Digi Pack

A promo pack is everything used to promoted an artists album. This can be anything from posters and photos, videos, advertisements, press, interviews, magazine covers etc.

A digipack is a style of CD or DVD usually made of a book style paper or card outer binding with with plastic inside capable of hold a CD or DVD disc. They are often used for CD singles, special editions of CD albums and DVD sets.

The digipack should be linked to the music video through the location, style and costumes used in the video.

Analysis of 2 digipack covers

This is a video for the Lady Gaga Fame Monster digipack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eoy8O0xOAPw

The Fame Monster digipack contains the album for both The Fame and The Fame Monster. The two discs were identical to each other except for the number at the bottom. The disc on the left had a number 1 while the disc on the right had a number two, this is so the person who bought the digipack knows which songs are on which disc. The didpack also includes a booklet that has several iconic photos of Lady Gaga (including the photo of her with the large diamond sunglasses) as well as lyrics to the songs allowing the buyer to sing along if they don't already know the words. The photos on the front and inside covers of the digipack are in black and white giving it a sophisticated and classy look, like old Hollywood. The front photo being a well known Fame Monster photo. The writing on the cover however is in gold so it stands out against the background. On the back of the digipack is the well known photo from the cover of The Fame with the name of the songs written down the side. By using only a few colours for the design it gives the digipack a recognisable theme, rather than using several different colour schemes for all the separate parts that make it up.

Rihanna Digipack

Like the Fame Monster digipack, this digipack has two discs that have identical designs. The photos on the cover and the inside of the digipack are also similar. The cover is a close of Rihanna's face while the inside is one image spread across three folded sections of her laying in some roses, Rihanna is only on the left and middle section whereas the right section is just of roses. In both photos she has the same hair colour and style with the same makeup. By using similar photos it creates a theme for the digipack. The photos of Rihana used for this digipack are the same as for her music video 'Only Girl in the World' as she has the same clothing, hairstyle and makeup. This digipack also contains a booklet with the same images as the front cover - a close up of Rihana's face. The digipack sticks to three main colours for its design, red, cream and green to keep it simple and stylish, rather than have a rainbow of colours making each part of it seem seperate from the other parts. These colours and images also give the digipack a typical 'pop' look and is instantly recognisable as something by Rihana and therefore is more appealing to her fans.



My Digipack Flatplans

I designed three flat plans for a digipack that would be used for a Rihanna music album. Of these three designs, i chose the one that i thought was best to make using Photoshop. To make the digipack i had to take photos that would be used for the cover, back and inside as well as choosing font styles and song names. The digipacks will have to be in keeping with what Rihanna albums and digipacks usually look like to make it seem similar and recognisable to her fans. This means choosing convincing song titles and similar fonts and images used on previous Rihanna albums and digipacks.

When designing my digipack flat plans, i chose to look at the Lady Gaga and Rihana digipacks to gain ideas about what is normally included in a typical pop digipack. The Rihanna one was particularly helpful because it gave me an in site into the sort of things her fans will be expecting to see. For example, it gave me ideas into what sort of photos to take and what font styles to use.

1)

2)

3)

I ended up creating a digipack based on my second flat plan. I felt that this was my most effective plan as it was simple and more like her other album covers. I would have used my first flat plan if it was for a live album, but because it was a studio album i didn't think a photo of her performing would be appropriate. I didn't think my third flat plan was effective because there was no photo of, only writing, and this is very unusual especially for a pop album.

Link to digipack Cover:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B7hCr4ttDC-rZDNjNGQxNDUtMzFlOS00ZTU2LThiYmMtMjk5ZmQ4NjU2MDVi&hl=en
Link to inside of digipack:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B7hCr4ttDC-rNjhhNzdmNTItNGRhMy00M2M1LTkzNWMtZDQzYmExMzhkZDJl&hl=en

From this task I have learnt how to use Photoshop and most of the features on it. For example, I can now  curve text or make it go horizontally, crop and edit photo as well as adding in other images.

Feedback
I put my digipack onto facebook so people could comment and tell me what they thought I could improve on. The thing that stood out from what people said was that the background colour didn't quite go with the 'pop' image as it was too dark. They also suggested making some of the writing bigger to fill empty spaces.

Shooting Diaries

During the filming process of the music video, I filmed all of the interior shots as the other person in my group was required to be the male character. I also filmed some of the exterior shots in the fields, again because the person i was working with had to be in shot. When I wasn't filming, I was helping establish what was going to be shot and how it would be shot, including helping the female character in what she needed to do in the shot and any possible camera movements.
Whilst filming I came across a few difficulties. The first being the sun and not being able to see what was on the camera screen. To over come this issue we moved the camera around into different positions against the sun until we found one that not only provided us with good lighting in the shot but also allowed us to view the footage on the camera screen.
The second problem I had was also when we were out shooting in the films. Part way through filming the camera battery ran out and we realised we forgot to bring a spare with us. In order to not go over schedule we decided that I would plan how the female solo shots would look and get the female character to practise these shots whilst the other person in the group went back to get the spare battery as it would only take around 20 minutes. By the time he returned, we were fully prepared to film the shots.
The finale problem we encountered as a group was the issue of the female charatcer being shy and embarrassed about being infront of the camera. Because of this we ended up witha few wasted shots, but we kept offering her words of encouragement and support which we found helped her performance.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting schedule for California King Bed

Before our group started filming we wrote up a shooting schedule in order to keep organised when booking the equipment, finding when both cast and crew were free and to make the day of shooting run more efficiently. The shooting schedule also helped us to keep on track with the film.

Shooting schedule - Wednesday 16th February

10:30 - Group meet at  chosen location

11:00 - Group arrive at shooting location 1

11:00 - 11:15 - Prepare location and look for any potential safety hazards

11:15 - 11:30 - Crew to set up and prepare the camera whilst the cast prepare for the shoot e.g. costume and make-up

12:00 - Begin shooting the opening sequence of the music video (shots 1-12). The bedroom shots of the male and female characters.

14:30 - Lunch break

15:00 - Begin to shoot the female solo shots (bed, window and balcony shots)

16:00 - Move to location 2 (fields)

16:15 - Begin shooting the field shots of the female and male characters running and sitting by a pond.

18:00 - Review the days filming and plan a possible second day of filming if required.

Health and Safety

Before we started filming our music video, we decided to write up a health and safety sheet to ensure we were aware of any possible dangers or hazards that could occur whilst filming. We wrote up lists for our own safety and the safety of the camera. These safety lists were used for both locations that we filmed in.

Camera Safety

• Make sure the camera is securely attached to the tripod
• When moving the camera, remove it from the tripod
• Make sure the tape and battery are properly inserted into the camera

Personal Safety

• Make sure there are no tripping hazards such as wires
• Make it clear where emergency exits are
• Keep all doors and windows clear in case of an emergency
• Make sure there is sufficient filming space
• If filming outside, be aware of other people
• If working with special lights make sure you operate them properly

Storyboard and Animatic

Before we started filming we designed a storyboard in order to help us whilst filming. The storyboard will giove us a rough idea of what shots we need and how long they need to last. The storyboard will however, only be used as a rough idea, when we are editing out footage we will not be sticking to the storyboard shot for shot as it may not look right when we put it together.

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene for 'California King Bed'

Before we started deciding on the costumes for our music video, we looked at some Rihanna music videos, live performances and images on google to gain inspiration for whats of clothes and makeup we should have. By looking at what previous costumes Rihanna has worn we were able to get a sense of the sort of things she wears, enabling us to make our costumes similar and recognisable.

Unfaithful Video

We decided to look at her costumes in Unfaithful' because the narrative of this video is similar to that of the narrative in our video. She is also wearing very simple 'everyday' clothes in this video which is also something we plan on doing.

Take A Bow Music Video

Again in this video Rihanna's costumes are very simplistic and plain. However, she has stronger make-up in this video rather than minimalistic like in the 'Unfaithful' video.

Ideas for our music video

Costumes:

Female Character - The female character will be wearing plain and simple clothes like Rihanna wears in 'Unfaithful' because it will allow the audience to relate to the character, especially if they have had a similar experience to what the narrative is explaining. She will be wearing a basic top and jeans. Her make-up will be very simple - again emphasising that she is an 'everyday' girl.

Male Character - The male character will be wearing plain clothes like the female character, again so the audience will find him more relateable. He will be wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans for the scenes with the female character, as well as a coat for the outdoor scenes. During the shots where he is on his own he will be wearing a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, showing that because he is no longer with his girlfriend he isn't as fussed about his appearance.

 

Setting:

Our video will be set in a bedroom to create an intimate atmosphere between the two actors in certain scenes as well as loneliness in other scene. There will also be a few shots on a balcony. We will also set part of the video in a field to show the distance between the characters.

Pitch

Due to a change in our group and video idea, our new group was unable to record our new pitch.

Our presentation:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B_QUfHy0ObHTMzNjZTQ4ODItYWE3NS00ZWM2LWIzNWMtODFjODI3YjA1NjI3&sort=name&layout=list&num=50&authkey=CP-qtokJ

Initial ideas

Originally I was in a group of four and we decided to make a music video for Lady Gaga's song 'Boys Boys Boys' but whilst planning our video the group split up. Now im working with one other person and we decided to change our song idea to Rihanna's 'California King Bed'.
Whilst planning for our music video, we watched several Rihanna music videos on youtube to try and get an idea of key themes that are included in them so we could make our video recognisable as a Rihanna video. Her videos usually have a narrative structure, normally with a theme of love or heartbreak. The video that stood out that could help with ideas for our own video was 'Unfaithful'. The video has a simple yet affective story line and the costumes are similar to the one we plan on using.
When thinking about what we wanted to include in our music video, we brainstormed our ideas and worked out how we would shoot them and how they would fit into the story we wanted to create. As the lyrics to the song provide great imagery we decided it would be effective if we acted out certain lines of the song. We also decided to make the story about a couple who have broken up but are struggling to come to terms with their split.
After putting together our ideas we were able to come up with a clear and easy to follow narrative for the audience. We also feel that the story we want to create would be believable as a Rihanna video.

Copying an existing video

In media we have been working in groups to recreate the music video 'Teenage Dirtbag' by Wheatus as an initial project to help us get used to following a storyboard, using the camera and being a director. Before we started filming we were given a demonstration on how to use the camera and all its different functions, for example, how to create a shallow depth of field (this is where only part of the shot, usually a person or object is in focus), zoom, lighting and white balancing (this is where you show the camera what the colour white it so the camera can aplly this to all other colours placed in front of it). We were also showed how to set up the tripod, attach the camera and use the tilt and pan. We were given a safety procedure on how to use the camera properly and how to carry it when moving to different locations.
Once we finished the camera introduction we watched the 'Teenage Dirtbag' music video and wrote up a detailed storyboard of the first 16 shots. We wrote down the shot type, any camera movement, location, costumes and props,  a description of the action and a description of any sound/audio.

Filming
Once we had finished drawing up our storyboards, the class was split into three groups - each group filming a different part of the music video.  Each group consisted of a camera man, a director (who would set up the shot, tell the camera man and extras what to do as well as being in charge of the clapper board), a lead character and a few extras if needed. Everyone in the group took it in turns to be the director and the camera man to get practice before filming our own music video.
When filming, we used our shooting script to take notes on each take of a shot so we knew which take to use when editing. For example, we would write down if the one of the extras didn't fit in the shot or if someone started laughing.
Our group filmed the lead male walking outside the school as he sees the lead female character. We shot this behind the college to resemble an American high school. I directed the first 3 shots, which included a long shot, a medium close up and a close up. In the last few shots I was an extra walking towards the camera behind the lead character.
Our group also filmed the opening 4 shots of the male lead character when he is asleep on the stairs and cycling past the school, as well as an opening establishing shot. The parts we were shooting were set outside in the original film, however, due to the weather when we were filming we had to film inside. So instead of shooting an establishing shot of the outside of a school we shot the inside of the canteen. In the original video, there is a car that drives past and the lead character is riding a bicycle, because we were shooting inside we were unable to use either a car or a bicycle, so we filmed the lead character walking rather than cycling.

Editing
Once we had captured all the footage we needed, we were given a lesson on how to use the mac laptops. For example, we learnt how to set up a scratch disk to store the footage, how to capture the footage from the camera using a silver cable. We also learnt the importance of the format and the importance of capturing the footage in the setting PAL (the European format set at 24 frames per second) and not NTSC (the American format set at 30 frames per second).
Once our footage was uploaded we learnt how to use Finale Cut Pro and how to fast forward, rewind and move through the footage frame by frame. We also learnt how to cut any bad footage in order to leave us with the good footage we wanted to use.
We were then told about the three different stages of non-linear editing. Firstly there is the assembly edit where you cut out any bad footage allowing you to put the good footage in the correct order. Secondly there is the rough edit where the shots are cut together to create a smooth transition between shots. The music is also synced with the action at this point. Finally there is the finale edit where the cuts are tweaked to exactly how you want them and any special effects are added.

Finale Film

Video Analysis

Lady Gaga - Poker Face
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bESGLojNYSo&ob=av2e

This song is an up tempo dance song with a simple but interesting music video. This video is like a mini film with several different concepts, the first being her coming out of a swimming pool with two Great Danes laying by the pool. The video then cuts between her dancing with male back up dancers, her on her own outside of a large house and her at a party either playing poker or sitting with a large group of people. It is easy to tell when the video changes from one scene to the next as her costume varies in each scenario, suggesting her interest in fashion.
This video has almost 40 million views emphasising her mass appeal to most music fans.

Lady Gaga - Just Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Abk1jAONjw&ob=av3e

This song is an upbeat dance song. The video starts with Lady Gagaarriving at a house party  when someone starts playing the song prompting people at a party , who had all previously been asleep, to start dancing.  The video cuts between shots of the people dancing and Lady Gaga either singing the song, or dancing. Nearer the end of the video it also cuts to shots of her in a paddling pool with an inflatable killer whale.
Lady Gaga's outfit changes depending on what shot it is. When she is singing she is wearing a glittering silver dress and when she is dancing at the party she is wearing a black and white striped poncho whith a blue lightning bolt below her right eye to pay tribute to David Bowie.

Target Audience of Artist/Band

The target audience for Rihannais quite varied due to the unique and individual sound of her music. Generally however, her fan base tends to younger people either in their teens, 20's or 30's who have a love of dance, R'n'B and  pop music. Her fashion also attracts a lot of younger people who copy her dress sense and hair styles.
In terms of demographics, Rihanna's fans are largely female but with collaborations with artists such as Eminem and Jay-Z her music is also more appealing  to a male audience.

Psycographically, her fans are quite varied. She is likely to attract a large number of Mainstreamers due to the mainstream pop sound in her music and the large fan base she has created. She would also attract strivers who want to fit in and seek approval and social status because so many people listen to her music. Reformers, aspires and explorers are also likely to listen to her music.

In socio economic groups, Rihanna's fan base is quite diverse as her music is listened to by many people regardless of their job, income and social status. However, the likely groups to listen to her music are skilled manual workers e.g. electricians and plumbers semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers and casual labourers.

Rihanna has featured on many magazine front covers, not just confined to music magazines. She has appeared of several fashion magazine covers including Glamour and You. This shows that she is not only a music icon but a fashion icon as well.
Her unique sense of fashion and hair styles makes her stand out suggesting that alot of people, regardless of their age and job are interested in her, not only because of her music but because of what she wears.

Rihanna has appeared on many different types of music magazines, ranging for rock and indie magazines such as NME to chart music magazines like Billboard. Again, this proves that her target audience is wide and

When looking at Rihanna's facebook page, it is clear that her fans are both male and female and range in age and nationality. She also has a following of nearly 30 million people, showing the large interest in her and her music. Again, this is clear on her twitter page as she has over 4 million followers all ranging in age and nationality. Her followers on these websites are an equal mixture of male and female fans.

Permission

This is my email written to Def JamRecords asking their permission for copyright of Rihanna's song "California King Bed". It is important to gain copyright permission for songs because it stops other musicians and bands from stealing each others songs.

Song Choice

The song my group have chosen to make a music video for is 'California King Bed' by Rihanna off her album Loud. We decided to use this song because it had strong and meaningful lyrics that would allow us to come up with a love story narrative for our music video.
When looking and some of the lyrics, we were immediately able to visualise how certain shots would look.

Link to lyrics:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/california-king-lyrics-rihanna.html

Exploring Music Video

Madonna -Vogue
Vogue is set entirely in black and white to recreate the 'Golden Age of Hollywood'. By setting the film in black and white it also helps to add sophistication and style to the video. The name also helps to suggest style for the video as Vogue is also a well known fashion magazine. Throughout the video, people are striking poses that could feature on the front cover of Vogue magazine helping to create a sense of fashion and elegance. They are wearing smart suits and fancy dresses to suggest that they are uppercase, rich people (the main target audience for Vogue magazine). The people in the video have vacant expression again reinstating their high class and carefree attitude.
As Madonna joins some of the extras they are all wearing black suits as they begin to dance. The dance is slow and almost robotic, emphasising their carefree attitude.
This music video is likely to appeal to a slightly older audience who are into fashion and the golden age of Hollywood. However, it may also appeal to younger people who aspire to have glamorous life styles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuJQSAiODqI

Christina Aguilera - Beautiful
This video focuses on issues and stereotypes of young people focusing on the negativity they often face. The video features people not normally featured in music videos, rather than using 'beautiful' people that others would find attractive Christian Aguilera decided to use people that are often over looked or ignored. Featured in the video are, an underweight girl looking in the mirror, a thin boy lifting weights with photos of bodybuilders on his bedroom wall and another girl ripping out pages of a woman's magazine. The video also shows a girl being bullied and a goth sitting down on a bus as other passengers move away. This deals with some of peoples predetermined thoughts on certain types of people as well as teenagers own worries with their bodies and appearance. Throughout Christian Aguilera is standing alone in a room singing the song, suggesting how alone and isolated these people feel because of how insecure they are. This video also challenges the idea of the perfect person who features on magazine front covers as it creates worries among young people that they aren't normal and they don't look right.
This video would appeal to most young people as it carries a message that it doesn't matter what you look like and may help them in feeling more confident about themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZjr0heZNIw&ob=av2n

Beyonce - Single Ladies
This video is set in black and white, the the Vogue music video, again being used to show style and sophistication. The video features Beyonce dancing with two backup dancers who look similar to her. They are all wearing high heels and black leotards - Beyonce's being slightly different so she stands out. The choreography of the dancing is complex and fast paced to match the tempo of the song. It also emphasises her skills as a dancer.
This video would appeal to younger people, especially girls, who want to be dancers and enjoy upbeat dance songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyHVQT8aIBM&ob+av3e

Eminem - Stan
The video for Stan features a cameo from Dido as she sings the chorus of the song. Eminem however, features very little in the video as someone else plays the character of Stan. When he does appear he is sitting on a tour bus either reading or writing a letter, there is also footage of him performing a concert, leaving a concert and singing autographs.
The theme of the video is Stan's obsession with Eminem, the basement set is covered in Eminem posters, with another one of his videos playing on a T.V.  During the third verse Stan is driving in his car and drives over a bridge, to emphasise to the viewers how obsessed Stan is. Throughout the video it is dark and raining to create an eerie atmosphere and to hint to the viewer that something isn't right.
The video makes a clear point that all musicians has obsessive fans and that they can't always reply to fan mail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSLZFdqwh7E&ob=av2e

Intorduction

For my media coursework I will be working in a group with two other people to make a music video. We will have to film and edit footage to make a video for our chosen song. In oreder for the vidoe to be successful we will have to work together in making decisions on camera shots and angles, locations and mise-en-scene.
This coursework will allow me to further develop the skills I learnt from my AS task (making a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a music magazine). For this task I had to consider font types for the title, sub title and main text as well as costumes, lighting and settings for the photos. This will help me when deciding what should be included in the music video.
Link to my AS Media blog:
http://sianpomeroy3.blogspot.com/