Age: 15-25
Sex: Female
Profession: Mainly students
Connotations: Drinking, Alcohol, Parties, Clothes, Make Up, Phones, iPod, Photographs
Hobbies: Shopping, Parties, Cinemas
Other Facts:
Shop in high street stores such as Topshop, River Island, New Look, Primark
Girly girls, interested in make up, clothes, hair etc
Party Girls - like to party, go out, have fun
We decided to create a logo for our production company which will be "advertised" through our music video and will be showcased on the digipak and advert. We felt it was important to create a logo that would match the concept of our music genre and be eye-catching to the demographic audience.
The colors we used were mainly primary, bold, bright colors that would be easy to notice on adverts/digipaks etc. For example, pinks and oranges have been used to agree with the conventions of our 'pop' genre. Although the colors are bright they have been used in a simple, minimalist way in order not to strike too much attention away from the anchoring image/artist.
The font we used felt very Hollywood-esque which we though matched our genre perfectly. A lot of pop music videos are originated from American producers and companies and we wanted to incorporate that within our brand and video. In addition, a lot of pop videos are filmed in Hollywood/LA and so we wanted to include the American vibe into our video as well.
The front cover of the digipak visualises the recurring motif of this particuar artist. Audiences are able to relate certain, colours, symbols and trends to a certain artist. For example, the colour pink is usually associated with Nicki Minaj because this is a primary colour that she wears in a lot of videos. This is also the name of her album 'Pink Friday' and so the colour of the cover matches this too. Everything within her digipak matches not only its context but also the conventions and motif of the artist herself. Her outfit is very extravagant which is again a common trend associated with this artist. In a lot of her recent videos she wears very wacky and wild costumes which kind of visualise her style of singing and rapping as a lot of the time it is voice distorted and uses several accents. Her figure is made doll like to show no imperfections. To an extent this symbolises Laura Mulvey's theory of male gaze and that of using the females attractiveness to draw in the demographic audience or perhaps a subverted audience which were never really targeted in any other way. The text is very simplistic for the most part in order to maintain all focus on the centrally anchored image. However, the word 'pink' is wrote in pink obviously to match the connotations of the word but also in another font. This font is more handwritten and girly to introduce the feminine influences that are obvious in this artist's work.
The back of the digipak is very similar to the front cover by following the same colour scheme. Again the colour pink is such a big influence in this particular record and so it is made unmissable to the audience. Her perfectly straight cut hair matches with her figure to give a look of perfection to the artist and to again attract an audience with appearance rather than actual music. The long netted skirt gives us the idea of a ballerina/ princess dress but is subverted by the shortened front of the dress which reveals the grown up and attractive side to the artist. Again the text for the tracks is very subdued and plain in order to keep focus on the artist and is used as a contents for once the audience have bought the record. At the bottom left hand corner are the institutions which are anchored in the bottom left so that they are the last thing the audience sees. Most of these will be demands of sponsors or the record label and reveal connections to the artist.
The central image on the front cover is the artist. This photograph takes up the whole front cover to capture attention and use the artist to sell the CD. Rihanna is physically attractive and so the Cd cover makes use of this to attract potential buyers and her demographic audience. Her lips and hair are the most vocal part of the image as they are bright vivid red. Her lips are shaped into a perfect Cupid's Bow suggesting that she is looking for love, looking for romance and that bright red colour matches the aim of her lips being centrally anchored. The bright red colour of her hair expresses ' a femme fatale' iconography which in turn expresses a strong female character.
The text used on the front over is very demure and very refined in order to maintain most attention on the 'meat shot' of the artist. The text reads her name and the name of the album 'LOUD' which are both written in simple fonts for the same reason of not diverting any attention away from Rihanna. The texts are located at the top and bottom of the page so that the image is centrally anchored and the first thing you see. You would then be attracted to her name and finally the name of the album.
CD Insert Pages
The main image on the insert page is Rihanna laying on a floor of roses. Again the red lips and hair portray her feisty nature but her want for love at the same time. However in this image, the loving nature to the red colour is more apparent because of the roses in the background. The red roses are a signifier for love, romance and relationships which is what Rihanna is looking for by looking into the roses. In the Photograph Rihanna is wearing a flowing ballernina style outift. This outfit suggests her innocent and playful side whilst still maintaining her stereotypical strong, attractive woman profile. The provocative pose which she is laying in suggests a very mainstream institutional context and that the pose has been perfected to attract an audience.
Actual CD Image
The actual CD also has a transferred image of a rose head, however in this image the rose is pale compared to on the CD insert. The bright vivid red which has been apparent through the whole of the digipak cant be seen on the actual CD cover. This suggests that on the outside she is very outgoing and has a vivid personality which is represented by the bright red colours. The paler CD colour suggests her inner purity and innocence and how on the inside she may not be as outgoing and wild as what her institution demands her to appear.
This is a magazine advert for Gwen Stefani's album which is promoting her album, Love.Angel.Music.Baby. This is also cleverly promoting her new perfume range which are individual fragrances called Love, Angel, Music and Baby. This image has been been created by using different layers and filters on Photoshop. this has given her a surreal look, however it has also been able to keep her iconic red lipstick and golden hair. Gwen Stefani's music comes under the pop genre and maintains a similar regal feel throughout her videos and also throughout this advert. This advert is agent centered which flaunts her as an artist and her album. The text used on this advert looks to me feminine/gothic which she always uses, in adverts and also on her videos it also looks quite rich with the golden colour, this is a good example of anchorage with the background of her as it looks likes he is sat on a throne with a crown in her hand and a staff in her hand. Her body language is quite plush as he is sat in her fantasy world. I have learnt from looking at this advert that it is appealing to the eye, uses extra Photoshop techniques and draws the eye in. All of these aspects i will use and create my magazine advert using similar techniques to make mine as successful as this.
This magazine advert/cover was created to promote Beyonce's earlier album of 'I am Sasha Fierce'. She did multiple covers and interviews etc in order to promote this album. This particular magazine cover focuses on her physical attraction in order to promote the album to their demographic audience.
The mise-en-scene in this particular photo helps to create a strong "femme fatale" profile for Beyonce. Wearing the colour red enables a strong feminine image to be portrayed to the audience. Red has connotations of love, romance and relationships but also has connotations of being strong and powerful. For this particular advert, Beyonce captures both sides of the spectrum by combining a strong female profile with a romantic glimpse on the actual album.
Beyonce's make up is made very natural exept from her eye make up. Her eye make up is quite dark and heavy which visualises her glamorous profile. In alot of her music videos she wears very muted make up, for example in 'If I Were A Boy' she wear no make up what so ever and likewise in 'Halo'. In this magazine shoot she is approaching the audience in a more sleek rocker look.
Her hair is tied back and away from her face which helps to build eye contact with the reader or potential buyer. Having full eye contact helps to build a connection with the artist in the photograph and allows the audience to see the artist in full light. This again comprehends with a few of her videos like 'If I Were A Boy' where she has her hair tucked away from her face aswell.
The text which reads 'Beyonce' matches that of the font on the front her latest album which acts as a motif for the artist. The matching font will make the audience more prone to buy the CD as it mirrors that of the text from a reliable magazine source.
The sound of this particular track i think is very futuristic and so to match this different techniques have been using in camera shots and also in post-production to match the uniqueness of the song. For example, the song is very upbeat and alot of percussion instruments are used. In order to match this to the video, editors have clipped each scene so that a dance move, e.g a footstep, hand clap or a finger snap is in direct sync with a clash of a drum or a beat of a piano. Each time a new beat is hear there is a movement which illustrates this and so i feel that the music video is illustrative of the track as theorised by Andrew Goodwin. In addition, the actual storyline to the track is illustrated through the choreography and the video itself. The track is about summarising themselves up and declaring their superiority over other artists who should 'check this out' or check them out. It's all about being higher in the charts and more popular than artists who perhaps put them down in their beginning. This is illustrated in the choreography, especially by Nicki Minaj who uses alot of attitude in her dancing. The choreography is illustrative of the words being spoken, for example when the song says 'sometimes it's just me and all my bottles all alone' Nicki Minaj acts like she is drinking out of bottles. Will.I.Am does this also when saying ' you need to grow a little taller' as he moves his arms up to taller height, all of this illustrates the lyrics in the song.
A colour scheme is apparent through mise en scene and backgrounds throughout the video. Pink and Black are the most dominating colours in this video. Not only does Nicki Minaj and Will.I.am wear them but also some of the backing dancers. The colour pink is almost like a recurring motif for Nicki Minaj as it is vivid in her other music videos and also contributes to the name of her album 'Pink Friday'. When an audience see the colour pink it easy for them to associate it with Nicki Minaj as she uses the colour so often. Sticking with mise en scene, a lot of the outfits are very wacky and futuristic which amplifies the songs sound. The backing dancers were costumes which almost resemble spaceman outfits, again pink and black for the most part. At one point, Nicki Minaj is wearing a pink and white leather catsuit which has been designed to look very futuristic and wild. Will.I.Am wears a leather padded outfit with a plastic L.E.D lit hair stripe which again contributes to this idea of computerised characters and futuristic tracks.
Some of the post successful components of this video have been done in post-production. For example, throughout the video we have running animatics in a foreign langauge which presumably read what the song is saying. By having these animations the track is able to be amplified and the lyrics emphasised through the use of them. The animations are also used on the beat of the music, so that they only appear on a certain beat to match the track. They carry the same animated and futuristic feel as the rest of the track and so the theme is also amplified through these.
A range of camera shots are used in this video for a variety of reasons. One of the most common shots is the 'meat shot' which enables Laura Mulvey's theory of 'voyeurism' to be apparent. A close up shot of Nicki Minaj is used as the 'meat shot' in order to promote the song through her attractiveness and the female figure. A lot of males will watch the video purely for Nicki Minaj and so dressing her in certain outfits and choreographing certain moves will help contribute to the 'male gaze'.
A lot of long shots are also used within the video so that the choreographed and sometimes free styled dance can be seen. A lot of this video is made up of small sections of choreography which amplify and illustrate the song. Dance routines are a convention of pop videos and audiences will automatically be able to assign the pop genre to this song as soon as the upbeat tempo and dance routines kick in.
The genre of this song is pop with strong dance influences as portrayed by the up tempo and fast beat of the track. Most of the tracks produced and performed by The Saturday are of the same genre and sub genre and so a lot of their videos include dance choreography and club scenes, much like this one.
There are two main costume changes in this video by The Saturdays kind of illustrate what the song is suggesting. The song's narrative is about being read to go out and being 'all fired up' and feeling 'alive' to have a good night out. The outfits are glamorous and dressy which suggest that the group are out and performing on a night time. The black slick dresses that they were for the most part of the video are very revealing and help to establish the attraction of the band. Laura Mulvey's theory can again be added to this video as it does place some 'voyeurism' onto the band as they are dressed glamorously and revealing aswell. However, in some of the video the girls wear all white which has connotations of purity and ideallic innocence. This contradicts the song and makes the girls seem innocent which is not what the song is saying as it refers to everyone being 'animals' and to 'get your claws out'.
In this video, water seems to be made as an icon. The iconography of the water is a common convention in pop music videos, especially for bands. A lot of previous videos include a dance routine in water, for example an older song by Shane Ward features dancing in water. I think that the water adds a more dramatic effect to a dance routine and encapsulates a glamorous look for the video. However, in this video I think that water is used to reflect the lights in the background to make the set look and feel like a club. A lot of lighting is used in this video, including a back wall of spotlights suggesting that the band are always in the spotlight. The fact that they dance in front of it suggests that they don't mind being in the spotlight and actually play up to it. The combination of the lights and the water reflect a glamorous and dance club atmosphere.
A wide range of camera shots are used in this video, with the most common shot being the long shot. The long shot is used alot in this video because of the large amount of dance routine within it. The long shot enables us to see the dance routine fully and helps to divert our attention to the girl's bodies, specifically to attract male attention to the band and increase their demographic audience. Medium close ups are used to show the band individually in several quite provocative poses which again helps enhance 'male gaze' and makes the band more attractive. Shallow focus of backing dancers is used in order to make the water the main icon of some images.
This music video contains a lot of technical editing which has been added once the artists have performed in the green room. The dancers are all dancing with the beat. The chorus 'Boom Boom Boom' there is a close up of them lip syncing which suggests that this music video is also promoting them as artists as it is agent centered. this is backed up by Andrew Goodwin's theory which shows their stage performance throughout the music video. I feel that this music video is also illustrative as there has been lots of post production manipulation added. This has been filmed inside a studio and green room where the effects have been added after, for example for most of the beats of the music there is a new colour and shape being projected in the background. We have looked at this video as we like the aspects of the post production with the shapes and colours in the background and we feel that it would be a success if we were to do this in our music video, however, we do want to shoot scenes outside of the studio.
The music video for Candy shows a lot of expected genre characteristics of a pop music video. For example there is a lot of meat shots of the lead singers Kimberly Wyatt and Aggro Santos, this shows the audience the star image of the singers which promotes them to the audience who are watching the video. Kimberly also has a few prerogative dance routines throughout the video with female backing dancers in little clothing, this is aimed mainly for the male gaze. The video has fast paced editing and cuts to different shot which matches the pace of the song this helps the beat of the song be shown to the audience as it blends in with the song. Both of the singers lip sync throughout the song which is another stereotypical convention of a pop music video. The video seems to be shot underground in the middle of a party which matches the lively song, however the mise-en-scene does not have any significance to the song and its lyrics which strays away from Goodwins theory.
I chose to analyse this video as it has some of the aspects of a pop video that my group are thinking about using, e.g. the UV paint brings lively neon colours to the video and makes the visuals a lot more interesting to watch and looks fun. Also the idea of having a party in the music video we want to incorporate into our video.
Beyonce – Run the World
Within the whole of this video, over one hundred (122) shots are used in order to comprehend with the music and with the narrative of the track.
The main type of shots that are used are long shots for the most part in order to show the intense dance routine that is present throughout two thirds of the whole video. The dance routine is crucial to the lyrics of the song and visualises the key meaning of the track. The track is mainly about female domination and the power of women presently. This is recognised by a large group of women dancing fiercely toward a crowd of males. Their “frustration” aforementioned in the track is obivious within the dance routine.
Another type of shot which was particularly common within the music video was the close up shot. This helps to create the notion of looking and places emphasis and the physical attractiveness of the artist. In this particular video, the fact that Beyonce is shown in this light actually emphasises the fact she has so much power along with other females instead of being purely for male attraction.
A certain motif of Beyonce’s is key in this music video, as seen in other work she has two backing dancers who are female and imitate the dance that she does. For example, in Single Ladies, the video is made up of herself and two other dancers performing a routine. This was and still is an iconic routine known worldwide which is only associated with Beyonce. However, in this music video, the two backing dancers are male which immediately can be seen as an illustrative representation of the lyrics within Run the World.
With the audience of this track being mainly female, the use of characters within the video is key to attracting that demographic. The running theme of female empowerment is present through the use of a large number of female characters and a smaller number of male characters. Beyonce dominates through the whole sequence, being the leader of the pack and even coming face to face with members of a police force. Male members of a police force are seen to be strong and tough men but act as no threat to the large group of females in front making the females seem more powerful to the men again illustrating the dimensions of the track.
A lot of Beyonce’s songs have strong R&B influences much like this particular one. As well as the actual track having R&B influences we have visual offerings of clothing, scenery and characters which demonstrate a scene where R&B is present. For example, some of the male characters wear bandannas and have sleeveless tops on. The females however represent the other influence of the song by wearing dresses and jewellery, the more pop like side to the track. Beyonce symbolises both sides of the coin by wearing short biker style clothing in some scenes then long flowing dresses in others, bringing both ends of the spectrum together like in the track itself, mixing strong R&B with hip pop.
Digital technology
. Final cut helped me create my film clip. With final cut being more advanced than i movie it improved the quality of my film overall.
. I used Photoshop to create the logo for my film clip, i used a image already created but i made small alterations to adapt the image so it blended with my film.
. I would like to improve my skills in photoshop and final cut as i will need more knowledge and experience to help make my music video as good as it can be.
Post production
. In final cut i edited my film using the editing effects within the software. This created a new image for the film and helped to boost the overall look of the film.
. I used the in and out markers in final cut to select the parts of the rough cut i wanted to put into the final cut. This also made the editing a lot faster and less time consuming.
Research and planning
. Title sequence analysis gave an insight into the detail which my film clip would have to have.
. Storyboard - i created a storyboard as a plan of how i wanted my film clip to go, it organised the way of how the shots were going to play out, although i did not follow the story board exact it helped whilst filming.
. I plan to do a lot more planning this year for my music video as i would like to make a believable and convincing music video.
Conventions of real media texts
. Turn of the screw
. Watching Turn of the screw it helped by showing more conventions which i could adapt into my film clip, also it showed the difference it makes having good editing within the clips.
Creativity
I feel my film was not as imaginative as it could have been, but it has given me more drive to advance in creativity for my music video this year.
