Welcome to my blog!

 IN THIS POST:

• Welcome to my blog!
• Playlist of videos I have referenced

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

PLAYLIST OF VIDEOS I'VE REFERENCED

These are the music videos I have mentioned in my blog and have done research on.

Reflective Essay

 IN THIS POST:

• Criteria
• Critical reflection

Criteria

Critical reflection

(1000 words)

Our first step was researching general industry examples, for video, digipak and social media. General research included SUICIDE SILENCE, Arctic Monkeys and Chris Stapleton until we found our ‘dark pop’ genre, and looked at Melanie Martinez, Lana Del Rey and finally Billie Eilish. Looking for visual ideas, (and following Goodwin's conventions) we took inspiration from TRIPTYKON’s abstract visuals and narratives (contrasting Vernallis,

TRIPTYKON’s abstract visuals

 suggesting music videos are too short to portray a narrative + more elliptical). Pixies (Silver Snail) playfully deconstructed the conventional video (Neale’s ‘difference in repetition’ - tweaking genre expectations). We used ‘colour pop’ (form of escapism - uses and gratifications), inspired by AJ Tracey (Rain) and Yoko Oh No (Love u), with their ‘camp’ male protagonist wearing excessive makeup, bows in hair, and extreme lighting). Eilish explores dark themes (through her ‘dark pop’ genre), targeting her youthful female audience, so we contrasted concepts between the above artists.


The couple is heteronormative, however explore gender fluidity (queering) by reducing the male character's presence, with him lip-syncing to Eilish’ lines

Melanie Martinez’s doll-like look

. We applied Butler’s gender performativity concept, moving away from the simulacrum (Baudrillard) of Eilish’s brand/genre. We encoded polysemic potential feminist/post-feminist readings (after researching Cyrus and Sinead O’Connor Twitter conflict on queering). This was expressed through costume and makeup, taking Melanie Martinez’s doll-like look (another dark pop artists), including black lipstick, pigtails (through the video and on our digipak) and ‘gummy bear’ earrings. Laura Mulvey would argue there is male gaze present, with revealing shots of her bust, although our protagonist has agency. This deconstructionist hyper-feminist look conforms with Judith Butler’s queer theory. Most of the females clothing was promiscuous and tight-fitting, however, we stuck to some of Eilish’s branding, wearing baggy trousers, rejecting gender binary. There is arguably ‘female gaze’ connecting to our secondary male character with shots of his bare chest present.

Eilish conventional avoids any sexual connotations in her videos despite being common in the ‘dark pop’ genre. Our character wore revealing ‘lingerie’ in bed, low-cut tops, with the narrative anchoring sexual connotations, with a shot of the couple under the sheets. In this case, the agency is shared between our couple, most prominent when the male character pushes the female onto the bed, which is a playful postmodern approach to 

male character pushes the female onto the bed

gender norms. We chose to hit the generation Z 'woke' zeitgeist while ironically eating fast food after Eilish sparked controversy in a recent music video (eating fast food in an empty shopping mall). BBFC’s age rating scheme provides a voluntary rating for UK artists signed to the 'big 3'. We took this into account and avoided excessive explicit imagery potentially offensive for our t(w)een audience.

 

We are aware of lack of diversity, eg no BAME or disabled characters, however, this was due to covid restrictions. Eilish targets a globalised brand, therefore we avoided anchorage of any locations. Inspired by Madonna, our character wore crucifix earrings; however, this is left polysemic, with playful lyrics and use of promiscuity. In our video, we incorporated an easter egg (Invisalign next to the bed), intertextualising

intertextualising The Shining’s twins, with our protagonist doubled on screen

a prior Eilish reference. Intertextuality links to Altman’s intellectual puzzles, boosting someone's cultural capital if a reference is picked up on. The influence was taken from film, intertextualising The Shining’s twins, with our protagonist doubled on screen. We uploaded a gif of ‘here’s Johnny’ on Twitter to hint at this.


We created 2 logo’s and applied them to our merchandise, website, digipak and socials. I photoshopped a collection of contrary merchandise products, from a record player (engaging an older audience) to a child’s handbag (targeting a 6-10s). Her socials incorporate filters/themes, often dark and red, tying in the hellish connotations. I integrated her darker themes together with her relatable teenage content (engaging
identification, uses and gratifications theory). O’Reilly's Web 2.0 theory  suggests the 

We created a diegetic outro, in which our protagonist break's role

consumer is becoming increasingly more involved in shaping an artist’s brand. We created a diegetic outro, in which our protagonist break's role (Eilish had also done this previously, maintaining her brand).
We produced a reaction video, unboxing video and dance video, produced by both our primary and secondary audience. We released a lyric video as artists took previous user-generated content and uploaded them while monetising them (Justin Bieber ‘Yummy’).


Eilish is a leading figure on social media, with 106m followers across Twitter, Instagram and TikTok (being 3 social media’s, engaging the most followers), posting relatable content (Uses and gratifications theory - McQuail). She has been featured on Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone

She has been featured on Vanity Fair

which pushed her into the older secondary target audience. We utilised personal identity, escapism and social interactions (aspects of this theory). I set up the Instagram ‘BillieTheAvocado2001’, referencing our fans’ nickname (avocado’s), creating a sense of personal identity. We established an image our primary audience could identify with, targeting t(w)eens with the exaggerated stereotype of the ‘doll’ and sexualised elements (along with older teen cast) targeted older teen/young adult. The performativity/playfulness of gender (Gaga - Bad Romance), help reinforce Eilish’s appeal to the LGBTQ+ community. The colour pop earlier mentioned provides escapism.


We used conventional ‘t(w)een language (emoji’s, slang, direct address and hashtagging), with one caption to a fan account repost being, “LOVE THIS!! Thank uuuuuuu @emmyeeeeee this is incredible (fire emoji) (bomb emoji) #new single #okaygirl”. After researching TikTok

accepted the LGBTQ+ community through our Instagram

(Ariane Grande), we used a ‘trend’ to create audience pleasure, where we use a bed transition (camera falls into bed, rises up from the other side). We launched competitions and QnA’s to engage the audience, creating ‘fan accounts’ to participate. A ‘fan’ says “Where’s the music video you promised us?”, and we replied as Billie Eilish, “don’t worryyy keep patient & u won’t be disappointed!! Xx”. We created a tweet to instil shared experience in the genre community (Chandler), writing, “tonight/midnight/stay tuned”. We address the body image concerns and accepted the LGBTQ+ community through our Instagram, retweeting fans discussing body confidence, and reposting a TikTok (of a counterhegemonic male wearing makeup), captioned as “@Aaronstray slayyyy honey (heart eyes emoji) everyone can wear makeup y’all #changetheworld”.

Music Video Final Cut and Alt Vids

 IN THIS POST:

• Final cut 
• What I have changed since the last 
• Dance video 
• Lyric video 
• Teaser
• Visualiser 
• Reaction video to video
• Product placement advert

FINAL CUT

This our final music video to all the good girls go to hell by Billie Eilish. It took a lot of hard work and determination to get this video to the standard that it is. We really took into consideration the audience's feedback, but also trusted our gut and what we thought was creative and effective.

WHAT I HAVE CHANGED SINCE LAST TIME

This is the last draft before the final video:

• added a 'nostalgic' filter to 0:13 - 0:15 (street narrative scene)
• added twin (to intertextualise 'The Shining') at 0:13 - 0:15
• swapped out shot between 0:31 - 0:33, changed it to birds eye view shot above bed, sleeping
• Changed selective cutting between 0:43 and 0:46, used the bass beat
• Key framed the thermostat out of the shot between 0:54 and 0:56
• 1:48 - 1:51, keyframes thermostat out
• 2:20 - 2:23, added twin in street scene
• 2:23 - 2:25, changed background to performance instead of narrative, made this shot last longer to get rid of other shot

LYRIC VIDEO

Scope vids created a lyric video. This is a common convention for artists to do as it creates "hype", due to it typically being released before the music video, improving the promotion. A few years ago, these were typically made by the audience (User Generated Content), but in recent years, artists have been creating them themselves.

 

DANCE VIDEO

We got one of our friends to put together a dance for our song. This is a form of monetisation, as the video will be copyrighted due to the music. This is also good for promotional purposes.

TEASER

Here is a teaser video that I created. These are conventionally used to create hype around the music video on social media.

VISUALISER

I created a visualiser, which will typically be used on Spotify. It is a slight teaser to the music video and it is promotional, if people are to be streaming the song on Spotify.

REACTION VIDEO TO VIDEO

We asked one of our friends to play as a "fan" and create a YouTube video and react to our music video. This is very common for fans to do, and also promotes the music video.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT ADVERT

In our music video, we include shots of Bluetooth headphones as product placement. Here is the advert we created to go along with it.

Digipak: drafts and final text

IN THIS POST:

• Final Text
• Font research
• Final product
• Audience feedback
• Draft 1
• Draft 2
• Initial ideas

FINAL TEXT

Inner panel

STICKER:

SPINE:

BACK PANEL:

INNER PANEL (WITHOUT CD):

CD:

LYRIC BOOKLET

STICKERS

Lyric booklet from LouisHodges3

We initially did some experimenting for the lyric booklet which we took photos for in front of a green screen.  Cutting out the image was harder than expected so it didn't look as professional as we would have liked.  It was really tough to cut out the hair and the trousers reflected the green screen so it didn't look clean.  Here is the first draft:

Here is the photoshoot we had:

Digipak photoshoot from westhamwindows

ARTIST REVIEWING OWN DIGIPAK

FAN OPENING ON YOUTUBE

TRACKLISTING

We decided to have 14 tracks on our digipak, 3 of which are "live from Miami, FL".  This is the listing we decided to go for:

1. all the good girls go to hell
2. I dare you
3. no
4. left crowded
5. crucifixion
6. successful failure
7. trapped in reality
8. shadow
9. different notes
10. sweet tooth
11. I'm your doll
12. friction (live from Miami, FL)
13. age too slow (live from Miami, FL)
14. enemy (live from Miami, FL)

We chose songs that we think would work well with Billie Eilish's image and brand.  For example, adding in the religious connotations.  We also wanted to add a lot of contradictory names, like age too slow and successful failure.  I wrote my own lyrics to the song different notes:

I look you in the eye
You make me wanna cry
As you're waving goodbye
But I just wanna try

We should be perfect together
But our paths don't lead to forever

We're singing different songs
Everything you wrote
How can this be wrong?
We're on different notes

How could we have known
Our time has overgrown
I'm feeling so alone
I'm drawing blood from a stone

We should be perfect together
But our paths don't lead to forever

We're singing different songs
Everything you wrote
How can this be wrong?
We're on different notes

We're singing different songs
Everything you wrote
How can this be wrong?
We're on different notes

CHOSEN IMAGES/ART

These are our chosen images for the digipak:

We think that these are really striking visuals which will work perfectly for our Digipak.

FONT RESEARCH

Fonts digipak from westhamwindows

DRAFT 2

For our second draft, we decided to steer away from Photoshop so that we could have more creative control, as we found that Photoshop felt quite limiting, due to the lack of knowledge we have on the software.  We think that it's not massively beginner-friendly, so we reverted to working with PicMonkey.  Here is the draft:

Our notes on this draft:

• This colour scheme is significantly different to our first draft. After the audience feedback, we've decided to go for the colour-pop look, rather than it being so dull.
• The inner and outer panels don't gel very well together, but we like the concept of lyrics overlaid onto the inner panels.
• We've decided not to have the artist name, which Billie Eilish has done before, but we did want the album title and I think the font is good for that.
• I like the HD picture in the front and then the spine and back panel are blurred.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

There was a lot of positive reception for the front and back panels, with just a few points to changes, but the inner panel wasn't as successful.  The colours don't merge very well, so we will be changing it, almost entirely.  The lyrics were praised, and we like them, so we will be keeping them.  We're also going to make the image in the inner panels slightly clearer, as people weren't able to tell that there was a person in it.

DRAFT 1

Our first digital front cover draft was created on Adobe Photoshop 2021. It was our first time using this application. Our draft:

Our notes on this draft:

• Follows a colour scheme we are likely to include in our final product
• We are likely to include 2 visible versions of 'Billie Eilish' on our front cover, expressing different emotions, much like this draft
• We feel the title and album title fit well into the cover, following conventions, yet also being unique as many are in the dark pop genre
• The serif, bubble, dark red, white and black font works well, however we will search for fonts that work better, and stick to what Billie Eilish uses generally
• We have added and played around with filters to the images, which make it stand out.  When we create our next draft, we will use makeup to further imply the contrast between who this character is/isn't.
• We will also use different clothing, hair etc. to connote the meaning of our Digipak
• We will play around with layering more, and will look at using the magnetic lasso tool on Photoshop to create more abstract visuals
• Planning for our first back panel and inner panels, we will note up our plans for the back panel theme, inner panel themes and other aspects of the conventional Digipak
• We want there to be a religious element on the front cover as well
• We will look at having a strong font contrast between the album title and artist name

Here is a short video explaining the process of getting to our first draft...

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

The audience feedback we got on this draft was not massively positive. I agree that it's not the most striking visual and it's hard to fully see the facial expressions. I think it's very different to the vibe we're giving off in the video, so I think that we should make it a bit more coherent.

INITIAL IDEAS

Our initial ideas are to play off of the contradictory music video we've created/the song we made the music video to. As the song is called all the good girls go to hell, we're thinking of creating an image with two faces which have a lower opacity so we can see the difference between the two images. I think that this would look best with exaggerated facial expressions in a close-up.

Bonus Production: Website... MERCH!!!

IN THIS POST:

• Final website: Vodcast
• Final website: Powerpoint
• Website draft
• Merchandise research
• Final Logo(s)
• Logo drafts
• Logo planning

LINK

FINAL WEBSITE

Vodcast

Powerpoint

Final website loops media from LouisHodges3

WEBSITE DRAFTS

 

Website draft from LouisHodges3

MERCHANDISE RESEARCH

 

Merchandise loops media from LouisHodges3

Chosen image

This image will be the main picture on our website homepage. Reasons:

• Intertextualises 'Joker'
• Intertextualises Alice Cooper
• Fits with her red theme
• Carries hell connotations
• Billie Eilish is centred in the image, which shows she is the focus of the site
• Direct gaze, this is immediately engaging and attracts her primary and secondary audience.

FONTS

Fonts chosen website from LouisHodges3

LOGO

FINAL LOGOS

3RD LOGO (FEATURED IN TECH TIPS SERIES)

Other drafts

Logo final2 loopsx scope from LouisHodges3

LOGO PLANNING

On the left, is Billie Eilish's logo. It is very simplistic, and has little relation to her brand, however due to her extreme success, it is widely known to be associated with her. It is a stick man, slightly slanted. This can be interpreted as Billie Eilish suggesting it is okay to be 'quirky' and 'unusual' (similar to a dutch angle). We will likely create a design with her initials, while still following her colour scheme. Possible incorporating another image related item. Ideas include:

- Her green hair
- Fire
- A snake

Here are some ideas that we will look at for inspiration

 

 After struggling for inspiration when creating the       logo for our brand, I tried a few versions by hand,   as I had ideas, just not the ability to execute them on photoshop. This is the first draft, and the hope is   to upload it to photoshop and adjust the colours.   This   works as a logo for Billie Eilish because:

 - Has her initials in bold, serif/sans-serif font
 simplistic
 - Has a snake covering the letters 

- This animal links to her brand image

Prior to arriving at this draft, I came up with one other idea, which was slightly more simplistic. It is also an option, because of how simplistic is it. With the other image having a snake on it, it could mean that when the image is small, the drawing might get confusing, and could be interpreted as a letter. Another option is to have different versions of the same logo, for example, the simplistic logo could go on our digital and website, whereas the other logo could be a social media profile picture. 

Social media: drafts and final text

 IN THIS POST:

• Social Media - Instagram
• First draft
• Social Media - Twitter
• First draft

INSTAGRAM LINK

TWITTER LINK

SOCIAL MEDIA - INSTAGRAM

FIRST DRAFT

Instagram caption drafts loops media-2 from LouisHodges3

SOCIAL MEDIA - TWITTER

TWITTER DRAFT

Twitter social media from westhamwindows

The journey of a creative concept

IN THIS POST:

• Final Pitch
• Influence video
• Earlier Pitches
• First Ideas
• Developing the Narrative
• Developing the Visuals/Performance

FINAL PITCH

Pitch v4 emma and louis 15.10.20-2 from LouisHodges3

INFLUENCE VIDEO

EARLIER PITCHES

Pitch 3

Pitch 2

Pitch 1 (Video)

Pitch 1 (PowerPoint)

FIRST IDEAS

At first, we considered working with a smaller artist (local - use our link to radio ARA to find smaller artists). Benefits of this include:

• Using the real artist in the video
• This allows for increasing realism (body language, lip-syncing)
• Greater marketing opportunity
• Means we can both provide sufficient evidence of directing (as neither of us would be in the video)
• Gives us some professional experience, contributes to a professional portfolio and CV

We analysed Bag Boy by the Pixies and explored the idea of doing this.

• Pixies create narrative videos, avoiding awkward lip-syncing
• Often create open narratives
• Striking visuals
• Have a unique opinion on promotional videos, provides for detailed research

We decided against this because we wanted to explore a genre we were more familiar with, as we already had striking visual ideas for a Billie Eilish type of video.

Editing ideas

After watching some past AS coursework, we want to explore creative editing techniques, including:

• Selective cutting (cutting on time with the beat)
• Blurring visuals
• Bokeh 
• Slow-motion (technique including filming in 2x speed, potentially lip-syncing at this speed)
• Discolouration
• Layering

DEVELOPING THE NARRATIVE

In our original pitches, we pitched naturalistic narratives, much like in this past A2 example. After watching 'Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again', we decided to adapt our narrative to incorporation more enigmatic elements, becoming more open and abstract.

Previous Narrative plot points

• The couple are happy together
• Several shots of them laughing smiling together
• Taking walks together
• Argue
• The girl (protagonist walks away)
• She becomes post-feminist
• Turns out better now she is alone

New abstract plot points

• Her end visual takes place throughout (as the line between narrative and performance is blurred)
• Couple being happy appears as flashbacks throughout the video
• No argument is shown (only implied, no denotation as to what happened between them)
• Use of colouring to imply different meanings (ambiguity, leaving it polysemic)

DEVELOPING THE PERFORMANCE + VISUAL

My first idea was for one of our performance shoots to take place in a dark room, with a black (or dark coloured) backdrop, with low light. This is still something we are looking to use, however, this will be the 'background' performance, as it has no specific link to the narrative.

Our main concept for the performance is to be a link with the narrative, as it takes place at the end of the abstract narrative, with Billie travelling back to areas where she was happy with her boyfriend. 

We want to incorporate as many striking visuals as possible. This includes shots like Billie biting into an Avocado with the skin still on. This creates a sense of shock for the audience, contributing to the polysemic plot, however with clear rebellion connotations. Along with shots, we want to use as many different editing techniques as possible, including:

• Masking for transitions
• Layering
• Colour correction
• Slow-motion