Post 11: Closing post

Dear Moderator,

Welcome to my blog. All of my evidence for research and planning can be found under the 'AL Research and Planning' label.

Thank you and enjoy,

This blog is now closed.

Post 10: My production review

I was given feedback on my website and music video in order to reflect and improve on my work. This helped me to create a project to the best of my ability whilst meeting the demands of the set brief. 

WEBSITE FEEDBACK 

- To allow a scroll down my page, I anchored certain images so that they would take the user to specific locations on my website without having to scroll.

- I changed the background because having the background photo on its side made the website appear less professional.

- I hyperlinked both iTunes and Spotify buttons to allow digital convergence in my website and allow my fans to become prosumers while engaging with my content.

MUSIC VIDEO

1st Review:

WWW:

- Good overall edit 

- Good understanding of how pop music videos are structured throughout 

- Good variety of shots 

- Good narrative and overall message 

EBI:

- Several car shots are boring and dull

- Opening shot of JAY DAH hand cuffed is too confusing for the audience

Resolution: re-film certain shots

Initially, in my music video, the car shots weren't wasn't visually striking enough: they weren't filmed in a picturesque location, one of the girls was wearing a more 'cute' outfit which made her look out of place compared to the rest of the girls. 

I then reshoot this section of my music video. I added a better shot of the girls getting into the car in a more picturesque location:

 I also made sure the girls were all wearing clothes that fit in with my brand and my star persona's identity. I did this by putting them in clothes my artist would also wear: 

Also, I got told the initial shot  was too confusing for the audience viewer, since the chains are suppose to me more of a metaphorical/abstract concept - having it as the first shot almost strips it from its meaning. 

I then removed this and started my music video with my character directly in an office. This would also make the chains on my outfit seem like they're meant to be there and not draw attention to them as much, stripping the meaning from them. 

I also had a shot of my character and her girlfriend drinking from a bottle. However, it was too obvious to the audience that it was a beer bottle. This would not fit my target demographic since I would be promoting underage drinking to the 16-17 age category of my 16-25 target audience which would violate certain regulation rules. Therefore, I changed it to ice-cream. This would fit the fun-loving atmosphere more and contribute to the innocence I want to convey in my character's relationship with her girlfriend.

After I made these changes, I finalised my music video and asked people of the target audience to review it and give me their feedback:

I was really happy when I got the feedback from my target audience because this is the demographic of people who I want to appeal to most. I was glad they understood the narrative and appreciated the  more edgy style and concepts whilst also staying true to the pop genre. 

Post 9: My Website and Social Media Pages

I analysed the online, social and participatory presence (website and social media) of a mainstream pop artist and how the constructed their online presence to reach a mass market and get their target audience to engage fully with their brand. This would be able to inspire me with branding, synergy and digital convergence ideas which I could include in my website and social media.

SOCIAL MEDIA: INSTAGRAM

Since the brief states we will be building star persona's from the 'Pop' genre, I decided to look at one of the most popular female singers in the Pop music industry right now, Ariana Grande. Ariana Grande also has the 2nd largest Instagram followings in the world, at a staggering 166 million, therefore, I thought it would be interesting to see how she constructed her Instagram for such a large and loyal following. 

One of the first things I noticed about Ariana Grande's Instagram was the link in her bio which immediately takes you to a website where you can by her new song. When clicking on the link, nine platforms where you can buy or listen to the song are digitally converged onto the page. The fact that this is the first thing the eye is drawn to in her bio, heavily promotes her new song and maximises the potential and reach of who can buy and listen to the song. 

When scrolling down her Instagram, there are several posts promoting her new perfume: 

In the first post, Grande hinted that the fragrance is called "thanku,next" which is the name of the album she released earlier in the year. Here, Grande has linked her album with her fragrance and heightened her brand and commercial appeal for her target audience.  The first post where she revealed she was releasing a fragrance was on the 8th August, there are several posts following this one where she reposts the photo followed with the last post, shown above to tell her fans to buy the product on the 1st September. Here, Grande has waited a month to release her product which creates an exciting build up for her fans and will cause them to check her Instagram for any updates. She has also tagged Ulta Beauty, which is where fans can buy the product. This convergence allows quick access to purchasing the product and shows the synergistic relationship with Ulta Beauty. She has also left her comments open where her fans can tag each other in the exciting build up to the release of the product and feel like their interacting and engaging with Ariana Grande and other fans across the world.

When scrolling down her Instagram, she has posts that make her fans feel more connected with her and her persona life:

  

Grande has posted a primary school photo of herself, her taking a nap with her dog and a photo of her and her mother, holding her fragrance. These photos reveal a more personal aspect of Ariana's life. With the large following Ariana has, it can be hard for fans to feel like they can connect with her since she's so famous. However, in these posts, fans feel like they can connect and get to know Ariana on a more personal level, gaining an insight into her childood life, her pets and her family. This humanises Ariana Grande more and makes fans feel happy that she is providing them with an insight to her personal life, not just her career, giving Ariana Grande a loyal and engaged audience following.

Ariana Grande also has a very distinct aesthetic to her posts which is conveyed throughout her branding: 

When scrolling down Ariana Grande's Instagram, her feed consists of mainly black and white colours and conveys a very classy, 1930s glamour feel. This aesthetically pleasing visual style is further conveyed to her website:

This style works synergistically through the link between her Instagram and heightens her brand and personal style.

WEBSITE: 
Websites are extremely important in promoting artists' brand as they contain everything the fan needs to know, from tour dates to merchandise to latest news.

At the top of Ariana Grande's website, there is a horizontal menu bar which has a social media bar, providing direct links to her Facebook, Instagram, iTunes, Spotify, Twitter and Youtube in the click of a button. This digital convergence allows fans to easily access her other platforms and interact with her brand more, whether this is listening to her music or buying her merchandise.

Her home page has direct links to what's out right now in regards to her work, such as her new song which is immediately linked to YouTube.

                           

When the fan clicks on the YouTube link, they are automatically revealed to more of Ariana Grande's content. Such as more hyperlinks to her social media and the brands she works with. This causes the fan to stay engaged with her content as one link leads to another through digital convergence. This is also the case for her other social media pages that are linked on the website. 

On her website, there is also an option to sign up to her mailing list:

This allows the fans to feel like they are a part of her 'family', keeping updated with Ariana Grande's brand and like they're 'top' fans for receiving updates on what Ariana Grande is doing. Also, in regards to keeping her fan base loyal, Ariana Grande released a song with another artist called 'Monopoly':

Right next to the song title, there is a message saying "a thank u to the fans". This helps maintain the audience loyalty and further make the fans feel like the have been rewarded for staying loyal and being a fan of Ariana Grande's brand.

TWITTER:
Ariana Grande's twitter is similar to her Instagram, linking her new song in her bio and maintaining her black and white theme as much as possible:

On Twitter, we actually see Ariana Grande interacting with her fans:

This contributes to maintaining a loyal fanbase as well as a growing one since more fans will tweet her to try and receive a response

 Her synergistic relationship with Ulta Beauty is further conveyed on her Twitter as she tags the Ulta Beauty Twitter page and the link to their website where you can purchase the product.

INFLUENCE ON MY PROJECT: 

- Through the research of Ariana Grande's social media, I have gained an understanding into how to cleverly digitally converge your platforms so they are easily accessible to an audience.
- I have also seen clever ways of making the fans feel special and more engaged with the artist. This is important in maintaining a loyal and growing audience.
- Although my artist's branding is different to Ariana Grande's, more vibrant and bold, researching her website and social media has taught me the importance of branding which has inspired me to put together a constantly visual colour scheme and aesthetic for my star persona which will help synergise my brand with my website and social media pages.

Post 8: My music video

I researched some existing music videos in the pop genre and analysed the narrative and performance. Some videos helped me with either visual inspiration, narrative inspiration or both. The research also helped me pin-point conventions of the pop genre which I could adapt own music video so it's recognisable in the pop genre. Through the conventions, I will be able to strongly communicate meaning: my brand and star identity as well as my values, attitudes and beliefs. 

POP MUSIC VIDEOS

The first video I watched was Katy Perry's 'hot n cold'. It's a narrative video about a woman who walks out of her marriage due to her husband's mood swings. She then replies on her support system to get through the rough post-marriage breakup.

Throughout the video, the visuals amplify the lyrics and there is constant cutting to the beat, fast paced editing which often breaks the principles of continuity and narrative flow and extremes such as constant cutting from wide to close-ups. These are typical conventions of a pop music video.

The mise-en-scene throughout is used very effectively to convey Katy's different state of mind at different points in the music video. In the beginning wedding scene, the shot is lit with bright lighting to symbolise Katy's purity and innocence on the loving day of her marriage. However,  there is higher saturation in this shot with an almost plastic filter on top of it. This could convey the falseness of the marriage and how Katy is soon to end it.

As soon as Katy reveals why she is annoyed at her husband, this breaks into her singing where there is an audio-visual relationship. The darker lighting, creating shadows in the background and on people's faces juxtaposes with the previous shot and adds to Katy's dramatic reveal of the dumping of her husband. The darker lighting and shadows, which conveys Katy as a more evil character, could be used to introduce a new side of Katy that the viewer hasn't yet seen, foreshadowing the events that are yet to come.

As soon as Katy starts her new independent life without her husband, there are several shots of her in different locations, one being a concert where she is performing her song.

In this section, where Katy is singing in the night club, there are many close up shots of her body. This voyeuristic treatment of the female body strongly links with Vernaliss' pop music video theory. The red lighting, paired with the red pvc dress create a seductive, alluring feel. This gives the impression that Katy is free to express herself after her stifling marriage. Costume and makeup is very important throughout the music video. Later on we see Katy, the bride, with dripping black makeup down her face. This creates a haunting effect, almost like something from a horror movie. This conveys the fact her husband is now scared of her but also conveys her emotional state due to the ending of her marriage and confused character. 

- What I really liked in this music video was the theme of escapism and love from her support system conveyed throughout. This has inspired me to really express the escapism feel in my music video. At the beginning of my music video, I will have my character at work, bored, I will grade it to heighten the boredom and blandness of it and when she leaves and meets her friends and girlfriend, I will use fun effects and maybe high saturation, brighter grading to show the difference in my character's state of mind like Katy has done.
- As well as this, the video was full of cutting the beat, discontinuity through jump cuts and disjointed edits and constant cutting from close up to extreme wides. This gave the video an exciting feel and keeps the viewer engaged.
- In this video, I also liked the fact that Katy's friends were majority female. This has really inspired me to create my character as a strong female leads where her friends and girlfriends gives her the support she needs, conveying themes of 'girl power' and friend support.

The second video I looked at was 'Who's Laughing Now" by Jessie J. In this music video, Jessie J is reflecting on her younger years where she was bullied in school and re-inacting the events that happened to her in school with an actor who played a younger version of her.

At the beginning of the video, as soon as young Jessie enters her school, there is a mid shot of the back of her head walking through the corridors. This initially creates ambiguity as to what's going on because we don't see her face and she is also wearing all black. This contrasts with the brightly lit corridor and girls in pink. The audience already see that she is outcast and marginalised by the way she is positioned in the frame.

In the video, where Jessie get bullied, there is a pivotal point in the music video where she can't take it anymore and leaves the classroom. This happens as soon as the beat drops which makes the video cleaner and more dramatic for the viewer since it's in sync. 

There is also a juxtapositions throughout the video in the classroom to highlight the chaotic nature of school. Instead of the children being in uniform and behaving well in the classroom like a typical  representation of school, the kids are wearing peculiar outfits, the teacher is asleep and at one point, young Jessie arrives and sprays everyone with a fire extinguisher. This doesn't evoke the typical idea of what a school should be and highlights that something is wrong, this could again heighten how Jessie feels outcast and marginalised.

- What I really liked in this video, was also, the theme of escapism that young Jessie conveys. As she reaches breaking point, she lets loose and frees herself by plotting her revenge to her bullies. Although I don't want my character to plot a revenge against her boss as such, I want her to be free and happy again with her friends and girlfriend after she quits her job and I want to be able to convey this new found happiness in my music video very well.

-  With regards to the ambiguity at the beginning, I thought this was very effective to engage the audience and I feel I will incorporate elements of this in my music video when I plan the narrative. I want to create some abstract elements to my film which I feel will link well with the ambiguity I will produce. I am thinking of maybe having my character in work clothes at the beginning but also wearing chains all over her to show she is stifled in her job. All the shots after this will have the cast wearing trendy outfits which will contrast with how my character was presented at the start, sad and suffocated by her stifling job.

- After noticing the juxtaposition in this music video, this also inspired me to create a juxtaposition when my character will be at work. Although she will be in formal work wear, I will have certain elements in my music video that contrast with formal wear such as really long bright nails, heavy makeup and song my music video is to. The song is evidently about partying however, putting the song behind shots of my character at work will heighten how much I don't want to be there. 

- In the video, there are also many children from different races. In my music video, I am planning on using an Asian girl, an Indian boss and also include a lesbian relationship. 

- To symbolise the chaotic atmosphere and also make it an exciting, innovative pop music video there is cutting to the beat, constant cutting from wides to close-ups, unusual pans and tilts and a strong audio-visual relationship. These are more conventions of pop music videos I will include in my music video to make it as true to the pop genre as possible.

- This music video also has a strong female lead which is something I want to incorporate in my music video.

MY MUSIC VIDEO

For my music video, I wanted to create a conceptual, narrative music video which told the story of my character being stuck in a job she doesn't like and then relying on her support system to make her happy again after she quits. The music video will be split into three sections: my character at work quitting her job, her getting her girl friends to pick her up and have a good time together and finally, my character meeting with her girlfriend. By the end of the video, I want to convey the fact that my character is completely free and happy. As she quits, I want the music video to convey the theme of escapism and liberation. Here are my initial ideas discovering the main themes I wanted to convey:

I then created a time coded narrative to help me plan what shoots I needed:

Due to my three-stranded narrative, I wanted the chorus to always have the same content (my character dancing in the bedroom with her friends) so the audience wouldn't be confused with my narrative and that they always have something to go back to and see my character's fun loving character.

I then started looking at locations to film my shots in order to create my music video:

1st outdoor performance shot: 

Bush Hill Park - Graffitied wall, EN1 

Risk Assessment: 

- Public place, don't leave equipment out without supervision 

- Be aware of pedestrians 

- Be aware of small children running around, especially when kit it up on tripod with headphone sound wires 

Office shoot, The Latymer School, N9: 

I was originally suppose to film the office scenes in my boss' office but due to some work complications, he wasn't able to allow me to film in his office. Therefore, I used a work office at my school:

Risk Assessment: 

- Don't be disorganised, the workspace is important to teachers and has important work.

- Beware of leaving kit outside the office since children will be walking in and out of lesson 

Bedroom shoot: My Bedroom, EN1

Since my room is also spray painted, I feel it will showcase my artist's youthful and edgy star persona and will work really well when edited with the shots from the outside graffiti, creating an almost montage type video. 

Risk Assessment: 

- Several people in my bedroom at once, make sure nobody trips over kit or wires

Shots in the road, for beginning and end of video, EN1: 

NW8: 

Risk Assessment: 

- Public space, don't leave kit unsupervised 

- Beware of pedestrians 

Casting: 

Myself: JAY DAH 

Kush: My Boss 

Kush has had a lot of media experience before and will know how to behave himself throughout a serious shoot. Also, when looking at www.gov.uk, I found out that Asian men were often discriminated in the workplace: 

Although my music video is mainly about female independence and power, I thought this was also an important issue to raise in terms of representation.

Cathy: Girl 1

Cathy has a lot of media experience. She is confident and won't shy away when needing to lip sync in front of a camera and dance. She is also Vietnamese and women of her country and culture are often not represented in music videos. Using Cathy could allow more people in my target audience to feel inspired and or relate to this representation. It will also broaden the audience appeal to my music video.

Lucia: Girl 2

Lucia has a very strong sense of style and will be perfect in terms of giving the video the slight edge I'm looking for. 

Lauren: Girl 3

Lauren is a dancer and won't shy away from the camera. Her dyed hair also adds the edge I want to the video. She is also of Brazilian descent which will heighten the representation of different girls in my music video and create a wider a appeal.

Maya: My Girlfriend 

Maya has been acting since the age of 12 and has recently finished drama school. Therefore, I feel she will give a very good performance into making my relationship with her believable on camera. 

After these initial plans, I was ready to shoot my music video!