Digipaks

A digipak is a 6 page insert which goes into a CD case. The digipak includes a slot for the CD, 3 pages of photographs of lyrics, a track listing and a front cover for the album. A digipak is used to encourage people to but the real CD rather then downloading it. It encourages people to but it because it gives the buyers a more aesthetic experience. They will also gain things like exclusive artwork/photographs. It is also used to promote the band/artists identity. It represents them in a particular way and also helps to promote what kind of genre the artist is.

 This digipak portrays the bands genre as pop as the cover features a boy band who are all having fun and smiling on the cover. Their identity is created by showing them as being fun which is shown through their location and because they are all laughing. Because they create a direct address with the audience by looking t the camera it also suggests that they are more concerned with their image and with making a connection with the audience then they are about music. The digipak suggests that the bands target audience is teenagers and mainly girls. This is suggested through the use of soft colours, the location and the fact that it is a boy band.

 The audience for this band would be much different then the audience for One Direction. This is shown because of the difference in colours; the colours on this digipak are mainly black and white which  suggests that the bands target audience would be older and that their music genre is more Rock. The identity of this band is created by the band not making a direct address with the audience and also the clothes the band are wearing which are stereotypically rock clothes. The fact that they aren't looking directly to the camera suggests that the band are more interested in making music then their identity and they don't want to conform to societies ideas of music.

Because of the bright colours and pink which have been used on this digipak it suggests that Katy Perry's target audience is mainly teenage girls however she is also using her sexuality to her advantage by wearing revealing clothes which could also attract a male audience to her music. Because she has used pink on the album cover it shows that she os retaining her femininity however because she is also wearing blue and because the album name is written in blue which is generally seen as a boy colour it shows that she is trying to liberate women through her music.

Research and Planning- Initial ideas for music video

After doing some research into the genre we are think of doing we have found that a location which is used quite often in alternative music videos is the woods. This has inspired us to set the performance part of our video in some woods as it will make the video fit into the generic conventions of our genre better. At first our group was planning on setting the whole video in the woods however after discussing it we have decided to only set part of it there as it will make the video more interesting and will again make it fit into the genre more. Some of the music videos which inspired us to use this location are;











For our music video we have decided to use a band. We decided to do this instead of using a solo artist for several different reasons. The main reason was because it means that while filming we will be able to get a more varied amount of shots. For example we can get some of the whole group performing then we can get close ups of each member signing, or playing the guitar etc. We also decided to use a band because it would make our act fit into the genre more as there aren't very many solo artists in the genre and it is mainly dominated by bands. We haven't made a final decision on how many members will be in our group yet but at the moment we are thinking that we will have one lead singer, one bass player, one guitarist and one drummer. I think it would be a good idea if we had at least four members because a lot of bands in out genre contain four members. I also think that four members would make it a lot easier as I think three wouldn't be enough to get as many varied shits as we would need and more then four maybe five would make it harder as there would be too many people and it might be harder to film them all without making most of the video performance based.

Robbie Williams- Let Me Entertain You (Andrew Godwin study)

The Vamps- Somebody To You (Andrew Godwin Study)

Andrew Godwin Music Video Theory

Andrew Godwin says that all music videos feature the same six elements. He said that these elements are

1. All music videos show genre characteristics. Meaning that they all make the viewers aware of their genre though the use of props, colours, costumes etc. in their videos.
2. There is a link between the visuals and lyrics. The message that the artist is trying to convey though the lyrics are often backed up through the narrative throughout the music video. 
3. The visuals and music both have an atmosphere and and tone.The visuals work to reflect those of the music.
4. Because of the artists record label the video will have lots of close up shots of the artist. The artists may even develop a motif, which they will use across much of their work.
5. Music videos will include references to looking (mirrors, stages). This is often used to sexualise women and their bodies. 
6. Often there can be references to other music videos, films, TV shows etc within the music video.

 Lyrics and visuals
Andrew Godwin says that there are three categories we can put music videos into when we analyse the relationship between the lyrics and visual. These three categories are;
Amplified- The director is literally trying to amplify the lyrics into the visual.
Illustrative- This type of video is a video where the visuals to the lyrics are put across very plainly and simply.
Contradictive- These videos show quite a surreal and maybe random visual, Often the video will have no link with the lyrics.

An example of a music video which shows a link between lyrics and visual is 'Playing God' by Paramore



Part of the lyrics is 'Well maybe you should tie me up, so I don't go where you don't want me' Then at several points in the music video (0:58, 1:30, 1:52, 2:19) the rest of the band are shown to have been tied up by Hayley and trapped in a cellar.

Potential song ideas

One song which I think could be good for our group to make a music video out of is 'Better Strangers' by 'Royal Blood'. I think this would be a good song because the band isn't very well known, so doesn't have a very big image already. Also the song would be quite easy to have both a performance based and a narrative based video. It would also be quite an easy song for the actors we use as the lyrics are quite easy to learn. After doing some genre research our group decided that alternative/ alternative rock music would be a good genre to do. From researching into those genres I have learnt that this song would also fit into them, making it a suitable song for our group and the genre we are thinking about doing. Below is a video of the song;

Group members

For the music video group work, I am working with

 Molly Wade

And Christian Potter

Tips from Pete Fraser

The tips we were given to help us get a high grade were

• Make sure you have everything planned before you start shooting the actual video (costume, props, locations, actors)
• Make sure who ever is performing in your video knows the lyrics to the song.
• Try and shoot the video as early as possible so you don't run out of time to edit it all and it will also mean that if you need to re shoot anything you will have the time to do so.
• Don't do a song which is well known or a song by a very famous artist as the video will already have its own image which the audience will already have in their head when watching it.
• Don't go in a group of more then four as it will be hard to find a job for everyone to do.

Skills Development- Music Video Day

Music Video Studay Day from QE Media Studies on Vimeo.

This is out recreation of the music video for 'let me entertain you'. We recreated the video by first of all learning the lyrics before shooting the video so that the people who were singing in it knew the words. We all then came into college wearing dark clothes, like the people in the real music video and all painted our faces with White and Black face paint, again like the people in the real music video. We then spent a few hours repeatedly filming the video with different people doing different things each time. In the video we used one Robbie, Two Back up singers, three guitarists and one drummer. There was also five people operating the cameras each time we did a shoot. In the process of making this music video I learnt that it is better to have the song playing on a speaker and have the lead singer actually singing the song because that way it looks more like they are actually singing as their throats are moving and their mouths will be moving more. I also learnt that it is important to do at least 10 shoots and to film the song the whole way through filming different parts each time rather then just filming little parts of the song at a time. I also learnt that in the video if you are playing an instrument it is important to carry on playing it even if it is a quiet part of the song and the instruments cant be heard very well.

Music Video day- Editing Skills Development