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.