Welcome to my blog!

Hi! I'm Ambre, I chose Fishbowl Music as my A2 media course company name. This blog is a collection of the work and research I've done with my group to create our music video for Olivia Rodrigo's Brutal as well as a digipak and social media account. We looked at the music industry to understand indie and commercial distribution, genre signifiers, and the basics of brand and promo. Then we zeroed in on the "Dark-Pop" genre (a Pop subgenre) and it's conventions. Performance, narrative, concept, representations, and types of audiences... 

MUSIC VIDEOS:

This playlist contains the music videos I have looked out throughout this process, they have either directly or indirectly influenced the creative process as well as the research.

SOME FOOTAGE OF DIRECTING:

More in my SHOOTS post

Reflective Essay

WORD COUNT: 1473

Through surveys and research, my group concluded the branding packages would appeal to a 15-24 female primary audience and a 25-34+ secondary mixed audience. To appeal to our primary audience my branding contains a lot of normative representations of femininity. While researching Olivia Rodrigo, her brand had visual leitmotifs (Goodwin’s 6 conventions) such as the colour purple, a butterfly as a recurring symbol and monospaced fonts. When applying this to my own work, I did so through props (butterfly earrings, necklace, butterfly in mise-en-scene), however, I replaced the purple colour with pink and the font with a graffiti font to be in harmony with the visuals of the music video. This pink and graffiti font can be seen on the front panel of the digipak as well as on the social media for the multi-post grid tour promotion poster for example.

A major reason for the primary audience being female is the representations of characters in our music video. Through shot compositions such as rule of thirds, the protagonist is anchored and we follow her hero’s journey (Campbell), however, this is challenged. The events of the video create narrative enigma, blurring the Proppian roles given to OR, the brown-haired version of her from the first minute of the clip presents as a hero and a princess while her pink-haired version presents as the villain or false hero. The preferred reading (Stuart Hall reception theory) is that these two girls are the same person, but it is polysemic as they appear in the same scene, one could accept the oppositional reading that they are separate identities. This polysemy helps to motivate rewatching when there is no new equilibrium (Todorov), which is important as YouTube is currently the largest disruptor streaming platform. The two characters are binary opposites (Levi Strauss) through their appearance and manner. Queer theorist, Judith Butler would argue the brown-haired girl performs normative gender representation as she cries, wears pink and wears tight clothing, she fits the gender stereotype. The members of the girl band challenge this image of femininity, especially our drummer, who wears a grey suit set and sneakers which queers this idea of gender binary and is a counter-type. This shows that despite having a range of representations of femininity they all portray females which means the primary audience will personally identify (Uses + Gratifications) with them more than a male audience. We recognize that our texts are also missing BAME and disabled representation amongst others and our texts would have benefited from more diversity. 

As for age, our audience surveys concluded the age demographic ranges from 15-24, we created appeal using specific posters in the mise-en-scene (Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Kim Petras). For further appeal to this demographic, I sought engagement through a quirky and relatable social media presence. In the Gen Z zeitgeist, its common to see captions written in all lower caps or all caps, hashtags being used, emojis as well as abbreviations and extended words (“sooooo excited”). In the following example the fan account I created says “I love you so much livvy” in abbreviated Teenspeak, OR then replies “I love you more” in its abbreviated version, this fulfils the need for social interactions (uses and gratifications). 

This almost hyper-feminine brand limits our primary audience to females, however, to challenge this we included many post-modern, intertextual (Kristeva) references to reach a 4-quadrant audience. This is important as our chosen artist is signed with Geffen Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group (a Big 3 vertically integrated conglomerate) which wants to stay mainstream and target a 4-quadrant audience. One of the ways I secure the secondary audience (25-34+ male and female) is by inserting easter eggs (Altman’s intellectual puzzles) such as a reference to Elvis Costello when the lyric “Enjoy your youth” plays, this is because Brutal is a sample of Costello’s Pump It Up. If the preferred reading is picked up on, it will boost their cultural capital (Bourdieu) within the subculture. Another use of subculture codes is the punk signifiers in pink-haired OR’s costume such as Doc Martin boots and a spiked collar, this could be nostalgic for the secondary audience as the punk subculture movement was most popular in the 70s. This is further emphasised with the post-modern use of an analogue TV and the simulacrum of content playing from it is a recurring visual throughout my 3 products, (the tour dates on my Instagram, the back panel of my digipak and the kitchen scene of the music video). After analysing Olivia Rodrigo’s own socials, I noticed her appearing in media with older demographics (Rolling Stone, Vogue) I used a Rolling Stone magazine as promotion for the album on my Instagram, this is an additional signifier that OR can appeal to an older audience. 

The feminist theorist Laura Mulvey’s argument would mention that the OR character’s short skirt, low cut top, makeup, and certain scenes (the splash scene and the licking the U cupcake) appeal to the male gaze, which would also appeal to a heterosexual male audience as it is prioritising their consumption. However, an effort was made to avoid prioritising the male perspective here, there are almost no male figures for males to personally identify with (Uses and gratifications theory), in most the social media posts OR is showing very little skin (often wearing a mesh t-shirt or a long sleeve), avoids direct gaze or parted lips in the digipak and therefore rarely appeals to the male gaze. On the other hand, the post-feminist argument would state that the female character has agency and choices like the low-cut top and makeup are her own and she may feel empowered by this portrayal, (we observed the Sinead O’Connor and Miley Cyrus dispute).

When researching conventions of music video, we looked at Frith’s theory of concept (Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again), narrative (Rude - Magic!) and performance (Guns N’ Roses - Sweet). This sparked the idea for the narrative of the music video, despite Vernallis arguing that music video is too elliptical of a format for a whole narrative, our music video has undeniable narrative features. This is conventional for the genre we identified OR as: dark pop. Research on pop music videos showed a lot of narrative (Katy Perry – Hot n’ Cold) even sometimes taking codes from other industries such as film which shows the increasing convergence of industries. However, we challenged a major convention of music video: instruments in two major ways. The first was by including a performance element to a dark pop song, which is unconventional as the rise of digitisation causes a decrease in the need for instruments (especially in pop) and therefore our inclusion of it is challenging the convention. Another way we challenged music video conventions was through a deconstructionist and playful approach, we used Guitar Hero instruments as a simulacrum of real instruments. 

To monetise with less conglomerate interference, alternative videos have become a meaningful convention in the music industry (U2 created 3 videos for the song One), I researched lyric videos from the dark pop genre (Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter) and created my own. I adopted the paper texture that I often saw in lyric videos while keeping the same visual leitmotifs (pink, sans serif font) to maintain branding. Lyric videos are also often made as user generated content, which shows the impact of digitisation and web 2.0 (O’Reilly, Gillmor). 

A repeated theme throughout my digipak, social media and music video is the relationship to eating, this is a social issue that affects many of the primary audience which makes it a relevant issue to tackle. It’s also conventional to see these themes being raised within the dark pop genre, for example, I looked at Melanie Martinez’s Strawberry Shortcake which deals with eating issues. Andrew Goodwin’s 6 conventions also include the notion of looking which is applied throughout my texts as OR watches herself in the mirror and appears in a TV, this symbolises and amplifies (Goodwin) the lyric “I hate the way I’m perceived” which links to body image issues. My Instagram bio says, “food is way cheaper than therapy”, the front panel of the digipak has a cake and OR looking down, unsatisfied which could connote eating issues however it’s polysemic, additionally, in the music video the cake is licked, crushed but never eaten which would have similar connotations. The choice of the album title being Brutal also comes into play as it summarises the tweenager struggle, with this OR serves as a Hero (Propp) to the teenage girls experiencing similar (as seen in lyrics “I wish I could disappear”) ideas. This is evidenced in a post captioned “have ur 3 meals a day” as if OR is taking on the influential role, I also used the hashtag “foodstagram” inspired by RAYE who has entire post highlights about food. 

Music Video Final Cut and alt vids

IN THIS POST: 

• Final cut 
• Alt vid 1: Lyric video 
• Alt vid 2: Lyric video (fan-made)

See research post HERE

FINAL CUT:

This is our final music video. We chose the track "Brutal" by Olivia Rodrigo, we focused very hard on sample scenes as working in a three person team meant a lot of creative ideas clashed and many compromises needed to be made. This final version is possible thanks to careful planning but also adaptation, resilience and team work.

See my previous sample scenes and rough cuts in this POST

Alt Vids:

Lyric video:

This a lyric video I made with FCPX, I downloaded a free plug-in for the typing effect, as well as a GIF app to reduce the FPS to 5. This created the choppy effect, I then layered a 50% opacity video of crumpled paper as a simulacrum of notebook paper (as seen in multiple OR lyric videos). The natural lighting of the footage was already pink and dreamy enough so I did not touch the colouring. 

Lyric video 2 Fan-made:

see Sasha's blog

Digipak: drafts and final text

 IN THIS POST: 

• Final Digipak
• Front panel, spine, sticker, inner pannels
• Drafts
• Drafts reflections
• Summary of evolution

Here is a link to the research I did on Digipaks as well as some influences.

SUMMARY:

Here is a recap of the information you will find in the conventions/influence post as well as here, below.

FINAL:

FRONT PANEL:

For this front panel, I made OR as large as possible (medium close-up) to have her in "rule of thirds" and to anchor her as our central artist. The album title is diegetic, as inspired by the real album "GUTS" promo on twitter (X) and her youtube channel, this is also something we observed in the "dark-pop" genre (see Melanie Martinez's CRYBABY). The artist name is in a graffiti font, less bubbly than the previous one, this font is playful while avoiding the absurd. After research of different Digipaks I decided to place it above her. 

The image and pose is a simulacrum of an existing alternate cover of Olivia Rodrigo. Her lowered head, resting in her hand connotes the sad themes within the dark pop genre, it also contrasts the bright pink environment and props. OR's makeup is a signifier for the grunge subgenre, this shows that her audience would need a certain level of cultural capital (Bourdieu) to pick up on the detail. This however contrasted with her bubblegum pink lipgloss which is more playful and on theme with the pop genre and her 15-24 female audience. The heavy makeup does connote gender performitivity (Butler) but not necessarily Mulvey's male gaze as we can assume agency (post-feminist theory) is present. Her body is hidden and there is a lack of direct gaze so the male gaze theory could be rejected. This challenges the usual convention of women on digipaks being objectified and sexualised for a male viewer. 

SPINE:

The spine takes after one of the recurring brand colours (a deep mauvy pink) and, for the title, a recurring brand font: the graffiti font. I added the name of the artist in all caps (for emphasis) in the 3rd font I used, a simple sans serif that is unique but basic and easily legible. Finally in the same sans serif font, I wrote a serial number for verisimilitude.

STICKER:

The sticker visually matches the rest of the pack which is not always the convention but it made sense for an artist with such a strong brand image with such a young target audience. It mentions the hit track - "Deja Vu" is on the album, I found this important as this song is crucial to understanding the success of her career. In the US, the song debuted at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and made OR the first artist to debut their first two singles in the chart's top 10. To make physical media more attractive to the consumer, digipaks conventionally promote exclusive content, this is because the industry of physical media is dying due to the disruption caused by digitisation (streaming platforms Spotify, Youtube Music, Apple Music). This is why I added 3 bonus LIVE tracks exclusively available in this digipak.

BACK PANEL:

This back panel has many aspects to enhance verisimilitude, for example, Geffen records is the record label that signed Olivia Rodrigo in 2021 hence why its logo is there. Another is universal and finally the compact disc logo. I added the artist name on the back as I observed this in other digipak examples. I used this shot of the TV as it fits well with the front panel colouring and the TV frames the track-list, making it clear, visible and quirky. I highlighted DEJA VU in a darker colour as it's promoted on the sticker as it was a major hit upon release. 

Track List:

1. Brutal

2. 1 step forward, 3 steps back

3. Enough for you 

4. Favourite crime

5. Traitor

6. Deja vu

7. Happier

8. Hope ur ok

(Live exclusives:)

9. Driver's license

10. Good 4 U

11. Jealousy, jealousy

INNER PANELS:

For this inner panel I used images of OR on the TV, I synced this image with a similar one for the left panel and applied the same filter to it. This way the inner panels seem linked. For the CD itself, I brought back the image of cake while adding a new diegetic title. I added the artist name for verisimilitude once more and applied a filter to make it fit with it's background panels. 

SUMMARY OF EVOLUTION:

- Pink branding not made clear enough with images selected

- Font wasn't coherent with dark pop genre

- No space for track-list

- Lack of stickers and certain logos 

- OR not centrally frames or too small on image 

DRAFTS: 

I created a digipak with 2 inner panels and 2 outer panels.

DRAFT 1:

Reflection 1st draft:

This first draft had quite a few things that stood out as not quite right. Firstly I noticed there was too much contrast between the low lighting and cold colours of the front and back panel compared the bright orange inside panels. The imagine in the right inner panel also showed too much of my natural hair, ruining the appearance of professionalism/verisimilitude, the wig seemed too fake. 

The font was also in disaccord with the front image, it looked odd. The front and back panel being mirrored made it difficult to add the track list in a visually interesting way. The small neon font did not seem in theme with the pop/dark pop genre. I also did not have enough space for a sticker to promote exclusive content on the cover. It is also missing the compact disc logo.

DRAFT 2:

Reflection on 2nd draft:

I kept the same scene in all panels to have more harmony in the full package. The major issue with this draft is the lack of central framing/rule of thirds of the artist OR, another major issue was the "bathroom" background which is very plain and not necessarily aesthetically pleasing. The same issues applied for the fonts. I begun trying out sticker ideas but this was a very early attempt. This draft is also missing the Universal record label logo as well as the compact disc logo.

DRAFT 3:

Reflection on 3rd draft:

The main issues with this third draft is the back panel still has a messy track-list, this is mainly amplified by the HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner in the background which is taking up too much space in the image. The compact disc logo is still missing. 

The spine still has the bubble letters which I realised was not in concordance with the pop genre, it was also too childish and leaning too far into our younger audience while neglecting the older audience. Another major issue was that the OR character was too small on the front panel, in addition, an outside hand could be seen in the image. There was also a lens glare coming from the candles which is undesirable.

 

Social media: drafts and final text

IN THIS POST: 

• Social media posts with inspirations and justifications
• Images of final product

You can find my instagram account HERE.

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS WITH APPLIED THEORY AND JUSTIFICATIONS:

My research and influences can be seen here.

This powerpoint contains every post I created with justifications and links to my research and understanding of the music industry. I mentioned what I changed since the last draft.

SOCIAL MEDIA FINAL AB.pdf by ambre bargache

LIST OF TEENSPEAK AND LANGUAGE:

• OMG: oh my god/gosh
• luv: love
• ilysm: I love you so much
• ilym: I love you more
• smth: something
• 4: for
• 2: to
• w/W : with
• TYSM: thank you so much
• my loves
• ml: my love
• y'all
• u/U: you
• ur: your/you're
• pics: pictures
• wanna
• ahhhhh
• soooo
• videoooo
• ur girl
• ty: thank you
• so so so much
• u guyzzz
• literally

FIRST ATTEMPT:

Social Media - Draft.pdf by ambre bargache

This first attempt was lacking enough links to promotion and industry. Some captions were also too simplistic and needed more clever hashtags, certain announcement posts also were lacking enthusiasm so I made use of even more caps, hashtags, exclamation marks and emojis. The justification also lacked some detail and links to theory.

Video sample/rough cuts

IN THIS POST: SAMPLE SCENES, TESTING TECHNIQUES ON FCPX AND ROUGH CUTS:

• Sample scenes 1-6
• Fcpx testing
• Rough cuts 1-4
• Lyric video

1. Sample Scene 1:The bullying video:

This video is meant to denote bullying and is the motivation for the narrative of the music video. In the final cut, it will be red soda to denote an intertextual reference to Carrie. It will play in the "Bedroom scene" as OLIVIA watches and cries. Other notifications like "OMG that's so embarrassing", "What a loser!" from Twitter (X) and Instagram will pop up on the screen. Some diegetic crying and laughing will be heard over the track.

2. Sample Scene 1.1: The bedroom scene:

This is the location we will use for the final shoot, posters are seen to connote the character's personality and interests, it's also an opportunity for intertextuality. The posters represent how she idolizes American coming-of-age films and content. 

Post-sample scene thoughts:

- More mise-en-scene

- Outfit change

- Lighting more precise 

- Sheets

- Needs a stronger opening shot

- Change posters to create more of an atmosphere

3. Sample scene 2: Car

See LK's blog:

This sample scene contains Sasha acting as our OLIVIA lip-syncing to a verse in Brutal. Our main focus for this sample scene is lighting, colouring and testing out ideas. We have some diegetic breaking where OLIVIA gets out of the car, opens the boot and continues the song for 'damn its brutal out here'. this was done to give emphasis on the songs title 'Brutal' and to give the idea that 'we' as the audience are in the boot of the car since that is where the camera is placed.

4. Sample scene 3: TV

See LK's blog:

In this sample scene we have Sasha again posing as OLIVIA lip-syncing on the TV and her real self leaning on the TV. Our idea for this sample scene was to test out the TV we got for the video, its point is to give the video a retro feel as it is an old TV and to have something for OLIVIA to watch the movies she wishes she was in, as the narrative for out video is that OLIVIA is upset with her life not being like the American movies she watches.

Lighting was also big for this shoot as we used a strong contrast with the TV looking green and the background has a pink hue. We used a masked green screen to get the image on the actual TV.

5. Sample scene 4: Performance

This isn't the official location, see pre-prod post for location scouting.

I used a pink wig for colour pop and contrast with the rest of the clothes and background, the back is a TV to replicate the spray-painted walls. I added colour correction for even more pink. It was difficult to get different shot types as I was alone filming with a tripod. Here we were also testing the use of Guitar Hero gear instead of real instruments, I thought of adding Guitar Hero overlays in low opacity, another sample is needed with the "other band mates" and more handheld movement shots as well as the use of the Guitar Hero drum. 

4. Sample scene 5: Kitchen/cake scene:

Important to figure out transition from previous scene, maybe a fade or match cut with cake. We will include pink mise-en-scene and alternative clothing and makeup. The upside down mugs we used in this sample will be cupcakes with BRUTAL written on them, the cork board will be a fake cake with 17 written on top. We will also include candle lighting. Transition to performance through an old TV.

5. Sample scenes 6: Bathroom scene:

Not permanent location, likely in a bathroom with blue stalls (more stereotypical and aesthetically pleasing). We will use slow mo and jump cuts to exaggerate the action and well as post production edits to make it punchy. The verse is also very short so minimal lip syncing to properly convey the narrative. In this sample, it isn't very obvious but there are two characters who will be dressed differently with extreme makeup on one and not the other. The two characters should be binary opposites of each other. 

6. All I Need - Radiohead: Testing jumpcuts, slow-mo and colour

In this video I played with slow-mo and jump cuts which we will use in the last verse/bathroom scene. I also learnt to sync cuts with the music.

ROUGH CUTS

1. Rough cut 1: Bedroom and Kitchen scenes

This first rough cut includes the bedroom and kitchen shoot. It's missing text to explain what will go where as a "performance scene" will interrupt the intro before coming in at the end with the TV. This served to test out different transitions between scenes, including a match cut with the bedroom OR to the kitchen OR and a zoom cut into the TV, transitioning to the performance scene. We did not experiment with colouring yet which may be necessary later. A fade from black in the start would also be a good addition as it would fit the music fade in. It's also missing the notification simulacrum to put the bullying and crying into context.

2. Rough cut 2: Bedroom and Kitchen scenes

Not much changed in this cut, the text was added to help participants in audience feedback and a gradual, key framed fade from black was added.

3. Rough cut 3: Bathroom scenes

This rough cut is exclusively the bathroom scene, I experimented with masking in FCPX to create this effect of two different ORs in the mirror. The lighting of this location is quite harsh and some colour correcting may be necessary to create more of a strange atmosphere but also pop imagery. I believe the slow-mos and jump cuts look good as it makes this last verse more dramatic and cartoony, in addition it serves as a disruption/repair in the narrative (Todorov). 

FEEDBACK IN NOTES FROM CLASSMATE: 

• Using the music for action to fall on beat
• Cut zooms 
• Layering boots 
• Rewind / reverse movements
• Punchier editing 
• Fix frame cuts (framing changes with jump cuts)
• Speed up to slow mo 
• More stages of jump cut
• Cut from wet to pour and back
• Jump zooms
• Comic book effect for big expressions
• Finger lick is effective 

4. Rough Cut 4

See FINAL post

ALT VIDS

See FINAL post

The journey

IN THIS POST:

• Key dates 
• Challenges & adaptation

See SHOOTS post and podcasts for more 

KEY DATES:

7th December: Bedroom scene

8th December: Cake scene

19th December: Bathroom scene

29th December: Performance scene

CHALLENGES & ADAPTATION:

1. Challenge:

Transporting all instruments (including full drum kit) into the graffiti location. We realised we would need a parent to drive us to the location with a trailer, the only one with a trailer was my family but the drum kit was at LK's. This meant a lot of planning and relying on others to manage with our schedule. 

One of the options we came up with was to go to LK's house as she was the one with the drum kit and filming in the garage. However this created more issues as it's difficult to set dress this location, we would also lose the graffiti aspect that we wanted to keep. In addition getting artificial lighting in the garage would mean buying studio LEDs and waiting for them to arrive. This is why we dropped this idea.

Solution:

I own a guitar, a drum kit and a microphone from the Xbox 360's Guitar Hero games, these simulacrum of instruments are way smaller and easily fit in the trunk of my father's car. It also adds a playful deconstructionist element to the music video. 

2. Challenge:

Come the week of the shoot we saw that heavy rain was predicted for the day of the shoot, not only this but the location was closed to the public on our alternate days. This caused us to need to think of alternatives ideas for the shoot. 

We used a green screen to test if we could green screen ourselves into the location shots we had taken when location scouting. This sparked the idea to take inspiration from the Girls and Boys - Blur music video.

Solution:

In this case we got very lucky to find another day with minimal rain and open hours for the location. It was a shorter shoot than any of the other ones as it was scheduled very late and the group had personal plans that day. 

3. Challenge:

The day of the Bathroom scene shoot, OP fell ill and was not present. We had no room to reschedule, especially because we needed permissions from a range of people to even use the school bathroom. Her absence also meant we did not have key props that we needed the day of the shoot. 

Solution:

LK and I had to run to the grocery store and find the closest thing to a red liquid as possible. We used supplies from the school for the cup and cleanup. We used Raspberry Oasis soda which was a nightmare to clean up but necessary for our schedule to work.

4. Challenge:

To record in the school bathrooms we needed to film after school so no students come in, but we still needed supervision from someone capable of first aid as by being in the school we are their responsibility. It was very challenging to get permission from everyone who may be involved, to find a willing female supervisor and a date that would be convenient for all. 

Solution: 

After days of planning and asking we managed to get permission to record in the primary bathroom under the supervision of the nurse. 

5. Challenge: 

For the birthday scene, we needed a cake that would look identical in all shots no matter whats done to it, for continuity reasons. However, we also wanted some messy shots as well as OR stabbing the cake on beat with "I'm so sick of 17".

Solution:

We created the cake out of paste and spackle so it doesn't move, we let go of the idea of stabbing the cake and we baked cupcakes with the title "BRUTAL" written on top with icing.

CHALLENGES - SMALL:

• forgot to bring a stool for drummer, had to use a cement block we found at location
• did not know we needed a tool to open spray paint cans so had to struggle with keys (big loss of scheduled time)
• ran out of icing

IDEAS WE HAD ON THE SPOT - UNPLANNED

• the mirror lip syncing 
• walking in front of graffiti walls
• smushing cake on face 
• matched cut from bedroom to kitchen 
• TV lip sync and editing of the last lines (pace change)