Actors

29.09.12

I have now chosen three actors for my music video, who will each represent the three members of Destiny's Child. I believe they will provide a very convincing performance and will represent the members of Destiny's Child well .

My actors are three girls, named Claire Lovell, Claire Hicks and Jessica Nemeth.

Secondary Research

27.09.12

I have done some secondary research to help me understand the nature of music videos in more depth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video:

"Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song's lyrics, making it less literal than expected. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance."

This information in this paragraph from the website tells me some of the styles of music videos which I could consider when deciding how my music video should be based. I have decided that my music video will be concept based.



"2005 saw the launch of the website YouTube, which made the viewing of online video much faster and easier; Google Videos, Yahoo! Video, Facebook and MySpace's video functionality, which uses similar technology. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online. The band OK Go may exemplify this trend, having achieved fame through the videos for two of their songs, "A Million Ways" in 2005 and "Here It Goes Again" in 2006, both of which first became well-known online. (OK Go repeated the trick with another high-concept video in 2010, for their song "This Too Shall Pass".) Artists like Soulja Boy Tell 'Em and Marié Digby also achieved some level of fame initially through videos released only online.

The 2008 video for Weezer's "Pork and Beans" also captured this trend, by including at least 20 YouTube celebrities; the single became the most successful of Weezer's career, in chart performance. In 2007, the RIAA issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users to prevent single users from sharing videos, which are the property of the music labels. After its merger with Google, YouTube assured the RIAA that they would find a way to pay royalties through a bulk agreement with the major record labels. This was complicated by the fact that not all labels share the same policy toward music videos: some welcome the development and upload music videos to various online outlets themselves, viewing music videos as free advertising for their artists, while other labels view music videos not as an advertisement, but as the product itself.

In 2009, 30 Seconds to Mars' music video "Kings and Queens" was uploaded to popular video-sharing website YouTube on the same day of its release, where it has garnered over one hundred million views. It also received over forty million plays on MySpace. "Kings and Queens" was featured as iTunes Store video of the week and was one of the most downloaded videos ever to be featured. The video also received four nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, making 30 Seconds to Mars the most nominated rock artist in VMA history for a single year.

In 2010, Lady Gaga's music video "Bad Romance" made headlines by becoming the most-viewed video on YouTube and whole internet of all time, music-related or otherwise, with 130 million views; it had over 430 million views by later 2011. The video, which featured Gaga in Alexander McQueen "armadillo" shoes, a clinical bath house and being sold in a slave auction, was beaten later in the mid-year by the video for Justin Bieber's song "Baby", which had over 660 million views by later 2011. In November 2011, Jennifer Lopez's music video "On The Floor" becoming the most-viewed female video on YouTube, which had over 430 million views by later 2011."

This information tells me the huge impact a good music video can make in terms of the success of the song and of the artist. I am aiming to produce my video to a high standard and to make sure that it is interesting so it grabs attention to ensure that people would feel like revisiting and re-watching my video.


http://www.slideshare.net/Flora1993/conventions-of-rb

"Fashion - WOMEN: Minimal clothing – women in R&B usually have very little clothing on and their stomachs are on show a majority of the time; this is because to male fans they are meant to be seen as objects of desire. Hair & Makeup – their hair is always styled in a very dramatic and eye catching way. Their makeup is also very bold and defined, especially their eyes they always have dark coloured eyeshadows with golds which makes their eyes very alluring. To show power some females wear red lipstick in their videos. Heels – R&B females wear very high heels to elongate their legs because if they are wearing hardly any clothes the higher the shoes the longer their legs will look. However some R&B females wear trainers in their videos for choreographed scenes. Jewellery – Big earrings, necklaces (for example: this picture of Keri Hilson) but usually when they wear a lot of necklaces they are breaking gender stereotypes because it is usually R&B males that wear that much jewellery.

Iconography - WOMEN: Similar to males in the R&B genre, females in R&B also convey their sexuality through their clothing which is very minimal as mentioned in the previous slide; they also place emphasis on their sexuality through their makeup. R&B females are usually portrayed as soft goddess type people in their videos, but nowadays there has been a lot of gender stereotypes being broken in their videos with the females being seen as more powerful than the men."

Although the fashion mentioned here is typical for females in the R&B/hip hop genre, I am not going to dress my artists like this because I am going to challenge these conventions, because the lyrics of my song are quite different from the lyrics of most R&B/Hip Hop songs, making the message different, which means the clothing must be different.


FAST SONGS: Fast tempoed R&B songs by females also involve bright colours, but it not about being in the club like the way the males depict themselves. A lot of videos by females are done in the studio because there are a lot of special effects especially in the background (for example: Rihanna – rude boy). The typical clothing for these type of videos are very revealing clothes with high heels to elongate legs, a lot of jewellery is worn as well where as in the slower songs, jewellery was kept to a minimum. Brightly coloured makeup is also worn, if it is not strong eye makeup it is usually very strong lip colours like reds and bright pinks. These videos do not tend to follow a narrative but will usually have a male co-star or also involve male dancers because there is usually a lot of dancing and choreography in these videos. These videos will also portray the musicians in a more powerful light although there is not a total gender switch up, they still seem more powerful than they do in videos for love songs.

These days some videos are challenging gender stereotypes, this is mainly done my female R&B stars. In some videos females will depict themselves like how males do in their videos, usually to convey a message to their audience."

My music video will be bright, but not necessarily very colourful, which therefore means I am challenging some of the generic convention for female up-tempo music videos. This is because, after my primary research, I am aware that my target audience would prefer bright whites and soft colours for my music video, and I agree as they go well with the lyrics and the music of the song I have chosen.

Primary Research (Audience Research)

20.9.12

I have played my song to a group of my target audience, and asked them to give me feedback of the first words, thoughts, ideas, colours and images that come to their minds when listening to the song. I am doing this research so that I can identify any common ideas that my target audience shares, so that I can include this in my video to make it more successful.

The most common words mentioned were: happy, fast, bright, sunshine/sunny, energetic, dancing, friendship and outside location. I feel that the group understood the song well and their feedback will have a positive impact on the production of my music video. I will try my best to incorporate their ideas into my music video, because that will make it appealing to my target audience.


I also created a questionnaire, and handed these out to a different group of my target audience after I had played my chosen song to them. This was the questionnaire I handed out:

QUESTIONNAIRE

After listening to the song I have chosen for my music video, ‘Happy Face’ by the band Destiny’s Child, please answer the following questions to help me create my music video:

(Please circle one answer per question unless instructed to do otherwise)

SECTION A

1.       After listening to this song, what colours would you expect to see in the music video? (select up to three answers)

White     Black     Yellow     Green     Red     Blue     Silver      Gold     Purple

2.       Would you expect to see many actors in the music video, or only the artist(s)?

Many Actors     Only The Artist(s)

3.       What type of shots would you expect to see in the music video? (select up to three answers)

Close Up     Medium Shot    Long Shot    High Angle    Low Angle   Canted Angle

4.       Would you expect to see many special effects in the music video?

Yes     No

5.       What type of setting would you expect to see the actors in? (select up to three answers)

Outside     Inside     Wide/Open     Small/Crowded     Dark     Bright

SECTION B

6.       What genre of music do you usually listen to?

R&B/Hip Hop     Pop    (Indie) Rock     Alternative     Classical     No Specific Genre

7.       How often do you watch music videos?

Daily     Weekly     Monthly     Yearly     Rarely

8.       What do you mostly use to view music videos?

YouTube     Music Channels     Others

9.       Do music videos influence how often you listen to a song?

Yes     No

Please state why you chose your answer…………………………………………………………………………….

10.    Do you believe a song’s music video is just as important as the song itself?

Yes     No

Please state why you chose your answer…………………………………………………………………………….

'Section A' of my questionnaire is relevant to my specific song, and 'Section B' contains general questions about music videos.

I put my results into graphs and charts then evaluated them:

When I asked what colours my target audience wanted to see in the music video, the most selected colour was white, the second most was yellow, and blue and green were joint for having the third most votes. This means that I will definately use white and yellow, which were also colours I was already planning to use. I will try to add green and blue into my music video where appropriate.

 When I asked my target audience if they would expect to see many actors, or only the artist(s), the majority of them said that they would expect to see only the artists in the music video. Because of these results, I will only use the 'artists' in my music video.

 I provided my target audience with a small range of common camera shots and angles used in music videos, and asked them to select the ones which they would expect to see. The majority of them selected close ups, so I will use these in my music video to allow the audience to see the artist's happy emotions. Many of them selected long shots, which I can use to show the audience the artist's surroundings which could reflect her emotions. Many of them also chose low angle shots, which I can use in my music video to connote the power the artist's recieve from their positive emotions. Some of them chose medium shots, which I can use in my music video to allow the audience to see the artist's clothes, and how those clothes represent the artist and the lyrics.

The majority of my target audience replied 'no', when I asked if they would expect to see special effects in the video, which means I will not be using any special effects for my music video.

When I asked my target audience about the type of setting they would expect to see the actors in, the majority of them selected 'bright'. I will definitely aim to make my video bright and sunny, not only because of the results from this question, but also because of my feedback from my earlier research, and the relevant connotation brightness and sunniness have with the lyrics of my chosen song. Many of my target audience said they would expect the setting to be 'outside', however many also said they would expect it to be 'inside'. I have decided I will film on multiple locations, both inside and outside. Many of the target audience selected that they would expect to see the music video filmed somewhere 'wide/open'. Because of this, the outside location that I use will be wide and open.

The majority of the people I gave my questionnaire to, mostly listen to the genre of Pop and/or R&B/Hip Hop. This is good because that is my target audience and that is also the genre of the song I have selected to use for my music video.

The majority of my target audience said that they watched music videos daily. This shows that as well as listening to a song often, people watch the music video often too. This expresses the importance of music videos for the success of artist's songs.

Most of my target audience watches music videos through YouTube. Because of this, it would be best for me to create my video in a video format which is compatible with YouTube and maybe even release my music video onto YouTube.

When I asked my target audience if music videos influence how often they listen to a song, there was a mixed response, however there were more people that selected 'yes'. I asked them to provide reasons or their answers, and for the people who voted 'yes', reasons included: 'I want to watch good videos over and over again, which means I end up listening to the song over and over again' and 'a video can make a song more interesting'. This again shows how important and influential a music video can be. 

When I asked my target audience if they believe a music video is just as important as the song itself, there was a mixed reponse once again, and once again there were more people who selected 'yes'. I asked them to provide the reasons for their answers, and for the people who voted 'yes', reasons included: 'a good video can make you want to watch it more, meaning you listen to the song more, which is what the artist want' and 'a video can explain a song more and help the audience understand the message the artist is trying to send'. These results show how important and influential a music video can be.

My Brief Ideas (Before I Carry Out My Research)

20.9.12

After playing the song back to myself a few times, I have come up with some general ideas for the video. I thought I could do a concept based video which includes scenes of the artist running around in a bright flowy dress in a field on a sunny day, and scenes where the artist is in front of a white background, and 'pulls faces', messes about and poses directly towards the camera as if in a photo booth. I also thought that at the end of the video I could have a print out of a strip of photos taken in the 'photo-booth'. The camera could scroll down those photo's to reveal the last one with a smiley face sticker over the artist's face.

After I complete my audience research I will decide whether I should follow through with all my ideas depending on whether my ideas match with their feedback.

My Chosen Song

19.9.12

I have chosen the song 'Happy Face' by the R&B/Soul/Pop/Hip Hop girl band Destiny's Child.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNRKVHpbu10

The genre of this song is pop with elements of Hip Hop/R&B, therefore I am planning to use some of the conventions from both genres, but I will also put my own original ideas into the video, possibly challenging typical music video conventions of these genres.

The reason I chose this music video is because, as suggested by my teacher, I chose a song which was not well known and which does not already have a music video, as this song is an unreleased song from a Destiny's Child album. Also, even though this song is sung by a band, the lead singer sing most oif the vocals, so I would be able to create the video with one person if I cannot find enough actors. I think that the lyrics of the video are easy to interpret into a video, and there are a lot of repetitive lyrics so it wont be hard for my actor to learn the words to this song.

I already have a few brief ideas that I am planning to use, however these ideas will be developed in more detail at the later stages of my planning.

These are the lyrics to my song, taken from http://www.lyrics007.com/Destiny's%20Child%20Lyrics/Happy%20Face%20Lyrics.html :


Ah-ah, ah ah-ah, ah ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah-ah....

I woke up this morning, the sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able, I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

Woke up and realized this world's not so bad after all
Looked at it through a child's eyes, and I saw these beautiful
Things that you never think about
Like the ocean, moonlight, stars and clouds
It's amazing how we don't appreciate our blessings
There's plenty of people who don't like me
But since there are more who love me and I love myself
Sometimes, it gets tough, it gets tough
But I can't give up, can't give up
Just take a deep breath, close my eyes
Feel the love and give a smile

I woke up this morning, the sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able, I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

I woke up this morning, the sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able, I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

It's me, I just wanna be happy
Uh, just be happy, uh, just be happy
Today is the day I am willing to say
I will put all the past behind me, no more enemies
Ready cause (ready cause)
I'm living in this world (living in this world)
I wanna make a change (wanna make a change)
Gonna make a change (gonna make a change)
Put on my happy face

I woke up this morning, the sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able, I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

I woke up this morning, the sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able, I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

Everything's gonna be alright, everything's gonna be okay
Everything's gonna be alright, everything's gonna be okay
Gonna be alright, everything's gonna be alright
Everything's gonna be alright, everything's gonna be okay
Gonna be alright, everything's gonna be alright
Everything's gonna be alright, everything's gonna be okay
Gonna be alright, everything's gonna be alright
Everything's gonna be alright, everything's gonna be okay

I woke up this morning, the sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able, I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

I woke up this morning, the sunshine was shining
I put on my happy face
I'm living, I'm able, I'm breathing, I'm grateful
To put on my happy face

I woke up this morning with a happy face
I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm flying
I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm flying
I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm flying
Flying, flying....

Music Video Analysis: Ballad

16.9.12

As I am considering using the Ballad genre for the song featured in my music video, I have researched an analysed a random Ballad music video.

DEMI LOVATO - SKYSCRAPER

The Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_8ydghbGSg

It starts of with establishing shots of a white desert, with thick tyre markings running vertically through the centre. In the blurred distance you can see Demi Lovato walking forward in a white flowy dress. It seems to be sunrise. It jumps to a close up of Demi's face, and you can see her make-up is simple, and her hair is in a slightly messy, tousled style. She begins to sing to the camera. It shows a mid shot of Demi clutching her arm across her body then looking up towards the camera (without singing). The setting of the video, along with the minimal, natural styling, puts a lot of focus on the song, and shows how Demi is stripped back and revealing her true self and being honest.

It shows a long shot of a glass square with a red heart in the centre, as dust/smoke flows past it. This  may be a physical metaphor for Demi's fragile heart. Later in the video, the glass is broken, this could be used to show Demi's heart breaking free. There is a medium long shot of Demi singing. The shot starts with Demi at the centre, but then slow pans until Demi reaches the side of the screen, connoting her as an 'outsider', along with the next shot, a medium close up of Demi at the side of the screen. The next few shots alternate between long shots, close ups and mid shots of Demi singing or staring into the camera.

There is a long shot of Demi standing at the side of the screen with a long thin black piece of fabric flowing across her, then it jumps to a shot of the fabric flowing across the screen. This unravelling connotes her 'stripping away' the toxicity she had in her soul. Then there are more close ups of Demi and of the glass square. There is a mid shot of Demi's legs and feet as she walks across a path of broken glass. Her walking along the broken glass connotes her powering through her struggles. There is a long shot of Demi which slow pans from a low angle, where Demi starts off at the side of the screen then walks into the centre. This connotes Demi demanding to be heard.

There is a new prop introduced, a frame on a stand, which Demi is standing behind and holding, whilst looking down. Demi is clearly getting more angry and active as more varying distance shots are shown of her singing. A few shots of Demi with the red material and of the glass path are shown as well. There are more close ups of her singing revealing tears rolling down her face and a cross in her hoop earrings. Some of the close ups include a cross in her earring and a cross tattoo, possibly connoting her faith. Demi's emotion comes across very clearly, as Demi is the only person in the video and there are a lot of close ups with Demi singing directly to the camera.

There is a blurred establishing shot of Demi chasing after a large white bird, possibly a dove, which connotes purity. That means this may symbolise Demi's desire to purify her soul. Then the glass square breaks and there are some close up shots of Demi including one of her feet as she steps onto the broken glass path and one of her in front of the frame. There is a close up of the bottom half of Demi's face as she screams, however the audio of her screaming is not included in the song. The video continues on with many close ups, crane shots and mid shots of Demi, of the props and of Demi singing. This frantic mash of shots connote Demi's frantic state of mind as she overcomes all her struggles. At the end there is a close up of Demi's face followed by a blurred long shot of Demi walking towards the frame on a stand then disappearing. It finishes with a final close up shot of Demi's face at the side of the screen, staring at the camera to the sound of wind, connoting her finally reaching a state of peace, quiet and tranquillity.

This video is a concept type music video, as the video is not overtly related to the song and does not follow a narrative.

Music Video Analysis: Hip Hop/R&B

13.9.12

As I am considering using the Hip Hop/R&B genre for the song featured in my music video, I have researched an analysed a random Hip Hop/R&B music video.

BEYONCE FT JAY Z - CRAZY IN LOVE

The Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViwtNLUqkMY

Starts off with Jay Z sitting in the back of the car, rapping his introduction to the song. That scene cross cut with what is supposedly the front of the car's point-of-view shot speeding down a city road. Beyonce appears in this road, confidently strutting towards the camera from the background of the shot to the foreground, grabbing the attention of the audience. Then the camera follows Beyonce from different angles as she continues to strut up the road, before she stops in front of a warehouse and begins to dance in freestyle as she begins singing her first verse directly to the camera. This is mostly a concept based music video because she and Jay Z appear in random scenes, however there are elements of performance/a performance feel achieved by her directly dancing and singing towards the camera for the majority of the video. She is dressed in a white vest top to connote slight innocence, and denim shorts and red heels which are subtly sexy.

As a transition to the chorus, the camera zooms out to where Beyonce is dancing whilst cameras surrounded by lights all around her flash, as if she is shifting from pose to pose. The editing here is fast paced to match the tempo of the music. There are a couple seconds of cross-cutting as a transition from this scene to the next scene as the chorus ends.

The next scene is Beyonce and some girls with lots of attitude, dressed in stylish hat earrings and tracksuits, in a partially-dark alleyway. They strut towards the camera then start booty-shaking in time with the singing. The pace of editing slows down slightly to allow the audience to concentrate on the dancing, however the camera jumps between medium close-ups of Beyonce and long shots of her and her friends to shift the focus back and forth between Beyonce's body parts. When Beyonce sings 'It's the beat that my heart skips when I'm with you' she and her dancers pop their chests to the beat of the song. This scene shows the side of Beyonce's personality which is cool and has attitude through her clothing and actions. There are a couple seconds of cross-cutting as a transition from this scene to the next scene as the chorus begins.

The new scene is a close up of Beyonce in what seems to be the back of a car in dark blue lighting. In this new scene the camera jumps from a few different angles of Beyonce at a reasonably fast pace, just like it did the first chorus, as she sings and moves around. Once again, there is cross-cutting from this scene to the next scene as the chorus ends as a transition.

The next scene starts with Jay Z flicking on a lighter, then dropping it on a trail of flammable liquid leading to a car, which results in the car bursting into flames. As Jay Z raps his verse, the camera jumps from medium close ups to long shots of him, to give a fast editing pace to match his fast rapping. Jay Z is wearing a large black shirt over a black t-shirt with a chain necklace over, black baggy jeans  clean white trainers and a camouflage cap; he is dressed like a typical rapper, with the fresh clothes and jewellery worn to connote wealth. Then Beyonce struts up to him from the left of the screen in a monokini type piece, with a fur scarf across her shoulders. Beyonce once stated that in this point of the video she becomes her alter-ego, 'Sasha Fierce', and it is Jay Z who brings this side of her out. She dances around Jay Z as he raps, and there are a few shots of her dancing in front of the burnt car. There are some low angle shots of them together, connoting their power when they are together. The camera has occasional close-ups of Beyonce's body to put even more focus on her clothes which some people may negatively interpret as exploitation of the female body, but in this video just represent Beyonce's apparent sexiness, femininity and 'fierceness'.

There are a couple seconds of cross-cutting as a transition from this scene to the next scene as the chorus begins, however this time around the cross-cutting is much slower, and shows Beyonce in a tight crop top and tight black trousers and heels as she kicks open a fire hydrant in the street. Beyonce then dances in the water spraying out of the fire hydrant, which resembles heavy rain. the shots used in this scene range from close up to long shot, from many different angles. Again, Beyonce is portrayed here as sexy, and an object of male desire. Once again there are a few seconds of cost-cutting between this scene and the next scene as a transition, and this time they use a graphic match.

In the next scene Beyonce is in a short colourful dress made of a very thin material, and she is in front of a fan. She starts strutting towards the camera and some dancers in colourful outfits strut in the opposite direction to place themselves behind her. This could connote the way in which she is the most important woman in Jay Z's life now that they are 'crazy in love', and he puts all other women behind her. They then begin to dance in unison as Beyonce sings to the camera. There is a bit of cross-cutting with the previous scene, before the song ends.

This music video is concept based, as the video does not link directly with the lyrics, and many could interpret the choice of scenes as 'random'.

Music Video Analysis: Pop

10.9.12

As I am considering using the Pop genre for the song featured in my music video, I have researched an analysed a random pop music video.


KATY PERRY - HOT N' COLD

The Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTHNpusq654

The video starts off with Katy and 'Alexander' saying their vows at the alter during their wedding. After Alexander leaves a huge pause before saying 'I do', Katy starts singing the song directly to Alexander as if speaking the lyrics to him. Here we can identify that this is a narrative based music video with a relationship between lyrics and visuals, where the visual amplify the lyrics. Because Katy sings directly to Alexander for the majority of the video, we know that the lyrics are about him. The video relates heavily to the lyrics, but is not a literal representation of the lyrics.

She then performs the song on a stage, in the club which Alexander has run into, showing the video has elements of performance. She directly addresses the audience, singing alongside other angry/messy/upset brides dancing with baseball bats, before Alexander walks into the scene, then she begins to address him once again. As Alexander runs away the girls chase him on pink bikes. He hides then opens his phone to see Katy singing to him .

Alexander then runs around the corner to find Katy in a new outfit, with new hair and make-up  She is much happier and surrounded by similarly dressed dancers. Then on the other side of the park is Katy in her wedding dress playsuit, with her smeared make-up  dancing with the other angry bridesmaids. Alexander looks back and forth in fright and shock. A kid in the park points upwards, and supposedly the club scene and the version of Katy singing on stage are opposite the park. These different versions of Katy could be to reflect the many conflicting emotions that Alexander holds towards her. It all becomes too much for Alexander so he falls to the floor, and all the dancers surround him. Then Katy walks towards him with a Zebra, and there is a close up of the Zebra's face which is a random, funny element, possibly linking to the lyrics 'it's black and its white'. The music warps out and we go back to reality, where Katy and Alexander are still at the alter. Alexander continues to pause, then he finally says 'I do' and everyone celebrates.

The video is a mix a fast paced and medium paced editing, with the faced paced editing occurring mostly when Katy is chasing Alexander and when there is general dancing. The editing is mostly in time with the tempo of the song.

The video is very fun, bright, colourful and upbeat. I think that the pop genre in general usually features these elements which is why they have incorporated these into the video. Katy Perry has other music videos which have extra comedy elements, which she has also managed to incorporate in this video, for example one of the bridesmaids is a man in a dress.

My Thoughts on This Task Before I Research

7.9.12

I have decided that I will use either pop, hip-hop R&B, or a ballad for my chosen genre because I am familiar with these genres and the conventions of the music videos usually used for songs in this genre.

From past experiences I have concluded that it is not likely I will be able to find many actors willing to take part in my music video, therefore this will influence the song I choose.

As advised by my teacher, I will not choose a song that is hugely popular with a hugely popular video because I may unintentionally make my video similar or be over-influenced by the original. I have decided to choose an unreleased song from an album, or possibly a song which was released by an artist however the song is not widely known/popular.

I am aware that the easy option would be to choose a  ballad/slow song as music videos for these type of songs are usually slow paced, with slow editing, simple set design and simple hair and make-up  However, I am happy to challenge myself with a faster paced song.

The Brief I Have Chosen

7.9.12

I have chosen to do the Music Video Brief. For this coursework I must produce the following:

A promotional package for the release of an album. This must include:
1. A music promo video.
2. A cover for the album's release on Digipak.
3. A magazine advertisement for the Digipak.

(The practical component of this project is worth 60 marks.

20 marks will be for planning and research, which will be done on blogs.

20 marks will be for the written evaluation. This will be completed as a Director's. The evaluation questions are:

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?)

I chose this brief because I thought that it would give me a chance to show my creativity well. In class, I have learnt to use Adobe Premiere Pro and I use this software to skilfully edit my music video. For my coursework at A2, I used Adobe Photoshop CS4, and I can use this software and to produce a high quality album cover and magazine advertisement for my ancillary tasks.