Location Recce Shots

Planning - Task J 

Costume Shots

Planning - Task I

Storyboard

Planning - Task H

Izzy and I have begun to draw out of camera shots on a storyboard in order to help us plan our filming. We have not yet finished, and have drafted the first minute.

Draft of Ancillary Magazine Advertisement

Planning - Task G

Draft of Ancillary Digipak

Planning - Task G

Hand-Drawn Mock Ups of Digipak and Magazine Advertisement

Planning - Task F

Featured below are my mock-up drawings for my digipak and magazine advertisement for the ablum Conditions by The Temper trap. I have gone for a fairly simplistic design that features around a brick wall thar Izzy and I would like to photograph our actors posing with. I chose a simple design like this as the song is quite simple in itself, and is about overcoming problems, which the wall can symbolise.

I also chose to have serif font feature on the digipak and magazine advertisement as this style creates a sophisticated aesthetic to the album, which would work effectively as this band is composed of men in their late twenties/early thirties.

My Digipak

Front Cover

The CD

Back Cover and Tracklist

Inside Cover

Inside Cover #2

Background of CD

Magazine Ad

Music Video Pitch

Planning - Task E

Below is our pitch for our coursework which we will present to our classmates and our teacher in our next lesson. We have chosen the track Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap.

Theorist - Negus

Negus - The Ideologies of the Music Industry

Keith Negus identifies two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry. These ideologies shape the way in which the artists' images and careers are developed, and the way that they are marketed towards specific target audiences. He groups these ideologies into two categories:

• The organic ideology of creativity and
• The synthetic ideology of creativity

The Organic Ideology of Creativity

• A 'naturalistic' approach to artists
• The seeds of success are within the artists, who have to be 'nurtured' by the record company.
• The image of the artist is 'enhanced' by the record company.
• The artist is given time to evolve and progress through their career
• Emphasis is given to album sales and the construction of a successful back catalogue
•  Often aimed at older or more sophisticated consumers
• Profits generated by this kind of act tend to be part of a long term strategy by the record company

The Synthetic Ideology of Creativity

•  A combinatorial approach to artists and material
• Executives attempt to construct successful acts out of the artists and the songs at their disposal
• The image of the artist is often constructed by the record company
• The artist will be given a short time to prove their success before other combinations will be tried out
•  Emphasis is given to single sales and to promoting first albums
• Often aimed at younger, less sophisticated audiences
• Profits generated by this kind of artist tend to be part of an immediate, short term strategy by the record company

Theorist - Dyer

Theorist - Goodwin

Goodwin - Dancing in the Distraction Factory (Routledge, 1992)  

Andrew Goodwin studied music videos, and discovered a number of key factors that tend to appear in the majority of popular music videos.

Goodwin identifies six key features, which distinguish the music video as a form:

1.  Particular music genres may have their own music video style and iconography (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).
2.  There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (with visuals either illustrating, amplifying, contradicting the lyrics).
3.  There is a relationship between music and visuals (with visuals either illustrating, amplifying, contradicting the music).
4.  The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs (or star iconography) which recur across their work (and over time becomes part of their star image)
5.  There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6.  There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).  

Analysis of the Song Lyrics

Planning - Task D

Izzy and I have decided to either use the song Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap for our music video, which is about how there are ups and downs in life and relationships but you cannot give up. The song is upbeat and sends a positive message to the listener, so we will try to channel this tone in our music video and make it as uplifting as possible.

The lyrics:

Sweet disposition
Never too soon
Oh, reckless abandon
Like no one's watching you

A moment of love
A dream
A laugh
A kiss
A cry
Our rights
Our wrongs
A moment of love
A dream
A laugh
A moment of love
A dream
A laugh

So stay there
'Cause I'll be coming over
While our blood's still young
It's so young, it runs
Won't stop 'til it's over
Won't stop to surrender

Songs of desperation
I played them for you

A moment of love
A dream
A laugh
A kiss
A cry
Our rights
Our wrongs
A moment of love
A dream
A laugh
A moment of love
A dream
A laugh

Stay there
'Cause I'll be coming over
While our blood's still young
It's so young, it runs
Won't stop 'til it's over
Won't stop to surrender

Won't stop 'til it's over
Won't stop 'til it's over
Won't stop 'til it's over
Won't stop to surrender

[repeating over the next verse 'til the end:]
A moment of love
A dream
A laugh
A kiss
A cry
Our rights
Our wrongs
A moment of love
A dream
A laugh
A moment of love
A dream
A laugh

Won't stop 'til it's over
Won't stop 'til it's over
Won't stop 'til it's over
Won't stop to surrender

Moodboard

Planning - Task C

For my music video planning, I have created a mood board full of photos and images that I have found on Google that reflect the inspiration Izzy and I will be drawing for our own music video. Our mood board focuses on neon lights, graffiti and young people going out and having fun which we will be aiming to capture. As we will be filming our video in Nottingham, I have also included a couple of shots of the city at night and the skyline.

Letter to the Record Company

Planning - Task B

Before we can begin shooting our music video, Izzy and I firstly need to receive permission from The Temper Trap's record label, which is called Liberation. Below is a screenshot of the email I have sent to the company, requesting their permission to use the track Sweet Disposition for our coursework.

Initial Ideas Brainstorm

Planning - Task A

Research into a Record Company

Liberation Music

Liberation Music is an independent Australian record company, started in 1999 by Michael Gudinski and Warren Costello, based in Melbourne. The label's stated aim is to find, nurture and develop new talent for a world market while remaining independent in the process.

Following the 1998 sale of Gudinski's Mushroom Records to Festival Records, Liberation Music was formed to continue to satisfy Michael Gudinksi's desire to promote and develop Australian Music. Effective September 2008, Liberation is distributed by Universal Music Australia after leaving Warner Music Australia. Festival Mushroom Records is the affiliate for Warner Bros. Records and Warner Music Australia. Liberation Records existed from 1985 onwards as the licensing arm of Mushroom for international artists.

The Temper Trap

Artists Signed to Liberation Music:

Adalita, Archie Roach, British India, Dan Sultan, Diesel, Hunters & Collectors, Husky, James Reyne,
Jimmy Barnes, Kate Alexa, Liam Finn, Neighbours, Mark Seymour, Shane Nicholson, Snakadaktal, The Angels, The Creases, The Holidays, The Ruthless, The Temper Trap, Troy Cassar-Daley, TZU, World's End Press and Vance Joy.

Target Audience Research

Research - Task 12

To fully analyse my target audience I have created a questionnaire which contains 10 questions. I have given these out to 20 people, age ranging from 14 - 21 years old.
Below is a copy of the questions I created and the results I have received.

I chose to ask 10 questions, each revolving around the candidates opinions on music artists and music videos to allow me to gain a greater insight into my target audience's likes and dislikes, which will help me when I create my own music video for my coursework. I collected answers from 20 students as my target audience will most likely be featuring in this age range, and this amount of people will allow me to analyse a wide range of answers.

In my results table below, overall I can see that the majority of students from the group I sampled are most attracted to the current pop genre and modern music, or genres that are multi-modal and can feature other genres within them. The most popular solo artist from my results was Beyoncé, who is a worldwide famous pop artist, who also features R&B and rap in a variety of her songs.
This is closely followed by Justin Bieber and Rihanna, who are also both very famous pop stars. Rihanna also branches out into R&B, reggae and hip hop with her newer releases as she channels her background and up-bringing by incorporating a Barbadian theme into her music.
The most popular band that I gathered from my results was The 1975, which is an indie rock band, that also feature pop themes in their newer music. This was closely followed by Imagine Dragons whom are also a very popular alternative rock/pop rock band. These themes of pop and indie music are highlighted as popular with my target group throughout my results, which tells me that a song under these genres would be a good choice for my music video later on in my coursework.
The most popular music period with my target group was modern day music from the 2000s, so I will choose a single from the past decade.
My results also showed me that the majority of my target audience prefer music videos that follow a narrative rather than a video that is abstract or reflects the song lyrics, and they also prefer the artist of the song to be featured in the video. I will aim to make these requests present in my own music video, but rather than having the artist of the song Izzy and I will possibly feature in the video instead along with our friends.

To finish off my research into my target audience I decided to look on YouTube to find out which of their favourite artists received the highest viewership on their most recent music video. In Beyoncé's recent video Sorry, she received 110,743,434 views, Justin Bieber's video Company received 188,027,709 views, and The 1975's music video Change of Heart received 6,240,033 views. This highlights that pop artists like Beyoncé and Justin Bieber (which primarily stick to pop music) have the largest viewership as their music is commonly enjoyed by the masses, whereas a more alternative band like The 1975 are not as well known and therefore do not have the same mass audience. 

Inspirations for Filming

Research - Task 11

To gather more information into creating my own music video, I have decided to look further into the director of the She Burns music video by Foy Vance. The music video was directed by Gus Black, and follows a young female around various locations as she goes about her daily routine. I particularly like the style of this music video as he uses a variety of different shots and locations to create a story-like effect, and uses a slightly grey-tinged lighting in a lot of his videos to create a softer aesthetic. As Gus Black also commonly focuses on couples or individuals he often creates a romantic effect to his videos, particularly in She Burns as he makes it look like Lucy Hale (the actress in the video) is being filmed by a loved one. Gus Black also tends to create a retro/vintage aesthetic to a lot of his music videos, by using different effects in his editing to make certain transitions slightly choppier to mimic a clapperboard. As the She Burns video is all in black and white this reinforces the vintage look. I may apply these features to my own music video, as I like the aesthetic it creates. Gus Black has also worked for musicians such as Goo Goo Dolls, Echosmith and Dodge, as well as companies such as Tiffany & Co., Budweiser and Warby Parker Eyewear.

I have also decided to look into Tim Mattia, as he has directed the Change of Heart music video by The 1975, whose music videos I enjoy to watch. This music video was also shot all in black and white, and follows an unusual narrative of a clown and a woman who slowly fall out of love. He uses a variety of different shots and angles throughout the video, and the concept of the whole video creates quite an abstract and unique aesthetic, which makes it interesting to watch.  Tim Mattia has also directed the Wild music video for Troye Sivan's Blue Neighbourhood trilogy. The music video (similar to Gus Black's videos) uses grey-tinged lighting, which creates a softer aesthetic to the video, and revolves around a couple. The video is filmed throughout a wide variety of locations, and the narrative flows perfectly between each shot.

I will take inspiration from both these directors to try and create a flawless finish across my video, and also try to achieve the same soft aesthetic through my use of lighting and editing.

She Burns music video:

Wild music video:

Analysis of a Digipak - Katy Perry

Research - Task 9 (part 5)

Teenage Dream is the third studio album by American singer Katy Perry. It was released on the 24th August 2010 through Capitol Records. Musically, it contains pop with influences of disco, electronic, house, and hip hop. Lyrically the album revolves around teenage love, partying, self-empowerment, and personal growth. The artist co-wrote every song on the album, and also worked with a number of producers and writers, including Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, Tricky Stewart, StarGate, Greg Kurstin, and Ester Dean.
Upon its release, Teenage Dream received a range of mixed reviews from music critics, who complimented its production and themes whilst criticising Katy Perry's songwriting. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 192,000 copies in its first week. It was later awarded three times platinum by the RIAA, selling more than 3 million copies in the United States and charting within the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 year-end chart three years in a row. As of July 2013, Teenage Dream has sold 6 million copies worldwide. The album and its singles earned Katy Perry seven Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Record of the Year, as well as winning International Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2011.

The front cover of the Teenage Dream digipak features Katy Perry lying on top of a pink cloud which resembles candyfloss, completely naked with a full face of makeup and her hair slicked into a retro, 1940's style. She has used a theme of sweets and candy throughout the design of the digipak, with the typography for her name resembling strawberry laces, and the title of the album resembles candycanes and she uses the red and white stripes which hold these connotations. Her name is the largest use of font on the digipak, which illustrates that she is the most important feature of the album and may also suggest that as she is the main focal point, the songs on this album may be very personal and revolve around her own experiences and life choices.

As she is featured on the front cover not wearing any clothing, this will attract the 'male gaze' which is Laura Mulvey's theory relating to women in the film and music industry. She claims that audiences have to 'view' characters from the desired perspective of a heterosexual male. The camera tends to linger on the curves of a female's body, and the female body is often overly-sexualised in order to attract large audiences. This is certainly present in this image as the singer is completely naked, with her curves partially covered by wisps of the cloud. This suggests that the singer is seductive and provocative, but as this album has previously implied that the tracks are personal to her, her lack of costume may be to imply that she is completely stripped back and vulnerable with her lyrics.

The back cover of the digipak continues the candyfloss and sweets theme, as the typography for the tracklist yet again resembles strawberry laces, and within the majority of the song titles the singer has included a candy sweet to replace letter O's. This theme illustrates the singer as having a fun and innocent side to her personality.

Inside the covers of the digipak, the singer has included two extra photos of herself to help sell her product and attract her audience. The first is a close-up shot of the singer as she is lying back in the clouds, and the other is the singer surrounded by various cakes. These two images reinforce her sweet aesthetic, and also the fun and innocent personality trait she is conveying. However, her seductive facial expression in the first photo also shows that she has another side to her personality which is much more provocative and sensual. Inside the digipak she has also featured two CDs that are layered with images to continue the theme of sweets and candy. The first disc resembles a donut, whilst the second resembles a stereotypical American candy sweet.

Analysis of a Digipak - The 1975

Research - Task 9 (part 4)

The 1975 is the self-titled debut studio album by English alternative rock band The 1975. It was released on the 2nd September 2013 through Dirty Hit and Polydor. It was recorded with Arctic Monkeys collaborator Mike Crossey. On the 8th September 2013, the album debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart, and as of March 2016 it has sold 410,981 copies worldwide. The 1975 have previously produced other products like EPs and singles, however their debut album was the first of their material that was noticed globally.

The front cover of the digipak is very dark and mysterious, as the image doesn't give away much about the content of the album, or who the band members are. The image uses low-key lighting to enhance the shadows in the frame, and the small bursts of light from the spotlights around the band name help to emphasise the title of the album, which is also the band's name. As this was their first debut studio album, by drawing the audience's attention to the band's name this will allow the band to receive more publicity and exposure, and help them to reach a wider audience.

The simplicity of the front cover suggests that the songs written on this album reflect a similar nature, and are written surrounding their life and experiences that they have been through themselves as the main focus of the cover is their name. The inside cover uses a similar design, sticking to a very simple and sophisticated aesthetic.

As the main colour scheme of this digipak is black, this could imply that the lyrics to some of the songs featured in this album have a dark and foreboding theme as the colour black holds these connotations. The colour white is also used throughout the digipak, which holds connotations of purity and cleanliness, which could illustrate that the lyrics to the songs are truthful and hold a lot of emotion.

The back cover of this digipak follows a very similar design to the front cover, with the same low-key lighting and spotlights surrounding the large photo frame. The track list is written in bold, capitalised, white, sans-serif font which reflects the idea of simplicity and ambiguity which is present throughout the whole digipak. Yet again this area of the digipak does not reveal much about the themes which are present in the product, and creates a sophisticated and clean-cut aesthetic to the album.

Inside the digipak, the album CD continues the theme of black. The CD itself is matte black, with shiny black typography layered on top which states the band name and title of the album. Yet again the design is very simple and dark, which illustrates that the band itself don't require lots of bold imagery to sell their records, and that they rely on pure talent to attract their audience. As this album was also their first official release through a record label, they may have had a limited budget so decided to stick with a simple design, or possibly chosen a design that they believed would appeal to everybody.

Analysis of a Digipak - Lady Gaga

Research - Task 9 (part 3)

Born This Way is the second studio album by American singer Lady Gaga, released by Interscope Records on the 23rd of May 2011. It is a follow-up to her internationally successful album The Fame and EP The Fame Monster. As co-producer of every track on the album, Gaga collaborated with several producers, including RedOne and Fernando Garibay, who she has previously worked with on other albums. She also worked with artists such as E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons and Queen guitarist Brian May. The music of Born This Way stems from the dance-pop styles of her previous material while incorporating different genres from her previous releases, such as electronic rock and techno. It features a broader range of genres such as opera, heavy metal, disco, house and rock and roll while its lyrical topics feature sexuality, religion, freedom, feminism, and individualism. Despite the divided opinions amongst religious and conservative commentators, the album was well received by music critics who praised the varying musical styles and Gaga's vocals. Born This Way received three Grammy Award nominations, including Gaga's third consecutive nomination for Album of the Year.

The front cover of the digipak is a close-up shot of Lady Gaga's face in black and white, with the exception of her red lipstick which is the only pop of colour across the whole digipak. The boldness of the red connotes a sense of danger and seductiveness, which suggests that themes of this may be present throughout the lyrics in this album. The pop of red also brings attention to the singer's mouth, implying that what she has to say is important, and that these messages will be featured in the lyrics of her songs.
The artist is also featured wearing very heavy eye-line, with the rest of her face very minimal in comparison. This brings the focus of the image to her eyes, and as the singer is also using direct address in this photograph, this helps to attract the audience and create a connection with them so that they will be more encouraged to purchase the album as she is staring directly at them.

The colour scheme of black and white is present throughout the whole digipak, as the spine of the digipak and the back cover are also lacking any bright colours, which suggests that this album is much more serious and sophisticated than her previous work. The colour black commonly connotes danger and mystery, whereas white is the binary opposite and portrays purity and innocence. This suggests that the singer has two sides to her personality, and can often be conflicted between the two.

The CD inside the digipak also follows this colour scheme, and is covered in white, serif typography. The font used is very spiky and clustered together. The spikiness of the font suggests a dangerous and edgy connotation, suggesting that these are personality traits that the artist portrays through her music. Lady Gaga is the largest piece of text throughout the whole product, which implies that she is the most important aspect, and that the album will revolve around her own life and personal experiences. The graphology used throughout the digipak is quite plain and serious looking, which illustrates that Lady Gaga does not require lots of bold, bright imagery to sell her products as she is hugely famous all by herself.