Welcome to my blog

This is my A2 media blog where I have demonstrated both technical and analytical skills to produce a promotional package for an existing music artists.

Final cut Music Video

Links list of rough cuts

Why Georgia Roughcuts playlist

Final Digipack

This is the final draft for out digipack. This version of our digipack is intertextual to existing albums such as: Led zed IV, The Rolling Stones- exile album and Rammstein Made In Germany. For this version of the digipack we altered the name of the artists at the front and made it 3D so that it creates the illusion as though the artists is singing it out of the picture frame. For the picture of the artist I experimented with 3D in photoshop to make it more visually interesting for our target audience, this was inspired from Rammstein's album as they have an unusual looking subject covered in silver, however for our digipak we were still trying to keep it conventional to our genre.

The main influence of the digipak is that it is a postmodern version of the Led Zed IV album signifying that we are targeting not only a young target audience but also an older audience (secondary audience) who may identify with the time period of the album. However, to make it postmodern and our own version we changed the background to a toned down stone wall as that is in reference to the coffeeshop shots seen in the music video. For the main image we chose a portrait image of the artists in reference to the gig shots.

For the inner panels we were influenced by the Rolling Stones Exile album as they have a montage of images, which we applied to our own digipak by producing a montage of images of the artists with his fans, friends and family when he was a child. There is one image in which we have applied the idea of swapping the faces as this would appeal to our target audience because applications such as snapchat and MSQRD are very popular amongst young people. This montage of images blends with the image of the guitar that is reference to the gig shots in the music video. Furthermore, the quote in red is intertextual to the Rolling Stones album as they also have red writing going over the montage, however we wanted to make it something that is typical of John Mayer as he tends to post quotes on his most of his products.

Front Cover:

Rear Panel:

Inner Panels:

Links list of drafts/ planning

Final Website

John Mayer's Website link

Hope Page

About Page

Tour Page

Gallery Page

Music Page

Qs 1a + 1b: conventions, social groups and issues

How do your products use or challenge conventions?

How do your products represent social groups or issues?

Qs 2: branding

How do the elements of your products work together to create a sense of branding?

Qs 3: engagement and distribution

How do your products engage with the audience and how would they be distributed?

Qs 4: technologies, software and hardware

How did you integrate technologies, software, hardware and online for this project?

Rough Cut 10: John Mayer- Why Georgia

This video is the 10th rough cut for Why Georgia's music video. Again I have experimented with a Dry heat effect and more shot reverse shot for the bedroom performing scenes. I have include more variation of the bar performance shots including the audience. Also there is intertextuality with the music video by Jamie Scott unbreakable beacause of the diagetic introduction. Furthermore, I have brought back the effect of the projector in the bar shots and replaced the raser effect as the projector effect signifies a home ambiance.

Digipak Design draft 3

Rough cut 9: Why Georgia-John Mayer

 This video is the 9th rough cut for Why Georgia's music video. In this one I have experimented with a Dry heat effect and more shot reverse shot for the bedroom performing scenes. Also there is intertextuality with the music video by Jamie Scott unbreakable beacause of the diagetic introduction.

Feedback for rough cut 9:

Rough cut 8: John Mayer- Why Georgia

Auteur Theory- Andre Bazin & Alexandre Astruc

The Auteur theory states that the director is viewed as the major creative force in a motion picture. The theory arose in the 1940s, France and was later dubbed by the American filmcritic Andrew Sarris. The theory was suggested by Andre Bazin and Alexandre Astruc, and was seen as the nouvelle vague (new wave) of cinematic movement in 1951. Astruc's focus on the theory was the concept of 'camera-stylo' (camera-pen) signifying that the director is seen as the author, as he doesn't only have control over all audio and visual elements of the motion picture but also has control over the screenplay.

http://www.britannica.com/art/auteur-theory

Digipak Design draft 2

This is the second idea that I have come up with for the digipak. This is one is different to the first idea as this one presents a different location. Furthermore the body language presented by the artists is very laid back signifying relaxation which is a convention to the genre as the music is laid back, calm and meaningful. The color scheme presented on the digipak further reinforces the idea of its being laid back music as they are light earthy tones. The image for the back cover of the digipack is intertextual as the bulding presented on the image are similar to those seen on the cover of Led Zeppelin- Physical Graffiti.I still have yet to work on the spine of the digipak as well as include all the labels from the different industries that support sell the product, as well as a track list on the back, but for the mean time I just wanted to experiment with these new images to get a different outcome to the first draft.

Rough cut 7: John Mayer- Why Georgia

This is a full rough cut of mine and Danny's music video for Why Georgia by John Mayer. In this new rough cut we experimented with filters on the live performance footage at the tube, as there were some lines panning down across the scene due to low resolution because of the lac of lighting in the location so the purpose of the filters was to correct and dissimulate the lines coming down on the scene and also to make it more visually interesting for the audience. Furthermore, for the diagetic introduction we included some shots of the couple looking at records and vinals in order to introduce them to the audience as they are seen throughout the music video. In addition to this, we have part of the song playing in the background creating verisimilitude so that the audience thinks that the song is playing from the speakers at the store. There are still some things that need retouching in our video such as including more shot reverse shot's in the bedroom performance scenes as this will give it more authenticity of it being a music video and will also make it more visually interesting as the shots would not be too long.

Rough cut 6: John Mayer- Why Georgia

In this updated roughcut Danny and I have included more shots of the crowd at the gig as this signifies that the charcater is a struggling muscician who is starting his career by performing at local places instead of more main stream locations such as a stage and having a back up band, instead he is represented as an individual performer. Furthermore, for the diagetic introduction we have chosen to keep the character anonymous as he looks through the shop at vinals and CD's until he is shown buying the guitar from the shop owner. That is when the character is revealed to the audience, however there are some shots that are shaky throughout this introduction which we are planning on re-shooting, as well as shoot the couple being in the same location at the same time as the performer because they are characters that are seen throughout the video, so introducing them at he beginning would make more sense for the audience as this will connote a connection to the performer. Furthermore,  this idea is intertextual to other music videso from the same genre such as Ed Sheeran's music videos, where the narrative is based on other characters that are not the performer, however the performer is seen in the background or performing in certain scenes.

Gauntlett & O'Reilly's Web 2.0

Tim O'Reilly is the originator of the term Web 2.0. He suggests that Web 2.0 allows the audience to interact with the media through the use of the internet, making it easier for the audience to consume the data, as well as responding or doing something with it, known as user generated content (UGC), because it is the development of a world wide web. He calls it "architecture of participants".

Unlike O'Reilly, David Gauntlett suggests that  web 2.0 is " the changing media landscape in which the categories of 'audience' and 'producers' blur together". He focuses on everyday meanings produced by the diverse array of audience member. Gauntlett argues that the audience are extreme interpreters of media content whom are able to understand contemporary media techniques. He acknowledges the hybridity between old and new media, just like Henry Jenkins. Furthermore, he recognizes that the internet and digital media have fundamentally changed the ways in which we engage with the media leading back to the idea of UGC.

Rough cut 5: John Mayer- Why Georgia

This is an update on our music video for Why Georgia by John Mayer. We have included more romantic narrative footage at he beginning of the music video as well as footage of the musician character entering the record store. For the record store footage what we are planning on doing differently next shooting is that instead of the character purchasing a guitar he'll purchase a record and at the same time the couple will be introduced into the scene looking at records/ CDs of the artist and a gig poster from him. We will attempt to keep the musician anonymous throughout the diegetic introduction, so that he'll be introduced to the audience when the song begins.

Furthermore within this new clip we have experimented with layering and slow motion in some of the live performance clips. To correct the layering clips we will use a green screen so that the background will not be visible when layering it onto another video. Furthermore, instead of just having performance footage from the pub we will include busking footage as this will represent the aspect of a struggling musician. This footage will be shot in town by the Grande Rue where the musician will be seen performing to a passive audience. The couple will also be seen within these shots listening to the music and giving money to the musician. To add to the mise-en-scene we will decorate the guitar case and do close up shots of it when the audience is throwing money into it.

As for the bedroom footage we are planning on adding more to the background to make it more visually interesting and adding light behind the camera as the environment was quite dark making the footage seem grainy. The video is not synched with the lyrics after the character is seen at the coffee shop as we are still currently editing and planning on changing the bedroom scenes where the character is seen wearing a white T-shirt as this is when we still had a dull background, which we are now planning on changing.

Rough cut 4: John Mayer- Why Georgia

This is our 4th rough cut for our music video. In this one we have achieved versimilitude with the lypsynching performance in the bedroom. However, something that we have to improve on for these shots where the perfromer is seen performing in the bedroom is make the room look for visually interesting as currently the character is seen in a white background with a white polo shirt. Furthermore, we have included couple shots as the song has connotations to romance in the lyrics. Something to improve on for these shots is variation in location as they are only seen at a coffee shop.

Rough cut 3: John Mayer- Why Georgia

Digipack Design 1

This is a rough copy of our digipack cover and what we would like it to like. The focus throughout our digipack is the artists and the performance to reinforce that he is a solo artists and that the album is based upon him. Furthermore, there's the mixture between vivid colour in the inside of the digipak and on the front and back cover there is more toned down colours as they are conventional to the genre because folk acoustic is typically associated with brown tones, greyscale as these are colours that you would usually see within their music videos and throughout their websites.

Digipack pictures

These are some of photographs that we are planning on including on both our website and digipack as they are representative of the artists performance. If we were to sustain a colour scheme for the digipack cover it'd be the coloured images as they are the most eye catching, however the inside content of the digipack could contain the sepia and B&W images because they show the artists rather than just his instrument.

Setting Driving Shooting 31/10/16

This is evidence of our set up for the filming in the car. We used both a DSLR Canon camera and a GoPro to get variation of shots of the character driving reinforcing this idea that he is confused and still trying to find what he really wants.

Gig Shooting day 28/01/16

Preparation before gig:

After gig:

Audience research (TBC)

Who are your audience? (primary and secondary) How are you targeting them?

Primary audience: Both male and female in the age range of 15-24 as the rock, folk, blues, country genres from the artists appeal to them as they are able to understand the meaning found within the song, because as Vernallis would argue the audience is able to make the connections between the visuals and the lyrics if a music video were present, leading them to personally identify with the artist and the narrative from the video.

In an intertextual way the audience that would typically attend a showing of the artists are the audience that don't just listen to folk/ acoustic music but also reinforce it through their clothing. Typically they'd be seen in plaid shirts or plain one coloured t-shirts, at times there would be a motif found on them. They are highly influenced by artists that relate to the genre of folk acoustic as this further encourages them to pursue their ambition to become a musicians as well.

To find out more information on our primary audience we will carry out some interviews with some individuals (around 10) at the live performance from the artists gig, asking the audience if they like the song, know the name of it, have heard of the artist before, so that we are able to identify our core audience.

Secondary audience: M & F in the age range of 25-34+ as they may be more interested in electric blues side of the of the artists genres. This is because there tends to be more guitar solos found throughout the song which may uninterest a younger audience as the song is no longer focused on a specific message but more on the composition of the song. This is seen as surveillance for this audience as they are able to depict ideas from the music that help influence their own.

Rough cut 2: John Mayer- Why Georgia

This is the second draft that we have come up with for our final production. There are some aspects of the clip which I particularly enjoy such as the the merging of two clips onto one another such as the guitar layering over the clip of the artists performing. The things that do need improvement such as the lipsynching as it is not synched with the song breaking not giving it verisimilitude.

For our next shooting we are planning on re-shooting the diegetic introduction by changing the location to the record store presented in our first draft as this will create a more interesting narrative for the audience and include some aspect of romance into it as the first impression that the audience gets when listening to the song is that it has been composed from a romantic experience.

John Mayer Research

John Mayer 

John Mayer is mostly known for his top hits such as: Free Fallin- where the light is, Why Georgia- room of squares and Who you love ft Katty Perry.

He is both a song writer and a producer from America. The song that we have chosen to produce a music video is 'Why Georgia' from his album 'Room of Squares'. The background story to this song is that the artist was going through a rough patch at the time, coming down with he decision to leave Berklee University in order to pursue his dream in becoming a performer along side Clay Cook.

He started his career mainly performing acoustic rock, however the genre that mostly influenced him into becoming a performer was the blues. He later moved into performing this genre. Overall, the genres that he is known for performing are: pop, rock, blues, folk, country and soul. 

The instruments that he is mostly seen performing with are: guitar, vocal, piano and harmonica. These are just some f the instruments which are conventional to the genre of Pop-folk. We have taken in his signature instrument, the guitar as this is the instrument that he is mostly seen with in his music videos when performing.

As for outfit, Mayer carries out the typical indie look, conventional to the genre. This means that he is mostly seen wearing denim blazers or checkered blazers. Solid colored t-shirts with some writing or none at all as the main focus is on his performance and furthermore, the tattoos on his arms add to the look of a rock performer as that is one of the genres that he performs.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLggtP0CB_agygIyx2QWAooz41-7lGSq1l
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mayer
http://johnmayer.com/ 

Rough cut 2 podcast

Rough cut 1: John Mayer- Why Georgia

This is a first draft of our music video showing some of the various different shots and locations that we are planning on including throughout the video. We present our character in urban locations such as a coffee shop and his bedroom. The color scheme seen throughout these locations are orange and brown as these are toned down colors typical for pop folk acoustic genre because even artists and other bands are seen wearing clothes with these colors as they take away the attention from the from the artist and focus it more on its performance and the song.

The purpose for our first draft was to see how each shot complimented one another and whether the locations once seen on camera suited the narrative of our song. Furthermore, this gave us an idea on how to structure each shot together as we have a variation between performance shots and vignette shots.

Digipack Cover Ideas

These are some digipack cover ideas that I have found from artists that are a similar genre to the one who I am trying to represent through all my different media platforms. The artists whose covers I have specifically chosen are: Ed Sheeran, Kodaline and John Mayer. Most of the covers as shown, consist of the main image either being an image of the artist/ band or a landscape such as the beach, mountains or an urban area.

The one that mostly captures my attention and who's idea i'd like to apply to my own work is Kodaline's high hopes cover as it is a POV photograph of someone's shoes observing another person running away. The image makes the audience feel as though they are in that person's shoes and are part of what is happening in the image. This is something I particularly enjoy from it because it integrates the audience into the image.

Green screen practice

This is a video that we worked on as a group. The task was to produce a video for the song 'Merry Christmas' by Slade using a greenscreen. We were all given a specific section from the song to edit and overlay christmas or slade related backgrounds.