Wednesday, 15 December 2010

Album cover and Magazine Advert







I created my Album cover on Adobe Photoshop being it has the right tools to help my create an album cover, like crop and edit font.
I made the background black because it represents her bad side, but i also gave it white highlights to represent some good as white is seen as a good pure colour.
I added an image of her standing casualy with an elegant dress on the cover so that my target audience can recognise her and relate to her style. Ive also included her name in big letter to make it instantly recogniseable.








Saturday, 11 December 2010

Summany Of My Research- Ms Georgiou

By researching existing music videos, Beyonces styles and other music conventions, i have been able to successfully plan my music video around the conventions that makes a good video.

For example the song that i have chosen is Beyonce-Dangerously in Love, i chose this song because its a very emotional and personal song, so its allot more meaningful than just picking a random, fast-paced song. I had to research Beyonces past music video to get an idea on her style and representations, she has a good girl/bad girl persona, which is very useful if you want a large target audience. For my music video i also decided to have 2 sides to the artist, elegant/casual, so my target audience, 14-26 year old females, can relate to her clothes, style and apperance and build a relationship with my artist. Also because i looked at Beyonces old videos i found ideas for filming locations, like the beach, bowling ally, house and arcade.

I also looked at other music videos from Drake, Kelly Rowland and Maddonna to gain a better insight in all types of music videos. They all had some really good conventions, but the beat was too fast so i couldnt use them or relate them to my song.

But because i already knew most of the songs from Beyonce i could loosely base my music video on Beyonce-Halo beacuse they pass accross the same message, and the speed of the song is the same, so Halo helped me with editing and camera shots.

Photoshoot Schedule- Ms Fisher




Shot 1

Date: 1/11/2010
Location: Artists House
Action/Pose: Midshot of top half of body, smiling, hands on hips
Shot Type: Midshot
Personnel: Artist, Photographer
Equipment: Pentax Optio S Camera, Tripod








Shot 2

Date: 1/11/2010
Location: Downstairs of artists house
Action/Pose: Hands in pockets, casual stance in an elegant dress.
Shot Type: Long Shot
Personnel: Artist, Photographer, Make up and costumer designer
Equipment: Pentax Optio S Camera, Tripod







Shot 3

Date: 1/11/2010
Location: By the stairs, artists house
Action/Pose: Smile with hands on hips
Shot Type: Midshot
Personnel: Artist, Photographer, make up artist
Equipment: Pentax Optio S Camera, Tripod






Shot 4

Date: 2/11/2010
Location: Artists house
Action/Pose: Same as shot 3, hands on hips, casual stance
Shot Type: Long Shot
Personnel: Artist, Photographer
Equipment: Pentax Optio S Camera, Tripod






Shot 5

Date: 1/11/2010
Location: Downstairs of Artists house
Action/Pose: Hands in pockets, smile.
Shot Type: Long Shot
Personnel: Hair dresser, Artist, Photographer
Equipment: Pentax Optio S Camera, Tripod

Friday, 10 December 2010

Image Board

We have created an image board to help portay our artist and her qualities. The image board is a casual theme and a elegant theme, to represent both sides of the artist.










The images on the imageboard are of elegant dresses, which portray the artist as classy, sophisticated and stylish. The items beside the board represent her casual side, where she has affordable, stylish and practical. For example the Paul Boutique bag ranges from £30-£40 pound and its very big, so it can carry allot of things, its also multicoloured so it can appeal to a wide range of the female audience. Theres a blackberry, which is considered a new, cool and practical item, also theres braclets, not expensive ones, just ones used as everyday accessorise to make the person look more intresting and stylish. For elegant items theres perfume with is in a expensive looking container, this tells the audience the artist likes to smell nice as well as look nice, theres pictures of elegant hair styles, like the picture of the red haired woman. A woman with red hair can be seen as fiesty and sexy, which represents the "bad" girl side of the aritst, while the style of it shows off her elegant side. On the board theres images of stylish dresses, which represents the artist when they dress up and go out.
We used the 2 styles, elegant and casual, because we want to have a large target audience and to be able to relate to Beyonce and her "good girl" "bad girl" styles.

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Applying Dyers Theory- Ms Fisher

























Beyonces promotional material





Does the promotional material "construct and image rather than reveal a real person whereby you know about their likes/ dislikes, family, background, education, problems, etc?"

Beyonces promotional adverts are used to help convay her image to her target audience, so they can recognise her and bulid a relationship. On her "I am Sasha Fierce" album cover she is show with a light bachground and the "natural" look, because shes not hiding behind any make up that give the audience the impression that shes a good girl and thats the real Beyonce. But on the other hand the album name is "Iam Sasha Fierce" which is implying shes a frierce person, a bad girl. By using this technique of good girl, bad girl she has a larger target audience and can hide part of her true self and also reveal some of it. Beyonce follows Dyers Star Theory because she keeps changing her image to move with the fashion and gain a bigger target audience. Beyonce has also featured in 7 films, Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), The Fighting Temptations (2003), The Pink Panther (2006), Dreamgirls (2006), Cadillac Records (2008) and Obsessed (2009), to help boost her fame and to show people shes more than just a nice body that can sing, she wants to prove shes a multi-talented individual.

Does the star represent something/ have an identity can consume and aspire towards?

Beyonce is a very good role model towards young females, which is also her target audience. Young females look up to her and listen to her music and strive to be like her, rich, famous and a sex icon becuase thats what most young females want. But because she keeps her private life a secret, like her and Jay-Zs wedding and her childhood, most young girls will be fooled by her image and dont realise how much work it is to get to her fame level and richness.

What meanings are being represented through the promotional material and how are they conveyed?

The ablum cover image IAM SASHA FIERCE is a closs up of Beyonce. She is wearing no make up in this photo to tell her audience that she is not an image but a real person and this is the real her. This photo was taken during her "good" girl stage, so the lighting is very high key to make her look inoccent and good, this will also appeal to the young female group of her audience because she looks almost like a fairy, princess or angel. But on her other ablum covers, she goes for the "bad" girl look by using low key lighting and shadow. These techniques would appeal to the older female group of her target audience, old teenagers to young adults because shes the perfect role model for them. She is portrayed has a very talented individual but this could be just an image and her audience have got used to it so they think its the real her.

Do the images leave the audience asking a question in order to complete their understanding of the artist?

Yes, because she reveals so little about her personal life its like shes trying to hide something, so this intrigues the audience to want to find out more. Her image is based on what the audience want so theres no need to reveal the "real" Beyonce, the only people that know her properly is her friends and family.

Through consuming the artist in this way is the audience including themselves within or against a culture?

Beyonce is so famous she basically has her own culture now, because shes always re-inventing her image to stay new and unique. So you can say her audience are included into her culture, the diva culture.

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

Censorship - Ms Georgiou

Censorship means blocking explicit or socially unacceptable in the intrest of protecting the viewer/readers. Music videos can be censored due to swearing during the daytime, after 9:00pm swearing is permited,sex referances, drug referances, murder or death referances and any racist, ageist or any sexist material cane be censored.

Censorship in music videos has been widely debated, most artists want their songs to remain uncesored because they want to exppress themselves to the fullest extent. Sometimes they swear in the videos because there no other words to describe the situation, also it could be seen as them sharing their personalilty and lifestyle with the audience so they can build a closer relationship. For example Eminem raps about life, not about sex or drugs or killing people, and every so often he does swear but thats they way hes been brought up, its part of his culture. Also some artists argue that its up to the parents on what their children can watch, and most TVs come with parental control nowadays so theres no excuse why underage children should be watching it.

On the other hand some parents say there are other words they can use in songs rather than swear and make referances to sex. Also music plays a very large part in society nowadays, like in a teenagers upbringing, and with all these referances to sex, drugs and swearing they can be easily influenced, especialy if the artist is a very influential role model. Parents cant always be there to protect their children so its the companys resonsibility to prevent children from being influenced by bad language and inappropriate referances.

In my music video there will be no swearing, sexual, drug, murder referances because theres no need for it, Dangerously in Love is a love song, so any inappropriate referances will just ruin it. Also this song appeals to teenage girls so again theres no need to influence teenagers with pointless words and referances.

Planning

Location

•Southend pier
•Southend beach
•Annabella’s living room
•Arcade
•Ceaders park
•Bowling

Southend pier- This is part of the flashback where the artist and her ‘boyfriend’ are walking along Southend pier, where they are happy and laughing. The boyfriend steals a rose as a joke from a man selling roses; the boyfriend grabs the artist’s hand and pulls her along running happily. This displays their love for each other as they share these memories.
•Shot in black and white. – past
•The shot will include the rose man, artist and a male character
•Flashback

Southend Beach with Boyfriend- This is part of the flashback where the artist and her ‘boyfriend’ are walking along the beach holding hands smiling and laughing. The couple ask someone to take a video or photo/ or the couples each take a photo/video of one another messing around and giggling. They are both joking around jumping around. This conveys their happiness and feelings that they have for one another.
•Shot in black and white– past
•The shot will include the artist and male character
•Flashback

Southend Beach- This is the artist reminiscing alone on the beach walking down the same part of the beach she once walked down with her boyfriend. She looks around and down at the floor, with a sad expression singing the song.
•Shot In colour – present

Annabella’s Living Room- The artist is sitting down on the sofa with a blanket on herself. There are two glasses on table, one in which she fills with wine and hesitating to fill the other glass up. This conveys that she once had someone she loved and no longer as him anymore.
She looks around the scene and pulls out a mysterious box from underneath the table and places it on top of her lap. This memory box will contain all the memories she had her boyfriend and keeps the music video continuing with flashbacks of every memory with every prop.
•Shot in colour – present
•Artist is singing
•Artist only

Arcade- This will be another flashback shot, where the artist is seen enjoying her time with her boyfriend. She will be playing on the slot machines, dodgems etc. She will be seen laughing and messing around with her boyfriend. The boyfriend will win her something from the claw machine and the teddy would then be another memory to be taken out the box.
•Shot in black and white – past
•The artist and her boyfriend will be in this shot.

Ceaders park- A flashback showing the two enjoying themselves. They will be having a picnic, laughing and smiling. This conveys their love the have for each other as they have jokes. The couple will also be captured walking through an archway holding hands.
•Shot in black and white – past
•Artist and her boyfriend

Bowling- The couple share another memory as a flashback at a bowling alley. Her boyfriend helps her bowl by standing behind her and pushing the ball down the ramp. They get a strike, and jump for joy as they hug each other.
•Shot in black and white – past
•Artist and her boyfriend

Characters/actors

Annabella as ‘Bella’

Description
This is the artist who performs the song, she sings and performs.
Bella is in her mid 20’s currently unemployed as her husband was the bread winner of the family. However, unfortunately her husband passed away which is not been told to the audience until the end of the music video. The audience have no clue how he died, keeping them in suspense throughout. All Bella has left is an unborn child which she must now raise alone without the biological father.
Bella has long dark curly hair with dark brown eyes. Her overall style will be elegant and presentable. There will be a change from the present time in which she will be disheartened as she is alone without her husband. However, the scenes from the past will display her happiness with her husband in which they share their memories together.

Huseyin as ‘unknown’
Description
This character does not say anything.
Unknown is also in his mid 20s in which he was the bread winner of the film, which will be identified by the sophisticated house they live in. ‘Unknown’ will be seen in the flashbacks conveying the memories that the couple shared when he was alive. These memories will show their happiness together as they smile and laugh.
‘Unknown’ has got a mousey hair colour with dark brown eyes. His overall style is casual including jeans and a plain top.

Rose man
This character will be featured in one of the memories where the husband buys her a rose. He doesn’t say anything but smiles.



Concept, narrative, performance

Concept
In this music video, it sells the idea of in being love when they share their memories together. It conveys that you must appreciate what you have and you don’t realise what you actually have until it is gone. For example Bella’s husband is not with her anymore, displaying her as depressed and disheartened in contrast to when he was around as she is happy and cheerful.

Narrative
This music video is also narrative based as it follows the couple’s memories that they shared when they were together. It builds up suspense as to what happened to the husband, in which the audience will watch on till the end. The artist has a memory box which includes objects such as pictures from memories that the couple shared in the past. Each object which is identified flashes back into the time where it all happened.

Performance
The artist will perform whilst at the house when she is looking at the memories in her box. The artist will convey her emotions through the sound which will show that she is depressed. Another scene in which she performs in is at Southend beach. She will be wearing a long flowly dress to show that she is elegant.


Mise–En-Scene

Props
Baby scan photograph – This will be used at the end of the music video at the Grave yard. It will be a large photo and will be shown clearly to the audience so they will understand the narrative in more detail. This will convey the father of the baby has passed away and his wife is showing to the audience what she has gained since he has passed away. Also it shows to the audience something that they share together. *present time*
Rose – The rose will be used when they are walking up the pier together, they are walking hand in hand and “unknown” grabs the rose from the man and pull her quickly away as they run off and laugh down the pier. This clearly shows their love that they have for one another and that they share happiness and memories through them laughing. *flash back*
Box – This is the memory box which will include all of the objects in which she takes out and flashes back into the time when it all began. This is an important prop in the whole music video as it will explain the narrative in more detail to the audience. *present time*
Teddy – This prop will be used when the couple are having fun messing around at the arcade. This will clearly show their love they have for each other as the artist’s husband wins a teddy for her. The artist is extremely happy and she jumps around and hugs him. *flash back*
Photo frame – This will include a picture of the couple happily sharing a memory together with a snake in their hand. This will show who the artist’s other half is and that they are in love with each other. *present*
Wine bottle and two glasses – This is when the artist is home alone, where she has two glasses in front of her thinking that he is still there. Her daily routine of drinking wine with her other half still occurs, however he isn’t there anymore showing that she is alone. She pours herself some wine and then hesitates to pour the other glass. *present*
Pebble from Southend – this will be included in the flashback where they are walking along the beach, where her other half picks up a rock and places it in her hand. This clearly shows the chemistry between the two characters.
•All of the props above will be used in the process of the start of their relationship to convey that they fell in love with each other concluding to them getting married.

Wedding ring – This prop will be seen when the artist looks down and her finger, and it flashes back to when they are in Southend. This will be the last flash back showing they finally got married.

Costume and Make- up
Bella

Over sized shirt – this will be worn when the artist is home alone, thinking about the memories she shared with her other half. This will be the ‘rough’ look in which it shows she is depressed and disheartened. Her hair will be rough and messy along with her makeup.
Elegant dress – this will be worn when she is remising down the Southend beach whilst singing. The dress will flow with the wind showing her beauty. Her hair is perfect as her loose curls bounce in the wind and her makeup is natural but still visible.
Casual wear/elegant – these outfits will be worn whilst the flash backs are displayed which shows it is on a normal day. These outfits will be casual but shows that she is upper-class through the type of clothes that she wears.
Lucas
Casual clothes – He wears brand name clothing such as Armani, Ralph Lauren and Lyle and Scott. These include jeans, cardigans, jumpers and t-shirts. This conveys that he is the bread winner of the family, and provides for himself and Bella.

Lighting and colour
Bella’s house – high key lighting will be used, however it will be dimmed to create a miserable effect. This will convey the artist’s feelings to show that she is sad and depressed without her other half.
Flashback locations – Natural and high key lighting will be used in order to highlight the characters facial expressions. This will allow the audience to understand the narrative in more detail and be able to build a relationship with the characters. The use of this lighting will create a realistic and professional music video as it conveys a day to day life.

Facial Expressions
The opening scene at Bella’s house will display her emotions as depressed and miserable to convey that a part of her is missing. This part of the music video will show her life without her husband and how it is affecting her.
The flashbacks will all be happy and meaningful as they share their memories together while they laugh and have fun as the audience can see that they smiling. The audience can clearly identify what she is feeling without her other half.

Positioning of characters and objects
The characters will be positioned in the centre in order to engage the audience with the action that is being taken place. This conveys the narrative to the audience as the artist completes the narrative.

How will it appeal to the target audience?
The Music video will appeal to the target audience because it will convey the idea of Love and boyfriends and girlfriends relationships. The video will be aimed at 18 and above, girls and boys. They will be able to relate to the idea of growing up and falling in love with a person. Also, the audience will be able to engage with the consequences that could happen as well as being in a relationship. For example, a death could happen or an accident. In addition, there are realistic locations and the audience will be able to relate to the locations and engage with the characters.
Cinematography – We have decided to use a range of camera shots including;

1.Close ups – to show the artists facial expression so show what she is feeling in order to create a narrative and so that the audience can relate to the artist. This is important as the audience can also relate to the artist’s emotions.
2.Long shot – In order to convey the artist’s body language to show what she is doing in the scene. This is important because it creates a more interesting music video due to the variety of camera shots included.
3.Establishing shot – identifies the location to the audience in which they can understand the music video in more detail as it conveys the mood of the scene.
4.Mid shot – these will be common in our music video as it displays the artist’s body language as well as facial expressions. Mid shots are important as the artist can be seen clearly.
5.Panning shots – will be used while the artist walking while singing. The panning shot will also show the location to the audience in order to familiarise the audience with narrative.
6.Low angles – will be used to show her emotions when she looks down at the floor. The low angle will make the artist more dominant as she will look large.

Editing styles

1.Straight cuts – This will keep a continuous narrative to help keep the audience engaged. This will be a popular editing style.
2.Fades – To end a scene/shot. This is important as it keeps it simple which means the audience can identify the narrative more easily. This would make the music video run smoothly.
3.Black and white effects – This effect will be used to show when there are flashbacks, this will show the audience when the flashback is taking place and to show them that it is in the past and therefore a memory.
4.Shot reverse shot – This will show the relationship between the two characters which would help the audience understand the narrative and also help relate to the artist.
5.Montage – will be used in order to show all of the memories quickly flashing back in order to make the narrative more interesting.