CR- Print Production- First Draft

This is the result of my final draft the text and the images do very well to contrast with the bright background, as for the 'sun rays' I have smudged the colours together for a more fluid 'easy' look. However there is no album cover yet but I have chosen it should go were the text indicates. As part of the text I have used an example of one of the artists songs in particular the one we're attempting to make a music video for.

CR- Print Production-Titles

Here are the titles that I plan to use on the album advert because the text flows very easily it is often connoted with love and thus with marriage one of the key titles in the paper production.

CR- Print Production mock up

This is my original plan. I intend to fill the colours with an orange and a light cream. As for images I am still uncertain however they will depend on how good a shadow they produce. With this plan I tried to conform to the rule of thirds as the images and titles are in the side, upper and lower thirds. The types of images I will use will be silhouettes that will allow the background colours to show through.

CR- Print Production- Background

Here is the backgound that I have designed for the album poster. This keeps in convention with the sort of artistry Bruno Mars is associated with. For this background I used a rough brush for the yellow and cream theme which I then smudged for a smoother transition. With the cityscape I found a silhouette on the internet which I touched up on the ensure a crisper image. The car was my own design which I did roughly on paint and to a more precise image on Microsoft Word using autoshapes. the shadows were the same image just reflected and skewed.

Rough Cut Feedback

Our last audience research, we showed a rough cut of our music video this was our feedback;

• Eye shot, 2 eyes rather than just the one
• Take all shots of zoe looking at the camera out unless a shot of loui is after
• Need a lot more performance shot
• Feet shots - else where, establishing shot
• Cafe Establishing shot
• Cutting more, shots are too long
• Key Frame, create movement
• More location aka tonbridge park
• Need Stronger First shot of Bruno
• Singing needs to be full on and clear
• Construction of a heart by Bruno
• More Close ups
• Rule of thirds

Overall our rough cut went well and now we need to carry on with editing with these improvements in mind.

ZS Grenwhich Shoot

Sunday 13th we did a film shoot in Greenwich London, our locations included Greenwich market, Greenwich park and around the Maritime Museum. All members of the team went on this shoot including Louis Ditzel our actor. All team members took turns in shooting footage and scouting specific locations.

Technical Issues

Throughout the day we had a recurring problem with the general public walking into shots. This was the main problem with shooting in such an urban and busy environment. In the market scenes it was acceptable to have other people behind the main actors in the shot but as soon as they start walking in front of them they attract more attention than the actors. We also had problems in the park with members of the public in the background of shots which we only realised once we had loaded the shots onto premier and reviewed them.

Shots

Close up's

Roll in shot - Greenwich Park:



I roll into this shot and Louis steps straight into shot afterwards. This was difficult to shoot as I had to make sure that I turned into the centre of the camera shot at the right speed. After a few takes we were able to execute this shot, abiding by the rule of thirds. This shot idea was taken from a roll in shot from one of Example's music videos "Watch the sun go down".

Feet tapping shot - Greenwich Park

This is a shot where our feet are tapping in time to the music; it cuts from Louis' foot tapping in the cafe to both of our feet tapping in time in Greenwich Park. This shot was fairly easy, although it took a few takes for our feet to tap at the same time. This shot also obeys the rule of thirds, with both feet two thirds up the page and each leg on the first and third line going horizontally across the screen.

ZS Digipak Analysis



Genre

Jessie J is a Pop/ R&B solo artist and is renowned for her individuality and attitude. This is portrayed through her close up, looking directly at the camera which is breaking the fourth wall between her and the audience. This shows that she is confident and bold.

Media Language
What visual techniques are used?

The album cover takes the dominant reading path with Jessie J being the focal point in the centre. As soon as you look at the cover her face is close up and her individual style is instantly recognisable. This is then supported by her name in large gold print underneath her face which is the second place in which you look.

This is large font and follows the dominant reading path of left to right making it easy for the audience to view and understand. The gold font against her black outfit and makeup makes it bolder and easier to read. This colour scheme is very interesting, the gold representing reality and the contrast of the black which suggests darker more rebellious undertones. Her outfit is black and against the stark white background this shows that she is different to everything around her and again shows levels of confidence and individuality.

How is meaning generated through these techniques?

Using Roland Barthe's semiotics, we know that there are visual techniques which are signs and symbols, used to create meaning. The symbol which is most apparent is her haircut, strongly mimicking that of Cleopatra. This similarity represents power and graces which both of these women show. It also shows that Jessie J is almost goddess like and this links in nicely with Dyer's star paradox, making her extra-ordinary.

She is wearing a black lipstick which has a gold leopard print design in the bottom left hand side of her lips. This print is a sign that she is wild and untameable, an image which she tries to portray in her image and music. She is not trying to look pretty or innocent in this photograph, which makes the audience believe that she is real and that her music is about real things. This concept is also incorporated with Dyer's stars making her ordinary. 

Are there any linguistic devices used? 

The name of the artist, Jessie J is an alliteration, making it easier and more pleasant to say. It is also fairly short and these two factors make it a much more memorable name. There is not an album name to remember so consumers will find it easy to remember the name of the artist and can easily go and buy her album without having to remember an album name. 

Is there any intertexuality or references to popular culture? 

Jessie J is seen to be wearing all black, with black nails, lips and eye makeup. This is a contrast to popular culture with girls being portrayed as pretty and innocent wearing pink and other girlish colours. She is making a stand and not bowing to popular culture and stays individual. As she is wearing all black it is very dramatic and clear to the audience that she does not want to simply follow the crowd.

Representation 
How is the artist represented? 

Jessie J is certainly portrayed as a brave and daring individual. In Dyer's paradox's he claims that stars are consisted of their star image. Jessie J's star image means that she wears a lot of dramatic clothing, usually in black and has her signature leopard print lips. Her face stays rather simple, with pale skin and sleek straight black hair. She is both ordinary and extra-ordinary. 

She is clearly present in this album cover as it is a close up on her face, however the rest of her body is not visible in the shot making her also absent at the same time. Which is the second of Dyer's two star paradoxes, because she is not fully present this creates enigma. The audience will have to consume more of her media texts in order to create the full star image as presently it is incoherent.

Institutions and Audiences 

This media text would be consumed mainly through advertisement, available to see in music magazines such as NME. It would also be advertised on television, particularly on music television channels such as MTV. This digipak would be available to buy via web 2.0 and in music shops such as HMV and Ape. The back of the digipak contains a list of the songs which are on the CD and with the artists name and picture on the front the audience know what they are buying into and exactly what product they will receive.    

CR- Advert deconstruction

Genre

The artist is standing wearing sunglasses, which are often associated with artists in the rap and R&B genre. The chequered shirt is favoured by artists like Bruno Mars who also belongs to the same genre as Taio Cruz. With the use of location it is fairly exotic associated with rap and R&B artists and their videos.

Media Language

The advert shows the artist standing breaking the fourth wall, addressing the audience. The use of the ‘rule of the thirds’ has the top third of the poster used for the titles introducing the artist. The lower third of the poster lists some of the artist’s finer achievements, listing his top hits. The bottom right third shows the front cover of the artist’s previous album from which most of the songs on the album I’m studying come from with some new additions. The artist himself is pictured in the middle third, as with the album cover this can connote the artists independent approach his music. The text in the top third states “Introducing” suggesting that the artist is fairly unknown and needs to be introduced. The font in which the artist’s name is written in a text that is conventional with the artist. This album is very postmodern as it uses the artists previous work to advertise his new pieces creating a pastiche around the audience.

Representation

This poster conforms with Dyer’s paradox’s as the artist is standing alone on a contrasting background making the artist present but at the same time he can be seen as absent as most of his recognisable features are obscured by his sunglasses conforming to the first paradox. The poster also conforms to the second paradox, as the artist is extra-ordinary as he is seen in an exotic location often associated with the genre the artist belongs to. However he is also seen wearing a chequered shirt associated with regular costume thus conforming to Dyers second paradox thus conforming to the ‘star image’. The artist also creates a meta-narrative through the use of shades and exotic locations where he is featured in most of his videos. This ensures that the audience recognises the artist and are loyal to their idol as he is just as similar to himself as he was before the advertisement.

Institution and audience

The text is designed to be consumed as a paper advertisement as it is not designed to be interactive as a live advert would be nor does it single out the audience as a television advert would be. As the artist is seen as breaking the 'forth wall' as if he is addressing his target audience. He is also wearing costume that  is conventional for him allowing the audience to associate themselves with the artist, thus creating a target audience.

Print Production task assignment

As a result of a group talk we have noe arranged which members are doing what print productions.


Zoe = Digipak
Jodie = Tour Poster
Christian = Paper Advert

Concept Development

We planned to shoot at Greenwhich market on Sunday 13th November, we plan to get there by train and have at most 7 hours of shooting time. We plan to shoot in the market and the grounds of the Queens house. We have planned to shoot close up's, mid shots and establishing shots. Our cast included Zoe Stepkowski and Louis Ditzel who is also our lead singer. 

JR - Digipak Analysis

Digipak Analysis

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CR- Animatic

CR- First Shoot

Who, When, Where, How long?
On Friday 4th November we went to KC's Riverside Cafe in Tonbridge where we filmed Zoe eating pancakes and drinking a milkshake.


What did we achieve?
 This included a various range of camera shots and angles. Most of all we used mid shots close ups and medium shots. We also used bird's eye angle of the milkshake. Later in editing we're planning on speeding up the pancakes being eaten and milkshake being drunk.


What problems did we encounter?
 A problem that we came across was that with the birds eye view, the shot was quite difficult to do, as I wasn't able to keep the camera dead still however with the shot sped up the shakiness won't look that bad.

ZS Permission Letter

We are now hoping to film in Grenwhich Market next weekend because it provides a variety of different urban areas in which we can film including the market itself and the park. However, the market is council run so we will first need permission to film in this location and permission to use it for coursework, here is a copy of the email i sent to Grenwhich Council earlier today. We hope to have a positive response soon.

To whom it may concern,

as part of my A2 level media coursework we have to create a music video and for part of this we would love to use Grenwhich market as a scene location. We will be coming up to the market on Sunday 13th for the day and wish to film in the main market itself and around and in the park area. Would this cause any problems and if so, how can we eliminate these concerns?

Yours faithfully

Zoe Stepkowski

Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys

Year 13

Deconstruction - JR

Sonya Kitchell's album 'Effortless',

Genre

The genre of music that Sonya Mitchell creates is singer/song writer pop rock. I think that this is evident from the advertisement as it has been kept quite simple and is in black and white. The image of her face is very elegant and has not had any post-production effects done to it. This is in keeping with the conventions of the singer/sing writer genre. However the image is given a slightly rockier look because she is wearing dark eye shadow and is staring right at the camera.

Media Language

The rule of thirds has been used to good effect in this photo. The stars eyes are positioned slightly to the right of the photo which makes it look more natural. The fact that she is positioned to the right also means that there is space for this text to fit on. The colour has been removed from the photo; I think that it is more striking because of this. I think black and white photos are more honest and natural, two characteristics that Sonya Mitchell would like to have associated with her.

The linguistic devices that are used on the poster are the name of the artist and album, and a quote that reads "A knockout voice... Kitchell is destined for great things". The connotation of the album title 'This Storm' is that a bug event is about to take place that is likely to be bad. When you then look at the image of Kitchell after reading this you can see that her hair is being blown across her face as if it really is windy and there is a real life storm coming. The quotation has been included on the poster to emphasize that the music is very good quality and Sonya Kitchell is a very talented artist.

Representation

The artist is represented as being very authentic and as having genuine musical talent. This is done by using a very simple photo of her where she is not dressed in and extravagant outfit or in an exotic location. I think that this connotes to the audience that she doesn't need to rely on flashy and expensive star motifs to sell her music. This adds to her meta-narrative by portraying her as and honest singer who is making music because she enjoys it, I think that this helps to sell her product as people can relate to her because she is not shown to be a glamorous celebrity.

Institution and Audience


This text will often be ambient consumed because it will be displayed in public places where people are walking past without paying any particualr attention to the poster. It is for this reason that the very striking image of the artists face has been used along with the simple font. This draws the attention of any passers by and encourages them to consume it in a more focused way.

Concept Development

We have had large brainstorm for our concept and have now decided upon the following things:


- For editing we chosen to use the dissolve function so to involve both the narrative and performance together as if it is a flash back.
- We have chosen our 3 key locations these being; Greenwich Market (including the park),  a beach location (camber) and a town scene (cafe, busy streets, romance)
- We will need to do a small reccie to see if filming at night is a way forward, we may have to hire a spot light or change our idea.
- Lastly we have concluded that a lot of footage is needed for it to be interesting therefore we  need to make sure on our shoot we get all the footage that is needed and more.


Overall as a group we have now finished thinking of our ideas and have collected them together, we have almost completed a full set of storyboarding with this our shoot can be structured and we can achieve our footage to the fullest of our ability!

Narrative Idea

This is a great example of our idea of a narrative,











Basically the main plot of our video is a girl and boy falling in love, there are a series of shots mainly dismemberment body parts of the pair having a good time. There will be a large amount of close ups of faces and holding of hands. We are planning on doing a similar plot to this with the images of the past and memories of the relationship.

ZS Advert

Genre

Like Bruno Mars, Jessie J is in the Pop and R&B genre, artists in this genre often have a unique style including their clothes, hair and makeup. It is obvious from this concert poster that Jessie J shows:

- Individuality with her black lipstick and patterned tights (famous for)
- Attitude with her pose, mouth wide open as if she is screaming.

We can apply Dyer’s paradox here as she is shown to be extraordinary with her unique fashion sense however this quirky look is also ordinary because similar items are now available to be bought on the high street market. Pop stars are expected to be youthful and fun, this poster shows both of these elements with her in an odd position in front of a large speaker that you might find in a night club.

Media Language

The poster follows the dominant reading path meaning that the reader can easily absorb the vital information and comfortably so because it is the reading forms that they are used to. The eye is first drawn to the name of the artist in large writing then to the date of the concert which is on the top left hand side.

The name of the artist is in black, large writing which is very bold and noticeable against the pale background colour. This means that there is no way that the reader can miss the most vital piece of information, they will see both the name of the artist and her picture and should be able to link the two together.

Representation

Jessie J is represented as youthful, fun and passionate in this poster. Her screaming face and pose which seems like she is about to pounce upon the reader shows her passion. The large speaker in the background shows her youthfulness and playfulness.

She is present, as in Dyer’s paradox because she is easily seen in the picture and she is in the centre so attention is immediately attracted to her. However she is also absent in that her pose and large fur coat is hiding a large proportion of her torso and legs. The fact that she is present and absent at the same time means that the audience will have to consume more of her media to complete her star image.

Institutions and Audiences

This advert would be available on Web 2.0 because the majority of pop listeners are young and have access to the internet. This also means that fans would be able to discuss the poster interactively and could comment on it together, finding out more star information from each other. It would also be used to advertise the concert around the area where the concert was being hosted.