Planning My Music Video: Equipment Documentation

We will be using a Canon Powershot SX260 to film our music video, as we used it for the Preliminary Task and it gave us high quality images while being easy to work. This is my own camera, which also makes the recording process easier for us as we are familiar with how it works in different settings and lights. We will also be using an iPhone 6 to film parts of our video, as it allows us to use different visual effects such as Time Lapse. 

Another possibility that the iPhone 6 allows us is the fisheye lens, which we are considering using in our music video.

We will be using iMovie to edit our video, as both me and Bailey have easy access to this software and are confident with using it. We will also be using Final Cut Pro as Bailey is extremely familiar with it after using it to edit our film opening last year. 

We will be using a projector to project images onto the 'artist' (myself) in order to create atmospheric clips using an interesting technique. To the left is an example from Halsey's 'Ghost' music video where projection has been used to create atmosphere. 

Planning My Music Video: Shooting Schedule

21st December, 1pm: 
Travelling into Bath to film Time Lapse and train station clips. 

6th January, 2pm:
Film clips involving powder paint in Calne. 

7th January, 2pm:
Film clips involving the use of projections at school.

*UPDATE* We have already filmed some random visual theme clips as we have had an idea of what we wanted this video to be like for quite a while. We have each recorded various clips over the past few months when we've seen things/had ideas to film things in our day-to-day lives. Examples of these can be found in the YouTube video below.

Planning My Music Video: Representations

Mind Map created by 09bradynic with GoConqr

Planning My Music Video: Who Will Be Involved? (CAST)

Bailey will be filming our music video, as she filmed our Preliminary Task and we were both happy with the end result of that. We have both already filmed some theme clips (see here) over the past couple of months that we might use in our video, so in this way I have also contributed to the filming process.

I will be starring in the video. We decided this as I am happy to be in the video, and this will make organisation much easier for our shoots as we only have to make sure the two of us are free, instead of trying to find a day where more people are available.

We will both contribute to the editing process, as we are both confident with using the software and this way we will have a more interesting and creatively extensive final video. 

We may require assistance when filming scenes with powder paint as it would be difficult to throw the powder, film it and ensure that it looks effective without another person to help us. 

My Album Advertisement Poster Design

Below is my final album advertisement poster. I researched into posters advertising other artists before creating it to ensure that I knew what made a poster successful. Overall, I am happy with the way it turned out as it has clear and obvious links to my digipak, making it instantly familiar to my audience.

My Final Digipak Design

Below is my final album digipak design, and overall, I am extremely happy with how it turned out. I think that the images, font and colour scheme of my digipak all reflect the artist's aesthetic and style of music extremely well, making it recognisable to people that this artwork is representing her. Having researched Digipaks from various artists and genres really helped when creating my own Digipak, as I had a good idea of what information to include and how to choose fonts, layouts and colour schemes. Being familiar with the artist's music, iconography and overall image was beneficial when making this Digipak, as it gave me more of an insight into what people (including her fans) expect from her.  

My Final Front Cover Design

My Final Spine Design

My Final Back Cover Design

My Final Digipak Disc Design

I chose a simple, plain design for the disc of my digipak. I did this as the tray image I had created was quite busy, bright and chaotic, so I wanted my disc to stand out against that. I used this bold, turquoise colour as it matches the colour scheme of my digipak, while still standing out from the tray image. My research into various digipaks allowed me to determine what information should be included on a disc design. So that it is easily identified if separated from the digipak, I have included the name of the artist and album at the top of the disc in a bold, clear font. As the album contains explicit language, I have included the parental advisory logo on the middle right of the disc. At the base of the disc, I copied the record label's logo and legal information from the back cover of my digipak, as I noticed that this was a common feature on discs. I used the same font that I had already used on the front cover, back cover, and inside left panel of my digipak to show continuity and a common design theme throughout.

Creating My Digipak- Inside Left Panel and Tray Image

After creating the front and back covers of my digipak, I made the inside left panel and tray image. I wanted to make sure that the images matched the overall colour scheme of my digipak, so I used the Hue and Saturation method (see previous post) to do this. 

TRAY IMAGE

The image I used for the tray image of my digipak.

To create the tray image of my digipak, I first cropped the image above so that only a small section of the wall was present in the photo, and so that the dimensions were correct for the template. I then used the Hue and Saturation tool to edit the colouring of this photo so that it would match the rest of my digipak so far. I decided that I wanted to give the image a more distorted effect, so I used a 'glitch' method that I learned from watching this YouTube tutorial.

I then used the smudge tool to further increase the appearance of distortion on this image, before finally increasing the brightness and contrast of it.

My final tray image design.

INSIDE LEFT PANEL

The image I used for the inside left panel of my digipak.

To create the inside left panel image of my digipak, I first opened the above image in Photoshop and cropped it to fit the dimensions of the template. I then used the Hue and Saturation tool to give the image the same colour scheme that the rest of my digipak uses. Next, I used the glitch technique on the photo (see tray image method) to give it a more distorted effect. 

Finally, I added text to the image. In the top left corner, the title of the album- 'BADLANDS' is written in Japanese. This is relevant to the artist's aesthetic as she has often expressed her love for Japanese culture and has included this in her merchandise designs. I also added the glitch effect to this text so that it would match the overall image. I then added the quote at the bottom of the image. I used the same font that I had previously used on the front and back covers of the album to emphasise the continuity of the digipak. I added this quote as it is relevant to the album, and gives the digipak a personal touch, allowing audiences to connect with the artist better. I did not add the glitch effect to this piece of text as it would have made it too hard to read.

My final inside left panel design.

Creating My Digipak- Album Covers

ALBUM COVER

Firstly, I created the front cover and back cover of my digipak. I used Photoshop to edit images that I had already taken for my digipak. 

The image I used for the front cover and back cover of my digipak.

To edit all of the images in my digipak, I first used the Hue and Saturation editing tool on Photoshop in order to give them a different colour scheme. I wanted my photos to reflect the artist's visual aesthetic as well as the style of music, so I gave them a blue, turquoise, pink and purple colour scheme. I think that this appearance reflects the electronic elements of Halsey's music particularly well. 

I then cropped the image into a square so that it would accurately reflect the shape of a real CD cover. For the front cover image, I simply added 'BADLANDS' and 'HALSEY' in the font Helvetica Bold in a light blue/turquoise colour. For the back cover image, I used the same photo, however, this time I used the smudge tool to get rid of the figure in the center of the image to ensure that it looked different from the front cover and allowed room for the track listing to be written over the top. I then added the track listing in the font Helvetica Bold Oblique, using the same colour for the text as I did on the front cover. I also added the legal information, a barcode, the record label's logo, and the artist's and label's respective websites. 

The final design for the back cover of my digipak

The final design for the back cover of my digipak

Overall, I am really happy with the front and back cover designs for my digipak as I think that they represent the artist, her style of music and her aesthetic well.

Artist Poster Research

            

Digipak Analysis

Target Audience

Using my audience research survey results and my own knowledge, I have compiled information about the target audience of the music video I will be creating. 

Below/right: Photos of my chosen artist (Halsey) with some of her fans. 

My target audience will be people aged 16-20: teenagers and young adults. This group will mostly consist of females, as the artist I have chosen to make a music video for has a predominantly female fanbase. My target audience will be mostly students, (whether that is university, school or college), as people within my target age group are more likely to be students than to have any other particular occupation.  I also noticed that 'Student' was the most popular occupation in the results of my audience research survey, which backs up my decision to have a target audience consisting mainly of students. 

I searched 'Halsey with fans' on Google, and the majority of photos that I found showed the artist with young, female fans. This supports my decision to aim my music video towards a mostly female audience between the ages of 16 and 20, as the majority of the fans in photos with the artist fit into this demographic. The majority of people who took my audience research survey were females aged 16-20, which means that I have the most firsthand information on the interests and opinions of this demographic, making it easier for me to produce a music video and digipak tailored to them.

I created the set below using Polyvore to demonstrate the style of clothing and the general aesthetic of a typical Indie Pop music fan. As Indie Pop is quite a new and innovative genre with sonic and lyrical influences from past decades, I tried to make the clothing set I made reflect this.

I created this music magazine cover to represent the interests of my target audience. I used Lorde as the cover star as she is currently the most well-known Indie Pop musician around, so would attract a wide audience, including people who were not familiar with the genre. My audience research revealed that most people watch music videos because they are a fan of the artist, which is why I included the mention of the artist I have chosen to create a music video and digipak for on the cover of the magazine. I also included several other Indie Pop artists, to emphasise that my magazine is aimed at people who enjoy this particular genre of music.
On the left side of the image, I have included a cover line of 'BFI Film Festival 2015'. This would appeal to my target audience, as people who are interested in Indie Pop music are likely to also be interested in Indie (independent) films, as they support the idea of not selling out to major corporations. My audience research survey also showed that the main entertainment interest people had was films, results indicating that films were 7.14% more popular than TV shows and 23.81% more popular than music videos. This was another reason that I included mention of something film-related on the cover of the magazine. The cover line underneath the mention of the BFI Film Festival- 'When Youth Takes Over' has been included to represent the age range of my target audience. Underneath this, the feature mentions 'young creators'. I think that this represents my target audience as young fans of a genre as interesting and innovative as Indie Pop are likely to be quite creative and individual themselves, so reading about people who share their interests would be relevant to them.
I chose a simplistic colour scheme, font and layout for this magazine cover as I wanted it to reflect the typical style of an Indie Pop music video. The soft-toned and muted colour scheme of my magazine cover matches that of an Indie Pop video, and the simple font doesn't distract attention from the cover image, which I think is the most important feature of my magazine cover. I used the tagline 'Independent Music. Innovative Ideas. New Perspectives.' underneath the masthead of my magazine to give an overall summary of what it is about. I think that this really sums up the genre of Indie Pop and what it stands for, so as a result, the magazine would appeal to an Indie Pop fan. 

FILMS THAT WOULD INTEREST MY TARGET AUDIENCE: 
My target audience would most likely be interested in independent or 'indie' films such as the examples listed below. As I mentioned previously, people who are interested in Indie Pop music are likely to be interested in this particular style of film as they support what the term 'independent' stands for in the entertainment industry.

Palo Alto (Gia Coppola, 2014)

Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012)

Stuck In Love (Josh Boone, 2012)

Planning My Music Video: Storyboard (Shots 1-15)

Planning My Music Video: Animatic Storyboard

Permission From Our Chosen Artist

In order to use the song 'Colors' by Halsey for our music video, we had to be granted permission by the artist, their label, or the copyright holder. Our friend sent Halsey a direct message on Twitter, asking for permission on our behalf. As you can see in the screenshot below, Halsey is happy to let us use her song!

Audience Research- Outcomes and Feedback

Having created an audience research survey and collected a significant number of responses, I decided to use meta-chart.com to present my data in a way that was easy to interpret and analyse.

GENDER:

This pie chart clearly shows that the majority (81.4%) of my respondents were female. This result is also representative of Halsey's fanbase (which has a female majority), so indicates that the information gathered from my survey will be especially relevant and useful when making our music video. A notable amount of my respondents were male, so I think that it is important that we aim our video at both genders, so as not to alienate the male audience. We will subtly gear our music video more towards the female majority by having a female lead.

AGE:

The most common age of my respondents by far was 16-20 years old (claiming 46.51% of the vote). This result also represents the majority of my chosen artist (Halsey)'s fan base and is the age range that I myself am a part of, meaning that I will be able to use my own views, experiences and opinions in order to make our music video appeal to this age group. 

OCCUPATION:

My survey results show that the most popular occupation amongst my respondents was 'Student'. Given that the most common age range of my respondents was 16-20 years old, this result did not surprise me. I want to be sure that our music video will appeal to this demographic, so it will not be over-produced to ensure that the video is relatable to them.  

INTERESTS:
I asked my respondents what their favourite form of entertainment was, given the choices 'TV Shows', 'Films', 'Music Videos' and 'Other'. The majority (48.84%) of the voters chose Films as their preferred form of entertainment, with TV Shows following closely with 39.53% of the votes. In order to appeal to these interests, we will try and include editing or filming techniques that are reminiscent of these forms of entertainment. 







REASONS FOR WATCHING MUSIC VIDEOS:

This portion of my audience research survey revealed that the majority of respondents stated that they watch music videos because they are a fan of the artist. The second most popular answer was enjoying the style of the video (for example, concept, narrative, performance etc.), with a significant difference between the two most popular choices in terms of the number of votes. This result shows that it will be important for us to follow the artist's aesthetic when making our music video, as statistically, fans of the artist are the people who would be most likely to watch the video. This means that we need to pay attention to what fans like about the artist and her work and ensure that this is not lost when creating our video and digipak. 


I asked participants what particular qualities they liked about music videos, and some common responses were:

• New and interesting concepts that capture your attention
• Originality
• Clear and skilled camerawork
• Something that is memorable and thought-provoking
• Imagination
• Relation to the lyrics
• Good atmosphere

Similarly, I asked participants what qualities they did not like about music videos. The most popular response by far was 'the sexualisation of women'. Some other common responses were:

• Lip synching
• Dance routines
• Cliches 
• Violence
• Sexual portrayals/innuendos/too much nudity

This part of my audience research was especially helpful, as I now know what qualities to include and what qualities to avoid when making our music video. Typically, the genre of Indie Pop is not known for the overly sexual portrayal of women, and our own video will not be excluded from this. Having a target audience that consists of mostly young women would mean that including the sexual exploitation of women in our music video would cause them to feel violated and uncomfortable, which is something we do not want. 
Our aim is to make our video appeal to a demographic who find it increasingly difficult to relate to stars and celebrities due to the mass increase in the widespread use of social media to share the apparent extravagance of their lives. To achieve this, we will ensure that our video is shot in an everyday, relatable setting such as on a street or a train. We will still use high quality camera equipment, however, to ensure that our video retains a professional quality. 
To prevent our video from being overly cliched, we will try and make sure that our ideas are creative, original and interesting. We will provide creative interpretations of the song's lyrics for our audience in order to fulfil their expectations of a memorable, attention-grabbing music video. 

Audience Research Survey

Survey Maker

Intertextuality Within Music Videos

After conducting research into intertextuality, I have decided that it will be unlikely that I will include any significant intertextual references in my music video. While including references to film and pop culture in music videos has the benefit of increased recognition and memorability, I don't think that this particular feature of a music video will fit well with my chosen song and genre. 

Research Into The Music Industry

Who are the main television companies that show music videos?

MTV is probably the most well-known exhibitor of music videos on television- the name itself is an acronym for 'Music Television'. MTV went on air for the first time in 1981, and was originally created by the Viacom Music and Entertainment group with the sole aim of showing music videos (which were provided for free by the record companies). MTV has been instrumental in promoting the careers of influential artists like Madonna, Nirvana and Michael Jackson. 

Since its humble beginnings in the early 
1980s, MTV has evolved and grown into a group of genre-specific music channels. The original MTV channel now shows mostly reality shows such as 'Catfish' and 'Teen Mom', while its subsidiary music-based channels such as MTV Rocks show music videos, interviews, award shows and live performances. 

VH1 is another popular television channel known for showing music videos. An acronym for 'Video Hits One', the channel was originally launched by the Viacom Music and Entertainment Group in 1985 in order to try and build on the success that MTV had been receiving. To avoid large amounts of competition with its sister channel MTV, VH1 aimed their programming style at a slightly older demographic by focusing on the softer side of popular music. 

While MTV has by far the most subsidiary music channels, VH1 has also created some additional genre-focused channels: VH1 Classic (launched in 1999) and VH1 Soul (launched in 2000). These two channels continued the theme of targeting an older demographic, respectively showing mainstream 'classic' hits and Soul/R&B/Motown songs.


The CSC Media Group is a UK-based satellite television channel provider. They are responsible for what are arguably the UK's most popular and accessible music television channels, including Chart Show TV, Scuzz, 
Starz TV and The Vault. These channels vary across a 
wide range of genres, catering to a large demographic. Unlike MTV and VH1, all of the CSC Media Group's channels
are available on Freeview, meaning that they are essentially guaranteed a much wider audience than channels like MTV, which are exclusive to people who pay for television subscriptions such as Sky TV. (Launch date image/information from Wikipedia). While the CSC Media Group has access to a broader audience than MTV and VH1, they lack the large budgets and high production values of these channels. As a result of this, many of their channels use text messaging services to encourage audiences to send a specifically priced text to the channel in order to request a music video to be shown on television. 

Where can you find music videos?

As discussed above, the first place that audiences were able to access music videos was MTV. This did not allow much freedom for the audience, and teenagers in particular would often spend hours on end waiting for a particular video to be shown on their televisions. Since the development of social media, music videos have become much more accessible for audiences. The main platform used to stream music videos is currently Youtube, which is partnered with VEVO for certain video releases. The ability to embed videos from Youtube onto websites and blogs, and to share videos on other social networking sites makes music videos accessible from almost anywhere on the internet at any given time. 

What is the purpose of music videos?

The main purpose of music videos is to generate promotion for an artist without their record label having to pay huge amounts of money for advertising. Music videos were originally created as a method of boosting the popularity of an artist, which in turn lead to increases in sales for the record companies. A music video is used to promote a single, which then promotes an album, and overall promotes the artist's image. As music videos have become more popular and complex, they have more varied reasons for being produced, such as an artist trying to portray a certain persona, or to promote other forms of media such as films. However, the main reason that music videos are produced still remains to generate money for the record companies and recognition for the artists.

If my music video was a real world media product, it would be distributed through both music television and internet sites such as YouTube and Vevo. In terms of music television, my video would likely be shown on channels such as VH1, Viva, Chart Show TV, Starz TV, MTV Music and MTV Hits. I am familiar with all of these channels and the style of music that is played on each one, so based on our song choice I believe that our video would be shown on them. YouTube and Vevo are by far the most popular sites for artists to upload their music videos to, as the videos are easily accessible to the public and therefore can gain the artists as much recognition as possible. This is why we will be uploading our video to YouTube, and why if it were a real world media product, we would upload it to both YouTube and Vevo.   

Conceptual Music Videos: Inspirations

I have researched into the editing, mise-en-scene and themes of several concept music videos that stand out to me, or that contain techniques and atmospheres which I would like to include in my own music video.

Thirty Seconds to Mars- Up In The Air:

Foxes- Let Go For Tonight:

These concept music videos are interesting to me as they work with a concept similar to that I would like to include in my own music video. Both show themes of colour, and are visually pleasing and artistic. They also both initially use plain, neutral colours such as black and white before introducing bright, bold shades into the mies-en-scene. I would like to incorporate artistic elements similar to this into my own music video as I think that this fits well with the genre of Indie Pop, and the song/artist that I have chosen.   

Panic! At The Disco- Emperor's New Clothes:



I really like the editing in this music video, as I think that it ties together the atmosphere and mise-en-scene of the video well with the song itself. This style of editing isn't really used in any music videos that I have seen before, so it appears to be quite new and innovative, which relates well to my genre. The editing is fast paced, and has been sped up and slowed down in particular parts of the video in order to create the frantic and chaotic vibe that the finished product seems to have.