up shots of the artists on the front of the album connote to that of an indie rock genre. The cover itself incorporates both the album and band name, which is conventional to that of albums covers. Another thing that is conventional is the fact that both the band and album name have been written entered and in big, bold, eye catching writing. The images of the band members have been used so as to express to the audience that there isn't     really a deeper meaning to this album cover, and that all it really wants to imply is who the band are. The inside cover also has typical conventions to that of a CD album; it has thank you's from the band, and also information on the band themselves, e.g. the members and who the album was produced by. It is a notably basic inside cover, as typically a picture of the band or artist is inserted here. This, however, could have been used as an effect so as for the audience to focus on the disc itself, which, in some aspects, a very complex and thought out design, not usually to the indie rock genre. Usually, a CD of this genre would have a very artistic approach to the CD itself, using, for example, an extremely edited photo. The clock however, could have a hidden meaning, for example, as it could have been somehow incorporated into one of the songs on their album - after I researched this, I found that the clock links to the last song on that specific album 'The House'. The back of the CD case has yet more typical conventions of an existing case; a barcode, track list and any copyright symbols needed, however, unusually, this case seems to have very basic, simple images, with a very plain colour scheme. Again, this could possibly be because the band wants the audience to focus on the CD itself, therefore only incorporating a complex design onto the CD. This is something that I will take into account when creating my Digi-Pak.

Risk Assessment

Oncoming traffic: I will make sure I am aware of any oncoming vehicles, particularly when it comes to my actor's safety and the safety of myself. Not only this, but equipment could be damaged which would cost a lot of money to replace. This means that I will take extra care in being aware of any cars coming towards me, and make sure that I know how to quickly move equipment, in particular without damaging it.

Falling over cattle grid: As I am filming on the Beverley Westwood, there is a cattle grid that id necessary to walk over to actually get to the specific place that I am filming. This therefore means that it is very easy to fall through the gaps and cause what could be a very severe injury. To overcome this, I will make sure that both my artists and I wear sensible footwear to cross and make sure that, if the weather is bad, we walk over slowly and carefully.

Noise: As the Beverley Westwood is a quiet area, it would be unethical to make a lot of noise, particularly in the place that I am filming in - it is an extremely quiet area where many elderly people live, and therefore it would be unfair to make a lot of noise. So that this does not happen, I will make sure that the volume of the music is kept to a minimum and both my artists and I do not make more noise than we need to. I will also only film in short sections, so therefore, if any noise is made or needs to be made, it is not constant and not disturbing anyone.

Cows: The Westwood is full of cows. Cows can be very dangerous if provoked or a lot of noise is made around them, meaning that serious injuries can occur. To make sure that this does not happen, I have chosen and are that is only home to a few cows, and I will film a good and safe distance away from the cows so as not to annoy or provoke them with the music I am playing. I will also make sure I am fully aware of where the cows are at all times, so that both my artists and I are safe.

General public: As the Westwood is a public area, it is likely that the general public will be walking about, particularly as I am shooting during the daytime. I will make sure that I do not disturb them if they wanted a day out, and will make sure that I do not get them in any of my shots, as I have had no permission to do this. I will therefore make sure that, if they do end up appearing in the shot, to re film that particular section of my music video. This will also make my video look more thought out.

Filming on the floor: As I have many low angle shots, I will be filming on the floor. This means that there is the opportunity for minor injuries such as grazes to occur. To overcome this, I will make sure that I am careful when I am filming, and also make sure that I don't have bare knees, as it will be more likely that an injury will occur if I am not wearing trousers.

Dancing on mud: Throughout my video, my actor's have to both dance and head bang on mud. Particularly if it has been raining the day before, the mud will be wet and will likely cause a hazard in the way that, if my actor's are not careful, they will fall and likely injure themselves. To make sure this doesn't happen, I will both make sure that my actor's are safe and take care of themselves when I am filming them dancing, and also possibly choose a different location if I find that it is too dangerous to film.

Audience Research

Q1) Do you know any indie rock/pop rock music artists?

Female - Many did not know of any indie rock/pop rock music artists and were slightly confused when asked this question, however, when names such as Vance Joy and Two Door Cinema Club were mentioned, most caught on with the genre and then explained that yes, they did know of these artists.
Male - These answered in much of the same way as females did when asked if they knew of any of these artists. The only difference is some named a few artists that were in that specific genre, however, until I clarified that they were of that genre, they did not know what genre they fitted into.
Adult - Surprisingly, the adult age group knew more about some of these artists than the younger generation did. They named many artists quickly and, when asked why they knew so many artists, they stated that when they heard the word 'rock' they instantly thought back to the 70s, when rock music was popular.

Q2) Do you have a particular favourite song in the indie rock/pop rock genre?

Female - Due to the fact that the females I interviewed did not know of any artists in this genre, it was very difficult for them to pinpoint a favourite song, and, in the end, ended up stating that because of their limited knowledge on this genre, they did not have a favourite song.
Male - Much like the answer to the above question, the males were very hesitant when it came to stating their favourite song, much like they were when asked if they knew of any artists. Both males ended up stating that they both preferred songs by Two Door Cinema Club, however could not say that they had a favourite song by them. I made note of the fact that the songs/artists that the males stated were more modern and up to date songs and artists, in contrast to what the adults said, which I will explain below.
Adult - Again, the adult age group quickly named some of their favourite songs in this genre, and, surprisingly, one actually named Jet's 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' (the song I am creating my music video to). What I noticed about the adult's answers were the fact that they named more aged songs, unlike the males who named more modern songs.

Q3) Can you give me your opinion on the likes of The White Stripes, Vance Joy, The Lumineers etc?

Female - As stated before, the females knew of artists like Vance Joy, Two Door Cinema Club and The Lumineers, due to the fact that they are more up to date and modern, so they therefore said that they enjoyed listening to them, however not very often.
Male - As the males knew slightly more than the females, they did instantly say that, again, they liked Vance Joy and The Lumineers due to the fact that they are modern. I was surprised that one male said that he actually preferred The White Stripes to the likes of Two Door Cinema Club, Vance Joy etc. When asked why, he said that it was purely because he has grown up in a house where both himself and his parents listen to this sort of music quite often.
Adult - Un surprisingly, the adults answered in complete opposite to the males and females, stating that, because they are particularly modern, they did not really know Vance Joy and The Lumineers etc, saying that they preferred the likes of The White Stripes and Jet, due to the fact that they have listened to those artists for years and continue listening to them today.

Q4) Do you personally enjoy listening to this genre? Explain why/why not.

Female - Both females I spoke to stated that, as they didn't really listen to this genre much, they couldn't say if they liked or disliked it. The only thing they could say was that they liked the minimal songs that they listen to in this genre, but could not make a judgment based on that.
Male - Much like the girls, one male stated that, as he did not know much about the genre or many artists for example, he couldn't really state if he liked or disliked this genre. However, the male  that said in the above question that he did in fact like the genre, but preferred the older songs - this is because, as stated before, he has grown up listening to that sort of vintage indie rock music.
Adult - Both adults that I asked this question to agreed that they really did enjoy listening to this type of music, and stated that, although they preferred the older songs from this genre, they did also like some of the more modern songs.

Q5) Do you know anyone who likes listening to this genre of music?

Female - One of the females I spoke to, after I explained to her earlier what sort of artists and songs were involved in the indie rock/pop rock genre, stated that she knew a lot of her friends (mainly female) really did like this genre of music, and said that they listen to it most days.
Male - The males answered without hesitation to this question. They said that pretty much all of their male friends listen to this sort of music, as well as the fact they got to listen to this genre every now and again due to their friends listening to it.
Adult - Differentiating to the male and female answers, the adults answered this question saying that the only people they knew that listened to this style of music were close friends and family members like brothers and sisters. When asked why their family members also listened to this genre, they stated that, much like one of the males in the past question, it is the sort of music they have grown up with.

Institution Profile

A media conglomerate, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies in various mass media, i.e. television, radio, publishing, motion picture and the Internet. 

What institutions/radio stations air indie rock/pop rock artists?
Popular institutions such as Walt Disney, Universal and Sony do not usually promote indie rock/pop rock music. However, it is likely that, if a song of that genre is played a substantial amount of times on Spotify, for example, one of the 'Big 3' will pick up on the fact that the artist/s are very popular among Spotify users, and will therefore promote the artist even further by signing them to their label.
This is uncommon, however, as indie rock/pop rock artists are usually promoted by what are known as 'independent institutions'. Independent institutions are essentially commercial since they need to sell sufficient copies of a track or sell their tracks to a radio station, for example. Their motivation may well be less commercial than artists signed to Sony etc, but most independent institutions etc have to sell their texts somehow in order to survive. The BBC, for example, buys and commissions a significant proportion of it's music to air on local and national radio, so, when indie rock/indie pop music is played on a radio, it will usually be played on stations such as BBC Radio 1-3.

What is the target audience for each station mentioned above?

Station	Target Audience
BBC Radio 1	The remit of Radio 1 is to entertain and engage a broad range of young listeners with a distinctive mix of contemporary music and speech. Its target audience is 15-29 year olds and it should also provide some programming for younger teenagers.
BBC Radio 2	The remit of Radio 2 is to be a distinctive mixed music and speech service, targeted at a broad audience, appealing to all age groups over 35.
BBC Radio 3	The remit of Radio 3 is to offer a mix of music and cultural programming in order to entertain and engage their audience, which is an audience of any age group.
BBC Radio 1 Xtra	BBC Radio 1 Xtra also targets 15-29 year olds. The remit of 1Xtra is to play the best in contemporary music with a string emphasis on live music and supporting new UK acts. This is the most likely radio station to play my artist.

What is the target audience for each music channel?

A media conglomerate, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies in various mass media, i.e. television, radio, publishing, motion picture and the Internet. 

What institutions/radio stations air indie rock/pop rock artists?
Popular institutions such as Walt Disney, Universal and Sony do not usually promote indie rock/pop rock music. However, it is likely that, if a song of that genre is played a substantial amount of times on Spotify, for example, one of the 'Big 3' will pick up on the fact that the artist/s are very popular among Spotify users, and will therefore promote the artist even further by signing them to their label.
This is uncommon, however, as indie rock/pop rock artists are usually promoted by what are known as 'independent institutions'. Independent institutions are essentially commercial since they need to sell sufficient copies of a track or sell their tracks to a radio station, for example. Their motivation may well be less commercial than artists signed to Sony etc, but most independent institutions etc have to sell their texts somehow in order to survive. The BBC, for example, buys and commissions a significant proportion of it's music to air on local and national radio, so, when indie rock/indie pop music is played on a radio, it will usually be played on stations such as BBC Radio 1-3.

What is the target audience for each music channel?

Channel	Target Audience
Heart	Heart’s core audience are aged between 25-44. People who tune into and watch the heart music channel make time for themselves and are ‘determined to squeeze the most of out of life. They are very social people who enjoy shopping, going out and spending time with friends and family.’
4Music	The 4Music brand is already known for music programming on both Channel 4 and e4, so it has equity with its target audience fo 16-34 year olds.
Viva	A great deal of the music on this channel seems to have bene built up with 16 year olds in mind
Kerrang!	The target audience for the Kerrang music channel are predominantly influenced by rock music. Their individuality has been shown within this music channel with the use of songs. The audience have many interests, however, the age group Kerrang usually attracts is of the age between 14-23.

Why are indie rock/pop rock artists featured on these radio stations and music channels?

Indie rock and pop rock music usually have a target audience of between 14-mid/late 20s, and, likewise, these radio stations and music channels have relatively the same target audience. Therefore, indie rock/pop rock artists are featured here because the genre's target audience matches the radio/music stations target audience. This means that the radio station and music channel will get a higher number of listeners/viewers.

Demographics

Demographics can be defined as the measurable characteristics of media consumers, with examples such as gender, social class, age etc. In media, demographics are used to pinpoint potential audience growth and to spot underperformance. All forms of media are targeted to certain audiences.
For example, Woman's Day, Cosmopolitan and Better Homes and Gardens are magazines that reach the female demographic, however beyond that, they target different types of women.
Media companies constantly tweak their products and they way they are advertised to hit a certain demographic group. The publisher of one of the women's magazines who follows demographic trends may decide her audience is becoming too old to attract the top advertisers.

1. A - Upper Middle Class (Higher managerial, administrative or professional job employment)
          Upper Middle Class: "The social group that has the highest status in society, especially               the aristocracy."

• This demographic group would consist of doctors, bank managers, astronomers, politicians etc. 
• Wealthier and better educated counterparts prefer music such as classical, blues, jazz, opera, choral, pop, reggae, rock, world and musical theatre. 
• An example of this classical music would be George Frideric Handel's 'Hallelujah' - popular in theatrical music etc. 

2. B - Middle Class (Intermediate, managerial, administrative or professional job employment)
          Middle Class: "The social group between the upper and working classes, including                       professional and business people and their families."

• This demographic group would consist of solicitors, lawyers, managers, higher management engineers etc.
• This social class prefers music a lot like the upper class, however technically updated, modern versions are preferable

3. C1 - Lower Middle Class (Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or                 professional job employment)
            Lower Middle Class: "The social group between the middle and working classes."

• Individuals in the lower middle class tend to hold low status professional or white collar jobs, such as nursing, teaching or paralegal.
• These counterparts prefer music in the genres of pop, reggae, rock, world and musical theatre. 

4. C2 - Skilled Working Class (Skilled manual workers)
            Skilled Working Class: "The socioeconomic class that work for their wages including                   skilled and semiskilled laborer's and their families."

• The skilled working class tend to prefer listening to many of the same genres as the lower middle class, for example pop and rock, however, they will also listen to genres such as country and easy-listening music.
• These counterparts have job roles, again, much like the lower middle class, however they are highly likely to be lower paid as they earn an hourly wage.
• Jobs include food servers, miners and construction workers.

5. D - Working Class (Unskilled manual workers)
            Unskilled Working Class: "The socioeconomic class that work for their wages including             skilled and semiskilled laborer's and their families."

• The unskilled working class tend to prefer listening to many of the same genres as the skilled working class, for example pop and country, however, they will also listen to genres such as country and easy-listening music, as well as disco and 'gold oldies' etc.
• These counterparts have job roles similar to the skilled working class, and again, are paid hourly on minimum wage.
• Jobs roles in this aspect include car park attendants, cleaners and vegetable picker etc. 

6. E - Casual/lowest grade workers (Pensioners and others who depend on the welfare state for             their income)
          Casual/lowest grade workers: "Unemployed with state benefits only."

• These people tend to listen to cheap, popular music. The unemployed, again tend to listen to disco and pop etc, however, pensioners are likely to listen to golden oldies, and older forms of classical music.
• These counterparts are unemployed and live off benefits. 

Initial Ideas

Textual Analysis 2 - Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love

Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love

The reason I have chosen to analyse this as my second textual analysis is because this is yet another video that represents the need for love from someone who the artist cannot have or is not there, linking well to my initial ideas and the song I have chosen. It also links in with my firs textual analysis, because it has both the same meaning and relatively the same idea behind it.



Cinematography:
Unlike Pink's Family Portrait video, a number of various cinematography techniques have been used. However, of the shots used, many are similar to my first textual analysis. One of the similar shots is the use of high angle shots, in this case, particularly at the start of this video. This is used so that the audience can get an idea of what is going on in the video and can have time to analyse the possible storyline in the video. Many medium close ups are also used in this video, much like in my first textual analysis. They have been used in this video so as to represent how the female protagonist is feeling ( in this case very sad and emotional, and, much like with Mad World and Family Portrait, her life is spiralling downwards and all she needs is love because her life is continuing to go downhill and nothing is changing). The female protagonist also, at many points in the video, engages in conversation.  Due to this, two shots have been used, much like in my first textual analysis. The only difference in this video is the fact that at some points, while the character engages in conversation, shot reverse shots are used every now and agin, just to show to the audience that the character is talking to other people and having a conversation, most likely so the video does not get boring due to the fact that there is pretty much only the female antagonist present. Pull focus shots are also a big thing in this video unlike in my first analysis,

Mise-en-scene:
There are many similar mis-en-scene aspects in this video as there were in my first textual analysis, for example, the dark, misty lighting and the brick walls and enclosed spaces. However, there are quite a few differences, one of these being the amount of makeup the female protagonist is wearing. In Pink's Family Portrait, the female protagonist is wearing extremely minimal makeup, and it could almost be said that she is wearing no makeup at all - that is the idea that the industry would want to give off. In this video, however, the protagonist is wearing very dark eye makeup and dark lipstick, possibly to fit in with the theme of the video. As well as this, jewellery is also presented in this video, contrasting greatly to that of my first textual analysis. The female protagonist in my first video is wearing little to no jewellery whatsoever, contrasting to this video, where the female protagonist is wearing many necklaces and bracelets etc. The clothing, however, is presented in the same way; very plain clothes with no colour or shape for example. Because of this, it is likely that I will dress my actors and actresses in plain clothing with little to no colour, along with slight makeup and some jewellery.

Sound:
There are many differences in sound in this video, the first being at the start of the video, instead of going straight into the song, the image plays for a good 30 seconds so the audience can get an idea of what is going on in the video before they hear the actual song. In some ways this is more affective than going straight into the song, as the audience will have the chance to get a grasp of what is going on. Later. non-diegetic sound is used the whole way through the video, as with most music videos today. Towards the end of the video, the song, again, fades out, giving the audience more time to actually think about the song so it therefore has more meaning. This is quite apparent in most modern music videos, as, according to most, most music videos have a lot more going on in them, meaning there is more to take in. This means that the audience has more chance to take in what has actually been going on in the music video, hence why, in my music video, I will fade my video out gradually.

Editing:
Like my first textual analysis, the shots in this music video also tell a story, the same as they do in my chosen music video. The shot order is, again, chronological, meaning that there is a lot of verisimilitude going on in this video. Continuity editing is used to make sure the audience know what is going on and that the video physically makes sense. This video, however, tells a much more complex story than that of my first textual analysis, which makes it surprising that the same basic editing skills have been used throughout. This could have been used so that audience can focus more on the story that the video is telling.