Final images

I chosen this to be one of my final images. The mid-close up shot reveals our artist's eyes behind the sunglasses (as she wore them throughout the video). The tiara reinforce her name 'Princess' Landa and the hoodie represents the youth/hip hop/urban/reggae culture. Her nails could represent black Afro Caribbeans in terms of style and popularity as a majority of young females wear these particular type of nails.

This image has a lot of potential in terms of edit and graphic terms. If I choose to develop this image, I'd make it to look as though she's laying on her name 'Landa', with 'princess' in the top left corner. This gives emphasis on the artist's name and the audience would instantly recognise her name. She's laying in a casual manner, revealing a bit of skin and clevage but in a not so obvious way which challenges dancehall's representation of women.

Playing around with the filler lights, I find that it's used as it's best here. The lighting has almost created a silhoutte of the artist which can represent her 'unknown persona' as she's unsigned. The pose also reinforces the song - having no time for no one (telling them to shush!). The tiara, chain and sunglasses are still visible making the artist recognisable.

I would preferably use this image as the back CD cover because the subject is mainly on the right side of the image making it easier to place writing (name of her songs) on the left side.

How the group is getting on

Currently we are at the finishing stages of the editing process and we have come to the conclusion as a team that some of our members are putting in more effort than others, as the music video is a shared piece of work it is only right that the responsibilities are shared out evenly. The fact we've had similar ideas, make the work a little easier in terms of getting stuff done.

We've all had our input in trying to make our final product exciting and successful. Now, at the editing stage, most of us have taken time out of our personal time to edit (as there's a lot for Nawid to do). We negotiated times and have decided to contact each other via phone to come to the editing suit to edit.

The Photoshoot

Thankfully, the photoshoot went smoothly and according to plan. The artist did arrive 15 minutes late but at least I took as many pictures as a needed (and more as I can use one for the advertising add for a magazine).

Here are some of the pictures I took. Some have bad exposure and an inaccurate shutter speed or have the incorrect exposure:

Photoshoot Plan

Looking at the images the other team members took (Nawid and Haroon) took didn't exactly 'tickle my fancy'.  So, I've decided to schedule a day with our artist and do a photo shoot.

24/01/11

What I will bring:

1. My digital Lumix camera (used for photography).
2. Props such as a Tiara - which can symbolise the artist's name as 'Princess Landa'. I will also bring a long white (gold and silver) hoodie - the style of which a lot of dancehall/hip hop artist's wear.
3. I will ask the artist to bring the sunglasses she wore in the music video and the chain in order for the photo to relate to the video.

OUTLINE OF THE DAY:

• Call up artist at 12 and meet in the media suit/green room) at 13:00.
• During that time, I will set the equipment : white background, two filler lights and my SLR camera.
• By 13:00pm everything would be set up.
• I would play about with the composition  and how the artist is going to pose (influenced by the CD album covers I have researched).

Sketches and Ideas for CD cover

I've decided to put my head down and sketch anything that comes to mind for the CD cover. I've taken pictures of my ideas (because my scanner wasn't working) on the blog and I've annotated them:
1) The first idea was having our artist in the middle of the cover and it would be taken from a mid-long shot revealing her figure and clothing. The idea was to show that she is a popular artist hence the flashing cameras and the red carpert look/effect. I wanted to almost juxtapose hollywood's idea of glamour and fame (expensive clothes, makeup, clevege etc) as appose to dancehall's look which is mainly tight fitted revealing clothes and exaggerated jewlery.

2) The second idea I had was to have our artist taken from a mid-close shot. This is because in the video she's mainly shot from a mid close shot with would then correlate well with the CD cover. The idea of her lifting a hat of her head was that the hat would represent a male of which she's taking off as she doesn't need a man to be successful or to pull her back. She would wear similiar clothes to what she wore in the video so that she can then have a fashion mark which intially lead to bigger profits as she could go into promoting these objects/props which would lead to bigger profits and more awareness of her as an artist.


3) My third idea was that the artist's picture was a close shot only revealing half of her face. This is because she's upcoming and new - not a lot of people would know her. I beleive it also adds mystery to her as a person as she is an underground/unsigned artist. She would wear a tiara simply to represent and symbolise her name 'Princess Landa'. Her name 'Landa' would be in larger font to show that her name is 'big, well known and popular'.


4) For my forth idea I decided to go for a different approach and maybe use an image of the artist when she's laying down (landscape). I like the idea of her laying on her name - it would make the CD cover different and mroe interesting. In some way it shows confidence - as said in her lyrics she doesn't depend on no one but her self. I would use the little crown on the 'Princess' or on the 'Landa' to reinforce her name of 'Princess'. It could also be a logo of her name instead of the whole two words (this could lead to other promotions such as clothing lines for example having a logo of a tiara/crown could be made by Princess Landa).

CD cover influences

Looking at different CD cover images, I've noticed that a lot of dancehall/reggae covers are quite explicit and a chance for women to almost sell themselves to the male society. I thought it would be a good idea to look at artists have Caribbean background and have represented their culture one way or another. A prime example is Rihanna. Originally born and raised in Barbados, she has become one of the most famous female artists around.

Rihanna's music contains strong influences of Caribbean music which includes dancehall and reggae. The video 'Rude Boy' was especially inspired by her Caribbean roots.

This particular look (particularly the colours) has given me plenty of ideas for out CD cover. I like the idea of using the colours to enhance the cultural element (targeting the Afro - Caribbean culture). I especially like the 'Sin City effect' on this image, leaving the artist in black and white and selected specific areas and fill them in with different colours.  My initial idea for our artist was to wear sunglasses to firstly show that she's almost 'unknown' as she is an unsigned artist, but also to show she's fashionable as sunglasses are big right now in fashion especially now in the music industry/

Following on from Rihanna, I've looked at various r&b and hip hop album covers (as those are the genres our artist is in to). I like this CD front cover of the well known r&b/pop princess Ciara. The close up shot reveals her face/makeup in great detail and her defined face shape. The fact that half of her face is covered almost leaves mystery behind the artists' work, which is something I should think about when making the CD cover for our artist. It's simple, sexy and challenges conventions (the typical long shots with hardly any clothing).

 This is America's well known rapper/singer Lil Mama. This cover too is close up- revealing her face/makeup in more detail. The mise-en-scene (clothes, hair and makeup) is quite child-like, something for teenagers. However, there's something charming about this image, the pose. This made me realise I need to think about how my artist is going to pose, whether it will challenge or reinforce convention of mainstream ideas of females dancehall artists.

Famous Dancehall/reggae female artists:

This artist's front cover is very simple to an extent that it doesn't look professional. Thinking critically about this image, ther

An outline of my idea for the cover

Costume	For the CD cover design, I want the artist to be wearing either a black blazer (to reinforce her class an independence) and a white tank to, or a black baseball top. As she wore glasses throughout the majority of the video, I think it would be a good idea to have her wearing them for the cover (so that she's recognisable).
Set	The images will be taken in a studio with either a black or white background so that it relates back to the music video.
Props	She will wear sunglasses and this time a boy hat. The expression I imagine will reinforce the fact that she has no time for boys (which is said in her song). I will also use a watch to reinforce her song title 'Ni time fi dem'  (no time for them).
Lighting	I will use high key lighting so that she doesn't have any shadow.
Colour Scheme	In order to relate to cultural background, I believe that colours such as; green, yellow and red are necessary for this cover as it represents her ethical background.
Camera Style	It will be a mid-close up of her to reveal detail in expression and props.
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Special FX	The special effects that I will use are from my draft CD cover designs which are shown on the blog. This will be achieved through the use of Photoshop and In design.
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Marketing aims for CD cover

Aim of the cover: Target audience (15-25), unique selling point, product, price and promotion to come across efficiently and effectively.

Unique selling point:  The idea is to make the cover reinforce yet challenge convention and to add a snippet of cultural background. My plan B is to create a black and white image (which links with the video) and to add colour filters, for example, a mid-close up of our artist with pink lips (achieved through the use of Photoshop).

Interest: As our artist is an independent young Jamaican female, the colours, graphics and text on the CD cover may attract others that are not between 15-25 years.

Promotion: Information from the demographics will allow me to sell the product at a rate our target audience would much prefer and at a price they'll be more likely to buy it for.

The potential of the CD cover as a marketing vehicle

Having a CD cover will allow us to target a segment of our market who do not have access to the internet and will be used as a marketing tool in order to promote our music video further. The design of the CD cover will also allow fans of both Princess Landa and the reggae genre to relate to the cover and become aesthetically attracted to what is in front of them which will hopefully encourage them to purchase the single increasing the potential of the CD cover as a marketing vehicle.

Not only do CD covers allow fans of an artist and the genre to relate to the cover, it may also attract others who are interested, for example if a CD cover had a picture of a dominating female figure with money and no male by her side this will no doubt attract the attention of feminists and encourage them to purchase the single.

CD Covers

Moving on from the music video, I have now been looking at various female artists' album covers. I find it interesting that a majority of females in the Jamaican culture portray themselves in a revealing and an explicit manner. This makes me wonder why do these women complain about not being treated 'right' or 'respected' by the opposite sex when they display themselves in a cheap, tacky and degrading way.

Here are some CD music covers I've found which undoubtedly are very degrading for women and reinforce the idea that women should be seductive and revealing a lot of skin in order to please and attract men:

Here, the main focus is on the bottom half of this woman's body. The see through - fish net outfit (or whatever you call that!) reveals her body in almost a teasing way. This again reinforces mainstream ideas that women should be portrayed a sex objects - a pleasure for men. I've noticed that the bottom half of this image (her buttocks) has a strong glow next to and almost around it. This draws the attention t

Her makeup is rather suttle which goes with the whole 'beach' concept of this album cover.

Here again, the these three women are dressed provocatively, the middle women is even topless and slightly covering her assets with her arms.

The colours also integrate the concept of women being sex symbols as pink/red tends to symbolise 'love, lust and danger'

However, taking more time and determined to find something different as opposed to the typical seductive and sex selling look, I found these females who in a way could represent culture and women (particularly in the Caribbean).

The examples:

This artist 'Lady Sawl' has portrayed herself as an independent, almost classy young female. The fact that she's covered and challenges mainstream ideas and representation of women in the Dancehall/Reggae genre leaves curiosity and mystery - something I'd like my artist to portray in her front cover. Perhaps with more confidence.

 



This is a mid close shot of the artist 'Shade'. Again, very little skin is revealed but the bright colours reinforce the mainstream dancehall and reggae CD covers as it represent culture and background. - Something I'd consider either for the CD cover OR the Magazine Advert.

The potential of the music video as a marketing vehicle (Video Alone)

As me and my team have come up with a different but challenging idea for a music video in terms of narrative and genre, I thoroughly believe our music video's potential as a marketing product is very good. The fact that our video is in black and white, makes this inevitably the main unique selling point as it enables us to ease on extensively marketing the video and allow the video to promote it self using the USP. Through cross-media promotion, our product can be advertised from all types of medium especially as advances in technology have become easily accessible, such as the internet. Our product can be promoted though well known/popular social networking sites which receive millions of users such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. These particular social network websites have a majority of users that are our target aduience (15-25).

Free viewing sites such as YouTube is a fantastic tool in terms of markerting our music video.

Sites such as YouTube are also another tool which will be used when marketing our music video, it is a very cost effective means of promotion and due to link sharing between users will no doubt help to generate a large amount of viewers to our music video and raise awareness

Editing/Effects

Our footage might be good, but it will only become a great music video through the editing stage. In order to do a good job at editing, patience and time is required (and A LOT OF PRACTICE! As practice makes perfect - right?) I need to go over the footage, and have a go at editing it down, log and capturing it and add necessary effects using Final Cut Pro. I've advised all members of the team to have a go at editing as it's very time consuming and if Nawid (our Editor) wouldn't be able to edit at a specific time, those who are free could take his place for the time being and edit as this would save a lot of time!   


By looking at different hip hop, dancehall and bashment music videos, I've noticed some of them have an opening of action but with no soundtrack (for the frist 10 seconds or so).

As we're using Final Pro, filling in areas with colours (flashing) will be very difficult as the it's a continuous movement. We've intially have used a white backdrop in order to give the video a real 'studio effect' (which also correlates with the lyrics), however, looking more into the 'sin city effect' in order to make it work we would have to use green screen. This is because the program can pick up the colour green and we will then be able to change the colour.

Sin City effect:



For a still image (which we can use for our CD cover) select a section of which one wishes to change the colour, adjust the balance and the hue to the correct setting.