Music Adverts/Posters

Here are a few examples of music adverts and promotional posters that artists use to advertise either a new album they're bringing out or a tour that they are about to go on (which is also a method of advertising). I've noticed that nearly all of the posters I've found include an image of the artist or the band, even if the image has been digitally enhanced or modified to combine the artist with an animal for example. This is interesting and makes me think that for my own work it would perhaps be wise to include an image of my actors that will be featuring in my video on my promotional poster. On the other hand some posters are quite the opposite. They include simplistic images of random objects, or graphic work that looks more artist and sometimes becomes a brand logo for the artist. So maybe I will experiment with which angle I want to go down before producing my final outcome.

Album Covers/ Digipaks

What is a Digipak? 
-a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more discs. 

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2. -Digipacks are a type of CD packaging made out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material. Digipacks can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the center portion. Usually, the portion of the digipack that hold the CD is made of plastic like a traditional jewel case CD - the plastic part is simply attached to the paper background. 

What are the Pros and Cons of Digipaks? 

-They look nice, and many bands and labels like to use them for aesthetic reasons. The three section digipack sleeves opens up more design options because there is more room. However, they're more expensive than traditional liner notes and jewel cases.

-Digipacks don't crack like jewel cases do, but they will rip and eventually the paper begins to peel apart and separate.

-The trays in digipacks break much more often then in jewel cases. There's not as much protection since the outer portion of made of paper, so the teeth that hold the CD in place crack and fall out easily.

-When the teeth of the tray does break in a digipack, the CD falls out of the bottom of the digipak, because unlike jewel cases, there is nothing to hold it in.

-Digipacks can be more environmentally friendly than jewel cases because they can be made of recycled paper - however, they aren't always in fact made in this way.

-Digipacks look great, but if you're just starting out and money is tight, looking for ways to cut your manufacturing costs is important. Stretching your budget to because you like digipacks aesthetically is not a good investment.

Examples of Digipaks  

 

 

How does a Digipak benefit the artist? 

-The front of the digipak tends to have an image that will in someway or another represent the artist and what their predominate genre is. 

-The digipak will most likely embody what the album or the artist is about. For example, albums that are named after the artist will tend to have a head shot of the artist on the cover so the buyer can become familiar with the artist before listening to their music. This links to emphasizing the artists brand image for advertising purposes, which increases the popularity of the artist. 

-The digipak also exemplifies the artistic and creative approach the artist is taking throughout the music. For example, if there's some futuristic idealism conveyed in the lyrics or the visuals in the music video then the front cover wouldn't be very contemporary but more obscure and abstract. All aspects of the digipak, brand image and music video are all interwoven together. 

- Digipaks benefit the artist and their music as it is the promotional aspect of the music industry which helps bring awareness to the artist, thus selling the artist and encouraging consumers to buy and listen to their music.  

Trial Music Video- James Bay 'Let it go'

Here is the end product of my trial music video. This is my take on Jame Bays music video for his song 'Let it go' and I hope you enjoy!

James Bay- Let it go from Laura Greenley on Vimeo.

Filming and Editing

Today was the day I filmed at edited my entire project!! I'm not quite sure where I managed to get all my energy from to be able to actually do all the work in such a short space of time but it is official, my trial music video is finished!! woooooo! 

Myself and my two actors (Ben and Rhiann) set off at half 9 this morning and made our way our to sunny South Shields beach. The beach was fairly empty as it was still early so it didn't take us long to pick a sandy spot and get set up. If anything the only problem we encountered was the parking ticket machine not excepting my change! 

I wanted to make sure that the area I choose to film in had a good view of the sea and was out of the way of many people, so that Ben's character could appear more isolated and lonely.  

The natural lighting was a massive bonus for us today as the sun was out in full force so all the shots that I got were clear and visible, meaning the only colour enhancing I needed to do was to add a filter to my shots. I do regret however not taking the opportunity to get any images that could be used for a potential digi pack, although as my camera is of high quality I could always screenshot some of the footage that would look just as good on an album cover. 

Filming flowed smoothly and easily today. It made a change that my shots were actually turning out well first time and I was only ever needing to really re-shoot for safety. The only shots that did take a while to do/caused some problems were the two shots of Ben and Rhiann together. They were finding it difficult to make there shots look natural and in particular make the laughing look as if it wasn't being forced. In the end Ben decided the best solution for this was actually to insult Rhiann until she started to laugh and take the mick out of him back- it was a good job I didn't need to use the audio for this one! 
Overall I was really happy with the range of shots I managed to get. This was something that I had learnt from my AS project, the wider the range of shot the more diverse and interesting the piece will be. It was fair to say that I did enjoy mixing up the shots, but I did try to avoid having to use a DIY steadicam as much as possible! ( what a nightmare!!). 

As for the editing, that was also incredibly easy. I downloaded a trial version of Adobe Premier Pro CC which I will have for 30 days. It was even better than the software we use at sixth form as it is the newer edition, once I got my head around some of the added features it was very easy to use and I found my self experimenting with new effects and tools. This is a technique I have developed through my year as an AS Media student- being experimental is the best way to move forward and learn new things! 

Anyway I have now finished my editing and my music video is ready to watch, so I hope you all enjoy watching as much as I enjoyed making it.

Costume and Props

As I am doing a James Bay song, I'm really wanting to go for the James Bay indie pop style and look in terms of costumes and props. If you don't know who James Bay is here are a few images of him and his kind of style:  

 

I wanted my main actor Ben to have the same sort of style as James (but without the hat) and to also reflect the mood of the song I asked him to come in a dark long sleeved shirt and dark jeans. For my other actor Rhiann, I also asked her to wear dark clothes to again fit the mood of the song. In terms of props there were only two specific props that were needed for the whole shoot. A guitar and a photograph of Rhiann and Ben. On the back of the photo the words 'I love you' were written along with the date the photo was supposedly taken- as the two were meant to be recently broken up couple. The guitar was only really there for dramatic effect and to fit in with the indie genre conventions of low budget props. I also just kind of liked the musical vibe it gave off! 

Shooting Schedule

Shot list

Storyboard

Location Scouting!

For my shoot I have chosen to film in sunny South Shields! It's the perfect beach location for my video as it's close to home and the beach is big enough to be able to avoid getting masses of people in the background of my shots. I wanted to choose a space that was out in the open so that it emphasized the main characters isolation. Here are a few images of South Shields beach so you can get a feel for the type of location I am going to be filming in.

Proposed date of filming

I an hoping to film my video on Tuesday the 11th of August. I have contacted my actors (Ben and Rhiann) and they are both available on this day for the whole day in case we overrun or anything goes wrong with shooting. As South Shields is a good 45 minuet drive from where we live, I am aiming to leave for the shoot at around 10 am so that we can arrive in South Shields for about 11am and hopefully take no longer than 2 hours to shoot. The weather is meant to be dry and mainly cloudy  with a bit of sunshine, so hopefully the weather wont interfere with our plans.