Ingmar Anargya Riza 10A

Hello, my name is Ingmar Anargya Riza, and my project is named Noteseluruh, a video series which aims to spotlight and promote albums/EPs from new, up-and-coming, and established Indonesian artists.

Setting the foundations

Summary of SMART Goals

The goal of this project was to learn, research, observe, and promote new Indonesian music, through a video series that evaluates albums or EPs from new or underrated artists, targeted toward Indonesian youths. I had made this goal considering my interests in music and music production, music reviews/journalism as a genre in popular media, my love for talking and debating about music with others, and the lack of Indonesian music that I listen to on a daily. Combining those 4 factors, I wanted to not only promote up-and-coming/established underrated artists in Indonesia, but also learn about them and the popular trends in Indonesian music.

The three main steps that I had planned to complete this project and achieve my learning goal, is to first listen to many playlists on Spotify and Youtube or get recommendations from other people to pick the 5 chosen artists and their albums/EPs, then to document my journey through the journal and the report, and finally, to understand what makes good music good, and what makes bad music bad, from a technical perspective.

I planned the video series to be 5-15 minutes long and to feature a review, a breakdown of each track listed in the particular album/EP, and finally an interview with the artist. I felt that including those three would make the content more interesting and it would make sure that my project reaches the goal effectively. In addition to that, the videos would be uploaded to Youtube every Wednesday and Friday and would be entirely in English. This decision was made with the consideration of my target audience (which are Indonesian youths, especially in the International school area), and with the target of 70 views which I set for each video. It is important to note that I chose 70 views as a benchmark, considering the people I am close with, and with the followers that I have on my social media accounts (as I would use social media as a way to promote my project).

Making the Product

To make sure that I can do the project to the best of my abilities, I set to improve and use 2 main ATL skills during the creation of this video series, which are communicative and thinking skills.

I started working on the project by finding the albums I wanted to spotlight first. I listened to various Spotify playlists, mainly Fresh Finds Indonesia and New Music Fridays. Both of those playlists spotlight new releases, from established or new/up-and-coming artists. In addition to that, I also got recommendations from people I know, and with it, I would take note of their recommendations and listen to their latest work. However, I focused on artists who had already released previous albums and EPs, to make sure my video series aligned with my learning goal and product success criteria. After more than 2 weeks of listening to various artists, I decided on 5 projects made by different artists. Below are the albums and EPs I chose.

Storm Outside My Bedroom

Arsa

(EP)

Love You Leave You Behind

Kamar Biru

(EP)

bloodbuzz

denisa

(Album)

Aftersummer

Navakaine

(Album)

Puncak Janggal

Laze

(Album)

Writing Initial Thoughts + Track Breakdowns

After casually listening to each of the albums for the first time, I wrote down my initial thoughts, just to get an idea of the album and what it was like. Those initial thoughts would also be used in my content script later on. Afterward, I listened to each of the projects for a second time, this time in a more focused environment, and with a notebook where I would write down specific details and/or themes, I would identify with each song. This would later become the basis for the individual track breakdowns.

Research

While I was not able to get expert interviews for my content, I did research a lot about journalism (not necessarily music journalism) and how they stand as a genre in the popular Youtube scene. For this, I mainly studied and learned from 2 Youtubers, named theneedledrop (also known as Anthony Fantano) and Gigguk. Through researching, I found that an equal balance between the review and the jokes and the fun details is really important, especially if you want your targeted audience to watch it fully. I also studied the videos of those 2 reviewers to see how they structured their videos, and how they expressed their opinions.

Product Making Process

After researching and writing down my thoughts, I then continued writing the scripts for each of the videos. I tried to follow the structure set in my learning goal in the process of my script. I also made sure to fit in interview clips with the artists (more on that later).

After doing so, I recorded the first 2 videos, and then I recorded the final 3 on a separate day. After uploading the first 2 videos, I received some feedback and comments, which I then implemented into the recording and editing process of the final 3 videos. This was to make sure that I know I can reach my goals satisfactorily.

Interview with the Artists

Early in my scriptwriting process, I had asked all 5 artists for an interview session to talk about their respective projects. Unfortunately, due to most of the artists not responding, and with the deadline that I had set based on the action timeline, I initially decided to not do any interviews, and instead, continue with the review and the track breakdowns.

However, a few hours after the posting of my first video, the second artist Kamar Biru suddenly replied and accepted my interview request. It was a very fun interview, and it was able to make my content a lot more interesting. In addition to that, I also learned about band culture in Indonesia, especially during the pandemic, and how they can bond and work together as a team. Unfortunately, for the other 4 videos, I was not able to get interview sessions with them, due to the reasons mentioned before.

As I planned the video on Kamar Biru's EP to come out 2 days later, I had to make a few compromises for the video's release.

(the photo above is a screenshot from the interview session, showcasing the member Rifath)

Finished Product

After editing each video, I added English and Indonesian subtitles with the built-in caption creation tool in Youtube Studio and uploaded it to the site. In the description, I credited the musicians who worked on each record, as well as links to their projects on Spotify and Apple Music.

(the picture above is a screenshot from my video reviewing denisa's "bloodbuzz")

Looking Back

Challenges I faced

Throughout the development of this project, I had challenges in time management and in making compromises/sudden decisions. I had started working on the project at the end of October, which, considering my other school responsibilities, had affected the timeline that I had already made early in the project. For example, it took me the whole month of November to finish all 5 scripts, even though I planned to finish all of them at an earlier date.

In addition to that, due to certain circumstances (such as with the expert interviews and artist interviews), I had to make sudden compromises to the project and the learning goal, which gave me a lot of stress.

Impact towards myself and others

Through doing this project, I was able to learn a lot of things about the state of Indonesian music. I found many new artists, either with small fanbases or with a recently released debut song, who have so much talent and potential for the future. And while I was only able to pick 5 artists, there were many others that I found particularly impressive. In addition to that, as a musician venturing into the industry, I was able to understand more about the common genres most new artists try to do. (I found that the most popular genres included indie, alternative, and R&B.) Taking all of these factors into consideration, I was able to fulfill my learning goal, and thus I could conclude that this project has left a huge impact on myself, and my future career.

As all the videos I had made had reached more than 70 views, and there were an overwhelming amount of responses in my feedback forms, I found that the project also had its planned impact on others. Many of the respondents (with most of them around the age of 13-18, my target audience) stated that they have listened to the albums/EPs I had recommended and also stated that they enjoyed those works, and those who had not listened to their works stated that they are interested in checking them out. That fact by itself, for me, already proved that my project was successful in achieving its goal, especially with the impact I had planned to have on others. They also gave proper feedback on the videos, with certain elements such as the structure, editing, and visuals. Regardless of which, the respondents gave overall good comments and responses towards the project, which was proof of the impact that the project had on others.

Furthermore, while I don't have any specific future plans to continue this project, I will continue to listen to more Indonesian music as I think it can benefit me as a student and as a musician.

Additional Photos/Evidences

Track breakdowns

Feedback Survey

Artists noticing my review

The photo above features artist Arsa, whose EP "Storm Outside My Bedroom" was one of the records I reviewed.

If you can, please fill this form for my project evaluation:

Video Pitch

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