Above is the first draft of the performance segment of our music video.

Overall, I felt our shoots were a success as we were well prepared, we captured a wide variety of shots and most of the shots we chose to use were in focus. However, for future shoots I do feel we need to be capture more shots of our star moving through the frame.

Reflecting on this first draft, I like the filters and effects that we were able to experiment with, I think most of the lip syncing is well matched and the MES reflected the genre and artists star image successfully.

However there are definitely improvements to be made. Some of these include:

• Adding effects and filters throughout so there’s consistency.
• Experiment with transitions and more video effects to add electro-pop dynamics to the video.
• Improve the scale and position of our artist on certain shots as she isn’t particularly well placed in certain clips.
• Capture more movement through the frame, extreme close ups and more angles within the shots we take as the video is slightly repetitive at the moment.

We had two shoots for the performance half of our video. They were of varying success.

Our first shoot didn’t go very smoothly as our model was unprepared in knowing the lyrics of the song so therefore we struggled to get good lip syncing shots. We overcame this by helping her with the lyrics as much as possible, for example on the extreme close up on her mouth, I was able to hold up the lyrics for her to read from. I do feel, however, that we effectively shared the roles out as we all filmed and gave directions.

Our next shoot was in the bunker at Pleinmont and I feel like this went much better, as our model knew the lyrics, the atmosphere matched the themes of our video and we managed to get some shots we were very happy with.

Below are some photos, evidencing our time and work at both of these shoots.

After looking at our footage we have some targets for future shoots:

• Make sure we have prepared our model well, in terms of making sure they have learnt the lyrics to the song.
• Make sure our shots are in focus, clear and well-lit.
• Capture a wider variety of shots including high angles, extreme close ups and more movement shots.

In our first shoot for our performance we aim to get clear, focused shots with a variety of angles and movement within the frame as well as with the camera. We aim to convey the electro-pop genre of the song and convey our artists moody, energetic and edgy star image.

Please click to view the full production meeting agenda.

The risk assessment is an important part of preparing for our shoot as we need to assess the potential situations that could arise, so we are safe. I feel we are now well prepared for our shoot, and any risks that we are exposing ourselves to.

Please click to view the document.

The star image is important how the star is represented in our video is crucial in constructing values, attitudes and beliefs of the artist in the mind of the target audience.

The primary purpose of a music video is to promote the star in order to sell their music and ultimately make money.

Richard Dyer talks about the paradox of the star and how a star image is made up of an artist appearing extraordinary yet ordinary and relatable at the same time.

Here is the moodboard that comprises of Au/Ra’s star image and all of the components of how she presents herself.

Click to view the full moodboard.

This will be helpful when constructing our performers star image as we will use some of these ideas in our music video. Therefore the star image will match the sound of the artist and be as good a fit as possible. We aim to make our performer’s star image be moody, edgy and energetic.

The electro-pop genre has conventional shots in the performance of a music video. The performance is important for the artists star image, so these shots help to convey the edgy, dark and mysterious star image of those artists within the electro-pop genre.

Electo-pop music videos generally have a mixture of shots in length. They are generally edited to the music so you have longer, slower shots when the pace of the music is slower and when the electronic atmosphere kicks in the pace quickens and the shots get shorter and sharper.

The mixture of shots collected below are all from the electro-pop genre and all help to convey key aspects of an artists star image. It is important to use some of these conventional shots and movement within my music video, as well as some other shots to make sure my video is the same but different.

For copyright purposes, it is important to ask for permission from the artist to use their song. We messaged the artist, asking for permission, and explaining that this is for purely educational purposes.

A screenshot of the message we sent to the artist Au/Ra.

After coming to a decision about our final song we brainstormed  ideas and eventually created this pitch to present to our teacher.

From this discussion we were able to come away and reflect on the feedback given.

Positives:

• Liked the song, and the meaning behind the lyrics.
• Like the very simple performance.
• The sheets idea in the black studio is good as it conveys the trapped idea.
• Like the idea of her escaping at the end, pushing doors open to an eternal light.
• Like the locations – underground hospital, vale castle and a container.
• Good use of two models – one performer and one who carries out the narrative.

Targets:

• It will be difficult to have just mainly close ups in the black studio for the performance as our performer would need to be amazing and very expressive in order for this to work. So we should use some different shots and locations for our performance.
• We could use tights as props to construct a stretchy spiders web. This is a great idea to reflect the feelings of being trapped.
• Think about a resolution. Does she escape?
• Have three locations for the narrative as people like things in threes.
• Could use a big storage container.
• Could still incorporate the steps and stairs continual idea.

It is important to understand the demographics and psychographics of our target audience before starting to create our music video. This is the case so we can produce a video that will best suit them and their interests.

Blumler and Katz’ theory of the uses and gratifications of media helps us to understand what our target audience are looking for from our music video. They give four reasons as to people’s consumption of media – information, personal identity, entertainment and social interaction.

Hall also has ideas about audiences. He states that all media texts are encoded by directors, producers and creators and then these messages and ideas are decoded by the audience. If this is not done successfully, the audience rejects what was intended to be communicated and this is called oppositional reading.

We found, during our research that our audience demographic are female millenials. Below is the moodboard we created, using our research on YouGov into our target audience.

Our final song choice is Panic Room by Au/Ra.

We chose this song for the following reasons…

• We all wanted to create a video with a darker and more sinister theme, and wanted to avoid a song about love and heartbreak.
• We thought that we would be able to construct a video with a simple narrative and performance, although still effective.
• We all enjoy listening to the song which is important when we are going to be editing our video and listening to the song repeatedly.
• When I pitched the idea to the group they immediately started coming up with ideas and we think that this song will enable us to be creative and create a music video to the best of our abilities.