Friday, 27 November 2015

Development Of Magazine Advert

When designing the Magazine advert we decided to draw out templates for our designs. We looked through the photos we'd taken and discussed different layout for where the pictures and writing could go.
Here shows our second design of a photos we had of the character looking out into the sea, not revealing much so the music video would be a surprise to the audience.
Here is our third design we came up with and we thought it might be interesting to position the the actor two times on the poster to show different scenes and an idea of what to expect in the music video.

Here show the results from 'Poll Everywhere' and design A shows to be the most popular.

Development of Digipak


Here shows one of our designs of our digipak, on the front cover we were going t have the artists face on the front cover as it makes her the main focus of the video and on the back cover we were going to have a long shot of her in the background. This makes her the focal point and shows a 360 degree movement. A lot of the shots used are from beech scenes and also an image of an amber ring which goes well with the name of the song 'gem.'
Here demonstrates another design for our digipak, here we were going to produce a rage of shots from extreme close ups to long shots. We planned this to have the outside shots so the ones at the beech were to be of images we had taken from the beech and the inside of the digipak we were going to have images from inside the house.
This is our final design we chose. It has a variation of shots from the house and the beech. In the designing process we decided to have all the images in a black and white filter. We kept the red lips there on the poster and digipak because it shows a literal contrast and the reason of her wearing it throughout the video which represents her wearing the lipstick to impress her boyfriend, this contrast to how she removes it in the video and goes to a more casual look leaving everything behind her. The images we used are of antiques from around the house which symbolise the 50's era and go well with the theme. We also used a close up photograph of me as the actress which show clearly the bold, strong makeup which helps set the theme of the 50's era. We had a picture of he actress on the front to make it clear that she's the focus point. We used the image of the actress on the back cover to show this as a key part of the video because it represents her escaping from her troubled relationship and leaving behind all the jewellery that reminded her of him. The close up shots of antiques are important because they set the mood of the 50's era. The typography is kept the same throughout so I flows well with both ancillaries, which include the poster as well.

Monday, 23 November 2015

Inspiring Digipaks


Arcade Fire

We chose this as an example of an indie artist digipak because it has typical illustrative artwork which is representative of the indie genre. The disjunctive art adds interest and depth to the digipak and the colours are very typical of indie-folk artist album covers.



The Foals

We chose this as an example of an indie artist digipak because the images represent the artists style and are illustrative of their music's lyrics. They also use a lot of artistic close up shots of things linking to their music videos which our group liked because they add a lot of interest and synergy throughout the artists promotional pieces.




The 1975


We chose this as an example of an indie artist digipak because the minimalist art and colours used is conventional of indie artist who commonly strip back the look their merchandise and promotion in order to let the music express the bands style. Our group liked the design of their CD disc because the plain colour and synchronous typography makes it simple but memorable.
 
Artists belonging to the indie genre are very varied as the indie genre is for 'independent' artists, usually because their style is so unique that they do not fit into any niche categories. With this in mind, we decided to explore some artists from other genres that had some similarities with our own chosen artist Natalie Lungley.



Rihanna
Although Rihanna is not an indie artist, our group really liked the design of her digipak because it had a similar style to our video. Our artist Natalie Lungley, although an indie artist, has strong links to Lana Del Rey who is an indie-pop artist. This made our group want to explore some pop artists and we found Rihanna's 'Loud' album. She has red lips with matching hair and red lips is a feature throughout our own music video. We liked the link to our strong use of makeup and have decided to use close up images of our actress to create a similar style.






Re-filming shot list



Development of Digipak Designs


Development of Digipak Designs

 
Design #1

 
This was a basic design for our digipak. The shots were varied with extreme close ups to long shots. We decided that the outside of the digipak should have shots of the beach while the inside was the shots inside the house. We will be using the same typography on our digipak and advert as the one on our music video to create synergetic links. We were unsure of the long shot of the beach on the front cover of the digipak because although our chosen artist is an indie artist, she has a style similar to Lana Del Rey who is an indie-pop artist. Lana Del Rey commonly has an image of herself on her album covers in a similar way to pop artists.

 
Design #2

 
We chose to have the front of the digipak as a close up of our artists face because alhough this is not common for indie artists, it suited her style. The image is of the actress at the beach, while the back of the digipak is of the back of our actresses head. This creates an artistic image of a 360 degree movement around her head. The inside of the digipak has been changed to the beach and is one continous shot of the beach landscape. This has two sides of empty beach with our actress in the background on the third side. We also included an image of a ring which is significant in our video and the song is also called 'Gem' which provides illustrative links.

 

Design #3

This design progresses to make all the images have a filter of black and white and this links to our music video idea. Most of our shots are of antique items and the actress has makeup relating to the 50s era and so the black and white filter relates to the theme of an older time period. We have used mostly close ups or extreme close ups which also relate to the shots used in our video while some sections still contain beach shots to keep a link with our second location.

Final Design

 
This design is very similar to Design #3 however we have just perfected the images used. We chose to only include one image of the beach as this is an important location in the video because it represents the actress escaping her situation of an abusive boyfriend and all of the gifts of jewellery he gave her however the beach is not the most important image from our video. This led us to include extreme close ups of antique objects on the rest of the digipak because these items are key shots in our video while jewellery is also extremely important. We decided to keep the image of the actress on the front of the digipak to keep with the idea that although the music is indie based, she still has elements of other genres in a similar way to Lana Del Rey and this suggests that the artist would be a key focus of the products created to showcase their look and style. The typography will be kept the same throughout the digipak and is the same font used on our music video and the magazine advert to create synergy. The black and white filter is still used because as stated for design #3, it represents the antique objects and older time period look throughout our video however we will give the digipak a pop of colour by keeping the red lips on our actress on the front cover. The red lips are a common theme throughout our music video, with extreme close ups of them miming and our actress also removes the lipstick in one shot to represent her removing the things she wore for her boyfriend. We decided that they also represent how the actress escaped to the beach wearing more modern clothing and so creates a contrast between the black and white vintage side of the music video and the more modern colourful side.

Gem Poster


Gem Digipak- Final Version






Tuesday, 17 November 2015

Photos taken for Digipak and Advert

Photos Used

Here are images that we used for the Digipak and Poster, we wanted the images on the Digipak to be of good quality so we used Georgia's DSLR camera. The was taken in Georgia's house which is a Victorian house which sets the theme of the music video. We adapted these photos with a Black  and White filter which goes with the 50's theme. We were inspired by Lana Del Rey's covers, she always looks very engaged with something on her mid, and because of the heartfelt lyrics in this song, creating a similar effect worked well for this. We kept certain elements from the photos, with this photo we kept the striking red lip which gives off a more intense look. And red lip hints at more modern themes for our video.
Here shows an antique ornament in Georgia's house which is one of the locations we filmed at. We took close up photographs of ornaments like this because they represent the vintage setting which we portrayed. We used this image also on the Digipak. We again used a black and white theme for it. To emphasise the old fashioned style but we kept the ornament in the same bronze colour to make it stand out more and so it goes with the theme for our Digipak.

These two images were used on the digipak. The top one focuses on the details on a particular ornament. This represents the vanity and works effectively for the Digipak. The top photo is an extreme close up of an antique ornament in my house. Antiques like this help to set the mood of the video because it creates are more vintage feel. It was also taken on flash therefore you can see the detail more clearly. The image below is of me in the second outfit change looking out into the sea, as it is a long shot you can see more of the scenery which we wanted to focus on because it explains her transition from her from her house escaping to the beech where she is leaving her past behind her. On the Digipak we kept her in colour so it shows her as the focus point and made the scenery black and white, separating some colour from black and white in subtle way made it easier for us to show what we really wanted to stand out.
Here shows a photograph of me as the actress which we used for the poster, similarly for the digipak, we put a black and white filter on it but kept the bright red lips the same. We thought this would be effective because it meant we were able to stick to the more vintage theme but keeping the red lips gave it a more unique style especially as it is repeated with the other image of me on the Digipak. Her pose demonstrates a more glamorous feel and as it is a mid shot we are able to look closely at the makeup and hair which shows the 50's era.

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Concept, USP and Target Audience

Concept

Our concept is that we are working around and amplification, narrative/performance promo. So for this we are having the narrative linking to the lyrics where a girl is leaving behind a bad relationship and her past self, shown through Mise-en-scene such as props like jewellery, and moving on where the Mise-en-scene  changes. The beginning scenes will be set in a 50s style inspired by artists like Lana Del Rey, and will later change as the Mise-en-scene changes as she changes to a darker sense of clothing and moving on from an old house to the beach. We wanted to do this to really communicate to the audience the emotions behind the lyrics and connote them visually through the promo, by creating this narrative of a break-up and moving on. This video will follow traditional theories of music video promos with equilibrium at the start, disruption and then a new equilibrium. Overall our video will follow many conventions of the alternative/indie genre however we will have our own original styles set in some areas of our promo.
 

USP

Our unique selling point is the sense of enigma we will create through close-ups and extreme close-ups, which is not a typical convention of most alternative/ indie videos, which usually use mid-shots and long-shots to present the band and narrative more. Also our video's narrative will be non-linear and create enigma and have action codes where this enigma is answered. from this unique selling point coupled with the typical conventions of the alternative/ indie genre I believe we will have a visually exciting promo.
 

Target audience

Our target audience is young people aged 14-25, mainly females however could be any gender. This is because of the lyrics and visuals being more relatable to females. The Audience will be interested in the alternative/indie genre, period dramas and  older shows such as ones from the 50's, and social media, with how the video links and relates to these things. They will be from socio economic class D/E being students or having part time jobs which will give them enough time to listen to a lot of music. We know this from analysing the lyrics and finding the meaning behind them, which relates to themes of heartbreak and sadness.

Thursday, 8 October 2015

Mise-en-scene

Setting and Lighting
We are filming in two separate locations. The first location will be held at Georgia's house in Bourne. We decided to film here as part of our music video production because the style of rooms goes well with the 1950's theme we're going for. This includes the antique furniture and it being a Edwardian house. The vintage styled rooms will be helpful for us to create the 50's theme with simple editing steps. There are specific rooms which we want film in, they include the living room, the hallway, conservantry and possibly the dining room.

The second location where we will be filming will be a the beech, this is where the girl's transition happens, her style evolves and she breaks free from the end of a troubled relationship. We think here will be an ideal area to film in because it a clearly states the meaning and represents her moving away from her troubles. Here show two rooms that we will film most in Georgia's house where lighting is best and has a lot of the props that will be helpful to us.


Costume & Hair
We decided to follow the 50's theme for our music video. In terms of the costume we'll go with the 50's style. The first outfit idea was for Georgia (our actress) to be wearing a white dress and black shoes. Her hair and makeup will be styled to around this time as well. In addition to this we have looked at celebrities that follow a similar style to the 50's era. For example we looked at Lana Del Rey and Veronica Lake's style, we will curl Georgia's hair to follow a similar style and she will do her makeup to follow  the style.
In the second outfit change There will be changes to her style making look more Lana Del Rey inspired, and showing a slightly more rebellious look. Which will represent meaning of the lyrics. She will also have red lipstick on which will follow this slightly rebellious look.  Here two similar outfits which we will use in our music video, we looked a Lana Del Rey mainly because her style often follows the 50's/60's theme which helps us to get our inspiration.




Our second costume will change to make her style look more modern; we found an image of Lana Del Rey which inspired this look and it shows a slightly more rebellious look compared to the pure white dress before. She will be wearing black jeans, a leather jacket and her makeup will be a more modern style. It will represent our interpretation of the lyrics which is that she has an abusive boyfriend and she begins to remove her jewellery and heavy makeup which she wore for him to be more natural and modern.


Props
A lot of the main props we will use are already in Georgia's house. That includes the antique ornaments and furniture. We are also planning on using items of jewellery and a jewellery box where she will remove the jewellery and put it all away like she is closing a chapter of her life with an ex partner and moving on. We thought this would link effectively to the song since the song is called 'gem' it has a clear reference. The furniture and ornaments set the theme well as we are going for a 50's theme, means this will be clearer to the audience. In her transition part of the video she will follow a more retro style, including a black leather jack and a red lipstick this connotes a more rebellious style which is appropriate for this song because it show her to be a strong woman. The images below are images of rooms and ornaments around Georgia's house that we will include in our music video.