Digipak Designing:

Before we begin to create our digipak we have been thinking about how we want it to look and what we need to take into account in order to design and make it.

We found a few covers for singles that match our theme.

We have selected these three particular front covers because they are well suited to what we want to achieve.

During filming, we have/will be taking photographs of the actors in our video so that we can adapt and incorporate them into our digipak designs.

Once we have chosen the images that we are going to be using, we will need to create a clear layout and ensure that it includes all of the conventions that a digipak should have.

Digipak Research:

Digipak's are a type of CD packaging made out of card/cardboard which flip open like a book or have three parts. One part opens to the left and one to the right. The portion in which holds the CD is made of plastic like a tradional jewel case CD. They include images of the artist, the title of the album, song list (which normally appears on the back of the casing), a barcode, and the music record label company.

This digipak is for the Michael Jackson album 'This Is It'. The front of the digipak has a silhouette of the artist which includes a merge of images inside. The title of the CD is positioned between his two arms. On the back of th

e CD has a list of the songs featured on the album in a small, basic font. The silhouette image that appeared on the front is also on the back, however the singer Michael Jackson is in a different position. The background of the whole digipak is a plain silver/grey colour, this works well as it maintains our focus on the main image of the artist and the songs that are on the CD.

This is the digipak for an Oasis album. As you can see it has a three fold which means that it opens out to the left and right. Like a normal Cd, it still has an image on the front with the title a barcode on the back and of course the song list. The colours of this digipak all reflect the colour of the guitar that appears on the front as it is an acoustic album.

Music Channel Research:

There are many different music channels available to watch and they all play different genres of music. A few examples of channels are:

• MTV
• The Box
• Magic
• Kiss
• 4Music
• Vh1
• Smash Hits.

The music channel MTV has a big brand extension as it has many other channels including:

MTV Shows, MTV Classic, MTV Hits, MTV Base, MTV Dance and MTV Rock.

Knowing all of these music channels well and watching them on a regular basis, it meant that it was easier for me to identify the genre of music that they play and associate one with our music video and song choice. I would most probably place it with MTV Rock as this is the type of music that is played, and 'Halfway Gone' is an American Rock song.

Filming - Take 2:

On Sunday 12th December, Millie and Jake continued filming with both the main characters. This took place again at Millie's house. Watching back the filming from this day, there is a lot of shots that we would not be able to use due to lighting and the camera movements. However, it was not all wasted as we would be able to pick out parts and merge them into our video when we have the rest of the material. Also, looking back at this we are able to learn what we need to improve next time we film and also what we have left to film in order to complete our first draft of our music video.

Filming - Take 1:

On Monday 22nd November, we came together as a group outside of school in order to begin our filming process. We begun filming at Millie's house as this was appropriate for a few scenes in our video. For our video we are having three main characters but for our first shooting we decided to just use one character as we could get all the scenes done that they are in alone.

We knew that a lot of the film wouldn't be useable as it was our first time of filming so we saw this day as more of a practice and getting used to the camera. After putting the filming that we did onto the computer and into the programme 'Final Cut' we could see what mistakes we made so that we could correct this in our next filming session and also what we could edit and use in our final video. We have learnt that in some instances the camera appeared to be at a slight angle where it was not properly positioned before recording. Although we tried to avoid reflections when we was filming with windows and mirrors in the shot, there were a few occassions where we was not able to avoid this or did not realise that whoever was behind the camera were in the reflection. We cannot use these shots as we need to perfect it in order to achieve the shot that is good enough to go into our final music video.

Our next filming session will take place on the 5th December with all of our characters participating.

Location Shots:

These photos are of where will be mainly filming. Below is Millie's house, Bartellas Restaurant in Meopham and Meopham train station.

Risk Assessment:

Storyboard:

Once we had a plan of our music video, we needed to produce a storyboard as a moving images video with our song in the background so that we could see if it worked. Jake drew all the images for our storyboard which we then scanned onto the computer and made it into a video using the software Final Cut.

Here is our storyboard:

Mood Board:

We have put together a mood board to show different things going on in our video and how the song reflects our thoughts about the lyrics and what they mean.

Copyright:

Before we use our chosen song we had to ask for permission from the producers of the song. We researched that the producers of 'Halfway Gone' was actually the band themselves. Millie emailed to their official address on behalf of the rest of the group. We have not yet heard back from them which means we can continue to use the song we have chosen.

Final Idea:

Once we had our initial ideas as to what we thought we wanted to do with our music video, we listened carefully to the lyrics again and tried to put our idea together with the song. Our first interpretation of the meaning behind the lyrics and what we planned our video to be like, did not go well with the actual song. We decided that it was best to start again and really analyse the song. We printed the lyrics off and sat together as a group to pitch in ideas and write down any ideas that came to us. Once we had begun planning again, our ideas kept developing until we had a decent storyline to create a music video with.

Here are our ideas for our video:

To conclude our ideas, we decided that the best way to create this would be to base it around a couples relationship and how the man is not sure whether to leave, so he is 'halfway gone'.

Initial Ideas:

As a group we sat down in order to put all our ideas and opinions forward about the music video we were creating. We had the lyrics to our song in front of us and noted down different ideas for each verse and the chorus. Our initial interpretation of the song was that it was based upon the theme of death and how the male had lost his girlfriend. Assuming this was what the song was about, we put together a plan of a potential music video.Initially, we believed that the man had lost his girlfriend and then when he met someone new it was hard for him to move on and kept seeing her. We got this idea from the title of the song 'Halfway Gone'.

After analysing the lyrics further we came up with another idea - our final idea.

Pitch:

In our lesson we have been given the task to pitch our ideas for our music video. We need to start taking into consideration locations, characters, mise-en-scene, camera shots/angles, transitions, and most importantly the storyline.

In order to create the storyline we have been analysing the lyrics to our chosen song and writing down any initial ideas that come to mind. We have been putting ideas together as a group so that we can get a story together that goes with our chosen song 'Halfway Gone'. Once we have our final idea, we will be creating an animated storyboard, that will consist of the key concepts of our video that will be hand drawn. Once we have the main images to our video, these will be scanned onto the computer and placed into Final Cut in order to make them into an animation with the song in the background.

Target Audience:

After deciding what song we wanted to create a music video out of, it was important that we looked at target audience as this would encourage our decisions on how to produce our video.
We looked at the website UK Tribes to give us some inspiration on the different types of audiencees there are.

We also went a diferent way to find out our target audience by researching the genre of our chosen song. The song is classes as American Alternative Rock, this genre emerged for unique music scenes and the video made for this genre are usually of a pessimistic tone.

Conventions:

There are many aspects of a music video. These are lyrics, camera shots, camera movements, mise-en-scene and editing.

Lyrics: The lyrics are one of the most important parts to a music video as they are used to produce the video and mostly everything visual is linked to the lyrics. The lyrics also establish the mood and genre of the song. There are many different genres such as R&B, Hip Hop, and Rock.

Camera Shots: Music videos use camera shots to show emotio

ns and reflect the words of the songs with the movement of the artist. Many videos include long shots, close ups, and mid-shots.

Camera Movement: The different camera movements involve tilts, pans and tracking. These are used to follow the artists and anyone else that stars within the music video.

Mise-en-scene: This refers to the arrangement of performers, sets and props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video or any other media text. It includes the positioning and movement of the actors on the set. The costumes that the people within the music video wear signify and make distinctions between the characters with the colours that they are wearing.

Editing: The most important parts to editing consists of adjusting the shots, lighting and the sound. The intensity and quality of lighting have an effect on the way that shots are perceived within videos, especially in music videos depending on the genre of the song. The lighting can emphasise the time of day or the mood.

Lyrics:

Halfway Gone Lyrics

You were always hard to hold
So letting go ain't easy
I'm hanging on but growing cold
While my mind is leaving

Talk, talk is cheap
Give me a word you can keep

Cause you're halfway gone and I'm on way
And I'm feeling, feelin feelin this way
Cause I'm halfway in but don't take too long
Cause I'm halfway gone, I'm halfway gone

You got one foot out the door
And choking on the other
Always think there's something more
It's just around the corner

Talk, talk is cheap
Give me a word you can keep

Cause I'm halfway gone and I'm on way
And I'm feeling, feelin, feelin this way
Cause you're halfway in but don't take too long
Cause I'm halfway gone, I'm halfway gone

If you want me out, then I'm on my way
And I'm feeling, feelin, feelin this way
Cause you're halfway in, but don't take too long
Cause I'm halfway gone, Im halfway gone (wohohoww wohohoww)
Im halfway gone, Im halfway gone (wohohoww wohohoww)
Now I'm halfway gone, I'm halfway gone
Don't take too long, don't take too long
Cause I'm on my way
If you take too long
Cause I'm halfway gone and I'm on way
And I'm feeling, feelin I'm feelin this way
Cause you're halfway in but don't take too long
Cause I'm halfway gone, I'm halfway gone

If you want me out, then I'm on my way
And I'm feelin, feelin feelin this way
Cause you're halfway in, but don't take too long
Cause I'm halfway gone, I'm halfway gone (wohohoww wohohoww)
Cause I'm halfway gone, and I'm halfway gone (wohohoww wohohoww)
Cause I'm halfway gone, yeah I'm halfway gooone

Song Choices:

To begin to find a song that we thought was well suited to be our music video, we used YouTube and our iPods to go through and find songs that had potential. When we thought one would be well suited, we would add it to a mind map that we created. This then meant that all our ideas were together and we was able to look at them and analyse whether or not they would become possibilities for our music video.

- Song Choices -The Killers - When you were youngThe Streets - Blinded by the lightsThe Feeling - SewnOne Night Only - Just for tonight>Razorlight - Hold onColdplay - A Message/Lovers in Japan/Violet Hill/Square OneEminem - 25 to lifeChase & Status - HeavySnow Patrol - Set the fire to the third bar/You could be happy/RunOne Republic - MercyExample - Fast CarsThe XX - IslandLifehouse - Halfway Gone

We wanted the song we would choose to have powerful lyrics that had a meaning behind them. After listening to all of our choices as a group we were able to eliminate the ones in which we did not think would work for us. We narrowed down our choices and as a group we all liked the song 'Halfway Gone' by Lifehouse.

Lifehouse - 'Halfway Gone'

Video Analysis 2:

Geri Halliwell -'It's Raining Men'

The opening of this music video is an intertextual reference from 'Flashdance'. The video takes form of a song and dance routine which is different to music videos which have a related storyline. There is a very clear use of intertextuality as it draws heavily from Flashdance.

Within the first 30 seconds there is diagetic sound as we can hear footsteps. This creates anticiption and expectation of what is to come in the video. The record player highlights the time period as it is clearly pre-CD era.

The judges mode of address shows authority as it is formal and adds tension to the audition, making it very intimidating. The camera movement is in time with the music and moves as Geri begins to dance. The shots emphasise her fitness and sexual attractiveness. There is a connection between the lyrics and the camera with the use of a tilt.

During the chorus there is a side view of the judges smiling and then there are cut aways to an extract of the film 'Bridget Jones'. As dancers begin to enter the audition room, Geri is foregrounded to show her importance to the music video. She kisses the middle judge on the cheek, showing her controlling side and her positiveness to the audition. She has a change of outfit which links to the show/film 'Fame'. The setting looks like an American High School which is also like 'Fame'.

Towards the ending of the video there is an ariel shot showing everyone outside. The lyrics match what we see as she sings 'stormy weather' this is literally what we see.

Video Analysis:

The Script - 'For The First Time'

The Script's video 'For The First Time' uses the lyrics and relates them to what we can see throughout the whole song. The video tells a story whilst we are embraced by the lyrics. The camera constantly shots from the band singing to the couple.

At the beginning of the video, there is a narrative part which lasts for thirty seconds. This sets the scene for the rest of the video as we see a girl crying. In the opening shot we see a postcard with the Statue of Liberty on, immediately assuming that she is in America. The contrast of her strong Irish accent and the New York postcard leads us to believe she is away from home. We can assume, before hearing any part of the song, that the lyrics will relate to her. As the beginning scene draws to a close, her last words that she writes on the postcard to her family is "Please don't miss me too much".

As the music begins, the band immediately begin to sing. The gentleness of the background music, which we can recognise to be a piano at first, reflects the mood of the girl and the lyrics begin to also reflect what we can see. We hear the lyrics "She's all laid up in bed with a broken heart" as we see the girl laying in bed, crying. With the video complimenting the lyrics, it makes us understand the meaning of the song easily, without having to listen carefully to the words. The angle of the camera makes the scene seem more realistic, the way the camera is at an angle looking down at the girl, it emphasises the fact that she is upset. The slow pace of the music with the sound of a piano in the background, resembles the sadness behind the meaning of the song and the lyrics that are being sung.

At 0.37 seconds, the video cuts to the band and there is a black and white close up front view shot of the main singer. This makes the video seem personal to the lead vocalist and helps to establish the artist. The black and white moving image separates the band from the rest of the video. "Trying to make it work but man these times are hard", we hear this as we are seeing the band, the dark background makes it seem cold and as if the couple are having hard times. The camera is constantly close up to the main member of the band, this shows that he is in control of the lyrics and is important to the song. We begin to see what we hear, for example, when there is a clear recognition of the guitar being played, we can see the lead guitarist strumming to the song. Another example is whilst we can hear the piano clearly, we get a close up shot of one of the band members fingers playing the piano. This adds realism to the video and makes up believe in the music as we can actually see it is happening as well as just hearing it. As the shots go back to the couple, from the shot of the band, we immediatly get a close up of the girls partner, showing his dominance in the relationship. We can tell that the girl is hurt as she draws away from him, we see this clearly in an over the shoulder shot. This shot allows us to see the her reaction, and she is looking innocently at her partner. At this point in the video, 1.05, we hear "And we don't know how we got into this mess it's a gods test". This is stating the position of their relationship at that moment in time. As previously said, the lyrics relate to the visuals quite often in this music video.

The visuals help to illustrate the lyrics. As 'The Script' sing the lyrics, "drinking old cheap bottles of wine, sit talking up all night, saying things we haven't for a while" we see exactly what we hear. This is good as in music video when the lyrics are not illustrated we try to build a visual image to the story of the lyrics in out heads. We see the man drinking a bottle of wine, and the couple sitting up talking. At 1.30 we get an extreme close up of the girls eyes as she is crying, this amplifies the lyrics. There are long cuts in this video as this reflects the slow pace music and highlights the sadness behind not just what we see and hear. As the pace of the music picks up a bit during an instrumental section of the song, we see a different shot of the man on his bike in New York city followed by a black and white image of the couple holding hands. This suggests that it is looking back at the past and how things used to be.

At 1.45, we see the girl looking up at the sun between the trees, and there is a clear reflection of the sun on the camera lense. This adds realism to the video but also enhances the sadness. In the middle of the video, there are quick cuts between the girl out in the streets taking photos, the band, the man on his motorbike, and passers by. This shows that there is a lot going on in that moment in time, and as previously in the video, these shots are accompanied by the lyrics "man these times are hard". The next image we see is of the couples faces in the same shot, however they are not together, there faces have been layered so we can see her over the top of him. I think that this part of the video has a lot of meaning and is important as it shows their separateness yet they are still together in the image. There are many different camera angles used throughout the shooting of the band. For the majority of the time, we are seeing close ups of the main singer, however there are low angle shots which give the band dominance and control over the song. We also get medium shots of the band so that we can get a sense of their body languages.

As this song is not fast or upbeat, the fading transition is used to go from cut to cut so that they do not look to blunt or sharp. We see a close up shot of the man holding lots of money after selling his motorbike, followed by a clover keyring which is a symbol of Ireland, this relates back to the beginning narrative part of the video when the girl is writing home to Dublin. This is builds slight tension to the ending of the video as we are not sure if this is to resemble an upcoming important part. The song ends like the beginning with a narrative part of the couple talking. A shot reverse shot is used here as we see the girl and then the man as they are having a conversation. As well as hearing their conversation the slow music is still playing in the background with the non-diegetic sound of the guitar.

Brief:

After starting the A2 Media course today and analysing the three different briefs, I have been able to choose the group that I will be working in to achieve the following:

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

a website homepage for the band;

a cover for its release as part of the digipak (CD/DVD package);

a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)