For our A Level Media Studies coursework, we were presented with the following options to choose from:

• music promotion package
• film promotion package
• documentary package
• short film package.

These options were all equally interesting. However, as a student interested in the field of music and composition as well as taking A Level Music, the music promotion package seemed the most attractive to me. Compared to the AS Level Media 2 Minute Film Opening task, creating and marketing a music video is even more challenging and allows for me to do a lot more research while learning about different forms of media in depth.

While I was leaning towards choosing the Music Promotion Package for the A Level Media Studies Coursework, I decided to do more research on the latter before selecting/composing a song and planning a video for it, as well as looking into the Documentary Package as it would also expose to me to other areas of visual media (Using a media product to depict true stories and send important messages) that intrigue me the most.

I started off with looking into some music videos from artists I am familiar with that are creative and inspiring, or have a focus on aesthetics that caught my attention. Some of these videos are linked below:

The music video for Eastside (linked above) was one of the styles of video that caught my attention- where the storytelling method is almost conversational and relatively simple, while maintaining aesthetics and shots that compliment the music. This music video was appealing and conveyed its moods and tones effectively using the simple subtitles and using both the music and the video to tell a story.

The music video for Billie Eilish’s “Bury A Friend” (linked above) is considered haunting by some- however, this is another music video that intrigued me and inspired me to learn about different kinds of music videos made in recent times. The various creative shots and the content of the video itself works perfectly with the mood and tone of the music. Personally, I feel that the video narrative and shots used perfectly compliment the music and make the viewing experience more appealing due to the ambiguity and the boldness of the video itself.

Cheap Thrills (video above) makes use of retro black and white television style quality and content for this music video, making it more aesthetically appealing and interesting. This kind of video inspires me to deviate from conventions of modern music videos and to focus on aesthetics that compliment the song.

Monster by Dodie has a music video that narrates a story as descriptively as the music, if not more. This video inspired me to try writing out plots for my music, to add depth to both the music and the video and make the video more appealing. The quirkiness and uniqueness of this music video perfectly works with its music counterpart and makes it more interesting.

Lastly, Makeba has one of the most creative, meaningful and enjoyable music videos I’ve seen and inspires me to be a bit more artistic and innovative while ideating for a music video- as well as learn more about technicalities of shooting and editing in more depth so that I can understand how some of the shots in this music video were achieved.

I then went on to research on “Digipaks” and was also able to learn more about their production, role and effectiveness from speaking with acquaintances who have released their own albums and digipaks. Digipaks come in varieties and are almost completely customizable.

What is a Digipak? (A Slideshare link)

After this, I decided to search up websites of bands and artists to understand the content of the webpages and how it gains visitors/what it offers to the listeners of the artist/band. It came to my notice that most active artists and bands do not rely on their websites other than for ticket sales and merchandise- most of the audience interactions and marketing happens through social media and streaming of music happens in most leading platforms. However, some websites I found are linked below:

Arctic Monkeys- Band

Halsey- Artist

Hayley Kiyoko- Artist

Dodie- Artist

As a student taking the A Level Media Studies exams in May-June 2020, I decided to research on and further understand the components and requirements of each set brief before selecting my project for this year.

1) Music promotion package– The music promotion package consists of a digipak design, a complete music video and an artist website.

2) Film promotion package – This package requires students to create 2 trailers and promotional material for a film.

3) Documentary package– The documentary Package requires students to shoot a 5 minute segment of a documentary.

4) Short film package– This package consists of a 5 minute short film, a website and a promotional postcard.

After considering all four of the available packages, I decided that my choice would be between the music promotion package and the documentary package. I plan on making the choice taking certain factors into consideration such as which package would allow me to develop my skillsets more and increase my knowledge as well as experience in the media and film production field.

As an A level music student, the music promotion package looks very interesting to me as it would give me a chance to experience music video production as an artist and as someone interested in media production. However, the documentary package also seems equally interesting as it would allow me to showcase serious social issues and send important messages to viewers through a documentary- such as issues regarding environmental preservation and the water crisis in Chennai, LGTBTQIA+ communities in India, etc.

I decided that choosing the Music Promotion Package would be most effective as I could develop and make use of the audio editing and related skills I gained from last year’s (AS Level) project, combined with the filmmaking experience I had.