Justin Timberlake album cover

The background used on the front cover of Justin Timberlakes album is the colour white. This is used to represent Justin's personality through the use of the colour as the colour white has the connotations of honesty, purity, clear and white is a positive colour as it is not dull. This was used for the fans to be able to understand what sort of personality Justin has just through the use of colours.
With Justins's positioning and posture, it makes him come across as an important person. The way this is done is by Justin being frames in the middle of the album making the persons focus on Justin as there is nothing else in the frame other than him. With Justin's posture it makes Justin seems like he has a lot of pride and he feels of great importance.
With the title of the album being black and orange, this could have been used to represent Justin's personality just through the use of colours as he could come across as split personality having a bright and a bit of a different side to his personality.

The back of the cover was also used for Justin to be the main focus of the back cover. The way Justin is the main focus once again is by putting him in the middle of the frame whilst the names of the songs are on both sides of him.
With Justin's costume the the prop in his hand, it makes him seem a high class person as these sort of props such as his hat and his stick are usually quite high class and posh items.

Album Digipack cover sketch

Album covers

This is a album cover for Justin Bieber called 'BELIEVE'. There is a close up image of Justin Bieber's face on the middle of the cover. This close up is to promote the artists image to the public. Bieber's face is turned as if he is looking for something or looking at somebody. This can also suggest that he needs motivation to believe in what he is good at which is music. This is because of his facial expressions. The background is a dark colour which suggests.The Title of the album is printed across the front of the screen in capital letters which font is a lot bigger than the size of the artists name which is only in small font at the top of the album.

Construction Post

Filming at the park
This was a successful shoot however, we didn't have the right weather (light) that we would have preferred to suit the theme and genre of the music video. However, we managed to get key shots that was needed for the video. There also wasn't a lot of space on the memory stick which meant that we had to decide on which footage to keep as there wasn't enough room on the card. whilst filming I found it quite difficult as the music wasn't loud enough for me to sing over, therefore my performance wasn't as strong as it could have been. The theme and idea that we wanted behind the footage that we filmed was that the lead singer and the actress are having a good time and are laughing and playing about. This would  explain why he wants to tell the world how he feels about her. This also shows the relationship between the couple.

Filming on the sofa
This wasn't done as efficiently as I would have liked it too as we could only do one shot all the way through as there wasn't enough space on the memory card. This meant that we couldn't get every angle that we could have got to play about with the different shots. However we did manage to get the key frame that was significant to the piece. I think that we will need to reshoot this to get different angles and different perspectives. However, the lighting was effective as it was high key lighting which allowed the artist to look effective. Again with this we wanted to show the relationship between the couple so we did some shots of them laughing and talking on that sofa. We also filmed the lead singer singing to the actress, this will help pull the video and the scenes together.

As a whole I think we need to reshoot some of the footage we already have as there isn't enough, and the quality of the footage isn't as high quality as we would have liked.

One Direction - Up all night album cover

One direction is a group made up of five young boys. This is one of their album covers. Every single one of the members in the group are wearing bright colours of clothing and mainly of a similar colour. This is done to help present the boys personalities as bright and a positive one. This is done to help the audience feel as if they know the band of boys and it helps the audience to understand what sort of people the boys are by what they are wearing, for example if they were to all have hoodies up and were in a tracksuit they might stereotypically be seen as anti-social.
All the boys on the cover are smiling, this is extremely essential as they are a pop group and pop songs are never usually sad, therefore the smile is vital in putting across a positive vibe about the group and it almost give across the sense that they are just like brothers by the way they all seem to be very happy with each other with how their arms are around each other.
With their arms being around each other which is another deliberate action they done on purpose. The reason for this is to make all of them seem as a family and to make them come across as kind, happy and loving people to their fans. They also look like they are having fun, therefore they come across as people who like to enjoy themselves which then reflects the title of the album which is 'Up All Night' ,which if you was to assume what the album was about from the title then the assumption would be that it is a party album which would they be seen as a typical pop selection of songs.

The white background of the back cover promotes the personality of the five boys as it would suggest that they are innocent and bright as those are a the connotations of the colour that they would want their fan to feel about them.
The  use of the boys running together shows what sort of music group that they are. It shows that they are fun people and enjoy having a laugh and having fun, which helps to present their personality to their fans.
The music label SONY also used this as a chance to promote themselves by putting their name on the back cover of the album.

Album cover Research

Christina Aguliera: Back to Basics 

The image that is used of her seems innocent but could also be seen as seductive. This is to make the target audience know what sort of songs are going to be on the album. There is use of high key lighting to help persuade the audience that she is innocent while still sexy. The red text and red lips also suggest danger and passion. This also stands out from the yellow glow of her skin. The artist name is smaller then the text which suggest that the name of the album is what the artist want to stand out the most. The name of the album also suggest that the song that are going to be on there wont be today modern music and that it is influenced from the past.

The fact that she is laying down with what looks like a quilt could suggest that she feels emotional. 

The back of the album is pink which suggest that the album is going to be girly and that the target audience is going to be girls. The fact that the artist is posing her lips like she is singing suggest that she is trying to be seductive to the male target audience. The necklace that she has around her neck is beeds which suggest that the IRA that the music is going to be set in is around the 1920s- 1940s. The image isn't in focus which suggest that they wanted to capture an in the moment image. The back also has the record labels logo on it.

Sam Smith: The Lonely Hour 

The image that is captured of him seems to be a glance of the artist feeling emotional. This suggest that the songs that are going to be on the album are going to be slow and about his feelings.  This also suggest that the songs are going to be personal to him. The fact that the background is dark could also suggest that he feels he has been kept in the dark about something and the lights that are placed on him could represent him coming out and singing about how he feels.The fact that the name of the artist is large suggest that the artist name is a branded name and is what is going to help sell the albums. The name of the album is underneath and is slightly smaller then the name of the artist. The fact that it is written in white suggests that it is pure what he is singining about. 

The colour of the back is black and the colour of the text is white. This is so that the text stands out from the black. All the text is written in the same font and is underneath each other. There is also the artist name and the tittle of the album in a larger font. There is also light gapping in as though there is a windows reflection shining on the album. There is also the record labels logo and the bar code.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olly Murs Right Place Right Time

 

The main feature of the front cover of the album is the artist, as he is standing in the middle of the photo looking straight at the camera. There is also the use of high key lighting so that his whole face is showing, because there is high key lighting it makes the white top even whiter, this makes him seem pure and innocent which makes him more appealing to the target audience.  This makes the  Album seem intimate as its as if he is looking straight at the audience.The costume that he is wearing seem quite old fashioned which makes the album seem authentic and old fashioned. The text of the album is in white, black and red. This makes the album seem fun and playful which represents the songs that are going to be on the album.

 

 

 

The back cover like the front are quite similar, however the songs are written on the left of the back and are all in a black bold font. All the text of the song tittles is written in black which makes it stand out from the white writing behind it. There is also the bar code at the bottom of the album along with the record label and music produces. There is no red so it doesn't stand out as much as the front but it is still effective.

One Directon Anaylsis

Carol Vernallis- The kindest cut post

Carol Vernallis i well known for her views and theories on music videos. Carol's theory is that all music video have 4 key concepts which help manufacture the music video. The 4 concepts are;

• Narrative 
• Diegesis
• Editing
• Camera

Narrative  
Carol Vernallis believes in that what you see first you on screen will reflect what the lyrics you are hearing. However Carol Vernallis also says that what you see to what you are hearing can be disjointed and might seem like there's a link between the two so you will have to think carefully to get the true meaning of the lyrics and what the video means. However if the video isn't fully complete to a high standard then there could be parts of the narrative unanswered and the audience might not be fully aware of what the video is meant to be like.

Editing
Carol Vernallis believes that the easiest way to make a music video successful is by cutting to the beat. However it doesn't have to cut to the beat to make the video look good. This is because if you are good at editing. Actions are completed and stories are getting told but stories are not fully explained because a music video is short and it is hard to fit all of this in.
Some edits and visual movement can make the audience think differently when they hear the sound.
For example;
Extreme high and low angle shots
Canted and tilted shots
Long trakcing shots

Carol Vernallis also believes that close ups are the most important shots in a music video because they give us something which we can focus on and remember this is because they are close up in our face so it is more recognizable.

Anamatic review

This video is an anamatic review of how our video went. 

Pop Music video analysis- Katy Perry 'This is how we do'

Costume: Throughout the whole of the music video the costume changes, it is predominantly sometimes the costume gives a excited and fun vibe because the costume is colourful. However the costume then is dark in other scenes which shows it is more serious. Also Katy Perry's hair changes throughout the video, it changes length and style. There is also different colours which have been placed into her hair.


Editing: Green screen is used throughout the whole of the music video. The pace of the editing in this video is very inconsistent because some parts in the video it is really quick and snappy and conventionally to a pop video. However it is then slow paced throughout other parts of the video which gives it a less conventionally approach to it.

Camera shots: There are a lot of mid shots to show Katy Perry's different outfits which she is wearing. there are more mid shots and long shots than there are close ups this is to promote the artists attire. So people might want to buy the clothing Katy Perry is wearing because they can see it in her music video and might want to dress like her. However there are still some conventional close ups of her face. Close ups of the face are to promote the artist.

ere are some examples of long/mid shots in the music video and also different costumes which are used in Katy Perry's music video.

Music Videos

Conventions of a music video:

Style: The style of a music video all depends on the genre which the music video relates to. For example a Classical music video will use slow paced editing and maybe just use the a couple of different shots throughout, and will also use low key lighting. Compared to a pop music video which will use fast paced editing throughout and high key lighting because a pop video uses a variation of different colours.

Performance: The majority of music videos have the main artist performing in it. For example in Cheryl Cole 'Fight for this love' she is performing in it throughout. Artists are in music videos to promote themselves and to be recognised to the public eye. On the other hand artists such as the 'Gorillaz' have animations in there music videos so. SO they wouldn't be as easily recognised to the to the public.
Performance will also show a lot of close up shots of the artist and a lot of shots to promote the clothes which they're wearing and the style which the artist likes to go with. They are also a lot of shots of the artist lip singing to the song.  Also when the artist looks directly into the camera this is called having direct contact to the viewer, this is to make the viewer think the song is being song to them.

Most songs are love songs and they try to tell a story in the short time the music video is on for. However quite a lot of music videos in recent times are lasting longer than the actually song itself so it can tell a full story to the song. For example, Chris Brown's song 'Fine China' music video lasts for 6 minutes and 17 seconds when the song is only 3 minutes long.

 

Booking equipment

Constrcution post booking equipment

This post shows us booking the equipment which we need to film and the dates which we want to film.

First Draft

Construction Post

Construction Post 

The pictures shown in this blog are the pictures from our first day of filming whereby James was acting and we filmed his part in the music video and we filmed it throughout a few times. We started this by setting up the green screen so that we would then be able to set up the lights and get the green screen ready. After we had finished putting up the green screen we had to put up the tripod and get the camera and everything else ready. We done a few practice run throughs without filming but we just looked through the camera to check the framing and where we would have to tell James to stand and so that he can also rehearse the lyrics and get used to being in front of the camera more. After this we done several run throughs of the song whilst filming James.

An action we had to take was that every time we felt that we needed James to smile more, or do a certain action, or do cations to some of his lyrics we let him know. We also had to tell him how far to stand and wether he had to move or not.

The changes we had to make was that we was going to film Daniel on that day but we didn't in the end ad we did not have enough time because we did not think that James' one would be so time consuming.

We did not come across any difficulties as we had everything planned out. The main thing we needed help with was setting up and taking down the green screen, but apart from that we didn't need much help.

What was positive about our video shot was we liked the clips that we had as they looked good and professional and they were also in perfect focus.

I do not feel that there was much that we could have improved apart from our timing and that we should have possibly worked faster.

One Direction Take Me Home Analysis

One Direction - Take Me Home album

Construction post (Green screen)

One of the scenes that we wanted to include within our music video was the artist singing in front of a green screen. This was so that we could change the background and make it visually effective and entertaining.

Shooting

All together I would say that the the shoot was effective, However without working as a team I would say that it wouldn't have run as smoothly as it did.

Setting up the Green screen was quite quick and was done effectively as the final videos of the green screen came out clear.

I would say that one of the hardest things that we came across throughout shooting the Green scene was the lighting as some of the lighting made my shadow stand out and some of the cresses from the Green material, however as a group we managed to overcome this effectively and accordingly.

when shooting the music video I had to lip sync in front of the camera with allot of bright light in my eyes. Therefore I found it difficult to concentrate on the camera. The lights also made me sweat as it was really hot on my head, This made my head look shiny on the camera. I also found it off putting everyone in the room looking at me when preforming, This might have made my performance not as strong as it could have been. Another issue we faced was that we couldn't get my whole body in shot as the amount of space we had and Green material we had wouldn't allow us to move the camera as far back we would have liked as we would of got some of the room in shot. I suggested filming it then cropping the film but the issue was that it focus of the camera wouldn't be as strong as the rest of the footage.

Location

This is the location were we are going to film the artist and the actress sitting down laughing and talking. We wanted this to be a light happy location that seems relaxed.

This is the location that we are gonna use to film the scene at the park. We wanted this location to be romantic and have different features that are considered as romantic. For example, there is a pond this is were they could feed some ducks. 

This is where we are going to film the artist waking up and looking at the picture frames on the side. We wanted this room to be bright and casual at the same time. We also wanted the room to look as though someone young was staying there.

This is where we are filming the artist singing with the background behind the artist changing, this will make the video visually interesting. We want this to be bright and fun to lift the energy of the video up.

Booking equipment

This blog post is booking the media equipment which we need to borrow form the school to film our media music video project.