Representation of the Characters

How the people in the music video are represented is something that needs to be taken into consideration. The facial expressions, clothing, body language and props all have an impact on how the person is represented. So all areas need some thought going into them. The non-verbal communication is important seems there will not be any verbal communication with the characters within the music video and all the areas of non-verbal communication need to be considered.

Non-verbal communication consists of the following:
- Physical Space
- Clothing and Appearance
- Locomotion
- Posture
- Gesture
- Facial Expressions
- Eye Contact
- Touch
- Paralanguage

Facial Expressions
Frown - Displeasure, Unhappiness
Smile - Friendliness, Happiness
Raised Eyebrows - Disbelief, Amazement
Narrowed Eyes - Anger
Blushing - Embarrassment

Eye Contact
Glancing - Lack of Interest
Steady - Active Listening, Interest, Seduction

Hand/Arm Gestures
Pointing Finger - Authority, Displeasure, Lecturing
Folded Arms - Not open to change, preparing to speak
Arms at side - Open to suggestions, relaxed
Hands Uplifted Outward - Disbelief, puzzlement, Uncertainty

Body Postures
Fidgeting, doodling – Boredom
Hands on hips – Anger Defensiveness
Shrugging Shoulders – Indifference
Squared Stance or shoulders – Problem-solving, concern, listening
Biting lip, shifting, jingling money – Nervousness
Sitting on edge of chair – Listening, great concern
Slouching in chair – Boredom, lack of interest

Physical Space
From Physical contact to 18 inches – Intimate space
From 18 inches to 4 feet – Personal space
From 4 feet to 8 feet – Social space
From 8 feet outward – Public space

I feel after researching about non-verbal communication it needed to be considered to create a more realistic and professional music video as especially as we would to show the ex-girlfriend trying to seduce the male vocalist and with a steady eye contact it would help portray this non-verbally.

Costume Choices

In music video the right ‘image’ has on the video, and how it is viewed and the costume for the actors was somewhat important. I felt as the costume was important it had to organised efficiently so the right image could be portrayed. I started by going through the clothes available in local stores such as Asda, Tesco, Burton, Topman and The Officers Club, as I felt these shops would have the clothing that would fit to the look I felt was needed in the music video. By looking at the pictures available online of “The Colours” we felt it was necessary to use the image they have already created for themselves as an unsigned band. The Colours seems to have a smart casual look, so I searched through the shirts, ties, blazers, t-shirts, belts and coats that were available from local stores and fitted the image we wanted to portray.

The clothes below show the ideas for costume in the music video, however when filming we want to make use of the actors own clothes if they are similar and fit to the style.

However if these clothes aren’t available we would have to purchase them for the music video, so that right look was created.

Male:

Male 1 - in the Performance, Vocalist of band
Male 2 - in the Performance, Guitarist of Band
Male 3 - in the Performance, Drummer of Band
Male 1 - in the Narrative, Main Lead
Male 2-5 - in the Narrative, Playing Poker

Male 1 – in the Narrative, Beginning “fade to beat” shots

Clothing Ideas for Males parts -

Moodboard

After listening to the chosen song and analysing the lyrics, I went on the internet to find some images that I felt fitted to the song and images that helped show what I felt the music video should contain. With these images I created a mood board, which as well as helping spark ideas for the music video and how the video show be portrayed it helped my group members see what images I got by listening to the music and from the analysis of the lyrics.

Questionnaire Results

These are the results that I attained from asking the target audience of the text my questionnaire.

Album Cover Research

All the songs that I have in my iTunes library have a album cover, and all the album cover differ from genre to genre, artist to artist and also from the time they were released although throughout the years the same conventions have been used, but the technology used to achieve the album cover has adapted with the new technologies available. The album cover should attract you to purchase the CD when brought in the shops as the cover is the first things you see, and that’s what’s attracts you to put up the CD and turn it over to look at the track lists.

The typical conventions of the album cover are the artist name, the song title, an image and also a sticker such as parental advisory sticker if needed. However not all album covers follow the main conventions, however this could be proven effective when the album is released.

Personally I have always felt that a successful album cover should have a eye-catching image, however the examples from my music library show what I feel is successful and unsuccessful when an album cover is quite plain.

These are the album covers to “My Name – Mclean” and “I’m Yours – Jason Mraz”. Although the album to “I’m Yours” has a small graphic included, it’s still rather plain but I think it has been effective. Whereas I don’t feel that the album cover to “My Name” is successful at all, and I feel it would have been more successful if it used the typical convention of an image, and as the other the next album covers to the following songs he has released go with the same design but the song title changes, it isn’t that appealing. However having this same design of a black background, song title in red, and artist name in white, it would create an “image” and his audience would be able to identify his album covers by the repetition design across his singles.