Evaluation

Question 1:

Embedded below is the answer to question 1 of the evaluation, answered by Faye Curry.

Little Mix conventions on Dipity.

Question 2:

Embedded below is the answer to question 2, answered by Kala Hill using Prezi.

Question 3:

Embedded below is the answer to question 3, of which I answered using Prezi.

 

Question 4:

Embedded below is the answer to question 4, answered by Kala Hill using TimeToast.

 

Final Music Video, Digipak and Magazine Advert For Digipak Upload.

Final Music Video:

Directed by Faye Curry, produced by Kala Hill and edited by Georgia Pearce.

Final Digipak:

Created by Georgia Pearce and Kala Hill.

Embedded above is an image of the digipak. We used research of other pop artists digipak's to help create our own for Little mix. We used the typical conventions such as the artist name, the album title, the song list, pictures of the artist and bright colours. The bright colours and fun pictures represent the typical conventions you would expect to see from Little Mix. The font that we chose to use for the Artist name is girly and cursive. This connotes that it is a girl band who are feminine and aiming for a girly, teenage audience. The name is also a large size and therefore shows the importance of the artist. For the name of the single, we used a basic capitalized font and it is rather small and placed under the artist name, this is because it is not as important, however it is still on the front page as it is important for the customer and audience to know the name of the single. For the song list we decided to use a the same font as the single title. This was because we knew the font would appropriate for the track listing and links the two covers together. We carefully thought out all aspects of the digipak to ensure we created the most appealing digipak for our audience.

Final Magazine Advert For Digipak:

Created by Faye Curry and Kala Hill.

 

We then created a magazine advert advertising our digipak, to create this we researched into existing magazine adverts for pop artists promoting their digipaks. The key purpose of this advert is to promote the release of our digipak, So we used a recognisable image from the digipak and a small image in the corner of the front cover of our digipak. The reasoning behind us choosing the back cover image as the main one for this advert is because it was the brightest and would therefore make the advert stand out the most., displaying the artist the best. For the typography we used the same black font on the digipak over a light pink background, as this is bright and girly,  making the writing stand out. We ensured that we included all the main aspects such as the artist name, single name and release details as we believed that this is the information that the consumer would need to know to purchase the single.

Design Process.

Before going ahead and creating our magazine advert and digipak we went  through a design process in which Faye experimented with different designs for our magazine advert. Faye firstly looked at Little mix's previous albums and adverts to see the types of colours and fonts they commonly used. From this research we will then decide on what we will use to create our own. Faye's research is embedded below:

 

Above you can see that I experimented with many different fonts which I believed followed Little mix's typical typology. We decided on using the fifth text down as we believe that it portrays Little Mix's girly side and highlights that this is a female dominated band. We wanted to keep true to their style and origins.

Above we decided on the image we would like to use of our magazine advert , I then went on to experiment with edit this image multiple times on Photoshop. I experimented with different colours and layouts , we decided as a group the use of the gradient would be more beneficial and professional. The last image embedded on here if the one we have chosen to use for our final advert.

Sketch Of Magazine Advert Design.

Embedded below is the sketch design of the magazine advert, created by Kala Hill:
When we looked at the sketch compared to our research, we then concluded that we needed a less separated image like the one below and use a group photo, as this we felt would represent the artist a lot more, and convey them more as a unit. We also felt that we needed more girly colours rather than blue and black, as it didn't adhere correctly to the original pop girl band conventions we have previously studied. Also, we discovered that in order to make it more professional, we needed details of download/purchase dates and companies, such as iTunes.

Comparison Of Digipak Promotional Adverts.

After the research for the digipak's of the pop genre was completed, we then needed research into the promotion of digipak's and the features they entail. Group member Kala completed this research into the advertisements of digipak's, embedded below.

I have looked at some magazine adverts of pop artists promoting their albums and digipak's to help inspire me to create our own one for our music video.

First of all i looked at Rihanna's magazine advert for her new album.

 On this magazine advert, we are presented with;

The Artists name

The album name

Pictures of the artist

A picture of the album

Particular songs found on album

A different but similar picture to the digipak image

Bright bold colours

Typical aspects that represent that artist

The date of release 

I then looked at Katy Perry's magazine advert for her new album.

On this magazine advert, we are presented with;

The artist name 

The album name

Pictures of the artist

A picture of the album

Particular songs found on album

A different but similar picture to the digipak image

Aspects that we expect to see of this artist

Bright vibrant colours

The release date

From these two digipak adverts I can clearly see what the main aspects of a pop music digipak would be, this is going to help me create the perfect advert for our digipak by including these common aspects.

Sketches For Digipak Design.

Embedded below is the sketch design created by Kala Hill:

When we looked at the sketch compared to our research, we concluded that we needed something in the disk panel to represent the artist a lot more, and convey them more as a unit, which resulted in us choosing the signatures in the final design. Also, we discovered that in order to make it more professional, we needed details of track numbers, a barcode and companies, such as the record label Little Mix are signed to, being Syco Music and Sony Music.

Analysis Of Digipak's Created By Different Artists.

Before we create our digipak for our artist, research into different types of digipaks was needed. Group member Kala conducted research of digipak's created by artists of the Pop genre, as this is what we aim for when creating our Little Mix digipak. The research Kala completed is embedded below:

We each individualy analysed various digipak cover to help us start our progress to me creating our digipak.

Me and Georgia looked at Rihanna's "LOUD" digipak cover and analysed the aspects used though out it.

The typical conventions of album digipaks are to have an image of the artist, another convention would be to have the name of the artist and the album presented on the front, For example Rihanna's LOUD digipak has a close up of her face pulling a seductive facial expression, on the front panel with her name and the album name written at the top and bottom of the image. Another prominent convention is that the artists are displayed on the inside and outside, forming a 6 panel digipak in this case, you can create 4 panel digipaks as well. This digipak includes pockets for the CD's and a booklet which include lyrics from tracks on the album.
  The images of Rihanna in her digipak are very sexualised, this is appropriate for her album as it represents her genre of music. The provocative nature is also what will attract her target audience of teenage boys and girls. The photographs used are also clearly edited using photoshop, things such as her skin being perfectly airbrushed and flawless, this is a typical convention for pop music artists as they need to achieve the "perfect" appearance. The colours have also been edited, the red is very bright and vibrant, this colour also insinuates passion, lust and a sexual atmosphere and this colour is a star motif of this artist.
  The typography on her album was carefully chosen the title of the album in capital letters which connotes with the name of the album being LOUD, the artist name is also in capital letter to emphasis the importance of her name, however the font is quiet delicate which prevents the text distracting the consumer from the imagery.

Faye researched into another Rihanna digipak called "Talk that talk" this enables me to compare the two different digipak's from the same pop artist and pick out the most common conventional aspects of a successful digipak cover.

Initially the first typical conventions on this digipak was the use of pictures of Rihanna. It is a typical 6 panel digipak, which had a variety of imagery of the artist Rihanna, secondly having the title of the album placed on the front is a very typical convention of a pop music digipak, along with including; the track list, production company and barcode.
  The imagery on this digipak is a very dominant aspect. These images have captured Rihanna's star motifs, she is typically seen in a provocative and sexual nature. This is apparent in these images as she is showing quiet a lot of skin and is sitting in a sexual manor e.g with her legs open. In addition to the sexuality of the images, having her mouth open in one of the images may be a reference to the title of the album "Talk that talk"
  A lot of the editing has been shown through the images. All of these have a black and white filter, and certain aspects of Rihanna has been brightened e.g her leg this draws the audiences attention to these area and appeals to the male gaze.

Behind The Scenes Video.

Embedded above is a recording of the preparation in assembling the green screen, of which we used in our music video.

Location And Costume Pictures.

Embedded below are the Polyvore collages of final costume ideas for our music video, each collage representing each member. Faye created Jade and Jesy's collages and I created Perrie and Leigh-Anne's collages.

Perrie Edwards:



For Perrie, we aimed for pastel colours and prints such as floral and spotty, to reflect her girly persona and closely adhere to the common outfits Perrie would normally wear. She wears a lot of floral print and so we aim to have her in florals. For the bedroom scene, Perrie will wear a light green/blue skater skirt and a black crop top. In the party scene, she will wear a collared playsuit and black and blue converse, and in the green screen scene she will wear pink jeans with a floral top and converse.

Leigh-Anne Pinnock:

Leigh-Anne normally wears a lot of aztec print and bright colours, and so we want the actress who portrays Leigh-Anne to be as close to the style of Leigh-Anne as possible. For the bedroom scene we went for a pale blue top with short black shorts, a casual outfit for her, and for the party scene and green screen scenes we will have her in aztec print tops and dresses and converse of bright colours.

Below is the collages completed by Faye:

Jade Thirlwall 

Through prior research we are aware of Jade's certain style and clothing choices. She wears a lot of dresses and has a very cute style. We incorporated this through having her wear two dresses and then wearing a skirt. To keep to her style motif we included a lot of accessories and colours whenever we can. The outfit on the far left will be worn at the party , the one in the middle will be used during the individual green screen and lastly the one on the right will be worn during the bedroom.

Jesy Nelson 

Our costume choices for jesy is very dark and includes a lot of red and tartan. This is very typical of jesy as shown in a previous post, she also tends to be more covered up compared to the other members of little mix. Due to this we had her wear quite a lot of trousers and big shirts. The one the left will be worn at the party , the one in the middle will be worn on the individual green screen then finally the one of the right will be worn in the bedroom scene.

Below is a video from Animoto created by Faye displaying the location images and final costume images from the group dance scene and digipak shoot.

Little Mix location and Costume images

Health And Safety Risk Assessment.

Before we film our music video, we need to create a health and safety risk assessment, to acknowledge all potential dangers that may occur in the process of creating our video. Group member Faye created the assessment, embedded below.

HAZARD	RISK	WHO IS AT RISK	CONTROL MEASURES	COMMENTS /ACTIONS	RISK RATING 1 HIGH 2 MEDIUM 3 LOW	TICK IF ALL IN PLACE
Lights	Very bright Get very hot Wires	Actors	·       Try not to look at the lights to avoid any damage to the eyes ·       Take breaks and drink water due to heat ·       Be carful where you are walking		3	ü
Green screen	May trip on the fabric	Actors	·    Move carefully when using the green screen to avoid tripping on the fabric		3	ü
Asthma	Group member having asthma	Actor	·    Make sure they carry their inhaler with them at all times during filming.		2	ü

Filming Schedule.

In the process of creating our music video, team member Faye created a filming schedule, to determine where we will film our shots, who will be in each shot, how long each shot will take to film and what props we will need to complete this section of filming. The schedule is embedded below.

Shot Number	Description	Characters/Actors	Location	Time to film	Props and Kit
1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 14, 18, 22, 24, 28, 30, 32, 37, 41, 46, 49, 51, 59, 67, 76, 77, 78, 79, 83, 85, 88, 90, 91, 93, 94	Individual green screens	Kala/Leigh-anne Georgia/ Perrie Chloe/ Jesy Ishpreet/ jade	School location – Oracy	1 hr	Camera Tripod Green screen Lights
8, 10,12, 15, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 31, 33, 35	Bedroom scene	Kala/Leigh-anne Georgia/ Perrie Chloe/ Jesy Ishpreet/ jade	House scene- Bedroom	1 ½ hrs	Camera Tripod
6, 9, 13, 16, 21, 23, 29, 31, 34, 45, 47, 52, 55, 57, 60, 65, 75, 80, 82, 86, 89, 92, 96	Group room	Kala/Leigh-anne Georgia/ Perrie Chloe/ Jesy Ishpreet/ Jade	School location – Oracy	1 hr	Camera Tripod Lights
7, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 48, 50, 53, 54, 56, 58, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 81, 84, 87, 95	Party scene	Kala/Leigh-anne Georgia/ Perrie Chloe/ Jesy Ishpreet/ Jade 10 extras	House scene- Living room	1 hr	Camera Tripod

Shot List.

Embedded below is the shot list for our music video:

Storyboard.

Embedded below is the images of the storyboard Faye and I created, uploaded to Imgur.

Additional Research.

We decided as a group to research into our choosen artist which is Little Mix. Within this we have created an Artist biography , genre research and will then links to theories such as the male gaze. The biography I completed is embedded below, sourced from Wikipedia:

Artist Biography 

Little Mix are a British four member girl band formed in 2011, members including Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall.

They were put together on the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011 after originally auditioning as solo artists, becoming the first ever group to win the competition. 

After the show, they signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records and releasing their winners single, a cover of Damien Rice's "Cannonball".

Their debut album DNA was released on 19 November 2012, and their second album, Salute, was released on 11 November 2013 in the UK and was released on 4 February 2014 in the US. As of October 2013, Little Mix have sold over 4 million singles and over 2.5 million albums worldwide.
Perrie Edwards:

Born 10 July 1993 (age 20), Perrie was born and raised in South Shields, Tyne and Wear to parents Alexander Edwards and Deborah Duffy, with an older brother named Jonnie. Her first audition was "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette. She has been engaged to One Direction member Zayn Malik since August 2013.

Perrie's First Audition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYCpNTsiokg&list=PL493AEEC6EE4D2249






Leigh-Anne Pinnock:

Leigh-Anne was born 4 October 1991 (age 22), and was raised in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire along with her two sisters, Sarah and Sian-Louise. She is of Barbadian/Jamaican ancestry. Before joining Little Mix, she worked as a waitress in Pizza Hut. Her first audition was "Only Girl (in the World)" by Rihanna. She's currently in a relationship with Jordan Kiffin.

Leigh-Anne's First Audition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmqXUTyCDfs

Jade Thirlwall:

Jade Thirlwall was born 26 December 1992 (age 21), and raised in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. She previously auditioned for The X Factor during series 5 (2008) and series 7 (2010). Her first audition song in 2011 was "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles. Her musical influences are Diana Ross and Cheryl Cole. She's currently in a relationship with Diversity's Sam Craske.

Jade's First Audition (2011):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5Kf_A0Pmws

Jesy Nelson:

Jesy was born 14 June 1991 (age 22), and raised in Romford, London to parents John Nelson and Janice White. She has an older sister Jade and two brothers, Joseph and Jonathan. Her first audition was "Bust Your Windows" by Jazmine Sullivan. Since joining Little Mix, she has faced cyber-bullying and struggled to cope during her time on The X Factor. Prior to the show, Jesy worked as a barmaid. She's currently in a relationship with Diversity's Jordan Banjo.

Jesy's First Audition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuJip8PbTzQ

Kala Hill conducted research into the Pop genre, embedded below:

The general conventions
Pop music videos are all about the artist selling their music to their audience. Typical eliminates in a pop music video include; Lots of bright colours, dancing, make-up, vibrant outfits and props. Many artists in this industry such as Rihanna and Beyonce are sex symbols as well as a product to help promote their music to the public.
Mise-en-scene typically consists of Bright colours, lots of make-up and fashion accessories.
Editing typically consists of Tints and filters to enhance colours and photoshopped artists so they look perfect.
Camera work typically consists of Many close-ups of artist faces and long shots of dancing and partying.

Narrative
In pop music videos a narrative is not the most common theme they usually go with a performance based theme as this attracts the audience, however if a narrative is used in a pop music video then it is usually based upon parties or relationships/breakups. Such as Little Mix "DNA" the narrative behind that is all these girls obsesing over a guy, this is typical for pop music videos.

Performance
Pop music videos are almost completely focused on the artist and no one else. If there is a dance routine in the music video then then the artists will always be the main front dancers, or if they have a narrative then the artists will play the main charecters. Pop artists always perform in a sexual manner or a cute way to attract the biggest audience base they can.

Group member Faye Curry then completed the research task into how women are represented into the media e.g. the male gaze, embedded below:

Laura Mulvey - "In cinema pleasure is related to issues of sexual difference and sexual politics". -'Film studies: The essential resource - Peter Bennett, Andrew Hickman and Peter Wall'

The media is mediated by the ways in which male characters look at female characters. A female is identified as an object of desire, she is defined as a passive sexual spectacle. Cinema centres ideas around pleasuring a male heterosexual desire and defines the female as the passive object of male desire.

The term voyeurism refers to a distortion in which a person receives sexual gratification from seeing the genitalia of other or witnessing others sexual behaviour. Linking this to Mulvey's ideas as men gain pleasure by looking at women's bodies.