Music Video Marketing Blog #1

For the past few weeks, me and my team have been working on our Music Video Research and Marketing project! Here, I am going to run down our process and experiences as we have worked on planning, research, and brainstorming. 

Planning 

Screenshot of our Rough Idea Document

We first got to work on planning by hearing the collection of songs we were assigned. Our group got the R&B music playlist, and out of the 4 songs we listened to, we thought that one stood out like a sore thumb for its immersing glitchiness and catchy beats, something that we would use to our advantage in the brainstorming parts later on. We continued by planning out who would be in charge of what. We knew that there was a lot to this project, from marketing to video production, so we wanted to divide work evenly so that it could be completed in a reasonable amount of time. We made sure to give everyone a job that would fit their strengths, but also to take some parts of the project and dissect them together so that we would all be in the loop. We created a google doc to keep track of our ideas and then we moved onto researching different bands and artists.

Research

Frame From the Weeknd's "Blinding Lights"

The research process went very smoothly, being able to finish our assigned "research chart" and figuring out what we like and disliked from the genre and its music video culture. We finished it in the span of a day and from it, we figured out the ins and outs of the genre, its artists, and the way that they market themselves. One key realization we came to was that most contemporary artists use social media platforms and their online presence as their number one way of marketing. Perhaps the best thing we found in the Research process was The Weeknd's "Blinding lights" Music Video. It contained everything that we sought after, engaging composition and camera movement, stunning lighting and color, and sharp edits that were just on the beat. We would go on to use this Music Video as a great piece of inspiration into what an effective, groovy, and yet modern music video looked liked for the R&B genre. With research wrapped up, it was time to Brainstorm.

Brainstorming

Test Render Made by me to plan out the ending shot.

Lastly, and perhaps most exciting, brainstorming. From the very beginning, we knew we wanted to make this Music Video related to technology in some way. We thought that the beginning of the Song sounded like if something was rebooting or glitching back into place, so we thought it would be cool if we took some of those themes and attached them to our music video. Making something 4th wall breaking seemed like a really fun idea, so the story was to follow an artist in some form of cheesy music video, however with a dark twist. The artist is actually just a simulation being run by somebody to create a music video, the specific reason as to why is never stated. This Idea would open Pandora's box of creative opportunities that we planned to take advantage of.

We would make the beginning of the video a rewind playback of the entire video, matching perfectly with the stuttery sound of the start of the piece. Throughout the video, the character would start off normally, but as the world around them becomes different and distorted, they notice that the camera has been following them all along, so they try to catch it but fail to as it teleports to another shot location. Towards the end, we would have a 3d render of the person pulling the strings of the simulation. Perhaps one of our favorite ideas was the use of data moshing, a technique that makes it look as though the pixels of a previous shot transfer to the movement of the next, which we could use to signify that the simulation is falling apart. All of these would come together into a single coherent concept of a person who realizes they are in a simulation and try to break out of it, eventually failing and being sent on the same cycle of despair yet again. 

The Importance of Representation

For the majority of the time that television and film have been around, diverse representation has been lacking in the media sphere. Representation is important since it's the way that mediums choose to portray reality. When people are under or misrepresented, it creates a problem for all of the diverse groups of people watching. To demonstrate, I watched two commercials, and I'll break them down to showcase how important representation is.

The Axe Body Spray Commercial

This commercial was produced and published in 2006. It shows a flock of women, those who are dressed in Bikini's, running towards a white man who sprays himself with Axe body spray. From what is shown in the commercial, this ad clearly seems to be advertising to straight white men between the ages of 18-30. While the ad may achieve its goal with what is shown, the representation of the people in this ad is problematic for many reasons. The ad showcases women in a dehumanizing way, portraying them as if the only thing that matters about them is their looks, and as if the only thing they should care about is men. On the other hand, the man is shown to be the most stereotypical white man ever, showcasing no form of diverse representation and making it seem as if the only thing he should care about is getting women. This is a big problem since it gives the target audience, straight white men, the idea that it's ok to dehumanize and look down upon women. 

H&M's "Close The Loop" Commercial.

I absolutely LOVE this commercial

The "Close The Loop" Commercial portrays people of all types of backgrounds wearing clothes from the brand. It's one sole purpose is that there is only one rule to fashion, "Recycling your clothes". This is what every single commercial should strive to represent like. Instead of relying on overdone stereotypes, the commercial showcases different groups of race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, personality, body type, orientation, and disability. This works perfectly for the ad since it not only includes and represents everyone, it also gets its very important message across to everyone, achieving a new level of inclusivity and respect. 

I really hope this level of representation is here to stay.

The Terrifiying world of Dystopias

I don't know exactly why I am so fond of Dystopian pieces. Whether it's the aesthetic, creativity, or just the interesting exploration of what happens when the daily lives of humans are distorted, something always keeps me coming back to these movies. A dystopia is known as an imagined state or society in which people's lives are under suffering, dehumanization, and/or fear. Dystopias are like the opposite of Utopia's. Instead of a perfectly beautiful world, you get a distorted and grim version of reality. Dystopian movies explore these worlds in interesting and unique ways, showcasing their harmful impact on society and the people that live in it. 

Content:

The Divide of Societal Power

Perhaps one of the most often used tropes of the Dystopian Movie is the division of power. Though they differ in the ways they are shown, some things always remain the same. Some form of Societal divide separates people into different classes. Whether it's fortune, authority, or otherwise something has to separate society to put one type of person above another.

Ex: In the film Ready Player One, the inhabitants of the world live in slums. However, instead of the societal divide being in riches, it's situated in the virtual reality world of the OASIS, a place where the only thing that separates you are your gaming skills.

Technological Advancements

Another common element of Dystopian Films is the dangers of Technological advancements. Especially with how fast technology advances in the current day and age, Dystopian Films try to question the dangers that technology can have in our lives. These exaggerated technologies are often portrayed as being extremely controlling, shaping every thought of every human. They also showcase the addiction that can come from technologies that know us too well. 

 

Ex: In Black Mirror, a brain add on takes humans to virtual worlds seemingly indistinguishable from real life. Quickly, the add on becomes an addiction to the main character, becoming harmful for himself and the ones around him.

Production Techniques:

Set Design

Dystopian movies have to put a lot of effort into their set design. After all, their environments are one of the most captivating things about them. Environments are often portrayed as cold and desolate. Not only that, and most specifically when it comes to city architecture, skyscrapers are used to showcase power, and run-down slums portray the poor and weak. Most of the time, these environments also seem to be impacted by environmental changes like climate change and pollution. Pretty scary how these worlds have gotten how they due to our ignorance of these issues in the present....

Ex: In Wall-e, the desolate landscapes look to be cold and deserted. Not only that, the air seems to be heavily diffused, showcasing the pollution that has damaged the earth.

Composition

The Composition of these pieces is often brutal. Everything is composed symmetrically and straight. Composing in such a way makes the world feel cold and hyper sanitized. On the other hand, Pieces that are set in a more post-apocalyptic world might feature more unhinged and messy shots, meant to represent the unrest of these worlds.

Ex: In this image, we see a shot from the movie Blade Runner 2049 that showcases the meticulous work put into making a perfect composition.

Marketing

In the past, Dystopian movies used to be specifically targeted towards audiences like teenagers. Their stories often portrayed examples of rebelliousness, an idea that is popular with teenagers. However, more recently, Dystopian films have been used to send important messages to all types of audiences, though most often, it still targets younger individuals between the ages of 18 to 25. Their trailers showcase run down worlds in which a protagonist has to rise up against their oppressor.

Examples:

The Platform

The Platform was released on Netflix on February 21, 2020. It follows Goreng as he tries to survive in The Hole (El Hoyo). The hole is a class system in which every month at random, two prisoners are put in a vertical cell in which there are many levels. Every day, food comes down from the first floor all the way down to the 333rd floor. While the people at the top get fed, the ones at the bottom starve...

The platform is quite a perfect example of how the division of power in society can impact the sanity and lives of people. The people at the top of the tower treat the one below them with disrespect, treating them as garbage. The world is gritty and grim, with set design tailored specifically to make the characters, and for the matter of fact the audience, uncomfortable.

The Matrix

The Matrix was released to theaters on March 31, 1999. It follows the story of Neo, an Internet hacker that doesn't quite fit in with society. Neo starts asking questions about the truth, and what he finds is shocking. Neo was never living a regular life. He was actually part of a simulation, one where all of humanity is trapped so that their robot overlords can feed off them, and now he plans to put a stop to it.

The Matrix Showcases how Technological advancements can impact the lives of humans negatively. When humans created artificial intelligence, it rose up against them and oppressed them, yet again showcasing another divide in power.

Other Examples:

Alita Battle Angel(2019)

Ghost in the Shell(1995)

The Truman Show(1998)

THX 1138 (1971)

The Lobster(2015)

Hey Everyone!

My name is Luis, I am a full-on creative type, doing things such as 3d animation, Filmmaking, and different types of art. I'm making this blog for my AICE Media Studies class where we learn about all types of Media and the importance it has in the world we live in today. I will be posting different types of content like analysis and just personal updates on how my projects are going. So far I have learned a LOT, and I know this class will help me in all my future endeavors.

Hope you guys stick around for a while! :)