Artist biogrpahy

As a part of research, Chloe Connell gathered information on Kesha. This will help us to gain deeper knowledge of our artist:

While Ishpreet was creating the Laura Mulvey male gaze I decided to research into Kesha. Kesha who is also known as Kesha Rose Sebert was born in Los Angeles, California in 1987, she is formally a singer, songwriter and rapper. She had her major breakthrough while appearing in Flo Rida's hit single ''Right Round'', this was then her first major few steps to becoming more famous and getting publicly known worldwide. Kesha attended Brentwood High school and studied songwriting classes and often learned how to sing many of her mothers Pebe songs and on many occasions started songwriting together, this is how Kesha gathered her passion for music.

http://www.biography.com/people/kesha-562676#awesm=~oB1slULt3tXUMd

Kesha also has featured her own documentary which premiered on MTV which followed her going on her tour and her day to day life. This enabled her fans to gain an insight to her life and see her working in the studios below is the first episode of her documentary which I interpreted for additional research as it allows viewers to see Kesha for what she is like rather than what they read or see about her.

Research- Male gaze theory

I individually researched into Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze, as well as applying it to Kesha's videos and our own:

Laura Mulvey is British feminist as well as film theorist, who introduces the concept of the 'male gaze'. The male gaze refers to the way in which cameras, predominately focus on women as being shown sexual object of desire. By doing this the audience view the female, through the eyes of a heterosexual male. Women can be seen as a sexualised objects in many differing platforms of media, from magazine covers, films, music videos, and so on. This can be done through things such as provocative actions, clothing or even the way men respond or react to women.

Catering for the male gaze is a typical convention of the pop genre. Many female artists such as Katy Perry and Beyoncé, are known for their 'sexiness' and raunchy videos. After viewing various videos of Kesha's (our artist), we could see that many of her music videos also caterers for the male gaze. Below are screen shots from youtube of  Kesha's music videos, which can apply to the male gaze:

The first screen shot is taken from the music video 'We R Who We R'. Kesha is denoted as wearing a provocative American print top, which has a large rip at the chest. This caters for the male gaze, as it enables the audience to catch a glimpse of Kesha's breasts.

 

 



The second screen shot is taken from the music video 'Die young'. Here Kesha is denoted as laying on a mattress in a provocative manner, wearing little clothing. This shot caters for the male gaze, as it emphasises Kesha's legs, breasts and stomach.

 This research has been helpful in creating our music video. This is as we have learned to incorporated scenes and shots which cater for the male gaze; as this is typical of the pop genre as well as Kesha's 'sexy' image. Below is a screen shot which shows a shot we filmed of the lead (Kala Hill) for our music video. Our lead is denotes as laying on a bed, which is similar to the screen shot above. The shot pays particular focus to Kala's legs, which can be conventional of a pop video. However my group and I were full aware of the possibility, that Kala's shirt may have been too revealing when she was laying down. In order to prevent this, we requested Kala to wear black shorts underneath the shirt.

 

 

Final treatment

Name of artist: Kesha

Title of track: Crazy Kids

 

Following our draft treatment and padlet response, as a group we decided on amendments according to what people suggested. Chloe Connell and I took to re-constructing the narrative, in order to fix or improve any areas. For an example a respondent suggested that we get various shots that link to a theme of 'crazy kids'. So for the beginning we will instead show our lead having woken up in the evening (from intense partying); which will connote her hectic and fun lifestyle.
 

Outline of ideas for music video (narrative, characterisation, concept etc…) Our music video will start of with the female lead, waking up in the evening from intense partying the days before. People  shown doing a unique dance routine; which later in the sequence people are shown doing aswell. Cuts to the lead singing against a starry background, and then cuts to school lab earlier that day of everyone making drinks in a lab (replace alcoholic products). We will ensure to have a close up on this, to make it clear that they are not alcoholic. Then the scene cuts to the female lead and her friends walking to the party and then shots of people in the party, not having a very good time. Thereafter, female lead and her friends put down a large bowl of a substance which then is given to the guests and the party livens up and more funky items are placed in the party to connote that the party was boring before. Female lead and her friend are shown taking shots of the substance.

Resources that will be needed? (actors, props, settings, technical resources) ·      Actors ·      Backdrops/green screen ·      Chemistry lab- lab coats ·      Glitter/make up for actors ·      Costume ·      Big space ·      Lights ·      Mirror ·      Glow in the dark paint/ glow sticks ·      Party decorations

Draft treatment response

Chloe Connell and I set up a pad let in class; in order to receive responses to our draft treatment. After having read our draft treatment, people offered critique on what they liked and what could be improved. This will be helpful when re-drafting our treatment, as it will enable us to make changes according to what our target audience want. An example of what was particularly liked about our narrative, was the 'crazy party' theme so this will be kept in our video. A suggestion made was to ensure that the use of no alcohol is emphasised.

Created with Padlet

Draft treatment

My group and i came together to discuss the potential narrative and ideas that we could include in our pop music video. We brainstormed various things and eventually came up with ideas we all agreed upon. We based our ideas upon the responses we received from our questionnaires. By doing this we intend for our target audience to enjoy the music video; as we included factors they said they would want to see e.g a party scene. This will be helpful when filming the video, as we will have a set narrative to follow.

Name of artist: Kesha

Title of track: Crazy Kids

Outline of ideas for music video (narrative, characterisation, concept etc…) Our music video will start of with the female lead, preparing for a night out with her friends. The lead female looks into the mirror as she begins to get ready; her friends appear to glow in the dark paint to their faces. People  shown doing a unique dance routine; which later in the sequence people are shown doing aswell. Cuts to the lead singing against a starry background, and then cuts to school lab earlier that day of everyone making drinks in a lab (replace alcoholic products). Then the scene cuts to the female lead and her friends walking to the party and then shots of people in the party, not having a very good time. Thereafter, female lead and her friends put down a large bowl of a substance which then is given to the guests and the party livens up and more funky items are placed in the party to connote that the party was boring before. Female lead and her friend are shown taking shots of the substance.

Resources that will be needed? (actors, props, settings, technical resources) ·      Actors ·      Backdrops/green screen ·      Chemistry lab- lab coats ·      Glitter/make up for actors ·      Costume ·      Big space ·      Lights ·      Mirror ·      Glow in the dark paint/ glow sticks ·      Party decorations

Justification of ideas relating to artist, genre and audience questionnaire and focus group information: We are thinking of doing a party scene, as it was one of the most popular options from the questionnaire. Also this would be typical for Kesha as she is seen to be an outrageous and fun artist. Bright things such as glow in the dark paint and make up are typical of Kesha, as she is particularly associated and known for having incorporating these things in her style and her video. The shots will be fast paced, as this is typical of a pop video. After reviewing the Questionnaire and Focus group, we ensured that the narrative was audience specific and was similar to the pop genre.

Focus group

My group and i gathered a focus group of females, with age range of 17-19. We chose this particular group as it, reflected the majority of our target group, and respondents of our questionnaire. Looking back at our questionnaire, I chose and developed certain questions, which we would then have asked our focus group. We begun the focus group process by playing our chosen song for our music video, which is 'Crazy Kids' by Kesha. After having allowed them to listen to the song, we asked particularly important questions which we developed from our questionnaire. This enabled us to gain in depth knowledge as to what our target would want to see from our music video, as well as what we should avoid. Below is the video for our focus group, which was edited and uploaded by Rumena Ahmed. Chloe Connell filmed the focus group, while Rumena Ahmed and I took to reading out the questions.



Conducting this focus group was immensely helpful, as we learned what we could include in our narrative. For example from our questionnaire results analysis, we discovered that the two most popular themes for our video were 'partying' and 'humour'. Due to this we asked the group what they would consider to be humorous. From this we learned that our audience would find humour in a narrative which was unusual, as well as bright and unusual. In order to achieve this, my group I will attempt to use bright and colourful backgrounds, as well as make our narrative fun by including more people who accompany our star.

Another important question we asked our group, was ideas as to what we could substitute alcohol with. Due to the age restrictions regarding alcohol, we would be unable to include real alcoholic products within our video. Our group suggested we use bright coloured liquid, which would tie in with the 'crazy' and 'humorous' theme. Taking this into consideration, we will attempt to have our main star creating drinks in a science lab. This will connote craziness, hence linking to Kesha's image as her videos are known to be outrageous.

In order to find out what in particular our audience would not like to see in our video, we asked what they dislike about music videos. One member of the group mentioned how they dislike long paced shots, as they can become boring. In order to prevent this, we will try and film fast paced shots to keep our audience entertained. This is especially typical of the pop genre, including many of Kesha's videos such as 'We R Who We R'. Adding to this, we will also try to incorporate different settings and locations within the fast shots; which is also conventional of pop videos.

Pop convention frame analysis

In lesson we all did a frame analysis for typical pop conventions, when analysing 'Telephone' by Lady Gaga and Beyonce. A convention can be defined as something which is typical or usually expected from something; in this case the pop genre. After having analysed 'Telephone', we went on to choose individual pop music videos, and took to analysing typical pop conventions through screenshots. I chose the music video for 'Waking up in Vegas' by  pop artist Katy Perry; I chose 6 still frames and analysed the pop conventions used within them. This activity will be helpful when conducting our music video, as we will know what conventions to incorporate into it, in order to make it typical.

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