Draft ONE Music Video

I think this video is extremely successful other than I need to include a lot more lip syncing, I looked at Rita Ora - RIP and the amount of lip syncing she included was phenomenal. What I found made a music video look professional is when one line is played and the artist lip syncs the whole line, but there are three or more different locations involved, I will definitely be including this as I want mine to look as professional as possible. I will also be adding a lot more effects to my video such as colour bleeds and ensuring some clips look vintage, mainly because not only do I want it to look professional but I want it too connect really well with Lana Del Rey's video style.

In my video at 2:00, the kiss scene, my model who is playing Lana Del Rey, sings the first line 'Tell me you own me' then doesn't finish it off because she is kissing her sugar daddy. I believe this represents well how connected to him she is. It shows how much she can't do without him, when he wants her to do anything, she'll do it even if she's got a line to sing, she'd stop anything for him. Also, by stoping before the next line I think it links in well with a part of one of Lana Del Rey's videos, 'National Anthem', 4:10 - 4:16 she has chosen to not sing the start of the line and finish the end off, because it goes well with her grieving, therefore I have chosen to stop her singing to show the same sort of effect, but with a different emotion.

I have chosen to add the lighter into my video, because I believe it adds effect to the video as when the lighter fails to light, two times it links with the song. The first time it fails it fails on the word 'crazy', the second time it fails, it fails on the word 'baby' and then when it finally lights that when the music really gets going on the word 'sorry'. Therefore, I believe that by adding this in, it doesn't play a big part in the video but I think it does add a great effect and almost creates a link with the music and lyrics because it's failing and working with the flow of the music.

I have added in the 'home footage' for two reasons, mainly because I think it goes extremely well with the narrative. The girl (Lana Del Rey) is a prostitute and was living on the streets, but was then rescued by her 'sugar daddy', she is taken in by him and looked after, which she misinterperates with love and she falls in love with him. Although, he still only see's her as a prostitute, which is also an explaination as to why the audience never get to see a close up of the male model's full face. The first lot of home footage is the children doing ballet, this is meant to show her past and how she was before she got into prostitution she was a happy little girl who loved dancing; I believe that ballet dancing for young children has connotations of a good, classy family, which therefore creates a contrast and makes the audience think about how she got to how she is now and where her parents are, it rises a lot of questions for the audience to be thinking of. Whereas, the graduation footage shows the audience what she could've achieved if she hadn't of become a prostitute and got her life together. The series of shots from 2:52 - 3:02 shows her life as it is now and how it could've been, the use of the flashing back and forth, back and forth explains that for the audience and the use of it landing on the model (Lana Del Rey) and her sugar daddy is that that's the path that she chose, rather than a life of independence and education. The other reason I chose to add in home video's is because in the majority of Lana Del Rey's music videos, such as 'National Anthem' and 'Video Games' she has home videos included, therefore I wanted to keep this strong link that Lana Del Rey has because it creates a great connection.





 



Research on other albums

After looking at other album covers I have noticed that Lana Del Rey isn't the only one that keeps her album covers simple and (could be classed as) dull. Rihanna's album, 'Talk That Talk' is very much about her, like Lana Del Rey's are. She doesn't have her name on it just her logo which is 'R', it could be said that this is used rather than her full name because she is so popular now people only have to see her face and they know who she is, but it could also be said that it is used so it is her new logo. The name of the album is very small and written almost like a tattoo, quite faded and delicate, this is done because she appears to be topless therefore it links well with the tattoo idea, but also because her tattoo on her left shoulder is showing, so that links nicely too. The positioning of her is very much like Lana Del Rey's she's central and focusing her eyes to the camera, she isn't smiling, she's got quite a stern, serious look on her face, while smoke is coming out of her mouth. The use of this shows her 'bad-ass' attitude, just like Lana Del Rey's, as smoking has connotations of being bad and not good for your health, so by doing this, especially on her album cover, shows that she doesn't really care, she does anything to look good.

 

 

 

 

I have also been looking at Coldplay's two different albums. When looking at them they are obviously different, but there is a link which is artwork, rather than using the band on the front. The first album is very effective as it has a very interesting painting as the album cover. The use of the woman holding the flag, I think, Coldplay has chosen to use this because the woman portrays them, they're winning in the music business. I like this implication because it almost has Lana Del Rey's confidence involved in it, she always has a face like she's winning, she doesn't need to try. This album doesn't include Coldplay's band name, this could go one of two ways, if the audience aren't aware that Coldplay use interesting images as their album covers the audience aren't going to pick it up, but because Coldplay use interesting and unique artwork for their albums it always has a connection, therefore fans of Coldplay will know it's them. Also, Coldplay has a small fan base, therefore it could be said that they need to sell themselves better, rather than not putting there band name on it, as they're no way near as popular as Rihanna and she still shows the audience that it deffinitely is her because of the 'R'. The second album cover has exactly the same effect as the first, they haven't included their band name on this one either. But the only difference is that the second album is a lot more 'hip' because of the use spray paint. Spray paint has a connotation of young and rebelous, therefore grabs a different type of audience, so it could be said that Coldplay haven't put their band name on this album cover because they understand that they have a small fan base and rather than shouting that they are Coldplay, they are almost wanting to 'trick' people into buying it and listening to their different, changed music.

 

 



Research on Lana Del Rey's albums

I have been looking at Lana Del Rey's albums for inspiration on how to design my album. One of the main features I have seen in a number of her albums are the way she is presented on them, she's the centre of the page, obviously as it is her album she should be but some artists like different sorts of artwork such as landscapes or an explosion of colour, etc. I think the use of colour used in Lana Del Rey's album's vary, for example she is the colour on this album cover, but the rest of the album is quite bland, therefore shows how little she needs to try to look fabulous.

 

 

 

 

Also I have noticed that the font is usually either very fancy or very block-like/sans serif.  This is effective because not only does it show the audience clearly who the artist is and which album it is, but it also jumps out almost like a cinema/theatre show sign - big and explosive, it catches everyones eye. I will be using this to link with her other albums, this will link well with her other albums allowing the audience to create a connection from one album to the other enabling them to think that this new album is as good as the previous, but also by changing the appearence slightly the audience that didn't like her previous albums may think that this one's slightly different and they may like it.

 

 

 

A lot of Lana Del Rey's albums are quite plain when it comes to text and logos, she doesn't tend to show her record companies logo or a barcode, therefore I won't be using them on the front cover, I will be showing them on the side at the back of the album.

 

Poster Task - Draft 1

This is the poster draft for my poster task. I have chosen to have the model to the side because then it makes room for the text, I also think it brings in the rule of thirds, which when using this it creates a better photograph. I have chosen to use the font that is used on the album because then when the audience see the poster and decide they want to buy the album when they see this font, automatically they will know it's Lana Del Rey, as this text isn't used often.

Digipak Task - Draft 1

 

This is my digipak design, I chose these images because I think they link well with Lana Del Rey's attitudes which are careless, bad-ass, drugs and rock and roll. I think the the first side (top) really shows her attitude and shows the audience what her music is like, which is realistic and she sings about love and mainly heartbreak, how she works through it. I think the second image to the bottom shows the sexual side of her because of her biting her lip, I also think it shows a sexual side because 'Lana Del Rey' covers her eyes, therefore not showing any emotion.



Pictures for Digipack and Poster tasks

These are the photographs that I took for the digipak and poster task. Obviously a lot of these I didn't use because there wasn't enough space to fit them all on. I think this photo-shoot was successful because I got a lot of different quirky shots of the model and a lot of the shots are very 'Lana Del Rey', which is vintage, unique, a careless attitude and shows a 'bad-ass' attitude.

 



Digipak Design (computer)



Magazine Advert Design (computer)

 

Shooting Schedule

Locations

I have chosen several different locations, one of them being Wollaton Hall. I have chosen this location because I think this would look brilliant as his house, he's meant to be a very rich 'sugar daddy', therefore by implying that Wollaton Hall is his house, this will convince the audience that he is very rich.

I think this location is brilliant also because it's very different and traditional English, which Lana Del Rey isn't.

It was a brilliant day to take the images for my location shots because there wasn't anyone in the shots or around the area I will be filming. The colours that are included in the settings are mainly greens, browns, so I think this will work well as a contrast with the other shots which will be in the bedroom and on the street/city.

The second location I have chosen is my house in Stapleford, I will be using this for the bedroom scene and the singing against the white wall. This worked well, especially with linking with conventions as many other artists have shots like this, whether it be a white background or a plain colours sheet. This also helped the audience focus on the singer and nothing else. 

Another location I have used is outside my house, because it currently under construction it was a good place to use as it was quite messy and rough, therefore representing her life before she met the male role in the video. The use of this location isn't major and isn't shown a lot, but I think the use of it is effective and also adds more locations.

One location that I used in only a few shots was the bath in my bathroom, I thought this worked very well as it's not a usual location for artists. I also thought that by having the singer in the bath topless (without revealing anything) that gave the video a bit of an edge which is what artists like to do, it grabs the audience's attention.