Audience Feedback

Music Video Draft #1

This is the first draft of my music video. As you can see I have left a few blanks with notices telling me what I need to add to my next draft. I mainly focused on the performance parts of my music video as I have not had time to include all the narrative sequences. 

Magazine Advert Draft #1

This is the first draft of my magazine advertisement. Following my brand guidelines, I kept with the continued house style of orange, black and white to show a link between all three of my media products. I have also included different fonts including my primary typeface 'Albertsthal Typewriter' for the artists name 'Ed Sheernan' and my second typeface 'Absender' for the name of his hit single 'Afire Love'. After looking at various real world media advertisements, I noticed the majority of them advertised social media. This is an important factor for music artists as this enables fans to keep in touch with the latest information and keep up to date which what is happening. The layout is fairly simple but includes all the important information - artists name, album name and the name of the artists hit single 'Afire Love'. I also included an image of the two main characters - Sam and Victor' as my whole music video revolves around the story of them both.

Location Release Contract

A location release is important to anyone who intends to photograph, videotape or record on property that is not owned by themselves. This document verifies that I have permission from the selected owners to use their location to film for my music video and highlights the different terms and conditions I had to comply to, to ensure that I am able to use the selected locations as I wish.  For example, as part of my performance I had to get permission from my media teacher Mr Fisher to use the drama studio at Haydon School before I began filming. 

Raw Footage - Studio Shoot

Production Diary - 04/02/14

Today in lesson and during my free time, I continued editing my music video and began importing footage from my latest shoot with Aaron in the studio. After looking at my footage, I thought the colour looked quite plain and therefore decided to change the colour to a blue tone as this colour follows connotations of sadness and sorrow. I firstly added an adjustment layer and then used the tool Fast Colour Corrector including the different settings; hue angle - 0.0, balance magnitude - 20.00, balance angle - 30.1 and saturation - 72.00. I believe these colours gave me a nice blue tone to suit the sad and emotional theme of my music video.  Furthermore, I originally stated in my inital planning ideas that I wanted my music video to be entirely black and white but after reviewing my footage I noticed that the studio shoots did not look as good in black and white due to the black background behind and therefore decided to keep the colour image. I will prehaps now produce two copies of my music video - one in colour and one in black and white.

 

Music Video Behind the Scenes

Production Diary - 02/12/14

Today after school I completed my studio shoot for my music video. I first set up the lights in the studio and positioned them till I was happy with how they suited the image I wanted to convey.  I then changed the aperture of the camera to F/5.6 as I believed the lights were too bright. To film my video I used a selection of different camera equipment including a tripod and steadicam. The main purpose of the tripod was to support the camera, I used the tripod for the majority of my video as it enabled me to take good quality footage without the use of camera shake. I also used a steadicam to capture the movement of the camera. For example, I used the steadicam to capture a panning shot of the artist singing to the song to show a diverse of different camera shots and movements. At first, I found the steadicam quite hard to work with as I had never used it before and found my footage to be quite shaky. However, after a while I soon got used to working with the steadicam and held the equipment with more grip which made my footage more stable. I made sure when I was filming Aaron that I filmed him lip-syncing to the whole song as my teacher recommended to film the actor miming to the entire song than a separate verse or chorus. Overall, I took a total of 5 clips from different angles of my artist singing the entire song.

For some parts of my video, I positioned my artist to sit in a chair and sing while looking at a photograph of my other characters displayed in my music video; Victor and Sam hugging. This is similar to the Script’s music video ‘Breakeven’ as the main artist, Danny O'Donoghue is shown to look at a picture of him and his girlfriend on his phone, reflecting on his past relationship. I tried to imitate this in my own video as I asked Aaron to look down at the photograph. To see a backstage video from my shoot, click the post: 'Music Video: Behind the Scenes'

Analysis of Ed Sheeran - 'The A Team'

The music video ‘The A Team’ by Ed Sheeran was released on the 22^nd April 2010 and was shot and edited by Ruskin Kyle (Rivers Rush Video Production Company). The video narrates the story of a girl played by Selina MacDonald who is addicted to drugs and is shown to be homeless, living on the streets of London. She tries to sell magazines for money but is shown to only sell one which is to the artist of the song, Ed Sheeran. The girl later resorts to selling her own body, trying to provide herself with a general income. Towards the end of the music video, the pain becomes too much for her to bear as she trades in her ‘dirty’ money for drugs, referencing the lyrics “…an in a pipe she flies to the motherland” and later succumbs to her drug abuse.

The music video is show to follow conventions of a circular narrative as the video begins with the scene of the young woman as she is found dead, taking the audience through a story of how she ended up there. This also follows Levi-Strauss idea of binary opposites. The idea of life and death is illustrated in the video as the young women is show to struggle to keep alive. The video begun with the concept of death and moved onto the idea of life as the young woman wakes up on a park bench to a new day with the ambient sounds of vehicles moving in the morning rush hour. The music video then ends with her death, which represents the idea of life being incessant regardless of the loss or circumstance.

The entirety of the video is filmed in black and white.  The black and white effect displays the voyeuristic treatment of the female body which is further shown through the subject of prostitution.  One particular scene in the music video shows car headlights focusing on the woman’s body. The bright lights contrast with the women’s leg and draws attention to her body and bare legs. The fact that it is cold and yet she’s not covered denotes how desperate she is for money and how she makes herself seem vulnerable. In terms of rule of thirds, the camera presents her eyes as the main line of interest detonating her as weak and helpless. She is further seen in the video as she is shown to take off her black coat. This is used as a metaphor as she tries to gain attention of the driver which links in with the dress code of females in regards to voyeuristic treatment. Furthermore, during the middle of the video she is shown to be standing outside a train station called ‘Angel Station’. The name of the station depicts her to be angel like which contrasts with her job as prostitution is often deemed upon. The panning shot of the sign ‘improving the angel’ suggests she needs to improve her way of living. Moreover, the scene of the car headlights contributes to this ideas as the lighting only focuses on her, leading her to stand out like an angel. This suggests the ideal of opposites as she is seen to be the complete opposite of angel like as she plays upon female voyeurism.

The mise-en-scene throughout the video has very similar themes portrayed. The young woman, who is shown to be the main protagonist of the video is shown to be troubled. This is conveyed through her choice of attire, for example she is shown to wear old and tainted clothing including a hoodie and dark trousers. Her choice of clothing suggests she is from a lower class background, this is further conveyed as she is shown to wear large, hooped earrings which are normally associated with people of this class. Furthermore, her makeup throughout the video is messy which suggests she has been crying hysterically.  As the narrative progresses, she is shown to change her makeup and wear revealing clothing before she goes out at night which reinforces the idea that she is a prostitute, selling her body to receive her earnings.

The majority of the sound used within the music video is non-diegeitc, with the soundtrack being the only sound heard. Although at the beginning of the video there is some non-diegetic sounds of birds singing which contrasts with the music of the song as it is more of an upbeat tune. The editing used within the video is effective in portraying the idea of flashbacks and memories. The whole video is shot in black and white, which creates a dark atmosphere along with a depressing atmosphere conveyed to the audince. The blur used between shots when the narrative flashes back in time is used as a creative method to show the change in time. The narrative is also shown to get quicker near the end of the music video which suggests her urgency and need for drugs.

Props list

This prezi describes the different types of props I will be using for my music video. I have included details on the costumes, props, locations and equipment I will all need for my music video. Overall, this document will be significantly useful for when I shoot my video as I will be able to refer back to this post to ensure I do not forget anything and have all the essentials I need. 

Analysis of Existing Students Magazine Adverts

I decided to analyse Amy Wichelow’s magazine advert as I really like the layout of the advert and the image of the main dancer dancing. The use of slow shutter speed makes the dancer stand out and emphasises the use of movement signifying the visuals of her music video as it is solely performance based – focusing on the dancer dancing and singing in different locations. Amy has also included all the information required – including the artists name, album name and important details such as reviews and social media websites. I also like how she has changed the colour of the letter ‘U’ in the name of the album ‘LUNGS’. The use of the colours yellow and white reflect against the dark background and the dark clothing of the main dancer. She has also kept a simple colour scheme of white, yellow and black. The artists name ‘Florence and the Machine’ is written in different font, in comparison to the rest of the text which stresses the importance of the group’s name. This was also suggested by my media teacher, who said we should include different fonts and change the sizing of different words to stress the significance and meaning of different information. I also noticed she had included a landscape version of her magazine advert, I will perhaps think about doing this as well as a portrait version for my final magazine advert.  I will put all these factors into consideration and think about the importance of colour and font.

I also decided to look at Clare Hanington’s magazine advert. I really like how she has included real polaroid’s of the main characters depicted in her music video and has taken the image from a low angle shot - as if she has captured the movement of the polaroid’s falling to the floor. Although she has included very little information, I think this looks more effective as it leads the viewer to focus on the important information. Again, Clare has included several different fonts including a more relaxed and fun font for the name of the album and the different mediums the album is available on. She has also included the different social websites at the bottom of the page, which is an important required for my magazine advert as my music video is targeted towards 16-25 year olds. I also like how she has divided the magazine advert up in different sections as she has included three individual lines, dividing the information up, making it clear for the audience to focus on the key parts of information. At the bottom of the page she has also included details of the production companies. I will perhaps think about including this for my own magazine advert as I have already designed my own logo for my production company. The colors are very simple which follow the genre and theme of her narrative and performance based music video.

Production Diary - 17/11/14

During today's double lesson we looked at the different elements that a magazine advert requires including vital information such as; the album name, artist name, reviews, availability, format and social media. We also looked through several examples of previous students magazine adverts, discussing what made a good or a bad magazine advert. From our discussion, it was notable that the magazine adverts that had very few pictures and were much simpler seemed to look more professional and appealing to the audience. Overall, I found this task very helpful as it gave me a clear insight to what I needed to include to achieve the highest possible mark.

In the second part of the lesson, I then focused on producing the format of my magazine advert. I first began by looking through my analysis of magazine adverts from the pop/indie music artists to decide on an appropriate layout for my advert. After looking for ideas and inspiration, I then began producing my draft on the program Adobe InDesign. After using the program to construct my magazine for my foundation portfolio, I was quite familiar with the different tools and how to create a single poster. I began by creating different coloured squares to suit the key I was going to include at the end of the document. I made sure to create the boxes on different layers so I could create a video of my progress at the end using CamStudio. The red boxes indicate the main text/titles, the blue boxes represents the picture I will have in the middle of my advert and the black boxes show where I will include other information including reviews and social media websites. While designing my draft, I also looked back at my inital planning  ideas for my magazine advert and stuck to this as I also created boxes to go with the different sections of what I will include on my advert. My first draft/formatted version of the magazine advert can be seen below:

Influences of Style

Editing Images

- Added black and white effect
- Adjusted brightness and contrast
- Used curves tool

Choosen Images

Production Diary - 02/11/14

This weekend, I began shooting my music video. I began with focusing on the narrative sequences of my video and decided to take footage at my grandparents house. Following my storyboard and shot list, I decided to video Victor and Sam playing chess as this is one of the most significant shots in my music video. I also took footage of the duo in my grandparents car as after looking at various different music videos I really liked the idea of Emeli Sande's music video 'My Kind of Love' as the video features a car scene as Emeli is shown to assist her childhood friend from hospital and take her on a days trip to the seafront amusements in Hastings. I decided to immitate this style of video in own music video of a car scene to show the two narrative characters as they are on a journey.  Whilst filming on location, I also took a selection of images to use for the two ancillary tasks: the magazine album advertisement and digipak. I wanted the media products to resemble the mood and theme of my overall music video and therefore instructed my two characters Victor and Sam to stand next to each other whilst Sam leant on Victor's shoulder. I took a range of camera shots including close up's of the pair as well as mid shots of them both so the audience would easily understand what my music video will be about. Overall, I believe this weekend went really well and I am looking forward to shooting more footage next weekend. 

Audience Research Survey Results

 

This is my audience research survey I conducted to get valuable results. I will use this information I have gathered to enhance the quality of my music video and ensure I am targetting it towards the right audience. 

Contact Sheet

Actor Release Form

These are actor release forms for music video. The document clarifies that my actors have agreed and are happy to participate in my music video for my media coursework. The document is important as it is a legal form which states that an identifiable published photo, video, performance or silhouette  of a person without an actor release can result in civil liability by the director of the video. The use of the actor release also restrains the public from using and publishing the video. The act of taking a video of someone in a public setting without a actor release or showing a video in private goes against the main purpose of the actor release form as the form creates liability for the video as they are kept separate from copyright. There are also many different types of release forms including a minor release form which requires a signature by a parent or other legal guardian of the model and a group release which is a modified version of the adult release which includes an additional signature to be used by multiple models or subjects in a single image.

Filming and Editing Schedule

This is my filming and editing schedule.

Artist Styling/ Costume Planning

 

This is my mood board displaying the different props and costumes I will need for my music video.  I have selected specific clothes, footwear, accessories and props that I believe will suit my music video genre of indie/pop. I want my music video to look professional and refined and the clothes I have chosen reinforce this idea. It is important for me to think of how I want my actors to look so that I can ensure I take footage right the first time around, without needing to re-shoot and reshedule enabling myself to move and work quicker.

The type and colour of the characters clothing are an important element to my music video as they will need to relate to the theme of my music video - indie pop. In addition to this, the type of clothing my characters wear must interest my target audience which is men and women from the specific age group of  16-25.  I will ask the main singer of my music video to wear a flannel top and jeans as these are common pieces of clothing associated with this particular genre of music. Furthermore, as I will shooting in the drama room at school which is very dark and surrounded by black walls, the singers clothing will need to be a little colourful so they don't blend in with the background behind. I will also ask Aaron to wear converse as these are typical items of clothing from the indie genre. In terms of the narrative sequences for my music video,  I will ask my characters Victor and Sam to wear similar clothing to what they usually wear as I want my music video to look realistic and traditional. Moreover, as much of my footage will be taken outside, they will need to wear coats and scarfs as I will be filming during the winter months.

Props will also play an important role in my music video. For some parts, I will include scenes of my male singer playing the piano as part of my music video includes an instrumental at the beginning of the song. I will also include props such as a kite and chessboard for the narrative pieces of my video to fit the visuals of the song. This is ideal for my music video, as I plan to include flashbacks of the grandfather and grandson having fun and enjoying time together. Towards the end of the music video, the lyrics of the song talk about death. As this is quite a sensitive subject I will take footage in a graveyard, capturing the main singer walking down a footpath. I might also include footage I previously took at Brampton Graveyard as part of my location reece. I will also take a picture of Victor and Sam together and print it out for my main singer Aaron to hold, to show a connection between the narrative and perfomance sequences of my music video.

Character Profiles

Music Video Inspirations

 

Before even thinking about filming my video, I decided to look at a variation of different music videos to gain inspiration from. One of the first examples I looked at was The Scripts 'Breakeven' music video, the video includes flashbacks to portray the past and the present as the video particulary concentrates on the relationship between the protagonist and actress as he describes his feelings and emotions towards the break-up between him and his girlfriend. The video also includes black and white and colour footage, the flashbacks are shown to be much more colourful and slightly brighter than the real-time shots to give the audience the impression that they are looking back in time from the male's memory. I really like this idea for my own music video as the change in colour makes it easier for the audience to understand what the video is about. Another music video I decided to look at was Mikky Ekko's music video 'Pull Me Down'. The video includes low key lighting which contributes to the moodiness of the piece and the main artist. I will perhaps think about this for my own music video and include the unconventional method of low key lighting for the performance parts of my music video, following the emotional lyrcis of my song. Overall, I believe this task was very helpful as it gave me a better collection of ideas to include in my own music video, for example the use of colour and low key lighting.

Production diary 18/10/14

        Today I visited the graveyard near my nan’s house who lives in the small village of Brampton in Cambridge and took some footage which I intend to use for my music video. Unfortunately, I did not take a tripod or steadicam with me which had a profound effect on the quality of my video footage as my hand was a bit shaky as I was filming from a hand-held camera. I will perhaps think about re-shooting some parts to include in my music video. As well as this, I also took footage of my grandfathers memorial which I may include towards the end to reinforce the narrative story behind my video. I placed all my footage from today together and made a video which I used as location reece of my video. I will now take more footage of other locations I intend to include in my music video.

On Location: Graveyard

This is a short video consisting of video footage and images of one of my chosen locations, a grave yard in the small village of Brampton, Cambridge. I decided on this specific location as I already had my camera with me while visiting my grandmother and in the second verse of the song Ed Sheeran includes references to his grandfather's funeral: 'And now we're left here in the pain, black suit black tie standing in the rain, and now my family is one again, stapled together with the strangers and a friend'. After filming, I then edited parts of the video in black and white to fit my proposed plans as I want my music video to be purely black and white. I also altered the brightness and contrast as some of my footage was a little too dark. I will now be able to use some of this footage in my final music video.

Audience Research

 

Equipment list

Proposal

This is the proposal for my music video. I found the proposal to be an important step in creating my music video as it gave me a basic outline of what I wanted to include. I included details of the genre, target audience, plot and the different techologies I will use to create my final video.

Breakdown of song

Contact with the artist

This is a print screen of an email I sent to Ed Sheeran's record label 'Asylum Records' which is currently owned by Warner Music Group asking for permission to use Sheeran's song 'Afire Love'. In the email I explained how I will only use the song for educational purposes and that no copyright infringement is intended. 

Ancillary Task Research - Digipaks

In order to develop a subtle understanding of the technical features and conventions of digipaks, I decided to look at a varied selection of digipaks from a wide range of different artists from the pop/indie genre.  I also looked at Sam Smith's album cover 'In the Lonely Hour' which relates to the song I intend to use for my music video 'Afire Love' by Ed Sheeran as the lyrics of the song are very sad and emotional. 

Initial Planning Ideas #2

Storyboard

Analysis of The Script - 'Breakeven'

The music video "Breakeven" by the Script was released on the 12^th December 2008 and was directed by the film director ‘Aggressive’.  The song includes references to the genre of soft rock followed by elements of folk rock and acoustic music as the main singer Danny O'Donoghue's describes his feelings and emotions towards his break-up between him and his girlfriend.

The music video includes conventions of both performance and narrative based music videos to present the protagonist very differently. The narrative elements of the video portray him to be a ‘normal’ person with real feelings as he is just a man in love who misses his girlfriend, providing audiences with para-social intimacy. The performance based sequences, however show the singer with his band in front of crowds of people presenting him as a star. This adds to his ‘meta-narrative’ by making him appealing to audiences through showing this down to earth side.  

The lyrics of the song match the visuals of the music video as the song includes themes of heartbreak. In the first verse when the main protagonist is shown to sing the lyrics “Cos I got time while she got freedom” a low angle shot of his ex-girlfriend in a field is used to connote her sense of freedom as she is no longer in a loving relationship with him no more.  The lyrics “They say bad things happen for a reason” are emphasised in the visuals of the music video as the audience see his lover walking out of the front door with her bags packed illustrating this scene to be a ‘bad thing’.  The lyrics of the song are further emphasised as the main actor sings “While I’m wide awake, she’s no trouble sleeping” conveying him to be sitting on the edge of the bed with his hand on his head which suggests he is unable to sleep due to the breakup between him and his girlfriend.

Throughout the music video, flashbacks are used to show the difference between the past and present. This is displayed through the different variations of colour as the flashbacks are shown to be much more colourful and slightly brighter than the real-time shots to give the audience the impression that they are looking back in time from O’Donoghue’s memory. The constant change of colour conveys him to be much happier when he is with his girlfriend and sad and miserable when he is alone. Visual techniques are used to assist this, for example the room is lit by a flickering light which gives the impression of flames as if the artist is telling a story and reminiscing from the past. The rule of thirds is also used in the black and white flashbacks which make the shot feel like a photograph, reinforcing the idea that the audience are looking back in time from the singer’s memory.  Furthermore, a black and white shot of the lead singer sitting alone in a room looking at a colour video of his love divides the two aspects of the video to avoid any confusion of the audience.

The female character is described to adhere to the Madonna vs Whore complex which was first identified by Sigmund Freud as she is seen by the male as something he desires. This is reinforced by the apparent use of close-up shots of the lead singer and his girlfriend in bed together implying the male singer misses this kind of connection and intimacy between them. A close-up shot of the female figures lips is also used which again includes references to Freud’s theory.

The ideological discourse of the video shows that it is ok for a man to show his emotions by expressing his loss for the one that he loves. The main singer is shown frustrated by the absence of his love as he is shown to be walking along the seafront singing this as if he cannot hold this in any more. The lyrics “I’m falling to pieces” and “what am I supposed to do” reinforces the confusion and sadness he feels. This side of emotion conveys the 'new man' ideology found in contemporary society, reinforcing a hetro-normative discourse.

Music genres

This is a video I made on the programme PowToon of the different genres of music. 

Research into the Band/Artist

Animatic Storyboard

Before starting the production of my music video, I created an animatic video of my storyboard, which consisted of drawing out each individual frame, scanning it in and then placing it altogether to fit the lyrics of the song. I think this will be very beneficial when it comes to creating my actual music video as it will give me something I can constantly refer back to, to ensure I am on the right track. Also, this gives me a brief idea of what my actual music video will look like, I plan to show this to people that fall within my target audience and try and get some feedback on how they think my video will look once it’s filmed and edited together based upon the animatic. 

Moodboard

Lyric analysis of Ed Sheeran - Afire Love

Production diary - 19/09/14

In my free time at home I've been looking at a selection of music videos from a variety of different genres of music as I found myself still unsure on what song I want to use for my final music video. I've also been looking at music videos which include a narrative sequence as I am now thinking of producing a narrative music video. I believe this will be more effective than my initial planning ideas of  a performance based video as an narrative sequence will include a story behind which I can convey through the visuals of my video. From my research, I really like the song 'Afire Love' by Ed Sheeran as the song was recently released earlier this year and is not overly popular which I like. Furthermore, the song does not include a music video which I believe is beneficial as this will not influence me on the production of my own music video. 

The song entails the story of the tragic death of Sheerans' grandfather who had suffered with Alzeheimer's disease for twenty years and how Ed wishes he knew him better. The song involves a slow melody as he explains the aftermath of his grandfathers death, with his family reuniting for the funeral, and describes his heartbreak and sorrow. Sheeran did not finish writing the lyrics of the song till the funeral.

As I have come up with my final song idea I can now begin to plan my initial planning ideas for this particular song. After I have completed my initial ideas, I will then analyse the lyrics of the song to see what else I can include which is emphasised in the lyrics of the song.

Production Diary - 16/09/14

This week for homework I caught up on research tasks that I had not completed in lesson.I first finished Music Record Labels which I found very interesting researching the different major and independant music record labels includng the 'Big Four' - Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group and Warner Music Group. I believe looking at different music labels was essential for the research of my final music video as it gave me further information on how the music industry works and the business aspects of why artists make music videos. It also gave me a better understanding as to how a music video can provide branding and identity as well as how the music industry is doing currently regarding loss of profits.

I also completed the research task 'Music Festivals' looking at different festivals relating to the theme of music. I first looked at Glastonbury Festival, a five -day music festival that takes place every year during the last weekend in June. The festivals is known as one of the largest greenfield festivals in the world and is now attended by around 175,000 people. I also looked at other festivals including Download Festival and Creamfields. Download Festival is a British Rock festival which involves music from the genres of heavy metal, rock and punk. The festival is held every year at Donington Park in Leicestershire and is considered to be one of the two major and most popular British summer rock and metal events.  Creamfields is also a big event featuring a wide range of DJs and live acts from all over the world. I also looked at V Festival which is represented by the Virgin Group and is sponsored by the mobile, television and broadband service Virgin Media. Overall, I found this task very helpful as it gave me a better insight to the different music festivals targetted towards different genres of music which will hopefully help me decide corresponding to my own specific target audience for my music video.

Music Channels

Music Record Labels

Music Festivals

Similar Product Research

Production diary - 11/09/14

In class today we were given a tracking sheet where we had to write down all of the research tasks which we needed to complete by certain dates which I have been working on in class and for homework. I also looked at the updated coursework checklist and saw my research of a digipak had a low grade and so decided to improve and film my own video explaining the basics of a digipak for homework.  My teacher kindly lend me one of his examples ' The Twilight Sad', a Scottish indie rock band which was published in 2009.  Before filming my video I did some general research, outlining what was included in a digipak and the conventions of one. I then used my camera - Canon 700D and filmed my sister giving a tutorial of the different panels included in a digipak. I also did a voice-over instructing the viewer of the different parts and pages involved in this digipak.

What is a digipak?

This is a video describing the basics of a digipak. The written version of this presentation can be found below:

A digipak is a style of packaging usually used on CD singles or special editions of CD albums. The packaging typically consists of a gatefold paper board or outer binding with several different plastic trays to hold the CD or DVD included inside. Other materials which are included inside involve a lyrics book, list of songs and photos of the artist or band. The sole purpose of a digipak is to help promote the music industry and bring awareness to the artist or band by encouraging consumers to buy and listen to their music. 

The front cover of a digipak typically embodies what the artist represents and what their predominate genre is.  The front cover of this digipak includes aspects of futuristic idealism to convey the lyrics and visuals of the music and to create an obscure and contemporary look. Like most digipacks the front panel is colorful to attract and stand out to the target audience. The mix of the colours pink and black shown on the front panel emphasize what genre of music the album is from – soft rock and pop. The band name is shown to be written in bold font which corresponds with the pink background reflecting the genre and atmosphere the band have created in their music. The bold font also enables the title to stand out and make the font recognizable to fans of The Twilight Sad.

Inside, there is a CD and lyrics book. The CD follows a simple design only showing the band’s name, the name of their single and an artistic image which is also shown on the back panel of the digipak. The small font shown on the inside panel includes legal details and copyright notices prohibiting people from using the same style of digipak and songs listed on the album. There is also a credit list of everyone involved in the production of their album as well as a thank you note written by the band thanking family and friends. 

Like all digipacks, the back panel consists of a track list which gives the names of each song the band have produced. The colours pink, black and cream are used again to show a consistent colour scheme throughout. The barcode and record label logo ‘Fat Cat Records’ are shown at the bottom of page. This is an important convention of a digipak.

The spine located on the far right of the back panel includes a small version of the band’s name and single. Although the text is of a smaller font, the design still enables buyers to identify the digipak as a product made by The Twilight Sad.

Production diary 9/9/14

Today, I spent my day designing different logo's to use for the production of my music video. I ideally wanted something creative and eye-catching that would make the viewer remember my logo but after creating several different designs I found the more simple layouts to be more effective. I also asked  peers from my class for feedback, asking what design they most liked. The majority of them preferred the first one as they believed it looked more professional. I will perhaps think about using this design for my final logo.

Production logo designs

Production diary - 31/08/14

Over the course of this weekend I caught up on some research tasks I had not completed over the summer. One of these tasks was theorists of music videos, I found this very interesting learning about the different theories and believe this has given me a better understanding on how music videos work. Furthermore, this task has prepared me for the creation of my own music video as I will apply these theories in my own video. Another task which I completed was the analysis of a previous students work from last year. I decided to analyse Amy Winchelow's music video as it is a performance based music video - something which I hope to include in my own. I also really like how the music video is centred around one main protagonist. She has also thought very wisely about her use of props, clothing and mise-en-scene which I believe helped her to create a successful music video.

Analysis of previous students work

Music Video Theorists

Music video director - Mark Romanek

Mark Romanek was born on 8^th September 1959 in Chicago, America. He is best known for his directing work in feature films, music videos and commercials. Romanek first began directing feature films in 1986 after the release of his first film ‘Static’ which was co-written by American actor and film director Keith Gordon. He later signed with the production company Satellite Films and began directing music videos.  One of his most notable music videos was for the Nine Inch Nails song ‘Closer’ which caused a big controversy in the media with many accusing the video as being disturbing, demonic and demented.  A few years later in 1996 Romanek received his first Grammy Award for the ‘Best Short Film Video’ featuring Michael and Janet Jackson’s music video ‘Scream’. The music video was shown to be a big success costing a total of $7 million dollars to produce, making it one of the most expensive music videos ever to be made.

Romanek directed various other music videos including Jonny Cash’s cover of ‘Nice Inch Nails’ which was released in 2002. The video was described by many critics and fans to be very personal and moving with scenes of self-loathing and futility as Cash quietly performed in his old home. The video was nominated for several awards, winning one for cinematography.  Romanek also directed Jay-Z’s performance art video for the song ‘Picasso Baby’ which was released in February last year. The video was shot inside the Pace Gallery in New York and featured  several personalities from the world of art including Marina Abramov whose 2010 performance art work - "The Artist is Present" inspired the video.  His most recent project was for Taylor Swifts’s music video ‘Shake It Off’ which was premiered earlier this month on the 18^th August. The video already has over 600,000 likes and almost 50 million views on YouTube, making it likely to be a huge hit.

Below is a full list of Mark Romanek’s videography:

Year	Artist	Song title
1986	The The	‘Sweet Bird of Truth’
1989	Robin Hitchcock and the Egyptians	‘Madonna of the Wasps’
1990	En Vogue	‘You Don’t Have To Worry’
1991	ABC	‘Love Conquers All’
1992	Keith Richards	‘Wicked As It Seems’
	Teenage Fanclub	‘What You Do To Me’
	En Vogue	‘Free Your Mind’
1993	David Bowie	‘Jump They Say’
	Madonna	‘Rain’
1994	Nine Inch Nails	‘Closer’
	G.Love & Special Sauce	‘Cold Beverage’
1995	Madonna	‘Bed Time Story’
	Micheal Jackson	‘Scream’
1997	Janet Jackson	‘Got ‘Till It’s Gone’
2000	The Wallflowers	‘Sleepwalker’
2001	Mick Jagger	‘God Gave Me Everything’
2003	Red Hot Chilli Peppers	‘Can’t Stop’
	Linkin Park	‘Faint’
2004	Jay-Z	’99 Problems’
2005	Coldplay	‘Speed of Sound’
2013	Jay-Z	‘Picasso Baby’
2014	Taylor Swift	‘Shake It Off’