Post 11: Closing Post

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Welcome to my blog! All of my evidence for Research and Planning is under a label called AL Research and Planning.

Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy!

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Post 10: My production review

During the process of making my video and advert I received feedback from my classmates as well as more feedback from my teachers. This enabled me to sense a wider perspective on my work and see what was need to be done. Here is some of the feedback:

Website-
The initial feedback I received suggested that I should:

• Make sure the menu is on all pages
• keep a clear house style
• Add links to social media
• Add links to download the single
• Add clickable merch
• Use hashtags to create a following

Then after adding changes I received some more feedback from my classmates:

• To add more calls to action
• Add the version of the song that can be played without the music video
• Link my merch to amazon
• Replace images that aren't original
• Keep a consistent colour scheme 
• To make my text more interesting

Post 9: My Website and Social Media Pages

Website

I have analysed the websites of various pop stars, this will allow me to understand the codes and conventions of a website. 

The first website I looked at was Khalid's:

The first thing that I noticed was that his website consisted of very bright colours and  had a clear colour scheme of lime green, blue and grey. The website has a lot of visual content for instance videos and pics of Khalid which is a convention of a website. As soon as you enter the homepage the 1st thing that you can see is a his latest music video with clickable what now button, this is another convention of an artist's website as websites are often used to promote the latest single. At the top of each page there is a navigation bar, this allows the user to easily navigate between pages, this clearly is a convention of a website. Khalid's website has a section where it says "follow" and has Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify and apple music icons all these icons are hyperlinked to his social media accounts. This shows convergence between his media products. Something, that is missing from Khalid's website is a sense of community. For instance, there is a section where the user can sign up to a newsletter but there's only a join button there are no hashtags and there's no call to action for example "become a free spirit." This is an area which I would to improve on in comparison to Khalid's website. In terms of industry, the website refers to Sony Music as the record label. As the footer of each page there is the RCA logo, which is a subsidiary of Sony Music, there is a sentence saying " Sony Music Entertainment. All Rights Reserved." Under this there is are hyperlinks to the Sony Music website. The website itself is one single page where the navigation bar takes the user to different places on the same page, this helps minimise the time being used to navigate the website.  The website is very eye-catching and visually appealing. The majority  of strips have different colours or different images this keeps the user interested.

This research had inspired me to create a flat plan of my own website:

In my flat plan there are many different elements from my research which I had incorporated into my website. For instance, the navigation bar at the top, the follow the socials with the twitter and instagram links. And audio/visual content is present in my flat plan. 

An example from my finished website where I have been inspired by my research as I have a similar footer the footer used in Khalid's website.

Another example is when I used my music video a strip and then linked my music video in a similar way to how it was done on Khalid's website. I also linked the music video with a watch now button. 

Social Media

I decided to look at Taylor's Instagram page as she is a pop star with a big online presence. The first thing I noticed that despite having 122 million followers she does not follow anyone, I believe this because Swift posses star quality. Also, she shows digital convergence as her bio has a link to her music video. 

Another artist who I looked at was Stormzy, I noticed that he there is a clear colour scheme, most of the pictures have a dark theme and most of the posts have the colour black or red. There is a lot of promotional content on his feed with sponsorship with different brands for example, Time and Relentless. 

I also took inspiration from my research and applied some of it to my finished social media pages. For instance, on my Instagram account I follow 0 people and I have the link to my music video in my bio.

Post 8: My music video

Before constructing my own music video need to look at other videos to find out the codes and conventions:

• I looked at memories by Maroon 5 as I was inspired by their use of an extreme close up which is something that I wish to include in my music video. Despite only using one shot throughout the video the director is able to keep the attention of the audience by continuously changing the angle of lighting.
• Whilst looking at All of Me by john legend, I was given an insight into the conventions of a pop music video as this video both had a performance section and a narrative section. Similarly, the bits of narrative were broken into sections which had parts of the performance separating them. However, it was just as effective and it slotted in with the narrative well due to the feel of the video. This music video conforms to some conventions for instance, the narrative is based around a heterosexual couple and there is a theme of romance that continues through the video. However,  there are elements that subvert conventions of a pop music video for instance the music video has been graded specially so that the saturation is very low. This opposes the conventions of a pop music video as they often use bright colours but it suits the tone and feel of the music video. The performance section inspired me as it was not a stereotypical performance from a pop artist as here stays seated playing the piano instead of dancing. I believe this is mainly because they wanted to keep the majority of the focus on the song instead of dance moves, this also explains the lack of effects (as slow motion is only used) and the rather slow pace of editing adopted in this video. I like how there is a very clear story-line in this music video,  which is of the couple falling in love until they eventually get married.  
• Another music video I looked at was Don`t Let Me Down by The Chainsmoker this music video follows more conventions of a pop music video it has many performance sections with choreographed dance routines which is typical of a pop video. In the video most of the performance consists of a girl who is the lead of a dance troop, she is dressed in all black and has an alternative look. The music video ends on a shot beauty shot of the same girl where she sings the lyrics "don`t let me down" therefore, this subverts stereotypes of people who may look slightly different as often it may be often be perceived as intimating however, in the music video she is portray a character who may be vulnerable.
  
      

I used my research as a starting point when planning my own music video:

The 1st thing I did was to create a spider diagram where I could right down some of the ideas I had thought of due to inspiration from research. The four main areas I was interested in where, making the video memorable, coming up with an idea, having some sort of connection to the lyrics and how I can do all of this while sticking to the brief.

I also create a shootboard from these ideas.

Then I made a timeline for my music video but after some constructive criticism from my classmates and teachers I made a new timeline. This version was more rough so that I would be comfortable in making changes if need by further down the line.

Post 7: My pop artist or band

I have conducted research which will help me to understand what pop stars of today believe in and represent, this will aid me when creating my own star persona.

Khalid has been an influence when it comes to representation, as I believe that Khalid has very smooth music and s quite trendy at the moment. However, I will also want do things differently from Khalid. As he makes it clear he's not a very religious person but that maybe something that my star persona is rather interested in.

Stormzy, is another artist which I looked at. He's fashion sense consists of street wear lots of hoodies and jumpers; he also likes to wear a lot of ripped jeans. I believe this fits the aesthetic well as my star is likely to have similar taste. However, I intend for my artist to wear happy and upbeat clothes which is slightly different to Stormzy who prefers to wear black dark clothes.

The 1st thing I did was gather a few images which would serve as inspiration for my mood board.

Then I found some other images which I used to create a person with a similar fashion sense to my star persona.

Then I make mood-board based on my prior research.

Whilst doing my prior research I was able to write down some of my ideas on star persona.

Post 6: My chosen track

The choosen track for my music video is Iyaz Replay. The lyrics to my song are:

Shawty's like a melody in my head
That I can't keep out, got me singin' like
Na na na na everyday
It's like my iPod's stuck on replay
Replay-ay-ay-ay

Shawty's like a melody in my head
That I can't keep out, got me singin' like
Na na na na everyday
It's like my iPod's stuck on replay

Replay

Remember the first time we met
You was at the mall wit yo friend
I was scared to approach ya
But then you came closer

Hopin' you would give me a chance

Who would have ever knew
That we would ever be more than friends
We're real worldwide, breakin' all the rules
She like a song played again and again

That girl, like something off a poster
That girl, is a dime they say
That girl, is a gun to my holster
She's running through my mind all day, ay

Shawty's like a melody in my head
That I can't keep out, got me singin' like
Na na na na everyday
It's like my iPod's stuck on replay
Replay-ay-ay-ay

Shawty's like a melody in my head
That I can't keep out, got me singin' like
Na na na na everyday
It's like my iPod's stuck on replay
Replay-ay-ay-ay

See you been all around the globe
Not once did you leave my mind
We talk on the phone, from night til the morn

Girl, you really changed my life

Doin' things I never do
I'm in the kitchin cookin' things she likes
We're real worldwide, breakin' all the rules
Someday I wanna make you my wife

That girl, like something off a poster
That girl, is a dime they say
That girl, is a gun to my holster
She's running through my mind all day, ay

Shawty's like a melody in my head
That I can't keep out, got me singin' like
Na na na na everyday
It's like my iPod's stuck on replay
Replay-ay-ay-ay

Shawty's like a melody in my head
That I can't keep out, got me singin' like
Na na na na everyday
It's like my iPod's stuck on replay
Replay-ay-ay-ay

I can be your melody
A girl that could write you a symphony
The one that could fill your fantasies

So come baby girl let's sing with me, ay

I can be your melody
A girl that could write you a symphony
The one that could fill your fantasies
So come baby girl let's sing with me, ay

Na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Shawty got me singin'
Na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Now she got me singin'

Shawty's like a melody in my head
That I can't keep out, got me singin' like
Na na na na everyday
It's like my iPod's stuck on replay
Replay-ay-ay-ay

The song was released on the July 7, 2009. Replay is the debut single by British Virgin Islands singer Iyaz. It is the first single released from his debut album of the same name,
which was released in 2009. The single entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart, where it remained for 3 weeks until it was overtaken by "Fireflies" by Owl City. Internationally, the single also topped the charts in Australia, Israel and Switzerland and peaked within the top 10 of the charts in many countries, including Finland, France and the United States. The combined figure of the official music video and prequel video on YouTube is currently over
150 million views.

I decided to make notes on the lyrics and see how different parts may fit into a narrative or work with a performance section.

Post 5: My Target Audience

My target audience is fun loving 16-25 to year olds therefore, I have conducted some market research.

This graph shows tells us that the mode age of a pop music fan is 21 years old which falls within our target audience:

This chart tells us the differences in music preference between older and younger people:

The typical 25- to 34-year old listener has more artists in active rotation than any other age group, while the 65+ listeners have the least:

Likewise, the typical 25- to 34-year-old listener plays more music than any other category:

This graph tells us that pop is the favourite music genre among 16-34 year olds: