Album Cover

Myspace

http://www.myspace.com/harlemuk

Evaluation Planning

In order  for our evaluation to be as good as we could get it we planned it in great detail first. Here are the charts we used to plan it:
Goodwin Planning Chart

Vernallis Planning Chart

Album Cover Planning Chart

Myspace Planning Chart

Evaluation - Question 4

Throughout our project we have used a range of different types of technology and here is a still shot with all of them in it:

For research the main type of technology used was the web. It was useful to watch TV and find music videos like that, but when it came to being specific www.youtube.com and www.myspace.com came in handy. Most of our research was conducted over the web in order to compare other music videos and research into the conventions of band Myspace's. The web is the place where you can get the most variety of things in a short space of time and therefore came in handy a huge amount.
When planning our music video, the main type of technologies that were used were the HD Video camera and the stills camera. We practiced recording videos of each other lip-synching to our track in order for us to plan what looked realistic and what did not and who was going to say what lyrics. Also the stills camera was used to take pictures throughout the planning process of evidence of the progression of our planning. We took pictures of our storyboard, timeline and various spider diagrams in order for them to be uploaded onto blogger easily.
The technology used when producing our music video was the HD video cameras which we used to record all of our footage on and pag lights which were used when natural lighting was not strong enough. The HD cameras allowed our footage to be of better quality than previous cameras and therefore made the video look more professional. However when it  came to editing the footage, as the footage was of such high quality the PC could not cope with it and therefore caused many problems with crashing and saving. The pag lights were not originally going to be used, however when we captured our footage of the performance shots we noticed a huge contrast in lighting between that and the New York footage as some of the shots were grainy and dark due to lack of lighting. We therefore decided to reshoot and took pag lights along with us to use for these shots. When capturing this footage we noticed how much more professional it looked with the use of more lighting and therefore felt the pag lights came in very useful.
When editing our music video we used Adobe Premiere Pro. It allowed us to edit our video in a non-linear style which made the process a lot easier and quicker. Also it allowed us to create more than one timeline so we could create different parts of the music video on different timelines and then put it together when it was completed. It made it a lot easier to organise and manage. However the only downside with using this was that because we shot on HD cameras, the programme became slow and temperamental as the quality of the footage was so high.
The technology which has been used from start to finish of our project has been the use of our blogs. This is where all different forms of technology have come together and been apparent with us uploading photos, videos, website links etc. This technology has come in most useful to us as it has enabled us to work on this project wherever and whenever we like. The use of a blog has made the management throughout the project a lot easier and allowed us to communicate ideas a lot easier.

Evaluation - Question 3

Evaluation - Question 2

The music video and Myspace work together to market the album as this is where the money is made if the audience buy it. This means that we have used cross platform throughout our marketing campaign. When using this type of marketing we had to create a link between all of our products to make sure the audience do not get confused. To do this we used the theme of New York and dancing throughout each product to allow the audience to spot a link.
Our video is based around two girls using their dancing to find fame in New York City. This is where the themes of New York and dancing stem from and as they are such strong ideas we decided that we could use them to market all of our products and create a link between them. At the beginning of our video we use montages of New York to set the scene and there are a lot of shots of the New York taxis. This links in with our Myspace where the main colour scheme is that of the New York taxi. The beginning of the video is taken up with shots of the city and therefore really sets the scene for the audience and makes them understand that New York plays a central role with the artist. At the end of the video we see the two girls dancing in a dance studio. We can tell its a dance studio due to the mise-en-scene with the bars, mirrors and white walls. These signifiers, mainly the bar element, are used throughout our three products to show the dancing theme. The ending of our video is taken up by the dancing shots, making it both interesting for the viewer and to draw attention to the fact that the girls are dancers and therefore make it easier to find the link between the products.
On our Myspace we used the colour scheme of white, yellow and black which is very stereotypical New York as it connotes a New York taxi. Also we used a background image of New York taxi's lined up on the street to amplify the New York theme throughout our myspace.

We have also used lots of images of us wearing 'I Love NY' tops to create another link between the album cover and myspace as these appear and are dominant in both. To emphasize the dancing in the Myspace we used images of us with the bar behind us, signifying a dance studio. These images and shots are used on both the album cover and the video creating a link between the three.

Also in our Myspace we have focussed our background information on the fact that we both grew up with dancing playing a central role in our lives.
On our album cover we have used an image of the New York skyline layered over another image of Nisha and I which enforces the New York theme running throughout our products.

Also on the back cover we have used a shot of Nisha wearing an 'I Love NY' top, linking in with the Myspace and also signifying the New York theme. The shot of Nisha on the back cover is of her holding a bar. Once again this shot is used in all three products linking them all together and connoting the dance theme as bars are usually seen in dance studios.

We have also used the white font on the black background which links in with our Myspace and therefore relates back to the idea of the New York taxis.
All in all we have tried to create something different by incorporating the fact that dancing is one of their main talents as well as singing and their background in the marketing of our products to distinguish them from other artists out there and encourage the audience to buy their products.
Overall i think our marketing campaign does work quite effectively as we focus on the artists to market the products rather than the music itself which is very stereotypical for this genre as it is all about the appearance of the artist which attracts the audience into buying their records. However our marketing campaign can be seen to be too similar to the original artists 'The Pussycat Dolls' who also used their dancing background to promote them as something different and unique to the audience. Also the fact that the music video is only for their debut single would make it seem as if the New York theme and dancing theme which have stemmed from it are only promoting the video and not the whole album, therefore in order to make our campaign successful we will need to incorporate these themes throughout every single from that album in order to make it clear to the audience it is promoting the album and not just that one single.

Evaluation - Evidence for Question 1

Evaluation Video - Question 1

Evaluation - Question 1 MYSPACE

On our Myspace the text anchors all the images on the page and gives them a reason to be there. It is also aimed at grabbing the audiences attention and make them want to read on. Each image on the myspace is headed, therefore letting the audience know what it is about. It also emphasizes the visuals as the audience do not only have them to look at, but also the text to read as well. To make it clear to the audience that some pieces of text are more important than others we made them bigger and kept the less important things smaller. We also made titles bold and capitalled to make them stand out a lot more to catch the audiences attention and make it easy for them to find what they want to read.

The iconography used throughout the myspace is representaional of the band because the font is yellow and white on a black background which is very typical of New York as it looks like a New York taxi, therefore enforcing the theme of New York. Also on our website the majority of the images taken are from inside the dance studio, connoting to the audience just how important dance is for them. Our website is very much based around the two themes of dance and New York making it more central in the branding of the artist.
For the hiphop/pop genre there tend to be a lot of visuals of the artist themselves and a lot of advertisements for the merchandise and links to websites. We tried to encorporate this into our myspace to make it clear of the genre by using advertisements to our fashion store, links to our facebook and twitter, and having lots of images of each of us.

To entice the audience a myspace tends to give fans a more personal relationship with the artist. They usually include ways of contacting the artist, giving feedback and have elements where you can find out things about them you would not normally know. On our website we tried to use this insight into the artists life as much as possible with the use of behind the scenes pictures where you can see the girls in their everyday lives, links to their facebook and twitter to let fans become even closer to them, having personal information about them such as their likes and their background, being able to add them as friends and message them allowing them to become more personally involved with them and allowing them to comment on thewebsite, letting them leave their feedback and have an input into the artists life. Also the general tone of the website is very chatty and friendly making the audience feel more comfortable and giving the audience a more laid back interpretation of the artist letting them relate to them more.

On our myspace we have used the record labels email addresses as a way to market the record label. It is a form of viral marketing and word of mouth endorsement as people can see the email addresses and pass them onto friends via conversations, however they can also use the email addresses to email the label if they are interested, promoting the label entirely over the web. Also the fact that the fans can download the artist's music over the site and get onto other sites linked with them are all forms of viral marketing as they are promoting themselves over the web to their audience. We thought that as our artist was independant and would not have the money to do mainstream campaigning, viral marketing would be the most cost effective and useful way of promoting them as it can have a wide reach for minimal cost.

Evaluation - Question 1 ALBUM COVER

The layout of a debut album will usually always contain song lists on the back, an image of the artist on the front, bar code on the back, institutional information on the back, links to websites on the back, name of album and artist on the spine, serial number on the spine, a distinct colour scheme running throughout and a large name of the artist and smaller name of the album showing the artist is the main focus and want them to sell the album.

The functions of a debut album should be to promote the artist, sell the album, grab the audiences attention, create an image for the artist, promote the genre and create a target audience.
As we were a debut artist we felt that having a photograph of the band members on the front, back and inside covers would be more eye-catching and also market the artist to the audience. We made the images very glossy, striking and glamourous and also used the majority of close ups to give it a more personal feel for the audience. Photographs are also very stereotypical for the hiphop/pop genre, therefore promoting our genre in the album cover. For more established artists they may not follow these conventions of using photographic images. For example 'Green Day - American Idiot' used a cartoon hand squeezing a heart as their main image. This image is distinctive for the band and therefore would be recognisable to fans. Also cartoon images are also very common for the rock genre as they use their outrageousness to sell their music rather than themselves.

Our band is based around the fact that the girls used their dancing to make the famous and were originally from New York. The theme of New York runs throughout our album cover with the use of 'I Love NY' tops and layering an image of us on top of an image of the New York skyline. Also the use of the white and red font connote America. The dance theme is used distinctively on the back cover where Nisha is posed against a dance bar. This shows that she is in a dance studio and that dance is involved with her life. This connotes the concept of dance to the audience.

An album cover is all about creating an image for the artist and branding them. Our album sets up the image of two glamourous, sexy girls from New York who are involved with dancing. The close up shot of each half of our face that has been placed together connotes to the audience that they are best friends and are so close they are one person, however the black line between them shows that they still each have their individual identity. I think it is very successful as whilst branding the artist, the image is very striking and therefore grabs the audiences attention.

Evaluation - Question 1 VERNALLIS MUSIC VIDEO

Vernallis says that during the music video, people may move in time to the music and actions may not be completed. When constructing our music video, we tried to emphasise this point by using a dance routine which is in time to the music and had shots of the two girls in New York so they moved in time to the music e.g. walking across the road. Also when we edited it together we cut the shots before the end of lines and before the end of dance routines making it unpredictable and more interesting to watch for the audience, also enforcing Vernallis' point.
The shots of New York are there to build up the theme of New York and to enforce the narrative of the two girls being dancers in New York, however the frames which contain the two girls in them are more important than the shots of the mise-en-scene as it adds to the storyline. Therefore we edited these shots so that they were longer in comparison the the less important shots making the audience notice them more.

Evaluation - Question 1 GOODWIN MUSIC VIDEO

As question one was such a large question this was the one i was pushed for time on the most. I felt i had a lot more i could of said but just did not have the time to say it so i have decided to blog up everything i never had a chance to mention.

As the genre of our music video was hiphop/pop we felt we followed the conventions well by including dance routines which are nearly always in this genre of music and regularly cut back to CU's of the artist as this genre of music is very much about the artist and selling them. Also our shots are very glossy and we are very made up and look perfect in our performance shots which are very common for this genre. Comparing our video to other music videos such as 'The Pussycat Dolls - When I Grow Up' and 'Lady Gaga - Just Dance' they create a very glamourous appearance of the artist and the artist is the main focus of the video. Each video styles the artist in a distinct way to create and build up a certain image for them and there are constant performance shots of them to remind the audience who they are watching.

There is lots of relationship between lyrics and visuals in our music video and i feel the lyrics are illustrated by the video. The song is describing people who work hard to achieve what they want in a city with bright lights, which is very representative of our video of two girls working hard as dancers to get famous in New York City. Sometimes music videos tend to use the lyrics to amplify the lyrics like 'Rihanna - Shut up and Drive' where she is clearly talking about having a sexual encounter with a man in her lyrics but yet uses cars in her video as a metaphor.

Goodwin states that close ups are used as visual hooks for the audience to entice them to watch the music video. In our music video we developed this further by not only using CU's as visual hooks but also LS with us dancing against the window. This reveals the mise-en-scene of the dance studio putting the performance shots into context with the rest of the video.

Evaluation

On Tuesday we did our filmed evaluation for our project. As we were only a group of two we thought it would be easier if we split the questions up between us to do. I ended up getting question 1 and question 3 to do.
I spent the week leading up to the evaluation preparing my questions in order to do as well as i could on the day. When it came down to it, however, i was so nervous about speaking to the camera and rushed for time that i ended up missing out some important things. Overall i felt i could of done a lot better so i am just going to blog all the stuff i missed out on the day and hopefully this should make up for my not so great video.

Artist Name

I tried to come up with a few ideas for an artist name and here are a list of names that i thought of:

• Harlem
• Chelsea
• Showstoppers
• Street and Sass
• Twice as Nice
• Nilon
• Collision
• M.E.T

I really like the idea of Harlem as it is a borough in New York and it reflects the artists backgrounds as they came from New York, however i am going to discuss it with Nisha before making any desicions.

Album Cover and Myspace Photo Shoot

While we were re-shooting our footage in the dance studio we thought it would be a good idea to have a photo shoot for our album cover and Myspace at the same time in order for us to have the dance studio mise-en-scene in the background and to make it an ongoing theme throughout our products. Nisha and I both decided that we should look glamourous for the photo shoot, however still have an element of dancing involved with it, therefore we decided to have full makeup and quite a plain outfit with a few splashes of colour.
My costume was red lipstick, black eyeliner and eyeshadow, gold jacket, black vest top, 'I Love NY' t-shirt, leggings and wedges.  I would alternate between the black vest top and 'I Love NY' t-shirt in order to give the shots some variety.
I felt the overall shoot went very well and we got more than enough shots for our album cover and Myspace. Also when we were in the moment we found ourselves shooting various random photographs which we thought would look good on our Myspace as they seemed more personal and less posed. We got a wide range of shots from mid-shots, long shots to CU'S, two shots and individual shots. All of them are unique but yet all link due to the costume, therefore i think they can be used in a very positive way to help brand our products and sell our artist at the same time. The photo shoot went better than we hoped and hopefully we will see the rewards from this when it comes to creating our Myspace and album cover.

Dance Studio Reshoot

As some of our footage from the dance studio was not as good as we would have hoped it would look, due to the mise-en-scene being too cluttered and not looking like an actual dance studio and some of the shots being grainy, we decided to hire the dance studio again for £5 an hour to do a reshoot. This reshoot was very last minute as our deadline for the music video was for the week after but we felt it had to be done in order for us to achieve the best out of our video.
When we got to the dance studio this time we decided that it would be better to have the camera facing against a white wall and angled towards us dancing rather than having the camera pointing towards the cluttered back drop in order to have us dancing straight at the camera. We felt this would tie in better with the mirrored shots of the dance studio too as it would seem as if they were shot at the same time but just from two different angles making the dance sequence seem more believable.
Also when it came to reshooting the grainy shots we decided that the only way to overcome this was to have better lighting in the shot in order to enable the camera to focus better. We used a pag light for this as it was small enough to carry around and yet strong enough to direct a beam of light directly on us to light us up and make the shot less grainy.
When capturing this re-shot footage we really noticed the difference it made to the quality of our video and were very pleased we decided to reshoot, despite the amount of time we had left.

Editinggg

Over the previous 2 weeks we have been manically trying to edit our video together and to be honest we are a little bit addicted to doing it :)
We are aabout 65% done and i feel are doing very well and are on track for finishing, although it may be a little stressful. We are both keen about the video and share our ideas with each other allowing progression to be easy. We each take it in turns to edit and help each other out when needed. All in all i think the edit process is far easier when there are less people involved therefore allowing our group to be one of the most productive. I enjoy being ahead :)

Dance Studio

As Nisha and I's video revolves around a dance routine, we decided to hire out The Dance Studio in Winchmore Hill in order to film our dance routine and also our beauty shots.
We did this over the course of two days, shooting for 3 hours each day and this cost us £5 per hour which we felt was reasonable for what we were getting.
The shoot went well and the footage looks good, although in some of our shots we have a problem with lighting but after playing around with the shots, hopefully this issue should be put right. As we had planned what we were going to do, unlike our New York shoot, we were organised and managed to shoot everything we needed to and even have time for more. This was due to us getting down to work straight away and knowing the best use of our time within the studio.
Overall i felt this shoot went well and Nisha and I work as a team very well.

New York Filming

When we first came up with the idea of shooting in New York, we did not really consider all the things that could go wrong as we were too excited. However after speaking with our teacher she bought as back down to earth and made us truely aware of what we were planning to do out there and how difficult it could be as we did not really know the area and we could not plan properly as it was more a spur of the moment thing.
We shot together on the first morning we got there at 5pm. We had not initially realised that as it was so early it would still be dark therefore we would not be able to shoot any of our actual footage. However, despite this we managed to practice a lot of our shots in order for us to be able to shoot them in a few takes when it got light, therefore saving time.
We were very organised on the shoot and both communicated very well. With shots that we could not get we compromised and a lot of what we shot ended up was impulsive.
Over the duration of our holidays we both shot more footage in order for it to be used in our video as cut aways from the main performance.
I think Nisha and I worked really well together and we made the most out of the time we had. Looking back on our shots of New York when capturing them made me realise just how much we did shoot and how good it will look in our video if used in the correct places. It was a very productive shoot and one that i would love to do again :)

The Pussycat Dolls - Top of the World

Here is our chosen song: