Actors

The actor that i have chosen to be in my music video is a girl the age of 17, i have chosen to use someone this age because that is the age of my target audience so i believe that having someone in my video the same age as my audience it will have more of an effect on them knowing that they are the same age as them, i also think that it will give people a shock because some of the people that i am using look older than they actually are and some of the people look younger than they are. This may effect peoples views because the audience will want to know how they look younger than they are and the younger people will want to know how to look younger than they are. This, i think, is all because of the media and how it makes people feel different and how it comes across that people need to look better to impress different people for example people becoming anorexic and bulimic. I have also got another actor acting as the singer in my music video, i will be filming her in a 'parallel sequence' to my other actor who will be playing a girl that isn't happy with herself and the way that she looks, i have taken pictures of the actors that i will be using...

<----- Harriet
This is the girl that is playing the girl that isn't happy with the way that she looks, i have chosen Harriet because she is an A level drama student and i feel that she would play the part well and i also think that she would make her story believable.

                                                             Amelia---->          This is the girl that will be playing the part of the singer in my music video, i have chosen her because she is a singer and she knows the song very well so it wont be obvious that she is lip-sinking the song that i am using (The voice within- Christina Augilera) 

Photos

Mark Robert Halper is one of my biggest influences because of the colour of his pictures and the way that the people in them look. Here are some examples of his work:

From looking at his work i realised that he uses very little editing on his pictures to give this effect and i have noticed that lighting plays a huge part in his work. The lighting is geerally dark with a slight bit of lighting in them to give them an eary effect.
I have tried to re-create these images using different lighting, here is my response to his work:

I researched magnum photography to see if the genre of the pictures fitted with the genre of my music video, these are the pictures that i think fit best with my idea:

Although these pictures don't portray the same story that i am trying to get across, i feel that they're facial expressions and body language tell a sad story to the audience and this is why they have had a big influence on my idea, within my music video i will be using shots like this and you will be able to see the contrast in colours and stance that i will be putting my actors in to create this kind of image. 

Representation

Within my media coursework (music video) i am going to be representing girls between the ages of 14 and 20. This is because i feel that this is the age group that is affected most by the media, and this is the age group that comes across to care about what they look like the most. I have also chosen this age group because this is my target audience so i think that using people in my music video that is within this age range will have more of an effect on them.

Representation Theory

I went to ask a few people some questions to see what they thought about the whole idea of skinny people and their feelings, these are the questions that i asked them and their answers:

What is the first thing that comes to your head when i say annorexic?

Katherine- Skinny. Bony. Eating apples. Sticks. Models.

Partick- Unwell. Pressure to look skinny.

Tom- Eating disorder. Unhealthy. Mentally pressured by the media    and their peers.











What do you think when i say super model?

Dani- Skinny,.Pretty. Fake. Make-up. Tall.

Tom- Hot. Flat chest. Too skinny.












What is insecurity?

Amy- Not feeling confident. What people think of you and how people see you. Not showing body parts.

Becky- Struggling with confidence. No trust in anyone. Paranoid.Not feeling good about yourself.

Target audience

My target audience is both males and females, although i think that the female gender is more likely to watch my music video than males, it will still be aimed at them, i think that females will take more interest in my video as things like anorexia and bulimia seem to have more of an effect on them than it does on males.

I have taken a picture of a group of people that are within the age of my target audience.

Questionnaire

I have created a questionnaire that i have sent out to 10 people within the ages of 16 and 24, I gave 5 to the male gender and the other 5 to the female gender.
My questionnaire looked like this:

Questionnaire
1. Are you...? 

    Male      Female

   ____       ____ 

2. How old are you?

     ____________

3. How often do you watch music channels?

   Everyday   Once a week   Twice a week   Weekends   Other    

     ____             ____               ____            ____         ____  

 

4. What music channels do you watch?

    None   Kiss    Q     MTV   FLAVA   Other (please state)                                              
    ___     ___   ___    ___     ___         _______________      

                  

5. How much media do you watch? (Films, music etc.)

    A lot   Not much   None   Other

    ____     ____       ____   ____  

6. How do you access the media?

    Television   Radio   Internet   Other

       ____       ____     ____      ____ 

7. Would you say that your looks affected by the media?

    ___________________________________________________
    ___________________________________________________
    ___________________________________________________

8. Would you say that the way you act affected by the media?

   ___________________________________________________
   ___________________________________________________
   ___________________________________________________

9. What was the last music video you watched about?

   ___________________________________________________
   ___________________________________________________
   ___________________________________________________

10. Are you happy with the way you look?

     ___________________________________________________
     ___________________________________________________
     ___________________________________________________

11. If you could choose your image, what would you change about yourself?

     ___________________________________________________
     ___________________________________________________
     ___________________________________________________

12. What musician would you aspire to look and be like?

      ___________________

    
      Why?

     ___________________________________________________
     ___________________________________________________
     ___________________________________________________

Moodboard

To show my ideas i created a moodboard

The things that i have included in this mood board is all the things that i am hoping to have in my music video, i may change my ideas slightly but the main story line is written on this.

Influences

As my main influence is the Christina Aguilera song and video "Beautiful" i have found it on youtube, this is the link that you need to follow if you wish to watch it and listen to the song- Beautiful- Christina Aguilera, i feel that this song is the biggest influence on my idea for my music video as it is trying to portray the same message that i am trying to in mine, i feel that this video is very powerful and when you watch it, it makes you feel sorry for the people that are in the video becaise it makes you realise that there are actually people living this way and we dont take people's thoughts and feelings into consideration as much as i think that we should.

Another of my influences is the video for "Unpretty" by the 90's band TLC, i have found the link on youtube for you to follow- Unpretty- TLC, although i think that this song is too up-beat for the message that i am trying to get across but if you listen to the lyrics then it is saying exactly what i want to portray.

The last influence that i have is the video for the Sugababes song Denial, this is the youtube link- Denial- Sugababes, the song words have nothing to do with my idea for my music video but i feel that the stop motion that has been used in this video could relate with some of the things that i am going to do, and i feel that i could use some of the things that they have used in this video to try to help me to get my message across.

Brief choice

For my coursework, I have chosen to create a music promotion video, the two other options that i have chosen to do are: to make a CD cover and a magazine advertisement.


I am going to be featuring a selection of short videos of a girl looking at herself in the mirror looking at her body and covering it up as if she is not happy with the way that she looks, it is all going to be about other people making people feel like this about themselves and what the bullies do to provoke these feelings.

 I came up with this idea because I believe that the human body is beautiful and people should cherish how they are built and the looks that they have been given, it will show a girl that is so unhappy with what she looks that she does silly things like stops eating because she feels that being thin is the only way that she will be excepted. The song that I will be using is The Voice Within by Christina Aguilera, I feel like this song is sending across a message that should be listened to by everyone that feels bad about themselves when they shouldn’t. My influences for this is the Christina Aguilera song and video Beautiful, I am influenced by this because it is sending across the same message that i am going to try to portray, I think that my video will be successful with the female gender aged 14-20 because I feel that this is the age that is influenced by the media the most.

Brief

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promotion video, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for the band.
• A cover for its release on DVD, digital package CD/DVD package.
• A magazine advertisement for the DVD

2. A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for the film.
• A film magazine front cover, featuring the film.
• A poster for the film.

3. An extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the three following options:

• A radio trailer for the documentary.
• A double page-spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary.
• A newspaper advertisement for the documentary.