Regulation

Here is a blogpost explaining how our music video project was regulated. This blogpost is written by me (Chelsea) and my teammate (Kalista). 

─── ⋆⋅ MUSIC VIDEO REGULATION ⋅⋆ ───

There are some rules that we need to follow before creating our music video, which may be interpreted as censorship or regulation. We had been suggested by Cambridge to avoid talking sensitive issues like the use of weapons, dangerous stunts, suicide and drug usage. Vehicle safety concerns were also discouraged. Since we also attend a conservative school, the teacher and the school must provide appropriate content, things like inappropriate language, no explicit music, and violence are refrained. 

As it is not easy to find the Indonesian rating system, me and my teammates decided to use the British rating system, namely BBFC, which is being broken down into 7 categories from the media content that is suitable for all until the one that is suitable only for adults. Based on the rating system, our music video plan (unrequited & complexity of love during youth) and song choice (“The Weekend” by BIBI) is categorised to be suitable for 15 years and over due to several reasons: 

• Use of substance: We have included an implication of alcohol usage (red cup) whilst in fact it is containing water. It is appropriate for our star to act "tipsy" when utilising this prop because she is 18 years old in real life, which is similar to her artist's age. However, since the scene will only last a few seconds, hence the audience is not particularly encouraged or promoted by it. 

• Language: Only one bad word—the "S" word—is used in the song's lyrics, but in order to avoid encouraging strong language, we won't have the artist say the word in our music video. Instead, we will show a different scene without lip-syncing. 

• Theme: As previously stated, the theme of our song and music video centers on complicated romantic relationships and unrequited love, which tend to be more relatable to teenagers who are much older. For this reason, we believe that it is appropriate for those who are at least 15 years old, as those who are younger may not fully comprehend the context, which could lead to misinterpretation and encourage them to engage in negative behavior.

─── ⋆⋅ SONG PERMISSION ⋅⋆ ───

Since we want to use BIBI & 88rising’s song "The Weekend" for our music video, we must ask the record label for permission to use it. Chelsea found the email address to contact 88rising, the record label that BIBI is under, here: https://88rising.com/terms-of-service. This includes the licensing agreement that grants permission to utilise the song. The email address was info@88rising.com. The email request that we sent, which Kalista wrote and delivered, is below: 

Since this is simply just a school project and we are not seeking financial gain, we are not expecting any replies to the email and in fact we end up not receiving any. As long as it's being utilised for the proper purposes, we have chosen to just stick with it. By sending the email request to 88rising (BIBI's record label), we have taken this action to avoid any copyright restrictions and further problems, like the ones on YouTube. 

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Prior to creating our music video, it is crucial to understand, consider, and follow the rules established by Cambridge, the school, and BBFC, all of which may serve the same objective. We made an effort to follow these rules in order to avoid any possible harm or issues that might have an impact on the project as a whole,  in such that it can prevent us from reshooting a scene if it breaks the rules of one of the regulation criteria. We also made sure to follow the regulation in order to avoid breaking school rules and to follow publishing rules online, including YouTube, where they could take harmful content into account and lead them to the deletion of videos. To better recognise our target audience and decide what should and shouldn't be included in our music video, we have established which age rating category our video falls under (in this case, in terms of language, mature topics, and usage of substance). 

As for the song permission, it's important to seek it from the record label in order to receive the proper license and permission, as using copyrighted material without their consent or sending a request could be against the law. It encouraged us to take responsibility for using the song appropriately and professionally, even if we did not get any responses at the end. Therefore, this awareness will allow me to grant permission if I want to use someone's property next time for my future projects.

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