Warm up Project

RESEARCH

13/06/11

Analysis of exsisting promotion packs1)

Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight

Digipak:
This digipak is best summed up by the word 'simplistic'. The use of the monochrome colour scheme works really well with the isolation of the band members. The white background is musky suggesting an element of mystery- this is also a thought associated with 'midnight'. The band members appear as if they are slowly wandering, waiting for something, which depicts well the album title. The sans serif band name is the most striking aspect to the digipak, the letter R has and extended part which then draws our eye down to the vast openness- giving us time time to take in what we saw, and then down to the members. The title of the album however is less clear and very faint above the band name. This deviates from the norm, but i feel that in this instance it works very well as it adds to the mystery being created. This digipak is generally aimed at a young male demography. This is suggested by the harsh use of colours and also the mise en scene.  

Poster:
The poster is in many ways similar to the digi cover- which would be expected as it's advertising the digipak. The main focus in this poster are the band members. The density of them are in the centre third and they are at the forefront, again making themselves more prominent. In the poster we can visibly see the faces of the band which makes it feel more personal. From the poster we can see the hierarchy with in the band. The lead singer is in the centre third and also standing on a rock, putting him at the highest point.

The Video:
'What I've Done'

Like many music videos there is a duel narrative. One of them focuses on the band playing on a stage set in a barren scape. This is introduced after the 2nd frame. It starts by panning around the stage and to how it all works like the cogs, and then it introduces the band members. As a whole the music video keeps the synergy of the production package really well. The Digipak and Poster both portray an element of isolation and almost guilt to them, this is followed through into the video immediately. The grass 'growing' in reverse suggests shyness. Furthermore the stage is set in the same barren landscape as the promotion pack, and also the band are wearing the same clothes- giving it an element of continuity.

The main aspect that I began to understand from looking at this set is how the mise en scene changes depending on the location of the product (digipak, poster), and depending on who it's aiming at.

The digipak will primarily be situated in a music store along with lots of other packs or cases. The audience in these stores will mostly have a general knowledge of music bands however they will just be there browsing the shelves. Linkin Park's digipak works really well as the main feature is their name which will be different to the surrounding cases. If the main focus was on the band, it would grab less attention as there are many bands with male members who look similar.

The poster also works to an advantage as it is mainly aimed at Linkin Park fans. They already know the band members well and so would recognise the band name from the faces. This is a more personal approach, making the fans feel closer to the band, and thus they will remain loyal to them.

15/06/11

2)

Katy Perry- Teenage dream

Digipak:

This digipak is very playful and cute. The use of the solid pale colours gives it a depth without being tacky. On the front of the digipak the artist is laying nude on a pink cloud of candyfloss. This makes it more simplistic as there are no clothes to draw our attention away. The artist's name looks like it is made out of strawberry laces, it is again very soft and candy themed. The name of the album is at the bottom of the cover. It is made from candy canes and overall the cover looks very visually appealing. On the inside the candy theme is continued on to the CD. The pictures on the left and right panels both feature the artist in a crown wearing a fairy-like dress. This also adds to the fantastical genre. In some respects the inside of the digipak doesn't follow the sweet, child-like theme as it has a black background. Nevertheless her playful personality remains evident. The poses in which she is in are fantastical. Similar to the front cover, she has bare shoulders which connotes innocents, but maybe also an element of promiscuousness. The actual CD is very unique. It smells like candy. This is very unusual for a CD and therefore it makes it an unique selling point.

Poster:
The poster carries the synergy of the digipak really effectively. The same image is used as on the front cover, making it a recognisable image. The Album name is more prominent on the poster as it is primarily advertising her new album. The words are in bolder colour than the pale background so they stand out, however they remain looking like candy sticks so it doesn't look brash or out of place. The album title looks like it is dripping which could suggest drooling over candy-(or her). Although she is lying with no clothes on she is wearing quite heavy makeup, making her face gain more attention. The pink fluffy cloud makes it appeal to the female demography. however the pose she is lying in is very promiscuous and therefor it could also appeal to the male audience.

Music Video - Teenage Dream:

The video is immediately very cute and playful. The artist is in an open top car with the wind through her hair and sunglasses on. The promotion pack is very simplistic, cute and flirty. The man who is driving the car is in a neutral coloured top and she is in a baby pink dress- keeping the natural colour scheme from the digipak and poster. The song- as the title suggest- is about feeling younger and free. The poster and digipak have taken this idea literally and gone back to the clichéd image of a baby in a could, where as the music video show the realism towards the title. The two things may have interpreted the idea differently however they work really well in harmony at putting the artist's message across. The shots all change on the beat. Throughout the song there is a snare drum on the beat, the cut in, and cut away shots all use this beat to change on. The changes like the chorus to melody etc primarily change, or a more significant changes like that. This works really well as the music and the video sync more and feel more harmonious. The lyrics represent well the ambiance on the digipak and poster. On the promotion pack for instance the artist is lying nude, her face gleaming with confidence. The lyrics in the song 'Teenage Dream' are about her feeling pretty with out any make up on. Although in the digipak she is wearing quite heavy make up, I feel that the lyrics are a metaphor for being confident in your own skin- which the artist portrays well in throughout the promotion package for this album. Most of this music video features the artist singing. All of these sections are very accurately lip synced, which give it a more professional finish. There are a variety of shots used in this video, however I feel the main shot used is cause and affect. I feel this because the close up shots show that she is happy and confident with being seen close up(with out any make up on) and the long shots show what affect this has on her life- great confidence means that she is happy to go out with her friends and have fun, because she has so much confidence. In summary i feel that the shots used reflect the meaning and lyrics behind the song.

16/06/11

3)
Oasis-acoustic
Digipak:
This tri-fold digipak reflects well the type of music it contains. The front cover has a simple mise en scene of an acoustic guitar. We can only she the bottom third of it which could connote that it not the fast moving fingers which count, but more the mellow sound that is produced. The guitar used is a stereotypical looking acoustic. The front is a light wood whilst the sides are a deeper, chocolately coloured. These sections are both joined by a dark hazelnut rim which outlines the silhouette. These soft curves of the guitar which are defined by this rim represent the acoustic tunes on the CD. The guitar is on a polished wooden floor which is a similar shade to the sides. It almost makes the guitar blend in- suggesting that the songs are realistic, soft and will blend in to their life. The lighting used on the front is there to extenuated the curves of the guitar. On the inside sections of the trifold digipak lighting is all together more dark. This is complimented by the CD which is white. This could represent the song's upliftingness- although the surrounding/ society is dark; the CD/music will shine through. The tracks are written on the CD which is unusual however i feel that it give a more personal touch. The band and the album name are both in the lower half of the cover. The typical Oasis font is used so the audience can recognise it easily however either side of it are musical score symbols- this again represents the simplicity of the acoustic sound.

Poster:In many ways this poster doesn't follow the themes of the digipak cover. However there are many aspects which are followed through for instance the colour tone. The digipak is based around a wooden colour tone which is very soft and neutral tones. The poster- although is monochrome- is also softly toned. None of the lines or edges of colours are definite. The poster is simplistic; the only aspect is the band's name 'Oasis'. It is in the same format and font as on the digipak which again makes it recognisable for the audience. The white background has a thin black rim- similar to that seen around the edge of the guitar. The title of the album is not on the poster which deviates from the norms. The rest of the Oasis' album posters are for their normal electric style, these posters have the album names heavily featured. The acoustic poster which i am analysing currently doesn't have the album name on, but it doesn't need to. The simplicity and style of the poster(compared to their normal electric one) represents the acoustic album.

Sunday morning call

This video mirrors the style of the album. Nowadays music videos have a duel narrative, and often bright and bold, post modern images. This video is simply the band, in a dark studio, playing their song. There are lots of camera shots and angles which keep the attention of the audience. The shots mainly feature the hands and mouths of the and members making it more personal. The studio they are in is dark with specific lighting covering the lead singer. This is so that when there is a long shot with the whole band- the lead singer still stays our focus of attention. The use of lights creates drama which compliments the acoustic sounds. The band members are wearing clothes which don't detract from the gentle acoustic sounds. Overall the promotion pack is in keeping and synergising. On the floor, surrounding the band are bright white fairy lights, all tangled up- in a way this is creates a metaphor for the song- which is about confusion and not knowing what you want. A range of shots are used following the lyrics and power of the song. When the lead singer is at the loudest, most emotional parts the shots are very much based around him. An aerial shot is used twice throughout this video and it occurs when the music is most distant for instance at the end of a verse. In my opinion this shot works really well as it give the audience an overall perspective and makes it more mystical with the fairy lights surrounding them. Throughout the promotion package, acoustic, has been the predominant theme. In the video this continues and is presented through the extreme close ups of the guitarist strumming. One shot inparticual shot they have used I feel doesn't work and looks slightly ammature. (this can be found at 1:42) The reason that i feel it doesn't work is because the clarity is too vague, and also due to the hand moving it has become slightly blurred. Following conventions, the entire video is edited on the beat, this keeps the momentum going, however some of the beats in the song are created by the 2nd guitarist. These are not as clear, thus giving it a softer, more acoustic like touch. There is only one narritive in this video and therefore there was no need to lip sync. This video is targeted at both genders. It isn't particularily girly, or boyish; nor is it overly specified to one age thus creating a wider demography. It is to 'boring' for a younger audience of around 13 years or less, however it doesnt have a limit. It appeals as much to teenagers as it would to grandparents.

Target Audience ResearchTo ensure that our promotion package suits our consumers will will carry out target audience research.

Questionnaire

We designed and sent this questionnaire round a sample size of 8 males and 8 females around the age of 12-18 years (which is our target audience).

PLANNING

19/06/11

Music

Our group started off by looking at different sources of non copyright music. We looked on such sites as Jamando. It was on here that we found a song which we could use, it was a male alternative band. Shortly after finding this we sourced a female artist whose song we really liked. We then began to match ideas to them to see which would work best with us. After much deliberation we decided to use the up and coming female solo artist. She is called Gabrielle Aplin. Her website http://gabrielleaplin.co.uk/ features some of her songs. This is the main page of her website:

We listened to all the songs on it and really liked 'Panic Chord' because it was upbeat with out being brash, we further felt that it had a really good beat to work with. Also the lyrics found us inspired and imagining ideas.

We emailed her manager requesting permission to use her work. He got back to us rapidly saying that it was ok, just checking a few things like if it was a profitable,what song, and would we be able to send our finished product back to them. We cleared this up and said that we would like to use 'Panic Chord'.

Email chain between us and Gabrielle's manager ^^

16/06/11

Initial Ideas


Moodboard
We started this process by saying words that we associated with the song and the artist. These are a few that we came up with:
-floaty
-girly
-green grass
-pastel colours
-glitter
-landscape
-natural
-picnic
-bows

Cast

Our initial idea on cast was that we should be able to have easy access to them. As this is a 'practise' piece and we only have a short period in which to complete this we made decided on crutial features to make the girl have a simialr appearance to our artist; brunette hair, between size 8-12, pale skin and a floaty, cute character. Beth Leckenby suited this criteria and as she is a mamber of our group, we would have easy access to her.

The begining of the song sounds like it could be a choir, this could be something we encorperate into the video. We would need around 7 girls of a small build with natural hair. We found these within our social groups so again we would have easy access to them. As yet we are not if this choir idea will work and it is just an initial idea however if we do follow it through we know we have the cast.

Outfits

We each already had an idea/image as to what she would be wearing but as we were discussing it the words which kept on coming up were floaty and pastel. We tried our actress in a few different dresses which fitted these words:

Dress 1

Dress 1)This dress is both neutral and floaty. However we feel that it is not right as it is too plain, so the actress would fade into the back too much. Also we feel that it is too short- furthermore, it covers too much flesh of her arms, so it detracts from the natural beauty.

Dress 2

Dress 2)This dress is longer, and i like the way it draws in the waist. The polkadots attract attention and the buttoned top elongates the body. Also unlike the previous dress the actress' shoulders on show which creates more of a playful, neutral look. However for us it's not floaty enough as in the wind it would just cling.


Dress 3

Dress 3)
This dress is girly. The colour scheme is perfect- pasteled neutral, and when she twirled in it the material followed. It's really floaty and the cross over neckline is playful and also it will keep the main attention on her. The dress covers Beth's knees and it creates a wonderfully feminie silhouette.

Although we have decided that dress 3 will be the main dress, when we were looking at exsisting solo women music videos we discovered that there were numerous ouftit changes to keep attention. A good example of this is Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'. When storyboarding the video we will bare this in mind.

LocationDue to our non exsistant budget and our short time scale we decided to film somewhere local. These are some photos take from Glen Pava which will be the location of of video.

Initial Story Board

Weather Research:

We have chosen to film on friday morning as all our group are available and furthermore the weather is forcasted to be perfect. We need some clouds for one of shots but also we need the sun to create the ambiance and for the lighting. We are going to film in the morning from around 8am this will enable us to capture the bright fresh beams of light.

Hazard Analysis:
Whilst we are filming we may come across a few issues. Anticipating these issues will allow us to prepare ourself.

• Walking next to canals and rivers.
• Climbing over fences.
• Being in a random field on our own.
• Lighting candels.
• Animals in fields

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Design Ideas for Poster

During our research we noticed that the majority of posters are portrait; to follow these conventions we decided to design 3 out of 4 of our portrait, we also designed one landscape to see how it worked for our specific work.

Design Ideas for Digipak