The Tale of Social Media

Just a little side note: I've been researching social media SO MUCH lately, with this and the topic for my Global Perspectives research paper being social media and digital news, that I swear it's engraved in my mind. I have read more articles on social media than I've ever thought possible (I'm sure I could read way more but...it still seems like a lot). I am in abstinence from Twitter and Snapchat because I just can't bring myself to use them for now. Time out. But it's been enlightening in a way, scary in others, and reassuring in other others. It's not a bad thing, just a motif in my life right now.

Sorry for the rant. Let's talk about the hot topic.

I decided to do this post because, as I've said before, I'm going deep into this project. I am being an overachiever. It's okay. Draining, but okay. Therefore, I am engaging with the processes of social media and how it creates image, serves as a marketing tool, interacts with the fans, keeps a band/artist alive, etc. Fascinating stuff. Of course, to fully immerse in it and grasp the concepts I had to do a LOT of research, so I went ahead and chose a few bands to use as my case studies.

The basics of each social media for bands are:

• YouTube: used to post music videos, "behind the scene" material, interviews, live performances, and recently "track-by-track" (will discuss it further)
• Twitter: news! The news that people will see when they are scrolling down their feeds, such as concert dates, new videos, album release, etc. Makes up for people not checking the website every single day,
• Instagram: lots of cool pictures from shows, on the road, during recording sessions -you name it! Even some videos, but short ones -previews or sneak peaks. 
• Facebook: acts like a website. There's pictures, videos, tour dates, news, everything. When people like a page they will get posts from that page on their feed and they can also choose to receive notifications. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Been talking about them a lot, I know. I swear I was never a huge fan of RHCP, even though I liked their songs, but what can I do? They are really useful for me right now. I think the biggest thing with RHCP is that they are a immensely famous band which has been "alive" for a long time now. I wrote an essay last year on music marketing using them as one of my case studies, and I discussed how they are able to keep the fan base from the origin of the band in the 80s and attract newer generations.

• YouTube: 2.42M subscriptions. They did this cool thing on the platform that seems rather popular nowadays, which is the "track-by-track". They are a series of videos interviews with a band member, each exploring how a song of the album was created (they look like the picture to the right). They even had some "extra" ones, with topics ranging from the video I posted above to preshow rituals. 
• Twitter: 2.17M followers. They had the whole #TheGetaway trend going on previous to the album release up to now, since they're going on tour. 
• Instagram: 1.5M followers. Post some really random stuff that's also really cool.
• Facebook: 26.35M likes
• Tumblr: their Tumblr basically serves as a website, only there's no pages separating the content. It's a useful tool to connect with a younger, more alternative audience.
• Mobile Roadie: whaaaaat? I know. This is an app that people can download straight on their mobile devices and have all of the RHCP they want. A lot of companies and some other artists like Taylor Swift use Mobile Roadie. It serves as an app for the dedicated fans to keep updated on... whatever it is. 

Cage the Elephant
They are an alternative rock band from the U.S., who, for some reason, is now located in England. This really sucks for me, a big fan, who can never get a concert date because THEY ARE SO LIMITED IN THE U.S. Couldn't even get their last album when it was first released. Pure rage. But no hard feelings...

• YouTube: 200k subscriptions (but they get 2M-5M views on music videos). They did something similar to RHCP, but instead of calling it "track-by-track" they called it "webisodes". The major difference is that the videos were more "artsy" -and I'm very sorry for using this word-, including recording sessions footage, not simply one interview with one band member. The webisodes started about a month before the release of the album and went on to a day before. Good way to build up to the release and make fans more interested. What I don't like about it is how it focuses so much on the vocalist -no other members ever talk. But they're short videos, something that I could do as well that wouldn't be so time consuming. 
• Twitter: 1.27M followers. 
• Instagram: 258k followers.
• Facebook: 1.6M likes.

One Direction
On our first group meeting it was suggested to me to research a bit on One Direction and their marketing through YouTube. So I went on and did that, which is why I'd only be discussing YouTube for them and no other social media.

• Video diaries: in the beginning, One Direction used to record a lot of video diaries with group members by themselves, group members together. Some were just vlogs, where the member would talk about (check the one to the right for a topic). They had a whole 23-minutes video of an "ask:reply", which was first done live through VEVO and later posted on their YouTube page. Those also included interviews with the boys and behind the scenes during their tour.
• Bring Me To 1D: fans received golden tickets to go watch One Direction live in an acoustic session. The whole event was recorded and posted on YouTube on various episodes.

The idea of the video diaries is a pretty cool one, and it resembles the techniques used by RHCP and Cage the Elephant I mentioned. The biggest difference is that it doesn't only focus on the music but it also gives a background to the members of the group, a way for the fans to connect to them more. They also seem very honest and personal since they're like vlogs.

That's all I wanted to address in this post. This process of enlightenment on social media has been a long, tiresome one, but I know it's for the best. It's very important that I understand the different uses of each social media, and how I can use them for each of my specific needs. Through the case studies I was also able to get some ideas...

I have something amazing in my mind, but I won't say anything right now *soft evil laugh*. It'll be a surprise

surprise.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Getaway_(Red_Hot_Chili_Peppers_album
https://youtube.com/rhcptv
https://twitter.com/chilipeppers
https://instagram.com/chilipeppers
https://facebook.com/chilipeppers
https://chilipeppers.tumblr.com/
https://mobileroadie.com/apps/rhcp
https://www.youtube.com/user/CageTheElephantVEVO
https://twitter.com/cagetheelephant
https://www.instagram.com/cagetheelephant/
https://www.facebook.com/cagetheelephant
https://mobileroadie.com/app-gallery

Meet the Band

I've decided to post a little bit on my progress this week, so here it comes.

This is Rafael, the lead singer.

I started the project a little bit earlier than everyone else in the course because of my "doc video", which is going to take a while to film. I've already discussed it before in the blog, but here's a little recap: for the video I need to collect footage of the band in different concerts, rehearsals, and I'm still going to have interviews with each member. I've been to four events so far plus one rehearsal, and I think I got some good footage so far. Of course, the more the merrier, but I'm off on a good start, especially because after the group meeting we had this past week I've decided to keep it short. As I was talking to my peers, they mentioned that maybe the video should be some sort of introduction, a "meet the band" type of thing, and that I should keep it shorter and then expand on it with social media (I'll discuss that on a later post).

My vision is to have one song (an original song by them) as the base, playing through the whole video, and have some inserts without sound in some parts. Those inserts would include the interviews, some moments like the first and second videos, interactions with the band, small things like that. The rest would be the different venues they played in, with a variety of shots and movement to keep things cool and fun. The third and fourth videos I filmed thanks to my boyfriend after I said "I want to go earlier to the show so I can get them setting up", and when we got there he went ahead and said "why don't you film it in fast motion?", and I did. I actually liked the result a lot and I want to get more shots like that, but haven't had the opportunity since. I figured this could be some sort of opening and closing to the video, but I'll decide once I start editing. 

The last video is a my small "meet the band" for the blog, because I noticed I haven't shown anything of them so far. I thought it would be nice to show their faces, their style, their music (even though this is a cover of The Beatles). This video I actually shot in 4K, which if I told anyone they'd probably say "WOAH, so cool" and honestly me too... before I actually did it. I can't even view the video on my computer -too much. I had to upload it to YouTube so I could watch it. After that, no more filming in 4K, I'm lowering it a notch. (But I gotta say, the quality is BEAUTIFUL). 

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, some Surfing on Saturn. I continue to follow them around like a proud mom, until my weeks are over (the weeks for the project, I mean). If you ask me, it is actually really nice: I got in for free at the Lightning Oscars and at the last concert -when I filmed this last video-, the guy organizing the stage said "you walk in and out like you're part of the band". And you know what? I almost feel like that is true. 

Do you think that's how this guy felt?

Almost Famous, by the way. If you don't know that... get your life straight.

ULTIMATUM!

After this week's meeting with my teacher, she gave me a look when I said I hadn't thought about the music video yet, and I knew in her mind she was saying "why not kid, that's the major task!". When we were done with the meeting, she said "get to work on that music video". I took that more as a command than an advice, but you know what? I appreciated it, because I really do need to.

I told myself that I could postpone the process of the music video until about two weeks after the start of the project, but that's passed. A while ago. I started this in December. I'm pretty sure it's been two weeks. So I am giving myself an ultimatum and requiring some thought on the music video. The only problem? I don't have the music yet. The band wants to do their newest song, called "Heartbeat", but they don't have the lyrics, or melody, completely done yet. I'm trying not to be annoying to them because I don't really know how the creative process of creating a song works, but I also need the song. Without a song, I can't really create a music video.

So what I am doing for now is searching for inspiration. I'm watching many music videos on bands with similar styles to SOS (and even some different ones), and trying to find a light. Maybe if I find some characteristics I like then it'll be easier for me, when the time comes, to come up with a good idea for the video.

I've been doing some research, and now I wanna talk about some specific ones that caught my eyes.

SIDE NOTE: I will showcase many music videos, so don't feel obligated to watch all of them until the end. But the first one -watch the first one.

'Breezeblocks', by Alt-J.  They are an alternative (very alternative) rock band, and I personally like their music a lot. When I asked the boys in SOS about their inspirations, this was one of the first names they mentioned. This music video is directed by Ellis Bahl, and it is extremely well produced. I love the idea of it (you'll get it when you watch it to the end) and was especially impressed by the editing -AMAZING. I think that if I take any inspiration from this video is the editing, with the going back and forth between shots of the current action and the water dropping, and the pace matches the pace of the music -with the fast action peaks coinciding with the song. Also, the camera movement is AWESOME, perfect to not make it seem repetitive.

'Red Hand' by Walk Off the Earth was also directed by Ellis Bahl. (To be completely honest, after watching Breezeblocks, I looked Bahl up and watched all of his music videos. Ops.) What I most enjoyed about this music video, like Breezeblocks, was the editing. BEAUTIFUL, beautiful. This video showed me that I don't need to be ultra creative with the content of the video, but I can make it super interesting just by having 'creative editing'. 'Creative editing' is a term I just created to describe the type of editing in "Red Hand", which is composed of fast cuts, reversing and repeating shots, and using fast and slow motion. There is only one setting with a limited amount of props and they don't change clothes at any point, yet the video keeps the audience engaged through the editing.

Red Hot Chili Peppers is a band that the SOS guys (I like how this sounds, SOS guys. I know they'll hate it though, sounds like a boy band) said that has a style similar to theirs. I've seen many RHCP music videos before, but I felt 'Dark Necessities' met my necessities (get it?). I like three things about this video:
1. There is no clear story line to the narrative part, it's just girls riding their skateboards -which is still pretty cool. Still, the video is interesting and there is a narrative part to it, so it doesn't get boring with only promo.
2. This is a half promo video, and like many other RHCP videos, it showcases all of the band members. There are shots of the Chad (drums) alone, Flea (bass) alone, so on so forth. Anthony (vocals) does have more "alone" shots than the rest, making him sort of the front man, which brings me to
3. Anthony (I know, I'm on first name basis with all of them) does not star the music video as a character in the narrative; instead, there are actors for this, which makes all the members (almost) equal in the eyes of the public. We still see the lead vocalist more, but it's not an unnecessary more.
I'm not sure number 1 is a route I want to chase, but if I do decide on a narrative/promo, it's a better looking option. Numbers 2 and 3, although, are very much characteristics I want to have in my music video.


I have two videos by Cage the Elephant now, which I like very much. Their style is very much alternative, and their music videos often take... weird routes. The first one, 'Come a Little Closer', I like very much because of how they mix animation with live action. It's very psychedelic and trippy (I'm not advocating the use of drugs, just to make it clear), with multiple different bright colors being used together, fast moving images, and no real reason behind the choice of characters being showcased (a burning lion, the shadow of a woman, undefined creatures?). Of course, realistically speaking, I won't make an animated music video because that's simply TOO MUCH WORK and I'm not that good of an artist, but I like the disjointed shots and the colors utilized in this video. The second video is 'Ain't No Rest for The Wicked', which is probably a more feasible route for me to take. What I like so much about this video is the style. The whole thing is supposed to be a film, which can be seen through the film burns that appear sometimes or how it skips shots sometimes like projectors do. Not only that, but the background is being projected at all times, showing different settings -that's a cheap, easy, and creative way to create different settings when in reality you're only using one. Both videos are also strictly promotional and still very creative and engaging. The only characteristic I don't like is how the singer is obviously the front man,and even though the audience still sees the other members of the band, they are left on the background at all times.


I guess that's enough music videos. I can for sure say that I have a vision now of what general characteristics I want to follow, and which ones I don't, and I even got some cool ideas for my video, to make it different and interesting.

As I've said before, don't feel obligated to watch all the videos to the end, but if you do, I hope you, dear person who's reading this, enjoy them.


http://ellisbahl.com/musicvideo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVeMiVU77wo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bt-FHaFVH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0oIoR9mLwc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKtsdZs9LJo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVYup3Qwh8Q

Target? Audience.

Let's talk about Gen Z.

I have mentioned on my two previous posts the target audience, but I thought I needed to expand a little more on the subject, so here am I.

Let me first explain the decision on the target audience a little better. When we first discussed the choice of projects, it was advised for anyone who chose the Music Promotion package to use a local band/artist, for that would give us the opportunity to work closely with the band/artist and create a brand from the ground up. Amazing. I went ahead and chose to work with a local band, which I've said before to be a group formed by a friend of mine. The logical target audience for a local band would be the local, surrounding, prominent audience, and since we are all high school students, that's our high school. I've chosen a place filled with more than 4,600 students between the ages of 14 and 18, all of whom belong to Generation Z,  I figured that if I can get a realistic and generous number of people from this sample to be aware of Surfing on Saturn, it'll be a great start.

Now, deciding the target audience may not be an easy job, but it's definitely easier than what comes next. This definition of audience is the starting point, it's what allows me to make conscious decisions, with reasoning behind them, that will work with the audience. The methods of distribution, the specific type of music video, even what song can make a single, all vary depending on the target audience. So now I'd like to introduce you to some of the characteristics that will affect my decisions from now on.

General characteristics:

• Yes, they were born between the mid-1990s and 2010
• Digital natives: generation Z has grown up with technology and has seen many technological advances in short periods of time.
• 81% of them are on social media: gen Z likes their social media. A LOT. Specially on mobile devices (a.k.a. smartphones). Margarita Hakobyan said on her article "If your website never shares its content to social media, it's a safe assumption that Gen Z will never see your content, no matter how sharp, well written, on point, or SEO targeted it may be."
• 93% of them visit YouTube at least once a week: YouTube is the primary media for music, so... that's good, right? Right.
• Gen Z-ers crave for a sense of fulfillment, purpose, which is way they like "personal, immediate social platforms like Snapchat" (I'm not gonna talk much about this for my last post was entirely dedicated to Snapchat). Gen Z is looking to connect on deeper levels with the media they consume to feel like a part of it, to feel some sort of accomplishment by consuming it. 
• Hakobyan on her article also said that to "show off behind-the scenes pictures, candid images from your company, and real pictures of real people doing real work" is another great way to interact with Gen Z.

Basically, Generation Z likes easy availability, uses social media ubiquitously, and wants to feel personal connection to the media they consume. Based on those characteristics, I have to craft a personable band not only through the image of the members, but through how I present their material on every medium they use. It has to be accessible for the audience and not feel like it's being marketed. 

In all honesty, this is a target audience I feel very comfortable with. We've had a whole lesson on Generation Z, an activity on marketing for a sub-group, and I chose it as my target audience for a major marketing project we've worked in class. Not only that, but I am a part of Generation Z, plus all my friends, all my brother's friends, and all my sister's friends. I spend my days around people from this generation, watching how they behave, what they like, how they consume media. In a way, it is personable for me to work with this audience.

Since I don't know how to end this post, here's a picture that pretty much defines Generation Z.

http://mashable.com/2014/11/20/gen-z-marketing/#JpzjT9F7sGq1
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-fuels-a-change-in-generations-with-the-rise-of-gen-z/
https://www.business.com/articles/5-things-we-know-about-marketing-to-generation-z/

Ground News Pt. 2

So here is the second post, a tiny delayed.

Second topic: Snapchat

I'd like to start by describing Snapchat as a continuous self-documentary made from a smartphone. Now, before moving on to anything else, I want to say why I am focusing on Snapchat for this post. When I first started working with the band, they already had a Twitter and Instagram account (we don't talk about Facebook. Facebook is dead. Let's never mention Facebook), which they don't use that much, but they still had it. Because I want to make the band available on any social media, so that ANYONE can find them on their preferred platform, here's Snapchat!

Now watch this video really quick and we'll ponder for a while after it.

Remember when I told you to hold the thought of "ephemeral"? Right. "Snapchat is about now.(...) It's about sharing stories from your life with people who are interested" -video above. Sooooo... I guess Snapchat is giving a better connotation to the word "ephemeral". Yes, it is something that doesn't last that long, but it's also something more real. It's not a calculated picture posted on Instagram or a highly thought out post on Twitter -it's just a spontaneous snap. It's personal like no other social media before, and it offers truth like no other social media before.

Of course, my idea wasn't that deep when I decided to create the Snapchat for the band. It was more like: okay, what are we missing? But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. My main goal right now is to expand the band within my community and that starts in my high school of 4600 students, who belong to Generation Z.

I talked in the first post about how Generation Z-ers likes to feel connected, have a one-to-one relationship established. They also "care less about material items than they do experiences they can share on social media platforms" (Arthur, 2016). They like people who look like them, who they can relate too, hence Snapchaters, Youtubers, and Viners (even though Vine is dead now). Their attention span is estimated at 8 seconds, which is PERFECT for Snapchat.

My goal with the doc video is to create the profile of the band members, to establish a relationship between band and fan. Snapchat is about that as well. I can have behind the scene pictures and videos, "on the road" type of material, or simply them being silly during rehearsal. The amazing feature of an app such as Snapchat is that it incites people to follow you on a daily basis so they can create the bond and always be posted on what's happening, and that is even more powerful with celebrities, whom we admire so much. You can always scroll through an Instagram or Twitter feed, but not Snapchat. Instagram has even adopted an original feature from Snapchat, the stories, which shows just how much people love it.

First, of course, I need to get them followers on Snapchat. Today the band is performing at the school's Lightning Oscars (I'm too lazy to explain it), so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity. The idea is: creating a graphic with their snapchat username and showing it during the performance; to get people hyped the bass player is going to hold the phone up and yell out "say hello to Snapchat", and because I know my peers very well, I know every one is going to scream back at him. My expectation is that by literally calling out attention to the Snapchat and filming the people present, they would feel compelled to follow SOS to see the snap of themselves right there. We'll see if it works.

I don't want to give the impression that I won't be using other social media platforms, because I will. But as I said, this was the one that needed immediate care, and I believe that Snapchat was the one that connected to my first goal -to make this band friendly to fans- the most. All platforms have different uses and are meant to post different types of content, which is why I'll go in depth into each one.

For now, that is it. Don't spend too much time on your phones.


P.S. Add them on Snapchat (@SurfingOnSaturn)



http://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelarthur/2016/03/16/generation-z/#224614af4ba4
http://www.adweek.com/digital/if-you-want-to-really-reach-gen-z-snapchat-is-the-way/
http://www.adweek.com/digital/heres-what-gen-z-and-millennials-love-and-hate-about-instagram-and-snapchat-174318/
http://www.adweek.com/digital/3-things-brands-should-know-about-gen-z-and-its-not-all-about-snapchat-173785/

Ground News

I will be covering two topics in this post, and I'm saying this right now so that no one is confused later on. The topics are very different, but they are related and need to be addressed immediately, considering I am working on both at this instant.

First topic: 'Doc' Video

When I first started on this project, I was concerned about the image of the band. How do I want to portray them? How do I want the fans to think of them? What do I want to make unique? What do I want different from mainstream/well-known bands? So I thought of other bands I know, and found one thing in common: most of them focus on the vocalist. They use the lead singer as the brand, the face of the band, the image for marketing. But when you think about it, all members of a band have a balanced input on what they produce, which is, after all, what they are selling. I know marketing is a thing, and there are certain rules that need to be followed, but it's sad to think we can just dismiss artists like that (poor Jamie Cook. Don't know who that is?... Exactly).


In Almost Famous -which is set in the 1970s-, a big critique throughout the film is the futility and moral corruption existent in the music industry, and one of the ways this is portrayed is by the band using the "better-looking" guy as the face of band. There is a specific scene where the manager is showing the band's shirts, and Russel -whose "looks have become a problem"-, is clearly highlighted on the picture and the vocalist FLIPS OFF. The movie (which is, by the way, my favorite movie ever, go watch it NOW) makes me think of the nature of bands. They are supposed to be a unit, a family, but the truth about rock and roll is that its bands rely on dynamics.


Even so, back then, up to the 1980s, the relationship between band and fan was extremely different. People would be devoted to their bands, to every single member. Groupies would gather in concerts with only love -and sex- to give to artists. When we think about it now, we couldn't imagine Pink Floyd without David Gilmour, or Led Zeppelin without John Bonham, and I'm sure the fans back then couldn't either. Many of my own friends could probably name all the Beatles before they could name the lead singer from Coldplay. There was a distinct sound to each band -not simply combining sounds in computer and creating music like it is today- and each member had its part, its IMPORTANT part. More than that, "you were not only sold the superbands, but their personalities as well" (Catalano, 2013).

Why has that changed? Nowadays, music is being overproduced because of technology and streaming services, and as a result, managers and public relation people have to just make it out there. New artists are just POPPING UP all the time, anywhere. Music is shared, tailored for you, divided into categories, words, moods. People are not putting that much thought and time into what's on their playlists, and they often change for "something new". It's, to say the least, ephemeral (save this thought for later, by the way).

"For young people of the 60s-70s, music held a similar power as the Internet holds today's young people's lives," says George Howard, and we're not trying to regain that power.

The industry has to follow the demand. Rock bands have always relied on albums, and even if they're purpose is still the same today, 21st century bands have less personality than 60s-70s bands. The main reason: there is no time to create a bond between the consumers and the members, because on the process of establishing that, a new band has taken over. The most successful ones can be classified into two categories:

1. The mainstream rock/alternative rock bands, such as Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, use the lead singer as the face and that's it. They star on music videos, are in the front in pictures, they are the names people know.

  Arctic Monkey's "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?"                  Foo Figher's "Walk"                             Coldplay's "Scientist"

2. Smaller bands, such as Cage the Elephant, use the whole band, and yet fans don't really have a connection with any of the members, but to the music. But as a mentioned, they are smaller bands.

                                "Come a Little Closer"                                                                      "Cigarette Daydreams"

The trend is real, but a reality of Millenials and Generation Z is that we like to feel connected to what we consume, and if it's music, to whom we're consuming. Maybe some people will argue that that's just the way the industry is going and it's not necessarily a bad thing, but I believe that to some degree it is. (Since this is my project, I have the right to be the change).

That brings me back to the beginning of the post (remember that one wayy up there?). The one-to-one relationship has been lost, which I believe is a big deal (in my so very humble opinion). So what I'm trying to do is find the middle ground: I set the ground rule that this is a band, a unit, a family. I will make their face four faces, and still build the connection between each member and the fans. It's not one, and it's not the music, its each member. Of course I am not trying to sell sex-drug-rock'n'roll like the 70s, which was the main appeal of those bands, but I am trying to find another way to engage the audience into feeling that music is part of their lives, touches their souls.

Back then, it was scandalous writing on Creem about Stillwater's most recent tour, making groupies envy and die to be part of the magnificent, glorious, careless world of rock gods. Now, it will be something different. What exactly?

FINALLY, THE ACTUAL REASON I HAVE BEEN WRITING FOR THE PAST THREE HOURS. I know Surfing on Saturn personally, as I have mentioned earlier, meaning I am friends with each of the members. They are great friends between themselves too, which I find amazing. Originally, my idea for the music video was to do a sort of documentary, while incorporating characteristics of a promotional video (like playing on a nice studio while the lead singer yells at the camera). That way, I would capture the dynamics of the band as well as promoting it for the public -meaning, selling their image. I want to include the fact that they are fun, unique, young, talented people, because the audience NEEDS TO KNOW. I admire their band so much not only because they're good, but because I know they are amazing people and I want them to thrive, and I know many other people feel the same. That's the beauty of local bands. I know that if they ever become big the real connection will never be the same, but if we start from here and just build on that, always maintaining the image of a family, it's sure to stick.

Buuuuut I talked to my teacher, who advised me to consider other options for the music video, and have the "documentary" in a section of their website, to which I said: cool.

So that's what this was about, uff. For the "documentary," I will be collecting footage from various concerts, the going to the place and setting up, as well as rehearsals, and even behind the stage scenes while filming the music video. It's been pretty cool. I'll release a sneak peak soon *winky face*.

I know I said this post would cover two topics, but it ended up being so LONG (trust me, not what I was going for), that I'll just do a second post. And I'll be pithy.


P.S. I'm listening to Led Zeppelin while writing this and feeling completely inspired.


http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FaceOfTheBand
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michelecatalano/2013/02/28/where-have-all-the-rock-stars-gone/#9cbeb0f5c190
http://www.craveonline.com/site/1042711-rock-stars-then-vs-now-or-why-music-totally-sucks-today
http://elitedaily.com/music/how-one-generation-was-able-to-kill-the-music-industry/593411/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_(Adele_song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25_(Adele_album)

Art of Planning

I probably have mentioned this before but just to reinstate: I am extremely perfectionist. I like everything aligned and measured to millimeters and centered and proportional. I have always been like this and always will. Why is that important? It just is. But also it makes me very organized. Are these two things really correlated? I don't....

Okay, let me start again. I am an extremely organized person. I like everything dated and programmed by the seconds and in order and predictable.  I remember last year, during the production of my Foundation Portfolio, Stoklosa told us to make a weekly planner stating the goals we wanted to meet each day so we wouldn't fall off track. I have always sorta planned out long term projects, but it was nice to be reminded that this is a good practice. So for this year, I am being even more organized.

My idea came from different organizational methods from different industries.

                                 Mood board (1)                                                                              "Spider-web" (2)

1. Mood boards are composed of many images, color schemes, words, fonts, all which connect to a certain theme. Their purpose is to collect ideas, creative information, to guide you through a new project. Many fashion magazines and fashion brands use this method to brainstorm for an upcoming edition or a new collection. It's a great way to keep your concrete ideas and clear direction throughout the duration of the project.
2. Another method I was inspired by is the stereotypical "spider webs" detectives create while working on a case -I don't know if they do it on real life, since I've never been involved in a crime case, but they are a thing in films. These spider webs (by the way, I do not know if this is the correct term, but I'm using it anyway) are used to connect many different pieces of a case, finding links where it would be hard to find before, without a board.

These two organization methods look very different, but when you think about it, they are rather similar: both bring details, pieces, small parts of something together to get to a final result. So how did I use this?

This was the first draft. I just got a piece of paper and started writing everything I needed to do -trust me, this was very spontaneous, even though it looks neat. The project itself requires three components: a music video, a website, and a digipack.  Put those three titles in a page and BAM, words will just flow out. It was a truly great way for me to get all my ideas and plug them together, like pieces of a puzzle. Before this prototype, I only had words bumping around my head - "Snapchat", "Doc video?", "Spotify"-, which didn't really mean anything. Point being: you won't understand the power of visualization until you try it (arrows are helpful too).

But did I stop there? No, sir/madam/whatever your title is, I did not. 

*aweeeee* (choir singing)

This is the actual version, in all its glory, organization, and color!! I have everything I need, and also want, to do here, and some important details to start it off. The idea is that I will add on to it as time goes, take pieces out as I finish the task, and maybe edit details whenever I change my mind (trust me, that happens annoyingly often). 

Isn't it beautiful? *crying face*

P.S. If you're wondering, Camille is this really artsy friend I have, who is always in cool places engaging in cool activities -perfect human being to give me ideas of where to do a photo shoot.

"The Purpose of Mood Boards." 522 Productions. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.