introduction
q1. how does your products represent social groups or issues ?
When the second year of our A-level started we were given options between two tasks. the first one was the documentary and the second one was making a music video. So I and my member Fajar went for the music video because it was what we were actually interested in.
The music video which we selected is ' Think before I talk ' by the singer Astrid S. This music video is very aesthetically shot within just one location so that was the best thing for us. The key component of this music video is lighting and the expressions of the model. We worked tirelessly for arranging all the equipment and setting them up. I and Fajar made sure that our location looks exactly the same as the one in the original music video in terms of lighting and backgrounds. We had to play with the lights very sensibly because we wanted to make the video in one complete shot. We wanted to make a music video that is aesthetically satisfying and we wanted to make sure that our audience does not get bored while watching our product.
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The social issue which our music video represents is that we don't think before we talk. we just throw away the words from our mouth not even thinking once about the other person. this song talks about people who are very short-tempered and just to satisfy their ego and for the self-satisfaction, they think they are totally perfect and say harsh things to others without even thinking about what kind of relationship they have with others, as a result, it leads to breakups and people no longer willing to talk to us. Due to that people go to depression and their mental health also gets worse as time passes.
We got our inspiration from the Pop Genre as it is the most famous genre among our targeted audience which is teenagers and adults. The lyrics of our song are very meaningful and they have a great impact on the listeners as the issue represented in the song is relatable to everyone. The song starts from the words "I said I hate you, I was angry I got so mad, I slammed your door You know I really love you, baby I didn't mean to start a war" so we can clearly see that when we are upset or when we get hyper we say words to our partners which can easily destroy our partner's confidence and can make the partner feel unloved very easily.
Now, If we talk about the model we can see that the model is roaming around the set proudly with fierce and with no worries looks but at the same time she is showing her disappointment and annoyance by slamming the doors and moving here and there while she is playing with her hair. All of her actions are matching the meaning of the song and is representing the personality that is in the lyrics.
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If we talk about the codes and the conventions we researched on different pop genre music videos. After we researched we found out that a person who does not care about anyone can be shown in several ways like showing her in bright lip-stick with hair moving freely and if we talk about the lighting to show such model and to give a meaningful look the lighting should be kept dark like red, blue and green along with that the smoke machines add a pleasing effect into it.
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we challenged the convention different forms of equipment which includes handling them at our best level. We used a Mobile phone for shooting our music video so it was a very challenging situation for me so I had to practice a lot by keeping my hand stable so I can hold the mobile without shaking my hands while I move taking shots in a continuous motion. For cinematography, I searched on pop genre videos and I found out that most pop music videos contain a variety of close-ups including low-angle closeups, Midshots Etc. For the model, we casted a young girl who had strong facial expressions along with fierce looks. The most difficult part in following the convention was the lighting as the lighting was the key component of the video so it had to be smooth like in other videos as well so it gives pleasurable vibes to our audience. We added a mixture of lights like red, pink, green, yellow along with RGB lights, etc. if we talk about the lip-syncing my partner Fajar made sure that it goes perfectly fine with the music so the video stays smooth.
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q2. how do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of branding ?
In today's world artists focus on their music as well as selling them as a brand to earn more and make a good amount of audience for themselves as a result they can set up a firm foot in the music industry. artists today sell their merchandise through their websites and online stores, making them a brand. To become a successful artist one needs to have a sense of branding and he/she should understand the various ways of branding
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I and Fajar discussed ways through which we could promote our artist as a brand so as a result, we made the Facebook and the Instagram page of our artist so we can promote her in a better way as we all know nowadays social media is the best platform for promotion as you can directly target the audience. Our main slogan was the name of the song ' Think before I talk '. we made the social media posts before the song was released to create hype as all of the artists do.
Fajar and I made a Wix shop for selling our artist's merchandise which includes Spotify Plates, mugs, T-shirts and cushions, etc. we also made a digipak and the posters of the song release and pasted them in our college. Everyone was already getting excited about the song release as the poster looked eye-catchy. As we made the Facebook and the Instagram accounts of the artists we uploaded coming soon posts there so it helps to create hype. later on, we uploaded a part of our music video and after that, we uploaded the Dvd covers and the posters. Along with that, we attached our shop link within the Bio of Instagram and Facebook.
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q3. how do your product engage with the audience?
As I mentioned earlier we wanted a genre that was famous amongst our targeted audience which was teenagers and adults so for that we opted for a variety of techniques to gather as many responses as possible. Fajar made google forms and we both made Instagram polls so we could have maximum responses.
After the rough draft of our form was completed fajar typed it as a google form. the main questions asked in the form were about what type of social issues should be present in the video? how long should a song be? what genre are you interested in? and what platform do you use for listening or watching music videos? later on, we asked a few of our fellow college students to fill out forms in the college and along with that, we shared google forms in our college groups. after we gathered all the results we came to know that most people are interested in the pop genre. we planned to distribute our products through mainly social media but also physically too. As most of the teenagers now have social media so the best way to distribute our products was youtube and we shared our product's youtube links to our family groups and our friend's groups.
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q4.how did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions
Before you start the production process you need to know what kind of product the people want and this can only be done by gathering as many responses as possible. Making a product without thinking about the interest of the people is not a good idea at all so for that reason we wanted maximum responses possible. After we got the responses we both researched separately on the genre on which people wanted us to make our music video which was a pop genre. we wanted a social issue that was relatable to almost everyone outhere. So I researched different pop songs like let her go by the passengers, new Rules by dua Lipa and many more. If we talk about a song that matched our social issue which I researched on it was I am a Mess by Bebe Rexha. I searched about various pop songs and I checked for similar aspects which were present in all of the pop genres
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the major aspects of music videos contain cinematography, lighting, the way you edit it, and props that add a major effect on the music video. for all this, I watched multiple pop music videos to get a better understanding of what type of product we are gonna make. Now if we talk about how I researched these components was through various websites because I wanted to gather the maximum information possible. like I searched about the lighting of the pop genre music videos and props for the pop music video and I came to know that mostly the light tone is kept darker and lighter and the props used are fancy and at times simple houseware clothes. As a cinematographer, it was my duty to make sure that I know which types of shots we required for our video so for that I again watched multiple videos of pop music and something which I found similar between all of them was that they all mainly have closeups and mid shots with moving shots and dolly in dolly out. For the cinematography, I wanted to put my creative juices out as well so I tried to follow the conventions as well as challenge them by taking a few shots of my choice.
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