Video Premiere And The Post-Production Questonnaire

"A performer's privacy is taken away."
-Leona Lewis

Lana and I arranged a viewing party to gain direct audience feedback. I designed a promotional advertisement poster that we printed and placed around the school. Lana and I worked together on the questionnaire.

The advertisement:

The questionnaire, and a summary of the feedback we received:

1. When watching a music video, what do you look/see most of?
Out of 20, 13 answered the artist or band. 4 answered the narrative and 3 either didn't answer or their handwriting wasn't legible.

2. Do you think the contents of the music video suited the electro-pop genre of music?
19/20 said yes. 1/20 said no.
One person commented and said "it may be too dark for the genre".

3. The theme of sexuality was shown throughout the video. Do you think that is appropriate for the electro-pop genre of music?
19/20 said yes. 1 person didn't circle either and said "it shouldn't be a focus". The strong agreement with this question may have been effected by the number of boys in the room (there were more boys than girls), supporting the concept of Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' theory, with the strong male ratio approving of the sexual nature present in the video.

4. Do you feel that the quality of performances were good?
17/20 said yes. 2/20 said no. 1 person didn't circle either and said "as good as expected for the quality of film".

5. Do you feel that the effects used in the video were successful?
15/20 said yes. 3/20 said no. One person said yes AND no. 1 person didn't circle anything and said "no, not enough effects".

6. Was lighting used well in the music video?
15/20 said yes. 2/20 circled both and said "sometimes" and 3/20 didn't circle anything. One person said "didn't really get why singer had a light attached to her neck in dark". This confusion showed that the confusing/shocking idea we wanted to put forwards was successful.

7. If this video was being played on a music channel, how likely would it be that you stopped flicking the remote and watched the video?
1/20 said yes - because he likes girls. 4/20 said probably. 9/20 said possibly. 3/20 said probably not. 3/20 said definitely not.
The ones who said definitely not - they all said because they didn't like the genre of music.

The results of the questionnaire almost show a degree of success, at least, in regards to the artistic direction. People were clearly confused by a lot of the imagery, and the dark nature of the video was pointed out. This shows the unsettled nature we researched in German Expressionism was instilled upon the audience, which was our initial intention.

The Music Video!

"I don't care about what everyone else is doing, or what is popular."
-Namie Amuro



Converted to a smaller file and uploaded in a lower quality to both make the uploading easier, as well as protecting our ownership of the high quality clip.

Fashion

"I would rather die than have my fans not see me in a pair of high heels."
-Lady GaGa

I took control over the fashion used within the video. I researched into a mix between avant-garde fashion legends such as Alexandra McQueen and Armani for my model, as well as how I can relate it to avant-garde film. Although, I did not research into the male actor's outfit, and simply used a shady hooded jacket, that would hide his face to almost neutralise his identity-ensuring he isn't a main focus in the video.

My inspiration for the 'Red Cone' shot below, captured using Windows Media Player, Print Screen and Paint, comes from this picture on the left, from Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2009 Paris Fashion Week Show. My inspiration came from the style of the hair-I wanted to imitate the dramatic way McQueen arranged the heads of his models. Being realistic, I faced the conclusion it would be near to impossible to imitate a look that was entirely similar. But it inspired the idea for a futuristic high-top headpiece, which I created simply out of a large piece of red plastic, and I stuck together with blue tack at the back of my model's head. This look was successful, as it gave my model a dramatic appearance, with the almost horrific blood-red cover shading the rest of her skin in a menacing tone.

In regards to avant-garde cinema, there is a presence of influence as well as full intertexuality in the video. The video makes a notable intertextual reference to Luis Bunuel's avant-garde film 'Un Chien Andalou' (1929) in the 'Knife' scene, shown on the left. The scene it refers to is the opening scene, in which the female lead has her eye cut, as you can see on the right.


The influence from avant-garde cinema is notably from the era of German Expressionism. On the left is a picture from the 'Glasses Scene'. The glasses are, in fact, needle storage wheels. The needles are all pointing towards the centre, which is where her eyes are-to impress the feeling of fear and intrigue, with the needles so close to her eyes. This refers to German Expressionism because of its innovative air, and how it aims to present an unsettled feeling with the audience-as the model poses effortlessly whilst the needles are pointed so closely to her eyes. Another reference to German Expressionism is the reference to the borderline fantasy-esque nature of the films. This is referred to via the crown worn throughout the video, as you can see on the right.


Also, as shown in previous posts, I made research into the essence of futuristic fashion in modern electro-pop, such as Lady GaGa's television glasses worn in the 'Poker Face' video. Unfortunately, I did not have access to any equipment that was as advanced as that. Instead, I found my brother's clip-on torch, as you can see on the left, and clipped it onto our model's outfit, shown on the right. Whilst this was not on the same level of technical advancement as GaGa's iPod screen-based glasses, it still enabled a presence of technology within her outfit, which allows the viewer to presume its futuristic qualities.

In total, the model wears 3 different outfits, with multiple variations (such as scarfs, gloves, glasses and so on):

A red/grey dress, a blue one-piece and a black one-piece. There are two major signs of electro-pop-culture that are apparent: the multitude of outfits and accessories, and consistent sexualisation. The number of costume changes are common in music videos to present the artist in several trademark designs, usually as a means of promotion. For example, all the clothes worn in the video are from the designer brand 'New Look'. It also converts a traditional music video into more of an art installation, presenting variations of artistic fashion creations.

The sexual imagery and showing of skin is also extremely common in electro-pop music videos, as well as pop culture in general. This mainly stems from the 'Sex Sells' theory. The idea of sexuality being used as a form of advertisement has been present in media since the 1800s. On the right is a picture of a promotional image for tire valve caps, from 1921. It shows a scantily clad woman carrying a large tin of the tire valve caps, enticing the viewer to buy the product, praising it. Whilst I do not necessarily agree with the idea of 'selling' a person's body to promote a product, I took the known fact that this process is consistently present in modern culture into consideration.

At present, it is now completely common for an electro-pop artist to show a lot of skin to present both fashion as well as 'selling' their bodies to promote the video to the audience. For example, here are some screen-captures of Lady GaGa's outfits during her 'Telephone' video, taken from her Youtube channel:

Making the Digipak

"I figure the whole world is ours for the taking."

-Nicki Minaj

In school, we were given lessons on how to work on pictures in Adobe Photoshop CS2, to make our digipaks. This program remained available for students to use to create and finalise their digipak, and it is what I have used. An issue that I faced immediately after uploading the photoshoot was my understanding of the presence of the timestamps on each photo:


Due to my camera's settings, I was entirely unable to remove them from the photos, and I was faced with the issue of either trying to remove them or working around them. I decided to remove the timestamps from my selected photos, as they proved to be an interference. To do so, I used the 'Clone Stamp Tool' () in Photoshop. The clone tool imitates the area around the image, which merges the area you want to remove into the background. It works like so:

Firstly I opened the image in Photoshop, and then I selected the Clone Stamp Tool. Then, I selected the area I wanted to clone using a target icon (). Then, I spread the stamp, and it clones the background I desire to cover the time stamp:


I used this method on the 4 pictures I chose for my digipak, and here are the time stamp-free pictures:




Now, to begin editing, and creating the final product. My primary objective is to create the image of a traditional pop/electro-pop star, which lead me to a highly conventional motif in Photoshop:airbrushing.

The first step to airbrushing is to press Ctrl+J to create a 'Duplicate Layer', duplicating the image to overlap the original image. Then, I place it into another group by pressing Ctrl+G, for editing purposes. The result is the Layer box to the right.



I then select my new layer, and then use the Surface Blur filter. This process smooths the skin, softening the image, as you can see on the left. Then, I create a new layer above it, and I change its blend mode to 'Hard Light'. With these settings, this layer will allow me to add texture to my model's skin, and will allow my airbrushing to look realistic.




Then, on this 'Texture layer', I pressed Shift+F5. This activates the Fill Tool, which allows me to apply a grainy, slightly gray coating over the picture. After adding noise to the image, and blurring it with the Gaussian Blur as you can see on the right, the grainy coating blended in to the skin color, making my editing of the skin look realistic thus far.


I then used the Eye Dropper Tool () to select the average color of my model's skin. I used the information the Color Palette provided me from the Eye Dropper Tool to then change the Hue, Saturation and Lightness, by pressing as you can see on the left. This caused the color of the image to even out towards one specific skin tone, evening out the skin and balancing the color. This removed the visibility of pores and so on, as the image became a consistent color.

I was then faced with the issue of the entire picture having its color changed, opposed to just the skin. I needed to crop my editing so that it only effected my model's skin, and not her glittery lips, eyes and so on. So, I apply a Layer Mask on the folder containing my Texture and the copy, and choose the option Hide All. This hides my color editing, and reverts to the original picture. I then simply draw over her skin using a blurred brush, and then her edited skin color comes through, as you can see on the right.

Thus concluding my editing. The transition is only clearly visible upon clicking the images below, seeing the zoomed in detail:

---->

I repeated this process where necessary on the other photos. The next requirement I faced was changing my picture's sizes to match that of a digipak, as well as stylizing the pictures to match my theme, as well as my research.

My first requirement was to meet the requirements of the avant-garde genre. Avant-garde refers to people and pieces that are both innovative and experimental. This alternative form of imagery remains present in my repertoire of images-the dramatic purple-glitter for lipstick, the 'starry mouth', the throwing up of glitter and so on. So, a primary goal would be to closely capture the essence of the avant-garde qualities within my pictures.

The pictures also closely relate to German Expressionism. German Expressionism, around the 1920s-1930s, expressed an air of insanity and madness, whilst notably symbolising themes and ideas-whilst being credibly stylised. Dramatic images such as the 'Thowing Up Glitter' shot clearly portray a sense of insanity, shocking the viewer. I have personally had experience in presenting the image to friends of mine, and some have had to turn away in disgust. This shows how effective the image is and, much like German Expressionist films and imagery, instilled horror.

Another requirement I need to meet is that of changing the picture's size's to match the traditional size of CD dimensions, whilst capturing my desired sections of the image. So I found, on Google Images, a set of diagrams detailing the different dimensions necessary to create a digipak:



Using these templates, as well as resizing the pictures, adding text and so on, here is my completed digipak:



The primary font is called 'CassandraTwo'. I chose it because of its futuristic appearance, and again chose the colour purple to match the artist's name, Ultra Violet. An absence I'd like to point out is the title of the album, 'Perfect Circle', from the front cover, as well as the full artist name. I decided to do this based on research I made on what defines musical 'icon', and how to present oneself as an icon. I wanted to give the impression that my artist is at such a high position that she doesn't need to present clear details of the product.

An icon is someone who has an essentially iconic position in the music industry, and has less of a need to present important details such as the artist's full name, the title of the album, the name of the artist and so on-by presuming the audience already knows. For example, Madonna is commonly referred to as 'M', and Michael Jackson can be referred to as 'MJ'. Both the artists and their albums rely on prior promotion to allow the public to understand what they are releasing. I essentially wanted to give the impression that my artist is at such a high position that she doesn't need to present clear details of the product.

Examples of albums that don't clearly list the album name, the artist name or both:


On the back cover, I created a tracklist, to give the album an authentic air. To increase the look of authenticity, I also included a traditional bar code and a short paragraph detailing the copyright, as well as Kevin MacLeod's website's logo. Also, to entice audiences of the modern generation, I decided to include references to the new convergent forms of media. Most, if not all major music organisations are now using convergence as a way to reach wider audiences, and to promote their artist's on a larger spectrum.

I presented convergence firstly by pointing out a bonus feature, being the 'Perfect Circle (Video)'. This tells the listener that the CD inside is a multi-format disc, and that it contains both the album as well as the video. I also included the website addresses for an official website (ultraviolet.com), a Myspace page (myspace.com/uv) and Incompetech's official website (incompetech.com). This makes the artist appear more accessible, and essentially opens a larger number of ways to interact with the artist.