Practice making CD covers -First attempt

I am practicing making cd covers in Adobe Fireworks CS5 and Adobe photoshop CS5. This has helped me as it will give me better experience when it comes to making our cd cover for our music video. I have chosen Usher as he is one of my favourite R&B singers and is recognised everywhere. I decided to do a Monochrome scheme as it is quite simple and shows that not much effort has to be put into it to make it good, as he is well known and most of the attention is on the artist. However, I decided to add a splash of red on the back of the cd cover underneath where the picture of Usher is standing, you can also see a bit of red on the top of Ushers picture. Red also helps break up the black and white and makes it eye catching.
On the front of the cd cover, a mid shot is used of Usher, therefore it focuses on the artist. I chose this picture for the front cover of the cd, as it portrays Usher in a friendly manner as he is smiling and looking warmly towards the camera in this shot. Consequently this would more than likely cause the audience to buy his cd, as he is shown in a positive way, therefore is more influencial. I also chose it as his hands are in a love heart shape which once again emphasies his friendly manner, but I thought would also be good was to put his name in this love heart shape.
This photo of Usher also shows him showing the usual conventions of an R&B artist as he has alot of expensive and 'chunky' jewerlly on. This shows his wealth and makes him desireable and aspiational to both females and males.

Cee lo Green - The lady killer. CD cover

I have researched into other R&B artists to gain an understanding of what other R&B artists use as their CD covers. In this CD Cover Cee Lo Green is wearing oversized glasses which fits into the conventions of R&B videos. It shows their wealth and gives them high status, which makes them seem important. The glasses are white and his shirt is is white also, this emphasises innocence and portrays him in a good light. However, it contrasts with the title of his album which is called 'the lady killer,' which suggests a not so innocent
There is also a really oversized ring, which is very sparkly. This also once again shows wealth and makes him seem desirable to women and an inspiration to women. The cd cover is blue and purple. Blue is a very calm colour and it emphasises peace. Purple is usually associated with royalty and nobility. Therefore these colours present Cee Lo Green as very high statused and of high importance. It could even possibly reference him to being a king of his genre. This is because he is represented as someone who looks like they are in authority. Therefore this shows representation of men as being very powerful.

Neyo - In my own words. CD cover analysis

Since we are doing Neyo for our music video, I have researched into CD covers for Neyo as I have to make a CD cover myself for a song made by him. In Neyos CD cover, his album is called 'In my own words.' This links into the CD cover because at the left side of the CD you can see it looks like a notebook. This is clever as it makes the CD case seem like a notebook and consequently makes the songs inside the CD case seem as neyos words and writings. It almost seems like a autobiography as it has a picture of Neyo on the front.

In the background of the CD front cover it has writing which also suggests a book. A close up of his face is used to emphasis his importance, it also presents him as approachable and the image of him looks very soft. Consequently, he is represented as a gentle character and approachable, as close up shots are usually used to show emotion. This appeals to the audience of young girls, and also people in general as he is portrayed as a nice artist. He is wearing his signature hat again and a black suit. Which emphasises a sophisticated look and appeals to women. He is also wearing a white shirt, which shows innocence and portrays him as a good guy. Therefore, the representation of men is presented in a good way. He is shown as a very intellectual man expressing his feelings on paper, therefore, showing he is in touch with his emotions.

On the back cover of the CD it has the notebook and a pen and once more again writing imprinted in the background. The drawing of the box around the barcode, in terms of drawing looks very sketchy, as if someone drew it roughly. Therefore, it links to the idea of the notebook. The book has red on the edge of the pages, which could connote passion and show it is a dairy. However, the green colour around the book could connote jealousy. Furthermore this could suggest a love story. Therefore this links as most of the songs on this album are about love.

Neyo - Libra Scale. CD cover analysis

Since we are doing Neyo for our music video, I have researched into CD covers for Neyo as I have to make a CD cover myself for a song made by him. In the front CD cover for Neyo, he is presented as a superhero. As his music videos have a storyline that portrays him as a superhero. The photo on the CD cover has been photo shopped and Neyo's hand looks like it is glowing consequently it looks magical, which shows superpowers. The people in the background dressed in white, also have white glowing eyes and glowing hands. Consequently the representation of men is shown here as inspirational to young boys and girls, although mainly boys as young boys are aspired by superheros and comics. Therefore, these pictures on the CD cover show intertextuality for comic books and superhero films such as Bat Man.

He once again is wearing a suit which is very smart and is wearing his signature hat which he is known for. This is used alot on R&B as it makes the artist seem desirable and wealthy.

In the background of the CD cover there are people in the back who have powers also. They are all wearing white, whereas he is wearing black which therefore could suggest is he a good hero? Buildings are shown in the background which emphasises this story is presented in a city, where it is busy. Dark colours are used in this CD cover and it is set at night night which is eerie and creates a sense of mystery and suspense.

'Libra Scale' is the name of his album and Libra is apart of astrology and is a horoscope. Libra is presented as scales in astrology and therefore suggests balance. Which in this case could suggest the balance between good and evil...possibly could suggest one is out winning the other.
On the back cover of the CD, it shows Neyo looking down onto the city that is lit up. This could either suggest two things, he is good and protecting the city. Or he is bad and is preying over it. The sky is really clouded in it and this adds to the mystery.

Chris Brown. CD cover analysis

I have also researched into other artists CD covers in order to gain a further understanding of what other R&B artists include in their CD covers. This will help me when it comes to making my CD cover.

In Chris Browns front CD cover, he has a picture of himself which is voyerism. It makes the audience focus on him. He is wearing alot of jewerlly on the front CD cover which links to him being a R&B artist. It makes him seem desireable to people and seem wealthy. It is a usual convention of R&B, and many R&B artists do this. His name is spray painted on the front CD cover, which suggests youth. It shows he is a young artist and links back to his carefree attitude and style. A microphone is drawn into his name, which shows he is a singer and is also a thing that you expect to see on a young artists CD cover.

On the back cover his songs are listed once again in spray painting technique. He is wearing sunglasses which is something most R&B artists do, this is used as a method of improving image. It makes the artist seem more desireable and wealthy and gives them higher status. He is dressed as a typical teenager, in jeans and a yellow top. Yellow is a bright colour which is very uplifting, which emphasises his youth. He is wearing immaculate white trainers, which is an aspiration symbol linked to R&B. It is like in Snoop Dog and Pharrell's music video when they are pointing out their expensive lifesyle due to their jewerlly and clothes, they point out their trainers. Consequently it makes the artist more desireable and shows their wealth. He is sitting upon a window which many R&B artists do in their music videos when a love story is involved. This appeals to an younger audience of girls.

Usher - Here I stand. CD cover analysis

I have done research on another R&B singer's CD covers in order to understand and gain a further understanding of what is needed to be included in a R&B CD cover, when it comes to doing ours for our music video. The colour scheme is black, white and red. Red is a bold colour that stands out. Black and white gives off a very polished effect and is professional. It is not a colourful CD cover, however both contrasting colours red and black/white, set against eachother make it bold.

A car is used in this CD cover, this is a convention of R&B. It shows wealth and is used in R&B music videos to make the artist seem more desireable to the audience. Usher is wearing sunglasses and alot of heavy jewerlly, this is another convention of R&B music videos. Once more it emphasises the status of the artist and makes him seem wealthy and desireable.

Ushers designer clothes, car and jewerlly make him an aspirational character. The title of the album is called 'here I stand.' The writing 'Usher Here I' is highlighted in red, with a picture of Usher underneath it. This throws emphasise on Usher showing he is present and once again makes him seem inspirational as he is a present famous music artist. Furthermore, he is presented as a idol and someone to admire and look up to via a younger audience of boys and girls, while also a teenage audience and young adults.

Neyo - Year of the Gentleman. CD cover analysis

Since we are doing Neyo for our music video, I have researched into CD covers for Neyo as I have to make a CD cover myself for a song made by him.

This is a CD cover for Neyo's album 'year of the gentleman.' It shows Neyo's style as a R&B singer as he is wearing a suit which is flashy and emphasises wealth, the suit is black with shows professionalism. His suit is pinstriped which for decades have been associated with the banking and financial world, which emphasies that he is earnest and down to business. He is also wearing a hat which is his look and his style. He is dressed as a gentleman and presented as one. This links to the title of his album, 'Year of the Gentleman.' However, his hat is hiding his face which emphasises a hidden identity. Maybe he is not a gentleman as he seems.

The mise en scene of the CD ia very posh, which suggests and emphasises his wealth and status as a celebrity. The colours used in the CD cover are very neutral (ie cream colours) mixed in with black also in the setting. This makes the CD cover look old fashioned, furthermore, it ties into the title of the album 'year of the gentleman' as Neyo said he named the album this as people have forgotton the value of being a gentleman. Consequently by making the CD cover look old fashioned and aged, it could suggest the true values of old fashioned gentlemen.

On the back of the CD cover Neyo is walking and a slanted mid shot is used of him, in which he looks very calm and collected, this photo that is used of him almost looks hero like which once again ties into the gentleman theme.

Location Report

This is one of the locations we are using for our music video. It is used twice in our music video. Firstly the river is used as a setting for a flashback for Adrian and Danielle when they were once happy walking along it, therefore, the scene is in black & white to show it is set in the past. Secondly, the river scene is used again, however, it is set in colour to show it is present time. It now shows Adrian and Danielle as unhappy and no longer in love. We have chose to use the colour of the settings such as black & white as Neyo uses this typically in his music videos.
We chose this setting as it is close by to our school. This sort of setting is also used in Neyo's music videos as it is a romantic setting. You see a setting like this in Neyo's music video, 'Part of the list.' Therefore we are trying to capture a similar scene for our coursework.

However, the problems we can face is people walking past and disrupting filming as it is quite a open area which people use frequently. Also the weather may be an issue as we are currently in the middle of filming during winter, therefore, rain and snow may be an issue.

Production Schedule

Location Report

We filmed the kitchen scene, however, did not use it in our music video as we felt the dinner table in the living room would be a more romantic scene and when benefical to show the breakdown of their relationship when Yoda walks out.

Storyboard

This is our storyboard for our music video, it explains the camera shots we need to do etc.



Found we had to keep timing correct for everything to work. Therefore we wrote the time that each shot should take in order to make sure the timing of the song and lip synching matched. We did all of the storyboard in pencil, therefore, if any changes needed to be made during filming we could change it. We wrote all the shots that we were going to use within that time frame written in the ‘timing’ box. However, we were aware that this could change or stay the same depending when it came to filming or if we had to change it for any reason.


For our flashbacks we had to make it obvious it is a flashback and in the past. So we put the scene in black and white of them at the river scene. Those scenes will show them in love and be romantic. However, we will also have scenes of them at the river but they will be in colour to show it is present tense and the scenes will show a breakdown of their relationship and how it has dramatically changed.


For Scene 9 the Close-up used of the alarm clock links to the music when Ne-Yo sings the time in the lyrics.







For our filming last year for AS we filmed outside at night time which affected our quality of filming and camera shots due to dark lighting, noise and weather conditions. Therefore most of our filming consisted inside which was better as the quality of filming was better than last year and lighting was a major improvement.

For scene 14 after researching Ne-Yo’s music videos I learnt that he stands against walls and dances or sings while doing this in his music videos. This research was helpful in our planning as therefore we are going to do the same thing for our music video in order to successfully follow the conventions linked to R&B music videos and Ne-Yo’s music videos. For scene 15 we have a bit of dialogue in the music video where Adrian says to Danielle ‘Where are you going?’ and she replies ‘I’ll be back later.’ Ne-Yo does this in his music videos as he always has narration and a storyline embedded within his music videos. By doing this it helps the audience who are watching our music video follow the storyline and understand that she is leaving to cheat, it also portrays Adrian as being distressed due to the cheating and makes the storyline better.

Scene 16 shows breakdown of their relationship with is significant as it shows contrast to their earlier shots by the river where they are happy. Scene 18 contrasts to scene 6 as it shows total breakdown. It shows how things have changed.

Storyboard Comments

On the storyboard we had to write about which camera shots we would use and focus on the timing of each of these shots, while also having to focus on the dialogue that is going to be used for each camera shot and scene. Therefore christianna had to listen to the CD and time it, consequently making the song was in sequence with each scene and camera shot.

For the dialogue and the camera shots used we made sure the whole timing would add up to 4 minutes 27 seconds. As it would not be a good music video if it overlapped or was too short. For the storyboard I did the drawings. We found difficulties in making sure the dialogue fit the scene we wanted to create in our music video as it had to link otherwise it would look out of place. The timing was hard aswell as you had to make sure it added up to 4 minutes 27 seconds, so each scene as well as fitting into the dialogue and camera shots, had to also fit into the song.

However, we made changes to the storyboard, as we also decided in the end to add dialogue like Neyo does in his music videos. This was used to tie in to his music videos. It ties into the usual conventions that Neyo uses in his music videos. Along with Neyo standing infront of a wall, while also wearing a suit and a 'hoodie.' We have used these usual conventions of Neyo and applied them to our music video.