Planning - Cast of Music Video

"Sleepy Jean": 

Name: Kate Wells 

Costume: casual darker branded clothing, t-shirt, cargo pants light jewellery, wavy hair down, drawstring bag, pride pin.  

Band Member 1:

Name: Purnoor Fatima 

Instrument: Piano

Costume: bright colourful shirt and skirt with boots, colourful eyeshadow

-

  <-- Inspiration

Band Member 2:

Name: Evan Brading 

Instrument: Guitar 

Costume: colourful short sleeved button down shirt and loose plain tie, jeans or other trousers.

<-- Inspiration (less 'edgy' and more colourful)

Band Member 3:

Name: Milly Fane 

Instrument: Lead Singer

Costume: dungarees, glasses, white shirt.

<-- Inspiration

By making intertextual references to other famous musicians iconic outfits (especially Green Day) the audience is gratified through recognising the references and the 'star' status of those musicians is carried over to my band through association, and this appeals to my aspirational audience. "Jeans" outfit is branded to also appeal to my aspirational target audience.

I plan to use at least two different characters who represent at least two different social groups. Band Member 1 represents South East Asian communities. "Jean" represents the LGBTQ+ community, signified by her pride pin. Also, half of the cast is female and half of the cast is male. This plan adheres to the representation requirements in the brief.

Industrial Context - Sony's Values and Purpose

 Values:

• Dreams and Curiosity - pioneer the future with dreams and curiosity.
• Diversity - pursue the creation of the very best by harnessing diversity and varying viewpoints.
• Integrity and Sincerity - earn trust for the Sony brand through ethical and responsible conduct.
• Sustainability - fulfill stakeholder responsibilities through disciplines business practices.

Purpose: "Fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology."

 How I will adhere to Sony's values and purpose:

• Have a diverse cast of actors in my video to portray the band and other characters.
• Produce my video ethically and sustainably and promote that fact on my website in a sincere manner.
• Promote creativity through my story line and though the use of various shot types, for example a rack focus.

Planning - Storyboard

The general narrative idea for my music video is following a girl named Jean, like in the song, and her journey from being grumpy in the morning having to wake up early to meet her friends, to realising the joys of life and that she should cheer up and realise that her life isn't so bad. The audience follows Jean doing various 'fun' activities, such as shopping with her friends, where she will buy a designer item of clothing just like my aspirational audience would so this would appeal to them. I realise that by presenting Jean as gaining happiness through buying designer items could be seen as taking on a consumerist ideology, however I hope that this translates to the 'bands' 'fans' having a consumerist ideology when it comes to buying their music. As the main purpose of music videos is to help sell the artists music.

The plan is to make the visuals match the lyrics as much as possible in the verses as to adhere to the conventions identified by Goodwin. Thus we see Jean shaving when the song states "My shavin' razors cold" and so on. I realise that it is unconventional to represent a woman in a non-voyeuristic and unglamorous way by showing her shaving, however I think that my younger target audience would apricate a realistic representation of women. Also my glamorous representation comes from the representation of the band itself so I still appeal to my aspirer audience.

I want my brand to become one of "finding happiness in the everyday" or something along those lines and thus have chose the narrative of Jean finding happiness.

Personally I believe a narrative is more satisfying when it comes "full-circle" and therefore have chosen to parallel some shots from the beginning of the video at the end, such as the sunrise and sunset, but still create a story that has a clear beginning and end to it. 

I wanted to try and connote that the artist is an intrusive thought that belongs to Jean. I want to connote that she is telling herself to "cheer up" because she realises that she can find happiness in everyday situations. I hope to achieve this by having the band show up in places where Jean and her friend are, and then by cutting to a performance space where they state "cheer up sleepy Jean" this connotes that the performance

space is Jeans head. I have planned this feature to be shown frequently in the video so I hope this comes across clearly to the audience as it is an established piece of my video. Even if the audience does not understand this, it still links the narrative and performance aspects of the video effectively.

I chose a band of 3 as when listing to the song I heard three distinct instruments, a guitar, piano and a set of drums. I plan to find and use three individuals who can actually play these three instruments so the band looks authentic in my video. 

Planning - Summation of Key Conventions

Music Video and Genre Conventions:

• Music videos are either performance or narrative based, or a mix of both. 
• The artist, whether the video be performance or narrative, is presented as glamorous, by dressing up in nice, fashionable cloths and through a variety shots of the artist to allow the audience to feel a connection to the artist. 
• There is likely to be a relationship between the lyrics and music and the visuals of the video, this makes the video more appealing to watch in conjunction with the song. 
• For pop songs, a performance aspect is very prevalent and fast paced editing is used to match the often upbeat nature of the song. 
• Pop songs use a considerable amount of close up shots, to emphasise the lyrics and to highlight the artists face connoting passion.
• The mise en scene of pop music videos is usually bright and aesthetic.  

Conventions I Will Adopt:

• Most or all of Goodwins Theory. 
• Having a strong performance aspect and using lots of close up shots of the artist to help create a personal connection between the artist and my aspirer audience.
• Using a bright and aesthetic mise en scene (that will be digitally convergent with my website).
• A fast paced editing style that matches the quick tempo of my chosen song.

Generic Research - Case Study 3

 "Oxygen" - Beach Bunny

The music video for "Oxygen" by Beach Bunny is a good example of cross-platform branding and has a performance area aesthetic that I would like to mimic, in terms of lighting. The artist uses a 'retro-sapce' brand/aesthetic and the use a logo, in both the music video and on social media platforms to promote their music as a piece of cross-platform branding. I want to replicate this is my cross-platform branding and will use the shared use of a logo and aesthetic on both my website and in my video to strengthen the convergent nature of my two products.

The elements of this video that I want to emulate in my video are the:

1. Cross-platform Branding:

The same logo is used across multiple, social media platforms as well as featuring in the video. This creates a consistent brand for the artist and connects the song to a brand.  A similar colour pallet is used in the video and in the Instagram posts, further connected the two as a brand. The use of alien emojis in the twitter post and the silver 'retro-space' logo implies a space theme which is also shown in the video, as we see the artist perform the song in a room supposedly in outer space, connoted by the shot of the room surrounded a black mise en scene filled with stars.                                                                                                                  

 A clear and consistent cross-platform brand is created through   the  use of logos, colour pallet, imagery and overarching theme   created through media language. I will replicate this is my music   video and produce a digitally convergent brand by including my   logo in my music video, having the same colour pallet and using   a shared theme throughout both products.

     

 I will also set up social media accounts for my fictional artist to ensure   a further digital convergent nature for my brand is achieved. I will then   place links for these social media platforms on my website and include   links for my music video on the social media accounts, like Beach     Bunny did to emphasise a cross-platform brand.

2, Mise en Scene:

This music video is entirely performance based, which is not unusual for indie pop/rock bands. The performance see's the artist performing in her bedroom in space. This bedroom is made clear to be a comfortable place for the artist as we see posters and various household items inside it. I believe by showing us a long shot of the room in space connotes that her room provides "Oxygen" for her. Or in other words, makes her feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations, just like the "you" mentioned in the song. 

The room is very aesthetic, which is what my target audience would want to see in a music video, and we get multiple different angled shots, and shot types of the room. This allows the audience to really see inside the personal space of the star and feel a close connection to them. 

I want to replicate this is my music video and have an aesthetic performance space for my artist, which will possibly representing "Jeans" head/mind by having it be a bed room like in "Oxygen". This appeals to my aspirer audience and links the narrative element to the performance element, together, creating a cohesive music video.

Overall, I want to emulate the cross-platform branding used by Beach Bunny to promote her music, and to use a similar room mise en scene to link my narrative and performance elements.

Generic Research - Looking at OCR Guidelines

Component 3 Non Exam Assessment

Thinking Conceptually:

• The research and planning predatory activities need to be sufficient to ensure a successful and effective final product. The production process should have a maximum of 30 hours, of lesson time, spent on it. 
• Learners must have creative control over the entire process of production of the video and the website.
• For example, in the production of the video, the learner can be assisted by unassessed individual to help operate lighting, sound etc under direction of the learner. All editing of the final product must be done by the learner. 
• For the website, all content (text, images, and audio visual material) must be original, no found or manipulated material may be used.
• Work on the NEA should develop learners understanding of the theoretical framework (Industry, Language, Audience and Representation -  which should also be referenced in the Statement of Intent) and help broaden their knowledge of the form they are studying and the media messages conveyed. 

Thinking Contextually:

• Production of the NEA should ensure a stronlgy linked cohesive pair of artefacts. 
• Look at the following media language aspects and how represenations are constructed and meaning is conveyed through:

1.  Perfromance
2.  Narrative Structures
3.  Camera Work (shot sizes, angles, focus and movement)
4.  Editing Transitions (pace, synching, colour correction)
5.  Mise-en-Scene (locations, costumes, make-up, props, lighting)
6.  Intertextuality
7. Social, Cultural and Historical Contexts

Applying this Information to my Video:

• My understanding of the importance of considering the theoretical framework when producing my set products has been solidifyed. I need to consider how my music video appeals to my target audience, through the use of a glamouous star and a strong performance aspect; how my use of language creates representations and how my video conforms and subverts to the conventions of the music video industry and the genre of my song, mainly by applying Goodwins theory to my video and adhering to the many Pop genre conventions of music videos.
• I know what media language elements I need to focus on and what elements I need to include in both my video and website in order to create a cohesive cross-media branding by including the same images, audio visual content, and media language elements in both my video and website.

Generic Research - Case Study 2

"Light Switch" - Charlie Puth 

The music video for "Light Switch" by Charlie Puth has a specific editing choice that I want to replicate in my music video. and a clear cohesive narrative structure that I will take inspiration from. The video depicts the artist going through a transformation to try and fix his broken heart by getting back with his ex-girlfriend. I want to mimic this narrative of being unhappy to being happy via a transformation with the help of external forces.

The elements of this video that I want to emulate in my video are the:

1. Editing:

A specific editing technique, that is used many times in this video and that I want to replicate in my music video is the quick 'snap' change from one mise on scene to the other on the beat of the music, one of Goodwins points. This fast paced editing technique is also a convention of Pop songs which is what both this song and my song are, so it makes sense for me to replicate it in my video. In "Light Switch" this references the simple turning on and off of a light switch and explains the switch from dimmer lighting to brighter lighting. A light is being turned on in the artists life that is helping him to achieve change. This is supported by the mise en scene 'snapping' from a dingy dark room to a bright exercise hall, implying he will achieve change through the help of exercise and the man who performed the snap.

In my music video, I want to edit this snap effect onto scenes with the trio of artists. Where they will be performing in the location of where "Jean" is and then be instantly 'snapped' to a location that has more aesthetic lighting and presents the artists in a more glamorous way. In my video editing will possibly imply that "Jean" is thinking to herself to cheer up thus the change in location of the artist, who may represent an intrusive thought, on the line "Cheer up sleepy Jean" and provide a pleasing transition, in time with the song, to the performance location that make the artist look glamourous which is what my aspirer audience want to see.

2. Camerawork (Specific Shot Intertextual Reference):

This specific shot that I want to mimic is a mid-low angle medium shot of the artist laying in bed as the sun shines on their face as they wake up in the morning. This shot implies that a new light is being shed on the artists life and that change will come for the charcter.

That is why I will make an intertextual reference to this shot and Charlie Puth in my music video, with the shot containing the actor in this same position with a light switch in the background and a possible picture of Puth in the background to carry the meaning over from this video to my video. As in my video I plan for "Jean" to be grumpy but then change and become happy

3. Mise en Scene (Narrative):

In this video we follow the artist as he tries to win over his ex-girlfriend through a 'glow-up' transformation. We originally see him in a triable state with long, ungroomed hair, being overweight. dirty cloths, and a depressing dark room where he sits watching TV.  We then see him transform over the video into a well groomed, slimmer, cleaner man in a more upkept bright setting. He achieves this change through the help of a motivator who encourages the artist to improve himself. This video is unconventional as it presents the star in an unglamorous way but is also conventional by presenting them in a glamorous light at the end of the video.

I want to replicate this narrative by having "Jean" start of as grumpy and unhappy when waking up in the morning but then through the help of her friends, realise the joy in life and achieve a less grumpy happier version of herself. Which is something my audience will want to see, a happy version of an attractive person that they can be like.

Overall, I want  my video to replicate, the overarching narrative of a transformation, the 'snap' editing style of the characters in the same position but different mise en scene, and make an intertextual reference to a particular shot to carry meaning from this video to my video.