'Home' - music video

'Home' - music video

I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.

YouTube link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miD9yrONbMQ

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

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - DVD Director's commentary

Question 2

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? - YouTube Webcam Interview

Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback? - Podcast

Question 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stage? - Magazine Q&A article

Question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? - Magazine Q&A article

Ancillary text 1

Ancillary text 1

This is a DVD cover I have created for the release of my music video.

I used conventional tropes of professional DVD covers such as: stating the names of the actors involved, and including an award nomination that one of them has received; having a synopsis of the music video on the back of the cover; naming the Directors and Producers as well as the video's production company (including the company logo on the back and side of the cover); showing positive reviews and star ratings; the single and DVD cover image and title is large on the front of the cover, and small on the back and spine of the cover, so as to focus people's attention to the images and title of the video; a barcode for the DVD is included on the back of the cover, along with the DVD, HD, and 'U' (universal - suitable for all) symbols - these icons are also all on the side of the DVD, and the U is on the front of the cover to allow audiences to immediately identify the video's rating; on the back of the cover there is also a small image of the cover of Gabrielle Aplin's debut album 'English Rain', that the song 'Home' is included in; the back of the cover has screen fitting information - a 'Widescreen' stamp; I have also added still shots from the music video and minimized them, to make a horizontal sequence along the back of the cover, in order to give viewers teasers as to what sort of characters, and storyline, unfold within the music video; and, the iTunes, DVD and YouTube logos (on the back of the cover) indicate the formats that the video can be found, streamed and bought on.

I put the music video's highest ratings, including five star reviews, at the top of the back of the DVD cover - the best quote from a high-profile news company was centred, higher than the other reviews and put in a larger font and image size. The blue stars, and red text linked to them, contrast well with each other and the pale, creamy-yellow background of the DVD cover. The red-brown title of the music video also contrast with the background, making it memorable - this is why I put the actors' names, and the chosen cover quote from the song, in this colour as well. The spine of the DVD cover has depth - it has gradient colours going from a light pink to the pale yellow. The pale pink complements the pink-brown of the text boxes and the red-brown outline of the text boxes and images on the back of the cover - black text was used here to make the information clearly visible. 

The font I used for the top text box on the back of the cover is Garamond, size 11.5 because it is clear and professional. I also used the same font in various sizes again for the names of the reviewers, the positive feedback quote and the names of the actors on the front cover. However, I used Gill Sans NT Condensed, size 12, in capitals for the second text box, as again it is professional and clear. For the title of the music video a different font was used - Bradley Hand ITC (on the front cover it is size 54), and for the song lyric shown across the bottom of the front of the cover I used Monotype Corsiva, size 14, as it is elegant and so suits the song and video.

The design of the image on the front of the DVD (which can be seen minimised on the back and spine of the cover as well) is meant to evoke nostalgia as it shows three old, retro, Polaroid pictures. Even though the second two photographs are not fully seen they are actual stills from the music video that I added in order to maintain authenticity. The first photograph, that can be seen, is relevant to the music video because it is a field of sunflower's in the Sun - in the music video a sunflower symbolises the couple's renewing love. The low angle shot here makes the sunflowers seem powerful and so reflects the symbolism in the music video. The bright yellow of the sunflowers is also complemented and seemingly heightened by the pale yellow background of the DVD cover.

Ancillary text 2

Ancillary text 2

I created a magazine advert for my music video - this would be featured in most popular magazines, (so will be in A4 format) such as; NME's magazine, Country Living, Hello! and Vanity Fair.

I used conventional tropes of professional magazine adverts such as showing positive reviews, including the production company name, the single and DVD cover image, the date of release 'May 2017', the artist and media format, and where it will be released - 'iTunes, DVD, and YouTube'.

The colours I used are calming, the pastel pink tinted red-brown  complements the tea-stained colour of the Polaroid frames, and contrasts with the bright colours of the photographs in the main Polaroid picture. The main Polaroid is a field of sunflowers with the sun shining down - this is symbolic because throughout the music video a sunflower represents the love that the couple feel for each other. The font used suits the piece because - Garamond, which I used for the main writing, looks a bit like a vintage typewriter text, Bradley Hand ITC, which I used for 'Home', looks like hand writing on the Polaroid, and Monotype Corsiva, which I used for 'May 2017', is dainty reflecting the melody of the song. The black text and black stars also contrast well with the background of the advert.

The main image of the advertisement connotes memories and a sense of belonging as they are old images of something seemingly important, such as a home, as they seem to have been kept for so long; they provoke nostalgia and love.