Statement of intent

My music video for ‘The Internet’ will protest the society and expectations set by social media, and how it is frowned upon to show negative emotions when we pick and choose which parts of ourselves to show online. I’m planning to use the idea of masks designed with smiles on them being introduced as a trend so that the image of happiness is constantly upheld and physically shown transferring into the everyday mentality of the internet generation. My two social groups would be the different sides of society, separated by their roles in spreading this mass culture, with one side being the producers (influencers that build the idea online) and the other being consumers (those that then start to enforce the expectation offline), however different groups within that will be shown such as male versus female interpretation. I’m planning to use different social media to portray my idea, so a few locations will be inside influencer homes showing off the product, and others will be outside, perhaps using park scenery or streets where different interactions can be seen from a less professional, personal perspective (using snapchat for example, or by filming the singer interacting with and witnessing the impact of this trend on behaviour). As the video would progress, I’m planning on involving the singer with the trend, and conforming alongside the others witnessed through the rest of the video by buying and supporting the idea that happiness should be the new normal in society and variety in emotion would be frowned upon. This would fit the brand of the artist by showing that he’s not distant from the problem and embraces the use of inclusive pronouns by showing the narrative happening to him. By also creating a physical representation of this process, I’m hoping the target audience of internet users will be able to take a step back and view the problem from a different perspective, and not immediately reject it because it negatively portrays their image. I’m hoping however, that by using the intertextuality of influencers they might watch, and the template of advertising seen by the entire community upon the different platforms will mean that they can relate and recognise this as something they are familiar with, and therefore will give it more of their attention and thought. This familiarity would also be attempted through the filming, as I’ve made the choice to film parts of my video in portrait mode to mimic the use of social media for the younger generations who solely rely on phones as a viewing device. That way, the social media platforms would be more fluid and fit within the video better, and besides familiarity, gives the sense that social media is working it’s way into real life and other aspects of life, such as the way things are viewed, but also the way things are filmed (the impact of Tiktok being in portrait mode can be referenced through this)

In terms of the website, I’m going to take the key themes of Jon Bellion’s website and use it to design my own to match his branding and his style (using the minimalism of the space and the album as a muted background for the screen). The two pages I’m planning to include are a page dedicated to the song/album and the areas that feed into that (tour dates, extras video etc), and another page for merch where I’m planning to ‘sell’ the masks as a symbol of the video that might make his ‘usual fanbase’ (young alts or leading edge) laugh at the irony and protest the point further by wearing to tours. Although Jon Bellion’s usual style for album covers are usually graphic design rather than real life, however I think because of the continued message of social media starting to seep into real life that a photo that’s half been drawn over might fit a little better, and by drawing over with darker colours might represent further my message of the consequences that then follow.