Our finished Music Video

My Outside Digipak Panels

My Outside Digipak Panels

My Inside Digipak Panels

My Inside Digipak Panels

Please click on the image below to view our finished website

Thursday 14 September 2017

R+P Post 2: Myself as a music consumer

I love listening to music and I listen to it everyday, either in the car on the way to school, at school in free periods or at home to relax. I usually listen to music alone through my headphones but sometimes when I am with my friends we listen to songs together because it creates a fun atmosphere and we can all enjoy ourselves. We also go to concerts together which makes it not only an enjoyable but also a social experience as we spend time with a group of other people who like the same music. I also share song recommendations with my friends and get some recommendations in return which helps to broaden the range of music I listen to. 

Most of the time I listen to music on my laptop through Spotify or YouTube but I also use my iPod when I am at school or travelling. I love to dance so music has always been a big part of my life. In a similar way to dancing, I find that music can act as a distraction which is one of the main reasons I listen to it. I also listen to music for entertainment and to motivate me when doing my homework.

My music taste has definitely progressed as I have gotten older because it means something different to me now then when I was little. 


Childhood
The Pussycat Dolls were one of my favourite girl groups as a child and I remember wanting to grow up to be in a band like them. A lot of my music was of the pop genre when I was little as it would be what I would hear on the radio. I chose this song because it is the first song I remember singing and dancing to wherever I went and it brings back so many childhood memories of me singing at home and even on holidays. I was about 6 or 7 years old so I didn't really understand what the song was about, I just liked to rhythm of the song as it was upbeat and easy to dance to. 

Early Teens
I listened to Michael Jackson a lot through my childhood as my parents would always play his songs at home. I became really interested in his music when I was around 13 as I finally watched the movie 'Michael Jackson: This is It' which is a documentary filmed during his tour rehearsals before he died. I remember idolising Michael Jackson because not only was he a great performer but I felt that he was so talented when it came to song writing. Even though I love all of his songs, my favourite is Smooth Criminal because I love the lyrics, the music and the performance. It was also the first Michael Jackson music video I ever watched.

Now
Currently I listen to a range of music genres because to me right now the most important aspect of a song is the lyrics and the message behind it. This song is Ooh by Jon Bellion featuring Christianne Jensen. I love this song because it is really calming and I feel that the lyrics are so well written. I am a fan of other songs by this artist too after a friend recommended them to me. Jon Bellion isn't a massive global name but recently I have been listening to less mainstream music because I've found it tends to be more meaningful. Escapism is one of the main reasons I listen to music so I love to listen to songs that I can emotionally connect to as they tend to help me relax. 
Music theory plays a huge part of music consumption. The Uses and Gratifications theory helps to explain the reasons why people enjoy listening to music. The Diversion section of the theory shows that people listen to music to escape from their daily problems. Music can act as an emotional release, especially if the song is meaningful. Escapism, as I mentioned before, is one of the reasons I listen to music. This links to the Personal Identity and also to the Personal Relationships sections of the theory as it suggests people listen to music that is relatable to them. The surveillance aspect of the theory suggests that media (in this case music) is used to find out what is around us and how it connects with the modern world. Although this cannot be directly linked to music consumption, music is a big part of modern culture and can be considered a social activity shared between friends. Additionally some songs are written about global events to raise awareness, for example Sia's song 'The Greatest' is said about the Orlando Nightclub Shooting .

Personally I would like to create a music video that can be easily relatable but also meaningful because I see songs as a way of conveying how you feel inside in a creative way. This would also mean that our audience can feel more connected with the song and hopefully the artist as well. I would also like for our artist's image to be less mainstream and instead more independent. 

R+P Post 1: My A2 Group

For this project I am in Group 1 with Sian Richefond and Laith Lyster. I am really happy with my group as I think we all will work well together as we all bring something different to the group. Sian and I both have a dancing background but I feel Sian is really good at the performance and creative aspect such as choreography and composition whereas I feel I am better suited to directing/planning and making sure things run smoothly. Laith is best at the technical side of things like setting up and using all of the equipment. I feel that we can all learn a lot from each other throughout the project. 

As a group we have planned to meet at least three times a week for meetings to discuss the project so far and try to make as much progress as possible for everything to be ready on time. Additionally we have a Whatsapp group chat which makes it easier for us to contact each other outside of school. I am looking forward to working on this project with my group as I think it will be a lot of fun. 
Laith (left), Sian (right) and myself (centre)