Evaluation Task 4

Research into music videos • We knew that we wanted a fun, upbeat music video with a simple yet exciting story line. We

used websites on the internet to research into different music videos through Google and youtube. Youtube was extremely important in finding inspiration for our music video. We typed into Google music videos involving children as that is usually fun and upbeat and then went on youtube, we found the easy love music video by Sigala which involved kids dancing around and engaging in more grown up activities, we also took inspiration from the graffiti walls as we felt that it gave a rebellious edge we also thought that it would attract a similar target audience to us. From this we also found Midnight Memories by One Direction which is a party orientated music video showing young people having fun and is within the pop genre, this gave us inspiration to have a party scene in our video which is where we used the kitchen to create a house party with child like features such as teddy bears and fake alcohol and sweets. We used Youtube to further find something a bit different which shows how the Internet and websites such as youtube are so useful in research as it allows you to thing much broader, we found the scene Fat Sam’s Grand slam from Bugsy Malone where there was kids dressed up as adults, we loved this idea and took inspiration but took a much more modern approach instead of them being at a show like in the olden days we had them at a house party, this really helped us in coming up with our idea to have a forever young themed music video

Mobile Phones• Mobile phones, especially smart phones are a digital technology that in the modern era

help people research and gain insight into whatever they want too. We used our mobile phones to interview perspective target audiences to gain insight into what they look for in an artist. We found that our target audience preferred synthetic artists that had an edge to them which made them unique and different from other artists, we also found that they enjoy a performance element to a music video such as dancing as this makes it more exciting, they do not like lyrics matching the visuals as they liked an exciting story line which they could work out when watching the video. This therefore made us decide to make our artist have a punk edge to her that was a bit rebellious and we portrayed this through the way she dressed such as black ripped jeans, studded tops. Due to our video attracting more girls than boys we did not want to use the male gaze or objectify our artist, we wanted her to be popular for her music and we found that our target audience preferred this so even though had an edge to her she still did not dress revealing. From using our mobile phones to get an insight into our target audience we created a synthetic pop artist. Using a mobile phone ensured that when were asking questions it was more personal and less formal and we could stop and start the video whenever we needed too.

Internet • The internet is the main research tool for any producer as it contains the most

information that is broad and detailed. We used the internet as a research tool into genre and star image. We started looking at popular artists such as Rihanna and Beyonce by looking at their websites, music videos using the internet this enabled us to find out about all their music and what their music is about it also gave us an insight into the way they dress being synthetic pop artists. From doing this we decided that we wanted to use the pop genre but with an edge so we looked for synthetic artists with an edge such as PINK, Ke$ha and Avril Lavigne by looking at all their music which is fun and upbeat we decided to use our song “Heres to Never Growing Up”. We were really inspired by all of these artists as we like the rebellious, youthful edge that they had and wanted our artist to be similar yet attract a similar target audience of around 16-25 year olds. From researching into these artists clothing using the internet on google search engine, instagram to get inspiration on what they where, where they perform and what type of people follow them. We decided that the star image of our artist would be a synthetic pop artist with a rebellious, punk edge to her.

Our Artist – Lola Banks

Internet for Location • In order to find a suitable location for our video where we could have a fun

video yet give it a punk edge we used to internet to research into the best locations for this, So we research into artists who were similar to ours such as Ke$ha and PINK into what locations they used for their videos, Ke$ha used a house for one of her videos to create a party scene for her song Tik Tok. We really liked this idea so we decided to create a party in my kitchen with party poppers, fake shots, but decided to give it a childlike theme. Through looking at Sigalas video on the internet we wanted to have grafitti walls so we looked up where were the best graffiti walls in London, the internet was extremely useful in helping us find the nearest one to us and the best place to film in order to give our video rebellious edge. Furthermore, when we decided our theme of being forever young and a pop genre with a performance element we used to internet to find bouncy castle companies who would come to where we were and the best ones.

Animatic • To film our animatic we used a Sony camera, we drew out what

we wanted shot by shot roughly and the lyrics underneath and second by second how long the shot would last for. We then used youtube to put the music in the back ground and we moved the camera to the next box each time the shot changed. This was more advanced than AS as at AS the animatic did not have a narrative behind it and did not have to be in time, we did not have to film anything it was just simply drawings of what would be in each shot. This makes A2 more creative than AS as we were using a more complex camera and we were creating a music video using pictures so it required more skill such as keeping the music in time with the visuals.

Filming • When filming our music video, we used a Sony FS 100 camera which was

more advanced than AS as it had prime lenses for different shots. 18mm for super wide shots to expose the location for example the bouncy castle or the kitchen where the party scene was set up. It had a 50mm lens for close ups as its most flattering for the star image as it showed her clothing, makeup closely and showed her emotion having fun. Also for AS we filmed at school so we had all the equipment around us and props for when we needed it and help if it was needed. For A2 we filmed in our own location this allowed us to be more creative but also its more advanced due to all different lightings to film in, and allows you to have a wider range of shots such as more tracking shots showing the artist and the location. Moreover we were more advanced at A2 as we had to film in time with the music as well as having a performance element to our video, having a more advanced camera allowed us to do this.

Editing • At A2 our editing was more advanced, this was because it followed a more

complicated set of discontinuity rules. Including slow motion we used slow motion when our artist Lola was laughing to emphasize her emotion of being happy and never wanting to grow up, we cut to the beat to reinforce the rhythm of the song this is more advanced than AS as we had to cut the shots to the milli second of the song to ensure it was completely in time, the song was upbeat so the audience would be a young audience who would enjoy a song like this. Another reason why our editing was more advanced at A2 is because we used a split screen, this was to enhance our artists star image and further show her location. Due to our song being fun and lively and our video the same we used color correcting which we did not use at AS this was to make the artists makeup pop and become eye catching, as well as the location such as the graffiti walls and the bouncy castles, colors are important for an upbeat video. We also used voice overs for special effects, for example when there was a swear word we put the sound of a car horn over it, for the effect of it being a young video. This is more advanced than A2 because throughout editing it was to emphasize our artists star image.

Audience Feedback• Audience feedback was extremely important in the production and

post- production of our music video as it allowed us to see where we were going wrong and what we could improve. One way in which we received audience feedback was through surveys using Survey Monkey, we received really good feedback from this but also received feedback that could help us improve such as a wider variety of shots in our video as some people in our audience found it too repetitive so we went to a different location which was in Camden therefore gave a variety to our video, also we got told to make the font on the digi-pak more bold so we did that and it made it more eye- catching. This was useful as it helped us see what our audience would enjoy watching and what would they would want too see on a website and digi-pak.

Digi-paks• We had to create a digi-pak for our own artist so we looked

into digi-paks of artists similar to ours such as Tori Kelly, Ke$ha, Pink to see how they sell their music. We did this by brainstorming all of the artists and their albums then using google search engine to find their album covers and analyse them based on color, pictures, font and what the digi-pak is trying show. We were much more creative this year in as we could manipulate images using photo shop. For example, changing the background, cutting the artist out, defining her makeup to make the cover more eye- catching for an audience and manipulating fonts.

Websites• We researched into different pop artists websites such as

Avril Lavigne, Ariana Grande, Ke$ha, Pixie Lott. This was to gain inspiration for our own website. We saw that most artists had pictures of themselves on the front of the website their star image, also font is important to make the website eye catching. To create our website we used Wix, using Wix we learnt how to manipulate images and make them fit into your website which is advanced from A2, such as editing them to make them fit with the theme of the website, create a merchandise page so spread the word of an artist, use different fonts

Spread the word

• Using our website we were able to connect it to other technologies such social media sites e.g insta-gram, twitter, tumblr, facebook, Youtube. This is create spreadability of our artist and ensure she collects a fan base and people can see what she enjoys and where she is going to be performing.