Research into existing CD covers;

Above is the cd cover from Newton Faulkners album 'hand built by robots'. The style of this album cover is differnt in that its more arty and there is a lot more going in on the cover than your standard CD cover.

Visualy it suits the tilte as it has a robots hand filled with people like the name 'hand built by robots'. The chilled out style of Newton's music is displayed through the use of fresh, cool backgrounds and clouds which just gives the sense that is a 'chilled music' CD.

The Title is done in a nice neat white over the fresh blue background. There is then a nice schroll above and below which frames the text nicely. I may try to create some sort of frame to my title as this would give it more of an impact on the cover.

Above is the cover from Bob Marleys Album 'Songs of Freedom'. The first thing i noticed about this cover was the usee of the artist on the front. Bob is facing towards where the phootographer is. It is a very typical photo of Bob Marley with his 'joint' and his acoustic guitar.

The red background is a strong colour and helps give a glow to the artist which fades to black as it comes to the corners of the album. The text looks neat and is placed in a place which doesnt cover up the behind image very much. When it comes to my cover i will adopt the same ideas of not covering the behind image too much.

In all it is a very typical cd cover which uses all the standard codes and conventions needed to create an effective cd cover. I think that for best results I will try to create a simple CD cover as they often look the most effective.

Above is an example from Jack Johnsons album 'Sleep Through The Static'. The first difference i notice with this album cover is the relaxed approach trying to incapsulate a sort of recording studeo with Jack, his giuter and a microphone. It appears to have been taken on a white background with some fill lights and a red backlight on the left hand side.

The use of the red higlight behind the artist makes him glow and gives an unusual look however it is quite a powerful look and the fade into a grey/ blue right hand side makes use of hot and cold colours.

The positioning of the artist is lengthways down the left hand side in paralell with the microphone in the middle leaving not a lot to the right hand side except for the white overlayed title; I like the way the title has been shifted slightly to the right trying not to cover up the photo of the artist to much as it gives a feeling of fadeing out moving from the left of the cover (red colours and image of the artist) to the right hand side of the cover where it fades out into grey/blues and a bit of writing.

Here is an example of the cover of Natty's new album 'Man Like I' The first thing that i noticed about it was th warm colours and the medium close up of Natty himself. The warm yellows and browns used really suit the style of music inside.

The image of nattys face is in a side on view which is differnt and you would normaly expect to see the artist looking towards where the photo was taken from. This gives the cover a feeling of mystery and makes the viewer want to pick up the CD to find out more about what's inside.

The cover has used sort of logo for the title. It looks very neat and the square shape of this 'logo' makes it fit in nicely in to the top left corner. The Browns and blacks in the title are evident in the photo aswell this make is fit in nicely and lookin like it is supposed to be there rather than having an awkward contrast of colours which would do the cover no favours.

Basic Information put into Pie Chart: I asked 100 people some basic questions in order to try and predict what the success of any partucular type of music video and help sway the style of music video i would do; the results are as follows.

From the pie chart you can see that from the people asked, there was an audience for all genres of music. My results show me more that the audience are willing to listen and watch any music video if it is well made and along to a good song.

The fact that i am going to make an acoustic music video shows that for 25% of the people i asked, it was their favourite genre. Because the style of acoustic music is relatvely easy listening, many people dont mind listening to the chilled out sounds of acoustic music and therefore i would predict that the success of a music video from this genre would appeal to a wider audience than that of a rap video for instance.

The most popular style of music came back as dance music. I think this may be due to the fact that most of the people surveyed were younger and the dance scene has blown up over the last few years with aid of erotic music videos it has become a favourite with the boys. Aswell as this, the upbeat bass lines have appealed to a female audience. The most common type of music on the Sky music channels is also predominantly dance and R n' B. This helps influence the taste of the younger consumer sublimanaly.

Questionnaire of Music Videos

I am going to ask a sample of 100 people what interests them in music video and use their answers to increase the quality of my video.

Please would you kindly take some time to complete this research questionnaire about music videos it should take no more than a couple of minutes.
(delete as appropriate)

1.Would you watch a music video of a song you didn't particularly like if it was unusual and interesting to watch? YES NO

2.Do you often find yourself watching the music channels on Sky TV?
YES NO

3.Do you prefer the music videos set in familiar surroundings or the videos set in foreign places?
LOCAL FOREIGN

4.Does the type of video give you a feeling; i.e. tropical settings remind you of past holidays or cold videos remind you of skiing holidays and generaly happy memories?
YES NO

5. Do you enjoy music videos which tell a story?
YES NO

6. Do you like the shots of the artist singing or playing their instrument?
YES NO



Results Of My Survey.

1. 100% of the people i asked said that if there was something particularly different and anusual to watch then they may find themselves watching the whole music video in order just to see what happens next. I will try to utilise this information by creating a set of shots which are different, for example chains of events or clever editing which is appealing to a viewer.

2. Just 68% of the people i asked about viewing music videos said they ever saw them on the Sky music channels. The rest of them said that they find the videos elsewhere generally on the internet. Therefore if I were going to promote my music video i would have to look into using the internet aswell as showing the videos on TV.

3. 83% of people said that they thought a video which was local with local and familiar places would enhance the quality of the video and the effect it would have on the mind of the viewer.

4. Just 41% of the people i asked said that they felt music videos brought them back memories of certain holidays. However the ones who said they felt that a music video could bring them back special memories could concisely name particular videos. For this reason i will try and incorperate shots which remind viewers of certain events which are of importance in their lives.

5. 60% of people asked said that they thought the music videos they had seen that told some sort of story were more intising than those which were simply people dancing. I may try and have a backing story being told in my music video which cuts between shots od musicians singing and scenes from a relevant story.

6. 79% of the people i asked said that the shots of the particular artist, especially more well known artists that they enjoy the music of put an edge into a music video. Clearly with my video i wont be able to get famous artists in the film but i can mimic the ideas of having the artist in the music video through means of acting.

Letter to Copyright holder:

Dear 'Bushfire Records',

I am going to be creating a music video for the song 'Rodeo Clowns' by the artist 'Jack Johnson'. It will be part of an OCR A2 level piece of coursework. I will be looking to be posting it onto websites such as youtube in order to recieve feedback to put into my evaluation. The project is not for profit and i will seek no reward from the production.

Please may i have permission to go ahead and create this music video, i think if anything it will be an advertisement for the artist and therefore boost the popularity of your record label.

Look forward to hearing back from you.

Dean Layzell

Natty: Bedroom Eyes

The clips starts with shots of a dark area which is abstract and unclear as to where it is. As soon as the singing starts the picture becomes more clear. Again the cut away with shots from scene to scene tells a story of two people in different places. The only other type of shot is the shot with Natty singing.

• The thing i have taken from this muic video is the way it takes two different scenes which tell the story and one other scene which shows lots of different shot of the artist singing.
• I like the acoustic guitar close up shots so i shall try to incorperate these.
• The overlay effects on some shots are that of a misty feeling. This gives the clip a warmer feeling which suits the song.

The Script: Talk You Down

The video also tells a story which matches the song. The interesting thing i found about this video is the style of editting and the tempo in which they cut away from one to the other. For instance; the slower tempo of the song at the beginning gives each clip a few seconds to tell a story. When the beat and chorus kicks in there is a flurry of clips in time with the drum beat. This is effective and visualy appealing.

Sounds from the background story come through the song which is unusual. The car crash has sounds of screeching tyres and smashing glass, I may try and put this into my video i.e. sounds of waves and playing could really quietly and subtely be put over scenes of the beach and playing. This would give more of an impact to the story the song is portraying.

Editing of clips: Kooks: Naive

The clips starts with slow moving shots each lasting more that a few seconds, at first the clips cut away from place to place keeping a feeling of continuity. The feel of the clips are kept relatively similar;

• Colours and tones start of dark
• Filming from a maximum of three scenes in this case 'the club' 'the house' 'shots with his girlfriend'
• End of the the clips editting increases pace to match the style of the music which is more up beat.
• The music video does tell a sort of story about a boy and his girlfriend and the problems they have.
  

Jack Johnson: Sitting Waiting Wishing

Yet another music video filmed all in one shot, however the difference is that it is a video shot in rewind and all the events are in reverse except for the singing which has been kept normal, it gives a unique effect which is very intreaguing to watch. In my music video i will try to utilise this reverse shot capability as it is appealing to watch.
http://www.muzu.tv/jackjohnson/sitting-waiting-wishing-music-video/237388?country=gb

• The lighting is kept light in the white room background.
• Concentration of the artist singing is kept looking towards the camera and at where the audience would be.
• Visualy strong as the chain of events in reverse is obscene and thus the audience can enjoy the song whilst watching the events in reverse

Research into existing similar media texts.

Music videos often use different effects in order to create a music video which is appealing to watch. A key factor is the song. Most often a lot of effects are used in order to edit and piece together four, five or more different scenes with the artist singing over the top.

One of the videos i first looked at is:

Wiley's 'Cash in my Pocket' and the most interesting thing is that it is all filmed in one clip. This would have taken a lot of rehearsing however the chain of evetns are interesting as the viewer wants to see what happens next as it soon becomes clear that the video is ging to be filmed all in one shot.

Things to take away:

• Angle of shots are altered; high angle shots drifting into low angle shots are appealing to watch.
• Lighting is kept brighter throughout simply from building lights, this is simple to do and creates adequite lighting.
  
  David Guetta 'When Love Takes Over'
  
  The key thing I noticed was the colour and tone of the clips.. The producer appears to have stuck to a tropical theme throughout. This is the same as with other music videos, if it is set in a night scene then generaly all the clips used are in a darker environment.

• The video uses a theme throughout, in this case it is tropical/beach themed.
• The theme throughout seems generally beach based. Clips of the ocean and beach are often used.
• The clip would often cut away using cars driving past which would make an alternative transition of clips which looked visually different and appealing.