Digipack photos

Below are a few of the pictures we took for our digipack before we began filming on Thursday. As Ruby has the right editing software on her computer, she was able to take the camera home and begin editing the photos which gives us more time to edit the music video at school. I feel that all the photos we took will look really effective in our digipack as the location and editing give a 'vintage' look which is what most indie album covers look like.

Filming Update

Ruby taking a picture of Jack for our digipack

Today we filmed our version of Ben Howard's 'Keep Your Head Up' video. We left school at 11am and went straight to the two locations to take pictures and plan which shots we were going to film in which order and where. We filmed all through the day up until 9pm when it started to become dark. As most of our shots needed to be filmed whilst the sun set was happening, we made sure we filmed all the other shots before so we were able to spend an hour getting the sun set shots right. To help us with the angles and timings of the shots we not only took the shot timings sheet but we also downloaded the original video onto a laptop which we carried around with us and continuously played to make sure every shot looked as close as possible to the original. During the day, Ruby and I swapped roles and took it in turns to film and direct the shots whilst Jack played the role of Ben Howard. We also began to take pictures for our digipack as we felt that a forest would be a good theme for an indie album cover.

A field just outside of Finchingfield - Used mainly for the sun set shots

Foxes Wood, Bardfield Sailing - Main filming location 

Planning our digipack

In today's lesson we began to plan what we want our digipack to look like. After looking at different indie bands digipacks we combined some ideas together and came up with an idea of what we want ours to look like. We want to incorporate a crumpled paper look as the background as well as giving it a vintage look by adjusting the saturation as we think this will look effective and keep up with the indie theme. We also want to make sure the name of the band and album are written in capital letters but with a hand written font as we found that nearly all the album covers we looked at had this. For the back cover and inlay we also want to somehow incorporate glitter, newspaper cut outs and chalk writing as each digipack we found was individual and slightly random. The band name we decided on was 'The Interpretation'. By using the word 'The', it automatically sounds like a band as many bands such as The Script, The Maccabees and The Kooks all use the word which also gives the name an indie feel. 'Interpretation' was a word we all liked the sound of as many people interpret indie music differently and we also think that the name is memorable and catchy. Our idea for the cover is by using Jack's face in the center with a plain background. His face will be drawn by hand and painted with water colours. The right half of his face will be slightly blurred which will merge into the background. We felt this was an effective idea as it has quite a random twist to it which we have not seen on an album cover before. 

Film Schedule

We plan to film the first minute to Ben Howard's video of 'Keep Your Head Up' tomorrow (Thursday, 28th June) at two different locations. Both locations are fields around Finchingfield which have a wood but each one is different and has ideal spots to film different shots in the video. Jack Willson - a member of the group will play Ben Howard and will be wearing the same clothing as Ben does in the video - a dark, baggy t-shirt and dark trousers. We have made a list of props we need to bring to be able to get as close as we can to looking like the real video. This includes a shovel, bucket, bubble blower, haystack, straw bag, a camera and a underwater camera. It is very important for us to get the right shots and therefore a lot of planning and practice shots will be needed as we will be filming when the sun sets which won't last very long. In the original video, the video is filmed with the sun rising in the morning, however we decided to film backwards with the sun setting as we will have more time before to rehearse. The sun set is predicted to happen at 9:21pm which means we must make sure we are prepared and ready to film as quick as possible before it becomes dark.

Shot Timings

Indie Album Covers

Ben Howard 'Keep Your Head Up' Shots

Richard Dyer's Star Theory

"A star is an image constructed from a range of materials" - Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer came up with the theory that a 'star' (a singer, actor or model) takes several forms in order to sell their product to the target audience.


Stars which are constructed...
Stars are made to have a unique selling point which makes them different to other stars. This could be the colour/style of their hair, the way they dress or a certain accessory. The record company creates the star's image however as the audience, we tend to look at the star differently and with more respect if they create their own image. The star can be constructed in different ways in artificial images, for example advertising, films, music and in magazines. Through these artificial images, the audience are lead to believe that the stars show their real emotions towards us which means the audience can relate and connect with the star.


Audiences...
Stars are created to make money from their target audience for the record label. As most record labels have artists that fit to different genres and target audiences, it is important to get each star's image right to ensure the relevant target audience buy their products.


Ideology...

For the audience to relate to a star, they need to see something in the star that they share. For example if the star has a belief in either a religion or cultural value, this makes the audience able to connect with them. The Jonas Brothers all wear purity rings which allows others to relate to them who share that same belief. A star may also create a fashion trend or hairstyle which can be copied by the audience - which again allows them to connect with that star. For example when Rihanna changed her hair colour to bright red, she was copied by many of her fans.






Character...
Stars are presented as 'real' human beings which means that fans are able to connect with them. This is shown through magazines - we can read about the star's life and therefore feel closer to them. It is also shown through a star's TV series - people are able to watch every week what that star has been up to. For example The Kardashians, Peter Andre etc.

Preliminary Task - Analysis of 'Keep Your Head Up' by Ben Howard

In today's lesson we decided that the music video we want to re-create for our preliminary task is Ben Howard's video of 'Keep Your Head Up'. We chose this video as we not only like the song but feel that the video would be fairly easy and fun to re-create as we know the perfect location for filming. We also decided to only film the first minute of the video as towards the end there is a long water slide running through a forest which would be extremely hard to re-create. The song is of an indie/acoustic genre which also fits in with the genre we chose for our digipack. 

After watching the music video we made an analysis of the different shots used in the first minute.

The first shot shows the location of the video which is in a field. This shot is edited using a bokeh camera effect which highlights the bubbles which are shown throughout the video which gives the impression that he is quite childish and fun. There is naturalistic lighting at the beginning which shows the sunrise. This also highlights the fact that it is set in the morning at dawn when it is still dark. There is then a high angle shot where Ben appears to be walking and at this point the lyrics begin and Ben is outlined by the light as he has his back to the sun. This means Ben's features are hidden and the audience still don't know what he looks like which makes the video seem mysterious as they don't know what he looks like or what he is up to. He is also seen to be holding a shovel and haystack in these first few shots which again makes the audience wonder what he is doing. The angle of this shot is a low angle which focuses on the corn field which mirrors a crowd. There are many blurred, low shots of Ben's feet which keeps the artist ambiguous. Throughout the video, the saturation has been edited to bring out the colours and brightness of the field and surroundings to highlight the fact that it is a bright morning. There are points in the video which are edited in slow motion. These shots are of Ben walking which leaves the audience still wondering where he is walking to. In the video there are quick jump cuts to show his movements and keep the focus on him and the location he is walking to. The camera is also shown to follow Ben making sure the sun is in the background which has an effect as it focuses on Ben's relationship with nature and the outdoors as well as giving a fresh, morning feel to the video. This also relates back to the genre of an indie/acoustic  feel as many people think of acoustic songs being outside and associated with nature. The video portrays Ben to be a natural, ordinary, down to earth, hardworking guy as he is holding onto the shovel. There is then a shot purely of the surroundings which focuses on a large tree in the left of the shot - this again helps the audience to connect Ben with the surroundings. The whole video is dream-like due to the out of focus, blurred shots which brings out the sun and how it shines through the trees and almost sparkles as it reflects off the camera lens. There seem to be many close ups of Ben's body parts at the beginning of the video but not any showing his full body which again emphasises that he is mysterious. During the whole video, bubbles are shown to be floating in the air, which in some shots appear blurred then come into focus as they play an important part in the video. This is because the bubbles are a clue and create a build up as to where Ben is walking to - which is the long, homemade water slide in the forest. There are also shots of Ben carrying a bucket which he then fills up with water from a pond in the forest. These shots relate to the lyrics as the shots of him walking and then going down to fill up his bucked relate to the lyrics "now walking back down this mountain". There are then shots of his feet with no shoes on under the water. This shows how he is at home and feels comfortable with nature and his surroundings. The next shot is filmed underwater looking up at him which also relates to the lyrics "looking out at this happiness". The final shot is an over the shoulder shot showing only the top half of his body which follows Ben to the location he is walking to. Ben's image becomes relatable to the audience as he is portrayed as being just a normal guy having fun. The water slide in the video is also not what you would expect in a video which gives it a twist as it makes Ben seem quite fun-loving and childish and you perhaps wouldn't usually see it in a music video.

Digipack analysis of 'Best Friend' by Amy Winehouse

This is a photo of a digipack I analysed. It shows the front cover to Amy Winehouse's 'Best Friend' album and two different back covers.  

Analysis of 'Next To Me' by Emeli Sandé

Emeli Sande's video to 'Next To Me' begins with an establishing shot of what seems to be a large warehouse which is the main location of the video. The video features purely Emeli and a drummer. Throughout the video, the lighting in the warehouse changes, with spotlights turning on and off which keeps the focus on her. Emeli is dressed in a number of different outfits ranging from a long brown coat and dark jumper - both which cover her up and show that she is not portraying sex appeal which is a contrast to many artists at the moment who want to show as much flesh as possible. This also helps the audience to relate with her as she seems normal and is constantly looking into the camera which makes the video personal and as if she is singing to the audience. The lyrics 'you'll find him next to me' do not relate to the video as there is no one next to her which could make the audience become confused about what she is trying to portray. There is a continuous fast cutting rate which speeds up towards the end as more scenes and locations are shown. There are four different locations - one of which there is an overlay which is a clever effect as it makes it seems as if there is someone next to her. Instead of the video focusing on her looks, it focuses more on the instruments she plays which is a piano and tambourine. I feel that this video is aimed at 20 - 30 year old women as I think it would be easy for people of that age to relate to the lyrics and Emeli herself. Overall, I think the genre of this song is alternate mainstream as it sounds like a song you would find in the charts however Emeli's image is more unique and different than that of other artists in the charts today.

Conventions of the indie genre

In today's lesson we began to think about what we wanted our band's image to look like. We chose the genre indie out of a hat at random, which as a group we felt confident with coming up with a stereotypical indie artist's image for our digipack.

Typical conventions of an indie music video are:

• Location is usually outdoors or urban
• Close ups of the band/artist musical instruments
• Tends to be in black and white/dull colours (depends on tone of lyrics)
• Band/artist are focused on throughout the video
• Dark locations
• Lots of extreme close ups and long shots
• The band/artist are shown playing their instruments and performing at gigs
• Show their fans
• The band/artist wear casual clothing

Some examples of Indie artists and bands today are, Arctic Monkeys, Bon Iver, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bright Eyes, Florence and the Machine, The Fratellis, Ellie Goulding, The Pigeon Detectives, Noah and the Whale, Kate Nash, Mumford & Sons, MGMT, The Maccabees, Lykke Li, The Kooks, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, The Zutons, Damien Rice, The Script, The Smiths, Snow Patrol, The Temper Trap, Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines, Vampire Weekend and The Wombats.

Typical conventions of indie digipacks:

• They show an image of the band/artist - typically with their instruments
• List of tracks on the back
• Handwritten style font
• Uses all capital letters
• Have an ongoing theme throughout the digipack e.g a colour or image

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnhXHvRoUd0

 In Kings of Leon's 'Use Somebody' music video, they focus on the bands image as they perform to fans. This is a typical indie video as it not only focuses on the band performing but also has another story going on in the background which in this video show the band as human beings as they are in a pub playing snooker with cars and girls. There are also special effects used as there are shots of cars on the motorway at night which is sped up.

Sometimes the artists do not even feature in the music video for their songs. However Indie music videos can be performance based either featuring the entire band, or simply featuring the main vocalist. Narrative music videos in the Indie genre are typically quite arty, and symbolic, rather than spelling out exactly what the lyrics say.

Analysis of digipacks

Beyoncé, 4

The album cover for '4' by Beyonce presents Beyonce to be almost goddess-like. The background is a light baby blue colour which gives the impression she is in the sky above everyone else and therefore has a lot of power. Her hair and make up is quite messy and natural however gives a sexy, 'just got out of bed' look. Beyonce's hair has been styled to look like a golden mane - like a lion which shows she is confident and in control. She is placed in the center of the album and in front of the title which makes the audience put all the attention on her. The positioning of her arms and face makes her look focused a powerful and also makes her look sexy as she is stretching her body and looking away from the camera. The mid shot also leaves the audience wondering what she is wearing on the bottom half of her body as they are only able to see a tiny bit of black material. Draped over part of her body is a large fur shawl type material which still exposes her body but continues to make her look more like a lion. There is a low angle shot with her looking up which highlights her power and dominance. The light is shining down onto her face which makes her look glowing and golden. The title of the album '4' is placed on the bottom right hand corner which in comparison to Beyonce's name is in a much smaller font size.  

Rihanna, LOUD

Rihanna's 'Loud' album cover is a contrast to her previous album covers as it focuses purely on her face - not her body. The main focus is on her big, bright red lips which are in the center of the picture. The brightness of the red matches the colour of her hair which represents sexiness and confidence and perhaps danger. The close up of her face means there is no background colour and therefore all the audience's attention is on her. Part of Rihanna's bare shoulder is shown in the corner which still gives off sex appeal as she is made to look as if she has no clothes no. Her tattoo on her neck and the parental advisory label shows that she is rebellious and songs in the album may be quite sexual due to how she is being represented in the image. Rihanna's eyes are closed which keeps the main focus on her lips which also link to the title of the album 'Loud' as her lips are slightly open and look like she is about to say something. The title 'Loud' is written in large, capital, white letters across the bottom of the cover and underneath her lips. The overall image stands out against many other album covers as it is eye catching due to the brightness of the colours. The light is shining down on her from above right which again emphasises the fullness and the overall focus on her lips and image of being loud and powerful.

Drake, Take Care

Drake's album cover 'Take Care' shows Drake sitting in the center of the image with his eyes closed and his head tilted down. This gives the impression that he is vulnerable and emotional and that the songs on the album are about someone else. There is a lot going on in the background - large pictures and gold objects which take the audiences full attention away from him and perhaps suggests that he doesn't want all the attention on him. The gold objects show that he is wealthy but also give different meanings. The gold cup (Kiddush cup)  represents his religion as it is a jewish cup. It also signifies drinking as many of his songs refer to drinking and one of them is called 'Shot For Me'. The gold owl is the symbol for his brand which is also known as the 'OVO owl' which stands for 'Octobers Very Own'. The candle is a Shabbat candle which again represents his religion. The album title 'Take Care' is placed in a hand-written style font in the bottom right corner, this gives the impression that Drake himself has written it which makes it personal as the words 'Take Care' could mean he is saying goodbye to someone. He is wearing gold jewellery and black clothing which keeps the focus off him but also shows he has money. The parental advisory label is shown which tells the audience that there is 'excessive use of profane language and/or sexual references' in the album which represents Drake to be rebellious. The overall colour of the album cover is quite dull as the main colours are black and gold. The light shines onto the right side of his face which again leaves his other side hidden. The camera is a mid shot taken from the right angle which hides half of his body which leaves the audience thinking what his songs will be about. 

Adele, 21

Adele's face is placed in the middle of the album cover, however she is looking downwards which may give the impression that she is shy and perhaps not very confident. The background is a plain grey colour which keeps the focus on her. There appears to be a light shining down on to one side of her face which may mean that she doesn't want to be fully seen as it is also is only showing her face - not her body. Her hair and make up is natural and subtle and she has only exposed part of her arm, which is a contrast to many female artists who put a lot of effort into looking sexy and a who want to show their bodies off to get peoples attention and make them want to buy the album. The overall colour is grey scale with the number '21' standing out in an olive green colour. Her facial expression reflects what type of songs are featured on the album, as from looking at her facial expression you would expect to hear fairly slow, perhaps depressing ballards. Adele is wearing dark clothing which blends into the background and helps the audience to focus on her face. From looking at the album cover alone, I would think that this album is targeted mainly at females as you can tell the songs are from her perspective which means its easy for females to relate to. I also think that the album is aimed at anyone who has gone or is going through a break up at any age whether they are twenty or fifty as everyone is able to relate to them and that is why she has become so successful.

Analysis of 'We Found Love' by Rihanna

Rihanna's video of 'We Found Love' is based around the relationship between Rihanna's character with her boyfriend and focuses on how drugs are affecting them. At the beginning of the video, Rihanna and her boyfriend are shown to be a couple who are madly in love and full of excitement. They are shown to be happy as they mess around and act childish in scenes such as when they are pushing each other round a shop in a trolley, riding a bike and playing in a skate park. However, as the camera focuses more on the pills and drugs, and the pace of the camera shots become faster, the audience realises the impact the drugs are having on the couple. The couple are then shown to be stealing and messing around in a shop, falling around on the streets, taking more drugs and Rihanna's boyfriend is even shown creating a tattoo on his girlfriends body saying 'MINE'. This is highlighted through the shots of the police sirens flashing and the fire which shows how the couple were very rebellious. The video is very powerful as it shows how taking drugs can lead to violence and relationships failing. The close ups of the eye pupil widening is again very powerful as it focuses on the effects drugs have on how people see life. This is shown when Rihanna finally leaves after a fight in the car. This is ironic as it reminds the audience of Rihannas relationship with Chris Brown and how he was violent towards her in 2009. The video was filmed in Ireland and there were around 12 different locations - from a block of council flats to a party in a field, the video showed the different aspects of the relationship the couple had. I feel that the target audience is 18 - 25 year olds. This is because they are young adults with a party lifestyle who will understand and possibly be able to relate to the video. Rihanna's character is shown to be wearing the style of clothing that Rihanna would wear - a style which makes her stand out and be unique. However, in the scenes in the field she is seen to wear some very revealing clothing as she is wearing a bra which gives her sex appeal and shows she is quite a confident person who doesn't care what people think. The lyrics do relate to the video however they are quite subtle as they don't specifically mention the use of drugs however the lyrics "what it feels to come alive" and "feel the heartbeat in my mind" give the impression that this is what drugs do. "Hopeless place" may also mean 'land of drugs' and "love and life I will divide" may mean that she doesn't want her life with drugs to affect her relationship with her boyfriend. Overall, I feel the video is aimed mainly at females as it is from Rihanna's perspective and her emotions which females can easily relate to, I also feel that it has quite a negative effect on the audience as it becomes quite a dark, depressing video to watch.