1st Draft: CD front cover

This is my original idea of my Digipak front cover, I like the font for the title of the CD and I like where it is placed. However, I am not sure about where I have placed the artists name. I think it works but I might consider re-sizing it or changing the font.

1st Draft Magazine Advertisement..

Female Country Artists previous CD covers...

What percentage of people listen to country music?

According to a music marketing survey in 2002 about 42,000,000 adults listened to country radio stations nationwide. Another report from the CMA that came out in April 2009 said that 2 or 5 adults age between 18-54  'qualify' as country music fans. About 20% of people listen to country music.

Process of editing my music video...

These past couple of weeks I have been doing lots of video editing which is very close to being finished. During this process I have learnt a lot about using colour correction, sometimes the difficulty of trying to get my 'singer' in sync with the music and sometimes scenes that I had originally planned to use didn't fit in after all.

Using Colour Correction

As my choice of song is a sad one I didn't want the emotions shown to just be from the character. I wanted the atmosphere to be sad, so I used colour correction to help me do this. I changed the saturation so that some of the colour and 'life' was taken out of the footage to give a more mournful and cold feel. However, when I went to editing and changing the colour of the clips where the 'artist' sang I did not use  such depressing colours. This was because I wanted to separate the character from the artist as though they were two different people. I used colour correction to make so that it was brighter and used an effect called 'Indie Red' as it was ideal for the style of my video but also helped to distinguish the difference between the artist and the character.

Some of the footage that I took wasn't all planned. Like this clip here, I had planned for the actress to walk through this historic house towards me but without me knowing the camera lens went out of focus and blurred the whole clip. Although not planned, this worked to my advantage as it fitted in with the dark feel and gave a nice effect as different to some of the other clips. However, throughout filming and the making of my music video the camera did play up and although started filming in focus would blur so there was a lot of re-filming different parts to try and get a more professional look.

This photo is at Kirby Hall, one of my main locations, here I have used colour correction to help give off the sadness feel. Using this location has helped to create this as well. I feel it reflects loneliness and sadness due to it being a ruin, how isolated it is and left for plants to grow on it so perhaps not as loved and cared for as it would have been in the past when there were servants to tend to it daily.

A couple of weeks ago I finished filming my music video and have just finished uploading it to the Mac for editing. It has been very important to keep the consistency up e.g. clothes, make-up, hair. In doing this it has made filming quite difficult due to showing two different people so that will mean two different styles and locations to film at.
My actress has also had to show different emotions depending on who she was representing. What also made filming quite difficult as the weather. As the majority of my filming is outside the weather has played a huge part in when I could film and when I couldn't e.g. too windy or raining really heavy. However, the weather has helped in some aspects, when it has rained it has helped to reflect the mood of the song. It especially worked well as it was during the 'story' filming part of my music video. When I filmed the singing scenes it started with the sun out then finished with the sky going dark which I feel gives a good impression as the song has just finished.
I have used a number of different locations so that the audience doesn't get bored and I have tried to use a range of shots.

Playing a country female singer..

Lyrics are not the only conservative view of a female country music artist. Appearance is also very important.

They must be beautiful and appear sweet and not to self-confident or sexy. They shouldn't show too much flesh either. Both male and female country music artists are also considered to come across like they have 'ordinary' jobs, perhaps to relate with the audience more and the situations and topics that they sing about, such as the values that are found in a  Christian home. If the rules are stretched too much  they will find it difficult to go much further in this genre.

                                                  However there have been artists who have challenged the traditional women's  role but have achieved success, such as Shania Twain.

Tropes of country music...

As my music video is based on love and loss I feel that my video is most likely to link in with the Earnest Reflection and Sentimentality area rather than the other three sections.  Although, the song that I chose to use by Carrie Underwood was not one of her most famous country songs the story within it affected a lot of people and it pulls at the heart-strings.

I spent the weekend filming some of the story side of my music video at Kirby Hall, it gave a good atmosphere especially since there were not many people there so managed to get a lot of the scenes with my actress on her own. This helps with the sad and alone feeling in the song.

This video also helped me to decide how I am going to set up my music video. The song artist performing and then the story. This video inspired me into using the same person to be both 'characters' but the audience can tell the difference in them due to clothing, hair and make-up and location.

Filming Location: Kirby Hall..

I chose this stunning Elizabethan house as a location to film because I have been previously about five times and knew that it wasn't a very busy place and wanted the feeling of sadness and perhaps loneliness to show through the surroundings. It is also partly ruin which could help to symbolise the end of something beautiful, as it is such a beautiful building and place. It generally fit in with the music and feel of what I am hoping to produce. It also fits in very well with my other filming locations , although they are miles apart.

Filming location 1: Kirby Hall

Kirby Hall and Gardens

Technology..

The technology I am going to be using...


Camera
I will be not be using a camera from school as I already have one at home. I feel using one that I can have unlimited access to would work to my advantage. I have already experimented with the camera while doing test shots and taking photographs for my Digipak.

Tripod

I will be using a tripod from school to help give my music video more of a professional look. It will help to keep the camera steady and work as a support.

Mac

The mac will play a huge part in the making of my video as it will be the place where I put my video together and edit it. I will also be using the mac to continuously update my blog. 

So far the mac has been my main research source, looking at previous music videos, researching about my artist, digipak advertising and blogging.

Who is my target audience?

Carrie Underwoods style of music is country so her music would apply to country fans but also maybe to pop music lovers. She is known worldwide and her music is not heavy country so could appeal to a wider range of people. I don't think that there is a specific target audience for her music, there are people of all ages that like her music and are both genders.

My target audience will be aimed at a younger generation, from 30 years old and younger. Carrie is quite a young artist and although the song is quite serious and sad, it is said from a young womans point of view so would appeal more to a young female target audience. It would especially appeal to those who have lost their boyfriend, fiancé or husband so would apply to them. The gender of my target audience will be females as I would like my artist to come across as someone to look up too and be inspired by along with the pervious reasons I have given. The lifestyle of the target audience I do not feel is really important. Every lifestyle individual and different people from different lifestyles will like her music.

How well known is my music artist?

• Carrie Underwood won American Idol in 2005.
• Have been nominated for Grammy Awards 7 times, winning 4 of them.
• Have sold 14 million albums worldwide.
• Broke the Billboard chart history as the first country music artist ever to debut at No.1 on the Hot 100.

History of music videos..

1926-1959: Talkies, soundies and shorts

• Featured many bands, vocalists and dancers.
• Sing-along short cartoons called Screen Songs, which invited audiences to sing along to popular songs by "following the bouncing ball", which is similar to a modern karaoke machine.
• Early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoons.
• in the mid-1940s, musician Louis Jordan made short films for his songs, some of which were spliced together into a feature film Lookout Sister.
• Musical films were another important precursor to music video, and several well-known music videos have imitated the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930s to the 1950s. 

1960–1973: Promotional clips and others

• Late 1950's the Scopitone, a visual jukebox, was invented in France. Many french artists produced short films using this.
• In 1964, The Beatles starred in their first feature film.
• The Rolling Stones appeared in many promotional clips for their songs in the 1960s.
• During late 1972–73 David Bowie featured in a series of promotional films directed by pop photographer Mick Rock.
• Country music historian Bob Millard wrote that JMI had pioneered the country music video concept by "producing a 3-minute film" to go along with Williams' song.

1974–1980 – Beginnings of music television

• The Australian TV shows Countdown and Sounds, both of which premiered in 1974, were significant in developing and popularizing the music video genre in Australia and other countries.

• The long-running British TV show Top of the Pops began playing music videos in the late 1970s, although the BBC placed strict limits on the number of 'outsourced' videos TOTP could use. Therefore a good video would increase a song's sales as viewers hoped to see it again the following week.
• In 1980, David Bowie scored his first UK number one in nearly a decade thanks to director David Mallet's eye catching promo for "Ashes to Ashes".

1981–1991: Music videos go mainstream

• In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television.
• In 1983, one of the most successful, influential and iconic music videos of all time was released: the nearly 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller", directed by John Landis.
• On March 5, 1983, Country Music Television, or CMT, was launched,created and founded by Glenn D. Daniels and uplinked from the Video World Productions facility in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
• The Canadian music channel MuchMusic was launched in 1984.
• In 1984, MTV also launched the MTV Video Music Awards, an annual awards event that would come to underscore MTV's importance in the music industry.
• In 1985, MTV launched the channel VH1, featuring softer music, and meant to cater to an older demographic than MTV. MTV Europe was launched in 1987, and MTV Asia in 1991.
• Another important development in music videos was the launch of The Chart Show on the UK's Channel 4 in 1986. This was a program which consisted entirely of music videos.

1992–2004: Rise of the directors

• In November 1992, MTV began listing directors with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium.
• Two of the videos directed by Romanek in 1995 are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time: Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream", which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story", which cost $5 million.

2005–present: The Internet becomes video-friendly

• 2005 saw the launch of the website YouTube, which made the viewing of online video much faster and easier; Google Videos, Yahoo! Video, Facebook and MySpace's video functionality, use similar technology.
• n 2009, 30 Seconds to Mars' music video "Kings and Queens" was uploaded to popular video-sharing website YouTube on the same day of its release, where it has garnered over one hundred million views.

Now, many music videos are used to sell the song or the artist, especially mainstream artists. 

Font Styles For CD Digipak and Magazine Advert...

Music Video's..

1962
Tell Him
Exciters

• Pop song - happy,bright, cheery
• In a zoo  - doesn't link with the lyrics in the song
• Before music video's became popular

2011
1 Direction
What Makes You Beautiful

• On the beach - doesn't link with the song

2000
Blink 182
All The Small Things

• 20 years before 1 Direction
• Parody

1988
New Kids On The Block
You Got It

• Another group similar to 1 Direction - give the impression of being nice, sensitive etc

2006
Nickelback
Rockstar

• Using celebrities and fans to be in the video, al with their own bit to 'sing'. Nickelback are not shown in this video.

1997

Bloodhound Gang

Why's Everybody Always Picking On Me?

• Does the video or the music sell the song?
• Parody

1996

Radiohead

Street Spirit

• Gives off emotion - sad, lonely, isolated
• Concept

Photo shoot...

Yesterday I did a a photo shoot with my sister who is going to be my actress/singer. Here is the original shot and the edited shot. I am currently experimenting with this for my digipak. I also did some experimental filming to give me more of an idea on lighting and angles. There is more of a dreamy ambiance in the second photo which is what I would like to come across to the audience/viewer.

Readings, Uses and gratifications...

Uses and Gratification

My text would give off an emotional response to the audience due to the song telling a sad story of losing someone that was loved and can only be considered a dream now. I chose this song specifically because it would relate to a large number of people because everyone has lost a loved one and the loss expressed in my text would signify how they feel. This could give the audience the feeling of being understood. Although, the lyrics are in fact talking about a girl losing her fiance.

Readings

Due to the song choice I have chosen I don't feel that my video could be mis-interpred to being a happy and jolly video rather than a sad and rather meaningful one. However I do feel my video could attract oppositional views because although there is the theme of love within my video, there is nothing sexual in my video, which for some people it may not be enough and due to current more mainstream videos money, sex and drugs could be considered cool and perhaps more appealing. However this is not what I wanted to show. Due to this my text might be liked by a more niche audience so is more personal preference.

Some shots I will be using in my music video...

A close-up shot will be important in my music video as I will be using it to show the emotion of my singer/actress as the song holds a lot of emotion and feeling in it.

I will also be using a medium close-up shot and a medium shot. This will help to still show emotion and feeling but also a little more detail in clothes and background etc.

I will be using a wide shot. This will still show that the singer/actress is the more important subject in the image but will keep the audience up to date with the location.

I am hoping to use the over-the-shoulder shot as well to help the video seem more unique, real and personal. I would use this for when the actress is looking at something that I would want the audience to see.

I will be using high angle and low angle shots in my music video. The high angle will help to create a more vulnerable feeling on my actress. The low angle will also be used for this. It will be linked in with an over-the-shoulder shot looking up at the church.

Britney Spears is  a good example of being air brushed and altered. This photo has obviously been changed to make her look more attractive and appealing to the male gaze. However, when girls see this it is depressing as this is what they wish to look like...even if it is not true.


On the left is an airbrushed image while on the right is the truth of Britenys figure.









The photos below show the enhancements that they have made to her face to also make her more attractive  and seductive. This close-up shot is similar to the kind of shots that would be used on the front of a cd cover.

Editing a photo..

This lesson I have been experimenting and editing on Pixlr as I will be producing a number of photo's for my Digipak advert and my Digipak. The first image is the original and the second one is the edited version. It gives off more of a warmth  than the original. 

Analysis of Shania Twain digipak magazine advert..

I am looking at various previous music magazine digipak adverts to help give me an idea of how I am going to design mine. I am also looking at the effect the digipak advert gives off. Although I am looking down the country route I feel that  Pop artists and rock artists digipak adverts could help in my decision. I will mostly look at female artist adverts as my music video involves only a female artist.

This advertisement comes across to me as simple but effective. It doesn't have a lot of writing on it that it will put the audience off and it's not busy with information or lots of colours. The poster shows a mid-shot of the artist that is looking directly into the camera, this might make the audience feel more involved and because she is an attractive woman it could bring in male interest. The digipak front cover uses the same image as the advertisement image which would help people to remember what the cover looks like, rather than having two separate images. Shania Twains name is big and bold as well, this would also help the audience to either remember her name or if a fan of her the writing would stand out a great deal and would grab interest.

In my music video I am considering having the story in black and white while the singer is in natural colour. This black and white effect could work for my digipak advert as it would help to set the mood of the song and it would link in with the video.