Disney President choices

a) Mary Poppins (my real-life character choice). Marry Poppins, is an honest, respectable and kind woman, a governess who is dedicated to her career. Despite her strict ways and smart and sophisticated appearance, she entertains the Bank children by going on adventures. Poppins uses some sarcastic lines which are humorous for the children (and the audience). She has a fun side to her, for instance she enjoys the merry-go-round horse ride and the various characters (real and animated) she meets.
Her magical touch for mostly cleaning, tiding and flying shows that she does not take her powers for granted.
She breaks the usual perception of women not working and earning a living, as she is a Governess. Her friendly and respectful attitude to everyone- from poor to rich people and animals; she is an excellent example for the children to follow, and children of the Disney world. Her communication skills with both real life humans and animated animals and people are a valuable asset to the Disney world.

She can sing too, as well as saying "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". Always invaluable skills for having the position of President of Disney.


b) Pocahontas (animated character)

If I had to choose an animated President, it would be... Pocahontas, because she is a strong-willed woman, who stands for her own beliefs and values. She is another woman who challenges the traditional representation of women (house wife, cleaning) in Disney and she respects her own culture as well as others. She respects her elder peers, including Grandmother Willow who gives advice and guidance about the choices Pocahontas has to make, her most important advice being to "follow your heart". Although Pocahontas is disloyal to her Father, it is for the good of her tribe and to ultimately make peace between her own tribe and the Englishmen.
Her Father is the leader of the Native American tribe so she could have learnt a number of things about being a leader (how to lead the tribe). Pocahontas also cares about her environment and she could influence the way we look after our own environment.
Either Mary Poppins or Pocahontas would be excellent Presidents as they are reliable, honest and have potentially brilliant leadership skills.

Target Audience Research

I like this!

My title sums up why I posted a link to this video, Owl City -Fire Flies, on my blog. I like it, because it is an inventive and unique way of producing a music video; it's very fun and playful. The objects around the room light up, turn on, move, spell out lyrics (of the track), spin and have several other actions; shown through many, many close ups. Close ups are an essential feature in music videos as we have been advised to use by our teacher and in Andrew Goodwin's theory. They are simple to achieve, helping draw attention to specific parts of mise-en-scene that the audience wouldn't usually see through a mid shot... Furthermore, the simple lyrics match the childish objects, as well as using Goodwin's theory about creating a link between the lyrics and visuals. An example (amongst the many) could be the disco ball when he sings "A disco ball that's just hanging by a thread".

Mumford & Sons

In Mumford & Sons' "Little Lion Man" music video they perform on a stage, with their (generic Ska/Folk) instruments, including a double bass, guitar, keyboard, banjo and bass drum. Close ups and mid shots are used to establish what the band are playing to go with the instrumental beginning. They stand together in a theatre setting which is shown through long shots. The lighting is low apart from the hanging fairy-lights which hang across the theatre and cross above the band adding focus to them. The lights are similar to the wedding decoration used as part of the mise-en-scene in Paolo Nutini's "Candy" video, becoming a common decorative feature for folk/indie music videos. The lights flicker as the music builds up towards the end causing a more unsettled atmosphere and creating movement. There seems to be back lights behind them too giving them more importance and attention. Finally, the lights switch off when the singer strikes his guitar and then start when the music does again. This shows how the visuals may have a link to the music.
The editing is quickly cut to increase the audiences attention as the songs tempo quickens. The camera pans around them slowly, gently zooming in as well, having close ups of the band's faces and instruments, typical music video camera work being used.

Another video I found on the MTV website (http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/mumford-and-sons/video/the-cave) shows what the band wears and how they are presented in their music videos: performing. We were worried that our music video will not be great in the real life part as we haven't got the real band cast as themselves, so we are limited to having the actors not performing. A way around this was to have the actors pretend to play instruments as this is a common theme/feature in indie/folk music videos, shown by our influential and similar artists. This is also a marketing method of showing that an artist or band is capable of playing an instrument, how it is their talent and passion. We are pleased with how the actors have the typical and similar indie/folk dress code.

On their MySpace blog page, there is a post about illegal downloading:
"Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Mumford & Sons vs. Why Music Matters
The onset of the digital age has had a profound and lasting impact on the music industry, and in spite of what may be written, the impact hasn't all been bad - far from it.
Obviously, the thorny issue of illegal downloading persists, and though it's impact on sales - and in turn, the artists themselves - cannot be down played, the idea of music being shared amongst fans for the love of it, is sound... So long as the value of the music is never diminished, and that we never lose sight of the importance and the significance that music plays in all ours lives.
With this in mind, a collection of artists (including Sigur Ros, Nick Cave and Kate Bush), labels, managers and retailers have gathered together and initiated a campaign to raise awareness of the value of music and highlight legitimate online music sources.
The Why Music Matters campaign has commissioned several of the participating bands to each produce a short film about why music matters to them; the part it has played in their lives, and why, to them, music really is all that matters...
Please take a few minutes to check out the official site and show your support:
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LndoeW11c2ljbWF0dGVycy5vcmcv
All the videos can be seen at the Why Music Matters YouTube page via the link below:
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL3doeW11c2ljbWF0dGVycw==
You can get involved with the initiative by signing up to the Facebook group:
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmZhY2Vib29rLmNvbS9wYWdlcy9XaHktTXVzaWMtTWF0dGVycy8zMTc1NzYwODIxNjY=
And follow it's progress over the coming months on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/..whymusicmatters
Thank you! You are the best! (Naturally)
M&S HQ
x"
[http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=92073537&blogId=531545900] The post suggests how the band find illegal downloading acceptable if only the music is being taken (for free) for personal enjoyment- a pure love for music. This is unlikely for some users, as they can call it their own music, creating issues with copyright. "So long as the value of the music is never diminished" shows how they have counterbalanced arguments with the issue. They ['M&S HQ'] consider how the value of music should be acknowledged by the downloaders, which I agree with and by having continuous campaigns, hopefully it will spread the message.

Advert inspiration AND REVISION OF REAL LIFE PART

Whilst watching part of Doc Martin (an ITV programme) I noticed the sponsor's Simply Health advert, below, is very similar to a scene/shot Roxxy and I use in our animation part. Specifically the birds carrying the banner by their beaks is the image we have used. In addition, the animals are in blocks, similarly to our cut-outs. We thought the birds carrying the banner was a creative image whilst purposefully having the songs name on it.

__________________

We have decided to revise our ideas for the real life part. This is because our initial idea didn't turn out as well as we had planned. Looking back at the storyboards, we planned to have a group of people representing the band coming into the wolf. We filmed some footage but it was awful. We hadn't planned the filming process as fully as we should have, so the actors did not have much guidance and became impatient.
The next idea which we went with for the final outcome was to have one actor representing the main vocal singer from The Wild Wolves. This was much easier and simpler to film as we could direct the actor more clearly because it was one actor.
Our next initial idea was to have Tamas (the actor) encounter the wolf but this looked unprofessional. The basic idea of the real life was for the singer to be the wolf, shown through wearing the mask. This was a final desperate idea as we had run out of ways to make him look like a wolf (other than a gruesome looking Halloween mask).
We wanted to portray the wolf in the animation as the singer in the band. Cross fades of the shots of Tamas wearing the mask and then without it signifies how he was just dreaming. This was an idea I had which seemed to make the narrative make sense. It was finished with Tamas being woken up by a band member (played by Roxxy), picking up his guitar and shutting the door - we synchronized the last beat with the door being shut, which we thought was a nice touch.
We shot the video on the outskirts of a local golf club as the mise-en-scene for folk/indie music videos contains commonly rural, shot outside and pleasant locations. Working around when we were able to film, we shot in afternoons and dusk, which had its advantages and disadvantages. An advantage was how we managed to get shots of the moon- part of the imagery we used in the animation and linking the lyrics also (relates to Goodwin's theory). A distadvantage was how at this time of the year, the afternoons quickly become dark so the quality of the footage became low.

For the animation parts, we received some advice and criticism which we took on board. Consequently, we quickened the pace to shorten shots and added close ups to vary the animation shots more. Some examples which can be seen in the video are: shortened and quickened pace of the start (opening showing bands name and tracks name), the close ups in the forest scenes and on the hill and the extreme close ups of the wolf's legs and head whilst going up the hill. Therefore, helping the audience engage with the music video more.

Digipak ideas

The first three are existing CD album covers which I have found from music websites and Google.

Paolo Nutini is a folk/indie music artist who was a large influence on the character's costume in our music video. For instance, both have trilby hats, shirts and jeans, which is typical folk/indie costume. The album looks as though it was done by an artist or possibly even the artist himself.

The bright coloured colour scheme includes: yellow, red and green, the main image being a cartoon portrait of Paolo (the artist himself) at his diner table, a guitar to his left with a pleasant-looking landscape outside. A visual link between the album's title and visual imagery is made through the eggs on the plate (a cross reference to Paolo being Scottish too, as the phrase it, I believe).

For my own digipak, I am thinking of doing an artistic cover and came across some of Glas Vegas's covers which I personally really like. This looks like a linoprint, and suggests how bands can commission an artist to create their digipak.

Glas Vegas has many awards for their self-titled album, from Best Awards of 2008 in The Observer Music Monthly, NME to The Independent and The Sun. Also reaching the Number Two position in the UK album chart. This album, their second or third studio album, with its artistic cover could symbolize how the band are not worried about promoting themselves FOR their music; they let the music promote itself.
The album covers are simplistic and creative, with both a subtle and aesthetically attractive colour scheme. Both CD covers have atmospheric imagery, both with locations being villages. Both CD covers also have the man and woman, shown as equals, either in the sky or on the ground.

My next step will be to look at other several folk/indie music artists with inspirational CD covers. There are different possibilities which may contribute to the successfulness of the music artist, it may be due to their music appealing to their audience or, it may be due to their CD album covers attracting them to listen to them. As our band is unsigned, it'll be important to attract our target audience, using certain colour schemes, imagery, lighting, text font, price, extra features of the digipak.