B- Our promotion in terms of creating an artist image

How are we representing Ben Howard Across the promotional material?

Our aim was to represent Ben Howard in a very accessible singer song writer way as many other indie/ folk artists are represented like. This includes using lots of naturalistic shots such as fields, trees, and wildlife. We have underpinned this with a love story narrative in order to incorporate the artist and give the audience something to relate to making him more accessible.

The techniques we have used are...

- Using orange lighting/ colour wash throughout all our material in order to create symmetry between the different types of material. The orange is representative of the sun set in order to again create a very naturalistic setting connoting the artists image and personality traits.

- In addition to this we have used artistic shots in our material in order to make it interesting for the audience and to become rich in connotation when looking at the artists image. All the shots are natural looking though to continue the feel of love for music as opposed to digital editing.

- The main feel of our work is serious as the key focus is death although this is presented in a very un morbid way, using oranges and pretty locations to give a warm feel to the footage and to show how a positive outcome can be created through anything.

- We have also used similarly edited images when creating our print work for both the promotional advertisement and the digipak to create a professional and realistic artist image.


In what way is our video and print work rich in connotation?

- The use of nature and wildlife is a key aspect connoting the down to earth, accessible artist image in that we intend to create for Ben Howard.

- We have followed British cultural codes for example the English flag on the bike as well as from the ceiling as well as using the iconic location of Brighton and British countryside to ensure that the video is both rich in connotation for the British audience watching it as well as being reflective of Ben Howard's history and him as a person living in Britain.

- In relation to Richard Dyer's theory of there being two paradoxes from which creates a star.
1. The star being both extraordinary and ordinary to the consumer.
2. They must be both present and absent to the audience.

We have conformed to both paradoxes in which Dyer identifies although i think that the second is portrayed stronger in our promotional material. Ben Howard is mainly portrayed as ordinary in that there are no special effects and it is very singer song writer based, although the fact that he is an artist with a music video and promotional material would also create a sense of becoming extraordinary to the consumer.

In terms of Dyers second point, Ben Howard is portrayed as being present to the audience when shown in the narrative of the music video, but also absent when he is not a key aspect of the video.

Our promotional material is also rich in connotation as it is very quirky again using locations such as Brighton and the English flag as well as being very authentic, which i think works well with the style of the song and follows the conventions that music promotion from similar artists and genre's follow. For example there is also a flag used in the music video 'Isles' by Little comets. Making it rich in connotation and interesting for the audience to view.