Digipack Research and Flat Plans

A digipack is an alternative to a CD and takes a DVD format. Digipacks include the artists album as well as extras like the music videos. This is what I will try to create. I will be creating 4 panes for the Digipack; the front cover, 2 inside panes and the back cover. For these I will use all my own images that I will edit using Adobe Photoshop. I will be taking photos that corrospond to my music video, such as similar costume and make up ideas.

To fully understand a digipack, I am going to analyse some digipacks I found online. The first one I am going to analyse is the Beastie Boys digipack, To the 5 Boroughs, which was released in June 2004 . This digipack is different to how mine will look as it is different dimensions, with this one being 12 inches by 444 inches. As it is a special edition, the band have chosen to get an artist (Matteo Pericoli) to do the album art and have made the art work cover the inside and outside covers, showing both the East and West sides of New york, all inan intricate linedrawing design. All the track information is written around the illustration in the skyline of the drawing. The album was a tribute to New york after the 9/11 bombings, this is why the World Trade Centre is present on the cover. The digipack has 2 editions, one with just the tracks, including unreleased material, and another edition which includes remixes not heard before on the radio.

The Digipack is a slightly different genre to the artist I am using for my Digipack and has a completely different look, but both Lady Gaga and Beastie Boys are both known worldwide and have a large variety of people in their fan base. The demographics below are from YouTube for the opening track on Beastie Boys album above. We can see that their fan base is mostly males over the age of 35 and females aged 25-34. Lady Gaga is demographics show that Gaga is more popular with younger females but the same aged males as Beastie Boys. The world map also shows that Beastie Boys are prominently popular in North America and just known throughout the rest of the world. Lady Gagas demographics shows that she is not listened to prominently anywhere, and just worldly very popular. I chose to analyse this Digipack as it has an arty theme to it which I am going to try to convey in my Digipack, however I am going to use photography for mine, and Beastie Boys have used illustration. Also I will be using a DVD layout whereas Beastie Boys have used an unconventionally long CD sized layout.

The second digipack I am going to look at is Depeche Mode's album, Playing the Angel, released in October 2005. The album came with a CD which included 12 tracks and 3 bonus tracks, a DVD that included some unseen and released music videos from the band, a 5.1 mix of the album and a photo gallery, and some bonus UMD content which included a short documentary on the making of the album and another photo gallery. The album art is by Anton Corbijin and includes the character 'Tubby Goth' or 'Mister Feathers'. The artwork is influenced by a famous still photograph of The Cure's front man, Robert Smith. I chose to analyse this digipack as it has a similar theme to what I am trying to portray on my digipack of horror/spooky and Depeche Mode have also got an arty angle to their covers. They have used a mix of photography and illustration in their covers and stick to a dark colour scheme with blacks, greys white and a vibrant red, which is identical to the colour scheme I am planning to use. Depeche mode are an electronic rock band which is a slightly different genre to Lady Gaga but use some similar instruments like the synthesiser, and are known worldwide.

I chose to analyse this Digipack as it has a similar theme to thwat I am trying to portray in my Digipack of horror/spooky and Depeche Mode have an arty angle with their covers. They use a mix of photography and illustration in their covers and stick to a dark colour scheme liek blacks, greys, whites and vibrant red, which is identical to the colour scheme I am planning to use. Depeche Mode are an electronic rock band which is a slightly different genre to Lady Gaga but use similar instruments like the synthesiser, and are also known worldwide. The demographics below from YouTube of the first track on Depeche Modes album above, show that their fan base is prominently males between the ages of 25-44

The link below shows a PowerPoint of my ideas for images and techniques I may use for my Digipack.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BNmUxMGMxODgtYmU3ZS00MzVhLWJlOWQtN2I4NmUyZjRlYmRm&authkey=CIqv3oIM&hl=en

Below are the links to my first set of flat plans for my Digipack.

Back Cover -https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BY2UwYjY4ZDAtYmE2Ni00NGZjLTlmZmEtYWVkYTFlYzIzNTc1&hl=en&authkey=CK_poZIE

Right Hand inside cover, Behind the disks - https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BNDg2ZjkyZjgtNmU3ZC00MjhmLWE1Y2MtZDYwNjBkMzU0MjFl&hl=en&authkey=COvi6doL

Disk Layout - https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BMmJmZDVkNjgtNzkxNC00NGQ4LWI3NmQtMTY3MzJlOWEwMGM2&hl=en&authkey=CKv7je4E

Front Cover - https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BNzk3NzBhMzgtNDVlYS00ZGU4LWI0YzItOTllYmFhMTNlMmMx&hl=en&authkey=CIr1gtwM

Inside Left cover - https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BOWY3MjM3YWMtM2FhNS00YmUyLTkwY2YtMWJiNjRjY2M2Yzkz&hl=en&authkey=CO71s5gB

I like these flat plans and would defiently consider these for my final Digipack. I am happy with the layout of the front cover but I will probably make the writing larger so that passer bys can identify who's CD it is easier. I like the look of the background being lighter around the person then fading to black as it looks spooky and could easily be achieved on a black background with the right lighting. The inside cover flat plan isn't exactly how I imagined it and this is why I have drawn a stick person doing the actual angle I want the model to pose in, as I couldn't draw it. The model will also fill the frame and not just be floating in the middle. This will also have the same background to the front cover. I don't really like the inside right hand side cover, but I scanned the disk layout separately to the image that would be behind. I planned to have the disks overlapping and clear so you can see the image behind it. I am very happy with the plan for the back cover as it is simplistic but keeps to the theme of spookiness for the Digipack.

2nd Set of flat Plans

INSIDE OF THE FLAT PLAN

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BMjRiNjY1MjctMWJiZS00YmEwLTg0MmEtMGQwN2M0OWVhNzNk&hl=en&authkey=COqBi7gO

For my second set of flat plans I choose to try a more colourful look, with bright and vibrant colours which would be eye catching. for the front cover I was going to use Polaroid pictures, scanned onto the computer and editing together on the cover. I thought of using Polaroids because Lady Gaga was recently named the new Chief Creative Officer for Polaroid and helped bring Polaroid back after it went out of business, helping design new imaging products such as the new Polaroid sunglasses and printer. I could achieve these pictures as I have a similar product called a Fuji Instax camera which produces similar images to Polaroid but with a slightly different layout. The only negative about this choice of photography is that the film for the Polaroid and Instax cameras is quite expensive, with photographs costing about 50p each. So I am not sure I will go ahead with this flat plan as it would cost money. The back cover is pretty simplistic with just the track listing on a plain colour background. It would be eye catching as the colours will be bright, but I don't think this cover will match my video idea and my advertisement. For the inside cover I chose to do some more polaroids with just pictures of a letter from Lady Gaga to her 'Little Monsters' to make it more personal. I will have these on a black background with the disk being on a black background with a bright purple background behind the disk directly. This is to go along with the colourful front and back cover.

3rd Set of Flat Plans

This flat plan will probably be the final idea which I will use for my actual Digipack. Its theme matches the music video and my advertisement. I like the shattered look to the front cover and it will all be in black and white like our music video, I also like the fading background like in my first flat plan. The skeletal look will add to the spookiness I am trying to convey in the Digipack. I think it's different look to normal digipacks will also appeal to Gagas target audience and works with the song lyrics to our music video. The back cover will match the front cover as it is also in black and white, with a skeletal hand doing a scratching notion. I am thinking of having the scratch lines glittery giving the Digipack some femininity and glamour. The fonts will be consistent throughout the Digipack. For the Inside cover I have chosen an image of a girl with a kookie hairstyle like Gaga portrays in many of our outfits and shows with a letter from Gaga underneath, like in my second set of flat plans. The inside right hand cover will be plain black with writing on the disc.

This font is called Edwardian Script ITC and I think this will be the font I use for the front cover of my Digipack and on the spine because it is the classy script that I wanted and it is also bold and eye catching, so people will be able to identify what artist the Digipack belongs too.



This font is called Kunstler Script and was another possibility for the front cover font but I decided against it as it isn't twirly enough making it look less classy and feminine. It is also quite thin and not bold enough to go on the front cover.




This script is called Palace Script MT which is also a really nice font but really isn't thick enough to show up on the front cover.

Shooting Schedule and Shooting Diaries

The link below is for my Shoot schedule and includes all the tasks we needed to complete. dates for completion, who is responsible and what needs to be done for these tasks to be completed.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BNTFkMzUwOGYtNjRiMy00MDA4LTkxMmYtYzVjZTI5Y2RlNzA5&authkey=CLW1md8J&hl=en

SHOOTING SCRIPT EXAMPLE
15/2/2011

Lip Syncing part of the video. filmed in room 3 of the libary agianst a white board. It was a static shot, witht he camera mounted on a tripod.

Take 1 - Niamh lip syncing with red lips. Managed 28 seconds of footage before the cmaera ran out of battery. The footage was good though, good shots of hair flicking which we could use to filll out gaps in the video. The sync was in time to the music. Little problem of hair in the mouth at the beginning of footage. Shots we could use in it.

Take 2 - (Niamh syncing) 1 minute 50 seconds of footage. Good shots, though some forgetfulness of lyrics in 2nd verse. 1st verse and chorus good. Slight ipod showuing in beginning that needs to be cut out.

Take 3 - (Niamh syncing) Mouthing the back up vocals - good and in sync. Slightly out of focus in some shots that could be cut out. Managed good shots for both verses.

Take 4 - (Chloe Syncing in black lips) Managed full 3 minutes of footage for back up vocals. Good shots of teeth.

Take 5 - Tried seeing glitter effect infront of the camera ut it didn't show up in the lighting, or we just didn't have enough to make the effect.

We produced these every time we filmed to make it easier to access the footage that we needed when it came to editing. We could tell which clip was which when we opened the footage as we used a clapper board to record which piece of footage we were filming.

Health and Safety

Before filming my music video I must make health and safety checks to ensure that no one gets injured during the making of my video.
Health
Before my dancers start performing for the camera, I will ensure they have carried out a warm up to avoid any pulling of muscles or other injuries.
Safety
I know that the studio in college is a safe area, but before filming I will check for any loose wiring, any trailing cables or rubbish that someone could trip and injure themselves on.

Another stage before the actual filming, is to check I have set up the camera and tripod correctly, so that i do not break either piece of apparatus. This is how I will set it up.
1. Remove the tripod from its bag. Pull the three legs out, making sure they are level. I will then adjust the telescoping collapsible legs to the position I need them in, making sure I have got the tripod level.
2. Remove the video camera from its box, holding it by its handle.
3. I will then attach the camera to the camera mount on the tripods head, using the thumbscrew to keep the camera attached to the mount. I will double check that this is done up as tightly as possible, without damaging the camera.
4. Now that this is all done, my camera should be securely connected to the tripod and ready to use. however if I was to move the tripod, I would detach the camera first and reconnect it at the new filming spot.

Storyboard and Animatic

The link below is an example of my storyboard. It tells you the shot number, what type of shot it will be (e.g. Static) and what will happen in that shot.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BMmZjZTA5YTgtM2Y2NC00ZTI0LWFkY

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BM2JhNGExZDktNjJhZC00ODc2LTg2YTEtMmRjYjRiYzk4ODZh&hl=enjUtZDU2M2ZkZGFjNWE4&authkey=CLeE4cgE&hl=en

The link below is a written storyline for my music video. With the parts of music with what action will be happening at that time. This is a less in depth version of my storyboard and was the original plan we had prior to the storyboard.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BYTdkZDgxODItYjUwYy00ZTM4LTkyN2UtOWQzM2I3ODdlOGRh&authkey=CJbqn6cG&hl=en

Mise en Scene

SETTING - For our video We have decided to use the film studio in college as its size allows for around 5 dancers to dance comfortably. This will make it easier for my group to work as it is in an easy location and we will have all the equipment we need to hand instead of having to travel to either of our houses which have limited space for filming.

COLOUR - In terms of colour we've decided to keep to mostly black and white. We will either film in black or white or try and achieve the dark feeling through lighting like shown in Lady Gagas video, Alejandro. With her video you get the feeling it is filmed in black and white when really they have just filmed with really dark lighting, with an almost bluey tinge to it. If we can achieve this, it means we can use red colours for lip make up which will coincide with the goriness we are trying to achieve in the video. It will also remind the audience of the song title, Teeth.

COSTUME & PROPS - Our costumes are going to be mostly hand made or home brought as, of course, we cannot afford couture outfits like Gaga, but she does have a huge creative side which we can portray through our home made costumes. We will have all our characters in black costumes to go with our colour theme of black and white. We have decided to make our dancers wear black tights, bra's and lacey or mesh styled costumes. These styles are seen in Gaga's videos and would appeal to her target audience. We would like our dancers to also wear some sort of mesh styled eye mask, so the audience will be drawn to their mouths and teeth, helping communicate the story. For our storyline part to the video we will have our characters again in black and white costumes, with similar make up ideas, apart from the their faces will not be completely covered and there will be more emphasis on the make up. We are trying to achieve similar make up ideas to that of what Gaga does, helping us appeal to her target audience.

Pitch

The link below shows out pitch to our media class about our music video, our ideas and what we hope to achieve.
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BzZ6urxriOlaYzA3YTUwOWItOTY4Yi00YzI5LTg0MWEtOGNhZWRjMmRjYzhl&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

The link below is the powerpoint we used for our pitch to the class. And below that is the script we wrote to go with the powerpoint. It includes some extra ideas for our video.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BzZ6urxriOlaMGViY2ZmYWMtMDQyNC00YTRmLTk2MTItZDYyYjY4YTllOWY1&hl=en
For our absolutely mind blowing music video we have decided to make a video to the song TEETH by lady gaga.
Lady Gaga is well known on the mainstream pop scene for her unique sense of style which she expresses in her music videos and live performances. Her individual sense of style is forever making the headlines with outfits such as her meat dress and full body lace outfits.
Lady Gaga is a global superstar selling over 51 million singles and 15 million albums worldwide. Gaga has a huge global fan base, known as her ‘lil monsters’. This is shown by her number of friends on social networking sites such as Facebook (over 18 million friends) and MySpace (over 13 million friends) and the amount of page views her official website has received.
Lady gaga appeals to people of all ages and genders. You can see this from the vast range of genres of magazines Gaga has appeared on the cover of. Gaga has been on covers of fashion magazines such as Vogue and Elle as well as music magazines like Q. She also appears on the cover of gossip and celebrity magazines, normally with articles about her individual and sometimes controversial outfits. We can also see through demographics on Gagas YouTube videos that her biggest viewing fan base is females aged 13-17 and males aged between 35-54 which shows a large difference in audience.
Gaga’s videos are normally set out like mini movies or elaborate storylines. Videos such as Telephone have a whole storyline, plot and dance routines all combined.
SHOW CLIP
Gagas videos always show Gaga in a huge range of very unique outfits which have not been seen in music videos before, making them dynamic and make the audience remember them and make them stand out from the usual pop video. However the memorable dance routines are Gagas forte when it comes to the music video. Something that we hope to recreate.
To make our video meet the criteria of your average Gaga video we have looked at different performance and body shape for inspiration. These pictures are some ideas of what we want to achieve in our video. We are looking at different shapes we can create and unusual camera angles to make our video stand out from others. We have a theme of darkness and death but in a sexy way that we want to portray through our video. We have decided to film it all in black and white to create the dark theme and the use of shadows and shots of ‘dead people’, teeth and blood will also help create this. As we are doing a Gaga video we understand that it has to be shocking to our audience, like a Gaga video, something no one’s seen before. To make it shocking we think we are going to incorporate a theme of religion in the video as we know this may cause controversy like a Gaga video.
We have also looked at pictures of makeup styles that inspire us and we may recreate for our video. The use of dark eye makeup and bright lips to draw the audience to the mouth and the darkness to go along with our theme.
Our costume ideas need to be unique and these pictures and some ideas that we want to try and replicate in our own way. We are going to use a lot of lace, netted costumes and leotards, very much like a Gaga video. We have also decided to make face masks, leaving the mouth exposed for singing and shots of teeth.
We have looked at different shots for inspiration. We know we want shots of just someone’s teeth singing to go along with the lyrics in our song. We also want to achieve some shots like these as we like the lighting and poses of some of these pictures.
In our video we want to shoot it in three parts. Firstly have a storyline opening the video like a mini movie, probably shot in a studio with clever uses of lighting and give the audience a good sense of what theme we are trying to achieve. We then will have groups of dancers performing a dance routine that we have choreographed from watching Gaga’s live performances of the song. The third main part will be of someone’s teeth singing the lyrics to the song. Throughout we are going to have still shots of people dressed in costume matching our theme, for example for the lyric ‘bad girl meat’ we are going to have someone dressed quite vampiresque holding a dead dripping heart.

(The parts highlighted in red were the parts I contributed to the pitch. However we did not keep completley to the script as it was just a basis of what to say or something to refer to if we got stuck.)

Initial Ideas

We have decided to three different parts for our video. We have a storyline that we are going to present like a short movie, a main singer part where all you see is the mouth of the singer, emphasising the teeth and a dance routine where we hope to have around 5 dancers doing a dance we have choreographed from looking at Lady Gaga's live performances.

We have decided to film our video completely in black and white. We think this will be different to the other videos and will go nicely with our theme of death and vampires. It will also go well for our storyline part as we want a olden day film feel to it.

We would like to achieve some unusual shots and camera angles in our video to match the quality of a Lady Gaga video. We are also going to experiment with our lighting to emphasise parts of the body and low light to give people dark faces. We hope to do these shots in a studio.

For make up and costume we have decided to make our dancers wear some sort of mesh or lace face mask to cover their eyes and make the audience focus on their mouths. But we still want to see the make up through the face masks. Dancers will be wearing home made outfits of all black and maybe some white. We think dancers will be in leotards or lace outfits. We hope to achieve quite outrageous outfits, as Gaga does, but of course we have not got a huge amount of time and these outfits could be expensive, so we will make outfits to the best of our abilities and resources. Make up will also be black, and we are thinking smokey eye make up, quite overdone with bright lips that we may or may not shoot in colour. As the red idea would go well with out theme of death as red symbolises blood.

We put together a mind map to see which ideas would work with our theme and resources for the video. See link below for mind map.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5WUAYNvqSRQMmYyZDY1YjQtZDgxNS00ODE5LTg3MDgtMmVkNmIwODU0ZWU3&hl=en

Copying an existing video

In our lessons with Dan we have started videoing our own version to Wheatus' Teenage Dirtbag. The link below shows the actual video to Teenage Dirtbag.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jJVRcCdvyY&ob=av2el
In our first recording lesson we went outside the back of the college and had a go at filming some outside shots for the beginning of the music video. For this lesson we worked as a class as it was our first time using the video cameras and tripods. For the shot we did I acted as an extra and had to walk through the frame pretending to be a student. After each shot we all filled in our shooting scripts with how the shoot went and what improvements we could make in the next take. This lesson went well but not all of us got to have a go behind the camera and it was mostly a watch and listen lesson.

In our second lesson we split our class into two groups and were each given a few shots from the corridor scene to film. We then went out in the corridor outside our class and worked at opposite ends. Our shots were the shots of the main character walking down the corridor and spotting the girl he fancied. We had a selection of close up shots and mid shots to shoot. We all took it in turns being in the video, recording, directing and writing on the shooting scripts. We worked very well as a group and all had a go behind the camera. The shots were fairly successful but we had trouble getting steady shots as we had to use tracking shots without a dolly and it is very hard to keep the camera steady without one. Other then this issue, we didn't have any other problems and managed to record the 4 shots we were asked to try.

In our third lesson we split into our same groups again and were given different shots to achieve. One group had to get the outside shots of the college and the shot of the main character asleep on a stairwell. We had a problem with this shot as it was raining. So, instead of outside shots, this group went into the common room and canteen as these places both gave the impression of a school setting. Our group stayed in the classroom and had to record the sports hall scene with the singer of the band playing the guitar. One of the people in our class had made a full sized score board for our video which we gaffa taped to the board and another rbought in the costume of the singers signature hat and glasses. Our teacher had brought us in a mcrophone stand and microphone as well as a small acoustic guitar. We set up the camera and tripod at the back of the classroom facing the board and the boy in our group dressed up as the singer and posed with the guitar. We had to try and get a shallow depth of field so that the scoreboard was slightly out of focus. this was hard though as we didn't really have a big enough room to achieve it. Other then our actor we had a few people taking in turns to record the shots and direct and some others keeping record of progress on our shooting scripts. I was in charge of the sound for the recording. Working on the computer pausing and restarting music as and when I was directed too. I also helped pre-recording with finding out what lyrics were being sung in each shot. I think our shots were very successful. We averaged a good shot every 5 takes. We had a close up shot, a mid shot and a mid shot in the profile view. Instead of just trying to achieve the few seconds of each shot we decided to film the whole verse in every shot, this way we had less problem with our singer trying to remember his cues and coming in on time. I think this was a very good shooting session and look forward to seeing the footage played back.



This week we have started editing the footage we have recorded in our previous lessons. We had a lesson where we were shown how to connect the video cameras to the laptops and introduced to Final Cut Pro on the Apple Macs and how to set up our projects and capture our videos onto the macs. The first step when getting on Final Cut was setting up the editing format. The European format is PAL which is 24 frames per second. This is different to the American or Asian format which is NTSC which plays at 30 frames per second. If you are in the incorrect format then you will encounter problems when it comes to editing. To change the format on Final Cut Pro you have to go to the programme menu and go to Easy Setup where a panel will open. Using the drop down options you choose:
Format: PAL
Rate: 24.00 fps
Use: DV PAL 24 @ 25
After setting up the editing format you have to setup a Scratch Disk. The Scratch Disk is a folder you create to store your video. This is important to make as its very important to keep track of your video files as we will be capturing a lot of footage. To setup a Scratch Disk you go to the programme menu again and go to the System Settings panel. In it you click the Scratch Disk tab and click on the Set Button. It then asks you to make a folder to keep all your videos in, we saved the folder in the Movies Folder as then it is easier to find and recognise which is yours as we have to share the MacBooks with other media classes.
Once Final Cut is ready to use you have to connect your video camera to the laptop. You have to set the camera to VCR or Playback mode and then use the Firewire cable to connect the camera to the laptop. Now that the camera is connected you no longer need to use the camera controls, instead you can use the computer, this gives you a more precise frame by frame accuracy. You also need to rewind your footage so that once your video is on the computer you do not waste time rewinding it to the beginning and you can get started capturing straight away.
Now that the camera is connected we can capture the video from the camera to the computer. Before capturing you need to save your project in your folder you setup on the Scratch Disk. You then go to the Final Cut Pro menu and select Log and Capture. The computer will then open up a connection to your camera. Sometimes a box will appear that says, "Unable to Initialise Video Deck" which means you need to check your camera is set to the right mode or that the Firewire cable is connected properly as they can be quite temperamental.
When the capture window opens you can see your video in a frame where you can fast forward and rewind it using keyboard shortcuts:
J - Rewind
Jx2 - Rewind Double Speed
Jx3 - Triple speed
L - Fast forward
Lx2 - Double speed
Lx3 - Triple speed
Space Bar - Start/Pause
Before capturing the footage you need to give the video a name in the Description Check Box in the Logging Panel. Before capturing you need to play the video for a couple of seconds then click the Now tab. Once your footage is captured, you click the escape button and you video is ready to be edited on the computer.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BwxYNy6Gbf9BNzBmNzJlMmEtN2FiYS00MDc1LWI1ZmMtZGU1M2NlODY0OGNm&hl=en

This is my groups final edit for our Teenage Dirtbag video. The final edit isn't to the standards I was hoping as we ended up being rushed with time and this meant editing wasn't perfect and we missed out quite a few shots. This made large gaps in our video. We also have some shots that arent quite in focus or not quite in time with the music. We also have some problems with setting because of weather some shots that were supposed to be outside had to be shot inside, making them look unlike the video. If I could do it again I would re shoot quite a few shots were we had to film without a tripod as it makes the picture wobbly and unprofessional looking. I have learnt some good methods for shooting for when I make my own musical video. We learnt whilst doing this video, that it was easier to film the whole song from different angles then edit bits out of these then try and film each individual shot. I have also learnt the importance of shooting scripts and storyboarding to help with organisation and to refer to when we come to the editing stage. I feel I need to practice using FinalCut pro some more in my lessons with Dan as I am still not fully confident with the programme.

This is another piece of filming we did as a class to experiment using Final Cut Pro and is an experiement of a time lapse. We filmed it in college and split the class into 4 groups and looked for locations where we had a solid background with a good view of the sky. We filmed our subject in 3 different positions in the frame with the camera on a tripod and filmed each position for around 5 minutes. We then edited everyones work together and made it into a time lapse. I am pretty happy with the final product, the time lapse is a really nice effect and will seriously consider trying to incorporate it into my own music video. My favourite part of this time lapse is the one where the light gradually comes on in the background, it looks really effective.

Video Analysis

To analyse Lady Gagas videos I went onto http://www.youtube.com/.

The First video I looked at was Bad Romance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyI0I .

This video is set in a bath house which is named The Bath Haus of Gaga. The storyline is that Gaga has been kidnapped by a group of supermodels and sold to the Russian mafia.This video starts with a shot of Gaga sitting in a gold throne surrounded by her dancers, a mixture of men and women. The room is brightly lit and Gag has her finger on the mute button of an iPod speaker, as she releases it the song begins to play. We then switch to a fluorescent white room with baths that look like pods in it, the light spans the room and a sign saying The Bath Haus of Gaga shows. As the music continues dancers in long sleeved white leotards emerge from the small white pods and Lady Gaga gets out of the central one with a similar looking outfit. We then switch between these dancers and other scenes, including one of Gaga with candyfloss pink hair lying in a bath. During the chorus Gaga is dragged from the bath by two women, has her clothes ripped off and forced to take a swig of a drink. The second verse starts with Gaga in a diamond covered outfit dancing for some men who look like they are bidding for her. She then performs a lap dance for one of the men and a highest bid is made. Next Gaga is in a faux polar bear coat walking towards a man with an unbuttoned shirt sitting on a bed. The bed then spontaneously combusts. Gaga sings and dances in front of he flames and switches between these dancing scenes and one of her in a red lingerie outfit dancing with dancers in red outfits. At the end we see Gaga lying next to the burnt remains of a skeleton on the bed, smeared with soot, calmly smoking a cigarette whist her pyrotechnic bra sparks.

This video helps show Lady Gagas uniqueness and quirky style. There is a theme of revenge throughout the video from when she is kidnapped and we have scenes of Gaga trying to escape the models and resisiting when being dragged around. Then she gets her revenge at the end when the bed sets fire and the captor is burnt to a skeleton. In the video she is seen in various outfits, all of which haven't really been seen before a music video but you can see aspects of different artists in her style. The song itself is very mainstream pop which has been popular for years. Youtube lets you see who watches the video and where abouts the viewers live. From the videos psychographics you can see that this video is most popular in Europe, North America, South America, Austrailia and Russia, as well as lots of other parts of the world. We can also see that this video has been most popular with female Youtube viewers between the ages of 13-17 and male Youtube viewers between the ages of 35-54. Of course we cannot get a precise look at who likes Lady Gaga from these numbers as some parts of the world do not have as many computers and internet connecion as others.

The second Lady Gaga video I am going to analyse is Paparazzi, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2smz_1L2_0&ob=av2e

Paparazzi is set out as a 8 minute mini-movie. Its plot is a doomed star who is constantly followed round by the paparazzi. The beginning of the video shows short shots of a well kept garden and then a large mansion. We then cut to Lady Gaga and her boyfriend on their bed kissing and talking in Swedish, which is subtitled at the bottom.Her boyfriend then carries Gaga out onto the balcony and they continue kissing. It then becomes apparent that the boyfriend has arranged a photographer to take pictures of them together. When Gaga realises this she tried to make him top kissing him, which leads to her slapping him round the face. He then gets angry and pushes her over the balcony. The photographers take pictures of her lying in her own blood then declare her career over. Next we see Gaga being carried from a limo by her dancers and into a wheelchair in the house. Gaga is wearing a metallic neck brace and a black plain outfit. As she gets into the house, the dancers dance round her and as they pass in front of her, her outfit changes to a gold metallic leotard with a matching helmet and she starts stumbling forward on her crutches. During this scene the music starts and we also cut to quick shots of dead models. We next have dancing scenes where Gaga is wearing a series of different outfits. A black brief outfit as she makes out with a trio of rockers on a golden couch, a white body suit with a black skirt on one leg and a dress made of film strips and a feathered Mohawk headdress. Our next scene is Gaga and her boyfriend sitting in a sitting room, a maid comes in and lays down a tray of drinks. Gaga is in a Mickey Mouse yellow catsuit with matching sunglasses and shoulder pads. In this scene she takes revenge on her boyfriend by poisoning his drink with white powder she has concealed in her ring. She then phones the police declaring she has killed her boyfriend. Next Gaga is being taken away by the police wearing a large cone corkscrew wig, surrounded by paparazzi once again. The papers now proclaim her innocence and say that Gaga has regained her fame. The video ends with Gaga having mugshots taken in a tulips style dress whilst posing like a model.

Looking at the psycho graphics provided on Youtube I can see that this video was popular with female Youtube members between the ages of 13-17 and male Youtube members between the ages of 35-54. We can also see by the colour coded map that this video is most popular in North and South America and Europe. However it was not popular in Africa and parts of Asia.

Paparazzi is a catchy pop song that would be popular with most people who are interested in the charts. This video also shows Gagas quirky and individual style through her numerous amount of individual outfits. The video itself has more of a story then a meaning but does show the extent people will go to get fame or regain their fame, even if they have to murder someone.

Target Audience of Artist

To research the psycho graphics, demographics and socio-economic classifications for my artist Lady Gaga, I went on NRS.co.uk (National Readers Survey), as I used in my AS coursework, and looked through the latest top line readership figures for magazines in which Lady Gaga had featured on the cover of. I chose 4 magazines, all with different target audiences to give me a larger range of data to work with. I used the latest figures that had been published, which was July 2009 - June 2010.

The first magazine I looked at was Vanity Fair which Gaga featured on the cover on in September 2010. Vanity fair has an estimated readership of 293000 readers. Out of these readers the most popular age group readership was the 15-44 age group with 212000 readers compared to only 81000 44+ readers. This shows me that Vanity fair appeals more to a younger audience. It is also more popular with the socio-economic group ABC with 217000 readers in this band compared to only 75000 in the CDE band. From this magazine I can see that Lady Gaga appeals to the younger audience and appeals to people in high professions and in the higher socio-economic groups. The photo on the front of this magazine is a fashion photo. Although Gaga is appearing nude in the photo, she is covered and they use the main colour white as it is a pure colour and doesn't make this nude photo not sexy but fashion and iconic. Her pose with the 'peace' sign also shows this.The second magazine I looked at is Elle magazine, which is a similar genre of magazine to Vanity Fair. These figures seemed quite similar to Vanity Fair's but Elle has a larger readership of approximately 739000. Once again the majority of readers were in the 15-44 age band with 587000 readers. But there is still a large amount in the 44+ age group with 152000 readers. The socio economic classifications also showed a higher readership in the ABC band with 499000 readers and lower in the CDE band with 240000 readers. This is still a very high readership in the CDE band as this is around three times the amount then in Vanity Fair. So from this I can see that Lady Gaga is popular with both socio economic groups and still more popular between the 15-44 age group. Elle uses a quite revealing photo for their front cover. Gaga is known for her outrageous styles and one of a kind pieces. But this photo is more fashionable and shows a sophisticated but still sexy side to Lady Gaga which would be intriguing to the reader as it is a different side to the Gaga they know in the media.

I have also looked at a slightly different genre magazine, whereas the first two were fashion magazines, this one is more of a female gossip magazine about celebrities and beauty and style tips. Look is very widely read with approximately 532000 readers. This magazine is also more read by the younger age range of readers with 458000 between the ages of 15-44. And only 74000 readers who are 40+. With the socio-economic groups the amount of readers is fairly close in comparison with the other magazines. They had approximately 317000 readers in the ABC band and 216000 in the CDE band. Look has a picture of Gaga as the main photo but it isn't a photo from a photoshoot, but instead a more natural, unstaged photograph. This matches the genre of the magazine as it isn't souley about style but more about celebrity life instead.
The fourth magazine I looked at was Q magazine. Q is a magazine about music that is considered targeted at men. Q has a very large readership of approximately 666000 with the vast majority (572000) in the 15-44 age group and only 94000 44+ readers. Most of the readers are in the ABC group with 444000 readers in this band and 222000 readers in the CDE band. The picture on the front cover shows Gagas diverseness to fashion and how she likes to stand out from the crowd. She matches the layout to the magazine with the dark colours and the white hair. Gagas pose is quite sexual as she is topless and is posing in a suggestive way. This matches the target audience of males as an attractive women would appeal to the men as well as her musical background.

I have looked on Lady Gagas videos on www.youtube.com and looked at the demographics for who has been watching her videos and where in the world they live.I looked at her video Bad Romance and from the world map you can see that the dark green areas are where her videos have been watched most. I can see that Lady Gaga is most watched in the UK, most of Europe, South and North America, Austrailia and Russia as well as some other parts of the world. A grid at the side of this map also tells me which age groups this video has been most popular with. I can see that Lady Gagas video to Bad Romance was most popular with females aged between 13-17 and males aged between 35-54.

I have also looked on social networking sites to see Lady gagas popularity and audience. From looking on her official Myspace I could see that she is extremely popular with people across the world with 1,368,748 friends. I could also see her music was very popular from the play count on her media player. Her song Bad Romance has had 19,817,903 plays. And her profile has had 64,562,649 views. Her Myspace also has information on her tour dates and media appearances.


The 2nd social networking site I looked at was Facebook. Lady Gaga too shows that she has a wide range of fans spreading across the world, with 18,510,975 fans on Facebook. Gagas Facebook lets people find out where she is and what she is up too. There is updates on music releases and links to Gagas other sites such as her twitter and official website.

To try and get to know why my friends liked or dislike Lady Gaga I made a facebook page asking them to give me their opinions and why they liked Lady Gaga. The feedback I got was that she is popular due to her outrageous and quirky style and her uniqueness. People also commented on her superb videos and her catchy lyrics.

Lastly I looked up Gaga on Wikipedia to see about her record sales to see how popular she was. Her first album The Fame has sold over 12 million copies worldwide which is quite an achievement in the current situation in the music industry with illegal downloading at its highest and making money through record sales is becoming increasingly harder. Lady Gagas second album The Fame Monster was also very popular worldwide, selling over 1.241 million copies in the US alone. This is an especially good achievement as Gaga released the two albums in the space of one year.

From all this information I can see that Lady Gaga appeals to people across the world. The magazine readership figures show that Gaga was mostly popular with the younger generation, this could be down to her style and music style. I know now in my music video I should try and target a younger generation and try and get a unique style in my video to appeal to her fans.

Permission

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to ask your permission to use the song Teeth by Lady Gaga in my music video coursework at A2 Media at Sussex Downs Lewes College.

I understand that copyright at Interscope Records and in the music industry is a large importance and that without these copyright terms people would be less willing to share their new ideas and innovations with the industry and it would be a hard struggle to succeed in the music industry. However my music video will not be shared with anyone apart from the exam board and my college teachers and I will not be making profit or privately showing the videos to members of the public. I plan only to use the music only as part of the coursework.

Thank you for your time and I hope to hear your verdict soon.

Yours Sincerely

Chloe Deadman

Film Production

Today in my film production lesson with Dan, we learnt about the basics of using the college video cameras.

Firstly we looked at how to set up a basic tripod.

The reason we use the tripod is to give the video camera stability and to prevent movement whilst we film. The tripod has three collapsible legs with a centre post. These legs can be raised and lowered to give you different heights for filming. At the top of the tripod is the head with the camera mount (a detachable mount) with a thumbscrew on it that holds the camera in place on the tripod. there are several joints on the head of the tripod that let the user pan or tilt the camera and a handle to do so with fluidity and without giving the movement a shaky, amateur feel.

Dan taught us how to load tapes into the camera today and how to correctly name and label the case and actual cassette. This is to help us when we get round to editing out footage. If all tapes are labelled with the correct shot and take, we can refer to our shooting script to know which pieces of footage we want and which pieces did not shoot well or did not work out as planned. Our shooting scripts are key in helping us at editing stage. This is where we write about what happens in each shot, which is numbered, and which take goes best and which go wrong and don't need to be used in our final editing. If we make detailed notes it means if we need any extra material at editing stage, we know which bits are completely unusable and which bits can be used. We should be filling out our shooting scripts every time we film anything. Another worksheet we are to be filling out prior to filming our videos is our stroyboards. We looked at the different shots in Teenage Dirtbag and made comments on the shot number, shot type, a description of what was happening in the shot, the cameras movement or direction, the location, costume and props and a description of the audio. This was just a taster of what we will have to do when planning our own music video.

Today we also learnt about the white balance on the video cameras. In an inside setting where you will be filming under artificial light, the cameras will pick up the UV light and this will give your image a blue tinge to it. To stop this happening you must adjust the white balance on the camera. The same happens in an outside setting but instead of a blue tinge, you get an orange tinge. This means every time you change the setting you are filming in, you must adjust the white balance. It should also be the first thing you do when you turn on the camera. The settings available are AWB - Auto setting, but this cannot always be reliable to give a good colour quality. There is also a outside setting labelled with a symbol like a small sun, and a inside setting which is the symbol of a small light bulb. The last setting is manual setting which is a symbol of two small triangles with a line above them. In our lessons we will mostly be using the outside and inside options.

We also learnt the health and safety features of using the video cameras and how we should correctly put them away after use.

If we are to move the camera and tripod even just a small distance, we should take the camera and its mount off the tripod and transport them separately. This is to prevent the camera falling off and getting damaged, as they are very fragile. We are also to check the that nothing has got stuck in the legs of the tripod before we collapse the legs as this can cause damage to the legs. Before we put our cameras away after use we must make sure we have taken all our tapes out of the camera otherwise this could lead to loss in footage and a waste of time when re filming it. We must also make sure we have put all the equipment labelled with the same number all back in the correct bag, to avoid confusion when they are next used. If we are trying to preserve battery we should use the viewfinder on the camera instead of the LCD screen, this is because the viewfinder uses less battery.

Song Choice

Me and my group made a brainstorm of possible bands whose songs we could use for our Music Video coursework project.

We brainstormed bands of all genres firstly then decided what sort of genre we would like to do, this meant we could narrow down our choice of band. We decided to go for a pop song by a popular artist that would appeal to a large audience. In the end we decided to do the song Teeth by Lady Gaga. The song has good lyrics and we felt that it would make for an interesting and diverse video that we could make a creative video to.

Don't be scared, Ive done this before

Show me your teeth

Show me your teeth

Show me your teeth

Don't want no money (Want your money)

That shits ugly

Just want you sex (Want your sex)

Take a bite of my bad girl meat (Bad girl meat)

Take a bite of me, boy (Show me your teeth)

Let me see, you're mean

Got no direction (No direction)

I need direction

Just got my vamp (Got my Vamp)

Take a bite of my bad girl meat (Bad girl meat)

Take a bite of me boy (Show me your teeth)

The truth is sexy

Tell you something that'll save me

I need a man that makes me alright

(Man who makes me alright)

(Just tell me that its alright)

Tell me something that'll change me

I'm gonna love you with my hands tied

Show me your teeth

Just tell me when

(Show me your teeth)

Open your mouth boy

(Show me your teeth)

Show me what you got

(Show me your teeth, teeth, teeth, teeth)

Got no salvation

(No salvation)

Got no salvation

Got no religion

(No religion)

My religion is you

Take a bite of my bad girl meat (Bad girl meat)
Take a bite of me, boy (Show me your teeth)

I'm a tough bitch

Got my addictions (My addictions)

And I love to fix 'em

(And I love to fix 'em)

No ones perfect

Take a bite of my bad girl meat (Bad girl meat)
Take a bite of me, boy (Show me your teeth)

I just need a little guidance

Tell you something that'll save me
I need a man that makes me alright
(Man who makes me alright)
(Just tell me that its alright)
Tell me something that'll change me
I'm gonna love you with my hands tied

Show me your teeth
Just tell me when
(Show me your teeth)
Open your mouth boy
(Show me your teeth)
Show me what you got
(Show me your teeth, teeth, teeth, teeth)

Show me your teeth

My religion is you

My religion is you

Help, need a man now show me your fangs

Help, need a man now show me your fangs

(My religion is you)

Help, need a man now show me your fangs

Help, need a man now show me your fangs

Help, need a man now show me your fangs

(My religion is you)

Help, need a man now show me your fangs

Help, need a man now show me your fangs

Help, need a man now show me your fangs

Tell you something that'll save me

I need a man that makes me alright

(Man who makes me alright)

(Just tell me that its alright)

Tell me something that'll change me

I'm gonna love you with my hands tied

Show me your teeth

Just tell me when

(Show me your teeth)

Open your mouth boy

(Show me your teeth)

Show me what you got

(Show me your teeth, teeth, teeth, teeth)

Show me your teeth

It's not how big, it's how mean

It's not how big, it's how mean

Show me your teeth

(Show me your teeth)

Show me your teeth

(Show me your teeth)

(Open your mouth boy)

Show me your teeth
(Show me your teeth)
Show me your teeth
(Show me your teeth)

(My religion is you)

Show me your teeth

(show me your teeth)

(I just need a little guidance)

Show me your teeth

(Show me your teeth)

Show me your teeth

(Show me your teeth, teeth, teeth, teeth)