Lauren Parkins

Final digipack - inside cover

Promotional photoshoot ideas storyboarding:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dennotation and connotation of music videos

GreenDay - 'American Idiot' - performance video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkmEZsKcms

- American Flag: used to represent location/nationality of the band. Links to name and institution of the band.

- Editing/transitions: switch between normal and polarised image, and image on the camera monitor - showing the person from different perspectives - good and bad? old and new?

- Quick cutting: to the beat of the song - can be used to represent the energy and atmosphere of the performance.

-Shots are sped up: to create the energy of the performers. They are also q

uite an 'old' band, so may use this to make themselves seem younger?

- The lyrics 'Don't want to be an American idiot': this is the message they are putting across - they are not going to follow what they're being told to do.

- Tattoos: portray the stereotypical 'rocker' image.

- American flag is green: (usually red and white) the green could be used to represent money - today's society is more concerned about money? Money is corrupting citizens of America? They are criticising themselves aswell? The green could also represent the rot/decay of America's society?

- Old camera: post modern reference? 1950/60's - portrayed on camera monitor - show

s difference between then and now? Values - represents 'old' America and reality? The colour - dark(in a warehouse?) and tinted green light: dark - criticising main stream power - hide away. The green light relates to the bands name and also the flag in the video - green colour theme.

- Chorus: the images that are shown are important to show the narrative/meaning of the story.- Repetition in chorus: mimicking structure of song - emphasising the main message. The camera is constantly moving to represent the atmosphere and energy of the performance. A hand-held c

amera is often used to create this effect.

The Saturdays - 'Ego' - performance/narrative

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umag84Fqk4I

- Representation: the band members are dressed as superheroes to support the message of the song? 'girl power' - portraying them as being strong. Polysemy. Egotistical.

- Paparazzi: 'what you see isn't always what you get' - different underneath? Criticism of gender equality: app

eals to the audience - teenagers are rebellious?

- Set at night: referring to typical comic heroes who come out at night. Could represent that at night the true person is shown? opinion - hidden? - Special effects are genre specific. - Constant mix of camera shots.

- Shows each of the band members separately: establishing each of them as individual artists

as well as a band.

- Mix between performance and acting a storyline: shows they are trying to put this message across equally through the lyrics and story.

- More than one storyline going on: one for each of the members - relating to per

sonal experiences? Also used to represent 'girl power' - they work together to beat the male.

________________________________________________________________________ Music video style/theme We have looked at different music videos within our genre to try and get influence in the way they are filmed and the theme/storyline behind it. We looked at The Script's music video - 'For the First Time' and liked the way they switched between performing to the camera in a live performance, to a storyline about a young couple who have emigrated from Ireland to America, but are now unhappy and want to return home but do not have enough money. It shows how they have grown unhappy with living in America and miss their family and friends back home. The male then sells his possessions so that he can afford plane tickets for them both to return home to Ireland. We liked this initial idea, but then came to the decision that it may be harder for us to create with the lack of location for our shoot.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________ Representation of bands in our genre

We looked at how bands in our genre were represented. This is to help us think about how we are going to represent our own band members and what we are going to do differently:

Scouting for Girls:

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Our bands image for the Music Video/Paramore's image

Paramore’s clothing represents the kind of image they are trying to portray of themselves, which is very laid back and casual. They do not try too hard with making an effort with the way they look, but want people to focus solely on their music and performance.The colour trend that is repeated throughout the bands clothing is black, white, grey and red. These colours all relate to the stereotype of the rock genre, but the red can also relate to love and romance which could link to the pop side of the band. These colours are repeated throughout the bands entirebrand, e.g. on their album, etc. This is to link each product to one another. We like the way the band repeat this trend and would like to try something like this with our own band. The album cover and digipak we produced includes similar colours, such as: black, white and yellow, and so we will think maybe about dressing our band in these colours, and repeating this institution throughout its brands and products. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ The Script Digipak analysis Front cover:

The bands title appears in the top third of the frame and is the largest/boldest font on the cover - so you know that it is important and that it is meant to stand out. The background is pale blue to represent a sky line, with images of chimney tops in the foreground - represent a rural area or the bands hometown, which could be known for its tall/multiple chimneys. Appearing through and above the roof tops is a human hand holding a man and woman in formal wear dancing - this could represent them-the band, wanting to come out on top? they want to do well, but need a helping hand? Just under the title reads: in small font 'includes the hit single - the man who can't be moved'. Theymay have decided to include this on the front cover because that song has already done well, and is now well-known and popular? and so people will want to buy the whole album? Underneath this reads: 'insert this CD into your computer and discover exclusive and video content'. They might have chosen to feature this on the front cover as it is a unique selling point - if you buy the CD you are also getting extras.

Inside cover/back of booklet: On the inside cover/back of booklet is an image if the band - medium show of them sitting on what appears to be a roof top - again, this could also be used to represent where the band are from. The main singer is sitting in the middle of the other two band members but he is not completely centered within the frame - this tells us who the ma

in band member is. None of them are looking into the camera but all look as if they are in their 'own little world'. This gives the impression that they were trying to achieve a natural, non posed shot. They may also have wanted to portray through the image that they are just regular me

n, who lots of people are able to relate to? CD:

The CD is very plain and simple - the

back ground is black and the top half

contain

s the band's name in a large white font. The company/bands institutional information is placed in a curve around the edge, following t

he shape of the disc.

Back cover: The back cover contains the bands name (as before) in the top half of the frame. Underneath, in smaller lettering is the track list, plus bonus track. The bottom section contains the band and company's institutional information and company logos, and the barcode.

____________________________________________________________________________

Paramore cd/dvd analysis

The front cover of this cd/dvd con

tains black and white images of each individual member. They have each been photographed in action -

playing their own instrumen

ts. This may have been done to show the audience the different roles within the band, e.g. singer, guitarist.. The bands name is placed in the top section of the front cover and has the largest font, it is the only object in colour on the front cover and so we know that this piece of information/title is supposed to stand out against everything else. The colour of the bands name is red which could represent anger and viloence - this is a stereotype

of a rock band? The colour red can also represent love and romance, which could represent the 'pop' side of the band. The album name is placed under the images of the band at the bottom, and is a smaller font size - it is of less importance. The bands name is as before, and placed on the spine of the album. Their name is the most important thing - their audience will instantly be able to recognise the band by their name. The back cover includes the bands name again - as before, in the top section of the back cover - placed at the top because it is the most important. Below the bands name is a balck and white image of all four band members, except the female member is shown in colour. This shows her importance within in the band, and that she has the 'lead role'. She is the dominant character of the group - this breaks the rules of the stereotype that men are the more dominant person. They are going against this stereotype and portraying the only female within the ban

d of four, to be the one with the power. The band members body language portrays the band as being quite 'tough'. This supports the stereotope of the 'rocker' image. They are sitting on stairs in an urban/built up area - this could represent where they came from? -They are just like everyone else. The track list is shown below this image in red - to link to the bands name and theme.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Digipak draft mock-up

Back and front cover

Front cover:

Vintage Rocks' logo features in the centre of the frame in large white font against a brick wall - this is to enhance the most important feature on the front cover. Having the logo so big in the centre immediatly tells people that this is the bands name/logo. This may also mean that the bands logo will become well known, so their target audience will recognise them just from this. There is a poster/ad stuck to the wall which contains information about the album, including bonus features - I have chosen to include this on the front cover to draw the audience in, as one of the main features of ourdigipak is that if you purcahse it you will also gain extras. Underneath the logo is the bands institutional information. This is shown in smaller font so that the main focus is still on the most important information which we will use to draw the audience in. The image of the band is a kind of 'street style' and 'ord

inary', and i have reflected this within the front cover by making the bands logo, information and features of the digipak all feature on a brick wall. This also links to some of the bands promotional photos, as we shot some of our photos against a brick wall.

Back cover:

The back cover lists all the features of the digipak including all of the features the audience can recieve if they purchase the item. I have split the back cover into three individual sections to make the information it consists easier and clearer to read. Doing this has also split the information fairly so as it doesn't look to be too much information at one point:- the left-hand section contains information about the CD -e.g. the track list. Beside this the right-hand section contains information about the DVD and the bottom part contains the 'bonus features list'.

Inside cover and disc

Inside cover: The back cover of the booklet consists of a plain black background, and a microphone + stand with a spotlight- this image represents a performance which links to the band and the features included with the digipak. The bands logo is repeated again as before so to connect the band to the image. The silohuette of the microphone is standing over the bands logo -this is to represent the main singer (Amie) of whom the band revolves around - she is the band member whom of which has the most power, and so she towers over the bands logo.

Disc: The disc is just plain black and features the bands logo in white as before. The track list is shown around the rim of the CD, and the bands institutional information is shown under the logo. The logo is the boldest feature with on the disc, so to show the most important piece iof information stand out. Each of the colours on the digipak link to the genre of the band: pop/rock. The black and grey represent the rock image of the band, whereas,

red and white links to pop genre. From looking at 'Paramore's overall image, i have discovered that they repeat the same colours through their clothing and murchandise, and this is what I have chosen to do through out the digipak design.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Textual analysis of magazine advertisement in our genre - 'The Young Veins'

I came across 'The Young Veins' advertisement within 'Rock Sound' magazine. Although I had never heard of the band, there were certain aspects of the ad, along with the bands im

age/style which portrayed that of a pop/rock band. I chose to search the band a discovered that they are in fact classed under the pop/rock genre as well as indie/rock.

This ad is split into five sections - this could represent the five members of the band and state that they are each individuals yet they all make up one thing - the band.

At the top of the page is a banner holding the bands name, which appears in large white font - this sells us, as well as shows us that this is an important piece of information. The background of the banner is blue, which could represent the pop side of the band.

Underneath the bands name there are two promotional images of the band. The left photograph is a long shot of the members standing upon a grassy hill-side. The clothing they are wearing seems to be identical - black trousers and a cream mac/coat. The institut

ion may have purposely done this to show that each person is an equal member of the group. They may have also done this to be different to other bands, as others always tend to have one main member of whom the band evolved around, therefore they are breaking this typical convention. Although it appears that this is the type of message they are trying to put across, in each of the images there is one band member who is always stood slightly closer to the camera and this could imply that he is in fact the main member.

The location of this shot is outside in a country-side setting. This could represent where the band are from - they are not from the city and therefore do not portray the image of a typical 'city style' or 'street style' band, but that of 'out-doorsy'/'country lads' - normal? no glamour?

Beside this shot, there is a mid shot of the band standing beside a seascape. Again, this could represent where the band are from - the coast?

The clothing the members are wearing seem to link to their surroundings:- the member in the dark t-shirt in the same colour as the rocks in the background, this member is also standing closest to the camera which shows how he is the main band member - the rock could be an iconic symbol, implying that he is the 'rock' of the band? The white shirts could represent the surf of the waves, whilst the fifth member is wearing a red and white striped, nautical style t-shirt - which is associated with being at sea (sailor).

Two of the band members are holding cameras. Although i previously thought that the location may have been used to show where the band are from, the cameras could be imply that they are tourists, therefore not from the coast?

Below the two promotional images is the albums name 'Take a Vacation' - this title links to the landscapes as well as the props within the two images - the band are sight-seeing? In the first image one member is holding a suitcase, which also implies that they are on 'vacation'. All of this supports the fact that the band are not from the country or coastal regions, but outsiders from the city.

The album name is underlined by a waved line, i feel as though this has been purposely done to represent the sea.

Below this is the basic but most important information about the album. The words 'album out now' is in orange font - linking it to the album's title which features an orange background. Underneath this it states that it includes two international bonus tracks. This may have been used as a unique selling point as albums usually have only a single bonus track.

___________________________________________________________

Magazine advertisement mock up

As you can see from my original mock-up of my magazine cover, i have changed and modified certain aspects which i felt did not work well. I have chosen a brick wall background to support our group's choice to produce a 'street style' band - and to support the 'rock' conventions of the band, which associates this genre with darkness. I chose to place brief information about the products contents, as well as the fact that our band's tour dates will be released shortly - this creates synergy, as we are selling a product whilst also promoting information about the band's up and coming tour. I placed this information in a poster-like box on the left hand side as i felt that that by placing it there, and the promotional images on the right, linked the band to their name - which was also placed on the right. I have made all of the promotional images slightly touch each other. Doing so symbolises that they are all connected, and all form the band. Amie's own image touches the 'VR' title at the bottom - representing that she is a main part of Vintage Rocks. I chose to place the band's name vertically down the right hand side - breaking typical pop/rock conventions as our group had not come across another band within this genre who has done so. I have placed five star icons at the very top of the ad, quoting that a world famous music channel has given our band the 'thumbs up' - by a massive instituation recommending our band and giving positive feedback people WILL listen to them, therefore it will hopefully gain us a larger audience and enhance our sales.

The colour scheme of my magazine advertisement consists of black, white, grey and yellow - the three duller colours relate to rock, which represented as being very dark, whereas, the yellow represents pop aspects of the band - which associates it with colour and flashiness - stereotypical of pop genre. Within the yellow box at the bottom of the page, I have placed the it's release date, as well as logos which iconically represent the world's most known social networking sites - this lets the audience know that they will be able to find this band's online profiles, where they are able to socially interact, find information, and get access to extra content. By placing these logos on the advertisement, it will help to create a larger fan base for our band. In the bottom right hand corner, i have also included a 'Blackberry' scanning icon - the demand for Blackberries is ever growing, meaning that more and more of our audience will own one. This icon allows people who own a Blackberry to 'scan' the barcode type icon, and access extras, thus creating a unique selling point.