Evaluation Task 2

CONNECTING OUR PRODUCTS
For an artist, logos, fonts and images can become used as a form of identification and as a way to brand products as being from a particular artist. For the audience, this makes the products easily identifiable as they are looking for a particular image or font. This can also be used to link products and promote them.

George Ezra's website, digipaks and Facebook all feature the same font which creates a sense of continuity and easy identification for the audience. His Facebook and album digipak also feature the same image which acts as cross-media promotion for the album as well as further helping the identification of the products.
     A member of the audience may see the font and know who the artist is as well as possibly some of their songs and the use of the same image allows the audience to become familiar with that product and what George Ezra looks like, therefore aiding their identification of his products.

We decided that like George Ezra, and many other artists. we would use the font and an image to connect our products.
     We chose to use the font that appears on the digipak as the font that would appear on the website and other products, just like Ezra did. This was because it would connect the products to ensure that the audience would be able to identify that they were from the same artist and not someone else.
     We did not feel as though creating a logo for our artist would work as for indie artists, this is not often done as they would use the font as we have done to identify the artist.
     However, we did feel that using the same image on the digipak and Facebook would help connect the products and help as a form of promotion. This was something that we have seen with other artists. By using the cover of the digipak on the Facebook page, we are ensuring that the audience is aware of its release and therefore encouraging them to buy it. We used a similar image on the website, changing the colour scheme as this worked better for our website, The image we used is very similar and therefore still allows the audience to connect the products and recognise Harper.

GROUP TASK

1.       What does your artist, Jay Harper, stand for?

Jay is one of those people who is a reformer. He’s isn’t materialistic. He cares about good music and he represents it well. Unfortunately the world has become very mainstream, where money and status is valued over individualism. Basically, Jay stands for all of those who have taste.

Jay Harper is about commitment as he committed to learning to play the guitar and becoming good at it. He tried to make it in the music industry as an indie artist which today in the music industry is something that is very difficult to do.

He also stands to being yourself and expressing yourself in a way that suits you. Jay’s appearance is not what is important to him, and instead of expressing himself through fashion, he expresses himself in song. Jay Harper is always himself, if you like his personality and his music, that’s great but he won’t change just to fit in with mainstream culture.

2.       What other artists are similar to your artist and how have you influenced from them?

We’ve noticed similarities between Jay and artists like Hozier, Tom Odell and George Ezra. Their popularity and representation of the indie genre has proven that we needed to showcase Jay’s musical talent by displaying his guitar abilities as often as possible.

Jay Harper is similar to other indie artists like Tom Odell, Hozier and Jack Garratt. Like these artists, we saw that the use of musical instruments was key to creating an authentic indie artist. As a result, we made it so that the guitar was present in all of the products we created to emphasise the natural talent of our artist.

We were also inspired by the style of these artists, shaping Harper’s fashion style in a similar way. We looked at how these artists created a laid back, relaxed image through the clothes they wore. They also presented a casual image, suggesting to us that their image and appearance is not the most important thing in their success. We wanted to create an image true to the indie genre which meant conforming to this style and the way that these artists dressed in order to help create an effective star image.

3.       What are the key aspects of Jay’s star image and what do these stand for?

Well, Jay relies on authenticity which is the main connotation of his star image. As has already been said, he plays his guitar as much as he can, showing that he is so much more organic than others in the industry.

We also don’t style him. He chooses his own clothes and decides what to do with his hair and I think that’s important as the audience can see him for him. It’s casual, but Jay’s got a good sense of style. 

Jay is someone who truly cares about the music he produces, wanting to make it about real life problems and first hand experiences. His music is what’s really important, he wants to be successful on the merit of his music, not the image that has been created for him.

The thing about Jay is that it’s not all about image with him. He’s got natural talent. He doesn’t need anything to hide behind. Jay is just Jay, that’s all there is to him, he doesn’t hide anything.

4.       In relation to Jay’s target audience, what would you say the genre of his music is and how does it appeal to his target audience?

Jay’s target audience is probably around the young adult mark. Maybe 15 to 30? They’d be students or casual workers so they could possibly be seeking independence. Jay’s indie style of music gives us something that people can relate to without being over-crowded with common pop devices like autotune. We know that he’s real and not constructed, so he can help people be independent through his music as he’s being completely honest.

5.       What is it about your artist that makes him unique?

Our artist is unique; this is because Jay shows his own personality and also has a narrative based and performance which is different to other artists. Jay is indie yet also has a rock twist which makes him different. Jay is organic and has a unique selling point. This unique selling point is shown through his voice and guitar and story line. The artists dress sense is simple which again makes him stand out because he is an ordinary person who is looking for love and also an aspiring artist.

Our artist is unique because unlike artists like George Ezra, Hozier and Ben Howard, he is fairly young. This means that he is able to attract and appeal to a younger target audience. This is unusual for indie artists who often find it very difficult to sign to a label and become successful, performing in pubs and busking instead. The fact that he is young means that he can produce indie music which appeals to the younger audience and it about life as a young person.

6.       What is the meaning of Jay’s star image and how does it appeal to his target audience?

The star image does appeal to the target audience, this is because the target audience when doing our survey monkey discussed whether our artist liked the concept.  From this the star image clearly appealed to the target audience of teenagers roughly 15-30. This age range discussed how they like artist who are unique and also liked the indie style and artists such as James Bay, Tom Odell and George Ezra. 

The people in the survey monkey in our target audience liked the songs which come from a similar genre and style image. The target audience also liked the organic aspect of Jay Harper and therefore the deep planning to help make the artist stand out.

Jay’s image stands for authenticity, honesty , being true to yourself and working hard which would appeal to our target audience as it would encourage them to try their best and work hard while staying true to who they are by being honest and open. This is something that young people in today’s society struggle to do and something that Jay’s image hopefully encourages in young people by showing them what hard work and not changing because society wants you to can achieve.

7.       How did you show the on screen chemistry in the music video for ‘Best Fake Smile’?

The on screen chemistry in the music video is shown through camera angles. This was shown by having angles such as close up of the couple’s face together smiling. Other shots include wide angle shots of them on logs together and close ups of them holding hands. 

The music video also shows the chivalry between the couple by close ups of the couple jumping over a gate and high angle shots of them having a picnic. This on screen chemistry is important for the music video and the planning of location helped compliment the camera angles to look more realistic on a date and interesting.

We also used shots of the couple which seemed the most natural and were also often caught by chance and where we had given directions but the outcome was unplanned which helped us to show natural chemistry, making it more believable and less contrived.

8.       How does Jay’s website, digipak and music video work together to reinforce his star’s image and sell your artist?

The authenticity is shown throughout the products through the use of the guitar and idea of performance. This is a very important aspect of Jay’s star image and is something that we felt needed to be addressed and enforced in all aspects of Jay’s promotion. If this was not done, Jay’s image would not be used effectively to sell him as an artist.

The website and digipak and music vid
eo all have a similar theme. This is because in the music video within the performance element the artist is in the studio singing. This camera shot is reflected in the digipak with the studio and lighting, the studio lighting image is also on the Website and social media sites. This similar style colouring and studio is shown throughout Jay Harpers image and style. This is important when selling Jay harpers image to the target audience and public. This is because the colour purpley/reddish is a colour that is shown across the 3 platforms. This is important for recognition for the artist overall which allows the artist to be successful!

In all of the images, Jay wears similar clothing; this is done to reinforce his casual style. The clothing worn is important in creating the idea that he is an average person. By having similar clothing worn throughout, Jay gives the impression that he really does dress like this and didn’t dress up particularly for one aspect of his promotion.

Evaluation Task 1

WHAT ARE CODES AND CONVENTIONS?
Codes and conventions are the predictable and familiar forms and techniques used by media to communicate certain ideas or convey a desired impression.
In order to understand how codes are used, it is important to understand the signs systems and their conventions or rules. The reading of signs is therefore essential in analysis and this way of interpreting the signs is called semiotics and is applied to reading visual imagery. Signs can offer denotations and connotations to the audience.
Conventions are generally established ways of doing something. They are an unspoken rule that we have learnt to accept and identify. Conventions become so familiar and natural that they become something that as audiences, we expect to see. They can be used, supported or reiterated as well as subverted. Different conventions can be applied to different media concepts such as narrative and genre.
Both codes and conventions are used to create meaning and as a method of communication. They make it easier to create a product for a specific genre as you only need to repeat the conventions. This is very useful for producers as they can easily target their audience. It can be safer to stick to conventions rather than challenge them.

TYPES OF CODES:
These are used as signs to convey and meaning and are divided into 3 categories; technical, symbolic and written.
Technical - this includes the camera angles, sound and lighting, the framing, juxtaposition and composition, the depth of field (including the rule of thirds)
Symbolic - this includes the mise-en-scene; the clothing, body language, actions of characters (including lip syncing), the locations
Written - this includes the headlines, captions, style of font and graphic design

KEITH NEGUS' CODES AND CONVENTIONS

Organic Artists

• Develop career initially independently of to the music industry
• Tend to write and play most of the instruments on their songs
• Develop through playing live venues before signing with a record label
• Have more freedom initially to chose their image and songs for release
• May starts their career independently
• A 'naturalistic' approach to artists 
• The image of the artist is 'enhanced' by the record company
• The artist is given time to evolve and progress through their career

Synthetic Artists

• Manufactured by the record labels and TV demands
• Generally have an image that is directed towards a tailor made audience
• Begin their careers recording songs either written for  them or chosen by record companies
• Limited freedom of choice

ANDREW GOODWIN'S CODES AND CONVENTIONS FOR MUSIC VIDEOS

• There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals
• There is a relationship between the music and the visuals
• Particular genres have their own video style and iconography
• Artists develop their own star iconography in and out of their videos 
• There are lots of close-ups of the main artist
• There is reference to voyeurism
• There are inter-textual references 

JOHN STEWART'S CODES AND CONVENTIONS FOR MUSIC VIDEOS

• Music videos have the aesthetics of a TV commercial, with lots of close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the star's face
• Visual reference comes from a range of sources, although the most frequent are cinema, fashion and art photography
• Inter-textual references are used to create nostalgia and new meanings for the audience
• Video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can. The mise-en-scene in particular is used to emphasise an asprirational lifestyle

THE CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF AN INDIE MUSIC VIDEO

• Low budget
• Common settings include things like studios which are easily accessible 
• Simple setting to allow the audience to focus on the artist
• Often include a live performance
• Embedded narrative into performance to add interest
• Editing is fairly basic

To further my understand the conventions of the indie genre, I looked at the star images of indie artists such as Hozier as well as looking at various indie music artist websites and digipaks.

THE DIGIPAK

THE MUSIC VIDEO



We also applied Carol Vernallis's theories to our music video.

• The use of jump cuts to speed up time
• Narrative is not complete but is suggestive of an idea
• Camera movement can give the illusion of an edit even if there isn't one
• The fourth wall is broken

We applied these theories to our video in a number of ways.

• There are several jump cuts both between narrative stands and within them.This allowed us to show a variety of different activities quickly and helped us maximize the length of the song. Within the length of the song, this meant that we had more time to show more footage and connote the narrative to the audience.
• All of the narrative threads in the video are not complete as this leaves it open for the audience to interpret what they have seen. Despite this, the narrative is clear enough to give the audience an indication to what is going on and therefore, they can understand it.
• Sometimes, we moved the camera which gave the illusion that we had cut between shots, when in reality, we had continued filming in a different place.

THE WEBSITE

http://mediastudiesbms.wix.com/media

FONT
Like all websites for artists, we used the same font for all the headings on our website, including for the hyperlinks as well as a different font used for all bodies of text. This was important in the continuity for our website and making the audience recognise the font for our artist. This is similar to the way in which two different fonts are used, one which is used for the artists name and is the same on all the Jack Garratt products and a slightly different, more basic one for the hyperlinks on the website

LAYOUT
Like many websites, we kept the hyperlink bar at the top of all the pages as this makes it easier to locate and therefore use. This is important for ease of use for the audience.
Like Jack Garratt and Ben Howard's website, we positioned the artists name in the top left corner as this was easy for the audience to see and identify.
We also saw that social media links were either positioned at the top, like they are on Jack Garratt's website or on the bottom as seen in Ben Howard's. We decided to put ours at the bottom as this is out of the way of the other links on the page so does not distract from these other aspects. Additionally, we felt that the top of our website was already crowded with the hyperlinks and artist name so would get lost and may be missed by the audience. This conforms to what we have seen on other websites as the social media links are often placed on their own.

HYPERLINKS
We included a hyperlink bar at the top of our website with various links such as 'Gallery', 'Live' and 'Store' because when looking at websites for similar artists these were common links which came up. Additionally, we have a hyperlink for a biography which is significant as our artist is still establishing himself and therefore needs to provide the audience with information about him in order to create a connection with them and then as Masnic says 'give them a reason to buy'. This was different to most the websites for similar artists as they didn't have an 'about' or 'biography' page as they are not all new artists still establishing themselves.
We also featured hyperlinks to social media such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter as well as to Spotify as this was something that we had seen that other artists had done. We felt that this was very important as it would enable our target audience to connect with the artist in a different way.

IMAGES OF OUR ARTIST
For the background image of our website, we decided to use the same image as that on the digipak but chose to change the colour scheme of it. This was done in order to create a recognizable product and allow the audience to connect the album with the website. Ben Howard's background for his homepage is his latest music video which also helps the audience to connect the two products. We also chose to have an image of our artist on the front page to make his face more recognizable to the audience.
The image we used also shows the guitar which is effective in creating an authentic and organic indie star image as it re-enforces the idea that our artist plays the  instrument and uses this skill when making music and in his performances. The grain on this image creates a vintage feel and contributes to the organic image we wanted to present.
The images on the photo page of George Ezra's album included some of performances with a guitar as well as some from photo shoots. This helped to emphasize his organic, indie-folk images. The images we chose to appear on the gallery page were inspired by this and also feature the guitar which further adds to our artists organic image. We also included some with out the guitar and close-ups of the artist which use direct address as this is something that we didn't do on the album cover and is important to create a connection with the audience who would feel as though the artist is looking directly at them.

MERCHANDISE
We looked at the merchandise of artists like George Ezra, Hozier and Tom Odell from which we saw that they all sold very simple items such as t-shirts, jumpers, mugs, posters and sometimes guitar picks and wristbands as well as CDs and vinyl. We also noticed that these all had either a logo or the artists name on to make the products recognizable. This was something that we also did when creating our merchandise. We took particular note of the vinyl and the guitar picks as these keep in line with the indie and organic image as the vinyl signifies a vintage aspect and the guitar pick encourages audiences to play guitar like the artist as well as emphasises that this is something that the artist can do.

NEWSLETTER

Much like on the website for every music artist, we created a page for fans to sign up to receive email newsletters. An example of this is Hozier's newsletter from which we could see that the newsletter tat indie artists send out is very simple, just like everything else. It has his name in big in the header with all the text under this, something that we also did. Additionally, we conformed to the idea of having social media links on the email which further promotes fans to connect with Jay on social media.