Evaluation
In my 2nd year of media our Advanced Portfolio involved producing and filming a music video, the song I chose to use for my coursework was Lily Allen’s LDN, I decided on the song because it’s a happy, summery and upbeat, which I thought would help give me more ideas on what the story of the song would be about. The artist name I came up with (India Bell) is conventional of the pop/indie genre, indie basically meaning it’s less mainstream and more alternative, although it still has elements of pop. Indie (alternative) artists are usually signed to an independent label such as artists like Jack Penate, Jamie T and Laura Marling. The process of coming up with the fictional artist name was pretty easy, by selecting random names and putting them together, of course my artist India Bell features in the music video, which means she is the main focus.
I picked a Lily Allen song, because I used to be a big fan of her before she quit her singing career. I think she brought something different to the music industry, she was unique and she created a whole new genre for women, after her there were Florence & the Machine, Kate Nash, Marina & the Diamonds etc. in which this genre is very popular now. I also thought she wrote very true meaningful songs including the song I have chosen ‘LDN’ as it faces the issues of society and how its changing in a negative way, and this influenced me to bring my own version and my interpretation of this song, as the song already has its own music video.
At the start of the year I analysed 3 media text's similar to the genre I have chosen to base my artist on. Out of the three I think Kate Nash’s ‘foundations’ is the most similar to my music video as most of the cinematography represents the singers emotion, including close ups. In the music video, lighting plays a part in one of the scenes in which when the two are holding hands, the light is only on one persons hands, connoting that the other hand could be seen as non-existent to the partner. This also occurs in my music video at the beginning when India is in the bathroom dying her hair; the lighting is dark to show she is unhappy, however towards the middle/end of the video the lighting becomes brighter to show that the events of the day have made her happier.
After deciding on who’s artists song I would chose, and then picking the song, I had to research target audience. I know that Lily targets mainly teenage girls, and so I went for a wide range from 15-25 as she her songs aren’t really mature but they still appeal to older teenagers. Songs like ‘Alfie’ and ‘Knock ‘em out’ are fun and explore different stories you wouldn’t really hear in a song, and this is why she targets such a young audience.
With my media product I tried to use many conventions of real media products, again such as the artist name, from my knowledge and research most female indie/pop singers use their name, for example Kate Nash, Lily Allen and Ellie Goulding. I had an idea that I wanted to film some of the scenes of the music video at Burton Constable, because it has a vintage and old fashion theme, the idea was also inspired by video’s such as Lilly Allen’s ‘The Fear’ and Gwen Stefani’s ‘What you Waiting for’, who are again female pop/indie artists. Although LDN already has a music video, I kind of wanted my video to connote the same meaning that ‘things aren’t what they seem’ but in a different way these could all be seen as intertextuality also. I feel I challenged the forms and conventions of media products with regards to female pop artists, with my idea that India was going to play 2 different characters, 1 is going to be living in the real world and the other in a fantasy world, of course Burton Constable being the location for the fantasy world. What didn’t work in the video, I wouldn’t say challenged the conventions, but just a problem with weather is that the lyrics in the song say ‘sun is in the sky oh why, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?’ however this could be seen as ironic playfulness, but I filmed the music video between December and February and so the artist had to be wrapped up, which is not how I wanted it to turn out.
This then leads me on to the safety procedures taken during filming my music video, I made a graph in a word document which is now on my blog explaining the safety hazards. Earlier I mentioned there was snow in some parts of my video, this itself was a hazard to me and the singer, there was no way really to make this safer for us, apart from constantly reminding each other to be careful, especially the singer as she was moving around a lot, which could have caused her to slip. There was also a scene in which she was stood on the pier at the park, in which she could have fallen into the pond and so to prevent this, I had to tell her how far away from the water she was just to be safe. The final thing I wrote about in the graph was in one of the opening scenes in which the singer is in her bedroom and there are props scattered around the floor, this could have been a hazard for her as she could have tripped, although there was a quilt on the floor which was soft in case she fell.
I used conventional themes such as the artist being depressed, but then in the fantasy world, she’s happy because she gets to do/have whatever she wants. In the beginning scenes I wanted India to be riding a bike, as the lyrics say ‘riding through the city on my bike all day cause the filth took away my license’ but it also refers to artists such as Eliza Doolittle’s ‘Rollerblades’ and Lily Allen’s album ‘Alright, still’ however instead I decided to go more mainstream. I incorporated a couple into my video as that is also conventional of a female music video, however the lyrics say ‘there were people in the city having lunch in the park, I believe that is called alfresco’ and with that I had the idea that the couple should have a picnic in the park, but due to the snowy weather, I changed the idea to them having a snowball fight. Within the fantasy parts of the music video I made India’s costume similar to that of Lily Allen’s in most of her video’s to connote she has a similar personality and individuality, as I made the ‘chavvy’ clothes and jewellery the same, she is seen as having alternative hair as its shown in the music video her dying her hair red, which could link with artists such as Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Beth Ditto, which shows it was their own decision (proving how alternative they are) or it was done as a manufactured ideology. Because the song is fun and upbeat I wanted to film some people in a park, as there is a park near the college, I thought that would be the easiest way, and the filming turned out really well, and you could say is pastiche of Kelly Clarkson’s ‘My life would suck Without You’ and Rizzle Kicks ‘When I was a Youngster’.
My music video makes use of post-modern features, as do every music video, as there are elements of eclectic borrowing from other media texts, such as Mumford & Sons- The Cave (analysed on my blog) in which their cinematography and mise-en-scene is borrowed from the Mexican film El Mariachi, with the intertextual reference to the main character in the film carrying his guitar case, in which the band members of Mumford and sons do.
As I previously said I have copied elements of my music video from Lily Allen’s video ‘The Fear’ which is ironic as the song I have chosen is also hers.
As I previously said I have copied elements of my music video from Lily Allen’s video ‘The Fear’ which is ironic as the song I have chosen is also hers.
With the ancillary texts, I chose to make a digi-pak and album review. I thought they would be the most effective for my main product because the digi-pak gives the audience an insight into the other songs and the pictures used for the cover, which represent things going on in the music video. For the front cover, I used a picture I took of Burton Constable on the day of filming at the venue, and then edited a picture of India onto the background. For the inside, I used a picture of the big oak tree which is featured in the video, including a montage of the statues at Burton Constable which also feature in the video. The next picture used is one I took of two of the characters in the video, who are supposed to be a couple and so I photographed them in the snow kissing. The final picture used as the back cover of the digi-pak is one I took of the sky, which I edited on Photoshop to make it look deep and dark. I then added the track listing in the same font as the front cover to make it conventional. To make the CD look even more conventional I added the logo of the record label and a barcode. When making my front cover, I basically found a font on word, which i thought looked authentic and fitted with the style and genre of the music. I finally added a picture of the artist's face in the top left corner and used the opacity effect to make it blend into the background, i then made a replica of that photo and copied it onto the top right side of the album cover to make it look like a reflection or even a juxtopision of personalities.
I chose the album poster as the second ancillary text because I feel it’s a good way to promote the digi-pak and so they are a good combination. With the album review I cut out the building of Burton Constable from the front cover of the album, and then put it over a turquoise background, as I feel it’s a girly conventional indie colour, then I found an appropriate font from dafont, which I got inspiration from an album review about Lana Del Ray, then I added quotes from Indie magazines such as NME and Spin and finally I informed the readers of the magazine that the album review was in, about the music video for LDN, which also promotes the video. So I think that the combination of the main product works well with the 2 ancillary texts I chose, because they all promote each other but also the products in which they are shown e.g. the music video on you tube, and the digi-pak being sold in HMV etc. I tried to maintain a certain house style of light blues and greens which are very girly colours which I feel will target my specific audience.
When my 2 ancillary texts where completed, I tried to make it look like I’d promoted the products by taking pictures of objects such as posters, letters etc and then added my products over the top to make it look like they were being advertised. With my digi-pak, I used the front cover as its main selling point. I added my song onto my iPod, along with all the information, artist name, album name and of course the front cover of the album, I then took photographs of different people listening to the song. I also found different ‘alternative’ indie pop magazine’s which had album reviews or album promotions and I then added my 2 products over the top, to make it look like the magazines were promoting the artists album.
When editing my music video I thought about traditional cuts and thus meaning cutting to the beat, I did use this cut many times to follow the song, such as at 16 seconds where the singer stands up as the lyrics begin and also at 1:34 where the couple are throwing snow at each other as the girl throws the snow at the same time as the lyrics ‘oh why, oh why’. Other edits that I used where time shrink, used on the scenes of the couple, which made them look they had been sped up, I also used a backward edit, so I basically showed a clip the original way around and then it went backward almost as if the viewer is rewinding the video. The final edit I used was at 25 seconds where I used the effect to make it look like there was one person entering the hole and someone different coming out the other side.
I chose the album poster as the second ancillary text because I feel it’s a good way to promote the digi-pak and so they are a good combination. With the album review I cut out the building of Burton Constable from the front cover of the album, and then put it over a turquoise background, as I feel it’s a girly conventional indie colour, then I found an appropriate font from dafont, which I got inspiration from an album review about Lana Del Ray, then I added quotes from Indie magazines such as NME and Spin and finally I informed the readers of the magazine that the album review was in, about the music video for LDN, which also promotes the video. So I think that the combination of the main product works well with the 2 ancillary texts I chose, because they all promote each other but also the products in which they are shown e.g. the music video on you tube, and the digi-pak being sold in HMV etc. I tried to maintain a certain house style of light blues and greens which are very girly colours which I feel will target my specific audience.
When my 2 ancillary texts where completed, I tried to make it look like I’d promoted the products by taking pictures of objects such as posters, letters etc and then added my products over the top to make it look like they were being advertised. With my digi-pak, I used the front cover as its main selling point. I added my song onto my iPod, along with all the information, artist name, album name and of course the front cover of the album, I then took photographs of different people listening to the song. I also found different ‘alternative’ indie pop magazine’s which had album reviews or album promotions and I then added my 2 products over the top, to make it look like the magazines were promoting the artists album.
I came up with the name of my digi-pak (Fluorescent Heart) with the same process as picking the artist name, I simply thought of random words that symbolised a girly feel, and obviously kept with the indie theme, I also got the idea from album’s such as Electra Heart by Marina and the Diamonds. The album name also symbolises India’s personality and the meaning of the album. See figure 1.
Figure 1
When producing my front cover for the digi-pak, I thought because I’d given it the name ‘Fluorescent Heart’ I could make it easy for myself by making the album name in fluorescent colours, but it didn’t work. I decided to just keep the colour a plain black, however I made the font like calligraphy, connoting class which fits with the picture for my front cover which is the Burton Constable building. I wanted the building to be the main focus on the album, because it’s an important part of the music video, as its one of the locations India is in, and this certain location represents India’s happy side, when she’s free and where she can be herself. However I added a picture of India in the top left corner, on Photoshop I used the opacity effect to make India fade into the background almost as if she’s disappearing into this amazing lifestyle she wants, I then made a mirror image of this, which connoted the representation of her having 2 personalities in the music video.
I feel all three 3 texts which include my two ancillary texts have been successful, I can tell this from my audience feedback, which came in two forms, I made a questionnaire about my music video, digi-pak and album review in a magazine, which I got fellow students to fill in. This helped me understand what they liked and didn’t like about my texts and what they would do to change it if it was theirs. See figure 2.
Figure 2
The questionnaire about my digi-pak and album advertisement it helped me realise what I should change and how to improve it see figure 3.
Figure 3
Here I got a fellow media student to fill in one of my digi-pak questionnaires, the feedback was mainly positive as she said that it fitted with the conventions of a typical digi-pak, she also said that it kept with the theme of my music video, which was what I was aiming for. With the last question ‘What would you change about the digi-pak?’ she gave me helpful feedback saying that I needed to extra information on the bottom 3rd picture, which I later then improved. I also got video responses on my music video, which shows that the person I asked has watched my video in detail and made notes of the terminology and analysed it properly. The feedback throughout production and editing helped me make careful decisions on how I could make it better. See figure 3.
Figure 4
Here I videoed Aaron Hill on my music video, as he said “the cinematography was quite good, as with the gate shot, it was clearly decided where the camera was going to be”. I added a poll on my blog, with questions on what the audience think my music video is about, who it targets, how they generally listen to music and how much they spend on music a month. See figure 4. After the music video was completed I then added polls about what they enjoyed about my video and whether they understood it or not. The results showed that most people voted iPod as the device they listen to music on the most, which could represent the increasing improving technology as mp3 and CD’s were the least voted, showing that CD’s are going out of style, as iPod’s are more portable, and make use of convergence meaning you can access the internet and social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This however is good for the music industry including promotion for my artist, because the audience can simply go on iTunes, download the album ‘Fluorescent Heart’ and they can also access YouTube and watch the video for LDN. Around 60% of the audience who filled out the poll ‘What gender are you?’ were female, which is what I expected as my artist mainly targets teenage girls, however it’s good that is targets a diverse audience which includes males as well. However the research shows 58% of my audience will only spend £5 a month on music, which could show that most people now illegally download. The last question asked was ‘What is your music video preference?’ performance got the most votes, followed by narrative, which is good, as my music video is a mix of performance and narrative, this audience feedback shows I have targeted the right audience. Finally i made a poll of my results for all the rest of my audience feedback to finalise just how well my music video worked.
Again this was a pie chart of what the audience preferred stylistic wise, this chart shows the responses were positive with regard to my video as performance had the highest percentage, and performance is a main part of my video.
Figure 5
This figure was posted late after my music video was posted which is why I did not have many responses, however the responses I did get show that the audience thought my stylistic features where the best thing about my music video.
Figure 6
Again this was a pie chart of what the audience preferred stylistic wise, this chart shows the responses were positive with regard to my video as performance had the highest percentage, and performance is a main part of my video.
During preproduction I drafted out a storyboard as a rough idea of what my music was going to look like. I then scanned the drawings, using the scanner in the editing suite which I could then add to my blog. Using Photoshop, I cropped every shot and saved them as a jpg. When I got every shot cropped, I put them all on Adobe Premiere CS4 and put the song over the top of the scenes, which gave me an idea of when I wanted to shot to cut with the beat of the song and then I also added this animatic to my blog. Mainly all the other programmes I used such as Photoshop and blogger where simple to use, as I was experienced in them last year, and luckily I have Photoshop at home which meant I could improve and work on my ancillary texts, as the college computers are sometimes very slow and insufficient. Blogger is a very simple website used to write posts and obviously in my case it was to post pictures, video’s etc. Blogger is very well set out as it shows you what time and date you posted something, which allowed me to find things that could have been posted months ago. This blogging site, also makes it easier for media students, as it means we don’t have pages of work to hand in, it keeps our work organised as it is all there on one page and it also makes sure we don’t lose any of it.
Once I had filmed all of the scenes I needed, I added them all onto the editing suite, which I was slightly experienced in now as I was also working on film studies work. The first thing I did was place the song onto the editing suite and then placed the lip syncing scenes in the right part of the song, once this was done it helped me realise whether it looked good or not. Once all the shots were in the right place, I began editing. One of the main idea’s for my video was to link with the lyrics “when you look with your eyes, everything seems nice, but when you look twice, you can see it’s all lies” and so I used two boys and a girl in my class who I filmed at the local park, to do random things like climbing through the hole from 0:24-0:31 seconds, when they’re on the swings from 1:20-1:28, going down the slide at 1:52-1:58 and finally jumping off the bench from 2:30-2:33 which all create illusions that the person is changing when in fact I just used cuts. Although i used a HD camera, which had manual and auto focus, my video still looks quite blurry when watching on Youtube because i didn't have experience in using a proffessional HD camera. When researching my chosen genre, I analysed 3 indie pop videos ‘Kate Nash – Foundations’ ‘Mumford and Sons – The Cave’ and ‘Florence and the Machine – Dog Days’ which helped me understand the stylistics of indie pop and purely narrative/performance based music videos. I also did some research for my ancillary texts, such as digi-paks in the media department and ones on the internet. I then analysed typical albums such as ‘Lily Allen – It’s Not Me Its You’ and ‘Greenday – American Idiot’ which are 2 completely different genre’s which gave me an idea on how to stick to the conventional traditional theme of my genre.
I do not particularly like my video as it is not how i wanted it to turn out, but i think that is due to wasting time, which now i think about it wasnt a smart idea. Although I do still think my music video works with how I planned and it fits with the genre and narrative, and from my audience feedback i can tell people understand the whole idea and they also thought my ancillary texts worked well and stayed with the theme of my music video. The main problem with my video, was trying to set dates to film my video with the character i filmed had to go to college, also the fact that some of the video was filmed at Burton Constable which meant finding transport which deducted time, however I got the video done with plenty of time to edit, which was good as the editing software can be hard to get hold of when you have to share with other students.
I do not particularly like my video as it is not how i wanted it to turn out, but i think that is due to wasting time, which now i think about it wasnt a smart idea. Although I do still think my music video works with how I planned and it fits with the genre and narrative, and from my audience feedback i can tell people understand the whole idea and they also thought my ancillary texts worked well and stayed with the theme of my music video. The main problem with my video, was trying to set dates to film my video with the character i filmed had to go to college, also the fact that some of the video was filmed at Burton Constable which meant finding transport which deducted time, however I got the video done with plenty of time to edit, which was good as the editing software can be hard to get hold of when you have to share with other students.
Word Count: 4005
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