Hello!
THE FINAL CUT:
INSTAGRAM FINAL:
My Instragram found here. My inspiration and influences can be found here. My merchandise research and final product found here.
MY SOCIAL MEDIA by SASHANeed a lot more casual lifestyle posts, also the hashtaging needs more work, make sure you add #brutal #OliviaRodrigo for everything.
Reinforce the fact that Brutal is out under every post. For the vinyl maybe add the fact that it’s record store day, something artists commonly do, have a limited edition vinyl with a new cover or with bonus tracks.
CRITERIA
1500 words
Our video is targeted towards a primary audience of females age 15-24. After looking at the simulacrum (Baudrillard) of Olivia’s brand in real life, I saw that she is desperately trying to escape her previous brand identity of a child star by using more mature imagery and more sexual references, trying to appeal to a primary audience of 15-24. We avoided any overtly sexual imagery to avoid any moral panic (Stanley Cohen) and to keep our primary audience age lower. Conventionally, the female body has been used to provide visual pleasure (Laura Mulvey) or the male (voyeurism) while still facing wider critique for showing off their body. Female performers have always faced ‘flak’ (Chomsky) from media outlets regarding any sexual images in their music videos from Madonna’s Like a Virgin to Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus.
Olivia represents our target audience age group, making our viewers able to personally identify to her as part of the uses and gratifications theory (Katz & Blumler), since in the music video she is the stereotypical teenager, attending school. Other prominent forms of McQuails’ uses and gratifications theory are social interaction, which is applicable in my social media, and escapism. The camp, edgy look we have Olivia, the spiked chocker, and the bright-coloured wig appeal to our LGBTQ+ audience. The ‘colour pop’ of lighting and backdrop and childlike imagery of toys and frilly pink sheets are forms of escapism.
In parts of the video, Olivia is performing normative gender roles, with her look embracing the gender binary, performing the female gender (Judith Butler) with her monochrome pink outfit, girly pink-hued make-up, and low-cut top. However, there is a shift where she rejects normativity of femininity, rejecting the male gaze (Laura Mulvey’s feminist critique of sexual objectification of women in media) by leaving behind her fully pink outfit for black and wearing black bulky boots and black, dramatic eyeliner, there is clear binary opposition. Her medium-length hair has a polysemic reading, reinforcing her reluctance towards gender conformity. Her change in appearance can have a post-feminist reading, Olivia takes back her agency. The drummer’s outfit, the oversized masculine suit is a prime example of the countertype, the queering of normative gender stereotypes.
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| Our video - clear binary opposition, rejection of the male gaze |
Our secondary audience is 8-12 (tweenagers) and 25-34+ female and male. There are still some examples of the male gaze with the short skirt, high angle on the low-cut top, medium close-up of licking cupcake, and glossy lips that would appeal to the male gender. One way we appealed to an older secondary audience is the intertextual references to older films through the mise-en-scene in the bedroom scene as well as the postmodern intertextual reference (Kristeva) of Elvis Costello’s appearance, because of the ‘Pump it up’ sample. Not only is there personal identification with Costello, who in our music video acts as the parental figure, but also there is a certain knowledge of popular culture to comprehend the references (Altman’s intellectual puzzles), which could offer viewers cultural capital (Pierre Bourdieu). Richard Dyer would argue that the preferred reading (Stuart Hall’s audience readings theory) that we are trying to achieve here would be restricted by cultural convention, and as we learned from our audience survey, 6 out of the 7 participants in the 35+ age group knew who Elvis Costello is and would understand the intentional view (James Baker) we had as auteurs, understanding the preferred reading (Stuart Hall).
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| Our video - Elvis Costello intertextuality (older audience appeal) |
Other postmodern intertextual references include that help us engage an older audience are Paramore’s ‘Misery Business’ and Pink’s ‘Don’t Let Me Get Me’. These feature teen characters and are set in a high school which would link to the personal identification (McQuail), however, it has elements of nostalgia as it is set in the early 2000s. The deconstructionist postmodern play on conventions comes in with us using the guitar hero instruments. I saw this being done on Lost in the Sound’s ‘Toy Boy’ and Princess Chelsea’s ‘I Love My Boyfriend’. The incorporation of genre characteristics from contrasting genres is also a common characteristic of postmodernism.
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| Lost in the Sound’s ‘Toy Boy’ and Princess Chelsea’s ‘I Love My Boyfriend’ intertextual reference in our video |
The narrative of our video is clearly defined, going against Vernallis’ point that the majority of music videos are non-narrative. There is an element of narrative enigma (Roland Barthes) during the exposition which dissipates after the disruption (Todorov) when is revealed that our hero (Campbell’s monomyth) is also our villain, blurring the narrative convention, making Olivia the false hero (Propp). We also use the symbolic code, with our character dressed in black and more punk clothes being shown as evil, and our audience assumes her behaviour on that basis alone. Contrary to Backer’s reflective view, we didn’t represent reality but exaggerated it, with the imagery of cyberbullying being portrayed on a much grander scale, with our Olivia losing millions of followers. While at the start we think that the music video touches upon serious themes of cyberbullying and harassment, the narrative is flipped and instead satirizes the portrayal of bullying in modern media. Our intentional view as auteurs is anchored by the details in the mise-en-scene and while creating Olivia’s look as well as the choice of location, grimy and edgy because of the graffiti factor, but with the use of ‘colour pop’, neon coloured lighting and pastel colours, we can anchor the dark pop genre. Genre signified is one of the ways I follow Goodwin’s key music video characteristics, which also include the notion of looking. In our video we have Olivia looking at herself in the mirror and TV, illustrating (Goodwin) the lyric ‘I hate the way I’m perceived’ which links to body image issues.
A big part of appealing to my Gen-Z audience was audience interaction and UGC (user-generated content) on Instagram. As part of my promotional campaign, I launched a competition in which my fans had to create an edit, a simulacrum of UGC (a short video filled with scenes and or pictures from the media text, using transitions and effects). These viral-style short clips are a very prominent type of UGC in Gen-Z which allows for more exposure for my music video. I have also made an official lyric video and a fan-made lyric video, which further highlights the convergence of content, and the blurring lines between consumer and producer, with the rise of web2.0 (Tim O’Rilley) and convergence culture (Henry Jenkins), with the consumer becoming more responsible for shaping the artist’s brand.
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| My socials - example of audience interaction and UGC |
I repeatedly used the term ‘livys’, the fandom name, which is a quirky way to address my fans on a more personal level, with my bio reading ‘livies headquarters 💗’, and repeated usage of hashtags like #livie #livieshq #oliviaworlddomination, typical teen speak. This is an example of audience interaction (Katz &Blumler) as I consistently directly address my fans and reply directly to the edits made of me ‘YOU GUYS ARE SO TALENTED’ ‘drop on @recordstoreday’. Everything from my Instagram handle @theoliverodrigo from the consistent use of emojis throughout aims to convey an informal and strong relationship I have formed with my tween audience. However, the main goal of my Instagram was the promotion of my new album release as well as the sale of any physical media I produced. I produced a ‘LIMITED EDITION PINK VINYL’ which audience appeal to an older and younger audience (Simon Reynold’s retromania). My brand identity is evident through my artist logo, consistent use of fonts, and repeated visuals that link directly to our music video. Throughout my promo package I have images of Olivia looking at cake but never eating it, which connotes eating issues. This is a serious social issue that many of my primary teen audience struggle with. It is a common genre convention of dark pop to tackle such darker themes as seen in Melanie Martinez’s ‘Strawberry Shortcake’. The album title ‘Brutal’ denotes how hard teen life is, appealing to our core teen audience. This is further portrayed on the digipack cover, with me using the image of her vandalizing a wall, rebelling against societal norms. The visual stamp (Goodwin) that reoccurs throughout my work include the graffiti font, the colour pink and silver star confetti.
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| My brand - visually linked, repeating visual stamps |
There is a lack of racial diversity in our music video, with none of the characters representing the BAME community. However, using costumes we are queering the classical gender roles as well as a romantic relationship being hinted at between Olivia and the guitarist. Queer baiting is something done often in the music industry by famous artists like Billie Eilish and is looked down upon but is often used as a marketing strategy to create buzz around the media product. The audience feedback we’ve gotten on this has been vastly different. This reflects, James Baker’s constructionist view which essentially states that representations are affected by the thing itself as much as they are affected by external factors such as place, age, gender, and musical preference. The is a potential oppositional reading (Stuart Hall) was that we reinforce a heteronormative narrative in our music video, linking to Chomsky’s propaganda model and the notion that any counter-hegemonic content is dismissed.
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| Our video - counter-hegemonic representations of the LGBT+ |
FINAL DIGIPACK
My digipack research can be found here. I created a digipack with 2 inner panels and 2 outer panels.
Good use of direct gaze and how the title is incorporated in the mise-en-scene
The title blends in too much, needs to stand out maybe try white
It doesn’t anchor the dark pop genre at all, needs more colour pop, currently it’s monotone, everything is pink. The spacing for the song titles on the back panel is off, they need to be closer together.
Merchandise research:
Merchandise is originally a way for artists to produce extra passive income, and is more important now due to the lack of revenue from physical media products as it is easier to stream music online (Web 2.0 O'Reilly).
MERCH RESEARCH by SASHA
IN THIS POST:
Based on our audience survey and audience feedback, I concluded that my music video and promo package would resonate with a primary predominantly female audience. This comes from the thematic references and exclusive representation of female characters in our music video. Our target age range spans from tweenagers to young adults aged 15-24, a demographic reinforced by Olivia Rodrigo's personal reflections on being 17 and the challenges faced by teenage girls, as well as her background in Disney Channel. Our survey results corroborate this demographic insight, as does my analysis of relevant articles.
For the secondary audience, both genders are included, because of the postmodern intertextual references to an artist with a predominantly male fan base, Elvis Costello. In terms of age, while web sources suggest a target demographic of 25-34 based on statistics from Olivia Rodrigo's merchandise website. Numerous articles argue that Rodrigo's music also resonates with older audiences, suggesting a broader age appeal beyond the specified demographic.
OLIVIA'S SOCIAL MEDIA:
OLIVIA SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS by SASHAAfter a closer look at Olivia Rodrigo's comment section, I noticed a predominantly female audience and a secondary audience of homosexual males. I noticed the artist Conan Gray commenting repeatedly, with his audience being 13-24 homosexual males. There are also artists from a different generation, like Gwen Stefani whose primary audience, is Gen X. The constant interaction of big-name brands tells me about the profitability of Olivia, with her pristine brand, she has clear marketability to the 13-24 age group.
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| Demographics of Website traffic from OliviaRodrigo.com |
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| Reddit thread |
Tripped and fell into his bed. Do they not listen to the music before they go to a concert?
Chappel roan is her opener lol
As a parent taking my kid to the show, I know what to expect. The same is true for any other parents I know who have kids going to the show.
She has a song called “All American Bitch”…
Do these parents (idiots) not listen to one single song before taking their 7 year old to a concert?
Yeah this is a non-issue. Olivia is well-behaved compared to many pop acts (see W.A.P. or "big [blank] energy," both of which were top 40 radio hits).
Her act has gotten a little more mature and adult, but that's because she's matured. She's young, she's beautiful, and she's a star, let her live. It's not Olivia's fault you're not vetting whether her content is appropriate for a 9 year old. She's not Taylor Swift. She's considerably edgier, and you should be aware of that and be prepared to have a conversation with your kid about it.
How dare a grown woman express that they are sexual beings in recounts of her life through songwriting and art!!!
This not the first time Olivia has been in scandal regrading her tour:
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| Guardian article on Olivia handing out emergency contraception in a state where abortion illegal |
You can find my post on THE PITCH here.
Moodboard:
Here is what we have done for stereotyping and counter-typing:
Visual Breakdown of S and C.pptx by SASHA
Hello! My name is Sasha and this is my A-level Media blog tracking work from 2023-2024. Together with Leila and Ambre we collaborated to ...
