Images to use in our Digipack

Digipack Research

To follow up our production of a digipack I have researched digipacks that are form the genre of our song and to see what conventions are commonly used and therefore use this information when creating our own digipack.  The following images are from indie bands and artists which are very similar to ours. The laid back approach can be seen through these covers by the position of the artist and the general layout of the covers. I like how the on this back cover the bands name is mentioned on the sides of the cover but placed vertically so that it is an interesting way of presenting the text.

Genre Theory

The genre of our song is indie/alternative rock which commonly follow generic conventions.The main conventions used in our piece include close-up shots to show the artist's face and lip syching. The specific aspects of Mise-En-Scene include the typical style of skinny jeans, plimpsols and check shirts. The location we thought about in great detail as the indie genre is seen as a very much relaxed and "do it yourself" approach. We can relate our music video to Reid's theory and how he explians how something is categorised by where, whom and when. This can be related to our music videos in our genre use the same style of artist, location and the way in which the video is presented. Fowler's theory also relates to our product as this focuses on the individuality and uniquenes of the artist and the music in which they produce. This can be crossed over into Reid's theory to explain some of the relaxed and casual approaches to a music video as they are seen to be more individual to the artist.

Linking star image to our artist

I decided to research on google famous indie artists and their image. This was to see if what we finally decided on our artist to wear was appropriate in this particular genre.

I found this image of Paolo Nutini and thought it was very similar to what our artist Joe wore on both filming sessions.

Further Star Image Analysis

Now that we have progressed further into our project I have decided to do further analysis into Star Image as I have a better idea now of what artist image we are trying to portray through certain shots in our film. I looked into already established artist and in this case, Gavin Degraw.

I looked and researched this artist in detail and looked at specific parts of the websites which could relate to our artist.

These two screenshots show David Degraw and our artist Joe. The indie style approach to the music video shows the "layed back" nature of the video. Both artists show the same layed back body language indicated by the hands in the pockets and distance glance which really starts to relate our video to the Indie genre.

Contrasting Music Videos

(California Gurlz: Katy Perry)
This video is much different from the ones we have already looked at but by looking at them we can see if the shots and mise-en-scene differ greatly. 
This video shows a girl who lives in what is seen to be an unrealistic animated world.  
This supports Andrew Goodwin's theory that the visuals amplify the meaning of the lyrics and music. The video starts by her walking through a forest of trees represented by lollipoops and sweets. This is much like Lily Allen "Alfie" as it is set in a completely different world. Katy perry identifies her audience by her sightline as this also gives the impression that the artist is directly communicating with the audience. Her image is shown in a very animated and exaggerated way mainly through the mise-en-scene and costume. Her costume changes throughout the video although she is mainly pictured in short skirts and tiny tops. At one part of the video she lies on a bed of clouds naked, which really shows the sex appeal and voyeurism that portrays by her body positioning and facial expression. 
Particularly at the end she shows herself in a very provocative red outfit and her actions which shows this voyeurism aspect to the video. 
This is another aspect of Goodwin's theory concerning voyeurism and that it is a common feature within music videos and the emphasis of a sexual relation of the star. 
however Laura Mulverys's theory can also be introduced explaining that the voyeuristic response is aimed at a male audience as most film makers are male. This video really shows this as the male in the video is sitting in the chair arrogantly while the female artist is singing and dancing. The connotation of using these settings is that it could reflect her personality as an artist and that she is very outgoing and extrovert. Techniques such as sightline and Icons  gain popularity with the audience as the audience feel as if she is communicating with the artist in person. Sychnchronised editing is used throughout the video, mainly at the beginning as she is walking through the fairy-tale location. Her representation is shown to be very extrovert, indicated through her choice of clothing and her facial expression. The representations are very positive shown through the bright colours and upbeat atmosphere throughout the video. I think this video has a positive affect on young girls in particular as they aspire to be like her shown in this fairy-tale setting. The sound doesn't drastically alter throughout the video although towards the end there are elements of speaking over the vocals of the male singer.  We can comment on the intertextuality of the peice between the Alice in Wonderland movie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which are films which have been remade into a more modern version which clearly has influenced this music video.

Songs Like Ours

Now we have decided on our song that we are going to use for our final piece. We have now decided to research songs like Oasis "Little By Little" At the beginning of this song there is a slight echo and then resumes after each chorus. 

The video starts on the image of people walking around a dark street on a rainy day, holding umbrellas. The mise-en-scene is particularly noticeable in this part of the video as the video is edited so that the shot is in black and white apart from the umbrellas. It is a band performance as we can see the artists performing and playing the instruments rather than a dance routine or   strong narrative. The genre of this video is alternative rock and common conventions of this genre within videos are the use of dark colours and simple settings.

This is shown within this video as the main location of the video is set on a street which is seemed to be shot in minimal light. Other common conventions are that there is a lot of emotion shown through facial expression particularly through close ups to express this emotion fully to audience. This puts John Stewart’s theory into practice as he explored the use of lighting and close ups to focus on the star’s face. We can also comment on Andrew Goodwin’s theory of close ups as this can help when relating and communicating with the audience. The lyrics of the song suggest the idea of taking things for granted and not appreciating them, this can reflect the choice of black and white throughout the video with the odd tint of colour.  To attract the audience particular shots are used to help the audience communicate or relate to the artist. Also sightline helps the audience to communicate to the artist as they feel they are personally singing to them. The costumes in which are worn throughout the video relate to the audience as it can be seen to be what the audience wears or “the guy of the street” look. The Mise-en-scene of the piece includes the props of the guitars. This demonstrates the idea of the talent aspect whereas the image they are going for is perhaps more musicians rather than stars.  When looking at the mise-en-scene of the piece we can comment on the atmospheric dark location in which the video is set. This links back to common generic conventions of rock videos as they are usually seen to be shot in dark or use minimal light exposure to give the sense of emotion.

When looking at camera angles and editing we can pick out particular shots which emphasize the artist’s image or communication with the audience. Synchronized editing is demonstrated throughout the video and this is shown at 0.40 seconds. The affect of doing this is that the audience thinks that the artist is performing specifically for them especially with direct sightline which makes the video artist seem personal to each member to the audience. Towards the beginning of the video editing techniques are used to make one of the artists look considerably small to the other characters walking in the street. The connotations of this are that it could be portraying the idea from the song title “little by little” and putting this into the video. To capture the main artists a variation of shots are used but mostly the use of close ups and mid shots are used. Editing techniques such as panning and tilt are also illustrated throughout the video to create this variety when shooting the artists.

Throughout the video we can look at various representations. The most noticeable one would be how the artist on the street is represented when he seems to reduce in size. This is done by using a low angle shot. The affect of using this is that it makes the audience feel sympathetic and curious about his height. The sound of the song doesn’t appear to change throughout the video. Although in some video’s added sounds are included for the video that is not in the airplay version because the video can be made after the single is released and if extra sounds are included, this could attract the audience as they havn’t heard this version of the song with small added extras.  

James Blunt Analysis and Review

In this music video it shows the artist in a wood or forest at night time. I think it attracts the ausience and particulary his fans because he is the only person to be shot in the whole video which makes the audience feel connected to him as if he was communicating to them. Although the genre is pop, there are features of indie pop featured in the music such as the traditional acoustic guitar and bass playing. The video itself is seen to be quite fierce and aggressive by the use of the fire surrounding him. The song lyrics suggest that there are 3 men who are seen to be faultless (hence the name, wisemen) then something happens which turns their life upside down and changes it drastically. This is reflected in the video by the calm atmosphere at the beginning and then when the artist shows himself setting fire to a passport the mood and atmosphere changes, showing shots of fire which gradually become more frequent as the video progresses. Synchronised editing is used throughout the video as the artist lip syncs the lyrics while his sightline is directed at the camera. This is shown at 1.19 until 1.22 in the video. The affect of using this is that it draws the audience in makes them feel as if the artist is communicating to the individual person watching the video. The video starts peacefully by the artist driving a car in daylight which reflects the calm music which starts the song. Camera movement techniques such as panning and tilts are used to shoot the artist. Techniques like these are used to vary the shots of the artist as there is only 1 person in the video. Tracking is also used to capture the artist as he is walking forward. The most frequent angle to shoot the artist is mid close ups and close ups. This is done to capture the artists face expression and put empahasis on the lip synching. Also theses shots might have been used because there are not any other band members performing so there wouldn't be a lot of need to use extreame long shots other tahn to establish the setting and location. The artist is represented as a young man who is perhaps showing negative representations by his actions of setting the passport on fire. This is generally seen as irresponsible and an act of agression whereas his expression and body language does not connect with this action. I think it has a possitive effect on young people as the lyrics tell the story of 3 men and how their actions drastically changed them. This could be a moral for young people and how their actions could affect them.

Indie-Pop

http://prezi.com/8cptm5ltantc/jason-mraz-ideal-audience-profile/

Indie pop is a type of sub genre from the main genre of indie. It orginated in the UK in the mid 1980's. It is a genre of alternative pop. "The term "indie" refers to Independent record Label and the labels themselves." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indie_pop) The key features of indie music is generally the instruments particularly the use of acoustic instruments such as guitar, bass and drums. Indie prides itself on individuality, local gigs and playing acoustic instruments.

Audience Expectations

• Video will reflect their style choices
• That the video will be appropriate to the song.
• The style will be expected and recognized.

Indie-pop artists:

• John Mayer
• Jason Mraz
• Kate Nash
• Kings of Leon
• Ellie Goulding
• Florence and the Machine
• The Kooks
• The Killers
• Pigeon Detectives
• Scouting for girls

Music Video Analysis (Jason Mraz "I'm Yours")

The music video starts by showing a male artist or character leaving his house with a large backpack. It shows the contrast of location from the city apartment at the beginning and the beach scene shown throughout the video. The video ends by the male character returning home and getting on a plane home. The genre of the video is indie pop much like other videos and characters in this genre such as The Kooks "She moves in her own way." These videos are very much alike each other as they both have the same sort of approach to producing the video. Indie bands are known for playing everywhere, as the bands usually produce acoustic music as this means the band do not need electricity or power source to play their music. This is shown in both videos by showing the 2 band/artists playing their music in a relaxed setting. 
This screenshot shows the artist (Jason Mraz) playing a guitar and singing at the same time.

The second screenshot shows the Kooks playing their instruments much like the Jason Mraz video, playing their instruments in a relaxed comfortable setting. Other songs that are categorized as indie pop include "Fireflies" by Owl City and "Banana Pancakes" by Jack Johnson. This style of video attracts the audience by using a very relaxed setting in which the audience can relate to. There are other indie pop songs which include Lady Gaga, however her music videos include mostly dance routines rather than artist performance as she portrays herself by the use of sex appeal and voyerism. This shows the huge contrast between the two artists image and how they are portrayed.

The lyrics of the video suggest that a girl ended a relationship and the male artist is trying to get her back by explaining how much she means to him. The video related to both men and women as young people are shown throughout the video. We can aslo see representation of young people clearly in this video as it is a very upbeat song which accompanies the colourful and energetic characters. This will make the artist's music popular as people can relate to it as it is made in such a relaxed style.

Synchronised editing is used at various points throughout the video, the affect of this is that the artist's sightline is looking at the camera and therefore the audience. This indicates the artist is communicating with the audience. The video sequence shows the artist packing his bag and going on holiday and then at the end of the song the artist returns home. The video mainly uses close-ups and mid shots to shoot the artist, this is because he is a single artist . Because the video features young people it has a possitive effect on young people watching it as they can relate closely to the artist.

Due to copyright reasons the embedding code for this video was unavaliable:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkHTsc9PU2A

Beginning to compare our song to The Kooks

For our A2 coursework we decided to use the acoustic version of my cousins song 'Take me on a train' as he is the lead singer and guitarist in an unsigned band. When researching into his band I discovered their influences are The Beatles for their song writing, Led Zeppelin for intensity and Talking Heads for live energy. However their current sound lies somewhere between the Artic Monkeys and U2.
I previously analysed The Kooks 'She moves in her own way' video, and whilst reseaching into the band itself I found out they have experimented in several genres including rock, britpop, and reggae. At times The Kooks have been described as "a less severe Artic Monkeys". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kooks) As this links to our song and genre I think The Kooks will be a useful source to influence our group when looking into artist image.

The Kooks have drawn on huge artists like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles to influence their own music style and develop their indie pop sound. As both my cousin and The Kooks have been influenced by the Beatles I will look at some of their music videos, album covers and image to help create my own artist.

A2 Summer Prep

To prepare myself for A2 I briefly analysed two music artists.

50 cent

• He is an American rapper, hip hop performer and actor.
• He is known as a gangsta as he used to deal drugs and was shot.
• 50 cent is often represented as dangerous, violent and independent.
• On his album cover 'Get rich or die tryin'' there is a master shot/high angle shot of him, so the audience can see the artist fully.
• He is looking at the camera, therefore looking at the audience.
• He is wearing no shirt, and has tattoos indicating his body confidence.
• The left hand side of the front cover is bright with high key lighting.
• The right hand side of the front cover is lower key lighting, with a shadow across his face.
• There are indexes on the front cover, the cover looks like cracked glass, with a hole above his chest, this relates back to his past and when he was shot.
• 'Explicit content' is written on the front cover, telling the audience that the album is violent.

Bob Marley

• He is a Jamaican singer, song writer and musician.
• He performs reggae music.
• His album 'Legend' was released after his death, and this portrays him as a legend himself.
• The front cover of the album is simplistic, with soft lighting, and he is not overly posed.
• There is light across his face, and his expression is sincere/curious compared to previous drug related images.
• It seems producers did this to change his image, so he is not purely associated with drugs but seen as a 'legend' too.

July Assignment Evaluation

When starting our digipack we firstly chose a genre. To get an idea of how metal artists and bands present themselves we researched well established examples on the internet. To ensure what we were using was reliable we went onto 'AC DC's' official website. (http://www.acdc.com/uk/home)

On the website we found images of the band members, this gave us a good idea of the dress code, props and make up that metal artists use to create their image. We discovered black and red were colours that were associated with that genre because they create a sense of danger.

After learning about metal artists generic conventions we decided to dress our 'artist' Nick in a black leather jacket. We did this as both leather and the colour black are associated with our particular genre. Another aspect of mise en scene we used was make up. To complete Nick's look we used black eyeliner to give him a more gothic image.

We were inspired by our research to use only one prop and this was a guitar. By doing this we were trying to portray Nick as not only a singer but a musician too.

We then took a variety of photos of Nick for our front and back cover of our digipack. We decided a close up of Nicks face was appropriate for the front cover as his eye make up helped emphasise his fearsome image. Whilst taking the photos we kept in mind the lighting as we thought a dark background would create an intimidating atmosphere. To the target audience the image would be seen as attractive as it suggest flirting with danger. When planning the back cover we decided to carry through a similar colour scheme. The final image is of Nick playing the guitar, by seeing his hand on the strings again highlights that he is also a talented musician.

We used photoshop to edit both of the images. Firstly, we cropped the images to the appropriate size. We thought a downloaded font suited the genre more because of the individual fonts we found online. They were much more bold, so we used that aswell as using a text box and changing the size and colour of the font. We chose the colour orange as it matched well with the colour of the guitar on the back cover. However, we decided white was more suitable on the front as it was eye catching. We used google images to copy and paste a bar code onto our back cover. We did this because it then showed the album was for sale indicating it is well established. We also added a website address and 'TK Productions' to emphasise the institution.

When completing our editing of our digipack we printed it and added codes and conventions. This was labelling over 15 technical terms on our digipack and explaining how it relates to our image and choice of text.

Independent music

The word 'indie' is used regularly to describe a type of genre, it is a shortened version of independent music. The term is used to describe independence from major commerical record labels. Instead, artists chose to do it by themselves by being self reliant opposed to others who are more experienced. Unlike other artists, indie artists are known for maintaining control of their music and careers by releasing singles and albums with independent record labels. They usually promote themselves on the internet and the radio but most importantly they do tours and gigs.

There are many forms of indie artists/bands.
For example :

Indie pop - a genre of alternative rock.

Regina Spektor can be considered under this genre as she writes her own songs and plays the piano. She sold self -published CDs until she signed a contract Warner Brothers' record label.









Indie rock - a genre of rock music, it can be seen as some what experimental music.

The Killers are an alternative rock band, who originally played in bars and clubs with fans increasing through word of mouth until they were signed in 2003.