Final Ideas for Music Video (Instead of storyboard)

Song: Ragdoll by Jennifer Rafferty

• Narrative based music video with some performance shots
• Lyrics of the song shown literally, a ragdoll being symbolic for the actual meaning of the lyrics
• Use of stop-motion: Some stop motion to show the ragdoll getting up after being thrown around by the girl. Also stop-motion at certain points as the girl grows up... Stop-motion shows the ragdoll as more animated and childlike

Narrative:

• A mother/grandmother buys a ragdoll for her daughter/grandaughter and at first she plays with it nicely and gently, which contradicts the lyrics
• After having it for a few weeks, the girl starts abusing and mistreating the ragdoll, showing her not caring, reflecting the lyrics of the song. This continues as she grows older.
• Flashbacks using monochrome effect will happen every so often between the girl growing up to highlight the contrast is the ragdoll's treatment
• End: mother/grandmother sees the ragdoll on the floor and puts it in a box labelled 'charity'/'carboot'/'for sale'...
• Another girl gets the ragdoll and is shown to love it instantly even though it is damaged and torn

Idea:

• Lyrics: "'Cause you want me to be who I'm not", as this line is in the middle 8, use a monochrome flashback of the girl cuting the ragdoll's hair or defacing it, wanting it to look different, mirroring the lyrics of the song
• Calendar to show passing of time, stop motion?
• Shots of posters/toys changing and disappearing to emphasise the change in the girl's bedroom and in her life as she matures.

Setting:

• In the girl's house, in her bedroom -- Most of the narrative shots will be set in the girl's bedroom as she plays with the ragdoll. As she grows older, her bedroom will change to signify the changes she is going through
• End of music video: setting will be a charity shop/garden/carboot sale where the ragdoll gets sold to the other girl
• Performance shots will be set in a well-lit room, (e.g.: conservatory) with a piano as the song only consists of vocals and piano.

Performance shots: Inserted into the video to showcase the artist and associate them with the song. CUs, MCUs and wide shots to show the artist playing the piano and lip-syncing. Panning camera work and zooming in and out to create variety in my camera shots

Transitions: Mostly consist of cross-fades in and out between every shot, performance and narrative. Unfocused to focused shots as well.

Stop motion: Use of stop motion of the ragdoll and calendar to give a more animated and childlike effect to the ragdoll. Mostly live action shots will be used though to make the audience really understand the narrative

Lighting: High-key lighting throughout as it is typical of the singer/songwriter genre, but will become a nit dimmer as ragdoll gets abused. Reflects the mood of the narrative and song, and also to manipulate the audience's feelings into how I want to make them feel. Will become lighter when ragdoll gets bought by the other girl, again to show how the audience should feel. Natural lighting.

List of shots:
Most of the shots will be quite long in length to show the narrative and give the audience more time to watch and interpret the story. Approx. 5-10 seconds long, but may very. Difficult to tell with the stop motion and how long that will take up...
Length of shots may vary, approx. timings...
Length of song: 3:09

• At very start, title of song and artist. Length: 0:00-0:05
• Performance shot, artist as piano. Type: Long shot to medium shot, zoom in slowly. Unfocused to focused. Length: 0:06-0:13
• Mother/grandmother giving ragdoll to her daughter/grandaughter, then child hugs them. Type: medium shot. Length: 0:14-0:21
• Girl plays with ragdoll instantly, very gently and carefully, drops other toys. Type: medium close up/medium shot. Length:0:22-0:30
• Performance shot, artist at piano. Type: medium close up or panning shot. Length: 0:31-0:39
• A few shots of the girl playing with ragdoll nicely again, showing how over time she still loves it for a while, building up a 'relationship', building up something to ruin. Type: Panning, medium close ups, medium shots, tracking. Length: 0:40-0:49, 0:50-1:00, 1:01-1:10
• Performance shot. Type: wide shot/long shot. Length: 1:11-1:17
• Back to girl and ragdoll, first time she throws the ragdoll as she gets annoyed, leaving it on the floor. Type: medium shot to tracking the ragdoll being thrown, slow motion effect? Length: 1:18-1:29
• Stop motion to show ragdoll getting up after being thrown, face changes slightly? Unsure length of shot(s), roughly 1:30-1:45? May be longer/shorter
• Performance shot. Type: panning medium shot. Length: 1:46-1:50
• More stop motion, calendar this time, signifying passing of time, circled dates for birthdays and other events. Live action shots of birthdays or events overlayed or separate? Type: Live action -- zooming in and out, medium, medium close ups, close ups. Length: stop motion -- approx. 1:51-2:15? Live action -- about 5-10 senconds each
• Back to live action shots, showing ragdoll getting more and more abused over time. Various shots. Length: 2:16-2:20, 2:21-2:30, 2:31-2:39
• Flashbacks included in between shots of the girl mistreating the ragdoll to show the contradiction. Length: about 5-10 seconds each
• Mother/grandmother finding ragdoll of floor one day and putting it in a box labelled 'charity'/'carboot'/'for sale'. Type: wide shot, then zoom in on word on box as she walks out the room. Length: about 10 seconds
• Another girls gets the ragdoll and hugs it, walks away clutching it to her chest/ragdoll of her shoulders/holding its hand...Type: medium/medium close up to close up of ragdoll
• Final performance shot, ending the music video. Type: medium close up/close up, focused to unfocused, like the beginning of the music video but reversed.

Magazine Advert Research

Example Two: Birdy

This magazine advert does not include as much information as the Ed Sheeran magazine advert, which is less helpful to potential buyers. For example, the advert does not include information about where it will be available and there are no ratings or quotes from other magazines or newspapers. However, it does display typical conventions of the singer/songwriter genre which the artist, Birdy, falls under. Such as the sepia effect used, showing simplicity and professionalism, and a font which could be recognised as the artist's personal signifier, associated with the artist whenever she is mentioned on a visual media product, such as on television and on posters.

Furthermore, the photography on the advert is of the artist herself, showing she is the main focus of the album and it is more about her and her music. Also, her expression is quite serious, showing she is to be taken seriously and so is her music. This is also very typical of the singer/songwriter genre, where the artist is promoted and shown professionally and seriously. 

The text is quite big at the top of the advert to grab the readers attention and show clearly who or what is being promoted. The artist's names uses a bigger font than the album title, maybe showing what the artist's name is and what the album title is.
At the bottom left corner, there is a small font which shows which formats the album is available on and, in the bottom right corner, there are the record labels which the artist is signed with.
Overall, this is quite a simple but effective magazine advert as it displays basic information of the album and shows conventions of the genre of which the artist is, giving potential buyers an idea of what genre to expect from the artist and album. However, it could be more informative with more details of where the album would be available and some reviews of the album, but still a good example.

Audience Research

My primary target audience will be predominantly female as I feel they could relate better to the narrative of the music video, and also because the artist of this song is female. The age group I intent to attract is teenagers and young adults as the video has a meaning behind the lyrics, not just the literal sense I have conveyed in my music video, and this audience I feel will interpret and relate to the lyrics of the song and also recognise the metaphor I am presenting in the video. Also, this age range tends to use the Internet more and be more interested in music, and the music video, than any other age groups. 

My secondary audience will be parents as they could relate to this fact as well, such as their children playing with these dolls and back to their childhood. Also, they will be able to relate to the lyrics and maybe even the narrative of my music video. This age group are only my secondary audience as they do not use the Internet as much as my primary target audience do, and this is quite important to gaining audiences for my music video. Also, my secondary audience will consist of teenage and young adult males, as they too will be able to relate to the lyrics of the song but not as much as females of this age group do, therefore not being part of my primary audience.

My tertiary audience will be from the ages 8-12, as they can relate to the idea of playing with a ragdoll and/or other toys, which is the main theme of my music video. This age group is only my tertiary audience as they will be too young to understand the lyrics of the song and interpret the real meaning behind the video, but will be able to relate to the obvious.

Magazine Advert Research

Example One: Adele

 

 

 

 

This magazine advert is for singer/songwriter Adele's album '21'. The advert uses monochrome effect, which is a typical convention of the singer/songwriter genre. Also, the photography is of the artist herself, showing another stereotypical convention of the singer/songwriter genre. The advert includes a picture of the album in the bottom left corner. The photography on the advert matches the photography on the album, as it uses the same monochrome effect and the lighting is very similar. The font is also the same. The white and green makes the text stand out and is quite big as well. The advert also advertises the fact the Adele is a '2 Time Grammy Award winner', which draws potential buyers in and builds a good reputation for her as potential buyers may think because she has won two Grammy Awards she must be talented and the album will be good. The font used is the reoccurring on her albums and promotion, so this is recognised as her signifier/motif. The sentence 'Available Everywhere Now' helps potential buyers know where they can buy it and when it is out. It also includes the information that her song 'Rolling in the Deep' features on the album, which draws in people who have heard and like that song, influencing them to maybe purchase the album because of this. Underneath the picture of the album, there is the record label the artist is signed to and their logo.  The advert is quite minimal and simple, but it shows the artist as elegant and sophisticated, so the advert does not need much production as it conveys that the artist cares more about the music than the production.

 

The information of the record label and the picture of the album in the corner are things I want to include in my magazine advert, as I feel these are quite important features to be included. I think the monochrome effect works really well on the advert, and might consider using this on my advert, and on the digipak when I use photography of the artist in my digipak. Overall, I think this is a really good advert that advertises the album and promotes the artist very well. It uses typical conventions of the singer/songwriter genre, which is expected and shows the artist and album is more focused on the music and lyrics than anything else.