Music Marketing #2

 For our class midterm project we worked within groups of five focused on our previously assigned country blue grass jazz genre to create a music video. The song we chose from the offered selections was Lady A's "Need You Now" where we decided to take the storytelling approach.

We began by forming a story board to obtain a visual idea of the shots and storyline we needed to match as well as the timing. And then we created a group workload rough draft as to understand the responsibilities each team member was to take on. Personally I edited our video and designed band merchandise, I additionally created our band's history and detailed how our music video impacted our audience.

Here is a link to our video documenting our music marketing projects process:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KQ2I3Ay4nzJddFYDpxq7d42Pss2wbsHg/view?usp=share_link

 It was such a fun and engaging process where I was able to hone my communication and leadership skills to help create the music video. I learned about the difficulties when working with larger groups who have different schedules but also the importance to make time and be proactive to ensure the quality of what you are trying to create is at a higher standard. If I were to repeat the project I would like to try to work with actors not affiliated with the group to see if that changes the results for the better.

Music Marketing Research

    To begin this project we divided up into groups consisting of 4-5 members, and were randomly assigned a genre from the options of country (blue grass), pop, rock, and alternative. My group received Country Blue Grass for our marketing research. 

    We were each instructed to individual select a music production company and two artists under that company, or two artists and their music production company. However to ensure that data collected on the artists is relevant they had to have produced and released music within the last 5 years. Seeing as we had to monitor the trends in marketing and distribution. To construct a complied from of data we utilized a music research chart. 

    My group each selected two artists the ones I selected were Chris Stapleton and Dolly Parton, two widely known country artists. While members in my group did some lesser know artists to ensure that we had a generalizable data set to research. To begin my research I looked into the individual music production companies the two artists were under and their history. Then I focused on the artists, discovering their websites how they market their merchandise and shows as well as the aesthetics they have. Thats what I used to compile their target audience and brand identity. While for marketing I researched the artists social media pages to understand their frequency in posting and the type of content they posted. On the other hand to develop my understanding on the artists non digital marketing and distribution I researched types of non digital media like radio and touring.

If you were more interested in the two artists mentioned, feel free to look into my completed music research chart: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13DALji6XuiKDK047fqa9ibHXQo6M3MUR/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116141611851007777626&rtpof=true&sd=true

And if your interested in doing your own research these are some of the websites I used:

 https://www.britannica.com/money/Universal-Music-Group

https://chrisstapleton.com

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/written-by-chris-stapleton/pl.b0c5c02a71f94629940705de4a7299dd

https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/calendar/chris-stapleton-since-1978

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dolly-Parton\

 

https://www.shortform.com/books/blog/dolly-parton-career.html#:~:text=Early%20Ambitions%20and%20Performances,impact%20on%20the%20music%20industry.

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/sony/sony-music-group/sony-music-entertainment/

Mise-en-scene blog post

    The goal of this project was to portray a character using at least 10 elements and a mood board. My team and I planned to focus on the characters we received utilizing the resources we had at hand; my group specifically used Canva. The character prompt we received was "A former singer with a sharp wit and a love for storytelling. She lives in a cozy apartment filled with records and memories, often sharing life lessons with younger neighbors. From this we decided our character was a brunette woman in her 50's named Robin Campbell, who rarely sees her family and spends her time listening to jazz music and babysitting the neighborhood kids. To create this character, we made a Canva slide show with multiple collages representing her setting, aesthetic, music taste, and physical appearance.

    We attempted to combine multiple musical elements to emphasize its importance to "Robin Cambell" as she is a retired singer who still holds a strong passion for music. It was also to represent a musical era as most of the music is dated, with the exception of some artists like the cranberries who were used more for aesthetics.

    This slide includes her location, Chicago, and what we pictured her home interior to look like. We selected the Chicago location as we believed being a retired singer she would want to still live somewhere highly populated though we decided she would live in a nice flat by herself. The interior of her home would be very modern with a lot of wooden elements and familial ornaments.

    This slide was to establish that she is very minimalist and chooses a very natural look as she spends most of her time inside with no need to be ready for any special events. 

    In our character station, we wrote an instruction list for the students to click through the Canva at their own pace. As each student had the Canva open on their laptop, there was also a set of headphones attached to each computer as "Fly me to the Moon". The instrumental version was playing in the background of the Canva to add to the characters' personality. Additionally, my team left a guitar tuner and microphone for a tactile element to the station; these objects were both usable and had instructions for them at the table.

    Overall, our group worked well to create additional elements for a fictional character with little description. It was interesting to see how everyone initially interpreted the character as it appeared to reflect on what we are surrounded by, and it took a while for our group to come to a complete consensus on the character's interests, aesthetics, and appearance.

Media Studies Portfolio; Horror Research

Horror Research

    The horror genre often appeals to themes of fear involving the unknown, death, and the supernatural. This genre is known for being one of the most profitable genres seeing as low budget films can gross millions.

CONTENT

    The horror genre contains different types of content to ensure the genre is being portrayed directors use foreshadowing, suspense, disgust, and often the supernatural/ cultural lore. Foreshadowing is used in Horror movies to hint to the audience what will later be unveiled. The foreshadowing often adds an eerie sense although it is only truly understandable when a film is rewatched. This can be seen as a pattern throughout the "scream" movies, as the killer often has a close connection to the victims you can infer who the perpetrator is before their reveal. Similarly, this is also seen in the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" movies. Suspense is another element found in horror movies used to captivate the audience's attention as they build up the emotions experienced in the film. They also often set up room for a jump scare in a film as the audience is intensely focused. This is seen throughout most horror movies, most including jump scares like "insidious". Disgust is an important component of the horror genre as it makes the audience uncomfortable. Disgust affects both physical and psychological elements. This can be used in gore or psychological films as it makes the audience question why, when something is "gross" and "unfamiliar". This is seen in movies like "Fresh" and "Hereditary". Supernatural and cultural lore aren't always found in horror films but when they are the focus is on tune. They may not always be accurate, but they use it in the same way films have before. There are also appearances of films that solely focus on cultural lore like "La Lorna" or "Hagazussa".

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

    Techniques used in the genre heavily involve lighting and sound to assist in creating the film's atmosphere. By using lighting directors can use shadows and low lighting to create an ominous presence, especially when the audience interprets what is occurring on their own. While sound is used to make the audience uneasy waiting with anticipation as to what will come next. Both sound effects and long-lasting background sound are used to tense the audiences and mess with their perception.

GENRE MARKETING

The typical horror marketing age range is between 15-25 with a core demographic of 19-24; horror has the highest 19-24 age range than other genres. This is because the idea of thrillers, slashers, and gore often appeals more towards teenagers and young adults who are mature enough to watch these films. The movies are often marketed with trailers that capture the most thrilling and suspenseful moments as it entices the audience to want to watch the film, and to want to be scared. 

Sample 1: Silent Hill, 2006

A movie version of the popular video game, this film is a supernatural horror movie that follows a desperate mother who incidentally drives through a portal in reality where she ends up trapped in an almost abandoned town, Silent Hill.  She searches for her daughter in this town continuously encountering monstrous beings and citizens of the town, all who are surrounded by darkness that is slowly taking ahold of them. This film uses dark lighting and shadows to emphasize the town's abandonment and evil presence. The shadows are used to create illusions and to set up jump scares throughout the film. The consistent use of gore and creepy characters emphasizes the horror genre as this isn't typical in any other genre.

Sample 2: Megan Is Missing, 2011

This movie is a found footage psychological horror that revolves around Megan (Rachel Quinn) and her best friend Amy Herman (Amber Perkins) who end up chatting with a stranger online. One of the friends Megan (Rachel Quinn) attempts to meet up with the online stranger resulting in her disappearance. That is when her friend Amy attempts to find her, which results in her capture as well. The film's ending surrounds the reveal of what happened to Megan and what will happen to Amy. The film uses elements of suspense, disgust, and foreshadowing. This is seen at the beginning of the film when Megan chats with the man online those who are aware of the signs of danger may realize the danger this man possesses. While the disgust and suspense are seen in the methods of torture, the girls experience and the moment leading up to them.

Other Movies to Consider:

                                                                       The Shining (1980)

                                                             

                                                                         Long Legs (2024)

                                                                 

                                                                               Psycho (1960)

                                                                

                                                                             Poltergeist (1982)

                                                                

                                                                        The Evil Dead (1981)

                                                       

Sound Projects

    In this sound lesson I learned the types of sound that can be utilized to alter the way in which a scene is perceived.  For example, in this lesson we focused on the differences between diegetic and non diegetic sound as well as methods in almost interacting with the audience by using a sound motif, sound bridge, or voice over.

                                                                        Sound Project #1

    For the first sound project we were instructed to brainstorm a scene that would occur in a 1-2 minute timespan. When we were brainstorming these scenarios we also had to determine what sounds we needed to include as we would be portraying the scene entirely through sound without visuals. 

    To brainstorm for this project my partner and I created a sound outline that looked like this:

 Scene: School setting, janitor cleaning

I. Janitor Mopping

Man humming/ whistling

mopping

Mop falling

Janitor cart wheels 

Water swishing in cart

-Faint music-transition.

II. Walking closer to band room

Mopping abruptly stops

Human footsteps

Words: “Who’s there”

Music increases, footsteps-> music quality decreases

III. Arrives at the band room

Knocking on door

Key jangle/ unlocking

Words: “its after hours”

Music: Peak loudness

Music stops

-Gremlin cackle- transition

IV. Gremlin chaos

Terrible music quality

Words “en guard”(gremlin)

Drum stick clanging

Sybals 

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT CHAOS

END-> Gremlin connecting to AMP, loud guitar riff(could be rick rolling), power outage

    This outlined helped us structure there sequence of our sounds which was especially helpful because not having a visual made it difficult to follow a story line so the outline served as a checklist. My partner was able to access Adobe Express Premium while I had access to Office 365's Clip champ. The Adobe Express Premium platform was used for layering and embedding the sounds while the Clip champ was used for developing the foley sounds in a sequential order.

    My partner and I did a good job of detailing and planning out our idea however I do believe we were too ambitious with our idea and we overestimated how much we were able to convey in a 1-2 minute clip with no visuals. Our use of sound was strong although for some it may be too powerful as our scene was intended to be chaotic it may not suit all audiences

Here is the link to our Sound Project #1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XO05loNRAAJtwqRflVIfKc-YEJstwb15/view?usp=share_link

    Sound Project #2

  For the second sound project we were instructed to embed and overlap sounds onto our original One Word Film project while considering diegetic sounds and their timing. 

    To brainstorm for this project my partner and I created a sound outline that looked like this: 

Scene: Classroom setting

I. Class is beginning

• School Bell

• Miscellaneous noises for unpacking

• Pencil clatter

• Class room chatter

II. Students Doodling & Note passing

• Paper noises

• Pen scribbles

• Air vent noise

• Sticky note ripping

• Students coughing

• Students whispering

III. Note is folded and passed to opposing side of room

• Papers crumbled and unwrapped

• Pen clicking

• Pen scribbles

• Air vent noise

• Student Whispers

• Banter of students becomes more lively (representing the shift in mood)

    This outlined helped determine what sounds we wanted to include and additionally assisted us in discovering sounds that would have been present but often overlooked like the air vent sound. My partner and I had access to Office 365's Clip champ, where we were able to over lap up to ten sounds.

My partner and I were successful in brainstorming additional sounds as the setting was familiar to us being in a typical classroom. Additionally the placement and timing of our sounds were fairly accurate especially when we were able to adjust the amplification of a sound which helped us add additional background noises like a cough for instance. However, there is always more to add to a scene and because it was familiar we may not have inspected the scene closely enough and overlook finite details.

    Here is the link to our second sound project: OWFSound_Diaz.mp4 or https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dn0gNrzAXiHaNrKyy64LvkHxDyvuyjdR/view?usp=share_link

One Word Film Project

                               The One Word Film Project

      In this activity we were instructed to use 15 shots that would fall between the 60-90 second time period to represent our given word. My partners and I randomly selected the word optimistic. Upon selecting this word, we had to think of a realistic scenario that we could construct that would occur in around a minute and a half. We decided to create a story where in a gloomy classroom setting one student's optimism is shared in the form of a doodle that creates an uplifting moment in all the students who receive the note. This change in mood per student creates a ripple effect where they doodle and share it with their peers, so its chain effect finds itself effecting the entire classroom spirit positively.

Before filming we put together a storyboard sheet that included all of our shots and our stories concept:

    However, our final project turned out slightly different from our storyboard, by completing the storyboard we were able to envision what we needed to change to better the overall project. For example, we understood we needed to change the concept from spreading the message in the halls to confining it to the classroom to avoid it appearing like a montage and to retain the timespans visuals.  

    During filming we were able to use a tripod to ensure stability and level our shots. We also recruited our peers to make appearances in our project to capture the message that our word was spread throughout the classroom setting. Once we finished filming, we used Canva and Adobe express to edit our project. This project was difficult to edit as we attempted to use Canva to layer shadows on the students. This shadow was important because we wanted the students to appear stuck in the gloomy classroom, before we removed them using a blur effect. This was to provide the illusion that the doodle itself brought positivity thus "removing the negative energy". While we used Adobe express to layer our videos in chronological order and to cut the videos to ensure we stayed under the 90 second time limit.

    In this project the steps we took before filming were strategic and crucial to our overall process. As well as the filming itself was planned and executed strongly with extra shots being taken in case we needed them during our editing process, both these steps were taken well. However, our editing skills could be improved and surely will with time and experience, for what we attempted our outcome was not horrible though it could have been smoother.

    Here is a link to our final project: https://new.express.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:c0b56866-3c04-4b1a-bf52-76122b034ef4?invite=true&accept=true?preload=sharesheet

Camera Shots Quiz

 Hey bloggers thanks for tuning in to HDTV I wanted to tell you guys about this project I had to do in my AICE Media class that focused on using various shots and angles to tell a story with objects.

In the activity we were instructed to use no more and no less than 15 images with the included "establishing shot, a long shot, two medium shots, two close-ups, an extreme close-up, a point of view shot, any type of shot using a high angle, any type of shot using a low angle, and any type of shot with your subject on either the left or right third".

For this project I worked with a classmate of mine and when we first read the instructions we knew that we wanted to include element of surprise in our story line. The storyline we went with was a typical high school relationship that turns toxic causing tragedy at the hands of one's trusted companion. To convey this story we chose to use a perfume bottle and two calculators one red and one black. We began by passing around possible ideas to use before we made our draft list including the shot types and what would occur during the scene. After getting it approved by our teacher we set out to a stairwell to begin photographing our objects. 

I believe I did well on the assignment as we both analyzed the photos we took ensuring they were up to each others standards. Additionally we both took the proper procedures before beginning the assignment; confirming an idea, drafting an outline, checking outline, and executing it. I do believe we should have done a better scene to portray the betrayal when the perfume is pushed however we weren't sure how to photograph such a scene with the supplies we had on hand.

Here is our final project!