02 STATEMENT OF INTENT

Production: My brief is to create a three minute music video for a love song for an artist signed to universal music. Universal represent artist of all ages, so I began with some audience research to see what would appeal to my 16-25 year old audience. I poled a range of people in this age range about the musical styles they preferred, and they were also very diverse. I took a range of suggested bands and songs and chose a song by the band ‘Dreamgirl’ and decided to keep this name for my artist. One of the most important elements in creating a relationship between artist and audience is promoting value transfer, so I poled my audience about socio-political issues that they felt were most important to people of their age. There were a range of answers, but my target audience all identified sexual identity and gender identity as issues that were very important to 16 – 25 year old. This has lead to me planning to create a music video in which I will deliberately toy with ideas about gender identity, by casting two female leads, but using masks to delineate their gender identity. This will not only create questions of ambiguity, but will also help to develop the identity of the band who I intend to present as artists. My video will differ from the standard universal music videos at times due to the fact my band is supposedly a teenage alternative band, it is not likely that they would have the financial ability to create an upscale video, having a more homemade style video may appeal to younger audiences and be more inspiring. Website: I am going to make a website for my band fitting the standard of universal music, my research has demonstrated that the majority of universal music's websites are brief and generally include a main page with a picture of the artists and their latest or most popular release and then a secondary page with links to merchandise or touring. I don't believe merchandise or touring will fit my website, as my band is supposedly relatively new, therefore my websites second page will feature an art print store, using original art produced by the artist, as well as an opportunity to sign up to a mailing list. My website should be easier to navigate as it is for younger people, on the front page I will feature my music video and short trailer for the video, this should engage viewers as well as explaining brief context to the plot of the video. My understanding of websites for artists is to engage viewers enough to encourage them to further listen to the artist, therefore my website will include pictures of the band which may be relatable to my target audience. How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production? Music videos and artist’s websites both serve the same function, they establish the identity of the artist with their target audience and promote connection and value transfer. My website will be deliberately sparse, to mirror the simpler/homemade style of my intended music video, so their will be a cohesive sense of the artist across both elements. The website will also be a way for the independent artist to earn revenue via the sales of artwork and merchandise on the second page, and some of this artwork will feature in the music video. This will further connect the style of the artist and also help to suggest their identity as aligned to forms other than music.