New Target Audience...

Due to this new idea change, this also means that our target audience has also changed. Instead of aiming our video at strong, independent women and girls, are target audience is now preferably aimed at younger girls who in their teen years can relate to the lyrics and genre of the songs. As our main star is also quite young this further aids the purpose of the fact that we want younger girls to relate to the video and the song lyrics.I think this new audience in the real world of music industry would work out to be more successful, as younger girls especially can become obsessive over certain genres of music. Examples of this are Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift who sang our chosen song 'Sparks Fly'. These stars are now massively successful and it is mainly due to the fact that their target audience is the younger and future generation.

Further Changes...

When further discussing our new idea, we decided that instead of having two female leads we would just have one female lead instead as there is only one voice singing in our chosen song. This will be played by Josie and our main stars name is 'Diamond Clark'. This has also meant that we have had to change our idea slightly and just have on male lead where there is parts to the relationship that are loving and romantic but other parts that are abusive and violent. 

Complete Rethink of whole idea!

Our original idea to produce a music video on the song Voodoo Child by Rogue Traders about female power and control is now no more! 

After looking at footage that we recently filmed and uploaded we have decided that the idea, although we believe to be very good, is going nowhere and seems to be slightly too challenging for us to pull off. Our main reason for this was that the location we used (drama studio) seemed to lack the atmosphere we were trying to create, and therefore the mise-en-scene was a complete disaster!

SO........

Our new song choice is a song by the Country Music mega star Taylor Swift, and it's called 'Sparks Fly'. This song is a typical song of Taylor Swift  that many teenage girls love to listen to, including the members of our group. We are hoping that the fact we enjoy the song will encourage and inspire us to create a more interesting and entertaining music video. Although we were advised not to choose a popular artist due to worries of copying the image of their video, we thought that because this particular song didn't have a video that this could be avoided! 

The main theme and narrative of the video will compliment the lyrics and the story will be a typical boy meets girl relationship, showing a split screen of two different couples. Myself and Josie will play the two female leads and we now need to cast two male actors for the other parts. 

Since we discussed this idea we have been finding it difficult to find one male lead let alone two, but we are hoping someone soon will be brave enough to help us out! 

Although this idea change has was sudden and stressful we feel it is definetely the right direction to be heading in as the original idea just wasn't going the way we originally planned! As both Josie and I know the song very well, we have already delegated certain lines to lip sing and act to and story boarding is already going very well in such a short space of time. 

We have been watching Taylor Swifts other videos as we are aware she is a huge star and very successful, so we hope to find some more inspiration to help us create an amazing music video. To be sure we don't find ourselves copying her image we are going to make the image of the main characters edgier instead of Taylor Swifts image of the 'American Sweetheart'.

We hope this change goes well. Fingers crossed. :) 

Music Video Directors - Jake Nava

Jake Nava

Jake Nava is an English music video and film director. He was born on 17th August and grew up in North London. He graduated from the University of Westminster.

Nava's videos for Adele "Someone Like You" and Kanye West "Monster" landed him 5th place in Entertainment Weekly's Top 10 Music Video Directors listing. Jake is extremely widely known for his collaborations with Beyoncé including "Crazy in Love" and  "Single Ladies,". 'Single Ladies' charts as the 3rd most downloaded video in the world and won "Video of the Year" at MTV America, MTV Europe and BET Awards!

Jake has worked with many celebrities from the music world including Jay-Z, Shakira,  Janet Jackson.

Here are some of the music videos he has directed...

• Adele “Someone Like You”
• Kanye West feat. Jay-Z “Monster”
• Emeli Sande “Heaven”
• Leona Lewis “Happy"
• Shakira  “She Wolf”
• Britney Spears “If U Seek Amy”
• Beyonce "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
• Beyonce “If I Were Boy”
• Beyonce & Shakira “Beautiful Liar”
• Beyonce feat. Jay-Z “Crazy In Love”
• Pixie Lott "Cry Me Out"
• Pink “Nobody Knows”
• Kelis “Milkshake”
• George Michael “An Easier Affair”

Music Video Directors - Anthony Mandler

Anthony Mandler 

Anthony Mandler was born on April 18, 1973 in Los Angeles, CA and is a well known music video director, who has written and directed music videos for many different and famous artists. His most famous and frequent artist whom is works with is global superstar Rihanna.  They have worked on more than a dozen videos together throughout her career, starting with her video 'Unfaithful' in 2006 and most recently her number one song 'Diamonds'. Other frequent artists that he works with are Jay-Z, Drake, The Killers, and Mary J. Blige.

In 2011 he directed...

• Romeo Santos feat. Usher - "Promise"
• Jennifer Hudson - "Where You At"
• Rihanna - "California King Bed"
• Rihanna - "Man Down"
• Tyler, the Creator feat. Frank Ocean - "She" (co-producer

In 2012 he directed...

• Nicki Minaj - "Starships"
• Shakira - "Addicted to You"
• Cheryl - "Call My Name"
• fun. - "Some Nights"
• Lana Del Rey - "National Anthem"
• Cheryl - "Under the Sun"
• Justin Bieber feat. Big Sean - "As Long as You Love Me"
• Muse – "Madness"
• Lana Del Rey - "Ride"
• Rihanna - "Diamonds"
• Flo Rida feat Jennifer Lopez - "Sweet Spot"
• Taylor Swift - "I Knew You Were Trouble"

And most recently in 2013 he has directed...

• Taylor Swift - "22"

Character Profiles:

As a group, we decided to include fact file's in our album art cover, giving a brief introduction to each band member, so that our audience can A) pick their favourites/those who they connect most with and B) can also understand more about the band that they are listening to. For example, we want our younger fans to each have their own favorite member, and maybe to also have a crush on our main male lead. We know what young girls like, seeing as we are them, and know that they will appreciate our theme, seeing as they can understand and relate with the main characters.

Band member name: Josie Diamond

Age: 19

Relationship status: Dating Nate Parker

Favourite colour: Dark Purple

Place in band: Lead Singer

Hair Colour: Brunette

Skin Colour: Olive tones

Shoe Size: 5

Dress Size: 10

Eye Colour: Green

Favourite Song: Mumford & Sons- winter winds

Favourite Movie: Harry Potter

Favourite Book: Looking For Alaska- John Green

Talents: singing, dancing, acting

Hobbies: gymnastics, swimming and shopping

A Secret: I’ve never broken a bone

Inspiration: My best friend, she is always there for a hug and with chocolate

Favourite subject at school: Drama

Band Member name: Olivia rose

Age: 19

Relationship Status: Dating Kieron Smith

Favourite colour: Navy

Place in band: guitar and vocals

Hair Colour: Blonde

Skin Colour: Ivory skinned

Shoe Size: 5/6

Dress Size: 10

Eye Colour: Blue

Favourite Song: Taylor Swift- I knew you were trouble

Favourite Movie: Finding Nemo

Favourite Book: In Cold Blood

Talents: Sings

Hobbies: guitar, singing, song writing

A Secret: Still sleeps with a teddy bear at night

Inspiration: my older sister, who kept me strong when I felt lost

Favourite subject at school: English

 

Band member name: Andreia Stone

Age: 20

Relationship status: Single

Favourite colour: Dark blue

Place in band: drummer

Hair Colour: Brunette

Skin Colour: Slightly Tanned

Shoe Size: 5

Dress Size: 10

Eye Colour: brown

Favourite Song: Marina and the Diamonds- power and control

Favourite Movie: Spiderman

Favourite Book: Romeo and Juliet

Talents: bend her knees backwards

Hobbies: drumming, cooking, writing poetry

A Secret: I dream of going to study performing arts at university

Inspiration: my mum, who has been there for me since I was born

Favourite subject at school: philosophy

Band member name: Nicki Winter

Age: 20

Relationship status: single

Favourite colour: Dark Red

Place in band: bass guitar

Hair Colour: blonde

Skin Colour: tanned/olive

Shoe Size: 6

Dress Size: 10

Eye Colour: bright blue

Favourite Song: Florence and the machine- you’ve got the love

Favourite Movie: all art house films

Favourite Book: taming of the shrew

Talents: can style/dye hair

Hobbies: gardening, playing guitar, directing

A Secret: I am a scrabble champion

Inspiration: My dad, who paid for all my guitar lessons

Favourite subject at school: Media Studies

 

Band member name: Michaella Sparks

Age: 18

Relationship status: has a boyfriend of 18 months, Jamie Carter

Favourite colour: Green

Place in band: i play the symbols

Hair colour: light brown

Skin colour: light tanned

Shoe size: 5

Dress size: 8

Eye colour: brown

Favourite song: Rhianna- California king bed

Favourite movie: p.s I love you

Favourite book: The perks of being a wallflower

Talents: I’m a good sketcher and sculptor

Hobbies: ice skating, running and making cookies

A secret: my guilty pleasure is singing show tunes

Inspiration: my nan, always believed in me and supported me

Favourite subject at school: Art

Jack is our main male lead. He meets Olivia and Josie at a party and is instantly enticed by them. At the start of the song/music video, he feels like he can be in control of the two girls, by being their puppet master and in charge of their actions/emotions/behaviour. But when this power is subverted and the girls are in control, Jack is so taken by the female leads that he just follows them by a lost puppy. Still he continues in his ways to try and get the girls attention, simply because they are not interested. Towards the end of the video Jack slips both girls his number, who look at him with a sigh and tear it up in front him. 

Examples of Album art

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

For our music video package that we are to complete this year, we not only have to produce a music video itself, but also sell our 'artist' with the use of a website and digi-pack. This involves looking at a wider spectrum of different types of promotion. I have researched into a different number of album covers in order to get an idea and understanding of what styles successful artists are using. Hopefully this will help me gain a greater understanding of how to promote out star and address the audience when creating the album art for the digi-pack. 

Star Image .... Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera meta-narrative is long always evolving. 
Her Image changed from being an innocent teenage girl to a sexualised women and then to a mature and sophisticated mother figure.  

Christina María Aguilera was born on December 18th, 1980 and is an American singer-songwriter, television personality, and actress. She was born in Staten Island, New York, and appeared in television shows as a child before signing with RCA Records in 1998. 

Her debut studio album 'Christina Aguilera' (1999) was hugely successful, with singles "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" all topping the charts. 

               

                       Christina's Debut album                Single - 'What a Girl Wants'       

Single - 'Genie in a Bottle'

Her fourth album was called 'Stripped' (2002). The second single from the album was "Beautiful". This particular single helped the album's commercial performance due to controversy over her image change. 

                        Christina's fourth album 'Stripped'.         Single - 'Beautiful'

From her music video single 'Beautiful' - Clear image change. 

Christina Aguilera's fifth album 'Back to Basics' (2006) was also a great success, however her sixth album 'Bionic' (2010) had trouble maintaining commercial success. 

Later that year, she made her feature film debut in the musical 'Burlesque' .

Aguilera's seventh and latest album is called 'Lotus' (2012). Although there was one successful single 'Your Body', overall the sales were poor.

Aguilera also served as a judge for the first three seasons on The Voice USA from 2011 through 2012.

Aguilera includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. 

Christina has been noted for her incredible vocals, music videos and constantly reinventing and changing her image and music. 

Her work has earned numerous awards and accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

In 1993 Christina  joined the cast of The Mickey Mouse Club. Her co-stars included Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Ryan Gosling.  

When starting her career in 1999, it was clear that the record label wanted to push Christina as a young, fresh-faced, innocent young girl. This would mean that young boys and girls would relate to her and obsess over her, causing her record sales to increase massively. 

Despite her international success, Aguilera was dissatisfied with the music and image her management had created for her. She was marketed as a bubblegum pop singer because of the genre's upward financial trend. 

Therefore she mentioned plans for her next album to have more musical and lyrical depth. As it was very clear to most that music was her passion. Irving Azoff was then hired as her new manager.

Irving Azoff - Xtina's New Manager.

Christina Aguilera's fourth studio album, 'Stripped' was released on October 26, 2002. 

This particular album showed Christina Aguilera's raunchier side. 

The album was well received by many critics. However, Aguilera's vocals were overlooked as she began to show off a more sexually provocative image.

She denied that this image change was a matter of publicity, instead saying that it better reflected her true personality than her previous image. 

She dyed her hair black and began referring to herself as "Xtina". She also decided to get many peircings. 

Initially, the raunchy image had a negative effect on Aguilera in the US, especially after the release of her controversial "Dirrty" music video.

She defended the video, stating it was about power and control.

While the video became popular on MTV, it disappointed on the US singles chart. However, the single was a hit worldwide, reaching number one in the UK and Ireland. 

The second single, "Beautiful", received praise, reaching number one in several countries. Three more singles: "Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down" featuring Lil' Kim, and "The Voice Within", were released in the following two years, helping the album stay in the charts for the next two years.

    

Aguilera later decided to embrace a more mature, Marilyn Monroe-like image, dying her hair flaxen blonde and cutting it short. She is one of the main celebrities to do this, along with Dita Von Teese and Gwen Stefani, bringing back the 1920s–1940s Hollywood glamour look.

In late 2004, Aguilera released "Car Wash", a remake of the 'Rose Royce disco' song as a collaboration with Missy Elliott for the soundtrack to the film Shark Tale. 

Aguilera began dating music marketing executive Jordan Bratman in 2002. Their engagement was announced in February 2005, and they married on November 19, 2005, in a Napa Valley estate.

Aguilera's fifth studio album, Back to Basics, was released on August 15, 2006. It debuted at number one in the US, the UK, and eleven other countries. She described the CD as "a throwback to the 20s, 30s, and 40s-style jazz, blues, and feel-good soul music, but with a modern twist." 

The critically acclaimed lead single, "Ain't No Other Man", was a massive success, reaching number two on the World Chart, number six in the US, and number two in the UK. 

 

Producers on the album included DJ Premier, Kwamé, Linda Perry, and Mark Ronson. The follow-up singles also did well, "Hurt" and "Candyman". She co-directed both music videos.

Christina Aguilera's sixth studio album Bionic was released on June 8, 2010. The material on this album consisted of many mainstream and pop records along with electronic and dance music. Two of the album's four singles, "Not Myself Tonight" and "You Lost Me" peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Charts.

Aguilera announced that she and her husband Jason Bratman had separated. Aguilera filed for divorce from her husband on October 14, 2010, seeking joint legal and physical custody of their son Max. 

In November 2010, Aguilera appeared in her first feature film, the musical Burlesque. She portrayed a small town girl, Ali Rose, who finds love and success in a Los Angeles burlesque club.

Aguilera signed to be a judge on The Voice, which debuted on NBC in April 2011. Aguilera, alongside other musicians Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Cee Lo Green serve as judges and coaches. 

Aguilera's seventh studio album, Lotus, was released on November 13, 2012. The album received mixed reviews from critics. The lead single, "Your Body", debuted and peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a moderate hit worldwide. 

Overall it is evident that through the years Christina Aguilera has had many different styles not only in her music but also in her image. This has meant that over the years she has picked up new and different fans from many different countries. The forever changing image has kept people exited and guessing what her new sound could possibly be like to match her always extreme image change. She has gone from being an innocent little girl to a fresh face teenager that girls wanted to be and boys wanted to be with. She then broke out of her image bubble and showed a more raunchier side, this also caused her to have many successful singles. She then moved on to a 1920's look which was just as successful with the release of her album 'Back to Basics'. Since then she has  become a mature woman, married, divorced and had  child. This has caused her to explore other paths of her career such as acting and TV appearances. Who knows what her next big image or music change will be!

Country/Pop - Chosen Genre - Main info.

Country pop, first emerged in the 1970s. 

Country and pop joining began in the 1950s when studio executives Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley wanted to create a new kind of music for the young adult crowd.  This innovative genre originated in Nashville, Tennessee and so became known as Nashville Sound. Producing albums that actually sounded more pop than country! 

The first male artists to come out of this new genre were Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold.

Both Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold had major influence on their labelmate Elvis Presley.

The first female country singer to emerge from this new genre was Patsy Cline in the early 60s. She created a whole new breed of female country artists, such as Lynn Anderson, Crystal Gayle and Shania Twain. 

 

Other famous country pop stars....

Olivia Newton-John and Dolly Parton

Recently as 2010, Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum have achieved major success, including winning numerous Grammy Awards. 

Taylor Swift 2010's release album Speak Now and 2012's Red had become top charter in different charts, and both of those albums sold 1 million copies in their debut week.