Treatment

Group Roles
Cinematography: Bradley Williams (Directing) & Nicolas Orozco (Filming)
Mise-en-scene: Bradley Williams & Nicolas Orozco
Sound: (Song) (Labrinth – Express Yourself)
Editing: Bradley Williams

Title

“Express Yourself”

Synopsis

We aim to make this video comedic and informal. The song is all about ‘expressing yourself’ and so we are going to build on this and show how people can ‘express’ themselves.

Key Genre Conventions:
Very energetic
Short to medium length songs
Repeated Choruses
Melodic tunes
Catchy Hooks
Fast cuts (usually jump cuts)
Dancers/Extras
Variation of shots (Close Up, establishing shots, medium shots)
Vibrant Colours

Ideas Mood Board

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Audience research findings

This is a wordle of the results from the audience research we conducted.

Target Audience - Summary of findings

Through our focus group video we learnt what our audience want in a music video and what they feel makes a music video good.

Through asking what their favourite music video was we  found that two of the three answers were videos that involved a dance routine. This conveys to us that videos with dance routines that you can learn are quite popular. One of the videos was a slightly abstract video, it does not really relate to the song however it is eye catching and so grabs the viewers attention. We should consider this when making our video, we should not just film things that connect to the song we should also include things that will catch the viewers attention.

When asked what they like about music videos our audience once again brought up the topic of dancing, they also stated the fact that music videos give the viewer a deeper insight into the song, they can make them understand things about the song that they would not comprehend without visuals. Also they just simply want to be entertained. 

The target audience gave answers such as dancers, different/good visuals, effects and a good storyline, when asked what they feel makes a great music video. In addition, when asked where they watch music videos the most common answers were YouTube and TV (MTV).

These findings will aid us when we are creating our final product as this audience is the one we are targeting and so getting their personal opinion will allow us to know what we should put in our video and where we should promote it to ensure the highest possible success.

Target Audience - Vox Pop

To gain some more information about what the audience want to see in the music video, we conducted a 'Vox Pop'.

The questions that will be asked in our Vox Pop are:

• Do you watch music Videos?
• What is your favourite music video?
• What do you like about music videos?
• What makes a great music video?
• Where do you watch music videos?

The final video of the Vox pop is shown below

Rough Outline of Initial ideas

Vox Pops

A Vox Pop is a video where various people are interviewed, all being asked the same questions about a certain topic. They are normally conducted in a public place, and the interviewer talks to passers by and gathers information about the topic from them. They are commonly shown on news channels, and documentaries as well as quiz shows to show people opinions on a subject.

Below is an example of a Vox Pop

Audience Research - Survey Monkey

This is the survey I created on survey monkey. I will use this to collect audience research to help me with deciding who this product should be aimed at and also what to include in it.

How to broaden your audience and increase sales

It is extremely challenging to appeal to audiences that are not already interested in your music and to increase sales. Nevertheless it can be done using certain methods, we could do it by increasing the amount of advertising we do, or amending the advertisements to appeal to a larger audience. 

A website that is crucial in the successful promotion of music videos is YouTube. This website has gone from strength to strength over recent years and is now considered to be the most popular way of watching music videos. This could attract a large range of people, from young to old. YouTube is also known for advertising a lot before or alongside videos. We could manipulate this and advertise the video before other videos that other audiences may watch causing them to gain an interest and check to see what it is they are being enticed to watch.

Also we could advertise the song in places where everyone will be able to see them, for example large billboards along roads for the drivers to see and leaflets and posters for pedestrians to see. This would increase awareness of the product and hopefully increase the interest in it leading to more sales. Another method of gaining a wider audience and increasing revenue is by tailoring the video to match different types of people that wouldn't normally be interested in this type of music or video, this would make it available to everyone and not just limited to one audience.

Magazine Advert Analysis

Famous Album Art Analysis

An album cover can be used to portray what an album is about. It can be labeled as another form as promotion as consumers may walk past and be atracted to an album cover which may encourage them to buy it. I will be analysing an album cover by an artist named Wiley. The album is called Playtime Is Over.

This album cover is an example of one that is used to portray the meaning of it and it links in with the title of it. It depicts the artist, Wiley, in a playground that looks deserted and contains blacked out bikes and rides, re-inforcing the title of 'Playtime Is Over'. I feel that this is a simple concept but at the same time is very effective in promoting the message of the album.

Digipak and Magazine Advert Research

Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging. They consist of a book-style paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. They are usually used for premium package sets, or double disc sets.

We will be creating a digipak and using it as a form of promotion for the song.

What should be on a digipak

• Name of the artist and album.
• List of tracks on the CD, either written on the inside or on the back cover.
• Images of the band/artist that the digipak is promoting.
• Spine - with the name of artist/ album
• Additional information about each song, e.g. lyrics, producers, writers etc.
• Disk design. 
• Panels (the amount may vary)
• Record company logo/ Information.
• An image of the artist is not essential but it is advised, possibly on the inside of the digipak. 
• Bar code.

We will need to include these features on our digipak to ensure that it is of the best quality.

Below is an example of a common template used to create digipak's.

What should be on a magazine advert

• The name of the artist and song (or album).
• An image of the artist.
• The release date of the song (or album).
• Where it can be purchased from.
• The information of the record label.
• Quotes and reviews of the song (or album) by critics.

Detailed Research - Labrinth

I researched further into the artist Labrinth and found that he is a very high profile artist. He is signed to a major label and has many forms of promotion.

This is Labrinth's personal website where fans can keep up with his most recent activity including new releases, upcoming shows, news and anything else concerning Labrinth. He also has a store on his website where people can purchase his albums and singles along with any other merchandise available. There is also a feature which allows you to change the website country, which means the website is available in many various countries in the world, as Labrinth is known worldwide.

On the website there are also links to his social networks, Facebook and Twitter, as well as his YouTube and tumblr, this means he is a very accessible person. He also has an Instagram account. On his twitter account Labrinth has a total of over 749 000 followers, which is a large amount for someone to have, and on Facebook he has over 704 000 likes. On Labrinth's YouTube(VEVO) he has amassed almost 66 million views, with the single 'Express Yourself'', which we will use for our video, gaining almost 4 million views, which means it is already very popular with the public.

Initial research into artist/target audience

Labrinth started his rise to the top with the song 'Pass Out' with fellow artist tinie tempah, the song was produced by Labrinth and he featured on the chorus. It was quite a fast tempo song that is designed to get people up and moving, this shows that he wanted to target a young audience, most likely between the ages of 13 and 19. This audience is crucial in the music scene today as they are the ones who purchase the most music. Labrinth appeals to this market and this is shown with his success in the charts, therefore we will target the teen audience as they are most suited to the song and artist.

Song Lyrics

Labrinth - Express Yourself

[Verse 1]

I say the same thing twice, i'm awkward when I speak,

Ain't got the perfect smile, don't turn heads on my street,

Tryna be a superstar like everybody else,

But being myself is something I do well.

[Chorus]
Whatever you do,
Do it good
Whatever you do do do lord lord lord
Do it good (yeah)
Express yourself
Express yourself
(oh do it)
See it's not what you look like when you doin' what you doin',
Express yourself.
(oh do it)

[Verse 2]
(here we go now)
I don't make the papers, I'm far from JLS (JLS)
Ain't got the X-factor, I'm not what they expect (listen)
But it won't be long before my turn is next, to express
Now with all due respect.

[Chorus]
See whatever I do,
I do it good
So whatever you do do do lord lord lord
Do it good (yeah)
Express yourself
Express yourself
(oh do it)
See it's not what you look like when you doin' what you doin',
Express yourself.
(oh do it)

[Verse 3]
(switch it up for me)
Lose my shirt and tie
There ain't nothing too high,
Show them what you've got (wooooooaaah)
There's nothing wrong with perfect, perfect
Now it's your time to shine
Express yourself

The Song

This is the song we are going to use for our music video. 

Labrinth - Express Yourself.

Chosen Artist Profile - Labrinth

The artist we have chosen for this project is Labrinth. We are going to use his song named 'Express Yourself'. We have received the permission to use this song and so we can go ahead with the project without any problems regarding consent. 

Labrinth, also known as Tim McKenzie is a well known UK singer, songwriter and producer who has recently seen much success all over the world. He has gained various chart positions with his releases under the labels  RCA, which is a division of Sony Music Entertainment, and SYCO, which is a global joint venture between Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment that specialize in the production and marketing of music, television, film and digital content.

The song we have chosen was released at the fourth single from Labrinth's debut album 'Electronic Earth' and it peaked at No. 12 in the UK charts. The original video was very creative as it depicts a re-creation of  opening scenes from some of the most well loved shows on TV.

Asking for / Receiving Permission for the song

The screen grab below is of the reply email we received from Sony giving us the permission to use the song 'Express Yourself' by Labrinth for our music video. They have acknowledged that it is for a school project and so are happy for us to continue with the project. They also expressed an interest in seeing the final outcome of our project.