New possible location: Rosemoor Gardens, Devon

I was recently on holiday in Northern Devon when myself and my family went to RHS Rosemoor Gardens. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the gardens themselves are very aesthically pleasing, with all colours, sizes etc. So, I took the opportunity to film some footage of random things e.g. the sun flashing behind trees, a spider's wet web in the sunlight, and nature occurring e.g. bees and butterflies including the vibrant Red Admiral collecting pollen and camouflaging themselves amongst the plants. It was a gentle, slow paced place, which matches my gentle, slow paced song.

Production Diary 6: Storyboard, music video directors, locations and photo tutorial

This is my sixth Production Diary where I will show you a tutorial of how I removed actors from a photo (which I took whilst out on a planned shoot a couple of weeks ago)

Research into Music Video Directors

Filming Locations

What is a digipak?

What is a Digipak?

 A digipak is part of the packaging involved for CD albums. They typically consist of a book style, which folds and is usually either made out of laminated paper which is then encased within a hard plastic outer case. Digipaks were first created by MeadWestvaco, a global packaging company, and the Digi-Pak is now their trademark item, however since the popularity of them has risen, there are many more manufacturers. Digi-paks are now very common and can be seen surrounding practically every new CD disk coming out. A popular place to see them is music stores such as HMV.

The Digi-Pak is there to sell the CD without the audience necessarily listening to it. The Digi-Pak consists of the album art cover, and looks very similar to the pictures below. The front cover will typically involve a picture of the artist and the title of the album, as well as maybe having a couple of reviews or plugs such as “includes the new smash hit…” The album cover art will depend on what genre the CD is and the personality of the artist e.g. a pop artist like Lady Gaga will typically have bright, neon colours and a fancy/busy cover whereas someone like indie artists Lana Del Ray and Imagine Dragons will have more of a simplistic cover with a ‘less is more’ colour scheme.
The inside of the front will typically consist of all the official information and the copyright and trademark information. The background will most likely be a blurred image or a plain background. Sometimes however, the manufacturers may include a copy of the lyrics in this section.
Next to this one is the section that actually contains the CD. This will also typically consist of a full bleed image of the artist looking straight at the lens, to really capture your attention. In some cases however, the artists prefer to have one image stretched over both inside sections, which can also look impressive. The back cover usually displays the song track titles with an image in the background and may also have more trademark logos.

Videos I admire

1. 'Love Runs Out'- One Republic



I really like this video as not only do I love the song, but I would say it defintely fits into the Post Modern genre - though it was produced in June 2014, it has many aspects of it that perhaps look like it was made many years ago e.g. the obvious green screening. The vibrant colours and weird props help add to this crazy theme, and yet because it is time to the beat of the song, it works, and the lip synching of the lead is perfect. The lighting is continous, this sunset/sunrise setting, and the costumes are also very diverse - much like the actors themselves. The most prominent micro feature here I would say is the editing - quick changes from character to character, the green screening of the weather and background and the editing of the actors themselves - the 'double' effect for example. I love how around 2.15 the music video changes to a slightly dark phase, with lighting, storms, sea, blackness and then changes to bright colours again - however the characters are now in black silhouette. Lastly, I love the way simple props have been used to create sophiscated aspects e.g. the sea is clearly a shiny piece of plastic, yet with the way the lighting has been maneouvered it creates the wave like motion.

2. 'Boom Boom Clap' - Charli XCX

 

This is actually the soundtrack to blockbuster film, 'The Fault in Our Stars' starring Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley. I love the beats to this song, the repetition of the tone and rhythm. With this video, it being the soundtrack to a film, includes scenes from the film e.g. focusing mainly on the two protagonists, Hazel and Gus. Not only does this give content to the video, but it's actually a very beneficial way of selling the movie, and fans especially will be flocking to see this music video. Another thing is that, keeping in with the setting of the film, the music video is set in Amsterdam - it's actually a very simple video, just Charli walking around Amsterdam wearing normal clothes and minimal makeip, with freqeunt cut aways to the film. The last thing I like and admire about this video in particular is how it has kept in with selling the book and film with the various fonts, bubbles and fonts that appear within the video e.g. 'Boom Boom'- it's written in the same typography as the 'Okay? Okay' title on the original Fault in Our Stars book by John Green.

3. Black Widow - Iggy Azalea ft Rita Ora

I admire and like this video a lot because it is based on one of my favourite films: Kill Bill, directed by Quentin Taratino. Though I am usually quite skeptical when music videos are based around something already existent e.g. films, books, I actually quite like this adaptation, and it definetly fits into the post modern category. I love how they have reflected Kill Bill i.e. the female protagonists, dressed in a similar leather jumpsuit to Uma Thurman's character, the motorbikes, the Hattori Hanzo swords, learning to fight, cherry tree snow background, and of course having actors like Michael Madsen, who was originally in the cast for Kill Bill to play the antagonist. I admire the quick editing and the range of shots used, and I also like the idea of having a prologue and epilogue in the video - this is definetly narrative over performance. Black Widow is similar to mine in that it is based on a narrative, however I think I will do mine with lots of inspirations in mind, not just one film.

Music Video Analysis: Pretty Hurts

Key Concepts and Theories for music videos