Summing Up Updated

Summing up2 from hickc004

Magazine Improvements

I am much happier with this advertisement, as I think it has a much greater impact as there's more a picture to look at. Hopefully this will attract an audience more as there's more of a story and the picture is more interesting rather than a blank wall.

I chose this shot, as it features the train station stairs which also feature in my video, so my products are still linked together and hopefully audiences will recognise this are in the video. I like this shot of her leaning over the stairs, as I still think it shows attitude, therefore still contributing to the identity that she is a young girl that has a large character. I shot this using the fish eye lens, so therefore the main focus of the picture is her. Also the outside stairs have been warped due the lens, so it fits in with my warped text, that is too wavy and bends around her body. Using the lines of the stairs, I was able to warp my text so follows the same shapes. I placed the 'Out 17 April' text on one of the steps, and warped it to follow the same bend, so it seems as if the text has been painted onto the stair.

I still included the newspaper review and release date as these are common conventions of magazine advertisements. However, I have also included a twitter link that was mentioned in the feedback session. Some magazine adverts have used this idea, but instead used the social networking site - Myspace.

 

However, I decided on twitter as this is the most recent site and the one that most people seem to use nowadays.
I invented a twitter page - @crystalwattsmusic, and used the famous and recognisable logo from this social networking site, so when my target audience, young adults, see this logo they are drawn to it and know it. This is because at that age twitter and is very important and a big part of their life that they use most days. I changed the logo from the orginal blue, to sepia to fit in with my nineties house style, as all my products have that sepia/vintage tone.



















Another feature I added was the famous and recognisable lyrics 'La Da De La Da Da', however changed the transparency to very faint and placed them behind my model and moulded to the shape of the ceiling and lights. I didn't want this feature very noticable, as it is not important information, however it is the lyric that will help people recognise the song if they don't know it already.

By using the same location as one in my video, the same sepia look, the same styling, poses and the same wavy font moulded to her body as on the digipak, the magazine still links within my nineties house style and attitude identity that I have included in my digipak and video. Therefore when audiences see this advertisement that immediately associate it with Crystal Watts - Gypsy Woman, as they know this is the overall image.

Summing Up

Summary from hickc004

My Thoughts on Feedback

 

I have to decided to take some of the feedback I have received and improve my magazine advertisement so it is more effective. I want to do this, as I agree with the idea that the picture doesn't give a lot away, so therefore I would like to use another picture that has more of an impact rather than a blank wall, and gives away part of the message. By featuring more of my setting and scenery, such as a train station, in my magazine advertisement, the audience immediately knows that this isn't a nice music video with a happy message and a happy ending. It helps form the identity that this video if full of attitude and they want to know why she is standing in such a run down area.

 

It also contributes to the house style and links all my products together, as the new area I want to include in my picture will some point feature in my music video.

 

I will also add a twitter and facebook link to attract younger audiences, as most young adults have these social networking sites, so they will see the advertisement when waiting for a train or reading a magazine, and follow the link. Therefore they are kept up to date with recent news about my artist and fan bases begin to grow through facebook groups or twitter pages,. These will become more popular, and her star persona will grow, as she will gain more fans and become more popular and recognisable.  

What have you learnt from audience feedback?

I presented my final music video and ancillary products to the class, and afterwards they responded with their thoughts and ideas.

Overall the feedback was good which I was very pleased about. The part that pleased me most is that they understood the message I was trying to achieve - that you cannot tell my performer is homeless, as this is the narrative of the song.  Another piece of feedback I was pleased with is they thought my digipak and magazine advert worked well together and I have followed the same house style throughout, which is the sepia tones, the same wavy font that's moulded to her body, and the same clothing, so therefore you can tell all three products are linked. I think this is important with digipak and magazine adverts as they create an identity that the audience recognise. My identity I was trying to create is that my performer is a young girl full of attitude, and I think I show this through the sultry poses and her body language such as one leg against the wall, hands on her hips.

It was interesting hearing the feedback as there was some ideas that I hadn't thought about. One of these was associated with my editing. I had originally used fades between shots for a smooth transition, and then eased this out when the song came to an end as the video became more intense as her secret was about to be revealed. However, someone associated these fades with her falling into a darkness. Black is a very depressing colour, and it could symbolise how her life isn't really that happy.

Another idea was adding a twitter and facebook link on my digipak or magazine advert. This is a good idea and it will attract my target audience of young adults more as most young adults are on these social networking websites. Another improvement that was suggested was changing the picture on my magazine advertisement to a image that shows more location. This is a good idea as it then gives more of a message straight away to the audience that this video will feature these types of locations, and then that makes the audience wonder why she is based in a run down area.

Overall, I am happy with the feedback, as my class are my target audience, I know that I my products fulfil their aim and purpose, but also I can make final adjustments to make my products more effective.

Final Digipak

I followed the same layout as my plan, with the CD space in the middle and the other panes folding in.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Without using many different technologies, it would of been near impossible to create a professional looking music video complete with digipack and advert. Throughout the project I used range of media technology in each stage to record my ideas, produce my work and even to evaluate what I had created.

Technologies from hickc004

What have you learnt from audience feedback?

One way I recieved audience feedback is through Blogger, which is website where I can create a blog and publish posts to thepublic shoiwng my work through text, pictures, videos and more.

An advantage of using Blogger is being able to leave feedback and comments on other people's blog. I found this feature extremely helpful as I my teacher and classmates were able to leave their thoughts about my video and any improvements that I could make. It's good for other people to view my current work as I continually see my work, however a new pair of eyes will usually spot mistakes I haven't noticed and have different ideas to myself.

These comments were about my final magazine advertisement I had created. The first comment was a piece of praise I recieved from a classmate, which was nice to see as I knew that people thought my work was good. It's importnat to know public opinions on media text such as an advert, as they are the audiences for the advert as the people who are influenced by it. It was helpful that my classmate fits into my target audience, as the magazine advert needs to appeal to their age group.

The second comment is from my teacher asking a question about why I had decided to use the sepia tone. This is a good question that more than one person could be thinking. Blogger allowed me to see this question, and I then edited my post and was able to answer her question.

A feature of Blogger also allowed me to create a poll on my blog where people can vote. I chose the question 'How many music videos do you watch in one week?' I chose this question, as I was interested to see how popular music videos are. I know that listening to music is still very popular, but are people still interested in watching the music video to go with the song. I provided four answers, and recieved a range of answers. The most common answer was 11 or more, which means that music videos are still popular. This is good news for my video as I know that people would be interested in watching it.      

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

How my Digipack relates to existing Digipacks?

When creating my digipak I decided on a very simple idea with more pictures that text. I liked the idea of a six pane digipak, with the CD fitting into the centre.

I followed the same layout as David Grumel's, and used the same approach as three big pictures, one on the front cover and the other two either side of the CD. I also chose to have the song tracks as the bag page.

It is very common for one big picture to cover the whole front page with just the song title and artists name. This is because when is shops, a digipak is surrounded by many other digipaks, so the front cover needs to be bold so it can stand out against other front covers. It needs very little detail, as the sight of lots of words can instantly put people off.


I chose a close up shot of my performer for my front cover, as the audience will can immediately see this is Crystal Watt's CD without having to pick it up and read the name. This should increase her Star Persona, as the more audiences see her face, the more recognised she becomes and the more fans she gains which equals more video views and digipaks brought.

 

 

 

My back pane which has the track list follows a very similar layout to most back panes. It featurtes the songs on the CD, and I decided to include the small details that I see on the back of all digipaks. This being a barcode, a website, details about the who produced and distributed and owns the copyright for the song,  and production company names and logos. I produced my own production company and logo, and added common phrases such as 'All trademarks and logos are re-protected'.

 

I decided to only include three songs, where as some Digipaks include around 10-15. However, I decided to make a single rather than an album. This was because this is my artists first song release, so wouldn't have other songs yet, this would be her first hit and I wanted all the attention on this one song. When audiences buy a single, the buy it for that one song in particular. Other artists that have done this include Lady Gaga to promote herhit 'Born This Way'. There are no other songs included on this digipak to take the publicity of this one song.

When only three tracks have been listed, it is very common that these three songs are the same but different versions - the original, and then either remixed versions or an instrumental. I decided on including the original, which I placed separate and bigger than my other two songs, so audiences understand that this is the main song on the digipak, and an instrumental and remixed version.

 

A convention that I have included which is very common in most CD albums is including the song lyrics. I decided to include this too, as audiences mostly like to sing along with the song, so it would be useful to have the song lyrics on  the sixth pane.

How my Magazine Advert relates to existing Magazine Adverts?

During the Research and Planning stage, I looked into existing magazine advertisements for inspiration for my advert. This experience helped me as I could analyse these adverts and notice any conventions that appeared on most of them. I could then use these conventions in a similar way, so my advert looks like existing professional work.

On all magazine adverts I notice that there is one picture, usually of the artist/band or album cover that takes up most of the page. This makes the advert very eye catching. When looking through a magazine, it is very common that most pages are filled up with text, however when you see a page with just one big colourful picture, it would draw your attention to it.

The artists are already very well known and recognised, so audiences will see the advert, instantly recognise the face and then would want to see what the advert is selling. This links to Andrew Goodwin's theory of creating a Star Persona. The more they are seen, the more well known they become, meaning the more fans they gain, therefore more people listening to their music. The musicians face is what sells the product.

I decided to use the same approach and used a full body shot of my performer. When audiences see her picture, they would want to know why. If she has a large fan base, they would read the advert and then hopefully be interested in buying her digipack and watching her music video. By using a full body shot, i hope this will appeal to my target audience of young female girls, as my performer is a ideal idol that they can look up to. They will see this image and want to be just like her. This shot would also appeals to males, reinforcing Laura Mulvey's idea of the Male Gaze. This shot is how males would like to see her, as it shows off the whole of the female body in a pose that's full of attitude, so when looking through the magazine, this image should hopefully too appeal to males.

Another convention was that there was a date often printed in a smaller font advertising when the digipack will be released.

 In this old Britney Spears' advert, it advertises that the album will be released on November the 6th 2001.

The Artic Monkeys' digipack is Out Now

 

I then decided to include a date on my advert for when my digipack will be released. I chose the date the 17th April. I put this in a smaller size font as I wanted my artist's name and song title to be the first thing that the audience read as this is the most important. However, by placing this underneath, it should be the next part they read. By keeping the date simple, I hope they will remember it easier, and on the 17th of April buy the digipack.

 

 

Most magazine adverts also include a star rating from critics such as other magazines or newspapers. I chose to include a four star rating from the well known and respected newspaper The Daily Mail. By including this, it gives the digipack a good review, influencing people to buy it.

How females are represented in my video

My video is representing young women, as the only performer is a young female girl that mimes and dances to the song throughout.

One stereotype of females is that they are weaker than males. Whereas men are seen to be the stronger and more dominant characters, women are seen to be weaker and more gentle and caring. Angela McRobbie argues that these traditional gender roles are often shown in music videos.  I have featured no males in my music video, just one woman which reinforces the idea that men are leaders and strong and aren’t seen begging on the streets. Instead it’s a female who is vulnerable and struggling, and has to resort to asking people for money. At the ending of my video, my female singer is seen sitting on the floor begging, and she looks very vulnerable and alone.

Another stereotype of women is that they are either a ‘whore’ or ‘virgin’ character. Laura Mulvey believes that women have either one of these representations, and are seen as objects and looked upon with a ‘male gaze’. My performer would fit the ‘whore’ stereotype. Her styling could be seen as provocative. Although she is wearing a checked shirt and denim jacket, these are left open to reveal a short crop top showing her stomach, and tight leggings. More than once, she is too seen waiting against fences and walls. The audience does not know why, what or who she is waiting for, however the sight of seeing a young female leaning against a wall, with one leg bent showing attitude and her chest pushed out, it creates a provocative and inappropriate image. She could be waiting on street corners for males to earn money. These shots are filmed by a pan camera movement, so the camera circles my performer while she is staring into the distance. This is a male gaze view on her. The camera circles her as if a male is watching her. The movement is like a predator circling his prey before he is ready to pounce. My performer isn’t looking at the camera so we are watching her without her knowing, like a male would spy on a female.

My character is still very young, and other than her appearance, you can tell this by the way she performs. She is very energetic and fun. When she dances, she bounces around, and shakes her hips – another trait that would give her the Laura Mulvey’s ‘whore’ image rather than an innocent ‘virgin’ image. She represents young girls her age to be lively and happy and who just wants to dance. However, apart from this, she is homeless, which may give a bad impression of young people, such as them being troublemakers. Young people who live on the streets or in squats and have to look after themselves are often associated with having bad upbringings, and running away from home, being involved in gangs, drugs and causing trouble. Stanley Cohen believes that particular groups in society are ‘demonised’. This means they are given a bad image, which may audiences to believe this is true for that group of people.  Although my performer isn’t trouble and isn’t seen to be causing trouble, the audience may wonder why she is on the streets. Instead of seeing youngsters living happy lives at home with family, they see a young girl wearing a crop top and begging for money. Although this won’t cause moral panic, it may give the wrong impression of young people.

The lower class is being shown in my video.  My actress doesn’t have any money or a job. However, until we see her begging, you wouldn’t know that she was of a disadvantage. She looks clean, her clothes aren’t dirty, her hair is very neat and has her makeup done. She seems happy and full of energy by the way she is dancing through the streets. I styled my performer like this as the main message of the song is that she is homeless but she is just like a normal person, which is true. My video represents the lower class to be just like a normal person, until the ending. She is then sitting on the floor huddled in a blanket to keep warm. Now she is sitting on the floor and vulnerable, it shows a loss in power and strength. She now physically has to look up to people of a higher class, which is what too what happens in society. It represents the lower class to be helpless and can’t defend for themselves.

The main representation given in my video is of young females. They are given a bad image overall. Using Mulveys theory, my performer is seen as a ‘whore’ character that is preyed on by males, and looks vulnerable and weak compared to people of a higher class and males. Marxists believe that the media manipulate people and audiences are passive and will believe what they see. Therefore, they will notice this representation of young females and associate it with all young females, even though it’s only a mediated version of the world. 

 

 

 

Analyse the use of Media Language

Media language is very important in the media as the use of the camera, sound, editing techniques and Mise-en-scene all create a meaning to the audience. The meaning and narrative of my music video that is enforced by the use of media language is the message of the song; that it isn’t always obvious if someone is of a lower class by their first impression and in this instance, you cannot tell that my performer is homeless.

I carefully considered mise-en-scene, such as location. I chose rough locations such as underground walk way in train stations and alleyways with garages and fences. My main location which was an underground walk way was very dingy and grotty. There was water dripping from the ceiling and the wall lights created a yellow glow. I chose these two locations as I thought this would be where homeless people would sleep and beg for money. Another location I used was a train and the busy streets of London. I chose London as again I wanted a place where homeless people are stereotyped to be.

From my performer’s movement she seems very upbeat. She dances along to the song happily, bouncing around and is full of confidence and attitude. When in London she weaves in and out of the people, and doesn’t seem shy or intimidated by them. You wouldn’t be able to tell that she hiding a secret, as she seems happy and content. This fits in with the narrative that she seems like a happy person, and you wouldn’t tell she is homeless.

Another aspect of mise-en-scene is styling, which doesn’t give away that my performer is homeless. Overall I styled her to look very nineties to fit in with the theme. Throughout she wears either baggy trousers or leggings, with a crop top, checked shirt, denim jacket, a high ponytail tied with a scrunchie, small hoop earrings and dark lipstick. This outfit doesn’t change throughout as homeless people do not have the luxury of many outfits to choose from, although the audience does not know this until the end of the video. However, she looks very clean, and are clothes aren’t ripped or dirty as you would expect from a stereotypical homeless person. Again, this doesn’t give away that she is living on the streets, therefore portraying the message that it isn’t always clear from a first impression someone is of a lower class or at a disadvantage.

The sounds heard at the end of my music video is a contrast to the 3 minute song played before. Gypsy Woman is a very upbeat and cheery song that makes everyone want to dance. The lyrics of the song are in second person, referring to the homeless person as her or she. My performer mimes these lyrics fooling the audience into thinking she is singing about a homeless woman that she knows.  However, at the end of the video we see her begging on the streets, and the audience realise she has been singing about herself. Andrew Goodwin believes that music videos have narratives that link to the lyrics of the song. The lyrics of Gypsy Woman explain that you wouldn’t be able to know that the woman is homeless as ‘she is just like you and me’, and the audience wouldn’t have been able to tell my performer was homeless.

Compared to the happy song, the end shot features digetic sound of the wind blowing while my performer is sat on the streets begging for money. Also during this shot, a smartly dressed woman walks past and drops money into the tin can and you can hear the clang of the metal. This re-enforces the harsh reality of being homeless. Tajfel and Turner’s intergroup discrimination theory explains that audiences watch texts so they can feel superior to the characters whether it’s in terms of class or money. After seeing my performer living on the streets, they would feel superior and make their own lives seems better.

I dressed my second actress in a fitted coat, trousers and smart shoes to show the difference in class between my two characters. I used a cutaway shot during this footage, so we can only see this woman from the waist down meaning my homeless woman is still the main subject. However, by showing them in the same shot shows the contrast of the smartly dressed woman who has money to give away, to my performer who now is wrapped in an old blanket to keep her warm in the cold weather. The composition too shows the difference in class. My homeless woman is sitting on the ground, very small and low, while the woman walks past standing tall, reinforces that she is of a higher class.

The use of the pan camera movement while my performer is leaning against the brick wall or fence feels as if we are watching her without her acknowledgement. She has one leg bent against the wall while looking far into the distance and waiting, however we do not know why or who she is waiting for. The camera shot fits into Laura Mulveys theory of the Male Gaze, which views women as objects and are either a ‘virgin’ or ‘whore’ character. From the way the camera circles around her, the audience feel as if they are watching her, almost analysing and judging her an object, and how male would before he approaches a female or a predator watching their prey. Her clothing, which reveals her midriff, posture which shows attitude and the idea that she could be waiting for a male, reinforces the ‘whore’ character. This keeps the audience in suspense as we are not sure why she is waiting, and gives the idea that there may be a twist in the video or a secret unveiled. This unknown fits the restricted narration theory. This is where the narrative is kept minimal and not much information is given away, keeping the audience in the dark.

Quick cut editing is used near the end of the video between different locations and dancing shots combined with waiting shots. Throughout a lot of fades were used for the transition between shots. These were very smooth and subtle, as the shots would fade out to black and then the next would fade in, but in the last 30 seconds, suddenly it’s just a quick cutting between quick footage. During this time a spinning camera movement is used. The camera is stationary on one point, however quickly spins 360 degrees many times filming a rough location. This adds to the sudden rush and pace.  The sudden change in pace of editing builds tension, letting the audience know that something is going to happen.

Through the use of the camera shots, mise-en-scene, editing techniques and sound, my music video communicates the message that you can’t always judge someone by the first appearance. This is to the message of the song, which is you cannot tell this woman is homeless as she looks just like any ordinary person.

How my Music Video uses real videos related to Narrative

My video supports the restricted narration theory. This states that the narrative is kept minimal, with parts of the story unclear and the audience are kept in the dark. The ending of my piece has a twist that the audience wouldn’t have been expecting. Throughout, my performer is dancing and singing to lyrics about a homeless woman in second person tense, referring to the homeless individual as her and she. During the video, we do see her leaning against a wall or fence looking into the distance, but we do not know why she is waiting there. This creates a sense of mystery as the audience begins to wonder why she is standing there and what she is waiting for. However, at the end, she is seen sitting at the edge of the pavement begging for money as she, herself, is the homeless woman she has been singing about. This is a narrative enigma, as this ending contradicts the happy performer we see previously. This element adds more depth into the video, and gives it more of a storyline rather than a simple performance based music video.

The enigma that features in my music video fits with Andrew Goodwin’s narrative theory.  He states that narratives link to the lyrics and tempo of the music. A repeated lyric in the song is ‘she’s just like you and me but she’s homeless’ and this is a strong message that you wouldn’t be able to tell this woman was homeless, as she gets up and acts the same as an ordinary person. Throughout the video, the audience wouldn’t have been able to tell the performer was homeless as she looks just like an audience person, however we soon find out that she does live on the streets and like the lyrics say, she has to beg for money. Although the visuals don’t act out the lyrics of the song, the narrative of not being able to tell this woman is homeless does link with the lyrics.  

A theory that applies to most media texts is Todorov’s theory. He believes that there are five main stages to a complete narrative. First there is an equilibrium, and there is a happy and settled scenario. Then this equilibrium is disrupted, and in the next stage people realise the disruption. Afterwards there is an attempt to repair the disruption, and in the end the original equilibrium has been restored or there is a new one.  However, my video doesn’t have these five stages. It begins with my performer dancing at a train station, then miming along to lyrics. She dances again on the chorus and mimes to the second verse. I decided to have her sing to any lyrics, as there are very few in the song. After, there is then a long instrumental section where we see her dancing, and it finishes with her begging on the streets. There is a happy equilibrium throughout; with no disruptions until the end a new equilibrium is made. We now know she is homeless, but it is still an equilibrium as she is settled and has always been like this, although this was just unknown to the audience. I chose to not follow Todorov’s theory as I wanted more of a performance based music video with lots of dancing as it is a dance song. Also, my song doesn’t have five main stages in its lyrics. There are very limited words, so a strong story couldn’t have been made from the lyrics.

Levi Strauss argued that binary opposites are important in narratives; however this doesn’t apply to my work, or many music videos. I only have one performer in my music video, so there is no opposite of her, whether it would be a man, or someone evil. I don’t believe that my music video needs another person as the song is about one person rather than a group. Other music videos that I have researched neither have binary opposites. Music videos by the boy band One Direction, artists such as Rihanna or Justin Bieber, or the Spice Girl video that inspired part of my work, all have produced videos that do not include a binary opposite. These aren’t compulsory and a narrative can work without them.  

Two theories that do apply to my music video are Andrew Goodwin’s and the restricted narration theory. These two fit my work best as my video is a performance based music video rather than a narrative based music video, so I don’t have a clear story throughout. However, this was the best approach as the song fits the dance genre, so it has a dance filled music video to match. 

How my Music Video uses real conventions related to Genre

One way my music video fits into the pop genre is by featuring dance routines. Choreography is a strong convention of pop videos, as they are usually very upbeat and cheerful, so they have equally upbeat routines. I discovered this by watching existing pop music videos, like those by the boy band One Direction. I watched their video for One Thing, which is very pop music, and throughout it had silly dance routines that they audience can dance along to.

I filmed my performer bopping, bouncing around, and doing a cheery footwork dance sequence. She dances on the train, in the middle of London and on stairs. 
Rick Altman believes that texts belong to a particular genre and choreography makes my video clearly belong to the pop genre rather than any other genre. Videos that fit into the Rock genre or Rap genre wouldn’t feature such happy choreography. 

A convention of the pop genre would be the artist featuring in the video. Videos can either be narrative, performance, concept or animation based. A young target audience is more likely to be the main target audience for pop music, so most videos are performance based, which is when the artists perform their song to the camera. As the younger generation often idolise or look up to music artists, such as Cheryl Cole or Chris Brown, or girls have crushes over boy bands, by having performance based music videos, they get to watch these people more. My performer sings to the lyrics and dances when there are no lyrics. As she is a young artist, girls would look up to her and boys would have a crush on her, so by having her in the video, audiences can watch her more and copy her clothing and dance moves. The use of close up camera shots it sells the video more to the audience. This would be because the audience can feel clearly see the artists face, and therefore closer the artist. Boyband such as JLS or The Wanted would often use close ups so girls can drool over every part of their face. This influenced me to use some close-ups in the video, so the audience can connect more to the artist.

Andrew Goodwin also believes the use of close ups create a star Persona. By using close-ups, audiences are more familiar with the stars appearance, therefore becoming more recognisable and popular. The more they are seen, the more chance they have of creating an identity for themselves. Taylor Swift has created an innocent country girl identity for herself, where as Rihanna has created a ‘bad girl’ image and likes to push boundaries with her music and style, therefore allowing audiences to form opinions about these two female artists and possibly become fans. If they didn’t feature in their videos, they may not be as successful, as fans choose to watch their videos and listen to them because they like the artist. By using close-ups of my performer, I hope to associate the identity for her that she is a young girl, who is full of attitude and personality, and I think I achieved this through the dance, sultry poses and body language full of attitude such as legs against walls and hands on hips. Although she does appear to have fun through the dance routines, the seriousness of her face, also suggests that she has a secret to hide.

Dramatic styling is common in pop genre. Outrageous clothing is often featured that most people wouldn’t in public on a normal day out is featured. For women, artists such as Jessie J are seen wearing bright colours in cat suits and lots of accessories, with exaggerated make up. 

Whereas males often wear very up to date and fashionable clothing. This matches the cheerfulness of pop music. I decided that my performer needed careful styling to fit in with the video rather than casual clothing that aren’t interesting or eye catching. As my song is a 90’s song, I wanted 90’s styling. I dressed my performer is baggy trousers, a crop top, checked shirt and big denim jacket, with a high ponytail and scrunchie. Even though this was the style of the 90’s, it is quite uncommon that people would dress like this now when going out., so in modern times this would be seen as dramatic styling.

Laura Mulvey and Andrew Goodwin both believe that women are seen as objects in music videos and seen in Voyeuristic ways, and Mulvey even suggests that they are either categorised for being a ‘whore’ or a ‘virgin’. Artists such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga, who are pop artists, often produce very inappropriate videos where they play up to the camera for her male admirers in little clothing. In Lady Gaga's Telpehone video, she is seen sprawled in a prison cell wrapped in police tape, creating that 'bad girl' and 'whore' image that men seem to like. 

They are shown how men would want to see them, which is the known as the male gaze. By dressing my performer in a small crop top, it shows a lot of her stomach. By doing this, I was hoping it would appeal to males as they would watch the music video to admire her slim body. When she dances she wiggles her hips, and when standing against the fence waiting, she has one hand on her hip and one leg propped against the wall, all of this showing attitude and being fun and flirtatious, which would again appeal to males. A used a pan camera movement during this shot, which circles her. However she isn’t looking at the camera, so gives the impression that she doesn’t know we are watching her. It feels as if we are spying on her, like how a male would spy on a female and judge her, before they approach her

Rick Altman believes that genres are ideological and not specifically located in history, meaning that the pop genre and pop videos will always look the same. Videos from the 60’s boy band - The Beatles have the same conventions, such as close up camera shots, a performance based video, and fashionable clothes, as the current boy band - One Direction. My final piece does fit well into this continuous pop genre. Although it doesn’t feature the male gazes, which most pop videos featuring young woman do, it does have most of the other conventions – star persona, exaggerated styling, cheesy choreography, and an upbeat pop feel.

Gypsy Woman Final Cut

After a lot of idea changes, and re-shooting footage many times due to location problems and camera problems, I finally finished my music video. Overall I am happy with my finished product, more so the end half of my video, as this section is when I have had more experience with the camera and knew more what I wanted my video to look like. Therefore, I think this section is stronger in terms of camera shots and I varied what I was filming, as here I included different train sections to link back to the beginning and locations of my performer dancing. I particularly like the footage of my performer dancing against the red brick wall, for example between 1.30 to 1.35 as I think this looks very 90's. The idea from my feedback session about adding my performer as the homeless person as an ending also works really well, and I think this gives my video more meaning.

Parts of my video I would improve was to add another performer. I think by adding another person for my audience to watch would make it more interesting and keep them entertained.

Digipack Sixth Page

For my last page, I used an action shot of my performer dancing on a train. However, I didn't want to just have a picture as all my pages featured a picture taking up the whole page. I then had the idea of adding the song lyrics which worked well, as I only featured the one song and made my background picture more transparent.

TLC's digipack included song lyrics, but as an insert. However, as I had a spare page that would fold inside, I though this was the perfect space to include my song lyrics. I kept the title within the house style - a brown colour to match the sepia tint and Accent font. Although, I decided on the font Arial for the lyrics as these had to be small and Arial is easier to read.

Digipack Inside Panes

The two inside panes either side of the middle pane where my CD fits, I wanted to keep simple and include just pictures. I used two pictures I had taken down an alley way and changed them to Sepia.

An idea I wanted to use from the start was including the repeated chorus lyrics, however keeping them very faint and transparent. I included the first three words 'La Da De' on the left pane, and the last three words 'La Da Da' on the right pane, so even though these two pages aren't next to one another, they link together. 

Digipack CD Space

The space where the CD would fit would be the middle pane of my digipack. I wanted an image of a CD here so the customer knows this is where the CD should be placed. As my whole theme is the nineties, I researched old vinyls to use as an image rather than a CD. I found this image of a vinyl which I liked.

In Serif PagePlus edited out the middle so its just a disc with a large centre hole. I then changed this image to Sepia to fit within the colour scheme.

Digipack Contents

As this is only a single, I only featured three songs. From all the previous singles I have brought, I noticed that they include the original song, and then either a remix, an instrumental version, or a new unheard of song that isn't a hit. I decided to include the first three on my digipack cover.

I chose a shot of my performer sitting on the floor. When I had planned this shot, I knew I wanted it to be for the back of my digipack so knew it had to feature words somewhere on the page. I purposely positioned her to sit to one side leaning against a Garage on the right, so I could place my song titles to the left.

For the song titles, I used the same font as what I had used throughout for my digipack front over and magazine advertisement - Accent. I positioned these at an angle so they fit between the lines on the garage.

After looking at TLC's digipack I noticed that mine looked very plain.   


I began looking at more digipack's that I had researched including Katy Perry's and Britney Spears, and noticed that all these had small print about the producers of distributors of the digipack and a barcode. So I created a barcode in Serif PagePlus using a white square, lots of black lines of different thicknesses and a random selection of 10 numbers, as I noticed there were 10 on TLC's barcode. I put this barcode to the right of my performer. I too included similar small print to TLC's. I included two pretend names and Crystal Watts as executive producers, a website called www.crystalwattsmusic.co.uk, stated that it was made in the UK, all trademark and logos were protected, and was distributed by MUS. I also made a logo to represent a music company, and altered the transparency so this was very faint. Overall, this made my contents look more professional and like existing products.

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My Digipack Front Cover

Overall I wanted my digipack to fit in with my magazine and Music Video, so kept with the same colouring, which is Sepia. For my front cover my initial idea was to have my performer during an action shot on the stairs or leaning over a stair rail. However, my initial idea of using stairs in London wasn't as succesful as I had hoped they would be. So instead, I used a shot of my performer in my new locations - old, rundown areas.

Another first idea I had for the front cover was having the repeated chorus lyrics - La Da De La Da Da, however I decided to use these just on my inside pages either side of the middle pane where my CD is placed, which I had orginally planned to do anyway.

The picture I chose for my front cover was one of my performer leaning against a fence. I chose a close up head shot to fit in with Andrew Goodwins idea of a star persona. This is the idea that close up shots are used, so the artist becomes more recognised by the public, therefore more popular. You can also clearly see the carefully styling, such as the dark lipstick, high ponytail and little hoop earrings.

I added a sepia effect to my picture so it ties in with the digipack and music video. I used the same lettering as my advertisement, but changed the colour so it was readable against the background. I aslo used the warp tool, so change the shape so it fitted around my artist's shoulder. I like this bubbly wavy effect, as I think its very hippie and reminds me of a tye dye feel, which was very 90's.

 

Original Image

 

 

 

 



 

My Digipack

When I was creating my digipack I wanted to use the same program that I had used to create my magazine advertisement - Serif Pageplus. I prefer using this program as you can edit your pictures within the program rather than having to insert them in.

Where as Adobe Indesign has an option to set your page size as a compact disc, Serif PagePlus does not. However to solve this problem, I took note of the page dimensions of a compact disc which were 120mm/12cm, as set these as the dimensions of my page in Serif.

Music Video Changes

My final product is very different to my first idea and plans

1) Location

I stuck with my first idea of using train stations as one of my Locations to film my music video. However, the idea of filming on the platform didn't work as well as it was in an open space and it was difficult to not capture train signs. However, before reaching the platform I noticed a small, dark and dingy alley way in South Ruislip Station, which was perfect. Here I filmed a lot of my music video.

Another original idea was using London. I didn't use this location as much as I planned, but did film my performer dancing in the middle of the busy street and in a small London Corner. I decided not to use London as much, as in the end I preferred the rougher areas such as South Ruislip Station's alley way and against fences and brick walls. This idea still fitted in with the idea of a homeless person as they beg in these types of areas.

2) Stairs

A big idea I wanted to include was my performer dancing on the stairs in Piccadilly Circus and on New Look in Oxford Street. This was to be a homage to the Spice Girls routine in their Wannabe video. I did film this on New Look stairs, however because I was wary about being caught as I was filming on private property, I wanted to film this footage as quick as possible. This means that video didn't end up as good as I had hoped. Instead I used the stairs in the train station, which still fitted in well with the idea of a rough location. It wasn't the full Spice Girls routine like I had hoped, but I did take ideas and dance moves from it.

3) Fish Eye Lens

I wanted to use a fish eye lens, as I thought this was very 90's. However, I trialled this lens on a train station platform which was a very open location, however I decided I did not want to use this effect throughout as I wasn't impressed with the look it created. Instead I preferred just a normal lens. Although, I did include one piece of footage using the fish eye when my performer was miming in a small and confined area, and that is why I think it worked better.

4) Ending

To add more depth to my video , I added a short piece of footage of my performer begging on the streets. Throughout the video, the audience believes my performer is singing about a homeless person she knows as she refers to the homeless woman as 'her' and 'she'. However, we realise that she has been singing about herself. This is a RESTRICTED NARRATIVE as the audience doesn't find out all the information at first, and the narrative of the video is very mysterious.