Crystal Watts Gypsy Woman

(She’s Homeless)

My final production was a performance based video to the 1991 hit Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless) by Crystal Waters.

I chose to have include a nineties theme, with nineties styling and a vintage video look as the song was a classic nineties dance hit. Without Adobe Premier

Elements I wouldn’t of been able to achieve this look, as the Vintage film look is an option only available in Elements.

The target audience for my video would be young adults, as the young female performer would appeal to both genders of this age group. Also, a current music

trend is artists re-recording old songs for the new generation, so I believe my target audience would listen to this song.

Music Video

My music video has a restricted Narrative. Parts of the story are kept unclear to the audience.

Throughout we see my performer singing to the song and dancing happily, however we soon find out she is the homeless woman she has been singing about.

We know this as at the end we see her wrapped in a blanket and begging on the streets for money.

It too fits in with Andrew Goodwin’s theory that they narrative links with the lyrics. The message of the song is not being able to tell the woman is homeless as ‘She’s just like you and me’. I wanted to re-enforce this message with my music video. At

first you cannot tell my performer is homeless as she looks clean and happy, however she has to beg for money.

Narrative

The genre of my music video is Pop/Dance. I think I achieve this by including many conventions of the pop genre

-Exaggerated Styling – I carefully considered the clothes my performer would wear. I chose a crop top, checked shirt, denim jacket, baggy trousers and a high ponytail tied with a scrunchie.

- Lots of choreography – As this is a performance based video, my performer sings and dances along to the song

- Upbeat – Overall it’s a happy song, and my performer seems happy as she dances and sings

-Close Camera shots – to create a star persona, therefore the performer becoming more well known and popular

Genre

Digipak

Similarly I wanted my digipak to fit in with my house style, but more so my magazine advert. I did this by using the same sepia colour, same wavy, bubbly font

size, and similar sultry pictures of my artist dressed in the same clothing.

Front Cover My front cover follows the standard conventions of digipaks by being very simple and uncluttered.

It’s likely that all digipaks include one large picture that covers the whole page of the artist/s

or a picture that represents them. I chose to include a close up of my performer to increase

her star persona . The more pictures of my artist that is shown, the more she is recognised,

therefore the more people know her and the more fans she receives.

Track List Back Page

I chose to produce a single digipak so included only three songs.

However, from research I discovered that single digipaks will often contain the original song and

other versions such as instrumentals and remixes.

To make it look like a professional digipack, I created a barcode and

standard text that appears in small print on most digipaks, such as

distribution and producer names and companies.

Overall I received positive feedback about both my video and ancillary products.

Feedback Music Video

Ancillary products

• People picked up on the narrative I was trying to get across – that she is homeless yet you cant tell, which is the message of the song.

• People noticed my styling was in the nineties era

• I had thought about feedback from my last viewing and used the ideas I was given, such as the ending showing her homeless.

• An idea that I hadn’t really though about was that the fades into black could represent her falling into a darkness and her world isn't as happy as it is made out at first.

• My Digipack and magazine advert link well together by the use of the same font and colour.

• The old vintage feel doesn’t put off my target audience which is young adults, as vintage is now popular.

• The old vinyl idea for a disc space was popular

• An idea was that my magazine advert would work well being shown in a train station as it was shot in a station and the pose looks as if she is waiting for train.

Improvements To improve my existing video, I would add

another performer to make it more interesting rather than just one singer and dancer, and keeps

the audience’s attention as they have someone else to watch or look up to.

However, if I could do this again, I would choose another pop song with a happier message so I could follow pop conventions more closely, as pop songs are meant to be bright and happy,

however with the message of my song, I couldn’t do this.

Improvements

From my feedback, I did change my magazine advert in many ways.

One way I changed it is by including a twitter link. I wanted to include twitter rather than Facebook as twitter is the most current and used more by young people.

I made the link @crystalwattsmusic hoping this will attract young audiences, as they will see the logo and begin to follow her. I changed the logo to a sepia tint rather than blue, so it fits in with the nineties theme and the sepia house style I have used throughout, therefore all my products link together.

Magazine Advert

I too added the famous lyrics ‘La Da De La Da Da’ hoping people will recognise the song when the see these if they don’t know it already. I placed these very faint, as they aren’t

the most important information.

I too changed the picture and chose one that was more eye-catching and reveals more about my narrative rather than a blank wall. I chose a shot that features the train station stairs, which also feature in my video. Therefore it links to my video and audiences will recognise the location. However, if they have no seen my video, they will instantly know that my video will feature many run down locations like this and wonder why, making them want to watch it.

I also chose a shot taken using a fish eye lens, meaning that my model is my main focus. The fish eye also warps the location, such as the lines of the stairs and ceiling have been bent and curved. This fits with the text that I have warped and bent.

I believe this will still attract my target audience of young adults of both genders, as a poster of my performer fits in with

Andrew Goodwin’s idea of creating a star persona. They more they are seen, the more they are

recognised and the more fans they receive.

I chose a body shot of my performer with shows of her midriff

and attitude, which fits in with Laura Mulvey’s theory

about the Male Gaze. This is how men would like to see woman, so this advert will attract teenage boys. It will also attract

teenage girls as they see an idol they can look up to.

I still wanted my magazine advert to fit in with my nineties house style I created with

my video. I did this by using the same styling, same wavy font and added a vintage sepia

colouring to the advert.

It follows the conventions of music magazine advertisements such as including one large picture of the performer, a newspaper star rating and the date that the digipak will be

released and now a twitter link.

I wouldn’t of been able to modify my text to the shape of my artist if I didn’t use Serif

PagePlus as this includes a ‘Warp’ tool that allows you do drag and re-shape text.

Magazine Advert

Overall I happy with my final products, as I think I successfully gets the message/brand identity I wanted across to the audience. This is that you cant judge everyone by their first appearance.

This is the message of the song – you cant tell she is homeless. Likewise, from the happy and jolly beginning that’s full of upbeat choreography, you wouldn’t know she is the homeless

woman begging for money at the end.

I think my ancillary products portray this message, as she looks very sultry and depressed in all shots. She is also either sitting on the floor or appears to be waiting for something, which are

typical actions associated with homeless people, yet still there is no proof she is homeless.

Before starting production, I researched into existing music videos, digipaks and adverts, so I followed most conventions I had found of each, therefore my work looks like real media

products, which was my aim.

Final Say