Thursday, 29 March 2012
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
My website for my artist
This is my website for Jester. I have created a simple yet useful website for Jesters fans. Included are pages about:
-About Jester himself
-Albums
-Gallery
-Contact mangement
When reasearching other rap artists, they had merchandise pages. Yet I have described Jester as an 'upcoming' artist therefore he would not have enough fans to buy merchandise yet.
I found this task extremely long and it took me two hours to do on my own. It was difficult to use Wix.com as I have never used it before but it was a very good website with various effects and options to create a realistic website.
Music website analysis - Eminem.
Eminem
When deciding which artists' website to analyse, I took into consideration who can be considered unqiue and different. I picked Eminem.
His website gives fans and his audience a chance to connect with him on a personal level and find out more information on his tour dates, newest videos, newest songs and merchandise. There are many tabs on the website in order for fans to see a range of information on Eminem; News, Music, Events, Videos, Forum & Store. When scrolling over these tabs they turn red so you know which one you are about to click on.
The background on the website is a picture of Eminem himself, with his back to the camera, looking over a city. This can express his dangerous side in which can be seen in his music when he raps and the messages he tries to portray.
There are videos on the homepage of the website, showing a video that is quite recent with comments. This shows how Eminem/his mangement team inform fans of what he is up to and give them a chance to comment on it.
Further down the page there are news updates, also keeping fans updates on what he is up to. This shows the link between fans and Eminem. Below every video there is evidence of convergence as there are links to twitter, facebook and google +.
Examples of digipaks.
As you can see in this album covers, the main focus is the artist and there isn't much text on them. This is what I have done in my digipak. It engages the audience as its eye catching and straight to the point.
Analysis of my digipak
This is the digipak I have created for the performer in my music video, Jester. I have named the album by the artist name as I feel rap albums are normally short and simple album names and get straight to the point to what it's about. The main focus of this picture is Jester himself, and is in the center of the album cover...
I have used bold fonts to stand out to the audience and a small amount of text so the album is not covered with writing which can be off putting for audience as they normally want to know who the artist is and get a feel of it.
The back of my digipak is contains another picture of 'Jester' and a track list, which is normally seen on digipaks. I've added a barcode to make it look more realistic and copyright information at the bottom, which is again seen on album covers.
I have used bold fonts to stand out to the audience and a small amount of text so the album is not covered with writing which can be off putting for audience as they normally want to know who the artist is and get a feel of it.
The back of my digipak is contains another picture of 'Jester' and a track list, which is normally seen on digipaks. I've added a barcode to make it look more realistic and copyright information at the bottom, which is again seen on album covers.
Monday, 26 March 2012
Audience feedback & changes made
When we were editing, we had various members of the classes in our years look at our footage to see what they felt could be improved. Below are the list of things we were advised on and how we changed them:
- Make the edits cut in time to the beat of the song. This is often seen in rap videos as the beat of the song is the main aspect of it and is normally heard throughout the whole music video. This made the editing process much longer yet had a better effect on the video at the end.
- Use different footage instead of the same over and over again. When filming, we filmed at different locations, yet not the locations I wish we had filmed at. The locations are what I personally feel have the let the video down and made it less professional. However, when editing we tried to use different locations we filmed at to make the music video more interesting and different.
- Not too use too many effects. In rap videos, effects are not used throughout the video as the message of the video is harder to get across if there was, as the audience would concentrate on the effects. Rap videos consist of lyrics with meaning and ideas so we ensured we didn't use many effects so the audience could hear and visual what is being said properly.
Problems that occured
- Due to our group having different timetables, we found it difficult to work around each other as many of us have weekend jobs and long hours. During school hours, our frees were not the same between the 4 of us and later into the term, one member of our group had to leave due to personal reasons, which meant between the 3 of us we had to ensure we could meet up. We could have tried harder to meet up after school yet with the work load from other subjects taking up all our time, this made it harder for us to get as much filming as we could done.
- Our performer does go to our college, yet outside he also had many other things he was doing. We did consider this before we asked him to be in our music video but ensured us he would try to be available as much as possible which he did so. Due to his confidence and the fact he was not camera shy at all, we did not need to film as much as he was getting the performance right the first or second time around. Yet we still filmed more just incase we needed it.
- Disagreements within our group did occur yet I tried to listen to the other members of my group as much as I could to ensure everyones ideas were heard. Not everyone in the group put in the same amount of effort and I personally felt I was up in my frees and any spare moment trying to edit the footage and blog about what we had been doing. Overall, we all pulled our socks up to ensure our final product was successful.
- Due to our teachers introducing us to a new software, FinalCut Express, we were ensure on how we would get on with editing. We used iMovie in year 12, so this software was new and complex. However, when playing around and reading up on it, I found ways to experiment and make our music video more realistic. The lip syncing was easier and this helped to make our music video look good.
Analysis of previous students work
This music video was produced by a group of students from the year before me and personally I feel is excellent due to its great performance, editing and footage.
From the start of the music video, the lip syncing is evidently perfect and looks as if the performer in the video is singing. The lighting makes the focus on the female performer even more significant as all the focus is on her; further being shown by the yellow dress she is wearing. The quick edits and cuts also keep the audience wanting to watch more as a narrative is slowly starting to be apparent in the video.
Furthermore, Goodwins theory can be applied to this music video for various reasons. The notion of looking and voyeurism is evident as performer is continually seen in tights and dresses making the video appealing for the male audience.
The link with the lyrics and visual is also evident in this music video when the girl sings ' it's been such a long time' and the fridge magnets spell this out on the fridge. Also, the girl is asking if he is 'really coming back for me' as she sits at home waiting, showing that the lyrics do link with the video and narrative.
This can also be classified as a narrative based music video as she is waiting for 'him' to come back to her and she acts this out in a way in the video as she is seen alone, waiting for someone throughout the video.
The various close up shots of the performer connect the audience to the music video as we can see her feelings and emotions in depth and feel a connection. Moreover, the video has an edgy and indie feel to it, creating a uniqueness within the video.
Overall, I think the video has many different shots and angles, which make the video more intriguing, combined with bright lighting, a good performer and a well acted performance.
Editing
When editing we came across many difficulties as we used iMovie to edit last year and final cut is much more advanced. However when editing I managed to work out different effects to use. Furthermore, when editing we listened to the beat of the song and edit our footage to the beat of the song; this is seen in rap songs a lot and creates a better effect to it.
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Analysis of an artist & how it has influenced me.
Lil Wayne ( Dwayne Michael Carter JR. ) is considered by many to be an influential artist. Personally, his controversial character and music, in my eyes adds to the rap genre and makes it even more exciting and intriguing that it already is.
He is in the following labels:
- Cash Money
- Universal Records
- Young Money
- Aphilliates
He has released many albums such as, 'The Carter III' which sold over 1 million copies in the US. Although in March 2012 he started to serve a prison sentence, he still released an album when in prison. His determination and commitment to his music shows how he still works hard even though his life isn't that easy. His music is different yet still very popular as he is known for his uniqueness in his music videos. This is seen through one of his recent videos where he is wearing bright green uggs boots in his music video called 'The Motto' featuring Drake & Tyga.
Monday, 12 March 2012
Analysis of a Digipak
Digipak's are CD packaging that can flip open, in sections of 3. There is one portion that opens up to the left, one to the right and then the center part. Attached to the center one there is normally a plastic case or cardboard part to hold the CD of the digipak.
For inspiration for my Digipak, I looked at Rihannas digipak for her album 'Loud'.
She has a theme of red and white colours, combined with red roses. She is laying across the roses, exploring her femine yet sexual side as you can see a lot of skin and the way she is laying.
The colour red connotates a lustful yet dangerous theme which can be seen through the red hair she has, the red lipstick and the roses.
Friday, 9 March 2012
Pictures of us filming.
This is pictures of us filming on day one. We took it in turns to film and due to our group splitting before, we feel we brought it together very well at the end and worked hard to ensure we got a good end result.
Footage of us filming
This is footage of us filming Jester. When filming he was very confident and this shows his excellent performance.
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