The reason why we chose this design to be our final version of the Digi-pak was because we found this version sells the artist. The draft version above does not include as many pictures as the final version.
As we found from studying R'n'B genres, the main aim of this genre is to sell the artist. Using our Digi-pak I think we managed to achieve this as we included close-up images of the artist.
Our front page design:
Conventions of R'n'B Album:
On the left inside panel of the Digi-pak we managed to merge together the artist picture as well as the slogan we used through out the music video. We found this to be an advantage as we were able to link the Digi-pak with the music video making the video and Digi-pak more memorable, as the audience is constantly reminded of the slogan. Because the audience will recognise the artist they will be able to instantly link the slogan to the artist, which is again shown on the left inside panel of the Digi-pak.
Front Page: For the front page of the digi-pak we wanted to attract as much attention as possible. The front image is a large image of the artist with the name of the album “euphoria” this again is portraying the artists attitude, as euphoria means happy. We followed the common connotations of an R’n’b album cover, the close-up picture of the artist looking into the camera. This would appeal to our targeted audience, as this audience is familiar with the conventions of R’n’b albums. This would then attract more of our audience.
Back Page: The image used for the back page of the Digi-pak, shows the artist to be fun and crazy, this is where my Digi-pak challenges the conventions of an R’n’B music album.
The image below shows how our Digi-pak challenges the conventions of a R'n'b album.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My music video is in the genre of Hip Hop/R’n’B, whilst researching this genre I found that the common connotations found in a music video of this genre are often females
dancing in night clubs, being portrayed as "sexy" and promiscuous. This was found from analysing different digi-paks, album covers and adverts of the Hip-Hop music genre. As seen on the album ‘stripped’ by ‘Christina Aguilera’ the image on this album is of her centred in the middle of the album with her body being quite revealing, this is used to sell the album by attracting audience attention.
As stated above we found artist of this genre are shown dancing in night clubs, we challenged this genre by showing the artist dancing on the street. This was used because is gave the impression to the audience that you can “Dance your cares away” wherever you are and whenever you are feeling down, you don’t need to be in a night club to do so. This technique of challenging the idea of common setting of this genre was used as a way of relating the artist to the audience, making the audience more attracted to the artist shown on screen.
We have included some of the common connotations of the music video as we wanted to maintain the genre of our music being R’n’B/ Hip-Hop. In our music video we did include a lot of close ups of the artist as this is often found in a music video of this genre as another way of selling the artist. Although the use of close-up camera angles was used in our music video not only to sell the artist but also making the artist emotions obvious to the audience. From the audience feedback we received, we found that the audience had trouble understanding the meaning of our media video, however we chose not to change this because it kept the audience inclined to watch the video as they wanted to try and discover the meaning of the video as they continue to watch it.
In hip-hop videos you often find them to be quite serious, as our music can be seen as serious through some scenes, we tried to introduce some humour by involving the public in holding up “Dance your cares away” posters.
My music video challenges the ideology of having the artist miming the lyrics of the song whereas R'n'B music videos often include this connotation. Instead we focused on the way the artist showed meaning by her actions throughout the video. Focusing on this idea we thought we would be able to sell the artist more as the audience would be more interested in the meaning of video, rather than seeing the expected artist miming lyrics of the song in an average hip hop/R'n'b music video.
Although we did challenge some of the normal conventions of the hip-hop genre in our music video, we kept the common connotations of an album from this R'n'B genre similar to ours. We did this by having the artist centred on the album cover as shown on the album ‘I’m not dead’ by the artist Pink. We used this image of the artist in order to make the album easily identifiable to the target audience of the R'n'B genre and therefore result in selling more albums.
The main focus of our music videos is to sell the artist; we achieved this through our music video creating anxiety for the audience as they want to watch the music video more and more to understand the meaning. We also ended our music video on the artist being happy this was showed by a long shot of the artist shown dancing on screen with other her friends; the camera then zooms in to show a close-up of the artist smiling. As the artist is shown to be sad through previous scenes in the our music video as a way of the audience being able to relate their personal life issues with the character on screen, the close up of her smiling is used at the end so the audience remember this character as being positive. This may encourage the audience to buy the album as they are motivated by the personality of the artist shown on screen.
"I really enjoyed watching this music video. I liked the suspense in waiting to find out the meaning/story behind the video. I think the meaning can be a bit more clear though. I also liked the message "dance your cares away" it sounds very happy and i must admit i wanted to start dancing. This video makes you feel sad and then happy, its very mood changing. :) "
Review of feedback:
Audience feedback is an important aspect as it allows us to cater specifically to the audience and enable us to attract more of our target. Audience feedback allows us to better our selves. YouTube has allowed us to obtain audience feedback from the audience, by the use of audience taking advantage of the blogging forums.
Music Video - Audience
We filmed an audience watching our music video; we did this in order to capture the reactions of our audience whilst watching our music video. We found that where we had the women holding the "Dance your cares away poster" this was found to be the most humorous bits in the video as it was so unexpected compared to the seriousness of the music video narrative.
Individual Feedback For Music Video
From these individuals we found there was a common trend of them finding the meaning not clear enough. However we chose not to change this aspect of the video as we found it to be a way of capturing the audience and keeping them interested, as it makes them want to discover the meaning as they continue to watch the video. Taking what the audience has said into consideration if I were to re-make this video I would change the way the meaning is delivered to the audience.
We also managed to find strengths and weaknesses of our music video, the weaknesses in our music video were that the audience found it hard to understand certain scenes, such as why there was the contradiction of happy people in one room and then the camera cuts to one of the main characters sitting in the toilet eating. We could have made this more clear by using more than one cut to show the binary opposites of happy and sad, which was used to create more of an emphasis on the characters emotions. However our strengths of our music video were the affects it had on the audience, i.e. at the start our music video creates sympathy for the characters this is also done by the long cuts on screen, then towards the end the audience feel happy for the characters shown on screen. The relations the audience have with the characters on screen is a main key strength in our music video, this was found from audience reactions of watching our music video as well as the individual commentaries.
Overall I think the our video was successful as I managed to obtain the attention of the audience, although it can also be improved by establishing the characters problems sooner.
For my first two plans i used pink and black font with no background colour. The reasons for not having a background colour was because i thought it may draw more attention to the artist. from the drawing i can see that this digipak design looks to plain as it does not come across as appealing and eye catching to the audience. The name of our album is called Euphoria which means happy, so using a bright colour such as pink emphases this mood of having a happy ora.
Neutral Background
Purple background
Blue background.
From desinging different Digi-pak designs we were hoping to discover what Digi-pak attracted the most attention. We used these designs when asking people which Digi-pak they preffered and why they liked it. From asking individuals we found the most common Digi-pak design people like was the blue design simply because it was a brighter colour than the others and resulted in being more eye-catching. Eye-catchy designs are recommended when trying to sell your product to ensure your product draws and attracts attention from the targeted audience.
Artist: The genre of this type of music would be RnB therefore the pose of this artist displayed in this image, portrays a common connotation of this genre. This is seen from the characteristics of this image and the association it has with the RnB genre. For example. Christina Aguilera has a very defined feminine pose and her body being quite revealing, this type of image would sale a RnB album, based on the appreciation and appeal is has with its target audience.
Costume: The album name has been cleverly created to correspond with the costume of the artist. The album name is called "stripped" and the image of Christina Aguilera is "Stripped" of clothing on her upper half, as well as there being stripes on her trousers and her hair being streaked. This makes the album name easily recognisable and the target audience would be more likely to remember this album name based on the artists image.
The artist being positioned in the centre of the album cover creates greater attraction towards the artist, this is also a way of the artist selling the album as the album cover would be more appealing towards the target audience.
The title of the album will be at the top of the page so it will be noticeable and the audience will recognise the album name immediately. This is the format we wish to follow as it will capture audience attention. The "Out Now" date will be in bold to aware the customers when the album is on sale; this is an important marketing technique as it will increase chances of sales. The advert will also offer an e-mail address where the audience can find more information on which outlets the album will be sold, this makes the buying of the album more convenient for the audience. The audience will therefore be more willing to go and buy the album from the outlets stated. The image as seen above will be in the middle of the advert to capture audience attention; the artist will be in this image, as the artist’s picture will sell the album.
Down below we have shown different styles and formats of posters, we designed these styles to get feedback from the audience. The feedback will be able to help in making the decision on what style and format we should use for our final music advert. The advert which captures more attention and appeals more to our target audience will be used as it will result in being more successful and will increase chances of high sales.
Keep you bubbling every day and every night We don't wanna see you argue, fuss and fight All we wanna do is dance and feel the vibe Make you feel nice
Verse 1 DJ take back this track hit them again the reaction is phat Hit them again are you feeling that? Music is life it's a natural fact The people with the power they make you feel poor I wanna see the people on the dancefloor So here I come again with a lyric hardcore I know I'm still raw but finding rhythms dead line is law Taste entertainment you know you want more With the vibing galore upon the dance floor The people go mad they make you explore Different ways to reach an applause This goes out for a worthy cause Just move-a-ya body That's what it is for Just move-a-ya body the crowds wanting more
Chorus: You can't take us away from the music Tantalising you can't refuse it Beats b-line move your body don't ya lose it Dance 'till the morning comes
Verse 2: It's the weekend no time for sleeping We got ya body roking, move to the track best believing Seeing is believing as I'm riding on this track Mis-teeq got the city pon lock Sit down pon the riddem cos we know how fi rock Gridlock, roadblock, the show never stops As we take it back just for you my friend Rewind fi all the gyal dem
Bridge: Sometimes just gotta escape Stay dreaming when you wake No matter come what may Turn the music up and dance you cares away
Chorus
Keep you bubbling every day and every night We don't wanna see yu argue fuss and fight All we wanna do is dance and feel the vibe Make you feel nice
At the start of this animatic we used slow cuts to emphasise the negative mood of the characters which then changes during the animatic as the cutting between shots speeds ups. The cutting between shots changes and becomes faster as the characters try to escape from their problems and issues by dancing.
After designing this animatic we decided we will use more close-ups in our final product of the music video compared to the animatic, as we want the characters emotions to appear more obvious to audience. This would be to ensure the desired meaning of our music video is easily identified by our audience which willl help to make the meaning of our music video clearer.
Media Script for music video Dance Your Cares Away.
Music video begins with the female characters in their bed, the alarm goes off and they get ready to go to school. They will be showing the unwillingness to go to school by the close up of their facial expressions showing them to being unhappy.
The characters will be shown slowly getting ready contradicting the fast paste beat of the song to emphasise their unhappiness.
They are shown to leave their house feeling stressed and unhappy. The cuts switch between the different characters.
One character is shown dancing to relieve stress on her way to school, as she her main issue is being unhappy with her social life at school, this is a long shot to show the happiness she feels when dancing.
Another character is shown holding a picture of an "x" friend which she then rips up; this is used to show she is upset with her friend.
The final character is shown in the toilets eating her lunch, this is to show she is unable to socialise with other people in her school, so she results in isolating her self -close up are used to show her crying and being over emotional (the common stereotypes of females).
Eventually they are all shown dancing as a way of relieving all their stress and problems they are suffering.
Another character is shown demolishing her room as a way of releasing her anger.
All throughout the different scenes, we will have a motif of the words "Dance your cares away" to show the meaning of the video. Dance your cares away to relieve your stress and escape from your troubles.
We gave a written note to the actors involved in our music video. This note included the date, time and anything else we needed individuals to bring or wear on the day of filming. This allowed us to avoid any unexpected mistakes such as the actor forgetting about the filming time or day. The actors were then able to negotiate with us if they had to change filming times, and were also able to give confirmation of the dates decided. This way we were able to manage our time efficiently and also avoid wasting time.
Mise en scene - Costume
As part of our planing and research task we have decided to dress our character in casual clothes typically worn by British girls in their late teens. This is to show that our character tries hard to fit in with the people around her. Although our theme is red and black we did not want this character to draw too much attention away from our main character who will be wearing red and black.
Props
We used our "Dance your cares away" posters to emphasise our motif, this is to ensure our theme is clearly identified within our scenes, and also to make sure the audience are constantly reminded of our theme throughout the video.
Location planning
We chose between two toilet locations, one being in our school College House building and the other in the Furzedown House building. The image above is a picture of College House building. The reasons for us choosing College House building was because we found this location allowed us more space to play with. The emptiness of the the area shows how the character feels - isolated and alone. This creates more sympathy for the characters from the audience, and is beneficial as it can be used to draw our audience into the narrative, helping them to relate to the characters.
The layout of this toilet also helped us in making the decision of using this setting. The idea of having our main character sitting above the toilet and looking out of the window, will show how she feels trapped in her "own world", as she feels misunderstood by the outside world. Having a our character sitting by the window represents the barrier between her and the others around her.
Motif
This picture will be used in our media video as our motif. This phrase "dance your cares away" is used to show the intertextuality between our music video, digipak and album advert. This phrase was chosen as it is the name of our song, and also because it gives the audience the impression that this artist has a positive attitude and enjoys life to her fullest. This phrase is used to help sell the product and attract more of our target audience by using a "catchy" phrase that is easy to remember. The song we chose for our media music video is very fast and upbeat, although we did contradict this idea of happiness by having slower paste camera cuts and actors slow movements. We found that having binary opposites of happiness and sadness emphasises the emotions in our music video, this then encourages the audience to relate to the characters shown on screen.
This pictures shows how we thought about the construction and designs of the digipak we created. We chose to draw out some ideas of how the design of our digipak could be, and this enabled me and my group to decide on a design that we all found best suits are music video and shows clear intertextuality between each product we designed.
We also used PowerPoint to settle on a background picture for our album advert. PowerPoint made it more flexible for us to change the background and font of our advert without changing too much of the layout.
MUSIC GENRE: POP I thought this would be a good video to analyse as it shares a number of themes with my own video, such as grief and unhappiness. This music video is set in a house showing everyday life of the family presented on screen. The music video tries to portray an image of a disfunctional household by frequently showing close ups of the artist and the young girl’s distress in the video. This video Being set in house makes the audience feel as though they are looking into the life of family and therefore this helps the audience to relate to the video.
Props such as the glass smashing in the bedroom are used to emphasise the discomfort of the young girl who lives in the house. This video uses different camera techniques and actor's behaviours as a way of making sure the theme is clear to its audience, such as close ups on the little girl’s expressions and gestures. Fast camera cuts of the character in the bed are used to indicate to the audience the character's discomfort as she sleeps. The mise en scene, such as the lighting, is used to create a negative mood.
IF YOU'RE NOT THE ONE- SPOOF
MUSIC GENRE: POP
This video provided me with inspiration for my own - such as having the artist dance in random places as she expresses her emotions - as seen in this video as the artist expresses his emotions for love. This video also presents a common motif, the man in shown in every scene dancing in funky underpants to create a humorous affect to the audience.
The camera techniques in this video are used to show his journey of love, such as panning shots which are commonly used in this video. This is used to show that wherever the artist goes, the love his has for this person is always present. The mise en scene is also used to show love is always present by having the setting of the video in different places and by using different camera angles angles such as long shots. Towards the end of this video the artist is shown standing over the sea in a godly pose. This is to show that his love is strong and of importance in his life.
BEAUTIFUL-CHRISTINA AGUILERA
GENRE: POP
This video portrays various people who are outcast from society or discrminated against because of their sexual preferences, mental illness or physical appearance. Therefore they are not seen as 'beautiful'. This relates to our ideas of having a girl who does not fit in with the social norms of her school as she is singled out from friend groups and is not welcomed. We are shown they feel they are seen as not beautiful as the dialogue of the story presents this to the audience and also by the way the characters are presented on screen as being unhappy with themselves by looking into a mirror feeling exposed and thinking of themselves as ugly.
This video shows a scene where paper is being burnt in the fire, this represents the
destruction caused to ones life in the video and the suffering of not being seen as normal affects the
different characters.
The mise en scene in this video such as lighting is also used to portray a negative mood to the audience, making them feel sympathy for the characters. This allows the audience to feel closer to the characters because it is as if they are looking in on the characters life. In one scene, there is newspaper covering the window, this suggests that the character is afraid of the outside world and is hiding from it.
STOLE-KELLY ROWLAND
GENRE: R&B/SOUL
The central message in Kelly Rowland 's video is how the death of one person can affect everyone around them. It shows how other people can take away lives not only directly
but even indirectly, through mental abuse to someone else. There is a quote on screen: "Think before you act". This scene has an effect on the audience by making them feel as if this message is directed at them.
The artist Kelly Rowland is portrayed as a guardian angel-like figure as there is a light shining on her and she appears in the video but is never seen by the characters.
