Ancillary Task - DigiPack (Final)

Below is my updated version, including a lot more colour, font changes & the logo of our distribution company. Finally I decided to change the colour theme of the poster to match the digipak cd cover.

Ancillary task - DigiPack Advert (First Drafts)

Below is my first two draft's of my Digipack Advert. 

The left design is the basic structure of the advert, I then was advised by my teacher to make a few alterations to my existing design. 

Digipak Analysis

Digipak/Album Cover Analysis Jacob Osman

My Band Logo & Record Company Logo

My Band Logo

This is my final logo design for my group, 'Banglade$h Banger$'. I created the logo using multiple layers of text in Adobe Photoshop and using the font 'Rakoon'. I made 'Bangladesh' smaller than 'Bangers', because as a group, we are known as the 'Bangers' for short, as a nickname. The colours and shapes inside the text is a zoomed in version of the Bangladesh national flag, the bright colours portray happiness, which is what 'Bangladesh Bangers' music brings to society. The black outline really defines the logo, and the drop shadow almost lifts the logo off the page, making it easily visible on any background.

My Record Company

The Warner Music Group's logo consists of three parallel lines stylised to look like a 'W'. This simple logo is recognisable, as most people will see it printed on the back-side of an album's digi-pack, like it is positioned on ours. I chose to have WMG as our record company as of their success with working with artists, such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Theophilus London, Linkin Park, PartyNextDoor, Wu-Tang Clan and Green Day. This range of artist's consists of old and new, yet all famous in their genre. I feel that Bangladesh Bangers would benefit from being represented by such a conglomerate as Warner Music Group as of the promotion, branding and expertise that WMG can provide.



Pre Production: Animatic (By Harry Denn)

Pre Production: Equipment List (By Jeremy Cannock)

Equipment List

 

The equipment that we will need when filming our music video are:

• Cannon 700D

This camera will be used because of its ability to film in HD improving the quality of the final video, we have also used this camera before and therefore will not waste time figuring out how to operate it, this means that we will be able to complete our filming tasks quicker.

• Tripod

We will be using a tripod so that when we shot our scenes the camera will be as steady as possible, this means that the shots we produce will be clearer and easier to watch. By doing this we hope to give our work a more professional appearance.

• External mic

From previous experiences we have discovered that the internal mic that comes with the camera does not pick up a high quality sound, which resulted in us rerecording the speech and adding it as Foley. Therefore we have decided that for the beginning of our video where we will have a short piece of dialogue we will use an external mic in order to gain a decent sound quality while filming so we can avoid having to spend a lot of time lip syncing the separately recorded dialogue.

• Editing Software

The editing software that we will be using is Adobe After Effects this is a video editing system that we have used before. This will make the editing of our shots an easier task as we are familiar with the user functions.

• Reflector / lastor light

This is a reflective piece of material that we will be using when filming close ups in order to ensure there is enough light on the subject of the shot, this will result in the shots we film being easier to see and understand.

Pre Production: Shot List (by Jeremy Cannock)

Pre Production: Schedule (by Fateh Khaled)

Pre Production Scedule Media by Fateh Khaled

Pre Production: Summary Of Our Stars (by Fateh Khaled)

Pre Production: Location (by Jacob Osman)

Pre Production - Kizoa Video Maker

Alleyway, Archer Close - As located at the end of a cal-der-sack, the location is never really busy - apart from the occasional dog walker, meaning that we could film there any time of day as long as there was sufficient lighting. 

Bench & Common - The bench is located very close to three of the areas schools, this means that at before 9am, at lunchtime & at the end of a school day would be difficult times to film as the common would be full of students making their way out at lunch or going home. As we are filming in a particularly cold and wet time of year, we must be prepared for the muddy and slippery conditions in which we most likely would come across.

Langley Hill - These photos of Langley Hill were taken from outside my house, meaning it is a convenient place to film as it's where my house is. Langley Hill is the main road used by Rudolf Steiner School and Kings Langley School's buses, therefore it would be too busy and full of traffic to film at the start or at the end of the school day. 

My House, Langley Hill - My group have chosen my house to film a large majority of our pop promo at because it offers spacious rooms which have sufficient lighting and how it is within walking distance from school and all our other filming locations.

Kings Langley High Street - The high street has very wide pavements on one side of the road, which is very good for filming Jeremy running through as of the space needed, it also contains various cafe's and coffee shops which we might need to use to film a scene outside. The high street is King's Langley's main road which connects Watford to Hemel Hempstead, so is always going to be fairly busy, so at rush hour and the end of school time would be the worse time to film at. It's in a practical location as it joins onto Langley Hill where most of our filming takes place and is only a 10 minute walk from school. If filming outside a shop or business we would need to ask the owners permission first to avoid any unhappy confrontation.

Pre Production: Risk Assessment (by Jacob Osman)

Risk Assessment Jacob Osman

Skype Call with Ian Haughton of Handsome Design

We had a group Skype session with Ian Haughton of Handsome Design, discussing the design and marketing process of Digipak and posters for our bands. 

For this task I filmed, edited and uploaded the video footage to my channel.

Ryan Mackrfall Feedback: Pop Promo Treatment

In the comments made on my groups treatment (above), Ryan recommended that we look at some existing music videos for inspiration. 

The video below is a good example of how audio changes are used successfully in a music video:

The video below is a good example of a 'weird' promo. This includes spooky imagery and visuals, which matches the mood and lyrics of the song:

The three video's below were recommended to my group to look at as they are 'cool' to watch. The first video contains only footage of the band performing, no narrative at all.

The video below was filmed in a vintage style

Letter to Record Company

Letter to Record Company

This letter was sent to the copyright holder for the song 'Pompeii', the song that we're using to film our pop promo. Because we don't own the rights to the song, we're not entitled to have access in uploading it as the music in our video. This letter was created to address the Record Company in the hope that they'll grant us access to this song as we are just a secondary school.

Group Lip Sync Task (Sam Smith 'I'm Not The Only One' Ft. A$AP Rocky)

To practice lip syncing ourselves to a song we undertook this task, I covered A$AP Rocky's first verse and Jeremy and Harry shared Sam Smith's main verse.

Practical Exercise and Lip Sync

Audience Theorists

Jeremy Tunstall (Genre and Audience Theory)

– Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Audience Engagement: "Watching films in a cinema involve a primary mode of audience engagement as the spectator is immersed with the narrative while watching a programme at home on television may involve eating a meal at the same time, texting, using social media or other additional activities. Tertiary audience engagement is using the text as background media like music radio".

Blumler and Katz (Audience Theory)

 – Uses and Gratifications Theory: "Different audiences gain different pleasures from a media text e.g. Gravity can be enjoyed via diversion or escapism, it can use surveillance to give information to audiences and can also be discussed on forums and blogs as a form of developing personal relationships(common also in video games). Personal identity can be developed with audiences who relate to certain characters more than others".

Katz and Larzasfeld - (Audience Theory)

 – Two Step Flow Theory: "Jonathan Ross discussed with his guest Steve Coogan the recent phone hacking scandal and made it clear he had an opinion on the subject - this reflects the Two Step Flow theory where an existing idea or belief is taken on by an opinion leader (as in newspapers as the 'Fourth Estate')".

David Gauntlett (Audience Theory)

- Passive Consumption, Hypodermic Model (Frankfurt School): "A strong argument suggests that audiences may be passively affected by the sexist, violent representations in GTAV as it is a more realist text than other shoot em' up action adventure games. Young audiences ultimately may begin to view women differently and think that the aspirational violence is acceptable as a means to an end".

Stuart Hall (Audience Theory)

- Audience Positioning and Dominant, Negotiated, Oppositional Readings: "Some texts, like The Mighty Boosh may have a number of readings, dependent on audience - a dominant reading could be that it is a postmodern representation of celebrity culture while a negotiated reading could be that it is simply surreal and funny while an oppositional reading could be that it is childish, subversive and offensive".

Stuart Hall (Representation Theory)

Dominant, Oppositional and Negotiated Readings of Representation: "Stuart Hall's theory (see audiences) is also useful in understanding how some representations reflect the dominant culture e.g. patriarchy, women in The Sun and in Men's Magazines like FHM. However, some representations can be negotiated or even misunderstood (oppositional) as in Four Lions which was accused of being a racist text due to its representation of British Pakistani Muslims".

Stanley Cohen (Audience Theory)

- Moral Panics: "Recent stories about young audiences' behavior after playing violent video games reflects a common moral panic that some media like the Daily Mail constantly seek to remind its readers of".

Martin Barker – (Audience Theory)

- Challenging Moral Panics: "Barker suggests once you have entered into a debate about violent video games for example you must have already decided about negative media effects".

George Gerbner – Audience Theory)

- Cultivation Theory: "The cultivation theory suggests that the more you look at television, the more you are likely to believe in the reality of the representation e.g. believing everything you see and hear on BBC News 24 and not challenging the nature of a constructed text".

Star Image

Stars are constructed, artificial images, even if they are represented as being "real people", experiencing real emotions. Stars are not presented as a ‘person’ but through an image ‘a persona’ Constructed and can be analysed semiotically. 

Pop stars have the advantage over film stars in that their constructed image may be much more consistent over a period of time, and is not dependent on the creative input of others. a true pop star does have a lasting significance, and has "brand awareness" amongst a wider market over a period of time. 

Many of the so-called pop stars populating the top forty currently have not made a sufficient sociological or cultural impact to be classified as true stars. Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes, and promote a certain ideology. 

Audience interest in these values enhances their 'star quality', and it is through conveying beliefs ideas and opinions outside music that performers help create their star persona. A star may initiate a fashion trend, with legions of fans copying their hairstyle and clothing. They establish their character and personality through songs and performance and will strive for immediate star identity with a first album.

Star Marketing

Star Marketing covers all areas of an artist's 'brand' image. To be successful, particularly in the age that we live in, an artist must be marketed successfully so that they can be portrayed to a potential audience in a good way, leading to possible music sales. Social media is where artists can keep fans up to date with music and tours etc, they must be professional to an extent on social medias as their profiles act as what would be a 'shop window' for fans and potential sales. The star marketing will tell you many things - what they can expect from your products and services (your star), and how you differentiate from other artists and competitors.

Narrative Theorists

Roland Barthes was a french semiologist. He suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. He also used the terms denotation and connotation to analyse image.

• The Hermeneutic Code (enigma) refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the reader, raising questions that demand explication. Most stories hold back details in order to increase the effect of the final revelation of all diegetic truths.
• The Proairetic Code (action) refers to the other major structuring principle that builds interest or suspense on the part of a reader or viewer. The proairetic code applies to any action that implies a further narrative action.
• The Semantic Code points to any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation.
• The Symbolic Code - can be difficult to distinguish from the semantic code and Barthes is not always clear on the distinction between these two codes; the easiest way to think of the symbolic code is as a "deeper" structural principle that organises semantic meanings, usually by way of antitheses or by way of mediations (particularly, forbidden mediations) between antithetical terms. 
• The Cultural Code designates any element in a narrative that refers "to a science or a body of knowledge". In other words, the cultural codes tend to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works, including properties that we can designate as "physical, physiological, medical, psychological, literary, historical, etc.

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic and literary theorist, who analysed over 100 Russian fairytales in the 1920s. He proposed that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and functions. Films such as Star Wars fit Propp’s model precisely, but a a significant number of more recent films such as Pulp Fiction do not. The model is useful, however as it highlights the similarities between seemingly quite different stories. He came up with the basic character structure that is used still today:

• The hero (seeks something) 
• The villain (opposes the hero) 
• The donor (helps the hero by providing a magic object) 
• The dispatcher (sends the hero on his way) 
• The false hero (falsely assuming the role of hero) 
• The helper (gives support to the hero) 
• The princess (the reward for the hero, but also needs protection from the villain) 
• Her father 

Tzvetan Todorov was a Bulgarian literary theorist who suggested that most narratives start with a state of equilibrium in which life is ‘normal’ and protagonists happy. This state of normality is disrupted by an outside force, which has to be fought against in order to return to a state of equilibrium. This model can easily be applied to a wide range of films:

Equilibrium > Disequilibrium > New Equilibrium 

Claude Levi-Strauss was a social Anthropologist, who studied myths of tribal cultures. He examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. These are usually expressed in the form of binary oppositions . His research has been adapted by media theorists to reveal underlying themes and symbolic oppositions in media texts. 

Forms and Conventions

 Lyrics

Lyrics tend to help to establish a general feeling, or mood, or sense of subject matter rather than offering a coherent meaning. Key lines may play a part in the visuals associated with the song, but very rarely will a music video simply replicate the lyrics wholesale.

Music

A music video tends to make the use of the tempo of the track to the drive of the editing and may emphasise particular sounds from the track by foregrounding instruments such as guitar, keyboard or drum solo.

Genre

While some music videos transcend  genres, others can be more easily categorised. Some, but not all, music channels concentrate on particular music genres. If you watch these channels then over a period of time, you will be able to identify a range of distinct features which characterise the videos of different genres. These features might be reflected in types of mise en scene, themes (see post students did for summer), performance, camera and editing styles.

Camerawork

As with any moving image text, how the camera is used and how the images are sequenced has a significant impact on meaning. Camera movement, angle and shot distance all need to be analysed. Camera movement may accompany movement of performers (walking, dancing etc) but it may also be used to create a more dynamic feel to stage performance, for instance by constantly circling the band as they perform on stage. The close up camera shot predominates, as in most TV, partly because of the size of the screen and partly because of the desire to create a sense of intimacy for the viewer. It also emphasises hlf of the commodity on sale – the artist, and particularly the voice. John Stewart of the mucic video production company Oil Factory said, that he sees the music video as essentially having the aesthetics of the TV commercial, with lots of close ups and lighting to focus on the star’s face (aka the product for some commercials).

Editing

Although the most common form form of editing associated with the music promo is fast cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing, some videos use slow pace and gentler shot transitions to create a mood. This is particularly apparent in promos for many female solo artists with a mass appeal such as Dido. Often enhancing the editing are digital effects, which play with the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure to the audience. This might take the form of split screens, colourisation and blockbuster film style CGI.

Intertextuality

The msic video is often described as a ‘Post-Modern’ form, a slippery term which is often used to describe intertextuality., one of post-modernism’s more easily definable features. Broadly, if we see music promos as frequently drawing upon existing texts in order to spark recognition in the audience, we have a working definitions of intertextuality. Not all audiences will necessarily spot a reference and this need not significantly detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference and feel flattered by this. Arguably, it also increases the audience’s engagement with, and attentiveness to the product, an important facility in a culture where so many images and narratives compete for our attention.

Narrative and Performance

Narrative in songs, as in poetry, is rarely complete and often fragmentary (David Bowie is renowned for writing words and then jumbling them up sporadically to create his lyrics). The same is true for music promos , which tend to suggest storylines or offer complex fragments in a non-linear order, leaving the viewer with the desire to see them again.

Often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band. Additionally, a crefeul choreographed dance might be a part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor. Sometimes, the artist (especially the singer) will be a part of the story, acting as a narrator and participant at the same time. But it is the lyp sync close-up shots and the miming of playing instruments that remains at the heart of music videos.

Representation Of Women

  Good Girls

Developing My Treatment

Laura Mulvey (Theorist) on Representation

Laura Mulvey - Representation Theorist

 



Laura Mulvey

 The 'Male Gaze' is a theory developed from a feminist view to address the lack of equality between men and women- analysing the way in which men see women, the way women look at themselves and the way in which women look at other women.

The theory portrays that the audience are forced to view the from the perspective of a heterosexual male. The camera constantly focuses on the curves of a women's body, completely objectifying female characters making them less 'important' than other male roles.

Sexism has been shown to be presented where the audience are encouraged to look at women in advertising that sexualises a women's body, even when the advertised product is completely unrelated to the women's body. 

As audiences watch films without being watched by the characters they become onlookers of their lives.
 Therefore they become voyeurs of the people on screen.
This can lead to two effects: objectification and narcissistic identification.
Voyeurism involves turning the represented figure into a fetish so it becomes increasingly beautiful but more objectified.

It has been contended filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock objectified his female subjects, positioning them to merely arouse the audience.

The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man's reaction to these events. 

This relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.

A photo analysed showing aspects of the male gaze.

Forms & Conventions Of Music Videos

The Seven Conventions Of Music Videos

1. Lyrics
2. Music
3. Genre
4. Camerawork
5. Intertextuality 
6. Editing
7. Narrative and Performance

Forms and Conventions

The theories of Goodwin

Goodwin Extract

SUMMARISE 

Ilustration

Amplification

Disjuncture

conempory videos fit into catagorys state why

Auteur Theory / Director as Auteur

An Auteur is a filmmaker whose personal influence and artistic control over a movie are so great that the filmmaker is regarded as the author of the movie’. You would expect to see the film-maker’s distinctive and original style writ large throughout the film, and it would be considered to be their film even though he or she has the assistance of many other people and skills to create the project. Famous auteur directors include Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplain and Quentin Tarantino. Their films are instantly recognisable and unique to them.

Ian Wolfson / REX ARROW FILMS

Ian Wolfson is an independent filmmaker best known for his collaborative work with independent hip hop artist, Mac Miller. Over the past three years, their collaboration has amassed 400 million views online, as well as broad exposure on the MTV, VH1 and Fuse Networks. Through his company, Rex Arrow Films, Ian has also worked with dozens of other artists including Nelly, B.o.B., Bun B and Freeway. Having already completed one feature film, Ian has several new film projects currently in development.

After graduating from Taylor Allderdice High School (in the fall of the year he left, Wiz Khalifa began his freshman year), Wolfson went to Columbia University to study film theory and creative writing. After college, he worked a year in a video store, Kim’s Mediapolis (“Textbook what you do if you want to be a filmmaker”). He returned to the ‘Burgh when the opportunity to make Invisible Cities arose. A year later, in 2009, he filmed Miller’s first video for “Cruisin’."

Jean-Luc Godard’s (a renowned French auteur) film Breathless was the first film he saw in college that inspired him, because at that time in the French film industry there were accepted film mechanisms in place. Wolfson says – “And Godard was like, screw all that, I’m going to go out with a camera with some young kids and essentially break all the rules. And that mentality is extremely influential in why Mac and I have been able to go out and do what we’ve done. When we first started, we didn’t have any money at all. We were just like, let’s go out and see what we can do”. 

Creative Vision: He is a filmmaker whose work is instantly recognisable and yet it’s his love of the music and artists he films that shines though his work. He visualizes and creates films of what he hears in the music and sees in the artist and communicates that to the audience, He says:

“I think the first half of my career was much more documentary style, sort of a day in the life. Now, because my interests have changed, I’ve sort of put the focus on trying to do things that interest me in terms of concept, visuals, or the equipment that we use. I think one answer is it’s really important to try to do a video that really doesn’t artificially force an image on the artist. That could mean if the artist isn’t naturally charismatic, interesting, or quirky, then they may not make it as an artist in the long term. I think you have to have that – whether you’re Mac or A$AP Rocky you have to have that thing that draws people to you. I’m always hesitant to sort of superimpose something on the artist. I think the artist has to be interesting. Mac for example, there were so many elements against him in the beginning, but he was accessible and didn’t take himself too seriously. He clearly was enjoying himself and I think people connected with that”.

In any shoot I have to be fair to the artist. My goal is always to try to give them as close to what they want as possible. Now, often times I feel like I’m able to say, “Ok, cool. I know what you want but I think this will be more interesting or more exciting” and usually it works. I think I’ve maybe only had one instance where I really had to go back to the editing or go back to the coloring to make them happy.

Wolfson is an auteur because his work is unique to him. His personal creative vision is communicated in all his work. The way he interprets and portrays Mac Miller's songs visually is truly creative and unique. And since he's been filming Mac since 2009, the techniques used has developed as Mac has also developed lyrically. His videos range from portraying different emotions, matching which song Mac's performing, some examples of his styles are care free, happy and brightly coloured - such as 'Senior Skip Day', then in 'Missed Calls' where Mac is talking about a lost love, a more matured and emotional narrative video. Another example of his various styles is in Mac's video 'SDS' off his latest album, the video demonstrates witty humour as well as a lot of green screen animation.

What Music Means to Me

What Music Means To Me

I start and end every day listening to music, I use it to wake up in the morning and fall asleep in the evening. As I listen to multiple genres of music, I have music that I would consider more suitable at different times of the day. My favourite genres are Hip-Hop/Rap & House, so I tend to listen to them through the majority of the day (including mornings). When at night time I would tend to listen to either a slow rap song or electronic, indie rock, or rock. I love going to watch my favourite artists live at gigs, I have attended many this year as well as several festivals, I love the atmosphere when watching live music as everyone is as passionate about that artist as you are. I tend to listen to most of my music on my iPhone using either the music app or Soundcloud. 
Soundcloud is a great format as it lets me explore artists that I wouldn't otherwise listen to as new music is constantly shared onto my timeline which I look at every day. It is completely free to listen, and it means you don't have to download anything, you can just sign into your account on any device and it loads all your previously saved music for you to listen anywhere. 

It's hard to put into words what music makes you feel, from my perspective it can be a form of relaxation, getting hyped before or at a party, a way of relieving stress and even keeping concentrated. When i listen to music on my own, usually through earphones i tend to zone out of reality and just become focused on what i'm doing, which i've found to be an effective way of doing school work. As i've got older my music taste has developed it's only been the past 3 years that I have really found my taste, as before it was a bit scattered - listening to a bit of this and that, not really having a favourite artist etc. I got into Hip-Hop through an American artist called 'Logic', from then I quickly began to find more and more artists associated and similar to him and as I listened to more and more different varieties of Hip-Hop my taste grew and started to develop. When I saw Logic live in March 2013, it was a big thing for me as he was the reason that i listened to the music that i did. 

There hasn't been any major influences on my music taste, I found out about Logic through one of my best friends, but from then on I began to develop my music taste on my own. I got into House music at a later stage, there was always a need to listen to it as my brother was a successful House DJ in the 1990's. I use Soundcloud as my House music source where i can very easily explore different DJ sets and artists. 

Photo taken at Danny Brown's Rough Trade show, (i'm bottom right).

Chuck Berry (Mos Def) in
Cadillac Records.

When I think to the music played during my childhood, I think how musically influential my parents were during my upbringing. I was raised on a vast mixture of genres, with artists such as Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and The Rolling Stones.  I was shown the film 'Cadillac Records' by my father shortly after it came out in 2008, and I completely loved the music and the era's aesthetic quality and vibe. Set in 1950's Chicago, the film shows the lives of some of America's musical legends such as Etta James, Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry. The film featured a lot of the music recorded by the artists on the label, the one that stuck for me was 'Maybellene' by Chuck Berry. I remember being on holiday in southern Italy, driving through the countryside, listening to Chuck Berry's albums and the Cadillac Records Soundtrack in the back of the car with my best friend Gabriel. I later found out that Chuck Berry in the film was played by one of my all time favourite rappers, Mos Def.

Image shows how Numbers samples
Paramore.

There is a song by Logic that i could say could possibly be my favourite song. The song 'Numbers' off his 4th mixtape 'Young Sinatra: Undeniable', gets to me in a way i don't completely understand. Honestly after looking deeper into the lyrics i can say that they aren't particularly deep and meaningful as some of his other tracks, yet he does cover how his sudden fame has caused problems in his love life as he says "the girl I love, the one i call my honey, now i'm wondering if she love me for me or my f*****g money". As i thought deeper about why this song truly does appeal to me I concluded that it's not just the lyricism but the instrumental that i really love. After doing further research on 'WhoSampled.com' I found that the instrumental (Produced by one of Logic's sound engineers - 6ix) sampled the guitar from Paramore's song 'Decode'. I'm not sure what about the guitar riff i like so much, but i could listen to this on repeat forever and still love it.