Filming- Days 1 and 2 (including vlog)

On Monday the 13th Feb we began our day meeting at Twickenham Station to take the train from Twickenham to waterloo Station. We went to many places including Southbank, Westminster bridge and leister Square. When we was there we was filming significant London buildings such as the houses of parliment and busy streets using a time lapse.

On Friday 17th we went to ricmond park to do some performance shoots and to geta shot of the skyline of London. On this day we also set off our purple smoke bomb as a test to see what it would look like in our music video.

Plan For Our First Shoot: Including Animatic and Voice Over

On Friday, we are filming the performance aspect of our video. We have put together a plan of the shots we are using including the mise en scene such as the costume and the lighting. We also included a voice over explaining what we was going to do and where we got our inspiration from.

Listen to here more.

Anamatic Storyboard

This is our anamatic storyboard we have put together for our music video. Each image/photo has a caption which is a description of the type of shot used and what the image is. This has helped us realise that we need more locations when filming our music video as when we uploaded the images we realised we was short on time.

Call Sheet

Marketing Our Artist

We thought of many different ways to market our artist. An idea that we all agreed on was to use social media to market our artist and in particular use a snapchat filter. Snapchat is a very popular social media app in todays society and we created a snapchat filter for our artist.

The filter shows the view from a fan using a mobile phone, filming the artists (Aurora) tour named THE MARCH. 

More photo testing for website and digipak

We done extra photo testing but this time we used a diferent room with lights flashing on the artist. When doing research came we liked one of the ideas Ellie Goulding used in one of her music videos.

We tried to use this idea when doing our own pictures. We found the lights at times made the artist too dark which is why we decided to go for more of a sillhouette approach. This made our artist look mysterious and hid her identity. Like other artists from the pop genre such as Sia.

Test shots for our website and digipak

For our digipak and website, we wanted to use a mixture of coloursin an effective style, such as dark blue and purple. We found a clip on Youtube which used these colours in an effective way by continuously moving. This suited our music video as the song burn is about lights that we used for our test shots. We then projectd these clips of colour onto the projector to create a background behind the artist. Here is what they looked like:

Digipak Analysis

Joanna Newsom

This digipak for the Album "have one on me" by Joanna Newsom intrigued me due to the different design compared to the usual digipak. It is set up in a box which opens out and inclides 3 folder/slips for each CD. As seen in other digipaks I analysed, the front cover has the name of the Artist and the name of the album and a picture that symbolises the artist. For example, in this case the image involves a messy room with the artist lying on the sofa. The image is some sort of painting which suggets the album is very artistic.

Like other digipaks, this digipak uses a black and white colour scheme to have an eye catching effect. The pictures inside the box use a monotone scheme and focus on the artist, this is a common convention I have seen in digipaks. 

This digipak, like others also has a tracklist in the digipak and the album same on the spine which shows it is unique in its structure but shows similar conventions to other digpaks.   

Rita Ora

The front cover has a close of image of the artist. from the pose we can see that she is quite a revealing figure and uses her feminity in her songs. The jewellery such as the watch and the rings connotes wealth and desire. The vibrant Red is very effective against the monotone picture of the artist and makes it stand out against the rest of the digipak. As like many other digipaks, the artist is looking straight into the camera which also attracts the audience. This a common convention when looking at digipaks of artists from the pop genre and something we want to do in our own digipak.

The CD again uses the vibrant red colour, this colour gives insight to the digipak as it can imply passion and determination in her music. On the back of the digipak there is another image of the artist with the record label and the production credits. The image of the artist differs to the one on the front cover as she is not looking striaght at the camera. This suggests she is looking at something in the distance. Having the production credits at the back of a digipak is a key connotation I have found when analysing digipaks.  

Digipak Analysis: Flying Lotus

One digipak that I have analysed is 'Until the quiet comes' by Flying Lotus. This digipak has four panels. In the inside of the digipak there is artistic pictures which use a dark colour scheme to give a very mysterious effect. The CD is also on the inside of the digipak and is matt black. The writing is more of a jet black colour which makes it very effective as the black colours combine to suit the dark images from the pictures.

The front cover has the name of the band and the name of the Album with an artistic picture which is seen to be a common convention for digipaks. As you open the front cover there is the names of each song in white writing on a black background which makes it engaging as the colours contrast. Each song is numbered from 01 to 16.

What I liked about this digipak was that the pictures used was very unique, it did not give away what the band was about but gave insight into what kind of possible genre they were and what their iconography was. From this I want to use our artists iconograohy for our digipak.

Representations of David Bowie- Lazarus

Lazarus is the subject of a prominent miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death. So in this context, it is about the resurrection of David Bowie as the music video was released after he passed away due to cancer. 

the first line of lyrics is "look up I'm in heaven". This is a disjuncture of Andrew Goodwin's literal interpretation as he says "look up". However, the Camera is looking down at David Bowie and it is a crane moving away from David Bowie. This suggests that his illness (cancer) has weakened him as the camera angle makes him look small and vulnerable. The 'death' aspect coming from under the bed is a sign that someone is taking him to his death/afterlife. 

Inspiration for political message- Katy Perry Chained to the Rhythm

We as a group were inspired by this music video as it brings a political message in a unique way. It has a much deeper meaning about the American people than it might seem. Katy Perry has called this kind of music 'purposeful pop' and this relates to something we want to do as we are also trying to bring purpose into our pop music video.

The video is implying that the public are becoming brainwashed by superficial things, hence the marching together in the video with no record of what they are doing, just following each other. She is doing this to draw attention to American politics as she was a huge supporter of Hilary Clinton.

This has been useful to our group as it has meant we all agree to continue with using a political message in our music video as even if we can't make it extremely obvious, we can show it through a hiden message as Katy Perry does.

Representation of the Artist- Pink and Taylor Swift

PINK

From the artists name we can see that she is very unique. The 'i' has been switched to an explanation mark which shows she is loud and outside the mainstream. The hair of Pink is resembling Marilyn Monroe or Betty Grable with the curls. However, her hair is pink which resembles her iconography.

the feministic roses and the doves would normally be associated with love and. However, it is a counter stereotype as her pose portals that she is passionate but not about love. The "Im not dead" quote also contradicts the roses and doves being associated with love, as it has skulls either side to represent rock.

The red shirt resembles her sexuality as it is a cut down shirt which is showing off her body. The colour red is very loud which also implies she is an explicit, loud artist. The institutional code on the bottom left implies that it includes explicit lyrics which is linked to her mouth being open. The stars above her head refers to a link to paramount and the facial expression fires to MGM and in particular the lion which implies she is like a lioness. 

Taylor Swift

This image is from the album cover RED released in 2012. The entire image is focussed on her red lipstick. Which not only links to the name of the album but also reflects the bright personality and type of music she performs. The lipstick can also make Taylor Swift seem quite provocative. This is because the Red implies love and this gives insight into what her music might be about.

The shadow cast from the hat suggests that she is mysterious and that some of her identity and personality is hidden. It is also meaning that people focus on her lips rather than the rest of her face. Taylor Swift is allowing the audience to focus on the titles rather than herself. The font of the titles is very bold and a common convention of album covers as it is clear and easy to spot and the title RED is in the colour red which helps amplify the title and compliments the lipstick.

Comparing PINK and Taylor Swift 

Compared to Taylor swift, Pink is very outgoing and is exposing her sexuality with the cut down shirt. However, Taylor Swift is not exposed and is very secretive as she is hiding her face. They are both repsenting women in different ways. Pink portrays women as lionesses and Taylor Swift portrays women as very elegant. 

Our Artist background

Our artist is called Aurora. She was born in Italy and moved to the UK as a teenager and had little experience as an artist. She was rejected from numerous auditions so went to study Law and politics at Liverpool university. She pursued her aspirations to become an artist all over Europe but was mainly based in the UK. Her Farther was a photographer and her mother was a small time actress. When at Liverpool University she published youtube videos of her singing and performed at pub gigs at the Cavern Club and other local bars on the side. However, she dropped out of university after a year when she realised that the best way to express her political views was through her music.

She moved to the UK as a teenager to become a professional singer despite having little musical experience. After dropping out of univeristy, she moved to London to follow her dream of music and lived in a studio flat in camden which she shared with her friend. Aurora grew up with her mother and farther who both enjoyed artistic expression. Her farther was a full time photographer who travelled around Europe and usually took Aurora with him where she found a passion for culture and different societies. Her mother had a passion for creative arts and was regularly in independent films in Italy. When living in London Aurora's attributes of creativity expanded as she began to write songs with something that mattered to her.

In 2009 "change" was debuted and performed at the round house in camden. She describes herself as "an indie artist with pop goals" and often explores her views through her music. In camden she became friends with other artistic people who also had an interest in music with similar views and passion.  She then fell in love with her boyfriend Troy who worked as a producer in an underground studio and helped Aurora gain access to underground studios in which her career started. She would spend hours and nights performing and working on her music, some of which she hasn't released yet.

Filming/shots Ideas

One filming idea is that we have a shot of people coming together by running and then holding hands. We want to use this idea as it shows unity between people from different cultures around Europe and how our artist is portraying that freedom of movement is a positive.

Not only did we want a shot of people running and holding hands to show unity. We also wanted a close up of different shots of people from different races holding hands to show unity between Europe as a whole and equality.

Costume, Props and Locaions: Initial Ideas

Costume

I have put together some ideas we have came up with for our artist to be wearing. As she is from the indie pop genre we have decided that she shuld be waering qwerky outfits that stand out. These outfits should be colourful but also must be very fiminin as from our research, many artists from the pop genre use their sexulaity. We also think the artist should have some sort of symbol that represents her plitical side. The necklace in the images above is what we are looking for so that it can be part of her iconography. The necklace is a symbol for peace and our artist is portraying her idea of peace through her political music videos.

Props

Due to our music video having a political twist to it, we decided that we should use newspapers in our music video to show news on Brexit and how it can effect the freedom of movement throughout Europe. This is also why we are going to use passports as a prop to express freedom of movement. As the song we are using is called BURN, we are going to use props that represent this such as a fire/bonfire and bright lights so that the visuals match the lyrics.

Locations

We want to use many different locations to make the music video interesting and  appealing. The use of London is because we wanted to film in the city the govern our laws and where politicians make decisions (House of Commons). This connects with our music video having a political meaning behind it.

Political Ideas

We wanted to create a newspaper with a moving image of our artist in the paper. The newspaper would be about Britian leaving the European Union but also brining something unique which is the moving image like the one showed in the gif above. This woud be unique and would suit our political theme as politics is seen day by day in newspapers.

Artist Research and video analysis: Pop music genre

Marina And The Diamonds- Primadonna




Locations: 6
Costume changes: 6
Cuts per minute: 46
Shots: Close ups, mid shots, extreme close ups
Props: Piano, lights, camera, book, cycling machiene, turtle

This music video is very unique as it uses many different props to portray the artist as unique and qwerky. Like other music vidoes from the pop genre, there is a lot of close ups of the artist which allows you to notice the aritsts iconography which is the heart on her cheek. In the video she is represented as very feminine which suggests our artist will need to also be girly/feminim.



Ariana Grande- side to side ft Nicki Minaj




Locations: 8
Costume changes: 8
cuts per minute: 57
Shots: low angle shot, close up, wideshots.
Props: cycling machine

This video portrays the artist (Ariana Grande) to be very active yet attractive by using her sexuality. This seems to be a common theme when looking at female artists in the pop genre is that they use their sexuality a lot in music videos. The use of sexuality is also enhanced by the editing through the slow motion. In this video there is lots of wideshots of the females on bikes to show the coreography performed on the cycling macheines. This suggests that we should use some sort of dance routine in our music video.



Andra- Love Can Save It All


Locations: 5
Costumes: 5
Cuts per minute: 40
Shots: low angle shots, close ups,
Props: phones, clothes

This music video by Andra has a very different approach to the other vidoes I have analysed. This video does not sexulaise the artist like the other videos. This narrative music video is about a couple who have broken up whereas the Ariana Grande's side to side was a performance video. This is useful to us as we are looking to also have a storyline/narrative in our music video but not about love, more from a politcal aspect but this is useful as it gave us ideas on how to apply the lyrics to the visuals on screen.

Artist Research- Artist Background

Sia 

• Australian singer
• songwriter and video music director. 
• She started her career as a singer in the local Adelaide acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. 
• In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she released her debut studio album titled OnlySee in Australia. She then moved to London, England, and provided lead vocals for the British duo Zero 7.
• In 2000, Sia signed to Sony Music's sub-label Dance Pool and released her second studio album, Healing Is Difficult,
• Her catalogue includes the successful collaborations "Titanium" (with David Guetta), "Diamonds" (with Rihanna) and "Wild Ones" (with Flo Rida).
• born on 18 December 1975 in Adelaide, South Australia. Her father, Phil Colson, is a musician, and her mother, Loene Furler, is an art lecturer.
• Sia is the niece of actor-singer Kevin Colson and musician Colin Hay
• Sia collaborated with the band and contributed vocals to their two EPs: Word and the Deal (1996) and Delirium (1997). In 1997 Crisp disbanded, and Sia released her debut studio album entitled OnlySee on Flavoured Records in Australia. The album sold 1,200 copies.

Halsey

• Ashley Nicolette Frangipane (born September 29, 1994), known professionally as Halsey is an American singer-songwriter.
• She started songwriting at the age of 17. 
• In 2014, she signed her first recording contract with Astralwerks and released her debut EP, titled Room 93. Her debut studio album, Badlands, was released in 2015.
• Halsey was born and raised in New Jersey as Ashley Frangipane. She is of Italian, Hungarian, and Irish descent on her mother's side and African-American on her father's.
• Growing up, Halsey played the violin, viola, and cello until moving onto the acoustic guitar when she was 14
• In one of her first interviews, Halsey stated she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around the age of 16 or 17. When she was 18, Halsey encountered financial trouble and music became a way to pay her rent.
• She played numerous acoustic shows in different cities under various stage names. She chose "Halsey" as her moniker because it is an anagram of her real name as well as a street in Brooklyn where she spent a lot of time as a teenager
• Halsey originally planned on going to college to major in fine arts, but after realizing she could not afford it, she instead enrolled in a community college as a creative writing major.
• Halsey began her career by posting cover songs on YouTube under her real name. 
• In 2012, she recorded a parody of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" called "The Haylor Song" about Swift's relationship with One Direction member Harry Styles, and posted it on her Tumblr account.
• In 2014, Halsey recorded a song called "Ghost" and posted it on SoundCloud.

Ideas and Locations

High Concept Music Vidoes

A high concept music video usually has a striking and easily communicable idea.




This music video has a 1950's theme and is suggesting that women who are mothers can still use their sexualtiy and that they are attractive to young men.