New images.

Today I managed to take some pictures for the album cover and posters. I have experience in photoshop so I decided to edit them in order to make them the best quality, and more professional.

I researched some contemporary female artists, who have rather natural images, such as Miley Cyrus, Hilary Duff, Ashley Simpson, Beyonce, Rhianna. It was harder for me to find a female rock artist similar to Ellen because the rock industry consists mostly of males. The only female artists that would really relate to Ellen's style of music would be Amy Lee from Evanescene or Avril Lavigne and Debbie Harry.

Here are few examples of the album covers I looked at:

Beyonce:
This cover really stood out to me because it's simple but elegant at the same time, I like how the background is a very calm blue reflecting her personality and giving off a relaxed but energetic feeling. I though this could be a possible choice to use as an influence for my album cover because the way Beyonce is positioned, and the clothing she is wearing really conveys what type of artist she is towards the audience re-enforcing her R&B image from the diamond top and low rise jeans, whilst still appearing classy, sexy and sophisticated. I also think the use of text is appealing because it's not too busy and tells the audience exactly what they need to know.
Miley Cyrus:

This album cover has a very natural and earthy feeling to it from the yellowish tint. I like how this image is captured at a sideways angle because it creates a laid back and easy going atmosphere. Miley looks fresh, lively, and pure which is the image I think is being portrayed when looking at this. Again like beyonces album, the use of text catches my eye because it's simple and get straight to the point, the use of colour white and blue creates a sort of tomboy, active sensation because its a masculine colour, giving her innocent image a bit of an edge.


Amy Lee:
This cover is very edgey, it portrays the intensity and darkness of the singers image and possibably the content of songs. I like how it really gives of the right vibe to what kind of music Evanesance is producing. The use of balck and blue, whilst having a very contrasted effect give it a harsher and boldness, showing they are confident and like to make a big impression.Debbie Harry:
This blondie cover focuses on the use of pattern and colour, creating a very busy and engergetic feeling. I like how she is very poised, creating a sense of strength and ambition. The font creates a more rock image because its bold and the pink and blues show feminine but masculine qualitys. Overall I believe that this conveys the image of a fierce rock chick.

here are the before and after shots of my own images:
Album Cover

I thought that a portrait shot would be ideal for the album cover because it focuses on the face of the artist and gives a more personal and emotional atmosphere. The back and white effect creates a softer appeal to the image on a whole however the darker black around the eyes and the pinkness of the lips gives it more edge. I wanted to keep it simple because Ellen is really natural, which is the image she wants to portray with the audience whilst having rock qualitys.

Website

I decided to go for the traditional myspace webpage. Most rising solo arists/bands create myspaces to promote their music and get their name noticed by potential record labels. I've gotten ideas from other solo artists such as a male artist called Jimmy Robbins.

I like the professional feel to his page whilst still appealing to a younger audience by the use of font and colours. Hes also got alot of infomation about upcoming tours, new songs, and a biography which help the fans get a better insight to all they want to know.

Digipak

We were told to create a dvd digipack for part of our task, I looked at various examples such as one from a Bridget Jones dvd and the Work of Dicrector Michel Gondry.

The Bridget Jones one was fairly simple a four page spread, with the front cover featuring the ablum in a dvd sized format, a track listing and breif biography of the band on the inside DPS, and a backcover including a picture and all the rights and copyright laws.

The Director's one was much larger and contained the backstory and a more in depth history of the director from his point of view and the 3rd person.

I decided to go along the lines of the Bridget Jones digipack because it fitted in better with my project as a whole and I have produced some quality pictures that would work with the format. I decided to use the Album frontcover as the front cover of the pack, a DPS consisting of a breif summary of Ellen Smithson from the 3rd person and a magazine style quotation page from Ellen's point of view, and a back cover containing the rights and copyright.

WEBSITE:

www.myspace.com/ellensmithson

List of things to do for Filming.

I want to plan the process of this video out down to the very last detail, so I thinking manking a list of everything I need to organize will help me achieve the most authentic and quality video.

Setting for opening scene:
St. Andrews School- Hallways, Bathroom, Window, Parking Lot, Music room.


Actors:
Ellen Smithson, Vicky Sheridan (best friend), Extras.


Mise-en-scene (costume and props):

Costume
School Uniform- long skirt, shirt, knee high socks, dolly shoes or plimpsoles, glasses, tie, and hair in plaits, natural looking make-up.

Casual Clothes- Leather or Jean leggings, band t-shirt or going out top (cleavege), converse or high heels, leather jacket, puffy hair, heavy eye make-up (smokey eyes), aviator sunglasses.

Party Clothes- High waisted skirt or dress, white or black top, thin belt, leather jacket or blazer, high heels.

Props

Car- Silver, KA Ford.

Intsruments- electric guitar, microphone, drums, bass.

I've asked the people invloved in my video as extras to come equiped with the right clothes, and attitudes towards acting. My main character has learnt the words to the song and had studied the various music videos I sent to her, to get a good idea of the image and performance I want to achieve. Hopefully all will go as planned.

Planning for new concept.

Okay so I've given my new concept alot of thought and I've decided that it might be best to change parts of my original idea. Since I have gotten inspiration from Aerosmith's music videos featuring Alicia Silverstone, I had the idea of using intertexuality in my video from the opening scene of the video 'Crazy'.

The opening scene is basically a low angle, tracking shot focusing on Alicia's legs and feet, and gradually tilting upwards to the door shes opening, reavling a girls bathroom sign, which states the location of the scene, and could cause assumptions of what the narrative is going to lead too. It then cuts form shots of Aerosmith performing and Alicia escaping out of a window and running towards a car and being joined by her friend, changing out of their school uniform. Whilst in the car they are singing along to the song thats playing in the background while cutting back and forth to Aerosmith performing still.

This is something I want to try and establish in the opening scene of my video. I really enjoy the freedom and fun loving element of the way Alicia and Liv are just two best friends hanging out having a laugh, and also rebelling which gives it a sort of rock n roll edge. Hopefully this will fit in with my chosen song 'call me'. I am going to make a story board of my new idea tomorrow and upload it, with an animatic.

here are some screen shots from the video:































All of these images, have given me inspiration for costume, different camera angles, locations and props. The way the two girls are captured gives off a lively, fun loving but also sexual appeal, which is something I want to portray in the representation of Ellen because they are all qualitys that she has and make her appealing as an artist. The idea of a school girl, is brilliant because it's something that 16-25 year old females can realte to because it's reliving the memories of being young a rebelious for the young adults, and validating the thrill of being a teenager and causing mischeif for the younger audience. I believe this may also appeal to a wider audience, and broaden my inital target of just females, because the school girl theme attracts young boys/men, as it adds a bit of sex appeal which is something they desire and creates the impression of the type of woman they dream of. The fact that the song is a metal version of the blondie hit 'call me' also changes the audience, because its a heavy and more edgey sound that may not attract certain females because it has rather masculine aspects.

Change of concept.

I have been thinking about my music video and all the research I have done so far, and since I've been having problems filming and getting people to act for me I've decided it might be best to change my inital idea of using the band 'Batteries Not Included'. I still want to link my work from last year into this music video, and I've thought of a brilliant way to do this. Since my main character Natalie Saben, now goes to a different college than me it's really hard to arrange times when we're both free to film, and when we have planned to do so it hasnt worked out.

So after alot of deliberation, ive come up with a new idea. Ellen Smithson, lead guitarist of 'Batteries Not Included' is going to be the new star of my music video Call Me. She's embarking on her solo career as a metal rock chick, with her new single 'Call Me'. All my other planning such as the narrative of the video and image, will stay the same, it's just the main character I am changing. This means I need to plan out my time, and arrange photoshoots and days to film because theres not much time left to get everything finished. However it will be easier to get all my footage now, as I see Ellen everyday and shes willing to be the main star and knows all the words to the song. Hopefully we will get most of the filming finished by this week.



Possible images for album cover and posters:

problems.

I was hoping to get the rest of my fimling done over this weekend, however it didnt go as planned because the people I asked to help out couldnt make it and it resulted in me not being able to get any footage. I think I need to write out a proper plan and make sure that all my friends are prepared, to make this the best it can possibably be, like for example they need to be wearing the appropriate clothes, they need to learn the lyrics to my chosen song, and must be willing to do certain actions I ask. I didnt think it would be this difficult to actually film with the people i've chosen to be in it, but hopefull during this week or next weekend things will go to plan.

I did manage to get a few clips in the resturant nandos, of the band Batteries Not Included, just hanging out, laughing, chatting, being 'lads'. I decided that maybe I should show the different sides to them, because in my AS project they are portrayed as sexy but also have the lad element to them. So maybe during the whole 'party' scene of Natalie being all girly and getting ready for a night out on the town, inbetween in the appropiate timings I can have clips of the band being goofy, and having a laugh, free spirited, like one of the 'lads'. Once I get my animatic finished everything will be alot clearer.

Offical Decision.

I've offically decided to make this music video a collaboration between In This Moment and Batteries Not Included. I want to have it kind of in the style of an Aerosmith Music video where the actual band isnt in the actual story of the video, but theres clips of them playing their instruments. The main focus will be the band memebers from Batteries Not Included, and It's going to tell a story about the lead singer Natalie Saben. For the posters, album cover and website I have decided to make them maybe into images of Batteries Not Included whlist still using In This Moments name, but i'll add Featuring Batteries Not included somwhere. So basically its a collaboration without the song part.

I've already written out my story board, now I just need to take my photos and create an animatic of my whole idea. I'll be doing this over the weekend, because its difficult for me to film during school as my band memebers attend UCA in epsom, and I dont seem them often during the week. Hopefully I'll finish all my filming and get a head start on playing about with the editing and finding out what effects I want to use.

Music Video Trip To London.

Yesterday our class went on a trip to a studio in London, Brink Lane, called Rich Mix. It was a course where we recieved tips and information to help us with making a music video, the first speaker was a man called Pete Fraser who spoke about the history of music videos which ranged from the 30s up until today. It was very interesting to hear about how drastically people and techonology has changed over the years, and I really enojyed the contrast in how different things such as drugs, or life experience can influence songs/music videos. I also gained a better idea of what I need to include in my music video to make it brilliant from the examples he showed us from ex students, which were very amusing and well planned. I think I have benefited from attending this trip and I feel more confident about the final result of my video from the tips I learnt.

New Idea

Ive been thinking about wether or not to use Batteries Not Included as the band for this music video, however I dont think it would work because In This Moment have a very distinctive sound to them which is more of a heavy metal, and Batteries Not Included are more relaxed and mellow. After alot of thought and brainstorming, I have decided that Batteries Not Included could possibably just be featured in the music video or maybe I could turn the realtionship of both bands into a collaboration.

I think maybe this would be the best idea, because the drafts I have made of the posters are of Natalie and she is the face of Batteries Not Included, so it makes sense to invlove them into my project because it all interlinks.

Sometimes musicans or artists use actors or other bands in their music videos, or even songs, so maybe I could use this idea and explore further with it by using Batterys Not Included as the focal point, whilst still using the Call Me Cover version by In This Moment. Then it gives both bands exposure to maybe different types of audiences, which would benefit them both and create more meaning behind my video.

An example of this is the covered song Kiss Me by New Found Glory, who breifly invloved Haley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore, into their music video.














Aerosmith also use Alicia Silverstone, whos a well known actress, as the main charater in alot of their videos which probably helped promote her because they were such a well known band. This is what I've decided would be the best option for me. here are two examples: Crying by Aerosmith andCrazy by Aerosmith .

Cd Cover, Website and Poster

We also have to include a CD cover, Poster, or a Website. The two that I have chosen to use are the Magazine Poster and The website. I feel more confident in these areas because last year we produced our own magazine front covers and worked with photoshop. The website would be easy for me to create because I am a daily facebook and myspace user and I know how the site works.

I have begun my poster drafts and here are some examples:

I thought that maybe a collage of different emotions, and the different band memebers could be a great way to promote the band, because they each have individuality and their poses can refelect their personalitys. I want to keep the desired rock n roll image but with a twist of indie and maybe vintage. I think the black and white gives the images more emotion as the light and contrast convey different vibes.

Altough this image does not show the actual band members, I like the use of lighting and the way the hands are locked together which symbolizes to me unity and embracing the moment. This could maybe be more of a potenial album front cover rather than a poster, because It dosnt really get across that its a band. If I edited it in photoshop and maybe added lyrics to one of the songs, underneath the sun then it would create more of a band feel to it. I could even try and add an image or logo of the band somewhere to show people that its a band.

This image was inspired by everyday magazines, you usually see the stars done up and looking their best, with a little tagline or quote underneath representing their band. I like the use of the text and the way I positioned it as if words were being spoken from her mouth, because she is the lead singer. Again I used black and white to create more effect and give it a draker edge, while also using small elements fo color on her fingernails to keep and femine tone to the whole thing. I think to improve this I could maybe add some of the lyrics to the song in quotations at the bottome such as "colour me your colour darling" which could also link into the different colours of the fingernails.

I think maybe I should consider using a group shot, and create a scene that relates to the song im using such as, them looking at a phone waiting for it to ring, having a pillow fight, getting ready ect. basically capture them doing femine things, to relate to my target audience.

here is the link to the website:

http://www.myspace.com/batteriesnotincludeddd

I've created it from Batteries Not Included's point of view, because that way I can use the band members as the focus of my posters and album covers ect. and I'll have time to take pictures and gather all the resources I need in order to make it look authentic. I'm not sure if this is how the website is ment to look, but it's how I wanted to do it, and I feel confident using sites like myspace and facebook.

Music Video Project

This year for Media Studies A2, a task was set to produce either a film trailer or a music video. Throughout the summer I planned out which option would be best for me to do, and decided on making a music video. I've had pervious experience in the production of making a music video as I attended Summer School in Farnham for three days, where we filmed and edited a music video for a local band, Furion. With the knowledge I gained from this experience I thought it would be best for me to go with the music video option.

This is the Muisc Video Departed by Furion:


I brainstormed many ideas for what song to use such as:

Next To You- Buckcherry
Kiss Me- Sixpence None The Richer
Another One Bites The Dust- Queen
Scars- Papa Roach
Amazing- Aerosmith
Call Me- In This Moment

The final song I chose to use was Call Me by In This Moment. I thought this would be the perfect choice because it could also relate to my previous media coursework i did in AS, around my band Batterys Not Included. The main character for this music video would also be my friend Natalie who was also the lead singer I used in AS. I am also going to use the other Batterys Not Included band memebers, as the friends in the video. I am at the stage of deciding wether or not to make this a Batterys Not Included cover version to continue further into my AS project.

I looked at the offical music video for In This Moment and I felt that it didnt really go well with the song, it was just really cheesy and made the lead singer maria look like a complete poser, it really didnt do justice to the bands image and there was not any meaning behind it. I wanted to create a story like narrative for this video kind of like Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day, which shows the story of two teenagers in love and how their realtionship ends by the guy going off to the Army. I felt that something like this, gives the audience something they can relate too and is more interesting to watch. Another Example is Misery Bussiness by Paramore, which shows teenagers at highschool.

We were set the task in class to create a presentation of what we've done for this project so far, and had the choice of presenting it as a powerpoint, mood board, or video. I chose to recored myself because I thought it would be good to put on here. It was originally a powerpoint but I decided to make it onto a video because I had problems uploading it onto here, and had to re-record as some of the clips got deleted.

Here is my Presentation of my project as a whole, that I presented in class:




Here is also a clip from what i've already started filming:


This is just after Natalie enters her room to get ready for their night out, I am going to experiment with different colours and textures to create a gritty effect. It already appears grainy because I've filmed it on my mobile phone, which is what I was aiming to acheive as I think it creates a more personal atmosphere.