Album Cover Photo-shoot By Lucy Barker

I liked this photo because Grace's lips look really big and the lip gloss is very prominent, this highlights her attractive features without going over the top which is why I used quite a subtle lip gloss. Her clothing differs from the video because although she still looks casual, the scarf is very pretty and adds some 'girliness' to her, it was important for me to try and make her look a bit more attractive because this is something that will attract people to the album cover.

Plan for design of album cover by Lucy Barker

Font

For the font I want to use something clean and un-fancy because this represents Grace. For example this font, named "Alien League" is quite simple and so is "Metro". I think the "Alien League" tittle does need a thick border because it wouldn't stand out enough against a black background. I think these texts would contrast against the image because with the border, it looks quite old fashioned, but the artists image looks very new because her idea is new and never seen before.

Background

Because I'm planning on shooting Grace from the knee up I know that there will be room in the background that I want to use wisely. Artists like Adele (shown below) use plain backgrounds because they become she focus of the front cover

Where as this album cover, which is very much recognised across the world uses "Abbey Road" to make it so recognisable. This was well thought out, because as 'Britpop' was so famous at the time of the Beatles, having a shot of them in england highlights this.

I want to try taking shots of Grace behind a black background to start with, because I can add in affects (such as the gold spots shown below) in on photoshop. 

Of course it is important to consider that the theme used on the front cover will be continued on the back, for example Ellie Gouldings album back looks like this: 

Plan for album cover photo shoot by Lucy Barker

I'm planning a photo shoot with Grace on Friday afternoon. I'm going to do her make-up very naturally, I'll use a tiny bit of foundation and blusher and do her eyes natural and bright because although we want to portray her star image; a down to earth un-materialistic person, it is important that her target audience also find her attractive. I will use photoshop to make her look even more made-up.

I'm going to get her to try the following poses but pulling a funny face so it looks satirical, which matches the idea of the video.

I'm going to ask Grace to pull some of the funny faces such as the one to the right of the bottom left photo were she has her tongue sticking out, this also matches the clip in the video were she has her tongue sticking out whilst playing the piano and this would be recognised by her target audience. 

I will be shooting Grace from just above the knee. I will be using colours that I also used in the video, for example she will be wearing blue and green colours because these are the casual colours that made her stand out against the brashness of the gold at the gold party. Green is also an earthy colour which can signify her down to earth nature. I will also be shooting her landscape. 

Lucy Barker - Making a twitter page for Grace

After researching similar product music videos I have found that stars need social networking sites in order to promote and contact their fans, so for Grace we are going to use a web link to Facebook in the ancillary tasks and we are also going to put a link in the music video published on youtube to twitter. We have created a twitter account for Grace. There will be a link to her music video here which will be an affective way of promoting it to our target audience who are the most common users of the internet and social networking sites.

Satire in modern music videos by Maddy Ryder

Our video faces the issue from two sides; on one hand we are commenting on the serious effects of materialism, showing how technology and the influence of the media causes even young children to ignore the world around them. A small child trying to walk in heels and another child with an 'I Love Shoes' bedroom decoration is a representation of the loss of innocence children face today as a result of these influences.



On the other hand, we are mocking the heavily-serious concept based music video which seeks to blame all the world's problems on a single issue - although technology does indeed have a huge effect on kids today, it does not turn them all into drooling, mindless zombies.



Satirical videos have become more popular in modern times, and the idea of satire as a whole is almost fashionable, especially among teenagers and young adults (you may have noticed an alarming increase in satirical t shirts)

 

 

An example of an already existing satirical music piece is Lily Allen's Hard Out There, which mocks the overly voyeuristic representations of women in the media 

The video shows her performing with scantily-clad dancers "twerking" and at one stage she eats a banana suggestively, which is a spoof of the way women are treated in music promos.

 

It begins with her lying on an operating table having liposuction to get herself back in shape for a pop career after she had a temporary retirement from the chart world, during which she launched a fashion business and became a mother.

An actor playing her agent asks: " How did someone let themselves get like this, huh?"

To which she replies: "Erm, I had two babies." This shows the high, often impossible standards women are held to, expected to have perfect bodies and unrealistic proportions.

 

The lyrics feature the lines "forget your b***s and grow a pair of t**s, it's hard, it's hard, it's hard out here for a b***h", which could be a spoof reference to Three 6 Mafia rap track Hard Out Here For A Pimp.

 

 

 

 

"Music videos thus turn out to be anything but

shallow post-modern strings without connection

or center, but on the contrary consist of an intricate

 pattern of representational and nonrepresentational signs"

 

- Heidi Peeters

 

 

 

 

...

TA feedback 1 By Lucy Barker

Our TA thought that the video was very funny, however the lighting at some points was too dark and at one point you couldn't see one of the party guests face because the shadows were too dark. This was easy to solve using the exposure.


Before:

 After:                          


We still wanted the shot to be quite dark but not as dark as the others, because at this point Grace has arrived and she is sharing her light with everyone about how to be happy and have fun.

It was also pointed out that the music was quieter in one shot than the rest - this is because we didn't disable the music when we were cutting the shots, and we have accidentally pulled down the volume line, which was easy to do. I have fixed this know so the music is at a more consistent volume.

We are still waiting for feedback on our polldaddy survey which will also help us out.

Target Audience Update by Lucy Barker

We have so far been successful at aiming our video at 16-18 and adults/parents who feel they can relate to the issue of technology, however we have recently discovered that our video is also standing out to younger audiences, even under 16. This is great because the wider the audience the better, because it means our star Grace stands out to even more people. The humour that we have ended up using in the video has helped us achieve this because it is entertaining and the message is still obvious.