Research : Rihanna's Digipak 'Loud'

Research : Digipak

A digipak is a case or cover for a CD and can be used in a way to create synergy and cross media convergence across my product. Creating a digipak comes with several advantages for both the audience and the industry. They are usually either 4 or six fold.

This is an example of a 4 fold digipak and
how to fold it. 

Advantages for Audience 

Creating a digipak is great for the audience as it reduces the chances of any damage happening to the clients CD, however they are more eco friendly than the average case as they are more likely to be made of cardboard. The digipak may also have a personal connection with the audience as they may have attended a concert which is featured on the CD.

Advantages for Industry

As a digipak is eco friendly it immediately makes the company look good, but the company can also charge more for a digipak than albums or singles. It is a great way for a company to promote by putting in leaflets about bands ect and promoting them at the same time as making money.

Planning - Record Label Logo

As my partner Jess and I are producing a music video we must have a record label, we have decided the name for out record label will be 'Glacier Records'. The connotations of a glacier have a wide range such as icy and fresh suggesting our label will be new and refreshing.

Planning : Star Image

After struggling to find a model to perform in our music video we have finally managed to get a star, Chloe Austin. She is a year 12 at out sixth form and has agreed to star in video and seems very motivated and excited to be our star which should make filming slightly easier. Chloe is a very quirky young woman which suits the genre of our pop song, looking eager and fun.

Our stars name is going to be Frankie Sharpe, we have researched this name to ensure there are no other famous people by this name. We find the name to be catchy yet also have a deeper relation due to the meaning of the name Frankie.

TA Research for my Artist

Olivia Skerne's Slidely by Slidely Slideshow

Institution Research : YouTube

Planning: Finding a Star Image

Currently Jess and I are working on finding a star image for our music video we have been asking people we know. We are looking for a female with long blonde hair, we are waiting for one of or friends to reply and let us know whether they can be our model. However if she is not available we will be creating a poster to post in the common room of our sixth form with a small description of the kind of look we are looking for and this will inform them of what they will have to do.

Researching Institutions: Spotify

Spotify was founded 10 years ago in Sweden and is currently available for use in the USA, Europe, parts of Asia and parts of Oceania, it is available in 50 different countries and 20 different languages. The headquarters for Spotify are now in Stockholm, UK. Spotify was founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon.


In August 2016 Spotify provided access to over 30 million songs, this number is constantly increasing as more songs, albums and EPs are being added daily. The cost of Spotify is £9.99 a month for premium, however it is free. If you elect to pay for premium it does come with certain advantages such as being able to listen to music without having an internet connection.




This is a screenshot of my Spotify account, as I elect to pay for premium I have the advantage of being able to skip as many songs as I want to and can select whatever song I like. As you can see at the bottom there is a navigation bar which reads; home, browse, search, radio and your library, this screenshot is of the home screen hence why it is highlighted in the synergetic green Spotify colour. Above this navigation bar it shows the song I was listening to when I took this and it also has the option for being able to connect and listen from different devices. At the time I took this screenshot I was listening to music through my headphones however I was in close proximity to my car and tv which can both connect and play music directly from my Spotify.








This second screenshot is taken again on my iPhone but it is of the browse section of my navigation bar. This page tends to change depending on what day of the week it is, for example on Monday's the heading will read 'Monday Motivation' and on Friday will read 'That Friday Feeling'. The day this screenshot was taken was a Saturday hence the caption 'Dancing all night long' as it is a typical day for people 18-24 to be going out, Spotify's main audience is people of this age group.






This image is a screenshot of the browse area of the navigation bar on Spotify. This area is very useful for users to find certain songs and remixes of that song.

Problems Whilst Filming

I borrowed a camera from school over the weekend in the hope I would be able to get some shots of the full moon, however due to the poor weather I was unable to shoot any footage as I did not want to damage the camera. Unfortunately it will be difficult to find a moon as full as it was for the next month so we may have to collect this footage in October instead.

Shooting Film of Full Moon & Red Sky

In order to get a good shot for part of our music video it will be essential to get good footage of the full moon to make the most affective impact. I have been researching when a good date to shoot the full moon would be, unfortunately my partner and I marginally missed the best full moon for September. However over the next few days the moon will almost be full so we will be attempting to shoot some footage if the weather permits. This footage will link with the lyrics when they read 'like a cover boy when you light the moon'.






This evening I was able to go out and shoot some footage of the sky as it was red, the reasoning behind this is because we wanted a clip to use for the beginning of the song when the lyrics read 'Gotta love this field and the cherry sky'. This image is an example of the sky i was able to get footage of however it is not exactly the same as the location I actually shot the footage at was an area that looked over a field. The reason I chose that location of course being because the lyrics matched perfectly as the 'cherry sky' was above a field.

Research: Inspiration for Establishing Shots 5

This is the establishing shot to the music video for Justin Bieber's song 'What Do You Mean', it is a long shot, The genre of this song is pop and the length is 3:26. This shot is not very typical of a pop music video as the lighting is gloomy and would be more associated with that of a rock video. However I like the idea of having the creator of the video featured as an opening sequence and inspires me to include an opening sequence in my music video which would include both my partner and my own name.

The establishing shot for the song from The Killers 'Mr Brightside' is a long shot featuring the whole band on a beautiful set design. The genre of the song is alternative rock sand the costume and set design suit this perfectly the deep colours and use of red give amazing conventions of a rock genre. This set design would be impossible for my partner and I to produce however this inspires me to become creative and think of things I could use to create a scene without having to spend lots of money as we have to work on a tight budget.

This establishing shot from the Blink-182 music video 'Up All Night' is a long shot which features a boy on a bike but the interesting part are his surrounding. There appears to be houses, which implies a rather built up area however there is also a great deal of destroyed property near by him. The genre of this song is punk rock and that is clearly represented in this establishing shot with the use of the lighting being gloomy and destroyed property. This establishing shot inspires me to use the area around me to film parts of my video and that a fancy set is not alway necessary.

Ellie Goulding's music video for 'Your Song' features a close up, right of frame shot of the artist with the background passing as though she is moving fast e.g she is on a train. This song is a pop and this establishing shot is also very fitting with the pop genre as it is very light and colour. As this is the establishing shot for the artist I am actually using it gives me several ideas for an establishing shot such as having my star image as a close up initially.

How This Research Has influenced my Creativity.

This has inspired me as it has made me realise I do not necessarily have to include my star image in the establishing shot, however as I am promoting my star image I will include them in the establishing shot.

Research: Analysing Sum 41 In Too Deep 4

I am choosing to analyse this song as I need to research genre's different to the genre of music video I will be creating. This Sum 41 song is 3:42, the genre of the song is soft rock and the type of music video is a performance video.


The establishing shot of this music video is a long shot which features all 4 members of the band who appear to be carrying their instruments, this implies immediately that this video will be a performance based video.

After the establishing shot the camera slowly pans round to another long shot and in that time it appears the band have changed their outfits into what appears to be black dressing gowns, the use of the colour black here represents the rock aspect of the genre. The band appear to be walking into a diving center which has synergy with the name of the song 'In Too Deep'.

In this long shot we can see the band performing with a crowd surrounding them whilst in the middle of what seems to be an empty pool. The use of the empty pool is again synergetic with the name of the song, as the pools can be deep.









This medium close up shows us that this video isn't purely a performance based video and is actually also a narrative based video. The band appear to be having a kind of team talk which gives the impression that they are perhaps having a diving contest as they are at the diving centre.

This medium close up shows 3 judges scoring a band members dive, proving that they were intact competing in a contest. This develops the narrative aspect of the video.

As to be expected from a performance video a close up of each individual artist is featured. The purpose of this is so we can get a feel for each artist alone, allowing the audience to get a better feel for the band. This supports Goodwins theory as they sing into camera with close ups promoting themselves.

 

The final imagine of this music video is a wide shot of the crowd and band in the fool dancing around to the music being played. The opposing diving team are even featured in this shot as it shows everyone having a good time.








How this video inspired me

This video inspired me as at the end of the video all of the main characters have their issues resolved and are having a good time which inspires me to have my characters happy at the ending of my video.

Make up Suitable for Different Genres

This dark vampy make up look would be perfect for if I were to be producing a rock music video. The dark lip and eye make up suit the conventions of rock very well, but in some cases also break the conventions as it is possible a rock make up look would be slightly messier than this, so this would perhaps suits a pop/rock genre best.

Overall this make up look is rather natural but has a very glowy look and a sudden pop at the eyes of the artist. I really love this make up look and think it would suit perfectly in the pop genre which my chosen song Ellie Goulding's 'Lost and Found' is. I am considering using such a look on my star in certain parts of the video but not thought the entire video.

A  natural make up look such as this would be perfectly fitting in the country genre, as often they have natural hair, make up and even surroundings. A look like this may be appropriate in certain parts of my music video when the lyrics describe fields as fields are part of nature and this is a very natural make up look.

Research: Mise en Scene of Different Genres 3

Mise en Scene is different for each genre and can truly define a music video as one genre or another. In this post I will explore the different conventions of mise en scene for different genres.

Conventions of genres from oliviamedia

Mise en Scene Inspiration

I have been walking around the area I live looking for inspiration of places I can use when I come to filming. As I am restricted in how far I can travel for location shoots I thought it would be useful to look in areas that are within walking distance from my house.


During this walk I was looking for places that include a natural frame, this image here is an excellent area fort that as the way the trees grow create a natural frame which my partner and I could use for shooting part of our video.

At the beginning of the Ellie Goulding song I have chosen 'Lost and Found' there is a great deal of mention of countryside 'Gotta love this field and the cherry sky, under blossom cloud though its late July'. I believe this location is also a great choice to match the lyrics at the beginning of the song, as the over grown edges and windmill truly show how country this area is.

Research: Analysing Ed Sheeran 'A Team' 2

This music video is a narrative video as it tells the story of the main character.

The establishing shot of Ed Sheehan's 'A Team' is a moving mediums shot in black and white of two women, one appears to be crying and the other appears lifeless. A chirping sound can be heard at this part of this video which sets the tone of the video. Immediately this shot poses questions and it becomes clear this video is a narrative music video and is telling a story. I believe the fact this music video is in black and white has a deeper meaning such as a representation of this woman's life as the colours are hard, which by this establishing shot it appears the woman's life is hard.

 It quickly becomes clear that the woman crying in the establishing shot is homeless as she lies sleeping on a park bench with holes in her clothes. This image goes strongly against Laura Mulvey's theory of male gaze as it is clear a homeless woman is not one that would grab the attention of most men.

In this two shot the woman appears to be on the street begging for money by selling magazines, this makes the audience feel sorry for the woman. In this shot it also picture the artist of the song, Ed Sheeran, as he sits, pays attention and gives money to this homeless woman it gives the impression that he is a good guy.

Under cranking is used in this shot of the music video to make the cars go past in surreal time. This represent life passing this woman by and gives the impression she has been stood alone for hours with not a single person paying attention to her.

This close up of the main character of this music video depicts her applying lipstick as though she is getting ready for something. As an audience knowing she is a homeless woman this automatically develops the assumption that she may be applying lipstick in order to look nice for prostitution.

These next two images show her in bed with a man and then taking money from the mans pocket making it very clear she is involved in some form of prostitution as a way to get money. The expression on her face shows one of shame and disgust showing she hates the position she is in but it is possibly her only choice, I believe this shows how truly deep this video and the black and white tones used in this particular shot perfecting depict that.

In this pair of close up shots we see the woman hand over the money she made from prostitution in return for drugs. This once again shows how truly awful the situation the woman is in, as she is clearly addicted to drugs as we see tears in her eyes when she turns to prostitution for money which we later discover is for drugs.

 In this medium close up it shows us the image of the woman doing the drugs she has worked through the day to earn. Her facial expression shows some kind of relief, as though her work has finally paid off, however he expression also shows disappointment showing she knows what she is doing is wrong.




In this high angle final shot, the woman appears to be at one with the sky, showing a representation that she has gone to heaven because she overdosed on drugs. This makes it clear that the establishing show was the woman crying over her own body, a rather surreal concept.





How this post has inspired me.

This post has inspired me as the high angle shot gave a true representation of her situation, this showed me that angles can add a lot to a story.

Skill Development - Final Cut Pro X

To begin editing we had to connect an external hard drive which has a folder called lessons on it, we moved a copy of don't stop believing into this folder ready to start our editing process. We then had to connect a memory card reader into the back of the mac in order to also move our footage into this lessons folder.

In this process we learnt a great deal about how it would take our macs time to load any files on as they were slightly old and had a lot of files to load it was difficult for them to load, this made us realise how important it was to be saving our work as we go as well due to the fact that they could crash at any point.

Once we had done this we could being to load Final Cut Pro X, this was our first experience using Final Cut meaning it was all new to us and used this experience as practice for when it comes to editing our footage for real.

As this screenshot shows at the bottom there is the glee song Don't Stop Believing and our footage we gathered during filming. In the centre it shows all the different clips we got as we had to do several takes of each shot to get it right, we then found the best clip possible and used that for the actual video, the way we chose this was the footage with the least technical difficulties such as the music cutting out randomly and actors or actresses slipping up.

Once we had the footage we wanted layered over the track we had to cut it to the right point where the music began playing and our actor started singing we did this using the cutting tool.




However even after taking several takes of the same shot it was not perfect and it would be very difficult for it to be. Once we lined the singing singing and track up as best we could we realised we would have to use some effects to slightly hide where our actor or actress went out of time with the track.

As we had never used these effects before it took sometime for us to figure this part inevitably making this part of editing the lengthiest part of the process. Choosing the correct filter to suit the music was only the beginning of this.






After we chose the effect we wanted we had to manage to line it up just right so the effect would move at the right time to make when our actor went out of time not noticeable. Although this was difficult and the actor was only out by a millisecond it payed off in the end and make the whole video look more professional.

This screenshot shows what we had to do to put the effect in, we had to place it at the exact right place to make the fade work. We also used this technique when it was time for a transition into the next clip of the video.





Once we went through this process for all the song and we ensure it flowed creatively the video was completed.

Planning: Gaining Copyright

My partner, Jess and I have emailed various people associated with Ellie Goulding and her music in an attempt to gain permission to produce a music video for the song 'Lost and Found'. This email was sent to Max Martin the writer of the song and Polydor who is Ellie's record label.

Skill Development - filming on location

With the entire A level class I have been developing my skills with using a camera for filming and filming on location.

To begin with in small groups we story boarded ideas to go along with the lyrics of the song 'Don't Stop Believing' from Glee. We began this process by printing the lyrics out and then coming up with ideas that matched the lyrics of the song. We then drew these ideas up into a story board.

After this process our class chose their favourite ideas to match each lyrics, we then chose members of our class to do the acting for this part. It was important for each member of our class to have a go at performing into camera as when we have to direct someone when it comes to filming we have to have empathy towards the person who is performing so we can correctly direct them. It was also important each person got to use a camera to film hence why we worked in pairs so everybody got a go at starting the camera on the correct cue of 'lights, camera, action'.

Once reaching location we had to set or tripods and camera's up, ensuring they were at the right levels and correct amount of zoom to get the precise shot we needed for when it came to editing.

We had some difficulties using our track as our speaker for the song would not work so had to get inventive so our actor could hear the music they were singing to, in the end we had to position a phone close enough to the artist that they could hear but make sure it was not detectable to the camera. Due to the difficulty with the speaker we often had to shoot each shot 3 or 4 times to get it just right, this is to be expected when we actually shoot therefore this experience has prepared us for when it comes to actually filming.

Eventually by the end of the afternoon filming we had enough footage with a variation of actors and actresses to use for editing. This experience taught me a lot and made our class become creative with ways to overcome difficulties.

Mise en Scene

Mise en scene is a French word meaning the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play. Mise en scene is an important part of a music video as it truly sets a scene with the use of a specific location, certain costume and a particular style of make up and even with the use of props. Using mise en scene correctly should determine the genre of the music video before the artist even sings, giving a great deal away about the music video before the music even begins.

Research: Goodwin

A music video is either a performance, concept or narrative themed video, in this post I will be exploring the conventions which form each of these types of video.

Performance


A performance video is footage of the artist or band either performing e.g into camera or on stage at a show, or even a stage performance. Often the artists are miming in this situation, however it does provide the most natural appearance of the artist/band. This is possibly one of the cheapest ways to produce a music video as the producers will not need extras, will need very few props and can even us footage that they had already filmed from concerts. This clip from Blink-182 'After Midnight' is a great example of a performance video as you an see the band performing with all their instruments and singing throughout the video.


Concept

Concept videos are often based around a single concept and are usually unusual or obscure, they can even be surreal as the video does not relate to the real world at all, for the consumers which can draw them in. For example the Twenty One Pilots video 'House of Gold' which I have previously analysed is a prime example of a concept video as it is surreal that 2 men could be performing with half of their bodies.



Narrative

A narrative music video is a music video that tells the audience a story in the process. Occasionally the artist or lead singer of the band will perform in the narrative video however more often than not an actor or actress is used as the musicians are busy with the music aspect.

Bruno Mars 'Grenade' is a good example of a music video which is telling a story.











How this influenced my creativity

This research has influenced me as it gives me inspiration on how my actor should perform during the narrative parts and that they should also look emotional when they sing.

Institution Research: iTunes

Itunes from oliviamedia

Using iTunes to distribute our music video will be excellent due to the simple and easy to use layout and how up to date the institution is.

Research: The History of the Music Video

History of the Music Video from oliviamedia

Ellie Goulding

 Ellie Goulding is a British singer songwriter who's career began when she met with record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik in and around 2008, later her manager became Jamie Lillywhite.

She truly rose tot stardom with the release of her album 'Lights' in 2010 which debuted number 1 and sold over 850,000 copies in the Uk. She performed the song 'Your Song' at the reception of the royal wedding in 2010. Her second studio album Halycon was released in October 2012, which debuted number 2 in the Uk charts and reached number 1 after 65 weeks .

In 2014 at the Brit Awards Ellie was awarded British female solo artist, she was also nominated for a Grammy in december 2015 for the single 'Love Me Like You Do'.

The pastel colours used all over Ellie Gouldings website beautifully represent how soft Ellie Gouldings voice is. I believe it will be reasonably simple as her name is always presented on a pale coloured background with her name in a beautiful pink colour.

Currently Ellie's page is mainly advertising the song 'Still Falling for You' which is the sound track to the new film Bridget Jones Baby.

There is clear cross media convergence across Ellie Goulding's official website, with the use of pastel colours being used and the same text being used. I also notice that Ellie Goulding pictures are often in black and white, the entire of her page is very gentle which I believe suits the way Ellie's voice and character is portrayed.





How this has inspired me.

Ellie Goulding's official website has particularly inspired me as the entire page looks, soft and elegant which matches very well with Ellie's voice and inspires me to ensure my artists look completely suits their voice.

Planning: Ellie Goulding Lost and Found

Gotta love this field and the cherry sky
Under blossom clouds though it's late July
You don't even try, still, you look so cool
Like a cover boy when you light the moon

Near the countryside but I just forgot
All the things that matter I forget a lot
I get so caught up in the city cloud
But this place is still my first love

Is there anybody out there waiting for me on my way?
If that somebody is you, then baby, I just wanna say
Tonight, nothing will bring us down
Tonight, we're at the lost and found

Guess I need to run, take me to the bus
But don't let me go, no, don't let me on
Gotta hold me tight, won't put up a fight
Of course I'll stay, I'll stay the night

Is there anybody out there waiting for me on my way?
If that somebody is you, then baby, I just wanna say
Tonight, nothing will bring us down
Tonight, we're at the lost and found

We're at the lost and found
We're at the lost and found

Is there anybody out there waiting for me on my way?
If that somebody is you, then baby, I just wanna say
Tonight, nothing will bring us down
Tonight, yeah, we're at the lost and found

We're at the lost and found
We're at the lost and found

The reason we have chosen this song is due to the fact that the lyrics of the song are very descriptive which will make making a music video for it much more interesting and will be easy to fit the song and lyrics.