Shooting

Last night myself and Harry shot various sequences from our original storyboards. We shared the camera work and music timing tasks, I also did the styling, hair and makeup. We asked our friend from school, Joanne Pride, to be our actress. We have planned to do more shooting in the commencing week.

Album covers research

Nicki Minaj "Pink Friday"

I have decided to deconstruct Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday as I feel it is not only visually interesting, but how the album unconventially differs from the aesthetic and visual elements of other albums deriving from the American rap/R&B genre.

• The images used focus solely on the aesthetic of the artist. The central focus on the front of the album cover is a shot of the arist in elaborate clothing, accentuated by a mass of delicate pink mesh creating a tutu effect around the waist of the artist, which then stands stuctured behind her.

• The background colour of the cover is soft pink, as are the artists shoes, outfit, lipstick. Even the artist's hair is a shade of eye-popping bubble gum pink. This cleverly reflects not only the name of the album, but conveys the unique style, personality and artistic style of the artist.

• The combination of white and pink on the cover connotes the ideology of innocence, youthfulness and fun; the pink and white reminds me of sweets and all things feminine. This could be representative of the message of which the artist wishes to convey about her music and her personal sense of style, personality and outlook on life. It could also indicate at the demographic of audience she wishes to appeal to.

• The bold font used reflects the importance of the artist herself, but could also be symbolic of the genre of music and the bold/significant statements of which she makes in her work. The delicate pink writing is juxtaposed with this to create a clash of femininity, sexual empowerment and the female gender's professional ability and capability witting a modern day context.

• A poster of the artist is included in the inside sleeve of the album which could suggest that the artist wishes to be portrayed in a mode sexually appealing manner. She adopts provocative stances in each image, therefore appealing to a male audience. However the elements of femininity and inpirational collaborations of the latest fashion trends with futuristic embellishments indicates a female demographic of admiration seekers, materialists and anti-authority rebels.

• The inside sleeve also serves the function of allowing the artist to thank all those who have helped her on her journey to success

• The front cover also displays the symbol for notifying consumers of explicit content wich reinforces the idea that the artist appeals to an older demographic of audience. This contrasts immediately with the overall theme and content of the album cover: even though the artist essentially focuses on delicacy and felinity in her personal presentation and aesthetic, the symbol highlights the clutching onto her american rap/ R&B roots.

• The tracks on the album are quite controversial. One song in particular named "I'm The Best" comments on sexual empowerment and in parallel the artist's aspirations to become an inspirational role model for women who have the ability to achieve, but have never let themselves believe it due to restraints imposed by the modern world "I'm fighting for the girls that never thought they could win, Cause before they could begin, you told them it was the end, but I am here to reverse the curse that they live in".

• It is evident that Nicki Minaj is keen to sever the restrictions that stereotypical perceptions impose, such as the ideology that to be a successful rapper you have to be male, or masculine. By communicating her feminine aesthetic and juxtaposing it with her ability to rap and produce controversial music, it creates a whole new appeal to a niche demographic of audience.

Stage 2 Album Covers Research

The typical features of album covers are:

• Name of the artist
• Track Listings on the back cover
• Price/Bar code on back 
• Intriguing and thought-provoking image to entice a certain demographic of audience
• Often an image of the artist/band is the central focus of the album cover
• Name of the album/single on the front

How the genre of album covers categorises them, and the ways of distinguishing between them other than generically:

• There are specific indications from the font style used (i.e a joined, swirled writing could indicate a female audience, whereas distressed block writing, or messy writing could suggest a more indie/rock interested audience, or the demographic of anti-authority rebels)
• If an image of the artist is used it could suggest that the artist appeals to a more mainstream audience. However, if another image is used that is not directly associated with the artist, it could be suggested that the artist appeals to another demographic of audience
• Colour schemes also indicate at the demographic of audience the artist wants to appeal to. For example soft colours appeal to a more mainstream audience i.e baby and soft pinks appealing to an audience predominantly of the female gender. Where florescent colours could indicate an older demographic of audience,  such as the late teens to twenties who are far more drawn to consume from the club/dance/electro genre

Album covers serve many different functions, such as:

• To convey and communicate meaning, beliefs and particular ideologies that are specific to the audience, the record label etc
• To present the artist as a marketable and profitable "brand"
• To appeal to a specific demographic of audience and their fan base
•  To promote the record label so it is instantly recognisable to the consumer audience
• To coney the style/aesthetic of the artist 
• To covey/indicate at the genre/style of music that the album contains.

Album Artwork

Here are examples of album artwork I have created myself in preparation for the album artwork I will create as an element of my coursework. 

I have used a consistent colour scheme to reflect the overall aesthetic of the images. The colours are ultraviolet and striking to engage the audiences attention. I have also used images that reflect the 21st century obsession with desirable and materialistic lifestyles, and the predominance of consumerism to admiration seekers, materialists and anti-authority rebels. 

Inspiration for shooting technique and shots used

Shooting

Yesterday during my free period I signed out a camcorder and tripod from school and took them home to film the beginning sequence of our music video. I changed the time on my digital clock, increasing the time by an our in each shot so that in the actual video, we can speed the shots up by a considerable degree to create the illusion of time passing increasingly quickly. Myself and Harry have just imported the video footage onto final cut express to enable us to edit the footage. We have ordered  the introductory shots and rendered them.

Shooting Preparation

Finalised Storyboards

Actor's aesthetic

During a meeting between myself and my team we collaboratively allocated tasks to each group member in order to finalise our shooting preparation, and ultimately improve our efficiency, time keeping and overall cooperation as a team.

I drew each frame of the storyboards to convey the overall narrative structure, shot sequences, props and mis-en-scene of our music video. I have also devised a series of images conveying the aesthetic of the actress within our video which portrays the ideology of objectification through vanity, fortune and fame which is so predominant throughout our music video.

The props include champagne bottles and champagne glasses, materials mimicking drugs and cigarettes to convey opposing elements deriving from the current predominant elements of 21st century life, and the life style of admiration seekers, anti-authority rebels and materialist demographics.

We have planned a minimum of 3 shooting days, where we plan to shoot separate segments of the narrative. We will use a series of settings at the same location ranging from a dark and mysterious bedroom representing the glamorous boudoir of the artist, to the backseat of my car to represent a car/limousine to primarily highlight a materialistic lifestyle.