Audience Feedback

 3 Positive Comments:

I am extremely happy with these comments, it's supportive to know that people enjoy the product that I have created. It is also great to know that the video has been successful even though it challenged so many genre conventions. I am glad that audiences appreciate the product and I am happy that not only does the video appeal to indie audiences, but appeals to a variety of audiences.


3 Constructive Comments:


Amy Palmer 19:  I love it, what happens next!! I want to see more of the artist, didn't really get why she was in the forest tbh.

II    Perhaps some audience members may not understand why certain locations were chosen, however I wouldn't change this because when planning my music video I felt that a deserted forest would represent the artist's state of mind, plus it is a naturalistic setting which relates to the indie genre. 

David Watson 40: Why does there have to be smoking? Bit of a bad influence on kids that might be watching this.

Although our use of iconography may be controversial, it is the whole purpose of the narrative. I wanted to show throughout the music video the effect that drugs, alcohol and relationships can have on an individual - this narrative could not have been clear with the use of specific iconography. The themes involved in my music video perhaps may not appeal to an older audience, however these themes could appeal and possibly relate to our target audience.

Paul Marks 28: This is great, seems professional yet if I'm being picky at times the camera appears a bit shakey? Don't know if you wanna sort that out or not.

Paul's comment is a valid one, and I agree that stabilisation definitely makes a music video look more professional, however this is not the style I was going for. I wanted to portray an unstable relationship therefore I felt that unstable camera movement would help portray this. As much as I agree with Paul's comment, I wouldn't alter the stabilisation within my music video as it contributes to the narrative.


Overall I am extremely happy with the feedback as it seems that audiences are enjoying my product. As a media producer this kind of feedback makes the hard work feel worthwhile. I appreciate the positive and the negative comments since everybody is untitled to their own opinion, and as much as I agree with the constructive comments, I wouldn't want to change my product as I am very happy with it's outcome. I think there is an evident improvement from the rough cut to the final product.

Evaluation (Part 4)

Evaluation (Part 3)

Evaluation (Part 2)

Evaluation (Part 1)

For our A2 media project our task was to create a music video that would appeal to a
particular target audience. I worked on this alongside my group members: Drew Wyllie,
Jenna Van Bergen and Rhianna Maclaey. My role within the group was mainly on the
practical side - I did a lot of work contributing to the story boarding and editing process.I
was also the artist that was being promoted within the video, therefore I contributed to the
representation of the artist. I think our group worked very well together as we had a great
blend of characters and qualities. Some members were strong researchers, some were
creative and some had a greater knowledge regarding the technologies that we were using
- therefore as a group it think our individual strengths helped and benefitted each other.

The brief was to create a music video to a song of my choice. Music videos are visual creations that are made to promote a song. Music videos generally follow the conventions of the music genre that is being promoted in order to appeal to the appropriate target audience. However, music videos sometimes break the stereotypical conventions in order to appear unique or attract a wider audience. Not only do music videos promote a song, but they also promote the artist. Music videos provide
the audience with a clearer understanding of the artist's personality and style, therefore
allowing the audience to build a relationship with the artist and their music. There are three types of music video:



Performance: a performance based music video is a way to show off the artist's performing skills, whether that be through singing or dancing. For example - Beyonce's 'Single Ladies' music video is a performance based video as it purely shows her singing and dancing, informing audiences that she is a very talented performer.




Narrative: a narrative based music video is one that tells a story. Usually these videos involve a large variety of locations and iconography with a more movie-like feel to it. Some artists prefer music videos like this as they like to promote their music rather than themselves. For example Ed Sheeran's 'Give Me Love' is a narrative based music video as it doesn't involve Sheeran performing. It tells the story of a lonely girl who takes on a 'cupid' role of making others fall in love. Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' is a good example of a music video that has such a dominant narrative that it gives off a movie feel. However this music video also involves a strong element of performance with Jackson singing and dancing.

Concept: a concept based music video is one that sells a theme, moral of ideology to the audience. However, a concept is usually displayed in a narrative or performance based video. And of course a music video can be a mix of all styles of music video. For example the music video to Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful' follows a blend of all three styles above: with a performance segment of Aguilera singing, a narrative of people being ashamed of who and what they are, but a concept of that everybody is beautiful.

Picture: Christina Aguilera performing the song.

Picture: Two homosexual men displaying the concept of the video
– not being ashamed or embarrassed of yourself.

Picture: A girl smiling to explain the narrative of the video 
– over coming self doubt and embracing who you are.

My chosen music is indie/alternative pop. I chose this music genre because I wanted to go for something less predictable so that I could make my video look more authentic, therefore my group and I chose this genre as it is less mainstream. I wanted an upbeat song that doesn't follow the very popular dance genre, a song that still maintains an acoustic feel, therefore "The Apple Tree" by Nina Nesbitt. The typical codes and conventions of an indie music video would be to display the artist's musical talents through performance based scenes, and to portray a sense of normality so that the artist is represented as a singer/songwriter rather than an image or a product. It is also conventional in an indie music video to display a narrative in order to emphasise that meaning of the song. Indie artists also tend to portray a slight quirkiness within their music video or their representation in order to appear unique and individual and therefore break away from the mainstream.

Indie characteristics are demonstrated within Nina Nesbitt's music videos. Besides the simultaneously quirky yet ordinary feel to her "Stay Out" music video, Nina is also displayed playing a guitar whilst singing. This piece of iconography is expected in an indie music video as it promotes the music and the talent of the artist, rather than selling the artist as a product. Along with the performance segments, there is also a clear narrative to the music video, which is displaying a group of friends staying out and having fun together. Nina is represented as a very ordinary girl in this music video. She is presented in very casual clothing, such as a leather jacket and jeans, surrounded by ordinary friends. Her normality is relatable to the target audience (15-25 year olds) and follows people to admire her and aspire to be like her. This relationship that is built with the artist is what sells the song and the creativity of the music video, which is therefore conventional to the indie genre. This understanding of the conventions assisted me with planning the music video as it made me realise that I wanted to break away from Nina Nesbitt's characteristics to make the video my own, yet still maintain elements of indie within our music video. This would then hopefully attract more audiences and be relatable to them.

When planning the music video I decided that I wanted to consider some of the codes and conventions of the indie genre, but also challenge them. Rather than following the upbeat feel to Nina Nesbitt's song "The Apple Tree", my group and I decided that we were going to give out music video a darker storyline with an edgy style. We decided to follow a 'grunge' styles when deciding what to wear. My outfit's and hairstyles were inspired by Rihanna's look in the "We Found Love" love music video. This challenges the stereotypical indie 'look' and is most probably more conventional to the rock genre, however this style works with our narrative. Usually indie music videos use very simple and natural editing styles in order to give a naturalistic feel, however I used many effects and a fast-pace editing style to challenge to challenge the conventions of indie and because again it worked well with the song and our narrative. The concept displays how the influence of relationships, drugs and alcohol can effect individuals. My group and I felt that this narrative worked well with the lyrics of the song and therefore was conventional to the indie genre in the sense that the meaning of the song was being promoted. An indie convention that I did follow was a performance section (with the artist singing and playing guitar) in order to promote the artist as a singer/songwriter rather than an image. The performance sections are evident mainly in the beginning of the video and occasionally throughout. These sections were filmed in a deserted forest - a naturalistic setting that relates to the indie genre. I also felt that the isolation in the forest represents the loneliness of the artist. This appeals to an indie audience as it represents the artist as a genuine musician rather than an image.

Final Music Video

Group Digipak

Group Advert

Digipak Reflection

My aim for my digipak was to make it relatable to the music video and the target audience. Much like music videos, digipaks also represent artists and are supposed to display their image and personality. Like I did with my advert, I used photographs that were taken throughout the performance section of the music video so that both products would link. Here is my completed digipak:

I used photoshop CS6 to edit this digipak. I wanted the design to be similar to my advert so that the two products would relate to eachother. I followed indie genre conventions by using simplistic photographs and simplistic editing styles. However, I incorporated an edgy flavour by using distressed brick walls and graffiti, scruffy fonts and ripped paper in order to give a poster style (much like my advert design). Using these elements also adds quirk and youthfulness which would appeal to teenagers and young adults. I wanted to incorporate the guitar within the digipak as it promotes the artist as a singer/songwriter and musician rather than an image. This definitely follows the conventions of indie. On the front cover of my digipak I deliberately made the image of me darker and the name brighter. This is quite common and conventional within the indie genre as indie artists like to be known for their music and their name rather than their image.

Advert Reflection

As a group we decided to each design our own advert so that we could compare and gain inspiration from each other. It is important to design your advert first in order to investigate what works well and meets the codes and conventions and what doesn't. Here is an image of our individual adverts (my design is on the far left):

From the start I had this idea that I wanted a brick wall within my design as I feel that a distressed brick wall gives a 'grungy/indie' vibe which is very conventional to our chosen genre. I also felt that by using graffiti we could demonstrate the unique twist that we are trying to portray within our project as graffiti isn't really conventional to indie, its more conventional to the urban genre. I also wanted to incorporate my guitar within the advert because instruments are conventional to the indie genre. I think the use of instruments promotes the artist as a singer/songwriter rather than an image which is conventional to the indie genre. 

However I also liked Drew's design. I liked his 'poster' concept as I thought that that was a creative way to display the typography. Therefore we decided to combine our designs:

This is my final design:

I am very pleased with my design as it actually turned out better than I though it would. I used Photoshop CS6 to edit my design. I used photos of myself that my group and I took whilst we were filming. It is important to organise a photoshoot when producing an advert as it gives you the opportunity to promote your artist the way that you want, using codes, conventions and genre characteristics to make the photos and the artist relatable to the target audience. I also used a photo of a brick wall that I previously took. 

Within my final design I cropped the photograph of myself, allowing the brick wall to be visible behind it. This gives that 'poster' look that I admired from Drew's design, however still maintains the same layout as my design. I used the font 'Chalkboard' as it looked like the type of writing that you could find on a brick wall. I decided to incorporate a comment from NME as positive comments like this reassures the audience and persuades them to buy the product. I also used a tag line "Featuring the hit single 'The Apple Tree'". This is something that I noticed a lot of album advertisements use and I thought that it would promote the music video also. I like the combination and the contrast between the 'urban/grunge' styled brick wall and the 'indie' feel to the photograph with the use of instruments. Using genre characteristics I think that this design would be relatable to indie audiences, however the 'grungy' edge makes the design original and unique and could be relatable to other audiences aswell.  

Film Schedule

Risk Assessment

It is important to consider risks before our group begins filming, as health and safety is our priority; making sure everyone remains unharmed by the end of filming, otherwise we run the risk of filming and not being completed due to an accident occurring. A risk assessment is carried out in order to reduce the chance of injury happening. As a group we had to assess our locations for potential risks and consider a plan to reduce the risk and document the process. An example being, the risk of theft by surrounding people in rough areas such as Camden and Brick Lane. The way in which we would handle this risk is to wear the safety straps on at all time, so that the equipment is attached to one of the group members, which also in fact reduces the risk of dropping the equipment causing damage.

A risk assessment will assist me when filming as the chance of either myself, Georgia, Drew, Rhianna or any additional characters from becoming injured during the filming process. Obviously being the people filming, we not only have to look out for ourselves and the team, but we are also liable for general public's safety, eg. not leaving equipment out for anyone to trip over. The risk assessment is also clarification that you cannot be held responsible for any accidents if all have been analysed, unless one risk has not been. 

The only additional risks encountered during filming was in the forest, with branches randomly placed on the fall, increasing the risk of Georgia tripping whilst performing. Another being, during Georgia's performance when seen sitting on an unstable fence. In order to avoid both risks, we had to make sure her walking path was clear of anything that could potentially cause her harm, as well as test the if the fence could support Georgia's weight when sitting on it. If we did not test this risk then there was a big possibility the fence could collapse and Georgia may have fallen into the lake. Luckily everything went to plan and all group members remained unharmed.

Description of Hazard	Prevention of Hazard
Falling in between the gap at a train station, when stepping from the platform onto the train.	Ensure all group members stand behind the yellow line on the platform at all times. Also, make sure that the group are aware of surrounding people whether the platforms busy or quiet and the people getting on and off the train.
Risk of falling into the canal.	Make sure Georgia and Drew walk slowly and carefully when   approaching the canal. Ensure that when position themselves they do not step too near to the edge.
Being hit by motor vehicles when crossing the roads.	Ensure that Georgia and Drew cross the roads safely by either looking both ways repeatedly when crossing or to cross at traffic lights if available.
Damage inflicted to the camera.	Make sure all the safety straps are securely fastened onto my wrist at all times during filming. If the camera is placed onto the tripod, ensure that the tripod itself is held to prevent it being knocked over.
Risk caused by the surrounding diverse people, with the possible risk of theft.	Make sure all equipment is kept at a close distance and are kept safe by all group members, particularly me being the cameraman, reducing the risk of theft. Another prevention is so wear safety straps on at all times.
Risk of team members or surrounding people tripping over the equipment eg. The tripod.	Make sure everyone stays out of the equipment zone. This will require extra team members helping to direct the general public around the equipment ensuring everyone remains safe and unharmed.
Health risk to Georgia and Drew when smoking.	Make sure the characters are not to inhale the smoke too much and are not around it for too long. We could always use an E-cigarette as an alternative, however would not have the same effect.

Storyboard

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is the purpose of a storyboard?

 

The story board itself has a effect role in ordering the shots which we aim to cover. The story board for any media film plans the footage from start to finish and allows the crew members to be organized and know what needs to be filmed and how long for. The storyboard covers what actors are in what shots, how long the frame lasts and also the type of editing needed. As a group we were made away of how to execute the shot with precision and knew what we wanted the outcome to appear like. The production process is made more efficient by using the story boards and therefore is a useful tool to use when producing a music video. Our ideas were put onto paper, and then the storyboard is a final over view before we take our ideas to be filmed. The story boards additional purpose was also to change and improve our original ideas as a group and see what will look the best and make our video more successful for our target audience.

 

How did you use your primary and secondary research that you carried out, to plan your music video?

Overall our research contacted was mainly focused on what our target audience would find aesthetically pleasing. We wanted to include as many aspects as we could that our target audience would want to see and what they liked based on the findings from our vox pops and questionnaires. The findings of our research was therefore heavily influential when creating our storyboards as we aimed to create a specific style to our music video The content within the video was found enjoyable by our target audience and we used this when creating our story board. The performance was also covered in the story boards as we knew that the audience of 13 to 24 year olds would be extremely interested in the visual performance as well as the narrative. We incorporated this into the story board and aimed to build a relationship between the lyrics being sung and the on screen visuals.

 

 

How did you and your group storyboard your music video?

 

Creating the storyboard together allowed all of us to have a say in how we wanted our music video to appear. We kept in mind specific aspects of our video from the research and tried to include ideas from all group members. We wanted a variety of shots, and knew that to include the instrument would mean we were appealing to the indie music genre convention. We wanted to throughly plan our video before we took it too filming, and we also had a discussion of how and when we would film each piece to insure our time was most effective. Overall the message from all group members was that we wanted to put what the public said into our video, convey to genres and also keep in mind the visual and artist relationship which we of course wanted to be strong.

 

 

How did you share the responsibility?

 

We were each assigned a role and created specific parts of the story boards in pairs. This made the discussion regarding what and when we wanted to film more intimate, and we could spend our time more efficiently whilst taking in turns to create each frame. I drew the images whilst other group members talked and dictated what should go when. We already had an idea of what we wanted, therefore sharing the responsibility was easily as we had a common goal of what we wanted and knew how we wanted the video to look and what would appeal to our target audience and the indie/pop music genre.  This uniformed process ensured that we were all happy with the storyboards.

 

Did you follow your storyboards, or did you make changes?

 

We pretty much followed the storyboard, yet in the editing process some footage was swapped around simply because it fit better and would look more visually pleasing. We all shared the same vision of how we wanted the video to appear. The storyboards allowed us to stay focused and we knew we could always refer back to it. We planned the time well, and didn't change how long we wanted each clip to play for. The story board for the performance was particularly helpful and we kept to our plan as it was well thought through. We did make some changes, for example in the apple tree panning shots we picked more footage up in Camden so inserted it alongside the pub sign. This was done so we could build a stronger link with the audience and also incorporate more of an indie alternative edge into the video. In conclusion we mostly did conform to our plan however the narrative did evolve slightly and was improved which overall made our video more conventional to the indie genre and was more of a success.

Rough Cut

A rough cut is important to consider as it allows you to understand what direction the music video is going in, therefore allowing you to make a clear judgement and understand what the strengths and weaknesses are of the music video. It is a good idea to share a rough cut with audiences so that you can gain audience feedback. This is helpful to understand what parts of the music video audiences enjoy and can relate to. Likewise, you can gain an understanding of what parts of the music video need improving.

We recieved feedback by uploading our music video to youtube. I then promoted this by sharing the youtube link on facebook:

I chose to post the video on facebook as facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites, therefore by doing this our video would be presented to a wider audience and gain more feedback. I recieved very positive comments on this link and also many likes.

I did recieve some constructive critisim also, such as: "Perhaps you could alter the contrast/colour within the death scene to make it look more tense and proffesional". This is definitely something I will take into consideration as I would like the death scene to be as powerful as possible. Somebody also suggested altering the titles to make it look more proffesional. Again this is something I will take into consideration as I wanted to music video to look as proffesional as possible, however I would like to keep the large 'Georgia Ray' title as this style of title is very modern as tends to appear alot in recent music videos.

From watching the rough cut, I would personally like to make some alterations to the final sequence after the bonfire section. Rather than showing clips of drugs and alcohol, I think it would be nicer to show memories of the artist and her boyfriend when they were together. I think that showing drugs and alcohol after the boyfriend has died is irrelevant and unessessary and would be more effective to show previous clips of the relationship (good times or bad) to represent and reflect on the artist's state of mind.

Other than these alterations I am very pleased with our music video and it seems as though public audiences do too. Creating a rough cut is definitely a productive way to allow yourself and audiences to view your product and work out what could be improved, consequently making the best of your product.

Digipak Analysis

The purpose of a digipak is to engage the audience and persuade them to buy the product. A  digipak is different to a CD as it contains more slides therefore provides the audience with more information about the artist and the album.

The following image is a digipak of Mumford and Sons' album "Sigh No More". Much like Nina Nesbitt's tour advertisement, Mumford and Sons use very light and naturalistic colours. This represent their music as it conveys their light and acoustic sound. It is noticable that the shop that they are standing in is painted white whereas the ones next door are darker, this is so that they stand out as a band and are immediately spotted.

The design/layout is very well thought out. The use of an old and distressed street/shop adds an edginess to the digipak, presenting the band as unique, much like the use of a distressed brick wall in the Nina Nesbitt avertisement. The fact that the band are holding their musical instruments represents their performing and songwriting ability. This is conventional to the indie genre as it presents them as music artists rather than a star or image, and therefore realtes to an indie audience. I think that the layout is also very poignant. The band themselves are placed slightly off center and are displayed in a small window, so therefore aren't necessarily the main focus point. I think that the first thing you notice when you look at the digipak is the name "Mumford and Sons" with the album name underneath, as the title is actually bigger than the image of the band. This is conventional the indie genre as it is promoting the album name and the band's music, rather than promoting the band as an image, which goes against Dyer's Theory. This represents the band as songwriter's with a musical talent and informs the audience that their intention is to make music, rather than sell themselves as a product. This would interest an indie audience.  The font used for the title is quite formal and authentic. This represents the band's music and shows that their songs and sound holds a lot of authenticity and realism.

Magazine Advert Analysis

The purpose of magazine advertising is to inform audiences, to sell a product and to build the name recognition. Within the following tour advertisement, Nina Nesbitt is represented as a pop artist, however is specifically edging towards the indie genre. This representation is evident because of the choice of colours, images, design and typography.

Lighter colours are used throughout this advert, such as green, light blue and cream. These light colours are conventional to Nina Nesbitt as an artist as her music is very light-hearted and acoustic. The choice of image is very poignant and is a great representation of the artist. The image shows Nesbitt standing neutrally with her hands by her sides looking at the camera. However, she isn't posing. This presents Nesbitt as a very naturalistic artist. It also presents her as an indie artist as it shows the audience that she isn't trying to sell herself as a star or an image, she is selling herself as an ordinary person and more importantly selling her music. The layout of the advertisement is appropriate as the typography doesn't overlap the artist, therefore makes the artist the focus point as the typography almost outlines her. This layout could be used to explain to the audience that her albums and performances are all about her, in the sense that she writes her own songs, accompanies herself by playing her own instruments etc. Therefore the fact that the layout makes her the focus point proves that not only is she the performer, but she is also very much behind the scenes writing her own music also. I believe that the typography also helps represent her as a songwriter as well as a singer. To me, the font used to present her name almost looks like handwriting. This is conventional to Nina as an artist as it could be used to portray her song writing skills. As opposed to a bold, computer-generated font, I think that the font used in this advertisement definitely relates to Nina Nesbitt as an artist.


The naturalistic style to this advertisement definitely promotes and represents the music and the artist. The use of natural colours, typography, images and layout, Nina Nesbitt is presented as a talented person rather than a star or an image. This consequently gives the audience an idea of what sort of music and performances that she would produce. Her natural and ordinary style gives audiences the correct impression that she would produce more acoustic-based music and would most probably write her own songs. I think that her naturalistic representation would attract a younger audience, possibly more female-based as young women would look up to her and see her as a role model.

Planning Lighting and Colour

Lighting is very important within the music video production. Every lighting set-up provides a specific mood, emotion, atmosphere, and aesthetics to the overall film viewing experience. Without light, it is not possible to see anything, and it is not possible to shoot a film. For example, a horror movie uses light to make the scene look sinister or eerie, whereas the lighting and colour in a children's movie would be very vibrant and colourful.

To follow the conventions of the indie genre we would like to use naturalistic lighting throughout specfic sections of the music video. During the performance section we want to film at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon so that the sun will still be up. On screen this will make the lighting look very high key which is what we want for this segment of the music video. Naturalistic lighting is something that you would tend to find within an indie music video as the indie genre likes to present a natural artist with natural surroundings. This naturalism is also relatable to the majority of audiences.

Throughout the first chorus our music video we will be displaying footage of the artist and her boyfriend, however we want to make this footage look like its a good memory from early on in the relationship that the artist is thinking about. To do this we will film at around midday so that the sun is at its highest, giving the footage a warm feel to it. We will then alter the colour in the editing process to make the footage look aged and bright, portraying happiness and positivity.

Within the second chorus, we will again be showing footage of the artist and her boyfriend, hoever this time we want the footage to look darker to connote how the relationship is turning bad. To create this feel we will be filming in the evening, to give a darker and more dangerous feel to the footage. This will contrast well with the previous sections as they will consist of lighter and more sepia toned colours, whereas this section will have low-key lighting and consist of darker colours, including the colours of our clothing and our surroundings. This decision in lighting and colour will challenge the conventions of the indie genre, as it will give off a more grungy vibe rather than indie. Thiswill hopefully give our music video a unique and original feel with an indie song contrasting with grungy visuals. However I think that this will work with the song and it's message and will still follow indie in the sense that the message of the song is being promoted rather than the artist.

The lighting and colour of a music video must be planned out very well because it contributes to the atmosphere of the music video. The lighting and colour must match the genre and your intentions on he music videos' mood, otherwise it would break the music video and won't be relatable to your target audience.

Planning Editing

Editing plays a big part with the music video production. The editing process consists of taking all of the filmed footage and placing it in a specific order by cutting the footage and using transitions. The editing style of a music video is very important as it brings your footage to life and gives it a certain atmosphere, for example: an action sequence would consist of fast pace editing and straight cuts, whereas a romantic scene would consist of slow pace editing and possibly cross-dissolve transitions. By using specific editing styles and following certain codes and conventions, you can make your product relatable to your chosen genre/target audience.

Our footage with an 'Aged' and 'Mask' effect.

To edit our music video we will be using Final Cut Pro X. I want our music video to look edgy in order to challenge the conventions of indie, therefore I will be using a lot of effects and tints when editing. During the music video there will be sections that show previous events of the artist and her boyfriend, which I will edit to look as though these are memories that the artist is thinking about. To make this evident I will use an aged effect to differentiate between the present and the memories. I will also like to use an effect called 'mask' which creates a black, feathered border. This gives the footage a 'polaroid' feel to it, implying that the footage is a memory.

Our footage with a fast-motion effect.

Another editing effect I would like to use is a fast motion effect. I think that presenting footage in fast motion (such as traffic) could portray the fast-moving relationship between the artist and her boyfriend. This effect represents the message within the song and therefore promotes the music, which is conventional to the indie genre.

Our footage with colour tints and
a cross-dissolve transition to show a
gradation in colour.

I would also like to use colour tints and cross-dissolve transitions. The bridge in the song 'The Apple Tree' is a lot slower. For this section of the song I was thinking that we could take our footage and cut it into two. The first section would have a very vivid and colourful tint, whereas the section section would have a black and white tint. I would then like to link these sections with a cross-dissolve so that it looks like the colour is being drained and taken away. This would represent the end of the relationship. This brings the lyrics of the song to life, essentially promoting the music which is conventional to indie.

I believe that it is important to plan your editing styles or at least have an idea of your editing styles since the editing process is such an important part of a music video production. It is also a very time consuming task therefore it is best to be organised.

Planning an Artist Image

The purpose of the artists image is to promote the artist in a certain fashion and allow the artist to be relatable and to build a relationship with the audience. Artists are constantly changing their image in order to put themselves in the media and to please their ageing target audience. By doing this they are also able to attract different audiences, consequently widening their fan base. Stars such as Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Britney Spears are popular for constantly changing their style and sound.

For our music video we want to give the artist an edge. Inspired by 90's grunge, we would like the artist to look rough and rebellious instead for steering towards the predictable Nina Nesbitt indie-pop fashion. The reason for this decision is to move away from the artist that we've chosen and break the stereotypical conventions of indie-pop, therefore giving an original feel to our video.

Within our music video I (playing the artist) will be wearing different outfits consisting of garments such as flannel shirts and leather jackets (inspired from the image on the left). Clothing such as ripped jeans, bandanas and doctor marten boots will be worn to give off a rebellious vibe - conventional to our 'grunge' take on the song.

To the right is the outfit that I wore during the performance section. As you can see this outfit is inspired by the picture above, having red tartan, denim and leather jackets in common. I decided to wear an oversized jacket because Drew is seen wearing a lot of oversized clothes. This shows that my portrayal of the artist is still in love with Drew and is trying to find ways to remember him.


The hairstyle was inspired by Rihanna's "We Found Love" hairstyle as we felt that this was an edgy and unique hairstyle and isn't expected within the indie genre. Therefore by using a grungy hairstyle similar to this then we would be able to challenge and break the conventions of the indie genre.

I want Drew and I to wear similar outfits in order to show our 'bond'. I feel that by wearing similar clothes, we will display to audiences our characters affection for each other and their inseparability. For example we could both wear a lot of denim, tartan and leather. This also adds to the grungy style that we are trying to portray. It would be affective if we both wore doctor martens throughout the video, as this would again emphasise our inseparability. We feel that this would contribute to the meaning of the song and the narrative, therefore relating to indie.

In the bedroom scene I think that it would be a good idea to wear the shirt that Drew wore in camden (previously in the music video), the dark blue flannel shirt. This will show how the artist is infatuated by Drew and wants to wear his clothes to feel closer to him. Finally, for my final outfit, I want to wear something very plain to portray the artist's drain of emotion. Perhaps an oversized coat (again similar to Drew's style), a white top and distressed jeans ripped at the knees. The distress of the jeans will represent the artist's frustration and heartbreak. I feel it would be appropriate to let my hair down and messy in order to show how the artist doesn't care about anything except for the loss of her boyfriend. This adds to the emotion of the song which therefore relates to indie in the sense that it's promoting the music.

Planning Cinematography

The purpose of cinematography is to show the audience different point of views and angles throughout the music video. Camera angles, positioning and movement can display locations, iconography and the posture, expression and image of the artist. A wide variety of cinematography is used in order to capture different images and to create a narrative and relationship with the audience in order to make a music video successful.

Here are a selection of camera shots that we will be using:

Example: Mid Shot

We will be using a mid shot to show the use of a guitar within our music video. This will display our use of iconography and the use of instruments will relate to the indie genre. The mid shot will allow the audience to have a clear view of the artist singing and playing guitar and will promote the performance section of our music video. This is conventional to an indie music video as it promotes the music. This would also help the audience build a relationship with the artist as they will understand their musical talent.

Example: High-angled Establishing Shot

We have a particular high angle establishing shots in mind which will show the artist and the boyfriend in the middle of a crowded area with them standing still and everybody else walking around them. This would portray how they are oblivious to everything surrounding them. This therefore emphasises the narrative and the lyrics which is therefore conventional to the indie genre.

Example: Close Up

Finally, we will be using a variety of close ups. For example, here is a close up of Drew underwater. This close up allows the audience to observe Drew's facial expression, which is very blank and emotionless. This shows that he is in such a bad state of mind that he is no longer in control of his body and senses. Rather than having a dramatic death scene we felt that this was more affective as it shows that he is so mislead and unwell that he has lost control. This is conventional to the indie genre as it expresses the emotion of the song and makes the lyrics come to life. The music is therefore being emphasised which is the purpose of the indie genre.