Digipak Initial Ideas

I have discovered this album cover from The Crookes for their album 'Hold Fast'. The design idea of the four images - one of each member of the band - all in the same type of shot interested me and is something that I'd like to incorporate in my digipak design. Because Matutine is a single artist, all of the four images on the cover would be of her but holding a different pose/facial expression in each photo, similar to the photo shoot of Kaya Scodelario shown below.

This idea would be effective because it would present the audience with a persona of the artist and would build upon her image as it reveals features of her character. All the photos would be mid-shots and would show the face on portfolio of the artist - very similar to the photos in artwork of 'Hold Fast'. However, the photos of my artist would be less serious and would be similar to those that Kaya is showing in the photo reel above.

This technique can also be seen in the artwork for The Weeknd's mixtape 'Thursday'. The photos are arranged and portrayed in a such a way that the day Thursday is seen of some significance which is a clever use of this technique and makes an interesting artwork.

Artist Websites

Artwork #2

The Internet - Purple Naked Ladies

Diplo - Express Yourself

Danny Brown - XXX

Diplo - Boy Oh Boy

Martin Garrix - Animals

James Blake - James Blake

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX - We're New Here

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not

MGMT - Time to Pretend

M.I.A - Kala

Artwork #1

Disclosure - Settle

Chance the Rapper - Acid Rap

Kid Cudi - Indicud

SBTRKT - SBTRKT

The Weeknd - Thursday

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

Skream - Outside the Box

Kanye West Ft. Dwele - Power (Single)

Azealia Banks - Yung Rapunxel

Frank Ocean - Nostalgia/Ultra

Various Artists - Kanye West Presents Good Music (Cruel Summer)

AlunaGeorge - Alnalyser/We Are Chosen (Single)

Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.a.a.d City

Kanye West - Yeezus

The 1975 - Facedown

Major Lazer - Get Free

Jay Z - Magna Carta Holy Grail

Narrative Theorists

Andrew Goodwin's Theory
Andrew Goodwin identifies 5 aspects of music videos that the audience should look out for:

Thought beats - seeing the sound
The artists voice can form identification or trademarks that coincide with the star image. Roland Barthes theory of the 'Grain of Voice' can relate to this. Goodwin also identifies the artists mode of address - making the music video a two communication device.

Narrative and performance
Goodwin explains that music videos should ignore common narrative - it is important in their role of advertising.
Music videos should coherent repeatability.
The artist acting as both narrator and participant helps to increase the authenticity - the audience need to believe this is real.

The star image
The artist's image is instantly a recognisable as a sign, with a whole range of meanings or significations.

Relation of visuals to song
Illustrative - Using a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre, this is most common.
Amplification - Similar to repeatability. Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision.
Disjuncture - The meaning of the song is completely ignored.

Technical aspects
Camera work, movement, angle, mise-en-scene, editing, sound, and special effects.
Lighting and colour helps to set moods and emphasise key moments of the song.
Mise-en-scene needs to look authentic to attain professionalism.
Beats can coincide with editing.

Use in my music video
I have incorporated elements of Andrew Goodwin's theories into the concept of my music video, however on occasions I have also challenged some of the conventions that Andrew Goodwin supports.
The artist's voice of the song I have chosen is extremely unique and controversial, and is not widely recognised. This forms an identification that coincides with her star image as she, herself, is not a widely recognised artist and is not your conventional young, female, singer. My video also ignores the common narrative.
My music video ignores the element of the star image. This is because my artist is an upcoming, fresh, new, and relatively unknown artist with no real developed star image.
I have used the theory of three narratives of music video and classed the video as amplification, with elements of disjuncture.
In relation to the technical aspects of the video, I have used lighting and colour within the video during the projection shots and the editing of shots will coincide well in time with the beats of the song.

Representations in my Music Video

Who? 

In the video will be Jordan Cross (vocalist). Jordan will be featured heavily in the video because of her lead role and because she is the only person that I have chosen to appear in the video - there will be close up and mid shots of her as the artist and these will be important when promoting the star image. At first, I was deliberating as to whether or not involve the remaining two members of the 'experimental collective' MMM, to create a believable artist persona. However, I decided that doing this would mean creating more scenes in which they could feature and this could over complicate the video - something that I am trying to avoid. Also, it would be difficult to incorporate them into the video as they would have no real function - therefore it could be seen as unnecessary. 

What?

The music video is classed as amplification, with hints of disjuncture. The video has features of amplification as the shots change in time with the beat of the song, and the lyrics, at times, coincide with the song and the shots in the video. For example, the artist performs the lines "You'll find that I'm in you, and you're inside me too" - complete with actions. However, the video also contains elements of disjuncture due to the use of projection shots and the content of the outdoor shots. These shots are not related to the meaning of the song or the lyrics of the song itself and therefore there is little relation between the song and the video in this sense.

Where?

I have chosen to film in a number of locations for my music video; a room with a projector, the street, Highcross car park, and Highcross bridge. I felt that having numerous locations would give me the opportunity to create a sequence of fast, varying shots in the video when the beat and pace of the song increases - similar to the official video of Navy. I still plan on filming during the night-time and by using the locations of the street/car park/bridge, lighting will not be an issue as I can use the already provided lighting of car headlights, street lamps, traffic lights, etc. By filming in these outdoor places, it implies a modern genre. 

By using a blank room with a projector, I am able to create special effects and relate this to the experimental and psychedelic genre of the song. As the room is blank, there will be no distractions from the images and/or the artist.

Why?

I have chosen to create a music video with both elements of amplification and disjuncture because this reflects the new wave and experimental genre of the song. By keeping simple shots at simple angles, it would prevent over complicating the video.

How?
I will make the video by using either a HD camera, which I shall borrow. Or a camera of lower quality if the alternate HD camera is not available. I will also use a tripod that I will borrow, which will be especially important when filming the projection shots indoors, to ensure that the filming is steady, level, and as good quality as possible in order to look professional. By creating the risk assessment, storyboard and finalising the animatic, I am able to begin filming immediately. However, I still need to create a final schedule so that the filming can begin and time can be delegated properly - being as efficient as possible.

Risk Assessment

This risk assessment identifies the potential hazards that either myself or my artist could possibly encounter during the course of filming the music video. This takes into account both locations of outdoor and indoor shots.
By completing this, I am able to reduce any risk of these hazards taking place and any harm being inflicted on any person that is on set. If any potential hazards are spotted during the course of filming on locations that are not already noted, these shall be recorded in another post.