Editing Process

I used after effects to block out the green screen. I clicked on effects on the top bar, keying, followed by the keylight option. After removing the green screen I was able to change the image to screen matte and change the lighting using black and white which made the background fully transparent and the image bolder. I then softened the edges to make them cleaner. I repeated this process with all my other images.

                                                                                   



Here is the before shot of my picture before I removed the green screen.

This is the after shot of my picture after I removed the green screen. As you can see there are a few creases on the left hand side of the image and that is due to there being creases in the green screen when I took the picture. Thankfully, this issue was easily solved as I was able to cut around it using the pen tool.







After I had edited my images I had to convert it into a PNG sequence in order to keep the transparent background, then I added it to the render queue in order to use it in Photoshop.

This is the logo for the record company that I have chosen to represent my artist. However, I had to edit it before I added it to my album cover and my poster as it was originally on a white background and I didn't feel it looked professional as my background was red and black so I had to use the Magic wand tool in Photoshop in order to remove the white background and make it transparent. After doing this I then had to use the adjustment tool and invert the writing to white instead of black so I could see the writing clearly on my poster and album cover.

This is a screen shot taken mid-way of my editing process of my digipak. I've chosen to fragment my artists body by having one panel just be a close up of her face and another panel just showing her legs to illustrate the brokenness of my artist, this is also a theme that will feature in my music video as after researching similar artists, especially ones in the indie genre, they tend to write songs about vulnerability and the feeling of emptiness or loneliness so I thought it would be fitting to include this in my DigiPak.

From past feedback on my previous album cover I was advised to have a more interesting background as it was previously just a red background,which was rather bland so I decided to add a background, then I edited it by adding colour to give it more depth. Moreover, due to this change I had to add this background to all the panels in order to keep it consistent.

Breakdown of Scenes For My Video

Lana Del Rey- Carmen lyric analysis

Darlin', darlin'

Doesn't have a problem

Lyin' to herself

Cos her liquor's top shelf

It's alarming, honestly,

How charming she can be

Fooling everyone

Telling them she's having fun

She says, "You don't want to be

like me, don't want to see all

the things I've seen"

I'm dyin', I'm dyin'

She says, "You don't want to

get this way, famous and dumb

at an early age"

Lyin', I'm lyin'

The boys, the girls,

They all like Carmen

She gives them butterflies

Bats her cartoon eyes

She laughs like God

Her mind's like a diamond

Audiotune lies

She's still shinin'

Like lighting

White lightning

Carmen, Carmen

Staying up till morning

Only 17 but she walks the

streets so mean

It's alarming truly

How disarming you can be

Eatin' soft ice cream

Coney Island queen

She says, "You don't want to

be like me, lookin' for fun,

gettin' high for free"

I'm dyin', I'm dyin'

She says, "You don't want to

get this way, street walk at

night and a star by day"

It's tirin', tirin'

The boys, the girls,

They all like Carmen

She gives them butterflies

Bats her cartoon eyes

She laughs like God

Her mind's like a diamond

Audiotune lies

She's still shinin'

Like lighting

White lightning

Baby's all dressed up with

nowhere to go

That's the little story of the

girl you know

Relying on the kindness of 

strangers

Tying cherry knots

Smiling, doing party favours

Put your red dress on, put your

lipstick on

Sing your song, song, now the

camera's on

And you're alive again

The boys, the girls,

They all like Carmen

She gives them butterflies

Bats her cartoon eyes

She laughs like God

Her mind's like a diamond

Audiotune lies

She's still shinin'

Like lighting

White lightning

Darlin', Darlin'

Doesn't have a problem

Lyin' to herself

Cos her liquor's top shelf

This song is quite autobiographical as it tells the tale of the struggles that Lana went through as a young girl, Carmen is actually Lana.

"Darling, darling, doesn't have a problem. Lying to herself cause her liquors top shelf." She thinks that she's completely fine and that she has no addiction but in reality she's addicted to alcohol and needs help.

"It's alarming honestly how charming she can be, fooling everyone telling them she's having fun." Everyone thinks how she's that girl who's never upset and how shes always having a good time when Lana actually feels depressed and sad about how bad her life has gotten.

"She says you don't wanna get this way, famous but dumb at an early age."
Lana got addicted to alcohol at the age of 14 ("dumb at an early age"), got sent to boarding school to fix her addiction, then she ran away and technically lived on the streets. Everyone knew who she was because she would do whatever she could for money even prostitute herself sometimes.

"Buy her tonight, she's still shining like lighting."
I think this is the part when she prostituted herself. She's saying how people should buy her for the night while she's there .

"She says you don't wanna get this way, street walk at night but a star by day."
This is another part when she talks about how she sold her self as a prostitute at a young age.

"Babys all dressed up with nowhere to go, that's the little story of the girl you know." In this quote I feel like she's always looking for a party to go to and spend her time somewhere or the fact that she's walking on the streets all dressed up waiting for someone to buy her for the night.

"Relying on the kindness of strangers."
She hopes that someone would be nice to her and help her get her life back on track or give her some money so she can support herself. It's like a perspective from a homeless person kind of thing. 


"Tying cherry knots smiling doing party favors. Put your red dress on, put your lip stick on." Being able to tie a cherry stem into a knot is a sign of being a good kisser. Lana is saying how she's doing party favors probably such as hooking up with people and doing sexual acts or drugs for the money. Then she says how she's putting on her red dress and her lipstick, here she is saying how she's ready to go out and sell herself again or do whatever she can to get money.

"Mon amour, je sais que tu m'aimes aussi
Tu as besion de moi
Tu as besion de moi dans ta vie 
Tu ne peux plus vivre sans moi
Et je mourrais sans toi
Je tuerais pour toi."

Translation: “My love, I know that you love me too.
You need me, you need me in your life.
You can’t live without me
And I’d die without you.
I’d kill for you.”

Here she is talking about her addiction to alcohol and how much she craves it in her life and how she can't live without it.

Voyeurism- 50 Cent Candy Shop

In an interview with 50 Cent he stated: "I attempted to be as sexual as possible, from a male perspective, without being vulgar or obscene".

                           



Goodwin’s theory of voyeurism refers to the idea of expressing sexuality in media texts through the notion of ‘observing’ . This idea is mainly aimed towards male viewers, (this links into the male gaze) as we are invited to look at the female artist or characters in a sexually objectifying way, this is often executed through camera framing, angles and the use of mis-en-scene. For example Goodwin suggests that females can be objectified by revealing parts of their body e.g. breasts and buts and by wearing revealing clothes with camera angles such as low angle shots and close ups used to emphasise this. Goodwin’s theory is certainly evident in most of the music videos seen on music channels such as MTV and Kiss. From watching videos I've noticed that they all follow the same idea of featuring a sense of voyeurism.  A good example of how voyeurism is used within modern day music videos is the 2009 song Candy Shop by 50 Cent ft Olivia as there is a clear sense of voyeurism in some of the scenes. Like, many hip hop artists, 50 Cent conforms to conventions of hip hop as this video includes the following typical conventions:

• Video vixens
• Sports car
• Sexual connotations
• Provocative clothes

This screenshot depicts a clear example of a sense of voyeurism for the viewers as well as the characters as their is a live feed of them being intimate with each other in the back ground, suggesting that they are also voyeurs.






The female characters within this video have been highly sexualised through their provocative movements and clothing, used as a ploy to entice the audience. In the above screenshot we see the female character on the bed


Below are 3 screen grabs highlighting 3 shots/moments that demonstrate voyeurism.

This is a low angle shot of the women dancing, this is an example of "male gaze" because we the audience are forced to look at these women's buts whilst they dance in a sexually provocative way. Moreover, the choice of costume also adds to this idea of women being objects to satisfy men as the main female who's singing is wearing cherry red hot pants whilst her back up dancers are all wearing bikini tops, leaving very little to the imagination.

This is an example of voyeurism as this is a shot viewed form 50 cent, as he is on the balcony looking down on these women as they dance. A feminist critic would infer that this could be symbolic over his power over women, a she a man is looking down on the woman thus giving him more status and power.

This shot shows two women being really sexual and provocative in a bathtub  as one of the ladies is pouring chocolate on the other one, this time it is the editing that helps to create a sense of voyeurism as this has been slowed down to be even more erotic and sexual for its audience.

Intertextuality - Pink "Raise Your Glass"

Goodwin showed intertextual references to be a major theme within music videos. References that can be retrieved from other music videos, films, TV texts and even public figures. They provide the audience with further gratification and pleasure, as if they're able to work out the intertextual links they will feel a stronger connection with the artist feeling they are in on some sort of private joke or secret. Artist’s can also use intertextuality to help compare themselves to an event or public figure that will help them emulate the star image they want their audience to see them as. A great example of intertextual references being used within music videos to help star develop their star image is Pink's "Raise Your Glass."

Here it shows Pink paying homage to the renown "We Can Do It" poster of "Rosie the Riveter" by doing the action, the feminists salute.

Iggy Azlea- Fancy ft Charlie Xcx

Here are screenshots illustrating the intertextual reference of Iggy's video as she is holding a similar pink fluffy pencil as the character from Clueless.

Iggy Azalea is another example of a pop star that has used intertextuality within their video. The chosen text that has inspired this video is the hit 90's movie Clueless, below is a list of some similar qualities within this video that replicate the film such as:

• Costumes-  both Iggy and the main character from Clueless have the outfit decider machine that chooses the yellow plaided skirt suit.
• Scene location e.g. classroom and sports ground
• The way her name is introduced is in the same format as the movies title.
• Actors within the video resemble the actors in the film

The artists main audience are young people, teenagers till young adults therefore choosing to base her video around an iconic 90's film, from which the era most if not all her target audience were born in, was genius as it is something that links them together, as they would all know this film. Therefore, she has targeted a piece of pop culture that her fans would be familiar with and has possible expanded her audience to people who are just fans of the film, which makes this a very clever marketing technique.

Stay High by Tove Lo analysis

The video I will be analysing is 'Stay High' by Tove Lo as it, like the songs I've been contemplating choosing for my own music video, tells a story by following the artist as she recalls what happens on a night out. Although; my video will not resemble 'Stay High' in terms of concept, props or lighting, as the explicit nature of this video will limit my audience to adults only due to the adult content I still think this video is a good one to analyse due to its abstract nature which I find to be quite alluring and interesting.

The video begins with what looks like her memories from a hangover, as images of her drinking and changing clothes (multiple times) flash on the screen. Similarly to Beyoncé’s "Pretty Hurts" the direction for the video goes down the documentation route. 

Picture 1 displays the artist waking up from a pile of people, suggesting that she has fallen asleep at a party. First impressions from this opening scene of the artists character and the theme of the song is that it is based around a party-goer trying to recall what happened up the day before. 

Picture 2 shows the singer dressing for a night out, in this video the artist is seen changing a multiple amount of times, which adds to the documentary feel of the video as it shows that this is a recording of the characters life over a period of time. Goodwin's theory of voyeurism is key in this video as we are introduced into this artists world, as we see everything that happens to her through her eyes, her perspective. Furthermore, many record companies tend to use close ups of their artists to sell themselves to the audience, to sell a brand, and Close Ups are featured heavily within this video due to unique way it has been filmed.

Picture 4 showcases the artist in a more generic way as she stands in front of a black screen; giving her the main focus. Moreover, this also helps to piece the meaning of the, particularly abstract, video as she sings "You're gone and I gotta stay high/ All the time/ To keep you off my mind" thus illustrating a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics because as she sings this we are shown clips of her getting drunk, recapping the night before. 

Picture 5 displays the artist applying make up to her neck to cover the love bite on her neck, this shows the artist as a promiscuous and sexually active young woman. This is one of the many conventions and stereotypes attached to females in the media, they're either seen as: powerful cold hearted women, housewives or sluts. 

Picture 6 shows the artist getting ready for a night out by putting on her makeup, this use of an extreme close is really effective because it is an invasion on the artist and it makes the audience feel even more connected to her.

Picture 7 illustrates the artist washing her face, this could represent the cyclical quality of her life as she has a wash, puts on her make up and goes out. The washing motif suggests a sense of routine, suggesting the artist is living the stereotypical young person lifestyle, of sleep all day and party all night.

Picture 8 and 9 show the artist taking a paracetamol for what the audience can only assume is for her hangover after the night before. This suggests that she lives this cyclical life where she parties all night and then regrets it the morning after as she wakes up with a massive headache. the fact that she chose to highlight this sows how important it is as there is also a close up that has been slowed down to show the paracetmol going into the water.

Beyonce's Pretty Hurts analysis

Analysis on past music videos

Below are videos from past students.

This video starts off with displaying the title of the track, the main artist and the featuring artist, the album it comes from and the record company it is in association with, this is good because this is what is seen on actual videos that get aired on shows such as MTV and Kiss, thus making it look professional.

I liked the simplicity of this video as most of it was shot in the recording studio, which gave it a sense of authenticity and made it look more believable as music video.

Here is a screenshot of what I found to be a fairly successful shot due to the dramatic slow motion of the gift falling to the floor.