How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
In order for me to create my final product I had to use a range of media technologies throughout the research and planning to the construction of my music video. The use of media technologies allowed me to analyse media texts as well as develop skills on software such as Final Cut and expand my knowledge on applications such as Photoshop.
The first piece of media technology I used was Blogger. I used Blogger as a site to upload and share all of the work I completed during the planning stage. This included analysing and uploading music videos, writing about target audience and media broadcast platforms. Furthermore I was able to upload my music video, digipak and digipak advert onto Blogger. Overall using Blogger as a media technology allowed me to easily process and condense large amounts of information.
The next piece of media technology I used was Google. Google is the most used search engine which processes 3.5 billion searches per day with 40,000 search queries every second. I used Google for research into the music industry, history of music videos and researching theories which apply to music videos. From here I was able to apply and challenge different aspects of theories, for example we applied star representation to our music video (Andrew Goodwin's theory) as it creates more audience interaction.
I used websites as media technology to create my final outcome. Pinterest was one website I used, this allowed me to gather a selection of images from Google to gain some ideas about a narrative based music video and what to include. The other website I used was "1001fonts.com", this was used to construct my digipak and digipak advert. It enabled me to view a range of different fonts with different styles and colours and place it on to photoshop ready to crop, and use the "magic wand tool" to create my digipak design.
In terms of creating the music video we used a tripod for most of the scenes we filmed for example our establishing shot which was the opening scene. Using the tripod meant we were able to get still shots and clear footage as the camera was not moving/shaking. To edit and construct the music video we used Mac computers. This was the best option as Mac's have modern up to date software and programmes such as Final Cut pro in comparison to programmes such as windows movie maker on other computers; which overall Final Cut has many more editing features. More media technology I used includes a digital camera. Using this camera meant that the footage was clear and in focus with high resolution, this would result in the editing being easier. I also used camera work as part of research and planning. This was due to us visiting Roundhouse and using different types of camera's and creating short productions with narratives. This enabled me to enhance my camera skills before making the music video. Whilst producing my music video I used a mobile phone as media technology, this allowed me to play the song whilst recording so that each shot could be accurately timed to fit in with each scene.
To make the digipak and digipak advert I used Photoshop. This programme allowed me to use a range of editing tools to edit the photos we took for the digipak and change the backgrounds of photos by using different layers in Photoshop. I also used Youtube during the research and planning stage to research categories of music videos and provide examples by sharing current music videos.
The last piece of media technology I used was Powerpoint and Prezi. Firstly I used Powerpoint as a way to complete a digital storyboard, the positives of this were that it was quicker and more efficient to design our storyboard and use online pictures to support our plan. On the other hand I used Prezi to create more visually appealing presentations during research and planning for the history of music videos, research into the music industry and music video conventions.
Overall, during the construction, research and planning using a wide range of media technology allowed me to effectively create the music video, digipak and digipak advert. It also allowed me to improve and enhance my technology skills whilst taking into consideration creative decision making.
Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Tuesday, 25 April 2017
Evaluation question 3
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Before the production of our music video, we created a quick questionnaire on SurveyMonkey. One question we asked was what genre of music people liked. Most people said R&B over Pop, rock and other categories. Using this response we decided to stick with the R&B genre and use Chris Brown's "Don't Judge Me". People preferred R&B as it's about soul, neo-soul and music from the 90's, this shows how R&B is quite versatile.
The negative comments made to do with the genre of R&B was that this particular genre contains a lot of "flashy cars, jewellery and sex appeal". Taking this comment on board we decided to challenge the R&B genre by not including these conventions, furthermore by doing this we would be creating a music video that does not include the "Male Gaze" theory. This idea would positively represent the R&B genre.
A positive response we had was that to use Point of View in a music video was a good idea. This is because people believed that "POV concepts are new and unique to add to music videos as they're not typically portrayed, especially in R&B music videos."
These comments would change the way I work in the future in a positive way because most of the comments we're positive so for instance I would explore more concepts because audiences like new ideas and concepts. We would also include new concepts during the editing and producing of the music video, this would be done through transitions and effects. This is advantageous for the audience as it's a more entertaining form of music that the audience enjoy and would also benefit us by bringing in mass audiences. We could also recreate a modern music video for songs of the 80's/90's. Taking on these comments, the way I work in the future to create a music video would influence the way I would create a Digipak and advert.
Before the production of our music video, we created a quick questionnaire on SurveyMonkey. One question we asked was what genre of music people liked. Most people said R&B over Pop, rock and other categories. Using this response we decided to stick with the R&B genre and use Chris Brown's "Don't Judge Me". People preferred R&B as it's about soul, neo-soul and music from the 90's, this shows how R&B is quite versatile.
The negative comments made to do with the genre of R&B was that this particular genre contains a lot of "flashy cars, jewellery and sex appeal". Taking this comment on board we decided to challenge the R&B genre by not including these conventions, furthermore by doing this we would be creating a music video that does not include the "Male Gaze" theory. This idea would positively represent the R&B genre.A positive response we had was that to use Point of View in a music video was a good idea. This is because people believed that "POV concepts are new and unique to add to music videos as they're not typically portrayed, especially in R&B music videos."
These comments would change the way I work in the future in a positive way because most of the comments we're positive so for instance I would explore more concepts because audiences like new ideas and concepts. We would also include new concepts during the editing and producing of the music video, this would be done through transitions and effects. This is advantageous for the audience as it's a more entertaining form of music that the audience enjoy and would also benefit us by bringing in mass audiences. We could also recreate a modern music video for songs of the 80's/90's. Taking on these comments, the way I work in the future to create a music video would influence the way I would create a Digipak and advert.
Monday, 24 April 2017
Evaluation question 2
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Brand identity is the visible elements of a brand, such as colour, design, logo type and name, that together distinguish and identify the brand in the consumer's mind. All of these elements appeal to the audience.
Having a brand identity was important to consider when I created the music video and ancillary texts. The reason for this is because the final product has to stand out and carry the same features as what the audience expect from specific genres. This would appeal to the audience as they are entertained by each element which builds up to produce the overall outcome and audience reactions.
We created a brand identity in our music video, digipak and advert by using features of what the audience would expect from an R&B genre. This included the colour scheme, for both our digipak and advert we used dark blue and black as the main colours. These colours represent the artist as being superior in the music industry. We also used white fonts on both the digipak and adverts this gives the album and advert a tranquil look. We used the same fonts on "1001fonts.com" and Photoshop. Furthermore a brand identity was created by using similar images on the digipak and advert, we did this in order to not create a huge contrast in the style of the digipak and advert. We took photos of the person in frame at different angles. The music video had a brand identity through the narrative it carried; the narrative being based on a relationship. All three products together create a stronger brand identity for the audience to engage with and inform the purpose. The digipak and advert will sell the song and album to the audience by using the visible features to portray the genre and reflect the artists style, this will establish the mood of the songs from the lyrics all within the album.
A difference between our main product and ancillary texts was that the music video contained transitions. We didn't use loads of transitions so instead we used 4 to 5 of the same transitions this was to keep it looking realistic. Also some of the transitions had a powerpoint effect so this was not relevant to our music video and would not of fitted in with some of the scenes. Some of the transitions we used included "Cross Dissolve" to start the music video, "Directional", "Bloom" and "flashback" which was used for our flashback scene. The use of these transitions in the music video added more entertaining visual elements to the music video.
Brand identity is the visible elements of a brand, such as colour, design, logo type and name, that together distinguish and identify the brand in the consumer's mind. All of these elements appeal to the audience.
Having a brand identity was important to consider when I created the music video and ancillary texts. The reason for this is because the final product has to stand out and carry the same features as what the audience expect from specific genres. This would appeal to the audience as they are entertained by each element which builds up to produce the overall outcome and audience reactions.
We created a brand identity in our music video, digipak and advert by using features of what the audience would expect from an R&B genre. This included the colour scheme, for both our digipak and advert we used dark blue and black as the main colours. These colours represent the artist as being superior in the music industry. We also used white fonts on both the digipak and adverts this gives the album and advert a tranquil look. We used the same fonts on "1001fonts.com" and Photoshop. Furthermore a brand identity was created by using similar images on the digipak and advert, we did this in order to not create a huge contrast in the style of the digipak and advert. We took photos of the person in frame at different angles. The music video had a brand identity through the narrative it carried; the narrative being based on a relationship. All three products together create a stronger brand identity for the audience to engage with and inform the purpose. The digipak and advert will sell the song and album to the audience by using the visible features to portray the genre and reflect the artists style, this will establish the mood of the songs from the lyrics all within the album.
Sunday, 23 April 2017
Evaluation question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When creating our music video, digipak and digiapk advert I had to take into consideration the conventions of real media products.
When we filmed our music video we created it using a point of view perspective, this meant that there was only one main character in our music video, however the camera symbolised the other "female" character. Throughout the scenes in our music video the main character would directly look at the camera as if it was another person. Using the idea of the point of view perspective challenges the conventions of most music videos as the majority of music videos use two shots to represent two people in the frame of the video. So therefore the camera shot we decided to use was the over the shoulder shot to create point of view. In general using this camera shot meant that we could create more audience interaction in our music video.
A general camera shot convention I used was an establishing shot. I used this for the opening scene in which we see the train tracks for 20-30 seconds. This uses the conventions of real media products because in music videos having an establishing shot to present the opening sets the mood and tone of the song which influences the genre. For example if a music video shows an abandoned, derelict area/building it can foreshadow the music video's genre in the sense that you can tell it would be an R&B/Hip Hop genre. We also used a range of long shots and mid shots as part of camera conventions in music videos. We used these shots for our "flashback" scene. Furthermore we used tracking and still shots to show the movement of our main character. Based on these two shots the one we preferred was the still shots to record movement because our scenes were easier to capture whilst remaining in focus. Another convention of music videos we challenged was the use of close-up's to reveal and convey emotion. The reason why we didn't include many close-up's is because it did not entirely fit in with the scenes we were filming and conveying emotion can be done through the use of mid shots and long shots by the character's facial expressions and body language.
Using conventions of mise-en-scene, we filmed our music video in different locations. We filmed at Millennium Green which is an open space area, this was suitable for our establishing shot to get the whole subject in the frame. We also filmed at a shopping centre, this was for our "flashback" scene and when the characters go separate ways at the end. Again using this convention signifies the mood of the song and highlights the genre. For the editing of our music video we used the most common convention of music videos which was "cuts/jump cuts". Using this convention it allowed us to follow the traditional route of a music video, which is important because we understood and used the skills that an artist would represent in their music video.
Moreover, we followed the conventions of R&B music videos, this included doing our filming in urban locations and keeping it narrative based by showing our main character a lot. On the other hand we did challenge the conventions of R&B and Hip Hop music videos by not including stereotypical features surrounding this genre, such as clubs, smoking and alcohol/drugs. This was important because it showed how we could still maintain the genre and narrative by only getting rid of stereotypical elements.
Our digipak used conventions of typical digipaks because we used dark colours such as blue and black. This reflects the mood of the album and can also reflect the artists power in the music industry. Additionally our digipak and advert included mid close up's of our main character this shows high status and how they're seen as superior and the star image. The key conventions used in typical digipaks and adverts can reveal meanings behind songs in the album within the lyrics, so therefore I took this into consideration when creating the digipak and advert.
Therefore the conventions of existing and real media products is important to take into consideration when constructing the music video, digipak and advert as it keeps the product realistic and within the genre, this means the audience can infer and understand the song.
When creating our music video, digipak and digiapk advert I had to take into consideration the conventions of real media products.
When we filmed our music video we created it using a point of view perspective, this meant that there was only one main character in our music video, however the camera symbolised the other "female" character. Throughout the scenes in our music video the main character would directly look at the camera as if it was another person. Using the idea of the point of view perspective challenges the conventions of most music videos as the majority of music videos use two shots to represent two people in the frame of the video. So therefore the camera shot we decided to use was the over the shoulder shot to create point of view. In general using this camera shot meant that we could create more audience interaction in our music video.
A general camera shot convention I used was an establishing shot. I used this for the opening scene in which we see the train tracks for 20-30 seconds. This uses the conventions of real media products because in music videos having an establishing shot to present the opening sets the mood and tone of the song which influences the genre. For example if a music video shows an abandoned, derelict area/building it can foreshadow the music video's genre in the sense that you can tell it would be an R&B/Hip Hop genre. We also used a range of long shots and mid shots as part of camera conventions in music videos. We used these shots for our "flashback" scene. Furthermore we used tracking and still shots to show the movement of our main character. Based on these two shots the one we preferred was the still shots to record movement because our scenes were easier to capture whilst remaining in focus. Another convention of music videos we challenged was the use of close-up's to reveal and convey emotion. The reason why we didn't include many close-up's is because it did not entirely fit in with the scenes we were filming and conveying emotion can be done through the use of mid shots and long shots by the character's facial expressions and body language.
Using conventions of mise-en-scene, we filmed our music video in different locations. We filmed at Millennium Green which is an open space area, this was suitable for our establishing shot to get the whole subject in the frame. We also filmed at a shopping centre, this was for our "flashback" scene and when the characters go separate ways at the end. Again using this convention signifies the mood of the song and highlights the genre. For the editing of our music video we used the most common convention of music videos which was "cuts/jump cuts". Using this convention it allowed us to follow the traditional route of a music video, which is important because we understood and used the skills that an artist would represent in their music video.
Moreover, we followed the conventions of R&B music videos, this included doing our filming in urban locations and keeping it narrative based by showing our main character a lot. On the other hand we did challenge the conventions of R&B and Hip Hop music videos by not including stereotypical features surrounding this genre, such as clubs, smoking and alcohol/drugs. This was important because it showed how we could still maintain the genre and narrative by only getting rid of stereotypical elements.
Our digipak used conventions of typical digipaks because we used dark colours such as blue and black. This reflects the mood of the album and can also reflect the artists power in the music industry. Additionally our digipak and advert included mid close up's of our main character this shows high status and how they're seen as superior and the star image. The key conventions used in typical digipaks and adverts can reveal meanings behind songs in the album within the lyrics, so therefore I took this into consideration when creating the digipak and advert.
Therefore the conventions of existing and real media products is important to take into consideration when constructing the music video, digipak and advert as it keeps the product realistic and within the genre, this means the audience can infer and understand the song.
Saturday, 22 April 2017
Production of Digipak
This next image shows the inside booklet of the digipak. Again the black and blue background was found on google images. However we used Photoshop's font to type the lyrics of 4 songs and then typed a quote which explained the song briefly.
This third image shows the front cover. As with the digipak advert, we used 1001font.com to type the title name and album name. This was pasted onto Photoshop, we then used the magic wand tool to cut off the bits we didn't need as well as used the tool to cut around the main image of the artist along with the lasso tool. (same step for digipak back cover)
This last image shows the main CD of the Digipak. As with the rest of the digipak we got the background of Google images by typing in "black and blue backgrounds". The template of the CD came from Google, we used the magic wand tool to unfill the CD template and make it blank. Next we overlayed the blank template to the background. We then used a font on Photoshop to type the artist's name and album name. Then used the arc tool to stretch the words so they curve around the CD to make it look more visually appealing.
Friday, 21 April 2017
Production of Digipak Advert
The production of our Digipak advert was created on Photoshop. We created
the title of the artist and album name "Fortune" on "1001fonts.com". On this
website we were able to choose a font type "United Kingdom" and then choose
the colour. We chose the colour blue for the album name to match the background
as the background is black and blue. The choice of black and blue came from
the idea that it should match the digipak itself which is also black and blue. The colour white for the artist name stood out against the black part of the background. We changed the scale (size) of the font once we copied and pasted the font onto Photoshop. Enlarging the name of the artist emphasised who Chris Brown is so that the audience are automatically drawn to the advert.
We used the magic wand tool to deselect the bits of the font we didn't need. The magic wand tool enabled us to get rid of these parts whilst remaining neat so it didn't cut off any other parts. For the rest of the text on the page such as the album release date, review and artists website, we used a font that was already installed onto Photoshop. This saved time so we could type straight into a text box rather than use the magic wand tool to deselect everything. Each edit we did was placed into a new layer on Photoshop, so that every edit is done individually and easy to delete if we changed our minds. We also included the record label, social networking and where the album can be bought. This was done by finding the image of each element on "Google images" and pasting it into Photoshop.
the title of the artist and album name "Fortune" on "1001fonts.com". On this
website we were able to choose a font type "United Kingdom" and then choose
the colour. We chose the colour blue for the album name to match the background
as the background is black and blue. The choice of black and blue came from
the idea that it should match the digipak itself which is also black and blue. The colour white for the artist name stood out against the black part of the background. We changed the scale (size) of the font once we copied and pasted the font onto Photoshop. Enlarging the name of the artist emphasised who Chris Brown is so that the audience are automatically drawn to the advert.
We used the magic wand tool to deselect the bits of the font we didn't need. The magic wand tool enabled us to get rid of these parts whilst remaining neat so it didn't cut off any other parts. For the rest of the text on the page such as the album release date, review and artists website, we used a font that was already installed onto Photoshop. This saved time so we could type straight into a text box rather than use the magic wand tool to deselect everything. Each edit we did was placed into a new layer on Photoshop, so that every edit is done individually and easy to delete if we changed our minds. We also included the record label, social networking and where the album can be bought. This was done by finding the image of each element on "Google images" and pasting it into Photoshop.
Furthermore we also found the background of "Google", so used it as our advert background. Lastly our main image in centre was created by using the lasso tool and magic wand tool. We used the Lasso tool to cut around the original image. We then used the magic wand tool to make the image neater.
Overall to create the advert the two main applications we used were Photoshop and Google and narrowed it down by selecting the main tools and photos we were going to use.
Wednesday, 19 April 2017
Production of Music video
The basics of the production of our music video started with the genre of our music video being an R&B/ballad. From here we decided that the narrative would be based on a relationship; including happy memories in the form of flashbacks and then right at the end the characters depart from one another. We created the music video in the style of point of view (POV). The reason for this is because the audience can engage more with the narrative and relate to the video if they've had a relationship. Moreover it reflects the "artist" to convey emotion. The camera was the "female" character so this enables the feeling that the audience are directly engaged as the male character shown is directly facing the camera.
The application we used to create the music video was Final Cut Pro. At the start of the video we included the title of the song and the name of the artist, we did this using the "text" that's available on final cut. We used "Drifting" as our text choice as it opens up the music video and drifts straight on to and out of the establishing shot. Next the establishing shot is shown, this is a still shot at the tracks for a few seconds. This is followed by a transition "cross dissolve". We used transitions as a way to cut to the next scene so that it makes sense and doesn't show the character go from one location automatically to the next.
Then we overlayed a slow motion effect of 50% to the music video when the character is walking, this was used as a way to not only add visual effects but to also match the visuals to the lyrics. This is shown straight after the "directional" transition where the male is seen sitting, using his phone looking distressed and the lyrics state "You're hearing rumour about me". Then another transition is used to cut to the next scene in the shopping centre before the flashbacks.
To create the flashback scene we overlayed a camera recording effect. We did this by getting the effect of Youtube by searching "overlay camera effect" and used the "Snipping tool" to place the picture on to Photoshop. We then used Photoshop to crop the bits that we didn't need out and fill the empty space black to match the background. Then saved the photo, ready to export to Final Cut pro. On Final Cut we imported the image and placed it over all the flashback scenes. Additionally we used a "Sepia" effect to give it an archaic feel of memories rather than the common "black+white" effect. After the flashback scenes, we then use another slow motion effect to show the "characters" departing.
In terms of the audio and track. We muted the audio and dialogue from the original clips we filmed and overlayed them with the song. The song came from Youtube which was saved onto a USB so that we could import it onto Final Cut.
The application we used to create the music video was Final Cut Pro. At the start of the video we included the title of the song and the name of the artist, we did this using the "text" that's available on final cut. We used "Drifting" as our text choice as it opens up the music video and drifts straight on to and out of the establishing shot. Next the establishing shot is shown, this is a still shot at the tracks for a few seconds. This is followed by a transition "cross dissolve". We used transitions as a way to cut to the next scene so that it makes sense and doesn't show the character go from one location automatically to the next.
Then we overlayed a slow motion effect of 50% to the music video when the character is walking, this was used as a way to not only add visual effects but to also match the visuals to the lyrics. This is shown straight after the "directional" transition where the male is seen sitting, using his phone looking distressed and the lyrics state "You're hearing rumour about me". Then another transition is used to cut to the next scene in the shopping centre before the flashbacks.
To create the flashback scene we overlayed a camera recording effect. We did this by getting the effect of Youtube by searching "overlay camera effect" and used the "Snipping tool" to place the picture on to Photoshop. We then used Photoshop to crop the bits that we didn't need out and fill the empty space black to match the background. Then saved the photo, ready to export to Final Cut pro. On Final Cut we imported the image and placed it over all the flashback scenes. Additionally we used a "Sepia" effect to give it an archaic feel of memories rather than the common "black+white" effect. After the flashback scenes, we then use another slow motion effect to show the "characters" departing.In terms of the audio and track. We muted the audio and dialogue from the original clips we filmed and overlayed them with the song. The song came from Youtube which was saved onto a USB so that we could import it onto Final Cut.
Monday, 17 April 2017
Friday, 14 April 2017
Storyboard
This is a draft of our storyboard. It shows the concept we will use including the duration which fits into the lyrics. The camera angle and movement is what we're most likely to use in our music video. Having a digital storyboard i.e. not drawn visually demonstrates a better understanding of what each scene will convey.
Mise-en-scene
Lighting: For the flashback scene the lighting used was radiant, the reason for this choice was to convey the happy memories. During the opening scene of the establishing shot at the train tracks, the lighting used was generally the brightest of all scenes to set the scene as well as inform the audience that the mood is expressed as positive. The narrative of our music video is based around a relationship breaking down, including the use of flashbacks to represent the memories. Following this, at the end of the music video the audience see the relationship break down when the characters depart.
Location: We filmed outdoors because it was a relevant location and created a positive atmosphere to communicate the genre to the audience this is due to the majority of R&B music videos being filmed in urban locations. The use of filming outdoors gave the music video a sense of realism to enhance the genre as it is communicated through the lyrics. The location represents the artist as it makes the audience reflect on personal experiences as well as experiences the artist may have gone through. The variety of locations symbolises the "feelings" in the song as well as establish the mood. On the whole location creates mass audience interaction as the choice of location influences what happens in each scenes so the audience can relate to the visual and lyrical aspects.
Location: We filmed outdoors because it was a relevant location and created a positive atmosphere to communicate the genre to the audience this is due to the majority of R&B music videos being filmed in urban locations. The use of filming outdoors gave the music video a sense of realism to enhance the genre as it is communicated through the lyrics. The location represents the artist as it makes the audience reflect on personal experiences as well as experiences the artist may have gone through. The variety of locations symbolises the "feelings" in the song as well as establish the mood. On the whole location creates mass audience interaction as the choice of location influences what happens in each scenes so the audience can relate to the visual and lyrical aspects.
Thursday, 13 April 2017
Digipak advert analysis
This digipak advert by Drake reflects his R&B/ Hip Hop genre. This advert presents his "Nothing was the same album". The title "Nothing was the same" could suggest his personal journey from childhood to adulthood. The font of the title is small, this could emphasis how his small experiences have been powerful, along with the choice of words the title is emotive. This digipak advert has a simple colour scheme using just white, blue and black. The colour blue is mysterious, this could show how the artist has had a confusing journey through life. However the colour blue could also represent loyalty and trust which his songs could be portraying.
In comparison to the text the images are large, this represents the artists star image and high status. The audience are able to find a deeper meaning behind the simplicity of his album and the lyrics.From the close up we see of the artist his facial expression shows how he's troubled by something as he's thinking, this could reflect the mood of the album. This digipak advert appeals to a teenage audience and young adults.
In comparison to the text the images are large, this represents the artists star image and high status. The audience are able to find a deeper meaning behind the simplicity of his album and the lyrics.From the close up we see of the artist his facial expression shows how he's troubled by something as he's thinking, this could reflect the mood of the album. This digipak advert appeals to a teenage audience and young adults.
Sunday, 9 April 2017
Digipak advert analysis
Only three colours are used (red,black and white), although this makes the advert look simple the colours could reflect the songs within the album. Red can symbolise danger, it could suggest that the artists songs are energetic and lively. The colour black can sometimes represent power, this could reflect the artists high status or it could even suggest that the album is intense. The colour white balances the other two colours and as it's seen as representing peace it could suggest that not all the songs will be negative.
The image of Jay-Z is centred and shows the audience a close up. His facial expression is serious which could reflect the mood of the songs in the album. The use of a close-up shows his high status and could reflect his success along with the statement "The president of Hip Hop returns. Overall this digipak advert appeals to a young teenage to adult mostly male audience.
Thursday, 6 April 2017
Digipak Analysis
Digipak analysis for Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" album.
This digipak is intended to appeal to Perry's fans of teenagers and young adults; mainly females, using conventions of the "Pop" genre. This picture shows the front and back cover. The front cover shows Perry laying on pink clouds which are meant to look like candy floss. The back cover also shows a blue sky with pink clouds. This makes the cover look unrealistic in the sense that it's meant to look like a dream. The font on the front cover which says "Teenage Dream" is designed to look like candy canes. This could influence the name as Perry could be suggesting that being "Teenager" should be happy, enjoyable and "sweet". Overall attracting a teenage audience. Perry's name is also on the front cover, it's shown as pink and visual, so as people around the world buy her album it shows how much of an optimistic person she is. Furthermore the track list is on the back cover and the font of the songs show all the letter "o" are shaped like sweets. Also the font is red which is a typical convention of the pop genre as bright colours create a vivacious feel. Therefore this attracts a younger teenage audience.
This photo shows the CD's and internal digipak photo. The internal photo is similar to the one on the front cover. In some aspects it reflects the "male gaze theory"-Laura Mulvey, this is due to the nudity shown. As the whole theme overall gives an unrealistic feel this could present how most of the songs in the album are positive and lively. The CD's are colourful as they are red and white and blue and pink. Again they are designed to look like sweets which show how the album is aimed at a younger audience.
This photo shows the CD's and internal digipak photo. The internal photo is similar to the one on the front cover. In some aspects it reflects the "male gaze theory"-Laura Mulvey, this is due to the nudity shown. As the whole theme overall gives an unrealistic feel this could present how most of the songs in the album are positive and lively. The CD's are colourful as they are red and white and blue and pink. Again they are designed to look like sweets which show how the album is aimed at a younger audience.Tuesday, 4 April 2017
Digipak Analysis
Digipak analysis for Drake's "Take Care" album.
Monday, 3 April 2017
Audience
The song we chose was Don't Judge Me by Chris Brown, from here we decided the target audience would be 15-24 year olds with an interest in the R&B/ Hip Hop genre. I hope to get a positive reaction back from the music video we create as it does challenge some conventions of typical R&B music videos for example the fact that we do not include drugs/alcohol references. Overall, audience is an important aspect to consider when creating a music video as the purpose is to entertain which keeps the audience more engaged.
Saturday, 1 April 2017
Alternative music videos: Cunningham and Gondry
Michel Gondry is a French independent film director, screenwriter and producer. He is known for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise-en-scene. This makes his videos very unusual and unique to attract and engage his audience.
Chris Cunningham is a British video artist. Cunningham has primarily directed music videos for ambient music and electronica acts such as Autechre and Aphex Twin.In the 2000s, Cunningham began doing music production work. He has also designed album artwork for a variety of musicians. Cunningham has had close ties to Warp Records since his first production for Autechre. Videos for Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker" are perhaps his best known. His video for Björk's "All Is Full of Love" won multiple awards, including an MTV music video award for Breakthrough Video and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video.
These music video directed by Gondry and Cunningham are alternative because they do not follow the typical conventions of music videos. Both of these music videos have futuristic and computer animated themes to them. These types of alternative music videos reflect the artist/directors and represent their own memories. Gondry and Cunningham's unique directing approach is shown through their visual effects and settings.
Gondry and Cunningham's music videos are original, this means that they do not come from mainstream music videos because they include new ideas such as the use of robots. Their music videos are different from other genres of music such as Hip-Hop and Pop because of how they are portrayed to the audience being distinct to mainstream music. Their videos reflect Hebdige theory with the idea of 'little cultures in their own rights'. This theory can be applied as the Alternative genre is so different that audiences can perceive different ideas from the same music video. This is due to the different emotions they evoke towards the audience. These videos by Cunningham and Gondry support Dyer's star theory and the idea of paradoxes because the directors are shown as both ordinary and extraordinary. The ordinary aspect comes from the fact that the lyrics match the song and represent the visuals creating various feelings, emotions and moods for the audience. However the extraordinary aspect comes from the use of technology in the video which the audience idolise because very few music videos include robots.
Neither of the videos can be applied to Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory because there are no women in the music videos represented as "sexualised". This is arguably good because it shows how the audience can still be entertained and engaged by a music video without the need of women being given the status of an object due to their physical appearance.
On the other hand both videos can be applied to Andrew Goodwin's theory because they include some of the features within his theory. Firstly they contain intertextual references to computer animation and "Rubber Johnny" has a video game feel to it. Also the visuals match the music because in "All is full of love" the music has a slow pace so the editing has longer slower paced shots, whereas in "Rubber Johnny" there is a fast paced beat so the visuals show fast paced short takes of edited shots. On the whole the music matches the visuals.
These music video directed by Gondry and Cunningham are alternative because they do not follow the typical conventions of music videos. Both of these music videos have futuristic and computer animated themes to them. These types of alternative music videos reflect the artist/directors and represent their own memories. Gondry and Cunningham's unique directing approach is shown through their visual effects and settings.
Gondry and Cunningham's music videos are original, this means that they do not come from mainstream music videos because they include new ideas such as the use of robots. Their music videos are different from other genres of music such as Hip-Hop and Pop because of how they are portrayed to the audience being distinct to mainstream music. Their videos reflect Hebdige theory with the idea of 'little cultures in their own rights'. This theory can be applied as the Alternative genre is so different that audiences can perceive different ideas from the same music video. This is due to the different emotions they evoke towards the audience. These videos by Cunningham and Gondry support Dyer's star theory and the idea of paradoxes because the directors are shown as both ordinary and extraordinary. The ordinary aspect comes from the fact that the lyrics match the song and represent the visuals creating various feelings, emotions and moods for the audience. However the extraordinary aspect comes from the use of technology in the video which the audience idolise because very few music videos include robots.
Neither of the videos can be applied to Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory because there are no women in the music videos represented as "sexualised". This is arguably good because it shows how the audience can still be entertained and engaged by a music video without the need of women being given the status of an object due to their physical appearance.
On the other hand both videos can be applied to Andrew Goodwin's theory because they include some of the features within his theory. Firstly they contain intertextual references to computer animation and "Rubber Johnny" has a video game feel to it. Also the visuals match the music because in "All is full of love" the music has a slow pace so the editing has longer slower paced shots, whereas in "Rubber Johnny" there is a fast paced beat so the visuals show fast paced short takes of edited shots. On the whole the music matches the visuals.
Friday, 31 March 2017
Equipment list
Digital camera- This will be used to film our music video, digital camera's will allow us to gain a high resolution video therefore making the music video easier to edit.
Tripod- We will use a tripod to steady our camera, this is important because our music video contains still shots so the tripod will allows us to get still camera shots without the camera shaking
Phones- This will allow us to match the length of the lyrics from the original music video to our music video so that we stay within the time frame
Apple Mac computers- As part of digital technology the computers will be used to edit our music video on FinalCut pro. The Apple Macs allow us to use the latest software (finalCut) to edit.
Tripod- We will use a tripod to steady our camera, this is important because our music video contains still shots so the tripod will allows us to get still camera shots without the camera shaking
Phones- This will allow us to match the length of the lyrics from the original music video to our music video so that we stay within the time frame
Apple Mac computers- As part of digital technology the computers will be used to edit our music video on FinalCut pro. The Apple Macs allow us to use the latest software (finalCut) to edit.
Thursday, 30 March 2017
Media broadcast platforms
The main media broadcast platform I will use to present my music video will be Youtube. Youtube has 1 billion active users each month. This means that it's easier to gain a mass audience as many people use this platform to easily share videos. Additionally our our target audience is aimed at teenagers between the ages of 15-24 so this age group are more likely to use Youtube in comparison to TV or radio as it attracts a younger audience. Furthermore over time a range of technology and multiple devices has led to easy accessibility. Therefore our target could watch our music video on a site such as Youtube on their phone, laptop or tablet.
Even though Youtube may be used more than television, we would still use TV as a media broadcast platform. This is because on average 60% of teenagers spend at least 20 hours a week watching TV. Our music video could be shown on music channels such as 4Music, Viva UK and MTV Base as they play music videos primarily focused on the genres Hip Hop and R&B.
The Digipak advert would be presented through platforms such as billboards, allowing many people to view the advert. It would also be shown in Hip Hop and R&B music magazines such as "Worldplay"-UK Hip Hop and digital maagzines such as "RnB" and "Echoes magazine". The Digipak would be sold by HMV and possibly high street retailers which sell CD's and albums.
Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Thursday, 16 March 2017
Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Intertexuality in music videos
Intertexuality is the way in which one media text is referenced in another.
Intertextuality in music video's supports Andrew Goodiwn's theory "Dancing in the distraction factory". This theory suggests music videos contain codes and convetions e.g a relationship between lyrics and visuals, technical aspects, star representation and intertextual references.
One example of intertexuality in music videos comes from Lady Gaga's- "Paparazzi". In this music video there are many references to Newspaper articles and headlines. This is a intertextual feature as another media text was included in the video. Depending on the type of intertextual reference, one reason an audience would enjoy this feature is because of the feeling it can evoke. For example if a music video included references to past decades such as the 70/80's it may create a sense of nostalgia. In Gaga's music video meaning is created by showing reference to other popular cultural objects i.e. the use of newspapers. Using intertextuality in music videos allow an audience to identify their theoretical framework of knowledge, and use it to define their identity. This approach can be used to gain popularity for referenced ideas.
Intertexulity can be seen in other forms of media for example film. The comedy horror film "Scary Movie" is based on "Scream", "I know what you did last summer" and "Sixth sense".
Another example of intertexuality in a music video is from Gwen Stefani's- "What you waiting for?". In the music video Srefani throws a pocket watch and falls back on her chair causing her to fall back on her chair and transporting herself to a fantasy world based on the film and book "Alice In Wonderland" and "Through the looking glass". The picture on the left shows the reference to Alice in wonderland in Stefani's music video, whereas the picture on the right shows the original scenes from Alice in wonderland. The audience can also infer this through the location and mise-en-scene of the props and costumes. This intertexual reference is appealing to the audience as it communicates a different meaning then the original text. Therefore this direct cinematic reference allows an audience to draw conclusions to the meaning of the message.Lastly for my music video I won't be adding any intertextual references, however I will be adding elements of Goodwin's theory. The visuals will match the lyrics this means that we can convey the narrative of the song. I will also use star representation, this will be created by the male lead being presented throughout the video, this will have the effect of creating more audience interaction. Therefore this engages the audience.
To sum up intertextuality in music videos and other forms of media can entertain the audience by providing new meanings and better knowledge of the original text.
Saturday, 18 February 2017
Categories of music videos
A performance based music video features the artist/ group throughout the song. The song features the artist dancing throughout the music video and the use of varied camera angles and shots keep the video interesting. Silento-Whip/Nae Nae is an example of a performance based music video. In the song Silento performs the dance moves with different dance crews. For my music video the performative genre won't be used as it doesn't give out a message or tell a story.
A concept based music video focuses on an idea and tend to include a particular editing or filming technique. Conceptual videos are dramatic and convey a message by being metaphorical. They don't have a narrative so the visuals shown don't match the lyrics. Ellie Goulding-Burn is an example of a conceptual based music video. The concept based genre could be used for my music video as the use of flashbacks is an idea to represent how time has gone by.
The aim of narrative based music videos is to tell a story, this can be told through the lyrics which match the footage being shown. Narrative based music videos tend to feature in films as they sometimes carry a message and can connect to the audience in an emotive way.
Lil Wayne-Mirror is an example of a narrative music video. For my music video I will be using the narrative genre as it tells a story and involves the audience more than performative as it's emotive, therefore creating more audience interaction.
Overall my music video falls into narrative category as it tells a story in the sense that is shows different stages of a relationship.
Thursday, 9 February 2017
Tuesday, 24 January 2017
Subculture and Target Audience
A youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviours and interests.
Our music video will target a teenage audience between the ages of 15-24. The social demographic represented through Brown's fans show they have adopted similar styles, hobbies and occupations.
Gender- Brown's early career started at the age of 13, this made him appeal to an audience of mainly females and some males aspired to be like him. However in 2009 after the domestic violence case with Rihanna, Chris Brown lost mainly female fans. Chris Brown's music started to become more mature after the incident and his tracks were more explicit e.g. F.A.M.E which narrowed his target audience and more fans over the age of 15 became attracted to his music.
Style-Over time Brown's style has changed to fit in with his music, earlier in his career his style/ fashion consisted of hoodies/ baggy jeans and customised his clothing with cartoon characters. Additionally as his music grew his fashion identity increased as he started to wear more mature clothes and get tattoo's. In 2012 Brown launched his clothing line "Black Pyramid".
Occupation- Brown's target audience is largely aimed at teenagers. This means that only a small percentage would have an occupation. Therefore the audience have more disposable income and can spend money on Brown's album's and merchandise. Overall this promotes the artist.
Hobbies-The hobbies of Brown's audience would most likely be related to music. This would include hobbies such as dancing, singing and having an interest in instruments. These hobbies from the audience tell us that they are interested in the music industry and the variety of genres within music.
Uses and Gratifications theory- This theory understands how and why an audience seek out specific media to satisfy their specific needs. Brown's audience would listen to his music as a way of entertainment and relaxation. Mood management is the most emotional gratification of music. The audience would use Brown's song to reflect their mood or for a distraction of their mood. Other gratifications from the audience may include downward social comparison so the audience enjoys consuming media that portrays people similar or worse off than ourselves. Also motivation for deeper meanings within Brown's songs for insights, understanding how others think and feel and purpose of life.
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