Katy Perry - 'Last Friday Night'

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4A

Katy Perry is an extremely well-known american pop artist. 'Last Friday Night' is a pop song - this genre is established by the upbeat tempo of the song. The video doesn't have the conventions of a normal pop video. There is no choreography, which most pop music videos have. Also, there is no aspect of voyeurism in this video which is untypical for a pop video, and also contradicts what we see in many other of Katy Perry’s videos, for example 'Teenage Dream'. The video illustrates the song by putting it into a story to show what happened 'last friday night'. It is 8:11 minutes long - aprox double the length of what most pop music videos are. Because it is so long, viewers may get bored when watching the video but because dressing up as an ugly geek is not Katy's usual style, viewers are intrigued to see more and carry on watching. The video is also comedic, which intrigues the audience to watch it over again. From the lyrics, we would expect this song to be about a party/night out and to include images of a young people having fun. Whilst this video does involve these kind of scenes, it slightly amplifies the lyrics by creating a typical geek look out of the Katy. The music in the video doesn’t change pace but the beats in the song aren’t at pace with the video shots, which creates a feeling of the video being more of a story with a background song.

Jessie J - 'Price Tag'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qMxX-QOV9tI

Jessie J is a well-known pop artist. This is the video for her song called 'Price Tag'. Instantly the synaesthesia and lyrics of this song puts images in the audiences' mind about money not being a problem, and how the world should continue to party. We, as viewers of the video, therefore expect it to involve scenes of parties and having fun. However, in the first aspect of the video we see is a giant teddy bear with a baby pink background - this seems totally at dis-juncture with the song as there is no aspect of innocence throughout it. There are lots of pastel colours (mainly blue and pink) used in this video - this links to the feeling of innocence at the start of the video and carries this theme through. There is also a little girl sitting by the teddy (who looks like the Jessie but a younger version) who transforms into Jessie J at about 20 seconds into the video. This part of the video is quite baffling for the audience as it ignores the lyrics of the song and the expectations of the video, creating a new set of meanings. Voyeurism is used when we see jessie wear the tight, seductive outfit. This develops the meta-narrative of Jessie J’s star image. The song is illustrated throughout the video. An example of this is when she mentions 'high heels' in her lyrics, we see a pair of high heels. It is also illustrated through the way that the beats in the song match the rythm and speed of the shots in the video. The video is mainly narrative-based but also involves bits of performance to enhance Jessie J's star image.

Rihanna - 'Cheers'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR0v0i63PQ4

This music video is by Rihanna and the song is called 'Cheers'. Rihanna is a popular solo R&B artist. Throughout the video the images we see are illustrated to the lyrics that we hear. The video is upbeat and exciting, like the song. The shots in the video have a wide variety of colour and there are a lot of references to Rihanna's Barbadian background. At the beginning of the video we can hear fans chanting Rihanna's name - this immediately creates an exciting mood and makes you feel like you want to be involved and to become a fan as well. When Rihanna sings the lyrics "lifes's too short to be sitting around miserable" the video is at disjuncture with the song and contradicts the lyrics. We see her driving through a sunny town with a huge smile on her face - the opposite to miserable. The shots of Rihanna singing live on stage are a promotion for her live shows. After watching the music video people will want to be part of the chanting and singing so will buy tickets to see her. This is an effective way of marketing. Voyeurism is used throughout this video to show Rihannas sexy attitude. This is created through her choice of clothing, make up and her seductive style dance moves. I think Rihanna can be seen as a role model for teenage girls.

Initial Questions

HOW WILL PLANNING PROCESSES AND RESEARCH BE CONSTRUCTED AND RECORDED?

I will be recording all my research and development on an Internet blog (blogspot.com). I used this blog site to regularly post updates of my AS foundation project so I am familiar with how to post, create and present information and images. During research i will include images of current artists or bands, their cd cover designs, advertisement posters that they have and their music videos. I will research for music promotional videos on YouTube. This research will be important because it will help me to produce a successful promotional video, digipak and poster. I will look at blogs made by other students who have done similar tasks so that i can get inspiration to help with my ideas. The Marlwood Media website (meandmrjones) will also help me with ideas.

WHO WILL THE AUDIENCE BE? HOW WILL THEY BE IDENTIFIED? WHAT WILL THE APPEAL BE? 

I have decided that my target audience will range from ages 14-20 (younger people rather than older). Teenagers use computers and the internet a lot more than adults do to watch music videos and music video channels like VIVA or 4MUSIC's audience are adolescents. My video will be seen by more people if i set the target audience as younger people, because they have more of a chance/opportunity of viewing it.
I will keep in good contact with my target audience so that i can receive feedback on my work throughout my project so i can know how i should change things. I will also keep in good contact with the artist/singer of my promotional music video so that i can get their opinions on how i'm working and how i should improve. I will create feedback questionnaires which include questions like "If i were to change one thing about the video, what would you suggest it be?". This will help me create a better/more successful next draft of work. 

WHAT PITFALLS DO YOU KNOW NEED AVOIDING?

If i hear of any relevant or useful information in the media during my project time then i should always report it onto my blog as research. I need to stick to the task and avoid reporting irrelevant information.

ARE THERE ANY OUTSIDE AGENCIES THAT NEED TO BE CONTACTED?

If i use an artist/band's song that have a record deal then i will need to contact the record label to make sure i have their permission to use the song for my video. If i use an artist who i know/who aren't signed by a record label then i only need their own permission to use their song. As part of my AS foundation work, i got to speak to a media specialist from UWE. She taught me about the conventions of magazines. I will be able to apply this knowledge to producing my poster and digipak. 

Planning

Brief One:

I am going to make a promotion package for the release of a music album. This will include a music promo video, a digipak for the album’s release and a magazine advertisement for the digipak.

For my AS foundation production I produced a music magazine cover with a contents page and a double page spread. I am familiar with using print in magazines and I am excited to make a digipak (I have never made one before) and use film to create my music promo video. I have played about with iMovie on my Macbook Pro with home-video clips before but am looking forward to making something professional using it. 

This is a short video I made just over a year ago for fun using iMovie. I filmed short clips of my friends at a small party then cut and edited them together to a background song by Wiz Khalifa. The video presents the group of people as a happy bunch of friends who really enjoy each other's company. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gal_WMgCwMk&feature=youtu.be