Music Video Equipment List

For our music video, I  constructed an equipment list which I put onto 'Stupeflix'
This will enable us to keep a track of equipment that will be needed during the filming process.

Costumes

I used 'Stupeflix' to create a video of the costumes the lead actress (Kala Hill)  will wear  in our music video.

We have carefully considered what type of clothing would be most suitable for Kala to wear, as she will be mimicking Kesha's unique style. For example we have chosen a mixture of gold shorts to a brightly patterned aztec dress to portay Kesha's bright and funky style.

Kesha caters for the male gaze in her videos by wearing clothing that reveal her body parts. We will make sure this is within our video as we want it to be conventional to Kesha's way of dressing.  We will cater to the male gaze through the use of shorts, as well as crop tops and heels. This is conventional for the pop genre as artists such as Cheryl Cole (Call my name) and Katy Perry (California girls) wear shorts and crop tops within their videos. 

Near the end of the song 'Crazy Kids', the beat and pace of the song descends, in which Kesha expresses her emotions through singing softly and with emotion. For this part of the song we will have our lead in the fluffy white jumper with red hearts. This will connote a sense of softness and peacefull and will juxtapose  the crazy and bright outfits which go with the rest of the upbeat pace of the song.

Health and Safety Risk Assessment

I conducted a health and safety risk assessment, and then uploaded it onto SlideShare. 

Doing this enabled me to became more conscious of any risks or dangers that may occur, whilst filming and helping my group and actors remain safe during the filming process. This allows us to remain prepared in case of any emergencies or accidents which may arise during the filming process. This makes sure that everyone is aware of hazards to increase safety when filming.

Risk assessment A2 MUSIC VIDEO from ahmer007007

Filming Schedule

I created a 'Filming Schedule' which enabled us to know what shot when filming, in our different locations. 
This was essential as we have many locations which we wish to use in our music video.  This will enable us to plan what needs to shot on what day, hence improving our organisation skills also shows the risks of safety hazards so we remain aware of our safety. This also helps ensuring what props to use for each shot and who will be in the shot, helping the filming process run smoothly and ensuring we have everything we need to prepare for filming scenes.

Filming Schedule for A2 MUSIC VIDEO from ahmer007007

Shotlist

Ishpreet completed a shortlist of our video, and the uploaded it via SlideShare. The use of the shotlist will help us remain organized during the filming process as well as enable us to know exactly what to film, at what location, and what point in the song. 

Shotty from Bryony Johnson

Storyboard

Chloe Connell took the role of drawing out the storyboard, and then decided to upload it onto SlideShare.
 We may find that we don't stick to the storyboard completely, as changes may be made during the filming process of our music video. The storyboard enables us to know exactly what to film, in what location, including shot types and lyrics, we know exactly what to film at particular parts of the song.

Storyboard A2 Music Video from chloebieber1234xox

Artist Reseach

As a part of research, Chloe Connell gathered information on Kesha. This will help us to gain deeper knowledge of our artist:

 Kesha who is also known as Kesha Rose Sebert was born in Los Angeles, California in 1987, she is formally a singer, songwriter and rapper. She had her major breakthrough while appearing in Flo Rida's hit single ''Right Round'', this was then her first major few steps to becoming more famous and getting publicly known worldwide. Kesha attended Brentwood High school and studied songwriting classes and often learned how to sing many of her mothers Pebe songs and on many occasions started songwriting together, this is how Kesha gathered her passion for music. 

http://www.biography.com/people/kesha-562676#awesm=~oB1slULt3tXUMd 

Kesha also has featured her own documentary which premiered on MTV which followed her going on her tour and her day to day life. This enabled her fans to gain an insight to her life and see her working in the studios below is the first episode of her documentary which I interpreted for additional research as it allows viewers to see Kesha for what she is like rather than what they read or see about her. 

Research- Male Gaze Theory

Ishpreet Sundal individually researched into Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze, as well as applying it to Kesha's videos and our own:

Laura Mulvey is British feminist as well as film theorist, who introduces the concept of the 'male gaze'. The male gaze refers to the way in which cameras, predominately focus on women as being shown sexual object of desire. By doing this the audience view the female, through the eyes of a heterosexual male. Women can be seen as a sexualised objects in many differing platforms of media, from magazine covers, films, music videos, and so on. This can be done through things such as provocative actions, clothing or even the way men respond or react to women.

Catering for the male gaze is a typical convention of the pop genre. Many female artists such as Katy Perry and Beyoncé, are known for their 'sexiness' and raunchy videos. After viewing various videos of Kesha's (our artist), we could see that many of her music videos also caterers for the male gaze. Below are screen shots from youtube of  Kesha's music videos, which can apply to the male gaze:

The first screen shot is taken from the music video 'We R Who We R'. Kesha is denoted as wearing a provocative American print top, which has a large rip at the chest. This caters for the male gaze, as it enables the audience to catch a glimpse of Kesha's breasts. 



The second screen shot is taken from the music video 'Die young'. Here Kesha is denoted as laying on a mattress in a provocative manner, wearing little clothing. This shot caters for the male gaze, as it emphasises Kesha's legs, breasts and stomach. 

 This research has been helpful in creating our music video. This is as we have learned to incorporated scenes and shots which cater for the male gaze; as this is typical of the pop genre as well as Kesha's 'sexy' image. Below is a screen shot which shows a shot we filmed of the lead (Kala Hill) for our music video. Our lead is denotes as laying on a bed, which is similar to the screen shot above. The shot pays particular focus to Kala's legs, which can be conventional of a pop video. However my group and I were full aware of the possibility, that Kala's shirt may have been too revealing when she was laying down. In order to prevent this, we requested Kala to wear black shorts underneath the shirt. 

Final Treatment

Name of artist: Kesha

Title of track: Crazy Kids

 

Following our draft treatment and padlet response. My group members, Chloe Connell and Ishpreet took to re-constructing the narrative, in order to fix or improve any areas.

 For an example a respondent suggested that we get various shots that link to a theme of 'crazy kids'. So for the beginning we will instead show our lead having woken up in the evening (from intense partying); which will connote her hectic and fun lifestyle.

 

Outline of ideas for music video (narrative, characterisation, concept etc…) Our music video will start of with the female lead, waking up in the evening from intense partying the days before. People  shown doing a unique dance routine; which later in the sequence people are shown doing aswell. Cuts to the lead singing against a starry background, and then cuts to school lab earlier that day of everyone making drinks in a lab (replace alcoholic products). We will ensure to have a close up on this, to make it clear that they are not alcoholic. Then the scene cuts to the female lead and her friends walking to the party and then shots of people in the party, not having a very good time. Thereafter, female lead and her friends put down a large bowl of a substance which then is given to the guests and the party livens up and more funky items are placed in the party to connote that the party was boring before. Female lead and her friend are shown taking shots of the substance.

Resources that will be needed? (actors, props, settings, technical resources) ·      Actors ·      Backdrops/green screen ·      Chemistry lab- lab coats ·      Glitter/make up for actors ·      Costume ·      Big space ·      Lights ·      Mirror ·      Glow in the dark paint/ glow sticks ·      Party decorations

Draft Treatment Padlet Response

My group and I  set up a pad let in class; in order to receive responses to our draft treatment. After having read our draft treatment, people offered what is good and what they believe we should change. This will be helpful when drafting a final treatment as we can make specific changes to what criticism we received. Our theme of 'Humour' and setting of 'Party' was well liked, and the idea of avoiding the use of real alcohol substance was emphasized. 

Created with Padlet

Draft Treatment

Me and my group discussed the potential narrative and ideas that we could include in our pop music video but making sure we remained conventional. We brainstormed ideas and eventually came up with ideas we all agreed upon and were happy to do.  We based our ideas upon the responses we received from our questionnaires and further response we received from the focus group. The responses helped us get an insight as to what we should and shouldn't include when creating a pop genre music video for our target audience. The themes which were most popular were 'Humour' and a setting of a 'Party'. This helped create a draft treatment to help when filming the video, as we will have a set narrative that we can follow.

Name of artist: Kesha

Title of track: Crazy Kids

Outline of ideas for music video (narrative, characterisation, concept etc…) Our music video will start of with the female lead, preparing for a night out with her friends. The lead female looks into the mirror as she begins to get ready; her friends appear to glow in the dark paint to their faces. People  shown doing a unique dance routine; which later in the sequence people are shown doing aswell. Cuts to the lead singing against a starry background, and then cuts to school lab earlier that day of everyone making drinks in a lab (replace alcoholic products). Then the scene cuts to the female lead and her friends walking to the party and then shots of people in the party, not having a very good time. Thereafter, female lead and her friends put down a large bowl of a substance which then is given to the guests and the party livens up and more funky items are placed in the party to connote that the party was boring before. Female lead and her friend are shown taking shots of the substance.

Resources that will be needed? (actors, props, settings, technical resources) ·      Actors ·      Backdrops/green screen ·      Chemistry lab- lab coats ·      Glitter/make up for actors ·      Costume ·      Big space ·      Lights ·      Mirror ·      Glow in the dark paint/ glow sticks ·      Party decorations

Justification of ideas relating to artist, genre and audience questionnaire and focus group information: We are thinking of doing a party scene, as it was one of the most popular options from the questionnaire. Also this would be typical for Kesha as she is seen to be an outrageous and fun artist. Bright things such as glow in the dark paint and make up are typical of Kesha, as she is particularly associated and known for having incorporating these things in her style and her video. The shots will be fast paced, as this is typical of a pop video. After reviewing the Questionnaire and Focus group, we ensured that the narrative was audience specific and was similar to the pop genre.

Focus Group

My group and i gathered a focus group of females, with age range of 17-19. 
We chose this particular group as it, reflected the majority of our target group/audience of our questionnaire. 
Looking back at our questionnaire,me and my group chose questions to further develop research to help us.
 We begun the focus group process by playing our chosen song for our music video, which is 'Crazy Kids' by Kesha. After having allowed them to listen to the song, we asked particularly important questions which we developed from our questionnaire. This enabled us to gain in depth knowledge as to what our target would want to see from our music video, as well as what we should avoid and could substitute in our music video. 
 Below is the video for our focus group, which I edited and uploaded, I also read the questions out but substituted me reading the questions out with transitions to make it appear better. Chloe Connell filmed the focus group.



Conducting this focus group was helpful, as we learned what we could include in our narrative and what we should avoid.
 For example, from our questionnaire results analysis, we discovered that the two most popular themes for our video were 'partying' and 'humour'. Due to this, we asked the focus group further questions to learn what type of humour is considered suitable.  From this, we learned that our audience would find humour in a narrative which was unusual as our artist is known to be quite unique.  We also learnt that our focus group associated 'Bright' and 'Colourful' when discussing the type of partying scene would relate to our artist. My group and I decided to add unusual humour from other characters in our video,rather than it just being one main star, also to conclude different shots and coloured backgrounds to cater to our target audience's preferences.

Another important question we asked our group, was ideas as to what we could substitute alcohol with, as age restrictions do not allow us to include alcoholic substances within our video, or allow us to handle it. We took this matter very seriously, however noticed it is a motif used by our artist therefore inquired our focus group with suggestions: such as, bright coloured liquid, which would tie in with the 'crazy' party' theme. Taking this into consideration, we will attempt to have our main star creating drinks in a science lab which will fit in with our 'Crazy', 'Humourous' theme, as this connote craziness, which is the lyrics of the song, also links to Kesha's continuous themes which are shown in all her music videos.

In order to find out what we should not include in our music video, we asked our focus group what they dislike in existing music videos. Many of the members agreed to a member mentioning how they disliked long paced shots in music videos as they appeared boring and hardly engaging.  My group and I decided that we will try and film quick fast paced shots to keep our audience entertained using colourful backgrounds and different settings but making sure we stick to the typical pop genre music video conventions This is especially typical of the pop genre, including many of Kesha's videos such as 'Tik Tok' and 'We R Who We R'.

6 Frame Pop Convention Analysis

In lesson we all did a frame analysis for typical pop conventions, when analysing 'Telephone' by Lady Gaga and Beyonce. 
A convention can be defined as something which is typical or usually expected from something; in this case the pop genre.
 After having analysed 'Telephone', we went on to choose individual pop music videos, and took to analysing typical pop conventions through screenshots. 
I chose to focus on a popular pop singer of today who is Katy Perry. I chose her song 'TGIF' as it follows many typical pop conventions within the music video. I then went to choose 6 still frames and analysed the pop conventions used within them. 
This activity was very helpful as it gave me an insight of what type of conventions to include in my groups music video to make it fit with the genre of 'pop'.

I uploaded my 6 frame analysis on 'Slide share' 



http://www.slideshare.net/ahmer007007/6-frame-analysis-tgif-katy-perry

Copyright Letter

Within lesson we established the importance and restrictions regarding copyright. We learnt about how the use of Copyright enables the creator of a piece of work (e.g artists and musicians) to decide how, or if it can be used by others parties with profitable intentions. Copyright laws and contracts  provide protection to the material created by the owner/s and ensures the  the creator knows when their work is being used or licensed for use by others (e.g Music Channels) Infringing Copyright laws could lead to serious consequences such as fines or even imprisonment as it is against a contracted law if the owners sue the people who illegally used their work.

It was essential that my group and I wrote to the record company that signed Kesha. We wanted to assure them that we are A level students, who will be using 'Crazy kids' with no intentions to gain profit from recording a music video for the song. My group member Ishpreet Sundal wrote a letter to the founder of Kemosabe records. Ishpreet wrote in regards to gaining permission to use Kesha's song 'Crazy kids', for our group music video.

Audience Questionnaire and Analysis

Me and group member Ishpree Sundal focused on creating relevant questions for our questionnaire, while Chloe Connell (team member) uploaded them via SurveyMonkey.To get our results, Ishpreet then posted the link on her social networking page for 'Twitter', whilst I gave out hand outs with the link asking volunteers to participate; both of these actions helped target our specific audience.

 The questions were created with the idea of what our target audience would prefer in our video. We will use this in the future when it comes to filming our video, as we try and meet the what our target audience prefers so we receive a good outcome.  Below is a sample picture, as well as the link to our questionnaire:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/MySurvey_EditorFull.aspx?sm=3_2BlHUZUXFRHCPB3dF6o4YQXkv_2F_2FcQDJeE8uAu7z0gJo_3D


After receiving results and analyzing them, my group member Ishpreet Sundal then went on to creating a powerpoint showing the results of our questionnaire.

Questionnaire analysis from ishy96

Audience Profile

In class we discussed how it is important to know our target audience, through demographics and psycho-graphics. Demographics being factual information such as age, and psycho-graphics such as likes and dislikes of our specific target audience. My group and I then went on to establishing the demographics and psychographics, of the target audience for our chosen pop artist Kesha. 

This enabled us to specify a particular audience, and will help us conducting our music video. An example of this is me and my group knowing our target audience will be predominantly a female audience, therefore we have to research in order to cater to our target audience's taste; the more information we research and find out, the better it will help us to create a music video for our target audience.

Below is the detailed Prezi presentation I created, which displays the psycho-graphics and demographics of our target audience.

Chloe Connell used the website polyvore, to choose a selection of clothing we believe is associated with Kesha. I believe that Kesha is known for her distinctive clothing and fashion style, it being quite 'punk' and intriguing to a teenage audience.

 

Audience Theories

In today's' lesson, we were introduced to and analysed two audience theories, which were : The Effects Model, (or the Hypodermic Model) created by Croteau, Hoynes in 1997 and the Uses and Gratifications theory, created by Blumler and Katz in 1974.

My understanding of the 'Effects Model' theory, also known as the 'Hypodermic Needle' is the psychologists believe that the audience have a negative effect of what media presents to them. The media 'inject' ideas in to audience's mind whilst we as the audience are oblivious to it. It is the idea that the audience become powerless and brainwashed by the media, as audience have no control of what messages we passively take in. 
This can be linked to music videos, as an audience, we have tastes in certain music types; therefore prefer a particular genre, therefore the music videos we have preferences for could contain certain styles of an artist or a dance or even a societal message which we then copy or agree with obliviously. For example, a music video containing party scenes and alcohol and the actors having fun may encourage certain audiences such as teens to alter their behavior and thoughts to imitate what they seen to have 'fun' partying just like their favorite singer may show in their music videos. 

However, the 'Uses and Gratifications' theory challenges the theory above. My understanding of this theory is that audience can reject the messages conveyed in media texts if they wish to. Media consumers are active and interpret media texts to their preferences. According to the theory, there are 4 different reasons/ways the audience may be appealed to the media text, such as: personal identity, social interaction, information and entertainment.  'Uses and Gratifications' can be linked to music videos as the audience may watch music videos for entertainment; to reinforce identity to look up to a role model and make a media consumer feel better about themselves; have something to communicate with such as a 'new' video coming out could be a root of a conversation topic; be more informative of an artist or a certain genre or the latest music,fashion or dance that is available.

As a class, we viewed a music video (which is embedded), the video was 'Time - Chase and Status Feat. Delilah'. We had to apply the audience theories studied to the video and analyse the video. 




The video is based on a theme of  domestic violence within a household of a young girl.  Who witnesses her mother being abused by her father and alerts the police about the violent which then leads to her father being put into jail. 

Applying the  'Effects model' theory to this music video: 
- The male in the video is violent towards a vulnerable female This can linked to the stereotype of men being stronger and more dominant than woman and woman being emotionally vulnerable .This can be seen when the husband is denoted as abusing his wife  and she is seen crying. This stereotype is reinforced by the idea that this is stereotype 'injected' by the media, which leads audiences to believe that woman are weaker than men. However there is a positive outcome of the story line within this music video, as the husband was reported to the police by the brave young girl. The video conveys domestic violence to be wrong, which is also an 'injected' idea put into audiences head by audience also the idea that there is always help. The creators of the music video intended to evoke an emotional response of the audience which was again 'injected' by the narrative of it.


Applying the 'Uses and Gratifications' theory to this music video:
 - This can be watched by the artist's fan as a source of entertainment. The audience may be able to relate to the situation and not feel so alone and talk with someone (social interaction) or people may be more open to helping others. Audience now have the information to seek help by the refuge appeal.
There is strong message that domestic violence is wrong, reinforcing moral values as audience may view domestic violence differently and more seriously. Encourages people to stand up for their rights if they are in the situation which is a positive outcome as the audience feel gratified. 

I then independently went on to choose a music video of my choice, which I also analysed using the theories. I chose the video 'Same love' Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft Mary Lambert. 





This video follows the theme of sexuality and personal identity. The video tells the story of a male teenager facing troubles with his sexuality and the outcome of his struggle to be accepted as who he is. 

Applying the  'Effects model' theory to this music video: 
 -The video has a positive message towards homosexuality, the couples conveyed in the video are happy and proud to be who they are. The video shows people that may be in the same situation and that all will be alright. It conveys the message that homophobia can lead to gay or lesbian couples to have difficult situations in their life. The video is from the perspective of a homosexual man and the journey of his happiness, it gives a positive message to the audience as it shows that everyone should be accepted as who they are.

Applying the  'Uses and Gratifications' theory to this music video: 
-The message of the video dominates as it encourages people to be proud of who they are, encouraging homosexual people to proud and for heterosexual people to be more accepting of homosexuals as they are the same. The video can also help people speak out about other societal discrimination such as race to help encourage other people to be more accepted. People can talk more about what they want to do with their lives and how they wish to live it. Video can be used to entertainment purposes as a feel good video. The video can cause social interaction between people about gay rights and homosexuality.

Introduction

Rumena Ahmed
Candidate Number: 3008
Studying at:  Sixth Form @ Swakeleys.  A2. 

Doing Media Studies AS has allowed me to use my skills to elaborate on analysing media texts, creating and editing Media films and trailers. During the course of Media Studies, I have studied TV drama; in which gained skills to differentiate the codes and conventions used, also analyse the Mise-en-scene. Also gained knowledge to analyse what makes a TV drama, such as the use of Sound, Editing, Cinematography and Camera shots and angles. I am able to use these skills to analyse the representations shown in media texts; such as Disablity, Ethnicity, Age, Sexuality, Gender, Regional Identity.

Another topic we learnt during the AS course of Media Studies was about the Music industry, comparing the UK music industry with the US music industry, also researching and finding out about the four key elements which is the Production Chain; which helps the Music industry sell its product. The four key elements of the Production chain are; Production,Marketing,Distribution and Consumption. With the use of the Production chain, we was able to research and compare Independent record labels and Mass US record labels in the US.  We also learnt about the issues within the Media industry, such as piracy, illegal downloads and how this effects the music industry.

In addition, during the coursework side of the AS Media Studies course, I learnt to research, prepare and evaluate opening credits and short film sequences.  I learnt editing and production skills; which now will be able to help me doing A2 Media Studies, which I will be keeping a record of my progress on this blog. I will be showing evidence of research whilst doing coursework tasks.