STAY ALIVEJOSE GONZALEZ
Evaluation Question 2 By Harry Donald
Q2
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
My video uses a variety of shots to tell a story of the journey of friendship. Each shot was carefully considered to portray meaning and representation, for example shots’ pacing was edited to match the song’s speed and cut to change shot on the beat, along with high angle shots to convey powerlessness. Showing that a large purpose of my music video is to create a clear narrative by using conventions.
My music video was strongly influenced by the notion of foreshadowing and theory of Chekov’s gun, this is evident as my choice in locations are visited by both main characters, however within a sequence hroughout this course I have been challenged with the creation of three main products, a music after one character dies, these locations are revisited. However this time only by one character, symbolising video, digipak and advert all relating to each other. his friends death and how alone his feels. This subtle change majorly alters shots, making the fame seem My music video was the initial piece that I worked empty, this is done purposely. For example one on that the advert and digipak subsequently evolved pivotal scene shows the pair walking up a hill, this out of. My music video ‘Stay Alive’ by José Gonzales shot was composed to use convention of the rule follows the indie genre and is a song that can hold a variety of representation through its lyrics, I chose to of thirds, with the pair positioned to the right of the shot. However when the flash forward is shown adapt the lyrics to tell the story of two friends who’s friendship falls apart and ends in one of them killing within the music video, I specifically displayed this scene then added a fade effect in postproduction to themselves. transition to a shot of the protagonist walking alone. The creation of my music video was by far the This then creates a barer atmosphere to the shot, most time consuming with both shooting and representing the emptiness of the protagonist’s world post production stages of editing. However as my now that his friend his gone. intentions for my narrative were clear from my This scene, to me, was vital, meaningful and initial ideas, it was the most rewarding stage as it allowed me to watch my ideas develop and I could be emotional. Due to this I chose this shot of the pair walking up the hill to be the main image of creative. Overall I am pleased with my work on the my digipak, further aided by its significance and music video and have made a clear, rich narrative. memorability I feel viewers will engage well with this scene.
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as the images can be associated with the artist, song and video whilst clearly portraying the songs genre, catering to both target and a wider potential audience. This was a major draw and why I aimed to maintain a continuous appeal to my images. The editing of the images also corresponds with the feel of the indie genre, for example I did not wish for the images to have a bright, vibrant look that is typically associated with the pop genre. Instead I opted for editing the images to have a misty, darker tonal aesthetic and kept this consistent throughout.
My videos narrative then allowed me to set the tone of all my tasks. This was the initial step of creating a brand identity. The variety of shots used in my video are reflected in both my digipak and advert as they use alterative views of shots from the music video, this both creates a brand identity and allows the consumer to feel closer to the narrative of my music video, feeling they have more involvement in the story due to them seeing these new images. I feel my ancillary tasks of digipak and poster are effective both independently and combined. I did not wish for the two pieces to be repetitive and use the same images, therefore I used varying images for each. However the style and colour scheme of the images were altered on Photoshop to fit the song and videos tone. For example creating a blue cast over images, this can be argued to be a stereotypical convention of the indie genre, showing my clear use of research and how it positively influenced my work. This also created a familiarity of images, which can then aid the brand identity
My main poster image was also edited to incorporate an appropriate amount of blur that doesn’t distract from the main focus of the image but represents the uncertainty of the friend’s fate throughout the video until the end. Said image is also is an exclusive image that is not pictured within the music video, its purpose was to establish to two main characters so potential consumers feel engaged with the story, further enforcing a brand identity as all 3 products revolve around narrative. This is done by showing characters, this was a conscious choice. Previously I had the idea of using mise en scene to create a bridge in narrative through props. Initially the prop of a bike was going to be a main focus of all advertising as it is consistently presented in crucial moments of the music video. However I decided that by showing main images, viewers can engage and emphasise more with characters as well as story. Evidently this idea was not entirely scrapped as my digipak still uses one of the taken images of the bike on one of its panels, partnered with an important quote.
The use of the graphology in fonts also helped establish a brand identity by maintaining two consistently throughout both my digipak and advert. The main front is ‘FuturaHandwritten’. As pictured, this is the font I used for my title of my poster. I chose this font as it is stylised whilst looking handwritten, as the name suggests. This creates a personal feel as if the protagonist, who within the video is singing, wrote it for his friend to see, in his moment of desperation. Much like how the song can be interpreted as dedicated to him. The font is also featured on my digipak, although not on the title of the song. This was a conscious choice as this font is not bold and it is conventional and most effective for a title to stand out. However to maintain the brand identity it is still present and used on the artist’s name and the song list on the back cover of the digipak. The second font I used is ‘Bebas’. This is a bold front that I used on the front panel of my digipak and on reviews on my poster. This consistent use of fonts, much like my main font, aids my brand identity by creating familiarity whilst also fitting a purpose of making font stand out. This is crucial in both my digipak and poster as the purpose of both pieces is to create interest for the music video, so by making the products use fonts that grab the viewers’ attention, it allows more interest to be generated towards my music video. Overall, the combination of all three of my main tasks is effective and creates a successful brand identity through its shared incorporation of narrative and tone set by the music video. Similarly, the consistency of fonts and related images within my digipak and advert allow the pieces to blend and complement each other seamlessly.