Analysis of magazine/poster covers

Introduction

When creating our magazines we thought it would be important to discuss and plan our use of colours and pictures, as we are a girl band we wanted to emphasise our fun care free characteristics, which is portrayed through the use of vibrant colours, each differentiating and determining our varied characteristics through colours. However we also thought it was important to further experiment with different ideas in order to reveal diversity through different thoughts and plans. Therefore for my poster I wanted to experiment with colours such as golds and blacks as it attracts attention and gold can be conveyed as successful, although we are not a well known band it shows our aspirations.     

  How did your group share your ideas and designs around?

When analysing my groups magazine covers, I think they appear successful in appealing to our target audience ....

Jessie's magazine cover 

Jessies magazine reveals simplicity, allowing the audience to concentrate on the key points and not be distracted by irrelevant information. I like they way she has captured our attention through the large images of the cd cover and our photo shoot in order to engage the audience, familiarising us as artists to the audience. This conforms to conventions of the pop genre as a general expectation would be to be able to .. However I do think that Jessie could have made the text stand out in order to add attention and significance, perhaps if it was enlarged or bold, as this highlights the importance of our CD release, if it is unclear and not large it may lack attention, we need to draw an audience in. There is added emphasis on the album name 'closure' suggesting it is out now, this is good on informing the audience but could have informed further by perhaps adding itunes etc, although the people we are aiming to target would already know this, it is basic and effective. The 'Chic' title on the image needs to have a greater contrast against the red as orange tends to blend in slightly. 

This is Jessie second magazine poster cover, we will be using this as our final, decided poster. She has concentrated and put thought into the font styles which enables them to appear more prominent. This is important as each text information is as important as each other and therefore because it's varied it all individually stands out. She has continued to add emphasis on the album name 'Closure' and 'Out Now' in particular, detecting the key information. I like the way she has added extra detail such as 'following us on twitter' as this attracts and makes apparent our target audience as the majority of teenagers and young people today use social networking, artists do also to promote themselves, encouraging fans to follow our actions.

The black background adds importance to the poster making it appear increasingly professional, which makes it specific when informing, as it seems serious. She has put a white glow around each member of the band which still allows us to stand out and not blend in with the background. The white lines which surround us adds to the quirkiness and prevents the black from overshadowing and surrounding us completely as it is fragmented, which adds to the liveliness and adds focus to our picture. The image in the corner of the poster summaries our album, the golden glow making it appear prominent, offering importance and what we inspire to be 'golden' and successful, again highlighting the album name and artist name.    

Evaluate the magazine-

Evaluate each the group member’s designs by commenting on the following:

·     What do you like about the magazine?

·     How is the magazine conventional to your music genre?

·     How can the magazine be improved?

Selina's Magazine cover 

As you can see the colour theme has been carried forward through Selina's idea, this magazine poster appears to reflect our carefree attitudes through the fun use of colour and smoke effect at the bottom which further attracts us to the picture. A disadvantage of Selinas design is again the font, it does not appear to stand out, although she had made attempt to highlight key words and add emphasis on the single itself which is positive. She has also informed her audience that this is an album poster by having the words 'Debute album' up the top followed by Closure along the side. I like how she has experimented by creating a different layout, however the writing and picture, to me, appear equally, as the colours seem a slight distraction. 

Jenna's magazine Cover

Jenna's magazine cover is extremely similar to Jessie's through the structure, with the picture at the top, prioritising the band image, again the background is vibrant, lime green is an appropriate colour in allowing us to completely stand out, the font is clear and matches our black outfits which make it appear independent and powerful, standing alone. 

Reflection-

·     Which magazine will you submit and why?

Currently we have decided to submit Jessie's poster, the editing influenced this as she has cut out images accurately and used a smudging effect in order to make the image appear smoother.To conclude I think Jessie's magazine cover is successful in conveying a professional structure to a poster/magazine cover of a CD. However all designs are successful in appealing to an audience which would probably majority consist of teenagers, but I think the over use of colours can at times make it appear less professional and modern. I personally think the font should be bold, basic, detecting key words through specific colours and underlining. 

Timeline of the history of music videos

Research into the history of music videos and explain how they have changed over the years. Include key artists and images to support the points that you have made. Attached is a worksheet to support you in writing your post.
What is a music video?
A music video is a short film which presents a visual presenation of a popular music song. MTV the music television station was originally launched in 1981 and played continuous music video programming without any specific conventional genre.
Roots of a music video can be found extremely early, as early as 1911, Alexander Scriabin wrote his first symphony; poem of Fire for orchestra and 'light organ'. There appeared to also be traces of animated films of Oskar Fischinger which were supplied with orchestral scores. As well as this the early animated efforts and production of Walt Disney were built around simply music, examples of this were Silly Symphonies, and the Warner Brothers cartoons, known as the Looney Tunes.  A Blues singer named Bessie Smith also appeared in a short film called Saint Louis Blues back in 1929. this featured in dramatised performances of the hit song, it was later shwon in theatrues in 1932.

In 1938 Segei Eisenstein's film named 'Alexander Nevsky' featured extended scenes of battles which were choreograped by Sergei Prokofiev, this has been said to have set new standards to the use of music in film and has therefore been described as the first music video in film, as this was successful, popular and therefore realised throughout the media industry, it offered a new form of entertainment.

1940- Throughout this era early forms of music videos were produced and labelled as 'Soundies', these were one song films and were made for the visual  panoram jukebox, focusing on majority jazz musicians and at times torch singers, comedians and dancers.  

What is a Parnoram Jukebox?
Before the Soundie, dramatic movies did typically have a musical interval, but the Soundie highlighted the importance of the music made, as people would concentrate purely on just the music, instead of the film itself. Many jazz performers appeared in these Soundie short films, some still available on video tapes or DVDs today. This brought alot to the music video in the way in which it developed a deliberate seperate focus on music. Technology had a huge influence on this as it created a specific focus on music, peoples interests would begin to grow.
A Parnoram jukebox consisted of roughly eight three-minute Soundies which entertained people and were popular in taverns or nightclubs.

1950-1954
More than 1000 short musical presentations were filmed for television fillers. The first short musical films made for television were Snader Telescriptions. Most of them were conventional pop but included rhythm, blues. jazz and country music.

1960
French technology developed for serial photography during the war which was adapted to create the Scopitone modern visual jukebox, this was very successful in France as it revealed bands playing. In comparison to the US however, the quality appeared vivid and unusual, partlu because the genres were explored differently also.





Timeline of inventions in music industry:

Music video timeline

• 1941: The Panoram Soundie is a jukebox Invented that plays short videoclips with music in the USA. Big hit in bars and clubs.
•  
• 1956: Hollywood discovers the genre of music-centered films. Rock and roll films begin.  (Rock Around the Clock, Don't Knock the Rock,  Rock Pretty Baby. Famous Elvis Presley movies. Films began to integrate musical performances into a story, Engaging audience with the music and the lyrics.  
• 1960: In France a re-invention of the Soundie, the Scopitone gains limited success.
•  
• 1962: British Television invents a new form of music television. Shows like Top Of The Pops, started and became huge hits.
•  
• 1964: The US-Television market adapts the format. Hullabaloo is one of the first US shows of this kind, followed by Shindig! (NBC) and American Bandstand.
• 1970: The record industry discovers these TV-Shows as a great opportunity to promote their artists. They focus on producing short "Promos", early music videos which started to replace the live performance of the artist on the TV-stage.
• 1975: Bruce Gowers directs the music video "Bohemian Rhapsody" for Queen. Today considered as a landmark in music video as it featured the complete visual grammar of today's music promos.
• 1981:A company known as American Express  starts MTV, an experimental satellite channel broadcasting 24 hours of music videos. The first video played was The Bugglles  "Video Killed the Radio Star". Today the start of MTV is commonly  viewed as the  "golden era" of music videos, focusing on popular culture.
• 1996: Popup video is first aired on VH1
• 
  
• .People would disagree with this as many people see it as the death of the true artist, because now in order to be popular you must be physically appealing, it is now about image rather than vocals, MTV evokes this. A persona is now created and evolves around an interesting character which people may be able to either relate to, therefore understand and be interested in their lifestyle or background, or someone which may appear visually different and attract attention due to standing out; for example, Lady GaGa. This way she can then attract publicity and explain why she is how she is, which people eventually grow to admire and like. There are artists in the pop industry which emphasise and draw attention to their wild characteristics and image rather than the talent of singing, popstars such as kesha are an example of this. She sings about partying, drugs, drinking, living a nihilistic life, which attracts and appeals to a young teenage-adult audience. 
• 
  

What makes a music video Unique?

To recognise the diversity of music videos 

Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry are two music directors which specifically create diverse music videos.

Chris Cunningham directed a video by Madonna named 'Frozen' which demonstrates evidence in the ways in which it simply challenges conventions and appears diverse. Firstly, Madonna appears to be singing about someone whom has broken her heart, however there is no evidence of this person throughout the video, the only character is a female actor. She sings and confronts this person through the use of the second person 'you', this therefore makes it seem like she is confronting and engaging us as an audience but appears unclear as there is no focus on this person. 

This music video challenges the genre and characteristics of Madonna as an artist herself, although her music videos may vary majorly in attempt to capture a demandingly vast audience,  the electronic ballad 'frozen' challenges her conventions as a pop artist. The music video is revealing heartbreak, therefore the dark, low key lighting emphasises this solemn effect, which allows her to strongly evoke her emotions which is further conveyed through the atmosphere and weather which is heavy and dull, as if unable to escape from this mood as she is constantly surrounded.

 This may fail to capture an audience as Goodwins theory is rarely evident, as the lyrics fail to distinctively match her actions. They appear to be conveyed through slow movement and black iconography in attempt to express hurt and perhaps desperation. There is some reference, however, for example 'Love is a bird she needs to fly', there are crows in this video which are flying, she is referring to herself, these birds can take off and are free but she feels trapped which is ironcically revealed through establishing shots of endless scenery in order to suggest isolation and vulnerability. However, crows are a bird which are often viewed negatively and to some extend foreshadow death, perhaps her love is dead. This expresses the diversity of her music video, generally if a bird was used to positively convey love or convey love in general there would perhaps be a white dove flying in order to clearly suggest to the audience that this bird is love and is a theme. It is not specifically made evident, which continues to portray the poignant, dark mood. 

The structure and style of the music video is a concept video which appears to be obscure as it lacks explanation or narration failing to explain or elaborate the reasons for why she is like this. This intensifies the abandonment, as her life doesn't appear to be what she wants it to be, lyrics such as 'waste your time with hate and regret' seem ambiguous as we would originally assume she is relating this to someone however her actions and dark mood expressed would suggest it is her who has thousands of regrets. The video consists of many close ups which do allow us to connect with the artist, revealing her emotional strain, there are also repetitive reflections of herself which appears spontaneous but is successful in revealing her entrapped mind and thoughts, which is supported by her laying on the floor or crouching she is physically and mentally weak. 'You only see what you want to see', here the artist stares intensively looking down slightly which disengages and removes her from the audience as if deep in thought, emphasising her desperation. 

The connotations of emptiness and darkness make it seem as if she is represented with no heart, this is the death of it, although she sings about her heart and emotions, emptiness remains, as if an insight into her dark soul. 
There are also specific close up shots and focus on her hands, revealing a tattoo of the sanskrit symbol of God which is believed to remove all despair, taking you closer to God, which adds religious context to her. Perhaps she turns to God in order to be heard because she is emotionally trapped an has no-one who will listen nor turn to, God allows her to gain strength and belief. She appears to be serious through the use of black and body language but perhaps she fails to be taken seriously and understood.  

The video is extremely unordinary and could disengage the audience as it does not follow the concepts or conventions of a music video which Madonna would create. This can be seen as a disadvantage as people may fail to see the deeper meaning and depth throughout this video as generally people just want to be entertained when watching a music video. However I think it is powerful in remaining basic in order to be emotive. 

Advantages of having a diverse music video 

• Makes a music video memorable, ability to stand out from the rest making it easily recognised.
• The artist appears individual and independent. 
• Artists can have a niche audience which this would conform to
• Abstract comes to life
• Frozen appears successful in conveying emotional hurt, isolation and desperation through a concept video! 

Disadvantages of having a diverse music video

• It may be difficult to build/form a relationship with the audience. 
• Doesn't always appeal to everybody, people may want something they can easily relate to and understand 
• Therefore a limited target audience could be formed

Gondry's music video-The White Stripes 'Seven Nation Army'
This music video lacks significance to lyrics however it does peculiarly have basic rock genre characteristics although it may appear less clearly. The duration of the music video consists of something similar to an optical illusion, as it presents the artists performing from a long shot to a mid shot, through reoccurring triangles showing movement as if travelling through an endless tunnel, could this be setting the pace of the song itself? The characters are emphasised through becoming larger as if projected, in order for the audience to remain focused on the characters however this is challenging due to the pace. Instruments are present as drums and electric guitars are revealed as they play them, this is rather specific to the rock genre. There are also movement of the characters, for example pointing, or when the lyrics say 'want to hear' the character covers his ears in order to engage us with what is being presented, this could be touching on elements of Goodwins theory but it appears to be extremely vague.  Instead we are distracted by the spontaneous  repetitive marching skeleton warriors which add to the aggression or negativity of this music video. The words used such as 'pounding', pleading, rip off and blood make this appear graphic, implying sufferance which is emphasised through the colour red perhaps suggesting seriousness or danger, he sings in an aggressive tone in order to elaborate perhaps anger or general aggression which is usually specific to rock artists.
This music video fails to captivate an emotional interest within the lyrics, however the genre must be considered as people who have an interest in rock wouldn't specifically be looking for a connection, as most rock videos are live footage/performance based and focus on the heavy base/ use of instruments and body language to connote aggression, similar to this as it also focuses on the beat with the flashing light. This could diverge a mainstream audience as the repetition may disengage people, but is successful in allowing the music video to be detected as a specific genre.

((Consider if Gondry's or Cunningham's style of video production would suit your chosen genre. Identify elements which would work well and wouldnt work well))

Gondry's style when analysing 'The White Stripes' could perhaps suit the conventions of a rock genre as it still focuses on elements of performance and would be appropriate when specifically focusing on this, elaborating and further engaging focus on the artists through mirrored effects. However as our selected song and traditional music video is mainstream  a diverse style would not suit our music video, artists which are extremely well established such as Madonna may decide to create a diverse video in order to differentiate herself and surprise her audience from a 'professional point' of view it would be challenging for us to do this as we have to consider ourselves as if 'new artists' therefore we would want to do all we can in order to familiarise and connect ourselves to our audience. New artists which are breaking into the pop industry usually follow a conventional, stereotypical video in order to familiarise themselves and attract this mainstream audience; examples of this would be with Rita Ora, Justin Bieber. We may be able to take features of these types of diverse videos forward such as the specific use of lighting to emphasise the beat and attention on colours but not to an extent where it may appear unordinary and peculiar as we want to avoid ambiguous effects which diverse videos create. I think diverse videos can be extremely effective as it portrays creativity and an element of the unknown, but seeing as our music video is a pop/dance/rnb type music genre this would not be appropriate.

Planning lighting and colour

What styles of lighting are you using and why?
IS this conventional to your genre
What are the main colours/connotations

To ensure that our music video is successful and of a high standard we must make sure that the styles of lighting are conventional to our genre this is allow us to attract a specific audience. However at the same time we want our music video to be recognised and stand out, as Rihanna's 'Where have you been' video combines a mixture of pop and rnb/dance, therefore we hope to combine filters in order to emphasise the beat of the song, portraying the nightlife relating to where this music would be played.
Low and high key lighting will be important when combined with actions as it allows us to further portray moods. Low key lighting would appropriately be used when wearing our masquerade masks in attempt to evoke mystery, highlighting a hidden identity or change in persona. If darkness is used this could express a change in mood and negative energy. Lighting is important in developing focus on the characters and enhancing their feelings and emotions. 

Throughout our music video we will be using different styles of lighting during each scene. Lighting is important in a music video as it helps further produce and develop an atmosphere which coincides with the iconography conveyed in order to emphasise and express the moods and emotions.                                 In our music video we will be using natural high key lighting in specific shots in order to portray purity and innocence, which will be expressed through a white theme, this will hopefully capture and engage the audience as emotions will be expressed through facial features. Lighting is important in evoking the emotions and feelings through our music video as we are filming a narrative based video, therefore it is important that we develop an understanding. The lack of awareneness from the character that appeals to us or who we are looking for is oblivious to our emotions, making us feel as if we are removed from reality. This is challenging to convey as we want to be able to amlost create features of dramatic irony as the audience are aware of who we are after and what we want but the world and this particular character has no idea, as if to us deluded. Therefore considering lighting is extremely important as this cannot be effectively connoted without lighting, editing and even iconography.                                           "Where have you been"  is a combined genre music video with elements of dance due to the beat and chorus  which is shown through Rihannas dancing. As we are not dancing we would like to convey the dance genre and consider the beat of the music by using ambient filter and tinted colours which is partly considered as editing.  This is a specific genre to many dance music videos as it offers quirkiness and energises the shot, as if replicating a club like environment with flashing lights, evoking a dance culture. The filters also connote a feeling and loss of grip on reality, as it distorts the colours in which we can see in, perhaps reflecting how the characters feel. We will have to plan this carefully, for example if we want to portray anger or poingancy the colours of the filters would vary. Filters will allow us to cover and enhance the theme of the dance side of the song, although this may appear to be concept related as it does not entirely match the narrative, it could be successful in showing how the characters are deluded from reality and withdrawn from themselves, especially when the masks are worn.

This will be conventional to our genre as dance/pop themed videos reveal upbeat, fast tempos which are enhanced by the artificial colours and lights used. This will feature throughout but not continuously/constantly used as we still need to highlight the pop culture throughout the music video, it would not be appropriate co constantly use this as the beat and pace is slightly slower than an original dance track but speeds up during the chorus. We would use filters perhaps through the chorus in order to enhance the growing pace which is important throughout the song.

                              

Analysis of magazine/poster adverts

Posters are used to promote the artists and their albums, this poster is promoting Rihannas Loud album, familiarising the audience with the playlist by suggesting that 'Only girl in the world' single has been released from this album also. The bottom part of the poster fades out, making it simply black, this has been done in order to allow the audience to focus on the image, but add importance and urgency to the words used. Emphasis is added on words such as 'Rihanna' and 'Loud', parallel to the theme or background with a beige like font, separated. Highlighting and drawing attention to the key promotion, the point of the poster is to promote and make the audience aware of her new album name and the artist, therefore this is given importance, we can see it clearly as if jumping out at us from the rest of the font. The loud is large, as if read loudly, standing boldly and independently alone, representing the meaning of the word loud, as if shouting at us. The release date is at the bottom to make it remain memorable and is larger, again because this is important, the informative information is separated by using a white font in comparison to revealing what artist and album it is. The 'R' in the top left corner stands alone, Rihanna is an established artist and this simple logo is enough to show the audience it is Rihanna. The piece of jewellary on her arm alongside the 'R' indicates features from her previous rated 'R' album, due to the success of that album she can now specifically continue to use features from that in order to establish herself such as this simply logo, but only slightly as she wants to remain to make each album different and individual. The jewellary on her arm is almost as if she has broken off from a chain and is now absorbing the opportunity of freedom. It could on the other hand simply be iconography used to continue to show elements of mainstream conventions in order to replicate this wealthy, idolised image, she may be situated in a field but can still remain luxurious and beautiful. This is also contradicted through her nakedness, being naked in a field is far from luxurious or classy, as this is Rihanna it could further be implying sexual connotations/references to show that she is and will push the boundaries in order to separate herself from the average and remain outrageous and memorable.  

The poster reveals a long shot of Rihanna situated in a field as she sits up in a kneeling position, she appears to have a frilly red dress wrapped around herself as she holds on to it, which suggests she is naked, as he leg is prominent ... Her body language, with her head held high and her arms gracefully wrapped around herself connotes a thoughtful state of mind, as if reflecting, the fact that she is naked in a deserted field however implies vulnerability and abandonment. The colour red is used often; her hair colour and dress, the field also appears to be slightly tinted, this colour was used as a theme and new image towards her album release, making a new statement in order to standout. This colour offers relevance to the album as the use of the pastel colour red could suggests lust in this instance as Rihanna wants to be treated like shes the 'only girl in the world' suggesting intimacy. However, because of her body language-sitting up this could depict elements of self belief or independence and therefore slight power, to imply she has not been taken advantage of and feels comfortable in her own skin and who she is. 

The lexis at the bottom of the poster is extremely basic this because in the eyes of the music industry she is already well established and does not need to be referred to any other singles or albums previously released as she is recognised by her image. People will see the image or look at her name and be able to associate songs to her image due to her success. They do not need to even mention or go into detail of the CD title or what it features because people will just want to listen to Beyonce's music regardless. The bold font against the black background allows the font to clearly standout and be read, highlighting the most important date through bold and enlarged font.

The attention and focus is on Beyonce, as the background is plain but bright allowing her to make a statement focusing on her positioning and body language indicating a dance motion. Using her dancing talent to further establish herself, as she is known as one of the best female artist dancers. Her hands behind her head suggest confidence as she professionally glares forward, lacking emotion as if concentrated or focused on her fortune and dream, giving her a natural appeal. We know this due to the way she is styled, in a glittery, delicate crop top as if she is wearing diamonds. The use of the diamonds image may be used to imply wealth and a reflection of her star image, bright, expensive and rare, further attracting attention to what she is wearing engaging the audience with features of dance.  The image of Beyonce is high key lighting and uses top lighting in order to enhance Beyonce, giving her a golden glow with big hair connoting her huge talent and confident, independent persona. As Beyonce originated from a girl banned named 'Destiny's Child', it is important that she remains a positive role model and icon to teenage girls, here she appears sexy through her attitude and confidence, making her likable and not fully exploited like Rihanna which may not appeal to certain people as they disagree with this image- obviously her top is more revealing but it is relevant as she is exploiting her dance image.


Summary
Researching and analysing magazine posters are extremely important and effective in allowing us how to successfully create one. From analysing these to music poster I now understand the importance of simply highlighting key facts in order to engage the audience. I understand that it is vital that we have large images of our band as we are an emerging band and are not well established so would have to therefore inform the audience who we are, in more detail than Beyonce's. It needs to be simple and eye catching through the use of colour and the positioning of images in order to add importance.
After looking into different magazine posters, the genre and the conventions of that genre needs to be considered,this allows us to convey our personality as a girl band. We also want to make it obvious that we are a pop/dance. Rihanna's theme throughout the Loud album is the colour red in order to connote lust, this is clearly portrayed throughout her advertisement, it is important that we carry a specific theme forward if we can, for example an element of fun. Doing this will allow us to appeal to a specific audience.  I think using dark colours would allow us to highlight the dance element, adding an element of seriousness but also conveying future success through powerful golds and silvers, it would also be successful in allowing the font to appear bold and simple to read. I hope to add bright colours also to carry forward fun and personality at the same time.

Planning Cinematography

• 
  
  
  
  
  

Analysis of Cinematography 

Camera angles must be considered and planned out carefully during producing the storyboard, this enables us to make sure that the video with editing will be continuous. Camera angles are important in music videos and have different connotations depending on each shot. With our music video we are planning to use varied shots ranging from establishing shots to familiarise the audience with their surroundings to shot reverse shots in order to portray and connect two characters, evoking their relationship status or problems again engaging the audience with their emotions, showing a swap in perspective, making the audience aware of each characters feelings but also developing a perspective in which the audience have an insight into further emotions, and are aware of their feelings or mental state.

Our music video will consist of varied camera angles

Close ups will be used, these are popular throughout all music videos but especially mainstream music videos such as pop/RnB genres. Close ups are used in order to develop a relationship between the artist and audience. We want to be able to see the artists facial expressions, and singing which further connects the audience to the lyrics as you watch them mime.



Extreme Close Ups 
Extreme close ups focus on a specific area, as if zoomed, this usually focuses on the facial features of an artist or area to draw attention to movement. This is often used in pop music videos, to express and intensify emotions. Extreme close ups are commonly used on the lips, this can simply add focus on the lyrics through the movement of the lips  miming. However extreme close ups emphasise intimacy, particularly on the lips, a pop artist that often has this feature throughout her music video is Jessie J. An extreme close up on the eyes can also intensify and reveal emotions such as anger or seriousness. This can also emphasise the notion of looking as a extreme close up of the eyes followed by identifying what they are looking at, perhaps a characters body develops and indicates a sexual desire/ viewing characters as sexual symbols.This is specifically used throughout male artists music videos such as Pitbull or Flo-rida as they exploit the female body. Rihanna uses extreme close ups in her video to develop similar characteristics, exploiting herself, they are very common in pop music videos.

Establishing shot

An establishing shot sets up the context of a scene, opening and engaging the audience as it develops an understanding of where the scene takes place. This is often used at the beginning to introduce the setting and open a music video. It is often used in narrative based music videos and can create the effect of a mini film, by including similar features such as this. Above is a screen shot of Paloma Faith's 'Picking up the pieces' music video, which opens with an establishing shot, it also is successful in creating and setting an atmosphere, as it looks deserted connoting  feeling of abandonment.

We have also planned to use establising shots during our music video to familiarise the audience with the location. It will hopefully enable us to show a passing of time through people going about their everyday life, we chose escalators as they are always busy and reveal people returning and leaving. This should portray and add a slight focus on voyeurism, as we are watching, the camera situates the audience in the artists position as if we are there watching and the camera is therefore our point of view.  We are searching for the right person, applying Goodwins theory as 'Where have you been' would be associated with searching for someone.

We have planned a high angle shot on the escalator similar to this image. High angle shots are employed to make characters appear insignificant, weak, scared or powerless and belittled as the camera towers over the character, developing a point of view from another character or from the item/object they are looking up at. High angles are generally used in horror films in order to identify the vulnerability of the fearful character. It is also used to highlight authority and lack of it. Music videos rarely use high angles to express and show the character as most music videos want to show their artists as dominant,  superior to the average person. This would also contradict their personas as they want to be viewed as confident. High angles are probably more likely to be used in narrative based music videos when showing a story, this might be relevant in music videos based with a theme of heartbreak or a drug related theme to emphasise a lack of well being, feeling worthlessness, reflecting their state of mind.  

High angles could be used in a dance genre music video as it allows a clear image/shot of people dancing/raving in a nightclub, which is atmospheric as you feel included in this shot. This is not used to create isolation or insignificance but to highlight everybody together having a good time and enjoying the music, allowing us an insight into this type of lifestyle. 

This could be used in our music video if we were to show a club scene, or if we wanted to represent ourselves as distraught or defeated in 'searching for someone', as we cannot get what we want. 

Low angled shots on the other hand create a contrasting view, depicting the character as superior as the camera looks up the them, this makes us feel weak where as the high camera angle makes us as the audience feel superior. Low angle shots are often used in the rap music genre as this develops the stereotypical powerful dominant personas they are trying to convey, their strong characteristics are emphasised by body language and hand gestures to engage with the music, connecting lyrics with visuals. This allows emotions such as frustration and aggression to be understood and exaggerated. Pop music uses a wide range of shots, therefore low angle shots would be used, artists want to be admired and looked up to  which this can convey. 

We will be using (eye line) over the shoulder shots followed by shot reverse shot to allow us to convey two characters interacting together. This allows the audience to engage with the characters emotions as this shot will reveal facial expressions.




The shot reverse shot continues to create a different perception from each character of how they each feel about each other. This reveals to the audience both characters emotion, developing a better understanding between the situation or emotions conveyed. This is important in ensuring that accurate continuity editing takes place, making sure that the music video flows correctly.






Weather of location
The weather should not effect our filming, if it is raining this could create pathetic fallacy as the rain could evoke our mind set and emotions of saddness, distruption or betrayal. . On the other hand it may create problems if we are attempting to be well dressed or appear glamerous this weather would not be appropriate in allowing us to do this. However it does remian successful in producing a contrast from us and reality, capturing attention as the background would appear dull but we would appear powerful and untouched, at time moment it is rather open as we continue to plan what it is exactly we want to convey.

Health and safety risks
Health and safety will be taken into account at all times, our locations do not really pose any serious specific health and safety risks. When in busy public areas such as Cental London we will have to have consideration making sure we are not being an obsticle or disturbing people going about their everday lives.  An example of this would be filming on the esculator, we will have to attempt to avoid rush hour although we need it to be busy, timing is very important, we will have to make sure to plan our day out. This could also be challenging as we have to remain stable when filming and cautious, we would  have to practise beforehand becuase a tripod would be most appropriate to allow the camera to remain stable however this may not fit so we would have to hand film.

Cinematography used throughout our music video 


Establishing shot 

Establishing shots are used during our video to reveal the setting, forming a relationship between objects and figures. This informs the audience of our surrounding and where we are. It was important to use different establishing shots throughout London to identify us searching in different locations as if running through the city.
Establishing shots are often used to mark traditional land marks, this would easily be identified as London due to Big Ben, it shows where the 'action' is taking place, or in our case moving to/been. We have used traditional, well known places so the audience can refer to these places.

Point of view shots -Hand held

• 

  Point of view shots have been used to place the audience in this characters position, making them more aware of the surroundings the characters, adopting a feeling or understanding towards the characters moods and emotions. The character running could suggest panic, this alley is also empty which could show isolation
  The camera is also hand held which visually reveals the motion of us running. It has been distorted
  
  
  
  . Over the shoulder 
•  Is a shot of someone or something taken from the perspective or camera angle from the shoulder of another person. The back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame the image of where ever the camera is pointing towards.
  The over the shoulder shot was originally planned to be used when with the love interest to express the intimite moment the character feels between them, placing us in the characters position, however this is not returned. As the storyboard and planning changed we decided it would be more appropriate to change the shot and not include this in order to have elements of concept and narrative to promote genres of dance and pop. Beforehand it was too involved.
• The image below is an over the shoulder shot of me running through a cobbled road at night time by carnaby street, during this scene it promotes vulnerability as it is placed slightly above me to show me running away, placing the audience in my position. .

 

•  

 

 

 

Clops ups have been used at the begning of the music video, followed by a series of long shots, this introduces the audience to our characters. It is important to introduce the audience to our characters, as this familiarises us, it ensures that we are the artists. It also captures facial expressions, portraying moods, an example of this is when we are spinning around to firstly suggest we are lost and going round in cirlces, there is no progression. Secondly it literally shows us as happy, promoting fun characteristics which we wanted to express in a girl band  as we carelessly spin around, preventing a feeling of constant seriousness. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planning Iconography

Initial planning of Iconography

To allow us to produce a successful music video we had to consider specific iconography which further develops and conveys emotions through our genre and themes in order to let the audience further connect with us.
Sometimes it can be difficult to portray significant emotions simply through body language and actions.
 Throughout our music video we have chosen to wear masquerade masks  to emphasise the theme of  voyeurism . This allows us to draw attention to our eyes.  On the other hand it also depicts a hidden character, as we continue to long for the person we love, depicting a feeling of being wanted and hidden within ourselves, perhaps trapped as the male is not aware of this. 
The masquerade mask develops the ignorance of the unknown as the audience do not know who this is. Helping develop a mysterious element as we watch and observe through different eyes as, his life, eventually attempting to recreate ourselves to what he would want. 













The detective hat and newspaper  further develops the searching process of a stereotypical feature as a detective would wear these in films , cartoons and comedies, evoking mystery and suspicion. Usually when the hat is worn or put on it suggests a slight change in persona or mood as they 'mean business'. They are ready to start their search and be perceived as serious. The newspaper denotes the  theme of educating and informing ourselves, hopefully using this theme we have been inspired to develop it further by transforming the headlines and stories on the front to virtually reveal to the audience our obsession, replicating our thoughts as we sit there thinking of what we want to happen. 

 As a result of this there could also be an article or another heading explaining possession and complete insane obsession towards the character we want. This allows the audience an insight into the future, foreshadowing futuristic events and what is to happen if we continue like this we will eventually go mad, we perhaps already are insane. This shows the start of the huge change in character and is expressed clearly to prevent confusion from the audience. Ironically as we are sitting behind this newspaper, we are watching the man we have began to stalk, this is also typical to a detective, again adding to the suspicion. 


We have carefully planned our iconography, styling ourselves in specific colours changing from red to black. A red skater dress will be worn to signify romance and danger, as although she may be with 'the male she wants to be with', he mean while is just causing hurt and sufferance as he does not realise her feelings and emotions towards him, as he already has a girlfriend. 

The black skater dress will be worn with the masquerade mask to connote mystery or a hidden identity, appearing simple and minimalistic but fashionable at the same time.



Changes during Filming 

During our process of filming  we opted for warmer, casual, dark clothing, therefore a navy beanie and hoodie was worn. This enabled us to merge in with the crowds but still be apparent through specific camera angles which added focus on us. This was increasingly relevant to the narrative as we are searching for someone, almost as if it is an obsession. The hat and hooded top prevents attracted attention, perhaps creating a hidden identity as the hat disguises us. The hood/hat could suggest us hiding behind ourselves, it offers security and protection as we fear of rejection or being identified if we detect our love interest, enabling comfort.  Instead of hiding behind a newspaper we decided that the hood, hat and mask represented us hiding.

 To the right is a photograph of the masquerade mask we used throughout shots. It develops the idea of hiding and shying away from who we are, or symbolising who we are from his perspective; nothing as he is unaware of our emotions. It is as if our identity has been taken away from us. Wearing the mask has been limited throughout the music video to add impact, it was more effective to have a jump cut of the mask close up to connote a change in character as we go and search, differentiating us from our average selves, developing a new mysterious persona.


The music video ends with a red burning candle which fades out, it could metaphorically represent the end of our search or journey, on the other hand it could be a sign of weakness and a sign of defeat, we have given up and can no longer see the light. The glimmer of hope which once remained has now diminished and it is time to move on. The low key lighting emphasises the glow of the candle, as we continue to live our lives into the unknown. It could also imply the feeling of negative energy which surrounds us and feeling of isolation due to never finding who you desperately need to visit. The candle concludes the end of the narrative/concept based video. The colour red is a 'sensual colour' and is typically associated with passion and lust but also anger, this depicts our emotions felt throughout the narrative. The candle could represent a movement in time, it going out could show a sign of weakness but also strength as we move on from this situation, growing, growing stronger - (as girl band would stereotypically connote independence). Revealing this search ending as we return to reality, after all a candle cannot burn forever, this could be a way of suggesting nothing lasts forever in general.