Lucy Webber's Blog: 2010

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Further Edited poster

We took on board our constructive critisism from our class and decided how we could change it. We got rid of some of the un-needed writing which portrayed our video more like a film. Also, we kept the 'Rivals' font in the end as we used this font in our digi pack and thought it showed our design to be well constructed. However, our class thought our font was a rip off from 'Barbie' but we came to the conclusion it was well suited as it was girly, yet edgy and had a harsh effect to it with the rough edges. Another pier mentioned she thought it reminded her of the 'bratz' dolls title font which also complemented our product as our mean protagonist almost playes a brat as well as being violent as cruel.

MOOD BOARD

Our mood board consists of our photos and searched images that have strong links to our music video and concepts.

poster

This was our first poster we created as a group using photos we took in our photo shoot which we then digitally manipulated on photoshop using various affects.

The band name was a concept of mine which took a lot of though. I came to the decision of 'Rivals' as it linked well to the songs narrative as it was about two siblings with a lot of rivalry and anger in their lives. Heidie and Elliot both aggreed it suited out record and label so we went ahead and used it for our digi pack.

We asked the class for some feedback and got given some constructive critisism about our layout and fonts we used which could be significantly improved. Firstly, we were told to remove the quotation marks as it seemed too gramaticially correct. After this it seemed we were using to much propper English and found removing them was a good idea.

Secondly, people mentioned that we had too much writing between the pictures and they thought it appeared more like an advertisment for a new film coming out. 'Dont miss your latest dose of rivalry' sounds more like a catchy slogan you would find on a tv advert or trailer/poster for a new film.

Lastly, 'Rivals' placed at the bottom of the magazine advert seemed more like the 'Barbie' brand signiture which is definitely not the look we were aiming for. Our peers suggested we change the font to something more striking such as an italic, swirly font and less bold but larger in size. We are going to take on board this critisism and improve our magazine advert for our digi-pack.

Monday 15 November 2010

Story Board

I originally came up with the idea of an unusual music video suggesting abuse and violence to make it more interesting. Withing our group we mutated these ideas and came to an agreement on what we thought would work the best. Once we had all fixated ourselves on a concept, I then began working on the storyboards and writing down shots I thought would work successfully.

These are the story boards of our music video for 'girl with one eye'. There are 16 shots left to do where the music becomes more intense and takes a lot of shots to create to make it as original as possible. The music is more upbeat towards the end including drum and base instruments to intesnify the ambience of the video.

Using a mixture of shots help to capture great effects such as extreme close ups of the eye and pupil which have significant links to the music's lyrics.

Final pictures and digitally manipulated versions for our music video

This particular photo shows an over shoulder shot in photo form with one protagonist with more authority than the other. This worked well because we use these shots in our story board and will have most scenes situated in the same setting.

The negative effect on her face has an unusual look where everything apart from her facial features has a blue-ish tint. I like this because it looks cold hearted and makes you wonder what the protagonist is thinking or feeling.

We created a mini photo shoot to take our photos for our digi pack and magazine cover and to experiment with effects and angles or positions to see what turned out most successful.

As our music video has a very dark story line and the ambience is full of rivalry and hatred, we had to take photos in the style of this and re-create the setting as best we could in the schools facilities. For our mise-en-scene for the shoot we had our two main protagonists wear all black to show links with the theme. Also, our location was set in the photographic studio which we tried our best to accomodate the theme of our video by using props such as mirrors, lights and furniture.

The lighting helped set differnt moods between the characters in these photos as it created shadows in various places and also related to our story line.

Thursday 14 October 2010

PJ Harvey

THE DEVIL

As soon as I am left alone
the Devil wanders into my soul
and I pretend to myself.
I pretend to myself.
I go out to the old mile-stone
insanely expecting
you to come there, knowing
that I wait for you there.
That I wait for you there.
Come, come
come here at once!
Come, come
on a night with no moon,
because
all of my being is now in pining.
What formerly cheered me,
now seems insignificant.
Insignificant.

PJ Harvey's lyrics are very dark, serious and strong which is similar to Florence and The Machine's version of 'Girl with one eye' which we are using. Furthermore, the music has similarities to Florences as the intruments used and the music created is along the same genre. I love how both their voices and the way the project to the audience complements the creativeness of the song as a whole. PJ Harvey writes songs with a meaning and narrative as does Florence, we create our story using our imagination just through listening to the music. PJ Harvey has inspired our video and helped us to build a narrative to our chosen song.

The image above is exactly what we would like to use in our digi-pack. We would show our two main protagonists in the same way to capture the essence of the ambience and the narrative.
Also, we researched record companies for our own video and found that 'Island' and 'I am sound' record companies had links to florence and the machine as she was on the record deal. This is brilliant for our final concept as it means we have found links between, not only PJ Harveys lyrics but who advertises and supports her too.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Original photos and photoshop edits

This is one digitally manipulated image of one photograph of ours. I experimented with all colour and levels to see what the outcome was. Throughout this process I needed to draw all attention towards the eye which links to our song.

The colours that are in this image really express evil or in the case of our theme, the rivalling sibling.

I like the idea of a black and white background as its very dark like the song. This image however, looks far too creepy for what we are trying to portray. Our music video isnt a horror, its just our narrative for the song which expresses the past between two prtagonists and the relationship which they have.

Ancillary task- Magazine cover concepts

This cover captures violence which links to our theme although this may be a bit different to our style of music video as this is a film magazine cover. We would like something with a similar effect but using our protagonists as the main feature of the magazine. Also, we would choose appropriate colours and fonts to have a dramatic and personal effect.

These two images from The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest film stills on the empire website express a similar feeling to what we are looking for. The angle shows this girl to appear frightened or nervous and on edge. If we used a similar idea, we would probably change the angle of the girl so she was side on and only showing one eye like the image below, which shows links to the title of our song. This still image definitely sets the right ambiance.

This film still I found very interesting as you can see that the girl is deep in thought and doesn't look happy, she looks torn and down. However, I love the angle of both images, it really creates a perfect ambiance for what we are hoping to create ourselves. If we dont feature this in our digi-pack then I would love to use a shot inspired by this in our video.

Here, I like the angle of her face and the way shes positioned herself to the camera as it portrays a very serious image and she looks quite serious and terrified. We would also like to feature this in our video because it would match our theme very well and would look quite good as one of our shots. Also, in this image we can only see one eye which is a brilliant angle to feature as one of our shots because it has strong links to 'Girl With One Eye'.

Starting our CD cover

Earlier we researched CD cover art and what sort of imagery we could represent as our own interpretation. You've seen our data collected from the internet, now you will see our initial ideas in the photographs we have taken. These are not yet digitally manipulated.

This image is what we intend to do on a persons eye using one of our own photographs we've taken. This was basically two seperate images off the internet which linked to our topic and song choice which we merged together using photoshop. We found out we liked this idea and intended to create an original one.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

images for Album cover ideas

Florence and the machine- ‘Girl with one eye’

Girl imitating guitar at beginning and mouthing lyrics when they start. Mouth lyrics. Telling or introducing the story. It could portray a narrative from the past.

Girl winks to suggest one eye theme.

Then walking. Show effects. Showing cracks in the walls and a creepy atmosphere.

Girl sleeping restlessly then when lyrics sing ‘girl with one eye’ she opens one eye.

Show money to link with lyrics ‘that’s the price she’ll pay’ and have her pleading with money for example.

Show knives to suggest cutting her eye out. Then show an eye in a jar of water floating around, and then shrivelling up in an empty jar.

Girl crying.

Slip hand under skirt to suggest sexual abuse.

When the music gets more upbeat with drums and base… imitate people playing instruments on stage with girl singing. Rock image.

Girl crying, tears running down her face, showing make up running for dramatic effect. One girl going mental and really acting.

Show the girl with her hands in a pie.

Basically a girl is being terrorised and bullied repulsively throughout certain shots. The video can suggest sexuality as well. Maybe this is why the victim is being terrorised by the other girl.

Get pigs eyes and heart to use as props.

Maybe show drug abuse.

Costume

Rock, punk image. Leather and black. Dark make up. scars.

Notes and ideas on music video linking lyrics and meaning.

Music Video Concepts

Lyrics to Girl With One Eye :

She told me not to step on the cracks[At1]
I told her not to fuss and relax[At2]
Well, her pretty little face stopped me in my tracks[At3]
But now she sleeps with one eye open[At4]
That's the price she paid[At5]

I took a knife and cut out her eye
I took it home and watched it wither and die[At6]
Well, she's lucky that I didn't slip her a smile[At7]
That's why she sleeps with one eye open
That's the price she paid

(Narrative shows to interpretations of this story of the siblings. Both of the sisters mime separate lyrics to express different feelings and issues)

[At1]Mental and physical abuse from sibling. These lyrics could insinuate the real her underneath.

[At2]Physical abuse.

[At3]Jealousy and Sibling rivalry. The mean, controlling sister pulls an innocent face with horrid intentions and stops the other sibling in her tracks leaving her room perhaps.

[At4]Sister cut the dolls eye out which is symbolising the other sibling. So now the doll sleeps with one eye open.

[At5]Depressed look upon her face. Whilst the doll is on the shelf looking towards the girl with one eye.

[At6]Takes knife and cuts out the dolls eye. The horrid sibling keeps the eye in her room and watches it wither and die, suggesting her sister.

[At7]The horrid sister walks up to the sibling and wipes her lipstick from her lips across her mouth to suggest a smile. (The joker inspired type image)

[At8]This could be suggesting to die. Maybe the lyrics ‘pie’ symbolise life.

[At9]Nightmare- Older sibling cutting her heart out and terrorising her.

[At10]The horrid sister slips her hand under the dolls skirt and breaks one of the legs off violently.

[At11]Close up shot of the horrid sisters face miming the lyrics nastily. Something suggesting her past.

[At12]The horrid sister slaps sibling across the face for leaving her room or doing something she didn’t like e.g.: stealing her doll back.

[At13]The terrorised sibling cries with her back leaning against her door and slides down, breaking down in tears. Self-harming, drug abuse or alcohol.

[At14]To the beat of the music have one girl being hit across the face repeatedly.

[At15]Other sibling ends being a heap on the floor maybe to signify suicide.

[At16]Horrid sister has the last word. One tear runs down her face and she wipes it away briskly as quickly as she can as if she’s ashamed of crying.

Initial concepts :)

September 30, 2010

Staight away we wanted to do something that had a good beat, and a popular song which we could use to potray a prominant issue. At first we looked at songs by Beyonce as we liked her use of black and white videos, where they always have a meaning to them, such as ‘if i were a boy’ as this shows the story of a woman playing out the life of her husband, something that most women can relate to. This interested us about using a prominant issue. We then looked at more dance pop music, looking at Lady Gaga videos, which are very interesting and fun, yet still hide another meaning. We really wanted to use the song ‘Paparazzi’ as although she had already made a vey intrigueing video, we thought of a good basis of the video. We thought about incoporating the actual media of womens issues, such as weight, dressing up people as maniquines, to portay the issues surrounding women in the media, we thought this would be really effective as it would relate to the paparazzi, as in the song lyrics, as the girls would at like dolls, with just their mouths moving. We thought this would make an interesting video.
However, due to not be able to really use anyone famous we were looking on the copyright free music sight ‘Jamendo’ but we were unsuccessful in finding something that we really liked. Now we are looking at ‘Ellie Goulding’ to find a song that hasn’t been released or had a video made for it yet. As this would be an easier solution for us. But we are going to keep looking until we find something that will really work for us.

Research analysis task

September 16, 2010

Lady Gaga- Telephone

What genre is it and how is this made apparent through the key concepts?
The genre is a pop music video. Her audience for the video is aimed at teenagers and young adults as opposed to the elderly as it’s quite provocative in places, such as women dancing with little clothing on. The language used is done using lyrics and singing. The genre is made apparent through the music and lyrics and her style as she’s a very unique star. She dresses very eccentric for a start, which is never seen on other stars. The masculinity of the women in prison expresses that its more of a mans world as i think more crimes are committed by males. The butch guards are female and dressed provocatively but still acting very masculine at the same time.

How does the narrative work?

The narrative works by linking the acting in the video to the lyrics of the song. My first impression of this video was that it was set in a prison full of women. It is a very linear video as Lady Gaga is telling a story throughout and there is a start, middle and end to the narrative. The continuity of the short music video is good as it flows well with the music and narrative which is trying to be portrayed by Gaga. The reason for the song being called ‘Telephone’ is because she gets a phone call whilst in prison and doesn’t want to talk as she claims to be busy.

Therefore the song and video continues to suggest phone calls that not wanted from Gaga as well as Beyoncé who features in her music video. The narrative is made apparent by the established shot of prison.

She is accompanied by two butch-looking ladies, ready to serve her time for the crimes she committed in “Paparazzi”, so this story is a follow on. Once chained down by her sexuality as defined by society, we see Gaga shed them and come out in the next scene in full badass-bitch garb. She stands side-by-side with her true self (Stefani Germanotta, played here by twin-like 17 year-old sister Natali), who eyes the Chanel-donning artist, in all her Diet-Coke-for-hair-rollers-glory. Gaga quotes “Men are pigs”- Protagonist Tyrese eats his food quickly and sloppily which links with what gaga just said. It is known that men rush their food and eat with less manors than women do. Beyonce pulls out the same mouse glasses Gaga has in the Paparazzi video after she killed her boyfriend, so in essence Beyonce is doing the same thing. However, she wears a ‘wonderwoman’ style outfit which comes after the diner scene suggests female power and greatness.
Dead people scene- poisoned perhaps from drugs (the prevalence of drugs in society), or the danger of mass produced cafeteria-style food. Secondly, the lyrics “stop telelphoning me” could represent how women do not need to be bound to their husbands or boyfriends and that they lead their own lives and have a right to do as the please.

Write something about the technical aspects of the film?
The shot which sets the narrative is the first shot of a young woman standing behind some bars which suggests she is in prison. Also, all we can see is women standing around looking rebellious and quite hard, like you would expect from prisoners. The mise-en-scene is probably the most important aspect of the film as this is to do with costume, location, actors and basically everything in the shot. The costume is very provocative where the entire women are dancing around in their underwear. Secondly, they wear leather studded biker jackets which make them look fierce and potentially threatening. It really sets the personality of the video. For location, it is obviously a prison to start with but the location changes as the film goes along. The location changes suggest to the audience that Gaga and Beyoncé are running away from something like a crime for example, especially when we see the driving off in a car and saying “you promise we’ll never come back”. However, we can also tell that Gaga and Beyoncé are partners in crime as in the middle of the video they are seen in a restaurant poisoning customers food and there for killing them. Shortly after this we see them dancing with a large group of dancers whilst there are their victims all around. Something that caught my eye during the video was the security camera where they conveyed the four women seductively dancing into the CCTV camera. Gaga poses sexily in just some crime scene tape which portrays women to be provocative and glamour model like which isn’t the case.

It’s quite a stereotypical image for young famous women to have as it keeps the attention coming and attracts the male attention too. This part of the video, I would say is more aimed at the male audience rather than the female but is done to get the message across about the false and harsh publicity of celebrities.

Also, female sexiness- there is something sexy about the dancing (starting about 3:25)
- Police tape around 4:10 could symbolize danger, dangers prisoners face, danger these people are to society as Gaga is wrapped in police tape
- (4:27) plenty of fish dating showing the prevalence of online dating
- (5:05) animalistic nature how Gaga takes a bite of that food Beyonce has in her hand.
- (5:20-5:30) Beyonce is talking with Gaga about trust, showing how perhaps a man did her wrong, cheated perhaps, which is a common problem in society.

- Females are objectified by men and seen as sex objects. (6:00-15)- the way the camera zooms in on Beyonce’s assets, slapping one of the females ass.
In what way does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of its genre?
Featured in this video are subtle advertisements for virgin mobile and coca cola as these are used as props. Gaga uses coke cans as hair rollers in one scene at the beginning before answering the prison telephone. However, the virgin mobile phone is used in time with the lyrics ‘telephone’ and shows the starting up screen of virgin mobile. Another advertisement i noticed in the exstended version of the video was a ‘plenty of fishes’ page uploaded on the guards laptop. This may conclude to the guard being lonely or how the wrong sort of people may be met via the internet. This is clearly done for advertising purposes.

What do you like about the text?

My favourite aspect of the music video is the verisimilitude- how they really have the audience believing they’re dancing in a prison and have committed serious crimes. The narrative shows what crimes have been committed by Gaga and why she went to prison in the first place. It’s a brilliant narrative and tune.