Media Studies A2

1. Evaluating
Music Promo
Portfolio
Research and Planning
Rory Nash

2. How our concept was developed
– Initially, we based our idea on a young, troubled
woman who had just woken up after a heavy night
drinking. The music video would follow her as she
walked through four rooms, each of which
represented a different stage in her life. We were
influenced by existing songs such as Tove Lo’s ‘Stay
High’, a music video where the camera appears to be
fixed to her body, pointing at her face. We
investigated themes such as trying to attract a young
audience by using a striking main character, as well
as using an indie-pop genre to attract young people
to watch the video

3. My Research
Chelsea Lanks' album
'Down For Whatever'
features a simplistic picture
of the artist's face, in
monotone. Her hair is
flowing and the focus is
fully on her face. This is
exactly the kind of style
that would work with our
album cover. The dark
colours yet soft lighting
connotes music that is
gentle but deep at the
same time.
Another artist that I could
draw inspiration from is
Phoebe Ryan. Although
this image is much more
colourful, it shares many
properties, such as the
close-up of the artist's
face, as well as simplistic
design. Seeing these
album covers has made
me think that it would be
a good idea to have a
solitary shot of the artist,
perhaps with some
balloons in the
background.

4. What we did, and why we did it
– Researching the different artists ensured that we had a better
understanding of what the music genre is and how it has evolved.
In addition to this, it also gave us an indication about how to
create our digipak, because as we now understand the
conventions of the music genre.
– We compared the artists that we researched to the one that we
chose to use for our music video, in order to see what similarities
there were, and adapt our digipak to match.

5. Researching the target audience
In order to get a better understanding, we
researched our target audience, and who we
wanted our music video to appeal to most. It was
this age group that we used to gain feedback at
various different stages, such as at the rough cut
stage of our music video, and adjusting our work
accordingly.
We noted that YouTube holds an enormous
potential audience - YouTube on mobile alone,
reaches more 18-34 and 18-49 year-olds than any
cable network in the U.S. This is why we wanted to
target a younger audience for our video.

6. Researching conventions and
real media texts
Convention (what we expect to see):
– Lots of shots that confuse the
audience and create the feeling that
the singer is intoxicated
– Simplistic website with light colours
Actual media text’s researched:
– “Stay High” by Tove Lo
– Ellie Goulding’s website

7. What we learnt about researching for our
music video, and how it informed our concept
– We learnt a variety of different things, which would most likely
have affected the popularity of our music video
– For example, we discovered that fans of this music genre preferred
the shots to be much longer than they would be on a genre such as
rock or electronic
– We also found out that much of our target audience would be
females, so we tailored the colour pallet of our video in order to
cater to the stereotype of ‘feminine’ colours
– Finally, it was noted that indie-pop fans preferred simplicity, so we
used a white background with basic lighting arrangements for this

8. Research into Location, Props,
Costume & Set design
– We wanted to film all of our music video at school. Most of this will be done in the TV studio. This
location is very convenient for us because it means that we do not need to travel anywhere. It is
also a professional-grade studio where we have the help of technicians available to us.
– Due to the large number of latex balloons we used in the video, it was important for us to work out
how many we need, how they are going to be inflated, and how much this will cost. Looking at
balloons, I found a supplier on ebay that would sell us balloons for £3.19 per hundred. We
estimated that we will need around a thousand, putting the cost at £31.90 for the balloons alone.
– We decided that the dancers should all be wearing tight-fitting clothing, with the star wearing a
loose dress, in order to attract a young audience. Also, it meant we didn’t have to buy and clothing
because our cast already had clothes to this specification.

9. Planning of my set
design and location
Planning the set was vital to the efficient
production of our music video. This is because
we only had a few hours to build our set,
meaning that if we had not already designed
it, it would have been unlikely that everything
would have been finished in time; even if it
had been, it is unlikely that it would look very
good. We planned to film in the studio at
school where we had access to professional-
grade lighting and technicians available.

10. Planning

11. Storyboarding & Animatic
– Storyboarding was invaluable to the process for
us, because it meant that we were able to plan
our shots in advance, and prepare the necessary
equipment in order to take the shots, before the
shoot day itself.
– The animatic not only helped us to see the
lengths of the shots and what they would look
like, but also helped us to gain valuable feedback
about the effectiveness of the shots in the video.

12. Why we made a record of our planning
It was important to us to make a
record of our planning because
it means that we can see exactly
how far our work has come. For
example, it can be seen that the
pictures on the storyboard on
the left has nothing to with what
the artist is actually doing;
because plans change, but that’s
OK, as long as it is documented.

13. Provide two examples of planning
which was important to your shoot
– We decided on who we wanted to use for our
music video. Grace is our main performer, who
we chose because of her capabilities as an
actress, in addition to fitting the profile of what
we want to see in the music video. For our
dancers, we have chosen Romany and Tash. We
chose them because they are both taking Dance
as an A-level so are very capable, as well as both
of them looking similar due to their oriental
ethnicity.
8:30-9:30: Set up in the studio/FULL CAST
9:30-11:00: Corridor set up (filming)/ANJULI
11:00-1:00: Colourful room/FULL CAST
1:00-1:30: Lunch
1:30-3:30: Balloon room/Anjuli, TASH,
HANNAH
3:30-4:30: Finishing shots/CREW
Cast planning was important so that they knew when they needed to get time off school. The shooting
schedule was vital because it meant that we could plan ahead as to when we needed our cast.

14. Campaign Research
– Having had a look at some of the artists
similar to the one we are using, I found
a website which may be useful for us to
base our digipak on. The web page for
the indie artist Chelsea Lankes is very
dark and mysterious, which I like, but at
the same time it is also functional, with
links to other pages up at the top,
meaning that the audience can see that
she is an indie artist but at the same
time can also access her media.

15. Evaluation
• Our research played a major part in the production of our music video
and digipak. There were many things that we looked at which influenced
how our final piece would look, such as looking at similar artists of the
same genre, and seeing how simplistic their media is; we reflected this in
our own production.
• Generally, our planning went well, however we did not effectively follow
the shot list when it came to the shoot day, meaning that many of the
shots that we took were improvisations, which although looked better in
the long run, made it much harder in the editing suite because we had to
make executive decisions about how the video should look.