Digipak Reflection

This is the CD for my Digipak. I think that the CD is not a key part of the digipak as it will either be in the case or in a CD player. I used the light purple colour as the whole CD cover as i want it to just be a simple CD. The plain white text saying the artists name Justin Oakley is to again convey the same idea of being original and different from the common trends of the mainstream artists. 

On this part of the Digipak i had to add in personal slides with just photos of the artist. This is too give the audience a better look at the artist if they haven't seen him on television or one of his music videos. The artist is standing front of an all natural background of a tree. This picture slide looks good and professional as i have used a blur tool to blur the whole tree in the background. The artist is also dressed smartly in the photo. This gives the artist a positive representation as he looks smart and respectable.

Track list

For our media production i had to create ancillary products. One of these ancillary products consisted of digipaks. A digipak are the few sides to the booklet found in the case of an CD you will buy. The first part of my digipak was the track list. On the track list is all the songs found in that album. I think that the typography of the track list best conveys the artists music genre as the genre always strays away from mainstream trends as thats what's the genre is about, being original and different from the rest.

Digipak Cover

 This is the cover to my digipak. this will be at the front of the CD digipak and will be what the audience will see first. To create this i used photoshop. Using Photoshop i was able to add my own photos taken from the photo shoot and add different typography around it. I think that the picture works well as using the black and white effect conforms to the conventions of alternative pop artist as they stray away from mainstream trends. Mainstream trends will use much more colorful texts and images. I think that the typography works as it looks professional and would be appealing to the audience.

Thank you slide

 

Another part of the digipak was the thank you slide. In this slide is a short message from the artist himself saying thank you to all the people of his choice. As all i wanted to be clear was the message from the artist to all of his fans, family and production crew. I used an all plain back ground and white text to then convey the same ideas of how his genre has a strong contrast from mainstream music and trends.

Planning the editing

Editing is a key part of the final product as it is the process in which we make all the footage look continuous and put the right parts of footage together to create the narrative and performance. Editing gives the music video a chance to look better and much more professional. Also by using editing we will be able to remove all the poorly made footage and add different types of transitions to make it more interesting to the audience and more professional. To edit our music video we are going to use an application software found on Apple Macs called Final Cut Express.

In the editing i am going to use a series of different techniques to make the music video look more professional and to try convey the forms and conventions of an alternative pop artist. In parts of the music video we added a slow motion transition to try and convey the artists emotions better. The slow motion should also connote to the audience that it is a sad time in the artists life.

Jump cuts are cuts placed in the footage to change from one clip to a different one. They don't use any transitions like fade to black they just jump from one scene to another. Another technique i am going to include in my music video is zoom. In final cut express i am going to zoom onto the artists face to try and connote the artists emotions. In the music video i have got to try and sync the music with the artists singing. This will be hard matching every different clip to the artists mouth moving singing the lyrics.

Subculture Theory

A subculture is a group of people that have been brought together by a shared interest in music. Becoming a group evolving away from mainstream trends. Their are three main theories about subculture which is from the CCCS. The CCCS stands for 'The centre for contemporary culture studies'.

This theory is due to a rebeliious retaliation to ainstream music. As a group they would not of have conformed to the usual mainstream fan/artist complelling them to make their own sub genre by differentiating themselves from the mainstream artists. 

Grant McCraken believes that their is no mainstream and that the worlds culture is diverse and dynamic in creaticity with various idealogies and values.

Richard Dyer's star image is constructed which means the star is not a real person and is the only person the record label wants to perceive. Although the theory is absed around film stars the theory can be applied to artists of the music industry as they both follow certain traits to attract the audience. Dyer be;ives that his theory is based on two main paradoxes. The first paradox is that the star must be both ordinary and extroadinary. The sstar has to be able to relate to the average viewer as a person but must also stand out from the ordinary due to their success and talents within the music industry. The second paradox is simply to just be present but also absent so the release of a new song or album is a big deal to the audience.

The artist i have chosen is Jason Mraz. Jason Mraz is an alternative pop genre artist who is widely popular world wide. Jason Mraz conforms to the CCCS theory as his genre challenges mainstream trends. The codes and conventions of this particular artist fit the CCCS theory. This conveys how a new culture has been created through the originality and creativenes of certain individuals.   

History of music videos

Music videos are short films which turns the themes and ideas displayed in the lyrics into visuals. This is not always the case as unique artists may make a diverse music video which is more present than past. A music video is used to promote the artist casuing the artists recordlabel to make more money. A music video is used to promote the artists lifestyle to the audience and so that the audience can build a stronger relationship with the artist. In 1926 alot of short music videos started to aper called 'Talkies' due to the vast growth in popularity the Talkies became more and more common. As the years went on these talkies then developed into full music videos having their own music vhannels on television. However in the 1950's Scopitone a visual jukebox was invented in france and more french artists woukd accompany their songs.  

In 1964 one of the most renwoned rock bands in history starred in their first feature film 'A Hard Days Night' which was filmed in black and white. When The Beatles starred in this film which contained musical sequances putting a normal narrative like a film into a musical sequance including songs which play along with the narrative. This then lead to some of the most famous films in history such as Mary Poppins. 

In the 1970's The orld famous british television show 'Top of the Pops' started broadcasting music videos. However the BBC placed a legislation stating that their will only be a certain amount of artists from outside the U.K to be allowed to show their music videos on this channel. As this channel was so popular it greatly increased the sales of the record labels and the artists songs making music videos increasingly popular. In 1981 was when the US made the still ever so popular music channel MTV. MTV was launched with 'Video Kileed The Radio Star' and was the very first 24 hour music channel. This started to lead to a new revolution of music where the visuals would perceive the different meanings behind the lyrics. Music videos were npow being released by the most famous mainstream artists of that time like Duran Duran and Madonna. 

In 1983 music videos hit a turning point when micheal jackson released his 14 minute long music video for his hit song 'Thriller'. The video set a high standard for other artists and cost $500,000 to produce. Another important development in the music industry surrounding music videos was the channel 4 chart show which started in 1986. This show was dedicated to all the greatest songs of that current time and will change due to new artists being in the charts. 

1999 was the start of a new era in the music industry as peer-to-peer file sharing over the internet became easier and cheaper to use. This software napster run between 1999 and 2001. In 2005 a new website called youtube was launched. This website would change the dynakics of music videos as it is creating the most easily accessed website to find possibly and music video in the world. Artists who may not have a record label would seek out fame through the use of the internet on websites such as myspace, youtube and vevo.

Diversity of a music video

Within this post i will explain what is meant by diversity in a music video using examples from famous artists to explain these. 

The first example of a diverse music video is the song frozen by Madonna. 

The video is very slow and unconventional to her usual style of music. Madonna tends to conform for a more happy, fun and excited stereotype which made her very appealing to her target audience. However this video just seems to lack all three of these things being very sad and dull. This video also never conforms to andrew goodwins theory. The video is completly performance based as she is consistantly singing throughout the music video. Madonna representations are lonely, scared and isolated. The music video could of just been an attempt to widen her target audience and therefore make more money for herself sand her record label. Due to the terrible lyrics and visuals shown in the music video this does not make it a good music video but very memorable which it is a plus for her. 

Another example of a diverse music video is the song window licker by alphex twin. This music video is very unconventionsl to his genre. The artists is not present throughout video making it very hard for the audience to build a relationship with the audience. This music video also doesnt conform to goodwins theory. The music video is concept based, the video is based on society also like madonnas. This music video could be an attempt to hit a new broader audience.  

The posisitvbe aspect of a diverse music video is that it allows the artist to be more creative and try stranger things. It is also showing a different side of the artist which is not always portrayed through the media.

As all these points seem like a good thing it genereally does have an negative impact on the artists apperance as their consistant fans wont like the change in music causing dis interest in that artist. However for very popular super stars like madonna the common trends in the usic industry can be bent due to her power within her audience. 

After watching these diverse music videos i think that they are horrible. They dont display any of the artists talent and the visuals are just weird and off putting. i also think that the message that is trying to be put across in both music videos is obscolete.