Ancillary task - Magazine Advert

Magazine advert - Effects used and analysis

Effects Used for Mag Ad by Brianna Lewis

Digi-pack - Effects used and analysis

Effects Used for Digi-pack by Brianna Lewis

Effects used for digi-pak

Response to feedback on final music video

We showed our final music video to groups in our class who understood the task we were given. I feel we received a lot of positive feedback mainly focusing on our good use of editing. Many of these comments included that we always cut between shot on the beat of the music and the use of split screens made the whole music video a lot more visually interesting and added a comedic touch, which was what we had hoped.

We also received few negative comments which centred around the unsteady camera in a lot of shots and the harsh lighting. One comment that stood out to me was that the lighting and the locations for the performance scenes. I do feel that if we filmed more footage of the performance scenes in a variety of locations it would have made our final music video more visually interested and would have enticed our audience for longer.

The marking criteria for level four is:

• Shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot sizes and close attention to mise en scene.

• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the view and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions, captions and other effects.

• Recording and editing sound with images appropriately.

I believe we have met the criteria for level four as we have paid close attention to the use of camera and framing. We have taken a huge variety of shot types from simple close-ups and wide angles to hand-held and low angles. We have concentrated on the mise en scene of our footage and have always linked it with the pop genre such as the lighting is always bright and in some shots, there is a golden light created by the torch and reflector. The costumes worn particularly by the girls emphasises the pop genre as they are dressed in party wear throughout the duration of our music video.

I feel our use of editing works well in our video so that the narrative is obvious for our viewers. We have used made use of transitions such as fades between shots of the girls applying make up in the bathroom which shows the audience that time is passing. Moreover, the use of the split screen effect that appears more than once in our final music video helps to emphasise the comedic element of our music video.

We did not record any extra sounds due to the fact the majority of our music video would be of the chosen song although if we were to do this project again we could maybe incorporate some sound such as foley or simple dialogue during the introduction of our music video. In addition, the editing of our chosen track went very well as the lip-sync was in time with the lyrics. We also used the appropriate footage with the soundtrack such as we used shots of Brianna and Siobhan running during the section of the lyrics 'run, run, run.'

Overall, I am very happy with the feedback received from our final music video and feel that our final music video has been successful as we have managed to link it to the three points of Goodwin's Theory that we had planned to. We have linked the visuals and lyrics together as stated above through appropriate footage during particular parts of the soundtrack. Additionally, we have linked the music and visuals are the music is an upbeat pop song which is emphasised through the liveliness and energy of the two artists. Furthermore, I feel we have made a successful attempt at selling the artist as the two girls are almost always the subject of each shot especially in the performance scenes as shown through close-ups.

Feedback on final music video

Positives

• Good editing
• Good lip-syncing
• Good narrative
• Touch of comedy in video
• Good lighting
• Nice handheld shots
• Good use of the split-screen effect
• Good editing - always cut on the beat
• Mise en scene is good - variety of costumes and props used
• The zooming in of the girls 'hiding in the bush' was humorous
• Good use of transitions
• Shadow works well in the lip-syncing footage
• Clothes worked well with the genre
• Variety of shots
• Funny narrative
• Good locations
• Easy to understand - communications between the artists and narrative
• Good cut rate

Negatives

• Acting is not convincing
• Not cutting to the beat
• More colour needed
• Shaky/unsteady camera in some footage
• Some shots a little too long
• Lighting is a bit harsh - could be improved
• Some mistakes in lip-syncing - out of time
• Could have used dialogue at the beginning during intro
• No clear narrative
• Lighting and location for lip-sync could have been more creative
• More performance locations

Ariel Levy: Female Chauvinist Pigs; Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture

I have researched into Ariel Levy's theory on 'Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture.' She strongly believes that women are being objectified in "political life, the music industry, art, fashion and taste." 

I believe with Levy's theory and researched music videos that are conforming to 'Raunch Culture.' I took a look at the music video for Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell. This definitely conforms to Levy's theory as for the duration of the music video the females are stereotyped as Ariel describes, "kitschy and slutty." This is portrayed through their outfits and what's happening in each of the shots. Each one of the females aren't wearing small white tops and shorts. (Below.)

In comparison  to the males the females aren't wearing hardly any clothing and are revealing a huge amount of their bodies.

In some of the shots the girls are wearing even less clothing, for example skin coloured underwear and nothing on top. Although nothing private may be on show, they are still revealing a lot to their viewers which could be any age seeing anyone can access this video on Youtube or see it on 
music channels. Screenshots of their skin
coloured underwear are below.









In a lot of the shots of the females alone there are also in positions that could be considered sexual and promiscuous.

For example in these screenshots one of the girls is on all fours which automatically makes me think of an animal. This makes woman seem unequal in comparison to men.

The girl in the screenshot below is sitting on a chair but not in a very ladylike way. She appears to be sitting with her legs open a little. One of the artists is standing up behind her proving that he is the one with the dominance out of the two of them. He is able to walk around her freely and do anything to her. In this shot, it appears he is brushing her hair.

Ariel Levy's theory is in a way applied to our music video through the choices of outfit the girls wear as a lot of it is party-wear that is in ways partly revealing although we do not take it as far as the costumes worn in Blurred Lines. I believe the girls in our video are portrayed as the opposite of objectified and dominated by men and instead, the two girls in our music video have control of the situation of the situation they are in. They are the ones who make the decision to escape from the dinner party and are care-free of what the boys think. Stereotypically, you would expect the males to do this.

I do not think that Ariel Levy's theory applies to male artists in the music industry as clearly shown by the males in this music video. As you can see, the men in this are fully clothed in comparison to the women who are in revealing outfits. I have never seen an existing music video where the male is wearing as little clothes as the females are in this video.

I think it's bad how the woman in music videos are portrayed in this way as these videos can be seen on music channels and accessed by anyone on youtube meaning that children of all ages can also watch them. This means that they will be given the wrong impression of women.

Ariel Levy: Female Chauvinist Pigs; Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture

Ariel Levy: Female Chauvinist Pigs; Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture

Ariel levy is a woman that believes women are objectified in many ways in the media, changing our opinion of them and accepting it subconsciously.

A fantastic example of what she is talking about, is in the recent video 'Blurred lines' By Robin Thicke.

In the video, the girls pretend to act very dumb, sway and dance around. They are also wearing barely any clothes, while the men are fully dressed. They also follow the men around.
This is giving a representation that women are thoughtless and are inferior to men.
Ariel Levy suggests this influences women to reflect this in fashion and to get attention- either through being a star or just in general.
The men are wearing suits, particularly Pharrell's suit is very loud as it is a shiny material. It shows the men are wearing the top quality clothes because they are seen as rich and 'a pimp'- a stereotype of men who charm many women.
As the video develops, the women are wearing less and less clothing, in the end becoming practically naked.

In this shot, he is holding the girls hair like she is a dog on a lead. This makes her seem like an animal and he is the owner. This kind of representation of women suggests that men 'own' women and he is in control of her.

Also in this shot, the women are positioning themselves in ways that would be considered promiscuous and sexual. By 'grinding' and 'twerking' they are giving off the impression that they are dominated by the men, which is Ariel Levy's point. The men seem to make no effort and pay little attention to the girls, yet they are all over the men, dancing suggestively.

A video that goes against this is Lily Allens new song 'Hard Out Here'. The song describes how it is hard for a woman to make a career in this industry without sexually objectifying herself. The video also mimics Robin Thickes video in a humorous way to show she is against it.

Ariel Levy: Female Chauvinist Pigs; Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture

We have been researching Ariel Levy's theory on the rise of 'Raunch Culture', her argument is that whilst the explicit kind of videos are going around of women in music, it should not be as widely accepted by society, especially for younger audiences.

In the video 'Iggy Azalea - Change your Life' she is practically naked throughout the video which is available to anyone on Youtube. This is inapropriate for a younger audience as they should not be exposed to this open sexuality at such a young age as this may have an influence on them.

Throughout the video, references are made about the artist, for example, the male figure in the video is presented as being Azalea's pimp. This is an issue for two reasons, firstly the video does not seem to challenge this idea in any way and seemingly accepts this, not a very appropriate message for a younger audience that might be watching the video. Secondly, T.I is presented as the pimp and this could be seen as a stereotype as he is black.

We believe that this video conforms to Levy's 'raunch culture' theory, we think this because the video carries negative connotations of solicitation and gender/racial stereotypes, in summary this is not acceptable messaging for a young audience. Similar videos include; Britney Spears-Work, Ellie Goulding - I need your love (this video is interesting because Goulding used to be presented as innocent and this is strangely changed in this video), and Rihanna-Pour it up. The main reason for the theory being applicable is that Azalea is presented in a minimally censored way, going to the limits of classification for the video rating. Throughout the video explicit content is presented of Iggy Azalea which conforms to the raunch culture of Levy's theory.


One can see evidence of raunch culture in the male side of the music industry as well. However, males are more in control of how they dress. Whereas, women are less in control as they can be thrown off their record label if they do not accept the terms of their producer.

For example, Justin Bieber is objectified in his videos and in the press, we can see this in his video 'Beauty and a beat' as he is shown as the centre of female attention:

Goodwins Six Points of Analysis

Goodwins six points:

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

The video definitely demonstrates common pop video traits. For instance, the main focus of the song is on Katy Perry, she is shown in a manner conforming to the characteristics of her genre, we can see this because gradually as the video goes on she is presented with sex appeal, in the sense that she loses more and more clothing as the video goes on. Also there is a very genre oriented dance routine in parts of the video.

Music videos according to Goodwins analysis have a connection with the lyrics of the song. The example we found for this is Katy Perry's video 'Roar', in which we have the visual connection between the lyrics 'tiger' and the visual transition of the main character to become a tiger like figure:

As we can see this demonstrates not only a lyrical connection with the visuals but also the song in general, for example, the song edits mostly on the beat, in particular at the beginning, when the plane crashes, the song kicks in to represent the beginning of the present 'narrative'.

Katy Perry's other video 'Part Of Me', also demonstrates similar themes, for example the loss of a man from the central female characters life and showing the transition from vulnerability to empowerment, in the case of 'Roar', Perry's character must lear to survive in the jungle after her presumably partner disappears  In Part of me we are shown what seems to be a breakup, this then turns Perry's character to joining the military after seeming very vulnerable, and she is thus empowered. 

Final music video

Plans for digi-pak

After doing research on digi-paks for existing pop artists/bands we have began planning on how we want ours to look.

Here is the template of the digi-pak.

Below is my idea of what we may want our final digi-pak to look like.

When we were taking the stills of the girls we used similar lighting in which we used for our music video. We used the gold cover on the reflector for this which created an overall glow on the girls faces and a shadow on the wall in the background. The gold glow is in every photo that we wish to use will keep a strong colour theme running through out. This colour will also help to link to the pop genre that we wish to convey. For the back of the digi-pak, we plan to put two individual photos of the girls together using photoshop and then adjusting the levels of brightness and contrast to darken the photo of the girls. The gold theme will still occur as the wall behind has a gold glow to it. We will use the same font for the list of tracks which will be in black or white depending on what we thinks looks best.

The photos which we may wish to use on these can be found below.

The photo which we may chose to use for the front cover (bottom right of the template) is this one. I think it'd be good to use this photo for the front cover rather than the one below as there is a 'professional' aspect to it as someone took the photo of us whilst we were doing a fixed pose. Whereas the other image was taken by Siobhan. I think this would be good to use in a panel inside our digi-pak rather than the front cover. The lighting also adds to the professional part of the album cover as we thought about if we were going to use a reflector, what cover we would use for it and most importantly, how we were going to position the lighting. We chose to use the gold cover for the reflector in order to convey the pop genre. The shadows created by the light also add a really good effect. The girls are smiling in this photo which gives the audience an idea that our artists are fun-loving and energetic, the star persona that we wish to convey.

I feel the image to the right shouldn't be used as the front cover because we have not experimented with any lighting and we took the photo of ourselves which makes it seem very unprofessional. Instead, I think it would be better to be used for the fold in panel. (Bottom left of the template) By using a photo that the girls had taken of themselves in our final digi-pak would give the right impression that we want to give to the audience. We want to mainly show them that our artists are fun-loving and energetic. It also shows that they know how to have a laugh and don't take everything seriously. We will have to use photoshop to adjust the brightness, contrast and possibly the saturation in order to make this photo have a gold tinge to it to continue the colour scheme.


Looking over the images we had taken, we noticed that one of me was a little dark. We then decided that we could edit the image so that you couldn't see the face at all. We were planning on using this for the back cover of our digi-pak (Bottom middle of template) and therefore decided both artists should be in it. We found a similar photo of Siobhan and we plan to copy Siobhan onto the image with Brianna. We then thought about adjust the levels of brightness and contrast for both girls so that you can't see their faces. By only adjusting the levels of the girls, the gold glow on the wall created by the torch and reflector will remain the same.  We want the gold glow to remain in the final image as it links to the pop genre and will create a strong colour scheme running throughout the final digi-pak.
We are unsure as to what font we will be choosing to use but we will be picking one that will reflect the pop genre for example, the colour may be yellow, orange or gold. We will also be using the same one for the front cover so that there is a theme.

We are still undecided as to what images we may chose to use for the inside of our digi-pak although I feel we could maybe use the two on the right or similar ones. The lighting is the same as the other photos that we may chose to use so that there will be a link and a strong colour scheme running throughout. I feel that it shows that the girls like to have a laugh and a good time as they're not smiling or doing a fixed pose for these two images. Instead, they're messing about and pulling silly faces which shows how fun-loving and energetic they are which again, links to our star persona.








Instead of filling our digi-pak with just pictures of our artists we decided to use an image we had taken whilst experimenting with our lighting. I think this photo would look good on the disc panel (Top middle of the template) This would also link with the pop genre as the lighting is shining towards the camera and has a slight gold glow to it. The thumb and index finger have also created a circular shape which we can then place around the centre of the disc panel as shown in the image I have drawn at the start of this blog post.


Overall whether we choose to use these selected images or not, we plan to keep a strong gold colour theme running throughout in order to help convey the pop genre and we plan to give the audience the impression that our artists are fun-loving and energetic.

Plans for magazine ad

For our magazine advert, we plan to use the same image in which we use for our final front cover on our digi-pak. This is so that it will link both our magazine advert and digi-pak together and our target audience will know what the front cover of the digi-pak looks like.

Below is the image we plan to use for the digi-pak front cover and for our magazine advert.

The composition of the image will be a slight problem when using this as our magazine advert as it is an A4 vertical page whereas this image was taken horizontally. We have thought of two possible solutions as to how we could overcome this problem. The first being we create a coloured background to fill in the empty space. For this, we would make the background a colour that links to our pop genre and with our music video and digi-pak.

The second option is filling in the empty space with a small collage of photos of the girls. For this, we would use images that they have taken of themselves to emphasise the star persona we are hoping to convey to our audience. The photos we may choose to use are below.

By using some/all of these images, it will show our target audience that our artists are not all serious and know how to have a laugh.

We think the collage of the girls will work a lot better for our magazine advert as it will be more visually interesting in comparison to if we were to add just a gold background. However, we will edit the images individually before placing them into the photoshop template. When editing the images, we plan to adjust the brightness and contrast. We then plan to add a colour filter and/or use the colour selection tool in order to add a golden colour to the overall image. By adding this colour scheme to all the images, it will help to link to not only the pop genre but will also link our music video and ancillary tasks together.

We are also planning on adding the iTunes logo to our magazine advert so that the audience have an idea of where it can be purchased from. We are choosing to add the iTunes logo rather than 'buy now from HMV' as today it is more common for CD's to be purchased on iTunes rather than in stores.

We may add text such as 'Including the hit single Ladykiller' as that is the track we did our music video on. Music videos are often made to make tracks more popular and if that is the case with our music video, the name of the track will stand out to people.

Furthermore, we plan to add a recommendation quote and/or rating as this is a common convention found in magazine adverts promoting digi-paks. The rating will be due to the number of stars given and if a CD has been rated as 4 or 5 stars, it is likely to stand out to our target audience.

Analysis of filming (day two)

On the 11/11/13 we had a second day of filming so that we could re-take some footage that needs improving and to get more of a variety in camera angles and locations.

Firstly, we took four more cuts of the girls lip-syncing as we knew that the battery in the torch had full power. We filmed two low angles from either side of the girls and a close-up of each of them individually. We kept the lighting the same by using the gold cover for the reflector to help fit with our genre. From this, we are then going to cut small clips and spread them about over the footage of the  boys running after the girls. This will keep our audience interested for the duration of the music video as footage of the scenes outside will be separated with the girls lip-syncing. By taking footage of the girls lip-syncing from different angles will make our music video visually interesting for the audience.

We then re-took the footage for the bathroom scene as before it was quite dark and the camera was shaky. After uploading the footage onto the computer, you could really see the improvement in lighting from last time we filmed in comparison to this time. There was also a dramatic improvement in the camera as this time the filming was a lot steadier.

Then we re-filmed a shot for the 'dinner party' scene of the phone as last time the footage we took was not in focus and you were unable to read the texts. We wanted to film the text from Siobhan's point of view and so that the audience are able to see the text coming through. This created some problems as the text did not always come through when we had positioned the camera where we wanted it and when it was in focus although after a few takes we got footage that we were happy with.
We came up with the idea of filming an over the shoulder shot of Peter looking at his watch in order to give the audience another dimension to the scene and allow them to feel as if they are in the environment.

Before heading outside we filmed some footage of the boys coming out of the house from different angles so that we could chose which one works best. This was so that our narrative could flow better and the audience would understand what is happening.

Finally, we went outside to film some more shots for that scene. The plan was that we filmed from some angles which we had not yet used to add variety to our video. After taking some shots from a variety of camera angles we had an idea of taking some hand-held shots. We experimented with hand-held camera and took three main shots. The first was a simple hand-held one whilst running behind the girls. Another was one of the boys turning the camera to face them in order for the audience to see how 'out of breath' they are. And the last one was again the boys chasing after the girls but with a stumble. We chose not to use this last clip as because we were filming when it was dark outside, the footage isn't very clear so the audience would not be able to work out what is happening. By adding some hand-held shots into our music video would help to continue with the humorous part of it.

Overall, we feel our filming went really well as we thought up new ideas on that day which meant we filmed a lot more footage than we had planned. As a result of this, we have more than enough footage that we can add to our music video to make it more visually interesting for our audience.

Stills taken for digi-pak