Digipack Analysis: Frank Ocean

The monochrome of the image, along with the rough, scratch effects of the image give the idea of the artists being 'rough'. However with the shirt and tie, it makes them seem professional, and the strong them in idea that they have started from the bottom and worked hard to get fame.

This is again reiterated with the casualness of the cardigan, with the shirt and tie, which contrasts the two sides to their persona. The everyday person and then the star. It is similar to the way hip-hop stars will wear lots of jewellery,  but in a lot more subtle way.

The font is clear and sharp, differing from the costume with loose tie and cardigan. The colours are inverted to their background, making them stand out, and the artists name obvious, larger than the album name.

Digipack Analysis: Avicii

The most prominent part of the front cover of this album is the album title, 'True'. The font of this text is like it is painted on by hand. It is almost urban in its style, however, by making it a crisp white colour, it makes it more of a 'clean style' which is more representative of the laid back R&B/dance chill-out style.

Although the artist is featured, they are in a silhouette style, suggesting they are not the focus. It could be a representation of the music, which although usually includes singing, there is a large amount of post production editing, with different synthesized instruments and effects.

The artist is wearing a hooded jumper and a cap, which is also a common feature for R&B artists. However, it is not over the top, as it often is, where the artists ooze confidence, making themselves seem 'gangster'. This artist is looking away, and it looks as though he is actually trying to make himself look smaller. This shows the cross-genre, the R&B and then the less 'celebrity' style of the dance and chill-out genre.

The bands name is written in the same font through all their albums, and therefore makes it more of a logo. This would increase the 'branding' of the artists, making them instantly recognizable, whether it be on social media sites or album covers. It would therefore act as an advertising tool, as people who may like one song, would look out for their logo in other songs. 

Digipack Analysis: John Legend

The front cover follows the conventions of other album covers in the genre. The image is black and white, but it seems to have been made more of a silhouette, taking out some of the details. The red text contrasts with the cover, and really stands out.



The back cover is very plain, with just red text. However, again like other artists in the genre, the font and colours are carried over both sides of the album cover.

Digipack Analysis: Justin Timberlake

One feature of this digipack is the use of black and white filters. 

The images are black and white, with contrasting gold text. 

The text is bold, and is the same on both the front and back cover.

On the back, there is a close up of the prop, which is an old fashioned eye test.

Initial Digipack Ideas - Fonts

Font Ideas:

For the handwritten style font -

Initial Digipack Idea: Images

We felt it was important to have some ideas on what we were doing for our digipack as it may be better to take the pictures during filming so that the costume and setting is correct.

We decided for the cover it should be similar to the way Drake's albums are taken almost directly from the music video.

We decided it would be important to include the artist on the cover as most solo males in the genre do, for example:

From the narrative of the song, we decided there should be no eye contact, and he should be looking down like Drake is seen doing. Perhaps with his hands either side of his head, sitting on the bed.

Risk Assessment

Things which could go wrong during filming:

Candles setting something alight.

Tripping over the camera/wires/tripod.

Accident when travelling to the locations.

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To counter these we made sure the candles were lit for the shortest time possible, as well as being out of reach of any soft furnishings, which could easily set light.

We also used tape over camera wires, to make sure it wasn't loose, so people are less likely to trip over it.

We made sure we travelled as carefully as possible to the different locations.

Music Video Treatment

The ideas behind our music video were to use a common convention of R&B/chill-out music of making the artist seem a bad person, but then it turns out that they were mistaken. Thus, we decided to make it appear that the male had cheated on his girlfriend, but it turns out to be a mistake, and he was in fact only comforting a friend.

We were worried that this would be a bit boring, and it would be too similar to other videos. We decided to add a different dimension to our video, we would put the main narrative in reverse order, and therefore, provoking the audience to think more about the video, rather than just clicking to hear the song.

The location of the music video is to be in a room made to look as close to a hotel room as possible, with a double bed, and bedside tables. This will be the majority of the video, hopefully looking as realistic as possible to a real hotel room. There will also be use of outdoors settings, including the town and a village. These will be used to show the couple during happier times, and so the audience can get an idea of their relationship prior to the break up.

We will make some of the music video black and white too. It will be used when the lead male is alone after they have split up, reflecting his sadness. This will be in between normal coloured shots, and so therefore will contrast with them.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Lyrics Annotated

Dates

Hollie and I are meeting at Hollie's house on Tuesday 22nd October in order to get the room ready for filming, as well as doing some test shots to check lighting, angles etc.

We will then be filming in October half term, as yet we have not decided on a concrete date, but we hope to do it as early as possible in order to make sure we have all the footage we need.

This will probably be either Monday 28th or Tuesday 29th October.

Locations

Hotel Room - Hollie's Annex - there will be a bed and chair, we will try and make it look as much like a hotel room as possible, while also being modern in order to fit with the R&B genre.

Restaurant - somewhere in Hollie's house, needs to be a plain wall, then we will bring a table and put plates/cutlery on it.

Field

Audience Profile

An idea of someone who may watch our music video:

Name: Jen Brett

Age: 17

Location: Outskirts of London, not a particularly wealthy or poor area, typically working class.

Occupation: Studying Business Studies, Law and Statistics at college. She is fairly clever, getting good grades, but she isn't the sort to be getting A/A* grades, and is okay with that.
 She also has a part time job in a ladies fashion store in town every Saturday, she doesn't particularly enjoy it, but it means she has money for when she goes to see her friends and nice outfits to wear.

Interests: Jen spends her money on new clothes and gig tickets. She tries to see as many artists as possible before they 'hit the big time', as she thinks it will be a much more intimate and personalised concert, before record labels dictate the way things should go. She isn't just into girly things. She has an interest in football and plays every Sunday, occasionally going to matches with her Dad. The guys she meets are always shocked by this, her girly outfits do not exactly scream pie and mash on a Wednesday night for a Champions League game.

Beliefs: Although Jen may come across as being stuck up and judgemental, she isn't. She is just extremely shy since she was bullied in year 7. She treats everybody equally and only opens up to those she trusts.

Meeting: Update on Music Video

We decided that we would tell the story of a break up, yet it would be told in reverse.

It will start in black and white, showing their break up as being a bad time, gradually getting more and more colourful as it goes back through to the time when they first meet. 

The main male will be misunderstood, when he is found with a girl, thinking he is having an affair, however he is actually just being a friend. We decided to do this because it is common in R&B music videos that the male will be shown to be a bad boy who is misunderstood. 

The chorus will be lip-synced as we feel it is important to have an aspect of 'performance', as a proof of them being able to sing and that it is really them telling their story.

Survey Results

We sent this survey to around 80 people on Facebook, with a wide age range. With us putting in the message which genre of music we were interested in finding their opinion on, it may have stopped them being interested almost immediately. This is why we think that there is only an age range of 15-20. 

This helps us when planning our music video, as it means that we have an idea of who to aim at, it especially helps with the analysis. This is because it means we can try to include stuff that would relate to people of that age, and stuff they have experienced themselves, or what they aspire to happen to them in later life, as they get a little bit older.

With this survey being sent to a wide range of people with very different music tastes it means that even with some people preferring rock as a genre, for example, a majority will still like this genre. 

 With around 35% of people using YouTube converter it shows this is a popular source of music, and therefore, they will see the video, meaning it has to make an impression on the audience. With only a small percentage of people buying their music physically from shops it shows the internet dominance, which reiterates the fact the video has to make an impact, in order to stand out in a strong market of videos.

Some things the audience said:

"Rhythm and blues"

             "Soft, relaxing, warm"

"Relaxing, slow"

"Chilled, relaxed"

"Calm"

"Love, relaxing"

"Happiness"

Some things the audience said:

"No aggressiveness, e.g. sudden or rapid movements"

"Moving slowly, camera panning"

"Black and white scenes"

"Someone singing about love, crying their heart out"

"Black and white scenes"

"Deep images, dark unsaturated images"

"Dark scenes, no bright colours"

From these two we thought the actions in the shots should be slow and calm, however the cutting rate should be fast in order to stop it being too boring, with the pace of the song itself being slow. We also decided the lighting should be low key, and the black and white effects we're planning will also keep this calmness. 

Similar Artists Mood Board

Survey

Click here to take survey

YouTube Comments from similar songs in the genre

The first comment suggests the song is of importance, and that perhaps the song will be open in a tab, but the viewer will not be watching. Because of this it is important that our video draws in the reader and makes them want to watch.

The second comments shows that some members of the audience we are aiming towards pay attention to the video, and therefore we need to be sure the narrative is strong in our video to interest them.

Goodwin's Theory

Costume Ideas

Initial Music Video Ideas