Monday 30 September 2013

Audience profile

We created an audience profile for the target audience which we think is most accurate for our artist. We are currently devising a questionnaire to give to those who would be our target audience in order to confirm that we were correct in our audience profile and to find our extra information about our audience. 


Mood Board

We created a mood board for the artist we developed and we really focus on our genre of indie/alternative pop.
We specifically chose which images to put on our mood board as we wanted the genre to be obvious. Whilst we had really girly elements we also included darker images rather than bright ones and made the image a lot more edgy. 
We chose a purple background to represent that she is a female artist and the floral pattern also contributes to this. We arranged the images and text in a mixed orientation fashion to try and make it look more edgy and a bit like a scrapbook, which makes it look more individual and unique.





We included photos of the artists who inspired us for our own artist and we used specific images of them which we wanted to highlight. For example, one photo of Marina and the Diamonds, her hair is the biggest focus of the image, showing that we definitely think that is a big aspect of pop music, This is also shown in the photo of Ellie Goulding.

We've used more artistic images in our mood board to signify the indie/alternative side to our genre. We added glitter to contribute to the representation of a pop genre artists but we also made all of our text black and bold to make our artist seem more edgy and alternative. We included images that referred back to our brief in order to make it clear what our artist was interested in and how that could relate to our target audience.
























Friday 20 September 2013

Genre research

What I've learned from Goodwin...

Now that I have finished analysing music videos of my genre and even ones which are different, I have realised some of the main features of a good music video. Especially for a pop music video, I have seen that having a good strong relationship between music and visuals is a good element to have as it makes the video more interesting. I have also noticed that make up and fashion is an important aspect to focus on. For our artist, we've decided that it would be good to have a big focus on her fashion and make up, and especially as our artist is very individual and artistic.

When coming up with our artist, we decided that we wanted her to be similar to a few current artists such as Lykke Li and Marina and the Diamonds. After looking at their music videos, we agreed that we needed to make our genre obvious whilst also keeping up her image constantly. For example, we know that we have to have fast cuts, a bit of a performance, and close ups. However, we also want to be unique and artistic, including shots which are more contemporary and modern, showing that our artist is sophisticated and quite normal. 

Thursday 19 September 2013

Lykke Li - Goodwin Analysis



Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone: Goodwin Analysis

As the music video starts, it is made obvious that Goodwin's point about a relationship between the music and the visuals is going to be a big aspect of the video, as we see a woman dancing weirdly to the beat and then as the drums kick in, there is a shot of a woman on the drums. The visuals and the music are completely in sync throughout. However, for the second where there is silence, there is a shot of Lykke Li moving quite fast, which is interesting as that isn't common to see as it usually wouldn't work, however it adds to the eccentric look the whole video currently seems to be like.

There is also an in-sync fast cuts moment when an bell-like instrument is played and the girls head's move along in time with it. This happens frequently throughout the whole video and it makes the video seem a lot more thought out and visually interesting. Again with the shots of the woman banging the drum in time with the music is shown and it allows the audience to see the beat as well as hear it. The video isn't much of a performance video, but it also isn't the conventional pop video either as the dancing featured isn't the type of dancing associated with a pop song. 


As the video progresses we see a close up of Lykke Li as the lyrics really kick in and she is seen looking quite plain, her hair is pulled back and the only noticeable make-up is on her eyes, which goes against many of the pop music video genre conventions, which makes the video seem a lot more artistic and indie. Her facial expression isn't what you would usually expect with a pop music video, she is looking quite sad and expressive with her eyebrows rather than the expected wide smiles and cheekiness.

There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals as she sings "not here but in my mind" and she touches her head. The same shots of women dancing strangely, girls moving their head in sync with the music and woman who beats the drum are constantly used in the whole video. There are shots of other people in chairs clapping along, in time with the clapping in the audio and they dance along with the music. They then proceed to get up and sing the background vocals of the song along with Lykke Li's main lyrics, getting them involved with the music itself. Cross fades are used between shots of Lykke Li's face and the people involved. Stop motion is also used in this video to emphasise the use of the beats in the music. Unlike the other music videos I have analysed, Lykke Li looks much more masculine in this and she doesn't look glamorous at all, especially as she does a boxing stance and her hair is slicked back. 


Overall I think that this video shows the other side to pop music videos as they don't all have to include a narrative, glamorous women and special effects to make them interesting. This video shows a more artistic and editing reliant way of making a music video and I prefer it as it was so in sync and was continuously strange and different. I think that when it comes to making my own music video, I will definitely make an effort to make my shots come in at the same time as the music, becuase it is made clear that having a clear relationship between the lyrics/music and visuals is key for an interesting solo female artist music video. 

Ellie Goulding - Goodwin Analysis



Ellie Goulding - Lights: Goodwin Analysis

Immediately the visuals relate to the title of the song ad the first thing we see are bright spotlights moving around the frame as the intro of the song starts. Ellie Goulding then fades into the frame wearing a black dress and her hair is down and make up is well done. This automatically makes her the main focus of the music video and the audience are attracted to her appearance. As expected with pop music videos, she begins to dance as the beat picks up and she dances in the light. As the song progresses she swings her hair back and forth, bringing attention to her thick hair, showing that it is a big aspect of her image, which is similar to many other female solo artists.

There is a relationship between the music and visuals as she sings "shining when I'm alone" as she is dancing alone in the lights, shining from behind her. There are cuts to her dancing, surrounded by special effects lighting, as if she is creating them. The camera frequently come back to her, showing her dancing in several different coloured lights, each with different designs. This could apply to Goodwin's point and be due to the demands from the record label, showing that she has to be the main selling point and her performance is key.

Her outfit changes a few times into things more exciting such as a glittery dress, which again makes the light reflect off of her, showing that she is the centre of the entire music video. There is no narrative in this music video and there is no other person to be seen, all the attention is on her, her appearance and the lights surrounding her. As the drum beat kicks in slightly, there is a shot of her hitting a drum, which also applies to Goodwin's point of having a relationship between the music and the visuals.

Whilst the music video included some dancing, it could be classed as a performance video, as all she does in the video is perform her song. It also has an artistic element to it due to the amount of reliance on the contrast between the dark background and the many many lights and special effects, which actually makes the video a lot more interesting that it should be. The shots are quite repetitive and we frequently see the same ones, which makes the video become quite boring after a while. As the music and lyrics start to stutter, so does the video itself, showing a relationship and making it look more exciting and visually interesting. The shot of Ellie Goulding actually slows down as the music does too, which also contributes to the previous point. 


Overall, I think that the video could have been made better with a bit more of a narrative and glamour but it was still interesting to see how much the music and visuals related to each other. This is a technique which I would definitely want to include when I make my music video. The video was quite artistic with it's use of lights and how towards the end they looked like paint. I will take this into consideration when it comes to planning my music video. 

Lana Del Rey - Goodwin Analysis



Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans: Goodwin Analysis

Unlike typical pop music videos, Lana Del Rey isn't seen with a cheesy dance routine, but she also hasn't got a live performance. Her music video is very staged and artistic. The opening shots are made to seem like she is underwater which immediately foreshadows the video's narrative ending. The soft movement of the water effect goes well with the violin music in the background and it makes it seem almost angelic.

As the song begins, there are obvious cuts to fit the beat of the song, something that makes the video a lot more interesting. I can already see that there is a voyeuristic element to this music video as there are frequent shots of Lana Del Rey, of her body and close ups of her face. She is seen wearing make-up and her hair is perfected, showing that she is glamorous and is the main focus of the whole video. We see her look up at the camera as she sings "you know you made my eyes burn", which is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.

The whole video is in black and white, showing that the focus was intended to be purely on the content of the video rather than any loud, bright coloured distractions. There is frequently a shimmer of water reflection seen on her face, foreshadowing later events and relates back to the title of her extended edition album called "Born to Die: Paradise Edition". Like the typical solo female artists, as expected, the lyrics frequently mention her admiration for someone and the video has shot reverse shots from her to him, as she sings about him. There are many close ups of her, making her the selling point and showing off her glamorous appearance. (Something I would definitely want to include in my music video for a female solo artist). 


The whole video is quite artistic and doesn't follow much of a narrative other than her loving a man who kills her at the end. However, there are so many glamorous shots of her, even slowed down to emphasise how important her appearance is. There is also a relationship between the lyrics and visuals as she sings "I will love you till the end of time" as the whole video is centred around her fast approaching death by the one she loves.

Overall, I think that this music video definitely proves that when it comes to female solo artists music videos, there isn't that much of a need for a narrative or even anything other than the performance of the singer or the artistic flare which can be expressed more in the editing. Whilst this video lacks some narrative and colour, it is still seen as interesting and enjoyable due to the beautiful performance shots and the artistic element. 

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Group decisions

For my A2 Media Studies Music Video project, I am in a group with Kerry Costello (her blog is here) and we both agreed on creating a female pop artist for our music video artist. After long discussions we realised that we didn't want to use an overly fast song for our music video as we knew that it would have to be less artistic and more dance routine and performance based. We both went through our ipods and discussed our music tastes and which artists we like, then when we realised we have Marina and the Diamonds and Lana Del Rey in common, we decided that we wanted our artist to be similar to them. We decided to then focus on which song we'd make a music video for and we decided that we definitely wanted a Lykke Li song, but we didn't know which one.



It took us a while to decide and agree on one song. We both went away and listened to Lykke Li's albums and came back with different songs, except for two which we both considered, Rich Kid Blues and Youth Knows No Pain. 
We then listened to both songs a few times and realised that Youth Knows No Pain would be a better choice as it was a bit slower and the lyrics would be more ideal to relate the visuals to. We kept in mind all of Goodwin's analysis when we discussed and decided our song choice. We knew that a big factor of a good music video was the relationship between music and visuals and we thought that Youth Knows No Pain would be the best song to choose in order to make that relationship successful.