Planning Artist Image - Miss Miller

An artist representation is essential in a music video because it demonstrates personality and can create a common ground between the artist and the audience. If an artist is represented as being relatable to the audience in some way, it makes them more appealing as the audience feel as if the artist is just an ordinary person like them. As well as this, the artist being shown in a particular way can cause an opinion of the audience's in reference to if they like the artist or not. For example, if the artist is portrayed as being rebellious and arrogant, some audiences may not like this idea and may feel that an artist needs to display positivity and good behaviour. However, some people will like this representation as they feel it makes them different to other artists in the industry. This links to my next point which is that artist representation also defines one artist from another so that they appeal to different target audiences. For example, in the genre of soul, most artists are represented as being insecure and depressed which links to the content of their songs. Most people like this representation as it shows the rawness of their emotions and reflects the meanings behind the songs which could also show the passion the artist has for the music they create. 

There will be three main costume changes throughout the video, which are distinct through the different scenes in which she is present. 

The first costume I will be discussing is the casual wear for the scenes when the artist is with her friends. She will be wearing jeans and a top - keeping it fairly simple to mirror the way that her life was quite simple at the time from the way she had no worries or cares. The casualness of the outfit helps to display the casualness of the narrative where the artist is just hanging out with her friends, having a good time. This will also make her relatable to the audience as the simplicity of her costume will make her seem like an ordinary audience member. We are looking to either use a white top to display innocence of the artist and purity which also reflects her youth. Other than this, we may use a grey top to show how murky and unclear the artist is of the future as they are unaware of what is to come from her life. This acts as a sense of foreboding for her future as, other parts of the video illustrates her unhappiness of the present life she leads. This makes the audience weary of what is to come and maybe creates a slight sense of expectedness but not to the extent where they can fully predict what is going to happen in the rest of the video. We also want the shoes to be white to show that the path she is taking is innocent. By showing that the shoes are slightly dirty on the bottom reflects her journey and the struggles she would have had to face along the way to the career she now has. The makeup on the artist will be natural, as we want to still show her youth and innocence. It also shows that she is less insecure than what she is shown to be in some other scenes of the video - for example, the stage performance scenes. This is from the way she doesn't feel the need to use makeup to cover up or hide any emotions that may not be initial. This is partly unconventional to the soul genre from the way that the artist is shown to be natural and happy, however, is still conventional as it makes her relatable which is one of the main conventions of the soul genre. She is going to have straight hair to comply with the casual look we are going for the artist at this point. This will show her overall, as being relatable at these points in the video.This is therefore conventional to the genre of soul as making the artist being represented as relatable ensures the audience feel engaged and empathetic towards the artist, building a stronger relationship between them. 

As well as having a casual look for the artist, they will also be seen wearing a more contrasting, glamorous look. This will consist of a high neck black dress with black heels, complimented with a sophisticated red lip makeup look and curled hair. This will be worn during the stage performance scenes where the artist is supposedly at a concert of her own performing as if it was real. Therefore, making the artist more made up, it emphasises this and creates a clear contrast to the difference in lifestyle from with her friends to the way she is on stage. This drastic change also reinforces the distinct change from the performance and narrative scenes within the video, creating reassurance of understanding for the audience. This look is conventional to the soul genre as it demonstrates talent and glamour but also insecurity - a main convention of soul artists. The red lip aspect of the look also strengthens its conventionality to the soul genre as red has connotations of passion and love. In our video, passion is more expressed than love due to the way that the lyrics of the song do not initially express love in reference to a relationship but rather passion for the artist's hometown. So, despite the red lip coordinating with the glamorous look we are going for, it also has deeper connotations that comply with the conventions of the soul genre through the way that soul genre songs reflect the themes of love and passion. We are thinking of having a gold eyeshadow look within the makeup look to reflect the glamour of the artist but also the value. This can help to represent the artist as being world-class, talented and extraordinary from the connotations of gold suggesting value and rarity. This is conventional to the genre of soul because soul artists tend to subtly demonstrate the extent of their talents which prevents them from coming across as bigheaded or arrogant. The way in which the makeup look will consist of a lot of makeup, could be inferred that it is a way for the artist to hide imperfections and insecurities, acting as a 'front' or mask, which initially makes her look like a confident individual. Beneath the surface, the artist could actually be hiding more negative emotions which is inferred from other aspects of her look like the colouring of her dress. Having the dress being black connotes depression and sadness which makes the audience feel sympathetic for the artist. Having this connection is important and happens to be conventional because the artist singing about a personal experience needs to be able to be transferred and understood by the audience. Having this connection makes the artist more appealing and genuine to the audience. The way in which the dress is a high neck in style also could infer that the artist feels trapped in the situation of their emotions. In our music video, we intend to make the artist feel as if they miss their lifestyle before they were famous because of the people they have now lost and the lack of normality in their life due to fame. The style of the dress reinforces this idea from the way that the artist now feels trapped in this situation where she can now not escape fame and sticks to the conventionality of the soul genre from the way it links to the personal feelings of the artist. Moreover, having the complementation of wearing the heels as part of the outfit reflects the lack of stability that the artist feels that their life holds. This reinforces our narrative and the feelings behind the song from the artist's point of view which is conventional to the soul genre because of this. The use of these also help to represent the artist as fragile and ungrounded, making her perhaps relatable to some audience members. Having curly hair adds to the glamourousness of the look and helps to distinguish between showing the artist when they were younger and then older and famous. In a more deeper inference, it could also help illustrate the complexity of the artist's new life rather than the simplicity of the life before fame.

The final look in the video is a plain and simple look consisting of the artist wearing completely black (top, skirt, tights and pumps). The makeup look will be natural to create a relatable aspect of the look and also reveals he artist and the emotions they portray. This particular look will be featured during the piano performance scenes in the video. The plainness of the outfit reflects the neutral emotion displayed in this scene which is conventional to the soul genre as soul artists tend to be quite neutral in some parts of the performance scenes in their videos. This ensures relatability for the audience as she is perhaps shown in a more ordinary light and it also demonstrates rawness of the artist as a representation. Having an artist being represented as raw and genuine is conventional to the genre of soul as it shows how natural the talent comes to the artist. Black is the consistent feature throughout this outfit. There are many connotations of black and ones which tend to suggest negativity, for example, depression, sadness and weakness. This therefore, represents the artist's feelings towards the way in which her life is leading at this moment. She is unhappy with the fame she has received and just wants to go back to her hometown and the way it was when she was happier around people she valued. The artist is playing the piano at this point which has numerous black and white keys. The black keys could connote the present day where she is feeling negative at this point in her life, whereas the white keys, suggesting innocence and purity could symbolise the past when she was younger with her friends. Therefore, the artist playing the piano, dressed in all black could represent the artist as a whole being depressed and negative in reference to her emotions. Consequently, the way that she plays the piano could reflect that these emotions are impacting and influencing the way that she reflects on not only her present but also her past and so no matter what time of setting she is referring to, she still manages to find negativity in some way. For example, when she was younger, she obviously saw negativity where she felt that she wanted to seek for 'bigger things' and so grafted to achieve her dream. However, when becoming famous, she find negativity as she realises she has lost the people who have most value to her and that her life can no longer be normal. Having this hidden meaning is conventional to the genre of soul as there are normally more deeper, less obvious meanings and symbols within. This helps the audience connect with the artist more strongly as it adds to the understanding of how the artist is feeling and additionally, the extent of her emotions.

Overall, the theme consistently demonstrated throughout the artist images in which we have created refers to black, which connotes negativity. We have found that the target audience can build a relationship with our artist through this way effectively, as it helps reinforce the intended emotions and makes the audience appeal to the artist as they sympathise with them. As well as this, the artist is seen more raw and real from this, as their performance in the video seems more personal and genuine. By making the artist be shown in this particular way, it makes the audience feel valued and that the artist wants to share their feelings with them, therefore, making the audience feel more special. The way in which we have tried to stick with the conventionality of the soul genre makes the audience feel familiar with their expectations and how the artist will be represented however, the slight differences between the images prevents the artist from appearing repetitive or uninteresting throughout the different scenes within the video. The younger side to the target audience can particularly relate to the first casual look from the way that they may feel as if the artist could fit in with them, which means they could see them as being similar to them. The more older side to the target audience can relate more to the performance side of the video as the artist is shown to be more mature and more emotional which could be more relatable to older audiences as it shows a wider number of experiences that the artist has been through. The emotions conveyed could be relatable to audience members in a similar situation or in a different situation but feeling the same emotions as the artist expresses. This planning of artist image has helped out group ensure that we will create a successful artist image because it has outlined to us which images work best for the genre. It has also highlighted which images can demonstrate hidden, relevant meanings that could either link to lyrics or emotions portrayed within. We have also tried to satisfy all of the members categorised in the target audience, which will hopefully make it more appealing to them from the way that at least one of the images should reflect a relatable nature to them.