Ancillary Tasks: research :)

Ancillary Tasks: digipacks
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Location Shoots

As I learned from working with the University of Bristol students, it is really important to plan exactly where you are going to be filming so you can ensure perfect continuity when you are actually in the production stage.

location shoots

A2 Media Studies.: Target Audience Case Study - Sidonie

A2 Media Studies.: Target Audience Case Study - Sidonie:

Here is a link to my partner, Dora Lynn's blog where she closely examined a member of her target audience for research purposes.

Mis-en-Scene Questionnaire!

How was everyone's Christmas?! Now the festive season is over, Parisienne Records is back with a survey into mis-en-scene. Being in a college made up of 16-19 year olds, and approximately 50% of us girls- we are very lucky to be surrounded with our target audience. I created this short survey to try and get a feel for what our target audience likes to see in a music video in regards to colour and even other celebrity influences and compiled them into a graph on Microsoft Excel to see what appeals to them in a more easy to read format.

I asked...What colour would you like to see used in mostly in a Kate Nash music video?

As we probably guessed, from asking teenage girls- colours like pink and red came out on top with no one choosing beige as the idea colour. From this, we can tell that our target audience would be attracted by brighter, feminine colours and we need to take this into consideration when creating our ancillary pieces and the final production.

I asked...What type of scenario would you prefer in a Kate Nash music video?

From the look of the results, it's apparent that serious subject matter à la Christina Aguilera but something silly and little bit more light-hearted that will make people laugh! We are pleased with this result as we hurried into making a humorous narrative, and it is one thing less to worry about as we know this will please our audience.

I asked...What artists should we look to for inspiration who you admire the most?

Katy Perry came out on top for this one, and we were again very pleased by this as we had already done a lot of research into her album covers and music videos- this shows that both me and Dora know our target audience very well (perhaps this is to do with us being members of our own target audience?!). This makes it clear that we need to delve further into what makes Katy Perry so appealing by researching a few more of her music videos and looking at her own personal conventions- as this is clearly a sure fire way to appeal to our target audience. Ellie Goulding came second, and this was expected as she is, like Kate Nash- more indie/pop so we need to see how she balances the two genres and perhaps try to emulate that in our own project.

I asked...What do you think should be the 'symbol' of the artist 'Kira Kitson'?

We thought this was a slightly odd result as we thought perhaps sweets or stars would be the most popular with our target audience, but they seemed to be quite adamant that cakes would be the best logo when it came to creating a KIRA KITSON brand. Obviously, we want to appeal to them and make something that they will like- so we will endeavor to try and use a cake as our logo!

CASE STUDY: Documentary shoot with MA Film and TV Production students at the University of Bristol

In my AS year- we didn't really work as a production company or have separate roles, however for A2, it's detrimental to our project to know exactly what we're doing when creating a media production.

Last year, I assisted a group of MA students film a 3 minute documentary focusing on the questions 'What did you want to be when you grew up?' and 'What do you do now?'. Though I obviously didn't get involved in the technical side of filming and directing- it was my job to stroll about with a sign and encourage people to be a part of the film. However simple my job was that day, watching the others certainly gave me a great insight into what goes into producing good footage and how to get the best shots possible. Prior to the shoot that day- the students I worked with visited all the locations with a camera and took a picture of the exact shots that they wanted to get, just how it would look on film. I realise that this prevented them from wasting precious time and I should certainly employ this technique when it comes to making our film opening.

Something else I learned was incorporating the use of masking tape to make sure everyone who was in the shot was positioned properly, ensuring they weren't cut off or with light on their faces. This also made each shot look consistent- creating a very professional feel overall. Also, I got a feel of what it was like to work in a team, where each person had their own job; director, editor, producer, sound operator...rather than just using whoever is available at the time. On the more technical side, I encountered some of the most advanced equipment I've ever seen close up such as boom microphones and professional cameras. Also, I had the chance to meet the tutor of the course and take a look around the the Drama department of the University of Bristol!

I believe my time spent with the Film & TV Production students was a very worthwhile experience as I have learnt some particularly good skills in both film and organisation. Furthermore, just meeting and getting to know these people (apart from my manager, who I am already quite acquainted with, as he got me in on the task) was particularly beneficial as I have a network of people to talk to when it comes to making our music video. Despite that they were making a documentary- which is completely different to our project, I learnt a wealth of valuable and transferable skills that will Parisienne Records.

Target Audience Research

Target Audience Researc by parisiennerecords

Ellie Goulding- 'Your Song': analysing existing media texts

In the video for Ellie Goulding's song, 'Your Song'- it's simplicity is what makes it beautiful. I've tried my best to analyse very different music videos, and this is unlike anything that I've ever seen before. It has a muted colour palette of soft beiges and greens from the trees, and a bokeh effect has been used on the footage to give it a dreamlike feel.

There is no set narrative to the music video, it features Ellie in situations with her friends and family (walks in the park, playing on a piano, on a train) but the bokeh effect, but this is interjected with a scene of her in the woods on her own- much sharper in effect than any other scene in the music video. This suggests that she is reminiscing of a time in the past.

'Your Song' is very ballad-like and slow in comparison to the other songs I have analysed, 'California Gurls' and 'Foundations' and therefore the conventions most likely wouldn't apply to our video for 'Pumpkin Soup' but something we could take from the video is the use of close ups- as they were especially effective at drawing us into Ellie's story, and the indie styling in terms of clothes and hair- as we can't forget about about the indie half of Kate Nash's music.

Katy Perry- 'California Gurls': analysing existing media texts

Katy Perry's video for California Gurls is set in a fantasy land called Candyfornia, where Katy and a gaggle of confectionery themed girls are players in a board game owned by the Candy King- Snoop Dog. It has a very vibrant and sugar sweet colour palette which is presented to the audience in the Willy Wonka style setting and Katy's costumes; throughout the video she is wearing a confectionery-encrusted dress with a lilac wig, wrapped in a candy floss cloud, a girl scout outfit and a pair of sparkly blue hot pants and a cake bra! This shows that Mis-en-Scene is really important in terms of costume, this is probably down to the target audience of Katy Perry being young girls- so looking good (even if it is a little crazy!) is very important, we need to remember this when making our own music video as we share the same audience as Katy!

The narrative involves Katy battling through the board game, adding to her team of candy girls and eventually taking on Snoop Dog- however, like many other music videos- it incorporates a scene, usually a studio, which will interject between the narrative where the artist is solely lip syncing singing. We will most likely follow this pattern too as it keeps the piece true to the form of the music video.

At the end of the video, Katy goes back to basics and fits the conventions of a traditional female solo artist- with a racy dance routine with a legion of back up dancers! I don't think this would be horrible appropriate for a Kate Nash music video, but it kind of told us that even though Kate Nash's music is a little bit more 'feminist' (for lack of a better word), sex appeal may be very important when creating a music video so it can appeal to both sexes.

Kate Nash 'Foundations' - analysing existing media texts

This is something we need to look into a lot of detail- a video by Kate Nash herself! The colour scheme is quite unique- being quite muted, lots of beiges and pale blues- but with splashes of yellow such as Kate's dress, a Power Ranger toy, lemons and bottles of lager in the fridge. As the long is about a couple on the process of breaking up- to me the splashes of yellow represent hope and happiness amongst the storm. I like the idea of doing a similar thing with 'Pumpkin Soup'.

Also, a lot of stop motion is used- the couples' socks trying to get tangled up with each other and their toothbrushes trying to 'kiss'- this gives a fun childlike element to the video. In terms of camera shots, mostly close ups are used as Kate is telling us her most intimate thoughts- and these make us feel close to her.

Unlike other female solo artists, Kate more or less sings/lip syncs throughout her whole music- as her songs are like stories that just need to be told rather than just music. I think we will probably employ this within our music video to try and fit her usual conventions.