FINAL: website

 

Statement Of Intent: Final

 

 

Product 1: 

 
 

For my music video, I intend to create one with a performance and narrative style combined to the song British Bombs by Declan Mckenna. This is because the narrative part will keep the ‘socially conscious’ demographic informed and entertained, and the performance part will keep the ‘16-25’ audience active and engaged. Through my research into a focus group, I also found out the most common preference is a mix of both types of music video. This will hopefully be entertaining for this ‘upmarket’ demographic and something they would find aesthetically pleasing. I also hope it will reflect the industrial context desired by Warner Music Group which is to create a video to a protest song. Warner Bros is a vast media conglomerate and has diversified from the film company it originally was showing its growth and I need to incorporate professional ideas to reflect this. I will do all this through the use of media language, one being intertextuality. I want to reference other music videos during parts of my video such as Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues where he uses flash cards for lyrics. Referencing this will also link to Goodwin's theory of putting lyrics to visuals. Other media texts I want to reference include scenes of the talent reading the Daily Mail as this is mentioned in the song and will also be relevant to the socially conscious demographic. I want to incorporate a ‘British’ theme into my video, so referencing iconic Britpop music will be something I want to achieve, perhaps through shots referencing British bands in the video, such as The Beatles, specifically, their Abbey Road album cover art. The video will follow typical conventions of music videos with the mix of styles and various locations providing a range of mise en scenes to keep the audience engaged throughout. The narrative will hopefully follow a girl going up to London to a strike whilst doing typical British sightseeing along the way whilst incorporating performance shots of the band/artist lip syncing to the song. The strike is an important part of the video as it is something the demographic take part in themselves (especially in recent years - climate strikes etc) to make their voices heard and it has had a significant cultural impact on the way this type of audience views current affairs and politics and the way they show this freedom of speech. The song is quite upbeat so I would like to use a bright colour palette throughout the narrative as I believe the song and what it is about will really contrast with the fast pace and seemingly angelic mise en scene. The lyrics are quite deep and dark creating that contrast which I think will be effective. By having that dark underlying theme to it, it gives a sense that perhaps everything is not as perfect as it seems and that there are lots of issues in our postmodern world. 

 
 

Product 2: 

 
 

For the working website of my artist, I intend to hold interactivity at its core. Audience to artist connectivity is one of the most important parts of being an artist with an active audience. Audiences creating a fanbase is something that happens all the time, playing into the new age of ‘participatory culture’ as suggested by theorist Jenkins. Having a cross media platform is extremely important as I found out through my research, especially how the target audience mostly access music online so having this convergence is important. I intend to create a sense of house style across the artist website with a blue colour palette that is also bright like the video. This contrast with the theme of an underlying darkness in the world we live in, creating a mantra for what the artist would stand for. I would like to bring in some sort of campaign on the website, such as petition links, taking inspiration from other Warner signed artists and to create the ‘protest’ link between the music video and website, such as the 'stop funding hate' campaign. This can be done through hidden easter eggs embedded on the website where perhaps the ‘upmarket’ demographic can click on links to sign petitions and donate to certain charities. Another easter egg I intend to put on the website is a map pin where, if clicked on, fans can send in pictures of them at protests for the artist to engage with and to get fans involved and active. I want there to be artist features and exclusive content from the artist including a behind the scenes video and merchandise for the audience to buy to follow typical artist website conventions. The merchandise will maintain the brand identity that has been created as well as all other features of the website. Merchandising is particularly important as through my research I found out that traditional revenue through vinyl has decreased massively so most artists make money now via tours and merchandise. This makes the website even more vital to the success of the artist as fans can buy tickets for tours and merchandise.  

 
 
 

How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production? 

I will intend to link my products through taking inspiration from modern artists such as Blossoms and Tom Misch (through my research) who use a multitude of promotion techniques, including digital media, to increase a following and fanbase. When artists use digitally convergent methods to promote themselves, they are likely to engage a younger demographic such as one the brief suggests (ages 16-25) making it increasingly important to do so. To be able to get maximum audience reach, I intend to use synergy to create a unique audience experience whilst maintaining the ‘British’ theme and house style throughout (linked to my video). The campaign for anti-war mixed in with the strike themes in the video will encourage audiences to think about current affairs and the impact this is having on the world. The audience will be able to engage with the artist in several ways through social media, buying merchandise or subscribing to the artists newsletter further reinforcing the digitally convergent nature of the website. 

 

FINAL music video

After making some adjustments with the title sequence so that it did not cover up Jacobs lip syncing, my music video is complete.

https://vimeo.com/515468787 

FINAL audio visual

 I had to cut my audio visual down to 30 seconds as previously it was over 1.5 minutes. This is to fit the brief and ensure that my best content for it will be seen by the examiner.

https://vimeo.com/510654175

OCR NEA BRIEF - Music Video and Online

 Brief 4: Music video and online Requirements of the brief

You work for an independent media production company. You have been given the task of producing a three-minute music video for a protest song* by a fictional band/artist signed to Warner Music Group, and two pages for the working website for the band/artist.

You may use an existing song for your music video (this does not need to be copyright free).

The music video must feature a narrative appropriate to a music video (e.g. a performance montage, a linear narrative illustrating or commenting on the song, or a mix of performance montage and other narrative elements).

The web pages must promote the band/artist to its target audience and enable fans to interact with them.

Summary of brief requirements:

• Statement of Intent (approx. 500 words).1

• Music video: One, three-minute music video.

• Distribution channel: Content must be age appropriate for young adults from the age of 16.

• Number of web pages: One homepage and one linked page.

• Cross-media production target audience: A socially-conscious, 16–25, middle to upmarket

  demographic.
  There must be a clear sense of branding across the two elements of the cross-media production.Production detail that must be included
  The production of the music video must include (as a minimum):

  • Range of camera shots, including shot distances, angles and movement as appropriate to a music video.

  • Editing of footage appropriate to a music video.

  • At least two different uses of mise-en-scène.

  • At least two characters representing at least two different social groups (e.g. as defined by

    age, gender, race and ethnicity, sexuality).

  • Graphics/titles to include the name of the track and the name of the band/artist.

    The production of the web pages must include (as a minimum):

    • Original audio or audio-visual content which may include material from the music video but must include at least one element produced specifically for the website.

    • A minimum of two original images (with at least one different original image on each of the two pages). These images must be different from those produced for the music video.

    • Appropriate conventions of website design, including an original title and logo for the band/ artist’s web page and a menu bar.

    • Text introducing the band/artist.

    • Working links from the home page to the other page.

    • A range of appropriate media language techniques (typography, images, fonts, backgrounds,

      logos, etc.) as appropriate to the purpose of the website.

      *A protest song may be any music that addresses a social, cultural, political or economic issue or may be adopted by a minority or under-represented group as expressing their identity. Allow any music that reasonably may be so defined.

      1 A Statement of Intent document needs to be completed as part of each OCR set brief. Learners need to complete a Statement of Intent document to outline the ways in which they propose to use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to communicate meaning and meet the requirements of their chosen set brief.

      
      
      
      
      
      
      

Website update 29/01/2021

 In regards to updating my website, over the past few days i have been working on changing my cover art as in turn, this meant i had to create all the merchandise again and update it with this image. I have used the same image and light leak edit but have changed the font to match up with what it now looks like on the website, logo and title sequence of the music video. Again, this keeps a consistant brand identity across all platforms to adhere to artist conventions and to allow the brand to be recognised by audiences.

Here i have updated the merchandise with the new cover art and added a few new items such as a reusable eco friendly travel mug and a recycled tote bag.

I have done this with the intention that the 'socially conscious' demographic will appreciate the artists efforts to have an 'eco friendly' reputation whilst also keeping the branding throughout.

Another feature i have added to my website is this easter egg at the bottom of the home page. If the audience clicks on the map pin it opens up this:

This engages the audience and encourages audience participation not just in interacting with the artists but by going to a protest.

Lastly, i have added the warner music group logo at the bottom of the page to adhere to what the brief states about the artist being associated with this record label.

Website update 25/1/21

I have updated my website a lot and changed a few things to make it more conventional

and fitting towards the brief. Firstly, i changed the layout of what the viewer will first see

when going onto the website and i thought that a small bio about the artist and the single

is a lot more engaging than just an image and the single. it will give the audience an

insight into the artist and as the demographic as suggested on the brief are 'socially conscious',

reading about the artists thoughts and reasoning behind the song will intrigue them.

After this, i realised that the font in the title sequence of my video was different to the font

that branded my artist on the website and also the merchandise. Because of this, i updated the

logo and the artists name in the same font to keep a consistant brand identity throughout my 

website and also because this font has more 'pop like' connotations and seems more fun to

engage with the young demographic.

 

Lastly, i added some social media icons as easter eggs (with links) to this image of Jacob

to mainly cover the unnecessary background but also to add digital convergence to my

website and to keep engagement with fans as limitless as possible. Having social media icons

spread throughout an artist website is also a common convention as it is good for the marketing

of artists but also keeps fans active and updated with the artist.