11. Closing Post

Dear Examiner,

You will find all posts relating to my A level coursework under the label:

'A Level Research and Planning'

I hope you enjoy reviewing my work.

Zain

THIS BLOG IS NOW CLOSED.

10. Reflections on Finished Outcomes

Music Video

This survey was taken on 30th October 2018 by showing a draft of my music video to a friend, via YouTube
Main points from other audience feedback: - Message about homosexuality communicated well, but subtly

- Wide array of editing feels well integrated into video

- Final part of narrative feels underdeveloped
- The arch shots are exciting, and the style of dance in these scenes fits the background and song

Teacher review: Teachers were shown earlier drafts of my music video, whereas my sample audience members were shown a near final draft of my video.

Feedback from teachers included: - Include a wide variety of editing techniques, such as split screen  and slow motion
- Introduce greyscale at the beginning, in order to convey just how detached the main character feels
- Grade shots with more colour to improve mies-en-scene through settings
- Add a logo for my artist

Responses: - Extended narrative of final part of video
- Added split screen in two performance scenes
- Greysacle is introduced from 00:00 to 00:42
- Shots graded with ProCamp via hue and saturation
- Artist logo added at the end of video

example of split screen

Website

This survey was taken on 2nd November 2018 by showing a draft of my website to a friend, via Wix
Main points from other audience feedback:- Stills are very creative and sometimes abstract

- Artist comes across as mysterious, but not too isolated due to elements such as fan meet ups and social media

- Tab format feels a bit repetitive, and maybe a different design choice could have been made in some areas of the site

Teacher review: Teachers were shown earlier drafts of my website, whereas my sample audience members were shown a near final draft of my website.

Feedback from teachers included: - Link Nero to Britain, as well as his Italian heritage
- Distort top images on both webpages
- Add calls to action and interactive content
- Add production company logo
- Link ticket buttons to Ticketmaster
- Include a Twitter account and link it to the website

Responses: - Used strip format for some sections of website
- Changed Nero's bio to state him as an Italian immigrant who has taken a liking to Britain whilst living in Wales
- 'Download Now' and 'Buy Tickets' buttons added as calls to action
- Production company logo added to footer (AZ Productions)
- Twitter account created, with link to it in top right hand corner of the screen

image distortion, call to action (download now button) and a link to Twitter (top right hand corner)

9. My 2nd Webpage

Inspirations

Martin Garrix- The layout of Garrix's website has somewhat inspired the design of my own second webpage. The idea to introduce the page with an image is one that intrigued me, as artists usually introduce their pages with a brand logo, or their name. I will be doing the same for my second webpage.

Marshmello- Marshmello lists his tour dates on the second page of his website, as well as displaying his recent videos and behind the scenes. The brand logo and fonts also synergise with the main page, maintaining the artist's brand identity.
Intial flat plan

Final Product

My 2nd webpage has been introduced by an image, as I described in the inspirations paragraph. Below, I have created an album cover for Nero's single 'Wish You Were Mine', and displayed my music video, as well as included a 'Download Now' button, as a call to action for the audience.

This tab links to my artist's Instagram page, as the page contains many behind the scenes photos, as well as my blooper reel.

This is my shows tab, which most artists include on their websites. Only two venues are listed, to give my artist an underground trait.

A signup box has been included at the bottom of the page, as another call to action for the audience. I have also included my independent production company, AZ productions, as well as a way to contact my mainstream record label, Universal Music Group.

8. My Website Homepage

Inspirations

Alan Walker- Alan Walker uses a specific, cybernetic theme on his website, which is kept consistent throughout the website. I will also aim to use a consistent theme throughout my website, albeit a different one. Walker also advertises his latest release, which I also plan to do, however not as the focus of the main page.

Marshmello- Marshmello's website uses many common codes and conventions of an artist's website to great effectiveness, utilizing these convention to help reinforce Marshmello's strong brand identity. Typical conventions used including advertising of the artist's videos, links to social media (in this case an Instagram feed), a list of showtimes, and a store for the artist's  merchandise. I plan to replicate many of these conventions on my website.

Initial flat plan

Initial Ideas of Stills

Photography

The stills for my website were all taken in a residential area, except for two particular photos that were taken by me in Italy. All photographs were heavily edited to create a distorted feel for each one.

Schedule for shooting stills

Final product

This image is the top of my main page. I have displayed links to every other page on my website at the top of the page, as well as social bar in the top right, with links to Nero's Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. I have chosen a distorted theme for my webpage, so many of my images, like the one on the left, are edited and filtered. The image on the right represents Nero's Italian heritage; the image was taken by me in Italy, and the name 'Nero' means 'black' in Italian, hence why I have gone with a black theme (however, the artist is not called Nero because it means black, rather instead because it references an old Roman emperor). 

This menu contains quick links to many of the other pages on my website. As per my theme, all of the images in this menu have been edited to look more distorted and visually interesting.

The above images are strips on my website, with each one represented by an aspect of the site. They are also all accompanied by distorted images. A strip is dedicated to the following: music video, news, brand sponsor and bio.

This is the bottom part of my main page, and contains my blooper reel and a link to Nero's social media, in the form of an Instagram feed.

7. My Music Video

Inspirations
Marshmello- Alone

Marshmello's 'Alone' inspired my choice to use largely suburban backgrounds in my music video. 'Alone' uses various suburban settings to great effectiveness, from a school to a suburban neighbourhood. One of 'Alone's' main themes is confidence, which is displayed by Marshmello over the course of the video's narrative. I will also use this theme in my video, albeit in the form of expressing homosexuality. Marshmello also pays homage in this video to fellow EDM artist deadmau5, when he feeds his pet mouse Joel at the start of the video (Joel being deadmau5's real name).

Sigala- Easy Love

Sigala's 'Easy Love' focuses on a dance performance over lip-sync, which gave me the idea to do the same for my music video. I felt expressing a message through actions rather than words would prove more effective to the audience. 'Easy Love' also uses a vibrant colour grade to contrast between the real world, and the fantasy world created by the video. I will use this technique to reflect my main character's inside struggle over his sexuality.

Planned content of video
My music video will be split into two separate types of shots: narrative and performance.

Narrative- My narrative will focus around telling the story of a male struggling to admit his homosexual attraction to another male. The narrative shots at the beginning of the video will be in greyscale, to reflect the misery of this character at the start. However, my artist, Nero, will act as a figment of the main character's mind, constantly guiding him and giving him confidence throughout the video. Nero will teach the main character over the course of the video to express his feeling through dance, and eventually give the main character to express his feeling to his love interest. It will be established that no one but the main character can see Nero. The encounter between my main character and his romantic interest will be left to be interpreted by the audience in a multitude of different ways; for example, instead of seeing my main character as pursuing a relationship, the audience could see him a pursuing a dance partner, or friend.

Performance- My performance will be dancing, which will be used to tell the main character's story, and also convey a message of confidence and acceptance of one's sexuality. Many shots involving performance will take place in a fantasy world, in the main character's mind. These shots will be in the studio, and will feature an array of different colours, using the studio lighting. The different colours will represent the emotion my character is feeling; for example, when he first meets his crush, there will be a montage of studio shots in a red background, to represent romantic feelings. Another example of this is when he is freestyling with Nero; he will feel happy, which will be represented by a yellow/pink background. In the final sequence of my video, my main character will take his love interest to the studio, which will be established as a real world setting. The main character will convince his crush to be his dance partner, and the narrative will be complete. During the final sequence, the video will occasionally cut to Nero DJing, with a series of high-adrenaline but also slightly comedic shots.

Documents

Initial Shootboard- An intial plan for how the shooting phase will be carried out

Cast list- List of actors involved and their costumes

Location list- list of locations with reasoning for using them

Shoot schedule for music video

6. My Artist Profile

My artist's name is Nero. Nero is an up and coming male dance music, who has donned a silver mask, saying more through actions than words.

Persona
Nero, like some other DJs in the music industry, features in his music videos, never saying a word, but dancing and DJing instead, in order to express his message. I intend to create a mysterious personality for Nero, one in which the artist seemingly hides behind the mask, but yet subtly gets his message across all the same. I will do this by using an implied narrative in my music video, which can be interpreted a multitude of different ways by the audience. I also want to incite a degree of playfulness to my artist, in order to make him seem not too serious and edgy. This will bring him down to earth for the audience, instead of isolating him behind a mask. My artist will also be presented as an Italian, in order to anchor the images on my website.

Inspirations

Marshmello- This American DJ built his brand identity from the extremely distinguishable mask, that hid his identity and kept fans guessing who he was. Although he was revealed as Chris Comstock in 2017, the artist had gained a loyal fanbase and established himself as a popular DJ, allowing his brand to stay strong, and largely influential on the world EDM stage.

Daft Punk- French duo Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter formed Daft Punk in 1993, donning robot looking masks and becoming instatntly recognisable as two of the most influential house music artists in the world. They have released several successful albums and even produced music for 'Tron: Legacy' in 2010.

Artist Design

Mood board for artist design

Artist costume

The first costume is inspired by the Daft Punk look in the photo above, as it blends my artist's mask quite nicely with a classy looking waistcoat. The second costume is the sports the tie for the uniform of my school, and is a fun little reference for my audience to take note of.

5. Proposal

This post addresses many of the points constructed by the brief.

Artist Outline
The artist I have created is called 'Nero'. My artist is a male dance artist, who has donned a silver mask to create a mysterious yet vibrant personality. Although my artist enters a market already full of male DJs, 'Nero' will attempt to tackle discriminatory issues within society, such a s LGBT rights, albeit silently and subtly, as my artist does not speak, but rather conveys his messages through actions, such as my music video. I find that LGBT rights is one of the biggest discriminatory issues talked about in the music industry, yet very few male artists address it, with the main artists associated with LGBT rights being female, such as Lady Gaga. My artist will also display other politically left views, such as being against racism.

Choice of Track
My song choice for my music video is 'Wish You Were Mine', by Philip George. This song will be Nero's first single. The song I have chosen does involve lyrics, but they are not the main focus of the video. The lyrics will be secondary to the dance performance, which will focus on telling a short story about homosexuality through actions, rather than words. This will reflect the 'mysterious (through silence and mask) yet vibrant (through dance and DJing)' personality I aim to create for my artist. The song, originally about pursuing a heterosexual romance, will be adapted into a homosexual romance. I feel this adaptation could be a contrast to the original, which will reflect to the audience just how far LGBT rights have come.

Music Video Outline
My music video will be three minutes long, and will not contain lip-syncing. Instead, my video will feature dancing as the main performance type, with a DJ performance also involved. I intend to use a wide array of colour schemes, a varied mise-en-scene and fast paced editing to interest and attract individuals within my target audience group (16-25 AB culturally sophisticated people). My editing will also use techniques, such as grey scale, split-screen and slow-motion to captivate the audience. I also intend to include intertextuality, for example by using the same colour scheme in one my scenes as in a Daft Punk poster, in an effort to attract people already interested in this particular music genre.

Website Outline
I will create a homepage and a secondary webpage to accompany my music video, in building my artist's brand identity. The homepage will contain several edited stills, mixing an 'out of the ordinary' vibe (with brightly graded images and other editing techniques) with a classy look (this can be done with images I took of places in Italy). I will also link the homepage to my artist's social media, so audiences are able to interact with the artist, as well as including audio visual content, such as a blooper reel. On my secondary webpage, I will include information about Nero's music and shows, posting my music video on this page, as well as stating show times and other information relating to the artist's music.

Digital convergence
In order to digitally converge, my music video, website and any other digital media must synergise, creating a clear and distinguishable brand identity, for my artist, Nero. For example, I will use the same fonts across all online platforms, and similar colour schemes on both the website and the music video. The mask Nero wears across all forms of media helps to instantly distinguish him from the crowd, and will allow the audience to easily recognise him and his brand across all digital platforms.

Independent Production Company
I will create an independent production company for this task, as my artist, Nero, is new to the music industry, and so his record label, Universal Music Group, would not allocate the funds for a mainstream  production company. Independent companies also tend to be more creative than mainstream ones, which usually stick rigidly to the codes and conventions of the music video genre. My production company will be called AZ Productions, which represents my initials backwards.