Evaluation - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

This evaluative question I believe can be answered in a number of different ways. I am going to break it down into sections that are; use, develop and challenge.

I think overall my video has a unique and interesting message. I decided to do this because I thought that the original video didn't represent the lyrics of the song particularly well. In a way I thought it could of even contrasted it.
My music video was intended to use, develop and challenge conventions of original media products.

Use...
Most videos are narrative and/or performance based - which I have stuck to in my video. Although this is convensional, I think it a good way to present a narrative and feature my artist which the audience wants to see. I stuck to a narrative that was suited to the genre and stayed true to this. If I was to use a narrative that was dark/horror like, it wouldn't fit to my music at all. I stayed convensional in this aspect but this is because it works well and makes sense to the audience. I decided to have a more narrative than performance as I wanted the narrative to be clear and understandable.

I've used midshots for the performance section of my video and I did this because I want the audience to be able to relate to the artist. I think this is a really conventional thing to do.
I did this because I think allows the audience to be able to look at the artist and that is one of the main things an audience wants to see in a music video - especially if it is a debut song, the audience can see who the artist is.They can also be used to show some important features and backgrounds. In addition to this, this is used a lot in the pop genre (same as my artist) and in many other genres, because it can be used to show emotions and even though it is one genre, each song can differ from eachother so greatly in the message that is given. Overall the midshot is a good way to present any message in many genres.










 I decided to use an over the shoulder shot create a relationship between the character and the audience. I think that by doing this it allows the audience to see something from my characters point of view. I think that because my message is something that could be discussed and someone could develop a strong opinion on, I wanted the audience to understand the opinion of the character. For example, I think a lot of people have looked through a magazine and looking at a celebrity and thinking I want to be like that. So therefore I wanted the auidence to understand and sympathyse with the character.

Challenge...
One unconventional thing I have used is the smoking scene. Some people would argue that it might be innappropriate for some of the younger memebers of my audience to see, but I wanted to create some memorable in my video and possibly something to discuss. However I would argue that because my video protrays a negative image of my character, it then portrays a negative image of smoking. I think that this could possibly be something that will change some members of my target audience's opinions. In addition to this, I think because the message presents Americanisation in a negative light, it could make the audience share this view and everything that comes with it, which would be the heavy smoking, revealing clothing and smoking. Also, because the artist wasn't smoking, this means they share the opinion because the lyrics are about it and it shows them not doing it.
However, although I think I have made done something quite unconvensional in my video, I have found some other artists that do the same, but portray it in a more posative way.
 

 In this video I think it portrays smoking in a way that looks socialable and sexy. Where as in my video, my character is smoking alone and looks bored. I wanted to convey a connotation in my video of a femme fatale woman and most women from older films were smoking and looked glamourous. Where as now, we look at these images and a lot of people now disapprove of the individuals and think they portray themselves in a negative way, despite the fashion at the time.


I decided to use an over the shoulder shot create a relationship between the character and the audience. I think that by doing this it allows the audience to see something from my characters point of view. I think that because my message is something that could be discussed and someone could develop a strong opinion on, I wanted the audience to understand the opinion of the character. For example, I think a lot of people have looked through a magazine and looking at a celebrity and thinking I want to be like that. So therefore I wanted the auidence to understand and sympathyse with the character.

Evaluation - How effective are the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

Evaluation - How did you media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used many technologies throughout my coursework - some good and others bad! But with out the majority of them I wouldn't be able to create my video.

Evaluation - Audience Feedback

Draft of Music Video

This is the first draft of my music video. I found it hard to create given the circumstances that occurred. Firstly, I lost a lot of my footage and was unable to film anymore because the deadline was quickly approaching. Another thing I found difficult was being able to transfer my project from imovie to blogger. I tried youtube and I had problems with the format of the video, so I couldn't upload via youtube. I have used the video uploader that blogger provides and it was a very quick and simple process, however the downfall of this was the quality of the video. Although, I think I have done fairly well given the situation.
Before I begin the audience feedback section of the evaluation I want to write a few notes of what I think:
- I think I have managed to get my lip syncing placed well and looks quite realistic.
- I am pleased with where each scene has been placed in relation to the music. When the music changes key I have placed cuts and chose scenes to suit a major or minor key.
- I have used a good amount of lip sync and not overloaded the video with the storyline, as I thought this could become confusing and uninteresting. I like the way the lip sync breaks up the video.

However:
- I am a bit disappointed by the fact some of my footage had been lost and I think that this has hindered the overall outcome of my video.
- I think that parts of the video are quite repetitive (but it was quite difficult to avoid!)

Getting to my editing

Today was the first day I was going to start editing. I loaded my memory stick to find that some of my footage was missing. I have checked the camera I used and the footage I have lost isn't there. Unfortunately, I will have to work with the remaining footage I have and hopefully create something just as good. I have come up with a few more ideas to extend my video time to match the length of the song. Hopefully I will be able to create something!

Final Draft of Magazine Advert

This is my third draft of my magazine advert. I decided that after looking at my last draft, it wasn't quite what I had hoped for. I have decided to remove the blue text from my previous draft as I thought it looked quite unprofessional and amateur. I still have kept the blue in the background to maintain the American theme. I thought by using black and white it connoted 2 very different things and by this I mean the interpretation of the American lifestyle by other cultures, and the reality. I have now included a web address for the artist, so fans can get some more information on the album. I thought that including reference to social networking sites such as Facebook makes the artist seem modern. Also, I decided to add some information about where tour tickets are available from as some people may want to book promptly and it also adds a bit more detail to the advert by advertising 2 things at once , without being too over powering and obvious.

2nd Draft of Magazine Advert

This is the 2nd draft if my magazine advert. After studying my previous draft against this one, I believe that this one a has a much more professional look. Firstly, I have included additional information to fill in some gaps. For example, there is an additional review, information about the tracks and where the CD is avaliable from.
I did some research whilst creating this draft and found that the record label the artist was signed to whilst making the album 'the family jewels' was 679 Records, not Neon Gold Records. i chose to change it as it was 679 that produced the album with the song I have used for my music video. Also, as I mentioned in the evaluation of my previous draft that the Neon Gold logo didn't really suit the colour scheme of my advert, however I think that this logo from 679 records is a lot more fitting.
I think that it was a good idea to include some more reviews; just so the audience know a little bit more about what they are buying and what to expect from the album. Using iconic and famous newspapers to review the album is a good way of proving that the album is successful and I think that using large organisations rather than small is easier for people to recognise and therefore trust.
I have also included the fact the album is avaliable on CD, download and Vinyl. I have chosen these 3 because; firstly, the CD can be used in the home, in the car and a typical and easy way to listen to music. Next, I chose download as it is becoming an increasingly more popular way to access music. There are many sites avaliable to download from and when I asked a few class mates if they would prefer a CD or download, they said download. One person mentioned they prefered download because its much easier to put it onto a MP3 or iPod, compared to a CD. Finally, I decided to include vinyl because vintage records are becoming quite popular and I also thought it connoted things such as America and its former years and links to that classic and oldfashioned feel I wanted to create in my photos for this video.
I decided to highlight some of the more popular tracks on the album. I did this because people could like the songs on the front cover as they are the most recognisable and this could lead them to buy the album hoping the rest of the tracks are as good or better.

Picture and 1st draft of Magazine Advert

This is the image I am going to be using for my advert. I have chosen to do this to match my digipak cover. I have looked at some of the convensions and main ideas behind magazine adverts. I plan for my colour scheme to be beige, blue and burgandy to link to the American theme of my video, but give it a more aged and destroyed look rather than using bold shades. I plan to use the same font as my digipak (if possible as it was adapted from the original album). The album I have got the song from was from the album 'the family jewels' and this did have an advert in some magazines advertising the new release. Fortunatly as I have named my album 'Hollywood' I can adapt some text from the single to match the rest. I am going to do some research into some reviews and put them onto my advert, as well as making up some of my own. Because of this, I am going to say that the album is 'out now' and I think that makes it more attractive to my audience as it would be readily available, instead they would have to wait to a certian release date.
The image I have put on the left shows the original advert and the first thing I noticed was that there is a picture of the single shown in the corner. Personally, I think that this is quite distracting and looks as if it is a way to advertise 2 things in one way, which i find off putting and I think the image looks too small to be clear.
I think that the information at the page have been placed in a very unusually way. For example, the small picture in the corner I mentioned before, the information about that is placed before the information about the main thing that is being advertised, which is the album.
I think it was a good idea to use 2 fonts for this ad because I think that if the more handwritten font from the artist name and album name was smaller, it would be unreadable and messy. I also think its a good idea to include reviews but I think maybe just a couple more would of been good and/or a star rating from a recognisable magazine or newspaper.

This is my 1st draft of my magazine advert. Overall I am pleased with it as a first draft however there are a few improvements I would like to make on my next draft. Firstly, I am pleased with my colour scheme and think that it links into the theme of my video in a way that isn't overwhelmingly obvious. I have tried to match the colours, particularly the blue, as well as I could and I think I have achieved good results in this area. The only thing that bothers me about the us of colour is the purples and greens in the 'Neon Gold' image. This can't be changed as it is the company logo and I said I would like to include it in my advert. However, there might be something I can do to make the image look better in the advert.
Another thing I like about this draft is the text and the reviews. I thought it would be good to include reviews as it can make the album more attractive to the audience. Also, the fact it is a debut album, means that it will include all the latest and successful singles will again make it very attractive to the audience. In addition to this, the fact it is 'out now' means that the album is readily available and the advert states it can be brought from hmv.com.
There are some things I would like to improve with this draft, for example I think I could of made more use of the space I had available, there are lots of empty patches and these could be used for things such as more reviews and additional information. I think that maybe I have used a few to many different fonts and I think it looks a bit muddled. However, I think it's a good idea to use handwritten fonts too make the review look like a personal message.
There are somethings I have thought about since doing research on album ads in magazines and additional things I would like to include. These are:
- the artists website address
- reference to specific successful tracks
- if its avaliable on anything other than CD, eg vinyl, download etc...

So hopefully my next draft will be more successful!

2nd draft of digipak

This is the 2nd draft of my digipak. I have carried out all the things I said like making reference to the record label, a thank you note and a CD. I think that this draft has a more professional look to it and I think that all my pictures link together in terms of theme and colour. I have maintained the 'destroyed' look in my digipak and followed the colour scheme of blue, burgundy and beige. I think the fact these colours are fairly contrasting dennote an individual and edgy theme in my digipak.
On my CD panel I have included the name of the artist again. There is a white blur around the font and I think this makes the CD look modern and in a way fairly digital. This links to the theme of the video and the fact that people are becoming more and more alike and 'robotic'.
I have chosen to follow a few themes in the artists album cover, for example using the contrasting colours. The original is pink, pastel green and white, but I have developed mine so I still can show the American theme in my digipak by using different tones of each of the red, white and blue of the American flag. Therefore the message in my digipak is subtle but I have decided not to use the 'stars and stripes' of the flag that the original has.

 

 

Thankyou note for digipak

I am going to create a thankyou note for my digipak. When evauating my first draft I thought that I needed to add some more text to fill it out a bit. I thought a thankyou note would be an appropriate and professional thing to add to my digipak. I plan to put it on one of the inside panels. I plan to use a sans serif font to give a more personal feel to the message.


Firstly, I would like to thankyou for buying my album. I have always dreamed of being in this position, being able to sell albums and tour worldwide. Without the help of my record labels Neon Gold, 679, Atlantic, Chop Shop and Elektra I wouldn't of been where I am today.
I will be forever greatful to my fans and those who have supported me throughout this amazing journey. I am so pleased that all the hard work me and my colleagues have put into the album has paid off, and to celebrate we have released this special addition disk.

So again, thankyou to everyone who has supported me on my journey and making a girl's dream come true.

Marina x

1st Draft of the rest of my digipak

In a previous post I decided that I would set out my digipak with 6 panels. This is achievable as I have taken 6 appropriate photos that link togther to create a 'imperfect and damaged' look to my digipak.I am trying to represent one of the messages in the song which is about people contantly seeking perfection but this is difficult and often impossible. Therefore I am going to combine the 'perfected' of the artist with rough and broken backgrounds. This comes from my stairs and landing at home being redecorated and it looks very run down and damaged. I will create the front and back of the digipak, then combine them together.

This is the first draft of my digipak and at first glance I think it looks a bit bare. I think I would like to add some more text to my digipak,  maybe make reference to the record label.
I think that I've carried a colour theme throught my digipak and maintained the damaged feel I wanted to create in my digipak. I have looked at digipaks from other artists and found that they are all very different. The main convensions they carry are the front cover with the image of the artists, the artists name and a page with track listings. Apart from these things they all seem to vary, some just contain lots of pictures of the artist and others just have plain coloured backgrounds. I wanted to make something interesting to look at and for the audience to know the theme of the album in my digipak. One thing that I need to add in my second draft is a CD holder and the design of the CD.
So, for my next draft I need to:

- a CD holder
- a CD design
- many a thankyou note on one page
- reference to the record company

Draft 1 of my Digipak Front Cover

 

This is the my first draft of my digipak front cover. I adapted my text from the original album cover. I did this using GIMP to group the text and then save it. I then used Microsoft Publisher to get rid of the backgrounds. I used an internet editing programme called picmonkey. This software was extremly useful and I found that I could use it in the same way I used picnik in my AS coursework. I used; blemish remover, airbrush, blush tool, mascara tool and eye brightening.

Things I like:
- I like the way the text is layed out because it looks quite abstract and edgy.
- The font is sans serif and looks informal and modern
- the lip colour looks striking, but might want to make it brighter
- I like the original image as it was a huge improvement to my 1st Photoshoot!
Things I want to improve on:
- maybe airbrushing the picture more, maybe try some more edgy editing
- experiment with the colour of the font
- try changing the background on my image
- maybe make the eye colour on my image more intense

These points have been taken from members of my target audience and some I have added myself as they are my opinion, however after recieving the feedback I found that my views were similar to those in the
                                                                               audience.

Photos for Digipak and Advert

I was looking through my photos for my digipak and advert and I have decided (quite last minute I know!) to do some more photos again as I thought that the original ones weren't great and looked very amateur. I have one original image that was okay, but I still think that I could of done much better. I am going to redo my photoshoot tonight, this will be easy enough to do as I am the one in the digipak and advert.
I have also been thinking about the name for my digipak, and after researching a few digipak titles I have found that most of them have a name of one of the songs or extracted from a name as a title. For example:
Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster
Ellie Goulding - Lights

Therefore I think an appropriate name for my digipak would be something like 'Hollywood', because it is the name of the song, and it already helps the audience identify the theme of the digipak and song.

Problems during editing

I have just spent an hour converting all of my videos for my coursework into the appropriate format for it to be compatible with iMovie. Orginally my files were .mod, but they needed to be .mp4. Because of this I have used a piece of software called YouTube Downloader to convert my videos. This piece if software was extremly useful and very fast, but unfortunatly I can only convert my files one at a time. I brought my original .mod files home on a memory stick, now they have all been converted, I can put them back onto the memory stick, ready to load onto the Apple Macs at school Monday morning. In future I will bare this software in mind incase any other insedences like this happen again.

Eye of Providence and my video

I have only used the eye of providence for a quick stop motion amination in my video however I did think that it was relevent to the message of the message of my video.

The Eye is positioned above an unfinished pyramid with thirteen steps, representing the original thirteen states and the future growth of the country. The lowest level of the pyramid shows the year 1776 in Roman numerals. The combined implication is that the Eye, or God, favors the prosperity of the United States. It is sometimes interpreted as representing the eye of God watching over humankind.
The Eye of Providence is featured on the reverse side of the one-dollar bill.

I decided to briefly show the Eye of Providence in my video because of its American and religious roots. For example, I tried to create a representation that shows approval in society. As it is a religious symbol it can create a connotation of God, rituals and religious norms. By this I mean, society has become so Americanised it is becoming normal and like a religion, where people are following certian people at the top of the 'hierarchy'. People are following in terms of fashion, make up, attitude and values. I have done my best to try to follow these convensions in my video.

Film Noir and Femme Fatale

Film Noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classical film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the last depression.

The term film noir, French for "black film," first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was not recognized by most American film industry professionals of that era. Cinema historians and critics defined the category retrospectively. Before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic film noirs were referred to as melodramas. Whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate among scholars.

Femme Fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to entrance and hypnotise her victim with a spell was in the earliest stories seen as being literally supernatural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often described as having a power akin to an enchantress, seductress, vampire, witch, or demon.
In contemporary culture, the femme fatale survives as heroine and anti-heroine, in Nikita and Moulin Rouge! (2001) as well in video games and comic books. Many women who are created in movies, comics, games who are supernatural in movements which a normal women can't do. Often combined with strength, beauty, intelligents or sometimes superpowers succeeding the normal person.

Britney Spears Femme Fatale Album
Femme Fatale is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Britney Spears, first released on March 25, 2011, by Jive Records. Spears began working on the album during the second leg of The Circus Starring Britney Spears, while also working on her second compilation. Femme Fatale is a dance-oriented album that incorporates elements of various genres, such as dubstep, techno and trance. Spears explained that she "wanted to make a fierce dance record where each song makes you want to get up and move your body in a different way." Spears stated that Femme Fatale is her best album so far, and also a "fresh-sounding" record for clubs. It was also Spears's final album with Jive following the label's closure in October 2011.
This is some information I have adapted from wikipedia. In my opinion, I think the genre of music contrasts the meaning of femme fatale. Femme fatale is classic edgy and classy, whereas dubstep music (and similar genres) is becoming increasing the norm of modern music. I think that maybe the title was chosen for the album because of its literal meaning (deadly woman) rather than the roots behind the phrase. To support my opinion I have analysed the front cover of the album.

The first thing I noticed about the cover was the colours used. The use of colours such as white, cream and ivory connotes innocence and purity, whereas the actual meaning of femme fatale is dark and mysterious so I expected to see dark colours such as black and burgandy. The makeup and hair had been done in such a way that again contrasts the meaning of femme fatale. The women in the film noir movies, typically had dark sleek hair and very pale skin. They also had defined eyebrows, eyeliner and red lips. I think that this image is definatly contrasting the original image of femme fatale. This image has bronzed skin, messy hair, soft makeup on the lips and undefined eyebrows. The only thing that I think represents femme fatale is the font and the colour of the font. The dark grey could represent danger and mystery, and the font (sans serif) looks sharp and knife like.

Why does this apply to my video?
I have based the look for my character on femme fatale and these types of women would often appear in film noir. For my video, I wanted to create a classic Hollywood representation and I believe that the image of femme fatale from these films is a basis which has been used in order to create new American styles and trends. These trends have gradually been spread throughout other cultures and therefore have become an iconic and famous image of femme fatale. Most film noir movies have presented the same sort of plot of a woman being dangerous and greedy. This applies to my film because in my opinion, the majority of non-americans living an americanised lifestyle usually appear to be greedy and self absorbed.
The film noir movies were filmed in black and white and therefore connote a vintage and classic theme. I thought about maybe editing my video into black and white, but I wanted to create a modern twist to film noir and femme fatale.
The setting for these films were often surburbia, rural areas or the open road. I have filmed in a surburbian area, therefore following the convensions of a film noir movie.

My filming and Photoshoot

During my filming and Photoshoot, various problems occured which made things a little bit harder.

Filming
During filming several things happened that made my filming much more difficult. Firstly I planned to use the tripod for some shots, this became a problem when the part of the tripod that holds the camera wasn't working. The screw-like part of the tripod was sitting too far into the mechanism that held it, therefore making it impossible for the tripod to hold the camera securely. I was able to balance the camera on other things such as furniture, but this didn't give the effect I could get from the tripod. Because of this, it was more difficult to do certian shots such as tracking shots and zooming without the camera shaking.
Another thing that hindered my filming was the battery in th camera wouldn't charge. I have used the school cameras before and know how to charge them and use them. Unfortunatly, as the battery had stopped working this made it impossible to use the camera without it being plugged in to a socket. This made my filming extremly difficult, as I had planned to film in locations that I would have not have access to electrical sockets, I had to change my ideas to fit in with this. In addition to this, as my fiming took place in half term, I wasn't able to let anyone know about the problems or swap cameras.

Photoshoot
The main problem I had in my Photoshoot was the tripod again. From past projects at school, I know that the tripods from school fit my own digital camera. As I have explained before, the tripod was unavaliable so I had to take my photos free hand. Because of this, I found it difficult to achieve the photographs I had hoped for. Since my first Photoshoot, I have recently done another one to try and get some better pictures. I have a few to choose from, unlike last time.

Thinking about my photo for my Digipak/Advert

I've been looking for a few ideas to do with the photography for my digipak/magazine advert. Typically, they show the artist in a closeup/mid shot, the artists name and the name of the album. These conversions have been followd through a long period time. I have found artists such as The Beatles and Madonna (earlier work) following these conversions on there album covers. However more recent artists seem to do the same such as La Roux and Lady Gaga. These convensions also seem to fit into a lot of genres. The artists listed above are quite different from each other and present their own individual image. Overall, it varies greatly when it comes to use of colours fonts and layout. However they all seem to avoid covering the image of the artist with the writing on the cover. Direct mode of address seems very common amongst these album covers, personally I think this is very effective as it allows the artists to connect with the audience in a more intense way. 
I also noticed that these convensions seem to spread across other cultures. For example I was researching images of album covers and come across some from other countries. Despite the different sort of text (use of symbols rather than letters) the artists name is shown and what I think is the name of the album. 
The image can be edited in many different ways, for example airbrushing, sepia etc... And the location the image is taken in can vary, for example some photos have been taken outside, others ways to expose a background (eg a room) or behind a back drop like a green screen and then the background is edited on. 

 

 

Editing Schdule

I plan to finish my filming on the 5th November. If this all goes to plan this will allow me plenty of time to edited and complete my video. I think it is only logical to start editing the beginning of the music video, finishing with the last part. At the moment I think that the more footage I can get the better my video will be. It will take me a longer time to film and edit but I believe that my final product will come out much more professional looking!
I have already done quite a lot of stop motion animation, so this in theory doesn't take much future editing, all I need to do is upload it to iMovie. I know what I am going to need to film and have a good estimate of how much time it will take me.

So, my editing will begin on 6th November after my footage has been uploaded. In addition to this, I need to consider some time to edit my digipak and magazine advert. I plan to create a few drafts of each of these to make sure I can create something that looks professional and importantly, create a positive image of my artist and present the message that I intend to create in my video, also in my advert and digipak.

Storyboard

This is the first section of my story board and I chose to make a storyboard to help me when it came to my editing schedule. I have made it quite in depth as I have a reasonable clear idea of what I want to achieve in my video.

Recce Photos

These are the locations for my music video. I will be using my house as the location as I want to create a home environment for my video. I will be using my bedroom, landing/stairs, and garden.

This is the stairs and landing at my house. This area hasn't been decorated yet but this has worked to my advantage. I want the person in my video to be seen as perfect, surrounded by a destroyed and imperfect environment. I plan to take my pictures here for my digipak and magazine advert. I also plan to take pictures of the carpet to give a old feel and maintain the theme of the video in my advert and digipak.

 I am going to use the outside area for a 'smoking' scene. I chose to do this (although controversial) because I think that my actor smoking could connote famous American idols and stars such as Marilyn Monroe.

 Im not planning in using this area for much but I want to use my wardrode and do a shot of my actor looking through the wardrobe for outfits and shoes.

Call Sheet and Info

When it came to me starting my filming, I had a few problems with my initial plans. Unfortuantly, 3 out of my 4 actors/actresses are unable to film, one had to work, another is at university and the 3rd didn't want to film, however I am lucky to be left with one at least! My additional plan was to create 'storys' for each of my characters. Now, because of changes to my plan, I will be carrying on with the same concept but instead follow the journey of one actor in more detail. As I only have one character now, I have a small call sheet and information to give to her.
Due to a very busy schedule over the half term, filming my actor will take place on Saturday 3rd November to Monday 5th November.

I have provided my actor (Lucy) with all the information she will need for over the next few days. I made sure I did this in plenty of time as I want my filming to run smoothly. This is what I put on the call sheet for her;

Lucy - 3rd Nov - 5th Nov
What to bring:
Various outfits including: smart dresses, shoes to match (needs to be quite dressy/formal), lounge wear (like pjs, dressing gown, rollers, slippers, socks) 
Make up (foundation matching face colour, mascara, bold coloured lipstick etc) 
Cigarettes 
Costume jewellery 
Hair curlers 
Umbrella 


There are other things that arent on the list but these are already on location and I will provide for her. 

Ideology

Ideology is a set of attitudes and beliefs which an individual or group value and see as important. The media is seen as a dominant ideology; this means it reflects certian views for example; in action films such as Die Hard solving problems with force and violence is seen as acceptable. It also includes the way people are represented and this can become very influential to the target audience, as it presents an opinion that people tend to share. Ideologies can also be presented by certian social groups such as the church, law, education and government; these are also known as dominant ideologies.

Ideological Discourse
These are ideas that are debated over in the media. The views taken on these subjects form the basis of our 'social rules'; topics include:
- environment
- sexuality
- racism
- gender
- crime and punishment
- political groups

Research into Digipaks

What is a Digipak?
A digipak is a style of CD, DVD or BD packaging. It folds out like a book and contains things such as lyrics, images of the band or images of scenery. It is mostly used on special addition packaging, for example limited addition, and can be modified to fit a number of discs. This makes the digipak ideal for editions that are special and have multiple discs, for example a 'Greatest Hits' album. The design is trademarked to 'AGI' who originally created it. The weaknesses of a digipak is that the plastic trays that hold the disc are quite brittle and break easily. The 'softer' parts of the digipak are much more breakble, they can be torn easily, the binding can come loose and colours can fade in sunlight (they can be protected by UV coverings).

Breif History of Digipaks
IMPAC Group, Inc. originally owned the Digipak trademark. That company was acquired by MeadWestvaco (MWV) in 2000 and folded into its AGI Media division. Following this, the Digipak name and designs were licensed to manufacturers around the world. MWV sold AGI Media to Atlas Holdings in 2010. In 2012, Atlas purchased Shorewood Packaging from International Paper and merged the two companies to create AGI-Shorewood.

Research into Magazine Adverts for Digipaks, Albums and Singles

I have researched some music magazine adverts, advertising a new album/single for a particular artist. I have analysed some convensions of these adverts and there are a few things I plan to follow in order to make my product professional and appealing.
This is the first image I found. The artist 'Jessie J' is quite disimilar to the artist I am using for my music video. But I think in terms of target audience they are quite a like. Like Marina and the Diamonds, I think Jessie J is an artist that is able to a wide audience in terms of age and lifestyle, but may be slightly more appealing to females rather then males. On the other hand, this advert does carry some less convensional features and the main one being that is doesn't tell the audience where the album is avaliable from. The other adverts below a show that the product is avaliable from places such as hmv.com or play.com. There is also use of the company logo so the audience are able to identify the website and find some familiarity with it. Although there are some features that are less convensional on this advert, there are some other parts which are very common amongst adverts.
These are:
- there is always an 'image' on the advert, whether this be a photograph of the artist
- the advert seems to carry a particular colour scheme
- there is usually reference to the record label the artist is signed to
- the audience are told were the product is avaliable from
- there is a release date
- some of the most famous tracks are advertised
- the advert takes into account any awards the product has got (eg. #1 album)
- the image on the advert is usually the same as the one that is on the front of the CD

 Every artist has thier own genre and the genre of the music is often represented in the adverts and CD packaging. In this case, the artist 'Kings of Leon' have been put under the genres of southern rock alternative rock and garage rock. I think this advert for the bands new album definatly shows the genre of their music. The first thing I noticed was that the advert looked very 'digital'. I think this can represent the intruments used in the band (eg electric guitars). However I think that the main image does look quite 'old fashioned' by the way its edited. This in my opinion could represent the southern and garage part of the genre. Also the idea that the eagle has been edited into the image of the band members could again represent the southern roots. The use of contrasting block colours to make key information stand out, such as the album name and the 'OUT NOW'. Unlike other adverts, this doesn't seem to follow a colour scheme particularly. I does use the 3 primary colours which could show the band isn't artificial and their music is 'real' and 'raw'.


I think that, like I have mentioned, every artist has a genre and genres can massively vary, but they all seem to carry the same convensions. However, I think that without these convensions the adverts produced could be possibly unsuccessful.  By this I mean, I think the audience needs to be provided with key information about the new product; for example, when the CD is released, the name of the band, an image etc...

I have decided to analyse this advert because I wasn't too keen on it and I want to look a bit deeper into it so I can see what convensions this one follows. Firstly I noticed the font used isn't particularly clear and this combind with the colour used is nearly unreadable. Although, I think the chosen colour is used in order to follow the colour scheme and the colous from photgraph. This advert shows the image twice which I think is unnessacry. I think were they 'TARGET' logo has been put looks very out of place and messy. This advert was created after the album was released, I know this because it days 'album in stores now' at the bottom of the page. However this again was a very small and unreadable font and made me question whether this was done deliberatly, prehaps to make people think the album is brand new and up to date; but this advert could of been made a while after the CD was released. This could of been due to poor sales or it being unsuccessful. Overall I think the image doesn't present the artist in a posative way. The props used in the photo are of a royal theme and this could represent the artist in a way that is 'princessy' and 'over the top'. Also, her facial expression looks quite vacant and unimpressed.

After studying this advert, I am going to take great care in assuring my advert is clear and the right information is presented well. I would like it to be bold and eye catching and tell the audience that the album is out now. I want to use one image, similar to the Jessie J and Kings of Leon magazine advert.

 

Photoshoot for Digipak

I plan to take my photos for my digipak before the October half term. I would like to free up as much time as possible for filming during the holiday. I aim to have my photos taken, edited and my digipak complete before then.

Initial Ideas for Digipak

Normally the artist is the main focus in a digipak, and seeing as I will be the one staring in my video, I will also be in my digipak. I think simple mid shots can be effective in a digipak, most of the digipaks I have seen have long shots or mid shots. However I have seen others with one large image folded onto seperate pages. 'Rhianna' did a digipak her album 'Loud'.
Marina and the Diamonds (my artist) hasn't got a digipak for any of her albums so this leaves me with a blank canvas and free to think of my own ideas. I think I am going to create a digipak similar to the one on the left. I will only need 1 image to do the internal part of the digipak and another for the external.







Most of Marina and the Diamonds covers seem to be one of 2 types, one is like this:

 

And the other is like this:

 
Overall I think these 2 groups are very different to eachother. The 1st group of images are newer than the other and look extremly similar, almost as if they have been shot on the same day. The font used on both the images is very similar. The facial expression is very similar and it looks as if they have been edited in the same way. I don't really know why these 2 images have been produced very similarly, it may simply come down to the lack of money. The main differenec in the first 2 images is the fact one is a album and the other is a single. I haven't seen any other artist producing their album/single covers in a way that is so similar to eachother.
The second group of images are again very similar. Alike, the first group, the use of font is the same and the image of the artist looks as if it has been taken from the same photoshoot. In contrast ot the first group,the image of the artist is quite different and the use of colours has a definate contrast.
After studying these album/single covers I think I should create something that is different to these and try to present the message of the music video in my digipak. I need 2 images and I don't want these images to be really similar like the current covers here. I plan to do 2 seperate photoshoots, with costume changes. I want to use www.dafont.com to use a font that is edgy and uncommon. I think it would be easy to choose a current font from a word processer, but I think it could make my digipak look amature and uninteresting. I want my digipak to carry a lot of representations, for example I think I should use colours like red, white and blue, to connote Americanisation, but also British heretige.

Digipak Templates and Designs

     
This is a 6 panelled digipak. This is the design I am most likely to use because it has quite a lot of panels. This means that I will need 6 different photos for each individual panel. On this template the CD plate is in the middle, but this can be moved around and will only affect the way the digipak folds. I have also thought about taking a photo that could be spread across 3 internal panels and took this idea from the Rhianna digipak above. This design does widen my potential, by this I mean I can choose to use sets of large photos, one per panel or a mixture. I will only need to place one CD plate in the digipak so I need to choose an image that would be appropriate to place under the CD plate as the image can be slightly magnified or unclear. This means I will need a variety of images to try, because if I only took one image and it didn't work, it could mess up the rest of the digipak. I think the images need to be related in someway, for example all black and white. I think if lots of different images are used (like very different locations), it can look unproffesional and look as if no effort was made.

Another 2 Panel Design

  This is another design for a digipak. This has one more panel than the first design and this means it will require 2 more images to fill them. It also has 2 CD panels so would more likely to be used prehaps for a  special addiction album, such as greatest hits or all the artosts songs; or a DVD, for example a blu-ray and DVD edition or a 2 part DVD. I think this layout is less likely to be used for a CD due to the 2 CD panels. After doing some research on the internet I haven't be able to find any digipaks with 2 CD panels, so I think this is likely to be a less convensional method.

Digital Technology

Digital technology is crutial to producing my music video. I will be using a variety of technologies to produce my coursework. Overall, I think out of all the things I will use to create my video, the majority of them will be digital. I think that using digital technology can make a product look professional; it can also take a lot less time. You can have more choice on things like fonts, colours and designs.

Some Media Theories

- Hypodermic Needle - the media 'injects' the passive audience with a message they are powerless to resist (discredited). The phrasing "hypodermic needle" is meant to give a mental image of the direct, strategic, and planned infusion of a message into an individual. But as research methodology became more highly developed, it became apparent that the media had selective influences on people.

- Drip, drip, drip effect, cultivation effect - the repetition of messages does have some effect on the audience. For instance, reporting of crime heightens our fear of crime (cultivation differential). Cultivation theory in its most basic form, then, suggests that exposure to television, over time, subtly "cultivates" viewers' perceptions of reality. Gerbner and Gross say "television is a medium of the socialization of most people into standardized roles and behaviors.

- Two-Step Flow - the media introduces us to ideas (step one), we discuss these ideas with others and reach an opinion (step two). a 1940s study on social influence that states that media effects are indirectly established through the personal influence of opinion leaders. The majority of people receive much of their information and are influenced by the media secondhand, through the personal influence of opinion leaders.

- Limited Effect - the media doesn't affect us as much as we are media literate, sophisticated readers of texts. Suggests that not everything is taken onboard and believed.
- Media Dependency - the belief that we come to need the media (and is this an addition or a choice?) People rely on the media for knowledge of the world around them.

Uses and Gratifications - This theory is about "what people do with media" rather than "what media does to people" (Katz, 1959). It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and intergrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications.

Blumler and Brown 1982 - Four primary factors for which one may use the media:

- Diversion - something to do, escaping from reality and problems.

- Personal Realtionships - using media to discuss with friends afterwards (last night's EastEnders), media as a substitute for 'real contact' (more complex in age of Facebook?) Does this fit with 'Two Step Flow'?

- Personal Identity and Individual Psychology - defining yourself by your media texts, building your sense of self.

- Surveillance - finding out about the world, finding out info.

Gratification of Media

McQuail (1983) classified the following common reasons for media use:

Information
- finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings
society and the world
- seeking advice on practial matter or opinion and decision choices
- satisfying curiosity and general interest
- learning; self education
- gaining a sense of security though knowledge

Personal Indentity
- finding reinforcement for personal values
- finding models of behaviour (to some extent)
- identifying with valued others in the media (in this case a music artist)
- gaining insight into oneself

Intergration and Social
- gaining insight into the circumstances of others; social empathy
- identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging
- finding a basis for conversation and social interaction
- having a sunstitute for real-life companionship
- helping to carry out social roles
- enabling one to connect with family, friends and society (mainly friends)

Entertainment
- escaping, or being diverted, from problems
- relaxing
- getting intrinsic cultural ar aesthetic enjoyment
- filling time
- emotional release
- erotic/sexual arousal
How is this releavent to my music video?
I think my video presents an opinion of the Americanisation of other cultures. I am going to present my ideas and opinions on this topic using characters and prossibly the use of reverse editing. I think that I also cover the 'self education' aspect of this title. I will try to educate my audience about the negative parts of Americaisation.
I think this is the category that my music video will link to my video most out of all the others. The narrative in my music video is all about personal identity and people changing to fit in with others. As my video gives a more negative portrayal of Americanisation, I think the audience will definatly gain insight to themselves and identify with other people in the media. I think this is a strong category because I think that people are influenced by idols; I don't know if it will find reinforcement in personal values, because it depends on the individuals opinion before the viewing. I think it could be quite reinforcing, posative and appealing if they agree with the opinion.
I think my video could provide (to some extent) cultural insight and insight into social roles.
I don't think my video contains some of the aspects like escaping or diverting from problems.

Specific Target Audience

My specific target audience in terms of:

Age
I think my audience can vary in this category. I think that the music alone could appeal to people aging from early teenage years to middle age. However in terms of the music video I think the original video appeals to a smaller market of younger people as party atmosphere created in the video is normally associated with young people. In my video I would like to try to appeal to a slightly wider audience. I think that making a music video to appeal to all people would be difficult and not every genre of music appeals to everyone. My video is going to carry more of a 'story' to it rather than just a theme. In my opinion this is going to appeal to a slightly older market such as late teens onwards. Videos have been created and aimed at a younger audience that has a story line, but I think they don't carry a particularly meaningful narrative. This is one reason why my video is aimed at an older audience.

Gender
I think the original song and video would appeal more to females. I think that I will have to create a video to appeal more to females because of the song. I think the narrative in my video will stereotypically appeal to women more as it is about wanting to become an idol and becoming Americanised. I am not going to make my video particularly girly, by this I mean I don't want to appeal strictly to women. I think Americanisation effects both genders but I think my narrative containing more females than males will appeal more to women, because I think it is easier to relate to someone of your own gender. 

Lifestyle
I think that this category is very broad. I think it would be difficult to appeal to appeal to a target audience with one specific lifestyle. I think that I will appeal more to people with certian interests. As I have said I am aiming to appeal to females more than males, and this is the main thing that effects the lifestyle of my audience.

Interests
I think my audience are going to have to be interested in certian things such as American idols. I don't think my audience have to have really specific interests such as make up or Americanisation. But, I think they will need to be able to relate to the idea of American traditions and other things spreading throughout the world.

Socio-Economic Group
I think my video, like the original could appeal to a large selection of the socio-economic groups. I think that everyone, despite thier class is able to relate in some way to Americanisation. For example, most students attend their senior school prom and upper class people can buy American brands in terms of cars, clothes, furniture etc.. I think its hard to avoid no matter what class you are in as things change very gradually throughout socio-economic groups. 

Why have I chosen this target auidence?
I am keeping my target audience fairly similar to the audience of the original video. I have chosen a fairly wide audience, the one big matter being the fact it will be prodominatly a female audience. I think that the song has appealed to a large audience and therefore should have a video that represents this. I want to create a video that appeals to all of the audience, because as I have mentioned the current video in my opinion appeals to a smaller market than the song itself.

Are they convensional?
I think there are many videos that appeal to either just females or just males. I think my audience are in some aspects convensional and in others not. The convensional part of my audience is the 'all female' aspect and that it doesn't nessacarily appeal to one socio-economic group. Personally, I think that videos become liked because of the persons taste in music (leading them to a particular lifestyle), rather than what class they are from. Some people argue that your lifestyle is determind by your class, whereas I believe that people are able to live a certian lifestyle despite their class. For example, students are from a lower class but this doesn't stop some leading lavish lifestyles. Students can be people working full time with good pay and be students aswell. 

Is there a gap in the market? Is my market niche or mass?
I think there is a gap in the market for my video as I hope it will appeal to a wide audience. I believe that the majority music videos appeal to a small market, in terms of age, gender and lifestyle. I think there are less videos appealing to a mass market as the genre of the music normally appeals to a certian type of person. For example, someone quite gothic would probably prefer rock music to pop music. I think my video is going to appeal to people that don't nessacerily fall into a category such as goth, indie, etc... and this I think is the largest market there is.

Audience, Genre, Narrative and Representations

I want my video to be about ‘me’ living in an American obsessed world and about how everybody is become more and more Americanised and lean towards more American stereotypes. I want to do this by filming myself as ‘non american’ and filming addition talent becoming increasingly more American; I was also thinking about doing this in reverse, in terms of people becoming more of themselves. For example, I want one person to idolised Marilyn Monroe and her journey to becoming more and more like her. I chose this because I want the video to be obviously about America, I’ve also chosen additional stereotypes like; prom queens, drag queens, and ‘perfect looking’ men. I want the video to have no partying scenes in like the original. I think that the original video is more about people wanting to be American and follow their footsteps, and simply presenting this change in a positive way. On the other hand, I would like mine to portray this change in a more negative way and how ‘I think’ this change is unnecessary and irreversible, and how I feel on my own in this opinion, but can’t stop myself becoming more Americanised. However, I also want to present the idea in way that shows that the ‘change’ is happening gradually and people do it without noticing. I can do this in a fairly discrete way, for example on shots of me making very small changes, so at the end I am one of the stereotypes. I am making very sure that I make the opinion obvious to give my video a different message to the one in the original video.

Another idea that I have had is just focusing on one characters journey. For example idolising the American icon and their journey to become or undo being thier idol. I still want to give out this message of Americanisation of other cultures is a bad thing. Again, I believe the music video for this song doesn't represent the message from the song and I would like my video to be a lot more obvious in it's representations and narrative. 

The genre of the song is 'indie pop' and 'new wave'. I think my video should match the genre of music in a 'pop' sort of way. By this I mean using convensions such as bright colours and upbeat videos. However the genre is also represented as 'new wave'. This is a subgenre of rock music and I think this means that I can use some less convensional ideas because the genre of rock as a whole is quite diverse and videos can be similar or extremly different. Most of the Marina and the Diamonds songs carry certian themes like the 'vintage' theme I have talked about in previous posts. I think this is something that is quite unconvensionsal in terms of the genre. Indie pop is stereotypically acoustic songs and the artists don't particularly have a striking image. Also, I was surprised when I found out that her songs fall under the 'new wave' genre as I don't think I would associate rock with Marina and the Diamonds, and I mean both her music and music videos. 

I think this artist has a fairly wide spread target audience and doesn't nessacarily appeal to one 'type' of person. The one thing I would say is that I think it mainly appeals to females rather than males. Apart from this, I think that it could appeal to anyone from very girly young girls to older women.

Institutional Mode Representation (IMR)

In film theory, the IMR is the dominant mode of film construction, which developed in the years after the turn of the century, becoming the norm around 1914. Classical Hollywood cinema is the dominant style within the IMR, but other styles such as art house, independent, and most (current) foregin styles fall no less under the IMR.
The concept was developed by Noel Burch in his 1969 book: Parxis du Cinema. His goal was to show that the IMR is a class-determined practice, developed out of the bourgeois desire for totalising illusionistic representation. Andre Bazin has identified the 'myth of total cinema', or a constant to represent reality as completely as possible, which he claimed as the root of cinema innovations.
The IMR is characterised by the attempt to create an entirely closed fictional world on screen. The audience is completely imaginatively involved in the film, instead of being distant from it and seeing it as an object to be examined. Burch argues that the key to the IMR is 'spectatorial identification with a ubiquitous cinema'. Various techniques were developed in order to accomplish this identification.
Films are constructed out of a sequence of shots, each of which presents the viewer with one clear piece of information. In contrast to Primitive Mode (early cinema), IMR uses close-ups.
A 3D space is created, using Renaissance rules of perspective as well as new cinematic techniques such as editing and lighting. To preserve the illusion of spatial integrity, which was lost with the introduction of close ups, eye line and directional matches were created. The film is thus perceived as taking place in an environment around the viewer.
Characters are psychologically individuated, through closeups on faces and acting methods borrowed from (bourgeois) theatre. Psychological depth is prized, and the narrative is driven by character psycholo. The audience is therefore invited to interpret the motivations of the characters, and thus involve itself with the film.

Branding of my Artist

According to my research, Marina from Marina and the Diamonds appeard to have created her look by accident! After visiting a hairdresser in LA before a shot, her stylist told her that her hair had a lot of breakage, resulting in her loosing a fair amount of length to her hair. The next week she had all her hair cut short and she purchased a wig. After purchasing a wig to cover up the unfortuante new look, she continued to use the wig for 9 months whilst her hair grew back to a more natural length.
She used the wig in some of her videos including 'Primadonna'.
Marina quoted: “I bought a wig and painted the roots black and wore a ribbon over it, so it looked natural. And the ribbon became part of my look. I wore the wig for nine months. Nobody knew... It's only now that my hair is long enough to look natural. Wigs are fun, but I never felt beautiful in a wig.”
This has created a signiture look for Marina and you can easily identify her by this unique look. She also does this with her qurky fashion. She experiments with vintage style clothing and appears to be quite controvesial in her look in comparision to other artists. Her apperence has developed over time, some of her songs have been about how she doesn't want to be like everyone else and wants to be her own person. The most obvious songs have been 'Hollywood' and 'I am not a Robot'. Also, in the video 'Fear and Loathing' she is seem hacking off her hair infront of a mirror. I think that this symbolised her wanted to change. Stereotypically most Americanised girls have long hair, in the start Marina does but then cuts it short. I think this is the start of her changing her apperence to a more unique and vintage version. Also, the good reaction she got to her new hairstyle of the blonde waves with dark roots seemed to influence her to be a bit more controversial.
However, on Tuesday 25th September 2012, the singer was branded as 'ugly'. The singer was scheduled to release the visuals for her latest single 'How To Be A Heartbreaker' yesterday, however, Marina claims she was told that she didn't look pretty enough in the video so the release has been delayed while they smooth out the "ugly" parts.

                         

"So, someone at my record label wont let me release the video bc I look ugly in it apparently + we need more $ / time to paint out ugly parts," Marina tweeted.
"The video will be out end of the week. If not, I am happy to leak the 'minger' version for my fans."

Marina didn't recieve any negative opinions publically on her previous 'dark haired' look. It appears she is now being ridiculed for different look. She is described as having a unique indie-pop brand and I think that a genre of music in most cases effects the way the artist looks. For example artists such as 'Ke$ha' match their look to there music. Her genre is described as 'dance-pop', 'crunkcore' and 'electropop'. She has a very controversial look and experiments with extreme makeup and clothing. On the other hand is Ed Sheeran and his genre is 'folk' and 'acoustic'. His fairly casual look with messy hair seems to follow the convensional look of 'indie'. People such as Ben Howard and Alex Turner also seem to share this look and the genre of music.   

 Ed Sheeran

  Ben Howard

 Alex Turner