Album Cover Drafts/Practice

Stuart Hall Reception Theory 1980

Subsidiary Product - Artist Fonts

Online I found some font sites and found a vary of different fonts to use for my artists name. This font will be included on both of my magazine advert and album cover, as the artists name is a logo and a brand. The fonts with the red boxes round are the fonts that I prefer the most to the rest. All of the fonts that I have chosen have been chosen with my genre in mind, and I feel like those are the top three. My favourite are the handwritten looking fonts, but I prefer the font on the left out of the two. This is because I think that It would look good as a logo and it would be a recognizable font for any artist. I also feel that it stands out a lot and that it would be a good choice in a font.

Subsidiary Product - Album Covers Moodboard

I designed a moodboard on PowerPoint of album covers related to my pop rock genre. I included pop rock artists such as Avril Lavigne, Fall out Boy and Blink 182. From looking at all of these albums on a whole, it is clear to me that the artists or bands name is what stands out more on the album cover rather than the title of the album or song. This is because the album is promoting the artist, not their songs in order to make money. Avril Lavigne. Taylor Swift and P!nks album covers all have the main image of them on the front. All of the women look appealing to women in the sense of them looking pretty, and they look appealing to men, especially P!nks album cover, because she isn't wearing that many clothes. This is related to Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze. Men are most likely to buy her album not for her music, but for the image of P!nk on the front. Most of the artist or bands names are a logo, for example McFly and Taylor Swifts name are printed on their album covers as their logo and signature. In terms of my album cover, it has given me the idea to create a logo for the artists name, and because Blossom is a girl, have the image of the album cover a photograph of her. The colours on the album covers are all bright, and all of them stand out to me, which is a way of making the audience notice the album in shops and stores. The only album that doesn't stand out to me is The Beatles, this could be because of the time period that this album was produced, and that advertising techniques were not too important at that time. From making this album moodboard, I have got ideas got my album cover to incude a logo of the artists name, use bright colours with an image of Blossom on the front. I am also going to need to edit her photograph on Photoshop, in order to make her stand out to the audience. 

Uses and Gratifications Model : Blumler and Katz 1974

Lazarsfelds Two Step Flow Theory

Photoshopping Photographs for my Props

 

The strength about using Photoshop to put the two images together is that when in my music video Blossom see's that Joe is not in the photos, and figures out that he doesn't exsist, then I can use the original photographs of Blossom by her self as the props, instead of needing a nother photo day with Blossom.

TEST SHOT DAY 26th NOVEMBER 2013

On the 26th I went to Abbie's house and we took some test shots for my music video with my main lead role Blossom. After taking the test shots and looking back on them, I realised that there are some errors that I need to watch out for and some shots that didn't work out.

Before taking the test shots, me and my make up designer decided last time after costume and make up try outs that we would stick with the red lipstick and eye make up, because this is promoting Blossom's character as being slightly devious and having a dark side to her, which what all my audience find out at the end of the music video. Her hair is curly throughout the video because this represents her girly side of her, but it also gives off a girly rock look, which will suit the pop rock genre of my song.

TEST SHOT FOR "CAN'T COUNT THE YEARS ON ONE HAND THAT WE'VE BEEN TOGETHER"

                          

I think that this test shot is a good shot for Blossom's miming but I do not like the high angle that I have filmed her on. I like the medium shot but I think that the shot would look better as a medium close up, as this will be the first shot that the audience see of Blossom. I would prefer this shot to be shot on a normal standard angle of Blossom.

 

I prefer this test shot to the previous test shot, just because I prefer the angle that it was taken on. This was a hand held camera shot, so my camera work is slightly shaky, but I would prefer to have the camera on a tripod to give the camera a steady shot. I like the medium shot on this angle but I still think that it would look better as a medium close up.

 Again I also like this shot and I would say that this is one of the strong ones, because of the angle that it is taken at. The shot enables the audience to see the background behind Blossom, which is the photogrpahs, which play a key main role in my music video. Some negatives are that I didn't use the tripod on this shot, so the camera is slightly shaky, but I will be sure to use it when it comes to filming my final music video. Another negative is that her whole head isn't included in the video, so it is not a full and acurate shot.

This shot is better in the sense that in this shot her whole body is in the shot, including her head, so it looks more professinal. I do not really like the slight high angle that I have added to the shot though, as I do not think it makes a good first establishing shot of Blossom. The miming is slightly good in this video, but this is something that needs to be worked on in order to make the video and the music come together properly.

I would say that this is one of the strongest shots because of the angle I have shot it one, it isn't too high or too low, and I also think that the medium shot goes well with the angle in this shot. Again the miming is slightly out of time and it is something both me and Blossom will have to work on before filming the final video. Another negative is that yet again I didn't use the tripod so the camera is slightly unsteady, but this is not something that can't be changed for the final video.


TEST SHOT FOR "I TOLD YOU THAT I TOLD YOU THAT I LOVED YA"

This shot was taken as a test shot for the lyric "I told you that I told you that I loved ya". This is a very weak shot as her full head is not in the shot, so it looks very unprofessional. One postitive about the video is that close up, as I think the shot expressses her love and feelings for her boyfriend (except in this shot Blossom didn't promote the facial expression that I wanted her too).

One thing about this shot that I really like and think looks good is the high angle, because it represents her talking up to Joe, conveying to the audeince how much she looks up to him and how much she loves him. Again her full head isn't in the shot completley, but this is somthing that I know to change when it comes to filming my final video. Also, again, I still like the close up and think it works really well with the high angle.


TEST SHOT FOR "CAUSE AFTER ALL THIS TIME I'M STILL INTO YOU"

This shot isn't the strongest of the shots that I took for this scene, but I do like Blossom's movement in the shot, and I also like the medium close up shot that I have used, as well as the angle. One negative about this shot is that I didn't use a tripod, so again the camera is shaky.

 

I do really like this shot again because of Blossom's movement and body language within the shot, but her head cuts out when she moves. I will change this by changing the shot to a more of a medium shot rather than a medium close up. I like the angle that i have used and  I am genreally happy with this shot apart from the cinematography.

Newly Added Storyboard Shots

From producing my animatic video, I noticed that my video didn't have enough shots, and it looked boring and uninteresting, so to change this, I went back to my storyboard and drew up more shots to add into my music video. Shot 6 on the left is to the lyric "can't deny can't deny". Originally this shot was apart of a 7 second shot, but I have narrowed it down to a 2 second shot to break up the scenes a little. The shot includes Blossom running after Joe as he is about to walk out the door after an argument. Shot 9 which is also on the left is to the lyric "I should be over all the butterflies"which is in the chorus of the song. It includes Blossom performing to the camera in the location of a grassy field singing the lyrics towards the camera.

These next shots are shot numbers 12 and 17. Shot 12 is of Blossom again in the grassy location singing towards the camera. Her facial expressions will be serious to show that she is serious about her love for her boyfriend. Shot 17 is of Blossom back in the main location of her bedroom again singing towards the camera to the lyrics "I told you that I told you that I loved ya". Blossom will be laid on the bed but whilst singing the lyrics she will lift up from the bed showing a dreamy expression on her face.

Shot 21 is the same as shot number 9, in the grassy location whilst Blossom is performing to the camera miming the lyrics "I should be over all the butterflies". Shot 25 is in exactly the same location as shot number 21 but she is singing a different lyric which is "I'm into you". She is also performing the same dreamy like facial expressions and body language.

Shot 28 is the start of the 14 second instrumental. In this shot, Blossom is laid on Joe's knee looking at him like she is in love with him. This shot will last for 2 seconds of the instrumental. The location will be in a grassy location like a park or a field. Shot 29 last for another 2 seconds and it is a shot of a photo of Blossom and Joe standing together holding hands.

Shot number 30 and 31 is apart of the instrumental also. Shot 30 lasts for a total of 2 seconds, and it is a photo of Blossom and Joe together again. Shot 31 is a shot of Blossom running around a field like a little girl, showing that she is in love with him and she is giddy and excited about him. This shot lasts for 4 seconds. This shot will also include some effects such as blurriness and some sped up and slowed down editing. This will represent that her mind is slightly deluded and dysfunctional.

Shot 32 last for the last 4 seconds of the instrumental. This shot includes Joe sat on a bench or on a chair drinking a cup of coffee. The coffee cup is a prop that I need to get hold of from a coffee shop such as Starbucks or Costa Coffee. There will also be editing on this shot again the blurriness to represent that Joe is not real and is apart of her imagination. Shot 42 is after the instrumental and is a shot of crumpled up pictures on the floor of the couple, but the pictures are only of her.

 Shot 44 is to the lyrics "I'm into you (i'm into you)". The mise en scene is Blossom sat up against her bedroom wall with a pile of crumpled photographs next to her. She is sat on the floor crying with make up running down her face. Shot 46 is to the lyrics "Yeah after all this time I'm still into you". The mise en scene is the same as shot number 44 but Blossom is sat up against the wall banging her head representing that she is trying to figure out what is going on.

Shot 48 is one of the last shots of my music video. It is of Blossom attempting to set alight a photograph that originally was of her an Joe, but now is only of her. This is to show her frustration and anger about everything that had happened in the music video.

Who, Where and When

I drew this and organised Blossom and Joe in to two section giving them both subtitles for locations, props, costume, joint shots and separate shots. This was designed to help me be more organised with my filming days. The joint shot subtitle are the shots in which I will need both Joe and Blossom together to film, and the separate shots subtitle are the shots when I will need just one of them. This is going to help me design days for when I need either both of them or only one of them, saving one of the actors coming out and not actually performing any acting to the camera that day. The joint shots I will try to fit in within one day, or possibly two days, but the separate shots I should be able to fit in one day for both of them. Altogether approximately, my filming will take up to 3 or 4 days.

Test Shot Day

I have decided that I need to start taking some test shots before I actually start filming my music video. I have organised with the main female role Blossom and my make up designer to go to her house and practice some shots of the performance were Blossom is singing to the camera. In this session, I will be practicing some of my shots on my shot list, so I can see what I like and what I don't like, therefore to make my music video to the best of my quality. 

Risk Assessment

Subsidiary Product - Magazine and Album Cover Research

Make Up Practice

Earlier in the week when also having costume try outs, me and my make up designer tried out some make up on Blossom. We decided on two looks, the natural and innocent look and the dark look. The photograph on the left is of the natural look. We chose to use light colours, for example her eye shadow is cream, and we didn't use any lipstick. We liked this look because she isn't wearing too much make up, but it also represents her innocence in her character, and I want my audience to notice that the character is in fact innocent. The second look is more of the darker look and she is wearing more make up. We used a light eye shadow for her eyelid, but for under er eyebrows we used a darker eye shadow, and we also used red lipstick. The eye shadow brings out her eyes more, and this could be used for the scene when she is on the night out with Joe. The red lipstick can maybe represent that she is attractive, and maybe alluring, but also dangerous for her illusion of her boyfriend. I prefer the first natural look that represents her innocence, but I also like the second shot to be used in some scenes such as the nigh out scene and some of the photographs.

Final Costume Designs

This is my own drawing of Blossom and Joe's final costume. I planned Joe's costume with him and my costume designer Jack and he spoke to me about what clothes he had, then me and Jack decided on what would convey my genre to my audience. We decided on camouflage band t shirt, this is because by wearing a band t shirt, it is going to reflect the genre that my music video is, especially if he wears a band t shirt that is from the rock genre. The skinny jeans are very suitable for this because they are stereotypically what all boys wear. Vans were mine and Jack's choice of shoes because they are seen as a indie brand, therefore people from that similar genre will wear them. The parka jacket is just to add to the costume, to make him look more relaxed and give my video more verisimilitude. Lastly, the grey beanie hat is just a little accessory to the costume, and again it can be seen as a indie or rock item which is why I thought it was appropriate. For Blossoms outfit, I chose the outfit that is in one of my previous costume choices. The tartan skirt was my favourite and my most ideal choice because it is not something that everyone would wear, and I would say that it is a very unique piece of clothing, making her stand out and be different to everyone else (which she is as we find out at the end of my music video). The black top is very simple, but I didn't want to much going on in the outfit otherwise it would take the audiences attention away from the music video and just to Blossoms outfit. The Doc Martins are my favourite part of the outfit, just because they are a brand that again is associated with the rock genre but they are also associated with mods, who again are a group of different people in society, and this is representing how Blossom is different. I chose for Blossom to wear tights as well, because I didn't want her to look to girly and possibly maybe give of the look to men that she is easy and has no self respect, unlike Laura Mulvey's theory of the 'male gaze'. Finally, Blossom is going to have curly hair just to add to the girly look. Her hair is going to be messy as well, which can be related to stereotypically the scruffy rock look for my genre.

Male Costume

Photoshop Practice

                                  Because I haven't used Photoshop in a while, I thought it was best to do some practice and get to grips with the programme again whilst i'm doing planning. In both of the pictures, I changed the levels, brightness, saturation and adjusted them to a certain colour because I felt that they looked grey and dull. Adding brightness onto the photos has made them appear more clear and has made them stand out so much more. When I take the photos for my props, I will be using Photoshop to make them stand out more and look like this. Having done this practice, I do feel more confident with the programme again. I also used tools such as the blur tool for her lips, the smudge tool for her eyebrows so they stood out more, and the red eye tool to get rid of any of the redness in her eyes. Changing the brightness on the photos has made her hair stand out so much more, and I feel like the photos look more professional and look suitable to be included in a music video. I do still need to do some more practicing with Photoshop just so I am absolutely confident with it by the time it comes to editing the photographs that will be included in my music video. Next I need to take photographs of my locations and props, and I will be doing some editing on Photoshop of the locations.

Costume Design and Practice

SHOT LIST

Originally, I had 35 shots, were as now I have 49. This is because after producing and then watching my animatic, I felt that there wasn't enough shots and that it looked too slow and boring to watch. So when producing my shot list, I went through my storyboard again and added shots that I thought were appropriate. For example, I have added another location to my music video, a grassy location, where Blossom will perform and sing towards the camera. So far, I am happy with how my shot list has turned out, and I think that I have made better improvements from watching my animatic, to make my music video to the best i can. To see if these improvements are for the best, I am going to produce another animatic with my extra shots and see how that turns out, just so I can be certain that I am fully happy with my music video planning so far.  

Make Up and Costume Try Outs - 14th November 2013

Tomorrow I have organised for me, my make up designer, my costume designer and the female talent, Blossom, to meet up at her house so we can start planning what make up and costume is suitable for certain scenes. She has a wide range of clothes at her house that we picked to be suitable for my genre. We will be testing out different types of hairstyles and make up to suit her costume to make it appropraite for my music video.

The Hypodermic Needle Theory and Marxism in Music Videos

Prop, Cast and Locations List

PROP LIST

-          Varied photographs of the couple

-          Varied photographs of the female talent by herself

-          Bouquet of flowers

-          Blanket

-          Beer bottles

-          Car (using this for the couple to sit on the bonnet)

-          Ripped up photographs

CAST LIST

Main Male – Joe Bryant
Main Female – Blossom Levantiz
Make Up Designer – Sophie Baynes
Costume Designer – Abbie Stovin

LOCATIONS LIST

-          Blossom/Abbie’s Bedroom (UNDECIDED)

-          Blossom/Abbie’s Kitchen (UNDECIDED)

-          West Park

-          Street (daytime)

-          Street (night-time)

-         

Animatic Storyboard

This is the animatic of my storyboard for my music video. Doing this has made me realise the strengths and weaknesses of my work so far. At the moment, I would say the strengths are that my storyboard is coming together and works really well with the song. The narrative of my music video also matches to the song, which is one thing that I was worrying about. Even though this is only an animatic of my music video, I feel some confidence that my work is going well. There are some negatives of this, and one is that I feel like some of the shots are too long. To change this, I will be adding some more new shots or some shots that are already used in the music video to break it all up a little. The second negative is that I couldn't use some of the effects that I was hoping to use. For example, at the beginning of the music video, I wanted to over lap the title with the fast paced editing of the clouds. I couldn't do this due to the lack of features on Windows Live Movie Maker. For the production of my music video, I will be using a more suitable programme to fulfill my music videos needs. My next piece of work is to sort the cast and prop list, as well as take my own photographs for my music video for locations, props and costume.

Storyboard

Male Costume Moodboard

This is a costume moodboard for the male talent. The look that I am going for is a look that will suit my genre, which is pop rock, so looks like the likes of stars such as Matt Healy from the 1975 and Nick Grimshaw who is a BBC Radio 1 presenter. Both of their styles are smart but a grungy look, wearing clothes such as sometimes smart suits, jumpers, skinny jeans, leather jackets and tight fitted t shirts. This type of clothing will convey to the audience my genre as well as appeal to them, as it is the clothing that is typically in the 'trend'.

 Band T Shirts are also something that I would consider my male talent to wear because it is representing the love for music that the character has. This is important because we usually associate bands and music with people in society that enjoy listening to rock or indie music. On the left picture with Matt Grimshaw, this is an example of a band t shirt, but it is also an example of skinny jeans, which is another piece of clothing that is considered when thinking about the genre.

Costume Moodboard

  This is a costume moodboard for my music video for the female talent only. I want to perceive to the audience the pop rock genre of my music video so I need convey this genre through the costume. I am going to use clothes that have a rock or grunge look to them, for example the black leather jacket is seen as a essential rock item, with the likes of pop stars like Rihanna and J Lo.

                                                              

Hayley Williams who is the star of Paramore has a rock style wearing things such as skirts, skater dresses and printed leggings such as tartan, spotty or checked etc. I think that my female talent to stick to this type of clothing would especially convey the genre and would follow conventions.

Also on my moodboard, there is some clothing such as denim, which creates a grungy look which is what I am looking to convey, this can either be a denim jacket, jeans, or shorts. I think that one of the most appealing outfits to the genre on the moodboard is the bottom middle photograph of the model wearing a red top, with patterned jeans and a black hat. This definitely creates the grungy look but it also gives off the pretty look, suggesting innocence, which is what I want the female talent to be perceived as, even though she is deluded, the audience should feel sorry for her and her situation. The top photograph is of a model in a long grey dress, and this is to convey the story line at the end of the music video of her being locked up and alone, mimicking the costume of someone with mental health, conveying her confused and deluded mind. I think that also using bright coloured clothing will represent the innocence of the character, and will also represent her happiness of her being in a 'fake' relationship.

Locations Moodboard

This locations mood board is a rough idea of what locations I am thinking about using. For now, these images are only from Google, but when I have my storyboard finished I will be taking my own photographs of locations. The first picture is of a bedroom, and this where I want some of the performance to take place, especially shots of the girl talent singing. The next picture is of a park bench. I want this as a location because I wanted to have a shot in the chorus of the couple sat on a park bench eating ice creams, for the girlfriend then to drop her ice cream onto the boys knee and him be annoyed about it. This relates to the lyrics "and baby even on our worst nights". The third photo is of the actual park, and this is a undecided location that I might be using. This would be to demonstrate the couples happy relationship. The next photo is of a a kitchen, and this is for a shot that I wanted to film the couple arguing. I thought that a kitchen would be a good place to shoot this because I wanted to make the room cluttered, resembling their argument. I wanted this to also show that the couple have a house together, showing their serious relationship and to create verisimilitude to real life. The fifth photo is of a field, and this is yet another undecided photo. This could possibly be used for performance purposes shooting the girl talent singing. The sixth photo is of a studio/music room. I wanted to include some performance including a band within the video. I could possibly ask the music department at college if it would be possible to use one of their studio to shoot it in. The next photo is of a white padded room, which is stereotypically where people who have mental disabilities are kept. This is to resemble the fact at the end of the music video that the girl is mentally unstable, and in fact her boyfriend did not exsist. The last photo is very similar again of the white padded room. This included a girl in the photo and this resembles again the fact that she is mentally unstable. I wanted to edit the video at the end and fade the girl talent from being in her bedroom to being sat in a chair in a white room with the lights gradually dimming. This represents the fact that she doesn't have a normal life and the fact is dawning on her, but it also shows the audience the narrative and storyline, so they know what is happening.

Audience Research

FOCUS GROUP