My Final Post

During my A Levels media has been my favourite subject and I will miss it dearly. Media has inspired me to work in the industry when I am older.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and watching my groups music video.

This blog is now closed.

Evaluation Question One

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

The still shots on the left is of our music video but the still shots on the right hand side are of other artists music videos which we were inspired by.

(Click the image above to enlarge it and then you may need to zoom in to the web page)

1. Taylor Swifts video for 'Belong With Me' inspired our narrative and our location as it is set in the female protagonist bedroom, we decided that we wanted our artist to be getting ready and she would be performing in her bedroom. We felt that the audience would be able to connect with the artist because the pop genre is targeted at a young female audience and they are able to relate to the narrative. From watching Taylor Swifts video we realised that the artist performing in her bedroom gained a comical feel and it is also shows social realism.

2. The second frame is from Kate Nash- 'Foundations', the video uses an editing technique called stop motion which we felt would suit our music video. The director in 'Foundations' used stop motion to portray the unstable relationship between the couple. However, in our music video we used stop motion editing to show the fickle minds of teenagers which is presented by the different nail polish colours.

3. Shot three is from B.O.B ft Hayley Williams - 'Airplanes', the use of the projector inspired us to create a similar background for our music video. In 'Airplanes' there are moving sequences of stars which reflects the lyrics well "Can we pretend that airplanes in the night skies are like shooting stars". We used a combination of still and moving images on our projector, though in 'Airplanes' they only used moving images. In our music video we liked that the audience could create different interpretations by the use of the projector such as the purple fields could represent freedom and growing up through the blossoming of the flowers.

4. Our music video is similar to Alexis Jordan- 'Good Girl', as they are both performance base music videos. Also, both music videos use the same backgrounds such as the artist performing in front of a black and a white background which makes the video seem more sophisticated. There is fast pace editing in our music video and in the 'Good Girl' music video, through the fast pace editing we were able to change the artists make up and her clothes which is often seen in music videos from the pop genre.


5. In Alexandra Burkes music video 'The Silence' the narrative and performance is set so that Alexandra Burke seems like she is in a photo shoot, we felt that this made the audience connect with the artist as they feel like they are at the photo shoot. In our music video we wanted the audience to connect with the artist by the flashing lights on the artist in the mid shot and the extreme close up shot. It could be interpreted that the artist is getting ready to perform or she is at a photo shoot.


6. The sixth still shot is from Sia- 'Breathe Me' the photographs in 'Breathe Me' shows the artist in different places in the house and the artists movement. For the seventeen opening beats in our music video we wanted to use seventeen photographs showing the artist growing up, which fits with the idea of time and how quickly the youth of today grow up.

7. In our music video we wanted to show that our artist is an established performer, from watching Keri Hilson- 'Slow Dance' we was influenced to use an iPhone to introduce the song which creates synergy as we used a photograph of the artist to make the audience recognise the artist.

8. In Jessie J- 'Nobodys Perfect' clocks are used to show that the artist wants to go back in time to change certain events, in 'Nobodys Perfect' the clocks are used to taunt the artist and it shows that the events keeps playing in her mind. However, in our music video we are representing how quickly time passes.

9. The ninth still shot is from Labrinth- 'Let The Sunshine' we liked the close up silhouette shot of the artist as it adds mystery to the artist and the meaning of the song. We thought that we could use a similar shot would suit our music video as the heart silhouette has a dream affect, which portrays that love is a desire of hers which reflects the theme of growing up.

10. The still shot on the right is from Lady GaGa- 'Just Dance', in the still shot one of the extras writes on a mirror Dance which fits with the lyrics in the song. In our music video we decided to make the performer write a lyric of the song on a steamed mirror.

Evaluation Question Two

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Evaluation Quesion 2

Evaluation Question Three

3) What did you learn from your audience feedback?

From the viewing of our music video we received great audience feedback and we feel that we have learnt a great deal from our feedback, here is some of the following comments:


(Click image to enlarge)To get a better understanding of our audience feedback we asked ten people to complete a scoring questionnaire of eight topics of our music video. Lip-syncing, Editing on Beat, Narrative, Colourful, Success of projected background, Stop Motion, Mise en Scene, Enjoyment. Here are the results of our responses in the formation of a bar chart.


Media Audience Feedback

Overall from analysing our audience feedback we have learnt we were successful in producing a music video with precise lip syncing, however we learnt our audience would prefer to have more of a narrative in the video because they were interested to know what happens next also because of the pop genre targeted towards a young females who are able to relate to the female protagonist in the video. At the beginning of the course we constructed a questionnaire to gain information of our audience preferences in a pop genre video. From this we learnt that the audience preferred an performance based video as they enjoyed seeing the artist, however the from comparing the feedback received before the video and the feedback received after the video viewing, we may have conformed to a performance based video too much because it was commented that the audience would have preferred to see more of a narrative video.

The feedback received it was clear that the audience enjoyed the fast paced editing especially of the photographs at the beginning of the video because the shots were edited to the best of the music. We learnt that this was successful because the photographs represented the theme of our video, 'Time'. A girl growing up and the change in time. We learnt that the mise en scene of the video was important to inform the audience of the pop genre. From the bar chart it is clear that the mise en scene was well received by the audience because the artist changed costume and make up through out the video similar to Alexis Jordan 'Good Girl' video. This made the video appear professional along with the studio lights in the photography room of the extreme close up shots. Therefore we learnt how important the mise en scene is in a pop video from the original questionnaires aimed at. We are pleased that from the following feedback we achieved a successful mise en scene. From the bar chart questionnaire we have learnt that our music video was well received and enjoyed by our audience.

Evaluation Question Four

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?



Evaluation Question 4 Media

Audience Feedback on YouTube

Whilst receiving audience feedback we have always been a bit judgemental because the people are our friends, so we feel that they would praise our video even if they thought we should change some of it. So we was shocked and pleased when we received audience feedback on our YouTube account 'domemjesskayla', we do not know the person who commented on our final version of our music video which made us feel happy with our work. The user said that our video was "Excellent, very talented, great video, more realistic than the original!! xx", this makes us very proud of our work as this user said that it was better than the original Teenage Dream video, which was directed by Yoann Lemoine, who is a professional director.

Underneath is a screen shot of the page and the comment. (Click to enlarge the screen shots)

Music Video Screening at our School

Our media teachers organised a screening of AS film opening and A2 music videos in our school hall, they invited both A level years and prospective year 11 students were also invited to the event. We were allowed to invite our parents and our friends from outside of school, we found this beneficial as we were able to get our friends audience feedback.

In our media group I was given the opportunity to introduce our music video, which was very nerve wrecking because a lot of people turned up to the screening. This was the introd

uction that I said " The audience were given sheets of paper on which they could give feedback abo

ut each groups music video. The questions on the sheet were: We created our music video to Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. After many narrative

changes we finally decided to create a performance based video. in our music video we wanted to portray time and how quickly youth grow up. The female protagonist is shown from childhood to early stages of adulthood. "

After the screening the were able to get audience feedback, in the video corners that was set up for us. We asked a series of open questions such as:

1) What did you like about our music video? Why?

2) Was the idea of time expressed well?

3) Did you like our different locations? Why?

4) What was your favourite part of our music video? Why?

This is a Prezi that I made of the feedback that we got back from our screening.

Music Video Screening on Prezi

Our Final Draft

This is our final draft to our music video. I am really happy with how our video turned out even though we had many narrative changes, as we all felt unsure about how our video would turn out. We feel that our music video targets our female base audience well through our costume changes, the make up which suits every outfit and our variety of locations such as the projector, bedroom and the black and white back drops. Our video represents the pop genre well because of the bright colours and the fast pace editing, I am very happy with the finished product. I do not think we could have improved our music video because we included everything that we wanted to and we have a variety of camera shots.

Below is our final music video.

Crystal Rox- Teenage Dream

Fast Pace Clock

In our music video we have decided to include a shot of a clock which will be a fast pace shot, we decided to use this shot as it shows how long it took for the girl to get ready. We will include this shot using image in image and we will fade the clock in and out of the sequence. We was unable to fasten the clock to 2000% in iMovie, so we then decided to edit this shot in Final Cut Express because we were able to fasten the clock to the speed to wanted to. The first two speeds was edited in iMovie and the final two speeds was edited in Final Cut Express, the last speed is the shot we used in our music video.

Below is the fast pace clock, the music is from the Rocky Horror Picture Show- Time Warp.

New Opening

Below is our new opening to our music video, the photographs are of our artist growing up which we felt suit our idea of time better. We prefer our new opening as it makes more sense with our video than our previous opening which was photographs from a wedding. The photographs are from all different times of when our artist was growing up, which shows how quickly youth grow up.

New Opening Idea

When we changed our narrative idea we decided to change our opening. Instead of having the photographs from the wedding, we will use photographs of our artist growing up such as, baby photographs, toddler, child, teenager and early adult. Our new idea fits well with time and how quickly the photographs appear on screen represents how quickly youth grow up.

Behind the Scenes

I created a Prezi showing the behind the scenes of the days that we filmed, the photographs are from filming our previous narrative ideas and filming the performance shots.

Behind the Scene Photographs on Prezi

A month ago I went and saw All Time Low at 02 Brixton Academy, All Time Low is one of my favourite bands and earlier in to the course I researched in to there history. The gig was amazing because the band played their best songs and they interacted with the crowd greatly. I was surprised during the acoustic part of the set that they played Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. I loved there version as they made it there own because they used different instruments to the original, this made the song seem more personal and heartfelt than the original. I recommend All Time Low to any audience because they have an excellent stage presence and all of there songs are enjoyable to matter who the audience is.

Below is a video to All Time Low performing Teenage Dream at the same gig I went to.

Make Up Prezi

Below is a Prezi presentation of the inspiration for the make up style and the make up that we ended up using.

Video Preparation - Make Up on Prezi

Enrique Iglesias Concert

I recently went to the o2 to see an Enrique Iglesias concert, the show was amazing and he sang all of his well known songs. I loved that Enrique interacted with the crowd, although some of the audience said that he should of spent less time talking. My favourite songs that he performed was 'Hero' and his new song 'Tonight'. I researched in to other reviews of this concert, the following extract is taken from Ticketmaster (http://reviews.ticketmaster.co.uk/7171-en_gb/777945/enrique-iglesias-reviews/reviews.htm), "He is as good live as his recordings and as well as being drop dead gorgeous he seems to be a friendly, nice guy. His energy is amazing and its plain to see that he is truly passionate about what he does. I love the spanish element of his music and it was great hearing and seeing that played live. The audience were fantastic and a real mixture of people which I thought was great, especially when Enrique came out to sing at the end and everyone went mad." I would recommend anyone to go and watch Enrique Iglesias because he is an excellent performer and he interacted with the crowd magnificently.

Below is a video some one took from the concert of Enrique Iglesias performing 'Hero'.

My Final Digipak Track List

I decided to use the original album title and track list to the album Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. All of the title lengths are different, the album titles are all different and unusual which makes the track list appeal to the audience as it gains mystery to the song.

Teenage Dream Track List

1. Teenage Dream

2. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)

3. California Gurls (Featuring Snoop Dogg)

4. Firework

5. Peacock

6. Circle The Drain

7. The One That Got Away

8. E.T.

9. Who Am I Living For?

10. Pearl

11. Hummingbird Heartbeat

12. Not Like The Movies

Editing Draft (Four)

After many weeks of editing all of our footage we have finally finished our first completed edited draft, this was our first draft where we removed all of the transvestite shots and included our new narrative ideas. Even though we are happy with our new draft, we still have a lot of shots that we need to include and we need to make our editing more on the beat.

We will not have the song playing on the Mac in the beginning of the music video, instead we will have some one playing the song on an iPhone which was inspired by Keri Hilson- Slow Dance. We really liked that when we played the song an image of the artist appeared on the screen, so we want to still have that when we play the song on the iPhone.

The photographs that are shown at the opening seventeen beats need to be changed because we have decided that the photographs should show our artist growing up, instead of the wedding album pictures.

The jump cuts need to be sharper and we will include more cut away shots to make the editing more on the beat.

When the camera zooms in to the Tinkerbell poster on the door and then zooms out of the door, the audience sees that our artist has changed in to a dress. We have decided to do image in image of a fast pace clock with it fading in and fading out. This shows that time has passed and how quickly the clock moves represents how quickly youth grow up in todays society.

We really like the stop animation with the different nail polish colours, during our audience feedback we was told that we should include more colours. So we will include more shots of the nail varnish colours or we will repeat the same colours.

We will change some shots around which we feel suit particular moments of the song better and we need to make the shots more on beat. Also, when Michaela turns on the light we want to make that match the beat.

Below is our first full edited draft.

Make Up Inspiration

Whilst watching Breakfast Club I really liked the extreme close up shot of the girl applying her make up. Also, I liked the delicate brush strokes when the girl applied mascara. Which I then thought that we could create a shot similar to the Breakfast Club scene but our artist would blink, the blink fit with the beat. I filmed the scene on my iPhone and I uploaded it straight from my phone to YouTube.

Michaela's Hairstyle

After reading many fashion and celebrity magazines such as Look, More and OK! we noticed that many celebrities have a natural hair style, though loose curls seemed to be the most popular hair style for celebrities. As our artist has a side fringe we researched in to celebrities who have a similar hair style as our performer. We used Hilary Duff as our main inspiration (on the right) of how to set the loose curl hair style. With the loose curl hair style we felt that it reinforced the girls innocence, we then decided that when the girl is getting ready to go out she will have straight hair to make her seem more sophisticated. Below is a short behind the scenes video of how we decided to have Michaelas hair in our music video. We added the footage to Neon Trees- Animal.

New/Final Idea

When it came to editing our music video we felt that the transvestite idea was too confusing for the audience and people thought that the extreme close up shots of the boy applying mascara and eyeshadow was the performer. We then decided to change our music video to a performance base video which was inspired by Alexis Jordan- Good Girl, this makes the audience can connect to the performer. We have decided to make time the main theme of our video so we can portray how quickly youth is growing up in todays society, we will show the artist growing up by the seventeen photographs in the beginning showing the artist as a baby, toddler, child, teenager and then early adult. In the music video we will show the artist getting ready to go clubbing which shows that she is in the early stages of adulthood, we will use a variety of make up styles, hairstyles and clothes to make the mise-en-scene appeal to the female audience who mainly listen to mainstream pop. We want our artist to get ready and perform in her bedroom this was inspired by Taylor Swift- Belong With Me music video. We feel like our new idea will make more sense to the audience and it will appeal to our female target audience.

Below is the music video to Taylor Swift- Belong With Me which is the main inspiration of our artist performing in her bedroom.

Below is the music video to Alexis Jordan- Good Girl, we was inspired by this video as it is a performance base music video. Also, our location is inspired by Good Girl as we will use a black and white back drop.

We created an animated storyboard of the first one minute and twenty five seconds of the song, we made the storyboard to show our new narrative ideas. With the longer shots in the music video we will change the angles or the characters placement. Creating the storyboard has helped us to create new ideas for shots, for the rest of the music video. We labeled each shot in the story which has the different camera shots and the location of the shots.

Below is the our animated storyboard.

My Magazine Advertisement (Final)

To help me to choose my final magazine advertisement I got audience feedback from my Sister, I asked which advertisement idea she preferred, what her favourite feature on the advert was and what did she least like about the advert.

(Click the image to enlarge)
She said that she finds the second album advertisement more "appealing" and "eye catching" although she did not like the placement of the artists name, so I decided to place the title with the album name and release date. She said that she found the first advertisement idea "too confusing because there is so much going on in the advertisement", this made me realise that the advertisement would not be memorable if people saw it at first glance because they would not read the release date or the reviews. The artists name will be in a large font which will make people aware of that the album is already out. I decided to use to same colour scheme as I did on the digipak, so the audience will recognise the digipak in a shop. I used the image on image gold sequins on the advertisement as I did on the digipak, so the audience will recognise the digipak by looking at the advertisement. I used a different image on the advertisement than I did on the digipak because I felt that the reader would make a connection with the artist and they would want to buy the digipak.

My Magazine Advertisement (Idea Two)

My Second Idea

I really like the heart shape made by the artists hands as it creates a connection between the artist and the audience. The heart shape also makes synergy between the music video and the advertisement. I like the recommendations around the artist, once again because it draws the viewers attention on the performer and the reviews. Also, the font will be the same in this advertisement and the digipak cover which shows both of there similarities, this will make the viewer aware that it is the same artist. The placing of the album title in the heart develops a connection between the fans and the artist, as it shows appreciation.

I will use the majority of this advertisement in my final magazine product but I will change the placing of the artists name to the bottom, so it is with the title of the album and the release date.

My First Idea

I like the placing of the artists name, album title, the 'Out Now' sign, the hit singles and the artists myspace because the viewer is immediately drawn to the titles. Also, I like the recommendations around the artist because all of the reviews relate to her. I am not sure whether I like the slogan at the top of the advertisement. I think the photograph of the artist is boring and she does not make a connection between the audience. I do not think that I will use this advertisement as my final magazine product.

Editing Draft (Three)

In our recent draft we have included some one playing the song on an iPhone. Although, we need to re-film this shot because the album artwork on the screen is of Katy Perry. We will need to change the art work on iTunes to a picture of our artist, so the audience will recognise our artist and it creates synergy. The lip syncing in this draft is out of time which we later realised when we watched over it on YouTube. The draft below is only to show where we have decided to place our shots and we have included more performance. However, we need to make the lip syncing correct and the audience was confused because our artist and the transvestite both applied mascara, so we will need to get rid of one.

Below is our recent draft.

Before we published this draft we asked one of our friends from our media class to give us audience feedback, we thought her advice will be more helpful because she understands the music video brief. Overall, she said that she liked our music video but she thought that the white background performance made our video look unprofessional. So we then decided to use a border around the shot using iMovie, we used a video effect called 'Vignette' which makes the borders black. I filmed the audience feedback on my iPhone and I uploaded it from my iPhone to YouTube.

The video below is of the audience feedback that we received.

Conventions of an Album Advertisement

Different genres target their audience in a variety of ways for example, Top of the Pops target the 'young female pop fans' by having interviews with the artist and posters of the artist but below will be the album. However, Rock magazine such as Kerrang! would have the advertisement with a picture of the band or the artwork on the album, also there is usually 'gothic' font type used (although this depends on the sub genre). Although, there are conventions that appear in every album advertisements in magazines, which is shown below.

Artist name and album title
Release date
Magazine reviews/endorsements – NME, Q, Rock Sound, Kerrang!, Top of the Pops

Product content – extra DVD footage, bonus tracks

Tour dates

Ratings out of five stars

Web address / myspace
Name and logo of record label
Images – photographs/graphics/combination

Outlets in which available for example, www.Play.com, www.Amazon.com

Slogan
Limited Edition
“Out now” / “Debut album”
offers for example, free download if you sign up to XYZ website

Jessie J Advertisment

Album Ad Scribd

Advertisements in Magazines/Television

Later on in the course we will create a magazine advertisement for the new album by our artist. Looking at other advertisements in a variety of magazines for example, Top of the Pops, Kerrang!, Rock Sound and Look will inspire and help me make my advertisement. I looked in these magazines to see the different advertisements due to the variety of genres, but I will mainly look at pop artists advertisements. All of the images and videos in the post was taken by me, using my i Phone.

Top of the Pops (Pop Magazine)

When I was looking through Top of the Pops magazine I noticed that pop artists do not usually have album advertisements in magazines, the magazine includes a poster of the artist with an interview and then at the bottom of the interview it has a release date for the single and album. This strategy targets the artist to a young audience and it makes the artist seem more approachable. The picture (which was taken from my i Phone) on the left is an example of the artist interview which publicises them, the interview is of Alexis Jordan. The picture on the right is a close up of the album and single release date, which is shown on the bottom of the interview.

Kerrang! (Rock Magazine)

The advertisements in Kerrang! magazine consist of public recommendations of the albums that they love, these albums are usually new releases. I was very interested in this type of advertisement, as it could be said that the recommendation seems more trust worthy. This makes the album appeal to the target audience which is men and women aged 14-21, who read Kerrang! magazine. The article is called 'Lost in the Stereo' and the photograph of the article is shown on the left. In the magazine there are album recommendations from the writers of the magazine. However at the end of each article I noticed that they always recommend the album, even if it did not get a good

recommendation.
The photograph on the right is similar, to what I can imagine a pop artist advertisement would be like because the band 'Royal Republic', used a photograph of them on their album which is only used on the advertisement. A pop artist would use a photograph of the artist as the advertisement to make the buyer recognise the album, and it would draw the readerships attention to the advertisement.

When browsing the magazine I noticed a single advertisement (left) for Inner Party System- American Trash, I think that my advertisement will look like and I feel inspired by. This advertisement reminded me of my album, as it includes gold glitter and my album cover has gold sequence on the front and back cover. The conventions of this advertisement is the use of the gold which suits the electro punk genre. This has showed me that my album cover is very 'modern' and fits in with the different music genres. I have been inspired by this advertisement and I would like to incorporate gold in my advertisement because I really liked the glamorous vibe it gave to my cover.

Rock Sound (Rock Magazine)

The 'Black Sabbath' album is a picture of the album which makes the buyer recognise it when they see it on the shelf. Black Sabbath are in the rock, death metal genre which explains the Grim Reaper on the front cover. The advertisement has a quote "Sabbath's heaviest album just put on a whole lot of weight", the recommendation in the advertisements tempts the readership to buy the album. The conventions of this advertisement is the Grim Reaper who is swearing which shows the rebellion that may appeal to the target audience, the Grim Reaper symbolises Black Sabbaths music which is portrayed as powerful and deadly. The Gothic font in the advertisement suits the genre of Black Sabbath, and the quotes make the fans feel like they are apart of Black Sabbath community, because they understand the humour of the band. The advertisement says what is comes with the deluxe edition "unreleased live material, rare photos and extensive liner notes based on recent band interviews". After looking at this album cover I feel that I need to make my advertisement appeal to my target audience, by using the conventions for a pop advertisement and to tempt the reader by including information about what is in the album.

Look (Fashion Magazine)

I found it difficult to find a pop advertisement in magazines so I thought about advertisements in fashion magazines, as many pop artist target a mainstream audience by selling their product, campaigns or interviews. In the magazine that I was looking at Beyonce had an advertisement for her perfume 'Heat', Beyonce targets women by her simplistic look with natural make up and she targets men by the low cut dress. And the bottom of the perfume advertisement I noticed that there an advertisement for her album (right), this shows that pop artist advertise there albums through their merchandise.

Television Adverts

Whilst I was watching Glee on E4 an advertisement for Jessie J new album which is out now, I found this very interesting as it shows that pop artists use television programmes to target their audience. The advert included Jessie J's two most popular songs and in every shot in the advert is of Jessie J. This shows the importance of the different medias such as, television, internet and magazines whilst promoting an album. I filmed the advert (below) using my iPhone.

Also, on the same channel there was another advertisement for Clare Maguire, a new artist. The adverts had some shots from her recent music video and it contained quotes from critics of Clare. The advert is shown below.

Final Cut Pro used in Movies

Whilst researching Final Cut Pro I came across a variety of films and television programmes that have used Final Cut Pro, this was eye opening to me as I have never realised how popular and professional the programme is.
True Grit which was directed by The Coen Brothers was edited by Final Cut Pro. True Grit was nominated for many BAFTA awards and it is said to be the 'film of 2011'. Eat Pray Love which is a best selling memoir used Final Cut Pro through all of the editing stage. (500) Days of Summer which was directed by Marc Webb, who was a first time director and the editor Alan Bell had used Final Cut Pro. I was very suprised that the blockbuster film Benjamin Button had used Final Cut Pro, the film was the director's, David Fincher, biggest film to date. Sundance 2008 Festival "Best Director" Lance Hammer, used Final Cut Pro for his new film Ballast.
Also, television programmes such as Everybody Hates Chris, X-Files and Live From Abby Road.
All of this information was Quoted from www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/in-action.
(I wrote this post using my I Phone).

Glee

The popular franchise Glee, which is shown on E4, recently sang their own version of Teenage Dream.

It was the same lyrics as the original version. Although it had male singers and there were harmonies in the song, which seemed to make the song more personal and heartfelt. This song appeared on the new Glee Album. In

the episode the audience saw that Curt was being teased and bullied for being homosexual and he decided to visit another school 'Darlton Academy Warbiers' where they sing Teenage Dream. The song symbolises Curts desire to be treated equally and its his dream to find a relationship, as the episode is called 'Never Been Kissed'.

I loved this version of the song and I prefer it to Katy Perry's version. Below is the scene that Teenage Dream was sang in.

Filming Technique

Whilst watching the music video to You Me At Six- Gossip (above) I noticed that the majority of the music video were dolly shots, I wondered how they made the dolly shots seem so smooth and professional even though it was a low budget music video. So I then decided to research in to the filming technique that they used.

I used Google to see behind the scene photographs which would show the

band filming, I came across a couple of photographs which show the equipment that they used whilst filming the with the dolly. The photograph on the right was taken from www.myspace.com/edinfocus. The camera was placed

on a poll with wheels which was used for the dolly

shots, the artist was pushing the poll along to get the continuity shots for the different rooms.

I then decided to zoom in to the photograph to look more at the camera itself (screen shot on the left). Mask tape was used to stick the camera to the poll, which made the camera seem smooth. The rooms in the music video were dark because it was made to seem like a party, the lighting around the camera made the artist stand out from the extras at the party.

After researching this technique I have become more confident that even 'amateur' directors can create good and professional music videos.

The Orange British Academy Film Awards

Whilst watching The Orange British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) I noticed that Teenage Dream instrumental was played, when Jessica Alba walked out to announce the Best Supporting Male Actor. The winner was Geoffrey Rush for the Kings Speech. This shows the popularity of Teenage Dream and the instrumental version suits any occasion.

Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents

Whilst watching this weeks episode of Sun, Sex and Suspicious parents which was set in Magaluf, Majorca, I noticed that Teenage Dream was playing whilst they showed a location shot of a go karting rink. The programme is set in summer so it shows the popularity of the song as it even has radio air play now. The instrumental version of the song was played, which reinforces the songs popularity as it is recognised without music.

Final Digipack

Front Cover:


Back Cover:


Inside the Digipak:



Final Digipak:
This is my final digipack covers, from top left to right is the album cover, back of the album, inside booklet and inside where the CD will be held. I am really happy with how the photographs and editing of the photographs turned out, I decided to contrast the outside and the inside of the digipack as the outside is eye catching because of the bright gold and when looking closely the outline of the artist is apparent. But the inside of the digipack focuses on the artist, which connects the artist to the audience. The heart shape creates synergy between the digipak and the music video, which makes the audience recognise the artist and know the song.

Inside the Digipak (booklet)

For the inside booklet I wanted the audience to feel a connection between them and the artist, which is why I decided to have a photograph of the artist making a heart shape.
Below is how I created the inside booklet.


I cropped in to this photograph using Picasa.

I then adjust the colour to make the inside booklet brighter. I also changed the brightness so the booklet cover will be eye capturing.

This is the inside booklet of my digipack.

This is the inside of the digipack, the heart shape is her logo and I feel that the photograph seems like the artist is looking at the buyer, this creates makes the fans seem special as she shows that she loves them. I decided to use a photograph of the artist in the inside booklet to show the fans her appreciation, I thought that the booklet could be filled with tour highlights so the photograph will entice the audience to look in the booklet.

Inside the Digipak

For the inside to the digipak I wanted the viewer to feel like they knew the artist and that the audience felt appreciated for being a fan and buying the album.
Below is how I made the CD holder.

Creating the CD holder I simply cropped in to a photograph of the artist making a heart shape.


Then I created the circle of where to place the CD, the CD will be placed in the heart.

This is the final inside panel to my digipak.
Above is the inside of my digipack where the CD will be kept, it is the same design as the booklet as it makes the CD seem personal. I decided to use the heart shape as it is the artists logo, the artist creates the heart shape is the music video which creates a connection between the music video and the digipak. On the leaflet inside of the digipak there is a mid shot photograph of the artist making the heart shape once again, this makes the fans feel apart of a special 'club' as they feel connected to the artist.

Back Cover of my Digipak

For the back cover I wanted to use the gold colour scheme again, although this time I wanted to incorporate red which is the clothing that the artist is wearing. Red often appears in our music video which creates synergy between the music video and the digipak.

This is how I created the back cover to my digipak.

I used the same photograph of the gold sequins as I did on the front cover of the digipak. I cropped in to this image so it was an extreme close up.

I cropped in to this photograph until it was a mid shot. After using the photograph of the artist and the gold sequin photograph I 'held' both of these images, then I clicked on 'Collage', which led me to the settings so I was able to create a 'Mosaic'. I was then able to create an image in image picture, but I had to adjust the translucency so the audience was able to see the bottom photograph.

I then applied the album track list, a scan price tag, the small print which states that the songs belong to the artist and record label and that copyright is illegal, the executive producers and then I added the Virgin Records Label.

I asked my friends what they thought about the back cover they said "I really like the gold and the artist seems like an angel, but the font is unclear and hard to read". After receiving this feedback I tried to change the font to white but it was harder to read, as it blent in with some parts of the back ground. So I decided to leave the font black as it is bolder and clearer to read.

This is the back cover to the digipak.
The artist appears to be angelic in the back cover which contrasts with the front cover as she has a serious expression, the angelic feel entices the audience to buy the album as they feel a connection between them and the artist. I am happy with the back cover to the digipak as the audience sees a sensitive side to the artist which could imply that the songs will be meaningful.

Front Cover of my Digipak

To create my digipak I downloaded Picasa 3 from http://picasa.google.com/mac/. I decided that I wanted to use a gold colour scheme for my front cover, because we wanted the artist to already seem established. I thought gold was a suitable colour as gold has connotations of wealth and power. Being an A Level photography student helped me a lot whilst creating my digipak as I already knew how to use the soft ware. Underneath is the process of how I made my front cover to my digipak 'Seeking Cosmo'.

For the front cover I took a photograph of red heart sequins, love is a always portrayed in the pop genre so the hearts fitted well.

I then used Picasa to adjust the colour of the sequins to gold and I cropped in to the gold sequins to make an extreme close up shot.

When I took a photograph of my artist I applied gold dust on her face, which was inspired by a photo shoot from America's Next Top Model. Using Picasa I then used 'held' the gold sequin photograph and the photograph of my artist and clicked on to 'Collage', after I went on to 'Settings' to make the photos become a 'Mosaic' and after I was allowed to drag one of the images in to the other. After I had to change the translucency to make the bottom photograph visible.

After, I included the artists name and the album title to the top of the digipak cover, after I included a 'Parental Advisory' sticker at the bottom right corner to make the digipak realistic.

Below is my final front cover to my digipak.

I am really pleased with how the digipak cover turned out and it is eye catching to the audience. The cover conforms and challenges the pop genre, as love is a frequent theme through pop so the hearts present love. But the cover does not have bright colours which challenges the pop genre, because I wanted to make the artist stand out from other female pop performers and the use of gold suits the album title 'Seeking Cosmo'.

Editing Draft (Two)

In our second edited draft we have tried to edit more on the beat and we have tried to make the audience recognise our artist by having more shots of our performer singing. In our latest draft we loved that the lyrics conformed with a shot in our video for example in the shot for "Just love" we had our artist moving a heart shape balloon which says 'I Love You', this makes a connection between the performer and the audience. We all liked the three cut away shots for "We", "Can", "Dance" as it makes the footage more on beat. When we asked our class what there favourite part was in our music video they said the seventeen photographs in the beginning, because they liked the editing technique. During the chorus we used fast pace editing with different shots of the artist in different location and the transvestite scenes. However, when I showed my mother our recent draft she thought the transvestite scenes were the performer, so we need to improve on that. We need to make our music video more fast pace because it is a pop music video. Also, we came to the realisation that we used the same shots for a long period of time for example, the artist performing in front of the black background is used in the beginning for twelve seconds and we do a shot reverse shot with the same performance. We have used many of the same performing shots so we have decided to film more performance to add interest in our music video, as it will not be so repetitive.

Below is our recent draft to our music video.

Make Up Ideas

As a group we decided that we wanted Jess to do Michaela's make up when we filmed, Jess is an art student so she could do bold make up with delicate designs to not over shadow the artists face. Jess came up with the idea of including crystals on Michaela's face which conforms with our artists name and it will look glamourous which suits the pop genre. On the right side is the single artwork for Lady GaGa- Love Game which Jess got the inspiration from, the crystals areeye catching and it makes the artist seem more famous. We would place the crystals around Michaelas's eyes as it will draw attention to her eyes. In Marina & The Diamonds video to 'I'm not a Robot' she had similar make up, the stillshot is on the left.We want to use a bold eye shadow colour as it draws the audience attention to her make up and it will appeal to our female target audience.