A2 Media Coursework Yasmin Burhan

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For my music video I chose to use Canadian artist Grimes from the "dream pop", "electronic" and "experimental" genre. My reasoning behind this was I myself am a huge fan of her and think that her music creates a lot of psychedelic imagery that I could channel into my music video. Through the research I did at the very beginning of the project it became apparent that my target audience of 16-19 year old girls also agreed that they drew psychedelic and alternative imagery from her synthy, dreamy music. I think the reason her music is targeted at that age and gender is due to her soft, feminine voice and her music is relatable such as "Oblivion" where she sings of a girls experiences 'after dark'. Her target audience is also very niche though due to the alternative-ness of it. After listening to her full music library I chose the song "Vanessa" as it is slow paced and dreamy and I am a fan of the existing music video. Through research of her other music videos I discovered that she always uses a range of people around her in her videos such as in Genesis by Grimes and Oblivion by Grimes. Two of her music videos feature dancers around Grimes dancing, however their dancing is not of any particular genre. It's usually just simple, yet visually pleasing, subtle dance moves. Therefore I discovered this is one of the main conventions of a Grimes music video and incorporated it into my own music video.

Another convention of Grimes' music video is her lip syncing to the music, this is another element of the genre that I have incorporated into my music video. However it is also a convention of many mainstream, and otherwise, music videos. Pop artist, Azealia Banks has achieved mainstream success with her song "212" hitting the charts and her becoming a worldwide success, however her music is fairly alternative and she similarly uses backdrops in her music video like I have used in mine whilst she lip syncs, making my video conventional of the pop genre. Indie band "The Babies" use projected imagery in their video for Baby, this reinforces the convention of using backdrops in music videos making my music video conventional of media texts. Both "The Babies" and Azealia Banks have also used medium close ups like I have in my video.

After much research from similar artists from the alternative genre such as "Babes in Toyland" I discovered that abstract music videos were much more appealing rather than ones with narrative, it was also apparent by the poll on my blog that this was the view shared by my target audience. I watched a few abstract music videos to draw some inspiration, such as Radiohead's music video for "Street spirit (fade out)", I didn't want my music video to be as abstract as that as although it was visually appealing it didn't draw much emotion from me. I then watched the music video for Sweet '69 by Babes in Toyland and enjoyed the psychedelic backdrops used and the way the video shifted eras yet was performance based and depicted rock and roll in the 60's in a very feminine way, showing females dancing and enjoying music. I particularly liked the multi-coloured flashing backdrop and therefore used one similar in my own video. However due to Grimes' music not being as "thrashy" as Babes in Toyland I opted for a softer flashing backdrop that portrays the dreamlike ideology of Grimes.

I asked Sadie to be in my music video due to her also being a fan of Grimes and therefore lip syncing to the song would be easy as she already knows the lyrics but also because her alternative look fits the image of Grimes. I had also considered Louisa and Lucy for the part of Grimes however everyone I showed the girls pictures to agreed that Sadie was best for the role. I did still use Lucy and Louisa in my music video but as backing girls that often feature in her videos. After Sadie agreed to be in my video I established that the main colour theme was going to be pastel coloured and therefore asked Sadie if she had any clothes that would fit the description of "pastel coloured, glittery or lace", thankfully she had many outfits fitting this description and therefore as a convention of music videos her outfit changes throughout which is a key convention throughout music videos as seen in alternative artist Kate Nash's music video for Underestimate The Girl where she is seen always against a plain back drop but wearing different outfits.

I gave the other girls in the video the same description of "pastel coloured, glittery or lace" with regards to their clothing which they followed and consequently fit the feminine theme of the music video. The clothes featured in the music video are slightly 'edgy' like Grimes as Louisa's dress is 60's inspired like the ones in the Babes In Toyland music video. The clothes are similar to the clothes that Grimes' niche audience wear. I also asked Sadie to wear glitter underneath her eyes to make her stand apart from the other girls in the video as she's the artist and to give a dreamy feel to the video similar to Florence (and the machine's) music video's in which she wears extravagant and feminine makeup.

When I researched existing Grimes' music videos I discovered that she uses a range of different locations and mise-en-scene from stadiums, studios and beach's. Therefore I had a vast choice of mise-en-scene if I wished to conform to her conventional videos, which I did. As a result I chose a studio which similar to the one in her music video for Vanessa. My reasoning behind this was that I wanted simple shots that I could then edit and place effects on to make them more visually interesting and psychedelic, conforming to Grimes' image. As I had already had the idea for the kaleidoscope projection shots I knew that I needed some shots with just a plain background; otherwise the whole video would be too intense and the shots wouldn't merge together pleasantly but would rather just look like a montage which is confusingly abstract. I think the shots of Bryony which I have placed many effects on work effectively in comparison to the plain shots of Sadie lip syncing as they add contrast and diversity to the music video.

I filmed the whole music video on 10 different occasions. I started with Sadie as she features most in the music video. The first shoot we did was in the college theatre where we experimented with different backdrops in which she lip synced in front of, we also filmed some in front of the white background after turning the projector off and borrowing some lighting from film studies. I then filmed Lucy and Louisa in a joint shoot just for some basic tracking shots to accompany the two beats at the beginning of the song. The next shoot I did was with Kate for subtle dance moves to incorporate into the video. The following shoot was with Bryony to film some small routines to add effects to create a double exposure. However I later played around and experimented with these clips and created a kaleidoscope. I then did another shoot with Sadie to get more of a range of shots and in a different outfit. The last shoot I did was with Adika to get more dance moves to reinforce the subtle dancing theme which was introduced in the first shots of Kate. All these shots were filmed against a plain backdrop in the college green room and in the college theatre. I think the use of locations were effective yet simple and were very convenient when filming as I could film during my free periods as all the girls attend my college. I think it is slightly unconventional to not use more interesting locations as usually artists opt to use a wide range of locations which change throughout their music videos rather than just the same one as I did. The reason I chose to do this was as I thought I could use enough effects to make the video seem interesting without needing a 'busy' mise-en-scene. However when I was editing the video I found it difficult to not make it very repetitive and boring featuring lots of plain shots of the artist lip syncing. As stated before though I feel these simple shots were necessary to make the video flow.

When editing my music video I used a convention of electronic music by editing along to the beat which is seen in My Third Draft from 2.36 to 2.39, I did this by selecting a short clip which fitted the beat of the song and then copy and pasting it as many times as needed to create visual repetition to accompany the beat repetition in the song.

Overall I think I used many conventions from Grimes' any other similar artists to help identify the genre and appeal to my target audience of 16-19yr old girls. I did through use of mise-en-scene, effects and editing techniques.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Initially when I began work on my ancillary texts I screen shot still images from my music video in order to keep a theme and continuity between the two, however, due to the screen shots being from moving footage they appeared slightly grainy and didn't have the sharpness I desired. As a result I arranged to meet up with Sadie in one of our free periods for a 15 minute shoot in which I took a range of close up images of her. The reason for the close up was that I wanted to continue the simplicity of my video into the album cover by merely having an image of the artist with the artists name boldly written over the top in a baby pink, due to the feminine touch it added but also because it's pastel coloured which adds a correlation between my main product and the ancillary texts. I placed the writing over Sadie's face so that the text and her eyes are the most dominant things on the cover, this is as a key image within Grimes' music is eyes. When I saw Grimes' live at a festival the stage art featured around eyes and during her performance on Jools Holland she had a fake glittery eye stuck on her forehead, I wanted to incorporate this theme into my cover. A lot of her album work also feature eyes...

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In the audience feedback I conducted, the overall feedback was to continue the idea of several girls and the dance moves that I introduced at the beginning of the music video. I showed my audience draft 3, and these were the responses which I videoed and uploaded to YouTube. The questions asked were the following:
1) Did you enjoy the music video?
2) Do you feel as though the visual imagery goes with chosen song?
3) What would you change about the music video?
4) (When shown the album cover and poster) Do you feel as though the ancillary texts link to the music video?

I used girls from my college aged 17/18 as they fit my audience description, which I established when I began the project in September and used an online poll on my blog to get some statistics including gender, age and musical preference. Through this I learnt that my audience were largely female and therefore made the decision to have my music video appeal to females with actresses and conventional feminine colours such as baby pink and lilac. During my audience feedback when I asked the question "What would you change about the music video?" the response from nearly every girl was to continue with the theme of dancing which I introduced at the beginning of the video. It was because of this that I decided to ask Adika who I interviewed in my audience feedback to please help me out with some filming and do some subtle dance moves , similar to those Kate used to add effects to and use in the blank spaces in my third draft. Through my audience feedback I also discovered that overall people mainly enjoyed the kaleidoscope shots I created more than the more static and simple shots which just consist of lip syncing, therefore I began looking through my raw footage for more scenes which I could also use mirror imagery on and decided to use a clip of Sadie (the artist) dancing to make a colorful kaleidoscope and think this would be more effective than the other ones as it features the artist.After conducting the audience feedback and filming it on my digital camera and editing it using Windows Movie Maker (for convenience as I have it on my own laptop) I showed the girls the other projections I had filmed Sadie lip syncing in front of a picture of space and they really liked it therefore I incorporated it into my final product as clearly it appealed to my target audience.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used a wide range of different media technologies to not only establish my target audience but to contact them. I used Blogger to document all my research and planning which I found really helpful as I could keep track of all my work efficiently and easily link people to it for them to view my ancillary texts and main product. This particular media technology has been especially important to me throughout this whole process of creating a music video and digipak due to my target audience regularly using and visiting blogs such as Tumblr and Blogger for fashion, music and inspiration, therefore I didn't feel as though I was particularly bugging anyone when I asked them to quickly visit my blog to look at my media texts. I contacted people via Facebook and Twitter, therefore using another Media platform in my planning and research. Blogger also allowed me to create a poll at the beginning of the project, helping me to establish a target audience and also to find out their likes/dislikes through questions such as "What form of music video do you like the most?" and providing multiple choice answers. I found this really useful as I quickly discovered my audience have a very "alternative/indie" music preference and tend to enjoy music videos with more of an abstract vibe than one with a narrative, leading me to making some key themes in my music video to be kaleidoscopes and surreal dance moves (played backwards). Use of blogger also gave me the opportunity to write down my shooting schedule and free periods in which the actresses were willing to film in, meaning I didn't forgot or lose them on a piece of paper.

Another media technology I used is YouTube, this is the technology I have found most helpful throughout the full process as it has allowed me to quickly upload drafts and unedited clips to document my planning. Everyone is familiar to YouTube so it wasn't an alien request when I asked my friends and family to have a look through my drafts and give their opinions. The proliferation of technology allowed me to be able to play my video to friends on the YouTube app on my iPhone meaning accessibility to my music video very simple. I also used YouTube to find a kalaidoscope backdrop for Sadie to lipsync to Grimes in front of, after many attempts at creating my own kalaidoscope animation to play I eventually had to YouTube one.The third media technology I used is Tumblr, this was to find more backdrops for my music video. It was perfect to use as Tumblr is mainly used my girls aged 14-20, therefore they're well within my target audience and consequently the images on the website will appeal to them. It was on Tumblr that I found the pastel coloured lights GIF and the image of space. One of which has been included in my final product.

The fourth media technology I used was a HD camera from college, had I being shooting in distant locations and at home I would of opted to use my own camera, however due to all my filming being done in my free periods at my college I thought it much easier to book cameras out and use college equipment. I found the camera easy to use and edited using Adobe Premiere to create my kaleidoscopes using mirrored image effects, double exposures and horizontal flips. As I am also a Film Studies student I had another camera and used this for a few scenes with Adika and Kate in and the quality of the camera was a lot lower meaning these shots stand out within the video with the definition not being as crisp. On reflection if I could change something within the video it would be to reshoot these few minor scenes just so they wouldn't look dull compared to the other scenes. I used my own camera to film my audience responses as I could then edit them at home using Windows Movie Maker as the edits don't need to be as sharp as they are in my music video.

Another media technology I used was to edit my photos for the ancillary texts using Photoshop, I did this in my free periods and media lessons at college and used the stamp tool and levels to create the desired simple/white backdrop that I wanted for the background of the pictures. I also used the "plaster" tool to give Sadie a flawless finish as I am well aware of the way the media change an artists appearance to perfect their image. I took the photos using my own Samsung digital camera (the same one I filmed the audience feedback on). This was convenient as I didn't have to book it out and could use my own SD card making accessibility to the photos easier.How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
To give continuity between my ancillary texts and the music video I took photos of Sadie with a plain white backdrop similar to the one in the music video. It was noted in my audience feedback that the album cover could quite easily be a screen shot from the music video.

The writing over the face of the artist mimics the end of my music video where I have used the same coloured bold text over Sadie as she opens her eyes and sighs as the video blacks out and the music fades out. Initially I wanted to use a kaleidoscope with the artist stood in front for the music video, however I felt this perhaps suggested that Grimes' music was psychedelic and would not conform to the her synthy/alt genre which I wanted to conform to in order to appeal to my audience and use conventional techniques. On reflection I see that had I used a kaleidoscope it would have linked the two products together more. Instead I opted for simplicity which I feel creates and air of mystery about the album as it is bold, feminine but mysterious with half of the artists face covered by the large texts. This decision was made with the thought that many artists from the alternative genre are well known for being more about the music and therefore would not want the extravagant ness of a 'busy' album cover. I think the album cover conveys the femininity that is in the music video due to the baby pink texts and the collared dress Sadie is wearing complete with a navy blue ribbon in her hair.

To keep fluidity between the album cover and the poster I used a similar photograph taken on the same day but at a different angle . The simplicity is carried forward from the album cover and certain shots/the ending of the music video within the text on the poster. It is simple yet effective as it gives the name of the album, where to access it and the date it's going to be released. On both ancillary texts I placed the text over Sadie's face as I feel it makes her eyes more prominent and eyes are commonly associated with the artist Grimes as she incorporates them into her album art, art and music videos. Using Photoshop I went over her eyeliner to make it appear bolder like the text and more visible on the cover. On the poster I used the stamp tool to create a third eye on Sadie's forehead similar to an existing Grimes poster, however I don't think this links very well to the music video as there isn't anything similar to this in the video. When I first started the project I had the idea to create some kind of third eye to use for Sadie as well as various other surreal objects for the other actresses but realized that due to my low budget these wouldn't look very effective and perhaps my idea wouldn't look too good in reality, hence why I carried the idea over to my ancillary texts. The surreal-ness of this third eye however does link to the surreal-ness of the Kate's hair in reverse in the video.

In all shots of the actresses within the music video they are shot with a plain white backdrop and some of the artist Sadie are shot similarly, therefore I thought I'd keep the back of my album just plain white with the baby pink to link it to the pastel colors within the video and also the bold text on the front of the album cover and at the end of the video.

To get a feel for how my target audience would access the Vanessa album, using iTunes I changed the album artwork of the original Grimes album and synced it to my phone and screenshot and uploaded it to Blogger using my iPhone, similarly I did this on iTunes on my laptop and print screened it.

Overall I feel as though my ancillary texts combine and link with great continuity to my final music video.