CD cover and interior

This is the front of my groups CD cover

This is the interior of my CD cover

Evaluation

Before we embarked on this project we were all given the task of going out and researching a pop promo that had already been released and to go and look at and review a few music videos. I chose to look at Jay-z and Linkin Parks jointly produced album collision course; I chose to do this partly because Linkin park remind me slightly of the band that we worked with (Distraction) due to the fact the band had such a diverse background of musical influences, but mainly because it was a hugely successful album and so i choose to work from the best example possible.

When making our video the group did have some creative differences between each other, one member wanted to make more of the love scenes, whilst i wanted to include more of the band. I wanted to do it like this because i think we chose a very simple easy narrative to follow that didn't warrant massive chunks of the video's time. I thought it would be a better idea if we made more use of the band; for example i came up with an idea to just get some shots of the band messing around and wanted to include more in the finished piece but the idea was turned down. Looking at the video now i think the correct decision was made at the time for the video, as the narrative is much stronger.

Treatment for music video

Distractions PerformanceOur band Distraction will be the main feature throughout the music video despite our dark romantic narrative; our aim is to promote the band. We will be filming in the college music room just next door to the recording studio where the band creates their magic. The room was quite cramped for a performance however I thought that it would work well as it would show the authentic "beginning" that Distraction had at SNC. It will be quite simple to fit them all in a camera shot together but we will do several run throughs of the band performing their song "Let the Sun Shine" The focus will be on the band as a whole but I think we should add a little extra focus to the main singer because his voice dominates the track. CUs and mid-shots of each performer, using at least 3 long shots from different points and angles in the room in order to capture the bands performance as a whole. I may pull some focus away from the bass players in the music videos final edit as there are 2-3 of them; the melody they create supports the song perfectly so I will not make their presence completely unknown. Going through several takes of the song and each time focusing on different performers i.e. drums, lead guitar, pianist etc. We will hand the camera to Distraction and let them mess around with it in order to capture them away from strangers and it will go well with the tech shots to create a compilation of the recording studio. We will also use a B&W effect on their performance in order to blend them in with the narrative.The NarrativeWe will start of with some long shots to establish both the male character and the setting, also I think it will help the audience notice the B&W effect in the narrative. An interesting low-angle shot of the male charater on the balcony of the atrium as it portrays him looming over the other students yet he is powerless, make the brightness and contrast a bit deeper to show his dark mood; possibly noticeable to audience. The computer screen effect would be perfect to give artificial light to the dark surroundings - CU, reaction shot to computers failed search of his identity. The hallways of the media department are usually deserted in lesson hours so it will be perfect to film part of the narrative there which will help further separate our tortured male character from the rest of the world, I was hoping to film an additional scene featuring Distraction - a long shot to show them kicking out the male character from the band making him an outcast and giving him some origin in the narrative however it seems unlikely and I think Distraction are not the narrative type of band. In order to shed some light onto the narrative I think it will be interesting to move the setting outdoors yet still keeping it in B&W which will help with the lightening of the mood when the male will notice the female character and then the romance genre will come into play. Filming Charlotte will consist of a few long shots; introducing her to the narrative as a random student, the camera will pan horizontally when she walks. A quick jump cut, CU reaction shot of the male noticing her. A point of view shot watching her as she walks past him without noticing his gaze. After the elongated chorus performance by Distraction will lead to the introduction of the meet cue between the two characters causing the lust to become mutual, CUs of the eyes and hands as we will do the traditional scene of teenagers meeting in school. The RED effect will be used to symbolise the love in order to do this we will use red clothing/accessory items. A few more scenes like the meet cue will eventually lead to the final shot of the male and female character together which will be the perfect final shot, possibly fade to black.

(credit to George D.L)

promotion for the digipak: Jay-z and Linkin park

Due to the fact that this digipak was produced and made by two separate musical entities; Linkin park and Jay-z there isn't very much in the way of promotional material, most of the promotion work was done by MTV.


MTV mash-ups is what brought the two together so they handled the promotion by using their network of channels to advertise it, and using a TV channel as popular as MTV has an effect.






Whilst all the promotion for the link up was happening the picture on the left was an image you couldn't turn on MTV without seeing, it was used in adverts, on the website etc. I think that the imagery and font used is very representative of both jay-z and the band mixing the urban and the grime of both respectively.





I think that when making this print ad the boys have gone for a very simplistic feel, this helps to add to the mystery of the joining of the two music giants. This then in turn intrigues fans of either or both to go and watch the show or buy the album.


My point is further backed up by the fact that hardly any information is given on the ad apart from where to buy tickets, it doesn't even announce a support act.



I think that the use of only three colours makes the little information that is on show bold and stand out to the viewer. Both Jay-z and Linkin park are so massive in their respective genres that they don't need their actual images to promote or help people recognise them, so the use of the shadow's is a very stylistic effect.