About me
Dear Moderator, my name is Siobhan Fox aged 18 from John Cabot Academy; I am currently studying Media Studies, English Language, Maths and Sociology. I am really enjoying creating my music video with my group and I am looking forward to being able to watch my final product. The main part of this task I am looking forward to is editing as I find that exciting and rewarding. Last year I enjoyed creating a short film with my group. I hope you find my blog interesting and easy to follow:)
Labels
Communication
(1)
Comparing Genres
(4)
Digipaks
(1)
Evaluation
(12)
Feedback
(3)
Final Products
(3)
Genre research
(4)
Management
(3)
Producers
(2)
Progress from AS
(1)
Questionnaire
(3)
Target audience
(8)
Theory
(4)
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Initial cut
This is a snippet of only a few of our clips which have not been edited yet. I have only cut a few clips together to show what sort of clips we have filmed. From this i will now look at how some of our clips are similar to some clips from the same genre.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs - Theory
This is Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it shows the basic needs that a person wants and needs in life.
From their basic needs which is the bottom three sections; physiological, safety and belonging up to growth which is the top; self-esteem and self-actualization. He explains that for people who think that they are in the top two sections and are happy and have a fulfilling life they must already have the bottom three.
Little Mix
From researching in to the girl band Little Mix and learning about Maslow's hierarchy of needs i can tell that the ideologies they promote are:
- Friendship - Section three
- Money - Could be from section one, two and four as it oversees all of the basic needs such as food, water, shelter, employment and achievement and then starting to go into the top end of hierarchy
- Attention from boys - Section three
- Talent (singing and dancing) - Section five, as it shows creativity which is on the top of the triangle
This shows that Little Mix cover all of the basic needs and are moving up in to the top brackets
From their basic needs which is the bottom three sections; physiological, safety and belonging up to growth which is the top; self-esteem and self-actualization. He explains that for people who think that they are in the top two sections and are happy and have a fulfilling life they must already have the bottom three.
Little Mix
From researching in to the girl band Little Mix and learning about Maslow's hierarchy of needs i can tell that the ideologies they promote are:
- Friendship - Section three
- Money - Could be from section one, two and four as it oversees all of the basic needs such as food, water, shelter, employment and achievement and then starting to go into the top end of hierarchy
- Attention from boys - Section three
- Talent (singing and dancing) - Section five, as it shows creativity which is on the top of the triangle
This shows that Little Mix cover all of the basic needs and are moving up in to the top brackets
Monday, 17 December 2012
Facebook fan page
Today we made a fan page for our band, we will put pictures of us filming and updates of the bands progress on this site. We have requested for our facebook friends to 'like' the page so they can receive information about our group.
Here is a link to the site:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/OMG/125105730983441
Here are some of the images we have uploaded to show our followers:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/OMG/125105730983441
Monday, 3 December 2012
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Comparing shot types
I have taken images from our location shoot to show how they link to the same genre ( POP ) music videos within the setting and shot types.
Monday, 19 November 2012
Communication with the group
At the beginning of every lesson as a group we sit down and have a discussion of what we need to do for the day. We then write down what we have come up with.
We also communicate via Facebook message:
We also communicate via Facebook message:
Feedback
This is the feedback I received so far and from this I have made a plan on what I have to do:
Feedback:
To do:
Feedback:
To do:
Time management
This is a schedule for our deadlines that I will be working from to make sure that all my work is handed in on time.
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Lighting
We have thought about lighting and how we are going to make sure it is bright enough when filming and came to the decision that we will use studio lights for our performance shots in front of the white screen and we will do a test shoot for our narrative shots to see if the natural lighting is bright enough, if not then we will use studio lighting again in the school corridors.
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Stuart Hall - theorist
Stuart Hall is a media studies theorist who came up with the Encoding and Decoding theory. This was a basis of three main concepts;
The Dominant Reading - This is where the director wants the audience to feel a certain way and they do after they have watched/listened to the media product. For example if the director wanted the audience to feel sad, then at the time this was intended that is what they will feel. The media product does what the director wants.
The Negotiated Reading - This is where the audience partly agree with what the director wants them to feel but they also have their own view.
The Oppositional Reading - This is where the director intends for someone to feel something but they end up feeling the complete opposite.
For my music video I feel that I would use the dominant reading because I want the audience to get the message we are sending them, for example our narrative is a girl being bullied and I would like the audience to feel sorry for them and the way we want them to so they may be able to relate to her.
The Dominant Reading - This is where the director wants the audience to feel a certain way and they do after they have watched/listened to the media product. For example if the director wanted the audience to feel sad, then at the time this was intended that is what they will feel. The media product does what the director wants.
The Negotiated Reading - This is where the audience partly agree with what the director wants them to feel but they also have their own view.
The Oppositional Reading - This is where the director intends for someone to feel something but they end up feeling the complete opposite.
For my music video I feel that I would use the dominant reading because I want the audience to get the message we are sending them, for example our narrative is a girl being bullied and I would like the audience to feel sorry for them and the way we want them to so they may be able to relate to her.
Shotlist
This is a plan of what are shots are going to be like, we will now create a story board which we can work from and set out exactly how we will want our music video to be.
Picture shot list:
Make a video of your own at Animoto.
Written shot list:
shot list by
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
Location ideas
We have thought about using many different locations for our music video but came to the conclusion that we should use our school as the main location for our narrative as the scene will be someone being bullied. We then decided that for our performance shots we will use plain backdrops and change the colour as in most POP girl music videos they use different coloured backgrounds and patterns with close ups of the singer.

Performance Shots
Narrative Shots
Performance Shots
Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.
Narrative Shots
Make your own slide show at Animoto.
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Character Profile - Me
Jesy
We have looked at Little Mix's music videos and read their biography's on their website and have each decided on which character we will be from by taking into consideration our personalities. This will help is with our music video because then we have an idea of what costume to wear and props to bring in and how we will have to act. I have decided to be Jesy because she has a more rocky edge which i feel i will be able pull off rather than one of the girly girls like Jade.
Name: Gabby
Age: 19
Favourite Colour: Purple
Hobbies: Dancing, listening to music and hanging out with friends
Favourite song: Jessie J - Domino
(Feel free to have a go at the puzzle of the picture of my character at the top)
Character Profile - Bonnie
Jade
From looking at Little Mix's videos and biography's on their website we have decided that Bonnie will take on the character of Jade as this would suit her personality best. Jade is a girly girl and always happy, she likes to wear very fashionable clothes.
Name: Olivia
Age:19
Favourite Colour: Pink
Hobbies: Shopping
Favourite song: Taylor Swift - We are never getting back together
Character Profile - Amelia
Perrie
From looking at Little Mix's videos and biography's on their website we have decided that Amelia will take on the character of Perrie as this would suit her personality best. Perrie is a very down to earth 'hippy'style girl that likes to wear flowery clothes.
Name: Megan
Age:19
Favourite Colour: Blue
Hobbies: Dancing
Favourite song: The script - The man who cant be moved
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Analysing promotional campaign
Little Mix's promotional album covers.
The Album cover on the left was their first ever debut single after winning the X Factor, we can tell from the body language and way they are positioned that they are a new band as they are holding hands and looking very excited. This album would appeal to their target audience of girls aged 11-16 as they look really happy and have fashionable clothes on, also the colours are conventional for that age. The black and white effect works well as it make the name of the band stand out and attract their audience.
The album cover on the right was their second song DNA. This cover gives the impression they are more of a developed and experienced group as they look like they have had loads of singles before this one, they look much more proffesional and similar to a girl group like girls aloud. The girls personalities are starting to show now from this cover and we are getting to know them as individuals.They would have had more of a say to what they would have wanted it to be like, than the last one they probably didnt have much of an input. The vibrant colours would still attract their target audience and they look much more like role models for girls in this image.
Monday, 15 October 2012
Target Audience
I have retrieved these statistics from the YouTube video for
Little Mix – Wings.
As you can see from
this image that the video is very popular with 16,735,373 views worldwide from
25th July 2012 until present (14th October 2012). It also
has a breakdown of where these people may have watched the videos from or where
they would have found it, for example a link on Facebook, their mobiles,
related videos or they specifically searched for it.
This image shows what
sort of audience watch the video, for example generally females aged 13-54.
From this information I have proved that the target audience
for POP genre is females and I have also realised that for best results on
views I should post a link onto social networking sites.
Target Audience - Focus Group
Questions i asked the target audience:
Whats your name?
How old are you?
Favourite colour?
Favourite genre of music?
Favourite song?
Whats your favourite thing about this genre?
Whats your favourite thing about the song?
Do you like upbeat songs and fast pace videos?
Do you prefer narrative or performance music videos?
What do you like about their costume?
Can you relate to the characters?
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
Target audience - Questionnaire responses
The information I got from my questionnaire results are that most females prefer the POP/R’n’B genre because they feel the singers are their role models and they like the dancing and costumes, this is something we are interested in knowing for making our music video as it is something we can use as a group to target a specific audience. I also found out that they mostly watch music videos on YouTube and their mobile phones, this is good for us as we will be putting our video on to YouTube when it is finished. There was a range of ideas for why they listen to the music therefore we will take all of them into account as they will help us plan our music video, we also found out that there was near enough a 50/50 view on whether they prefer performance or narrative shots therefore in our music video we will have to use a range of both. I feel that by doing this questionnaire I have gained more knowledge into what my target audience prefer in a video, this will then help me when planning my video and deciding on certain ideas.
Target audience - Questionnaire
I sent out my questionnaire to a range of people through email and also posted it on social networking sites:
Monday, 8 October 2012
Group name
We came up with a mind map of possible ideas for our group name and then we chose our favorite and put them in to a poll for everyone to vote:

From our results we have decided to go with the group name 0.M.G. We feel this is a good name because it is an acronym our target audience are already familiar with, however we will make a new one personal to our group using the letters as our group member names. For example Olivia, Megan and Gabby - O.M.G It also had the most votes on our blogs:
Amelias Blog:
Bonnies Blog:
Costume mood board
From this mood board and the research i have done i can tell that the POP genre wear colourful fashionable clothing.
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Lyrics to Little Mix - Wings and our narrative
We have decided to use a metaphorical way of choosing a narrative for our song, this means we will use parts of the lyrics literally but mainly go against Andrew Goodwin's Theory ‘music videos are simply an extension of the lyrics’ and think of our own narrative away from the lyrics.
Our ideas for possible narratives are;
- Someone getting bullied
'And we don't let nobody bring us down
No matter what you say it won't hurt me'
- A mother telling her child not to let anyone get you down
'Mamma told me not to waste my life
She said spread your wings my little butterfly'
- A girl standing up to her dominant boyfriend
'You better keep on walking
I don't wanna hear your talking boy'
Possible idea of our lyrics
Our ideas for possible narratives are;
- Someone getting bullied
'And we don't let nobody bring us down
No matter what you say it won't hurt me'
- A mother telling her child not to let anyone get you down
'Mamma told me not to waste my life
She said spread your wings my little butterfly'
- A girl standing up to her dominant boyfriend
'You better keep on walking
I don't wanna hear your talking boy'
Possible idea of our lyrics
What we have chosen and the breakdown of lyrics between the group;
- Someone getting bullied within a school
Breakdown of lyrics - who sings what and performance/narrative shots
Our song
Little-mix
We have decided to choose the song 'Wings' by Little mix. We chose this band because we have three girls in our group and felt that they are a popular band at the moment in the POP genre. We liked the tempo of the song and the costumes and make up they wear. We feel that this song would be popular with our target audience which is girls aged 11-16, as this is already Little Mix's target audience.
(Feel free to have a go at the puzzle i made on the picture)
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
POP genre artists ideas
Here is an image of some of my ideas on which artists we could possibly choose from when deciding which song we are going to use.
Genre producers
Little Mix
Little Mix are produced by Syco Music. Syco
Music has the exclusive right to sign winners and finalists of The X Factor and
Britain’s Got Talent which was founded by Simon Cowell in 2002. Distributors
for the artists signed to Syco music are Sony Music Entertainment and
Columbia/Epic label group. Some POP artists already signed to this label are;
-Leona Lewis
-Cher Lloyd
-Rebecca Ferguson
-One direction
-Olly Murs
Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Cole is produced by Fascination
Records, a UK -based record label owned by Universal Music
Group, the label was launched in 2006. It concentrates on a relatively small
number of POP acts such as:
-Kimberley Walsh
-Sophie Ellis-Bextor
-The Saturdays
Cheryl Cole is also produced by will.i.am music group who also produce POP acts such as Fergie and LMFAO.
Cheryl Cole is also produced by will.i.am music group who also produce POP acts such as Fergie and LMFAO.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is produced by Columbia Records, an
American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment and founded
in 1888. She is also produced by Island Records, a record label that
was founded by Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall in Jamaica. It
was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal
Music Group.
Monday, 1 October 2012
Comparing genres
Links to videos i analysed:
Stooshe - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgbKKZWZuQo
Alisha Keys - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rywUS-ohqeE
Genres
This is a list of all the different genres i could think of, we will be choosing one of these to base our music video on.
Word cloud made with WordItOut
Brief
A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:
1 – A website homepage for the band:
2 – A cover for its release on DVD
3 – A magazine advertisement for the DVD
Our group
I have decided to go in a group with Amelia O'Callaghan and Bonnie Massey and we are going to make a music video. We have decided on the genre POP and are going to research into all the different conventions of a POP video and take the main aspects and put it into ours.
How have my skills improved during AS
Research and Pre-production
I feel that i have improved with my research and pre-production from year 11 to AS as i have been able to develop my skills in researching into similar products and branch ideas off of them to make my product have the same effect. The way i have developed this from my year 11 music video is that for my AS film opening i watched and analysed many different films of the same genre, i feel that i could develop this even more for A2 by researching more products and in more depth. I also feel that for the pre-production stage i could improve by having everything planned completely before starting to produce my product. I also feel that i could improve my skills on my blog however they have developed as i did not know how to use it before AS.
Production
For my production i feel that i have improved since year 11 as i have developed my filming skills by using more angles and shot types, i have also learnt to keep the shots still. I feel that i could develop this even more for A2 by using even more shot types and angles and also use two cameras to get more variety in so when editing so it is easier and have loads of different clips to use.
Post Production
I feel that i have improved my editing skills as i have learnt how to use many more tools and which ones look good to use. For example the lighting and speed/duration to make our horror movie more effective, i also learnt how to use after effects to insert text into my film for the credits. When editing we inserted a sound clip and looped it but when we finished our 2 minute clip we found out that it didn't work well so therefore had to change it. I feel that i could again improve this for A2 by learning some new tools to use.
I feel that i have improved with my research and pre-production from year 11 to AS as i have been able to develop my skills in researching into similar products and branch ideas off of them to make my product have the same effect. The way i have developed this from my year 11 music video is that for my AS film opening i watched and analysed many different films of the same genre, i feel that i could develop this even more for A2 by researching more products and in more depth. I also feel that for the pre-production stage i could improve by having everything planned completely before starting to produce my product. I also feel that i could improve my skills on my blog however they have developed as i did not know how to use it before AS.
Production
For my production i feel that i have improved since year 11 as i have developed my filming skills by using more angles and shot types, i have also learnt to keep the shots still. I feel that i could develop this even more for A2 by using even more shot types and angles and also use two cameras to get more variety in so when editing so it is easier and have loads of different clips to use.
Post Production
I feel that i have improved my editing skills as i have learnt how to use many more tools and which ones look good to use. For example the lighting and speed/duration to make our horror movie more effective, i also learnt how to use after effects to insert text into my film for the credits. When editing we inserted a sound clip and looped it but when we finished our 2 minute clip we found out that it didn't work well so therefore had to change it. I feel that i could again improve this for A2 by learning some new tools to use.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)

























