Digipack- Final

Magazine Ad- Final

Digi pack track ideas

On our digi-pack we are creating an album so there needs to be track names suitable with the genre.

Wiley has done many albums varying from 10-16 tracks. One album he did had 22 tracks.

Here i have come up with potential names to put on our digi-pack.


1.Fire Pit's Burning
2.Helipad(Feat. Triggz & J.M.E)
3.Smash up (the party) Feat. Tinchy Stryder
4.In the Bag
5.Eski Boi (Part 2)
6.Sneaky
7.Hole in ma Heart
8.Booty Call
9.Sexy Beast Feat. Chipmunk
10.Binge Fest
11.Drinking the Holy Water
12.Up all Night
13.Five Finger Madness
14.Forever Young
15.Paper Boi
16.Bigger than me Feat. Skepta

Editing 25/11/13

Today we had the last lesson to edit. We managed to successfully finish our video by brightening the dark clips adding a fade out on the last clip. We initially wanted to upload our video and put it on Youtube but for some reason it was saying UNKNOWN ERROR. We decided that tomorrow we would try again.


29/11/13

We found the problem with the video and it meant that we couldn't colour correct it or have the brightness. We just uploaded it without the effects that we wanted in order to put it on Youtube.

Music Video Final Cut Feedback

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After our final project was exported to YouTube and ready to be viewed, we showed our entire media group our music video. We asked them for both positive and negative feedback on all of the micro elements and also how the video fits within the genre of our song. Here were our responses:

Positives
There was an appropriate speed of cutting. The transitions between each shot were concise and fitted with the pace of the song. We established a strong storyline throughout the piece. Some said there was a good cutting from the narrative shots or scenarios to lip synching or performance shots. This added variety to our choice of shots. The prequel sequence established the setting of the music video which our audience believed to be an important part of the video. The rewind effect before the song commences is a different approach to editing and the effects. Also the ending with the circling camerawork is a different yet effective ending. The backing dancers during the performance shots filled the frame and gave the video a more party atmosphere. Finally, the party theme reflected both the song and the genre of music.

Negatives

Although we received some good positive comments on our video, there were some constructive criticisms to be made. Some of which we, as a group, can agree with and could have improved ourselves. 

Due to the short time we had to invite people to take part in our video, we didn't get the right number of people to come to the part. Therefore, it looks more like a gathering than a party. The focus is shaky at some points. Some of our audience would have benefitted from a conclusion to the narrative and our protagonist to have something happen to him to conclude. Our location was hinded and also, filming in October is always a challenge. The lighting was quite yellow because of this. Our video was filmed all in 1 room. One improvement that could have been made is to what is called "donut" the scene. This is the process in which you cram everyone present in to make it seem like there is more people. The sofa shot was said to have too much blank space. The final sofa shot where the "womanizer" has a glass of water poured over him is said to have looked rehearsed. The audience may have benefitted from perhaps a close up reaction shot. One said that the hand gestures that go with the lip-synching were cheesy. However, the hand gestures fit in with the style of our music genre.

Digi Pack production 22/11/13

Today we started working on our digi-pack. As i am the performer i had to pose for our album cover. I brought in the hat that i used for the music video, so hopefully the audience will see a bit of what makes up my star persona.

We took about 9 photos of me and then selected the best photos for our digi-packs.

We are hoping to use photoshop to implement our godfather idea which will then attract our target audience.

Editing 22/11/13

In todays lesson we perfected the introduction to our music video, which is short opening narrative to the main music video. This includes our main actor walking into a house party and then the camera changing its view to show the play button of an iPod being pressed.

We also started our digipak and magazine advert by taking photos of Ilarna who was our music artist in our music video.

Plus we asked our teachers opinion on the brightness of the music video and any improvements or changes we could make to the effects. She said that the brightness didn't need changing, but the shots needed to be colour corrected more.

editing 22/11/13

Today we continued to edit for our music video. We were determine to finish the music video today but we have one more thing to do before it's completely finished.

We started by looking through it again. Then when we saw stuff that didn't look right and stop and changed them. It was hard finding clips to replace as we didn't want to ruin the continuity of the music video.

In some of footage, we swap them around as we saw our protagonist happy after being turned down by the girls. I had the idea of using that clip where he was happy and putting it at the start where we could then introduce him as the womanizer.

after that we went on to brighten the music video as in some places it is very dark and you can't see what is going on. We used the brightness effect in Premier Pro to brighten the dark clips.

We hope to add more effects onto the music video and then we can be satisfied that its finish.

Editing - 22nd November 2013

Tasks we got done in today's lesson:

• We created an introduction to our characters by using texts
• Pictures for digipack cover
• We adjusted the brightness and contrast of our video. However, there was little we could do due to the poor lighting we had whilst filming.

Digi pack planning

Yesterday we started planning for our music video. We looked at Wiley's previous album covers and his recent one was of his face slanting to the side so the audience see his profile from the side. The fonts contrast each other and is supported with a black background.




We wanted to come up with a album name which best suited our star persona. As Wiley is a well known artist, we wanted to find an album name that related to the fact that he finally cracked into the mainstream charts and has started his chart successful career. After still struggling to think of a name, we searched on Youtube, for one of Wiley's interview. When we clicked a random one, this is what we saw.

Wiley interview


This gave us the idea to call our album name 'The Godfather'. This led us to use Andrew Goodwin point of use of Intertextuality because after realising that we wanted to call our album name 'The Godfather' we thought we could use the idea of the movie 'The Godfather' to make our digi pack.




We thought having the star persona doing the same pose as the Godfather in the picture and have a red rose would be very effective. However we came across this other picture from the Godfather where this character is doing a praying sort of pose and this would be suitable for our star persona, because I am seen doing that pose in the music video.

Lesson by lesson editing

18/10/13

Today we begun editing. Starting by synching the shots of our performer lip-synching and placing at the correct place on the timeline.

In addition, we managed to create quick cuts using the ‘razor tool’ of the girls appearing on the sofa to match the quick beat of the song.

21/10/13

By the end of today’s lesson all three scenarios with the girls were added in.

We also manage to create cutting in between the shots of lip-synching and the narrative, so that the transition looks smooth.

22/10/13

Today we re-watched our music video. We found that the lip-synching was still slightly out of synch with the audio. As a result, we had gone back and matched it to the audio. After that, we started cutting in between the lip-synching shots and the scenarios, ensuring that the shots were not too long or too short, so that it matches the pace of the track. Afterwards, we concentrated on the finishing of the music video by adding a runway shot of the guests dancing. However, we quickly found out that just having one continuous shot made it look to static and out-of place with the pace of the track. Therefore, we added other clips of the party that we cut in between with the runway shot.

18/11/13

In today’s lesson we moved onto testing different effects, that could enhance the quality of the shots as the shots seemed to dim, we colour corrected the shots by increasing the colour brightness and setting colour contrast higher.

5/11/12

In today’s lesson we focused closing the narrative with the fight scene. This scene is in particularly complex to edit, as it was filmed from several angles and camera positions of when our protagonist gets punched by another character, we must ensure that the transition between the several shots of the same action look smith and realistic enough.

8/11/13

In today’s lesson we concentrated on including more shots of the lip-synching, as we all agreed that we needed to replace the ‘fill’ shots with more engaging clips. However, we left the opening and the narrative untouched as we thought they were up to standard.

12/11/13

We had completed editing the ending of our music video. We agreed on changing the ending from the fight scene to finishing it with the camera spinning around the room with people dancing then fading to black. The reason behind it is that we asked for second opinion from our media teacher, she told us that she preferred the video ended with the camera spinning, as she thought the increasing speed of the camera spinning looked effectively with the audio.

15/11/13

In today’s lessons titles of the artist, the song title and protagonist label were added in. 

18/11/13

Today’s lesson we devoted to video effects. We were colour correcting the shots again as we received comments that the shots were still too dark. Setting the right colour brightness was difficult as the lighting needed to look between the shots.

Editing 18/11/13

Today we continued to edit for our music video. We aimed to finish the structure of the video so on our final editing session, we can focus on effects.

We managed to get rid of the fillers and replace them with the appropriate footage. This would provide a great way to prolong the audience's interest and gain more ways to expose the party atmosphere.

Editing 18/11/13

In todays lesson we decided to focus on video effects. We discovered that parts of our music videos were quite dark and hard to see whats going on and needed to be brightened and colour corrected. We found it difficult applying the effects to the video clips, because we didn't know how to add them to the timeline. We then discovered that you had to apply the effects to the clip, not the timeline. It was difficult looking for the right effect, because we had never used Premiere Pro and didn't know where to look for the effects and what was what.

Next lesson we need to add in the introduction.

Magazine Advert Research

Wretch 32 is a classic example of a grime artist. This is a music magazine advertisement used to promote his latest album. Even if you are not aware of Wretch 32, you can tell by the colours, fonts and style that he is an urban artist.  Music magazines are a good way to promote an artist as it is worth billions and promotes their upcoming single, album or tour to a wider audience. The advert however is less informative than any other form of promotion as it gives simply the artist name, title of album/tour, the release date and the retailers. For example, if the advert was for a CD like the one shown above, it would state the places in which you can buy the media (e.g: iTunes, hmv, Napster etc). 

A typical feature of a music magazine advert of this particular genre is the artist dominating the frame usually positioned in the centre of the page. The image of Wretch 32 is simple yet romantic so it can portray him as a role model due to his style. The advert also states the artists who have helped with making the album which will appeal to fans of those artists. The colours, spray paint effect and picture of the apartment block in the background show that Wretch 32 is an urban artist. Something as simple as the colours can determine an artist's persona and genre. A small photo of the album in full is usually shown in the bottom corner to display to the viewer what the whole album looks like. 

Other forms of marketing and advertisements

Another example of a grime artist is Tinchy Stryder. Unlike the first advert, this magazine was presumedly featured on a billboard as street or "guerilla" marketing. This particular advert is a lot simpler in terms of words and text. Take Me Back was Tinchy's first single and you can tell through the choice of image that Tinchy is proud. You can determine this through his body language and the way his head is titled to the side with shades on. Although this is a street advert, something short and simple portrays an artist well regardless of it's location.

Examples from similar genres (Hip-Hop, RnB, rap etc):

 

These particular magazine adverts took my liking due to the titles fitting appropriately with the style of the artist in which the advert promotes. I also like the choice of colours and in case of the Kanye West advert, the simplicity of it.

Ariel Levy - Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture

Ariel Levy critiques the highly sexualised predominately American culture in which women are objectified both within their songs and their visuals. She refers to this as "raunch culture". Levy claims that the enjoyment of "slutty stereotypes of female sexuality" has existed through the ages but has seen an major increase in recent years. It was once a phenomenon that existed in the male sphere but has now become more mainstream and highly visible in women. Raunch culture has overtaken "political life, the music industry, art, fashion and taste". Here is one artist who closely fits in with Levy's theory.

Miley Cyrus

In the past year, Miley Cyrus has conformed to the ideas given by Ariel Levy. Her countless controversial moves from twerking on Robin Thicke at the VMA's to wearing little clothes in public have spiralled her into the music industry with a brand new identity from her Hannah Montana days that started in 2007. Her three new video releases this year have shown her in a more sexualised way. Her most controversial video Wrecking Ball sent the world into a frenzy after her posing naked on a wrecking ball and licking a hammer in a provocative and almost suggestive way. Her changes in style of music can be determined by her change in management and record label. This is highlighted predominantly through her album covers. Her 2007 album Breakout shows Miley dominating the cover wearing a simple outfit with a neat title across the middle with a star. Her 2013 album Bangerz is very different. Her outfit and stance is more provocative and the neon pink title shows a different and more sexual and edgy colour scheme.

I think that Ariel Levy's ideas are applicable to the video Wrecking Ball because it objectifies Miley in a sexual and provocative way. The song and video would have been just as successful if the video was tamer and fitted in with the true meaning of the heartfelt lyrics. However, knowing the massive media attention it gives her, Miley chose to make the video provocative to portray her message further. 

I think that some male recording artists put themselves out in a sexual way but it is less documented and carries less negative media attention than women therefore meaning that it is less of an issue within society. This could be because it is seem as deviant for a women to act provocatively. Recently, pop singer Lily Allen released her new single Hard Out Here which states just how women are objectified and how men's objectification of women is ignored by the media. This video and song have been given a lot of media attention and some say that Lily was wrong to right a song like this. But isn't she just highlighting a modern day problem within our media obsessed society?

Digipack planning

When we finish editing our music video, we need to make a Digi-pack for an album and a magazine cover.

In our genre grime it is rare that the artist brings out a studio album because they are not well known. This why most artist in this genre tend to bring out a mixtape instead. The ones that do make a studio album in our genre are:


Skepta

Wiley

Dizzee Rascal

Chipmunk

These are just some of the names of successful grime artists that managed to make top 40 albums in the charts.


Skepta -

Doin' it again was Skepta's most successful album going to number 19 in the Uk charts.




As you can see his album cover is simply him bending down. His name is the biggest font there is, so you are drawn more the name of the artist than the album name. Skepta album cover uses different fonts for his name and album name and there is product placement on the cover as his T-shirt says Boy Better Know, which is the record label.







Wiley-

The Ascent was Wiley's most successful album peaking at number 26 in the UK charts


Wiley album cover shows a closer shot of Wiley from his around his head as he looks to the side. Like Skepta's, you see the Artist Name first and then the title, however the title seems to be bigger than the Artist name and like Skepta, they are both in different fonts.




Dizzee Rascal-
Dizzee Rascal has probably had the most success out of grime,


Boy in da corner placed at 23 in the UK charts


In this album cover you have the artist (Dizzee Rascal) sitting in the corner he has the same fonts in his album cover.



Showtime placed 8 in the UK charts and even managed to break into Ireland

The artist is at the front of the album name and the fonts are different styles. like his other album, he uses a plain colour for his background.



Maths + English placed 7 in the UK charts and also broke into Australia, Belgium and Ireland

Dizzee Rascal uses the same type of style for his album just like Boy in da corner.


Tongue' N Cheeks was his most successful album placing at number 3 in the UK charts and breaking into American charts

This is a more cartoonish album cover as they have edited his picture so he look like that. They have used the colour of a tongue for the word tongue.


The fifth placed at 10 in the UK charts



Dizzee has used interesting fonts again to attract the audience. His album cover is simple with him posing in front of the titles. The title are the same but in a different color.









After looking at album covers, it seems that the artist is presence normally on the cover and the background colours are very basic. The fonts mostly differ in from the artist name and the album name .

Editing 15/11/13

Today we continued to edit for our music video. We decided to fix the ending of our music video by sticking with the the original rough cut ending. This is because we thought it looked better and rounded off the story. As well as that the song is short and so we don't have the time to show everything.

We also managed to add in our title in the music video. That way the audience can identify what the song is called and who its by. Especially as our song is not well known.

Our next aim is to take out the fillers and replace them with other footage that might help our music video.

Editing - 15th November

Tasks we did in today's lesson:

• We added titles to our video
• We edited and erased clips we didn't require
• We also edited the runway scene further

Women and Rise of Raunch culture: Ariel Levy

Ariel Levy 

Ariel Levy critiques the highly sexualized American culture in which women are objectified, objectify one another, and are encouraged to objectify themselves. 

Levy claimed that the enjoyment of raunch, or "kitschy, slutty stereotypes of female sexuality," has existed through the ages; this is where i chose my Rihanna as an example of this. 

Before:

Rihanna came into the spotlight in 2005 

Rihanna first song Pon de Replay was Rihanna first music video. It looks like her raunchiness was intentional in this as their is no closes-up on her body parts but despite this she does do some belly dancing moves and the occasional twerking. 

Rihanna wears short tight clothing which helps show off lots her physique. This would really attract the male audience. 

Overall despite this music video showing subtle footage of raunchiness, in that time. 

After her altercation with Chris Brown Rihanna's sense of style changed. Her music was no longer just R&B she moved into the up tempo type songs. This is when people started seeing a whole new side of her. Most of her realised single were sex related and With S&M being one of her most controversial music video it shows very crazy antics.

You can even see it in the change of her album Records. Her evolution through the different the album covers get slowly more sexulised and with her current one (Unapologetic) being her most controversial one as she is bare naked covering her breasts with her elbow and what makes it worse is that her album name is also covering her a breast. Talk that Talk is where she uses her tongue in that sexualise way. 

Overall i agree with Ariel Levy. The culture today is booming with raunchy artists in nearly all genres. Before Raunchiness was seen in the limited R&B and Hip Hop culture but now it's becoming a common thing in most genres. This to me is really bad as children of this generation are starting to become under the influence that it is okay to be seen in crop tops or short skirts. In my opinion, it's the public's fault for these raunchy performances as if they didn't take an interest in them then the artist would be force to change their ways. A great example of this is Miley Cyrus. Every controversial thing she does blows up in a commotion which means people talk about her. Her raunchy performances are attracting an audience because in the end Sex Sells. Artists are seen as idols to most people and it shows that they prefer artist's views then political view. As you can see hear Katy Perry is the most followed person on Twitter; then Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga. 7 of the Twitter accounts are music artist with the fourth being the current president Barrack Obama. 

On the other hand i think that it depends on the person. For example Rihanna was never seen as a sex symbol or raunchy until she started singing about sex and doing controversial performances. Miley Cyrus use to be a child's role model through being in Hannah Montana throughout being know as Hannah Montana, Miley changed her style by also doing controversial antics and she too has now got a name for herself.  However these raunchiness antics are not just present in the music industry, in the movie industry it is seen a lot. Emma Watson is a great example of this as she was known as Hermione Granger from Harry Potter until she cut her hair and played a very different role to which fans are not use too in The Bling Ring. That is why i think it depends on the person because people talked about Emma Watson in that role; same for Selena Gomez; they barely talked about the other the girls but because she use to be an innocent person and played in a movie called "Spring Breakers" it also became a talked about movie. 

Emma Watson in Harry Potter and The Bling Ring

Selena Gomez in Wizards of Waverly Place and Spring Breakers

Miley Cyrus before and Now

Rihanna Before Chris Brown and Now