Analysing a previous students work

1. ANALYSING A PREVIOUS
STUDENTS WORK

2. WHICH BLOG?
• The work I am analysing is from previous A2 Media
student Samantha Harris. Although making a music
video which differs from my initial idea of a
documentary, I think that her methods of planning,
drafting and so on will link to what I would want to
achieve and go from during the creation process.
• https://samanthaharrisg324.wordpress.com/

3. MUSIC VIDEO
I chose to analysis Samantha's video of the song
Robbers by The 1975. The first time I watched the
video my initial thoughts were that it would have
had a main appeal to the teen age, young adult
age group, due to the young age of those shown
through. Furthermore the music video was
professional looking and followed the conventions
of what I though to be an indie/alternative music
video. This being that of the darker and much more
relaxed atmosphere and tone to the entire piece.
The video portrays a central female protagonist in
what is assumed to be her day to day actions with
her friends and peers and also an supposed
relationship. The cinematographer is either
involved or looking in on the occurring events.
With the lyrics of the idea stating words like ‘you
look so cool’, we get the understanding that the
video is based around the idea that the song is
about her and another parties opinion of her. This
is also highlighted due to there being no use of a
character singing along to the words in the role of
the artist, therefore as well as the protagonist
being emphasised, the artist is too.

4. MUSIC VIDEO
• Samantha matched the songs decreasing and
increasing tempos to the various camera movements
and composition throughout. This also includes that
of using focus pulls throughout and also the use of
both close ups, twin shots ad various other features to
make it much more dramatic, and interesting to the
viewers. The change in motion and tempo in the
video editing and camera work matched (rather than
juxtaposed, which occurs in some indie/alternative
music videos) with the building emotion and chorus
of the song, thereby helping increase the suspense
and interest into this part of the song. Also
throughout the video there was a strong emphasis on
light and location. Samantha used a range of
locations predominantly being that of London or a
busy city centre as well as field and woodland areas in
the day and night time.

5. MUSIC VIDEO
• The use of both of these timings in the day, allowed
her to use the various features most vividly of which
being the lighting to highlight various tones and
elements to the video, whether that of the
protagonist, other featured people and/or the
intense and grunge like mood. By using both male
and female actors in the video she also expanded
her targeted audience and appealed to the fairly
gender neutral demographic of the alternative
genre. All of these features thereby kept the
audience engaged, whilst not overcomplicating the
video (done so with the simplicity of the lighting
and other mise en scene factors and the minimal
amount of locations). Although the main storyline
of the music video is somewhat unclear, were are
able to address the idea of an onlookers
perspective on a girl or person in general which I
think relates to the theme and lyrics in the song.

6. DIGIPAK
• The digipak which Samantha created is considerably
professional looking, and furthermore ties in with the entire
tone and genre of both her music video but also her blog, The
digipak includes four separate pages, each of which giving
information about eh albums the songs. This includes a front
cover and a song list as well as a page devoted to the
Thankyous’s and credits for the song, album, video etc. The
images featured link to the video itself with the main female
protagonist been seen as a close up on the credits page and
also the fire as featured in the video being put on the front
cover with the name and artist of the track. All of this helps the
digipak look much more interesting and professional and also
allows potential buyers to link the band and digipak together.
The main colour scheme is white, black and orange as taken
from the fire; this also looks neat and sophisticated. Finally by
adding in a song list of all the other songs on the album, it
gives much more information and availability for that
information to the fans and buyers. Altogether increasing the
efficiency of the digipak.

7. ADVERT
• Samantha's advert for the song links in effectively with the video and
also the digipak with the opening pages, shots all being that of the fire
and the title ‘Robbers’ in a bold, white font. The contrast between the
black background the bright, white letters and fire, makes the advert
stand out to those who would potentially see it, making it a success in its
marketing and advertising purpose. Samantha also features reviews
from various magazines and other types of medium; with an example
being that of NME which is distinctly linked with the alternative music
genre. These are either in words or in a rating of stars, both of which
featured being highly rated. Therefore it is shown that Samantha
understood the effective marketing strategy and elements. Finally she
added in informative details which give the viewer data in how and
where they can gain access to the song itself. This again increases the
efficiency of the overall product. I think that Samantha in creating all of
her final pieces, has been able to create professional and realistic
products, which all correspond with each other and highlights the
positive factors surrounding the song, video and band; whilst also
highlighting the alternative genre.

8. PLANNING
• Throughout the planning stages of her coursework, Samantha created
around 10 blog posts all of which ranging from either permission
emails and actor releases for her video and the shooting of it to
drafting/planning the ideas for the video itself. Samantha encouraged
the use of video and other media like images to successfully present
her various stages of planning. This included putting in the actual video
for the song she had chosen and discussing its features as well as
including other videos and showing how she would use them more
inspiration, like that of Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus and its close up
shots (shown in the research part of her blog). Majority if these ideas
were presented through the mood board also as well as the sketched
out storyboard; which gave an insight to exactly how she wanted the
music video to pan out and also in her proposal, which discussed the
various different production and post production elements. Also
Samantha conducted a few production diary's, which documented her
progress throughout the creation process. Although these are limited
in amount they do give us some idea about what she had kept the
same and changed about her ideas throughout the process. Altogether
I think her planning, with the various features, like the assessments on
what and who should be in her music video as well as her discussion f

9. RESEARCH
• The research section of her blog is much larger
than majority of the others. It includes around 19
different blog posts concerning research into other
music videos, music genres, the theories and ideas
from them as well as analysis if previous work from
Haydon Media students. Samantha focused on the
genres of pop, and alternative when looking into
music with artists such as Ed Sheeran and Rihanna
being shown in images throughout. Through the
various posts she discussed all the different
features as well as the successes of them and her
initial ideas to imitate and take inspiration from
them. Going on from this various theories and
conventions as well as a look into directors and
other elements of the music industry like
companies and digipaks were talked about. All of
these blog posts would eventually lead to
Samantha being able to create a professional and
realistic looking product that would appeal to her
suggest/ targeted audience. As I am doing so now,
Samantha also took a look into previous A2
student, Alfie Greens work with his music video of
the song Bad Blood by Bastille and all the elements
surrounding it. I myself have taken inspiration from
how she has analysed his work and used it in
constructing this document, Overall I think that by
going into and researching all the different aspects
of the music industry, music videos and so on
Samantha was able to create a good product, and
although the brief differs to that of mine I think
that majority of the elements will be useful in the
forthcoming production process.