initial digi pack ideas

Research into digi pack

A Digi pack: 

For part of my coursework i have to create a digipak to go alongside mine and Jess' music video. Therefore i will need to do some research into digipaks.

Digipak is a patented style of CD packaging. A CD digipak is usually folds out to four sections, each featuring different images of the artist.

Digipaks always contains the artist or band; a bonus item; it could be a posters, bonus tracks ect. 

Digipaks are designed in a way which is meant to attract the aimed target audience. They must have a aesthetically pleasing cover to attract to the pyscographic target audience that will listen to the music.

Production Schedule

To make the filming of our music video easier and more organised, Jess and I sat down together while Jess drew up a production schedule which included the specific shots, and angles that we want to use when filming. We decided that this was a good idea to create one because we aren’t certain as to how ling each take is going to be so this will help us to keep organised and flow as smoothly as possible.

Analysis of magazine

A music magazine is mainly dedicated to advertising different artist’s music and their music culture. Magazines typically have a specific theme and layout that suits the specific style of genre, in my case it has a related layout to the style of Indie Rock Music.  As you can see below I have analysed two magazines that both link to the rock music that Is my focus for the creation of my music video. The research that I gain from the analysis of these two magazines will help me to produce a set of mise en scene; ideas; costumes; fonts; camera angles; shots; transitions themes and colours that I could use include. Also, giving me more information on what my psychographic audience is attracted to within the indie rock genre. 

Music Magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and music culture. These magazines typically include music news, interviews, concert reviews, ect.

Rock: includes articles and reviews of current and upcoming artists. My target audience is aimed at young adults, aged 18-30. Due to this being the main age group for this type of genre. The colours used, red, gold, silver, black and white, are more sophisticated.

Indie: Indie magazines are full of independent music, such as, rock and indie. It is more current and vibrant as it aims at a target audience with ages of 18-25 year olds. Indie magazines usually have a lot of red and black as it is a simple layout and there is a lot of writing on it which promotes inside content. It also shows the latest and best gigs to go to, the new and interesting upcoming artists with reviews and ratings.

Rolling Stones Analysis. 

Colour Scheme: As you can see in the examples, there is a link with the colours that have been used, the main colours that make up the image for the Rolling Stones magazine are; Red; Black; White; Yellow. These colours that are used such as the reds and blacks don’t connote the ‘indie rock’ music genre that we would assume, as they stereotypically give across the feel of romance and negativity, the colour black suggests that indie rock is more than just a genre, and that it has meaning and feelings, within the songs and there lyrics. However, the black and white background and photograph that is shown works well with the sub colours, red and yellow as it stands out and does create that ‘indie’ feel as it has that simple, edgy vibe. Which as an audience of indie rock we may use the colours in more of a deeper, thoughtful feeling towards it.

 Fonts: Rolling Stones is a very original and unique magazine. The fonts that they use are very connected and viewed as typical indie rock.  However, as you can see in the three examples; each one of their names has the font that would typically be used to portray them as an artist, their ‘title’- what we can assume is related to that artist only. I think  The Rolling Stones’ idea to do that was very clever, original and specific to the artist.

NME Magazine Analysis:

NME magazines colour scheme is very much the same as The Rolling Stones, with the blacks, whites, reds and yellows. There are small aspects of the Indie Rock genre. However the photos that are included are more or less all in colour which is in contrast with The Rolling Stones, by using colour on the images it creates a more happy feel, yet the aspects of the images like their facial expressions and costumes still give the feel of ‘Indie Rock’ I think that the reason the NME magazines are like this is because the artists that they show are more edgy, however, Amy Winehouse is portrayed on both and from looking at them both they give you a different feel towards her as an artist, one is original, meaningful and the other is more of a lively, less emotional vibe. The fonts that have been used in the magazine is quite similar again to The Rolling Stones, the artist type of music genre and feel that we should be getting across from them and there music is expressed through the fonts. I feel that NME magazine have tried to position the artist to a specific style that goes with the magazine rather than creating the magazine cover and then placing the image of the artist on.


However, I feel that The Rolling Stones magazine is much more relatable to mine and Jess’ music genre that we want. 

Discussion: update of ideas

We decided before we made anymore final decisions that we would look over our ideas to see if we could improve. We decided that the meaning of the lyrics were too specific to link correctly with the music video, we decided that at the end of the music video when she has taken the pregnancy test that we would then do small flashbacks of her 'corrupted' 'not so innocent' life. The lyrics read "where do you get in this world without a little corruption" this could imply that its ok to be a little off the rails sometimes.

Target audience

Photography for digipack

Story board and Timings

Myself and Jess decided to come together and create a plan of what we think would work best for the music video. However, this is our first idea and it isn’t completed perfectly. We have done this so we can get a sense of how the music video will be produced. We decided to draw a story board and we did this by going through the lyrics sheet and deciding what literal meaning we could contribute into the scene, this would make the filming a lot much easier and give us better timing on the footage that we produce so we can make everything fit and run smoothly.  We have also come up with the times that the bad would be preforming in the video.

The music video is going to be mainly around a corrupted girl and this links in very literally with the lyrics that we have analysed. Firstly, we will begin by a close up shot of her in a pub or club on a dancefloor, it will then cut to when she wakes up in her bed, drunk text appears on her phone, the camera will then zoom into the phone bringing a flash back of the night before when she is taking some sort of drug. After this she will run out of the club and throw up, trying to walk while she makes her way home. When she enters her house her drunken father will be sat on the sofa drinking alcohol, the girl will pick up a photo of her old family which will imply that her mother is no longer with them, her father then comes along throws a glass or bottle at the photo to purposely break it. After this she grabs her school jacket and makes her way to school, where she then climbs a fence to sneak out and meet her older boyfriend.

The next scene will be of the girl buying a pregnancy test and showing her boyfriend who then leaves her and walks off. During each chorus and instrumental breaks there will be the band playing just as they would live, we would then show different angles and shots of the band throughout these. At the ending me and jess were thinking that we would include small snips of her life. 

Lyrical Analysis

Conventions of a music video

Locations Used in Indie Rock Music Videos

Me and Jess decided that we needed to have an idea as to where we would have our music video located. 

Therefore, I had looked into some possible places that I thought would be good for the video. 

I looked at different images of pubs, homes, streets.

I though these type of locations would be more suitable because of the mise en scene, lighting and effects of an indie Rock music video as they are quite quirky, the location of a music video are very important as it creates the mood and scene of the narrative. For example; an indie video is more likely to be somewhere urban and fairly lower class, where the characters seem like they would be seen there, in bars, streets, rough homes, as if they come from rough backgrounds and the location also creates the character’s profile. Stereotypically that is what is represented when talking about indie rock music videos. Indie Rock artists are mainly represented as being lonely or damaged than others as they give the deep, emotional lyrics in their songs. However, some lyrics have behind meanings as if the artist doesn’t care.

I did some research into where indie rock videos are typically produced; from my research I gathered that as I said before the main places that indie music videos are produced are quite scruffy pubs, the back streets etc.

In our music video there is also a scene where we need to be in a house, therefore we asked Jess’ friend Beth if we could have permission to film in her home as she has the floor plan that me and Jess decided would be best on our story board.

We need a gate or fence where the main character and her boyfriend need to climb over, here we could possibly use the school site or the park just down the road.

For the scenes which includes the main actor stealing a pregnancy test we can as for permission to use the local corner shop. 

James Bay Music video analysis

Character Profile

In mine and Jess’ music video we came to the conclusion after looking at the song lyrics and storyline of the song ‘Roll the Dice’ we have decided that there is going to be two main characters, a female and male.

The female will be the stereotypically rebellious teenage girl who gets herself into bad situations. However, we decided that we were going to create her to look like an innocent girl, so therefore when we have her doing rebellious things in the music video it comes across as though she is corrupted, that she could have made something of her life but went down the wrong path. To do this I have created a mood board of different girly dresses, however it will be linked to the stereotypical indie rock appearance, where there will be slight signs of rebellious and trouble with her makeup and accessories, for example there could be a bottle of alcohol or a cigarette. 

The male character will be featured a fairly good amount, he is portrayed as the main female characters boyfriend. When me and Jess did the lyrical analysis we gathered that he is to be older than her therefore we needed to find a taller looking male. We wanted to get across that the girl is damage and corrupted, and therefore her boyfriend needs the stereotypical chav style that will portray that he is no good for her. To give him the representation of this we could dress him in a tracksuit or jeans and a hoodie, this gives the theme of a thug and that he doesn't care about his appearance. With accessories we could give him a beenie, a cap, or a 'man bag' to add to the typical look that we are trying to get.  

Getting permission from The Claremonts

The artist that we are going to use for our music production is The Claremonts. To do this we had to get permission. 
Jess and I messaged the leader of the band to see what they thought of the idea and it was a success, they were up for us to produce a music video starring them. Through out our planning we have  been messaging them asking and requesting the song, what they think of our ideas regarding the music production.
Me and Jess decided to go against using a 'famous' artist because we thought that by using a upcoming small indie band that it would be more beneficial, meaning the work that we produce will be  more original, the song hasn't been used anywhere before so we would be the first. We needed permission to use the song and for them to be in the music video. 

Goodwins Theory

Godwin's theory states that there are five key aspects to a music video; 

• thought through the beat, this meaning what the audience can gain from the lyrics. 
• Relationships between the song and visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying and contradicting the music. 
• Narrative and performance of the music video
• Star image, camera shots, who is the center of attention- multiple close ups of the main artist or vocalist.
• Technical aspects of a music video. Intertextual references to other media texts may be present.

“Music videos ignore commonnarrative as they are essentially advertisements As consumers we make  up our own meaning of  a song in our minds. A music video can anchor meaning and gives the record company/ artist a method of anchoring meaning."

• Vogeurism often plays a large part, especially in relation to females and their representation in the music video.

Theories

Roland Barthes

When analysing texts, Barthes makes a distinction between a traditional work and what he calls “the Text.” He says that traditional texts work as the author has control of the narrative, the Text enables the reader to actively engage in its production because it is not restricted by genre. Whereas written text is the primary communication system, his theories can be applied to various cultural forms such as photography, music, painting, and cultural events.

Barthes also distinguishes between readerly and writerly texts, he says, have pre-determined meaning, whereas, writerly texts have a large number of meaning.

Elements of both readerly and writerly texts can be interpreted through what Barthes calls the Five Codes.

The five codes represent five different ways of seeing meaning in a text. They highlight different aspects of the narrative.

According to Barthes a text can be open or closed, the five codes are:
· Enigma code-This code refers to mystery within a text. Enigmas within the narrative make the audience want to know more, this would be a good theory to link in with the genre of horror because it would create a sense of mystery and suspense.

· Action code -This code contains sequential elements of action in the text, linking in with horror films this could be a good way to show off the action that is happening.

· Semantic code -This code refers to additional meanings. Elements of the semantic code.

· symbolic code-This code is about symbolism in text.

· Referential code - This code refers to anything in the text which refers to an external body of knowledge, within a horror film it allows the audience to already have a feel of what is going to happen at the end.

Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp developed a character theory for studying media texts and productions, which indicates that there were 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed, which could be applied to other media:


· The villain (struggles against the hero)

· The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)

· The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)

· The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)

· The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)

· The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)

· The hero [AKA victim/seeker/paladin/winner, reacts to the donor, weds the princess)

Todrov

Levi Strauss
Binary oppositions – basically levi strauss theory is that the conflict is based around the binary opposites and that the binary opposites are the central climax of narrative structure.
Examples of binary opposites:

· Good v evil
· Peace v war

Summary of artist

Me and Jess have come to the conclusion of our artist and song choice. We came together and did an artist analysis and research such as; 

• Band Style
• Motives 
• Songs 
• Themes  

We decided to come together as it gave us a better understanding of the band and there 'Roll The Dice' song. we can use the research that we got form this to use in our choices that we make in the future of the music video.

Survey

Example songs

Here I have come up with a list of possible songs that me and Jess could listen to, analyse and gather more knowledge from the lyrics and songs that different artists produce. 

• Arctic Monkeys- Fluorescent Adolescent 
• Jake Bugg- Two fingers
• Jake Bugg- Trouble towns
• Jake Bugg- Someone told me
• Arctic Monkeys- Do i wanna know
• James Bay- Let it go
• James Bay- Running 
• James Bay- Hold Back the river 
• The Vaccines- if you wanna                    

Song choices that we may use

Song possibilities.

Me and Jess were thinking about different artists with songs that have deep meaningful lyrics that would be easier to create a narrative that would be effective. Below is a list of different artists and their songs that we would take into consideration. 

·         Jake Bugg- Two Fingers

·         Arctic Monkeys- fluorescent adolescent

      James Bay- Let it go 

      The Claremonts- Roll the Dice

      We also took into mind Arctic Monkeys, do i wanna know. We liked this music video as it was cartoon so therefore we could put in our creativity into the video as there is not one for it already so there would be more of an original vibe. 

Jake Bugg Music video analysis

Type of music videoThis music video of Jake Bugg singing Tow Fingers is mainly a narrative based video however, near end of the video there is a small clip of performance.

At the beginning of the music video there is a railway sign  this is shown by using a long middle shot. this creates the theme and scene for the audience so they have an understanding of the environment that he is involved in. Jake Bugg then gets filmed walking along the roads of his hometown, this is shown through a follow shot. Jake is wearing a bomber jacket, tight jeans and trainers, he is also carrying  a guitar which represents the way music is involved in his life. As he is walking down the road he lights a cigarette this could imply that his identity and personality is very laid back and careless. The lighting and editing that is used in these few scenes are natural lighting from the light outside, this connotes a sense of realism towards the audience, as if they can relate to him.  The lyrics in the music video are very clearly shown in the performance scenes, for example; 


- "I drink to remember, I smoke to forget"

- "Skin up a fat one, hide from the feds" 

- "Light a cigarette and smoke it all away" 

These lyrics all have reference to smoking and cigarettes, this implies that Jake Bugg could be trying to forget something. 

"He's down in the kitchen drinking White Lightning

He's with my momma, they're yelling and fighting

It's not the first time praying for silence

Something is changing, changing, changing"

This scene is a visual of some sort of domestic violence. It shows what we suspect to be, his mother and her boyfriend or other figure. It is a very realistic shot of them arguing and fighting, creates a link with the audience as some people my be able to understand what he is going though and feel his emotions. 

The end scenes show Jake Bugg enjoying himself with his friends, we know this by his facial expressions, they're all laughing.  

"I left it behind"  This is one line that Jake sings that shows that he has moved on, left his 'sad' 'messed' life behind. This could be interpreted one of two ways by the audience, firstly, they may feel sympathy for him as his is now all alone however it can be a positive representation as he is moving on from the life that was dragging him down. 

Analysis of Jake Bugg

Mood Board

I have created a mood board showing styles and bands in Indie rock music videos.

From the research me and Jess can start to think about how we will create the theme for the artists and how the narrative will be portrayed depending on the representation of characters that we are trying to get across. For example, as you can see from above, Jake Bugg and James Bay are very laid back artists as they aren't wearing any designer clothing. James bay has a large hat on with a checkered shirt, this connotes that he is chilled out, reflecting in his songs. 

Exciting media blog

Strengths	Weaknesses
To create and use a wide range of camera angles and movements. Experimentation with different transitions such as slow motion. Lighting to show feelings and emotion. Different uses of creativity. Make it narrative based of performance based, not too difficult.	The lyrics need to fit with the theme of the video, some that we looked at in class didn’t follow this rule therefore you don’t know what kind of genre they have produced. Not enough creativity in the videos, they are very basic and boring, you want the audience to watch it. Don’t make it too complicated and difficult to produce as in the final outcome it may not be as great as you wished.

Analysis of James Bay let it go

Analysis of Artist

Wikipedia's entry: Jake Bugg (born Jake Edwin Charles Kennedy, 28 February 1994) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. His self-titled debut album, largely co-written with songwriter Iain Archer, was released in late 2012 and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. His second album, Shangri La, was released in November 2013. His main influences are Don McLean, Donovan, The Beatles, Oasis, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, and Nick Drake.

His look: he has long brunette hair which connotes a rugged, care free personality as he doesn’t want to get it styled. He is holding a cigarette this shows the lack of cares that he has for his own health, the image of him with a cigarette is on his album cover which implies that he isn’t afraid to break the system and smoke in public. Jake bugg is also wearing a large coat and black jeans the use of the dark colours and black suggest he isn’t very colourful and happy. However, my target audience would most likely copy his style as it is just basic everyday wear. His isn’t like most artist as he doesn’t care about his appearance and this Is what I like about him because he is all about the music and just enjoying himself rather than just focusing on the fame.

Background: Jake Bugg grew up in the Clifton council estate of Nottingham and started playing guitar at the age of 12- he refers back to his hometown in his songs such as ‘Two Fingers’. He plays an acoustic instrument which is a main prop in indie rock music which he specialises in. By having an artist like Jake Bugg who is interested in his genre and plays an instrument allows my target audience to become connected with him. Jake Bugg was chosen by the BBC to showcase on their "Introducing" stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival aged 17, now in his 20s he still falls into the category of my target audience age, showing that he has the ability to connect and inspire.

He has been nominated for 9 awards.

Initial Ideas

SWOT Analysis

After a hard year of putting the work, effort and time into my As media blog, I was glad when I had finished and produced my final products to the best of my ability. I was overall happy with my final product; although there is always room for improvement, I was proud of what I had achieved. In my A2 I will definitely take on board the ideas I could have used to boost up my final grade and any critical feedback I get. Below I have produced a SWOT analysis that can help me stay organised in my A2 Media Studies.

My Strengths last year Strength of mine last year would be that I had creative ideas and used them to my full potential. As I was on my own for the majority of the coursework It made it easier for me to produce the ideas that I wanted to do. Also, I think my main strength was my video; It allowed me to mess about on the video to find out what did what on my own so I knew exactly what I wanted and got it done.

My Weaknesses last year A weakness for me was deadlines, although I am mostly fairly good with producing my work to the due date, I found it hard as I was the only one not in a group so it was triple the work for me and therefore the timing was hard. I thought that overall my main weaknesses were my evaluation questions as I didn’t vary them as in, the majority of my evaluation questions were just text and didn’t have a vast variety of different technology.

Opportunities to progress this time around… This time around I will concentrate on my time management and make sure everything is done to the deadline and to my full potential.

‘Threats’ that may limit my progress this year… I am in a group of 3 and I think my information and ideas will be more dense as it will be all of our ideas instead of just mine, however I think that because I am used to working with just my ideas I will have to adapt to everyone’s creativity and the disagreements that we may or may not encounter.