For my A2 advanced portfolio I had to produce a promotional package for a music release. I produced a music video, a Digi-pak and a magazine advertisement for the promotion of an artist’s CD release. The music video production was not an optional choice for the coursework however for the ancillary tasks I had the option of two tasks out of the following three; a 4 or 6 panel Digi-Pak design, a CD release advertisement for a magazine or a website page for the artist.
After considering the skills I learnt from my AS portfolio work, I felt that these skills would be best applied to developing a magazine advertisement and Digi-pak as I had already researched and studied the layouts and contents of magazines, therefore I knew the conventions of magazine advertisements, which helped strongly in the planning of my ancillary tasks.
I began my research by first looking into the history of music videos, I researched how music video production has developed over the last 50 years with the change from analogue to digital, as well as the influence of music channels and shows such as MTV (which launched in 1981) and Top Of The Pops and how they developed the way music videos are promoted on music channels and sent globally through the progression of the internet and social networking. During my research on this topic I also learnt about the progression of music videos, starting as ‘illustrated songs’ and then progressing to ‘Talkies’, and then into ‘Soundies’ and then developing further into ‘Musical Shorts’ and then extended narrative videos were created, developing into music videos. During this research I looked into how the 60’s became one of the most influential time periods for the development of music, with manufactured artists dominating, until The Beatles came into fame as an un-manufactured band who gathered a mass global following. They were the band that transformed styles of performance in music videos as they chose not to perform as characters in their videos, and instead wanted to portray themselves to create a relationship/connection with their largely teenage fan base.
I then researched how the development of colour had an impact on music videos, fitting to the different genres of music; for example black & white for gothic videos and bold colours for pop music videos, as a generalisation. One other fact I concluded from my research into the history of music videos is how, by the 1980’s music videos had become significantly important to the success of an artist as it created opportunities of global promotion and success as well as creating a connection between the artist and their following.
I then researched how the development of colour had an impact on music videos, fitting to the different genres of music; for example black & white for gothic videos and bold colours for pop music videos, as a generalisation. One other fact I concluded from my research into the history of music videos is how, by the 1980’s music videos had become significantly important to the success of an artist as it created opportunities of global promotion and success as well as creating a connection between the artist and their following.
I then went on to research how YouTube and other social networking sites have meant that an artist can now have global success with a song or album almost immediately with using YouTube to debut a music video and then promoting the song on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Doing research such as this helped me gain an idea of the importance of how effective a music video can be to the success of an artist and therefor the messages that are connoted and the way the artist is presented in their music video is highly important.
In the progression of my planning I then began to look at possible song choices for my own music video production. I wanted a song that had a clear story and would be suitable for a storytelling/narrative style video so I researched album tracks from several artists including Nicola Roberts, Embrace, Coldplay and One Republic. I decided that a brief idea for my song choice was ‘Take A Bite’ by Nicola Roberts as it was a song that had very visual lyrics.
Once I had decided on the genre of my song being Pop music, I started researching pop music and looking at several music videos for this genre. I looked at music videos by Jessie J, One Republic, and Girls Aloud and analysed three videos that I felt had helped influence ideas I was developing for my own video. I used my analysis skills learnt from the exam theory topic at AS, using representation, Mise-en-scene, cinematography and body language to analyse the techniques used in the videos and to establish the conventions of music videos.
Once I had decided on the genre of my song being Pop music, I started researching pop music and looking at several music videos for this genre. I looked at music videos by Jessie J, One Republic, and Girls Aloud and analysed three videos that I felt had helped influence ideas I was developing for my own video. I used my analysis skills learnt from the exam theory topic at AS, using representation, Mise-en-scene, cinematography and body language to analyse the techniques used in the videos and to establish the conventions of music videos.
By using cinematography to analyse the conventions of camera angles and screen shot sizes I learnt that, as a generalization, most pop music videos use medium close up’s and close up’s as the most frequently used shot size, as well as using eye level camera angles, however in videos for ‘vulnerable’ narrative songs high angle shots are used for effect of vulnerability. This is one particular shot that I planned to use in my video. I also found another convention of pop music video’s when i looked at the styling and clothing of artists such as Jessie J, where it is clear that on-the-trend fashion styles are used to create an appeal and connection between the audience and the artist.
After watching and analysing several videos I then concluded the general conventions of Pop music videos, and then I researched the general conventions of all music videos and the common factors shared by all varying genres of music, which provided me with a strong knowledge of the conventions I need to include in my own video, including close up angle shots, clothes that convey the mood of the artist, establishing shots and body language.
Once I had concluded this initial research I began looking at music videos that are of interest to me and are of the same genre; pop music to be able to gather ideas for which song I would be using and for conventions and techniques used in current videos that I felt would become influential to my own planning of m video. One video in particular that I found influential in leading me to creating ideas for my video was Adele’s Someone Like You. I particularly liked the choice of using black and white for the colouring of the video as it conveyed the tone of the song, which I wanted to convey mostly in my own video. I also looked at the scenes of the video and the scenes were Adele is walking along the river-side which I felt created strong visual effect; this also influenced my ideas and planning in the style of song I wanted to use for my video; a slow, narrative song similarly to Someone Like You.
I then chose to analyse briefly two music videos that I felt have unconventional features about them; Coldplay’s video for ‘Yellow’ and Lana Del Rey’s video for ‘Video Games’. The feature of Lana Del Rey’s video that stands out to me is the use of an ‘unprofessional’ and grainy quality of camera and filming, which makes the video look amateur and original, which influenced my own thought process for my video, as I had the idea to film the video from a first person viewpoint. Although I later decided this idea would not be practical to fit with other ideas i had developed.
I researched further into the background information of the song and found that the lyrics are a strong autobiographical reference to troubles the artist had during her childhood, Being bullied both at school and during the start of her music career by the press for her image; which is the major influence of the song.
Once I had established the song I was using I then planned questions for audience research, choosing questions such as ‘what style of video do you most prefer for pop music videos’ and ‘Do you think a music video needs to have lip syncing' that helped em in the proccess of planning what i needed consider for my video such as style of video (narrative) and whether the performer will lip sync to the music or not.
After deciding that I wanted to use a slow pop song I looked back at my possible song choices from my early planning and chose the Nicola Roberts song ‘Sticks + Stones’ The song is an album track from her solo album Cinderella’s Eyes and was not released as a single. I chose this particular song because I wanted to have a narrative style video and there is a clear narrative within the lyrics which I felt I would be able to convey well through the performer of my video.
To gain a stronger understanding of the song I then did additional research by watching interviews where the artist talks about the process of writing the song, the meanings behind the lyrics and the message that she wanted the song to convey: that bullying shouldn’t' define or undermine what you think of yourself. I researched further into the background information of the song and found that the lyrics are a strong autobiographical reference to troubles the artist had during her childhood, Being bullied both at school and during the start of her music career by the press for her image; which is the major influence of the song.
Once I had established the song I was using I then planned questions for audience research, choosing questions such as ‘what style of video do you most prefer for pop music videos’ and ‘Do you think a music video needs to have lip syncing' that helped em in the proccess of planning what i needed consider for my video such as style of video (narrative) and whether the performer will lip sync to the music or not.
