Banter Six Feet Under

the monthly magazine that I wrote for has been terminated although it won an award. I had a good run for this but this is not about me its about the other young people out there that are now going to miss the great Opportunity that this once was in existence. This was a great way to start in the media but now they have buried it in to the pits of the damned and no one else in the city of Bristol can grab this chance and get on board the media train travel to the paradise that is their media careers. I know what you are thinking when you are reading this that it is a bit over the top but they have put this magazine to rest when it has only been running for about two years now, I know you are also thinking that there are other ways of getting your foot in the door which there is but this was the easiest way and no strings attached (accept the deadlines). If you are a Bristol student looking a way into the media the best way has gone six feet under.

Evaluation

The tasks that I have chosen is an EPK on my friend’s band Not Much Nothing and a website the reason for this is I have a vast knowledge on music and the reason why I chose the website because I am familiar of how to use the internet and the audiences of today have easy access to the internet.

Another reason why I chose the website because it’s the best way for bands to promote themselves and it works with the age of technology.

I researched them by looking at some epk’s for example Ben Folds and Nick Hornby’s epk shows several good techniques. There are different interviews with them both in the interview to talk about what they did together and other interviews when they are separate from each other which let them have a chance to give their opinion on each other. Another EPK I researched was the Killers what we used from their EPK was at the start the would have a black background and the band’s name which at the start of are EPK we used the same technique. The reason this attracts the audience is that the flashing colours of the title will hook them in because they are attractive colours and another reason why these EPK’s attract the audience is that they get to know the band members and musicians.

I researched into three websites which where AC/DC, Rise Against and Joey Cape. I based my website design on the AC/DC website by the way I have laid with the button bar above each page to give it easy navigation the way it attracts the audience is that I used different colours for each letter which makes them hard to miss. Other ways I based the design of the band’s website I made boxes that hold information with band news and store.

The colour scheme is dark colours of black and brown to show the style of the genre which is rock. My epk at the start of interviews it will have a quick cut of the question on the screen and then it will cut to the band with them answering the question. Shots that are used in the interviews are mostly close ups on the band or if they are the one that are talking the most or introducing the subject there will be a close up on them. I play the part of the interviewer off camera I do not say anything because I am there to show that there is someone interviewing and it makes it look professional. I worked with a partner on this project and the reason why we made these decisions is because we want to make it quick and we want to hook the audience and not bore them.

The target audience that we were aiming at were male and females of sixteen to twenty-five, mostly people who got school, college and university. The type of people that would like this video are groups that like the rock genre or people that have an open mind on music and if they are passionate of their music. The way they we are specific to representing the target audience and appealing them is the band wear casual clothes and in the interviews they are just sat casually in the practice room where they were playing which shows a personal attitude towards the audience and how even a recognised band can act the same way as a standard student by lazing around in a practice room the reason this hooks the audience in is because it is communicating in their language the lazy teenager and student.

The tone of the band member’s voices is like they are having general conversation with the audience and they are always addressing them for example when they are talking about the filming their music video “love train” and then cuts to the music. The way we got feedback with the epk is using facebook and all the people who have watch are students from the sixth form and the feedback was very positive because the techniques we had used have hooked them and even amused them as well and the style of music has attracted them through the catchy songs with really well known words with the two songs they performed “Love Train” and “Crazy”. 

The production was very successful because all of the feedback we got before the deadline. We managed to repair some of the audio problems because on the first version of the video the voices were to quiet and the background music was drowning out their voices, but we managed to fix it before the deadline so now you can hear the voices perfectly. The strengths of the epk are the interviews because they give a good insight into the band and how they had formed the band. Another strength of the video is the cuts into the live performance when each member of the band is being introduced and the close ups on the band members that are being introduced.

The weaknesses of this video are the problem of how much time we had so we could not fit enough time for songs. The audience only had a taster but that was one of the main purposes of making the audience want to buy their album but we would have wanted more song time. What I would of wanted have in the video is an interviewer actually asking the questions instead of a screen showing the questions and perhaps showing them talking to them replying back to them. The interviewer would be the same age range of the target audience sixteen to twenty five the reason for this is to keep it an informal interview and speak the audience’s language which would make them interested instead of someone who is older and make the interview formal.

Another thing that we would improve is lighting in some of the videos for example when they are in the bits of the music video it is very dark this is because it was later in the evening and we would of preferred to that part of the EPK in the day so we would have had more lighting. The reason we filmed it that late was because of the amount of time we had if we had more time we could have planned it to be filmed in early day time. 

Another thing we could improve is taking the dates out of the photographs because it looks unprofessional and we should have found a different location for the live gig because the live gig is in another practice room in the school.

If I could do another task I would have done a magazine like Kerrang or NME because this would have been a good way of advertising the band. Another reason I would done this as a third task is that the audiences would get more of an in depth biography in a magazine compared to the EPK or the website because magazines sometimes have exclusive stories and can ask more personal questions about their life. The main thing I would have included is a code that gives you a download for a free track from Not Much Nothing and this make the audience buy their album because they have heard one song so they will go out and buy the album. 

In conclusion to my evaluation I would say that the video has been successful because all of the feedback we got from Facebook, but there are still things that we could do some repair on but overall it has been a successful project.    

the final result of epk

Production Entry No. 2

we have edited the video it has been a long process. The first thing we did is we re-ranged the film clips in the right order and got rid of the footage that we did not need. we added in various of features for example we added the name of the band at the start of the video. during the interviews we added background music so the people who are watching it will have the two songs that used stuck in their head. In the interviews we had each member of the band introducing themselves and on each member it will cut to a clip of live event. at the end it promotes their new album.

production entry no.1

We have filmed the main part of are EPK the first thing we did was record the songs we needed to use which we are going to cut down to fit with the clips. we also got the interviewing done which uses mostly close up shots and medium close up because we want to show that the interviewer was sat right in front of them which I played the part of although I did not say anything but it shows them looking at me instead of the camera so it looks like they are being interviewed. We also filmed them doing a couple of live performances and after that we are going to splice the clips in clips for example when they introduce each member there will be a a clip of them playing for a few seconds.

EPK timeline The killers.

0:00-0:06 : title screen, logo.

0:06-0:14: quick band introduction

0:14-0:30: music video set, lots of graphics, chilled band on the sofa mixture of all three

0:30-0:33:question on the screen "how did the killers come about?"

0:33-0:49:answered, close ups on the speaking members.

0:49-0:54:question on screen "where did you come up with the name the killers.

0:54-1:18:question answered, medium shots, panning, zoom, quick cut of logo almost not noticeable.


1:18-1:19:quick cut of logo.

1:19-1:23:on sofa introducing new single

1:23-2:14:shot of the filming of the video and graphics shots back to band on sofa.

2:14-2:30:work with the director on the set.

2:30-3:08:audio question asked, "influences".

3:08-3:11:"favorite track on record".


3:11-3:42:question answered.

3:42-4:22:live performance.

4:22-4:25:recording process.


4:25-5:19:question answered many different shots, panning, zoom, medium shot, close ups.

5:19-5:35:promo shots, performance, music video, music.

5:35-5:37:logo across the screen.

Pre-planning Epk

Why have you chosen your particular Brief? How well do you understand the subject area already? What do think are the most important issues to explore for your brief?

The reason why that I chose this brief is because I am very passionate about music and I play music my self I play guitar. I have a great understanding of this subject area because I am a musician my self. The important issues to explore in this brief are to see if the audience like this type of genre.

Why have you chosen your specific tasks within the brief? how will they allow you to be creative? how do you think you will be able to use the skills that you already have to complete the task?

The specific tasks we have chosen is an epk and a web site the reason why we have chosen these tasks is because we like music and we can make some music because we are using are friends band so therefore that is creative. We will be able to use the skills we have for these task because we have used the video editing software before and we can make websites.

what do you intend to achieve with your main and second task? how will they capture the audience's attention? what have you learned about how the trailers/websites/magazines you have researched provide for their audience?

What we hope to achieve with both tasks is to promote a band of the rock genre. The way it capture the audience’s attention is by advertising tours on the website and advertising merchandise and use various colours on the site to grab their attention. What I have learned from examples I have looked at is they address the audience by selling stuff and showing various music videos and bios about the members of the band.

what do you know about the subject matter of your chosen task? what have you researched to gain an understanding to relevant trailers/epks?

I know a relevant amount for the subject matter, as I love to listen to music and play music. I research websites and epk’s what I am going to use from them is text that grabs the audience’s eye and some good background music that makes them remember the song and maybe like the song.

what kind of things will you need to know about your target audience? what kind of messages will get through to them? how will you get an understanding of your target audience?

The main thing that I will need to know about my target audience is if they are into this band or not. The message that we will get through to them is to help promote this band and make them a hit. This will give me an understanding from my target audience because it will show if they like the band or not.

what are the initial ideas for your project? what specific ideas will you be focusing on within your main and second task? what will your trailer/magazine/epk/website be about? what ideas will you be including?

Our initial ideas are an epk and a website the specific ideas we will be focusing on is to promote a band through a short video about themselves and a website that shows their tour dates and bios and some bits of music. We will focus mainly on the audience by selling merchandise on the website and will cater some entertainment by having some performances on the site.

 

         

creativity mindmap

First task- synopsis

for my first task I will be responding to the brief of an EPK based on a rock band that I will be promoting.

Synopsis: the name of the band that i am promoting in called "not much nothing" the genre of this band is rock i have been using example EPK's from the killers. what this EPK is going to feature is the different songs from them and each of the members bios to get to know them. there will be background music done by them so you can have a constant taster of their music.

Target Audience: The target audience I am aiming at is young adults ages 16-25. The gender type would be a mix of both because I do not want to isolate a gender. The type of social group that this will appeal to is the skater/rock group. I have used the killers as an example of how my EPK is going to be shaped for example having interviews to explain who the band are from some of the members and some of their song samples.   

What is needed in an EPK?

• Close ups and low angle close ups
• Colour system
• Text show the artist’s name
• Introducing
• Artist shows achievements
• Relevant location
• Interviews covers all aspects
• Examples from career
• Industry reference
• Background music
• Industry experts
• Aspirations
• Behind the scenes
• Clips of music videos

Three example of websites

Rise Against

This is the home page of the band Rise against they are popular punk rock band. The page is very easy to navigate it has hyperlinks on the side to different sections of the website to there music videos and tour dates. They use a dark background so the writing on the website is clearly displayed. They have all the latest information on the website so you know what is going on.
                                             
                                            

AC/DC

this the website for AC/DC as you can see there is lots of images around the website and the image on the home page shows what genre it is and that it is a rock band. There is a mixture of red and browns and other dark colours at the top of the page it instantly wants to sell you music T-shirts etc and this is a good way of making money.  

 here is more information about tour dates and albums it has different hyperlinks to other sections of the website of music videos of the band. The font colour is in a bold white colour so it is visable to see. the audience for this website would be young adults age 18-25.

Joey Cape

This website is for joey cape and the first thing you see is his name and all the different links to the other parts of the website. The colour scheme is very plain and simple its a sort of cream colour and the font colour is black and the titles of the sub sections are in bold.


It has different links to other websites in the page e.g Facebook. The audience for this site would people from the age of 20-29.

EPK's

what i am doing for my media course work is a EPK (Electronic press kit) on a the genre of rock music. here are a few examples that have sparked a few ideas.



this is a EPK from the killers this was for there first website originally. At the start of the EPK it shows the name of the band "the killers" flashing in various colours. There are flashes of clips from recorded sessions and interviews from the band. they show their different successes by showing clips of music videos and their live sessions and there is behind the scenes footage of them making their music videos it has background music done by them.



This a Epk by Ben folds featuring Nick Hornby they are talking about the new album they have done and this epk most of the time its just them sat in chairs talking how they met and why they did the album. it switches between interviews and music and music videos which I want to do in  my epk. Tells everyone when the album is out and gives little tasters of his songs.

the final result

trailers that have influenced me for my trailer

Die Hard trilogy: the first trailer that influenced me the most is the trailer for the die hard trilogy because the trailer is very fast paced and shows all the best bits and has the deep voiceover but only a brief part.

The Expendables: this trailer like die hard is fast paced and there are lot of explosions and they use a deep voiceover to describe the narrative as well as on screen text.

Predator: this film is good won with one liners for example "knock knock" then he blows the door open with a grenade and has the voiceover again and with explosion every inch of the trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-d8-t3W6Ac 

Analysis of trailer: The American

I will be discussing how the trailer for The American is effective. The film is a 2010 production and is directed by Anton Corbijn and the genre of the film is thriller.

The narrative of this film is that its following the story of a hitman or assassin trying to get himself out that line of work.

The trailer is very fast pace with the gunfire and car chases, the pacing and editing is quick with the fast jump cuts when one of the characters fires a gun. The location of the film seems to shift from America to Europe. The music seems to speed up the further the trailer goes on this is because it shows the fast pace of the action and the tense atmosphere in the trailer.

There are no voiceovers in this trailer they use the voices of the actors to get the audience to know the characters, the dialogue was mostly from the main character Jack because he is describing the events.

There were a few special effects and on screen graphics for example when it shows the production company and the name of the actors and the name of the film. The special effects are things like gunfire.

The main shot type that was used in this trailer was close up because it was showing bits of dialogue between characters and shots of the main character aiming a gun or taking a gun apart, but there was a birds eye view shot when he is driving and that could give the audience a perspective of where he is.

The target audience for this film would be fifteen to people in there twenties and it could be more of a male film because of the gunfights and car chases. But all together I would say that this film could appeal to both male and female.

  

Film trailer ideas

The name of the film trailer that i have chosen is called the Dispensable's. The genre of this film is your typical 1980's style of action film so it will have all the one liners and lots of gunfire and explosions. The basic story is that they are a group that are fueled by revenge and are chasing a master villian. The film trailer is linked to other films like Die Hard, the expendable's. The target audience for this trailer would mostly be male because it has explosions guns and the corny one liners.