Final Digipak & Advert

Organising Shoot Time - Print Productions

I started up a Facebook message with my two performers in order to organise a time for doing the shoot and the storyboard:

On Thursday 14th November (three days after organising to shoot on Friday 15th) I decided that the Friday would not be suitable or give enough time to get everything set up and sorted out, so I changed the date to Monday 18th November, as shown below:

Costumes - Print Productions & Video

For my digipak & advert and music video, I decided to look at a formal style of costume for my performance, mainly inspired by other music videos by Janelle Monáe, as well as others from the same genre.

Janelle Monáe's video for Many Moons features her dancing in a white suit with black trousers and accessories.
In contrast to Goodwin's theory, Janelle makes a point of covering herself up in her videos and public appearances, opting to wear the suit instead of exposing herself, which is something I plan to incorporate into my own music video.

I plan to use something of this sort of style, but not exactly this, in my music video, with the black bow tie and aforementioned suit-like outfit, for both the male and female performers, but more feminine for the females - as shown here.

Another video that features a notable costume is OutKast's 'Hey Ya!', which features seven clone band members (all Andre 3000), each of whom are wearing a different but coordinated outfit, which I like the idea of, should my performers be unable to perfectly match their outfits together. This means the video won't look unprofessional in terms of costume, but will allow more leeway for the performers.

Costume/Prop	Source	Potential Cost	Person in charge
Bow tie (if a second one is needed)	Primark/Borrow from Charlie	£1.50 (if bought)	Charlie
White shirt (“)	Primark/Borrow from Charlie	£6.00 (if bought)	Charlie
Shoes	Borrow from Charlie	-	Charlie

In terms of props, I don't actually plan to use many, if any at all. My reason for this is that my video will be shot in an empty studio or studio-like environment, with the main focus being on the shots and the dancing. 

Font - Print Productions

For my digipak and subsequent magazine advertisement, I wanted to use a font from a website rather than the pre-existing ones found on Windows and Mac OS X. This is because fonts contrite to an artist's brand and image, making a well-chosen font extremely important. 

I decided to look on dafont.com, a website I have using for years for fonts. Below are some I found that I think will be suitable for my work. I like the look of sans-serif fonts for my production, as they fit in with the minimalist design of the rest of my work and, from my research, I have found that the vast majority of PBR&B/indie-soul albums feature simple fonts such as these for their 'head front'. 
I will, however, use a serif font for the bulk of the internal text.

BEBAS NEUE

I used to name of the artists in the song to get a feel of what each font looked like for my front cover, for example.

__________________________________________________

COUTURE
COUTURE is a font I used for my AS Media magazine production, and I love it for its simple yet expensive and professional look.

__________________________________________________

KENZO

___________________________________________________

MOVIE LETTERS
I searched for something of this style intentionally, rather than having stumbled upon it, because I love the grandiose movie letters style on some album covers and advertisements. 

Layouts (Sketch) - Print Productions

Digipak

I drew up a quick sketch of some ideas for the layout and style of the pictures I am planning to shoot for this digipak, and put them in their suitable places on a piece of A5 paper, folded into six squares.

Below are some pictures showing these ideas. 

Above is a foldout of the whole digipak. As this is just a sketch of ideas, I rearranged many of the titles a couple of times in order to get them into appropriate places that will maximise the quality of the end result.

Here is the inside of the digipak, showing the inside covers and where the disc will go.

Lastly, here is a shot of the outside of my digipak, showing the back (when closed) where the track names will be listed, as well as the head front and the flap which folds under the head front, on which I plan to simply list a quotation from the song.


Advertisement

The advertisement layout I plan to use is a simple one, with only the artist's profile visible. This is because I want there to be an element of mystery to the advertisement, like the artist is saying, 'if you want to see the other side of me, check out my music'. From my research, I have found that a general recurring theme of advertisements for albums in this genre is that of simplicity and minimalism, so I plan to continue with this style. 

Sample Digipak - Print Productions

Existing PBR&B Digipaks - Print Productions

Existing PBR&B Advertisements - Print Productions

Casting of Performers - Print Productions & Video

I chose my performers based on their appearance and desirability for the role they are going to play, as well as how available they'll be for rehearsals and filming.

Gill

My friend Gill will be Janelle Monáe in the song. I picked her because she has quite a smart look that is similar to Janelle's in her music videos, and she does dance and performing arts at college, so will most certainly be appropriate for the choreography part of the music video.

Freddi

Freddi, also a friend of mine, will play Prince's part in the song. He is of the same ethnic background as Prince, so I felt he would look appropriate for the role, as well as being confident in front of the camera. As he is not at college and is in part time work, he can be free almost every day of the week, for filming and rehearsing.

Role	Who?	Contact Details
Main Dancer/Performer/ Singer/Star	Gill	Available on request
Secondary Performer (featured artist)	Freddi	Available on request

Storyboard - Planning & Video

Risk Assessment - Planning, Print Productions & Video

Potential danger	Potential outcomes	Actions to avoid potential outcomes	Benefits of filming in this location	Do benefits outweigh risks?
Tripping over lighting kit/power cables (studio)	Serious injury/electrocution	Cables are to be taped to the floor for the duration of each shoot	(Lighting kits to be used in studio only) I can get the exact background and lighting by using a studio for certain shots	Yes
Tripping and falling off the slightly raised edge of the platform (studio)	Serious injury	Ensure the step is made clearly visible and known, with enough light in the studio to see it at all times	The studio is required in order to get certain shots, such as a silhouette of performer/s.	Yes
Parked and moving cars (outside)	Serious injury/being knocked down	Any outdoor filming will be done in quiet, fully-lit (if shooting at night) residential areas	Shot varieties. Shooting outside will give a different dimension to the narrative and add some increased interest	Yes
Animals/pets (if Charlie’s house is chosen as a shooting location for certain elements of the video)	Allergic reaction	All pets will be banned from the shooting room/area. All performers will be warned in advance of pets on the premises.	Charlie’s house, if chosen, will be required for some shots as an easy and highly effective alternative to a full-size studio.	Yes