Nat's Final Digipak

Nat's Final Advert

Sanj's Final Digipak

Sanj's Feedback

Alex Rhodes:

Will Jones:

Krish Chauhan:

Angus Simmons:

Brad Ryan:

Millie Leader:

Molly Simpson:

Ollie Dennis:

Nat's Feedback

Will Jones 

Alex Rhodes 

Angus Simmons

Brad Ryan

Jack Green 

Chloe Phillips

Krishna Chauhan 

Michelle Knight

Millie Leader

Molly Simpson 

Music Video Bloopers

Digipak and Advert Commentary

The digipak I created was inspired by both Taylor Swift's album 1989 and Gabrielle Aplin's English Rain. The reason as to why I was inspired by these were due to the simplicity and delicate aesthetic which is present across both. Unlike the mainstream pop genre albums which focus on the male gaze predominantly, these two albums focus on the theme of the album, in a less 'in your face' way. This means that the professionalism of the product is in a way easier to recreate as a student, due to our artist not being of the aesthetic which Rihanna is represented like in the media.
The warm filtered theme which runs across my digipak and advert is based around the album title 'Autumn Leaves'. Like Gabrielle Aplin's adaptation of the English countryside I decided to keep a theme of the autumn season. A typical convention of a pop digipak and advert is vibrant colour, therefore I ensured I used this where possible to keep to the conventions. However, overpowering of colour is something I tried to divert from as our artist is known as being indie-pop, so simplicity was still key. Unlike most indie-pop digipaks and adverts they don't present the artist generally on either the CD cover or advert. This made it difficult to make the decision as to whether it was important to have the artists image on mine. Due to pop conventions of presenting the artist across both pieces of media I believed it was important to at least have use at least two different images.
Another convention of a pop digipak and advert is the artist's image attracting the male gaze. With research from Aplin and Swift's albums stating this isn't the case I decided to divert the photography away from the idea of attraction and more towards the tone and emotion of the album. I believe in my opinion this would attract the target audience I have, more so than a different 'in your face' gaze style would.
The inspiration of how our artist is dressed came from multiple artists such as Gabrielle Aplin, Birdy, Taylor Swift, Shannon Saunders and Hannah Grace. Regardless of only three of these artists having record deals presently, I believe the two YouTube starts Saunders and Grace put across an individual style which fits the genre they produce music in, and is effectively simply stereotypical. With a target market of teenage girls primarily, I believe the more simple she is dressed the easier the audience will relate to the artist.


My Digipak and Advert:

Evaluation Of Filming

When filming we were presented with a number of issues which made it difficult for us to get all the footage we needed. Firstly, the tripod equipment we took with us from school was broken, and therefore we had to borrow the professional tripod from 151 studios. This did work out in our favour due to the tripod being of excellent quality, meaning some of the footage we produced was better than it would have been with the basic equipment we took with us.
The second problem we had to overcome was shadows. Due to having three large filter lights it came increasingly difficult to get the right size shadow, and keep the continuity of the studio infinity walls the same at all times. We played around with the lights height and position so that we could produce the best overall aesthetic in our opinion.
A further problem we had to face was the size of the space we booked out. The dancers were struggling to complete the whole dance as the space was too small. This meant we lost the fluency of the dance in places which decreased the professionalism. The final problem which occured was the amount of time we had and the way in which we utilised it. We needed our dancers and our artist to look the part which unfortunately took longer than we were expecting. As well as this, we also had to go through the health and safety with the owner of the studio which took the, and we had to set up the studio ourselves. The time we had to film meant that we were cutting it fine to film all the footage we needed. unfortunately, we didn't capture as much as we had hoped from both the artist and the dancers which means that in post production, repetition of some shots will occur for our draft.

Draft Music Video

Digipak Advert Evaluation

Artist Name Change

After carrying out a bit of research we found out that the name we had chosen may not work. Billie-White was interpreted by too many people as being a male name, and due to mass confusion we decided to change it. Our new artist name is Katie Jones as it is a generic female name and we believe that it will work

Hair and Makeup

Through research and posts that we have published, both Nat and I can now see the clear differences between our chosen model (Katie) and Birdy. However, it is not uncommon that the a large amount of make up will be used in order for our model to achieve a flawless and professional overall look.

Eyes:

• In order to achieve heavy eye make up, we both understand that there will be a significant amount of mascara and eyeliner that will be used.
• From research, we have found that in many of Birdy's photographs there is enough eye makeup to ensure that it  becomes a main focus point of the artists overall appearance. Through personal knowledge, we understand that the different levels of eye makeup can connote different stereotypes. In addition, the type of make up that we apply with also have to correlate with the music we are using, in some videos/ pictures heavily eye makeup is often found on songs relating to emotion/ sadness. Furthermore, when developing our skills we will later be able to apply different effects (smoky, hazy) that we feel will fit particular parts of the song - especially when their is focus on the artists face. Therefore it is crucial that the amount that we apply on the chosen model (Katie) to ensure that she has the same amount to resemble the existing artist that we are basing her around.
• Through online tutorials and advise from others, both Nat and I will have to experiment with different techniques and levels that we fill with suit the overall appearance of our video.

Cheeks:

• Luckily, both Katie's and Birdy's hair are both similar length and style. The 'natural/ bedhead' look is something that works in contrast with the overall look of both people. However, during classroom discussions - we realised that in order to achieve a professional standard of 'natural' looking hair we would have to put time and effort into the style and positioning to ensure that we have a clear and professional finish.
• Although the style appears to be the same, we found that we would have to make many changes to Katie's hair to make it look as identical as possible. Without research, there is clear evidence that the front of Katie's hair will need to be roughly backcombed in order to achieve the front 'messy look' that we have found in many pictures. This will be relatively simple, as changing the parting and back combing is something that I have already experienced and watched. With the rest of her hair, there is the element of volume. This can be done simply, either through hair equipment (curlers/ straighteners) or with our own work. 

Hair:

• When comparing Katie/ Billie-White to our chosen existing artist we found that the main issue, was the difference between jawline/ cheek structure. When discussing our model with peers and support leaders we found that the difference in cheeks between the two people made a huge difference. Initially, we found that Katie's cheeks are more rounded, with a heavily focus closer to her eyes, rather than below. Comparing this to Birdy, we found that her cheeks appeared more defined and there is heavily focus between the lower areas of her cheek and jawline. From research, I have found that many songs featuring emotion focus on a more defined facial structure, there is more focus on how the artists appearance reflects the mood/ atmosphere that they are creating with the song they are preforming.
• With little knowledge of cheek structure, I feel that both Nat and I will rely on lighting and make up. We will use make up to define certain areas of Katie's cheek that we feel need highlighting, rather than the overall appearance of her face. Certain angles, shading and lighting, will also impact how the artist looks on screen. As a result we must ensure that they camera angles and artist appearance are the best that they can be.

Lips/ Eyebrows:

• Although there are issues regarding both Katie's lips and eyebrows, we find that these can be simply fixed. Regarardding Katie's lips, there is the issue of either making them look smaller or plumper. When adding volume to lips - many colours and brands can be able to fix this. Adding shades give a significant effect, that we feel will be able to work with.

Playlist

Artist Comparison

When picking the desired person to appear in our music video, a decision was based on appearance, how they would be perceived on camera and how they would fit the chosen music genre.

We found it easier to base our chosen artist/ model (Katie) around a existing 'indie/pop' artist, Birdy. As a alternative artist, they most heavily followed conventions the idea of 'natural beauty'. When watching and analysing her music videos, we had found that many of them featured the artist to be supporting little make up and basic styled clothing. To find out whether this was just one specific artist we explored other music videos/ artists of the 'indie/pop' genre and found that the basic/ natural followed and proving to be a followed convention of the alternative/pop music genre.
When designing Katie's appearance in relation to Birdy research has proved at, although in some music videos the element of natural beauty was key, make-up and clothing suiting the artist would have to be used. However, the type of makeup used also would depend on the type of song that we are attempting to replicate. When researching, we found that songs based on love/breakup supported heavy facial highlight/ focus connoting the emotion of the artist and song itself. However, in other upbeat songs - the focus was rather on eyes and hair, suggesting that the overall appearance was worked on rather than individual features.
This would all be considered when creating our song/ music video. Considering the mise en scene. We found that many make up issues can be fixed due to shading and lighting, as well as allowing ourselves to develop our skills in order to make sure that music video conventions must be followed in order for the video to appear realistic and pleasant to watch.

When looking at the type of clothing that the Birdy wears in comparison to Katie, much of it is simple, and would be easy to find - if needed. Looking at the photographs provided, it seems that much of Birdy's clothing is simple. vintage and unique - something that is used to represent the type of music she is producing and the conventions of the music genre that must be followed. Many of these can now be found in high-street stores as well as boutiques in main shopping centres (Leicester), this means the ease to find new clothing is not restricted, living and studying close to main shopping centres means it is easy to find new clothing's from stores and online, that would be worn by Katie in order for her to look similar to Birdy.

Finally, it must be noted that the artist we have chosen must be confident and happy to be in front of the camera, we found that Katie had already preformed in front of others - which proved prefect for the music video, this means it would appear much more professional and unique rather than being staged, which overall helps to attract the perfect target audience.
Finally, dedicating time and effort from all members involved would be key for a successful video.

Examples of Other Texts

The reason as to why we have posted two of Birdy's previous music videos is because they both capture different concepts which we would like to transfer into our music video, without completely copying them. These videos are usual watches and have helped us build our vision for our music video, due to it being the same music artist and the same style of music as the song we have chosen.



This very simplistic video of Christina Perri's song Human is an inspiration for us, as we believe she carries the emotion through her music video with in the level of simplicity it endures. We feel that this is a great example of an 'easier' styled and produced music video can still really work and carry a professional aesthetic the entire duration.

We found this video of Paloma Faith inspiring, because it uses elements of both narrative and performance, which is something we wish to include in our music video. It is simplistic in many ways, however we realise that we don't have the budget to ensure we would have access to the mise en scene which this video uses.



Emeli Sande's video 'Clown' is another simplistic ballad styled music video, containing elegance and emotion. This type of character is something we want our artist to have throughout the music video to 'Standing In The Way Of The Light'.

Next To Me includes the piano and a band which is a convention we would like to include in our music video. The location of this music video is also something we would like to look into further, as we believe it has multiple use and would be extremely useful.

Mood Board

Mood Board

 

Chosen Song

Birdy - Standing In The Way Of The Light

We chose this song for many reasons, one of which being a mutual interest in the music artist. Birdy's song 'Standing In The Way Of The Light' is an indie-pop styled ballad with piano as the primary instrument used to produce the track. 

This song starts off slow, and builds speed and develops power throughout which is why we feel this song is appropriate to make an 'emotional' contemporary dance style music narrative video. We feel that we could make a video such as this work due to having access to the right facilities and people necessary. We also believe, due to the fact that there hasn't been a video created for this song as yet, we could interpret the lyrics in any way we wish, which gives us a more diverse way of approaching this project.