THE CREATION OF MY MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT FOR MY POP VIDEO

When creating the magazine advert, I wanted to convey the eccentric, wild aspects of the band, whilst keeping it simple so the audience can connote elements without being bombarded with images. Also, if the image only took up a small amount of space, there would be room for the details of tour dates, and the name of the album and band, which is vital information needed for the poster. The main purpose of the poster is to see the band and give information of the tour.

I thought it would be most effective to use a photo that had also been used in the digipack, therefore the audience could relate to what they have previously seen. In order not to be too repetitive though, I used a photo from the montage, therefore in the digipack it is only small. I was trying to create an image that the artist was eccentric, unique and unusual. I did this by using a photo of Ruby, the artist, being carried by Lukas, the other band member, on the trapezium, wearing a black feathery dress. I cropped the image from the photo of them on the trapezium, using Adobe PhotoShop. The artist also looks aesthetically pleasing, especially with her looking down as she appears modest. This is placed on the right hand side in order to create space for the information needed for the poster.

The name of the artist ‘Marie’ is placed on the left hand side in big writing, with a clear and attractive font so that it is easy to write.
Furthermore, the name of the album ‘le fruit defendu’ is placed underneath the artist’s name.

The tour dates are in the centre at the bottom of the poster. Aswell as the image, an audience immediate attention will be drawn to the tour dates, which is the most important information needed for the poster. The prices of tickets is also available on the poster, and the venues of where they will be held; all the information needed is shown on the poster, which is the purpose for it.

I used an effect on the photo that made it look slightly old and washed out. This consequently made it look like a circus advertisement, which is good for the concept of the band image that I was aiming for.

THE CREATION OF MY DIGIPACK COVER

When creating the digipack cover, I looked over the photos that were taken of the shoot day to be the front cover, back cover, and the inside left and right. I wanted to use photos of the day because they would be better quality than using screen grabs of the pop video taken from Youtube.

I was trying to create an image of the artist and her band member to be eccentric and wild. The song itself is unique and unusual and this is reinforced by the characteristics and performance from both the artists. Due to the use of jump cuts, costume and the mise en scene, the initial look of the pop video is loud and indifferent; therefore I felt the digipack cover should reflect this. With the concept of semiology in mind, I wanted the audience to denote what they see in front of them, but also connote hidden aspect that would reinforce the brand image of the band.

The front cover is simple and stylish which gives the audience an initial attraction to the CD. It is a close up of the artist’s face with a feather bower around her neck, in black and white, with the eyes and eye lashes in bright colour. On the shoot day, we got the artist to wear sparkly, bright fake eye lashes that were a mixture of red, yellow and orange. Although I changed the photo into black and white, I wanted to capture the eccentric eyes so on ‘Adobe Photo Shop’ I used two layers and rubbed out the black layer to reveal the coloured eyes. I felt this would be effective because the eyes are sometimes known as a ‘mirror to the soul,’ therefore if the artist’s eyes are bright and strange, in comparison to the rest of the photo, the audience will connote that she is unusual, wild and a slight rebel just by the colour in her eyes. The title of the album is written near her mouth, it reads “le fruit defendu,” which means the forbidden fruit. I purposely placed it near the mouth to show that although it is forbidden, the audience could connote that as it is by her mouth, she is consuming it anyway; again suggesting she is wild and has her own rules. Her artist name of ‘Marie’ is also written slightly higher than the album title, to show its importance over it. The font of both words are the same, and are slightly tilted to one side, therefore they are aesthetically pleasing, and appealing to an audience.

The back cover is of the cinema seats against the green screen which we edited into black. I colour graded the cinema seats so the red looked richer and more vibrant, especially against the black background. The track listings are in a easy font to read, and placed in the centre of the photo, to make it look tidier, and they are white to stand out against the black. The bar code and music company details are at the bottom right of the photo, therefore not taking attention away from the track listing.

After doing the front and back cover which are simple, I wanted the inside covers to be louder and more exciting. I felt this should be done to suggest on the surface the artists can appear simple, but once you look at them perform, or listen to their music, they are unlike other bands. The inside left cover has a picture of Lukas, the band member, in an orange jump suit with a bright umbrella hat, sitting on a bike. The audience can denote this as it is plain to see in front of them, however, they could connote that the artist’s ‘side kick’ is just as eccentric as the artist, and therefore together they are an exciting band. He is placed on the left hand side of the photo, therefore the stage, with the paint splattered everywhere, is perfectly visible. This meant that with the free space, I could put the lyrics to the main song “Ta Douleur’ on the right hand side. The font is easy to read and is in black to contrast against the brightly coloured set. Lukas’ facial expression look inviting and welcoming, therefore the audience can connote that they are a friendly band.

Finally, the inside left cover is a montage of nine different photos of the shoot day. Each photo is slightly linked to another, for example, the diagonal three from left to right are of Ruby on the swing, and the middle left and right photos are of Felix. The actual CD will be covering this photo, therefore when someone removes it, it will reveal the unique montage of photos, which the audience could connote as exposing their true self, which is unusual, loud and eccentric.

TASK 1 - IN WHAT WAYS DO YOUR MEDIA PRODUCTS USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

The trick of producing a pop video is to give the audience what they expect,, the usual conventions, or plaisir, in the terms of Roland Barthes. While also giving the audience something unexpected, not just imitating but subverting the conventions, or jouissance in Barthes terms. We tried to be aware of this from the very beginning to the end and to apply it sensibly.

Pop theorist Keith Negus lists the main conventions of a pop video as being the following, which we either imitated or subverted.


• The explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s “image” (aesthetic/generic/ideological) as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption

• The featuring of the artist (almost without exception)

• A wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement

• Repetition of reoccuring thematic elements and generically specific iconography (one key element often being dominant and providing the skeletal structure for the promo)

• A possible narrative structure

• A possible performance element

• The flexibility to disregard Realism!

• Shots cut tightly to the beat of the track

• Use of special effects (lighting, annimation, CGIs, in-camera effects)

• A carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track

• High impact instantly! (Don’t forget that competition for airplay on the main music channel outlets is intense)


In our research and development stage, we used the internet to research other pop videos that were similar to the concept we were trying to produce. We looked on Youtube at the original of the pop video ‘Ta Douleur’ by Camille to see if we wanted to imitate any of the conventions, or whether subverting them would look better. The original pop video was quite abstract and not many conventions were used, so we looked at other pop videos for inspiration. Many pop videos use the major conventions which are pointed out by Negus, they are: the explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s image; featuring the artist; a wide and extensive use of shot types; camera angles and movement; repetition of reoccurring thematic elements; narrative; performance element; the flexibility to disregard realism; shots cut tightly to the beat of the track, use of special effects; mise en scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track and finally high impact instantly. These conventions feature in alot of pop videos which give plaisir, which the theorist Barthes says in pleasure from the expected. However, the conventions that were subverted give jouissance, which is pleasure from the new and unexpected. Our aim was to incorporate both of these in our pop video to create a melange.

We tried to create a message through the song itself and the brand image. As the song is in French, the narrative and performance of the singer was vital in showing what the song meant. The message of the song is that a the artist is singing to a girl who has been cheated and trying to make her happy again; therefore the song needed to be upbeat and quirky in order for the concept to work. The song incorporates lots of words which can be used in the image of the song, for example, she says “change du couleur” which meant that we wanted to show a ‘change of colour’ on the screen. We did this by having different coloured paints on the back wall, and have the artist wearing different colours exotic costumes. This goes on to the image of the artist; due to the song being quite abstract, and as it is in French that is relatively different for an English audience, we wanted to create an image of a quirky and exotic singer. The artist needed to seem quite mysterious and ambiguous because the song is that as it is in a different language. By the use of mise en scene, costumes and the general performance of the artist, the band created a successful abstract image to promote.

One of Negus’ conventions is to use a wide range of camera shots and angles. We were able to imitate the use of a wide range of camera shots by using close ups and wide shots. As shown in the picture below, there is a close up of Ruby’s, the artists’, eyes. This was done to show the difference between the filmic scenes to when the person watching was in the frame with her. The wide shot shown is of Ruby dancing, and these were intercut in order to give the audience jouissance as it would not be expected to cut between such contrasting shots.

The close up of Ruby’s eyes is also following another convention of the ‘Rule of Thirds.’ Ruby’s eyes are on the two first hot spots, of which an audience will look at first; this makes the audience feel a connection with the artist, and therefore like the singer and enjoy the song better.

Negus’ first convention of promoting the artist as an aesthetically pleasing person is also imitated in our pop video. Ruby is a young and attractive girl, and furthermore she is a talented dancer, therefore she is immediately perceived as aesthetically pleasing. We improved this also by the use of costume, and dressing her in sexy and quirky outfits, which are interesting and good to look at. The performance of Ruby was also good in selling the band, especially in the shots where she was on the trapezium.

The artist appears in the whole song because she is not only the performance, but she is also in the narrative. Furthermore, her band member also appears alot of the time aswell to create variety. By both members of the band appearing throughout the entire pop video, the image we were trying to put across is better shown because the audience can see them all the time.

Through the behaviour on the set, the connection between the two band members is quite strong, and therefore they work well together on camera, which makes it more enjoyable for an audience to watch.
Due to our concept we did not have many different angle shots because the camera was in a fixed position. This, however, is jouissance because the audience would not expect it, but they could still enjoy it as the other things happening in the frame are interesting.

However, near the end of the piece, there is a mid shot of Ruby crawling on the floor. This is a different angled shot which the audience would enjoy because it is far more personal than any other of the shots.

A convention that Negus points out is the repetition of reoccurring thematic elements. This is shown in the opening of the pop video where Lukas is intercut with Ruby. This is repeated in the rest of the pop video where when the strong beat came into the track, Lukas would appear on screen. (PICTURE OF LUKAS ON SCREEN IN WEIRD POSITION) This is a convention that we chose to imitate because it meant the audience could relate back to something similar and therefore enjoy it further.