Music Video- Digipaks

I will be analysing 3 digipaks pack in order to gain an understand of specific codes and conventions of digipaks, I will be explaining these codes in more detailed in order to describe how they appeal to their targeted audience also reflect the image of the artist. This will help me understand digipaks a lot more better, this will give me ideas on what I would like to include on my digipak.
what is a Digipak?
A digipak is a CD which is for promotional purposes also for special edition purpose, this is a way of promoting an artist or artists. this used for Cd singles or special edition of CD albums,the first digipak I will be analysing is Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera digipak 'Greatest Hits' 

Christina Aguilera is an American, singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Staten Island New York, in this digipak the use of colours are pink and white the fact that she has used this for her digipak connotes that she is a girly girl or other words lady like. The use of the dominating colour of dark pink pink suggest that this digipak is targeted at woman age range of 15-20.
The other dominating colours such as white and black seem to stand out this could attract her targeted audience. In addition to this the left hand side of her blurb has the artist in the background, her blond hair style stand out showing that she is a very attractive young woman.

This artist is subverting the stereotype of dumb blond this is because of her facial expression is quite fierce suggesting that she is a very self assured woman. this artist is quite her eye and looks like she is looking at the camera this means that she is trying to get her audience attention this also conforms to  he male gaze this is because her eyes are very subtle but she is powting appealing to the male audience as she is a very attractive woman. On the digipak there is indidual pictures of the artisis this means she is a very confident artist as she has diffrent pictures of her self, this suggest to her artist that she is a woman who is proud of who she is, this sends a message to her fans that you you should be confident with the skin you are in.

Secondly I will analysis Rihanna digipak

Rihanna digipak 'Loud'

Robyn Rihanna Fenty, better known by her stage name Rihanna is a Barbadian singer, actress and fashion designer. She is an RnB singer. The main image we see is the artist Rihanna, her facial expression of her face looks passionate about her album and what she is doing her facial expression is her looking down suggesting that she is a very calm and relaxed character this could suggest tot ther audience that she is not intrested witht the things going on around here, her red hair suggests the passion she has for her music the fact that her hair colour is quite a dominating colour to dye your hair with suggesting that she is a leader meaning that she don't follow the crowd.

The target audience that this artist is trying to attract is woman this is because she uses a lot of red which is a passionate colour.
The name of the album is called loud the fact the picture of the artist is a juxtaposition because she looks quite peaceful on the front cover of the digipak, in addition to this colour of the album name is white connotes pureness and adds to the whole feminine and romantic theme which runs through the digipak. on the cd we can see a pale pink rose which is used on the cd this creates a suttle look on the cd,
This adds to the whole digipak the fact that the rose is on the cd add to the whole theme of love the message she may be trying to portray to her targeted audience is the she might be writing in these songs with love as if its a gift to her audience as she has used very feminine colours such as reds and pinks and white appealing to females.

This is a rock band, on the front cover of this album is of the photography of the band, this introduces them to the targeted audience which could create more of an interest. from the front cover you can clearly see what sort of genre this because of the use of colours which is dark and depressing colours the use of black white and gold is seen throughout the album this could suggest that album song could be about depressing things are usually rock band write about sad subjects.
The splash of red shows the rage that the album has showing what the songs could be about. Secondly from looking at this album this could be targeted to male or goths as you may call it, the fact that the male artist is wearing all black they are wearing leather coats, trousers connotes that they are very simple and boring characters, also they are wearing eye liner.

The layout of this digipak is quite simple as there is a blurb the cd and the picture of the band.
on the right hand corner is the members of the band on a black background could sagest that they have something to hid as they are all wearing black connotes that they are mysterious characters, the fact that they are on a black background over rules there personalities, the position the members of the band is standing in suggest that they just don't really care, they are either standing all slouched looking at the camera as if they are looking right at us.
The actual CD the design on it looks like splashed blood on in it, fact that this is just on the cd means that they are in great pain normally with rock bands the colour red and black is usually dominated with them. The intensity on of the blood splashed all over the cd suggest that there is a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this cd.
On the left hand side of the digipak is an brief summary about the band, the fact that it is in the colour yellow is a kinda of weird colour scheme as it doesn't really inter link with the overall theme of the digipak, on this side there is also spots of red under the writing in different places showing the mis fortune of there life.

Blog reflection- week 3

Theories 

This week we were talking about different theorist and genres to get an idea inside on music videos a little more so we can make our music video better. in order for this to happen we had to learn specific theorist in order to learn more on music video and to  get an intake on how music videos impacts on society and the media. The concept we have been focusing on is the audience in order for use to do an music video we need to know what attract different target audience and why does this happen in different genres in order to find this out we will need to find out more about what artist, in order for this we the artist will need to give the music video a classification of the media use, these are information, integration and social integration, personal identification and entertainment.
 theorist are the main one that we learnt about

• Genre as a system theory
• Laura Mulvey    
• Genre themes 
• Repertition and difference theory 

Genre as a system theory

This was found out by Steve Neale which believed that genres is based on a triangle of convention, expectations of the target audience, this means that there are specific conventions that are in music videos for an example Yeah By User, 

In this type of RnB music video initially the artist usually in a specific location in this case a club, the main codes of convention for female artist is having men in them on the other hand the male artist usually have woman dancing seductively for the male eye.

This brings us on to the second theorist which is Laura Mulvey, Male Gaze. She believed that woman have been seen as sexualised so to please the male eye on social media. in addition i believe this theorist because on today society young girls and woman think that it is ok to dress seductively wearing crop tops, short skirts and tight dresses just to please the male attention. through leaning this theorist I have began to see it more and more especially in music video, as a lot of young teenagers what You Tube or Mtv etc. Artist such as Rihanna, Beyonce, Mariah Carey and Ciara influence young girls to think it is acceptable to dress the way they do, thought out but  music video this is a big convention of RnB, POP, GRIME, RAP. Which is why artist use it to entertain targeted audiences.

Genre Theme 
In that same lesson i had also learnt about David Bordwell (1989) he claims that in music video 'any theme may appear in any genre' i didn't know anything about this theorist as I began to learnt about him I understood that their can be more that one genre in a specific music video which is rare, as I done more research in to this type of artist i could find or think of the top of my head an artist that did that.                                                                                                                    

Blog Reflection- Week 4

The Pitch Presentation 

This week has been very productive I was assigned to do a pitch presentation on the artist of my choice of song that I would like to make a music video on, I started off my presentation by researching on the artist which her name is Paigey Cakey, she is a rap artist. The song is called Same Way. I had to analysis the lyrics to get  better understand on what scene or how I would like to make it different to the original video that she has out there, I would have to be careful with not making my music video be the same as the existing one out there. I thought about the location that I would like to film in my music video these were in a house or flat this is because I wanted to show the protagonist character lifestyle, showing her the way she/ he lives. I chose this location this is because the fact the the music video I am targeting for male and females but mostly females between 16-20 this is because most of teenagers usually hang at home or park which is the second location I would like to introduce in my pitch.

After doing this pitch I had to do an QAQ which is question and answer which took 5-10 minutes to talk about my music video and if the audience got my ideas that I pitched.
I had to look at existing music video to give me ideas on what I would like to put in my music video, also I have done past research on rap conventions which usually the codes and conventions introduce is  bling, hoodies, cars, woman dressed slutty.

These usually are filmed in a persons house which is usually like mansions or outside a neighbour hood. This is the concept which I has been focusing on to give the song justice as the song is about earning research and being known around the area, the fact that the song talks about being cool as people like to call it, or nowadays a BOSS. The research that I would have done would have to be introduced into the music video that I would be making. I was told that I would have to portray my ideas properly the fact that I didn't have a clear storyline in my pitch, secondly I would have to have a clear plan on the camera work that I was going to use this is because I choose to use a birds eye view which will be impossible to do as an birds eye view is a shot taken from above. In addition the feed back I got was to make sure that the pitch that I done is more descriptive showing the audience what I would like portray. 

The New Treatment

The Treatment 

This is a plan of the music video my group and I are planning to make, the song which we have decided to make is Ride For Me By Ratlin FT Karina, we have decided to pick this song because all of the group liked it, I especially chose this song as well because people could relate to this song, it is about a man who has lust for this beautiful woman and he dreams about spending all his time with her, in this song he talks about himself in first person as he asks her question. 

I will now give a brief description of the story lines my groups and I have though of to do to the song 'Ride for ME' 

The Artist

Born in July 1990 as one of 20 siblings, and one of the sons of Reggae producer Blacker Dead, Ratlin has had music in his blood from birth. Despite Ratlin's bad upbringing he was still able to come out as a good person and have a good future ahead of him. 

As a child, Ratlin only played football in 'Fulham FC Young Footballers' because of his brothers also done this, he felt he had to follow to make his family proud. Although he was good at football, this was not what he enjoyed doing. Due to this being the only thing he was able to do properly, Ratlin believed he had to stay doing it. 

However, things turned for the worse when he was caught with illegal drugs at a football training and was then kicked out of the club. Although he did not enjoy playing football, it was the only thing he could do without getting into trouble. Ratlin took this very bad and turned to the streets, starting selling illegal drugs and staying out all night getting up to no good. His brothers and sisters knew they had to do something as Ratlin became worse each day. One of his brothers suggested he should try music, due to their family having music in their blood. 

Ratlin began going to a small studio, rapping about personal issues in his life, for example 'On My Lonely' was rapped from the heart and became very popular. Ratlin realised he had a good future within music; he stopped staying out all night,  and gave up the drugs. Now, Ratlin is only focused on his music career, being booked for shows, events etc is what he aims for. "I would rather everyone listen to my track than get rich from it, not that i don't wanna be broke" Ratlin stated in one of his interviews. 

Ratlin's music has now became highly successful due to the dedication he has put in it, and the fact he has had a bad upbringing, he is able to put all his emotions into the songs, to create a more of an understanding of him. The mix tape "Summertime in Mexico" has been a big success for Ratlin, which includes the smash hit 'Messiah' Ft. Mavado, plus 19 more tracks, which are available for free. 

Ratlin believes his songs should be free as no one should have to pay to listen to music. Due to his different way of thinking, is the reason why Ratlin has became so popular within the music industry. Also, being a young black boy in South West London was difficult as Ratlin was forever being stopped by police, many times was a stereotype because of how he was dressed and looked; black tracksuits, hoodies up with his hands in his pockets. Ratlin felt as if he had to make a difference to the stereotype of young black boys, as he felt he was able to change person when he was in the studios.

Our Vision 

We have devised a plot to have 2 couples in our music video, the good couple will have a long lasting relationship, we will show how in love they are through the use of camera work. This couple will relate to the people who have a relationship like theres. In this the girl will be rapping as it will express the committment to the relationship she is in with the guy. On the other hand my group and I decided to show a bad couple this will show how relationships are behind closed doors. We have decided to show this because we want to film the down side of a relationship between two people, as relationships are not only sunshine and lolly pops. Everything doesn't end up in a fairy tale. In this we will show the man rapping, asking her all these questions if she feels the same.

 This is part of the relationship we jsut find out that she is just there for his money not for the person he is, signifying she is a gold digger. We will show this through a series of events such as the bad couple fighting agressively in the music video showing that they both are not on the same page. In addition the good couple will have a physical connection, we will show this through the use of wide shot of them (the couple) hugging.

The young girl for the bad couple will be wearing all jewellery and bling, the lighting will be focused on her to show her addiction to money and power she has over her boyfriend, the fact the lighting will be focused on her more shows that he is not getting the attention that he needs. We will use a car as this can show the girl only wants materlised things and not her boyfriend. She will be wearing a black outfit, with heavy make up on her face such as gold eye shadow, a heavy amount of mascara, red lipstick which connotes the too over the top theatrical and excitement she has over getting money this will be showing her sexuality feminine side as well as her lust over money. the man in this couple will be wearing dark black trousers and a black hoddie connotes the pain and mystery that the man his trying to hid from his relationship he is having. 

In the good couple the girl will be wearing light make up to show her kind heart of her personality, she will be wearing an white outfit which connotes the purity of the young girl and young man relationship between each other. The man will be wearing a white and black outfit to show that he is a working class man showing that he is a type of person who will want a better future for him and the girl he is with. 

Target Audience 

Our music video will be aim at 16 to 30 year olds, primarily because black people are more likely to understand as most of them are in the same situation and white people in fact that the rap can now relate to every background mainly located on the street, because the lyrics of the song reflect to their lifestyle and can conform to some people personal identify and same vision from the street. According to the analysis of the lyrics, the singer uses rap to express his emotion regarding love and his out look on life. We can denote from this the hard evolution of his background and his potential strong and mature character that he slowly builds. The fact that the black artist has a hard background can connote the feeling of confidence that he develop from his life and career as a rapper. The artists try to influence his target audience the target audience from his personal beliefs and own vision of life. From his realistic and honest song the singer, as well as the audience can develop passion to write and listen the genre of music as it is a real life story.

Our target audience will be able to mirror Rotlin’s video and understand, showing that usual as the artist other people can have or recognize to have the same issues. We can appeal to the audience adding props that will be seen in everyday life. We can use hoodies, jewelry and others to relate to our target audience, who’s both male and female characters are within the initial clip.

Males will watch the video to usual as listen the music also see Karma’s figure as a attraction, which will conform to Laura Muller theory “the male gaze”. Ratlin can be also represented for woman attraction as he has fast cars, jewelry with him. The audience can reflect or have the desire to put their self at the same place.

Concerning our target audience, I believe that a wide range of people can relate to this song as it cover many areas such as love issues, street questions and potential dreams that the audience aiming at. Related to the to opposite picture I think that people from the street can reflect the attitude and change from trouble to respectable. the lyrics of the song are helpful in the way that within the street you still can be successful. I took the example from the fact that the artist within the clips has a beautiful house and car so this can signify how by changing its mentality he succeed.

Logistics 
For the logistics we will need to make sure that we make sure we plan where we are going to set our locations of begging to film this is important because we will need to have a few percussion before filming, we will need to make sure that there are no problems while filming our music video, As a group we decided to film at a flat, we decided this because we wanted to aim this at middle class and lower class people who live there, we also didn't want to conform with the codes and conventions of a rap genre as there are usually set in an house or rap in outside of blocks. 
the main scene will be set in a flat we wanted to show the two couples behind closed doors, we decided to include this to give the audience a storyline making them engage and understand the difference between the two. In addition we wanted to use a park because we want to set a scene of the couple relationship doing well to show others that they have nothing to hid. They will also have dogs which is a code and convention of rap music videos which we will introduce into our  video. 

There will be some logistics problems such as the weather forecast as this is England we are excepted to have rain hear and there when this problem occurs we will need to make sure that we don't film when it is raining this means we will need to look at the weather forecast on the news at our priority to do so, we will need to be careful with the damage of equipment. Another fall back is that we will need to film at a reasonable time this is because it is not hitting winter will need to film earlier because it gets dark by 4 or 5, this might be a problem because people what we pick to be in our music video we will need to make sure that they are available. To add to tho we will need to make sure that my group and I get permission to film in one of my groups flats this is because we will need to be respectful to one of my groups parent house also they may have guest if this is the case we will need to book a day that there is going to be no one disturbing us. 

Technology 

The technology we will use is an camera, tripod, final cut pro and a mac computer. the final cut pro is the main piece of technology the we will need for our music video. 
The camera 
This will be used to film specific sciences for our music video, we will need this to capture an point of view shot will be used as you will be able to empathise with the character and will keep you drawn in. within the clip we will make the camera move up the character body slowly this will give an effect. 
we will use panning as this is able to show the whole location and whole scene. 
Cinematography 
we will use close up to how emotional scenes, also over the shoulder shot to show to show the two different couple facial expressions.