introducing our idea! (not done)

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social media research!

 This week, I started researching social media pages of different artists so that I could start making a picture in my mind of what I would want mine to look like. Here is my thought process: 

Media text: Gracie Abrams

Social media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts:

• Pictures of behind the scenes of music videos

• Announcement of music videos, songs, albums with a lot of enthusiasm

• Types of “teasers” of random pictures with a caption as a yellow heart (included some pictures from filming music videos, or in a recording studio, or with a guitar/piano)

• A lot of teasers for most of the songs (around 17 seconds of a song)

• Track list for album

• Tour announcements

• pictures/videos from concerts

• Random picture of her excited about her album coming out 

Description of how branding is developed (or not):

• While promoting her new album, The Secret Of Us, the branding is seen through the colors that she used on her posts (yellow)

• Her brand is a lot of pictures and videos of her normal life rather than fully a professional account

• It feels very personal

• When she's not promoting an album, it doesn’t look very branded as pictures are very random

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence:

• Looking at this example of a social media page gave me inspiration for how to make mine because it showed me that it can still be personal with random pictures and that it is okay to do that. I really liked the fact that she teased a lot of the songs to create more anticipation, but I think she did it with too many. If I were to tease some of the songs, I would tease MAX 2.

Media text: Taylor Swift

Social media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts: 

• Music video announcements (with a veryyyyyy long caption)

• Announcement that the album is out (with picture from a music video and again a very long caption)

• Announcement of album release date (with the different varieties of album covers that she does)

• Behind the scenes announcement of music video

• Disney+ show announcement

Description of how branding is developed (or not):

• From the moment I opened her page, I immediately saw the branding

• She does branding per album

• Her cover pictures for her highlights match the color of the most recent album, as well as her profile picture

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence:

• This page helped inspire me by reminding me that highlights are also important to have organized and be consistent with the branding of the artist. Now I know how important matching colors are. This one served as a more professional account, which contrasted with the other one as all these posts were more planned. I want to do a mix of both, leaning towards a more relaxed and personal account. 

Media text: Niall Horan

Social media tool: Instagram

Description of types of posts:

• Lots of short video teasers

• Announcement that the album has been completed

• Release date for lead single

• Music video announcements

• A lot of golf (hobby)

• The Voice (he was a host)

• Teasers for an announcement

• Album announcement

• Tracklist of album

• MOSTLY EVERYTHING ARE REELS

Description of how branding is developed (or not):

• Branding developed depending on album

• For The Show: same font, colors, lighting in pictures and videos

• Feels more personal 

• Page feels very brown, looks very cohesive

Analysis of how you will use this to develop your own social media presence:

• I really like how the lighting of the pictures are the same and how it creates a cohesive feeling to the page, which is something I want to try to incorporate into my social media page. I like the video teasers a lot because it doesn't show a big part of the song. ALSO, something I noticed with most is that they have the link to their website on the bio, so that is something that I will definitely keep in mind. 

research research and more research

    I'm having a lot of fun with this research! It doesn't even feel like work for a project or anything because I tend to watch music videos in my free time a lot! 

"Night Changes"

    Choosing the last music videos to dive deep into was hard because there are so many options, but I feel like I really needed to do a One Direction one being that I have always been a fan. However, they have really random music videos that really wouldn't serve me as well for my research. So I decided to research "Night Changes" because it is more alike to something I would produce. 

    This video breaks the fourth wall, as it basically about them going on a date with the viewer, because they are looking straight at the camera and interacting with it (which was probably really funny to film). It follows the stereotypical perfect dates, such as going out to dinner, going to a fair, going for a drive and walk in the park, or staying home and playing games. However, as the video progresses, everything in the dates goes wrong and it ends up being disasters. 

    This video served for showing me that not all videos have to be serious and there can be silliness in this (such as this picture that was too funny not to put), and I feel like it's really going to help me let go and enjoy the process of this more.

"I know it won't work"

    Gracie Abrams. I absolutely adore her music, but I had never watched her music videos until now! I really liked the post production aspect of this music video and it felt very different from the other ones I'vre researched because of the filter and editing, which makes it seem like it was filmed in an older camera. I really like the zooms in and the focus pulls that were used in this video. Focus pulls are really hard for me to do, but it's nothing that practice can't fix!

    The video felt raw also because of the lack of stabilizer in most shots which made it more of a use of handheld camera. However, I feel like this was overused because at one point I got annoyed at how the camera wasn't even showing her face anymore because of how much it was moving. This shot here however, was probably my favorite from the whole video because I loved the contrast that the sunset created with the cool tones of the water and the sand. I really want to shoot part of my video at a beach and I feel like this reinforced that want by a lottt. I loved the sequence right after this shot because it was really fast shots of different things and it served as a really good transition into another beautiful shot of her at the beach with the light reflecting on the lens of the camera. 

All of this research left me with a clearer idea for my video and it really did help me think about how to make my video more cohesive. I'm so excited to share the development of my video soon!

One Direction. (2014, November 21). One Direction - Night Changes [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syFZfO_wfMQ

Abrams, G. (2023, February 24). Gracie Abrams - I know it won’t work (Official Music Video) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIalke0YE_Y

more research!!

    Continuing with the research! Some of Annie's songs really reminded me of Olivia Rodrigo's songs from her album Sour so I thought it would be a good idea to watch some of those to see if I can get any inspo from them!

"drivers license"

    I just realized I actually had never watched this music video before today despite how popular this song was a few years ago. 

    While watching this music video, I think that what stuck with me the most is the lighting in the car. The purples and the blues hitting her face creates a sadder tone. For my portfolio project last year, I played a little with the lights but I believe that I can do it a lot better right now because I have gained a lot of experience since then. 

    Up until before the bridge of the song, I do feel like the shots get really repetitive. However, once the bridge started, I really liked the sudden pick up on the pace for a little bit, and thennn it goes back to the repetitiveness. 

"ceilings"

    Another video I came across was "ceilings" by Lizzy McAlpine. The overall vibe of the song itself doesn't match with what Annie's song that I'm going to use is, but I did see some things in the video that I really liked! 

    

    This two shot of them talking in like a cafe really caught my attention because part of what I am planning on doing is a sort of montage of parts of a relationship in which the people were happy and this really captured what I had in my mind. I really liked how effortlessly this video was a mix of promotional, with the artist singing, to storytelling. It didn't feel out of place and I think one of the reasons was because for most of the time, the artist that was singing wasn't moving around or changing settings often. 

    

    I'm starting to get a clearer picture of what my music video could look like, but I'm going to watch a bit more to really grasp it better.

Rodrigo, O. (2021, January 8). Olivia Rodrigo - drivers license (Official Video) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDBbnmKpqQ

McAlpine, L. (2023, February 14). Lizzy McAlpine - ceilings (official video) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bpMSpFTdzM

Research!

    So today, I'm starting the research for my music video! I know Annie is a fan of Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams and it is obvious in the type of music that she makes. So I decided to do research on some of Taylor Swift's music videos to get an idea of the type of videos created with the music. 

Everything Has Changed ft. Ed Sheeran.

    As I watched some of Taylor's videos, I noticed that most of them are with her singing so I tried to find one that was pure storytelling and I found this! I honestly found it to be such a cute video that showed the innocence that love can have. 

    This video starts with an establishing shot with the bus driving down the street, which helps introduce the subjects of the video as two kids. The lighting as the camera tilts up on the girl is truly beautiful and helps emphasize the innocence at that age. It's a really pretty shot and I want to incorporate some of this.

    The shallow focus on this shot highlights the focus on the two subjects, while still showing that the world is still going on around them. I also really like the amount of close ups that this music video utilizes because it makes it feel much more intimate.

All Too Well: The Short Film

ADDITIONALLY, one of my favorite songs is also a pure storytelling video that is truly amazing. Although, it is technicallyyy a short film, it captures the great storytelling power with the song. 

    I love the way that it starts with the title of the song while the intro music is playing, and it's something that I'm truly considering doing for my own video. The simple font with the trees in the background is a really delicate way to start the video which I think fits it very well. One of my favorite things about this video is how the things happening exactly match what the lyrics are saying in that moments, which emphasizes the story that the song itself is saying. This is something that I really want to incorporate into my own video because I really like the stories that my possible songs are telling. 

    The colors of the costumes change from warmer to cooler ones as the song gets into themes of hurt and betrayal which I found it to be a nice detail to contribute to the overall tone of the song. The occasional flashbacks to when they were happy together served as a good contrast, not only story wise but also with the colors. In the part wher ethe guy is walking at night and he is getting constant flashbacks of her, I like how the fast pacing of the switching back and forth from him to them makes it look like he is being challenged emotionally by remembering what they had. 

    The red scarf coming back at the end gave it a full circle moment!

I feel like watching these videos with a different lens than usual really served me as inspiration and ideas for my music video!

Swift, T. (2013, June 6). Taylor Swift - Everything Has Changed ft. Ed Sheeran [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1oM3kQpXRo

Swift, T. (Director). (2021, November 12). All too well: The short film [Film]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tollGa3S0o8

decisions have been made!

I finally got the yes from the artist that I really wanted to work with for this project and I am so beyond excited because her music is truly amazing and she is so talented. This artist is someone I had a class with in my freshman year, and she is also one of my friend's family friends. She has moved to Nashville to pursue her dream, which I'm so happy for, but it also sucks because we won't be able to record the video with her. Anyways, the artist we're going to work with is Annie LeMasters! Here she is!  

She is a pop singer, which is one my favorite genre of music. The genre of pop music typically has really catchy, structured songs, usually containing 2 verses, 3 choruses and a bridge. The choruses are strong and repetitive. Think like perfect songs to sing in the car with the windows down!

I'm gonna start deep diving into multiple examples of music videos from this genre so I can get a better picture of it.  

EnglishClub. (2025, February). What is pop music? https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/music-pop.php

time management

I really really want to work on my time management for this project because it will make my life soooooo much easier. Our goal is to finish a few days before to have space to get critiques and tweak anything we need. So we created a schedule to help keep us on track:

Week One (2/17-2/22)

• Choose project 

• Contact artist we’re interested in

• Create schedule

• Assign roles 

Week Two (2/23-3/1)

• Research on genre 

• Research examples of said genre

• Start developing ideas for video (talk with artist to choose song)

• Casting 

Week Three (3/2-3/8)

• Research social media pages of similar artists 

• Create social media page (choose between titktok or insta)

• Storyboard for video

• Create filming schedule

Week Four (3/9-3/15)

• Film film film

• Research print component

• Social mediaaaa posts

Week Five (3/16-3/22) – this is Spring break – plan accordingly

• Spring break, individual work

• Start developing digipak and work on social media

• Maybe possibly start editing but idk

Week Six(3/23-3/29)

• Editing editing and more editing

• Finalize digipak

• Social media postssss

• Research for critical reflection three  

Week Seven (3/30-4/5) 

• Finish editing

• Work on critical reflection

• Finalize social media page

Week Eight (4/6-4/10)

• Finish critical reflection 

• Get feedback/ critique on all components

• Fix/tweak anything if needed

• Final reflections 

I'm really excited for how this project is going to come out!

(me being excited to start)