Magazine Advert Image Choices

Our initial idea for our magazine advert was to present the idea of duality, representing the two contrasting sides of our music video's protagonist - reckless yet sophisticated. This led to our first image choice:

Choice #1

We chose a close up shot of our artist to emphasise the idea of the 'star image', this also links to the front cover of our Digipak which is also a close-up shot. We experimented with the ideas of duality and a 'hidden identity' by editing the shot on Adobe Photoshop, overlaying a shot of graffiti from our Brick Lane location. We then erased most of the graffiti shot, just leaving a small section on the artist's face. We wanted to enhance the contrast between these two layered shots so we made the image of the artist black and white and left the graffiti in colour, this juxtaposition was to show the two sides of the protagonist. We also used a similar colour palette to our Digipak which also contained black and white images with one coloured section (the CD). We decided not to continue with this image as we felt that it was too similar to our Digipak, this would make the advert less unique and exciting for our audience, leading to less popularity.

Choice #2

After abandoning the first image, we found two interesting shots from our Brick Lane location, overlaying the two on Photoshop and changing the opacity to create a 'ghostly' figure on the left. This continued our idea of showing two sides of our protagonist. The 'ghost' figure also alludes to the protagonist's deteriorating mental state. We liked the bold colour palette of these shots as this would make the magazine advert more eye-catching. After looking at existing adverts, it became clear that the majority are portrait, this meant that our image was not suitable as it was landscape.

Choice #3 (chosen)

We finally decided to use this shot as it contained the bright colour palette that we liked from our previous image choice and could also be cropped easily to make it portrait. We found that this image was the most suitable as it represents the main theme of our music video - escapism, due to the artist being pictured walking away from the camera. We felt that the perspective of the shot, as the viewer looks down into the alleyway, makes the image more enticing as the audience is 'drawn in', this would make our advert more eye-catching and, therefore, more successful.

Font Ideas - Digipak Back Cover

Today the group researched further into fonts for our Digipak, specifically for the track listing on the back cover. We used the website 'Da Font' to download different fonts as there was a large variety of different styles. We wanted a font that was unique to reflect our indie music video, however, we also need a practical, legible font as we needed our audience to be able to read the important information on our Digipak. We narrowed it down to the 6 fonts shown below-left, we tested each of them by typing out the name of one of our songs, 'Cerebellum', so that we could visualise what the Digipak would look like more easily.

We chose to use the font that is second from the bottom. We liked the slimline lettering as this was reminiscent of a fashion magazine, this would appeal to our younger, image-orientated audience.

Digipak Image Choices

We looked through our footage in order to find suitable still shots that we could use for our Digipak. We chose to use shots from our music video instead of taking new photographs as we wanted to create an obvious visual link across the two products, this would help to create a stronger brand and 'star image'. Below are the images that we chose:

Front Cover:

  

We Wanted to include the artist on the front cover to heighten the 'star image', we wanted the artist's image to be the audience's first impression of the Digipak. As we wanted the artist to be the focus we wanted to find a shot with a simple background, ruling out our bold Brick Lane location. We chose these two shots as they are close-ups, emphasising the artist. Ultimately, we chose the image on the left as the image on the right seemed too bland with just a plain black background. Our chosen image is more exciting due to a wider range of tones and textures, such as the brick wall on the right or the artist's denim jacket.

Back Cover:

   

For the back cover we chose two contrasting shots. By looking at existing products we noticed that Digipaks from the indie genre usually contain landscape shots, such as our river shot on the left, or images of the artist, like our shot on the right. We decided that the river shot would be better suited for the inside cover as we could stretch it across two panels to create a panoramic view, emphasising the scenic nature of the shot. We also thought that having a shot of the artist on the back cover would fit with the shot on the front cover, having the artist appear on both the front and back covers would create a stronger 'star image'.

Inside:

   

After deciding that the river shot would be suitable to use for the inside panels of the Digipak, we found a second shot of the opposite side of the river. We hope that when we put these two picture together, they will look as though they are one panoramic shot. We liked these shots as we wanted quite a simple image on the inside as we had planned to have a bold, colourful CD. We needed simple shots to allow the CD to remain the focus.

CD:

  

As we wanted a colourful CD we thought that our Brick Lane location would offer the bright colour palette that we were looking for. We found the graffiti shot shown on the left. However, we decided to use the ornate pattern, shown on the right, that we found in Camden. We chose it as the grandeur of its design perfectly contrasts the grungy style of our music video and other Digipak images. The circular pattern is also well suited to a CD.

Font Ideas - Digipak

I decided to research font styles that we could use for our Digipak, specifically, for our band name or album name. I used Google to find interesting styles as well as a great website that I found that has many different fonts available for free download. Below are some of the styles that I particularly liked:

Font 1 - Haus:

I like the crisp quality of this font, the thin lines look sleek, sophisticated and professional whilst certain letters, 'A' for example, have been altered and are slightly more geometric, I like the interesting triangular shape and feel that if used on our Digipak, would make our name 'NOVA' look more unique.

Font 2:

 

I like the simple cut-out shapes used to form the letters of this font. I think that the thick, bold lettering would help to make our name stand out. I turned the font black and white as I think that it looks less childish and more sophisticated, in keeping with our artist's image. I think that the black and white font would also fit with our Digipak's monochrome colour palette.

Fonts 3-6:

I like these 'chalkboard' inspired fonts as I think the hand-drawn aspect would make our Digipak look more unique and personal. Out of the four, my favourite is 'Return to Sender', I like its simple look compared to the stylised, almost hard to read 'Chalk Hand Lettering'. I also like the horizontal lines within the letters that help to balance the vertical look created by the tall, thin letters.

Font 7 - Nova Solid:

I think that this font, coincidentally titled 'Nova Solid', would work well for our band name 'NOVA'. The boldness would help our name stand out as well as make it legible against the black and white image on the front cover. I like the angular lines as I feel that this signifies ideas of strength and power whilst still looking 'cool' and urban, hopefully appealing to our target audience.

Font 8 - Acne:

I like the thin, sleek look of this font as it seems fashion magazine-inspired, this would appeal to our target audience of teenagers and young adults, as this demographic, according to Young and Rubicam's idea of psychographics, is orientated to image, appearance and fashion.

Initial Digipak Ideas

Today we started to plan our Digipak. Our general idea so far is to have black and white front/back covers and black and white inside panels with a bright, colourful disc. We thought that this would be perfect in representing the different locations used in our music video - the dark, grungy look of Camden compared to the bold, graffiti covered Brick Lane location. We also thought that a colourful disc would create an interesting juxtaposition due to the fact that our album is titled 'Noir', meaning 'black', further perpetuating the confusion that is portrayed in our music video. Our idea of a contrasting disc colour was inspired by the Digipak for Lana Del Ray's 'Ultraviolence'.

Our initial brainstorm

Shot Idea - Spiral Staircase and Possible Locations

On our storyboard we included a shot of our character, played by me, running down a spiral staircase. When thinking of how to frame this shot, I drew inspiration from 'When the Sun Goes Down' by the Arctic Monkeys, which also has a shot of a spiral staircase. I think that the extreme low angle, achieved by placing the camera directly under the staircase, looking up, has really captured the beauty and intricacy of the staircase's structure. A confusing, disorientated atmosphere has been created as the shot appears as though it could be looking upwards or downwards, I think that this would work well within our music video as we want our shots to emulate the character's feelings of being lost and trying to escape. The spiral structure also fits in with our idea of having repeated circular shapes throughout our video, for example, round sunglasses and a birds-eye view of a round maze. I feel that this will help to enforce the theme of 'hypnotism', linking in with the lyric 'hypnotic taking over me'. I like the gritty look of these stairs, I think that this would be in keeping with our other filming locations. I think that, unlike the Arctic Monkeys' video, our shot should be from above, looking down, as this would make the character appear more vulnerable, emphasising her lost mindset.

When the Sun Goes Down

We have thought about various possible locations that we could film this shot in:

Covent Garden Tube Station:

We liked the idea of filming at Convent Garden tube station as it is an easily accessible location and we liked the tight, narrow look of the stairs as we feel that this adds an element of claustrophobia that further adds to the idea of trying to escape, however after looking at the location, it appears to be quite difficult to obtain a birds-eye shot like the one we have envisioned.

Oval Tube Station:

We were attracted to this location as, not only is it easily accessible, but we will also  be capable of filming from above. The spiral shape can easily be seen, so is ideal in evoking a 'hypnotic' feel. I think that the yellow paint on the steps is quite distracting and doesn't fit with our desired colour palette, it is too bright.

Premier Inn - Blackfriars:

We liked the round shape of the stairs, however, we feel that the staircase is too bland and 'clean', we wanted a grittier location that would be in keeping with our other locations - Camden and Brick Lane, both of which have very vibrant atmospheres. As these stairs are within a hotel, it would also be difficult to get filming permission.

Queen's House - Greenwich:

This is one of the most famous and most photographed spiral staircases in London, we were drawn to its beauty. However, we felt that it was too 'pretty' with not enough grit to match our other locations. We would also be unable to film here as the house is currently closed for renovations.

Henrietta Place Car Park - Marylebone (CHOSEN LOCATION):

This staircase is located in a public car park just a short walk from Oxford Circus tube station, making it easily accessible. We liked the grittiness of these stairs as they are not particularly well kept, I think that this helps to symbolise the character's deteriorating personality. Even though these stairs are not circular like other ones that we have looked at, I think that the geometric, harsh angles work in our favour, adding an edgier feel.

Generating Ideas - Band Name and Track List

Today we started to think about what our band name could be, as well as possible ideas for our track list. We used a word generator to provide us with starting points on which to build our ideas, I feel that this was a very useful tool to use as we found it quite difficult to think of interesting words ourselves. We were looking for particularly striking words as we want our band name to be unique. We took note of words that we liked which also sparked our imaginations and allowed us to think more creatively, we began to combine different words to create song titles. I feel that we have plenty of interesting words that could be used for song titles, however, we haven't decided on a band name yet.

Word generator

We also had to think about what we could rename our chosen song, 'Hypnotic'. It proved to be quite difficult to think of an original name as 'hypnotic' is such a prominent phrase in the song and an ideal title. A word that stood out to us when using the word generator was 'evection', which means irregularity in the moon's motion caused by perturbations of the sun and planets, perturbations meaning deviation of a system from its regular or normal state caused by an outside influence. We thought that this was quite fitting as the character in our music video is 'deviating' from her regular life, her overwhelming love causing 'irregular' behaviour as she tries to escape. We also liked the idea of having an oxymoron within the title, for example, 'Blanc Noir', meaning 'white black' in French. I feel that this represents the character's inner conflicts, her mediocre life and her desire to escape, her calm side and crazed side. I feel that this juxtaposition helps to create confusion, emphasising this theme within our music video.



Words obtained from the word generator

Brainstorming ideas

Finished Storyboard

We finally finished storyboarding today. We continued our process of listening to our song and drawing shots that we wanted to occur at different points. As our music video contains quite a lot of locations, for example, Camden, Brick Lane, studio shots, a spiral staircase and a maze, we needed a way to tie all of this together, instead of the locations appearing randomly and not contributing to an overall story or idea. Towards the end of the song the pace increases as the song becomes more dramatic, we want to increase the pace of our shots to match this, flashing quickly to all of the previous locations in order to bring the video 'full circle'.

We also decided to change the plot twist of our narrative, instead of revealing the character to be a professional, smartly dressed office worker at the end of the video, we wanted to imply this more subtly. Still following the same idea of her lost, reckless and unhinged personality that is seen throughout the video being juxtaposed with her 'real', calm and composed self, we wanted the final few shots to suddenly slow in pace as the song fades out, with the final shot being the character emerging from the maze looking more composed than her previous crazed self. We want this shot to continue as the song finishes, with the diegetic sounds of birdsong and wildlife fading in. We hope that this will help to contrast her two personalities, as well as the previous gritty, urban locations.

Upon finishing our storyboard and reorganising the Post-it notes into an order that fitted the song, we drew each shot up neatly on the official  A3 storyboard, taking note of timings, camera movements, sound and angles. These specific details will help us get the exact shots that we envision whilst filming, making the filming process easier and faster as we will have clear direction.

                     

                      

Below is our finished storyboard:

Location Idea - Capel Manor Maze

As a group we decided that we like the idea of filming in a maze, I feel that this would be a great location as it is very symbolic of our character's disorientated mental state and her desire to escape. I think that a bird's-eye shot of the maze would look very effective and would help to present ideas of hypnotism through its circular shape and repetitive, winding paths. We also wanted to include a more rural, natural location to contrast the urban locations that we hope to film in, such as Brick Lane and Camden.

We had the idea for our final shot to be our protagonist emerging from the maze in more sophisticated clothing, juxtaposing her previous outfits, this reveal would be symbolic of her finally escaping and feeling free, her clear-mindedness being shown through her costume as she abandons her former, reckless self. Below are photographs of the Capel Manor Maze, a nearby location that would be easily accessible:

 

Choosing Our Protagonist

Following our lip synching practise we needed to decide which member of the group would star in our music video. Before making this decision, we asked our peers their opinions, taking this into account we decided that I would be in the video. The majority of those asked said that I was well suited to the song and could lip synch realistically, an opinion that our group agreed with. Now that our protagonist has been chosen, we will be able to start making key decisions, for example, costume and make-up choices, this will allow us to begin filming soon.

A still shot of me lip synching from our practise video

Costume Ideas

As we were storyboarding our music video, we started to think about what costumes could be worn in the different locations. We have decided to use quite urban locations, for example, Camden. We want to use fashionable costumes, specifically from the 'grunge' trend as this would help to reflect the reckless behaviour of the protagonist in our video.

I decided to research possible outfits on social media sites 'Instagram' and 'Pinterest' as these usually offer good quality images and creative ideas. I looked into the 'grunge' trend to see what clothing would work within our music video. I noticed some key trends that would be easy for us to incorporate, such as ripped jeans, over-sized denim jackets and a dark colour palette. Below are screenshots of my research from the two sites:

We also had a specific idea for our costume for our proposed Brick Lane location. Due to the vibrant graffiti that we hope to capture, we need an outfit that will make the performer stand out. We thought that the best option would be a white outfit. We got inspiration from two of our lyrics, 'wearing you vintage t-shirt' and 'white threads of my laces'. We thought that we could create a link between these lyrics to our visuals, in this case, costumes, making our music video conform to Goodwin's music video theory. Below is a compilation of images that I found that we could use for inspiration when trying to find a suitable outfit. To adhere to the grunge theme, we could use an over-sized t-shirt dress and pair it with chunky black shoes.

Storyboarding

We started storyboarding our music video today, below is a vlog where I explain the process:

Last year, our storyboard wasn't particularly detailed, this made it harder for us to follow and we ended up changing various aspects as it wasn't planned out thoroughly. I think that this year we will need to spend more time storyboarding so that way we have a clear plan of what shots we need when we go out to shoot, this will make filming easier and less time consuming. As we are creating a music video, there will need to be a lot more camera movement to match the energetic atmosphere of the song, this is something that we hadn't thought about or storyboarded last year. Below are some photographs of the group storyboarding:

Pitch

Today we presented our pitch to the class, it was very useful for us to share our ideas and receive feedback from others. Below is the Prezi that we created as well as a recording of our pitch:

Battles - The Yabba

I found this music video, 'The Yabba' by Battles, on YouTube and really liked this particular shot. The high angle allows the circular shape to be seen, the spinning camera gives it a hypnotic feel. This idea would work well in our music video as we, too, want to achieve a hypnotic look through the inclusion of spiral shapes. I like the idea of having a similar shot of a maze or spiral staircase where the circular shape will be obvious. I think that if used with the staircase, it would look very effective if the camera is spinning in the opposite direction to the character's descent of the staircase as this would enhance the disorientating atmosphere and give the impression of a never ending staircase, reflecting the character's desperation to escape her mundane life.

Planning our Pitch

Today we started to plan our music video pitch that we will be presenting next Friday. We began generating ideas for the specific elements of our video, for example, locations, props and costume.

We want to elaborate on the idea of feeling trapped and escaping, linking to the lyric 'locked up till your'e moonlit'. We want the character to be presented as feeling trapped in her 'hypnotic' state, blurring the lines between reality and her dreams of love and freedom. We also thought of a possible new filming location, a river either in Forty Hall or Camden. We think that this could represent themes of reflection and the protagonist's distorted view of reality.

Our ideas are at a very early stage and need a lot of developing. We hope that by pitching to the class, we will gain important feedback to see where we can improve.

The group brainstorming ideas

Our pitch plan

Mood Board

Below is the mood board that I have created. This is something that I will be able to take inspiration from when generating ideas for our music video.

Mood board from Emily_Field

Initial Ideas

After finalising our song choice, we started to brainstorm ideas for the narrative of our music video. One lyric that jumped out at us was 'Make me feel like someone else', we want to show two different sides of the character in the video, her 'normal' side and the 'hypnotised' side. The lyric 'I don't wanna come back down' has connotations of being high, however, instead of drug use we are interpreting this as not wanting to return to reality from her 'hypnotised' state caused by her overwhelming emotions, we have the idea of presenting her as quite a reckless character. We though that, in order to shock the audience, her 'normal' side should be revealed at the end of the music video, showing the character to be a strong, professional woman, this would allow us to explore themes of feminism and what society thinks a woman should be.

We also started to think about location, we decided that we wanted to include urban areas to appeal to younger audiences as well as to create a busy, confusing atmosphere.