Hello! I'm Amelia Inskipp and I am currently studying Media Studies for my A levels. This blog of mine will show you my own research, planning and production as evidence of the journey I will go through in order to create my very own short film. Throughout this year I will take experiences of previous tasks that I have done in media to help improve and put together my project. For this project I have decided to be completely responsible for my own work as I will be working independently throughout this entire project.
For this years project, we are asked to create a short film. From many choices I chose to do a music video as music is what I'm passionate about. Alongside a music video, I have chosen to create a Digi-pack and also a web page for my chosen artist. The genre of music that I have decided to do for my music video is pop music. I selected pop music as this genre describes all music that is 'popular'. As i have decided to go along with the genre of pop, this can create a wide and diverse choice for me later down in my planning, as although pop music is usually categorised by just the singles charts, pop music actually has elements of many different defined styles of music which could make my choice of song more varied. However, there are elements in pop music that make it distinct from other genres.
Thursday, 4 May 2017
Friday, 28 April 2017
Evaluation - Question 4
I created a prezi for question 4 to show the journey of my coursework, I also used it to show how my skills have changed since starting media in year 12.
http://prezi.com/zmfgopljyqgu/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
http://prezi.com/zmfgopljyqgu/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
Evaluation - Question 3
For question 3 I have created a Prezi in order to show the feedback I gained and how well it effected the outcome of my product
https://prezi.com/ezw7mtz_83_x/untitled-prezi/
https://prezi.com/ezw7mtz_83_x/untitled-prezi/
Evaluation - Question 2
When creating all three of my products, I kept in mind that they all had to be similar in order to present the kind of brand I was trying to portray. Graeme Burton said that there is a specific audience for a particular type of product and that they belong to pre-existing groups. I believe this is true for the Pop genre of music as the generic aspect found in pop products which attract that certain audience. From my research, especially website research, I found that in order to successfully ‘sell’ something the three products in a way need to have some sort of relationship between each of them. As I am creating the first single of this artist, the synergy between all three products is vital in order to promote the image this artist wants to achieve. This is because for the audience, this will be their first identification with the artist, so their first impression needs to be key in order for her career to be successful.
The music video is shot in a very artificial setting due to this being a usual setting for pop music videos, in a studio. Therefore it made it a lot easier for me to have the DigiPak and music video
similar in the way of setting, as they were both to be shot in a studio setting. This also helped with the music website, as I used photography form the shoot, to be placed on the BIO of the artist. This therefore gave a clear link to all three products as setting played a role in each of the 3 components.
The theme of lips is a clear observation between all of my products. My video with the constant moving lips parallels between the DigiPak where the main focus on the front panel is the lips as they are the aspect the majority of audiences will focus upon. The single name ‘Lips are Movin’ has reference to lips in it therefore I took inspiration from that connecting the DigiPak cover and the music video to have a strong concentration on the lips. However, when it comes to my website, there is not a strong focus upon lips as much as the other aspects in my product therefore questioning the connection between these two. As lips is my brand and main theme, there should be some form of lips on my website therefore making it unsure whether this website is the correct fit to my artists ‘brand’ that she is trying to create.
Makeup is a key part in my three products as a lot of it focuses around lips which have makeup on them. This is presented clearly with the red lips popping out on the DigiPak front cover along with the changing colours of the lips throughout my music video. The models edgy clothing with the hat and bright sunglasses are mirrored in the DigiPak’s choice of wearing big hooped earring and her hair in braids. This binds both the DigiPak and video together as the audience will identify the artist as edgy and stylish. This is the same with the website, although the image of the artist on the ‘about’ page does not appear to have any makeup, her clothing choice and her use of prop still come across to audiences as fashionable tying all these three products together.
Between my DigiPak and music website, I used similar fonts to present the link between the artists image. I learnt from my research that their websites adapt depending on their newest release so the look of an artist is always changing. Many artists have their name as their logo so picking a font is vital to an artist as usually this sticks with them throughout their career.
Colour scheme is a huge key in identifying what products fit well together and what do not. The colours in my music video are all very vibrant and bright due to the numerous colours that I placed on the lips. There are a lot of warm tones and vibes to my music video, which is also mirrored in the warm tones of my website. This pinks really represent my target audience and emphasise the age group too as it is more bright and warm rather than a darker tone and mature look. This therefore binds my website and music video together very well as the colours both mesh well together.
However, when comparing my website and music video to my DigiPak, there was a huge clash in colour. The contrast between the warm tones and the dark tones brings some confusion to whether my products combine well together. Unlike the website and video which is very light, the darkness of my DigiPak brings a clash in terms of audiences. Gathering back feedback many upon each of my products, there was a clash in opinion between ages. A lot of the younger age group that I asked (10-14) preferred the DigiPak the least whilst the more mature age range of my audience (15-18+) favourite product was my DigiPak. As these products should all bind together well there should be no stand out product, therefore for improvements I feel like I will need to change the DigiPak most as it has a much more mature look than the rest of my products.
The music video is shot in a very artificial setting due to this being a usual setting for pop music videos, in a studio. Therefore it made it a lot easier for me to have the DigiPak and music video similar in the way of setting, as they were both to be shot in a studio setting. This also helped with the music website, as I used photography form the shoot, to be placed on the BIO of the artist. This therefore gave a clear link to all three products as setting played a role in each of the 3 components.
The theme of lips is a clear observation between all of my products. My video with the constant moving lips parallels between the DigiPak where the main focus on the front panel is the lips as they are the aspect the majority of audiences will focus upon. The single name ‘Lips are Movin’ has reference to lips in it therefore I took inspiration from that connecting the DigiPak cover and the music video to have a strong concentration on the lips. However, when it comes to my website, there is not a strong focus upon lips as much as the other aspects in my product therefore questioning the connection between these two. As lips is my brand and main theme, there should be some form of lips on my website therefore making it unsure whether this website is the correct fit to my artists ‘brand’ that she is trying to create.
Makeup is a key part in my three products as a lot of it focuses around lips which have makeup on them. This is presented clearly with the red lips popping out on the DigiPak front cover along with the changing colours of the lips throughout my music video. The models edgy clothing with the hat and bright sunglasses are mirrored in the DigiPak’s choice of wearing big hooped earring and her hair in braids. This binds both the DigiPak and video together as the audience will identify the artist as edgy and stylish. This is the same with the website, although the image of the artist on the ‘about’ page does not appear to have any makeup, her clothing choice and her use of prop still come across to audiences as fashionable tying all these three products together.
Between my DigiPak and music website, I used similar fonts to present the link between the artists image. I learnt from my research that their websites adapt depending on their newest release so the look of an artist is always changing. Many artists have their name as their logo so picking a font is vital to an artist as usually this sticks with them throughout their career.
Colour scheme is a huge key in identifying what products fit well together and what do not. The colours in my music video are all very vibrant and bright due to the numerous colours that I placed on the lips. There are a lot of warm tones and vibes to my music video, which is also mirrored in the warm tones of my website. This pinks really represent my target audience and emphasise the age group too as it is more bright and warm rather than a darker tone and mature look. This therefore binds my website and music video together very well as the colours both mesh well together.
However, when comparing my website and music video to my DigiPak, there was a huge clash in colour. The contrast between the warm tones and the dark tones brings some confusion to whether my products combine well together. Unlike the website and video which is very light, the darkness of my DigiPak brings a clash in terms of audiences. Gathering back feedback many upon each of my products, there was a clash in opinion between ages. A lot of the younger age group that I asked (10-14) preferred the DigiPak the least whilst the more mature age range of my audience (15-18+) favourite product was my DigiPak. As these products should all bind together well there should be no stand out product, therefore for improvements I feel like I will need to change the DigiPak most as it has a much more mature look than the rest of my products.Evaluation - Question 1
For my A2 media coursework, I had to create a music video, DigiPak and a music website for my chosen artist to promote my video and their image. The genre I chose is ‘Pop’ music. This genre has a huge audience as the music is ‘popular’ which is where it gets its more commonly known name from. The audience for this genre has a very secure idea and although there are many different types of ‘pop’ music, there is genre expectancy and viewers find predictability appealing.
One convention of a pop music video is that the artist is usually clothed in fashionable, stylish and mainstream outfits. In my music video I have followed this convention by dressing my artist in mainstream clothing. In my video my model has numerous clothe choices. In one section of my video she is wearing a plain t-shirt with a leather jacket. I decided for my model to wear a leather jacket, as currently this is a very popular in demand piece of clothing. This therefore makes my model relatable to the audience which is a way to gain popularity. Not only is she relatable but she can also be seen as someone to look up to. Her bold choice by having red sunglasses and lipstick will make her stand out and draw attention to herself. This can lead to girls rather than become a clone of other girls, make them feel more independent which can connect the artist to the audience. An example of this is the band Little Mix. Their whole band today is seen as fashion icons and they are constantly picked up on what they wear not only in videos but on their social media too. However, they aren’t just seen collectively as a whole band, each individual in the band have their own unique style. This makes them relatable to fans as they are looked up to by their fans to be unique in their own way.
Today there is a huge focus on narrative within music videos. However, pop music videos, rather than having narrative have a bigger focus upon the artist rather than focusing on a story within the video. I stuck to this convention rather than challenging it as audiences getting familiar with the artist in my video. The song I chose does not have a strong message therefore there is not a huge connection with the lyrics and audience, however the artist can still relate in some ways to the audience. For example, one convention of a pop song is usually relating to a boy and in some cases an ex. In this case this relates to my song. Having just the artist and no male, portrays my artist as a strong confident women rather than the typical break up songs where they are sand and upset. Therefore I am challenging a convention of a typical pop break up song.
A further convention of a pop music video is that there is some connection with teenagers whether it is partying, boys or dancing. A connection I chose to connect my artist to audiences is makeup. An important part when creating anything is to connect with audiences. This grows the interest in the artist and increases popularity. For my target audience makeup will be of some what an important factor in their life and also will be of huge interest to them. Furthermore now social media is becoming more and more popular as younger ages are using it, they start to pick up interest in typical ‘older’ teenagers. Therefore, using makeup as a key factor to connect with my audience will make them feel connected to my video. This convention of connecting with target audiences is clear is many already existing examples.
Technology recently has been used in a major part of pop music videos. Things such as animation are used to create an excitement about the video and also create a loud, lively atmosphere. For example, this is used in many existing videos by exaggerating lyrics next to the artist usually. As technology is now growing due to the postmodern world we now live in, I have gone along with this convention. A main part of the technology I have used is the animated backgrounds in a lot of my video. This especially takes part in the zigzag section of my video. The bright exaggerated colours create a lively and energetic atmosphere to my video which relates to the ages of my audience.
Links between lyrics and visuals is not just apparent in pop music videos but is also a convention in any music video taken from Andrew Goodwin’s theory. A clear link between lyrics and visuals is the numerous appearances of the lips. This links to the lyrics as the songs title is ‘lips are movin’ and the continuous reference to lips throughout the song. This theory is apparent in most songs usually, especially one without narrative. This is because the artist singing along to the song can be seen as a link to the lyrics as they are singing along to the song.
Another of Goodwin’s theory is a link between music and visuals. In my video, I edited some of the shots of my video purposely to coincide with the beat of the music. This is clear in the opening sequence where the jump of the glitter on the speaker corresponds to the strong bass of the opening intro. Furthermore there are many cuts throughout my video which also change when the beat of the music changes or when there is a strong drum beat sounded. This links to Beyonce's music video countdown where I got inspiration , as the majority of the visuals all correspond with the beat of the song. This makes the video a lot more interesting and more visually appealing to audiences as there eyes link to what they can hear
With a DigiPak there a basic conventions that not only pop music DigiPak’s should have but DigiPak’s in general. Unlike my website and music video, I feel that my DigiPak challenges more conventions then it meets. For my whole project the main theme is devoted around lips, therefore again with the DigiPak I have focused upon this theme. Unlike most images where they have an image of the artists’ face, I decided to have a focus on the lips again with the artists face hidden. I chose this image as it was intriguing towards audiences to what the artist looks like. The lips also pop out of the DigiPak making the audience be drawn towards it. However, I did follow the traditional convention of a DigiPak by having the artists name and the single too. This is present on almost every DigiPak, however for some exceptions where the name of the artist is not on the front. Like my DigiPak, many existing DigiPak’s have the artists name and song title centered and have them stand out so they can attract the audience’s attention.
I followed conventions of the back of the DigiPak unlike the front. As I have made a single, there is only one song unlike an album. However, I have still followed the convention of placing the name of the song on the back. A feature I placed on the back of my DigiPak includes standard conventions such as a barcode. Furthermore the back of the DigiPak includes the record label logo along with all the copyright details and information about the record label. These follow standard conventions of a DigiPak especially an authentic one as they are needed to ensure the customer that everything is legitimate. As this is a single rather than an album I feel there are fewer images on the back. However, for a standard album rather than a plain back, there is usually some kind of image or pattern, but as it is a single, I decided to focus solely on the song therefore making the back plain and simple.
For the inside of the DigiPak I have challenged many standard conventions, not just pop conventions when creating it. Usually the inside of the DigiPak consists of two panels and a disc. When researching many of the DigiPak’s has two images of the artist and a plain disc, however, I wanted to shy away from the standard convention. I took an image of the same lips that I used in the music video and bled it across the inside look of the DigiPak. This therefore created not only the inside image on the inside panels, but also the disc. I decided to make the disc the same picture as the panel behind to give a unique look to it. I also corresponded the colour contrast with the same on the front panel so again there was a common look within this DigiPak.
The conventions of a music website for any genre of music is that there is usually a home page where an artist will promote new things they have done. Furthermore there will be a type of website navigation that users can get from one page to another.
For the website, as I felt it was one of the more complex things, more than a DigiPak, I decided to stick to the majority of the conventions. One of these conventions is a menu bar on my home page. This allows easy navigation to my users to access the different elements to my website. Furthermore at first glance, it gives people the chance to see exactly what there is to see and use on my website. The menu bar is the main and only form of navigation across my website and is present on every subpage making it simple for users to access each page and go back if they wish to. After analysing previous websites I took this from Justin Bieber’s website as for my target audience which is very similar to his, it makes it the easiest for them to access 
A convention of a website is to promote new things for an artist, therefore I have placed the music video I created on the home page right in the centre. As this is in the centre, of the home page, this draws the most attention from audiences. This therefore raises the profile of the artist, as the song will be playing therefore drawing interest from the public. I also placed the single underneath the video. This therefore allows people to buy the single very easily rather than searching on iTunes or other platforms. This acts as a form of advertising for my artist as it gains interest from people who will be a stranger to her music.
Another convention of music websites which I have stuck to is the huge focus on social media on my website and home page. I felt that now, for the age of my audience I have targeted at, social media has a very big influence and is a major part of their lives therefore to include it is vital to my artists profile. As I have added a Spotfiy app, this raises her profile as audience can listen to her music from her website rather than going on to the Internet to find the specific artist. Also on the footnote of each page there is social media links again making the artist more connected with her fans and audience.
Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Website
I have made a website for my artist. The main purpose of this website is to promote the music video of the new single she has released. It is also used for fans to find more about the artist and get information such a tour date and have easy access to the artists social media.
https://ameliainskipp.wixsite.com/musicsite
After many series of tweaking and changing the website, the feedback from audience feedback has meant that I have created the best possible website for my target audience to use and get the best experience out of it.
The main changes I made when it came to my website is the social media aspect. The age of my target audience now get the majority of information on social media so this aspect to have major social media outlets on there was crucial for me.
After finding from my target audience that the 'About' page was boring, I decided to add a photo of the artist. This gives the page more excitement and looks more inviting as the artist looks to be happy and having a fun time.
https://ameliainskipp.wixsite.com/musicsite
The main changes I made when it came to my website is the social media aspect. The age of my target audience now get the majority of information on social media so this aspect to have major social media outlets on there was crucial for me.
After finding from my target audience that the 'About' page was boring, I decided to add a photo of the artist. This gives the page more excitement and looks more inviting as the artist looks to be happy and having a fun time.
I also added the music video to my Music page, just like audience feedback has suggested. This gave more options for the user to do and engage in what the artist is doing. Having the single as well as the music video also allows audiences to see what she is working on and how she has presented the music video.
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