Question 10:

Which type of finish do you prefer?...

Question 9:

Which do you like to have on/in your digipak? (pick as many as required)

Question 8:
Do you prefer to have a seperate booklet with information sliped inside the case?

Question 7:
Which type of writing do you prefer? ...

Question six:

Do you prefer your album cover to have the artists picture as...

Question 5:

How many panels do you like your digipaks to have?

Question 4:

Do you prefer your album cover to be...

3).

Questionaire Results:

To make my results more readable and recognisable i entered the results into excel and created pie charts.

1).

2).

Questionaire: This questionaire is about R'n'B digipaks:

1). Name:................ 0 Male 0 Female

2). Age: 0 16 or under 0 17-21 0 22-26 0 27-31 0 32-36 0 37-41 0 42-46 0 46-50 0 50+

3). Does your attraction to album covers encourage you to buy a CD?
0 yes 0 no

4). Do you prefer your album cover to be
0 colourful 0 black and white 0 set colour scheme

5). How many panels do you like your digipaks to have?
0 4 0 6 0 8

6). Do you prefer your album cover to have the artists picture as
0 a full body shot 0 close up 0 extreme close up

7). Which type of writing do you prefer?
0 italic 0 bold 0 ariel

8). Do you prefer to have a seperate booklet with information sliped inside the case?
0 yes 0 no

9). Which do you like to have on/in your digipak? (pick as many as required)
0 information on the artist 0 information about their upcoming events 0 chances to win tickets to see them 0 tracklist 0 other competitions 0 other albums which they have produced

10). Which type of finish do you prefer?
0 gloss 0 matt

What is a digipak?

A digipak is the alternative to standard jewel case packaging.
Digipaks are mostly made from thick card, the digipak is virtually shatterproof and allows great graphic display.They are now reasonably priced so they can be used for any CD or DVD project.
Digipaks are also environmently frendly as they are made from card which is recyclable.

Exhibitionism:


This is the opposite to voyeurism. It is believed that the more powerful artists such as Madonna have added complexity of the politics of looking and gender/cultural debates. These artists are said to be in control and inviting a sexualised gaze.
When looking at exhibitionism the question 'who is exploiting whom?' is arisen. Is it exploitation to women or a life-enhancing assertion of female self-confidence and sexual independence?

Representations:


Music videos offer excellent material for analysing the processes of representations.


Voyeurism:

This idea comes from the psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud and originally refers to the notion that erotic pleasure may be gained by looking at a sexual object. While watching a film, we are all voyeurs, it is argued, but film presents us with a variety of pleasures, not exclusively sexual ones.


It has been proposed (principally by Laura Mulvey, 1975) that, because the filmmakers are predominantly male, the presence of women in film is often solely for the purposes of display (rather than for narrative purposes). Despite many subsequent detractions and revisions of 'gaze theory', in it's simplest form, the arguement is thought-provoking in the context of an analysis of representation in music videos.


Gooodwin:
Goodwin argues that the female performer is frequently objectified in this fashion, often through a combination of camerawork and editing with fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star. This idea becomes more complex when we see the male body on display- the post-feminist 'female gaze' where women are no longer just objects of the look, but exercise some power by looking at men as sex objects too.
 

Today we uploaded the footage we gathered on sunday. We plan to upload all the footage first before editing, as in year 12 we found we need to add bits back in to make up the time. Therefore by doing it at the end we know how much we have to work with.

Today we filmed the scene where the girl is getting ready to go to the town to meet her boyfriend. When trying to shoot a point of view shot we came across a problem as you could see the reflection of the camera in the mirror. We overcome this by not getting the mirror in the shot and we shall edit these different shots into each other to make it more realistic.

Album covers:

Ne-yo:
Year of the gentlemen:
Front Cover:

Middle:

Back Cover:

In todays lesson we began editing the footage we had collected. By doing this it helped us to realise that instead of using a hand held camera, we should put the camer a on a tripod to get a better view of what is going on. This will also make the video more like the ones you see in the music industry today.

In todays lesson me and my film crew went out to film parts of our film we didn't have all our characters present and therefore decided to film the basic outline. This gave us an idea of different camera angles we could possibly use and whether or not our storyline would work.

When filming in the Palace Gardens part of the shopping centre, we were asked to stop as it is private property. After talking to the manager of security of Palace Gardens, he agreed to let us film there providing we have a risk assesment done. Therefore this is what we shall have to do to overcome this problem.

In today's lesson, in our group we were looking at various music videos and looking at their conventions and stereotypes. We were looking through R'n'B videos where we may be able to use and adapt ideas to help make our music video better in any way.

Challenging conventions:

Promise Ring - Click to watch video

 

This goes against the conventions of a typical R'n'B video as normally the dancing would be done in next to nothing clothing, whereas these girls are appropiately dressed.

This also does not follow the normal conventions of an R'n'B video as is does not use expensive settings. Instead it uses basic props and scenery.

The screen shot also shows the basic use of props as it is not a real television instead it is a computerised image used to represent a televison.

The bedroom scene which usually consists of a boy and 1 or more girls is seductive underwear is replaced by three girls having fun and dancing together, therefore this also challenges the stereotypical conventions.

This shows that the same camera angles are used for both male and female participants and therefore the gender does not show a hierarchy which is usually enforced by camera angles.

It is also unusual for boys and girls to be dancing the same moves as normally the women would be dancing seductively and the men not dancing too much and staring at the girls bodies. This can also be shown through the camera angle called the 'male gaze'

Negative Portrayal of women:

Women are stereotypically dressed and act seductively in R'n'B videos. Our video does not contain this stereotype, as we believe it is a negative portrayal of women and that should not be the reason behind our music video selling.

When deciding not to use this portrayal, we watched many music videos which include this stereotype to get a full understanding below is some examples that we looked at:

Christina Aguilera:


Christina Aguilera- Dirty 

This picture show Christina in a seductive outfit surrounded by half naked men this challenges the current conventions as it is normally the other way around. This portrays women in a negative way  as it brings her sexuality to the forfront and depicted various sexual fetishes such as mud-wrestling. This video was the one which got rid of Christinas "girl next door" image that she had recieved from her previous videos.

 This picture also brings to our attention the styles of dancing used in this video, which also doesn't portray women is such a positive way. Due to things such as this in the video, the video recived mixed reviews.

Research into music:

Combinations are bad for your health. Due to this there is currently a war being waged in the music world over our ears because of  the loudness.

Producers have been using compression techniques to make music sound louder and harder. This is because they want people to hear their music if they are not directly in front of the television.


Advertising Standards Authority:

Updated their rules on the sound levels of advertising, stating that: 'Broadcasters must endeavour to minimise the annoyance that percieved imbalances could cause, with the aim that the audience need not adjust the volume bof their television sets during programme breaks'

What is compression?
 
The inbuilt volume control in a track. It controls how loud the music sounds, whatever volume you have it at, levelling out the peaks and troughs of a track to a higher overall average. Record labels want their music to be heard above all of the background noise of the outside world, and so very slowly-over a period of decades-our favourite tracks have become much louder.

Many sound engineers feel under pressure to make record sound unnaturally loud, but this is not a new phenomenom as Ian Sheperd.

Ian Shepered:
Sound engineer.
'Mastering always used to the job of the mastering engineer, but there is always a temptation to make things louder. So, over the years, levels have crept up'

Why has music got louder?
*The way people consume music has changed.
*The speakers or headphones now used in Mp3 players are not as powerful, as those of a stereo sysem. So more record labels and artists want their records to reflect this change in listening habits.

Dense compression:
Albums by the Artic Monkeys and Lily Allen have used dense compression technology to give their sound more bite, and have sold a lot of records as a result of this.
A growing number of fans are unhappy with the way that their favourite band's records are being mixed.

Metallica:

Their last album, Death Magnetic, has had rave reviews, but has also left many fans unhappy with the final mix of the album. They've complained that the metal band's record is, ironically, too loud. In fact, over 20,000 fans have signed an online petition asking for a remix of the release, making the record quieter and, as a result, more dynamic-sounding.

But why isn't louder better?
* Can bring about a condition called 'Tinnitus'

Tinnitus:

*Tinnitus is an inner-ear condition which affects the tiny strands of hair (known as stereocillia)which pick up sound vibrations and essentially transform them into any sounds you hear.
*These can be broken by loud noises, including music, and once broken, can cause the rain to produce a ringing sound. This can vary in pitch-but in serious cases it can become difficult for a sufferer to hear above the ringing.
*In addition to this, listening to loud, overly-compressed music can even tire you out.
*'Too much compression makes recordings sound flat and lifeless,often disorted, and fatiguing to listen to as a result', explains Ian.
*CDs have an absolute maximum level which can't be exceeded, and pushing the level up too high against this 'brick wall'ruins the sound'

What can be done to combat this?

*A group of studio engineers- led by Charles Dye-have set up an organisation called turn me up!, which promotes responsible audio practices and is anti-compression.
*An album awarded this honour include the BRIT award-winning The Seldom seen kid by Elbow.
*Soon we may have a say on every stage of an album's production.

Prop list:

• Mobile phone with use of internet
• Pictures/photographs
• Hair straighteners
• Make-up 

Costumes:

• We used everyday clothing to give the impression that it was a norma day. We also wanted to challenge the conventions of stereotypical R'n'B video, so therefore we used the girl actor to wear everyday clothing rather than the typical bikini like costumes. Our male actors used the conventions as they wore everyday clothing, as many males do in R'n'B videos.

Stereoypical audience for my genre:

Age- Teenage to early 20's


Sex- Male or female.


Lifestyle- Usually found in clubs dancing to R'n'B music


Social class- Working class

Targeting my target audience:

• By using new inventions such as facebook in my video it will appeal to my chosen audience.

• By having the storyline based on a young couple, the audience can relate to what is going on or mbe learn from the mistakes presented in the video.
• Also my target audience will most likely have the technologies and gadgets used and therefore this may also help them to relate.

Initial Storyboards:

                                                                          

Descrition:                                                                               

• Boy one is looking at Girl's Facebook profile
• Boy one clicks to view the girls pictures
• First picture
• Second picture
• Girl straightening her hair at home
• Text message from her boyfriend (boy two) showing their meeting arrangements.

• Boy two and Girl in town holding hands
• Boy one lips note into the girls hand
• The girl starts to unfold it
• Boy two looks over her shoulder and reads the notes saying to meet boy one at the park at 7 with his name and number.
• Boy two and girls argue over this

• Eventually they walk their seperate ways               

• Girl starts to cry and reminisces on times
• Picture of old times with boy two
• Picture 2
• Picture 3
• Picture 4
• Picture 5

• Picture 6
• Girl back to reality
• Girl sees boy one over the road
• He hugs her because she is upset
• Boy one on girls Facebook 
• Shows boy one and girl are in a relationship

•  Boy one and girl holding hands
• Boy one and girl driving away in car together.

Clothing:
In our film the protagonist is going to wear everyday clothing which is challenging the conventions of the stereotypical R'n'B video. The other two characters shall also wear everyday clothing, but to make the differences obvious to the audience the boys shall wear opposite colours or something. If these differences are not obvious then the storyline will not make sense to the audience, which will cause them confusion.


Audience:
When watching our music video I want the audience to feel emotionally involved in the story.


Casting:
Sarah Dowd- Protagonist
Boy one-
Boy two-

Location shots:

 

For our research into our locations we took some pictures of where we were most likely to set our video. As we have a few shots of a boy looking into the computer screen with a over the shoulder shot, we took at picture where the computer is most likely to be. By doing this we can get an idea of the lighting surrounding the computer and what we need to do to make this shot work. After taking this picture we have not yet found any problems with using this location and therefore this is the most likely area for it to be filmed.

Here is where the girl shall park her car, in Enfield Town Market car park this is central to the action ahead and therefore it easily allows the camera to follow her without the journey being to long. From here the camera shall follow her to get her ticket. and then as she walks off to meet her boyfriend in town.

These are location shots of Enfield Town. They show the route in which the girl is most likely to follow as it is the most central route to get to her destination.

This shows the girl walking towards the place where she is supposed to be meeting her boyfriend. Here we believe we are going to use the camera to follow the girls action to make the audience feel involved in the music video, when editing we may choose to speed this up to make it look more effective.

This shows the girl waiting for her boyfriend to arrive in the town. Here we shall use a medium shot to show the audience a detailed view of the character. This will make them build a rapport with the character and feel more involved in the storyline.

Here shows the girl shopping with her boyfriend here is where she gets handed the note. We have to make sure with the shop if we are allowed to film inside first, otherwise we may face a problem and have to change our location shop to elsewhere.

Here the girl is shopping, she will be with her boyfriend, but he was unavaliable when we were taking our location shots.

Here shows the girl after their arguement, we may use a close up here to show the girls expression. After this arguement both characters shall walk their seperate ways we shall show both of them walking off so the audience can gain an insight to the distance created between us.

This shows the girl walking off in her seperate way.

This shows the girl walking back to her car upset with what has just happened here is where she will have the flashbacks of pictures reminising on old, happy times together.

 This is where she is still walking back to her car. Her car is located over the crossing in the car park.

Using, developing and challenging conventions:

 Our music video uses a few current conventions such as the:

• Arguing couple- Many previous R'n'B music videos with storylines involve an arguing couple at some point as love is a common thing people argue about. Also many issues can be raised between boyfriends and girlfriends such as cheating.

• Cars- Many music videos in the R'n'B genre include cars whether or not it has a storyline, as this shows that the characters have money.

A few developing conventions:

• Facebook- As facebook is a recent social networking site it has not long been appearing in music videos, we are using it in ours to show modern times and to keep this convention developing.

• Storyline- Love - More and more music videos are starting to become about love and relationships, we chose this one as it would be better for us, as we also had to make up the lyrics 

Challenging:


Our music video does not really challenge the conventions very much, as we tried to stick to a few of the main conventions of a music R'n'B video.

Bobby Valentino- Turn the page
This video like ours has a storyline. This therefore shares similar qualities as ours does. We used this video as an inspiration as it is also about moving on (turning the page) and this is what was our storyline was based on. This video also has a reference to new technologies like myspace and facebook which we also included as it shows the video in a more modern light.

This video also gaves us ideas on how to portray that they are arguing in the video through facial expressions and body language.

Usher- Burn
This video is also about letting something go and moving on therefore we could also gain ideas to use from this video. It also displays an argumentative scene which can help us to interpret our argument into our video.

This video also has flashbacks and therefore will enable us to use them correctly. It also uses expensive cars, we shall be using a car in our video, this is a convention of the R'n'B genre.

Mary J Blige- Be without you


This video also shows the arguing between a couple therefore these 3 videos have given us a big insight to doing an arguing scene and how to adapt the body language and facial expressions of the characters involved.

This video also includes emailing which is also a technology like Facebook, which we intend to use in our video.

All three of these videos are developing on the current forms and conventions. These videos are sticking to the conventions proposed about R'n'B videos such as arguments, love stories, expensive cars etc.


By looking at these videos I have gained lots of knowledge on which types of camera angles and movements we could include.

• When arguing I believe we should alternate between two shots and over the shoulder shot this will therefore show the emotions between the two characters.
• When looking at programmes such as facebook we can use over the shoulder shots or point of view shots as this will make the audience feel involved with what is going on.
• We will use close ups on the bits that either need emphasising or to allow the audience to read something such as a text.
• Camera movements we change depending on the context. We shall zoom in on the text message to allow the audience to read it also on the 'view photos' part of Facebook. We shall use slow movements when the girl is thinking back. When the boy leaves the girl in town we shall follow her. After a while she walks slowly, to show that the girl is upset.

After watching these videos I have observed the different transitions used and come up with some ideas:

• In 'Be without you' the videos includes blackouts in between each shot when they are arguing I believe this looks really effective.
• Most R'n'B videos we have looked at have been very sharp transitions therefore we shall include these.
• Although we shall use some slow ones to show the dreamy effect when the girl is thinking back to the past.

In today's lesson we were finishing off our storyboards.
Our storyline is that a teenage couple is ripped apart by another boy interfering, by trying to get the girl to meet him, eventually it works and he steals the girl from the other boy.

In todays lesson we finished off our lyrics. They are as follows:

I'll never know how you feel
unless you say
I'll be in the dark
until that very day.

You're the one that I want
and my feelings for you are so strong
I can't get you out of my head
even though it's so wrong.

If I had my way
It would be me and you
just, just us two
baby me, me and you.

Everyday just the same
baby im sick of you playing games
you don't understnd how I feel
this is so unreal.

When im with him i think of you
It's just so hard to leave
I feel so trapped
I'm so torn between you two

If I had my way
It would be me and you
just, just us two
baby me, me and you.

I never knew what I was missing
until we started kissing
I'm so glad that were together now
even though I don't know how


I've left you now
I hate to say were over
but things have changed
These changes are gonna make me stronger


If I had my way
It would be me and you
just, just us two
baby me, me and you.

In today's lesson we began to draw up our storyboards. We started by writing down ideas which we could include that would fit in with our genre. From this we made a storyline, this helped us to draw a storyboard for our music video.

In today's lesson we carried on making our music extended it to make it the right length of time. We also began to put together ideas for lyrics of the song. We began with a basic storyline we wanted to follow to make our song flow correctly. We worked well together as a group throughout this process as we were all putting in ideas and contributing well.

Narrative in music video:

• Much of the research on music videos makes only small references, if any to the music.
• Kaplan especially, applies extensive Hollywood film theory to music videos. She uses two videos clips for comparison: 

• Marilyn Monroe- Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Click here to view 

• Madonna- Material girl. (1985) Click here to view 

 There are obvious links to music, videos and films. An example of this is that music is often used to promote films.
Here is the evidence:
Guns 'n' Roses- You could be mine (from Terminator 2, 1992) Click here to view trailer of Terminator 2

Andrew Goodwin:

"Songs are not the movies"

He argues that by incorporating lip-synchronization into the video, the performer is addressing the viewer directly, as opposed to the distance between actor and audience in a movie, brought about by ignoring the camera in an attempt to act "more natural".

This brings a voyeuristic quality to watching movies that doesn't manifest itself in music video, where lip-syncing sees to embrace the viewer, bringing him/her into the action.

Other writers, like Kaplan also believe that music is not the primary factor of a music video. They believe the reason for this is the advertising industry and promotion techniques. Albums, singles and tours are advertised in magazines, billboards, on buses etc

We shall use some of these advertising techniques to get our music video noticed. An idea is to put it on a website as it can be seen worldwide and people can leave their comments as to what they think of it.

Berland, from Sound and Vision:

"Image is more important than sound"

Phillip Tagg (1983):


"Listeners of pop music already visualise the music they hear using a series of semantic connections they hear created by the text"


Will Straw:


Sees the promo-clip as a threat to the listeners individuality, and seems to take away the responsibility of visualising the music "diminishing the interpretive liberty of the individual music listener who, when presented with a promo clip, sees to have visual or narrative interpretations of song lyrics imposed on him or her"