Statement of Intent

How do you intend to use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to communicate meaning and meet the requirements of your chosen brief? (approx. 400 words) 

Product 1 – Music Video 

I intend to use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to convey meaning in my music video and to meet the requirements of the chosen brief in an effective way. My target audience will be a 14-35 year old male and female AB class demographic. I felt that this was clear with my representation of dance music with the creation of the character PAPA SLOB that provokes a humorous, yet relatable feel. My intention is that PAPA SLOB is only the character when dance music is being played, and is a representation of the music he creates, and I intend to portray this in my video. I want to give the audience a narrative based video with performance elements interjoined showing off artist, PAPA SLOB's talent as a performer. I noticed that this is something that is wanted in music videos when asking my focus group and on my Instagram poll. In addition, I intend to create a representation of dance music, with the character PAPA SLOB and how the younger and older generation can both be creators and enjoyers of dance music. I also wanted to promote the local area, highlighting the beautiful aspects of the seaside and natural scenery. I conveyed this ideology that PAPA SLOB promotes the positivity of nature with various long shots of flowers and the coastal area whilst capturing the bright and vibrant elements of life in Thanet, as well as the vibrancy of PAPA SLOB. My intention to shoot at midday, with bright sun gave my video a naturalistic, bright feel with the colour palette creating a sense of creativity and fun. I intend to include PAPA SLOB wearing vibrant, colourful rave costume to relate to the madness of the music and to provoke humour for the audience, as the age of PAPA SLOB does not stereotypically relate to his costume. To reinforce this, I included two representations of two different social groups, young people and old people, to portray that when young people are raving, old people are too. Having looked at other music videos from artists under Universal Music Group I saw that they have a wide range of artists. Despite this, I noticed that the music tends to be reasonably mainstream and the videos are conventional within their genre. Nevertheless, they have some music videos that are slightly alternative in their artistic approach, such as videos from the artist Prodigy, which I took inspiration from videos like Firestarter. I decided to create a music video that contrasts them, consequently widening their audience and adding to their product range. 

Product 2 – Website 

I intend to produce a website for my music artist with my target audience and intentions the same as my music video. With the 14-35 year old AB class demographic in mind, the use of cross-media convergence is incredibly important. This is because of the highly active online world with the younger generation meaning they would spend time visiting websites of artists they were interested in. My general aesthetic, locations, mise en scene and feel to my website is very similar to my music video making the two connected. It will include similar typography, sense of branding and representations of the artist. Moreover, it will include exclusive elements like an about page, highlighting PAPA SLOB, expressing his ideologies and intent in the music scene as well as aligning the audience with the artist. There is also a tour page section showing off upcoming shows. My website will also include the music video and show off PAPA SLOB's single 'No Problem. Like the music video it will contain PAPA SLOB still shots, some mid shot, some long shot. My website does a similar job to my music video in terms of presenting the artist, showing off his performance skills whilst giving a positive representation of old age generation dance music artists, which will be beneficial to Universal Music Group as it not only goes along with some of their ideologies but adds to their product range. I intend to create interviews, on the blog section, with PAPA SLOB, to give fans of the artist more information about him, causing the audience to allign with the artist and his dance music. I have also created an Instagram page, promoting the new single and video, urging fans to buy products, and to promote the online persona of PAPA SLOB. My website sought inspiration from 'Subway System' album cover by JIMOTHY LACOSTE for the font and the colours from Chase and Status's album cover 'NO MORE IDOLS'.














































My website will contain my music video and will have links to buy the new single, ‘contact us’ and a link to the instagram page, buy tickets for upcoming shows, a shop with PAPA SLOB clothes for fans to buy, and a blog, with interviews and other videos promoting the artist. Both my website and music video will reference Universal Music Group highlighting the music company the artist is signed for. Furthermore, I have used similar typography and similar looking images to link the two products and to give a pluralistic representation of old age generation dance music artists, and the ideology that anyone can be a dance music artist. This belief is expressed in the media language of my music video as well as in the website.

Convergence between the website and music video will be that they equally display that PAPA SLOB is the 'GOD OF DANCE MUSIC' and that the character of PAPA SLOB is somewhat of a personification of the dance music. The website colours will also correlate to the colourful music video, creating a sensitive, yet simple colour scheme that relates to the rainbow like costume of PAPA SLOB. It will also impact the audience, through a bright yellow background that entices the audience to watch the video, in that section of my website.

Audience

To better my understanding on what people want to see in music videos and what aesthetics expose them positively towards the artist, I organised and gathered a focus group of 7 people and asked them questions on what they wanted in a music video and what would appeal to them. 

I was very particular with what social group I chose and the demographic of the people I spoke to. I chose to speak to my close friends as they perfectly matched the target audience of the brief for the music video. They are all 17-18 males who share a love for music, dance music in particular and enjoy watching music videos.  

I spoke to them as a group asking questions such as, ‘Do you appreciate artists who create alter egos?’. The consensus agreed saying that they appreciate artists who create characters to relate to the music, like rapper Eminem with Slim Shady, allowing for the audience to relate to the portrayal of the characters on screen. They also went on to say that there isn’t an accurate representation of older generation artists in the media and that they are mistreated, and that anyone can create dance music.

In addition, I wanted to get a rough idea on what music videos they watch and enjoy. They gave me named examples of music videos including ASAP Mob's 'Yamborghini High', commenting on the aesthetic of the video and the visual effects as well as the colourful environment and use of natural surroundings. They also went on to reference music videos by Gorillaz, like 'DARE', as they use characters to promote their music, as opposed to the artists themselves.

https://youtu.be/uAOR6ib95kQ - 'DARE' by Gorillaz
https://youtu.be/tt7gP_IW-1w - 'YAMBORGHINI HIGH' by ASAP Mob

Planning

Equipment -
I experimented and tested out the cameras provided by the media department including the GH4 and the handheld DJI OSMO. Both these cameras recorded high quality 1080p HD with the GH4 recording at 4K. In the end, the reliable GH4, seemed like the best choice, however it was without a handheld frame/stabiliser for steady camera movement. Therefore, I used the camera handheld to create a somewhat shaky movement, yet with added flashes and special effects the slightly shaky shots did not come across obvious post-testing. I also used my iPhone 7, for some shots as I believed, a change in quality of footage, differentiates shots, allowing the video to not feel repetitive.

Editing Software -

I considered and tested different editing softwares such as, Lightworks, iMovie and Final Cut Pro. Lightworks offered very advanced editing softwares and VFX, along with it being free. However, it was rather complicated to work and I found that I wasn't using all of its aspects. Final Cut Pro offered advanced and easy to use editing so I used this, to add special effects and edit sharply and finally decided to use iMovie, as it was free and offered simple but effective editing, to add background music and add in shots that I filmed on my iPhone 7, as opposed to the GH4.

Location - 

I decided to plan what locations I wanted to shoot at. I intended to focus around the seaside area and took nearly all my footage in my local area of Minnis Bay, by the beach, with various long shots at locations such as the rocky pools, along the cliffside, as well as in my garden and in car parks.

Script - 

1 - BLACK SCREEN

Title card – ‘PAPA SLOB’ – No Problem (feat. Takura)

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2- Mid shot

PAPA SLOB inhales the digeridoo

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3 – Birds eye view shot

PAPA SLOB lays on the ground, dazed and somewhat intoxicated by the digeridoo fumes

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4 – Close up

Nature and flowers to portray the hallucinogenic feeling PAPA SLOB is undergoing 

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5 – Medium long shot

PAPA SLOB begins his choreographed dance routine in front of his big car, that professes the big nature of his personality and the music

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6 – Medium close up

PAPA SLOB dances in front of a police car

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7 – Medium close up

PAPA SLOB dances in a bush

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8 – Long shot

PAPA SLOB dances and raves on a balcony

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9 – Medium close up

PAPA SLOB raves and waves his arms around, profoundly enveloping every contour of the dance music

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10 – Long shot

PAPA SLOB scooters and rides around, using a kids scooter

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11 – Close up

PAPA SLOB blows out smoke and it billows longingly over the lens

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12 – Long shot

More choreographed dance of PAPA SLOB

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13 – Close up

PAPA SLOB screams at the camera

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14 – Long shot

PAPA SLOB squirts salad cream at the lens

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15 – Medium long shot

PAPA SLOB walks off into the distance

Research - codes and conventions

Codes and Conventions of music videos:

Codes and conventions are different things used within music videos to construct messages and meanings. These techniques can be divided into two types; technical and symbolic.

Technical - how meaning in conveyed using technical equipment e.g. camera angle, shot type, non-diegetic sound, diegetic sound, pace and style of editing and the genre.

Symbolic - ways of showing meaning beyond what you can see e.g. through facial expressions, gestures, poses and mise-en-scene. 

It is important to have codes and conventions in music videos as it allows for the audience to be familiar with different genres and will eventually recognise the different genres sub consciously. It also provides a structure and narrative to the video that the audience will understand and the video suits and relates to the song and lyrics in some way. 

List of codes and conventions:

• Elaborate, choreographed dance routines emphasis skill of performance 
• Performance driven music videos 
• Narrative - story line 

• Mise en scene – costume, props, sets 
• Sound – non diegetic and diegetic sound 
• Lighting  
• Editing – represented of the type of music 
• Range of camera shots and angles 

• Notions of looking – stereotypes – representations of audience 
• High production values – SFX 
• Artists – lip syncing 
• Value transfers – audience and artist alignment – ideologies 

     Artistic expression – short film

Overall, mise-en-scene, camera movements, angles and shots and sounds all contribute towards making the music video look professional. However, each different styles of music video, e.g performance, concept and narrative, as well as different genres, which all have different codes, conventions and representations. 

The mise-en-scene for music videos differs depending on what the genre of music is. The components of the mise-en-scene are. It is, aed to convey the importance of people in music videos as well as the representation of certain characters. 

• Lighting - how the scene is lit 
• Props - objects and items within the frame
• Costume - what the artist is wearing
• Hair and Makeup - style of the artist
• Location - where the music video is filmed 
• Colour - specific colours representing certain moods and atmosphere, or in my music video, the music itself.

In the music video 'Everybody is in the Place' by The Progidy, the music video is very colourful and has bright lighting and is simple and I sought exstenstive inspiration from this video for my video. I also sought inspiration from 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams, and the use of older generation characters dancing to elaborate choreographed dance routines, which inspired me to create 

https://youtu.be/WY87o9IZXWg - 'Everybody is in the Place' - The Progidy
https://youtu.be/ZbZSe6N_BXs - 'Happy' - Pharrell Williams