Miley Cyrus Album Covers

Party in the USA features a purple background which shows that it's target audience is girls. She has a very cute, innocent face. This is supported by the purple background. However her punky accessories contradict the look, perhaps to appeal to a wider audience.

It's interesting that three fonts have been used. I would have thought that it was more professional to be consistent in the font and font size but Miley pulls this off well. I think the inky pen style in Miley really suits the tone of the design and album itself.

Miley is placed in the center of the cover, perhaps to show importance but more likely because there isn't much else going on. Note she is in decent clothing that an everyday girl might wear.

In this album Miley looks much more relaxed. She's sitting down with her golden microphone and looks very happy and at ease. She still has a slightly punk look with the gloves. However her main outfit is a pretty normal female outfit. The gold star above 'breakout' matches the gold/cream theme of the cover. I like how 'Miley Cyrus' is written along the side of the cover. It follows her body upwards giving a symmetrical and even appearance. There is differences in the fonts again, this time in colour. This is, again, interesting because I would have naturally chosen to keep the font the same throughout.

Miley is placed to the right of the album with the titles to the left. This cover is again very simplistic and features just an image of her and the titles. She has remained with the same target audience as the last two covers. Although appealing mostly to girls, her appearance is highlighted on the cover to appeal to teenage guys.

Two fonts have been used again. This works well for Miley.

Here Miley has broken free of her good girl image. She 'can't be tamed' and her clothes show this. Her slight punky bad girl image has taken over and she's in full costume. She's no longer in clothes worn by everyday girls. She still looks beautiful but has chosen to show off some more tummy.

She has moved to the center of the cover as again nothing much is going on. 

Interestingly the same font and colour is used for the first time. It's also printed across her body rather than to the side. I like the look of this one because it's bold and ties in well with the title. 

Miley has returned to the side again, but this time the left. She's kept the rougher look, in leather trousers and sharp high heels.

For the first time the visuals link obviously to the title. She's holding a rose and looking sad as the title suggests. As she's maturing so is the nature of her albums and her musical style. She's clearly trying to break away from her Disney girl connotations as seen in the first album. 

Again the same font and colour is used, and it's actually the same as the previous album. I like the idea of choosing a font as a kind of motif. I also like how there are many more links inside the album. The colour of the rose matches the text.

Here Miley has changed completely. She's become pretty radical, as shown by Wrecking Ball. Her new hair style is unique and is usually worn better than in this album cover. The layout of this cover is very different to her previous albums. She's placed in the center in just a rain coat which has strayed very far from her old casual with a hint of punk style.

The title of the album is made to look like a bar sign which is obviously aimed at a more mature audience. Her previous audience probably wouldn't know what this was. Bangerz also has some more adult implications.

The font chosen for 'Miley Cyrus' is unusual for her. Both words are placed on the top and bottom respectively. They are also different colours. She has gone back to using different colours for her title and ditched the 'motif' font.

Green Screen

Today I spent two of my free periods ironing and then filming the schools green screen. I managed to rope in two of my friends who were actually much better ironers than me. Shortly we were joined by one of our school caretakers called Linda. She gave us ironing advice and told us be should be using steam! So we watered our irons and it got very warm very quickly.
Once we'd ironed the green screen we had to get it up on it's frame. This wasn't too hard but still took us a few tries.
That took us all of the first free period, so in the second we began filming. We only had about 50mins before the tech crew wanted to clear it all away, so we go going. It actually didn't take long to shoot.

Below is a picture of the ironing process and my glamorous actor/model

Locations

Today I've been thinking about settings for each green screen room. In my film the person will explore the great indoors and enter each room, finding a new place. These are just four ideas I've found. I think I will film the actor actually in the scene, rather than using a still image as a background. I may use a bit of both if the location is unachievable in real life. 

The locations must be very cool and exciting, because at the end the character would rather stay home than leave the house.

Artist Analysis - Waiting on the World to Change

'Waiting on the World to Change' was the single from Continuum. The video also starts with a short clip before the song kicks in.
 

This video has Mayer walking along a bridge while singing his song. It's interesting because the song is a kind of protest song, but not really. It kind of says we need to change the word, but do it in your own time. Rather than telling us to change the world it's just suggestive.
I think this is why they didn't choose to use a theme of changing the world. Instead they chose to show a bunch of artists who spend time planning a mural and then going out and doing it. It shows people taking action, but avoids the cliched 'lets change the world' kind of theme. Instead one of the tags says WAKE UP!
I really like some of the over the shoulder shots while he's looking over the bridge. I also like the walking shots.
I also like how the camera is never still. It's constantly moving, whether it's following somebody or just has a handheld effect. This helps keep the video interesting and keep things flowing.
Did they cross the line at 2:13? Seems like he's facing the other way.

Artist Analysis - Your Body is a Wonderland

I've chosen to do Great Indoors by John Mayer. John Mayer now has six studio albums, of which there have been fifteen music video's made. I'm going to look at some of my favorites, as well as some of the most popular ones.

His first hit single was 'Your Body is a Wonderland' which established him as 'cute singer/songwriter guy'. The video reflects this, with him hanging out with a girl and occasionally filming her. Lovely scene where he plays guitar for her in the bath!

The video is about two characters. The singer and his lady friend. My idea for 'Great Indoors' is either about a fictional character who acts out the song, or the singer and a lady friend.

The whole video is of some kind of live performance. Whether this is footage of Mayer singing one on one to the girl, or raw footage of his live performances on tour. This shows both sides to him, one as the soft singer/songwriter and the other as the best guitarist on the planet.



There is a tiny intro at the start before the song plays. This will become a kind of motif of his videos. I really like how it sets up the video before the song kicks in. It allows a character, person or place to be established without using up the start of the song.

Song Selection

Wildfire - John Mayer

It's currently the summer and this is my summer song. I would love to do this song for my music video because it's got clear narrative and it would be great for costumes.
The principle of the video would be a love story where a guy and girl are on a date by the river. They're cowboy types and carry drinks flasks and such.
The video would carry on through their date and show them having fun, doing different activities and messing around by the river.
As I'm typing this I'm realising that there is less actual material I could film for the song. Also the time of filming would be closer to winter, so it may be hard to film for a summer song.

Song Selection

Dave Matthews Band - The Stone

This song is fairly long - although not by Dave standards. It may have to be cut back if I choose it. When I listened to this song with a video in mind it was quite creepy. Through the verses I've pictured a chase or hunt. Perhaps an old fashioned hooded person with some kind of mask.
The chorus changes the mood of the song significantly. I thought this could be interesting, as I could follow with the video. Perhaps changing from fast to slow or from colour to black and white or vice versa.
A different idea is that the chorus' could be flash backs to a better time in the character's life - before he had to "go alone".
The picture in my mind for this song is very dark and set at night time.
This would definatly be a fun song to do and the idea in my mind would be amazing. However, as I know from past experiences, it's important to be realistic and to remember what is possible.

Song Selection

Great Indoors - John Mayer

This song is from Mayer's 2001 debut album Room for Squares. There's currently no music video, so it's easy to start with a blank canvas.
This is a song I know very well, but upon listening to it with a video in mind I thought of something different to what I'm used to.
I imagined a person sitting in a living room - a kind of couch potato - who doesn't leave the house. The song begins and it tells the story of when the character pulls all the shades and wonders the great indoors. Next comes a kind of Narnia moment where she opens a dusty door to reveal an amazing world all within the home.
The video would continue with a trip through the great indoors until they return back to the grubby living room they once loved. It's here they decide that actually they're going to leave the house and step out into the great outdoors.

Film Riot's advice and help and tricks and tips and stuff on pre-production

Another couple of videos from Film Riot. This is a great run through of the pre-production process. I am defiantly going to check out the advice on story boarding, its always the hardest part for me. The idea of a casting call is also pretty cool. Not sure acting schools would be interested in this production but its worth a shot.

Chroma Key Tutorial

In preparation for our preliminary task, Aidan and I have put together a video tutorial on how to chroma key.
Aidan's voice is funny so we used his voice for the instruction.