Being exploratory

When scouting for our location, we selected our school's 'Richard Smith' hall.. simply for its spacious nature and the incredible floor-length curtains we could use for a back-drop -considering mise-en-scene carefully as we wanted to give the impression of a performance space of staging, not a school.

Here are some test shots we took in the filming space, to ensure we knew where the girls would be placed, but also how they'd look prior to filming in case something wasn't quite correct.

We moved the chairs and tables from the space, adding stage blocks and lighting to add to the performance 'aura', placing the girls on the stage blocks, giving them 'height' and differentiating their proxemity from the camera.

Experimenting with ancillary

We decided to look at different vinyl sleeves in order to gain a greater understanding of how they looked cosmetically and constructively, but also gain inspiration for our own.

Mr Hudson had possession of a variety of vinyl sleeves for us to look at which provided useful information as we then decided to stick with the black and white theme to integrate with our music video, but also create an insert which gives it more of a modern twist.
We plan to feature a shot of the whole band on the front of the Vinyl and then feature shots of Zaylie (protagonist) as well as some still captures from the music video for versatility.

 











After experimenting with the works of Microsoft Publisher and Paint, we decided using Adobe Photoshop CS4, we would merge two images of our protagonist, Zaylie with our 'boyfriend' figure Jack's arm reaching for her face.
Firstly we began by cropping down Jack's arm in order to make the picture seem more realistic when merged to the other pictured of Zaylie's face.
We changed the opacity of Jack's arm to be more faded, as if depicting an 'afterlife' -which syncs with our video, as we intended to construct our narrative around the protagonists partner dying in war.



When merging this, I realised that the arm seemed really 'bolted-on' as opposed to seeing realistic, this was partially due to the lack of shadow that occurred around Zaylie, so in order to create this verisimilitude, I constructed a shadow-like 'Black and white' formation under Jack's arm to suggest direction of light and his presence.




Our finished article which will feature on our 'insert' to the vinyl sleeve to incorporate some narrative into the ancillary. As well as this, we intend to capture some stills from throughout the video in order to create some synergy between both products. However, we are still in debate over whether to keep the insert in colour, to appeal to a contemporary audience (which is our intention), or whether to in keep with our black and white theme, utilised throughout.

#1 Colour

#2 Greyscale

Regulation

In the past decade over sexualised content has become a popular way to advertise and promote music video's. This has led to a debate whether these music videos are appropriate whilst younger children are able to view them. Artists such as Miley Cyrus and Rihanna have made a career out of their sexualised image and music video's. But with fans who are of a younger age group, parents are worried that the actions of the pop stars will rub off on there children. Are these artists a bad role model for the young of today?

Ofcom states that it tries to protect younger children from viewing inappropriate content. Whether that be Preventing children from watching a music video that contains explicit sex, drug use and offensive language; Or protecting children from other unsuitable content such as violence. Music videos will often bleep out any bad language if it is broadcast before the watershed. However it is worth noting that what is viewed as inappropriate now wouldn't of been inappropriate in the 60's (which is when our music video was made). This is due to social attitudes changing which can be recognised with the way that women are presented in music video's there and now.

 

We can see above how the representation of women in the music industry has changed as social attitudes change. It wouldn't of been acceptable in the 60's to dress provocatively and use abusive language within music video's however in the present day it is deemed as 'normal'.

DigiPak #1

Our first attempt at a DigiPak design follows conventions needed for a sixties record sleeve.
The cover is mostly black and white, creating synergy with our video, which we intend to be fully black and white, with vintage grain effect, to integrate with the demands of a tangible product from the sixties era.
The font sporting the name of the band 'The Marvelettes' will be in colour, reminding our audience that despite the record sleeve being intended as a temporal piece, the colour shows our versatility and intention of bringing a contemporary audience an aspect of sixties soul.
The deceiving 'white circle' in the centre will be hollow, filled with polythene in our final product, fitting the record sleeve conventions further. This will be the print on the respective interior sleeve.
Our plans for a larger 12" vinyl exterior sleeve are under way.