Digipak Planning

November 30th 2012
Over the past few days I have been working on the planning for my digipak. I have decided to do a 4-panel CD Digi Tray Pack which consists of a front and back cover, an inside cover, a design for the CD. The way the digipak looks is extremely important as it is one of the first things the target audience of the music video will see; therefore, it is important for the digipak to convey to correct image and atmosphere that I ultimately want to portray for the artist and her song. 

Firstly, I decided that I would design my front cover with have the top half of the artists face with her eyes looking directly down the camera lens with a crown placed on her head as this immediately links with the single and the title of my music video "King Of Anything" as a result it directly relates and immediately becomes the main focus of the front cover. The idea of having the artists in the front cover illustrates how I am following the typical conventions of a pop music digipak as digipak's from the pop genre generally include the artists on the front cover as ultimately the artists image is what sells the music therefore I have incorporated this in some sense. The main colour evident in the front cover will be of the crown on the artists head which is gold, gold is a rich colour which once more connotes "King" and "Royalty" and therefore again directly relates to the name of the song; however, the colour gold is also considered to be very powerful and strong which represents the ultimate message/meaning behind the song which is the artists in control and how power of her own life. 

The back cover of the digipak directly relates to the music video I will create. The idea of music video is to place the artist on a white background and have to additional people on either side of her to bring lyrics and different images into frame which link to the lyrics of the song. As a result, I decided that my back cover for my digipak would be the arms of these two people holding signs with the names of the music video titles on as it makes it consistent with the music video. The main colour scheme on the back of the colour would be black and white.

The inside front cover, will be an image of the artist wearing the crown in a strong and powerful. This is to reinforce that the artist has control of her life (again directly linking to the meaning of the song). In this shot the artist will be wearing the same clothes she will wear in the music video which is a the crown on her head, a red top with a printed pattern, navy leggings, and a pair of black heels. Again the idea that their is another image of the artist in the digipak is to reinforce how I have followed the conventions of a pop themed digipak.

Finally I have decided that the CD design will be very simplistic and include the consistent colour scheme of black, white and gold. The main disk will be fully white, with the text "King Of Anything" curved around the shape of the CD. Finally there will be a small boarder around the disk which will be gold continuing with the colour scheme and the overall theme of the music video. The reason I left the CD design to be simplistic, is because I didn't want to take the main focus away from the overall meaning of the music video which is how the artist is control of her own life and therefore I didn't want to steer towards the idea of it being about royalty/kings due to the crown as I acknowledged that the crown is a metaphor of the overall message.

November 20th 2012
Today I uploaded a storyboard for my music video which I had been working on. It is important for me to create a storyboard as when I come to shoot my music video I can refer to this to plan out what sort of shots that I want which coincide with the lyrics of the song. This could be in terms of the type of shot/the length of a shot/and if there is any movement with the camera e.g. Mid Shot - 10 secs - Pan left. 

Overall, I do not have to completely follow this storyboard, as additional ideas for my music video can come about during the actual shoot, therefore, I look at this storyboard as a rough outline of what I am trying to achieve however still allowing myself to develop on it. 

Storyboard Sheet

November 20th 2012
This week I have been working on creating my storyboard; this consists me drawing images that I want in each frame of the song. Within this sheet I note down what shot number coincides with the image, the type of shot I want, if there is any camera movement, and the dialogue and sound included. This is helpful for when I come to shoot my music video as I can refer to them during production.

The storybaord below, illustrates how I am attempting do a continuous one take shot with items (relating to the lyrics) coming in and out of frame - I got the inspiration for this from one of the music videos in my 'Music Videos That Inspire Me' post.

Editing Software

November 13th 2012
During the post production stages of my music video there will be a variety of different softwares that I will use, these include; Adobe Premiere CS3, Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe After Effects CS3.

Adobe Premiere will be the main piece of software that I will use to edit my music video; with this program I can easily insert the raw footage onto the timeline and begin working with the tools provided in the program to edit the music video effectively. Some of the basic functions beneficial to me in this program are the ability to crop, cut, insert more than one piece of media e.g. song, edit lighting, contrast etc. As I have used this program in previous projects I am very familar with the tools and therefore I will find it relatively easy to use.

Adobe Photoshop will be the piece of software I will use to edit my digipak and magazine ad. Again there are a variety of different tools available to me to enable the digipak and magazine ads I create to look professional and of a high quality. Once more I am very familiar with this program as I have used it to edit pictures in the past.

 The final piece of software that I will potentially use is After Effects; this is a program that enables you to add a varierty of different special effects to a piece of footage. I have only had some experience with this program therefore I am not familiar with all the tools available to me; however, I do have resources available to me to learn e.g. tutorials.

November 11th 2012
Today I completed an analysis of the lyrics of the song by the artists Sara Bareilles "King Of Anything" which I will be using in my music video. The purpose of this task was to go through all the lyrics of the song and analyse the meaning behind them, the reasoning for doing this is that it will be very beneficial for me when I need to create a storyboard for my music video as I can create the music video to portray the meaning or lyrics on screen. Analysing the lyrics also gives me a better understanding of the atmosphere or emotion to be portrayed by the artist in the song, as this something I will also consider while shooting my music video.

Lyric Analysis

November 11th 2012
Below I completed an analysis of the lyrics of my chosen song (Sara Bareilles "King of Anything") below. This is very helpful when I go to plan/storyboard my music video as this analysis has allowed me to break down what the lyrics mean and therefore enables me to portray this on screen. Lyric Analysis

November 9th 2012
Today I completed two tasks; a prop list of all the props that I will need to bring with me or create in time for the shoot of my music video, and I contacted the artist's (Sara Bareilles) music label to ask for permission to use her song in my music video. 

The benefit of creating a prop list is so I can come to my shoot prepared and I can easily go through the list to make sure everything is ready and prepared for the day. The contact to Sara Bareilles's music label is to illustrate how I have considered copyright laws within the creation of music video.

Contact with Artist

November 9th 2012
Before using my chosen song (Sara Bareilles "King Of Anything") in my music video I have decided to contact the record label she is signed to, this is so I can ask permission to use the song in my work. This is because using a song without the artists permision abuses some copyright laws therefore, I have took it upon myself to email the label as it illustrates a sense of professionalism. I have took a screenshot of the email and included it below.

Prop List

Novemeber 9th 2012
In a few weeks I will begin to shoot my music video. Therefore below I have completed a props list of all the things I need to provide on the day of the shoot; this allows me to come to the shoot prepared and allows me enough time to obtain all the items needed.

November 7th 2012
So far this week I have completed two more tasks from the research section which are:
- Analysis of a previous students A2 work
- Artist styling/costume planning

The analysis of a previous students A2 work will enable me to look at what this previous student did to get the highest grade possible; for example I will be able to view their music video and take a look at what different camera angles, type of editing, and use of mise en scene.

The artist styling/costume planning is for me to plan what outfit my artist/performer will wear on the day of the shoot. When planning I considered, the colour and the type of clothing she will wear so that it will not only link with the Pop genre but it will relate to the target audience of my music video.

Artist Styling/Costume Planning

November 7th 2012

For my music video I want to give the artist a young and pop image to coincide with the song. As the majority of my music video will be shot infront of a plain white screen I have to represent the upbeat atmosphere through my artists clothing however not being to eccentric for the situation in the video. I have decided that the first piece of clothing will be a pair of black and white striped leggings that I already have available. The reason for my choice is because it is a piece of clothing that is eye catching for most people as they are not the usual plain black colour and Pop music is all about being fun and different. In addition, these kind of leggings are currently a fashion trend for many young females and therefore the target audience can make a direct link with this.

I have a few ideas for the top half of my performers outfit these include:

- An over the shoulder top (where it will slightly hang off one shoulder)

- Crop sweat tee/baggier shirt of the same style

- Crop sweat jumper

All of the above are again already accessible to me therefore I will not need to go out and buy this piece of clothing. I have suggested the above because I feel all three would combine well with the pair of leggings.

The shoes that I have chosen is a pair of dark red vans to add some colour to the outfit because even though I want this outfit I still wanted to add some colour to it so it fitted more with the Pop genre as they are none for having very vibrant colours in their outfits.

Finally I also have to consider the make up of the artist to illustrate this I went online and found a face chart similar to what I am trying to achieve and have annotated it.

Analysis of previous students A2 work

Place here...

Influences on Music Style

November 4th 2012
Below is a Prezi on the different influences that can affect the music style of an artist. I have broken these influences down into four categories; Fashion, Social Issues, Technology, and The Media.

Influences of Music Style on Prezi

Analysis of CD Magazine Ads

November 2nd 2012

Katy Perry

This CD magazine advert is for the artist Katy Perry who falls into the Pop genre. Within this advert a lot of bright and vibrant colours have been used to appeal to the female and sometimes young audience that Katy Perry targets e.g. it has been used in the clothing she is wearing and has been used on the text that is on the write hand side of the page she has also continued the "candy theme" that she has incorporated througout her album. The style and colours she has used for the text makes it stand out from the image in the background "Katy Perry" is the brightest of colours as its in a vibrant pink it is also in a bigger size and a different font from the other text on the page allowing it to draw the audiences attention; therefore, as Katy Perry is a mainstream artist her name will immediately be recognised. Below her name there is a small image of her album and below that is a piece of text reading "The album includes the #1 smash hit" this a persuasive technique to get audiences to buy the album from the artist; the idea that this text is white makes it very contrasting from the other pieces of text  on the page and from the background image. Overall this advert is very "happy" and "bubbly" ultimately fitting in with the Pop genre.

Gwen Stefani

This magazine advert is of the artist Gwen Stefani who also falls into the Pop genre. The main focus of this advert is the picture of the artist that takes up the majority of the ad the artist is wearing a variety of white clothing suggesting she is innocent this is complemented by the silver crown and sceptre she is holding in her hands and the royal thrown she is sitting on illustrating her wealth - this is a direct link to one of her songs included in the album "Rich Girl" and the reasoning behind the colour scheme of Gold. The thrown has been edited so it appears slightly blurred out compared to the artist this is so the main focus is on Gwen Stefani. Just below the image reads the artists name "Gwen Stefani" in big letters; the text is gold and the font once more fits with the royal theme as it incorporates a sophisticated writing style. The idea of having the gold lettering infront of a white back image allows the text to stand out and therefore draw the audiences attention to the name and enabling them to recognise the artist immediately. Just below the artist name is the name of the album in the same text and two singles that are included on the album, both of these singles were hit songs that were in the charts before the album was released this is a persuasive techinque to get audiences to buy the album as the likelyhood of them recognising these songs are high. To the left of this text there is a small image of the album cover, this is to give the audience an insight into what the album looks like before they buy it, this is so they will also recognise what the album looks like when they go to buy it in the shops. Finally the shop it is available at is mentioned at the bottom of the magazine advert which reads "Target" telling the audience immediately where they can go and get themselves a copy of this album.

Beyonce

The CD magazine advert above is of the artist Beyonce who is mainly known for R&B and Soul however some of her songs fit into the Pop genre. Once more the majority of advert is taken up by an image of the artist Beyonce which is actually the album artwork used on the album that is being advertised immediately enabling the audience to recognise the album in the shops. The artist is in a revealing outfit which is complimented with a strong and provocative pose suggesting she is an independant and strong woman and overall appealing to her audience of male and females. The artist's name is relatively small and is positioned middle right of the advert; this is potentially due to Beyonce being a mainstream artist therefore she would be a very well known artist in the music industry and recognised. The main focus of this magazine advert is the released date which is a bold and capitalised font at the bottom however the release date is much larger and bolder; therefore reinforcing what I previously stated about her being a mainstream artist and potentially having a big fanbase.