Magazine Advertisement (analyse existing texts)

        1)Jay-Z (The Blueprint 3) 09.11.09;

       -  Main features; large artist name at the top, large album logo features across the majority of the magazine page, below the image there is the album name and then larger underneath the date it is due for release alongside  the record company and website.

      -  The colour scheme is limited to mainly whites/greys/black, however there are three stripes of red along the centre of the large image, the only other place this red is seen is in the record companies name at the bottom. This red is quite ironic as the album is called The ‘blue’print 3. The red gives connotations of anger, blood, love and passion, which can relate back to what Jay-Z may be trying to portray through his music.

      -  The two largest written texts on this magazine advertisement are the artist name ‘Jay-Z’ along the top and the date of release ‘09.11.09’ at the bottom. These both appear to be in a bolder font than the album name and are a lot larger than the record company and website both along the bottom.

      -  The main image on this advertisement is what appears to be a large pile/construction of instruments and music based equipment. This relates back to the fact that a lot of work has gone into this album and there are more modern things like keyboards alongside more retro musical equipment such as a gramophone; this could be saying that although Jay-Z makes more modern music he is still influenced by older music and respects this.'

           2) Noah And The Whale ‘The First days Of Spring’;
- I like the layout of this magazine advert for Noah and the Whale, the fact that all of the text is along the top where the background is quite plain and then the subject of the photo (the band) is along the bottom makes it more interesting and pulls the advert together. The fact the whole background is a photograph and there is no colour block section for writing is something i wish to emmulate in my own magazine advert.
- This advert has all of the font in the same black colour, however a lot of it is in different fonts and sizes to make it appear different. The title of the album is along the top in the largest writing and then the band name is below in a slightly smaller writing, in a plain font and it is also written in capital letters, this creates a much bolder piece of text.
- This advert only has one 'expert opinion' on it, with it's one quote and four star rating, this is probably the best from a bunch they had but they wanted to use one which would appeal to their target audience more and one which was one of the more positive ones.
The date of release is the third largest text on the piece and each of these pieces of text are seperated by smaller pieces which make the text flow together when you read it aloud.
- The bottom line shows a logo for the record company, this is conventional of most magazine advertisements as they want to advertise theirself as a label on their artists work. This image is also in black so nothing stands out in the advertisement.
- The image features the band and shows the main lead of the band in sharp focus whilst the others blur into the background and are almost obscured by the grass. The sky in the background is blue which also relates to the fact their hit single off of this album is called 'Blue Skies' which is also featured on this advertisement.
- This magazine advert is the one which has inspired me the most and i'd like to use many features of it in my own. For example, the image style is one I would like to recreate and the monochromatic text at the central top is also something I want to do.

3)La Roux (Debut Album)- This album magazine advertisement covers a double page spread, the left hand side features only a large image of the artist and the artist name large across the top in the iconic font of the artist. This imagery is also used as the front cover of the album so is easily recognisable to the audience. The right hand side of the advertisement is a plain page which continues the background colour scheme. It features 8 quotes about the album from different newspapers and magazines.- The colours on this magazine advert are dominantly red and brown which is in a 'fade' style effect, these colours match the hair colour of the singer so keep it to a quite monochromatic theme. The text is in a white plain colour as is the artist name/album title, this makes the theme come together and lets people know that the texts are connected.-The photograph on this seems quite faded with it's colours as oppose to being striking and bright, however it is still bold as the unique hairstyle and features make the image. The face has a bright red/pink outline along the front edge of it connotating fire, heat and love. This reflects in the 'edgey' music La Roux creates.
- I like the simple format of this piece and how it has a strong sense of a theme in it due to the colours and text.

Video Creation

MUSIC VIDEO:

OUTTAKES:

Pre-filming Planning

Before I start my filming I need to go take photos of my location and figure out exactly how it will be best to film and whether the decided location is suitable. I need to get all of my props together and ensure they are all up to a good enough standard. I need to make a schedule of how to manage my time well and make sure I work efficiently to get all of my filming done within one or two days.
     The location I have decided on is a forest area near my house as it gives the effect I'd like in my video and also has the convenience of being only a ten minute walk from either my house or college.
     My music video will include mainly the only prop of the papier-mache head, and I will have my character dancing in various places in a forest. I don't really want any buildings in my video as I'd like to create a sort of surreal aspect to my video, and give the impression that it could be in some other land.

HEALTH AND SAFETY
- The health and safety of my location is important as I don't want either me or the actor injured. I am using an outdoor location of a forest so it doesn't pose much risk, it could however have obstacles posing a minor risk of falling and incurring an injury. These obstacles only show a minor risk of low level which can easily be stopped by keeping an eye out for anything dangerous on the ground. Whilst carrying out my filming I shall keep a record of anything which poses a threat and how it was dealt with.

PRE-FILMING EXPERIMENTS
- Before starting my real filming I decided to do some practice shots and make a montage using different effects and techniques to get used to using the camera. I have also experimented with how different lenses effect my video and how the outcome would look. The material of this video is unrelated to my music video but has helped me to become more confident in preparation for doing my music video filming. I have included the 15 second montage below;

PROPS

- I have now created my papier-mache head and this is my main prop, as it is now complete I can commence filming as soon as possible. I have included a photograph of my prop below;

Music Video Ideas

For my new music video I have decided to create a more fast-paced, upbeat video which will be much more visually interesting than a boring slow moving one. From my poll at the beginning of the project I have the following results;

These results show that the majority of my target audience are aged 16-19 and prefer indie music with abstract/surreal videos. As my previous ideas which I formulated before getting the results of my polls have a more narrative, storylined theme to them I think it's a good idea for me to change my ideas to a more 'edgy' abstract theme. I have now decided to pick a more upbeat, yet still indie song, by Metronomy; who are an indie band on the record label, 'BECAUSE MUSIC', the chosen version is also a remix which will appeal more to an audience of 16-19 year olds, and also it doesn't have an existing video for this version so people won't already have that in mind when viewing mine. For my music video I want to create an abstract short film to run alongside the video, however it will still hold relevance to the music.

Below I have included the youtube version of this song;

New Video Inspiration

Because I have chosen to change my selected track for making a video too I decided looking at some more music videos which are more relevant may be useful. Below are some existing videos which I have seen and being inspired by.

1) Cursive - I Couldn't Love You Anymore

The above video has greatly inspired me due to the location of it mainly and the lighting, the whole mise-en-scene is visually appealing as something I'd like to try to re-create. I like the way the video goes through a story which matches in with the song without being too story based, it's still quite abstract. There's a use of close up shots and long shots used together which I would like to use in my own video to add effect and give a sense of intimacy.

2) Scroobius Pip - Sick Tonight

I have found the above video recently and saw that it uses a similar principle to my idea with the full head masks. This has inspired me on how to use my head to better effect in some different locations. I also like the animation effects used here.

3) Metronomy - You Could Easily Have Me

I like the above video due to it's fast pace and how this fits with the music. Again, I like the use of masks, this time animal masks to conceal identity and give the video some added 'edge'. I would like to emulate this type of feel in my own production.

COMPLETE CHANGE OF PROJECT IDEA FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS

I've recently hit a brick wall with this project completely. It was proving difficult to find actors who were able to film and also that look the part. This has prompted me to take the drastic action of changing the song and altering the storyboard to accommodate this.

Although this sounds like a major change for so far along in the project I see this as the best way to create a good quality outcome which I desire within the allotted time. The changes aren't going to be that big. the whole feel of the video should be the same and the genre of music will be similar, I am now hoping to record just one person who will still have a paper-mache head on (as originally anticipated) amongst the same setting and using the majority of the same shots/camera work I have originally planned in my animatic, just the narrative will be different.

As I have decided to have a male role in the lead of my video as the person I have found has strong availability I have decided to pick a different song which will fit better with this. The song I am going to pick will still be relevant to all of the research I have done so far, however it may require some extra research before I plan it out fully.

Animatic