Note to the Examiner

Hello there! My name is Tyler Alexander-Abt, candidate number: 8330 and I am at the final stage of my coursework portfolio. I hope you enjoy browsing through my blog and get a sense of what I have done from the pre-production process to the final stage. I have become very much interested in the music industry and the production aspect and I feel I have gained a lot of technical and creative experience in order to flourish further. N.B: On my music video, there was a technical fault as it says my candidate number is 8350 when that is incorrect as it is 8330

Final Music Video!

Final Digipak Template Design...even suitable for purchase!

Front picture: I decided to crop and stretch the frame of the photo on Corel Photo Paint. First I experimented with framing and presentation on Microsoft Word before applying my final decisions on Corel software. I enhanced the colour scheme by increasing the brightness and colour tone controls in order to animate the essence of the picture. The faded-esque graffiti on the brick wall can connote urban lifestyle and culture yet I wanted to promote a creative message as it is publicizing the band. The mise-en-scene is fairly simple yet the clothing and sun tones give a summer, young feel to the image. 

Second picture: This is taken from the footage of the music video itself. I chose to screen shot this frame as I felt it generated a certain degree of dynamism, having a satirical effect on the audience/consumer. I adjusted the contrast and texture controls in order to add some dimension and layers between the characters and their green, luscious background. I also smoothed over the boxes, with the correcting tool in order to smoothen the tone of the objects. I particularly like this finished, vintage touch to the photo, which is well-suited to the indie/hipster genre. 

Third picture: This is also used from the music video's footage from the beginning, where there is stop motion of the sun moving through the clouds connoting hope and high spirit. I chose not to over-edit the picture yet I wanted to incorporate the song's lyrics, sampling relevant text to narrate the song and make it more popular for the target audience when purchasing or watching the video. Using serif font and light blue colour, this ignites the child-like storybook, giving a youthful and fun effect. 

Back picture: This stop-motion sequence of the two elephants kissing, forming a vertical pattern of hearts is featured in the video towards the chorus, yet this picture was taken from our own photography when creating the stop motion, and not from the final video itself. Therefore, this image embodies the focused theme of love and companionship that resonates throughout our video. I intensified the sharpness and saturation controls in order to give a sepia look to the image. I also boosted the colour controls of the red hearts in order to draw the audience's attention to this attractive primary colour. This is therefore known as strategic and well-planned psychological marketing as I am aware of the uses and outcomes of colour in media products like the Digipak. I also copied and pasted two of the minor labels that Noah and the Whale are signed to including: Young and Lost Club and CherryTree in order to promote them instead of the well-known Mercury Records, allowing the other indie labels to be elevated on a promotional platform. I also used a copyright logo on the top right hand corner and a bar code in order to create the most professional-looking product. 

My final website for you!

http://tyleralexanderabt200.wix.com/noahandthewhale

The website transformation: A quick overview!

Website transformation from Tyler Alexander-Abt

http://tyleralexanderabt200.wix.com/noahandthewhale

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2 from Tyler Alexander-Abt

Evaluation Question 1

More results

Another inspirational video!

I really love the fast, quick shots which amazingly compliment the slow tempo of the song. The outdoor mise-en-scene is similar to what we wanted for our video. There are also similar themes prevalent in this video such as relationships, creativity, fun and love.
The subdued colours suggest peacefulness and tranquility that correspond with the atmosphere created by the song. Benjamin Francis Leftwich is categorized under the same genre as Noah and the Whale. I really love the sequence of this music video, and the stop motion is so excellently done in the bedroom frame from a bird's eye view. The focus of the two characters correlates positively with what my group and I were aiming to achieve with that emphasis on a couple. However we expanded our focus to make it more group-oriented. Yet the similar display of two lovers or friends is popular amongst professional music videos belonging to the indie genre.

Second educational lesson on website creation

Today in the ICT suite we discussed the broad variety of artists' webpages giving us more input of how to apply our technological knowledge.
The clear instructions given were as follows:

- own images to be uploaded
- must apply to the applicable genre
- three or four pages on the website
- make as professional as possible

Final Digipak images

What I intend to do with the website

Having examined and analyzed the official homepage of Noah and the Whale, I am going to personalise and illuminate the energy of the page in order to exude a more user-friendly and attractive website where the audience can access pictures, videos and other representative work of the band. This is more informal and allows the artist to have a more intimate relationship with their target audience.

Brandon and Leah are also categorised under the hipster/alternative genre and I really love the colour scheme and presentational devices of their official web page.

Website creation

The Windows Installer XML (WiX, pronounced "wicks"), is a free software toolset that builds Windows Installer (MSI) packages from an XML document. It supports a command-line environment that developers may integrate into their build processes to build MSI and MSM setup packages. WiX was the first software released by Microsoft under an open-source license called Common Public License. 

After making an account, I chose 'music and entertainment' from the category selection as this applies to the promotion of Noah and the Whale (my focused and researched band). 

Having done some Internet surfing, I came across a list of efficient and useful websites that are free from cost in order to promote music and artists: 

Music Street and Bandname.com are both well known websites that are listed above in order to give aspiring and most definitely amateur musicians a head-start in the competitive music industry. This helped me get inspiration for the design and layout of my own website page for Noah and the Whale, bearing in mind my target audience and overall presentational devices. 

The automatic, vivid background I chose is the base and canvas in order to personalise my web page to suit the hipster/alternative indie genre. The variety and technological features of Wix allows me to experiment and sort colour schemes as well as the graphological features to suit my band best.

This is just a draft in the experimentation/creativity process. I really like the aqua blue shade which connotes youth and nature which a predominant themes in this music genre.
I intend to have the main selection bar above the webpage with various options and links.

When typing in 'Noah and the Whale' in onto Google's search engine, this allows online users, fans or people interested in the band to access their representative website:

Below is the band's main homepage: 

There is a western feel to the page in my opinion, with the gold pinstripes around the bold and capitalised: Noah and the Whale

There is also a very modern and slick feel the website giving a less is more effect. 

There is four listed tour dates along with their venues and locations. 

The gold-coloured and underlined imperative statement: 'Pre-order the album here' is forceful and also significant as it is boosting the popularity and awareness of the music. This also promotes online purchase of music which has become increasingly popular amongst online users and music consumers to instantly access music. This therefore is convenient and direct, assisting their audience with the product. 

There is also social media links in the top right hand corner including: Facebook and Twitter, inviting their audience to join in and participate via social media websites to increase numbers as well as audience involvement.

Inference continued

Thoughts on REPRESENTATION:  

Rather than an element of film language, this is a key concept which allows us to deconstruct a range of topics, bearing in mind the relationship between the media producers, their target audience and us the consumers. 

During this project, we considered: 

AGE
ETHNICITY
GENDER
HISTORICAL ERA
LOCATION/SETTING
PHYSICAL ABILITY/DISABILITY
REGIONAL IDENTITY
SIGNIFICANCE/ AVANT GARDE CINEMATIC LINKS
SEXUALITY
SOCIAL CLASS AND STATUS

Close to the end

Having completed the whole of the video, I am also making sufficient process with the Digipak cover which will be printed and published in an authentic formatted cover. The website page is being introduced and will be officially completed. Having come a long way over this course, I am soon to start the detailed evaluation, reflecting the forms and conventions of real media products, secondary research, media theory, research and planning, ancillary tasks, audience feedback and participation, media technology.

Throughout the four questions, I will cover every point possible in order to round off this successful yet challenging assignment as a whole.

Facebook and social media success!

Here is a useful sticky note I made:

During the AS course for Media Studies, we learnt about the music industry and the many pros and cons of the multi-million industry where the artists and record labels are both represented as saleable products via 'we media'. As Sociologist and Media Theorist, David Gauntlett famously said: 'making is connecting' which has stuck ever since to my work ethic and approach to my coursework and ancillary tasks. 

A Golden Opportunity

Having studied the highly interactive spectrum of cross-media and social media networks available, I came across a very interesting magazine article from Cosmopolitan, a female-oriented fashion and beauty magazine:

This gave me some insight into pursuing a career in film production but as of this moment, these handy tips would possibly raise the number of views for our group's Youtube channel.

This modern approach to advertise and promote our music is professional and mature.

EditSteps

1. 1
   Brainstorm what your videos are going to be like. Check the most viewed videos and most subscribed list often, and keep a look out for new YouTubers on the latter list. Looking at the top subscribe list will give you a good perspective on who your audience is and what kind of videos people like.
   • If you can't top the best you probably won't get noticed unless you're really good at what you do. If you find a smaller niche that you can fill and get noticed in try that approach. Make interesting things. Everything may have been done before but there is always something new you can do.
2. 2
   Find out what you are interested by. If you make something that you wouldn't enjoy watching, what makes you think anyone will want to watch it? You won't have fun making it and you will lose interest if it's something you're not really that into.
3. 3
   Make a few videos. This includes getting a camera, recording, editing, and uploading. You need a few good videos already on your profile, and you'll see why later on. So make something worth watching, about ten videos over the course of a while, maybe a month, so you actually get your own show going. It is not going to be well-known, but this is the first step. If you want to choose an alternative, go to the next step.
4. 4
   Use animation. If you don't want to expose yourself to the world, you can try animation. On the downside, you will need to purchase or download some software. If you have a Mac, iMovie is a great software to use.
   • Also, YouTube is in partnership with GoAnimate, so you can make your own animations.
5. 5
   Make one more video to raise the interest of your audience. Show your appreciation to those who have already seen your videos. This will show your audience that you care about them and it will also trigger the interest of people who haven't seen your channel before.
6. 6
   Upload one of your videos as a video response. Find someone who is already famous on YouTube or even someone who might become popular in the future. Hopefully other people will check out your video, notice your appreciation towards your audience and pay a visit to your channel. If that happens, they will be able to watch the videos you have uploaded in the past.
7. 7
   Keep your audience entertained. Post more responses and upload more original content, but make sure that you don't post too many videos over a short span of time. Improve the look of your channel too.
8. 8
   Be active. If you log in frequently, people will watch your channel frequently.
9. 9
   Tag your content properly. Make sure to put relevant tags to all of your videos. People dislike mistagged videos. It's essentially false marketing and people are less likely to appreciate your work.
10. 10
    Spread the word. Spread the word by posting your videos on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. People that follow you or are your friends might show your content to their friends!

International recognition

I recently received an email from a registered Youtube viewer of our Five Years Time video and even our AS Level thriller title sequence who kindly wrote us a congratulatory as well as opportunistic email that could launch us further and possibly open up doors for media production in the film industry.
This outcome is very positive as we have gained personal contact with our audience and even benefited with a chance to work with professionals.
This has been very uplifting and has pushed us to expand our channel and upload and possibly work on more projects even after completing the Media Studies course.

Intertextuality

One of the key concepts in Media Studies is intertextuality.
This useful slideshow includes some amazing facts and information on how media products such as music videos have a particular impact on audiences via references to film, art, literature and more.
As I am at the post-production stage where I am beginning to evaluate my work and progress, I have once again reviewed the final music video of Five Years Time and even at this point, noticed possible influences that we sub-consciously added in order to produce a home-made, authentic type video.

Moving onto the website

The next ancillary task is the Website page which also contributes to my overall grade and completed project. During our class discussion we looked at the different aspects and features of what a website incorporates and spoke about how we can successfully appeal to our target audience with colour, font and presentational devices in order to promote the song, artist and music video. The new software that we will be focusing to work on is called Wix.

Finishing the digipak assignment

As this is one of the ancillary tasks, I have developed a better understanding and more technical knowledge using the computer software during this allocated lesson time. I have finalised my finished product by gathering more primary research with QuickSurvey which is a free, online programme to create instant surveys for my target audience. I have put foward five multiple choice questions with suggestive answers in order to gain sufficient information and research to progress further.