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Music Video

Website

http://mallardmedia.wix.com/phildel

Digipak

Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

We didn't include titles in our piece as it was only a feature indicative of a high budget production similar to a film - an example of this would be Taylor Swift - Bad Blood. However, the average dream-pop music video would not contain any titles which is why we decided to follow the codes and conventions and follow.

The setting is also inspired off the original work - Phildel - The Wolf. We believed that a forest setting would make sense in a dream pop video due to the fact that it presented the most mystery out of all of the locations possible. There is also a large amount of foliage surrounding the area we live making it easy to film at allowing us to improve or edit more frequently if needed be.

For costume, we needed something that looked almost dystopian yet still familiar, which is why we decided on our own clothes. The alternative was a fantasy clothing/costume style, however, we didn't believe that this suited the lyrics of the song. We wore very washed out colours with nothing too vibrant so the mood came across as quite depressed and sad without using a black and white filter in order to not copy the original text. The protagonist is wearing a grey top similar to that of a grey wolf, we have done this so it is obvious that he is the primary character. The secondary character is wearing inconspicuous clothing to not make him stand out which is why he is wearing a black jumper with a hood.

Our frames were rather distanced from the original product as our shots are much more faster than the original video. This allowed us to add additional effects and transitions such as motion blurs and fast forwards which, yet again, is a code/convention for the genre.

The narrative of the music video is purposefully disjointed as are all music videos in the dream pop genre. This makes it so the lyrics and the music video relate and are in beat but there is a hidden meaning to the song as well as a hidden narrative. In our video, the narrative is representative of the song. A wolf trying to catch its prey, yet, the wolf being the victim in a way.

Our characters are based of general pop-culture references. Our main character shows a strong protagonist similar to that of the hunger games, whilst our secondary character wears clothing to make him unnoticeable. We based it off a common medieval thief that you would see in a television show similar to Game of Thrones.

We made a point to ensure that the music would flow with the visuals: making it far faster paced during climaxes within the music. This ensures that the video is not disjointed to the music itself rather than the lyrics which can be seen as symbolic in nature on their own. Considering the context of the writer and the relation to the original music video by Phildel (Decca Records) we felt it be best if we engaged with the rhythm rather than words. To this effect, the video had an aspect of fluidity rather than what could be awkward cuts and visuals relating to specific phrases. ​

Evaluation Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

For our music video, we decided to focus on some key features from the original video and use them in our own product as a reference to the original work. This is why we decided to set ours in a forest area as we believed it conveyed the correct mysterious theme that is a convention of the dream pop genre. We also believed it would make the most sense whilst referring to the story in our music video, a man chasing down another with a bow and arrow.

However, we decided to change our filter and overall theme of the video changing the entire meaning of the song in the process. The original works is demonstrating the protagonist of the video as a victim whilst they regain their power, however, ours describes the wolf as an assassin in some sense, the representation of the wolf is changed to someone stalking and hunting their target or prey. In relation to our other ancillary texts such as the Digipak, we have focused on the imagery of the wolf to present our piece. This makes the combination of our Digipak and Song extremely effective as it depicts a wolf in a delicate pattern - noticing the vulnerability of the lyrics and the powerful imagery of the wolf.

We believed that this would be most beneficial to the overall storyline of our video and allow us to keep certain genre conventions such as a disjointed narrative within our production.

Furthermore, our music video was inspired by other media texts such as the hunger games. Our protagonist of the video was heavily inspired by the protagonist of hunger games, Katniss Everdeen. This is why we opted to use a bow instead of a gun as we believed it would present a much more rustic, dystopia theme. We presented this in our website with it having an ethereal theme with white and black colours taking priority and any photographs being washed out and faded. We believed that this design would be most appropriate when taking into consideration that the website is for the dream pop genre. It is also why the choices in font were rather gentile rather than bold font as it is indicative of the genre. We have also taken inspiration from the alternative genre to convey our website as dream-pop and alternative are extremely similar in stylistic choices which is why we believe the website and video combine perfectly.

What also became apparent was the use of modern clothing. We believed a fantasy (Our original idea) would not suit the lyrics in the music video, yet, we wanted to continue using the bow and arrow hence the dystopia a feel, as if the world were lost in nature. Katniss Everdeen embodied everything we wanted in our video as she is a strong character who holds traits that could be linked to a wolf such as her skill at hunting. We showed this in our Digipak also. The inclusion of the wolf on our front cover was supposed to emphasise the wolf as the primary aspect of our video showing that the combination of all of these emphasised the meaning and icons in our production.

We also believed that a lighter filter to our video would suit it much more as it includes fast paced shots and various match on action shots that are not featured in the original work. The original focused heavily on close-up shots and slow-mo which is why we decided to set ourselves apart to avoid falling into the trap of being too similar to the original product. Also, it would make much moire sense in our video as it is faster in shot speed and camera movement. The lack of slow-mo is another contributing factor as to why we did not include similar shots. The fact that we instead decided to speed up certain sections of our video meant the further away the person or object was away from the camera meant that the shot could continue for longer.

In the dream pop genre, there is usually a recurring object that appears in the video. For Phildel's version of the video, she focused on a twig which was uniquely shaped and it appeared in different art such as her album cover and EP CD disc. Our group chose to focus on a bow and arrow for our object. This worked well for us as the bow and arrow would have been in the video regardless, but with the inclusion of an object being the convention of a dream pop video we decided to include more close ups of the bow and arrow rather than it just being a prop, this makes it one of the most notable features of the video which was intentional.

In terms of ancillary texts, our website and Digipak follow a very similar design of mainly washed out colours being the theme, however when something is required to stand out more noticeable vibrant colours will be used which is inspired by Phildel's original artwork that she uses in her music albums. There is also similarities in the clear genre conventions we have used such as gentile thin fonts rather than harsh, bold fonts that would usually be used in  a house music genre. We have also followed the convention of the imagery of animals and wildlife in the dream-pop genre, also, inspired by Phildel and other dream pop artists.

Our video and digipak demonstrate clear imagery of wildlife. The protagonist being representative of the wolf that is mentioned in the song bringing an almost literal meaning to a metaphor within the song, whilst on the album cover, imagery of wildlife such as flowers and most notably a wolf has clear direct links to our music video making the combination of the two extremely effective when presenting this.

Our video's setting plays a large role as it shows the foliage and mystical theme we were trying to convey. Furthermore, the website follows the same theme depicting forest and foliage screenshots from our video which is what we, as a group, deemed the most important aspect to display. We have included a picture of the digipak also to emphasise the cross compatibility and combination of all our media texts.

Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Whilst creating our music video, we believed that audience feedback was paramount in creating an enjoyable and technically proficient production. We approached audience feedback in a variety of ways varying from a focus group evaluating our first draft to a survey discussing genre conventions of music videos.

Firstly, we received feedback on our initial ideas which was a fantasy battle. We included our entire media studies class in the survey leading to, roughly, eight completed surveys. The feedback we received, both written and verbal, concluded that a fantasy battle will be difficult to produce when factors of cost were considered. Also, a fantasy battle would take too long to create due to the use of CGI and green-screen. Consequently, as we have no knowledge in the field of green screen effects and CGI we decided we were better off perfecting a simpler idea which was easier to create. From audience feedback, we were able to manage our time in a more productive manner. Furthermore, it allowed us to explore other aspects of the fantasy genre such as a dystopia similar to that of the hunger games which is what we ended up creating.

Secondly, after we completed our first draft, we requested verbal feedback from a few people in our class. The first draft consisted of a 50 second clip, the introduction of our video, we decided it would be wise to receive feedback on this section alone due to the fact that it would set the mood and pacing of our entire video. The general consensus was that we were on the right lines with the mood and tone of the video being quite gritty and depressive which was what we were aiming for, however the fact that we were trying to convey a dream-like atmosphere, as our genre is dream pop, didn't translate to our audience which was one aspect to improve. Another aspect our audience suggested we improve was the timing of shots in relation to the music. They believed that most shots should be in time with the drum beat which we completely agreed with and rectified this in our second draft - including all other concerns they raised with us making audience feedback paramount to the improvement of our music video.

Finally, after improving our first draft we decided to show a different group. Our second draft, consisted of the recommended improvements from our first group, yet, also included various additions such as filters, new transitions and new shots. The general consensus was positive, however the shots were still out of sync to the music which was our main concern with our final draft. We decided to redraft our entire video, because of this. making our audience feedback crucial to this process.

In conclusion, audience feedback was by far one of the most important aspects of the improvement of our production. Not only did it allow us to view our video from others perspectives and gain information that way, but it became clear that there were issue with timing and our videos in relation to the dream pop genre as a whole. Furthermore, the improvements to the music videos have been invaluable to this process.

Evaluation Question 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

As a group we discovered the impracticality of low cost digital recorder cameras with the down sides being: low quality images (usually around 320p resolution), short battery life spans and often awkward controls such as the DXG series of camcorders. With the recent phenomenon of high quality camera phones becoming widely available we decided to utilize the iPhone 6s+ which boasts a 4K front camera.

Finding a way to steady the phone to the quality of the camera on a tripod was at first a challenge after taking initial shots free-hand, believing that there wasn't an alternative. Although, the shots still made it to the final cut of the video, taking them proved difficult and we worried about maintaining a high level of quality for each take.

Strangely, it was a disdain for the selfie-stick fad that gave us an idea to use the attachment phone-grip to hold the mobile and attach it to the tripod with the hope that it would be compatible with a tripod. We bought a selfie-stick and removed the phone attachment to find that it fits perfectly within the tripod jack. This effectively saved our piece and enabled us to take high quality shots with a steady foundation.

As we had chosen to use an iPhone to take the shots we needed, rather than transfer the contents to a computer to use more conventional software such as Sony Vegas, we used an application called Splice that acts the same as the Apple own video software: iMovie. Using this, it prevented us from spending large amounts of time transferring large amounts of data which would have been a challenge in itself with email size restrictions.

The sites we used were Blogger, for all of our research and planning and YouTube to publish and embed videos. To use Blogger, we needed to have a basic understanding of HTML 5 coding language, which we used to embed links and focus on specific commands when creating posts. 

We used the WIX website builder to create our own website about the digipak which required us to use advanced YouTube settings to embed and link our video. Furthermore, we used Photoshop to create a still of our video to use as a back ground for the website and create synergy between our products. 

The Wolf - Phidel Lyrics

And you once said, “I wish you dead, you sinner.”
I’ll never be more than a wolf at your door for dinner.
And if I see you ‘round like a ghost in my town, you liar,
I’ll leave with your head. Oh, I’ll leave you for dead, sire.

And you once said, “I wish you dead, you sinner.
I’ll never be more than a wolf at your door for dinner.
And if I see you ‘round like a ghost in my town, you liar,
I’ll leave with your head. Oh, I’ll leave you for dead, sire.

You were sharp as a knife to get me.
You were a wolf in the night to fetch me back.
The wishes I've made are too vicious to tell.
Everyone knows I am going to hell…

And if it’s true,
I’ll go there with you.

And you once said, “I wish you dead, you sinner.”
I’ll never be more than a wolf at your door for dinner.
And if I see you ‘round like a ghost in my town, you liar,
I’ll leave with your head. Oh, I’ll leave you for dead, sire.

I know my way through the night to your door.
You know, the blood that I'm owed is all yours.
The wishes I've made are too vicious to tell.
The devil, already he knows me so well.

And if it’s true,
I’ll go there with you.

And you once said, “I wish you dead, you sinner.”
I’ll never be more than a wolf at your door for dinner.
And if I see you ‘round like a ghost in my town, you liar,
I’ll leave with your head. Oh, I’ll leave you for dead, sire.

And you once said, “I wish you dead, you sinner.”
I’ll never be more than a wolf at your door for dinner.
And if I see you ‘round like a ghost in my town, you liar,
I’ll leave with your head. Oh, I’ll leave you for dead, sire.

Analysis - Iggy Azalea - Team (Explicit)

The music video is highly representative and arguably somewhat autobiographical of Iggy Azalea's life in recent times. The first car scene/chase is representative of the artist trying to escape the media (paparazzi) and the people who try to control her, such as: her record label and critics.
In the next scene, the artist is tracked through airport security which represents her life under scrutiny by the public and the constant judgement that she receives via the press.
The scene featuring the private plane and the graffiti is representational of her life becoming distorted in her own mind. This relates to the distorted 'clone' versions of herself representing the misinterpretations of her personality by people, i.e. her unwanted persona that have come about from the allegations of racism and cultural appropriation. In the final scene, Iggy is dragged onto the plane and is forced to face her situation which is a reference to her own suicidal thoughts and her hiatus from both music and social media due to the harassment against her. 

Music Video Ideas - Group Decision

Individual group member's song artist idea:

We have decided to stay in the same group for A2 as we did for AS. This consists of me, Kieran & Harry.
Artists:
My choice: Nicki Minaj
Kieran's choice: Iggy Azalea
Harry's choice: Lonely Island

Powerpoint for Initial Media Ideas for videos

Phildel - The Wolf

Phildel - The Wolf

Analysis - David Hasselhoff - True Survivor

Genre Characteristics
Synth Pop

• Use of visibly, intentionally dated effects such as a 'Tron' style grid
• Focus of fighting
• 1980s fashion
• Shared focus on story and lead singer 

Relationship between lyrics and visuals:

• 'In and out of time' showing a CGI yet purposely dated scene of time travel using a 'Tron' grid as a basis
• The chorus 'Action' is sung during the action sequences while the protagonist of the story is fighting someone or group of people
• The love themes presented are shown through the pink lighting in the narration sections featuring David Hasselhoff
• The 'true survivor' relates to the survivalist costume of the protagonist with the red bandanna and leather gear
•  The 'shadow from the past' section relates to the appearance of Hitler as the main antagonist of the music video potentially returning through presented time travel and basis of the crowd-funded film that the song accompanies.

Relationship between music and visuals:

• The 80s synth-pop style has heavily influenced the costumes of the characters within the music video'sn narrative along with the lead singer's own costume
• Furthermore, the technology shown also fits with this continuing theme of the 1980s and pop culture
• High notes are shown with exaggerated movements by David Hasselhoff
• Climatic sounds incur climatic moments within the music video
• During instrumental moments the action shown is often in slow motion to create a varied sense of pacing within the video

The demands of the record label (close ups of the artists) and artist recurring motifs:

• Focus on David Hasselhoff as a key narrative element
• The links back to the film that the song accompanies are shown through clips of the lead actor
• David Hasselhoff is shown to be a hero despite not being involved with the video's actual story
• Lots of closeups of the lead singer and and emphasis on his movements

Reference to the notion of looking:

• The main section of the looking notion occurs with the break in the action which covers several geographical locations. In it, David Hasselhoff is looking around acting as a watermark for this scene
• David Hasselhoff is also walking down the 'crime ridden' street looking directly down the camera while glancing to the criminals around to build the story of the city requiring a hero to save it

Inter-textual references:

The car that David Hasselhoff stood next to throughout the video was a reference to the TV show that he was the lead of: 'Nightrider' where the car had its own personality. Being an 80s pop culture icon, this reference fit into the theme of the video. Furthermore, David Hasselhoff himself through his appearance on said TV show as well as 'Baywatch', he is a microcosm for the 80s theme itself and his fame brought about much connotations of the 1980s fashion and pop culture heritage. 

Phildel: The Artist's Journey

Phildel Hoi Yee Ng is a British-Chinese national living in Chiltern, London. She is currently signed with Decca Records which is a subsidiary of the Access Industries owned Warner Music Group (which despite the name has completely separated from the conglomerate Time Warner Inc.). This may pose an issue as being a signed artist, there may be more legal barriers in place to prevent us from using the music and said style.

However, we have emailed Phildel's website through the contact section and hope to establish a correspondence which would allow us to receive input from the artist herself and send her the finished product. Like many WMG label holders, she does not have a Vevo YouTube channel which many artists have through connections to the the MTV Network. Despite having her first hit/well known single being released in 2007 as part of the international iPad 3 marketing campaign, she is still considered a break-out artist.

Explicit Themes and Their Effects

Currently the most talked about music has subsequently led to its widespread popularity due to the supposed 'wow' factor or typical rebellious nature of the material. 
Music videos that include large amounts of nudity do typically be removed from popular video sharing sites such as 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke but could be found on the artist's own site and less regulated sites. Despite lack of accessibility, the video made headlines and became highly sought after. Furthermore, the song itself became a summer 2014 hit and gained further success within holiday resorts such as Cancun and Ibiza. 














Artists themselves have become synonymous with explicit material and most notable of which is hip-hop artists such as Eminem, Iggy Azalea, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Jay Z and many more. Due to the adult nature of the lyrics within the music, hip-hop songs are often avoided on radio which has led to more outrageous promo videos to reclaim sales. Overall however, the explicit language do and could damage future sales of singles due to lack of accessibility that other songs typically receive. 

In some cases, the songs that artists produce are often not the reason that they are censored (like 'Blurred Lines'). Recently, once Disney actress, Miley Cyrus has released a collection of widely available songs yet due to her live presentation of them and often sexually motivated promo videos, she has caused controversy. Last year with her release of the song 'We Won't Stop' the YouTube promo reached  584,342,863 views with yet over a million dislikes making up half of the overall ratings. Despite negative response and controversy with the alternative topic and style, it quickly became one of the most viewed singles of all time and this reflected in the sales.

Potential Ideas For Music Video

With the Moonsea, the original promo video is very abstract leaving ample room for creativity. Harry's idea was a fight sequence as we felt a slowed fight sequence to accompany the song fit quite well. To test the idea we ran several fight scenes ( 'The Dark Knight Rises', 'Captain America' and 'Game of Thrones') alongside the music and it did work well.

We think that this may be a serious possibility as it's inventive, exciting and can tell and interesting story which are staples of  promo videos. Choreography and location of the fight will be key to getting the video to make sense and also editing will be a large part as many fast cuts will be required. 

We will not do the whole video as a fight as we feel that it could become stale so more thought is needed into the opening of it and which direction we can take when leading to the fight. Due to so many possibilities, it is difficult to define a clear choice. 

Atlantic Records - Record Label Example

A record label is a brand or trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Often, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion, and enforcement of copyright for sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and development of new artists ("artists and repertoire" or "A&R"); and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the centred of a vinyl records which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.

Examples of music labels: Atlantic Records, Young Money, Def Jam, Columbia Record are just a few mainstream record labels who have signed popular mainstream song artists such s Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Rhianna.