filming in the studio

We paid £22 to film in a professional studio for 2 hours and these are some of our shots. We only intended to use the white background and floor, but when we arrived we were left to our own devices and noticed that one of the studios had a black and white 50's style tiled floor and kitchen cabinets.  We also found a rusty, old fashioned phone and we filmed in this location with the phone and created an old fashioned retro vibe which we thought worked quite well.  However, because we hadn't actually hired this part, the lights we couldn't turn the light on so I had to use the torch on my phone to light the shot. This turned out very well as the light was harsh and gave Lois a washed out kind of look which we liked because it was as if she was on a surgery table being examined.  This plays with the notion of Richard Dyer's Star theory which states that artists are completely objectified and examined by the public and therefore have to maintain the glamorous exterior. 

Starting our website

Before we start filming, we have started looking at designs for the website, obviously there is a lot of stuff we can't do without having our own footage, like adding pictures and the finished music video, but information such as Tour Dates, Pre-Ordering the album, Merchandise ect, can be started.

This design can be changed later, as can the picture in the back, which we can change to one of our own from our music video to make it original. I picked this design because the simplistic font will easily match anything, which is useful because we're still unsure how our shots will turn out. I think it looks professional and will help with the marketing and selling of the product, also its easy to read and clear. If we don't get any good photos whilst shooting the music video then the picture of the clouds will do as they represent her personality as a dreamer. 

The layout of the website is also simple and at the moment we are able to edit the text. The finished video will be where the video slot is. Information about Halsey is next to it, a box where you can enter your email and subscribe and get all information about Halsey and her events ASAP. In the recent news box there will be tour dates, album release date and the single release date. I will also add social media links so fans can access her directly and follow her and see what she's up to.

Music video plot and design

The idea for our music video is to portray the protagonist using two different actors which will represent her inner self and the person she wants the world to see as.  The two different locations are representative of the two versions of herself.  The workshop will be illustrative of her frame of mind and her emotional isolation. Whereas the studio looks clean, bland and malleable- reminiscent of her 'star' identity as an icon ready to be moulded into whatever the industry and public wanted.  By the end of the music video the hard exterior of the glamorous version of her will have become as distraught and vulnerable as the other version.  This is because we want to highlight how the limitations and expectations of the music industry is able to break down an artist- much like Amy Winehouse.

StoryBoard

This is our story board to help us film.

Amy Winehouse Documentary Case Study

We visited a theatre in Sheffield and watched the award winning documentary 'Amy' which was made in memory of the life of Amy Winehouse. This gave us a lot of insight into how the media portrays a star in the music industry.  This knowledge will be useful when creating our own 'celebrity' type person for oour music video.  

I looked at different sources for this case study which are mentioned in the presentation - such as the website: mediaknowall.com and looked at how that showed "Dead Pop Stars" 

location scouting

We have chosen three locations for our music video.  The first one is a photo studio that Lois' friend owns. We may have to pay but we're using our own camera equipment so it shouldn't be too expensive.  The studio should look something like this.
 We plan to use this only for Lois' as she will be playing the pristine version of the protagonist.

The next location is my Grandad's workshop as it is very grimy, old fashioned and dark which creates the atmosphere we want.  I haven't got any pictures of it yet but it should look something like that.




And the final location is the old car pit in my Grandad's garage.

Identifying our Audience

Our intended audience would mainly be her fans as she has quite a niche audience only expanding slightly due to her performance with Justin Bieber. However, if this was a real music video, producers would be likely to try to get their product to appeal to many different audience as it would make more money.

Due to the serious subject matter of the song, in terms of uses and gratifications I think a large part of the audience would be able to identify with the topic and find solace in the fact others relate to issues regarding mental illness.

Halsey arguably gained initial recognition in the music industry through her connections with more famous artists such as Imagine Dragons, 5 Seconds Of Summer, and Twenty One Pilots. Therefore a lot of her fan base is made up of fans of those artists and bands. These artists have ranging genres so therefore we also hope to attract people with varying music taste to watch our video.

Another aspect that we think will help us to attract a large audience is the style of our video. We have planned for it to be quite spooky and unsettling but not in a way that would be be offensive or express negative stereotypes of people with mental illness. On a second note I think its crucial to do some research so as to not create a negative portrayal in our video.