Digipak designs

Actors

For my music video I am using a friend of mine called Claudia. She is only 15, so slightly younger than my original idea of artist, however she is still young and current which means that my target audience will be able to connect with her. I decided to use her as my artist because she does lots of drama and performing arts and suited the genre I was doing. She has a confident personality and would make my video look really fun and interesting for my target audience. She adds to my representation because she has a similar image to the kind of person I wanted to use and would fit with pop well because of her personality and appearance. I know that what I want her to wear she will have something similar to so it means less hassle to buy new costumes and it will be easy to do.

Digipak ideas...

For my digipak design I want it to be fairly simple so that it's memorable and not over complicated- for my actual CD it will just have the artist's name on it- on the front I will have an image of my artist- she will either be leaning against the wall or sat on her desk- I might have more than one image of her and use it in thirds of the CD case so one on the left, middle, and right and I will have another similar image on the back. I will make sure the pictures are similar so that my target audience get the idea of consistency being portrayed- also by making it simple people are more likely to remember my artist, especially if they are a new fan. Although I will only have the artist's name on the CD, it will still be effective and sometimes by keeping it simple it's more effective.

Colours wise I will probably only use a couple of different colours- because my artist is female I will use more feminine colours and the majority of my target audience will be female as well so I want to use colours that will appeal to them- I will need to make sure that my colours contrast well and don't clash because then it won't look as good, so I think I will use pink and blue perhaps.

 I may decide to just use a pattern or something I feel would be symbolic to my artist on the CD itself, because like Rihanna's here for her album 'Loud' she has used a flower to symbolise her as an artist and this looks effective so I think this could work quite well.

Another digipak that is simple but effective is Katy Perry's. Again, she has used a simple design for the actual CD and then just got a picture of her on her digipak but it will appeal to the audience because it's unique and the colours go well together.

 

 

Script

‘Hair’ by Lady Gaga

          VIDEO                                AUDIO

     Interior- Bedroom            Lyrics/Time/Effects

1.  The introduction of my song    

sets the scene for the rest      “Ooh, ooh…woah”

of the video. My artist will     Beginning of the song to 0.13

be in her room looking in the     No FX

mirror with a depressed look

on her face

 

Interior- Bedroom

2.  In the next bit there will be   “Whenever I’m dressed cool my  

a shot of her mum coming        parents put up a fight…”   

into her room and causing an    0.13- 0.22

argument- the mum will throw    No FX 

the laundry basket on the

floor to show that they have

fallen out                    

 

Interior- Bedroom                        

3.  Then the mum will slam the      “And if I'm hot shot, mom  

Door shut and the artist will   will cut my hair at night…

Sit on the floor and crouch     I scream mom and dad why can’t

Down to show she is annoyed-    I be who I wanna be, to be?”

She will then take a look in    0.22- 0.42

The mirror again- play with     No FX

Her hair and walk away into   

Corner of her room               

 

Interior- Bedroom

4.  This will be a performance     “I just wanna be myself and I Part of the video where the    want you to love… I'm as free a

Artist sings- she will be on   hair, I am my hair…”

Her bed at this                0.42-1.33              

Point                          No FX       

    

Interior- Stairs               “Free as my hai-ai-air,

Exterior- Driveway              Hai-ai-air, hair…”                 

5.  Here she will be walking        1.33- 1.53  
 
Downstairs and out the front    No FX

Door and walk out to her car       

      

 Exterior- Road                “Sometimes I want some raccoon

6.   My artist will drive down      or red highlights”   

 The Road to show that she’s    1.53-2.21

Independent and will then       No FX

Start skateboarding/cycling

down the road

                              

Exterior- Driveway                        

7.  Now it’s the performance based “I just wanna be myself and I

Part again where my artist     want you to love… Free as my

Will be singing the chorus and hair”

She will be outside cleaning   2.21- 3.18

The car and then lent against  No FX

it                            

                                    

Interior- Lounge

8.   Here it will switch back to   “Free as my hai-ai-air

 In the house where she will be Hai-ai-air, hair”

 Swishing her hair back and     3.18- 3.33

 Forth and she will be dancing  No FX

 

Interior- Bedroom

9.  She will be in her bedroom sat “I just want to be free, I just

Down in front of the mirror,   want to be me… I'm the spirit

Doing her makeup and playing   of my hair, it's all the glory

With her hair, throwing out    that I bear…”

Different outfits out of the   3.33- 4.14

Wardrobe- trying to find       No FX

The right image

 

    Interior- Bedroom

10. The final bit will be my   “I've had enough, this is my

Artist dancing as part of the  prayer…”

Performance based part of the  4.14- 4.29 

Video                          No FX

 

    Interior

11. The last bit up to the     “I've had enough, I'm not a

Ending Of the song will be an  freak…”

Old Image of my artist when    4.29-4.38

She was younger and then       No FX

It will go back to my artist

Now to see the change

 

    Interior- Bedroom           “I've had enough, enough,         

12. The last shot of my artist  enough… I am my hair”

On Set will be her led on her   4. 38- 4.54

Bed                             No FX

 

    Interior- Bedroom/landing

13. Then my artist will get up   4.54- 5.08

And walk out of the room, off    No FX

Costumes

For my video, I would like my artist to wear something similar to these outfits- the dress and heels will be worn in the video when she is in the bedroom but when I have her in the school she will be wearing a top something similar to the one above, with a blazer, jeans and pumps. I have gone for outfits that are fairly simple because I don't want all the attention to be on the artist but also the whole idea of the video as well so there is a balance- these outfits are quite stylish as well so this will reflect the kind of artist she is.

My artist's make up will be fairly subtle and simple- in some scenes it will be emphasised more than others, but for most of the video it will be discrete- she will be wearing a bit of blusher and mascara and a pink shade lipstick but this will be about it. In the bedroom she will be wearing black liquid eyeliner with a bit of a flick when she is experimenting with her image and she may have a colour of eye shadow on because she is exploring with her image but for the rest of the video it will all be quite basic.

In terms of props I won't need to hire any because I'm not using anything particularly different, most things I will be using will be in the house where I am shooting anyway- because my video is quite simple, I won't need a lot for it.

For the majority of the video my artist will have this style of make up- very simple but still looks effective

When my artist is in the bedroom experimenting,
she will have make up something similar to this, with
eye shadow on but still quite subtle

More ideas...

In the process of my project I am coming to the end of the planning stage where I am bringing together my initial ideas and putting them into a position ready for my music video. In order for our music videos to be unique and our own, we have to come up with an artist name and album name, so that we don't use the existing artist's name.

The artist names I came up with were:

• Matilda Brooke
• Skeptical finding
• Torn Conclusion
• Running Vision
• Kind retaliation
• Jessica Scope

The problem with the names that aren't names of people are that they sound more like band names or album names rather than a solo artist- so I decided to go with the top one- it sounds quite modern and young which I thought would go well with my target audience because they will be young as well.

For the album name I came up with:

• Land of discovery
• Day by day
• Born Identity
• Change
• Rejected

I will either be using the top one of 'Born identity' because I think they sound the best and help portray the storyline in that you can only be yourself the best as well!

As mentioned previously, my music video will mainly be narrative-based but with some elements of performance too. My video will be similar to an artist like Avril Lavigne, not image wise but content wise because in a lot of her videos it's all about her growing up and her songs have a lot of meaning and people can connect to her- especially teenagers because they are slightly younger than her but can relate to the situations and mine will be like this- my target audience will be the same age as my artist so it will all be relevant to their lives so I think by doing it like this, people will enjoy my video.

 

Avril Lavigne- Here's to never growing up

 

My artist will have a different appearance to Avril Lavigne but similar storyline- in the video above it's all about being young and having fun and going to parties and getting drunk so although the name of my chosen song doesn't have exactly the same kind of lyrics and the video above is all about teenagers not having a care in the world, they still have elements of similarity and the way I have interpreted my song is all about her trying to find her identity and not being judged and living her life

 

 

 

Avril Lavigne- What the hell

 

This video isn't as similar to how mine will be as the previous one but it still has an element of being young and free- by looking at these types of videos it's helped me to think up my ideas and get a better idea of what I want my video to be about. This video is more about love and relationships but still trying to have fun because they're young and living life to the full, so this will be quite similar to mine in the way that mine will include a teenager having arguments with her parents but that's all part of growing up.

 

 

Avril Lavigne- Rock n Roll

 

Avril Lavigne's songs all have a reoccuring theme in that they all involve either relationships, being young and getting drunk or something along these lines. This music video is about her being who she is and she isn't bothered what other people think, she just wants to be herself, but she is also talking about a boy and a relationship aspect. 

Lana del rey magazine advert...

 

 - Synergy is used between this artist's magazine advert and their album digipak because this image is on the front of the digipak- by using this to link different types of media it shows an element of consistency and people are then more familiar with the artist because they will recognise it

- The colours used make the advert stand out a lot- they have used colours that are eye catching which help to emphasise a certain mood and in this case, although the album name is 'born to die', the mood appears to be quite happy and lively- blue and white contrast together so it will appeal to the audience

- By having an image of the artist that fills the page it's simplistic but is still effective. With the trees in the background and some other scenery it adds to the complexity slightly but fits with the image of the artist well

- It's unique to Lana del rey- although she looks quite stern and serious in this picture it reflects the types of song she produces because they tend to do have a dark element to them so this is shown through her facial expression

- This magazine advert will appeal to the audience because she is an attractive singer and her target audience enjoy her music for who she is- she can get away with having such a simple design but it still looking good because of who she is and her success

- The essentials are included- the most important features, the artist's name and the album name are in the biggest font which will attract the target audience and they will want to buy the album- the more information there is, the more interested they will be because they will get the impression the artist really cares about their fans

Treatment

The song I have chosen to do is quite depressive in some respects in that it has a lot of negative emotion and this is portrayed through the lyrics. The summary of the song that has been put together is about someone who just wants to be herself and be accepted for who she is, but her parents cause arguments because they don’t like her the way she is. She then refers to wanting to be as free as her hair and this is reflected through the name of the song. This will be the main narrative of the song and everything else will go along side this. My first initial ideas for my video are that I will have a teenage girl in her bedroom and she is taking pictures of herself and trying out new looks to be herself, but her parents keep interrupting and coming into her bedroom to see what she is up to. She will be a typical teenager so get quite moody and then she will start to find her identity and then there will be some tracking shots of her at college/school, growing up. Because the song is about her hair, I will have a slow motion shot of her swishing her hair, to reinforce that she’s “free”.

She will be sat in her bedroom in front of the mirror, doing her make-up and the lighting in the bedroom will be quite bright. There will be the use of high-key lighting when there are shots of her in college to show that school is a positive place and she’s starting to mature and be who she wants to be, but I might have flashbacks of her when she is a younger teenager and her parents are shouting at her so you can see the difference in her as a person. I will have some performance shots from a mid-shot perspective where the camera is just looking at her face with part of her body in the frame as well but most of it will be narrative and based around a teenager and her parents not accepting her for who she is and her identity. My artist will wear quite fashionable clothes but different outfits as she is taking photos of herself to show the change in her appearance.

My video will meet the generic conventions of pop genre by:

·    The lyrics being based around relationships- in this case it will be the artist’s relationship with her parents

·    It will feature teenagers which is also the target audience for pop music usually

·    Hair and make-up will be a big part of the video which will be used to portray the artist’s expressions and feelings and a sense of creativity too

I will be using a variety of shots to demonstrate my technical ability and to make it look as creative and interesting as possible, as I want my target audience to enjoy watching my video. A lot of my video will be based in the same location but with different shots and different actions/scenes but the two main locations are in the artist’s bedroom and at school.

Analysis of Jessie J advert...

-The design appeals to the audience  because it's simple but effective. By having a big image of the artist it draws attention to the target audience and makes them want to buy their album

- The contrast between the gold and the black works well together and stands out

- The font of the artist's name is in quite a fancy style- this could reflect the type of artist Jessie J is and it's quite feminine too

- All of the relevant information that needs to be on the advert is on there- the artist's name, album name, website address, other tracks it features, where you can buy it- the more information that's on there, the  more likely people are to buy the album because they will know what they are getting for their money

- Gold is quite a fun, party like colour so this could reflect Jessie J as an artist because she is bubbly with a lot of enthusiasm. It could also reflect her genre of music as well which is pop because most of her songs are catchy and upbeat

- Because the layout is so simple it enables it to be more memorable for the audience and for new fans they can relate to her quicker and this will help with the promotion of her album

- The use of black lipstick could resemble her and her music- the lyrics to her songs tend to be quite meaningful and she puts a lot of emotion in so the darkness of her lips could show this because black is a strong colour

Analysis of Magazine adverts

- The design is very much Lady Gaga style- even though it's something so simple that is promoting her album she has still managed to make it a little bit whacky and visually interesting

- The use of two contrasting colours, black and white  which are colours that work well together are very striking to the audience and still have an impact- they stand out and sometimes the duller colours have a bigger effect

- The artist's name which is crucial is in bold and the biggest piece of text so that is catches the audience's eye and they know what artist they are looking at an advert for

- The overall design appeals to the audience because it's almost split into three sections- there is light and shade to the advert to make it more interesting to look at and it makes it slightly more unique too

- With the black background and the name of the album being 'The Fame Monster', you could associate this with monsters being evil and they have a dark element to them so you could link the design of the advert and the album name

- This links to the artist and the genre because Lady Gaga is quite a character and always has to do something original and something that will make her different and stand out, and I think that this advert reflects her as an artist and her genre through the simple but whacky design

- Synergy is used between the magazine advert and the digipak because the same image is used on both- this shows an element of consistency and the target audience will like to see this because it shows that she is consistent as an artist and it's more memorable and easy to recognise the artist if the image is used more than once

Key information on a magazine advertisement....

We are at the stage now where we are coming to the end of the research stage and going on to the planning and we are now analysing magazine advertisements and how they appeal to an audience...

On a magazine advert there is some information that is essential in order for the artist's target audience to want to buy the album, this includes:

• The artist's name- This will be one of the most important pieces of text because without this the target audience won't know who is advertising their album
• The album name- This is slightly less important but still key because people will get an insight into what the album might be about and the types of song- sometimes there is a correlation between the album name and the song names but not always
• The album's release date- This is essential because otherwise they won't know when the album's out and so it may have sold out or they may not be aware it's out if there is no date
• Maybe a website address- This could be quite handy to have on the advert for new fans that haven't heard much of the artist's music because they may be able to find out more about them and their album so they may be more likely to support them in future- they can do this by buying their album
• Where it's available to buy- this may help the target audience with where to go to buy the album or an alternative if the shop they usually purchase from has sold out
• Maybe a rating or a quote from a magazine- This will help the artist because the magazine review will big them up so people are more likely to buy their album
• A logo for the artist- This is something that can help represent an artist- if it is used on all of their work, e.g. CD's and magazine adverts then people will be more likely to remember it and know who the artist is
• An image of the artist or something symbolic that represents the artist- Usually an image is used or something that people will know is relatable to the artist but by having an image, people can familiarise themselves with the artist more, especially if it's a new artist or a new group of fans

 

Audience Research

For our music videos we have to collect information for part of our audience research to see what our target audience like about our chosen genre and why. I asked my target audience this question below and these are some of the answers they gave:

WHAT APPEALS TO YOU ABOUT POP MUSIC?

• Party scenes
• Young people featuring in the videos
• Upbeat, catchy song
• Performance and narrative based

Then I asked them to watch the following videos and tell me what they liked about them...

 

1. 

Lady Gaga- Applause

 

2. 

Ellie Goulding- Burn

 

3. 

Miley Cyrus- Can't stop

 

For the Lady Gaga video they said they liked it because:

• It's creative
• It has artistic features
• It has elements of performance, narrative and concept
• Brings something unique to the music industryt
• It's fun

They liked the second video because:

• It has a simple storyline
• It has meaningful lyrics
• It's narrative and performance based but still effective

My target audience said they liked 'We can't stop' by Miley Cyrus because:

• It's original
• Shows a different side to her as an artist
• It's a catchy tune
• She's a young artist so my target audience can relate to her 

Digipaks

In class we have started to look at Digipaks and the key conventions of them. Also, we have explored what it is that appeals to the audience in a digipak and what they look for and the messages they portray through the design.

I looked into three Digipaks and the first one was Justin Bieber- Believe.

 

 

Key Conventions:

- The artist's face is on the front, back and inside- this creates consistency throughout, therefore people will like seeing this because they know what they're getting and the main focus is on the artist 

- The same font and colour is used throughout the CD- an element of consistency

- Contrasting colours- black and yellow

 

 

Audience Appeal:

- People can relate to him because it has a picture of him- looks are a big part of his success

- Name of album- inspiring his audience- 'Believe' is quite a strong word and it's concise so people are more likely to remember it

- Quote from the lyrics gives the audience a bit of tease- it makes them want to buy the CD, especially if they are big fans of the artist

- Clear, simple layout- this is sometimes more effective because it's straight to the point and everything that is contains is relevant

 

 

Messages:

- Shows that he is a modern artist- reflects target audience- girls- wants to attract them

- Featured with his guitar- shows he's growing up and unique

 

The next one I did was McFly- Memory Lane.

 

                                                  

Key Conventions:

- Tea stained background gives an old effect- consistent throughout- the coloured effect used on the band works well with the background- contrasting and makes them stand out and this interests people

- Fan Art on album cover- connects with target audience

- Logo is used several times- consistency- by using the logo on several occassions their target audience will remember it more and know what to look for

- Features on the front are included on the CD

 

 

Audience Appeal:

- Fan Art- can connect with their target audience

- Artist features on the front, back and inside

- Extra, unheard content- brings a new element to them as artists and so fans will enjoy listening to them more because they've put in that little bit extra for the purpose of their target audience

 

 

Messages:

- Artist has become more sophisticated and grown up (reflected in their music)

 

The final Digipak I looked at was Professor Green- At your inconvenience.

 

Key Conventions:

- His name, logo, album name are all featured- simple features like this just add to the excitement   and it's something that if it isn't used then people are less likely to be as interested because they won't think that the artist is trying to connect with their target audience

- His face is on the front so you know who he is if you're a new fan- he's an artist that could easily attract new fans- he might not be some people's first choice of genre in terms of the music he does but he has the ability to grow on people and by having his face on the front new people may start to listen to him

- Songs don't have numbers- this is something that is unique to the artist and a lot of albums do have numbers so by going against this, it just makes him a bit different

- Simple design and layout

 

 

Audience Appeal:

- Alcohol and cigarettes are used- reflects who his target audience is- Rap attracts a certain audience- they will be able to relate to him as they will have these sort of interests and he has an element of this in his music as well so he will have quite a specific target audience

- Professor Green's audience aren't bothered about him featuring on the digipak hence the simple layout

 

 

Messages:

- Alcohol all around him, he's on his own- shows the meaning behind the music

- Not touching the alcohol- shows he's more sophisticated and mature but does it for target audience's purpose