Closing post

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Thank you for looking through my blog. All of my NEA Research and Planning can be accessed through the AL Research and Planning tag on the right hand side of the blog.
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Post 10: My production review

My initial concept for my music video featured an entirely different narrative to my music video in its current form. In staff feedback issues of it being too serious were brought up, which resulted in me thinking up a new, more engaging narrative idea. Using Vernaliss's theory of disjuncture I thought up an idea using a simple concept of running away and created many different iterations of the scene which are used throughout. I then storyboarded the idea, which during staff feedback was given the green light to begin filming.

My initial performance bed came under minimal scrutiny when assessed by staff. There were a couple clips which could be swapped around with each other, and frames removed from the start and end, however, on the whole, it was perceived as enjoyable.

Narrative and website feedback

My narrative segment had a couple improvements when looked on by staff. The audio at the start was extremely bland and added nothing to the overall video, so I chose to crosscut the audio from the next shot in with it. There was also a large segment of performance bed with a lack of narrative segments. To remedy this I added in narrative segments in between, so overall the video was more engaging and didn't bore the audience. There were also a few shots which either ran on for too long or didn't run on for long enough, which was easily fixed by simply changing the length. The video before also didn't include any convergence to the website. I, therefore, added an end card complete with the name of the track, the artist name venture, and a link to the website to create synergy.

Website feedback

My initial website was largely different from the current design due to the fixes proposed by the staff. The AirPods brand deal didn't link anywhere, so I changed the clickable link to go to the apple website. It also didn't fit on my first page, so I moved it into a suitable area on my second. This was the same with my photoshoot competition, which was initially on my first page but was moved to the second after staff scrutiny. They also thought there was a lack of social media integration, so to, therefore, add more I incorporated an interactive twitter feed on my first page in order for users to keep up to date with Venture, and to add convergence to the website. The music video itself, while playing in the background, wasn't featured as it's own separate video, which I then fixed by creating a section on the main page for user's to play if they wanted the audio, as having the audio auto-play is perceived as annoying.

My second video review was overall very positive, with my teachers only finding a few errors in my music video. One of my scenes had overrun by a couple of frames, so I went back and shortened it. I also had to make sure my colour grading was consistent throughout the video, which resulted in me watching back all my clips and editing the ones that looked out of place. My end card also needed some extra convergent content. I solved this by adding the names of my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook account.

I shared around my video to members of my target audience, where feedback was given in the form of a focus group session. This consistent of 3 people, an 18, 23, and 17 year old. They all liked the video, saying they liked the fast-paced style, and all could grasp the story after one viewing. One of them said they liked the convention-breaking underwater shot, where the audio became muted. However, there was criticism included, one idea being that they thought to have extra costumes used for the performance section could have added more variety. Overall I got a large amount of feedback, both positive and negative.

Focus group notes

Post 9: My Website and Social Media Pages

Khalid's main page

I researched multiple artists' websites for macro research and analysed Khalid's website for micro research. This was in order to find the conventions of the medium and research into why they were there and how they keep the audience engaged. Through this research, the convention of immediately showcasing any new music on the front page surfaced, which immediately informs the audience of it, which promotes extra sales and streams. This was seen on Katy Perry's website, Ed Sheeran's website and all of my other researched ones. On Khalid's website, his newest single, 'Talk', has the music video playing in the background, with a watch now link attached to it. The music video is muted, and this is because members of Khalid's target audience find it annoying when audio auto-plays when on a website, which may cause them to immediately click off. I used this idea in my initial flat plan, which included a muted performance bed on the front page, with a link to watch the full video. This clickbait on the website accommodates for audience interaction, keeping them engaged and using the website to look for more content.

Khalid's social links

Social media integration also plays a key role in the artist's website. All of my researched websites included links to the artists' subsequent social media pages, including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Khalid's website features a section noted 'FOLLOW', which presents all of his social media links, being Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music and also features an email list sign up. This allows the user to interact with the website, and feel closer to the artist, while also accommodating fans to keep up to date on Khalid's news. My initial idea flat plan included an email sign up and social media links, which connects to Tim O'Reilly's Web 2.0 theories, where Web 2.0 websites should include clickable links to access additional content, for example, social networking sites. This increases the synergy of my website, which allows users to jump between platforms allowing them to view the content they want to see. This increases the use of the website and social media pages due to the audience being engaged. For my target audience of 16-25-year-olds, social media takes up a large part of their lives, directly appealing and gratifying them with entertainment.

While researching Ed Sheeran's website, I found his news section, which contains content related to Ed Sheeran's current affairs, for example, a new remix for 'Take Me Back To London', featuring 4 more artists. Users can click on these links to find more information about the topic, adding clickability to the website and rewarding them for using it. I chose to include a similar idea for my website and planned out several pieces of extra content to be put on this page.

Ed Sheeran news story expanded

Hot Ones script

Hot Ones research

One of these pieces of extra content planned was an intertextual reference to the extremely popular YouTube series 'Hot Ones'. This show features interviews with famous celebrities, e.g. Gordon Ramsey, Billie Eilish, while they eat progressively spicier hot wings. Episodes regularly get 10 million-plus views, with the most popular episode achieving 45 million views. This show features a crossover target audience with mine, which is why I chose to parody it. Artists with currently running tours have their tour dates featured on their websites, allowing fans to easily book tickets, increasing sales. I chose for my tour section on my website to have a large prominence in order to attract the user and persuade them to purchase tickets through obvious links.

Khalid's tour section

Merchandise plays a large role in the artist's website. Khalid's website features a snippet of available merchandise on the front page, with a button to view the entire store placed next to this. This gives the user an important insight into the style of merchandise products available, enticing them to view the full range of products to make a purchase. I chose to incorporate a similar technique on my website flat plan, with 3 products being shown, and then a link to see the rest. This increases the clickability of the webpage, which helps to keep the audience engaged. Competitions allow for users to have a chance to win a prize, which entices them to enter which

Khalid's news snippet

rewards them for using the website. This extra interactability further helps to keep the user engaged, which is why I incorporated a competition into my flat plan. It would feature a quiz style, with users scoring high enough being entered into winning a piece of merchandise of their choice. To further reward users for visiting my website I created a behind the scenes video which was exclusive. This engages the audience and promotes the use of the website to others who want to access more content on Venture. I also researched the social media pages of multiple artists, giving me an insight into
creating an artist identity. For Instagram, Khalid chooses to promote his music, however mainly

Low production  quality photo by Khalid

chooses to promote himself as an artist, done through posts deemed relatable by his audience. I chose to use similar techniques, by posting behind the scenes content on my Instagram so the audience can see the process that goes into making content, instead of just the final product. Twitter is also used by artists to interact with their audience, therefore I created a Twitter and posted social meet up information along with further promotion of my music in order to increase sales. All of my social media included links between each other in order to create synergy and convergence, allowing for ease of use from the user.

Flat plan main page

Flat plan second page

Website Macro Research

Website Micro research

Khalid website notes

Post 8: My music video

Timeline and brainstorm

My music video will involve a narrative section and a performance section. By editing both of these together it links in with Goodwin's theory of key features in a music video, by creating a performance and narrative-based video, encouraging repeat viewings. In order to plan all of this out I first brainstormed any potential themes for my music video through the lyrics and my thoughts for the potential meanings behind them. After finding a suitable theme, being a crazy ex-girlfriend chasing her boyfriend, I created a timeline laying out the basic order of scenes for my video. From this timeline I could then begin to think about where I wanted to shoot all of my scenes. For this I created a location reccie, where I could plan out all of my settings, and work around any dangers that were brought up by this.

My location reccie

My storyboard

One of my shootboard pages

After all of this I could begin to plan all of my specific shots, which I added onto my shootboard. I colour coded this, with different colours of the post-it notes being different settings, and drawing a snippet of the scene to plan out my framing. After all of this I could begin to create my shootboards, detailing the action and dialogue happening in each shot, and the order each shot was shot in, allowing for more efficient shooting days. These 3 documents are seen below. The music video 'Hot N Cold' by Katy Perry influenced my ideas greatly through the use of multiple codes and conventions. She incorporates an intro scene before the music starts to clearly convey the message of the video to the audience, being an indecisive groom. This helps the audience to understand the video, which reduces confusion on their part. This influenced my initial ideas as I wanted to include such a scene to directly convey the message and meaning behind my video, which I then added to my timeline. Katy Perry used a wide variety of shots in her video, from CU to ELS, and this paired with quick, jump-cut editing creates fast and engaging scenes. In the running scene at the start of her video, a large number of camera angles were used, which created a chaotic atmosphere, something which I wanted to replicate. When planning out my final running montage, I planned to shoot a multitude of camera angles of the same scene to be able to quickly cut between them in the editing process, which I added to my shootboard.

Hot N Cold costumes

The costumes in Hot N Cold play a large role in the video as well, signify each of the characters' roles and personality. At 2:15 into the video, the scene with all the brides in features them with dripping black makeup from their eyes. This along with their ripped dresses presents them as chilling, encoding to the audience that they are feared by the groom. This influenced the planning of my video, as I used costumes for the ex-girlfriend character to be bright coloured and erratic, which encoded her crazy personality for the audience to decode. 'Hot N Cold' also uses a variety of settings, which keeps the audience engaged. I chose to mirror this in the planning for my video by adding my settings onto my location reccie, with the ending montage featuring a variety of settings being cut between frequently in order to keep the audience interested and entertained. A wide variety of ethnicities are present in 'Hot N Cold', representing a large number of social groups, with Caucasian, African American and more cast members present. When casting for my music video I also did the same with a diverse cast, featuring Indian, Asian and Caucasian actors.

Post 7: My pop artist or band

'I Don't Care' Music video

Justin Bieber

In order to create my own artists identity, I first researched the important traits and personalities of other successful pop artists. Justin Bieber has had a large influence on my initial ideas due to his unique presentation and star construction. When it comes to photoshoots and official events, Bieber wears flashy and unusual clothing, which helps to create a star identity due to these bold choices. However, when it comes to his personal Instagram and public meetups, he wears casual clothes, similar to those around him. This presents him as someone down to earth, which can gratify his audience through relatability. Using Richard Dyer's star theory this represents him as a pop star due to his identity separate from his own music. He often posts about his pet cats which reveal his own personal interests, allowing his audience to feel closer to him and see him as a real person instead of a lifeless pop performer. This is further incorporated into his image in his music video for 'I Don't Care', which uses a lower budget style, featuring over the top visuals paired with a messy green screen.

Just Bieber's Instagram

My performance
section

This gives off the impression of an amateur filmmaker using very primitive editing techniques, which adds relatability to his star persona. This has influenced my ideas as I used an unusual clothing choice of white ripped jeans in the performance section of my music video, which helped to create a star identity, and could also be aspirational for my audience. However, in the narrative section of my music video, I chose to use casual clothes that would be relatable to my target audience, which presented myself as a real and down to earth person. I have also posted behind the scenes videos to my Instagram, which gives an insight to the audience into how my content is made, which would allow them to feel closer to me, which would widen my fanbase. On my other social media pages, being Facebook and Instagram, I have posted messages asking for fans responses on a certain topic, being how their day today was. This helps the audience to perceive Venture as a real person instead of a one-dimensional pop-star, letting the audience feel more connected to him and engaged through relatability. Due to the extremely high numbers of users on these social networking sites, It allows my artists to fit the needs of my contemporary target audience, meeting the demands of their generation which increase the chance of them purchasing my music. I added in a charity section to my webpage, where it has shown that Venture donated money to his old secondary school. This gives more information on Venture, allowing fans to get to know him more, and also humanizes him as it brings to light his support for others.                                                                                                 

My moodboard

My artist costume plan

Post 6: My chosen track

Day 'N' Night

R U Crazy

I chose to use R U Crazy by Conor Maynard for my music video. Released on the 4th October 2013 by the English singer-songwriter, being co-written by himself, Eagle eye and Labrinth, with Labrinth producing the song. It was teased by Maynard on the 22nd August 2013 via YouTube, which was then premiered on the 26th of august, with the music video being released later that day. The label the track was released on was Parlophone. My interpretation of this song was that it was a story about a crazy ex-girlfriend who wouldn't leave their ex alone. I then chose to amplify this for my music video in an over the top style, with the ex-girlfriend relentlessly chasing her ex-boyfriend for the video. I took inspiration from the Hot N Cold music video by Katy Perry, which features a similar concept where Perry as a bride chases after her groom for not saying 'I do' at the wedding ceremony. I also another track choice, being Day 'N' Night by Kid Cudi, which features a dreamy aesthetic with calming vocals. However, the track had a genre more rooted in Hip Hop than in Pop, which would not be suitable for the brief, so I picked R U crazy over it. Goodwin's theory of music video conventions also played a role in this decision, as I had more vivid and imaginative ideas for this track than all of my others in the form of a narrative of amplification. This allowed me to engage my target audience and gratify them through entertainment, leading to a greater number of music sales.

Potential song choices

Narrative ideas for other songs

Lyrics interpretation

Post 5: My target audience

In order to be able to appeal to my target audience of a fun-loving 16-25 year old mass market demographic through my music video and website, I first had to research into what engages them and how to gratify them. After creating a survey on SurveyMonkey and sending it off to members of my target audience, I have gained valuable insight into their relationship surrounding pop-music. Most of them spend 1-2 hours listening to music every day, with the second-highest duration being 6+ hours. Many said that they choose to listen to music on their commute, but a large proportion said anytime they can they will. When asked about their feelings and opinions on pop music there were a variety of results. Many people listened to Pop music for the sole reason that it 'is catchy', and that it is energizing to them. One response found that they listened to Pop because it was easy to listen to. This may be due to the repetitive nature of Pop music from conventional layouts, which contribute towards its catchiness. When asked about why music is important to them, the majority of answers claimed it helped to set a mood, with the closest second reason being for escapism. Around half of the sample said that they did spend money on merchandise for the reason to support their favourite artists. The artist Khalid is very popular with my target audience, and this is due to the reasons stated beforehand, the catchiness of his music. He is 4th in the world for listeners on Spotify, and his newest song, Talk, has over 450 million streams. This was all taken into account when I picked my song R U Crazy, which features repetitive and catchy lyrics, which appeal to the 16-25 year old target audience.