Photo-shoot-Miss Miller

Photo-shoot
20/11/2014
Vasil Nikolov

It is important that we have a photo-shoot with our artist as with the pictures, we should be able to create our digipak and magazine advert. This is why we made sure that we took relevant images with which, we can portray our artist in an appropriate way for our audience. The images that we have included on the advert and digipak are vital in informing the audience about what our artist is; her lifestyle and what to expect her to be. Basic, the use of this photo-shoot allows us to portray the character of our artist with which we can intrigue our target audience. It is also important that we make her attractive for potential fans that wish to purchase the artist`s music. Therefore conducting a photoshoot would give us many opportunities to show off our artist and produce images that can be included onto the advert and digipak.

We took this picture of the artist (holding a cigarette) looking straight down the camera lense in order to present her as string and powerful.I intend to use this photograph as my magazine advert as the picture is conventional to the indie genre due to the artist portraying his bad habits bad habits such as: smoking, drinking and other bad habits. These habits are the typical for artist of the genre as they can portray their "broken" personalities, making the audience feel interested for them. The artist is dressed in vintage 50`s clothing which follows the original artist representation and the use of a cigarette collides with the codes of the 50`s as smoking was seen as "cool" in that period. This creates a relationship between the fans and the artist as she allows them to find out more about her personality and personal interests.

Here, the artist is "chilling" on a bench and having a smoke. We decided to photograph her due to the natural background. Furthermore, as we have filmed in the autumn, the autumn colours are matching the artist's name (Autumn), which creates a link for the audience to remember. I intend to use this picture on the digipak for the back cover where she is looking at the cards table due to her bold look and having a poker face. This picture is conventional to the indie genre as the artists is using cheap background that makes the audience less distracted from her. The audience might feel connected to her as the artist is looking straight down the lense, making them  feel like they are having a chat with her. This creates a connection between the artist and the audience and connects to a segment of Dyer`s theory.

I intend to use this picture as a backup for the magazine advert. As my magazine advert requires autumn background, I can possibly use it on photoshop so I can extract and mix it with the moon and stars that I have downloaded. This picture is conventional to the indie genre as similarly to the first one, the artist is showing her rebellious behaviour.

Finally, the artist is resting on a tree in Victoria park. Filmed in a mid-shot manner mid shot to get a view of the artist's clothes. I intend to used this picture for the CD of the digipak as one side of the Cd where she is enjoting nature, while on the other side, there will be a picture of playing cards with money. This picture is conventional to the indie genre as the artist is using a cheap background and allows the audience to see our artist`s natural beauty. As the shot is different from the previous, it allows the audience to see the artist in her entire form and beauty. This causes fans of both genders to fall for her and wanting to hear more from her and see more of her.

In Conclusion, having a photo shoot was a very successful decision to do, as we used surroundings that made the pictures more conventional. These images conform to the indie genre and give our artist naturalistic features. Each group member will be creating drafts of digipaks and magazine adverts on paper and then on Photoshop.

Planning Editing Styles-Miss Georgiou

Planning Editing Styles
12/11/2014
Vasil

In a music video, editing is extremely important as it allows the performance/story or narrative to flow throughout the video in an evenly mannor. This allows the audience to understand exactly what is happening in the music video (the narrative, performance and concept elements can be unserstood). Without such editing styles, the music video that is being produced would lack, the entertainment factor with which the audience would be satisfied and wishing to watch the production again.Special filters and effects can also be employed over specific camera shots in order to spice their appearance for the audience. This improves the viewer`s experience while watching the music video.

Throughout the music video there will be several flashback scenes which will occur. They will be clips of memories that have been filmed by the artist and her love interest. This will be seen when the POV hand held shot by the camera operator is used. Un theory, this should result in making the video more personal and result in the audience building a relationship with the artist and feel closer to him. This is conventional for the indie genre as the artist uses different camera shots to share their life and memories to the audience. This would also comply with Dyer`s theory as the artist would be both down to earth and at the same time a star. It would also result in creating a concept that love is not always the strongest force in the world as the audience will see the story unfolwd. The flashback scenes will be synchronised with most of the lyrics. For example, in the song, the lyrics'I will love you 'til the end of time' would show the artist's true feelings towards her love interest (love using the sentance "love interest"), creating an increased bond between the audience  and the artist, resulting in a completion of an element from Goodwin's theory (Visuals and lyrics are always linked between one another in order to intrigue the audience). It would also result in aiding the audience with understanding the lyrics as it would be simpler to visualise them.

Through the flashbacks, faster editing will be used in places where the song and the location require faster action. An examople would be when we film the love couple on the rollercoaster. As previously said, these clips will be combined with Hand Held camera shots as:
a) It is slightly hard to use a tripod on a rollercoaster
b)The use of hand held shots would create a bond between the artist and the audience as they would believe that these shots remind them of family style movies.
Furthermore, the use of such a camera shot for the theme park, make the video more relatable and realistic. It is conventional for the indie genre as the artist uses fast editing to excite the audience and make them more aware of her life and the experiences she has had.

Finally, there will be a vintage based theme that will be implemented with tiny needles throughout the video. During the flashbacks themsleves, there will be a filter that will be added sir the vintage effect. They will be once again combined once again with the POV hand held shots. This would creates a 50`s/60`s effect with which we will stay truer to out artist`s immage and make the video look more interesting. The effect links to the artist as she will be dressed with clothing from a similar period style and matching make up from the period, throughout the entire music video. This represents the artist in a unique way, which adds more flare and conforms to Dyer`s segment from his theory.
 

In Conclusion, I am sure that by planning the editing styles, we will be able to assist in building a relationship with our target audience (teenaged/young adults/females aged 18-25)  as it allows the viewers to understand more to do with the narrative. The fast editing is used to make the video more intriguing and interesting and the vintage camera effect makes the video different and interesting, also. Furthermore, the slow pace editing style that we will employ, would give the audience the opportunity to build a relationship with the artist as their attention would be focused on how she sings and re-lives her memories, which they can witness.

Initial Group Planning-Miss Georgiou

Initial Group Planning
30/09/2014
Vasil Nikolov

In this post, One will be discussing the different aspects of the videos we agreed to include or are thinking of including in our music video. The group is consisted of 3 people (Me, Lily and Aysha). We have already decided upon the roles that each of us will do and we are carrying on with the plan for special effects and other elements. Bellow will be listed the initial plans for the video and new information will be added to as we go along.

In our first meeting, we discussed using a mind map (the picture uploaded below) about which artist should we choose. There was a lot of haggling as my co-workers had decided to produce a song from the 1973 album. Meanwhile, I wanted our group to produce a video either for the Keiser Chiefs, Disclosure or Muse. In the end we agreed to produce a video for Lana Del Rey`s "Blue Jeans" under the condition that the song will be a remix. Thus we agreed to create a video for the "Blue Jeans RAC Remix" version of the song.
Following this, we started to annotate the lyrics of the song in order to achieve inspirations with what to include in the music video. Thus from separate elements of the lyrics, we managed to create a story about a couple in love for the different things (The girl likes the boy and the boy likes the girl, until he starts to drink more and gamble, becoming more and more obsessed with money. This leads to him leaving her and she takes pills+alcohol in order to ease the pain of being left). We also agreed that we would have a link between the lyrics and visuals as this would conform to Andrew Goodwin`s theory. An example of this can be portrayed by the use of the lyrics "made my eyes burn", which we will present in the video with an extreme close-up of the artist`s eyes in order to portray her affection towards the loved one and show how she is also a normal human being like her audience. This way, we can  also fulfil a segment of Dyer`s theory (she will be both a star and a normal persona the same time.)

We then went on to research into our chosen music genre  (the indie genre) as well as the dance genre as our chosen song is a remix. Our group researched into the codes and conventions of both the indie and the dance genre to consider applying within our music to appeal to our target audience. This is how we got together and created a appropriate film that contains camera angles such as a high angle shot. We will use this shot in order to portray our character as a weak. This is unconventional for the indie genre as usually, the artist is portrayed as being a strong character which tells the audience that the artist has a strong character.

We will also use 50/60`s style clothing with which, we should be able to continue with our artist`s portrayal. The reason for choosing such a fashion is because:
a) The artist looks more attractive as 50`s artists looked quite fashionable
b) The artist would look different, which conforms with the convention of the indie genre as this way, she will look different and intrigue more people.

We have applied for our music copyrights and feel very excited. The two companies that we are applying to are Polidor and another record music label. We are also aware that record labels are busy and we do not expect them to respond immediately. Nevertheless, we will continue to try and contact them in order to know that we have permission to film our chosen music video plan.

Overall, the story is going to be a love couple which is very happy in the beginning, however, as their relationship progresses the audience would manage to see the bad habits that the second character has but the artist does not as she is too deep in love with him. The story ends with him ditching her and she, taking drugs that cause her to fall asleep forever. 

Group meetings are important for the production of our music video as it allows the group members to display their ideas and come upon an agreement for the overall elements that we will include in the music video. All of our group meetings were kept upon several A4 sheets of paper which were given to me to keep and update for every meeting. Each element (such as planning the cinematography) surrounding the music video has been passed by our group members` votes. I believe that our group co-operated in best way that we could. We were all dedicated towards the planing of the music video and always tried to help our chief editor if they experienced a problem with the video. At one point, we had to add fillers in our music video, however, as we did not predict what they had to be, we had an urgent meeting and planned how to execute our plan. Overall, I believe that myself and my group have excelled at creating the music video and the different merchandise we had to create.

Over the entire filming sequence, we will add several segments that will represent the artist`s memomry. We will use a special filter as:
a) It will separate the actual time filming from past time events
b) It allows the user to be more interested as there is a different affect that is connected with the film

In Conclusion, I believe that this group planning should be helpful as I will know the overall idea and what we will have to do. Furthermore, If we do lose our sheets, the use of these blogs will aid us with what we should do. 

Filming Schedule-Miss Georgiou

Planning the Film schedule

16/11/2014

Vasil

Why is a filming schedule important to have?

Creating a filming schedule before the production of a music video is vital. This is because we want to make sure that the filming process can run smoothly with limited or no disruptions. Therefore we agreed to create a filming schedule that contained detailed information regarding different aspects of the days when we have planned to film. By doing this, as a group, we will maintain our organisational skills at the top and be aware of exactly what we have to film on each day. In addition to this the possible disruptions can be minimised  and allow us to focus our attention on producing shots that we form together to create the music video that we anticipate.

 Did you follow the schedule while filming, or did you make any changes?

As a group we followed the film schedule as much as we possibly could so that the filming process of our music video would allow us to have extra time for filming in case the weather or other events stopped us from filming. However, we faced a number of obstacles that meant we were unable to film. such as the weather. This therefore put our filming plans slightly behind schedule, but due to our detailed filming schedule we produced and were able to catch up with our filming. This resulted in the quality of our footage not loosing its zest and the overall music video would not be affected. 

Risk Assessment-Miss Georgiou

·         Planning the Risk Assessment16/11/2014
Vasil Nikolov

Why is it important to consider risks before filming?

Before we started to film, we considered the possible risks that we might encounter prior to filming. This is why we decided to create a risk assessment in which we can portray the methods that we can take to protect ourselves from the health hazards. Hazards can include: the environment, passers by; ourselves and the equipment we carry. This will reduce the time we have to take to correct any problems we have during the filming, and benefit the filming process as it will be more pleasant for all of us.  

·         How will the risk assessment assist you with filming?

The risk assessment will assist us with filming as it makes us aware of any risks that could occur during the filming process. Thus by knowing  in advance the risks that might occur, we would be able to fully prevent hazard during the symptom stages. This means that our filming would not be affected as we would not have to spend extra time on adjustments and having to fix the filming schedule. By being aware of risks in advance it would prevent our footage being of poor quality and further increase the time it would take us to film.

Planning Digipak-Miss Miller

Planning Digipak

12/11/2014

Vasil

A digipak provides the fans with more information from the artist (such as a personal fan message). This strengthens the bond between the fan and the artist. Digipaks are also quite unique and more attractive as they featured bonus tracks and also other rarity moment, which increases the demand for the artist and the profit for the record label. The use of strengthened cardboard allows more space for the artist to insert high quality graphics/pictures which further intrigues the dedicated artist fan.

There is a second type of a CD, which is known as a jewel CD case. This type of case is argued to be more traditional and durable due to the use of a plastic case. Nevertheless, the use of such CD is not so much for the Artist`s fanbase, but more for the audience that wants to try out the artist. AS the Jewell CD case contains less images and less songs it is quicker and easier to make, which results in a lower price. The case will not let the booklet to bend while the digipak can have its contents lost. Furthermore, Jewell CD cases are easier to store, which for the music fan on the road is perfeect as vehicles have limited storage facilities. Thus both types of CD packs, have their positives and negatives.

In this post, I will be explaining how I will plan my digipak. I will be planning a digipak as we all ready have an audience in the music market that we can target this digipak at. To begin with, the artist can be seen at the back of my digipak. This is because I wished to create and enigma for the audience with which I could intrigue them in the first place to check the digipak out. As some of the songs inside contain two types of genre, I have decided to use a simple set for the front cover as this links to the conventions of the indie genre and as there is a leaf on it, the audience would want to see what is portrayed in the rear cover. Once they flip the side, they will witness our artist looking at a poker room through a window. This is a slight hint to the content of the "Blue Jeans" music video. Autumn Healy (our artist`s name) will be portrayed as being independent through her clothing and posture. With part of the set being seen, the audience would then notice that there is a small list of the artist`s songs that is portrayed via the poker hand that is left on the table. On each of the cards there will be two songs and on the last card, there will be the bar-code with the price. The vintage style will still be seen through the artist`s writing from the personal message and also through the titles of the songs that have been embedded in objects from a 50`s club. Thus the use of the front cover will be unconventional for the indie genre as our artist will be portrayed at the back, while the use of autumn scenery and a leaf with her name and album name, should intrigue the audience in the first pick up the digipak. Furthermore, this way, the audience can build a memorable image of the album and be able to separate it from previous artist albums or other artists that have decided to use the conventional style of a close-up with the artist being in the middle and  some scenery at the back.

The colours within this digipak are going to be a mix between the indie and house genre. This will be used to show the bravery and pride of the artist in her experiments with new types of genre. On the front cover, there will be simple setting, displaying a hill in the middle of autumn with the night and moon being displayed. The ground will be with autumn colours, but they would have passed through a filter that reminisces a film from the 50`s. This way conventions such as cheap scenery from the indie genre and the use of both bright and dark colours from the house genre should intrigue audiences from both genre`s. The colour that will be seen on all of the slides from the digipak will be red. It will be used on the artist`s lips under the form of lipstick; on the playing cards as well as the moon on the front cover. This should give off the connotation of love, life as well as dangerous subjects such as gambling, home abuse (Home abuse will be seen in the slide where there is broken glass from the bottle). The use of a heart shaped leaf and the black spade on the CD should give a hint to the audience what the theme of the new song is (gambling and love) which would intrigue the audience as the artist presents a piece of their own life experience in the form of a code. The digipak would also feature pure colours such as white, which converts to the indie genre and causes the audience to be less distracted from the message that the artist is trying to give them. It will mainly be used, in the Personal message side, as well as the ones that contain objects with built in lyrics.

Usually, the layout that we agreed to use was for it to be simple. However, when we meet again on our next meeting, I would show them this layout and design, which is slightly more complicated as it contains more enigmatic design as well as the main themes of the the songs in the album will be displayed via the graohics and colours that I intend to use for the digipak. The artist's name will be in white and bold making the artist`s name more noticeable and standing out. This highlights her importance and promotes the album as being more memorable. Furthermore the use of the colour white, would portray that she is new at experimenting with the house genre. Most of the text will be writen in type writer style (a part from the front cover and the personal message as they would portray that she has thought more for her devoted fans and wishes to make them more personal for each fan) which adds to the vintage look. Furthermore, it makes the text/layout look more feminine, which shows the artist's "down to earth" side and makes the digipak more personal for the fans.

 
There are many different connotations that can be taken from this digipak. For example, the CD features black spades and a £5 note on one side and an autumn leaf on the other side. These objects will be placed on a white background in order to make them stand out further. This is conventional to the indie genre, yet subversive as once again the themes of love within life and social dangers within humans are portrayed within this album. 

In Conclusion, this planning has aided me in deciding what to taking pictures of for the digipak as well as what photos should be made on set. This plan should also help me when using Adobe Photoshop CS6 to create the digipak as well as the adverts surrounding it. In turn when it comes to creating our group digipak,  I would have built up a substantial amount of knowledge surround the creation of digipaks and also how to make it intriguing for the audience which will further assist in creating a group digipak that is appealing to our target audience.

Music Video Storyboards-Miss Georgiou (Updated)

Music Video Storyboard
12/11/2014

Vasil

The Storyboard is a very important for the filming of a music video as this way, we will be able to film without any problems and be able to re-look some of the scenes that we have planned. This might result in the need of having a storyboard in order for the camera operator and the director to know what to do. The storyboard was created with the help that we received from the results we gathered using our preliminary data which was questionnaires. From the questionnaires, we realised that our target audience which is consisted of two different music genres (house and Indie). We also found out that our target audience would wish to be able to see the artist; have him in a life-story and be able to perform in some parts as well as have an exciting end. This is why our storyboard contains these requirements in order to achieve a potential of what our statistics showed.
However, we wished to use special effects such as filters and different camera angles that would excite our primary audience and intrigue minorities from our research that were interested in the editing and filming technology we used. The effects we used were from inspirations that we had archived in our inspiration posts in order to remember what editing we wished to use. Furthermore, the use of parks and houses that we used had arrived partially from the inspirations taken by our artist`s videos. We also incorporated reverse effects from songs such as U2`s elevation in order to make some of the fillers we had built in in order to make the video more interesting for our target audience.

There is a frame number at the top of each frame (obviously) in order for the group director to the filming crew.Interestingly, we have decided to stick to strict music video rules and have a set frame duration to the range of 2-3 seconds per frame. This way, we could use more camera and editing styles, allowing us to improve and keep the video interesting. We also drew pictures to both visually remind ourselves what to film but also we can use them as a reference for shots that we have to add. We have agreed to mostly use hand held camera in order for the audience to build a relationship between the artist and his fan base. Conventional iconography to the indie genre will be used (cigarettes/alcohol, gambling) in order to portray the hard reality in some relationships. This is unconventional for a pop genre as pop, requires the theme to be happy and to mainly portray clubs or the artist dancing and having fun in the club. Some lighting changes will be applied to portray different effects. The use of high key during flash-back scenes will be used to portray the artist in a happy  mood and low key for negative memories. There will be a link between editing and sound as we will synchronise the editing with the pace of the visuals in order to create and maintain suspense and make the audience want to further watch the music video.

In Conclusion, by the creation of a storyboards, every member of the group will be aware of what is to be filmed and save time when planning what to film in a set day. This way, the planning will make the video more detailed as there is a set plan to be followed.

Research into music labels-Miss Georgiou (Updated)

Research into music labels
01/11/24
Vasil

A record label is a brand/trademark that is associated with the marketing/distributing of music recordings/videos. The record labels are usually separated into Major record labels and minor record labels.

Major record labels are large companies in the music industry that own smaller record labels (For example Sony owning Sony UK). These music labels are known as the three major record labels (Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group). 

The first one to be analysed is Sony Music Entertainment. The company is known with artists such as: Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake and others. A part from its own branches (Sony Music UK, Bulgaria, etc.) the record label owns smaller companies such as J Records and Arista. Arista is responsible for artists such as: Avril Lavigne and Whitney Houston, while J Records is responsible for: Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera. Sony itself is involved in more than one type of entertainment (Playstation, Sony games and others). This leads to the company having several types of links within the media world. These links involve: television, movies, mobile phones, computers and as previously said, gaming consoles . 
 

The other music company is called Warner Music Group. The record label also owns Atlantic and Warner Bros Records. Atlantic is famouys in the music industry for being responsible with the following artists: Ed Sheeran, Wiz Khalifa and other misc celebs. Warner Bros Records is further responsible for stars such as: Jason Derulo and the infamous band; The Veronicas. The Music Group is part of the largest media conglomerate (Time Warner) which similarly to Sony Music Entertainment, has links with other types of media.

The final majour music group is the Universal Music Group. This Music group is known for introducing artists such as: Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and others to the music world. The record label is in control over several small music companies such as Def Jam (the company is responsible for artists such as: Jay-Z, Rihanna and others) and Island Records (artists such as: Jessie J, Nicki Minaj and others). The Universal Music Group is also partly responsible for the development of the Vevo music channel. The website allows for free, ad-supported streaming.

Thus we are now left with the UK`s Independent Music Record Labels. An independent record label is a music label that operates without funding. Some artists and bands begin their music career being signed to an independent record label. These record labels are equally successful as the big record labels, however, they work on a smaller scale and promote less mainstream music genres such as dubstep, house, electro and others. Bellow are the 3 majour UK independant music labels.

Rough Trade records were in command of Arcade Fire and The Strokes. This UK Independent record Label is one of the most popular ones. The company was formed 1978 with the main genres being: punk or indie pop. This means that this record label would be very appropriate for our song (Blue Jeans). Furthemrore, the founder successfully promoted and sold records by early punk bands such as The Smiths. However, in the late 80's Rough Trade experienced severe cash problems, which landed the label in bankruptcy. Nevertheless it found new sources from success in the late 90's with bands like The Libertines and The Strokes with which the label was restructured and remains active to this day. Currently it is known for representing indie and rock artists such as: Destroyer, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, The Strokes, The Libertines and The Hold Steady. Sadly, this record label would not be able to aid as although music genre is more diverse, it is still more popular with more major record labels.

Another independent record label is Warp, which was founded in Sheffield in 1989. The record label the label was commonly referred to as Warp Records. It is an independent British record label, that specialises in electronic music. It was founded by Steve Beckett and the late Rob Mitchell from their experiences working at the FON record shop. With Robert Gordon, the label soon became home to artists who would be influential in the electronic music industry. They are responsible for successful artists such as: Aphex Twin, Darkster, Red Snapper, Seefeel and TNGHT. This record label would be perfect for our music video as our music genre is a mix between electro house and indie. It does give us hope as we are aware, that many of the majour record labels prefer to be secure in what they are releasing and currently, pop or dance are the most-successful music genres to sell.

Currently, the label is a dubstep, 2-step garage style record label that is run by Ammunition Promotions, out of the Truman Brewery, East London. The company was created in 1999. Tempa is now widely considered to be one of the founding labels of the dubstep sound as they have managed successfuly to promote other artists such as: Skream, Benga, Kode9 and DJ Hatcha. Nevertheless, I still believe that we will experience problems, promoting our product in this company as they do not support our music genre.

I believe in polytheism, rather than monopolism. However, a very different picture is painted by the 3 majour record labels as they mainly support mainstream music (Pop, Dance, RnB). And as the 3 music companies are the most important ones in the music industry, they control most of what can go on the music market. This means that some artists will be unable to play the songs they want or the way they want as they might not get subsidised by the companies. Nevertheless, with the aid of the UK`s independant music labels that I have listed, an artist should have a slightly better chance at entering the music industry. This is why for my music video, I would 

In Conclusion, one believes that the major record labels are likely to be more successful than independent record labels. This is because they have extreme power within the industry compared to the Independent music companies. This would therefore attract upcoming artists to try and sing for a major record label. Another reason that an artist would rather sign to a major record label is because they manage artists that are extremely popular in the music industry, and in turn they would believe that by signing to a major record label their chances of success will increase.

Group Digipak-Miss Miller

Group Digipak
X/X/MMXIV

Vasil Nikolov

What is a digipak?

Well, a digipak is a CD that is presented in the style of a paper book made of paperboard/cardboard outer binding including a plastic tray for the CD. The digipak became popular back in the 2000s. It is now used for special edition albums more than previously. On the other hand, the jewel CD case was the original disc case that consisted of three pieces of plastic and includes a plastic tray for the CD. 

The packaging for Lana Del Rey's "Born To Die" is a gatefold paperboard digipak, containing a disc and lyrics booklet. As clearly seen, the artwork of the album takes a minimalist direction with the slightly-not white colour scheme. The picture from the front, features a mid-shot of Lana with her name and the album title. The back cover is once again very minimal, featuring the album track list, label logos and some interesting legal statements. The disc design uses a hard white paint with 3 roses on the edge of the disc which is fitting with the romantic theme in the album.

What is a digipak?

Well, a digipak is a CD that is presented in the style of a paper book made of paperboard/cardboard outer binding including a plastic tray for the CD. The digipak became popular back in the 2000s. It is now used for special edition albums more than previously. On the other hand, the jewel CD case was the original disc case that consisted of three pieces of plastic and includes a plastic tray for the CD.

Digipaks provide the fans with extra information. The use of a personal fan message enhances the growth of the bond between the fan and the artist. This provides a positive factor for the distribution of digipaks as more and more fans would want to have the limited number of copies that are produced and sold. This is why record labels like to release such Digipaks.

While the jewel CD case is more traditional and durable, it is more boring and simplistic, leading to the casing protecting the booklet. An addition would be that this type of casing is a good choice for a new fan to listen to the music. This leads to me explaining which digipak, I have chosen to analyse. The digipak I have chosen to analyse is Lana Del Rey's 'Born To Die'.

The name of the artist's is seen large and bold at the top of the cover in white. This suggest to the audience, that Lana is represented as a new artist and that her name is showing importance. This overall highlights The artist's name and album title are all capitalised, in order to highlight their importance for the new market. Meanwhile, 'Born to die' is written in the same bold font, however, in a blue colour that matches the sky at the top. It is positioned on Lana's white shirt in order to both reflect the importance of the name for the album and to show that even though the artist looks normal, she does contain a slightly promiscuous personality. This can be seen by the red bra underneath the pure white garment.

The design and layout used by Lana for the album show the use of simple background, and the use of the sky cause Lana to be the main focus even more. These simple and naturalistic features relate to to the indie genre as there are no distractions for the audience. Furthermore, from the simple shot of her looking towards her audience, the ideas of promiscuity are gone, making Lana appear as the neighbouring girl to many of the fans.

The main artist is in the mid of the shot. The camera is low angled making the audience to looking up to her, further increasing her importance and strength as being a role model. The main focus is on Lana through this element, the audience can see that she is holding a confident posture with which she conforms to the indie genre. This is because she isn't wearing any exaggerated clothes (a point that other genres for example pop do not have). This shows her nature, resulting in the artist to become more relatable for the audience.

Lana is represented as an independent woman which appeals to her target audience. This links to the title, as her facial expression is calm. This shows that many people would idolise her as she doesn't fear the usual aspects.
The colours used within the digipak connote simple themes that are represented by both the artist and the genre. The colour blue that is used within the song connotates the theme of calmness. This links to Lana`s relaxed voice when she sings. For example the use of the colour white links with the theme of purity and cleanliness. This means that the artist is sending to the audience, the idea of innocence. It can also be interpreted as her being new in the music industry. Another colour that is used is the red. both Lana's lips and the petals of the roses are red give the connotation of passion, which means that Lana is a passionate person, which might also imply that she is serious when it comes to performing. Overall, the artist is just trying to tell us in an enigmatic way that although she looks extraordinary, she is quite down to earth.

In Conclusion, from this analysis, one  will be able to plan his digipak with similarly effective themes and be able to represent the artist with the correct genre connotations. One has also released the importance of the artist tot be able to build a relationship with their current or new fan base.

Planing lighting and colour-Miss Georgiou

Planning lighting and colour

21/10/2014

Vasil Nikolov

There is a variety of lighting styles that a music video would hold. The lighting used in our music video contains the following types:
1. Strobe lighting
2. High key lighting
3. Low-key lighting.

The lighting that we can use can create an atmosphere within the scene that can allow the audience to connect with Lana. The used lighting can determine the type of person that we want to attract as different lights are used in different genres of music.

The use of high key lighting is used in open areas as the natural light from the sun can represents her warm feeling towards the guy she likes and can also be understood as being free.

The high key lighting is also known as a naturalistic lighting within our music video. It is conventional for the indie genre music as it is simplistic to make and gives the audience more information about what is happening in the scene. Nevertheless, other forms of lighting are going to be used…light effects such as: fireworks, flares or sparklers would look subversive to the conventions of an indie genre. This is due to the music video being simplistic so that the viewers are able to understand the narrative with ease. This would allow the viewers to feel more engaged in the narrative as they are given the opportunity to understand more of the video sequence.

The other type of lighting we will rely on is low key lighting. The main footage that will contain low key lighting is going to be the close-ups of Lana Del Rey in a depressed manner which would help to create an atmosphere with which, we can build a relationship between the audience and Lana emotively. Furthermore, low key lighting creates a sense of enigma as it does not give away precious information such as the surroundings and keeps the audience in constant demand for more info regarding herself. Our music video follows a love story which should help to build up a romantic setting and atmosphere in order to intrigue the more romantic type of a woman/man. Thus the use of low key lighting helps to represent our artist`s reflection of emotions (mainly negative) and builds a relationship between the artist and the audience.

Colours are another key in the implementation of a successful music video as they send of a set connotation with which the audience understands the set message that is given off the colour. The use of colours such as Blue, send of the connotation of sadness or being distant from everyone else. This shows to the audience what type of person the artist is.

Following the last meeting that we held, we agreed to use a filter known as yellowed tape. As we wish to separate the real time sequences from the memories of the artist, we wish to use it in a similar way to another of her songs “Video Games”. Thus the filter portrays the happiness of the artist. Therefore, the filter represents the artist`s feelings when she was in love. This type of filter adds to the vintage style of Lana.