Genre for our digipack

 GENRE

After developing the main ideas of our music video, we thought more about the kind of genre and the kind of conventions we wanted to include in the video overall. As Jacob is Jamaican and lives in Jamaica we wanted to first reflect this in the clothes he would be wearing, so we will include the colours of the Jamaican flag which is green, yellow and black into his costume. We thought also about what kind of clothing he would be wearing for this, and we wanted it to be more casual so we thought black trousers, a green top and yellow shoes. 

The conventions are going to include a kind of romance feel as he is trying to impress the girl, so we would show this by having the robot give a flower to the girl as he try's his hardest to impress her. I believe the audience will like the idea of the robot impressing the girl as it is heartwarming and 'cute' so we will reflect this by adding gestures which will show this. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

To furthermore reflect the idea of his homeland being Jamaica, we would make his social media pages full of the colours of the Jamaican flag, with his profile picture of Jacob smiling to show the light hearted, warm conventions. There would be a picture which would also be on the digipac of him holding the robot, showing the link between them in the video. Overall as the song is quite chilled rap, we want to mainly reflect this chilled vibe into the social media pages.

DIGIPACK 

For the digipack the colours on the outside would be green, yellow and black again to continue the themes of Jamaica so the audience know more about the Artist, making them have a closer understanding and connection of him. We would have a photo of Jacob holding the robot at the front of the digipack, and the title of the song at the front. At the back we would of course include the barcode, with some details about Jacob and where to find his social media, to promote more publicity for him overall. At the front I would have the parents advisory explicit content as the song has swear words in it. On the inside of the digipac I would put some of the other songs on the album, which furthermore advertises the other songs promoting publicity.

Here is a sweatshirt I found which had the same colours of the Jamaican flag which could be perfect for the kind of outfit we want.

These shoes also are similar colours to the Jamaican flag as well so these could work well as well in our video.

Practical camera workshop

 PRACTICAL WORKSHOP

To make sure we knew exactly how to film for our music video we had a lesson on reminding ourselves and also learning more about the cameras themselves and how to film an effective music video. We first of all were shown the camera, which we then refreshed our minds on the different words for specific effects for the camera. For example, the exposure is how much light it is exposing in the photo, and white point is how intense the point where white is. Then we went on to learn how we focus the camera which we did before in our previous workshops for our opening sequences, where you zoom in and twist until it focus's on the centre area of the shot, and then zoom out. 

We also learnt how you can make the shot more blurry when something moves from different lenses you can put on the camera, or more precise and sharp. We might want to use this in our psychedelic party as it gives the impression the people may be on hallucinating drugs, using this effect would be a great way of giving the audience an idea of what individuals might be doing at the party instead of actually showing it. 

As well as this, we learnt about prime lenses which change the distance something is being shot at. For example, by using the prime lenses 18 it would be very zoomed in on the persons face. Using these make it a lot clearer and less messy rather than actually zooming in on the camera, as it is more specific to the kind of shot wanted and therefore more precise. On the other hand using the prime lense 35 could make it more zoomed out. These could also be more accurate for use as instead of having to zoom into the same amount every time, it could be quicker to just chose these lenses. 

The photo on the left is the box full of the different prime lenses which we will use in our video.

Developed idea using Matts feedback

 FIRST MEETING AND FEEDBACK FROM MATT - OUR DEVELOPED IDEA

After taking matts advice into account, we have decided to develop our idea by thinking more about the setting of our music video. We decided that for the scenes where the robot is trying to get the girl, he will be in the common room eating area in our school as it is a public looking area so people could be about if we wanted them to be and it looks like quite a typical setting of a school. 

For the scene where there is the psychedelic party, we wanted present this in the media studio as we feel it would be the best place for making it look as realistic. We also chose to use the studio as an alternative to another place, as we can easily bring in furniture to make the party seem more relaxed which is what we aimed for. As we wanted to project the lights against the girls face as well it would be a lot easier to do this in the studio rather than anyone else. I believe the studio is a perfect setting for this particular film as we can change the room as much as we like not having to worry about vandalising anywhere, it is such a flexible room.

We decided to show off Jacobs performing more so at the end he will be rapping the song as he becomes back into a human from the personification of the robot. He will be dressed in the three colours of Jamaica; green, yellow and black to show off his overall style persona more. 

Active vs Passive Audiences

ACTIVE VS PASSIVE AUDIENCES

A passive audience is one which consumes a media product without really having to think very much, or do very much. Eg someone reading a magazine.

An active audience is one which consumes a media product whilst making active choices eg video game player.

Henry Jenkins argues that fans form a part of a ‘participatory culture’ in which audience are active and creative participants in a text

This means that many products offer audiences the opportunity to ‘DO’ something (either physically or mentally)

Jenkins also said that the whole world its now about “Spreadable Media”. This means that in some way, these media needs to be spread in some way to gain the publicity. He once wrote “if it doesn’t spread, its dead”, which shows that the more people who know about the media they are trying to spread they will make more money but if it doesn’t spread out to other audiences, it won’t. 

Jenkins believes that many people feel superior when spreading content, as though they are more knowledgable, and they are sharing their knowledgeable people. They feel like they are teaching people and it makes them feel superior. 

I researched Amy Winehouse’s website to see if she had anything which may appeal to the audience that brings them interest or something which they can interact with. I noticed she had a newsletter which you can sign up for and subscribe, which is showing there use of spreadable media if the person were to share her newsletter it would gain publicity, bring publicity to the artist and her website overall. As well as this, she has all of her instagram platforms which furthermore invites publicity. It is well known that Amy is not here anymore, however the money she raises goes  towards the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which says it is "Supporting, informing and inspiring young people".

For my own interpretation of using spreadable media in our own music video, when designing the website for it I would include the social media platforms with links to them on the top of the website, as well as this I would include awareness of his other songs which would gain more publicity for his star persona overall. 

Star persona

 TAYLOR SWIFT

Taylor swift is a hugely successful singer/songwriter who has had massive hits, Grammys and other awards also with a constant changing star persona which makes her so unique. She has tailored each different branding to usually her albums, so she reflects the type of music she is singing so the music matches her persona. Swift started off doing only country and western music until developing into being a massive pop icon, who is recognised with many ages due to her music not directed towards a particular audience.

Fearless

She started off her career making country and western music, wearing glamourous gold and silver colours with dramatic and glamourous makeup. At this point she was promoting herself as a more glamourous and powerful artist overall for her star persona.

Photo of Taylor swift performing at one of her concerts during the release of her fearless album.

The album cover of Taylors album 'Fearless', you can see she uses lots of gold colours to promote her overalll star persona of this time. 

Speak Now

When Taylor released her next album, she decided to completely change her persona and used lots of purple colours, so she looked very girly, feminine and sophisticated. She sang a lot about love and was seen as a very fairy tale like character.  

These are some of the pictures from Taylors "Speak Now" tour, you can see that she choses to wear lots of purples and dark lipstick, which shows her sophistication and power. It contrasts almost that purple is seen to be quite a childish however expensive colour she uses it to show the persona of glamourousness and sophistication off.

Red

When Taylor released her Red album, this was one of her breakthrough albums as she gained a lot of publicity which she of course completely changed her look for. Maybe reflecting on the name of the album, it was all about power so she wore red lipstick virtually the whole of this time. To compliment this she wore lots of red clothes, she appeared very striking and sophisticated 

1989

Her 1989 album was released after "red" which is the year she is born in. She celebrated this by wearing clothes from 1989, lots of disco style outfits and sequins were present during this to present her star persona linking to her music. 

These are two photos which are of Taylor performing at concerts of hers wearing sparkly disco outfits which are very typical for the 80's. Her curly hair in the second photo she was seen with a lot during this stage.

Reputation

Taylor Swifts reputation album was probably the biggest change to her style she has has so far overall. She deleted all of her instagram posts and replaced them with photos and videos of snakes, in her song "Look what you made me do" she has on a grave stone in the video that her old reputation is dead, and the feuds she had between Kanye West at that time. Her style was sexy and powerful, she wore lots of short clothes and bodysuits with leather and fishnet tights. Her outfits were mainly very dark colours, there were lots of black in her outfits. 

The photo above is the album cover for her reputation album, and the other photo is from her concert of her performing. You can see she seems mean and intimidating, using the colours and makeup to reflect this.

Lover - present day Taylor

After the release of her 'Lover' album, Taylor now has completely contradicted her dark look and now wears much more pastel and bright colours. It is very girly and less sexualised now, her songs are now heavily about love and positivity. 

Pitching and feedback from Matt

 PITCHING

After pitching our ideas to matt, we were left with several more ideas on how to furthermore the development of our ideas. We first of all played the song to him which we told him was of course an original unreleased song by Jacob one of our members, we played the main sections of the song so he could hear it overall roughly. After this, we told him about our idea with the robot which Jacob promised to bring in to show him. Then we explained how the robot would be trying to talk to the girl and the implications he comes across. Matt asked about if we had a performance area in the piece which we do, that is seen at the psychedelic party we want to show when the robot goes and is rejected by the girl. Matt really liked our idea and said it could work very well, and he said the narrative we have is very unique to some of the ideas they have had before. He enjoyed the song and said that he could see the actual video working really well with the music, however his only concern with the music is that Jacob should ask his friend who he produced it with for his consent to post the song and the video. He did this as an act of concern, as the worst thing could be him not getting any credit for the song and then getting upset about it. Jacob resolved this by texting his friend asking if we could use the song, which he luckily agreed too.

As well as this, he said that we need to develop our ideas more for the setting and where the scenes will actually be shot. As the video isn't really about the setting of course it is important, but this gave us the idea after to suggest using more low-key backgrounds of a school like environment as this is sociable and ties in with the light hearted idea of our video. I suggested that we use the dining room as it is a very open area with good lighting, it has the kind of feel we want in the video. 

More of the feedback we got back was what kind of star persona we wanted for Jacob, and as he is Jamaican I suggested he could reflect this in his clothing. For the music video overall we will show him wearing yellow, black and green as these are the colours of the flags, and to be rapping the song in quite a relaxed way to present the star persona he wanted to give off.

Overall in our group we need to develop more of our idea for our setting and the areas we will set them.  As well as this, we need to be more clear with the type of star persona we want Jacob to have.

Development of ideas

Milan's Idea

During our first group lesson we mainly focused on Jacobs idea as we were excited to develop it and hear more about his robot vector, however we concluded it would be a good idea to think about another idea in case we weren't allowed to do the first one. We focused on Milan's idea as our second one, as we all loved the visual effects it has. His idea was to use the song 'let me die' by VELVETEARS, and contrast the slow song with instead shots of people in balaclavas and masks, holding guns and money. He wanted to use lots of pink and purples in the shots, and he didn't want it to have a narrative but just lots of combined visually-pleasing shots. 

I took all these photos from Pinterest they are not mine

The idea of using a backgrounders (eg this fluffy blanket) to make it appear aesthetically pleasing.

The idea of money and guns glamourised in this photo as the background for the guns giving the idea they are both associated.

Another glamourous looking gun against a background, taking the terror away from the object.

We all liked this idea of having it look like it was shot in an old camera, and also the lighting in this we found was very suitable to create the atmosphere we would want to create.

This is the idea of using full mask balaclavas in a modern way, focusing more on the beauty of the people in it.

Another gun with this slightly blurred effect which was the kind of Pinterest effect we wanted.

Jacobs Idea

For Jacobs idea we did not focus on it too much this meeting as we mainly focused on Milan's, however we did do more research into the psychedelic party idea we wanted as our performance section. 

This was a psychedelic party we found online for where vector the robot will be with the girl, and then he will see her dancing/kissing with another boy instead which is where we will show his sad faces.

Here is another psychedelic photo, we wanted to get there photos put onto a projector and then project them onto peoples faces.

Another background for projecting onto peoples faces, and close ups of the girls face with it projected on.

A more purple effect we could use

As this was only a short lesson, we did not come up with many more ideas of Jacobs from then as we wanted to focus on Milan's, so we had two strong ideas we could chose between.

Group meeting and our current idea

CURRENT IDEA

Last week we all presented our music video ideas as a class. I really enjoyed hearing the other peoples ideas, however after hearing Milan, Roxy and Jacobs ideas I quickly concluded that I would work best with them as my ideas were similar to there's, and they luckily agreed! Here are the people in my group.

Milan

Roxy

Jacob

Lucy (me!)

We decided to go with Jacobs idea as it was the most unique out of all of them we believed, and would work the best and smoothest in general. His concept was to have a song which him and his friend made (an unreleased song) and have his 'pet' robot; Vector to be liking a girl and then eventually showing the personification that the robot is in fact Jacob singing showing he sees himself like a robot. This was his initial ideas which we have since developed as we learnt more about what vector can do, so we have included him using objects such as giving a small bunch of flowers to the girl, then using his frowning face to make it look like he's sad she didn't take them. As a group we all contributed to the idea that the robot isn't actually the character it is just personifying Jacobs emotions and feelings in the video. It would have a performance section it it for when the robot goes to a party to try and see the girl there which would be psychedelic themed, we chose this as it creates atmosphere and also some very nice shots to have of the girl while also tying in with the rest of our video. The video would end with Jacob talking the the girl eventually, as he has turned into himself again.

- this is vector the desk robot.

Sugar Rush - Parsley Palette

 

BY PARSLEY PALETTE AND ELLIE DIXON

SOCIALS 

https://www.instagram.com/elliedixonmusic/?hl=en

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4mvJltDSlBawXCZhq6NAso?si=GKngzmibRAO73ygGz60chw

https://www.facebook.com/elliedixonmusic/

Ellie Dixen is a 21 year old indie pop artist based in the uk, who has 17,167 monthly listeners on Spotify. Her unique and groovy vibe has won her a 2 time win at the NMG Best Female solo award in the country, and her song 'Sugar Rush' having 37,986 streams on Spotify. After releasing her most succesful song 'Space out' she has had the opportunity to release merch for it which of course raises likelihood of recognition and a way to advertise her music. Her upbeat and catchy song 'Sugar Rush' I believe has so much potential for a succesful music video.

MY IDEA

At the beginning of the song there is just an introduction of what sounds like brass instruments, this lasts about 8 seconds. I would use the camera to show off the theme of the music video overall, which would be sweet and bright. As the song is called Sugar Rush I wanted to reflect this literally so through the use of popular childrens sweets and in a candy like setting. It would begin with close up individual shots of jars of sweets, love hearts especially and the bright pastel coloured furniture. 

When the singing begins I would show the main singer on her own as the spotlight to introduce her to the audience so they know her status, with her with her feat up on the table in bright clothes maybe pink with heels to reflect on the power she has, as she holds a lolly sweet almost using it to point at things and as a microphone. When she first mentions sugar rush I would show her knocking over a jar of sweets onto the floor and before it falls showing a close up of them falling. During the next verse I would change between showing her singing with the lolly stick and then looking through all the jars at the different kinds of sweets, and also close ups of the jars. The shots with the focus on her would be mainly mid shots, wide shots of some close ups to show her face.

In the second section of the song I would introduce some of the backing dancers/singers into it, who would be dressed in plain pink t-shirts with sweets on it and white skirts, to ensure the attention is not brought away from the Singer. I would choreograph a dance for them to go with the section of the music, with them using lots of bold face expressions to carry on the happy conventions the artist carries. At about 1m10 I would show the dancers lining up for the jar to be open so they could indulge in the sweet treats. This would show the power the singer has over them, and how they look up to her. These would all be wide shots, and then changing to mid as they receive there sweets. After this I would then show the backing dancers/singers excitedly run off as it leaves the singer again, who would be the shown running a bath which round sweets would fall out of, then I would cut to a close up of her face and back to show the full bath of sweets as she bathes in it and sings. This would then go on to about 1m40 where the backing singers would run back and having there heads on the bath while moving there heads side to side looking at the singer. 

Shortly after this, a brass player can be heard playing music, so I would bring in another person playing it, but preferably a pink colour instrument to match the theme of my overall video. The focus would then go onto him, with close ups of him playing and extreme close ups of the instrument against his lips, and mid shots overall. I would then include the singer back into it, with her shown dancing; or 'boogying' alongside the musician. As the song gets to about 2m22s I would use the camera to capture more close ups of the singers face, her lips sucking the lollypop, and other close ups. I would not use the backing dancers/singers again at this point again as I would want the end of the song to be more focused on the main attraction which is the singer. I would then show more shots of her blowing bubbles and messing around with them as it matches the kind of mood I want in it, and her laughing with the musician. The shots would also still include ones of her picking out different kind of sweets as it is the main focus of the song, but doing other little activities such as the bubble blowing as well as. 

In the very end part of the song I would show her lying on a sofa and pouring sweets into her mouth with them all falling out and then laughing, to bring back the light hearted idea overall and theme of the artist. I would also give the artist an outfit change to keep the audiences full attention on the video. As the end few seconds draw close, I would just show close ups, and mid shots of the girl smiling and dancing about but not doing too much to let the audience know the end of the song and video is nearing. As the very last show I would do one from slightly above and a mid shot of her with the lollypop and almost waving it about, so it all ties together for the end result.

Music video idea 1 - arms reach

 

SOCIALS

 https://www.facebook.com/thetwistuk1/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0PsXkSwuVO0pD1htwDSqGT?si=wfRnXIwxTxmyMfvXzkomYA

https://www.instagram.com/thetwistuk/

     

The twist is  small band based in the UK which has a variation of pop, r&b, funk, jazz and other genres. The song 'Creature' is there most successful song which got a total of roughly 21,000 streams on Spotify. They have 1,560 monthly listeners as well on Spotify, on their facebook they claim to be an 'up-and-coming, original 5 piece band". One of there biggest achievements for the band was performing at the Brit awards in 2019. After discovering The Twist from an Instagram advertisement in early 2019, I have always enjoyed their variation of catchy, laid-back music. 'Arms reach' is a slow tempo song with 8,625 streams on Spotify  which I believe would fit a kind of break up theme for a music video. I couldn't find the lyrics online however it does sound to me he is talking about someone he loved in the song. Using these ideas I have created my own idea of a music video for 'Arms reach'. 

BRIT AWARDS PERFORMANCE - https://youtu.be/LDII1fd0dyw

MY IDEA

In the first 10 seconds of the song there is only the instruments playing so I would start this as an establishing shot, showing the band (the guitarist, the bassist, the singer and the drummer). There are 3 strums of the guitar on this point where I would after the establishing shot do close ups of each of the other musicians, and use the drum tapping sound after these strums to show the drummer (so it makes 4). I think by moving the camera in this way really establishes the band and who the audience would be watching.

During the first singing part I would show the band playing the song, during the singing part I would use the camera to do close up and extreme close ups of the singer of his eyes maybe, showing the pain in which he had been experiencing maybe. This would go on for the first verse (roughly up to 1 minute). 

After this, I would slowly bring in the flashbacks I believe the singer is singing about, so showing extreme close ups first of a girls eyes, lips, and other of her features. This would then keep changing back to the singer and the girl, so the audience understand he is singing about her. This would then progress to shots of her whole face, I would show her writing down something in a notebook making the audience assume she is writing and thinking about him. The setting I would chose for the girl is her bedroom, which gives the idea she could also be missing him. I would make sure the singer shows the passion and emotion in his face to bring this idea to light. 

The next verse begins with him talking about the dark, and how there were signs what they had was different and unique. I would interpret the lyrics into the music video by then showing them walking and laughing
together maybe in a darker setting if this can be done to reflect the lyrics, which would represent the past when they were together. He then sings, "so different, so different" which I would cut short shots of the girl on her own writing, him singing and both of them together from the flashbacks of them holding hands and embracing one another. Then there is about 15 seconds worth of no singing, which I would show more of the flashbacks from different settings from when they were together if I can in the first 5, then changing the whole theme to him walking out from singing as if in a hurry, which I implies to the audience he is going to go and see her which of course is what would happen. These shots would then change to wider shots as it shows him walking out of the door and running to see her, and then cutting to the band confusingly carrying on playing. At 1m58 the lyrics are "small town in nowhere" which the camera would cut to showing him walking down the street to reflect these lyrics. I would then introduce back mid shots of the girl stressfully rubbing her eyes looking visibly upset and anxious as she puts away her notebook and sits on her bed rubbing her eyes again.

The song gets slower at this point, so I would film the singer still walking, then a shot from above of him texting the band group chat saying "sorry guys, I just haveto" leaving the audience intrigued what it means although they may already know what is happening. After this clip it would show the drummer receiving the text in a close up and what visibly looks like him telling the band from a wide shot showing all there reactions as they gather there instruments away. This would then cut to the singer getting to the girls house from behind and ringing the doorbell, as it then cuts to the girl lying on her bed staring at the ceiling in a still, mid shot as she then reacts to the sound of the doorbell (which the audience would not be able to hear. The song then finishes and ends silently, so I would then move the camera to behind the girl opening the door with the boy visible as he would be facing the camera, he would be looking down and as he looks up as she opens the door the camera would cut.

 WHY THIS IDEA?

 After listening to this song for the first time, I was convinced that it would be perfect for conventions of love and heartbreak, and the unexpected tune of the music I believe reflects the spontaneousness of the singer leaving half way through. I think that the song sounds quite mysterious so I wanted to reflect this through the use of film and the storyline. I believe the story is one which will definitely appeal to viewers, as its exciting, unanticipated, and not predictable. The camera would be very important while shooting this, as it is the main piece of equipmentwe can use to really reflect the storyline from, so for example the close ups need to express the emotion from both of the characters. I believe this idea would definitely be successful for a music video, and exactly what the band reflects in the description of the band overall.