Group: Review of Monday 10/11/14

This lesson we have all taken part in over-viewing our newest footage and starting to edit areas into the timeline. We have decided to adopt a rough editing technique where we drop footage into the timeline in places where the lip syncing fits. As our editing progresses we plan to cut the clips shorter and alternate between locations so there is a faster cutting rate more like what is in the majority of music videos.

ER: Deconstruction of a Digipak

Rihanna - Unapologetic

GENRE
How is the genre of the track/artist evident?
Rihanna follows a variety of genres, pop and R&B being her most prominent. It is clear to see this is a pop album cover because of the generic features included: the female artist being the centrepiece with a plain and basic background behind her. This is because the typical aim of the pop genre is to use the artist's image to sell their music. The fact that she isn't wearing any clothes isn't uncommon either because the vast majority of female pop artists use their sexual image to sell their music as that tempts in a larger audience of males who may not usually listen to pop music of that kind. We can tell that she is also prone to R&B by this as well as the fact that she has a tattoo, suggesting street culture.


MEDIA LANGUAGE
What visual techniques are used? (rule of thirds, texture, colour, tone, mise-en-scene).
The framing of the shot is placing Rihanna directly in the centre to bring her to the main focus. The plain, empty, white background emphasises this. The only colours visible is the warm tones of her skin in contrast to her black hair, portraying her to be beautiful but cold. We can also tell this from the mise-en-scene used, the focused, defiant facial expression and the seductive pose she holds through her body language. The slightly low camera angle shows reinforces her position of being strong because she appears to be looking down on the audience.

How is meaning generated through these techniques? (semiotics)
The fact that she is the centrepiece represents a feminist attitude that she can stand strong and independent as a woman and the low angle shot reinforces this. The warm tones portray her passion while the scrawled writing over her body implies her many emotions that she may be trying to show through the music on this album, both features usually linked with femininity. The seductive position she stands in reinforces a dominant belief that women sell themselves through sex appeal.

What linguistic devices have been used? (look at emotive language, use of quotations, connotations of song/album title)
Unusually, more writing than just the title is used on this album cover. Her naked body is covered with very scrawled words like "side effects", "faith" and "victory", that don't make any sense together, but suggest individual deep meanings. The messy style of the writing, as if it was handwritten suggests a lot of emotions and suggests an view into the artist's mind. This makes her audiences strive to know the deeper meaning to these and do this by continued consumption of her work. The word "love" is scrawled over her face so that although she is breaking the fourth wall by looking straight into the camera, it's indirect because it blocks most of her face. It also implies that this is the most important word written on the front.

Is there any intertextuality/references to popular culture? How does this create meaning for the audience? Think about postmodernism here, use of parody, pastiche.
One of the words on the album cover is "#Navy". This is a reference to the popular social network Twitter by the use of the hash tag, meaning a trending topic. Twitter is where she connects with her fans which she called "the Navy" as a way of forming a stronger connection with them so that they feel like they know her. This portrays her as very present but also absent as they almost feel like they are her friend but they are not quite within  touching distance of her, this follows Dyer's theory of the "star image" where artists portray themselves as simultaneously present and absent so that their audience strive to complete their image by consistent consumption of their work.

REPRESENTATION
How are the band/artist represented? Does this add to their 'meta-narrative' in any way? How does it help sell their product?
Rihanna is primarily represented as a sexual object through the lack of clothes she is wearing, further emphasising her meta-narrative of being wild and out of control by being a sex symbol. But she is also represented as being strong by her defiant facial expression and the way she stands alone, independent. This sells her product because her desirability is seen as something to aspire to, placing her as a role model.


INSTITUTION AND AUDIENCE
How might this print text be consumed? How is this evident in the way it is constructed?
This print text would be consumed in a place where people are likely to buy the album for example a CD shop, iTunes or adverts promoting the album. The artwork is there to give an accurate representation of the style of music in the album.

BACK COVER

 

 

The back cover for Unapologetic has a very edgy design in black and white, contrasting with the front cover's simple but colourful design. The writing for the track names is in the same scrawled font as on the front cover for continuity. A photo of Rihanna is also used but here she is clothed and looking away from the camera, setting a different scene and environment. It also includes the barcode and key names of who has been involved in the production of this album including Def Jam.

 

CB: Deconstruction of a Digipak

B'Day (Beyoncé, 2007)

GENRE
How is the genre of the track/artist evident?
-A dominant reading path of females being used as an object of sexual desire is implemented within Beyoncé's B'Day album front cover, an element often manipulated by pop artists. The size of her image is relevantly larger in comparison to the rest of the cover, which elevates her status as a women immediately and suggests that she is to be taken seriously within the pop industry. This challenges dominant ideologies of women being perceived as powerless by media platforms, with her bold stance suggesting empowerment and leadership. Using Goodwin's (Dancing in the Distraction Factory, 1992) theory of genre characteristics, we can identify Beyoncé as a performer with the promiscuous stance she displays on the back cover of her album. With one leg raised and her hip sticking out, she is purposely positioned for the male gaze showing bare arms, legs and upper chest. It is a conventional feature of the pop genre to represent women in such a suggestive way as it attracts a larger audience of males, which helps to sell not only the album, but the artist themselves.

MEDIA LANGUAGE
What visual techniques are used? (rule of thirds, texture, colour, tone, mise-en-scene).
-Beyoncé is positioned within the rule of thirds to the right hand side of the frame in both the front and back covers of the album. This is because our eyes tend to wonder towards the corners of a frame and so we find it more aesthetically pleasing to look at. Also, as Beyoncé is positioned within the rule of thirds we find her image more comforting to look at, with nothing threatening to be seen in the background which places her within a safe environment. Therefore, an adult audience is more enticed to let their children listen to her music as a sense of security and trust is formulated.

-The satin gold dress and knee high boots Beyoncé is seen wearing on the album connotes a need for her to be seen as a sexual fantasy. Using Dyers critical framework of the 'Star Image', Beyoncé is being represented as a "sexual magnet" revealing her perfectly bronzed feminine assets. She further has a semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around her star image, with qualities such as youthfulness and rebellion being highlighted through the addition of a cigarette holder. The implication of smoking detracts from the concept of 'safety' suggested on the front cover, as this is a hazardous act parents won't want their children to follow causing her to lose face to an audience.

-Beyoncé wears natural make up on the album cover that shows her as being ordinary, with the addition of her hair being worn up in a messy style conforming to this idea also. She has a pair of plain hoop earrings in her ears which are easily accessible for an audience to receive and so help her to be seen as an idolised figure of both fashion and music.

How is meaning generated through these techniques? (semiotics)
-As a preferred reading of her assertive stance, it is signified that Beyoncé is conforming to social myths such as feminism by representing female independence. Only she is featured on her album which connotes possession and pride in what she has achieved, representing strong feminine values of success.

-With Beyoncé wearing a short, low cut outfit on this album, it goes on to act as her USP on other album covers she has. The indexical sign created by her image provides her with a status of having good taste, being fashionable and trendy with the arguable occasion of her appearing too raunchy. For example, in her Crazy in Love video featured on the 'Dangerously in Love' album.

What linguistic devices have been used? (look at emotive language, use of quotations, connotations of song/album title)
-The interpretation gathered from her album being called 'B'Day' can be deconstructed as having a cultural significance of symbolising youth. B'Day is a shortened expression used to signify someone's birthday and so could be manipulated in Beyoncé album to target youth by using a language they can relate to. This provides her with a respected status amongst youths as she is possibly making them feel important by suggesting how even celebrities use informal language.

Is there any intertextuality/references to popular culture? How does this create meaning for the audience? Think about postmodernism here, use of parody, pastiche.
-The pale blue and pastel green colours present on the front cover of the album compliment each other in providing a realistic look. They help to represent a desirable country lifestyle that welcomes the consumer into being a part of the narrative world being conveyed, in this example, of an idyllic rural habitat which creates a relaxed mood. This acts as a selling point in encouraging an audience to want to listen to the songs on the album, as they are being illustrated to have a calming tone. The lighting on both the front and back covers support a realistic feel as they are fairly natural, which help to establish a positive rapport between her and the audience. Adopting Dyers theory of paradoxes, the lighting represents her as being an ordinary person just like her audience, which makes her music more relatable to real life situations.

-As Beyoncé is seen on the back cover of her album with a cigarette holder, it could have a pastiche reference to 60's fashion icon Audrey Hepburn who is better known for her famous black and white pose with a cigarette holder.

REPRESENTATION
How are the band/artist represented? Does this add to their 'meta-narrative' in any way? How does it help sell their product?
-Beyoncé is represented as a strong and passionate woman through the use of CU's emphasising her devoted facial expression. However, her facial expression can also be depicted as seductive which builds upon the idea of her being seen as a sexual figure, luring men in especially to buy her product. This adds towards her meta-narrative of being seen as desirable, but further implies her aspiration to want to be successful.

INSTITUTION AND AUDIENCE
How might this print text be consumed? How is this evident in the way it is constructed?
-This print may be consumed in popular CD shops such as HMV, with the mainstream pop style suggesting it to be worthy of being presented in such respected digital shops.
-The B'Day album was released by Columbia Records, an American flagship recording label under the ownership of Sony Music Entertainment. As SME is a big conglomerate operating within the music industry, they are likely to have the power to vertically integrate the album to other media subsidiary's in order to distribute Beyoncé's product onto multi media platforms.
-This gives the album the opportunity to be a wide spread phenomenon, being available on websites such as YouTube, Vevo and Spotify.
-Due to the album appearing on such websites, it means that it was able to be targeted by youths as they are the main audience for using web 2.0. This would increase the repeatability of the album with it be so easily accessible to people via the internet.

Group: Shoot 1-29/10/14

On Wednesday we did our first shoot in the Field location in Cudham. Overall it was successful as we produced all the specific shots we wanted too plus some fillers and various reshoots of specific shots. The shots accomplished include the speed ramp, time laps, lip sync and close ups of the animal masks.

Difficulties that occurred were that we found the weather conditions like rain, wind and freezing temperatures meant we had a temperamental cast and so this had to be taken into account with the time spent shooting and re-shooting. Also because we were covering the camera to protect it from the rain it was hard to keep watching the focus of the shot so some pieces of footage were out of focus. This meant the footage we edit will have to be checked for its quality and we can experiment with using the unfocused images or sharpening them.

Nevertheless the location, time of day and weather all worked in our favour as there were no people getting in the way in the early morning and the translucent white mist worked beautifully in making the scene look atmospheric as a backdrop for the artist and surrounding characters. The dull cold colour fit our colour scheme and is a great basis for colour grading.

 

Feedback on Planning

Well done girls; you are all working at a level four for planning and the regular updates to your concept and progression are improving your blog in terms of the criteria for the mark scheme.  Continue to ensure you post visual evidence for all posts and keep up the quality comments on each others posts.  Hope the shoot went well, looking forward to seeing your footage.

AR: Deconstruction of a Digipak

GENRE

How is the genre of the track/artist evident?
The genre of Lana Del Rey's music is alternative pop, specifically chamber pop with an electric style that also places her within the trip hop sub-genre of music. She has an original cinematic style that appears to reject rock and grunge endeavouring to return to the elegance and classically based style of 1960's baroque pop. The period is reflected in Del Rey's star image and visual motif through how she dresses and the style of her makeup and hair evident in this album cover where her hair is in the wavey thick style of the 50's/60's and the top button, white collar shirt, red lips and winged eyeliner also reflect this era effectively. The obvious American, cinematic, film noir esque theme is shown in this image as the blue sky, white shirt and red lips emphasize the colours in the American flag, also colours often used throughout Del Rey's print work. Her female pop image is shown through how she faces the audience, looking at the camera with a powerful, serious expression proving herself as an original individual lacking in weakness within the music industry.


MEDIA LANGUAGE

What visual techniques are used? (rule of thirds, texture, colour, tone, mise-en-scene)
-The artist is placed in the centre of shot which connotes an intimidating, threatening person as it breaks the rules and stands out so grabs a viewers attention and asserts the artist's talent and dominance in the music industry. The symmetry is aesthetically pleasing however it has a dismissive connotation making the artist appear simultaneously present and absent like Dyer's identified paradox.
-Costume involves a see-through top with an obvious red bra underneath conforming to the use of women as objects used for sex appeal in the music industry.
-The background is slightly our of focus so all attention is put on Del Rey's sharp image.
-Red to blue colour scheme is used predominantly in female pop artist work that I found out in previous research into album covers shown in my mood board. It produces a parallel of stereotypical feminine colours and male colours and rejects any warmer yellow tones.
-The location used is a very normal suburban area obvious by the wooded gate, blue sky and green trees. The artist is ordinary and accessible which are features of a star identified in Dyers critical framework of 'star image' paradox theories.
-The body language of her chin up and shoulders back standing face on with the audience has a similar stance of a strong, powerful soldier which opposes Dyers star characteristic of an artist with an anti-authorial attitude. However it does have originality because women are not shown emphasising their feminine assets by pushing out their breasts and bending their waists instead no sexual image is suggested in terms of how she stands.

How is meaning generated through these techniques? (semiotics)
-The slight low angle shot is a sign that conforms to the social myth that female pop artists are totally inaccessible and extraordinary as she appears to look down on the consumer.
-Her costume appears to subtly emphasise her sexual desire with her red bra showing through the white top this reinforces the social stereotype that female artists are promoted in their videos through 'soft porn' and fetishism.
-The use of the red lip stick emphasises her voluptuous lips which are part of her visual motif and an iconic sign that connotes her femininity.
- Her costume acts as an iconic signifier that rejects the social myth that an artist is extraordinary because the plain white shirt is a universal, multi-gender garment that is not dependent on who you are or how much money you have.

What linguistic devices have been used? (look at emotive language, use of quotations, connotations of song/album title)
As well as the artists name the title of the album 'Born to Die' also appears. It is a powerful statement that reinforces Lana Del Rey's metanarrative of often having focused themes on Philosophy and God influenced by her religious upbringing. It is named after the song from the album, a common feature of music albums to further promote a specific song and to relate with an audience that may have only heard that song so it compels them to listen to more.

Is there any intertextuality/references to popular culture? How does this create meaning for the audience? Think about postmodernism here, use of parody, pastiche.
There is a subtle reference to 50s/60s pop culture which is a feature that has developed Del Rey's visual motif into what she looks like now. I noticed her stern expression looked like the blank expression the 60's model, Twiggy, is known for. In these images of the model I have selected certain aspects relate to Del Rey's album cover like the bold pastel pink similar to the sky blue tone used. Also her slight low angle with the camera positioned just under eye level.

REPRESENTATION

How are the band/artist represented? Does this add to their 'meta-narrative' in any way? How does it help sell their product?
Lana Del Rey's metanarrative is most predominantly her struggle with alcohol dependence from a young age and her interest in philosophy and God spurred on by her Catholic school education. Her narrative follows her self-styled gangsta image as she appear involved with dangerous  high-profile mobster type men. This image is reinforced with her subtle hoop earrings that have a rough, 'independent female' connotation. She is shown to be innocent which is emphasised by her 'Lolita' relationship with older father-figure sort of men. Her innocence is evident in this text by how the top button of her plain white shirt is done up; symbolic of purity. The fact that her bra can be seen through the shirt however gives an idea of the sexual desire behind her innocence.


INSTITUTION AND AUDIENCE

How might this print text be consumed? How is this evident in the way it is constructed?
The text could be consumed on the album art of online digital downloads from internet music shops such as Itunes and Amazon. It could also be as part of the CD or vinyl cover sold in highstreet shops and supermarkets.

THE BACK COVER

The back cover displays important information about the product such as a track list, bar code and details about the label and key names that went into the albums production. Simple colours white and light blue are used that synchronise with the colour scheme of the front cover. The same font is used for the track list, in capitals also. The image is reduced to just a plain white background with no photography or texture, this gives it a very clean cut, neat look.

Group: Review of Thursday 23/10/14

Amelia
In class: I took photographs of my drawings then together we edited all the images in time with the track to create our animatic.
Out of class: Finalised preparation for filming our Field shots during the following week: props and equipment.

Emma-Louise:
In class: Collected images off the internet to use in our animatic then uploaded them onto Premiere along with the track.
Out of class: Finalised preparation for filming our Field shots during the following week: cast members and travel schedules.