Alice's Media Blog

In class, in groups we assigned one person to be the manager of a band and the other people had to create the image and identity of the person the manager imagined. I was the manager in this case, and chose a Southern American girl called Cara who plays indie-rock music. She plays small venues to stay close to her audience and has a passion for music. On top of that in her spare time she loves travelling and playing her guitar.

My influences were taken from a range of sources, such as the style of Cassie in Skins, music I love, and qualities I think make a person influential. By doing this I learnt that it can be very simple to create the image of a musician as something audiences would love by simply asking them what they are looking for. The current audience for music may not just be looking for pop stars who play on their sexuality and are told how they should market themselves. A large percentage of people endorsing music listen to this music and artists because there is not enough other choice on offer, and perhaps there are still lots of gaps in the market to be filled for alternatives.

This class project has helped me with my coursework by influencing me to just ask people what they think they would be attracted to in a girl band, and simply asking a range of our target audience and see if any of the suggestions are similar and could easily be incorporated into our music video. Everyone has certain role models and people that they aspire to be like, but perhaps this is not emulated by a lot of the big pop artists today. Therefore to create an artist identity and image in our coursework I think it would be helpful to do something slightly different, but also perhaps to a questionnaire to the audience beforehand to see what THEY like and satisfy our target audience.

Childhood

My mum used to always play this ABBA, Slipping through my fingers to me when I was little and get a bit over emotional about it! She would chase me round the house trying to sing it to me, or occasionally I would give in and sit on her lap and sing it with her. I always heard her playing ABBA songs and often she stills try to sing and dance to it with me now.


Early Teens


Oasis are and always will be a family favourite. In my teens I started to listening to them a lot and was adamant that I could name every song they had ever done (even if I was wrong.) At family parties there are always a few Oasis family favourites that are always played. I did not stop listening to them for a couple years during my teens, and still love listening to them, although not quite as frequently!


Now



My most recent favourite band were discovered when I was at a Muse band a couple of years ago, and they were one of the acts playing before. I loved the singer and started listening to them. I made one of my best friends listen to them and went to a few White Lies gigs with her - been to 8 in total! I even met the lead singer because my stepdad knows the band manager and it was the best day of my life! In December me and my best friend are going to another White Lies gig together as their new album has just come out - can't wait!

The workshop day was a great experience to learn more about how the media runs and the professional elements of running a shoot. It was a unique experience which many highly exprienced media professionals helped to run whilst giving us a vision of how a shoot works. 



A few of my favourite things included:

Helping out on set: We were able to shadow crew members and learn about different aspects of what their role on the crew involves. We were also able to help out in the dressing rooms, helping eachother with hair and make up. Learning about a professional shoot really gives you more of an insight into media. For example  I was also able to help operate the camera and stand on the dolly whilst it moved up and down the track, which was a unique experience and something I had never seen before! 

Building my confidence: The whole day helped to build my confidence. Previously I hated dancing and performing in front of people but practicing a routine dance with our media group and realising that no one is judging your performance helped to boost my confidence and I really enjoyed performing the dance in front of the cameras. The cast and the crew all worked together and supported eachother and ensured everyone felt comfortable. 

Learning about lighting: We learnt about lighting in the lighting room upstairs was another great experience, because for our AS film opening it had been a big problem, so learning about lighting  and all the different types from the professionals really helped and will help in future videos or footage we take. 


2. What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks?



Task 1: Analyse a music video: From analysing a performance music video of our own choice it helped to understand how important it is to ensure that a simple idea can go a long way and that a music video is made up of a montage of shots and continuity is not neccessary. Shot set ups and costume change frequently in order to keep the audience interested. 

Task 2: Audition video: Helped to build confidence slightly and prepare yourself for having to learn how to dance and lipsync professionally. I learnt it is best to sing rather than just lipsync otherwise it may look slightly out of time. 


 

Task 3: Learn your performance: From learning a choreographed dance performance I learnt that putting all your energy into every move is the most important thing. Every move has to be exaggerated in order to look great on camera. Learning a group dance was a big confidence boost!

Task 4: Plan and organize your costumes: Communicating with everyone and asking around for items you don't have or offering items that others did not have was the most important aspect of costumes. To ensure that every outfit was as stylish as possible and as similar as possible to the outfits in the music video was important and therefore with a range of clothes supplied by everyone it was possible to keep a low budget and only a few items needed to be made or ordered. 

Task 5: The One-Day Workshop: The shoot was the most fun day and everything had been leading up to this day. We were able to shadow professionals in the industry and I learnt that it was important for everyone to do their role and do it properly and not to step on other people's toes or the shoot may not run to schedule. I was able to operate the camera, shadow the director and learn about lighting. We were also able to experience being the performer and being in front of the camera which was tiring but still an exciting, unique experience!

 Task 6: The Workshop Edit: Timing has been the biggest factor within the edit. It can make shots perfect, or completely out of sync with the song. A lot of time and effort is put into editing to ensure it keeps the audience captivated and markets the band. The edit is made up of a montage of shots, all changing quickly and discontinuously. Everyone has to be putting all their energy into the shoot the whole time, in order for the edit to be successful!



3. Are you pleased with the footage and your edit? Is it how you expected it to look?

The footage is really professional and the lighting and camera have worked really well together to produce professional shots that look really similar to the Little Mix music video. Most of the shots capture the band doing actions exactly like in the Little Mix video and therefore our remake will be very similar. However, there are a few shots where the dance is slightly out of time with the music, or it is the right move but the shot type is not right. This has made it difficult to edit some scenes, especially the dance scene, however we have managed to adapt and change shots where necessary, for example in the Little Mix video there is shot of boots during the dancers dance, however our shots are out of focus and do not look good, so instead we have chosen long shots of the dancers that act as a substitute for this shot.

The lighting for the shoot was great, so little grading will be needed, which really saves time with the editing ensuring we can spend more time choosing the right shots. We have managed to recreate the Little Mix music video really effectively and professionally so I am pleased which the results. I did not expect it to look as professional as it does, but with all the hard work the crew and the cast put in we have managed to achieve higher than expected.

4. How do you think your prelim experiences will impact on your approach to next term's music video coursework?

The prelim experiences have helped me to understand a bit more about the roles of each different crew member which will have an impact on how our group works together. Learning about choreography and how each move must be exaggerated in order for it to be camera worthy will also help with the choreography or the moves within our music video in order to make sure the video is full of energy. Ensuring the moves and shots look good also means ensuring you choose actors who are comfortable working with eachother to make sure nothing looks awkward and they do not feel embarassed. (on-screen chemistry)

I have also learnt how much planning and pre-production goes into making a music video in order to ensure the shoot goes as smoothly as possible and minimising the possibility of retakes or running over schedule. So plan, plan, plan! This includes creating moodboards for the whole 'mise-en-scene' of the music video that is desired, creating shot lists, timetables, visual references for hair, make up and costume and for the set or locations for the shoot. The shoot has helped set up my expectations for A2 and encouraged be to be creative with my music video idea, whilst improving my skills in aspects of media such as lighting and grading.

This video conforms to most key features and conventions of a performance music video. 

Key Features:

1. The music, lyrics and imagery work together. The song is about glamorous women and being with a woman. During the song there are 3 females strutting around which works well with the lyrics. For example during the line 'You're far from plastic,' the girls in the video are wearing plastic.
The song is also very upbeat and catchy and the video matches this, and is light hearted and fits with the beat.
The video is also cut in time with the music which helps the two work together.

2. The main singers are constantly seen in close ups, dancing and having fun with the girls in the video. This helps to drive the video. There is no narrative elements to the video, but the strange aspects of the video, such as one of the girls holding a sheep, help to maintain interest in the video, as viewers would be engaged. There is some dancing from the artists which also helps to add the 'performance' element to the video.

3. When the artist is on screen lip-sync is always visible and believable. Although some shots do not involve the artists, but when they do it is always clear. 

4. The artists do not change performance a lot. They are always artists performing, but in some shots also dancing with the girls, however their performance is maintained throughout.  

5. There is singing and dancing in most shots, although it is not choreographed, amazing dancing, it is catchy and works with the song. The singing from the artists and their 'cheeky' attitude work together to please the audience.

6.The 'cheeky' attitude of all the actors, and some random shots such as one of the girls holding a massive dice help to engage the audience as they are intrigued in the video.

7.  Everyone in the music video is glamorous, dressed well and stylised. Glamorous women and men in suits against a plain white background created a visually striking video. There is only one backdrop throughout the video, but the characters moving around and doing different things help to maintain audience interest.

8. There is no grand sense of development throughout the clips, however as the song nears it's end the dancing and the random shots calm down, and the artists and the girls are all sitting down, reflecting that the song has come to an end.

9. As everyone in the video is shown as glamorous, and glitzy and they are all singing and moving together, the artists are all seen as very 'cool' and look like they're having fun together during the video. They are all good looking as well which adds to their aspirational image for fans.

10. Numerous close ups are shown of every person within the video. The artists take turns singing and their close up is often during one of their lines.

11. Key differences between how the women and the male artists act in the video, however there are not alot of juxtapositions. It is mainly the characters and the 'cheeky' and 'random' feel to the video that make the video interesting.

12. Alot of shots cut back and forth between. Close ups are repeated frequently, but the video is done in montage form with lots of different shot types put together. For example a shot of one of the girls lighting the male's cigarette and then a consecutive shot of him next to another girl. The shots are not continuous.

13. The whole theme of males chasing females is very familiar to audiences. The females are very attractive and the stylised video satisfies the audience.

14. There is not alot of underlying meaning within the song. The performance video does not completely work together with the lyrics. Alot of random shots have been cut together to make a unique and quirky video which add to it's appeal.

15. The audience are engaged in the video due to its quirky nature and this causes them to watch the whole video. They are intrigued and want to watch all of it. The song and the video are catchy and this all works together to promote the artists and the song.