Following the feedback, I decided to make drastic changes, as when looking at my Ancillary's and previous work from others I felt I could do alot better.
‘I liked it a lot, all the different products fit well together, your use of black and white helps me to understand what is going on. I like the CD Booklet, especially the cartoon page and the page of lyrics, because I like to sing-a-long.’
‘Really enjoyed the video, and I really like the poster its quiet different, and I'm glad you didn’t use one font, like other people did.’
I also uploaded them onto facebook, hoping to get more feedback from a wider audience, just for my own general use.
‘The poster is quiet boring to be honest, and doesn’t compliment how good your music video is it doesn't make me want to buy the album, it doesn’t even say what I am going to buy or where I can buy it from, it lacks a lot of attention grabbing, I would say implement more things which compliment your video, so that your poster can be recognised as a advertisement for your music video, I think right now its quiet boring and doesn’t use your media skills to their best use.’
With all the feedback given I had chose this CD Front cover, I would now need to develope based on this cover the other 8 pages, I began to draw up drafts, which went well with the front cover but also told the story of my narrative, I looked at some CD Panflets on google.
Because this was one song, I couldnt fill up all the pages with lyrics, however I didnt want to fill up the pages with images of the artist, because this looks vain and can become uninteresting, Adele isnt this type of artist anyway, from her previous CD Covers you can tell she is humble and she looks quiet shy.
I decided to stick with the idea of creating images which told the narrative of the music video.
When looking on youtube, I saw a comic book style CD Cover it really inspired me, it hadnt been done by Adele before and there was no reason why I couldnt do it, I could still makeit look like her previous albums but with a twist, as I was reaching out to a wider wudience, I had to be careful about just repeating Adele's previous CD Covers, as this wasnt attracting my audience, so if I kept it there was no reason why it would.
I drew out a new template and showed it to a sample of my target audience.
'I like this idea, its different and plays with the idea of following the artist, not just within the video but online.'
I decided to go along with this idea, and because I already had my images I went straight to indesign and edited my images to make them look like a cartoon. Obviously I had to find out how to do this so with a bit of research over the ineternet, I found a site which talked me through this effect.
I had finished my ancillary CD Cover but I felt it may have been too simple I had done little editing to the images which means I have failed challenge conventions. right now I am focusing on the front page and the back page when I have finished these I will focus on the pages inbetween relating them to my front and back page, aswell as my finished main task.
‘I like the colour, and the butterflies, but I'm sure there’s more you could do even though Adele’s CD Covers are quiet simple, this to me doesn't look very professional, I think it would be nice to have some more information on the artist, maybe add a biography page, and a page where we can get in contact with her. Looking at this CD booklet I cant see any relation to your music video.’
General feedback I got was add more pictures. Maybe put in a background, after watching my video they said they couldn't see much relation between the two, and that the front cover wasnt very eye catching.
I started to research my ancillary task (CD Cover)
Adele CD Covers
She has only had two album covers, as she is a fairly new artist. But she has released a few more singles. However at this point Adele - Someone like you, hasnt been released as a single, but there is a clear pattern with her single CD Covers.
Singles from 19.
The Album covers and the single covers keep similar elements, the font, and positioning of writing, all the singles from 19 have her name, and then the name of the single underneath. She wears minimal make - up in all her CD Covers, and she always wears black, black can be worn to hide things or to not be seen or stand out, black can also be seen as a powerful colour but also a negative one, most of her songs on the album 19 are about finding love or losing love. The only different single cover is "hometown glory", which is about her and her hometown, its still about love as she is expressing the love she has for her hometown. The location is differnet from every other album and single cover, however the costume, and expression are relatively the same.
21.
Agsain 21 keeps similar conventions including the font and camera angle they are both a close up, this could indicate this album is more personal, also because she wears less make-up. Its also in black and white, she also wears black again, there isnt too much change in her new album from her old one. In both CD Covers she doesnt look at the camera, wearing dark colours and not making eye contact can give the impression you have something to hide.
Not all soul artists albums are like this, and so I had to compare.
I chose 4 soul female artists album covers to compare with Adele's.
Ledisi "Lost & Found"
This is a Ledisi a soul artists, her music is a little more upbeat than Adele's however her album cover is very similar, its a close up shot of her looking up, again not making eye contact, this look can be seen as spiritual, as a lot of soul music is. The empty street behind her suggests mystery, as it could be anywhere in the world, her album name fits well with her images, as she looks as if she is looking up for something, and her location is a mystery.
India Arie "Life and Relationships"
This is completly different from Adele's album cover, it is bright colourful and the artist is making eye contact, and she is smiling. This gives the idea that this album is very uplifting and happy. She has an instrument which makes her look more independent and natural, as if its just her and her guitar on this album. The clothes which are yellow and orange connote sunshine, summer it grabs peoples attention but it can be overpowering which is maybe what Adele wanted to stay clear from. But then the colour green connotes natural things, her location looks natural and humble, green is often a colour associated with relaxation.
Beverly Knight "100%"
This is a very simple album cover, she is standing straight looking straight ahead, making eye contact, this image is more of a pose. Her full fromtal pose could connote she is bearing all, her album is called 100% and suggests its all of her, the white background signifies purity and its neutral, however white makes other things stand out. Her image and album name fit well together. She could be showing herself 100% not hiding anything which is why she stands infront of a white background.
Joss Stone "Introducing Joss Stone"
Joss Stone is featured facing backwards with a 1970's style painting on her back, her hair is red, as is the writing which is also a 1970's style font. She is again against a white background, which again makes her stand out, and suggests purity and someone who isnt trying to hide or blend in. She isnt looking in the direction or even looking into the camera but she is giving a cheeky look over her shoulder, this is a rare album cover from a soul artist as they dont often flaunt their bodies, or try to look sexy. Adele definetly doesnt do this, although she looks pretty she has an innocence about it, but Joss Stone is using the classic look over the shoulder, which is known as a sexy, cheeky intising look.
With differences in poses, and colours and mise en scene, its clear that all styles are different the most similar style to Adele, is Ledisi, although there music isnt too similar. Maybe the other artists are trying to attract a different audience, as I was using a black actress I knew that my music video would not attract the exact same audience as Adele's usual music videos, and so if im thinking about sales I would need to makesure I didnt change everything completly, so I decided to look into Adele's CD Covers a little more I would base my album cover on them making sure I tried something different, by breaking common conventions. I have drawn up a draft CD Cover which will just show the back and front page, to give myself direction.
I kept my narrative, and continued with editing.
These are the same clips however they have been edited, to the specific lenght.
Black and white scenes, I added these last minute as alot of my feedback suggested that I make a clear differentiation between memory clips, and performance clips, because when I come in and out of the storyline it can be confusing if they all look the same.
Looking at my original shots and my main task you can clearly see a difference in scenes.
Before editing I let a sample of 10 from my target audience view the clips I had filmed so far. They told me what they thought:
'they look good, they look real and quiet dramatic, the location is good, and it doesnt differ too much from your storyboard, the camera shot is good also'
'Would be better in black and white, and maybe you should slow it down to make it seem more emotional.'
'They are good actors, it looks real, I would have prefered a few close ups to see their faces, amotions.'
I wasnt sure wheter I should be focusing more on her performance in the video, or the storyline so I decided to get a wider variety of feedback.
I used opionionaided which is a popular site where people leave their quesions to get an answer.
At one point in planning with my actors I had no camera but they suggested I use my Iphone so I did, This helped when it came to uploading and time management, as I wasn’t having to worry about handing the camera back in. I was also taking advantage of the new technologies I had around me.
At this point I am really behind I should be editing my music video. But I had only just started to film.
I had my actress and had changed my storyboard after taking into account the audience feedback.
below is a scene which I shot on my Iphone. It was clear and good quality which is why i chose to film all the black and white footage with my Iphone if possible.
I had reieved positive and negative feedback from the storyboard.
Before making any changes, I started to research on my target audience, so I could make up my mind on what kind of people i wanted in my music video.
I had researched Adele's audience they were mainly white females, this could have been because they related to her more. However I wanted to challenge this, I had an idea to use a black or Asian girl to be the singer in my music video. When you look at artists like Rihanna, she is a black singer however majority of her fans are white, and Mariah Carey who is a mixed race singer however most of her fans are black. When thinking about sales this is also good, as its clear that white females, she had fans in Europe and America, her fans were not based in Asia or Africa, using a black or Asian model could help album sales.
On this basis I went on with my idea of using a actress who was black or Asian. Looking at sales of Adele. I wanted to keep Adele's same style, of elegance and class, she wears gowns and presents herself well. She has a 1940's hairstyle most of the time, to suit her style of music. She is quiet heavy and doesn't look like the usual celebrity flaunting themselves, I wanted to keep this class in my video, and I would use her style to make my main character. She often wears black, this denotes to the songs that she sings because they are often sad, they are about sorrow and lose of love.
When you look at Adele's music videos and performances she emphasises on the voice, it is usually just her and a mic, no back up dancers, singers or flashing lights. She puts on a great performance just her and her voice. This was an important part of her image which I wanted to keep although I had a good narrative, I wanted to keep the audience reminded of the beautiful voice she has because I think that is what sells her music the most.
I was late filming and needed to start as soon as possible. I wanted to start my storyboard, and so looked at the lyrics, it is a very emotional song, which sounds great when sang live. I wanted to keep this in the video, I didnt want the video to take away the emotion of the song. So I had to analyse the lyrics carefully before planning my music video.
I heard, that your settled down.
That you, found a girl and your married now.
I heard that your dreams came true.
Guess she gave you things, I didn't give to you. She is singing as if she is talking to him, its obvious from the first part of the verse, a person who she was previously with is now with another women, and he is happier with her.
Old friend, why are you so shy?
Ain't like you to hold it back or hide from the light. Suggesting he doesn't want to talk to her about it.
I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited.
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it. She is still in love with him.
I'd hoped you'd see my face & that you'd be reminded,
That for me, it isn't over. She is letting him know she still loves him, but she hoped he'd see her and he would love her again but she is sad that that hasn't happened.
Nevermind, I'll find someone like you.
She is saying it doesn't matter anyway,
she will look for someone like him to move on with.
I wish nothing but the best, for you too. - saying "too" suggests he hopes the best for her or she hopes he hopes the best for her.
Don't forget me, I beg, I remember you said:-
"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead"
Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead, yeah.
You'd know, how the time flies.
Only yesterday, was the time of our lives. It feels like not so long ago they were in love with each other and now its over.
We were born and raised in a summer haze.
Bound by the surprise of our glory days.
I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited,
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.
I'd hoped you'd see my face & that you'd be reminded,
That for me, it isn't over.
Nevermind, I'll find someone like you.
I wish nothing but the best for you too.
Don't forget me, I beg, I remember you say:-
"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead", yay.
Nothing compares, no worries or cares.
Regret's and mistakes they're memories made.
Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste? This suggests that all worries were put aside, as there love was that strong she didnt doubt it. but she has to move on now she made mistakes, and she regrets them but has to keep them as past memories and move on.
Nevermind, I'll find someone like you.
I wish nothing but the best for you.
Don't forget me, I beg, I remember you said:-
"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead"
Nevermind, I'll find someone like you.
I wish nothing but the best for you too.
Don't forget me, I beg, I remembered you say:-
"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead"
Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead, yay yeh yeah.
In all the videos I watched of her singing the song, they were all live. It was her in a long black dress in front of a microphone, with a piano in the background. This suggests that this song is meant to focus on the artist and her voice. So I intent not to make the music video to complicated or heavy, to distract the audience from what is meant to be most important her voice.
The song was too long and so I knew I would have to cut it down, but I would do that in the editing room after I had filmed everything.
Before writing my own storyboard, I wanted to make clear my target audience, and what they wanted from my video.
In order to find out who my target audience was I would need to research the audience of soul music, and Adele the artist.
Adele has had 2 albums, 19 and 21.
19
No.1 Album in the charts:
Germany
UK
21
No.1 Album in the charts:
Austria
Belgium
Germany
Ireland
New Zealand
Scotland
Switzerland
United Kingdom
I also used social networking sites to see how popular she was, and what her fans looked like. To get a better idea of who my target audience might be.
Facebook:
She had over 882,000 likes on facebook.
Youtube:
She had over 7,680,000 viewers.
Twitter:
She had over 64,000 followers
Having a quick scan through the list of people who liked her page wasn't the most reliable way to get a good representation of her audience, but it gave me a few characteristics of her target audience.
They were mostly white, between the ages of 16-30, she had a very wide audience, I think this was because she sang about things which everyone could relate to. They were mostly female.
So I decided to carry out primary research to find out if wheter Adele's target audience would not be able to relate or understand her video if there was a black female in it, instead of a female who looks simialr to them. I asked 30 white females 5 from Austria 5 from Belgium 5 from Germany, 5 from Ireland, 5 from New Zealand and 5 from Scotland, I did this by using facebook, I messaged some of her fans on facebook anonymously asking them 3 questions, not everyone replied and I made a note of this.
This is a wide shot of Adele the artist, facing the side singing the lyrics to the song. She isn't making eye contact, and makes little movement as she sings, because of the lyrics, and this scene out together it suggests she is angry or hurt. As she doesn’t face the camera it gives the impression she is weak and vulnerable. This helps the audience understand the feeling of the song even more. The camera is also zooming in then does a cut.
The camera cuts to the other side of her, she still doesn't make eye contact with the camera, and this suggests guilt also. This shot also gives the audience a better view of the location which is an abandon house. Her costume is also quiet nice, she seems to be dressed formal however the location is run down, this suggests there is a problem, and that she is not "sane".
As she says “I can see you crystal clear" several glasses filled with water appear, again its not clear what it is suggesting, but it is n sync with the lyrics of the song. In music videos they usually pull away from the artist, to go to a narrative (drama), in this case it is an image of what she is saying. I didn’t really understand this, but it could be that I am not meant to.
The drummer under the stairs, the beat hasn’t dropped yet in the song, but there is a short clip of a drummer. Although the location of the drummer was weird, there was a constant referral to "beating" in the lyrics of the song, the drums denote this phrase, and therefore fit in well however the location is still confusing.
As the beat drops, instead of seeing the drum which was most expected at that time, the glasses of water appear, and as the beat hits the water moves, the sound of the drums is making them vibrate. The whole room is filled with glass, this could have been a suggestion to how she felt but it wasn't obvious.
A ninja type character is seen in the middle of a white room, standing still, it becomes clear after this point that everything shown is about to make a move, they jumped to the glass, then when they went back they were vibrating, they jumped to the drummer, the next shot of him is likely to be him drumming, as with this character. I think that these shots were supposed to be unexpected, and different. As no other soul video has done this.
Back to Adele again however she is still in the same room, same chair same position, again not making eye contact with the audience.
The room is dark and has minimal lighting, low lighting always suggests sadness or bereavement.
After this as the beat builds up they jump back and forth between Adele and the ninja/dancer, they zoom into Adele, whilst the dancer starts to build up a dance, they use slow motion. When they finally get a close up shot of Adele she still isn't making eye contact, however she is making more movement and showing more emotion, this helps with the build up to the chorus. Giving the songs various emotional levels, having different levels keeps the audience interested. When the chorus comes, they stop using slow motion and start with a long shot of Adele again.
Again there is an image, it shows broken plates, each prop or object can be identified as a piece of her, for example the glasses could be the person who hurt her, as she says she can see right through him, the dance could be her range of emotions, suggesting they are all over the place. The broken plates could be her heart, it depends on how the audience views it, it can be determined by the individual. But like all the other clips which are shown as an image/still, and then within the next few shots we are shown them in action.
She keeps popping up, and the more she pops up the more movement she seems to be making, getting more involved with the song, but she still doesn't make eye contact with the camera. In the video it seems as if we are seeing her from every angle, close up and long shots of her, putting emphasis on her vulnerability even more. The audience has an objective view of her.
After we are shown what was done with the broken plates they were smashed against a board, however you don't at any point see the person smashing the plates, which adds to the mystery and suspense of the video.
We see her use her body more and more, at the beginning when we first saw her she had her hands on her lap, and her head facing in one direction, the more the song goes on she starts to move around, adding suspense, as to whether she will make eye contact, and maybe she doesn't want to make eye contact because she is hiding something. Even though there is no clear storyline in the video her body language tells a story.
We are brought back to the drummer, after a long wait, and he is playing the drums, also facing away from the camera, which connects to Adele's position as she is also not looking at the camera. The fact we can’t see the drummer also adds suspense and can mislead the audience in to expecting something from him.
Again as the beat picks up we start to see more of her facial expressions, her emotions picking up again. The camera shots become shorter and jump to various different locations within the house. Building tension and suspense as the camera is zooming whilst using slow motion.
In the drummers clip there is a light which constantly flashes on and of, as the beat plays. Although the drummers body parts are shown his face still isn’t seen, again with the dance, the dust which constantly is kicked around means the audience cant see the dancers face. He unlike Adele is dressed casually also in dark clothes.
A new prop is introduced like all the others it starts of as still, and just a long shot of it, so the audience can see what it is. You can guess from all the other props and people in the video that later on something will happen to it. It is a white model city, again with no colour and no people around it. At the moment it is hard to identify what it could mean, or what it could represent
This is 1 of the 3 shoots were she is shown not singing, and the light has been dimmed. She brings herself down, her hands are out if the shot, and she still hasn't given eye contact. Bringing the lights down brings emotions back down, and makes things calm.
After the audience is brought down, by slow motion clips, and zooming into the white model city. The beat then drops again, and the white model city is set on fire. This repetition of narrative, suggests that everything is not calm for long, and when things do get calm they jump back up again. The various editing and camera shots represent her emotions as up and down, one minute she is angry, and jumpy, trying to hold back her emotions, then she is calm as if she is exhausted and just upset.
After this the song starts to end, they show various shots jumping from shot to shot, cutting and zooming as if they are building up to something. Although Adele is the main clip, the video focuses on 5 other scenes, the dancer/ninja, the drummer, the smashing plates, the glasses of water and the white model city set on fire. I believe that each prop or character represents a part of her.
The video is quiet hard to understand, and I didn’t want this for my video, if I chose to have a storyline; I would keep it clear and understandable.
The Album covers and the single covers keep similar elements, the font, and positioning of writing, all the singles from 19 have her name, and then the name of the single underneath. She wears minimal make - up in all her CD Covers, and she always wears black,
