picture for digipak

A2 music video L&A.mov draft cut

Magazine advert of Gwen Stefani

Gwen Renée Stefani born October 3, 1969 is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani recorded her first solo album love, angel, music, baby in 2004. The album was primarily inspired by music of the 1980s and emerged a success with sales of seven million.The album's third single 'Hollaback girl'. was the first U.S. digital download to sell one million copies. Unlike most modern artist Gwen has kept her real name as her stage name. This connotes that she wants to be honest with her audience and that she doesn't have a different persona on and off stage.

The font and the lettering is best described as very elegant but bold at the same time as the lettering is very big. The colour of the lettering is gold which represents how much money she has. This goes very well with the 'Queen' theme. Her physical appearance is glamorous but laid back. She is sitting on an anamatic golden thrown that has her main harajuku girls intertwined within the chair. This connotes that she is the 'queen' of the harajuku girls and has cleverly put them within the chair like she is sitting on them. Gwen is also holding a crown and a cane with diamonds very similar to a 'pimp stick' this is showing that she uses the dancers as her property and the fact that she is holding the crown istead of wearing it shows that she has a careless attitude.

The dominant image on the advert is Gwen. She dominates the image by being central within the animation around her. This signifies that she is the main focus of the advert. the title of the album is called love. angel. music. baby. These four words signify what kind of morals she has and what she believes in.

The artists fits into the genre of an R&B/rap stereotype as she is holding a crown and a 'pimp' stick. Big rappers such as 50 cent and Biggie Smalls use pimp sticks to show their power over the female gender in their videos. Gwen uses this to show power and control over her harajuku girls. these attitudes and values are often seen as care-free and reckless this may be the reason why her facial expression is very chilled and laid back. The target audience for this CD is mainly young adults as R&B is mainly focused on a younger generation.

Lyric Annotation

I have annotated the lyrics to my song for my music video. I have done this so it will be clearer to understand the video and what it means.

Emails

Amy has been emailing Mr.Hitchenson (who is charge of the theatre) to see when it is available to use for filming.




We wanted to use the school theatre for our music video we were told that we needed to speak to the performing arts technician (mr .hutchinson ). We discussed our options for using the school theatre and lighting and decided on a day. Amy emailed them to see when they was free.

Summary Of The Original Video

Christina Aguilera - Hurt

The narrative of the song is that someone close to Christina has passed away and she has now realised that she was so self-involved and worried about her own life that she hardly spent time with her loved ones . A flashback of the younger Aguilera shows her being very close with father and now she has lost the closest thing to her.

The lyrics tell us that she is apologising for ignoring her father and admits she should have spent more time with him. When listening to the song you can hear that it is filled with love and heartache.

Summary Of The Artist

Christina Aguilera was born in New York on December 18th 1980. She is an american pop singer, songwriter,dancer and actress. She first appeared on disneys t.v. programme the mickey mouse club between 1993-1994 alongside her co-stars Justin timberlake, Britney spears. Aguilera quickly rose to fame by signing to RCA record company after her hit song 'reflection' she had done for a film named Mulan.

Her genres are mainly R&B, soul, blues and pop and as an artist is very talented on being able to perform all of these well and satisfying her audiences. She uses her different styles of genres to express her younger life or her experiences.

Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image she includes themes of dealing with public scrutney, her childhood and female empwerment in her music. Such as her song 'fighter' which conveys the message of her moving on from a boyfriend that has treated her badly. These are some of images from the video fighter showing her boxed in a glass box and her struggling with needles in her back (showing he is a pain her back) but still moving on.

Props and Locations

Props:

• mobile phone
• piano
• a watch
• Necklace

Costume for Lana :

• long black formal dress (sitting at the piano)
• jeans
• Jacket
• shoes

Costume for Darren:

• Jeans
• trainers
• Jacket
• Watch

Hair and make-up:

• hair down (when playing the piano)
• hair up in messy bun ( in the flashback)
• make-up will be very glamorous ( at the piano)

Me and Amy have discussed the props and location list together.

Target audience for my music video

The target audience for my music video would be for teenagers and older people, as the actions within the music video and lyrics have significant meaning that I feel only a maturer mind would understand. It is also for people who enjoy soft rock, powerballads and meaningful lyrics

Shooting Schedule

Amy has created the shooting schedule for the music video.

Changing our song

Me and Amy have decided to change our music video as we were unable to visualise how our end product would be. We feel this is a good decision because the song we have chosen (Christina Aguilera- Hurt) has more meaning and direction to it and therefore would be clearer to the audience.

Images of the location

Analysis of the Digipak

This CD package is unusual but unique as the artist has not used his face to promote the CD. Instead they have used very graphic images of a hand covered in blood to grab the audiences attention. The artist is represented as mysterious yet straight to the point this is because she has not used a normal shot of his body but they used a shot of a hand soaked in blood, this clearly tells the audience that this song will be very real and distressing. the artist is trying to represent himself as an evil or dark person that has maybe committed a crime or done something bad that is why there is blood on his hands.

The colours that the artist has used on this digipak are very simple but bold. The colours red and white are perfect colours for mixing together as white is a pure and clear base whereas red mainly connotes pain, anger or danger.The white hand also plays a part in being bold and stand out against the bright red blood so this is why they have chosen a pure white hand. The font and lettering is coloured black and the title is very clear but the other text on the pack is quite small. This may be because the main focus is the title and picture. This is a good way of grabbing the audiences attention because the digipak is not over crowded and because the images and titles are so bold this is what the audience will remember.

The design and layout of the digipak clearly reflects the genre and style of the artist. They are a folk band and produce industrial music singles meaning that it is a rock genre. We can tell from the image on the digipak that they are a rock band as that genre is often associated with pain or darkness and the gruesome image of blood represents these things. the image on the front of the digipak is very simple but reflects what sort of personalities are within the band and as they are a rock band the image and genre compliment each other.

The title of the album is called Revere. This title goes perfectly with the image as it means having an high opinion on something and this picture is showing the extremity of action . The title and image on the front cover are linked as the title is telling us the feelings and the picture is showing the effect.

The packaging promotes the artists by using colour shemes, fonts and images. The colours are used because they are simple and bold and goes well with the font which makes it clear to read. The image plays a big part in grabbing the audiences attention as it the biggest and most colourful thing on the digipak.

Locations

We have various locations for the video as we wanted the video to have an urban feel and look to it. These are potential locations are places such as:

1. canary wharf (fountain)
2. mcdougalls park
3. school theatre
4. dance theatre
5. a long road ( unaware of street name)
   

Props and Costumes

Props:

• IPod
• Speakers
• mobile phone

As this is an electro-pop video we wanted to mainly focus on the content of the video, particularly the dancing. As a result of this we didnt feel the need to include many props.

Costumes:

Lana (singer and actor)

• grey tracksuit bottoms
• black vest tops
• black trainers
• black leggings
• heels
• sunglasses
• dress

other cast (dancers):

• bright clothing
• trainers
• hoodies
• leggings
• jeans

Shooting schedule

I have set up an event page on facebook to invite and confirm the actors in our video. This will also give us idea of how many people are coming therefore we can organise how things should be set-up an what kind of shots we can get.

Amy created a facebook event page but got the times and days mixed up so I created then created my own facebook event page for the shooting schedule. (as seen above)

Animatic Storyboard

Analysis of 'Just Dance' by Lady GaGa

The music video I am analysing is called ‘Just dance’ by Lady Gaga. Just Dance is written by Gaga and Akon with co-writing by Redone. The video was directed by music video director Melina Matsoukas. It was released in 2008 as the lead single from Gaga’s debut album ‘The Fame’. Being Gaga’s first video, this video is extremely important in presenting her image to the audience, and positively received by critics, the video was very popular on the internet, and selling over 3.3 million copies. The characteristics of electro-pop videos are based on the club –like nature so typically parties and dancing will be featured in the video. Following this, electro pop videos normally consist of people having a good time, dancing and usually loads of people are involved in the video.

The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals are very clear and we can see this as we work our way through the video. The most obvious of lyrics is the chorus ’Just Dance’. These words are amplified through the visuals at the start of the video one of the dancers puts a Discolite Boombox on, blaring the music through the house. The crowd at the party appear to be sleeping in different areas, and are awoken by the music. They all start to dance with outbursts of energy when she says ‘just dance’. She also states in her video ‘we’re all getting hosed tonight’ as she pours a bottle of champagne onto the floor, showing the audience that she wants to get drunk. She also states in the lyrics where are my keys, I lost my phone’. as Gaga says this as she empties her bag and pretends to look through her keys however we see her using her phone even though she says ‘ I lost my phone’. Only in this section do the visuals contradict the lyrics. This video has the conventions of a typical house party due to music blaring, dancing and alcohol.

The relationship between the music and the visuals helps the audience understand the music and tempo better. This video definitely cuts to the beat because of its genre which elect which in turn enhances the effect of the party- like nature. Solo instruments are illustrated at the start of the track. It is used to show the build up of the track, so when the beat starts it has a much bigger effect on the audience because of the suspense. The video does change pace with the music because it cuts to the beat.

In this video there are a variety of shots of the artist but mainly close-ups. This is because it gets the audience’s attention and shows off her unique style. There are mainly close-ups of Gaga in her videos because she is the main attraction. She wears a blue, lightning-bolt shaped sticker beneath her right eye like that on the single cover, which was a tribute to her music idol David Bowie. This is another reason why close-ups on her face are so important. Although this is Gaga’s first video, she instantly creates motifs and characteristics in her video. We also see evidence of this in her later videos and gain knowledge of how the record company is trying to sell her music. For example there are more close-ups shots.

When watching this video you get a sense that the artist is on sexual display which is shown through certain factors such as camerawork, costume and dance. In the middle of the video a man looks though a camera a takes a picture of the professional camera as if he is taking a picture of the audience.
The camerawork reinforces sexual display by using close-ups and long shots of her face and body. When the camera focuses in on her face, our main attraction is her eyes because it pulls her audience in making them want to see more. It also shows off her personality which is interpreted through her make-up that is influenced by David bowie. Her costume is also an important part of her being sexy and stylish. Her short dresses and revealing top puts her on sexual display for most of the video. Gaga’s choreographer clearly had the vision of sex appeal and used her flirtatious dancing to put her on sexual display to help make this particular video more popular.

In Gaga’s video there is a inter textual reference to new years eve. The is a part where an old lady is wearing 2006 glittery glasses and most people would wear these if it was news years. There is also a party going on which could be a new years party maybe suggesting a new revolution (herself).

This music video is definitely performance-based. It follows the stereotype of an electro-pop beat and just normally features people having a good time and some sort of party going on. This enables the audience not only to enjoy the rhythm of the beat, it allows them to watch something enjoyable as well. Lyrically, the song doesn’t focus on anything accept the fact that she wants a good time so it makes a lot of sense being a performance based video.

This music video is clearly uplifting and enjoyable to everyone especially the audience. Gaga comes across quite strict and militant in her hand signals at some points in the video. However this is a good thing as it shows she knows what she wants and her militant ways shows that she is the leader or the soul of the party.

The Music Genre: Electro/Pop

The genre I will be focusing on for my video is electro/pop. Electro-pop (also called techno-pop) is a form of electronic music that is made with synthesizers, and which first flourished from 1978 to 1981. The genre has seen a revival of popularity and influence since the late 2000s. "Electro-pop" is the short form of "electronic pop". The term was used primarily during the 1980s to describe a form of synthpop characterized by an emphasized electronic sound (often described as cold and robotic) and by minimal arrangements. Electro-pop laid the groundwork for a mass market in chart-oriented synthpop. Electro-pop songs are pop songs at heart, often with simple, catchy hooks and dance beats, but differing from those of electronic dance music genres which electro-pop helped to inspire such as techno and house. It was popularized by many artist today. For instance Lady GaGa, Katy Perry and of course Inna.

The Artist

The artist I am focusing on is Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu best known as Inna. She is a Russian singer, actress and model. Inna debuted in 2008 with the album Hot, produced by Play & Win. The main single from the album, was called "Hot". Inna also released a single titled "Déjà Vu", in collaboration with Bob Taylor (aka Fizz), that was a major hit in Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Russia. This is the video I will be focusing on for my own music video.

Star Image Analysis: Kelis Rogers

The artist I am analysing is Kelis Rogers. Kelis was born august the 21st 1979 in New York. She began recording her first album kaleidoscope in the summer of 1998 and it was finished within a year. Her album was produced by other well known artists such as Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. Her main genres are R&B, hip-hop.

Kelis’s early image was portrayed through an R&B/ dancehall track called ’Milkshake’. This gave her audience an insight on how she controls and manipulates men. She uses her flirtatious nature and body language to overpower men. In the lyrics of this song it states ‘my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard’. She uses the word milkshake as a metaphor to describe herself and say that the boys love her. Kelis constantly uses sexual suggestion in her music video to help them sell. Being a R&B track, it is normally dominated by male artists and women are normally used as pretty objects and for selling tracks. In one of the scenes from her video we see a couple that are sitting down and the man becomes entranced by kelis. We can clearly see that from this one video that Kelis is a sexual and persuasive character. Kelis has had a strong image since the beginning of her career.

However, in her later career she seems more vulnerable and less independent. In her music video ‘4th of july’ she seems very dependant on the man she is talking about. In her lyrics she says ‘ didn’t think I needed you, never seemed to but I'm living proof ….. nothing will be as good as loving you’. This is a big change in her personality from her earlier career. This is because she has now started to have feelings for this person compared to her earlier career where she seemed very promiscuous and flirtatious. It is like she is care free and wild so that she can sell herself better to fans at the beginning of her career but now she has settled into the business she is starting to show her true feelings.

She doesn’t often act in her videos however in her video ‘caught out there’ she plays the character of a lady who has been cheated on by her boyfriend. She is shown performing when she goes crazy and starts throwing things across the room. It also shows her in a stray jacket suggesting that she is restricted in what she really wants to do. This relates to the majority of women who feel they cannot do anything about it. But in this case she has hurt her cheating boyfriend. This video has a very strong but general message and was made so that women worldwide wouldn’t feel alone and it shows how certain people would react to the situation.

This is an image of her leaning against a window and looking into the camera. this suggests that she is trapped and is searching for help.

One of the main motifs in kelis’s videos is that there are close-ups of her face. She uses this to express her emotions and to gain sympathy or love from the audience depending on what she is singing. The record company attempts to sell kelis by using close-up shots because this shows her expressions and grabs the audience's attention especially if she has lots of make-up on. For instance in her video ‘caught out there’ her hair is a blonde afro with pink tips showing the situation is natural but the pink (which is an unnatural hair colour) also shows she gone mad about what has happened. The colour also signifies girl power. The record company attempts to sell kelis to her female and male audience several ways. In videos such as ‘4th of july’ or ‘milkshake’ they both have very different messages such as vulnerability and promiscuity yet they will both attract her male audience because the majority of males appeal to these things. Whereas in her video ‘bossy’ it will attract her female audience and she is shown to be a strong and powerful. This will appeal to her female fans because it will give them inspiration being that males are normally dominant.

The camerawork and editing reinforces her roles and positions in her videos. For example the video ‘bossy’ shows loads of close-ups of her face to show that she is the boss of the video. The video also cuts to the beat and shows different clips of her being bossy.

For example in one clip she is standing on a mans back wearing high heels. This gesture definitely shows her dominance while showing the mans submission. This is also her album cover so even before we hear the music we can see that she holds the power.


Overall I think that kelis has gone through different phases and experiences in her life which in effect has changed her style and genre. But when summarising all the meanings of her together it makes a lot of sense. In the beginning she was cheated on by her boyfriend. Then a little while after she was on the rebound and became very flirtatious and seductive. Then finally, after overcoming this bad experience she was able to trust again and starts talking about her love and romance in her songs. To me she is a very good example of how women can defeat their troubles and bad experiences and because she went through different stages and the outcome was positive. It shows that time is a healer.

Analasis of 'Heartbraker' by Mariah Carey

The music video I am analysing is called Heartbreaker by Mariah Carey featuring Jay Z. It was directed by Brett Ratner. It was released in 1999 and is the fourth most expensive video ever made. it is a slow dance track with influences of R&B. The characteristics of R&B are normally that the men dominate and women are normally overpowered by the male artists and are used as pretty objects or desires but in this case we see that Mariah Carey is the icon and in control. We see her being the centre of attention while still being seductive she is still dominating the video. So it contradicts the genre in certain ways.

The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals are quite strong and we can see this as we work our way through the video. The lyrics are stating that Mariah is being cheated on by her boyfriend. This is amplified through the video when we see her boyfriend in the cinema with another woman who is Mariah Carey’s alter ego Bianca. Also when Jay-Z starts rapping, Mariah is catoonised on the cinema screen and she mimes what he says. For example when he says ' she wants to shop' she is holding shopping bags or when he says 'she wants to play box' she is holding punching gloves. Also when jay-z says 'I hate' Mariah and her girls throw popcorn at Bianca and the unfaithful boyfriend. These are all the ways the lyrics are amplified through the visuals.

The relationship between the music and the visuals is quite strong. The video only cuts to the beat on certain drum kicks. The music is a slow dance track so some of the the scenes are in slow motion and are softer cut when following the slower tempo. However the music is also influenced by R&B and Hip-Hop so other scenes are cut sharp. Solo instruments are not really illustrated in this video because instruments are not played individually. However the song is carried by the drum kicks as all songs are. This is illustrated by the dancers. The video doesn't change pace with the music. It only changes when the scenes are cut to the beat. For example on certain beats the scenes are cut.

In this music video there are loads of close-up shots of Mariah Carey because she is the star icon in the video. This makes her connect with the audience even more and captures your attention throughout the video. Even though Jay-Z is featured in the song he is not seen once throughout video this may be because the music video is about her troubles with her boyfriend and it also makes her the star of the video. The record company is trying to sell her as young, innocent and vulnerable woman who has come to realize that her boyfriend is being unfaithful. This being the story it then makes her single which is a huge attraction to male fans. This video does relate to her previous videos because she is often portrayed as innocent and angelic. There are loads of motifs in her videos such as close-ups on her face and wind blowing in her hair. Also there are a lot of high angle shots to make her seem vulnerable and helpless. However in some videos such as 'shake it off ' she is shown to be a strong powerful woman through the lyrics and low angle shots.

In this particular video you do get a sense that the artist is on sexual display through her costume. She is wearing tight fitted jeans with a pink belly top that shows her cleavage. The camera shots also emphasis that she is on sexual display.

A long shot of her body when she is dancing shows her whole outfit and movement. Close-ups are shown on her face to make her look playful yet innocent. The choreography adds to the sexual display because she is moving her hips and bum.


She leans forward revealing her cleavage
and emphasizing sexual display.





There are references to 'looking' because there is a screen within screen shot. For example, she is cartoonised on the cinema screen. These features have been shown simply because she is portrayed to be vulnerable and her being helpless and sexy and the same time is a big attraction. Close-ups of her face show her seduction and flirtatious nature. This encourages voyeurism amongst the audience.

There are intertextual references within the music video. The typical camera shots are used often to portrays certain image. The cinema scenes in Mariah Carey’s video are an intertextual reference to Michael Jackson's music video thriller. He also uses the cinema shot at the beginning and some of the scenes are shot inside the cinema as well. Mariah also appears on the screen as a cartoon. Michael Jackson also watches a movie and he is featured in it.

The video is both performance based and narrative based. The reason why it is mainly focused on the performance is because she is telling us a story. As she tells us the story she also acts and plays along to the lyrics. For example she is saying that he has broken her heart. While she says this, her boyfriend is seen in the cinema with another woman. The video is strongly narrative based as well due to the lyrics. From the lyrics she tells us and walks us through what has happened to her. This is reinforced by her performance as an actor. This video is strongly concept based as well. From the two previous points the concept of her unfaithful boyfriend and the way she deals with it, is shown.

To summarise this, I think the music video is very clear on what she wants to show her audience. Her performance, narrative and concept join together to make the video very easy to follow. However Mariah’s costume and beat contradicts what she is saying. For example, she is stating that her boyfriend has been cheating on her so you would think the track would have a slow tempo and that she would be showing less of her body because her confidence would be low. This just shows that she is a very strong person no matter what happens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mb3rdWUmbo





By Lana Da Costa

Analysis of the digipak fiest

The name of the artist is Feist. This connotes pop/indie type nature as the word is made up. The word 'Feist' also sounds like the word 'feisty'. This may also be an insight to her nature or what kind of genre she is involved in.

The font and lettering on the front cover is bold and simple. The black lettering stands out against the white background therefore there was no need to make the lettering complicated. this connotes that Fiest makes her lyrics simple and straightforward. The physical appearance of Feist is very vague and unclear. the dark shadowing on her picture makes it her to see her face, portraying her to be mysterious. However in another image there is a close-up shot of her face which is revealing her true identity instead of this ambiguous character she is creating.

The dominant image throughout the digipak is feist as she is the artist and main icon. but her main image is her upside down close-up shot. This makes the audience wonder whether she is more complicated than the image suggests because she has turned a simple close-up shot, upside down. Her unusual images allow target audiences and non-target audiences to notice and be interested in what the artist is about. The title of the album is called 'the reminder', this is because her music is influenced by 70's style music. This title for the album is very clever as she tells the audience to remember the way music used to be and the influence it had on its listeners. The sepia tones on the images gives a vintage 70's feel to emphasise what style of music she makes.

This CD was produced by Ben Mink, Gonzales and Feist herself. This album has been purely produced by canadian people which may appeal to some audiences as it pure sound and style from that country.

The record label that feist is signed to is cherry tree. This label is mainly focused on new talents such as feist. She is also part of Arts and Crafts, an independent Canadian label. Fiest really seems to be true to her roots and proud of her country that is why she is heavily influenced.

Fiest fits into her indie/pop genre by images and style of her digipak. her different images suh as polaroids, sepia and black and white images are clearly show what kind of style she has. Her target audience would be indie 20-30’s year olds due to the heavy 70’s influence.