Frankie & The Sound Within Animatic

Below is a video of the animatic that I produced made up of many drawings put together against the Pink music track.

Frankie & The Sound Within Storyboard

From the lyric annotation, the best ideas were picked and I cut it up into different scenes. Then I drew pictures of each scene to help illustrate what kind of scene it will be. In the description I described the on screen action, the different camera shots and movements and the different timings of how long each scene will last of the song. The timings will help me when I produce my animatic, which is the next step to my planning of my music video.

Frankie & The Sound Within - Lyric Annotation

As part of planning for my music video, I decided to print off the lyrics for my song and annotate it full of ideas of what could happen at each part of the song in the music video. I then picked the best ideas and used them to help me produced the next step of planning my music video; the storyboard.



Frankie & The Sound Within - Album Covers

I have designed three rough drafts of album covers.

With these rough drafts, I went to a Year 11 class, with age range of 15-16 years old, and questioned about their thoughts and opinions about the album covers; what they liked, what they disliked and what would they improve on them.

ALBUM COVER 1

This was my first draft of my album cover. From the start I always had the concept of the album cover figured out. I felt that for my target audience of young females between the ages of 15-17, having a concept within my album cover was necessary as at this age they are more into album covers that have a hidden message within it rather than a straight forward one.

 The feedback that I recieved from this album cover was overall quite positive. They liked the idea of the younger girl looking into a mirror and then seeing someone else in the mirror. They referenced this with horror movies, and this was good because I wanted to create an eerie effect as the older self appearing to see her younger self in the music video can be seen as quite supernatural.

The font itself adds to the eerie atmosphere as it is faded and shadowed. The Year 11's liked the font but was critical as they said that from afar it wasn't clear what it said and that the font type itself was quite simple.


It was also said that the fact that the album cover was in black and white, it added to the eerie theme and I was pleased with that.

ALBUM COVER 2

This was another draft of an album cover as I wanted to experiment with different styles of album covers. I have used a different image, different theme and different font.


This particular album cover wasn't recieved too well. They said that the image was blurry and it looked unprofessional because the cutting line could be seen and I agree with that.


The background was very different to the first album cover as it uses vibrant colours with a striped theme. Some said that the colours didn't match up with the artist as they previously thought of the artist being quite an indie artist. However, there was one opinion that I found quite interesting; "The background looks like a fingerprint". I didn't initially think of this idea, but was happy that someone had come up with this idea by just concentrating on the background. The fact that the background looks like a fingerprint, it could play on the idea of identity and who you are, which is one aspect of my music video.


The black shadowed border around the album cover was also commented on and it was said that "it finished the album cover off" and "rounded it together".

ALBUM COVER 3

This album cover was again designed totally different from the others. I used the images that were liked from the artist's image feedback and designed a different theme to it.


The first opinion that was offered about this album cover, is that it looked more like a film poster. However, I think that this was mainly because of the size of it and that the two images looked very seperate to each other.


But apart from that, it was recieved quite well as they really liked the background full of different words that set a "sad feeling" for the album. I felt that this was very good as this is the exact effect that I wanted to create.

MY CONCLUSION

From all the feedback that I got from the Year 11 class, I have decided to use the concept of the first album cover with the background of album cover 3, as this is what was liked the most about the album covers that I have designed. I also used the shadowed border around the image that was liked from album cover 2.

Here is my final album cover...

Album Cover Inspiration

Before I produced my album cover, I researched on album covers that arefrom different types of artists as well as indie and pop artists. I looked for album covers that I personally liked below are the few that I found.

The effect that was used here in the above Olly Murs album cover that I personally liked is the overlapping of Olly Murs in different poses. The manipulation of all the images is very effective as each image of Olly in the different poses could suggest the different sides of Olly's personality.

These two album covers above are of artists that fit under the genre of indie pop rock; Paramore and Demi Lovato. The effect that I like from both these album covers is how the background of the album covers are full of words that are related to the album; either the name of the album or the artist. Both backgrounds look like they have been graffittied on, which adds to the effect of it being scruffy. Also, graffitti is seen as vandilism which could suggest the rebel aspect of these artists.

Frankie & The Sound Within - Artist's Image

When I went to a Year 11 class to do a presentation to ask them about my album covers, I also decided to use this opportunity to ask them about what they think about the artists image and personality by looking at a few pictures of the artists from a photoshoot i did with them.

These are the different images that I showed the Year 11 class after asking for their favourite image. There was a variety of favourite images such as image 1, 2, 4 and 6. In all these four images, the poses were the main reason as to why they liked the images. From this, I decided to se these images in my digi-pack and magazine advert. Images 1, 4 and 6 are included in the digi-pack and image 2 is the image used in the magazine advert.

After being asked what type of artist they would see my artist as with these images, again I had a mixed response. From images 1 and 7, some said that she looks like a country singer because of her boots and checkered t-shirt. This was not the look that I wanted to portray my actress as, therefore tried to avoid using images with my artist in that costume. From the rest of the images, I got positive feedback as the answers came back as an indie or a pop artist. Image 3 was said to look more like a indie artist because of her casual wear and converse trainers. And images 2, 4 and 6 were said to be more of a pop artist because she looks quite fashionable. I wanted to create my artist as a fashionable artist and was happy with the overall feedback.

Inspiration from Existing Music Videos

Pink - Family Portrait

• The characters have had an influence on the narrative of my music video as there seems to be a younger and older self in Pink’s music video. The younger self seems to be narrating the storyline as Pink plays the older character. I have used a similar casting where there is an younger and older version of the character, however, the older character is narrating the storyline trying to share her wisdom to the younger self.

Christina Aguilera - Beautiful

• Camera shots at the beginning of the music video of objects that symbolise the mood and atmosphere of the music video at the start. I have taken the camera shot of a dying flower and other images from this. The dying flower can symbolise growth, however the significance of the flower dying can carry connotations of a person dying inside and if given the care and the attention can grow into something pretty and beautiful like the flower.



• This also has a main concept of not being happy with yourself and who you are. And the song sang by Christina Aguilera is a means of telling these people that they should be happy with who they are as they are “Beautiful, no matter what they say…” In my music video, the 13 year old is upset with her life and is not happy with who she is and the older self tries to change this and enlighten her that everything will be ok by trying to leave significant notes for her to see.


• Also, during the middle and end of the music video, there are multiple scenes of the different characters, who at the beginning of the music video were unhappy with themselves, looking into mirrors at themselves. This carries connotations of delving deep within themselves and “looking” inside them to see their true selves. This mirror scene I will also be using as my final scene in my music video as I feel that this will summarise my music video as the younger self will see her older self as a sign, as a moment of change, and will gain self belief and acceptance through this by looking deep within herself.

Corrine Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On

• This has an earthly, natural setting throughout the music video and for a part in my music video I have a similar setting of a park. A park landscape would carry the connotations of being down to earth and this is the type of image that I would like to promote my artist.

• In the scene at the park where a note is left by the older self for the 13 year old to find in my music video, I have decided to place the note on a tree. The tree suggests growth, which the younger self is experiencing and needs to accept. In the end of Put Your Records On music video, a single tree is used at the end and Corrine decorates it with red ribbon. She seems happier when she’s alone with the tree as a sign of a fresh, natural atmosphere.

Katy Perry - Fireworks

This storyline is a more recent version of the storyline running through the Christina Aguilera song of Beautiful. There are several characters in this music video carrying several storylines with a similar theme; a theme of self acceptance and self confidence. Although my music video doesn’t have as many storylines or characters, the theme is the same as at the end of my music video the younger self gains self acceptance in herself.

The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx3m4e45bTo&ob=av3el

The Verve is usually classed as an all  Indie band and their music video for Bittersweet Symphony, is very typical of an indie music video as it follows a lot of the Indie conventions.

• The clothes that he is wearing is very casual and ordinary, and this is very typical for an indie artist. This costume suggests that he is an ordinary, average person just like his listeners. Also, by him not having outrageous costumes, it takes the concentration off him as a person and puts it on the music and song that he is singing.
• The concept of the music video is very simple as he is just walking down the street and is being bumped into by passerbys. This simple concept again doesn't distract the audience from the song as the song itself is very powerful.

Even though I want to promote my artist as an Indie artist as well as Pop, I will not follow these conventions stated above in The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony music video as I feel that in order for my artist to attract her audience, she will need to be fashionable, well groomed and that the music video should carry a concept. This aspect could appeal to the Pop side of my artist.

Breaking Conventions - Basement Jaxx

Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At

The main concept of this music video can vary due to how it is viewed and cosumed. One concept is that it could be of a music producer who comes to the studio to find an idea being pitched to him, where monkeys play and sing the music, to find that it all goes terribly wrong. However, there can also be a deeper meaning to the concept as the issue of animal testing can be explored here as the setting of the music video is like a lab where there are many experiments going on, many mad scientists and a lot of animals being tested on.

At first this music video can be seen as quite humerous as it can be funny to see monkey's playing instruments, singing and performing. This could suggest that anyone can produce music as these monkeys can do it too. However, it can be quite daunting to see this monkeys perform as they have human features such as the face. Also, the viewer gets to see how these monkeys are given these human features through an experiment, and this can also be quite frightening seeing it happen to a human and a monkey.

Basement Jaxx - Oh My Gosh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og0gKmKAuhM

Hearing this song alone without the visuals of the music video, a listener would think that this song is about a young female meeting and flirting with a young male at a club or dancefloor scene. However, the music video has broken the conventions of a typical music video for a pop song like this and has set an unusual storyline at an unusual setting.

By having it set in an old people's home and having the elderly sing the song and flirt with each other, it shocks and a little bit disgust to the viewers by this scenario.

Basement Jaxx - Do Your Thing

This music video is simple but very effective. The lyrics to the song is printed on all the t-shirts of all the different characters and each character represents the words that are printed on their shirts. For example, "YEAH!" printed on characters that are or have achieved something such as scoring a goal or doing sit ups.

The thing about this music video that breaks the conventions of typical music videos is that the actual musical artist is not featured in this music video at all. This is unusual as music videos are seen as opportunities to promote the musical artists themselves as well as the songs they are performing.

Name of Artist Inspiration

 These three current artists, Selena Gomez and the Scene, Florence and the Machine and Marina and the Diamonds, have all inspired the name of my artist Frankie and the Sound Within. All these artists are seen as solo artists by the public, however their names suggests that they have acknowledged their bands and I liked the sound of this. Even though their bands have been acknowledged they have been given a cool name, "the Scene", "the Machine" and "the Diamonds". Therefore I gave my band name "the Sound Within" hich could suggests the deepness of the songs that are full of thought and realism.

Representation of Race in Hype Williams' Music Videos

Representing race can be very dangerous in different media texts as it could either cause offense or influence people's image of ethnic groups in an undesireable way. People, like Hype Williams, have a very important role within society as they could initially control the views and opinions of the public by how they portray those with different racial backgrounds in their work. Hype Williams uses this power wisely as in his music videos he illustrates the equality and individuality of black people with great responsibility. He demonstrates the strength and independence of black people through many varieties of techniques. Some of Williams' commonly used motifs within his directed music videos are the use of a fish-eye lense, low angle shots of the artists, abstract settings, expressionists costumes and featuring a mainly black cast. I will be exploring the representation of black people in particular through the use of these motifs.

TLC - No Scrubs
The first music video that I will be concentrating on is TLC - No Scrubs.

The denotation of what the song lyrics mean is that they are not willing to take on any man who doesn't work hard for what he wants. This shows the TLC members as strong minded women who kno what they want from a man and that they will not except anything less. This power is shown through the many low angle shots of the artists, which makes them look superior to men. Stereotypically, black women are seen to be strong willed and independent and Williams' has used this positive stereotype to portray the TLC female members.
 
The TLC members have many expressionists costume changes in the music video that emphasises their feminine bodies. This could be to show off their curves for the male audience to look;voyeurism. Some of the expressionists costumes are so exagerated that it could be seen as overly sexualising the image of black women. Also, the sexualised dance moves adds to the over sexualised image of black women. Contextually, this could be linked to the colonial idea of promiscuous black women in the past, which puts a negative vibe on black woman and is seen as a very racist view of black women.

Busta Rhymes - Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See

Moving onto Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See by Busta Rhymes...

The genreal theme of the music video seems to be of an Ancient Tribal image with again the expressionists costumes present and the dance performances throughout. the dance performances are over exgerated and can be seen in two different lights. Because it is exagerated, it is almost seen as self mockery of the culture as it is fairly humerous. This can be negatve as it gives out the assumption that all black people are from Africa and have these "humerous" routines and rituals. However, the exagerated dance routine could be seen as a celebration of the African cukture; enjoying the dance rituals and the origin of some black ethnic people. Depending on how the audience views the faux-African dance sequence, depends on whether black people are represented positivel yor negatively in this music video.

Another stereotype of black people is that they are seen as inferior to other races in society. in the past, many slaves were black who served for a typical, high class, white family. In contrast to this, Williams subverts this stereotypical image by placing Busta Rhymes in a situation where he is of the highest authority. He is seen in an outlandish palacial setting which carrys connotations of luxury and power. Also, he has the many of servants who serves him like royalty by carrying out tasks for him unecessarilty; for example,brushing his teeth for him.

Notorious B.I.G. - Mo Money Mo Problems

Finally concentrating on Notorious B.I.G.'s Mo Money Mo Problems...

The celebration of black people rising in society is demonstrated in this music video. At the time of when this music video was being produced and released, Tiger Woods, a black golfer, was at the peak of his career. This had strongly influenced the Mo Money Mo Problems music video as the concept of a golfing match was used. it reinforces the strength and rise of black people in society, demonstrating it in a beneficial way to the balck race.

In conclusion, I believe that it was and is Hype Williams' sole intention to use positive stereotypical factors of black people in his music videos to boost the image of black people, in general, in a positive light in society as a whole.

Who is Hype Williams?

Harold Williams is more well known as Hype Williams, the music video director of the 1990s. He was born in New York 1970 and is known for his representation of black artists within music videos. 

He was known for his...

• Fish-Eye Lense Shots

• Mainly Black Cast
• 

• Abstract Settings
• 

• Symmetrical Mise-en-Scene

• 

  Focus on Performer

  

• Expressionist Costumes
  

• Low Angle Shots of Artists

Michael Jackson Thriller Analysis

Narrative Based Music Videos

Forms and Conventions of Music Videos

Thinking About Audience

The track that I have chosen to use is Conversations with My Thirteen Year Old Self, originally by Pink. The Genre of this track  is Pop Rock.

Core and Secondary Audiences

The Core Audience for this genre are teenage girls. This is mainly because a lot of Pink's songs are about emotional topics and females are stereotypically the emotional ones.

Other Tastes and Media
The teenage girls may also listen to rock or pop music as well because Pink's music genre can be classed as a mixture of both these genres.

Image and Personality
Listeners to Pinks music would see the world in a darker and rebelious light as this best describes Pink herself. She can be a big influence on others.
The audience's look would be edgy, rock chick, rebellious and not too glamorous.

Uses and Gratifications
The audience may have a personal relationship with Pink's music as she sings about touching, relistic topics and situations that she has experienced herself. Others who have been in a similar situation as her songs, may listen to her songs because of this relationship

Surviellance is about learning about the political and social issues that happens around the world. Although Pink doesn't sing about big, global issues, she does sing about social issues such as domestic violance, divorce and being brought up with a single parent. The audience may find out about these situations through how Pink sings about them in her songs.

Pink herself has her own unique personal identity. She has her unique dress scence and is not afraid to be open about her troubles that she had. I feel because she is such a big inflence on her fans and those who listen to her music, that they would have similar unique personal identities.

Album Covers that I Have Made that Abide by the Indie Conventions

This first album cover is made from a simple image from Google and then added text on a Photo Editing Software.

This album cover abides by the Indie conventions as it simple but effective. The inspiration for this album cover came from the Florence and the Machine album cover Lungs; pictured above. Florence has no eye contact with her audience showing that she is not the main ect of the cover; her lungs are. Therefore I felt that a girls head turned away from us so we only see the back of her head had the same effect and message.

The name of the album "Don't Look Back" reinforces the image of the girls head turned away from us, so that the audience are looking at the back of her. It suggests that she is not turn back to look and face us and not to look back to the past.

The colour temperature of this album cover is very mellow with different shades of grey and black. The lack of bright and "happy" colours can suggest the sad meaning to the album name; to not look back on the bad in the past. It also suggests that all is not well and this song will be of deeper thought and meaning.

The actual font type looks as if the artist herself has hand written the text. This illustrates that the music on this album is all of her own work; as if she is signing it to be hers like a painter would do with their painting.

Indie music is normally about reality and the music being the most important aspect rather than who the artist themselves actually are. This is again shown through the audience not being able to see the actual face of the artist in the album cover; just like who she is is not as important as the music she has made.

This album cover is a bit more vibrant than the album cover above. Again the background image was found on Google and the font on a Photo Editing software.

The inspiration for The People's Pot of Gold  came from Jack Johnson's album cover. The artist himself, Jack Johnson, is not pictured in his album cover and this suggests that the album is about his music not who he is, which is following the typical conventions of Indie music. I have decided to do this also.

The image of a nature scene suggests the down to earth theme of the music that would be within the album. It shows the freshness and purity of nature which gives realism look on the music.

The rainbow colours of the title of the album "Pot of Gold" is based on the idea that there is a Pot of Gold at the end of every rainbow, which is a familiar quote that is well known. The use of this quote will give familiarty to the audience and could imply that this album is the Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. The fact that the colours of the font seem to be fading, reinforces what a rainbow would look like in real life as rainbows don't have bold colours. 

This album cover is a lot more sinister than the others and was made by an image from Google that has been edited to have a negative colour scheme. The font was then added through a Photo Editing Software.

The inspiration for this album cover was from Coldplay's Viva la Vida album cover.

Again like the John Johnson album cover, the artists are not pictured. However, an iconic image is used in Coldplay's Viva la Vida album cover. The painting called Libery Leading the People or La Liberté guidant le peuple painted by the French artist Eugène Delacroix, July 1830, was to commemorate the July Revolution that had just brought Louis-Philippe to the French throne and was used instead. This painting has a deeper, important meaning, therfore I decided to use the same idea. The image that I have used symbolises the Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil saying but instead of the usual monkies that are normally used, I found one with skeletons in it. I felt that this was a more suitable image because it could suggest the darkness of the music within the album.

The font on the Coldplay album is written like it has been painted or graffittied on top of the painting. The font that I have chosen is like it has been written in splattered blood. Again, I feel that this adds to the horror and sinister atmosphere of the album cover, which is a convention of Indie music that is slowly swaying to the Rock genre.

The name of the artists themself are not featured on the album cover of Coldplay's album and I have decided to do this too. The main reason for this is because of the typical convention of Indie music not being or selling because of the artist but because of the music and what it's deeper meaning is about.

Analysing Madonna's Music Videos

Madonna - Like a Prayer

Narrative

• First Narrative: Madonna is the main character in this mucis video and it starts with her entering a church and feeling the greater prescence of God. Once Madonna is in the Church, the religious icon as a statue that is assumed to be Jesus comes to life and "blesses her". His prescence affects her. Even though there is an obvious closeness between the "Jesus" statue and Madonna, he only kisses her on the forehead instead of the lips which makes it less intimate between them and more like he is blessing her.

• Second Narrative: Near the middle of the music video, Madonna witnesses an attack on a woman by a mob of men. The mob runs away at the sound of the sirens and  a young black male tries to help the mugged female. He is assumed by the police that he is the criminal and taken away from the police. This shows the stereotype of automatically thinking that the young male is the criminal when he wasn't just because of his race and skin colour. Also, because the Jesus statue in the music video was also of the same skin colour as the "criminal", it illustrates the two extremes as the Jesus statue is at the top of the hierarchy, whereas the "criminal" is at the bottom.

Reception

• It can be said that this music video is very controversial because of having a black Jesus rather than the usually seen white Jesus. This plays with the history between the white and black races as white people are normally seen higher in the hierarchy than black people are.

• Also, Madonna's sexualisation of the Christian religion and it's symbol of the Cross is again very contoversial. Some viewers of this music video felt that Madonna was disrespecting their faith by wearing such revealing clothes where straps were falling and then wearing the cross around her neck where it was nearly falling between her chest.

Lyrical Content

• The main themes of this particular song include Religion, Love, Tranquility and Peacefulness. This is portrayed though the lyrical content, in particular...

"When you call my name

it's like a little prayer.

I'm done on my knees

I wanna take you there."

These lyrics are taken from the main chorus and shows Madonna comparing Love with Religious Experience. Because she was wearing the revealing clothes, people saw this meaning as an insult to the Christian faith as she is insinuating love at an intimacy level rather than a religious level.

Madonna - Vogue

Concept

• The main concept of this video is about glamour for fashion. This is the english translation of the french word "Vogue" which is the title of this song.

• The glamour of the music video was inspired by Horst P. Horst. Horst P. Horst was a famous photographer who photographed many famous icons in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Some of his famous works included "Lily in a Turban", which was also featured in the music video when Madonna looks like she is being pampered with her hair wrapped in a towel.

Performance

• The dancing performance in the music video was very harsh moves. These moves were as if the people are striking many poses.

Lyrical Content

• The main message of this song is that whoever you are, you are naturally beautiful whatever anyone says or thinks. This is shown through the lyrical content, in particular.....

"It makes no difference

if you're black or white

or if you're a boy or girl

...You're a superstar!"

Colour Temperature

• The whole music video was filmed in black and white. This could be because its showing that you don't need all the colour and the fancy effects to make someone's beauty show. Also, filming it in black and white suggests that the video is something classic from the Golden Age of Hollywood. In the Golden Ages of Hollywood, televisions did not have colour but Hollywood was still seen as the most glamorous place to be part of.

Costumes

• Madonna has a lot of costume changes throughout the music video. Some include a lacy revealing top, a fitted man suit, classical evening dress and corsets. All these costumes exagerated Madonna's body and curves and her beauty. Also all the other extras in the music video were well dressed and sophisticated, again to fit the theme of natural beauty.

Props

• The Showbiz feathers that open and close the music video adds to the Hollywood theme of the video because these Showbiz feathers carry connotations of Hollywood Theatre.

• Pieces of artwork is included in a tracking shot at the very beginning of the video. These different pieces of artwork suggests that the viewers of this video are naturally beautiful like the artwork they see in front of them that were made with such care and thought.

• One part of the music video is where a suited male is leaning on a Greek column to "strike a pose" as the lyrics say. This suggests a classical tone to the music video which adds to the glamour of the video.

Audience's Theories

Hypordermic Syringe Theory

This theory is all about the media affecting the audiece directly as to what their opinions and beliefs are about particular subjects. It has the metophoric image of the "Hypodermic Syringe" pumping the ideas into the audiences mind and body. Sometimes the media does not have a direct influence to the audience but a subtle one meaning that the audience may not know that the media has influenced them in such a way. An example of the Hypodermic Syringe Theory in place is the 9/11 Twin Tower Crash in America and how that was portrayed in the news. After all the media coverage on this story, a lot of people's opinions on those who follow the Islam belief have become negative and stereotypical.

Two Step Flow Theory
 

The Two Step Flow Theory is about where the audiences choose their media intake through what the "opinion leaders" pick and choose. The "Opinion Leaders" are those people who are very opinionated about their surroundings and their views influence those who are arround them just like followers. It can also be seen as a cycle as the Opinion Leader consumes the media, passes their opinion onto their "followers" which then feed back to the media again and the cycle starts again. An example of this is when a famous influencial icon in the media such as Simon Cowell gives their view on  a particular issue, his view may change how other people see the same issue and may reinforce Simon's view.

Uses and Gratification Theory

This theory states that audiences are not passive and are able to be active and pick their own media to consume and to provide their own opinions about that particular issue. These theories can be split into Diversion, Personal Relationships, Surveillance and Personal Identity. Diversion is escaping reality through fiction or the media. Personal Relationship is making that bond with people in the media or characters. Surviellance is talking about the political and social issues that can be local or worldwide. And Personal Identity is about having that personal connection with something that makes the person who you are today.