Evaluation Question 1 Plan

*PODCAST NOTES*

We decided not to do a commentary, but instead do a podcast as it was more appropriate.

JACC Music rough cut

Our creative process

Our creative process

 

Our creative process (Explain the creative process behind the creation of your practical work. What inspired you? Provide a range of examples.)

For our advanced portfolio we looked at looked at various music videos. At the start of year 13, our group agreed that we should would be making the music video for the song ‘we are never getting back together’ by Taylor Swift. Because of this we decided to primarily research pop music videos. The first pop videos that had a huge impact on our product was the Katy Perry music videos; ‘E.T’ and ‘Roar’. Having done some previous research on the Andrew Goodwin theory, we instantly noticed how the visuals of these music videos had a very strong correlation to the lyrics of the song, which according to the Andrew Goodwin theory is a key component of any successful pop music video. This can be seen in the ‘Roar’ music video when the lyrics are “you’re gonna hear me roar” while Katy Perry and a Tiger begin growling at the screen. The influence of this aspect of these music videos can be seen throughout our own, for example when the lyrics are “when you said you needed space” and the character receives a text message saying ‘I need some space’. From this we learnt how to connect the visuals to the lyrics of the song and edit it accordingly to ensure that this synergy was made more apparent.

The second media piece that had a huge impact and influence on our own was the ‘born to die’ music video by Lana Del Rey. We loved how the music video featured the singer both within the scenes detailing the song’s narrative and the lip syncing the lyrics to the camera. This can be seen in the scenes where Lana is interacting with her love interest (the narrative) while cross cutting to her lip syncing the lyrics of the song in a palace. We knew that this was a professional technique within pop music videos in an attempt to heighten the singer’s star identity, show a personal link/ meaning to the lyrics and make the music video more entertaining. We used these ‘narrative to lip syncing cross-cuts within our own music video, for example when the singer is arguing with her boyfriend and then it cuts to her lying on her bed, lip syncing the lyrics “we are never getting back together”. This taught us the importance of having the narrative mixed into the actual performance of the song, meaning that we had to carefully assign each section of lyrics to the appropriate kind of scene; whether it be lip syncing or narrative.     

Our inspiration

Our inspiration

 

Our inspiration (Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you treated your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed over time.)

For our advanced portfolio we carried out similar research however, this time we watched various music videos. While watching the music videos, we made notes on what codes and conventions were used and what ones we wanted to try and implement within our own music video. From the beginning, our group decided to create a music video for the pop song ‘we are never getting back together’ by Taylor Swift. Because of this, we only researched in depth the codes and conventions pop music videos. The first we looked at was ‘Born to die’ by Lana Del Rey. We loved how the video showed the main star (Lana) alongside the narrative while also cross-cutting to the main star singing. We felt like this made the music video much more entertaining and understood that it was a professional technique used to enhance the singer’s star identity. In the effort to make our music video just as professional, we decided to add cross-cuts featuring the singer while having them in the main narrative footage. This can be seen throughout our project as there are scenes where the singer is lip syncing to the camera which cross cuts to her arguing with her boyfriend etc.

 

Another key code and convention of pop music videos that we noticed was how the visuals always tend to relate to the visuals. This became apparent to us as we watched the music video for ‘Roar’ by Katy Perry, in the scene where the lyrics “you’re gonna hear me roar” are accompanied by visuals of Katy Perry and a tiger growling towards the camera. We made sure to frequently have the visuals of our music video link into the lyrics such as when the lyrics are “when you said you needed space” and the singer receives a text message saying ‘I think I need some space’ etc.  

Creativity Powerpoint in Year 13

Creativity in year 13 PowerPoint

This is PowerPoint that I created that covers all of the aspects of the creativity in both year 12 and year 13 and how the creativity aspects were used to inspire us so we could then include the creativity within our own product, for example using bright colours in our music video and following a narrative, following a story line to base the music video upon.

Props Used in Filming

Props used in filming for our music video

Above are some pictures of some of the props that we used within our filming for our music video, the drinks bottles and the glasses were used to add a sense of realism to the party and details really helped set the scene for the party scene which we filmed.

Music Video Advertisement - Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift Music Video Advertisement

There are many different ways to advertise your music video such as, having a photo of the artist at one of the location shots of the video or you could publish a still from the actual music video itself. Taylor swift has done this with the release of her single 'Bad Blood'. In this video Taylor Swift used a whole different range of celebrities who all had different characters who all had their own poster. The poster to the left is an example of this where it has a featuring of the actress which would bring the audience of both Taylor Swift and Jessica Alba as she is going to be in the video.

You can also advertise music videos in the same way that you would if it was a film being released. Taylor Swift has also done this with her video 'Out of the Woods'. This would create some extra excitement as people would start to wonder what the whole video is going to be about as you don't know what it is going to be like. It could have a little story like a film, like a normal music video or it could be a mixture of both of them.

Music Video Advert Research Taylor Swift

Music Video Advert

For our second part of the ancillary task we have to create an advert for our music video that can either be published in a form of poster or in a music magazine such as NME, BBC Music and many others. The advert that we need to create needs to link to our music video that we have created as well as the Digi pack that goes with the music video and the CD album that we are putting together. 

The Album/ single has to link to the music video and the Digi pack that all goes together so consumers can make the link between the artists music video, album/ single and the advert. To the left you can see the advert for Taylor Swifts new song, Red which was published to promote the sale of the CD in the stores of Target throughout America and Canada.

The music Advert has a distinct look to it with the colour red being featured with Taylor Swift being placed within the advert with her wearing a hat which also features in the album cover therefore making the clear link between the advert and the album cover which can be seen below with Taylor Swift featuring on the album cover with the colour red and her wearing a hat again keeping the consistency over all of the different forms of promoting the song that she has produced and then brought out. The Digi pack also links to the album cover and the advert for the song with the colour red being present again in the produced Digi pack and the hat that Taylor Swift wears in all of the ways of promotion. Another feature that I have seen is the way that all of the photos have been taken, as it appears that all of the photos have been edited with a certain filter to make the photos appear as they are vintage and makes the photos look more appealing to the eye with this feature being featured over the advert, Digi pack and the album cover all linking together in that way again even if the filters are slightly different on each medium with the filter on the advert being in a grey scale/ sepia effect which really makes the advert look vintage and would appeal to a large scale audience, with the colour red and the sepia tone on the advert really blending well together to create a very professional and appealing advert which has also been accomplished in the album cover and the Digi pack production all of which links together and then consumers can make the link to all of them and they are then considered a full media package.

Our inspiration: Katy Perry and the Andrew Goodwin Theory

Our inspiration: Katy Perry and the Andrew Goodwin Theory

We loved how the visuals within Katy Perry’s music videos had such a strong bond to the lyrics of the songs. we also knew that this was important to incorporate within our own project as Andrew Goodwin states it is an essential ingredient for all good pop music videos.

Our Music Video Inspiration - Narrative as seen with with Lana Del Rey

We loved how the music video featured the main singer within the narrative while cross-cutting to shots of her lip syncing. We knew that this was a professional technique used to enhance the star’s personal identity while making the music video more entertaining. It links the narrative to the singer, making the lyrics much more personal which gives them much more impact. For example,  our own music video contains  scenes of the singer lip syncing about breaking up with her boyfriend, to cross cutting to the narrative where she actually breaks up with him.