Friday, 9 December 2011

Magazine Advert



I thought of using the same image used for the front cover of the CD for the magazine advert so that audiences will recognise the album if the advert is successful in promoting it. I included the release date at the bottom because its important so audiences know when they are able to buy the album. The quotes from well known papers at the bottom so audiences will be persuaded to buy the album. The typography is in a very simple font and the white colour makes it clear to read behind the black background. Magazine adverts aim to supply audiences with key, easily understandable information about the album so that they will be hooked to buying it in a short period of time.

Wednesday, 9 November 2011

Production log

Today we shoot the scene where the 'geek' is revealing his 'new look' in school. We had a short amount of time to shoot the scene because the school was getting prepared for parents evening. The time pressure meant that we were a lot more focused to get it done. For this scene we wanted to have a tracking shot where the camera was moving down the corridor, however the lack of equipment, like a dolly for the camera, meant that we had to be creative with filming. We managed to tape the camera to a ladder with wheels, this gave good results however when looking back at the shot i realised it was a bit fuzzy at times so we might have to re-shoot this scene.

Friday, 4 November 2011

Magazine Advert-- Florence and the Machine


The main image on the advert and the type of font used is same as the album cover, product identity is created by this so that if the advert appeals to the audience then they would recognise the album when they go to buy it. They have also decided to this specific image to bring across the artistic and quirky but yet serious feel which the image has. The image is in colour whilst the background is black, this makes the image the focal point for the audience which is important as the audience need to identify the artist when buying the CD. The artist feel to it also suggests that the album, like the image, is unique and a masterpiece.

The title of the band is written in a flowing, joint, handwriting type of font which makes it look feminine    liking in with the main image. The important information such as the album name 'Lungs' is printed in a simple font so that its easier to read. It also stands out because its in white on a black background. Popular songs on the album are included in the copy in order to persuade audiences into buying the album. The CD is aimed at a mixture of audiences. I believe its mainly aimed at adults as it is formal, dark and available in 'vinyl', which is mainly used by adults. However it is also available in 'Digital' format and a website for the album is offered suggesting a younger audience would also be interested.

production log

we had to pospone today's shooting session because we needed to use the green screen but it was not available.

Ellie Goulding - Magazine Advert


This is an effective magazine advert because it is obvious the artist has carefully thought about the title of the album 'Lights' and linked it with the main image by applying small lights around her hair. The brightness and colour of the lights make the image eye catching. The lights create a  of mystery and innocences which could reflect the type of music she produces and her personality. The bright lights also go with the saying 'bright star' suggesting that Ellie Goulding is a popular and talented artist therefore making her album worth purchasing.












The main image is one which is used for her album cover. The similarity creates product identity, as audiences will be able to recognise the album when shopping because its similar to the magazine advert therefore they will be drawn to it more.


The colours used throughout the advert are mainly gold and black. The colour gold connotes wealth, superiority and royalty whilst black is more formal, it suggests that these qualities are prominent in her album. The gold colour is also used as its a play o her name 'Goulding' which sounds like her name.

The typography is a bright gold colour which makes it stand out. A different, more curvy, font is used for the letters E and G this gives the typography more of a flow. Its also makes it different from the rest of the typography used, therefore her name is more noticeable which is vital as audiences have to remember her name for when they are buying her album. The rest of the copy is used to promote her album. Quotes and starts by respectable well know magazines such as 'Q Magazine' and ' The Idependent' are used to give credit to Ellie Gouldings work. The opinion of these magazines is trusted, especially the opinion of music magazines as they are experts in the industry,  therefore the audience is more likely to purchase the album as they believe it will reflect the decent quotes. The website for the album is also placed at the bottom of the advert in order for audiences to obtain more information about the album. The idea of cross media marketing is used by advertising the website in the magazine. Having the promotion online as well as in a magazine is an effective way of promoting the album to a mainstream audience, consequently the record label and artist receive more revenue.

The logo of the record label she is signed on to is printed at the bottom of the poster. The company is well know for producing well known artists therefore this makes Ellie Goulding appeal more the audiences, the log is also included for legislation purposes.

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

production log

The school corridor scene was shoot in school, because of this it was hard to shoot as the shot kept on getting disturbed by students and teachers walking passed and into the shot. Many extras were needed in order for the shot to look realistic however having a lot of people on set was distracting and as a result we went through many shots.

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Production log

Today we shot the park scene. We faced some difficulties because of the rainy weather, we tried to finish as quick as possible because of this. The people at the park also made it difficult to shot because we had to stop filming and wait until they moved out of the shot quite a few times, which was time consuming. Overall we managed to get some good shots, and i was very happy with the quality of the shots.

Sunday, 23 October 2011

production log

We decided to film the message scene first and not the park scene because some of the performers for the park scene were not available. We didn't want the day to go to waste so we shoot the message scene instead. This scene was easy to shoot as we didn't need to have a lot of different shots.

Friday, 21 October 2011

Britney Spears CD Cover


The font used for the artists name is considerably large compared to the title ‘Circus’ this is because Britney Spears is a well-established artist therefore her fans will be drawn tot the CD once the notice her name. To also make it stand out a bright colour is used. The style of the font makes it relate it relate to the title as it’s the type of font used in circus advertising. The cover is quite plain which acts as a voyeurism because there is nothing to distract the audience from the artist. The picture of Britney is also framed with starts to make it stand out the starts also create a sense of stardom and portray Britney as being glamorous a circus act.  Britney is wearing a light pink tutu style dress, which is quite revealing making the male glaze evident. The light pink colour connotes purity and innocence, which is a typical portrayal of pop musicians. Britney’s pose is also very innocent but yet glamorous. Her locks golden locks and flawless skin make females audiences (especially teenage girls) envy and want to imitate her in order to live her luxurious lifestyle.

The back cover incorporates move of the circus theme by including a clown dwarf, cake and banner which has the song titles listed on it. Both Britney and the clown have a happy face expression creating an exciting atmosphere which a circus it meant to have. The male glaze is still prominent as Britney is seductively showing her leg. Bye having Britney reading a book and having the birthday cake it makes the picture childlike, which is also something associated with a circus as children are the ones most likely to enjoy it. This suggests that the album is aimed at a young audience.

Mika CD Cover


The CD cover is bold and flamboyant, making its genre, which is pop, very clear and it also creates a happy atmosphere. The cover mixes reality with cartoon, this theme goes well with the title of the album ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’ .The images are very random but I think they show a life cycle, which relates back to the title. The image of the doll represents childhood, whilst the young girl with the revealing short dress represents adolescence and the cartoon of the man in the suit represents adulthood. This suggests that the album is aimed at different ages making it to appeal to a mainstream audience. The bright colours and images of the piano and flowers show certain characteristics of Mika It portrays him to be fun, musically talented and hippy-like as the flowers, dove and rainbow colours are related to the hippy movement. The drawings are also very childlike which suggests the album is aimed at young audiences. There are random arrows around the CD cover pointing the audience’s attention to all over the CD. A small image of Mika is included, which is featured in a different colour scheme but still following the cartoon theme. The image is in a sepia tone because these colours are different from the bright cover, it allows it to stand out and draws the audience’s attention towards it. Mika's name is in large bold white writing that dominates most of the centre of the cover once again drawing attention to his name in order for audiences to recognise who the album is by. The name of his album ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’ is in much smaller text and fits in with the CD cover as it almost looks like a doodle.


The back of the cover incorporates the same theme as the front cover with, include similar pictures and font the running continuity of the theme makes the CD as one because if the back cover was completely different it would seem like two different CD’s. This also makes it easy to recognise who the album is by. 

Overall the front cover has high artistic and creativity values suggesting that the songs within the album also have high production values. The whole CD cover is like a scrapbook with random ideas of Mika’s ideas, metaphorically a CD can be seen as a scrapbook book as it expresses the artist’s ideas.




Katy Perry's CD Cover

CD covers are designed to be eye catching (audience lines of appeal: one line of appeal is called envy or emulation and another one is aspiration). CD’s show an insight and establish an artists identity, they are visual representations of the music and therefore reflect the genre of music the artist has produced. Codes and conventions of the genre are use to appeal to the targeted audience.  

'One of the Boys' is Katy Perry’s first album cover.
The typography consists of her name and the title of the album. The font used for her name is a bubble gum pink with a thick white outer line and it's larger than the album title as a consequence the name is what immediately catches the audiences attention this is done so that audiences will recognise who’s album it is. The pink font and bright colour scheme is very feminine and youthful suggesting Katy Perry is very girly, sweet and playful, which suggests that her target audience is young people most likely teenagers. However, the title of the album, ‘One of the Boys’, contrasts with the feminine representation. The colour of the title is blue, which is an iconic colour that represents boys. The album name introduces her tomboyish and fun persona to the audience. She has made a reference to both genders in order for the album to appeal to a broad mainstream audience consequently she is able to maximise salves/revenue. Realistically girls are the ones who are most likely to buy and listen to her album whilst boys would be attracted to her image rather then music. Her revealing clothes make her attract a male audience. She would also appeal to the ‘gay scene’ as Katy Perry is very extravagant, with what she does, as seen in the picture. The mise en scene in this picture gives off an ideology of the 50's with the use of the old record player, her blue 50's style straw hat, the white picket fence, and the old style garden lounger with the blanket, giving of a modern and retro feel. Her clothing also portrays a vintage style from Katy, Her pink crop top with blue high waisted shorts, red wedges and blue sunhat are all retro fashion but it has been modernised in order to fit in with today’s modern society, young girls would envy and want to emulate her stylish clothing.  This theme could have been used in order for the album to also appeal to older audiences who would be able to identify with the 50’s theme. The shot is a medium shot and her pose is very seductive which, again, appeals to a male audiences.  Her pose is also very dramatic and glamorous looking, this appeals to higher-class audiences, as they are more likely to identity and relate to her. It’s important to appeal to this type of audience as they have the money to spend on the album. A lower class audience would also be interested in the album, as determination and talent would inspire them. There is no viewing of the institution on the front cover as this is not as relevant to a young audience.



The back of the album cover portrays the same theme as the front cover, although the sky is slightly darker suggesting time has passed and it is not dark. The ideology of the 50's still runs throughout the digipak as the white picket fence still remains in the shot and Katy is wearing different but yet very similar clothes as in the front cover. Her high waisted shorts and a pink crop top and hairstyle reinforce retro fashion. There is also a funfair theme on the back cover which is suggested by the red heart lollypop and pool with the rubber ducks, which could represent the ‘hook-a-duck popular funfair game. This theme appeals to a young audience as it implies that Katy is a fun natured girl. The back cover is also very feminine, this is connoted by the red lipstick, handwritten font and the two love hearts, which separate the main songs front the mixes. 


Thursday, 20 October 2011

Rihanna Through The Years




Rihanna’s first ever music video was ‘Pon De Reply’ released in August 2005. The video was released through mainstream channels such as MTV and was therefore widely consumed. The music video was also universally consumed as the song reached a high position in many countries The video was able to do so well because Rihanna was signed onto a well known label Def Jam who were able to spend a lot on the video production and advertising. The label worked with the fact that Rihanna was from Barbados by aiming the video at a predominantly Black audience, this is made obvious by the use of the Caribbean accent and dancing. It could be argued however that the use of some belly dancing moves makes the video relate to a wider ethnic group. Although the video had high production values it had a very simplistic style. I think this was because the label wanted to portray an innocent image of Rihanna, as she was young when she first started of in the industry. This innocent image is portrayed through the narrative as it’s about a bunch of girlfriends going to a club, purely for the reason of dancing. The fact that she doesn’t get involved with any of the males in the club shows her as being innocent. The costume she is wearing however goes against the innocent representation. Rihanna is fitted with a glitter and glamorous belly top and baggy jeans which reveal her knickers. Although at the time these clothes were in style for young people it still leaves her open to the male glaze as she is revealing too much skin. The music video is mainly performance based as the lyrics tell the audience how to do the dance. I felt that they made it mainly performance based not only because the song itself is about dancing but also to make her appeal to a young audience, as they’re the ones mainly interested in mimicking their idols and making up dance routines.


During 2006 Rihanna carried on releasing music videos that portrayed her in a similar way to her ‘Pon The Reply’ video. ‘As she wasn’t a fully established artist her label and management still had a control over the way she was portrayed, Rihanna didn’t have much creative freedom. We Ride’ ‘Unfaithful’ and ‘SOS’ were all released during 2006, in all these videos she was shown as being a sweet, pretty young girl. The typical settings for the music videos released during this year were Caribbean beaches and suburban towns this was done because her fan base was mainly from the Caribbean and America therefore they could relate to these locations







During 2008 Rihanna completely changed her image. Her new album was titled ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ and her music video reflected his. She went from being a sweet Caribbean sweetheart who was targeted at a young audience to a rebellious, punky female aimed at an older audience. The main reason as to why she had changed was because she was now a worldwide know artist who was win numerous amount of awards therefore she had the power to be more creative and have more of a say over her image. Although her style in her music videos became sexier she was not entirely made to look promiscuous. The locations and style differed in every music video keeping her audience entertained by providing something new every time.

The dancing and styling in this video is very similar to 'We Ride' music video. She has done this in order to create and identity with audiences will be able to recognise.


In this music video she has taken on the role of a mechanic. This predominantly male job, suggests she's powerful and therefore more independent.

This video is very similar to her first ever music video 'Pon De Reply' as the setting is the same and like 'Pon De Reply' it is mainly performance based. Rihanna could have decide to do a similar music video as 'Pon De Reply' proved to be successful therefore it would of be same to go with a similar style rather then do something completely different.

By 2008 and 2010 her image became more sexualised this was shown through her music videos. Her music videos, such as ‘Disturbia’ ‘Wait Your Turn’ ‘Russian Roulette’ and ‘Hard’
were disturbing and less straightforward as they explored a character in a dark state of mind.








In 2010/11 with her new tattoo Rebel Fleu (Rebel Flower) came a new image, which, like her tattoo connotes, combined her sweet and rebellious characteristics. Instead of being dark and scary like the previous year her music videos become more light and colourful. She still continued to push boundaries for example her ‘S&M’ music video was very sexual and was banned from airplay in 11 countries viewers have to very they are over 18 to watch it on YouTube as the video been deemed "inappropriate for some users”. Even her ‘Man Down’ music video caused a commotion for being explicitly violent.





Monday, 17 October 2011

shooting schedule


Park Scene:

Date: Sunday 23rd of October.
Performers: Anita, Derek and Najim
Time: 1:00 - 3:00
Place: Barnhill Park

Message Scene:
Date: Wednesday 26th of October
Performers: Najim and Anita
Time: 1:00 – 3:00
Place: Rovena’s House

School Corridor Scene:
Date: Wednesday 2nd of November
Performers: Anita, Derek and Najim
Time: 3:15 – 4:30           
Place: Preston Manor School

Band Rehearsing Scene:
Date: Friday 4th November
Performers: Najim, Ankit, Jordan and Mathew
Time: 3:15 – 4:00
Place: Preston Manor School

Band Performing Scene:
Date: Monday 7th November
Performers: Ankit, Jordan and Mathew
Time: 3:15 – 4:00
Place: CLC

Getting Ready and Party Scene:
Date: Wednesday 9th November
Performers: Najim, Anita, Derek and extras
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 (Najim and Anita only) 2:00 – 3:00 (Anita, Najim, Derek and extras)
Place: Rovena’s House

Running Away and Crying Scene:
Date: Saturday 13th November
Performers: Najim
Time: 1:00 – 4:00
Place: Rovena’s House

New Look Revealed Scene:
Date: Monday 14th November
Performers: Najim, Anita and extras
Time: 3:00 – 4:00
Place: Preston Manor School

Monday, 10 October 2011

Preparing the Vox Pox

After uploading my footage on the program Serif Movie Plus I took out what what was not needed by cropping them.


I then added the written questions and as i film each individual in a different location i merged the clips together by adding a fade at the end of each persons question.

I then decided to add some music in the background. I changed the volume at different point in the video so that it would be loud when the written questions were up and low when the interviewees were talking.

Vox Pox



Vox Pox Questions:

  1. What would you expect to see in pop music video?
  2. What type of music video do you prefer to watch; narrative concept or performance?
  3. What do you think would work well with this song?
  4. What music channels would you expect to see a pop music video in?
  5. How do you think women should be portrayed in pop music videos?

Sunday, 9 October 2011

Themes


Feminism/Male gaze would be incorporated in our music video through the attractive female character who is the interest of the male character. Post-feminism we will also incorporated a post-feminism view through our music video by making the main female character appear dominant compared to the male characters.

Post-modernism: We want our music video to mirror a film style because we mainly want to focus the narrative. We will be paying homage to movies such as ‘Loser’ (2002) and Katy Perry’s TGIF music video.

Romance: There is a bit of romance in music video as it’s about the main male trying to pursue his interest in a girl at his school.

Comedy: We are making the video humorous by using stereotypical characters and over exaggerating some of their actions.  

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Production Skills

Production skills
- Leave time for errors.
- Know my target audience fully.
- Plan thoroughly.
- Organise my time well.
- Have enthusiasm, dedication and passion for my work.
- Develop very good directorial skills such as being assertive.
- Find reliable performers.
- Make the lip-syncing (if any) as convincing as possible.
- Obtain a good research background.
- Utilize everyone's skills to my advantage.
- Use various suitable locations to make my video unique.
- Frequently use an outsiders perspective of my work in progress.
Shots to be used:
-Extreme Long Shot.
-Long Shot.
-Medium Long Shot.
-Medium Mid-Shot.
-Medium Close-Up.
-Close-Up.
-Extreme Close-Up.
-Over the shoulder shot
 Camera Techniques:
FRAMING- Where people, props etc. are placed within the frame (the composition)
ANGLES- High angle/ birds eye view (filmed from above)
Low angle/ worms eye view (filmed from below)
MOVEMENT- pan/ panning (Camera moves on pivot, left and right)
Tilt (Camera moves up and down on its pivot, pan up/ pan down)
Track/ Tracking Shot (Camera attached to moving object to 'follow the action')
Shot reverse shot (a shot that views the action from the opposite side of the previous shot, giving the effect of looking from one actor to the other)
Short take (Shot lasts for a short time)
Long Take (Camera lingers on the frame)

Editing:
Quick cuts- Shot moves rapidly from one frame/ shot to the next.
Fade- One shot fades away to black then another fades in.
Dissolve- One shot fades away as another fades in.
Wipe- A shot is literally wiped off screen by another.
Slow/ Fast motion- A sequence is slowed down/ sped up.
Flashback -A scene or sequence  that is inserted into a scene in "present" time and that deals with the past. The flashback is the past tense.
Focus- The sharpness of the image. A range of distances from the camera will be acceptably sharp. Possible to have deep focus, shallow focus.
Focus in, focus out: a punctuation device whereby the image gradually comes into focus or goes out of focus. 


Music Channels That Would Exhibit The Music Video



This channel is know for premiering new music video's therefore it would probably be the first channel we would exhibit our music video to as its the channel audiences go to if they want to watch new releases. If our music video proves to be popular on this channel we will then distribute to other music channels.
4music is available on Freeview, virgin media and sky, because its widely available it  attracts music aimed at a mainstream audience which means our music video will attract a big audiences if played on this channel. 
In order for our music video to be distributed to a worldwide audience we would have to exhibit it to channels such as MTV as the channel is available in many countries. The channel attracts a young audience because it plays popular music and reality TV shows which interest teenagers. This channel would be ideal for our music video as we would be attracting a young mainstream audience.

All these channels are aimed a mainstream audience therefore they all play pop music videos as its arguably the most mainstream genre. Consequently my target audience will be attracted to the music video.

Locations for filming










High School- The main location we will be using is the school, as our narrative involves school children. The video is aimed at a young audience, they'll be able to relate to this location as they spend most of their time there.






































Bedrooms: Alot of the scenes are going to take place in characters bedroom as its where most teenagers spend their time.
Park: We thought we would use a park scene as a place where the characters spend their free time as this would be a true reflection of what young people do.

Front door scene: In this location we're going to show a party happening in the background and the geek trying to get into the party but he gets refused.


Street: in the street scene we're going to show the geek going to the party and running home.



 Media Room - For some performance scenes we'll be using the green screen which is located in the media class room, we'll be using the green screen as we want to change the background of the performance to suit our preference. 

Props and Equipment

Sunday, 2 October 2011

Production Log

After taking the photo's I made the scrap book. I wanted it to be comical so I tampered with the photo's and added things that I thought the geek would think of.



Saturday, 1 October 2011

Production Log

I shoot some photo’s which will be added to a scrap book that will be used by the geek character in our music video. I wanted to make it seem as if the the geek is stalking the popular girl so we took the photo’s as if I was hiding whilst taking them. The scrap book is a easy way of showing how obsessed the geek is with the popular girl.
These are some example of the photo's taken:

Friday, 30 September 2011

Decided performers for the music video

Jordan: We choose Jordan to be the lead singer in the band because the song reflects the style of work produced by bands such as The Kooks, Arctic Monkeys, and Kaiser Chief. We believed that Jordan conformed to the typical conventions of a pop artist as he reflects the members in these bands in terms of looks. He also has past experience of acting which is beneficial as he would make his characters appear more believable.

Ankit: we choose Ankit to be one of the musicians in the band because he has experience in being in a band therefore he felt that he would be more comfortable with the instruments.

Matthew: We also choose Mathew to be part of the band because he is also a musician and would therefore look more professional when playing the instruments. His appearance, like Jordan, fits the the typical conventions of a pop artist.

Najim: we choose Najim to play the ‘geek’ character because we wanted this character to be funny, we believed that Najim could bring this quality forward when shooting because he is known for his humour.

Anita: we choose Anita to play the main part as the ‘popular girl’ as her appearance could make the role more believable. We also choose her because of her excellent availability and flamboyant personality making it easier for us to shoot with her.

Derek: we choose to play ‘the boyfriend’ because he is tall athletically built and attractive which are the typical conventions of the ‘jock’ like character which is what we wanted to portray.