My Statement of Intent Question 1

Statement of Intent Question 1

Music Video

Self-identity of gender within media industries has been overlooked, with conformity to society stating you cannot be your own person with your own beliefs. This is why I am to juxtapose the typical concept of gender conformity by allowing my music video to portray gender in a separate way. I will ensure that the brand identity of Virtue is portrayed in a way that opposes typical artists. I will do this with the aim to inspire my young adolescent (16-25) demographic, as I feel that they will be inspired by the concept of a role model in the brand of Virtue, so we have a duty to encourage freedom and difference.
In terms of representation, I have opted to use two actors within my music video, one of whom is a female and the other is a male. I have done this to ensure neutrality and dispose of a gender bias within my video, to allow the audience to relate to the characters on a personal level which will grant my video a further empathetic affect. This is also why I have chosen the theme of athleticism. Although it can be argued that this is a typical theme of the male demographic stereotypically, I will impose a male athlete to show direct emotion and pain, which in modern society is seen to be something that males should hide, I wanted to contrast this directly.
With my music video I aim to create an empathetic impact on the audience with a complex narrative structure with deep themes and hidden messages throughout. I want my music video to go against gender stereotypes, with my main actor (male) shows his emotions freely without shame, and in society today male emotion is typically said to be concealed, where men need to maintain a strong persona, yet I feel that my video needs to show that emotion does not make someone less masculine (hence why I have given my actor the role of an athlete). This will be a parallel to the artist herself, as she has been portrayed as alternative, seen to be wearing typical 'non-female' clothing, which would adhere to the target demographic as the idea of difference is largely becoming celebrated in today’s society.

Website

When I create my music video's website, I will ensure that the relevant media language has been addressed, to generate an authentic aura surrounding my website, which will appeal to my target audience and grant the artist further promotional value.
I will ensure that there is a consistency of colour throughout (which will converge with the artist in my music video), with the artist featuring in the same clothing on the website that features on the video, to show the same level of convergence.
The factors of my website that I will have to include from the research I have conducted is: relevant tabs leading to pages within the public interest (such as cover art, artist information and information about the song itself), varying forms of media (such as video, image and text), consistent colour (to establish brand identity for the artist to afford greater recognisability with the audience) and finally ensuring the typography maintains an aesthetic, for further authenticity. I am including these factors into my website as I want the website to be useful to the audience, as they will want to find out further information about the artist, as well as details regarding the video, which is why they will enter the website. Yet, due to my target demographic, I will ensure that the cover of my website connotes warmth, welcoming the audience to the website (which not only adheres to the audience psychographics yet also promotes my artist too). I will do this with large images, clear headings and interactive aspects such as slideshows and click activities on the website to promote audience interaction.
My artist will be the main focal point of the website, with direct gaze to the audience upon entering the site immediately. I will do this as the song is the artists debut single, therefore the audience will not be ware of her as much as other artists, so I need her to address the audience immediately along with her name being imposed upon the image too. I will generate social media links, and due to the website being based on a new single, I will place links to the music via apps such as Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music, through hyperlinked tabs on my website itself. This will meet my aims as they will allow the audience to interact with the artist’s other media forms, and due to her being an artist from her own label, she will need them to be driven to her music from this website.

Prior Research Before Planning

Prior Research Before Planning My Video

Before I could start planning for my music video, I had to gauge real concepts from already produced music videos, to see how they were created, imposed, edited and shot. 

To do this, I decided to choose 'Free' by Rudimental and Emile Sande. I chose this video as it is well known for having incredible editing and camera work, with varied angles and also, it is about an extreme athlete who wants to achieve his dreams.

With very similar values to my video, I felt it was a perfect video to study as the similar theme and aims are displayed with both my video and that one.

What did I learn from this?

From this research, I learnt that my camera work needs to show progression. Due to my video being solely narrative, I need to show how my character gets from one part of his life to another. 

In this video, they use Big Close Up shots, over-the-shoulder shots and establishing shots. 

The big close up shots allow the audience to see emotions with the character, whereas the over-the-shoulder can show his aims:

 - As you can see from the image, there is an over-the-shoulder shot of him watching an eagle (linking to the narrative of flying as the athlete is a wing suit flyer). 

- This adds to the semantic field of hope within the video, and displays his dreams accurately and obviously for the reader, meaning I need to develop a similar approaching my video.

My Song Choice: Why?

My Song Choice: Why?

•I have opted to use the song ‘Changing’ by Sigma.

•I have decided to use this song for two  main reasons:

1.The beat structure – Due to this sub-genre of dance (Drum ‘n’ Bass) the tempo is very fast (with a  BPM of 171), this means that I will have to a have a fast developing narrative, with fast editing and the character being involved in an activity of pace (hence the reason for the athlete injury idea).

2.The lyrics – The song explores the ideas behind a ‘change’. The athlete in my video will be experiencing a change as he struggles during his career, yet with the help of his peers and support with never giving in, he can overcome this. 

How my video adheres to the Target Audience

How my video adheres to the Target Audience

•Culturally Sophisticated – Due to the TA being people who are culturally aware, I have decided to include an actor of British-French descent (along with others of British descent with 3 male actors and 1 female actor). The inclusion of these ethnicity allows my artist to be seen as relatable, and representative of the majority of society, as they aim to include and involve everyone in some way. Also, due to the way I will subvert stereotypes, my genre conventions will also adhere with the Target Audience as well. 

•Narrative Structure Linking to TA – Due to the AB category of the audience,  I will need to make my narrative story line appeal to them. To do this I aim to create an engaging plot, with deeper meaning, to give the audience a sense of mystery and discovery. Due to the genre being dance, I want to divert away from the typical performance video, as I feel this would not be the best suited type of video for my audience to enjoy and watch, therefore I have opted for narrative.

Pitch

Pitch

The aims of my music video are to inspire the audience, to give them a feeling of euphoria after watching it. In order to create this audience engagement, I have decided to subvert gender stereotypes within my video, as I feel this will create a positive audience reaction (if done roperly). I will create this subverted stereotype by having my male actor display agony and pain, as a result of a career ending injury. 

Although the runner being male can be seen as stereotypical, I feel the pain he shows will counter-act this, due to the typical male assumption that they should not show pain and metaphorically 'bite the bullet'. 

My music video will be about a young athlete, who's dream it is to be an Olympic sprinter, yet he acquires a career ending injury, causing him great psychological and physical pain. Due to this (and due to the target audience), I have opted to have inner, hidden, themes throughout the video, for instance, friendship and the theme of never giving in (linking to my artist's values and moral beliefs).

Target Audience Research Questionnaire

Target Audience Questionnaire

For my music video to be successful, I had to ensure that the story line I am portraying is enticing, and to do this, I created a short questionnaire (for sixth form students and family members of the older demographic) to see what really causes them to continue to watch a music video, instead of just listen to the song itself.

This is the questionnaire that I created, along with a summary of findings below:

Findings:

• People prefer to watch narrative music videos with a deeper meaning, rather than performance videos
• Emotional music videos entice the audience the most
• Artist representation has an influence on audience interaction (positive message from artist causes higher viewership)
• Most of the audience have never visited an artists website
• They stated that the website was not appealing to them, due to lack of information and purpose

Conclusion:

I concluded from this that I have to create a music video with meaning, something that can allow the audience to feel emotional about and really interact with.

I have therefore decided to create my music video about a tragic injury of an athlete, leading to his rehabilitation, fighting to race again.

There are deeper themes surrounding friendship and trust within the plot as well, giving a deeper theme and meaning to the video, enticing the audience further.

Focus Group Questionnaire

1.     Why would you watch a music video?

2.     What attracts you about a music video?

3.     What causes you to continue watching a music video until the end?

4.     Would you be selective about artists when clicking on a video? Does the artist’s reputation effect your viewership?

5.     Would you prefer watching a performance music video or a music video based on a narrative objective (story line)?

6.     Have you ever visited an artist’s website?

7.     What would cause you to want to visit an artist website?

8.     What was the last music video that you watched the entirety of? What did you enjoy most about this video that caused you to continue to watch it?

Rudimental Research

Website Annotation

For my research into websites, I decided to research Rudimental's promotional website and annotate marketing techniques and brand identity that they use in order to promote their values and their music. 

I felt this was a very relevant website to use for my research basis as they use culture as a main value of their own, with the title of their upcoming album 'A Toast To Our Differences', showing that they are an inclusive, trustworthy group.