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For question 1 I have decided to split the question into two sections part A which is “How do your products use or challenge conventions?” and section B which is “How do your products represent social groups or issues?”

This year I have created three products which are music video, digipak and website for the artist I have chosen. Starting off with my music video. I chose the song “Control” by a new mainstream artist Halsey. This song is an alternative/indie genre. Halsey song is usually electro pop whose parent genres are techno and funk. This genre became part of mainstream since 2000s. There are several general conventions that could be found in my products.

During my research on conventions of electro pop genre. I discovered that bright colours, cold toned mostly achieved through artificial light, featuring lip-syncing and narrative to it, with disequilibrium which is involved in Todorov’s 5-part narrative formula, as well as flashy clothing and make up with couple of SXF is the key of the genre.

The audience are very picky in terms of what they want to listen, watch or read and it is sometimes hard for them to know what they like. Genre is a specific type of text which has numerous of characteristics put together to create something that would attract the audience. Genre is the most essential part of the media presented. Daniel Chandler argues that not many works have presented full characteristics of the genre. Which means that they are more or less a blend or two or more genres. that It allows the marketing part of the production to be more efficient and to be recognised by the audience.

This year I have worked on a music video for the artist Halsey, her music genre is electropop which follows Chandlers theory of blending the two genres as it is a sub-genre of dance. This genre is a great example as it shows how the artist is simplifying the mass of available information. We can see how she can be blended with the other genres easily through this example taken off from theamazon page with a list of genres and where Halsey has been featured.

Additionally, Nicholas Abercrombie believes that "media productions should stick to using the typical conventions in a music video" this is a point which may be taken into consideration as it is showing the clear success as audience are guaranteed to like them as it would be easier to identify the text. Audience could refer the new media to the new one and it may bring nostalgic feeling to the audience while watching the video. Lady Gaga's music is a hybrid itself between electropop and and dance pop. My music videos genre is electropop which is a hybrid itself between pop and dance, which shows the boundaries between genres are becoming permeable, as it is a hybrid genre. I believe that hybrid genres bring together a wider range of audience, the ones who like dance and electro. Making the music more unique and target more people.
Jason Mittell states that the producers use familiar codes and conventions in their work to make it more recognisable for the audience. They could have done this through costumes, lightings and camera works. For example Lady Gaga and Madonna, they are two artist whose styles are very similar. His theory can also apply to my work as I have used a point of view camera angle which was featured in The Weekends False Alarm. However, this references may vary for different audience depending of their nationality, age and gender for example this shot may bring back memories differently, some people may recognise this shot from "False Alarm" which was released in 2016, some my recognise it from "All Falls Down" by Kanye West from 2009 and "Smack my bitch up" from 1997.

Using familiar codes and conventions are a great way of marketing as it allows the audience use their knowledge from their experience as well as bringing different audience to that media. They might recognise this through camera angles, beat, lyrics, etc.
Mittell argues that the genres are cultural and categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, which use genre to sell products to the audience. This means that music now can be easily accessible on websites and apps such as iTunes, Spotify and YouTube. However for people who enjoy hard copies, digipaks are provided by the artist on their official website but they are also distributed through a retailer. For my artist I have created a website where they would be able to buy the digipak. I have also created YouTube channel where I publish the music video. In addition I have created a digipak for the people who would enjoy having a hard copy of the song.
Which links to the Goodwin's theory of a 5 aspects to a music video. There are certain conventions to be followed for each genre. For example stage performance for rock bands whose conventions may include performance with audience. This was achieved in a music video Counting Stars by One Republic.

Here we can see the lead singer dancing and singing, while the rest of the band are playing their instruments. In my case I have my artist performing while the actress is involved to perform the story.

One of the conventions of electropop music video genre includes bright. This is featured a lot in Halseys' music video for example in the music video "Ghost" which use a lot of bright neon colours.

In this video you could see Halsey taking a pink neon heart shaped bath which connotes love, she is alone which suggests that she is missing someone. A bright blue wig which was her signature colour for a while for her Badlands album and a white swimsuit. In my video I have experimented with lighting and colour correction on Final Cut to follow electropop genre conventions. My artist is also wearing pastel coloured jacket with a white bralette and skirt.

Music Video

Starting off with mise-en-scene, electro-pop music videos are usually bright and colourful. For example, the song “Pacify Her” by Melanie Martinez. It features pastel colours connoting the childlike appearance, she also portrays herself as a child by wearing kids clothing, playing with dolls and sitting inside a baby bed although the lyrics go into serious topics such as sexual assault. Although she is dressed as a toddler she is still wearing make-up and wig to follow the basic music video conventions.

In this video she alternated between narrative and performance. This is shown through mise-en-scene. Her make-up, costume and location changes as she performs in front of the camera. Since she is a female artist her gender representation in media involve lots of make-up, revealing clothing and sexual dance movements. However, the use of her crazy costumes makes her target audience teenage females. In my music video my artist wore a bralette top similar to Melanie’s. My artist make up is also unusual and does not follow 21 centuries beauty standards which are presented in media. She is wearing blue eyeshadow and her eyebrows are tinted blue as well. Thought my audience feedback I found out that females find it attractive and interesting to try on similar looks for entertaining purposes. However, male audience found it weird but interesting. This idea was inspired by artists such as Melanie Martinez, Nicki Minaj and Lord. Nicki Minaj and Melanie Martinez have very bright and colourful make-up which does not go under beauty standards portrayed in media. However, Lord is different compared to the other previous artists she uses dark make up. This is the look I have used in my music video when my artist was performing in the forest.

For this effect I have used triple layering of the scenes with my demon character with smoke bombs. I have also used colour correction to create purple lighting, which is one of the conventions of electro-pop genre. My music video is a mixture of alternative, indie and electro pop. Which means that I had to mix between those genres. Alternative and indie genre often feature dull lighting and they are usually cold toned. They have performance base and their lyric meanings not often match the visuals.

In my music video I had some intertextual references in order to achieve my secondary audience. The low angle shot which I have used is similar to Twenty One Pilots “Heavydirtysoul” I have used this shot in order to show the characters’ perspective so that the audience could relate more to the character. For this shot I have used GoPro on a selfie stick and moved it forwards to create a tracking effect. I have then used colour correction to achieve cold toned purple and blue colour which is similar to the one which Twenty one pilots used however since it has electro pop genre and the artist s female I decided to add more feminine colours. I have done audience feedback on this and my target audience said that they enjoyed the effect and goes well with the genre.

Another intertextual reference which I have used is to use smoke bombs. I thought that use of smoke bombs would make the video more appealing and add even more colour to the video. Looking at the forest where more of the scenes took place in. It is clear that there aren’t that many bright colours involved. To change that, I have used smoke bombs and to match the general genre conventions. I have used smoke bombs only for the performance, where my artist lip-synced in front of the camera, this is similar to Taylor Swifts “Bad Blood” music video where she held a smoke bomb which connoted power and mystery in this shot. In this show the background colours are simple and dull as well as her costume is black which reflects light. Overall this shot is dark and by using smoke bomb the scene is more colourful and interesting for audience to watch.

As my music video progresses, my artist changes as well. To make the music video appealing and interesting to watch. I changed my artists costume in every performance scene. This falls under Barthes narrative enigma theory; this is a puzzle created within the narrative. This is the key element which makes the music video re-watchable. By changing my artists’ hair colour and costume, audience would be confused and put into a question, to solve it they would have to watch the video over from the beginning. Artists who had hair transformation in their music videos to represent different characters include Taylor Swift “Bad Blood”, Jessie-J, Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne. The hair colour change may be used to signify the difference in two characters and their emotions. In my music video my artist alternated between short blond hair and long brunette. This was used to connote their feelings. Blond signifies herself and brunette connotes demon inside her, as connotation of dark hair colour is darkness, evil and emptiness.

My music video is narrative and performance based. The narrative of my music video is a girl (protagonist) waking up in the forest. She doesn’t know how she got there but she wants to escape. However, when she tried to run away she starts seeing someone with a black mask on (demon) she tried to remember how she got there and gets flashbacks of her burgling the house. At the end of the video the person with the mask reveals himself and shows that this demon was actually the girl herself. This sort of twist in the story created narrative enigma which makes the audience question the video. Usually in music videos narrative is clear and starts with equilibrium, disruption appears and new equilibrium is started at the end. The narrative follows Todorov’s 5 part narrative formula within 3-6 minutes. For example, Taylor Swifts “You Belong With Me” music video where she intertextualises “Mean Girls” film. The narrative is pretty simple, where it follows all five steps. However, for my music video I have started with a disruption and ended with a question. I have also had fragments of performance mixed with the narrative. Carol Vernallis points out how the narrative may not always be completed and can appear in fragments.

Codes and conventions from admusics

Website

In my production I used variety of factors which have been gained from my researching, of each product. Starting with the website, I have used and challenged conventions of a simple website design. From a general research I found out, that the website design includes social media icons in the header.

This is a piechart showing 74% of websites have social media icons in their Header. Looking at my website bellow you may see that the social media icons are on the bottom right on the navigation header.

Another convention which I found out is that the websites mostly have horizontal navigation bars. Looking at the websites such as 1975, Charlie Puths, Taylor Swift,etc. I discover that they all have horizontal navigation bars. This piechart which illustrates this point. In my own website I had it horizontally and at the bottom of the page. This is common for the music artists website.

I have also names each page after researching and looking at different websites. In my older post I have made some changes after looking at examples of other artists.

Following my research into the conventions of both general website’s as well as industrial websites, I was able to conform to many of the genre codes and archetypes involved in the creation of a website process. These conventions included light colour palette, 5-6 navigational gadgets at the top of each page. These include merchandising, tour dates, social media and institutional links.

One point of development regarding the tour dates would be my use of “Bandsintown” app within WIX. This was great for realism as it tracked Halsey in real life. However, at the beginning when I have just started using WIX Halsey wasn’t on tour so no tour dates and tickets were available. So in place of the tracker I added some European dates within venues and booking lists. In addition to this a photo gallery taken from the Instagram of Halsey was added to offer the audience a deeper reading into the artist herself.

Digipak

Moving on to the third component of my overall product. I’d like to discuss the digipak. Researching into the digipak formula revealed that Halseys digipak varied from low key lighting “Room 93” and coloured “BADLANDS” album. Looking at the two albums I was able to vary from dark to light theme which put away any boundaries in front of me. “Room 93” album featured glitching effect on the front cover as well as at the back. This gave me an inspiration to use glitching effect for my digipak. However, after getting an audience feedback I found out that it was hard to read the title and it looked as if there was a mistake during the production. While I was doing audience feedback I found out that glitching effect was liked more by my secondary audience rather than my target audience.

During my research I found out that it is quite common to have the artist on the front cover centrally framed with a medium shot, with the artist looking directly into the camera and creating a direct eye contact with the audience. It is also common to have the artists profile with a medium close up shot. Both of these shots are included in this genres conventions.

For my digipak I have used medium to long shot of my artist centrally framed and looking directly into the camera. I have layered a photo of a pink smoke bomb from the music video production photoshoot.

I have previously blogged on digipak where I have deconstructed the structure of a digipak. This post helped me to know what to add where when creating a digipak

Music Video

I want to start with my music video. For this video I decided to go with the song “Control” by a new mainstream artist Halsey. This song doesn’t have a music video; this means that it was harder for me to work with it, because I had nothing to rely on. However, this gave me the ability to create my own story without any influences by the original video which might have pushed me to copy the idea and create a parody rather than my own work.

Mise-en-scene

Costumes/Make-up

This song is an alternative/indie genre however; Haley’s songs are mostly electro-pop genre. Since she is an electro pop genre artist she is signed to Astralwerks Records which is specialised in electro, dance genre. This genre became part of mainstream since 2000s. One of the artists who had a major commercial success since 2008 with her debut album “The Fame” was Lady Gaga. This made my decisions to be based on Lady Gaga’s earlier music video. However, almost ten years have passed since then which means some of the fashion choices have been changed. Now artists of electro pop genre dress simple but still quite revealing. This has affected my costume choices in my music video.

For the performer I had scenes with her in a blond wig as well as her natural dark brown hair. This was a way of intertextuallise the iconic Avril Lavigne “Girlfriend” music video which was made in 2007. This gave me the ability to target audience between 20- 26 years old, which listened to her music while they were teens. Wig change also referred to Taylor Swifts “You Belong With Me” music video from 2008 and her recent “Bad Blood” from 2016. Those two artists have used hair colour in order to inform the audience of good and evil characters. The protagonist in the music videos were with blond/light hair colour which have connotations of good, nice and innocent, whereas antagonists were with dark hair which has connotations of evil.

The clothing for my artist in the performance scenes were inspired by Halsey herself. However, after getting audience feedback on my rough cut I was told that the clothing was to bight for such dark themed song. I listened to my audience and added some more performance scenes with my artist who is played by Evie wearing dark clothing. The clothing she was wearing was once again taken from one of Halsey’s live performances on the stage.

Moving on to the actress who was played by Orla. She was wearing two different styles. The first one was a lose grey hoodie with grey jeans covered in mud and dirt which should signify her social statues. She also woke up in the middle of the forest which should connote that she is homeless and lost. The second style was all black with gloves and hood up which should suggest that she is a burglar, because these are the stereotypes which are presented in tv shows and movies. Her make up for both scenes were simple, she did wear foundation but she didn’t ear extreme make up which could be spotted. However, for the end scene where she revealed that the demon was her, she was wearing strong, bold make-up, to denote this last scene I will say she is wearing make-up with heavy eyeliner, mascara, etc. Connotations of heavy dark make-up are that she is evil and that her inner demon took control over her.

Lighting

One of the conventions of this genre is bright lighting, flashes of colour and cold tones with artificial lighting. These example as presented in The Weeknds music video “Star Boy” where he used artificial neon blue and red/pink lighting. He has also used colour correction to make his music video cold toned. To achieve these conventions, I have used artificial light stand for the performance scenes with Evie (singer) this allowed me to film when the sun went down. This also allowed me to achieve this clear lighting where the artists is well visible. However, I was not able to use the light for the forest scenes as the lights need a plug. This created a contrast between the scenes.

I have also used colour correction effect while using Final Cut Pro after I have filmed the music video. I used it to achieve different colour ranging from pink to purple to blue to make it more appealing to watch. I have used exposure to layer over the performance scenes with the demon smoke bombs scenes, exposure allowed me to get the right brightness to make the smoke bombs and the artist both visible. After getting positive audience feedback on one experimental edit of layering, I decided to add more scenes with Evie singing and layer it over the smoke bombs scenes. Another effect I have used is Steal Cold which makes the clip dark blue and cold toned. I have adjusted to get the right colour and avoid and shadows getting too dark and blurring the shapes. This effect was used in every single scene to make it constant and less saturated as it is a dark music video.

Props

For the music video I have noticed that that many music video have smoke bombs colour powders featured in them. For my music video I have used smoke bombs to make my demon look mysterious and performance more attractive for the audience.

I have also used masks which was used for my narrative. The mask was used to emphasise the demon and to avoid showing the face of the demon until the end to create narrative enigma. I have also used a sleeping back to connote that Ora lives in the forest and her confused face shows that she doesn’t know how she got there.

Locations

I have noticed that most music videos feature deserted and isolated locations. This is used in different genres starting form pop ending with rock. For example, Selena Gomez’s “Come & Get It” her performance scenes are in isolated place. Another example is Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake” which was filmed in a maze. This inspired me to use a forest for Orla to wake up and run from the character in a mask.

My second location was my friend’s house where I filmed the burgling scene. I chose to film in that location because the stairs and the overall setting of the house looked neat and posh which I needed to portray in my music video. The stereotypes of a wealthy house is neat garden with sculptures and trimmed bushes and trees. I thought that this location would be perfect to film the burgling scenes.

Another location was a school bathroom. I have used it because it looked like a public location which signified her social status that she doesn’t have a home to return to, because she was changing in the public place.

My last location was a hall in my house for Evie to lip-sync. I thought that clear white walls would achieve verisimilitude and create the right surface for layering.

Narrative

For the narrative I tried to challenge and use Todorov’s narrative theory. I have used this theory in my last year’s coursework where I have created a film opening. However, this year I wanted to challenge it by starting with a disruption and ending it with one as well. I started my music video with establishing shots which then cut to the flashback/nightmares of Orla. She then wakes up in the forest. At the end of the video she reveals that person who was pushing her to do wrong things “demon” was herself. This creates a narrative enigma which makes the audience re-watch the video in order to understand the story.

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Tuesday, 25 April 2017

Welcome to my blog

Monday, 17 April 2017

Final Cut

My Website

My Website link

Sunday, 16 April 2017

Digipak

Front Cover

Inner panel (left)

Inner panel (right)

Back Cover

Spine

Friday, 14 April 2017

Evaluation Question 1a

Music Video