Website Planning

For the design and layout of the website, I will be taking photographs throughout the filming of the music video and also having a small photo-shoot using a green screen so it will be easy to edit using Photoshop CS5. I will be using the famous Myspace as the feeder page which I will also link these with the subsidiary pages including;

Facebook

Twitter

Below you will find the plan of my music artist website. This is only a basic plan I want to base it around but it is the main layout, features and colour scheme that I want my website to include.

Digipak Planning

For the design and layout of the digipak, I will be taking photographs throughout the filming of the music video, some of which I will use on the album digipak, but make sure that I edit them using them Photoshop CS5. I am planning on creating a six- panel digipak which will include pictures and other graphics which will stick to one colour scheme which will be used for all documents which are associated with the artist. This also means that this will be used for the website.

I will take pictures of my artist in front of a green so that I can use them on my 6-panel digipak. I will edit these in Photoshop CS5 and make them creative so that they match with the persona and characteristics of my artist.

Below is a plan of what my digipak will look like.

- The front cover of the album will include a photo of the artist, the name of the artist and the name of the album. It will be the main album artwork for the album so it will have to look professional and appealing.

- The extra panel will have a photo of the artist in black and white, but her lips will be in a pink/purple colour as it will match the whole colour scheme as it will be her signature colour.

- The inside right of the album is where the CD will go. behind the CD will be a white background and the same picture as on the front cover but without any of the text. It will be in the exact same position as on the front. The actual CD will have the same artwork as on the front but it will be considerably smaller and rounded, like the obvious shape of the CD.

- The inside left will have quotes from the artist about the album, what her inspirations were etc which will be centralised and in italics. Behind will be a watermarked picture of her in colour, but faded.

- The inside centre will include a picture that was taken on the set of the video, but one from 'behind the scenes' where she is warming up, drinking a cup of tea or something that shows she is just a normal girl. Will be taken with the other character on the second location found in the video.

- On the back cover of the album will be the album track list of what the album includes and a small photo of the artist in the bottom corner.

Understanding Editing Software

I will be using Final Cut Express for my editing, I have a enough knowledge of this editing software to get me through the editing process of my music video.

If there is something that I do not know how to do I will use forums on the internet to guide me in the right direction.

A few that will most probably be of help are listed below;

forums.creativecow.net/applefinalcutpro

forums.creativecow.net/applefinalcutbasics

I already have existing knowledge of Photoshop CS5, which I will also be using to create a professional and conventional concept for my album digipak and website homepage which I have chosen for my ancilliary tasks.

Storyboarding

Below is a descriptive storyboard for the song of 'Who you Are' by Jessie J. I feel that writing descriptively helps me better to understand than drawing. This is the first draft which has been changed because some of the things didn't look as good as I thought they would.

I have planned the timeline below by showing the timing start and finish for each verse and chorus. This will help me with the timing when filming which will save time when editing.

Jessie J- Who You Are

Opening instrumental:

[0:00- 0:14] 14 seconds

Slowly zooming in on the girl putting lots of tarty make up on in the mirror but looking at her reflection because she looks older but doesn’t feel any different in herself because deep down, this is not the real her.

[0:15-042] 27 seconds

I stare at my reflection in the mirror

“Why am I doing this to myself?”

Losing my mind on a tiny error,

I nearly left the real me on the shelf.

No, no, no, no, no…

Clothes: Jeans and a patterned top.

Look: Wanting to be older that she actually is because she is weighted down by always ‘being too young’ to do things that all her other friends do.

Position: Knelt on the floor and leaning forward looking into the mirror with a pack of make up wipes on the side along with all her make up. Slowly moving her hand to the make up wipes to take it all off.

Shot: Over the shoulder then from behind the mirror looking straight at her face

Angle: None

[0:43-1:11] 28 seconds

Don’t lose who you are in the blur of the stars

Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing,

It’s okay not to be okay.

Sometimes it’s hard to follow your heart.

But tears don’t mean you’re losing, everybody’s bruising,

Just be true to who you are!

Clothes: Jeans and different top with boyfriend cardigan.

Look: Studious, she is secretly a geek and is pretending to be someone she isn’t.

Position: Leant up against an inside wall pretending to read a book, one leg in front of chest. Then slowly put the book down whilst leaning head back and turning to face the camera head on. Also have a handful of make up on the floor which she throws on the floor

Shot: Medium shot

Angle: None

[1:11- 1:25] 14 seconds

Who you are

Who you are

Who you are

Who you are

Who you are

Who you are

Who you are

Who you are

Who you are

Who you are

Who you are

Clothes: Both wearing boots, jeans, coats. Minimal make up.

Look: Happy to see each other and catch up with gossip.

Position: With her friend who she meets up with who are both wearing coats in the park, they wave to each other and walk up to hug. Daisy walks up to touch Rosie’s face indicating that she looks pretty being herself.

Shot: Long shot

Angle: None

[1:26-1:53] 27 seconds

Brushing my hair do I look perfect?

I forgot what to do to fit the mould, yeah!

The more I try the less its working, yeah

‘Cause everything inside me screams

No, no, no, no, no…

Clothes: Jeans and a patterned top.

Look: Being frustrated that she isn’t happy with the way she looks.

Position: Knelt on the floor and leaning forward looking into the mirror with a pack of make up wipes on the side along with all her make up. Slowly moving her hand to the make up wipes to take it all off.

Shot: Over the shoulder then from behind the mirror looking straight at her face. Maybe add a medium shot.

Angle: None

[1:54-2:21] 27 seconds

Don’t lose who you are in the blur of the stars!

Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing

Its okay not to be okay.

Sometimes its hard to follow your heart

But tears don’t mean your losing, everybody’s bruising

There’s nothing wrong with who you are!

Clothes: Jeans and different top with boyfriend cardigan.

Look: Studious, she is secretly a geek and is pretending to be someone she isn’t.

Position: Leant up against an inside wall pretending to read a book, one leg in front of chest. Then slowly put the book down whilst leaning head back and turning to face the camera head on. Also have a handful of make up on the floor which she throws on the floor

Shot: Medium shot

Angle: None

[2:21-2:48] 37 seconds

Yes, no’s, ego’s, fake shows like WHOA!

Just go and leave me alone!

Real talk, real life, good love, goodnight,

With a smile, that’s my home!

That’s my home, no…

No, no, no, no, no…

Clothes: Both wearing boots, jeans, coats. Minimal make up.

Look: Happy to see each other and catch up with gossip.

Position: With her friend who she meets up with who are both wearing coats in the park, they wave to each other and walk up to hug. Daisy walks up to touch Rosie’s face indicating that she looks pretty being herself.

Shot: Long shot

Angle: None

[3:06- 3:25]

Don’t lose who you are, in the blur of the stars!

Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing,

It’s okay not to be okay…

Clothes: Jeans and different top with boyfriend cardigan.

Look: Studious, she is secretly a geek and is pretending to be someone she isn’t.

Position: Leant up against wall with the book beside her. Sitting up from the wall passionately using hand gestures to make the story more moving.

Shot: Medium shot

Angle: None

[3:26-3:35]

Sometimes its hard to follow your heart

Tears don’t mean your losing, everybody’s bruising

Clothes: Jeans and a patterned top.

Look: Giving advice to the audience not to make mistakes. Looking generally happy with self confidence.

Position: Knelt on the floor and leaning forward looking into the mirror with a pack of make up wipes on the side. Touching face and hair along with the music.

Shot: Over the shoulder shot.

Angle: None

[3:36-3:50]

Just be true to who you are!

Yeah yeah yeah…

Clothes: Both wearing boots, jeans, coats. Minimal make up.

Look: Happy to give advice to other people. Very happy they are still friends and nothing has changed. Laughing and having fun together.

Position: As if the two have had a right good chat about problems and they are best friends ready to have a good time. Laughing

Shot: Long shot then zoom into close up of faces as if they are posing for a picture.

Angle: None

Schedule

Below is the filming & editing schedule. I have sed my Google+ account to keep track of the filming and post-production of my music video. You will also find a key below.

Copyright Issues

To be able to use the song that I wish, I need to get copyright permission from Universal Music to be able to use the song that I wish for my music video. The songs I have requested to get copyright permisson is from my three original songs that I had would have liked to use, these are; - Glad You Came- The Wanted - Domino- Jessie J - Who You Are- Jessie J Personally, I feel that I only have realistic ideas for Who You Are- Jessie J so that this is the song that I have decided to use for my music video. The screenshot below shows that I have contacted Universal Music requesting to use some of their songs. Unfortunately, I have not had yet had a reply back from them yet but when I do, I will post an update on here.

Style Construction

Location- I am going to be filming at very few locations, maybe only one depending on whether it looks good or not. The main location will be in my garage conversion at my house which I will be doing the majority of the filming here as it is the only place I have set in my mind where I feel I could make the most out of my creativity to produce and direct a good music video. Other locations may include a wood area, where I will be filming of the 'sign boards' where there will be confessions or insecurities written on them. I am going to test see where they look the best, if they do not look good being filmed in the woods, I will film them against a plain background. I will also film other insert shots on a table where 'Who You Are' will be written on lined paper. Last but not least the scrunched up piece of paper will be filmed inside the garage conversion.

My second location will be the local park which is situated near the housing estate where Iive. It will only be used in lines of the song, however in a conventional music video, there are usually 2 or more locations where the music video will be filmed.

Props List- Props will include;

• Two Actresses (Girl 1 & 2)
  
• Video camera (To film the footage)
• Macbook (To play the song so I know what the beat sounds like compared to the shots being taken)
• Camera (To take stills for the album cover + website)
• Mirror (For the actress to look into whilst she is crying+ taking make up off)
• Lined paper (To use in the insert shot to write 'Who you are')
• Pen (To write on the lined paper)
• Poster (Saying several insecurities on them in marker)
• Make up wipes (For actress to remove make-up with)
• Sofa (For the actress to lean against whilst crying)
• Pillow (For the actress to hold and cry into)

Costume Planning-
First Location, House. Girl 1

• Strap top
• Jeans
• Stud earrings
• Silver bracelet
• White socks

Second Location, Park. Girl 1

• Blue dress (if warm)
• Jeans (if cold)
  
• Cropped shirt (if cold)
  
• Boots
• dangly earrings
• Boot socks
• Cardigan
• Big colourful watch
  

Second Location, Park. Girl 2

• Jeans
• T shirt
  
• Leather jacket
• Boots
• Boot socks
• Chunky silver necklace
  

Initial Planning

First of all, the song I have chosen to use for my music video is ‘Who You Are’ by Jessie J. I have chosen this song because it is very well thought about, as it was written by Jessie herself when she was growing up through her teenage years trying to make it as an artist in the USA when she got signed by record labels and also dropped within weeks, where she was living in hotel room after hotel room because she did not have one place where she was based.

The basic narrative story I am trying to put across is a story of a young girl, around 13 or 14 who is trying to find her true self and stop pretending to be someone she isn’t.

Throughout the video, the camera will focus on this girl in different parts of her bedroom, such as; sitting in a corner of her room, on her laptop, looking out of her bedroom window, looking in the mirror and brushing her hair. Mainly I want to portray most of the lines but from my own point of view and what I think the song is about, using my personal experiences and creativity.

I am planning on making the whole video to be filmed in black and white to show the confusion of the girls emotions. I want to use insert shots of her holding a poster with words or phrases of her insecurities will be used when the words ‘Who You Are’ come up during the chorus. I also want insert shots of someone writing 'Who you Are' on a lined paper, and scrunching it up and throwing it on the floor, either at the start or the begining when there is only music playing.

I want to use little extravagant camera angles, I just want to make the music video look like it flows properly and makes sense at the end of the music video. Apart from a few insert shots during the chorus, I just want to use simple cuts.

Narrative
The actually storyline of the song that I wish to portray is where there are two girls of whom will be best friends. Girl 1 will be the main character who has recently got into the wrong crowd of friends and is reminscing about the good times they both had together before she tried to grow up too fast.

Throughout the song, Girl 1 will be mostly in the limelight and will be acting out the lyrics such as 'I stare at my reflection in the mirror' where she will be literally staring at her reflection in the mirror.

Only in a few scenes, Girl 2 will come into it as they reminisce about all the good times they had together by looking in scrapbooks whilst on the local park. I will try to show that the park where they are sitting is where they used to sit and play when they were younger.

Influential Music Videos; Case Study 2

Bohemian Rhapsody Analysis

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Music Website Analysis

Here is a powerpoint about the reasearch I have carried out about music websites such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I have also done a case study about a new band called Encore who deserve the recognition about their struggle to make it famous.

Social Networking

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Album Digipak Research

Album Digipack

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Star Image & Development

When creating my artist I will have to think about how I want to portray the artist I am creating, along with how I want to portray the music video.

The Star Theory by Stuart Hall makes me think carefully when I am creating a character to be my artist to be the star of my music video.

I want to create a star through the persons honest and truthful characteristics and I do not want to make up a fictional character.

Recently, I paid to have a meet & greet with Jessie J (The artist of the song I want to use for my music video) when she brought her Heartbeats Tour to Doncaster. When it was time to meet her, I got told I wasn't allowed to hug her until she approached me, not allowed to make eye contact until she looked at me first and I was only allowed 20 seconds with her. I asked her what the song was about- hoping for a quote- and she looked at me disgusted that I didn't know the answer. She simply replied with a sharp tone in her voice 'It it was I say it is about. Go read the interviews, I say it in every single one of them'. I was heartbroken.

I looked up to here as a positive role model and she went a threw it all away by saying one sentence. I walked away crying because she is just one example of an artist who fits in with criteria of Stuart Hall's Star Theory. She is moulded as a fictional character when she is on stage to make people like her as the person she is on stage, whereas when she is off stage where fame has got to her head and she is the completely opposite of when she is on stage.

I do not want my artist to be like this, because it wont be long until people see through the persona she is portraying to be on stage. I want fans to be proud that she is not something that can be sold and not just another way to sell loads of merchandise by using product placement.

Features I want to my artist to be like are as follows;

• Innocence- I want the artist to be shown as very innocent but has a streak of dominance when the chorus comes along where she can control the audience.
• Honesty- I want my artist to be honest when she performs, show all her insecurities and vulnerability so that fans know she is the same as them even though she is famous.
• Fashionable- I want the artist to be fashionable by wearing clothing that everyone can afford by wearing River Island, Topshop, New Look, Quiz and many more.
• Positive Role Model- I need to make sure that the artist will be a positive role model by making sure she doesn't have a wild social life; That she will not drink alcohol, smoke do drugs or have any extravagant tattoos/piercings. I will need to make sure that she is involved in charity work. I will also make sure that she does not have unusual hair colour.
• Clean Cut- I will also need to make sure that she does not have a criminal record or any parts in her past that can be brought up in the papers to use against her.

The features I have noted I would like my artist, are not something you can artificially use. There are plenty of females out there that fit the specification.

The image I am trying to make the artist portray is simple, clean, positive and truthful. There are not enough artists in the industry that are truthful to the audience without using pyrotechnics, effects and professional make-up artists to change their voice, outfit and the way they look to hide the fact they cant sing.

Target Audience

I have to think carefully when creating my target audience. I want to make the audience as wide as possible, within reason so that her music will get a good rating in the music charts. Below is a mind map of the target audience I feel would be most appealing and would sell most records.

Music Channels

Music Television

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Influential Music Videos; Case Study 1

Thriller Music Video Analysis

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Artist/Band Research Survey Continued...

Below you will find the link to the survey which I posted on social networking websites and also via email.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GGVN9JD As previously mentioned, I have made sure I have received at least 20 fully completed surveys.

Here you will find a powerpoint on the statistical results of my survey which I sent out;

Questionnaire Analysis

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Artist/Band Research Survey

There are many artists and bands I could go into detail with in this section, however I do not have the time to write about all of them.In this section, the first thing that I have to do is to produce a survey on http://ww.surveymonkey.com in which I will send out to people via email, Facebook and Twitter to find out about their interests in music.

Here is the link to the survey I sent out: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GGQSCTS

Below you can see the screenshots to prove that I have sent out the ink via my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts from my iPhone.

Facebook:

Twitter:

I have chosen to send the Survey link out via Facebook and Twitter because they are very popular social networking websites in which makes it easier to communicate with a wide range of different ages, location, interests, hobbies and ethnicities etc.

My survey has officially been sent out and so far and I have had many positive responses, however I have not yet had enough responses to be able to analyse and put in a graph to give me accurate and influential statistics.

Music Directors

Music directors are a key essential to making a successful music video and without having an experienced music director on board, the music video and career of the artist could go to flop.

There are lots of music directors that have directed music videos but only a handful of these are very successful and actually make a name for themselves such as the ones I have chosen to talk about because I think that they are very important and influential to the music industry;

Emil Nava;

Chris Cunningham

Emil Nava;

Famous music director who has directed music videos for;

Jessie J feat B.o.B- Price Tag ( Released 25th January 2011)

This music video was mainly created by using the famous 'green screen' to create the fantastic effects and used a lot of props which were inspired by 'Alice In Wonderland' as they are found to be larger than they actually should be such as plush teddies and a real life marionette which Jessie herself plays.

Emil has personally worked on all of Jessie J's music videos; 'Do It Like A Dude', 'Price Tag', 'Nobody's Perfect', 'Who's Laughing Now' and her latest video 'Who you Are'.

When it comes to creating music videos, it is important to have a good relationship with the music director. Some music directors -usually the ones who do it for the money, not to express creativity- don't physically get involved with the production of the music video and sit in a chair and tell other people what to do and Jessie J has specifically said that Emil gets involved with it all. On her latest video, 'Who You Are' Emil was helping with the creation of effects by holding the leaf blower in Jessie's face to create the effect of a thunder storm and eccentric winds.

'Emil is amazing, he is one of very few people who can actually make the ideas in my head a reality.' - Jessie J on Emil Nava.

Parade- Perfume (Released June 20th 2011)

This music video features members of the British five-piece girl band Parade; Emily, Lauren, Bianca, Jessica and Sian singing and dancing around famous sites in London such as Big Ben and the London Eye.

Emil Nava has also worked with many other fantastic artists including;

- Tinchy Stryder. Where he has directed videos such as; Stryderman, Take Me Back, Number 1, Never Leave You, You're Not Alone, In My System and Second Chance.

- Aggro Santos. Directed his music video for his most famous song; 'Candy' which features Kimberly Wyatt.

Chris Cunningham;

Chris Cunningham is also an influential music director, but he has directed older and more technologically influenced videos such as those that can be seen below like Madonna- Frozen and Björk- All Is Full of Love. He is still well-known in today's media industry but music videos soon go out of date because of the influence of fashion, era, genre, artist influence and much more.

Madonna- Frozen (1998)

Björk- All Is Full of Love (1999)

Music Genre Research

There are hundreds of types of music genres, some of which are less known, and these include several types which wouldn't necessarily be known to everyone.


To start with, there is the less-known and less commercially marketed genres such as;

- Classical music, operatic, video game music, show music; ballroom; tango, pasodoble, cha cha cha etc, religious music; Gospel, gregorian chant, hymns etc, military music; marches, national anthems etc, regional music; traditional, folk, nursery rhymes, sea shanties and flamenco etc

African popular music;

Jujitsu, apala, benga, bikutsi, cape jazz, highlife, hiplife, kwela, makossa, morna, mbube and salegy.

Avent-Garde;
Experimental music and minimalistic.

Easy Listening;

Background music, lounge music and elevator music.

- The more recognisable music genres can be found below, which also include sub-genres which define the genres into more detail. Not all of the genres can be found below as there are too many to name. Click on the link at the bottom of the page to see the whole list of genres.

Blues;

Country blues, delta blues, electric blues and piano blues.

Country;

Alternative country, americana, bluegrass, country pop, country rock, honky tonk, nashville sound, rockabilly and western.

Electronica;

Breakdance, dance, ambient, dubstep, electroclash, eurodance, trance and uplifting

Modern Folk;

Indie folk, neofolk and progressive folk.


Hip-hop & Rap;

Alternative hip-hop, crunk, dirty rap/ Pornocore, G-Funk, grime, horrorcore, latin rap, rap metal, rap rock, rapcore and turntablism


Jazz;

Acid jazz, big band, calypso jazz, cool jazz, gypsy jazz, hard- bop, jazz-funk, scat, latin jazz, mainstream jazz, soul jazz, swing jazz, west coast jazz

Pop;

Arab pop, austropop, bubblegum pop, country pop, dance-pop, eurobeat, operatic pop, psychedelic pop, pop rap,teen pop, traditional pop music and vispop

Rhythem & Blues;

Contemporary R&B, funk, disco, boogie, soul, doowap, hip hop soul

Rock;

Alternative Rock, blues rock, wonky pop, grunge, indie-rock, electronic rock, folk rock, glam rock, hard rock, heavy metal, death metal, doom metal, grindcore, metalcore, nu metal, sludge metal, acid rock, screamo, rap rock

To find the genre of music I want to do , I am going to do some research into which is the favorite and most popular genre. I will do this by creating an online questionairre in which I will send to people to fill in and I will then collect the data and hopefully find a suitable song in which I can use for my music video that the audience will like and also a song I can get copyright acceptance.

-Music Genre Information-

Influence Of Style

Each music artist has their own style, this mainly includes the style of music and fashion. The first style they choose to portray themselves when coming into the music industry is usually the style they stick to throughout their music career. Some artists are known for their style in fashion which they stick to throughout their career and are known for their extravagant outfits and original creativity of style.

Music is also a key aspect when thinking about influence of style. Each artist has their own individual influence when it comes to writing their own music. Most artists have the influence of music styles that have 'gone out of fashion' or 'forgotten about' such as artists from the late 60's and early 70's which is also the influence of many fashions that can be seen on many celebrities these days.

Artists that fit into this category include; Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Cher, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Jessie J.

It is known to the whole world that Lady Gaga has her own style, some people might not understand it but there is no way this stops her from expressing her creativity in her outfits. Gaga works closely with designers explaining her creations to them so that they can become reality. Her very famous and influential 'meat dress' from the 2010 MTV Awards Video Music Awards was made by Franc Fernandez however it evoked fury from animal rights organisations PETA. However, Gaga denied intention of causing disrespect and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender) community.

-Lady Gaga Information-

Katy Perry is known for her unconventional style of dress. It includes brightly coloured, humorous and unusual shaped accessories such as fruits and cakes etc. Some also call it 'very colourful and vintage'. Quoting Katy herself ' Inspired by American actress Dominique Swain's portrayal in the 1977 film adaptation of Lolita.'

-Katy Perry Information-

Elvis Presley specialised in bringing fashion back to men of the 1950's. He wore loud trends such as yellow suits pink sports coats, and white shoes. He also loved high collars as he liked to feel like his childhood hero, Captain Marvel.

-Elvis Presley Information-

I could use the idea of using a certain influence of fashion when creating the image of the artist I will use in my music video. When doing this, I really need to think about who the target audience is for both the artist, the song and the video. When thinking about the influence of style when it comes to music, I need to research existing artists who are presently in the music industry, making music in the top 10, selling lots of albums, fully selling out tours and also artists who are starting to sell albums and tours multi-nationally.