Planning of Locations.

A range of locations are important for a music video as it can allow a narrative/performance to grow whilst also an opportunity to allow the audience to see more about the artist’s life/upbringing in which they will cherish and enjoy causing for a better relationship to be formed- this is one of the most important aspects of the purpose of a music video. The issue we have to be mindful of is that too many locations can ruin the flow of the video and the constant change can cause no relationship to be formed as the video is all over the place, and therefore so is the audience’s viewing experience.

The first location I am thinking about using is my sixth form building; a brick wall in the background or maybe a plain black background. This location will be solely for performance purposes and we will have Ryan/Justin Oakley sing towards the camera. The purpose of this would be to have a background to our product to which we can replace shots that do not work and build a music video upon. This will enable the video to stay in sync more easily and can allow for our vision to flow. The shots we acquire from this location will become an anchor in which the audience can become familiar to because of its reappearances. The major benefit of this location is that it can be re-filmed if needed with weather not affecting the final outcome.

A second location we would be inclined to use is Buckingham Palace; a reason being that Justin Oakley is a British artist and the palace can optimize everything British, I believe it has also become a global landmark which could speed up the process of how we translate that he is British. Secondly by having a regal building in our video it could connote that our artist is extra ordinary- in which would then allow us to follow paradox two suggested by Richard Dyer. In some aspects using a palace is very unconventional because it could isolate members of the audience through class, or political barriers; I believe by using it as a background, which we could, will allow the inclusion of the audience and perhaps they could even relate to the location through trips to the palace or seeing it on the news.

A third location that we are considering is Covent Garden; The reason for this is that it is a naturally busy area with people coming and going frequently and therefore can grant our product with a higher level of verisimilitude, this creates a belief that the messages conveyed in our product more truthful, making the audience more likely to believe the messages and make Justin more memorable against his many competitors as the industry is very competitive.

A fourth location that would be good to use would be a household location, this would primarily be used like Covent Garden as it will improve our verisimilitude of the World we are creating but also allow for our character to be more realistic and believable. We plan for the house to be the location in which the artist is at his most vulnerable point, for instance an argument or a break up scene; we want the audience to feel intimate to the artist within the location. This can be a pivotal location as the audience can be rewarded with an additional insight into his lifestyle.

Iconography

Iconography is a name given to an object frequently used that has connotations attached to it, in which are easy to decipher. Iconography can add to the creation of an artist as well as it has the ability to ruin the creation of the artist.

Guitar

A guitar is an instrument that is pivotal to our music video and features often within our song “I won’t give up” Seeing a guitar and being widely performance based is common in music video, especially so in genres and songs like ours. The main connotation of the use of guitar is that the artist is musically gifted and is not reliant on technology like some artists in the industry are tarnished with.

Sunglasses

Sunglasses is a prop that enables us to encourage the audience into believing our artist is cool and relevant to the trends in fashion at the moment. Sunglasses are conventional to our genre in the sense that the artist is exotic or travels. Journeys often are found in the music video and therefore is conventional as iconography. The connotations of sunglasses can be understood as a disguise, protection and are often seen as a cool accessory for an artist.

Trilby

 The Trilby hat is also a prop often found within the alternative genre. By using a trilby hat we could reinforce the idea of our character being well rounded and travelling- the hat connotes travelling as its use is too restrict sunlight to the top of your head when walking. As well as it function the trilby hat adds a lot to the outfit and can make an adolescent artist appeal to a more mature audience. This piece of the costume is conventional to the genre.

Group magazine advert reflection.

First of all we made separate draft magazines, this was to keep our ideas our own so that the product can be representative of the designer. After we completed the drafts we shared them with each other by making an anonymous collection- so the decision of which was the best to use wasn’t personal or friendship orientated.

This first magazine is created be myself. What I like about the advert is that we can clearly see the artist and it is only the artist that we see. This method could have allowed for a relationship to be formed between the artist and the target audience. I also like that the colours are pure and natural, as this can connote many things, peace of mind and the unity with nature, to name a couple. The language is also simplistic which can make information easier to extract from the advert. Because our artist belongs to the alternative genre we have more flexibility than others in what we can experiment with. The most conventional aspects of my advert is the soft and natural lighting and the image of our artist.

Adam Taylor creates this magazine. What I like most about this advert is the British theme. The artist Justin Oakley is portrayed to be patriotic or in line with his heritage, which is important for his British audience to see, potentially bettering a relationship made as Justin and the audience have a common value. I also like that you can see Justin within the advertIt is conventional as it includes the name of the artist, album name; it includes the record label and has an image the artist. All of which the audience need to see to establish a relationship with the artistThis Advert van be improved better if it displayed a better range of Photoshop techniques to show a s range of skills as it looks as if it wasn’t made on Photoshop.

This advert from Ryan displays a better range of Photoshop skills with the top and bottom of the page being in a black and white effect and the middle of the page is in colour, the reason I like this is because the middle segment is where the audience can see the artist through it being in colour emphasis is placed on his importance. This magazine is conventional for the same reason as the others e.g. showing the artist, what makes this advert unconventional is that it looks like winter and has a festive feel to it, which is unusual for the alternative genre. However it works because the genre is more lenient on its rules.On the whole I think that this advert is successful and I wouldn’t change it.

This is the advert provided by Olivia, in which was our groups favourite. This advert in my opinion displays an excellent use and understanding of the software- Adobe Photoshop. the contrast between Justin and the background is an effective concept in which many deeper connotations can be derived from, an example of this could be that Justin through being in colour and the background being black and white it could connote that he is a fresh addition to the ever growing bland (same-same) industry suggesting he has a uniqueness to offer the industry. There is also an image of the album cover in the bottom corner of the advert, which can help sales as the audience will know what the product is that we are try to sell. It has some text within the upper segment of the advert and the middle to lower segment, in which demonstrates concise publication as it is straight to the point providing the audience with information that they need to know.

I think on the whole the reason for the selection of Olivia's advert was because it was the one that achieved all the functions in which an advert is required to achieve. The concise text is a highly positive  aspect of this advert.This advert is the type that would appear within a gossip magazine, with the reader most likely to be flicking through the pages rather than thoroughly reading each page, the text is effective as it can be consumed within a glimpse rather than the viewer having to skim read for the details as the likelihood is they wouldn't. The clear heading of "JUSTIN OAKLEY" is also a big factor as again it is clear to the audience who and what the product is, but also it can be a device to attract the attention of the viewer as the black writing contrasts against the white background with the font being large. What sealed my vote for us to use this product was her choice in images. Olivia clearly shows the  product and the brand, if we could call it that. The use of Justin's image allows for the audience who may not have heard of seen him before connect a relationship to the two, it also shows what type of person he is which will indicate to the viewer wether they may like his music and also the use of the album cover connects Justin to his product giving the viewer something to look for if they are ever looking to purchase new songs/albums.

Shooting Timeline

Photoshoot

It was essential to carry out a photo shoot because it allowed us to gain much needed imagery to include in our digipak and magazine advert, the images we obtained can allow for our target audience to build a relationship with our artist.

This picture of a guitar is a pivotal photo for me.  As it is an instrument used frequently within our genre we thought it could be used often in our digipak. I wanted to have a theme in my digipak of different parts of the guitar, i.e the strings and the wooden base. We could have used this image on the back slide of the Digipak or the CD imagery.

Another image we acquired was an image of the artist looking downwards. We took the picture in the grounds of a school, in which makes a big proportion of our target audience.  This image is effective as the target audience can see the artist creating a positive relationship, we can also see a green background, which connotes nature a theme of the genre.           

We also took some picture that didn’t make the final cut in which we didn’t use for example the pictures of the Traffic lights and the image of the tree line looking towards an overcast sky. The traffic image was intended to connote a break or stop in the artist’s life.  We chose not to use it as we found that the connotations were not clear and the target audience may not have understood them. The tree line against an overcast sky had no real connotations at all it was more of a quantity over quality picture and I therefore chose not to use it.