Question 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Narratological analysis of my music video 

My music video follows a linear narrative structure. It also conforms to Tzvetan Todorov's three act structure; the first act of equilibrium involves the character being sat in her bedroom, then the inciting incident which introduces the second act (disequilibrium) is her receiving a text from her boyfriend. The concluding new equilibrium comes when she discards her phone, symbolising her rejection of her dissatisfying relationship.

Of Roland Barthes' narrative codes, my music video mostly uses proairetic codes which develop the narrative – for example, this includes the character receiving the text which motivates her to go to meet her boyfriend. These texts are also a narrative device of in-shot text. Furthermore, the mobile phone acts as a narrative device by showing an embedded photo of the couple together, to establish that she is in a relationship. The clock on the mobile phone also acts as a narrative device by showing that time has passed as the character has waited for her boyfriend. I also used the narrative driver of movement to progress the narrative, as the character walks between locations.

 My music video is a closed text. This is conventional for appealing to a mainstream audience as Pam Cook says that Hollywood narrative structures contain "a high degree of narrative closure". This kind of "narrative closure" is especially conventional for teenage romance films, which makes it suitable for my music video about teenage heartbreak. My target audience of teenage girls are also likely to be familiar with these kinds of films and expect ideological closure. However, my narrative (especially the ending) is slightly interpretive, which is conventional for the medium as Michael Shore says that "Music video directors make videos as ambiguous as possible, with just enough narrative or suggestive concept to draw a viewer in".

Question 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Question 3. What have you learned from your target audience?

Digipak

CD jewel case front cover

CD jewel case back cover (including spines)

Booklet internal page

Booklet internal page

Magazine Advert

Magazine Advert Moodboard

Storyboard

As part of our planning, we made a storyboard of some of the key shots which we wanted to include in our music video. This helped us to consider shot types and composition whilst we were filming.

Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Magazine advert - work in progress

This is a rough design of my magazine advert design. I have followed conventions by integrating the main image from my digipak design,which is a close-up of the artist to promote her brand, like on the adverts for albums by Jessie J and Lana Del Rey. Also like the advert for Lana Del Rey's album, I have included text in a large sans serif font at the top of the advert which shows the artist's name. This is white so that it stands out from the black background and I chose a sans serif font because this has a more contemporary look so could be more appealing to my younger teenage audience. Other text which I have included like in the adverts for Jessie J and Lana Del Rey is a website address to encourage further engagement from the audience. This is in a dark red colour which matches the lipstick worn in the image on the advert, to create a colour scheme. Other conventional features of adverts which I have included are the release date, a record label logo and a review.

Annotated Lyrics & Timeline

To help us plan our music video, we looked at the lyrics of our song to inspire the narrative. Splitting the song into sections of lyrics also helped us to plan the structure of our plot.

Digipak - work in progress

Front of case

Back of case (with spines)

These are rough designs of two panels of my digipak design. I have chosen a close-up image of the artist for the front cover of the CD case, with her centralised. This is conventional and could promote a sense of connection between the audience and the artist. For the back cover, I have chosen a long shot of the artist and used the rule of thirds.

I need to change the colour of the strips which mark the spines of the CD case and add text displaying the name of the artist/album. I will also add a record label logo to the back cover design to fulfill this convention. Next, I also need to design two more digipak panels - I plan to design some examples of pages from an internal booklet, containing the lyrics of the songs on the album.

Digipak Fonts

I have collated a selection of sans serif fonts from the website DaFont which I could use on the digipak design for my album. I have chosen sans serif fonts so that they are bolder and appear more modern, appealing to the band's younger target audience. This is similar to the font choices on the album covers of 'After Laughter' (by Paramore) and 'Pale Honey' that I included in my digipak moodboard. A couple of the sans serif fonts which I have selected to consider are outlines, like the font on the album cover of 'Dua Lipa' (which is also on my moodboard). These maintain the striking shape of the sans serif style but are more stylistically interesting. However, a disadvantage of this style is that the lack of solid opacity may make the font appear less defined.

How do digipaks of two artists appeal to their target audiences?

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (deluxe edition)

Paperboard clamshell box, booklet, two flip books and CD

Booklet page

   The deluxe edition of Arcade Fire's second album offers its audience several pleasures of the digipak experience provided by tangible media. The CD is packaged in a paperboard clamshell box, which presents the album as a collectable item which is worth protecting and preserving. As well as the CD, the box contains a booklet which lists the songs' lyrics. This engages with the band's audience who may be keen to look for deeper meaning within the songs' lyrics or want to learn them (potentially so that they can sing along and enjoy the pleasure of participation). The aesthetic of the lyric pages mimics the layout of Bible passages by including numbers as would indicate chapters and verses in the Bible; the band recorded the majority of the album in a converted church, played in several churches as part of their tour, and themes of religion and the questioning of faith run through the album's songs so this visual style reinforces the ideological appeal of the album as well as linking to its title. Further to designing the artwork of the album cover and booklet, Tracy Maurice designed two 32-page flip books which are included in the deluxe edition. This exclusive feature adds to the edition as a collectible whilst continuing its visual style. Tracy Maurice also designed the artwork for Arcade Fire's debut album ('Funeral'), so her work on the digipak for 'Neon Bible' could appeal to the band's audience by demonstrating a development of the band's aesthetic. In 2008, Maurice won the Juno award for 'CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year' for Neon Bible, so the digipak could be additionally appealing due to its prestigious award-winning status.


Florence And The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (limited edition vinyl collector's box set)
This digipak is especially appealing to the audience of the band due to its exclusivity, presenting it as a special and desirable collection for fans to possess, especially as it included a bonus track ('As Far As I Could Get') which is not available on any other format of the album. The 6 vinyls are packaged in individual bags within a box, presenting them as valuable collectibles. The box also contains a large booklet in full colour on high-quality paper.

Digipak Moodboard

Music Video

How can we describe and analyse narrative in your music video?

   The music video that we are producing for 'He Never Shows' by Pom-Pom Squad is a closed text with a linear narrative structure. Our narrative follows Todorov's principle of the three act structure (consisting of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium). For the first act, our music video begins in the protagonist's bedroom, until she receives a text message from her boyfriend - considering Barthes' theory of narrative codes, this could be considered a proairetic code which also functions as the inciting incident for disequilibrium. Our opening could also act as a framing device because we will use it to introduce the character, using props in her bedroom for character exposition. The second act (disequilibrium) involves our character hoping to achieve a resolution by going to reconcile with her boyfriend. However, he doesn't show up and the new equilibrium established involves her rejecting the unhealthy relationship; our protagonist will be shown throwing her mobile phone into the lake where they had planned to meet as a symbolic code to signify this.