Final idea for digipak

Photographs from shoot for potential Digipak panels

This is a photograph from the shoot of the city section of our music video, the idea was to have the graffiti on the back panel of the music video where the tracks our. However this idea will not be used as there would be too much writing covering the panel and it isn't as effective as another idea I have chosen. This other idea I will use is to have a close up of the 'drink me' bottle and the tracks shown on the bottle.

This particular photograph was a possible idea for the panel where the CD will be placed. This was thought of because the table scenes in the music video are what connects the two different worlds the girl enters. However, instead of this shot I have decided to take a birds eye view of the table meaning that it will be the shape of the CD. This is appealing as it will look more effective and works well in the centre of the digipak.

As I have decided to create a six panel digipak an initial idea was to have the girl from the modern society on one side and her 'vintage' self on the other side both looking at each other. This will show the contrasts of the different worlds she has entered into. However, an issue of using a close up of both of there faces looking at each other is the fact that there isn't any significant factors suggesting whether she is in the modern world or not. Therefore, instead I will include a full length picture of the girl in both costumes in order to notice the different worlds she is in. 

Similar Artists album cover's

Digipak initial ideas

 This is the initial idea for my digipak, firstly I decided to stick to a CD size for our digipak this is due to the fact that we decided that it would be more suitable for our artist's music and the design works well with a CD size. This will be the single of the song 'Antiques' which is played in our music video. Furthermore, my first idea was to have a photograph of the protagonist of our music video laying down on the grass in the plantation gardens fast asleep. This idea references to the painting of Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais as shown below.




This is also referenced in the video by Florence and the Machine 'Rabbit Heart' where Florence is shown at the end of the video laying on the table in the water. However, the issue with using this idea on our front cover is the fact it is a passive representation of gender,and the fact that the female on the cover is not being heavily shown.

Another text that has inspired my initial idea for the front cover is the opening to the first film made of Alice in Wonderland in 1903. Alice is shown lying on the grass in this shot with the title shown above her. Although this may show a passive representation of gender, it fits with the style of the video as the whole idea of the story is the fact that she wakes up to a wonderland, a dream like place.

For the second page of the digipack I had the idea of having a shot of the protagonist of our music video standing next to the graffiti on the wall which is featured in our music video. However, it will differ from the shot in our music video as the girl will be holding the rabbits mask. The reason that the digipak will open up to this shot is to create a time shift effect to the digipak. As the front cover will be a photo of the protagonist of our music video in the gingham dress featured in the first part of the video. The second panel will be her changing into the modern day costume showing the transformation of two different eras, the 'wonderland' to the modern day society.

The third panal of the digipak could be a telescopic picture of the artist 'Billy Lubach' who created the music for our music video. The reasons behind the telescopic effect is the fact that it works well with the Alice in Wonderland theme, for instance it is similar to the idea of  seeing 'through the looking glass'.

Here is a screen shot from the edit of our music video and this telescopic effect of the character in our video is the effect I would like to achieve for the photo on the CD.

For the back of the CD the tracks will be on the bright red table featured in the music video as well as some of the objects from the table such as the 'drink me' bottle. The bunny rabbit will be peeping into the cover similar to how it is subtly shown throughout the music video. 

The second idea of mine is to have the front cover of the digipak similar to the beginning of the music video where it opens to a shot of a young girl sitting behind a table with various objects featured on the table. The font for the song title 'Antiques' and the artist's name 'Billy Lubach' will be shown in a vintage style font similar to the font 'Octin Vintage' which i found on 'dafont.com'.

For Panal 2 + 3 the idea was to have one world facing another, for instance the world that the young girl is trapped in in the beginning of the music video, the 'wonderland' will be facing the modern world that she travels to where she is facing the contemporary society. Therefore, this will be representing Claude Lévi-Strauss's theory of binary opposites as the costumes, mise-en-scene and overall look/colours of both the panels would be contrasted. The dark colours of black and purple in the costume from the modern world contrast with the white and light red gingham style dress. 



There will be buildings shown in the background on panal 3 representing the industrialized society which contrasts to the simplicity and tranquil feeling of the mise-en-scene in panal 2.

Extra ideas 

Another idea for our digipak was to have six panals in total instead of 4, therefore for the 2 panals that open to reveal the CD I will use a photograph of the girl from the vintage era on the left one and her in the modern world on the right both facing each other. Furthermore, the back of the CD where the track list will be could feature a close up photograph of the 'drink me' bottle from the music video and the song titles could be written on there. 

Target audience/ Narcissism research

When searching for our target audience for our music video looking for the artists inspirations is the first step. The reason for this is due to the fact that artists as well as directors in some cases tend to be narcissistic when creating their music/ music videos or films.Narcissism originated from the myth of Narcissus who was a man who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water, rejecting those around him and becoming deeply selfish he drowned when falling into the water unable to look away from himself.



Furthermore, Narcissism is frequently made evident in music videos due to the many close ups of the singer which are shown throughout the music video. This leaves the audience feeling connected to the audience as they may aspire to be that singer and feel that they have an inspiration to follow. Moreover, music videos, films and literature are all work of an artists/authors/directors imagination, therefore each our narcissistic due to the author creating what they would want to see/read. This references to Goodwin's theory due to the fact that one point from his theory which he believes is shown in music videos is "There  is frequent reference to notion of looking and particularly  voyeuristic treatment of the female body" - This basically shows that a music video presents a narcissistic view of the artists due to some presenting many shots of the artists looking into the camera lens or looking into a mirror at themselves. For instance in Coldplay's video 'Violet Hill' the artist's facial features are the main focus as their is a magnifying glass which is used to zoom up to the singer's mouth. This first of all helps to sell the artist's image as well as focusing on the main point of the music video - the music. 

It is therefore plausible to suggest that in order to find an artist's target audience it is important to find out about the artist themselves (their inspirations, image and genre). After contacting the artist of our music video 'Billy Lubach' who created 'Antiques' I found various inspirations of his as well as picturing an idea of the target audience to his music and our music video. We interviewed him in order to find out various artists that have inspired his own music. Some being, 'The Beach Boys' an American surf rock/rock band who were formed in the 60s, 'Beirut' another American band combining folk rock with world music which includes various styles of music from the world. An independent singer-songwriter who also came under the list of influential artists to our artist to our music video is 'Kenny Anderson' primarily known by his stage name 'King Creosote' who focuses on alternative rock which ranges to folk music as well. Last of all is the indie folk-pop duo 'Kings of Convenience' - "the musical group is known for their delicate tunes, calming voices, and intricate and subtle guitar melodies" (source: Wikipedia) 

 When considering the idea of Narcissism in music videos it is plausible to suggest that our music video shows aspects of our own preoccupations and what we as an audience would like to see in a music video. For instance, when deciding to create an Alice in Wonderland style to our music video the idea was instantly appealing due to enjoying watching them myself and the nostalgia I've always felt when watching or being reminded of the classic fairy tales. It can therefore be argued that I have developed an idea for our music video based on what I would find appealing, for example fantasy stories have always been an interest of mine so watching a music video with that particular theme would enable me to connect with the artist as it would lead me to believe that I share the same interests as them.  

Furthermore, due to many artists basing their work on themselves and us demonstrating this in our music video, our target market would be those of the same age group as us from the 16 - 20 age bracket. They would more than likely enjoy reading stories by Lewis Carroll as well as other fairy tales.

Analysis of the music video 'Elephant Gun' by Beirut.

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When researching into bands/artists who are similar to ours in terms of the style of genre and the theme of the music video, the band 'Beirut' was appealing in how it displayed it's genre and themes throughout the video. They are an American band primarily focusing on folk music/indie folk yet combining these genres with what is known as world music which is a musical category encompassing many different styles of music from around the world, including traditional music. This acoustic/instrumental style of music is similar to the style of music featured in our music video due to the many instruments played throughout, for instance the use of the Ukulele in the beginning of the video which is in the center of the mise-en-scene showing it's importance to the song. 

An intertextual reference to silent films is shown right at the beginning of this music video and is made evident by this opening shot which is a generic opening to a silent film. This links to Goodwin's media theory, for example: 'There are often intertextual references (to films, tv programmes, other music videos)'

This particular opening is featured as the opening of  many silent films for example in the Mary Pickford film 'Poor Little Rich Girl': 

REFERENCES TO ANDREW GOODWIN'S THEORY: 

'The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist..'-

Throughout this music video the artist is continually the main focus of the video as there are many close ups of him highlighting his importance. This also shows that the artist is the key feature of the video and is being promoted strongly, furthermore this enables the audience to notice the emotions of the artist and to some extent connect with the artist.

'There is frequently reference to the notion of looking and
 particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body'

Although the notion of voyeurism is not heavily shown in this music video there are still subtle hints throughout which suggest that there are elements in this music video which objectify women. An example of this is the costume that the female's wear in this video as the camera tends to draw attention to the short dresses they are wearing which show their bare thighs. The reason that this could be considered as voyeuristic treatment of the female body is the fact that the camera focuses on the women's body and clothes but the male dancers and the lead singer are not represented in a sexualized way at all. 

When analyzing the meaning of the lyrics and how they link to the visuals the fact that this music video is in a sense dream like references to our music video as throughout the video the audience are unaware as to whether what is happening is merely an illusion. The fact that this music has a dream like notion is talked about by the artist himself Zach condon who admits to representing the video 'Elephant Gun' as "a nostalgia for something that never happened to me—things I've seen in old movies" Therefore this idea of creating a video which represents a wonderful 'anything can happen' world which is merely a figment of one's imagination is appealing and is the style that our music video is aiming to achieve. Whether what is going on in the mise-en-scene is a reality or an illusion is up the audience meaning that they are able to engage with or even relate to the story of the music video.

 The artist goes on to talk about the fact that this video communicates the blurry sense of memory " It only imagines what it wants to and that, actually, is what I'm working off of…that's what makes a great story." Our music video has been inspired by this theme of mixing illusion with reality as well as creating a nostalgic feeling to some extent due to the protagonist in our video wondering around some sort of wonderland, running away from or even following the white rabbit. This, referencing to Alice in Wonderland where Alice goes on an adventure looking for the rabbit, our character is trapped in her own wonderland on an adventure of self discovery. The idea that she is on her way to self discovery is made evident towards the end of the music video where her costume changes which could represent her conforming to the modern society she has entered into. 

According to Andrew Goodwin music videos will either show a link between the lyrics and the visuals or instead a contradiction between the lyrics and the visuals. In reference to this music video another aspect of Goodwin's theory is made evident to some extent, for instance in the beginning of the video when the lyrics "Far from home, elephant guns" is sung there is a cut from the artist to a woman and a man, the woman wearing an elephant trunk. Therefore, it could be plausible to suggest that this is a link between the lyrics and the visuals as the costume reflects what the lyrics are saying, this connects the audience as they may link what they are hearing to what they are seeing meaning that they can engage with the video.

   

Intertextual references- for the editing process

Intertextual references- for the editing process on Prezi