Main task

This is the my music video, my main task. I created this using Adobe Premier Pro. I used various effects, mainly playing with the focus on the camera to add to the theme of confusion, and mistakes. This is the them of the lyrics, thus I came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was make the video as ambiguous as possible. Blurring and fading, along with flash forwards and flash backs help be accomplish this. It gives the video an uneasy melancholic feeling, Kind of like drowning I would say.
The first shot is of the antagonist fading in from nothing, slowly becoming opaque.

Personally, I think very little of this video, mainly due to my own errors - I couldn't gather enough usable footage to create a viable three minute video, so instead I settled for an atrocious one minute one. What I could have done to improve is organize a better shooting schedule, and make copies of the shots for my own personal safety. Alas, I believe the sound to video synchronization to be alright in some areas, so there are some positives. More shots of the artist would have been preferable, and the song name, artist name and company name and logo would have made this a better product over all.

The effects I used on Premier Pro was layering and opacity, to make the opening shot seem like the character was fading in, dissolving to black, a personal favorite transition of mine, and making a clip play in slow motion.

As far as continuity goes, there is a coherent story, albeit ambiguous. 

Ancillary task - Website

www.lewisbenning.wix.com/zenataylor

Digipak development

These are the final Digipak plans:



This is the front cover. It shows the artist, her name and the title of the album. The pink background represents the feminine nature of the album and singer, crayon styled font and modest picture, this tells the audience that the demographic is girls, aimed from 14 to 20. I previously described the picture as modest, and that is the way the artist wishes to represent herself. As a simple singer songwriter. In the terms of Blumler and McQuail's uses and gratifications theory, this album satisfies the audiences identity needs - the artist is someone who can relate to them. I am somewhat happy with this, although it is missing a certain je ne sais quoi, so to speak.

This is the disk tray. The lines and circle indicate where the spines and disc will be located. Going with the singer songwriter gimmick, and for the sake of continuity I used the same guitar on the cover to be the disk tray - it has a patterned circle already, and it immediately makes the album feel less commercial and more personal. If I were to make any changes, it would be that the guitar would not be crooked. It would also be more centred. I feel it fits.

This is the insert. On here contains details of the album's creation, and honourable mentions. Sticking to the theme of the guitar, my feelings for this insert are rapturous. If I were to criticise it, however, I could possibly mention that the font is unsatisfactory, and the text wrapping isn't as smooth as it could of been. Potentially, having the text transparent could have helped. Alas, hindsight butters no parsnips, so I believe this to be successful.

This is the outside back cover and spine. The spine contains the name of the artist and album, the back cover shows the song names and track numbers. This does what it was intended to do, as it provides the necessary information, stays consistent with the theme of the guitar, and bares the company logo.

This is one of the inside covers. This shows a picture of the singer writing a song, which is likely what the audience would want to see. It is also an aesthetically pleasing picture, so it serves its purpose.

This is the second insert. It is a medium long shot of one of the producers playing a piano filtered and altered in several ways, the first of which by cropping the background, and then giving it a stamp filter using Adobe Photoshop. This gives it a pretty jazzy/motown vibe, I personally think, which one will automatically associate with music. Then the background is a shade of grey, filtered using the brush stroke effect. This is to avoid it being one flat colour without shading, as I personally believe them kind of backgrounds to be repulsive and unprofessional. I chose that specific effect because it gives the picture a jaded look. Finally the logo is placed conspicuously in the top right hand corner to promote the logo. This is a promotional insert, advertising the production company, Adagio Records. 

Audience Targeting of my video

The demographic group that will make up my target audience is females between the ages of 16 and 20, mainly because that is her own age group and makes her a more relateable character than that of somebody like Janet Jackson. It will appeal to them because it will fulfil their diversion needs, with the possibility of also fulfilling identity and relationship needs, if I were to reference Blumler & McQuail’s Uses and Gratifications theory. This is because the story of the song and video is a girl pining over a loved one of which she lost after making a mistake. Many girls of this age could potentially relate to this character, and may learn both how to respond to the situation and potentially find an answer, or at least deter them from making the same mistake.

The social economic status may play a role on audiences, as the star herself is from a working class background.

Sexuality and ethnicity hold little relevance to this product, but the protagonist is a white heterosexual female. Otherwise would appeal to mainstream audiences due to the song being of a pop genre and psychographically, would appeal to people interested in romance or more personal issues.

Audiences using this medium are likely to be passive, as the video is but trivial entertainment designed to allow the viewer to empathise with the character opposed to spread propaganda or a belief, however when they use the website they may use it to gain information, thus making them active. This would satisfy a surveillance need. 

Website analysis 2 - nickcave.com

Immediately upon entering this website I was put under the impression that the singer, Nick Cave, wishes to represent himself in a more artistic light, and seeing his works confirmed this. This was made conspicuous by the home page feeling almost minimalist in comparison to other artists' websites. A large majority of the home page is the excessively large roll over menu, which is located between the black boarders at the very top and bottom of the page. At first glance, the pictures on the rollover menu are in black and white, but upon hovering over them they gain colour, however these pictures are not the focus of the page; they are but an accompaniment to the hyperlink in the foreground. By this I mean they are relevant to the page that they link to, such as the link for "The Sick Bag Song" on the far left is clearly titled "The Sick bag Song" in italic EF Lingwood font, which is clear yet has an air of sophistication to it. Behind this. would be a close up of a spine of a book titled "Nick Cave Sick Bag Song", Nick Cave being underlined leaving clear evidence that he is the artist, or author. This is his newly released book containing his songs lyrics, poems, and a personal journal. It is titled this as it was originally written on the back of a sick bag whilst he was travelling. The books blank cover may represent his artistic and poetic nature, implying a use of symbolism, and to quote the words or Martin Luther King Jr., so the book is judged not on it's appearance, but its content. 

Next to this would be a link to buy the soundtrack of Loin des Hommes, the film which he underscored. This both promotes himself as a composer, and the film to those who are interested in his work. The picture is hard to work out. I believe it to be a two shot from the film, but this is an educated guess. The picture is cropped to fit the roll over menu, and the reasons that part of the image is shown specifically are plentiful, one could be that it reveals two of the main characters, advertising the film, or it may be a specific scene where his work is sampled.

Before progressing, I should note that these large images are in place of a cascading slideshow, which I believe to be interesting and original, which is what he was aiming for with the website. Cascading slideshows, albeit a classic, are overused on a lot of promotional website home pages.

I could go on to describe the other two sections, however this would be incredibly pedantic. It is safe to say that these links are purely to promote his recent works.

Interestingly, the website's masthead is in the centre of the page. A white border with the artist's name in the middle, notably in two different fonts, maybe to differentiate the different sides to him. Both fonts are different to that of the roll over menu, and the boarder at the top; speaking of which is also a roll over menu. Possibly due to the overwhelming amount of content he has on his lyrics pages and such - an entire page has to be dedicated as a directory. 

On the top right hand corner there is a mailing list, to interact with fans. It is in an easy to locate and convenient location, not pressuring to sign up, but leaving the option open. At the opposite end of the page is another method of keeping up to date with him, links to his social media pages, the most conspicuous of which being his spotify page, which allows the user to sample his music free of charge, also letting them share it.

Once again applying Blumler & McQuail's theory, the audience of this site may use it as surveillance - to keep up to date with Nick Cave's latest works. This would make the audience more active, which makes sense - Nick Cave is an alternative artist and a lot of his work is to be left to interpretation thus encourage an active audience is the logical thing to do. 

Mis-En-Scene Considerations

The beginning of the video is to be shot when it is dark outside, and there must be a clock in the room set to say that it is 3am, this is because one of the opening lyrics states that it is 3am and the protagonist can't sleep. Naturally, she will be wearing the type of clothes one would wear at night, such as a night gown or pyjamas. I believe a onesie would be inappropriate - I believe it to be too immature to find itself in a video about a harsh break-up. The room should be clear of anything childish to preserve the mature image I am trying to represent. Lighting will be a slight issue, so I must experiment with filming at night. I may have to buy a torch or lamp if necessary.

The scenes of the protagonist singing will be shot in various locations, one of which will be in the music room, as it both has a piano and shows the feeling never diminishes, that she is in a constant state of sadness regardless of the location. The other location will preferably be in an empty room. This will be symbolic  of how she feels. Alone. On both occasions she will be dressed formally. 

The scenes the boyfriend will wear vary.

The story is set over a period of time, and generally people don't wear the same thing every day. The mother is possibly the most flexible character out of the three. As only the top half of her back (including her head and shoulders) will be shown, what she wears mainly lacks relevance. My only request is that she dresses somewhat formally and that her hair is down to further conceal her identity. This is purely from how irrelevant the character is, I'd rather all eyes be on the ex-boyfriend in the scene that she is in. 

Website analysis 1 - taylorswift.com

The website has the masthead/logo in the top right corner, which is the artist's name in big bright letters, so it does not go un-noticed. Beside this is the rollover navigation bar, which lights up upon the mouse hovering over it. This is to make navigation of the site a simple process. Already there is a similar theme of bright red lights, possibly to emulate what could be seen at a live show. Below this is a cascading wave slide show advertising her new song, her new album and her live tour. This covers a large part of the commercial aspect of the website - immediately upon entering it you are exposed to her main three pieces of work relevant at the moment, each slide is also a hyperlink to the appropriate page for the sake of user friendliness. At the very top of the page are the ways fans can communicate with each other and her, additionally advertising the new album 1989. From this part of the page you can join the mailing list and see the latest tweets with the hashtag 1989, which also encourages the user to use this when posting on social media further advertising her product. 

Below the slide are pictures of the artist and people who are seemingly close to her, but may also be fans. This makes the website feel more personal to her, and less like a fountain of capitalist propaganda. One picture is of her instagram account, encouraging people to follow her on instagram. As for the large polaroid in the centre of the screen, that links you to her music videos, allowing people to sample her music free of cost. The user can choose from a variety of photos to look at form the gallery by clicking on the interactive arrows on either side of the section. These pictures are called thumbnails.

Beneath this are the featured stories, which are articles relevant to the singer that people can either glance at, getting a very bare understanding of the story, or click on it allowing them to view the full article.

Towards the bottom of the page is the number 1989, which is the name of the artists new album.  It is in the same font as the masthead, for the sake of continuity. The record label and their logo can also be seen next to it, but in a different font (the one used at the back of her 1989 album cover) and a different size.

Interestingly, the background of this section is the picture on both the front of the artists' shirt on the 1989 album cover and the inside of the case. This is but one of a long line of 1989 references made on this page.

At the bottom of the page, in the pink section lies more links to her on social media complimented by a picture of her. This allows fans to feel involved.

Looking further into how the singer is represented on her website, she seems to want push on the idea that she is just a normal person. Very down to earth, genuine and pleasant. Almost like she could be anyone, unlike somebody like David Bowie or Elton John who pride themselves on being eccentric and different, being an out of this world character, Taylor Swift is more of a singer who reveals much about her own life as possible in her work and almost tries to inspire young females too aspire to be like her. 

The polaroid, however, bares a striking resemblance to what Laura Mulvey described in her essay on the male gaze, although this may not be intentional. Looking at the picture literally, she is on her knees, wearing revealing clothing. This may be used to entice men into clicking on the hyperlink, but that's quite unlikely. What this is in context is the artist performing on stage.

Blumler and McQuail's Uses and Gratifications theory suggests that people use media to meet particular needs. Looking at this website, young females may use this website to model themselves on the artist to fulfil their personal identity needs. 

Audiences using this medium are likely to be passive. I agree to an extent, because modelling yourself on a star is a prime example of consumerisms influence on society, however they did specifically choose that star, who is a good role model, opposed to somebody like Kerry Katona of Atomic Kitten.