Closing Post

This blog is now closed.

Thank you for reading my blog, I have had a great time working on this project and I hope that comes across through my work. Everything in the project is under the label 'A-Level NEA Research and Planning'.

Post 10: Reflections on outcomes/ Target audience responses

First edit/rough cut
Initially, my narrative was split across the three verses of my video. I realised that this could leave the choruses lacking in interest and also the storyline not very clear. After a discussion, I was advised early on to place all my narrative at the beginning of the track and then change locations for each verse, going from studio to hot tub and therefore showing a reclamation of the male dominated spaces seen in the opening verse.

Peer Assessment
Good use of colour and narrative was clear and obvious but they thought that editing on the final chorus and largest beat drop needs to be more fast paced. For the instagram, I would benefit from adding more posts and with a wider variety, like pictures from concerts or fan meet and greets. Interview is very believable and gratifies fan needs with the kind of questions I've asked.

Praised on female representations, male peers felt there was a fairly biased male representation as useless/mean but can respect that in a post-feminist world this is necessary in making an ironic point.

Website
Link on one of my tweets ins't working. I also need to include references to my video production company and universal music with copyright signs (as conventionally seen on artist sites). I also need more immediacy value, e.g. what's happening right now, make advert for women's march linked and include a picture to communicate attitudes values and beliefs

29th Oct

Homepage - Need to add buttons to banner and remove blank space near top
News - Re-crop buffalo logo with smoother edges to make it look more professional. Image of shoe needs to be changed to one where we can better see the product. Also, relink the enter now button away from an email as outdated mode of communication

Video edit going well, needs grading and lip sync is off in two places. A couple of shots go on slightly too long and so don't fit with the fast paced, disjunctive editing style I'm going for. Might work to slice two subsequent shots and position them in middle of one.

19th Oct Website feedback

Colour scheme in some places can be an eyesore, when pink is set on blue or vice versa. Maybe link instagram to name to reinforce to fans where to find you, at the moment block images aren't clearly social media based.

Finished product personal responses

Website

I am pleased with the overall outcome of my website and realise now that following convention in this product is much more expected. People need to know exactly what they're getting when they go online e.g. buying music, updating on news. In hindsight, I would've spent more time on graphics, adding cartoons and gifs cross-production instead of just a colour scheme and logo.

Video

I am happy with the fact audience responses have clearly understood the messages and point of my video albeit at different levels of depth. Aesthetically, my artists look, costumes and makeup fit well within the track and genre. Looking back, I would've benefited from planning shots more precisely instead of being experimental on set and therefore spending more time than necessary.

Post 9: Second Webpage

Interview
For my audio visual content I am doing an interview with my artist, similar to the one below with Charlie XCX. I want to give fans a feeling of closeness through insider knowledge and especially in the dance genre where lyrics are often minimal and not overly emotional, hearing what an artist has to say is very important.

 

Rough Script & Plan
I have chosen 4 questions as I want to keep the video down to around 3 minutes to keep it interesting and I have bullet pointed my answers instead of scripting in full as I want it to seem genuine and like my artist has thought of it in real time.

Brand Tie-in

I have chosen to do a brand tie in with Buffalo Shoes and tie this in with some audience interaction by creating a competition. I want fans to send in videos dancing to my track for a chance to win a pair of shoes. This enables me to create synergy with my brand and convey my style attitudes to fans. I decided to allow entries via instagram instead of emailing them in as I think this fits more with the kinds of communication vessels my fans use.

Call to action
In the footer across both pages I've placed a call to action for fans to subscribe for email updates

Call to action for women's protest
To create immediacy value and also to highlight my artists core beliefs in equal rights, I am advertising the January women's march to my fans. This will show my audience a cultural sophistication and social engagement with the real world issues separate from the music industry. I will sandwich the ad either side of two stills of my artist pointing into the camera so the direct address speaks to the fans, similarly to the propaganda of the World War 2 'We can do it!' poster.

Post 8: My Website Homepage

The brief requires me to create a website which I am going to do via Wix and a second linked page.

Design & Inspirations

A website I have largely drawn inspiration from is that of Nicki Minaj, as I feel like of all the ones I've looked at, hers provides fans with clarity of inspiration and clear messages about her design. It rewards fans for visiting with exclusive news and immediacy value.

I'm going to use a colour palette of three colours and I have chosen a pink and blue for my main two as they are replicated in the lighting I use in my music video and in many of the costumes my artist wears.

Layout

I like the use of rolling pages which fans can scroll down and this also works with the idea that fans would view my website via smartphones where they don't want to be clicking too much. Conventionally, artist websites are fairly minimal so having only two pages but very content heavy ones are whats expected.

To create synergy I will splash a video player across my homepage, as shown below on Nicki Minaj's for her most recent single.

A focal image of my persona, as on Nervo's webpage, reinforces my look and identity and so encourages fan engagement with the person rather than just the lyrics.

The layout for my homepage 

I have identified the following checklist of necessities for my webpage

• Masthead with logo
• Promo Shots
• Adverts for latest single/album (usually in a pop up)
• Tour Dates/Bookings/Festivals/Radio appearances
• Merchandising
• Social Media links
• Calls to action to sign up to newsletters
• Links to music videos

Post 7 My Music Video

Content
Narrative Arc
My storyline is as follows: The opening sees my artist come home to find her boyfriend in a hot tub (presumably being unfaithful) with another women. She then tells him to 'bounce' and we see him attempt to get her back with balloons, roses and chocolates. After unsuccessfully getting her to return his calls, the ex-boyfriend cries alone. Mini is then seen carefree and moving on on the set of her new video, channeling her emotion into a DJ performance and song. Her girl gang then pick her back up, have fun with her in the hot tub and dance with her in the studio. Showing the audience the individual power women have, not allowing unfair male behaviour and building strong friendships with others.

Performance
Despite by being in a studio, I want a feeling of closeness to my artist through 'real' shots, therefore I want to do some shoots with a closed set, with either me or one other person on camera. This will enable me to perform comfortably, including winks, laughter and carefree dancing. I have recieved some lip sync tips from an industry professional that will help me. These are:

• Learn lyrics off by heart
• Music video shoots play the song out loud and the artist sings out loud too. This is because convincing lip syncing need to be able to see the neck muscles moving.
• I will watch myself do this in a mirror and keep my facial expressions controlled. 
• I want to channel the meanings of the words so when I do my lyrical analysis I will make sure to incorporate this into the actions
• For example, when I say pronouns like ‘you’ I want to directly address the camera or point into it

Shot list - Visual references

Casting

Locations

I need to use at least two locations, for me one of these is the studio and I am utilising different lighting and performance set ups within this setting. For example, one with the DJ decks out, lit in silhouette with  a white background and another with a pink hue, pink heart shaped balloons and a close up angle. Outside of here I will use the hot tub in my back garden for those shots and a relatives hallway and front door for the shots of the male lead attempting to 'get back' the female. Having reccied these locations to check there is enough lighting and space for long shots I have created the shot lists.

4 Location set ups 

1 interior (school studio), plain white background set up with use of coloured lighting – Have already had studio training day so no need to recce – 

Bedroom interior

Want plain white walls and fairly non-descript bed for actor to sit on with blanket

2 Exterior locations

Hot Tub

Need to be careful with filming times due to natural light making hot tub lights not show up

Remove items from background to look more professional and less like a ‘normal’ household garden

Front door/Hallway

Cannot use home location as not enough natural light and hallway isn’t long enough for desired farming. Aunt's house (Park Nook Gardens, Enfield) is within reachable distance of my actors and has no cars coming past as it is a dead-end street. Therefore less noise pollution or members of the public affecting shots.

Want a house with a modern front door and facing out onto street you should be able to see other houses across the road from it. Should have a window to see outline of actor as he rings doorbell.

Shots from recce:

Post 6: My Artist Profile

My artist is a female disc jockey and singer called Mini.

Mini has a unique style in the dance music industry by being a DJ who not only produces music but also sings on her own samples. This gives her a unique edge and a self sufficient musical style. Her latest track 'Bounce' will be the first from her upcoming debut album. Therefore a lot rides on the video in establishing her ethos, performance style and look.

After reading an article in the New York Times entitled 'women edging their way into the dj booth' I was shocked to find that I previously knew very little about the difficulties that female DJ's face in the dance industry. The reasons stated for this are "An industry predominantly run by men, a lack of female role models and mentors of either gender, and a grueling lifestyle that is disruptive to having a family." Therefore I am going to create an artist persona which fulfills an audience want for female role models that have brains and aren't over sexualised. I want to use my platform as an artist to convey messages about respecting feminity and creativity as something more than a money making scheme.

Mini's look is current and on trend. Blends a mix of 90's rave pieces with modern sports luxe. Below is a style moodboard I have created. In terms of colour palettes I will be using the current fashion trend and dance genre favourite of neon tops and trousers, platform trainers and space buns and high ponytails.

After researching female DJ's and artists I have found often the use of monomyns create memorable artist personas and star identity that is separate from the person beneath.

Mini has made her way up through small clubs in the heart of London, to now playing on the international dance festival circuit in Ibiza, Berlin and globally. She promotes an aspirational, city-centric lifestyle that will resonate with a media savvy audience. Mini is fiercely femenist in a post modern setting and this is a key value I want to communicate through cross media marketing, her activism and political involvement is a key feature I want to communicate.

I have created a logo (below) which is simple and will feature across all my media brands, incorporating itself into the titles of my video and appearing on my website and other audio-visual content. Many artists use this kind of iconography to visually reinforce their identities. I thought the idea of a pink heart connotes the subverted feminity and 'cute' image I want Mini to put out to fans.

Influences

I am taking particular inspiration from two female artists, Flava D and Charlie XCX as they are both popular female DJ's hailing from the UK, like my artist. They are respected in the industry for being trailblazers of unique styles of music and fashion

Flava D
She is a producer and DJ and has been from the age of 16. She is involved in grime, drum and bass and bassline music and is often touring the clubs and events of England and Europe. She is from Bournemouth and is well respected in the industry for bringing accessibility to female producers and female listeners. I admire the way her record label 'Butterz' have utilised cross media convergence, starting from a weekly show on Rinse FM radio to creating an entire label.

Charlie XCX

Charlotte Emma Aitchison (2 August 1992), also known as Charli XCX, began performing at underground raves and signed with Asylum Records in 2010. She's known for her dance/electropop and her influences included Britney Spears and the Spice Girls. Her brand has been built up through social media platforms like Instagram and Tumblr. She uses her platform to be an activist, regularly campaigning for women's and LGBT rights and a sophisticated modern day generation responds well to this.She directed a 2015 documentary on gender equality, The F Word and Me, for BBC three.

Post 5: My project Proposal/ Response to the Brief

My brief requires me to produce a three minute dance music video, commissioned by Universal Music and produced by an independent media production company. Also, a website with a homepage and one linked page. I will create a clear sense of branding for my artist persona across these two products.

My Independent Media Production Company

Palmer Media Ltd.


London based cross platform production team specialising in visual media.
Aim to promote forward thinking media with a social/cultural awareness. As many production companies I researched like Luti media work in conjunction with independent directors I envision that mine hires a female entrepreneur who works closely with my artist, similarly to the partnership formed by Sarah McColgan and Charlie XCX. As shown the credits for the music video 'Boys' sees the two work simultaneously as directors within the bounds of the Atlantic Records production company. From my research around smaller production companies, I can see a clear theme of expressing complex ideas via symbolism rather than overly detailed mise en scene that we associate with high budget outlets.

Idea and inspirations

Having spent a long time researching and planning I have taken a lot of my inspirations from the music videos of Lily Allen. For example 'Smile' and 'Hard out Here'.



In her biography 'My Thoughts Exactly' she talks about the Hard out Here video in a way which particularly influenced mine. "I wanted the video to reflect the songs sentiment and hard edged anger. I wanted it to show exactly what women singers are expected to do in videos and at the same time undermine that expectation. And I wanted to do it with humour as well as rage. She also creates a unique style, converse and prom dresses, lots of blingly jewellery that I'm going to base some of my outfits on.

How each artefact will connect with each other

I am going to create the blue and pink colour scheme across my website, lighting and costumes thereby throwing out the gender stereotyped colour motifs. Social media will be the main way I create synergy, posting on instagram and twitter about my website, audio visual interview and music video itself. This is also the way I feel I will best connect with my AB culturally sophisticated audience as they are tech savvy, use apps and smartphones profusely and understand the 360 degree marketing process needed for fan involvement with star personas.

Casting

I need to represent at least two different social groups within my media products. I needed to cast 4 roles. These are essentially stereotypical characters, the boyfriend, the other woman and the supportive friends, I am going to widen representations by subverting these tropes, not casting conventionally attractive bodies or media representations of beautiful friends and heartthrob males.

Top Songs
After widely researching an array of dance music genres, looking at disco, drum and bass, house etc. I narrowed my options down to three tracks featuring female vocals as my artist persona is female and both produces and samples on her tracks. These were:
Calvin Harris ft. Kelis - Bounce
Martin Solveig & Dragonette - Hello
Dee-Lite - Groove is in the Heart

I eventually chose 'Bounce' because I thought the soprano vocals work with the small stature of my persona and the name Mini corresponding to a squeaky and high pitched vocal. I also think that repetitive choruses and a catchy hook will lend themselves well to fast paced editing and an easily organised narrative structure.

My video is going to be a postmodern view on modern romance. Having analysed the lyrics, I can see that this song is about a female moving on from a breakup, however, I'm going to turn these conventions around by putting the female in the position of the 'dumper' rather than 'dumpee'. My video will feature a mix of performance and narrative.

Overall Time Plan
Roughly these are my aims per month for the project, in order to meet the deadline and keep my products to a high standard.

August - Research and Planning

September - Production & Website creation

October - Post-production, feedback and finalisation

Half term - Deadline