LOCATION PLANNING

Now that we have the main outline of our music video and several locations in mind we now have an understanding of the locations that we need to travel to create the right look in our music video.

For the performance shots we will go to the following...

• Weston-super-mare beach at night film on the sand as well as several establishing shots of the landscape. As well as this we will film several shots of the road whilst in the car driving along. This can be used to bridge together parts of our music video.
• Keynsham park. In Keynsham park there is a large band stand which has a white wall and is raised we feel it will be a very effective location and realistic setting for our music video.
• Bath park during the day under an abandoned bridge which is covered in graffiti. This goes with idea that we should use an urban area like in 'The Way You Make Me Feel'.

For the narrative shots we will be going to the following...

• Bathroom at Fran's house for the first part of the video. It's spacious and will be easier to direct.
• Outside Fran's house. On a main easy access to drive off and easy access to walking to the car.
• Vue underground car park. As it's underground we will be able to film during the day yet still make it appear like it could be at night. Very spacious and empty during the day.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

As there is only two of us in the group, it's hard to split the roles and responsibilities as most decisions and tasks are done together. Despite this in terms of filming we have decided that I will be the guy performing the song as Fran directs and films and during the scenes filmed with the female lead the girl I will film her sections and will direct. In terms of other parts of production Fran will keep a diary of filming whilst I begin editing and then I will edit pictures and shoot for the ancillary tasks whilst Fran edits.

MUSIC VIDEO PERFORMANCE PITCH

The first performance set up will feature the guy dressed in a black denim shirt, black jeans and boots and black leather gloves. He's on a large stage outside, with a white background behind him as he dances. There will be close up shots, mid shots and long shots of this performance.

The second performance set up will feature the guy dressed in the same clothing as before but with a leather jacket as well. Completely similar to what he's wearing towards the end of the video in the narrative. He will be stood in the sand on the beach at night, lit only by a strong flood light in front of him. We will see the sand blow in the wind but everything behind him from his waist up will be in pitch black. This gives contrast against the first performance shot. We will film a mid shot and long shot as well as a side shot.

The final performance set up will be under a bridge in a urban looking area, graffiti on walls and eroded concrete under him. In this set up he'll be dressed in a striped jumper and jeans to contrast against the black he's wearing in every other scene. These scenes will sort of be where most of his anger and pain comes out, through his dancing and his facial expression. In this set up we will film a mid shot, a low angle mid shot as well as long shot of him dancing.

MUSIC VIDEO NARRATIVE PITCH

The video opens with a guy standing in front of a mirror in a bathroom. He's wearing a grey vest and is visibly upset he turns on the tap and washes his face, he dries himself before throwing the towel down. As he clutches the sink he turns around to see a girl behind him in his reflection, it's clear to see that he recognizes her but as he turns around she disappears. We then cut to the same girl pulling up in an underground car park, she gets out the car looks around and stands with her back up against the car, waiting. We cut back to the guy who leaves the house he was in walking down the steps before entering his car. He's now wearing a checked shirt, jeans and boots. He throws a jacket onto the back seat in an angry manor. The video then cuts back to the girl in the car park, we see writing a text which states 'I'M SORRY', she sends the text and we cut back to the guy in the car who receives the text, he reads it, throws his phone out the window before collapsing onto the steering wheel.

We then cut to the girl back in the car park she doesn't look upset she looks quite sure herself as she walks from her car around the car park. She's wearing skimpy jumper and short skirt with heels. She stands in the middle of the car park, the video cuts to eye line match shot of a car in the distance with it's headlights on, she doesn't look surprised or phased by it. The video cuts to the guy, he's in the car in the car park driving towards the girl, we see the car speed towards her from several different angles, she's not phased by this and basically calling his bluff. The car continues to get faster and faster and just as it's about to hit the girl the video cuts.

The video then cuts to a beach at night lit only by distant street lights, on the sand the guy walks up to a rock and collapses down he takes out a picture of him and the girl looking visibly upset he tears the picture before throwing it into the wind. He gets up looks behind him before walking off into the black night sea.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION

Along with inspiration for our music video we also have found some inspiration for our artwork. When analysing CD covers from our genre we discovered that they were quite plain and simple, to break these codes and conventions we want to be very creative within our CD cover and poster, using elements of photomontage and imaginary set ups. For example like some of the covers you can see below...

As you can see Lily has been digitally manipulated onto a digitally created background. This is something will experiment with on Photoshop when come to producing our CD cover.

MUSIC VIDEO INSPIRATION

After deciding on the theme of our music video and the general tone of what we want our performance and narrative we looked at some more existing music videos to give us some inspiration and ideas about challenging codes and conventions of our genre.

"Russian Roulette"
Rihanna

2009

What I really like about this music video is the way the narrative flows with the performance it doesn't tell a story as such it just has several different scenarios which relate to the song and show emotional development within the character. The whole video is very dark and almost morbid, especially the lighting in the video which gives the video a haunting feel. A scene which I find really striking is the narrative on the last chorus where the car is zooming towards her, I think it's very effective and could work well in our music video with our own interpretation on the scene.

"Fight For This Love"
Cheryl Cole
2009

This is a very good music video example to focus on performance. In this video it is all performance based and even though that's not what ours, in this video you've got a dance routine and several different solo set ups where Cheryl is miming the words. As the performance in this clip is quite strong, we will be looking at the performance techniques that she uses and incorporate them into our video.

INITIAL VIDEO IDEAS

As you can see from the post below, we want our video to have a very dark and serious nature, like in the What Goes Around video, something completely unexpected but still in relation to the song. We will film a large section of the narrative at night and in urban areas to keep to the raw drum beat of the song. As well as this we have also decided to keep the characters in the video to just two, as we want to keep as much focus on them as possible. Accompanying this we want to aim to have three different performance shots which will feature a variety of different shot types, some will bear a resemblance to the narrative shots but others will also be varied.

Our next step will be to gather inspiration from other videos, different to the ones we have analysed.

CRY ME A RIVER - LYRICAL ANALYSIS

Here you can see the lyrics for our song Cry Me A River. As you can the general outline is that the guy singing the song has been hurt in love, his girlfriend has cheated on despite the fact that she meant to the world to him. He's found out what she's done and he's telling her that it's her time to cry about it, become upset about it. I'd say the lyrics are quite dark and fuelled full of revenge, misery and heartbreak. This contrasted against quite a strong and danceable hip hop beat contrasts against the undertones of the lyrics. Therefore in our music video we will keep the overall theme quite dark and depressing, despite the fact that there'll be a large amount of performance.

You were my sun
You were my earth
But you didn't know all the ways I loved you, no
So you took a chance
And made other plans
But I bet you didn't think that they would come crashing down, no


You don't have to say, what you did,
I already know, I found out from him
Now there's just no chance, for you and me, there'll never be
And don't it make you sad about it


You told me you loved me
Why did you leave me, all alone
Now you tell me you need me
When you call me, on the phone
Girl I refuse, you must have me confused
With some other guy
Your bridges were burned, and now it's your turn
To cry, cry me a river
Cry me a river-er
Cry me a river
Cry me a river-er, yea yea


I know that they say
That somethings are better left unsaid
It wasn't like you only talked to him and you know it
(Don't act like you don't know it)
All of these things people told me
Keep messing with my head
(Messing with my head)
You should've picked honesty
Then you may not have blown it
(Yea..)


You don't have to say, what you did,
(Don't have to say, what you did)
I already know, I found out from him
(I already know, uh)
Now there's just no chance, for you and me, there'll never be
(No chance, you and me)
And don't it make you sad about it


You told me you loved me
Why did you leave me, all alone
(All alone)
Now you tell me you need me
When you call me, on the phone
(When you call me on the phone)
Girl I refuse, you must have me confused
With some other guy
(I'm not like them baby)
Your bridges were burned, and now it's your turn
(It's your turn)
To cry, cry me a river
(Go on and just)
Cry me a river-er
(Go on and just)
Cry me a river
(Baby go on and just)
Cry me a river-er, yea yea


Oh
(Oh)
The damage is done
So I guess I be leaving
Oh
(Oh)
The damage is done
So I guess I be leaving
Oh
(Oh)
The damage is done
So I guess I be leaving
Oh
(Oh)
The damage is done
So I guess I be... leaving


You don't have to say, what you did,
(Don't have to say, what you did)
I already know, I found out from him
(I already know, uh)
Now there's just no chance, for you and me, there'll never be
(No chance, you and me)
And don't it make you sad about it


Cry me a river
(Go on and just)
Cry me a river-er
(Baby go on and just)
Cry me a river
(You can go on and just)
Cry me a river-er, yea yea


Cry me a river
(Baby go on and just)
Cry me a river-er
(Go on and just)
Cry me a river
(Cause I've already cried)
Cry me a river-er, yea yea
(Ain't gonna cry no more, yea-yea)


Cry me a river
Cry me a river, oh
Cry me a river, oh
Cry me a river, oh

DARKBEAT RECORDS LIVE ON FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE & FLICKR

The convergence of music and digital technology especially the internet is growing at a rapid pace. Not only is the primary source for distributing music now the internet, but sites such as Youtube and Facebook are very effective marketing tools not only for independent record companies but for the larger ones as well. With the use of Web 2.0 we are now able to gain feedback to help us create the best possible production that we can.

I have set up a DarkBeat Records page on Youtube and Facebook. Below are the links to how you can access them.

Youtube Channel
Facebook Group

POSTER ANALYSIS

Another part of our ancillary tasks is to create a magazine advert or poster advertising the release of the CD. I have gathered a few existing posters to analyse and draw inspiration from. Each poster is by an artist to similar to the one we will be creating.

Britney Spears - Circus (2008)

This is a poster advertising the release of Britney Spears' 2008 album 'Circus'. As you can see they've used a completely different image to the one on the cover. It shares similarities in terms of the pose and composition but the image on the poster seems to be much more bold and eye catching. The overall theme of the artwork is kept the same in terms of fonts and graphic elements this creates some cohesion to make the whole package seem as a whole project.

Michael Jackson - Thriller 25 Special Edition (2008)

This is a poster for Michael Jackson's Thriller 25th Anniversary Edition. What's interesting with this poster is that the photo of the artist is a live one from on stage, almost like documentary image. This tells us that it's not really relying on anything but the artist to sell the album. This is emphasised by the list of achievements on the side of the poster, they describe the album being 8x Grammy Award Winner and The Biggest Selling Album of All Time. It's different to the Britney poster as it doesn't rely on image and style and design to sell the album, rather than the artist itself and the list of achievements that this album has accomplished.

Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster (2009)

This poster advertisement by Lady Gaga is very simple. It's in black and white and features two images that are on the actual album itself. It's very clear and straight to the point. Introducing the artist and the album title and gives a brief description of the album and the singles that are featured on it. It then states in big bold writing where it's available from before giving information on her website and her record label. The plain sans font does come across as quite effective with the style of artwork.

Eminem - Relapse (2008)

What I like most of all is the creativity with this album poster. The album is called Relapse and tells the story about Eminem's struggle with addiction, which is why I think it's extremely effective to have his face painted out with hundreds of pills and the album title written out like a Doctor's prescription. I think it really works when the artwork for the album has a real meaning to actual meaning behind the album, therefore I aim to be very creative with our album cover and our poster.

CD COVER ANALYSIS

For this next section of the project I will be analysing a three different CD covers in preparation for the production of my ancillary tasks. I have decided to analyse three covers from three artists who are in similar genres of pop music.

Chris Brown - Graffiti (2009)

This is the album cover for Chris Brown's 2009 release for Graffiti. Analysing the usual mise en scene we can see that Chris is stood in black clothing, wearing sunglasses (not your usual everyday clothing) holding a guitar behind his head. He's holding a graffiti can down at the title of the album stood in front of a large window which looks out into space. What I like about this cover that it's got a very individual style using a background which looks out into space rather than a plain coloured background. The low angle shot of Chris presents him as strong and dominant, a traditional representation of men.

Justin Timberlake - Justified (2002)

This is the cover for Justin Timberlake's 2003 release of Justified. Once again the location of the album cover is in a deserted waste land, not a typical day to day location. He's wearing dark clothing which is an effective contrast to the sky and the rocks and land below him, a leather jacket is quite an average piece of clothing for a male unlike the Chris Brown cover. This sort presents him once again as a typical male. However what I find interesting about this cover is the pose that Timberlake. Stood to the side and to the right into the camera sort of gives the impression that he's quite vulnerable, what also backs this up is the way that he's staring into the camera. The mid shot of him makes him the clear focus of the cover so that the audience is very familiar with the artist.

Rihanna - Rated R (2009)

This is the cover for Rihanna's 2009 release Rated R. Possibly my favourite cover, what I really admire about this cover is the effect of the pose that Rihanna's in, the simple layout, yet the the saturation of colour and darkness of it. For a cover for a female artist I think it really breaks the typical codes and conventions of a female album cover. The way her hand is placed over one side of her face as her eye stares intensely into the camera, gives the cover a strong sense of vulnerability yet strength at the same time. The way all the colour has been sucked out of the photo and the composition of how she is positioned within the frame, give the cover a claustrophobic feeling. The way the cover works like a piece of art as the 'R' logo and album title gently sits around the photo is very effective and will be a factor that I would like to include within our album cover.

MUSIC VIDEO CODES & CONVENTIONS

After an in depth analysis of music videos by Pop/R&B artists, I have drawn to some conclusions about the codes and conventions of this genre.

All the music videos that I analysed followed the generic conventions by the portrayal of women in the work. They are presented as sexual icons from the revealing clothing to the way they perform in a suggestive manner. Noticeably in all the videos women are involved in a situation with a man most of the time, their actions are centred around a man. Whether it may be from Britney's quest for revenge on a man or Madonna's saving the world in four minutes with Justin. Then there is the vulnerable state of the female lead in the 'What Goes Around' video how she may be painted out as the villain but she is still very much seen as scared and nervous almost like a child. What I aim to achieve in my music video is to break this convention by presenting the woman as strong and bold to the point where she is on the same level as the man.

When it came to the portrayal of men within the music videos that I analysed, in every single one they were seen chatting up women, undressing women and getting involved with women. A very traditional representation of men, most of the time they are completely in control of the situation and even when they aren't they're rarely phased by it at all.

The range of shot types that have been used in the majority of the music videos that I've analysed consisted of mid-shots and close up shots of the artist, especially in performance. This backs up Goodwin's theory about music videos. There's also a large amount of performance in each video, it's sort of the structure of the video the base and everything after comes together. For example in 'Womanizer' the scenes with Britney performing in the sauna can be seen throughout the whole video, the same goes for '4 Minutes' and the scenes in front of the counter. The videos are edited and cut from scene to scene at a very fast pace, especially within the videos that feature heavy amounts of performance. The lighting in each video obviously is catered to fit the mood of the actual song, however, in each video everything's glossy bright and bold when it comes to the portrayal of the artist.

The location in each of the music videos changes in each one. For instance in 'The Way You Make Me Feel' it is set in a street, a very urban setting. I believe this is meant to add some level of credibility to the artist, for them to appeal to their audience more. Then in other cases like in 'What Goes Around' you've Timberlake in a lavish apartment, a big club, driving expensive cars. When it comes to our music video I think it will be easier and better if we focus the location in a urban area, simply because we have easier access.

MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS

I will now analyse some existing music videos, with a brief idea of what ours will be like we have chosen the music videos which best represent our genre and challenge and explore the codes and conventions. They are all Pop videos, dabbling in electro and R&B.

"4 Minutes"
Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake 
2008
Director: Jonas & Francois

In this video Madonna and Justin Timberlake are seen running around different sets of day to day situations, from a living room, to a used car garage, to a supermarket to an office toilet. As they make their way through the sets behind them is a black line which is sort of dissolving everything in them, I think it's supposed to be a metaphor for time as the song is called '4 Minutes to Save The World'. Accompanying this is numerous performance shots in front of a time counting down from 4 minutes. This backs up Goodwin's theory about a relationship between the music and the visuals.

The first shot you see is of Timbaland stood in front of a giant screen mouthing the words to the song, Madonna and Justin quickly follow to also perform in front of the screen. This is an example of intertextuality and screens within screens another one of Goodwin's theories. The majority of performance shots are close up and mid shots of Justin and Madonna accompanied with a few long shots to show that they're dancing.



Both artists in video are represented as very important people from the narrative shots of them running on top of the cars, what's also important to mention is that despite the fact they're important people, when they're running around every day life they're being ignored by the extras in the video, I feel this is done to keep the focus on them.


What is also noting is the level of dancing in the video, at the start Madonna challenges the codes and conventions of women in music videos, she's pushing the car and running around on top of tables and cars. However during the rest of the video, she performs some very sexual moves and has Justin undress her in the music video, she also undresses him but there is more emphasis on her as she is almost naked by the end of the video. This backs up Goodwin's theory that women are presented as a sexual object in music videos.


The fast paced editing is what I really find captivating within this video. No shot lasts more than a few seconds at most and I feel it really gives the video pace and gives the music and video a level of suspense. I think this could really work in our music video, therefore I will be making sure that we have a large variety of shots to choose from and edit together.


"Womanizer"
Britney Spears
2008
Director: Joseph Kahn

In this video, Britney Spears thinks that her boyfriend is cheating on her. She goes undercover in a series of disguises to confirm what she suspects. Accompanying this is not only performance within the narrative of the story but a performance section in a sauna.

The video begins with Britney dancing in a sauna, she's posing on a bench and is naked. This is represents her as a very provocative woman and once again backs up Goodwin's theory that women are displayed as sexual objects in music videos. She then serves breakfast to her boyfriend who barely looks up from his paper. This is a very traditional representation of the relationship between men and women. Throughout the video we see her in her different disguises, kick her boyfriend in an office chair, slam him against a photocopier and pinning him down in the back of a limousine. This challenges the codes and conventions of women in music videos by the end of the video she is in complete control. The roles of Britney and her boyfriend have reversed.

Once again in this video the editing is very quick to go with the quick tempo of the song. The fact that this video is predominantly narrative means that we will focus a lot on this one when planning our production.

"The Way You Make Me Feel"
Michael Jackson
1987
Director: Joe Pytka

Despite this video being from 1987, I think it's relevant as Michael Jackson is one of the biggest inspirations of many artists today. In the video Michael tries to impress a girl, dancing in front of her, throughout the video she acts completely uninterested and just carries on walking down the street. However throughout the video he slowly wins her over.

In the video it's a very traditional relationship between men and women, htis seems to be a common pattern within the videos that are by male artists. The shots are very long to go with the story as this the first music video that is based on one set. Most of the shots used are long shots which zoom in to become mid shots the camera as tracks along the street and tilts to keep up with the action. There are also some mid shots of Michael when he is miming key parts of the song.

The women once again is portrayed in a very traditional way, she's simply another object of a man's desire and this seems to be her only purpose in the video. She might act unimpressed but there's still a very happy ending.

"What Goes Around... Comes Around"

Justin Timberlake
2007
Director: Samuel Bayer

In this video by Justin Timberlake, he meets a girl at a club she acts uninterested before they both leave. The next scene they're together in bed before she leaves and jumps in a swimming pool, he jumps and saves her. This is a very traditional representation of the relationship of men and women, the typical cliche man saving the woman. The next sceen they are sat with some friends drinking. What's also apparent in this music video is the cuts between the music for scripted dialogue. The narrative of the video is almost separate to the performance shots. The performance shots in the video mainly consist of Justin stood on a stage performing casually, in just vest and shirt, it's very informal. The costume for most of the video is predominantly quite dark and plain. After a large section of performance, Justin discovers one of his friends kissing his girlfriend. A small fight occurs before she runs away and drives off. He chases after her before she crashes for the audience to see that she's dead. 

The narrative in the video proves to be controversial and deals with a dramatic storyline which ultimately goes well with the song. What I also like in this video is that it challanges the codes and conventions of a pop video, due to the fact that his love interest in the video dies. It's unexpected, shocking and leaves you on the edge of your seat throughout. Despite the fact Justin is surrounded by fast sport cars, a beautiful girl and lavish parties which portray what his lifestyle is like, there is a strong sense of dark undertone to the video. It's set at night and the lighting gives it a cold, hollow feel. This might be because the director Samuel Bayer traditionally directs videos for rock artists.

There are also many interesting aspects to the camera work in the video, it's almost filmed like a proper film. There's lots of match on action, focus pulls and handheld camera work, this gives it a sense of reality, something I think could be very effective within the narrative in our music video.

ANDREW GOODWIN

Andrew Goodwin cam up with some key points in analysing music videos. He states in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory'... 

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

We will be taking these ideas into consideration when analysing music videos in the next stage of our project.

GENRE

A key part of our project is the focus on genre of our music video. What will be the main factor of our project is the study of the codes and conventions of existing media products from the same genre that we have chosen. What we have been asked to do is not only consider these codes and conventions but to challenge them as well.

There are several theories relating to genre which we can apply within this pre-production stage of our music video. Rick Altman explained that genre is a set type and group which any medium can be classified within, when applying this to music examples of this are reggae, jazz, drum 'n' bass etc. In each case the acknowledgement of genre depends on the acceptance of the generic conventions.  Genre can change and develop over time it's completely open to historical change. Altman also stated that viewers pre-read media texts, that they become passive viewers which ultimately restricts genre.

Richard Maltby claimed that the success of Hollywood is reliant on the combination of predictable elements with variation. This suggests that as producers we should follow the codes and conventions of our chosen genre but also add some variation within our work so that the audience does not become bored and the media text is not predictable. This will be a theory to keep in mind and apply to when planning the narrative part of our music video.

Jon Fiske said that any one type of media will bear the main characteristics of it's genre, but is likely to include some from others. Categorizing it in one genre would mean deciding which characteristics are most important.  This theory specifically applies to our project, pop is the genre of our artist, song and music video but as pop music is such a wide spread genre there are several characteristics from R&B and hip hop. Therefore when looking at existing music videos and promotional packages we will have to keep our research focused on very similar artists who are primarily pop singers but incorporate other genres of music within their work.

AUDIENCE THEORY

When looking at audience within the research stage of our production it is important to recognise and remember audience theories. Below are some key audience theories which could be a possible help influence on our final products.

"All the world's a stage and the mean and the women are merely players." As the audience we can be manipulated and can be persuaded to buy products or follow corrupt leaders through propaganda. The question is whether or not this brings us together. On one hand when we listen to CDs and go to the cinema we become part of a mass audience. However at the same time we are very different because we are separated by space and sometimes time.

THE HYPODERMIC SYRINGE
The media is like a syringe which injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience who as a powerless mass, have little choice but to accept. For example a person might watch something violent and then may do something violent. If you are a woman who's watching a woman washing up on television, you will feel a subconscious need to go and do it yourself. If you are a man watches a woman doing the washing up on television then you will expect the woman to do the washing up.

On the other hand there are theories which oppose this view.


THE CULMINATION THEORY
One media text does not have too much of an effect and influence but years and years of watching violence will make you less sensitive to violence.

TWO STEP FLOW
Another argument suggests that the masses will experience the media individuality but then they will discuss what they have watched with others and it is the discussion which can then influence people's opinions and behaviour.

USES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY
We make the choices about what we watch, we also have certain expectations, we expect to be gratified by what we have watched. The types are as followed...

1. Information
2. Entertainment
3. Personal identity
4. Social empathy/social personal interest
5. Escapism

This may be more relevant to a short film project, however in our music video there will still be a strong element of narrative and despite the fact we are using song, we have chosen a song which tells a very clear story from start to finish.

QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS

From carrying out our questionnaire, we have learnt they key points that our target audience want to see within our music video. This video has to predominantly be about the artist performing the song, the narrative must feature the artist within it and there must be a large amount of performance within our music video.

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

Here are the results from our questionnaire. We asked 40 people in age region of 13-21, what they liked to see in a music video, how they watch them and how often they watch them. We made the graphs using Microsoft Excel and uploaded them using Scribd.

Questionnaire Graphs

TARGET AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

An important part of our research and planning in preporation for our media production is audience analysis. To find out about our audience and their attitude to music videos in general, we will produce a questionnaire for people to fill in. In this questionnaire we will ask our audience what they like to see in a Pop/R&B music video and what they like to get out of a music video. As the target audience for this genre of music is typical teenagers and young adults we will ask this demographic of people.

RECORD COMPANY LOGO RESEARCH

As part of this project we were also given the opportunity to be creative ourselves by creating our own music record company. This will be the name featured on our media products, as well as the company name advertised when we create Facebook groups, Youtube channels, Twitter pages etc. First of all we looked lots of different existing record label logos. You can see a montage of them below...

As you can see they're all quite plain, basic straight forward. All of them feature the company name in their own individual fonts accompanied with basic illustration and layout. We decided to create our own by finding a font on the internet and then giving it a glow on Photoshop and spacing out the letters far apart. Below you can see our logo.

MOODBOARD OF EXISTING ALBUM COVERS

To gain an understanding of the type of different artists who are similar to Justin Timberlake, pop singers who have incorporated blends of R&B into their music we have put together a moodboard of existing album covers. By this we can see themes and continuing trends that will be beneficial when putting together our promotional package.

CRY ME A RIVER

Below you can hear the song we will be using for our music video Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River.

PERMISSION FOR COPYRIGHT

As part of chosing an unoriginal song we had to acknowledge copyright rules, therefore we emailed Justin Timberlake's UK label Sony BMG to ask for permission using Cry Me A River in our music video.

Below is the letter and E-mail that we sent to Sony BMG as well as Timberlake's US home record label Jive.

9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY
human.resources@sonymusic.co.uk

INITIAL SONG IDEAS

Initially me and Fran considered producing our own song to produce a music video too, as we both had done music at GCSE and I was still doing music at A-level, however due to the lack of time we had and the pressure it would've put us under we deicded against this idea. Instead we thought it would decided to choose a familiar, well known pop song, one which a lot of people can identify and relate to and one where we could go all out and produce a big elaborate music video to. Therefore we chose Justin Timberlake's Cry Me A River. Prior to this we gained some quick feedback on the decision we had in mind, asking people's opinions on the song. The opinion from the majority of people that we asked was positive, many people claimed that it was one of their all time favourite songs and we agreed that it would be an excellent choice of song to produce a music video which featured a strong narrative as well as captivating performance.

TARGETS

Last year for AS media studies, me and my group produced a two minute film opening, the genre was left completely up to us. My group consisted of me and my friend Ruby, we chose the genre pyschological thriller, not typical film genre or an easy one for us to venture in. Despite this we still carried on with it as we thought it would be an interesting challenge and one which we could be very creative within. Last year's production was very successful when it came to the final product, however my pre-production and post-production planning and evaluating fell down due to the time restraints that we were under as well as using Microsoft powerpoint as a means of presenting my work. This year, however I will be using an online blog which will be extremely beneficial in helping me plan each stage of my music video and having a clear outline of the whole project. I will take time in each stage of the pre-production and post-production and as I feel this year I want get my research, planning and evaluating as high as a standard as my video production.

WHAT WE NEED TO INCLUDE...

For our poster advertisement for the CD...

• Release date
• Where it will be available from
• Photo of artist or band
• Name of CD
• Photo of CD
• Review

A cover for it's release on CD...

• Female/Male
• Colour
• Style
• Song title
• Possible effects
• Artist/Group name
• Album name
• A inside booklet featuring artwork, song writing credits, messages etc..

WELCOME

For our A2 Media Studies practical project, we have chosen to create a music promotional package. In this package we will include a music video accompanied with a CD album cover by the artist and a poster advertising the album release. As this blog grows throughout the course of the year, you will see everything from our initial research, audience research to our post-production to our final work.