Summer project

Summer project tasks

1) Research: music videos

You need to write a 150-word close-textual analysis of SIX music videos that will inform your production work. The music videos you analyse are up to you but focus on a different aspect of media language for each one (see guidance below).  

Music videos

Music Video 1: Narrative
How is narrative used in the music video and what impact does this have on the audience? Can you apply any narrative theories to the story in the music video?

The music video I chose for narrative is you belong with me by taylor swift. The lyrics of the song, which is about a girl falling in love with her male best friend who is seeing someone else. This is a story of youthful (teenage) love, and the setting of the song is high school. The narrative starts as the girl (Taylor) sees her male friend arguing on the phone with his girlfriend. The male and taylor communicate with writing on their sketchpads and holding it to each other. Taylor sings how she is different from his girlfriend and that she's the one that has truly liked him from the start. We can apply Todorov's equilibrium theory to this narrative. The equilibrium is when Taylor likes her male friend however he has a girlfriend. The disequilibrium is when his girlfriend cheats on him at the rugby game with one of the other rugby players. Later that night, he then asks Taylor if she is going to the school dance however she says no. The new equilibrium is that Taylor surprisingly shows up to the dance to see her male friend, and they kiss at the end.

Music Video 2: Camerawork (shots, angles, movement)
Look for particular camera shots and movement - remember that movement is a critical convention of most music videos and camerawork can contribute to this. 

The music video I chose for camerawork is when the party is over by billie eilish. This music video is a one shot video. At the beginning of the video, Billie Eilish is seated in a vacant space. The camera slowly zooms out of a closeup shot of the glass of black goo and then shows a medium shot of billie and the table in front of her. The camera pans away from her face and back . The tears begin when she gulps down a cup of black liquid that is resting on the table in front of her. Black goo streaming from her eyes stains her clothes. At the end of the video, the floor is covered in the liquid as the camera pans downward.

Music Video 3: Mise-en-scene
What do you notice about the use of mise-en-scene to create meanings for the audience? Use CLAMPS to help you here and think in particular about how mise-en-scene is used to communicate the genre of music and the personality or brand identity of the band/artist.

The music video I chose for mise en scene is Look what you made me do by Taylor Swift. The genre of this music video is pop, and it consists of a lot of codes and conventions of a pop music video. It's shown where throughout the whole music video Taylor Swift wears a lot of bright clothing as well as vibrant, bold makeup, which stands out. At the beginning of the music video, the lighting is dark and the location is set in a haunted graveyard. It reveals a gravestone, "here lies Taylor's reputation" engraved onto it. This portrays the real life negativity, and hate Taylor gets from the public/audience. There is lots of use of expensive props such as jewellery (+ bath full of diamonds), a Lamborghini car and the setting in general throughout seems very luxurious; these props and use of setting shows off the artist's wealth. The colour gold is seen multiple times, if not, throughout the whole video, again showing her wealth and also could reflect Taylor's fame and achievement. In one scene, she is wearing a bold red dress, which connotate danger, showing her as dangerous. There are lots of snakes in this scene, maybe referring to the two faced, fake people that she may have encountered during her career. Taylor flaunts her wealth again by using an expensive gold car in the music video. The car crashes and then she sits unbothered while the paparazzi keep clicking pictures of her, showing she doesn't care at all as she's rich; showing off that she's wealthy to the audience.

Music Video 4: Editing
For editing, analyse pace, transitions, the number of shots and juxtaposition. How does the music video create pace and excitement - or does it create a different effect for the audience?  

The music video I chose for editing is "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish. The fast, rhythmic cuts in the video match the tempo of the music. This maintains the audience's interest while reflecting the upbeat, discordant tone of the song. Jump cuts and rapid transitions complement the quirky, unconventional vibe of the music while enhancing the sense of surprise. The video uses montage scenes to tell a playful, somewhat jumbled story. These montages include a variety of weird images, such as Billie dancing in an oddly brightly lighted space or surrounded by random props, among other crazy circumstances.

Music Video 5: Conventions

Think back to our Introduction to Music Video and our work on Andrew Goodwin's theory on music video conventions as part of the Ghost Town CSP. How many key conventions of music video can you find in your fifth music video example?

The music video I chose for conventions is doin time by lana del rey. Out of 7 of the conventions of Goodwin's theory, I think only 4 apply. The video, which takes place in Los Angeles, California, starts with Lana, dressed like a giant, which shows intertextual references the 1958 science fiction picture Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, lying in an empty Los Angeles River channel. It contains notions of looking (e.g. screens within screens); Lana (as the giant) was on the big screen where everyone was watching (outdoor cinema). It includes objectification of females (e.g. male gaze), as the female was wearing revealing clothes that reveal most her chest and a short dress. Finally, it includes demands of the record label (close ups of lead singer, symbols or motifs associated with the band / performer etc.). Lana del rey was in her music video singing which demands of the record label.

Music Video 6: Visual effects, intertextuality or product placement

Choose a video that has interesting visual effects or intertextuality and analyse the effect this creates and how it is constructed. Alternatively, you could look at product placement here and see how a band or artist has incorporated a brand or product into their video. 

The music video I chose for intertexuality is formation by beyonce. Beyoncé refers to Hurricane Katrina in the opening scene of Formation. She is seen riding on top of a partially flooded New Orleans police car, which may make reference to the policing during the storm given that the majority of those left behind were poor ethnic minorities. Beyonce uses her dress code to further establish herself as a citizen of New Orleans, portraying herself as one of the hurricane's victims, criticising social commentary, and highlighting the failings of the American police force. Beyoncé drowns while riding in a police car in the later part of the video. This symbolises the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina, when a large number of New Orleans police officers abandoned their jobs in order to cover up the killings and deaths of Black civilians. Beyoncé also makes use of the theme and allusions to police brutality. She does this by playing a brief scene of graffiti on a wall that reads, "Stop Shooting Us." This states that black people must beg and plead for the violence to stop, and it also makes reference to recent incidents in which black men have been killed by police. A young black boy dancing in front of a queue of white police officers wearing riot gear represents another example of police brutality and serves to emphasise that they will always be in charge.

2) Planning: music video treatment

A treatment is like a script for a music video - it tells the band or artist exactly what will happen in the video and the kind of style or effect the video will have. You'll need choose what song you are going to use at this point - remember, you can use an existing artist's work but it needs to be appropriate for the brief. 

You can find further music video treatment guidance here plus an example of a genuine director's treatment for the brilliant alt-J video Breezeblocks. 

For this aspect of your summer project, write a basic treatment that gives your reader a good idea of what your three-minute video will look like. The most important thing is to keep in mind the brief - the music video must feature the artist or band (likely to be a performance element) plus a focus on footwear for the sponsorship deal specified in the brief. 

Start your treatment with the following key details: 

1) Artist/band and song you will use for your video

2) Original name for artist/band you have created - MUST be completely original

Feather-- Sabrina Carpenter

Feather-- i5hm44t

Opening scene: 

• The title will feature. 
• The music video will start off with a medium shot of the girl (me). 
• The camera will slowly pan out of her. 

Scene 1: 

• A girl singing while walking around outside.
• Zoom into phone revealing messages
• Actions match lyrics- "I slam the door, hit ignore... I got you blocked"-- pop up messages ignored and contact blocked
• Friends warn not to message the contact and just have fun
• Camera zooms out and focuses on the girl singing again

Scene 2:

• Me and friends playing pillow fights and playing activities (slow motion effect)
• Girl singing again
• Camera loses focus and shows a small montage of me and my friends
• Camera zooms in on girl singing again

Scene 3:

• Small montage of me and friends
• Girls dressing up, doing makeup
• Camera pans horizontally
• Focus on girl singing again
• Boy comes with flowers to apologise
• The girl rejects him- "I'm so sorry for your loss"

Scene 4:

• Girls going out, having fun + slow motion added to some scenes
• Shaky camera movement
• Handheld camera
• Live photo booth pictures
• Outro

3) Statement of Intent

Write the first draft for your genuine 500-word Statement of Intent. This will be submitted to the exam board alongside your media products and is worth 10 marks of the overall 60 marks available.

The original AQA brief is here: NEA Student Booklet - Brief 4.    

We also strongly recommend you look at our Statement of Intent questions to consider document too (you'll need to log in with your Greenford Google account to read this). 

This is just your first draft of the statement so try and keep it under 500 words if you can. That will leave a bit of room to add later when you do your next draft.

The music video I chose to recreate is the song "Feathers" by Sabrina Carpenter. I will be creating a three minute music video featuring her song, and aims to help appeal to a mainstream audience that watches pop genre songs. 

Sabrina has record labels of Island Records and Hollywood Records. This song promotes the release of the album "Emails I can't send". In addition, this music video sponsors the footwear Nike. The original name that I have created for the artist is "i5hm44t". My original music magazine name is "Sequined". 

I will be meeting the brief by filming at two different locations, using a variety of camerawork (including ) and mise en scene components to establish to present the characters in an enthusiastic manner, and to make my music video appealing to my target audience. Some editing techniques that I will be including are montages, jump cuts, cut on action, slow motion, and will include variety of framing shots such as close ups, medium/long shots, using high and low angles. 

In my music magazine, I will be creating four pages which consists of a front cover, that features the artist and song, following a two page interview, and finally one more page to include some images and world tour pictures/ information about the artist. A page will include a small montage of photo shoot images to show off the artist. Furthermore, I will be making a section in the magazine to promote the sponsorship of the Nike footwear, which will be shown in the music video itself. 

My main idea for this music video is to convey a girl's freedom after breaking ties from her toxic relationship, which makes her feel light as a feather. This would appeal to teenage audiences, specifically girls aged 12-19 years old. The song differs from more traditional pop themes in that it focuses on feelings of frustration and personal development. 

I want to convey dominant representations, that challenge gender stereotypes. I can apply Steve Neal's difference and repetition genre theory; the audience will recognise the pop genre of the song (repetition), however the song focuses on self development in contrast to typical pop genre songs. Typically, males feature heavily in the music videos of female artists, either to fangirl over the males or to make women appear like they belong to men by dressing or acting a certain way in order to appeal to male viewers. However, the song "Feathers" goes against those theories (Mulvey's male gaze) and breaks the patriarchal stereotypes, and that women can have freedom and are not for men's pleasures, which makes this song have different features in contrast to others. 

Another theory I can apply is Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory. Her theory describes how women are regularly objectified in the media as a way to pleasure male viewers. Instead of focusing on her physical appearances, she subverts the male gaze by moving the attention from objectification to individualism and self love. The music video departs from traditional male centric storytelling by emphasising on themes of personal growth and self-determination instead of romantic or sexual scenarios.

The whole idea of the song is to celebrate freedom from toxicity and teenage girls enjoying their youth; this may encourage the teenage audience to not worry about not being in relation ships and spend their youth years enthusiastically. The demographics suitable would be C1/2 (skilled manual workers and lower middle class workers). The psychographics that fit and would be suitable to the target audience would be Succeeders (goal orientated, confidence), Explorer (autonomy, experience and challenge) and Reformer (freedom from restriction, personal growth, value for time, natural simplicity). 

I can apply Blumler and Katz's theory of uses and gratification theory as some viewers may find themselves reflected in the music video, which demonstrates personal identity. Diversion, as the audience could be listening to the song to escape from their everyday problems, or just listen to it for entertainment.

My target audience can easily access the music video on YouTube, as it's a free streaming platform that is used all over the world. The song can also be promoted on other social media apps, such as instagram and tiktok. Those two social media apps are more suitable to be promoted on as they are commonly used by the younger demographic audience. Music will be available on Spotify and Soundcloud.

4) Ignite presentation

Prepare a 5-minute, 20-slide presentation using the Ignite format in which you present your coursework project. In effect, this is your statement of intent in presentation format. You must cover:

• Your music video and music magazine concept: your new original artist, genre, song and music video treatment. Then, your print brief: music magazine title, double page feature, additional page, photo shoot etc.
• Media language: how you will use music video conventions and music magazine conventions - e.g. camerawork, editing and mise-en-scene to create meanings for your audience. 
• Media representations: how you will use or subvert stereotypes in your music video and music magazine; applications of representation theory; social and cultural contexts - how your coursework will reflect contemporary media culture and society.
• Media audiences: your target audience demographics and psychographics; audience pleasures - why they would enjoy your music video and magazine; audience theory if relevant.
• Media industries and digital convergence: the potential record company that would promote your band or artist; the publisher for your music magazine; the brand identity for your artist; how fans would engage with your products etc.

Ignite presentations have very specific rules: you must create exactly 20 slides with each slide set to 15-second auto-advance. This means your presentation will be exactly five minutes followed by questions and comments from the class. You will deliver your presentation on your coursework planning in the first week back in September.

Your Ignite presentation will be marked out of 30 on the following criteria (each worth a possible 5 marks):

1) Research (through the presentation AND your blog - make sure it is posted before you present) 
2) Coursework concept
3) Language: terminology and theory
4) Representations / social and cultural contexts
5) Audience and Industry / digital convergence
6) Presentation delivery

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1h9_sVnaZhky8x7fb-3L3cQAaVzJGXgTgoLn3MCA7nGU/edit?pli=1#slide=id.g2faff8d1e16_0_25