IN THIS POST:
- Welcome video
- Playlist of music videos I've researched
WELCOME!
PLAYLIST OF MUSIC VIDEOS I'VE RESEARCHED
These are the music videos I have mentioned in my blog and have done research on.
Monday 1 June 2020
Reflective Essay
IN THIS POST:
- Criteria
- Critical reflection
CRITERIA
CRITICAL REFLECTION
(995 words)
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| Yoko and the Oh No’s “Love U” music video |
Eilish’s videos are fairly asexual, but sexual representations are common in the dark/electropop genre. Music artists signed to the 'big 3' have voluntarily engaged with the BBFC (reflecting global distribution) age rating scheme on online videos. We avoided overly explicit imagery for our t(w)een target audience and for commercial endorsements (Madonna losing Pepsi deal over Like a Prayer). The semi-explicit sexual visuals include the male’s chest showing and the positions they’re in. Countertypically, the female is shown controlling him, emphasizing her agency, which is swapped and shared between them. We wanted a playful postmodern approach to the gender norms.
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| "Countertypically, the female is shown controlling him, emphasizing her agency..." |
Female artists (e.g. Gaga's Bad Romance, Cyrus' Wrecking Ball) often raise the feminist/post-feminist debate (would reflect Mulvey's feminist 'male gaze' but disregarding agency). We mixed the post-feminist agency the female character presents, with some feminist credentials throughout the music video. Providing both the red and black lipstick on the female protagonist portrays the tensions between the feminist and post-feminist readings. Inspired by Melanie Martinez, another dark-pop artist, we used colour pop, doll looks and sexualised elements to a degree, but stayed somewhat faithful to Eilish’s established non-sexualised brand. Mulvey would argue there is male gaze present, with shots of the females’ bust, however, she has agency. The male character, on the other hand, is presented as secondary, and with shots of his bare chest, there is ‘female gaze’ present. We used slightly promiscuous clothing but also rejected the gender binary through some of the outfits (baggy trousers) sticking to Eilish's brand. The deconstructionist hyper-feminine ‘doll’ look with the pigtails conform with Butler’s queer theory.
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| "The deconstructionist hyper-feminine ‘doll’ look with the pigtails..." |
Personal identity, escapism and social interaction were the prominent forms of the McQuail's Uses and Gratifications theory (U+G) we reflected in our products. As for personal identity, the ‘doll’ look works for the t(w)een audience and the sexualised elements work for the older teen audience. The performativity/playfulness of gender with camp looks, much like Lady Gaga (Bad Romance), help to reinforce Eilish’s appeal to the LGBTQ+ community. The colour pop and balloons are forms of escapism. We put the artist on a relatable level by creating alternative videos (typically ones that were previously forms of UGC… e.g., lyric video, dance video…) and uploading them (another form of monetisation).
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| "creating alternative videos..." |
The social interaction specifically comes into play on social media. We created other Twitter accounts to ask questions on a QnA, “Where’s the music video you promised us?”, and I replied as Eilish, “don’t worryyy keep patient & u won’t be disappointed!! xx”. I chose a profile picture for Twitter in which I am also wearing pigtails, much like the music video and digipak, creating that sense of branding. Eilish has been featured in Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone which pushed her into the older secondary target audience. Due to this, we have used intertextuality (Altman’s intellectual puzzles), which they would be able to spot, such as having two of the protagonist intertexualising the 1980 film, The Shining, with the twins. This intertextuality is used on my Twitter as well, as I included a “Here’s Johnny” gif to celebrate my ‘editor’ being back at work after a delay due to coronavirus. Those who are able to pick up on the intellectual puzzles used in the music video, boost their cultural capital (Bourdieu). I created a tweet which would instil a shared experience in the genre community (Chandler), “tonight/midnight/stay tuned”. The narrative enigma would have fans guessing and boosting their cultural capital. The diegetic outro of the music video engages with the audience and also sticks to Eilish’s brand as she also breaks character at the end of the song, which we cut out.
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| "intertexualising the 1980 film, The Shining" |
As the diegetic outro to our music video is whiny and then a laugh, there is U+G for the t(w)een audience. Body shaming is a huge issue in the female and t(w)een social groups. I’ve retweeted some tweets which talk about body confidence, and even replied to one in the ‘QnA’, “Not a question, but just wanted to let you know how much you have done for me. You are so unique, so inspirational and my favourite human ever!!!!! I love you so much, keep slaying girl”. Anchoring this, I included the visual of the protagonist eating a doughnut in our video, named the album "Purged", connoting the eating disorder as well as eating a rose on the front panel of the digipak. A huge part of our product for social media was choosing the appropriate social media. We avoided Facebook as the demographic for it is a lot older than our target audience. We chose to use Twitter and Instagram which work for our audience, but also delved into TikTok, a critical platform for Gen Z. We used specific language on our social media for this youth audience, including elongating words, “cryyyyy”, all lower case or capital letters, “HE’S BACK!! GET READY!!”, and emojis. Eilish’s previous Instagram handle was ‘@wherearetheavocados’, so I used the avocado emoji in the bio which the preferred reading (Hall) will understand and gain cultural capital.
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| "in the ‘QnA’" |
Our music video only has two characters in, neither of which are part of the BAME community or disabled. This is a reflection of COVID challenges, as we would include more diversity for the Gen Z audience. We consciously avoided the anchorage of any location we filmed at in order to fit in with Eilish’s globalised icon branding. In terms of religion, the crucifix earrings (intertextualising Madonna and Gaga) could be beneficial for the American market (more religious than European market), again playing into globalisation. However, although there is religious iconography, it is left polysemic with the playful lyrics and use of promiscuity and crucifix.
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| "the crucifix earrings" digipak branding |
Music Video Final Cut and alt vids
IN THIS POST:
- Final cut
- What I have changed since the last
- Dance video
- Lyric video
- Visualiser
- Reaction video to video
- Product placement advert
- Teaser
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.
This is the last draft before the final video:
WHAT I HAVE CHANGED SINCE LAST TIME
- 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
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.
LYRIC VIDEO
I 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.
VISUALISER
Loops Media 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 Loops Media created to go along with it.
TEASER
Here is a teaser video that Loops Media created. These are conventionally used to create hype around the music video on social media.
Bonus Production: Website... MERCH!!
IN THIS POST:
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:
OUR LOGO
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:
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.
- Final website
- Wix advert
- Final logo
- Logo drafts
- Merch
FINAL WEBSITE
MERCHANDISE RESEARCH
LOGO
FINAL LOGOS
OTHER DRAFTS
- 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
Digipak: drafts and final text
IN THIS POST:
- Final text
- Lyric booklet
- Artist reviewing own Digipak
- Fan opening on YouTube
- Track listing
- Chosen images/art
- Font research
- Draft 2
- Audience feedback
- Draft 1
- Audience feedback
- Initial ideas
FINAL TEXT
FINAL DIGIPAK
We've created a digipak with 2 inner panels and 2 outer panels. We used pictures from our music video shoots.
FRONT PANEL (WITHOUT STICKER):
STICKER:
SPINE:
BACK PANEL:
INNER PANEL (WITHOUT CD):
CD:
LYRIC BOOKLET
For the lyric booklet, we wanted to use lots of still shots from our music video. We tried to find images which were striking but would also give us room for the lyrics. For the front and back covers, we decided to use the same design as the front and rear panels of our Digipak as this is a common convention.
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:
STICKERS
We decided to include some stickers inside the digipak, as this is a common convention for artists to do. Our stickers include Billie Eilish logos, fire and some of her face.
ARTIST REVIEWING OWN DIGIPAK
FAN OPENING ON YOUTUBE
TRACK LISTING
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:
- all the good girls go to hell
- I dare you
- no
- left crowded
- crucifixion
- successful failure
- trapped in reality
- shadow
- different notes
- sweet tooth
- I'm your doll
- friction (live from Miami, FL)
- age too slow (live from Miami, FL)
- enemy (live from Miami, FL)
We chose songs which 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
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.
Social media: drafts and final text
IN THIS POST:
- Social media powerpoint drafts
- Final social media posts vodcast
TWITTER DRAFT
TWITTER FINAL
Video sample/rough cuts
IN THIS POST:
- Rough cuts
- Audience feedback
- Sample scenes
- Dance video research
- Lyric video research
- Visualiser research
- Reaction video research
- Product placement research
ROUGH CUT 2
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK 2
After emailing different directors/producers in the industry, we received the feedback above. Below, we have videos taken of students between the ages of 14 and 16 discussing our video after seeing it for the first time.
ROUGH CUT 1
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK 1
SAMPLE SCENE 3
SAMPLE SCENE 2
SAMPLE SCENE 1
INSPIRATION/INFLUENCES
DANCE VIDEO RESEARCH
What we like from this:
- the slow and fast contrast
- plain, simple backdrop, focus is on the dancing
- there are many dance moves that match the lyrics
- we will ask our friend to incorporate some of the dance moves that match the lyrics
- some sections lip-sync, some don't - links to our music video
Dance videos are a very common example of user generated content (UGC), which is why we have chosen to make one. We have contacted a friend, asking them to create a dance based on this song.
LYRIC VIDEO RESEARCH
Artist released lyric videos often consist of some visuals in the background, however there is never any lip syncing. The lyrics will come up on screen as each line/verse changes. Some are slightly more creative, as there is a visual that comes up as well as the word, for each lyric.
For our lyric video, we will use some footage we have recorded in the background, and match it to the beat of the song. Our plan is to have different coloured lyrics (possibly varying between white, black and green).
VISUALISER RESEARCH
This is a Billie Eilish visualiser. This is quite different to what we are planning on doing because this is a separate animation. Our visualiser will consist of footage that is also going to be in the music video, including visuals of our protagonist and our artist...
REACTION VIDEO RESEARCH
For our reaction, we will likely choose a couple friends (as they fit her target audience) to react to our final edit as if it were professional. Generally, the format includes the video in the middle of the screen and a person either side, pausing the video to make points. If there is only one person reacting, the video will be in the bottom corner, and the person reacting will be on the other side of the screen.
PRODUCT PLACEMENT
Along with putting the product into the video, we will create an advert for the product. As they are bluetooth headphones, we feel it would be best to use them while exercising. Using exercise in the advert links well with the likely audience of the headphones. We are taking inspiration from several headphone adverts we have researched, including:
What we want to take from these videos:
- Use of slow-mo
- Hard bass music
- Close-ups on headphones
- Contrast between having headphones vs not having them
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