Within our media lesson, we both had a meeting on the rest of the things we need to be done by the end of the week, for successful development in the future!
In our meeting, we went over trying to finish and develop our storyboard to be later developed into an animatic to represent our idea in a better way.
We also went over the left over pieces of research we have to do within the week..
Research and planning to do:
Storyboard
Animatic
Audience research / moodboard..etc (needs to be detailed and supportive!!)
Shot-list
Production schedule
Asset List
Test Shots (profile)
Pictures of locations
Risk Assessment
Call Sheet
What we did within the lesson/meeting
Drawn up some more post-its of the story board
Caught up on what we need to do...
Talked about the digipack/website for the release
Deadlines...
Today we had a meeting to discuss the following points: Lighting styles and effects, Possible locations, Actors and influences for camera shots, angles and techniques. All in preparation for our final idea.
We both met up in the holidays in order to get some of the work done together and go through some important points that we needed to have ready for when we go back to school.
Meeting
Discussion Points:
Lighting ideas:
- Light incorporations (different focus on the lighting objects, faces)
- Colour scheme dark/natural with multicolour lights from different objects and light sources such as L.E.Ds, fairy/christmas lights, street/city lights, the moon, reflections from glitterballs and other objects.
- Considering the use of florescents and UV-paint on the artist and from objects.
- Fireworks/sparklers.
Lighting is the crucial element within our music video, as we want to incorporate fantasy with hypereality. Also by varying the light sources and objects we can produce inspired techniques and shots which will deliver an effective and exciting music video.
Location ideas:
Lights being the main concept of our music video we need to really consider locations which will intrigue the audience. We have expanded our location options ready to follow up, for further research and visits.
- London will be our most used location as this is the music capital, it can represent dreams and possibilities. Through using the iconic buildings and the lighting around we can be very creative.
- London has very appealing scene which will entice the audience.
-Different settings: river scene, studio, city.
Actor requirements:
- Think about auditions for the positon of the female Arstist. The three possible actors? Any extras needed?
- Characteristics of the actor: Most crucial factors:- confident, reliable, good communication skills, strong and dynamic. Bonus(?) features/important:- Attractive, portray a good female role model image, professional, good acting skills.
- Overall image of the Artist: Independence, strong female role model, innocent, attractive, stylish/fashionable.
- Image that will sell the band?
- Artists appeal towards the audience/ creating connections?
- Creating an identity for the artist.
- Considering our target audience which will be females (in early 20's) young adults/audlts. Can appeal to males because of sex appeal, but mainly girls/women because of fashion, role model figure, independence.
Inspirational Videos:
Here we have included some videos that we viewed whilst working together in order to get some inspiration on the points that we had raised within the work time.
Most of the videos below show some creative shots including effective lighting, locations and editing techniques.
What caught our attention in this particular video was the use of flashlights to highlight the singers face in the dark and how the dancers used them in a line to enhance the movement.
When we came across this music video, what caught our eye was the multi-coloured fairy lights used and how it made the shot look more appealing. We also noticed that the use of a projection on the singer highlighted her and made the shot look more interesting.
The main thing which stood out to us both in this music video was the editing effects used, such as quick cuts and video montages - creating a nice faded effect of two or more different videos.
When looking at this video, we liked the use of bright lighting set behind the person, thus creating a silhoette and making the person stand out.
The use of a spot light on the music artist stood out to both of us, as it is effective for making the person stand out and appear more visible in the shot.
What inspired us both in this music video was the use of lights, projection and creativity to make the music video more visually appealing and interesting.
- UV LIGHTS..
Both Lauren and I analysed the lyrics to come up with a understanding of the song as well as a concept for the music video idea.
We listened to the song a few times over to have a better idea on what the lyrics reflect and what the lyrics of the song mean. First of all, by reading the lyrics, we noticed that the song mentions the word 'lights' frequently and we made the assumption that the song could have a direct meaning with the artist. For example, by the artist talking in the first person 'in my head' and 'You show the lights that stop me turn to stone, you shine it when I'm alone.' makes the song seem more personal and relate to the audience.
When we took a listen to the song itself, we noticed how the lyrics have been repeated and 'jittered' (e.g. had a way-h-h-h) to add an effect to the song. As this particular song has a ambient but dubstep sound to it, we thought of maybe including an aspect of hyperreatlity to the story and to suit the style of the song. For example, with the repeated words and sounds of the lyrics, we thought of maybe portraying the artist in the music video to be a computer generated human in order to refelct the lyrics and style of the song and create an image for the artist based on futuristic and unique.
We concluded that the artist of the song may be expressing her relationship with lights and how it reflects her as a person.
We have included some more examples of music videos that have inspired us on parts of our own music video. We concentrated on the framing of shots and the content within them.
A particular aspect of this video which stood out to us both was the use of projection to create a good lighting affect as well as an effective silhouette of the singer.
This video inspired both of us because of the focus on the lighting enhancing the appearance of the female music artist, presented as an attractive young woman. We also looked at the types of editing involved in this particular video, such as quick cuts from shot to shot in the pace/beat of the music. We also took note on the style of the video in relation to the style of the song, being set in a club with lots of colourful lighting.
What caught our eye in this particular video first of all was the introduction of the sunrise against the silhouette of London, which looked visually appealing and appropriate as a music video opening.
We also found the editing of the music video very effective, where the paintings had been filmed for a few seconds and then changed to created a 'jittered' style.
We also liked the look of the luminous paints in a dark room to make the shot look more appealing and interesting.
When looking at this particular video we admired the use of fireworks to make the video more visually enhanced as well as relating to the title of the song 'Firework'.
We also enjoyed the use of the lyrics relating to the visuals of the music video, such as the people being shown as if they/and everyone else should show of their potential.
In this music video, what stood out to us was the use of hyperreality applied to the singers and actors of the song. The use of a hologram effect creates more a more futuristic image, as well as suiting the style of the song.
Features found on Digipak example:
- Front cover artwork (photograph or image)
- Title of band and album name
- Audio CD
- Bonus CD (DVD)
- Sticker
- Booklet
- Contents (Song names, found on back)
- Images
- Lyrics
- Poster
- Barcode
- Record Label Logos
Fall Out Boy – Digipack analysis
What are the dimensions of the digipak?
Front cover: 12.5cm (height) by 14.3cm (width) Spine: 12.5cm (height) 0.9cm (width) First opening of digipak: 12.5cm (height) by 29.8cm (width) Fully opened digpak: 12.5cm (height) by 58.5cm (width) cd - diameter 12 cm
What are the conventions of the form and layout of a digipack?
How do they contain conventions of the Genre of music?
On September 13, 2008, the album artwork was revealed on the band's website. The cover of the album was painted by artist Luke Chueh. Chueh used the title and underlying themes of the album as inspiration for the artwork. "The title of the album is Folie à Deux, and when considering this with the bands popularity, I chose to focus on the idea of fandom, and how some people are willing to take their love/infatuation to levels that are obviously unhealthy."The disc's liner notes contain pictures of the band members with blank pages next to them; the group allowed fans to submit pictures they had drawn in the spaces and posted them to the band's official website.
Folie à deux from the French for "a madness shared by two" is a rare psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief are transmitted from one individual to another.
The digipak is the deluxe edition of the bands release, consisting of the audio CD as well as a free double sided poster. The digipak is made from a glossed card material.
The front cover of the digipak
The front cover has a bright, graphicly drawn piece of art; a surreal image of a person (Pete Wentz the bassist of the band) dressed as a bear - with a 'real' bear upon his shoulders. This particular style of an album cover isn't seen in most album covers, which either usually have the artist/band on the cover or something relating to the album name. The background is deep red with the title of the band 'Fall Out Boy' in white and the album name 'Folie á Deux' in yellow (matching the front cover characters costume. These colours and graphics have been used so they stand out to the viewer from the deep red background and presenting the band in a more surreal and darker light - highlighting the style of their music and personality/image.
The graphic of the album cover has been used on the poster as well as the band website, whilst the CD was on sale. This allows people to relate the graphic to the bands album.
The inner section of the Digipak:
The first stage of opening the digipak product reveals a plain, red painted style cover. In my opinion, I see this to be quite plain, however, it is a good way to blend the front background styling with the inner section of the digipak.
The first opening of the inner section:
As you open the first inner section of the digipak, it reveals a bright, colourful graphic/photograpy image of two of the band members. This is a complete contrast to the outer and inner parts of the digipak. I think this is an effective way to incorporate two stylings into one digipak.
Analysing this style of artwork, makes me think that each of the different band members have different graphics and images place upon their photograph to highlight certain parts of their personality and styling which makes the band more interesting and different to other band stylings.
The Digipak product reveal of the inside:
The Digipak consits of four separate card squares, to allow an even reveal of the product. As the other side of the inner section is opened, the other two of the band members are revealed with the similar styling of graphic images placed across parts of their face.
On the first out of the four sections of the digipak, holds the audio CD. It is kept in a sleeve of the glossed cardboard material and is secured in place with the small gap of the card.
The Audio CD:
The thing which stands out the most about the CD is its bold colour choice, yellow. Considering it is one of the brightest colours, it has probably been chosen for a reason, such as being easy to see out of other CDs. It also matches the colour of the drawing on the front of the album cover aswell as the album name on the front. This keeps the digipak product as a complete package and keeps it relevant to the smaller features.
The CD includes the record label names involved with the production of the album.
It also includes the producers and copyright in small text around the circumference of the CD.
The Poster:
The poster is kept on the right hand side of the opened digipak. It is folder over three times in order to fit inside the card pocket.
The poster features a large image of the album cover with the album name printed in bold underneath the image. On the other side, it features a photograph of the band together. They are presented in similar tones of coloured clothing, such as black and ark shades of greys/greens. Above the band members, is text containing information of the band members names, information of the creators of the songs, record labels and other information. The final paragraph presents a little thank you message saying 'THANK YOU TO ALL OUT FANS, FRIENDS AND LOVES'. It also includes mentions of other companies involved, such as Fender, Marshall, Dunlop... and so many more! It also includes more wesbite addresses linked to the band.
The spine of the album:
On the spine, it features the logo of the 'Mercury Music Group' record label to highlight the bands music producer. It also has the band name and album name in both in a bold and plain text. This style of text makes the names stand out more and make it look more interesting.
The sticker:
On the top left corner of the front of the Album Cover, It provides information to the viewer of the product to see what features it may include, such as main features of the product (names of the most popular songs) as well as the information of the free poster inside. It also gives information on the website address to download a free track!
Here is the digipak opened to stand up and reveal the inside photos of the band members.
Here is an image taken, diplaying the inside of the digipak opened to stand upright.
The back of the album:
The most interesting feature of the list of song names is that they are purposely shown as if they are back to front. The reason for this is to shock the viewer and make it more interesting. Strangely enough, it is still easy to read the song titles.
The album names are the same colour as the bear character as well as the same colour as the album name.
The back of the digipak bottom left hand corner:
The bottom left of the digipak displays three of the record company names involved with the development of the band album: FueledByRamen, Decaydance and Mercury Music Group.
It also displays website address' of the bands website and main record label. Underneath, it give information about the date of the making of the CD as well as the copyright law briefly mentioned.
The back of the digpak bottom right hand corner:
The bottom right hand corner of the digipak has the barcode, in order for the album to be scanned and purchased.
The complete product of the digipak:
- Outstanding photography with the incorporation of graphics
- The Audio CD
- The Fall Out Boy poster
How does this reinforce the band image?
The styling and content within this digipak does continue to represent what the bands image and styling is about. Fall Out Boy have been commonly referred to as an emo/scene style band, in reference to their music, lyrics and main focus of bassist Pete Wentz who is thought of as an 'emo'.
However, the bands main goal is to be unique and reach out to those who might relate and enjoy their music and lyrics.
Fall Out Boy tend to be unpredictable in terns of the album covers, for example, Infinity on High, Believers Never Die and From Under The Cork Tree all have very bizzare and surreal album overs which, for many, tend to not give away the meaning behind the artwork.
Their different approaches to albums and style of artwork give the band a sense of their own self and style and shows they try to not be like other bands already out there.
Examples:
Rihanna Digipak:
Emily Osment Album Cover:
More examples of Album Covers:
Here are the examples we looked at for ideas for our own digipak. The reason we picked the ones being shown all have certain features that attracted us. (seen as we are in the target audience)
When researching on the internet on album covers, many of the results of album covers were alot of the female artists close-up, to show their attractive appearance and to interest the viewers.
We are looking to incorporate a 'lights' within the front cover to follow the concept. Especially in Beyonces' cover, where the sun is being forced through the window.
From the shots below, these were taking from the Series 'The Vampire Diaries' where we received inspiration through shots that came to interest. Together we think these are great template influence for our own digipak cover. However, we would be more creative and will manipulate the colour scheme and different contrasts etc so it will be enticing.
Our thoughts and considerations about our own to be made in the future for our own construction of a digipak:
Before our media lesson, Aimee and I decided to have a quick meeting about what we have done so far and how we need to progress.
We had a look on what we have completed so far for our project and how we can make this promotional campaign successful. We spoke about ideas with one another in terms of planning to take a few more visits to locations, what we are going to include in the music video, the concept, target market and how we are going to create an image for the artist.
We had the meeting before our media lesson, which was going to involve us presenting our pitch, in order to clarify ideas and questions we had,
As part of our research and planning, with have both carried out some research into the type of image and outfit that would be suitable for the music artist of the album release.
From the research into artist influences, we have been able to follow up and have a good idea on an appropriate style/costume to display in the video and within the ancillary products.
The images above display the type of image and costume we are thinking of having the 'singer' wear for the music video. We ensure we keep up to date with the latest fashion so that the image of our artist is fresh and new, as well as being a role model to the audience.
We want to use evening wear/party dress style and up to date fashion as well as some modern vintage fashion wear in parts of the music video to ensure the music video and the music artist is visually appealing.
