Media Evaluation

MEDIA EVALUATION
The Electro and House genre are a dynamic blend of two genres that posses high tempo’s and strong baselines. The target audience is the youth and young adults, the high tempo music suggests their high tempo lives that takes them from one place to another, regularly meeting new people and experiencing new things. The music pace would appeal to those who regularly go out clubbing. The Fast pace of the song is matched by the fast pace of the shot transitions in the video, that change with the beat to emphasis the genres strong baseline.

The contemporary style of the music is something that would not appeal to certain generations, as the music is built on strong, dynamic beats, often at the sacrifice of lyrics. I wanted to express this in our album cover, via the inclusion of many vibrant colours and unusual graphics, whilst paying less attention to the written information. I wanted the design to tell more of the story than the words through the codes and conventions.

Throughout the song intro, the frame is continuously filled with extreme close up shots that convey only a very limited amount of information each time a shot is shown. This keeps a viewer intrigued and the nature of a close up gives excitement and an element of suspense. Continuity is kept from the album cover to the music video, as the album cover and back covers both show an extreme close up much like the video intro.

The inclusion of lyrics is not always consistent through our genre. I therefore felt it important to contrast the lyrics to the intro and musical interludes by varying the shot durations. The shots become longer when the lyrics come in and are occasionally broken up by flashback shots with faster transitions.

It is not only the shot types in the video that I feel appeal to a younger adult; the story itself is something I my target audience would understand and feel a part of. Getting ready for a night out, is something I felt our target audience (a young, outgoing adult) would relate to well, considering how regularly you would expect to see them indulging in the luxury. Going out, is something normally associated with night time, we therefore shot all our video at night, to give a feeling that was true to the atmosphere felt on a night out. Keeping the events simple in the music video was important as the fast pace of the song would have made it near impossible to cover complex issues with fast shot transitions. I therefore opted to keep characters to a minimum and use a storyline that the target audience would be able to relate to easily, relationships seemed fitting for this.

The way the two covers fit together keep the theme consisted throughout the album whilst not meaning I have to use the same image over and over again. The key on the front and the lock on the back are two very different images meaning the covers are exiting and different; but they are both linked by their purpose so there is good continuity throughout. The lock and key helps emphasis the inclusion of the single “lockdown”. This is similar to the ministry of sound album “Stereo Sushi- Version B” which expresses the album name through the graphic of an abstract fish. This means there is less need for a busy cover as the name is sold in a simple contemporary design.

I opted to keep one element the same through both covers to relate the back to the front directly, much like “The Mash up mix 2008” which keeps the design consistent throughout the product. I thought the abstract paint splatters were perfect for this as they have a neutral meaning that can be used without altering the story or the mood. The mood is important in this genre as sombre colours would oppose the upbeat tempo of the music genre. Dynamic, bright colours help convey the nature of the genre whilst the bright colours give the product a clubbing feel that many of our target market will relate too. The background was inspired by albums such as “The sound of the UK Funky” and “Clubbers Guide2009” which both use bright abstractive backgrounds which contrast with the subject matter.

I have already mentioned how the colours in the background are reminiscent of the house/techno genre. I also consider the bare format of the background to be important to the genre. There is no pattern to the layout of the paint splatters and the whole thing is very abstract. Abstraction suggests distortion which seems fitting for an album inclusive of a remix which is almost a distortion of the original song. Heavy contrast draws strongly from figuration and abstraction meaning the contrast is there without the need for bold, opposing colours. The Hand is designed figuratively being easily recognisable as a hand whereas the background is designed abstractly with no clear pattern or subject.

The bright colours in the background are eye catching and very aesthetically pleasing. The background is bustling with activity meaning a viewer is draw from all four corners of the cover, to the centre where the important graphics are located. The contrast with the backing to the hand is obvious so a viewer should be intrigued by the play on an everyday activity that is in the cover- the key cut as the album name. I feel the clever trickery on the front will combine with the background to draw in an audience that expands on our target audience.

The surreal colours used to illustrate the hand are dynamic and unusual, just like the music the album would include. The way I designed the hand was inspired by the album “Hedkandi”, which uses cartoon like colours which are surreal looking to suggest the surreal like mixes on the album. Though the hand is surreal, this does not detract from the realism of it, as I included shadow whilst designing on Photoshop to give a viewer a sense of perspective which I felt important, considering the background gives no sense of shape, perspective or scale.

I managed to achieve contrast on the front cover, without using opposing colours which I felt would break the cover up into sections that a viewer would view individually so not grasping the full effect of the piece. The bold green colour that surrounds the hand brings the hand off the page, making it the dominating part of the cover as I intended. The outline surrounding the hand is bolder than any other outline, making the basic shape obvious. I used outlines that varied in thickness to prioritise the elements that should be seen from a distance to draw a buyer. Outlining all the parts meant that the colours used in some parts of the hand e.g. the fingers, would not overpower the weaker colours used in other parts e.g. the nails.

Contrast was something I managed to use consistently throughout the video and the ancillary task. Contrasting shot speed with song speed seemed to have a delightful effect on the music video as it created almost digital contrast that emphasises more important issues. Shots that were essential to the story are put in slow mo to emphasis there importance. This is very similar to the song Chicane by popihola (a ministry of sound album) which uses slow mo throughout to give a dynamic look to a very simple video. The video consists of a man running down a street. The audience has no idea of the intentions, which works in the videos favour as a viewer wants to see the conclusion to the strange tale of events. This is similar to our music video, other than our main character is walking through the night, to where he eventually finds his girlfriend and the video concludes. It is this suspension throughout the video, combined with dynamic shot angles and transitions that hold a viewers interest. I felt this important when dealing with a target market such as ours, as their younger age is likely to affect their attention span.

Both the album name and the group name are written in white, to keep the design consistent throughout. I feel this also helps a viewer identify graphics that are part of the design, and information that is important to the label. The group name is written with a black outline surrounding the white letters. This makes it bolder than the album name allowing a user to tell the album name apart from the group name.

A viewer reads a frame from left to right, just as he or she would where he or she reading a book. I considered this when designing my cover. I positioned important information such as the album and group name on the left hand side so a potential buyer would recognise that first. This is the opposite to the album “Clubbers Guide 2009” where the graphic is shown first, with the information positioned in the bottom left hand corner, the last place a viewer will look. The hand is the next thing you see, which is central in the frame as this is the most important part. This is similar to “The mash up mix 2008” which also has its main marketing feature central. The hand then moves to the right, taking a viewer out of the picture. This prioritises the elements in the piece. The background only helps to emphasis the elements just mentioned as it is totally different to the rest of the piece. It contrasts well with the letters and the hand which use plain colours in a controlled manner unlike the background. The Information on the cover is kept to a minimal to give a contemporary design where the graphic suggests the contents. Hand is central so the human eye focuses to the middle making it bolder than the distorted background.

The back cover is a very different image to the Front cover, but the two are linked by their purpose as I mentioned earlier. I felt a design that was two similar to that on the front would not only be slightly boring, but would also be to dominating for me to convey information in a controlled way. I thought a Simple close up with few colours so to not overpower the important information on the back would suffice.

The layout of the back cover is simple and centred in the frame so to remain straightforward allowing the focus to be on the information. Having the graphic central means the information can be central to compliment the design. This allows the song list to be central so being the most obvious part of the backing. The contrast between the background and the white letters helps emboss the information further.

The backing on the keyhole embosses the key hole, making it stand out in much the same way as the hand on the front cover. Keeping marketing techniques like this consistent throughout helps with the continuity of the album, giving each cover a design that is reminiscent of the genre we are dealing with. Keeping the main features the same will keep the theme of our album consistent.

The written information on the back cover was an idea I obtained from the back of several existing products. Considering Mysto and Pizzi have been established for some time, I felt there should be some reason for the release of the album. I read the information on the back of a number of C.D’s including a number of Ministry of sound albums and there is often a short paragraph explaining a change in genre or the inclusion of a new genre. Considering Mysto and Pizza brought the genres, “Electro” and “House” into the Remix of love lockdown, I felt I should give a reasonable explanation for this. Though the paragraph is fictional, the layout and information covered is very similar to that found on the back of ministry of sound albums.

Target Market

Considering our genre is upbeat and high tempo, our target market are young, outgoing adults who enjoy modern nightlife. the upbeat nature of the music is at the sacrifice of crafty lyrics and this would turn much of the older market away as it is a big change from more dated music.

Initial ideas before starting CD cover

1. The Artist

the song is inclusive of two different artists, Mysto and Pizzi and Kanye West. Kanye West produced the original song, which is a strong representative for the pop genre. Mysto and Pizzi add a Electro House flare that builds the song up into a highly varied musical production.

The Mysto and Pizzi remix adds the electro house genre to the song, without disregarding the old genres, such as pop. The previous genres followed the narrative. This gave us a story to base our shots around, the electro house genre then gave us dynamic sounds and strong beats to spice up the video, making far more insteresting than the original.

Kanye West style of production originally used pitched-up vocal samples from soul songs mixed with his own drums and instruments. However, subsequent albums saw him extend his music style he began expressing influences that ranged from '70s R&B, to synth-pop, and classical music.

2. Mysto and Pizzi do not have a album, however, there remix's all follow a similar trend, focusing mostly on the Electro house genre/ techno.

3. The album will be called Lockdown, to fit in with the lyrics, without taking straight from Kanye Wests original. The name lockdown, also gives as greater scope for development as "Love Lockdown" will leave us with a small theme.

FIlming the intro

The introduction to the music video shows myself and beth preparing to go out. It was very important that there was a clear distinction in mood from the flashback, compared to that of the introduction. Initially it was suggested that Myself and Beth were to be seperated throughout the introduction, however, we decided to add extra depth to the storyline by including shots that directly suggested relationship troubles.

Though the introduction is shot indoors, we wanted it to be dark when filming as we felt natural light is what identifies the flashback as the relationship feels natural. Again the filming went quickly as we simply followed the requirements of the storyboard.

Some of the more complex shots proved harder than we had origianlly expected. The establishing shot in the room that tracks along the bed prooved very hard to film. We began by using a hoover onto which we attached the camera. We hoped this would provide a smooth tracking shot however it was to hard to keep the hoover on a straight path. Therefore, we disregarded the hoover and changed to a office chair. We placed the camera on the base so it was low to the ground and then pushed it along the ground. This was far easier than the original hoover idea, ever though it was nessesary to hold the legs of the chair to prevent it rotating.

Filming the flashback

The flashback is the only part of the music video that is filmed in daylight. The rest is shot at night. This split in lighting helps show that the flashback is not real time and is a look into the past when things where working in the relationship.

The filming was very successfull and I put the success down to an accurate storyboard, good teamwork and commitment from all members of the group. With the storyboard at hand, we where able to simply refer back to it and set the camera up accurately and quickly, moving from one shot to the other whilst keeping the flow going, allowing there to be better chemistry between myself and beth. The inpute from all team members was useful as it gave us a range of ideas to work with, including spontaneous ideas on the day of filming. The chosen location was also easy to work with as every sub location in the flashback was in close proximity to one another.

The only problem we encountered was the weather. It began to rain a little and this made it hard to leave to camera exposed for a long period of time. We solved the problem by having Annie and Clare on the camera, one to operate the camera on the tripod, and the other to shelter the camera from the rain.

Mysto and pizzi's LOVE LOCKDOWN remix

Electro house is a combination of house music and electro music, with the influence of ocassionally of indie rock. As far style is concerned, it combines the four to the floor beats commonly found in house music with harmonically rich analogue or a digital bassline. This can be heard in the Mysto and pizzi remix. The strong digital bassline gives me a clear structure which I can edit around e.g. shot transions can be timed with the beat to emphasis pace. The tempo of electro house ranges approximately from 120 to 135 beats per minute
The style is said to have begun in mid-2005. From the point of origin, electro house has developed various subgenres of its own, such as dirty electro, looptronic, electrance, electrotech.

The original Kanye West song focused heavily on narrative, almost disregarding dynamic sounds to concentrate on the story. In my opinion, the song is plain and perhaps boring. Here is a link to the original song :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVZX-W3vo9I

The Mysto and Pizzi remix adds the electro house genre to the song, without disregarding the old genres, such as pop. The previous genres followed the narrative. This gave us a story to base our shots around, the electro house genre then gave us dynamic sounds and strong beats to spice up the video, making far more insteresting than the original.

Character list

Main guy- (lead singer) Josh Worley- Confident on camera. Also the main character in last years (AS) coursework, therefore already having a good understanding of the requirments.

Main girl- Beth lee- Confidnent on camera and a student not taking media, therefore meaning we can use her more often, without distracting her from her own work.

Extras 1- Mike Gillard- Similar looks and characteristics to main guy
2-