Photo Shoots of Rosie May

 

 

 

Album Covers

Our group had planned our album cover, front and back, to be made up of images of Rosie May standing on Brighton promenade in front of the sea and the Brighton pier and eye. Therefore I edited the images that I took on the shoot day that were adequate for the album. I then used Photoshop in order to alter the colour temperature of the images as well as adjusting the colour of the sky with the brush tool, enhancing the blue hue of the sky. I then experimented with the text fonts, position and size on the album cover in order to introduce Rosie May to the public on the front of her album in the best way possible.

 

 

Our Shoot Day

We spent the whole day in Brighton shooting Rosie at different locations and lip syncing. There were a few changes to our schedule because of the unpredictability of the day. First we shot her against the panorama of the city because we have tried to portray her as an urban artist. Then we decided to film her against the pub, opposite, with a large amount of art on the walls of musical stars she looks up to, therefore meaning something to her and worthy of being in her video. This was my favourite location to shoot at. We had her walking towards us across the street and singing into the camera. This was done to emphasise the fact that she is a single artist and this video is directed entirely at her in order to attract the audience and make her star image memorable.
  We then filmed her as she walked down the streets and also her entering different shops and looks at different 'Brighton products' (e.g. punk jackets, Steel boots). This was done in order to concentrate on her background and present her as an English artist. This will help us attract a certain audience of girls 13-21 who are from UK or even specifically in Brighton. Also, the fact that she is walking around, suggests that she is not an untouchable artist, she is down to earth and able to live a normal life which may appeal to the audience who may be looking for a genuine, organic singer.
  At the end of the shoot day, we filmed her against the view of the sunset and Brighton pier, whilst I additionally photographed her for our album cover and website. The warm colours of the shot and the beach portrayed her sexuality and her beauty. We were able to capture effective close-ups of her eyes and lips as she was singing meaning that we can heighten the intimacy of her song so that male audiences will be interested. We decided to have few shots of her against the sun and we used two cameras simultaneously. This enabled us to grab her performance element from different angles and portray her as a mature star. The audience would see her as a courageous and mature songwriter which links with the stars we were mostly influenced by (Lana Del Rey). The fact that we were shooting around the panorama of Brighton and had her walking around town looking at many different objects to purchase (which are symbolic of this city), we were able to convey the fact that she is an organic star because of her close contact with people and the way she is mixed up in a crowd. This would make audiences believe that she is just the same like everybody else.
 We enjoyed walking around and getting different shots in Brighton. We could sense the spirit of this city and we thought that it was perfect for Rosie to be in Brighton and not in London. However, because we decided to cut out the narrative strands, we had to compromise and get many different shots of the market and Rosie walking around. This will enable us to grab audiences attention and keep them interested for the whole length of the video. Another element which we really enjoyed was the fact that we had Rosie amongst other people that made things enjoyable and interesting. Because we had a real artist and we had to film on a real outdoor location, we learnt a lot of things about how we must plan our shots beforehand in more depth and expect the unexpected. Overall, I believe that our music shoot day had been successful and we have managed to grab many shots that would keep our audience interested and our artist satisfied. Now for the editing...

The Shooting Schedule

09.00-10.00- We left at nine and it took as an hour to get into Brighton.

10.15-10.45- We met our artist and even though we know where we wanted to shoot our music video it took some time to get to the location and set up.

10.45-11.00- We have finished filming at one of our locations and decided to move on.

11.15-12.30- We spent quite a lot more time than we planned on making a street shot because of the immense amount of cars and people.

12.45-13.15- We were walking to get our lunch and then we have realised that we could do shots of her walking hence spent more time on walking to the burger bar.

13.30-14.30- We spent quite a lot of time waiting for our member of the crew to get to the location where we were at, because he had to get the batteries. Therefore, lunch took us longer than expected.

14.45- 15.00 Back to filming. The shot in the park that we have planned did not work out because there were too many people. However, we still managed to lose some time on attempting to set up the set.

15.30-16.30- We spent an hour walking around Brighton and filming Rosie May near different symbolic locations (Brighton Wheel). This would provide us with a large amount of shots that we could use for our editing.

17.00-18.00- We got to the Brighton beach and filmed the great finale on the pier. We spent an hour on getting different perspectives and creating the perfect image.

Change of Settings

Unfortunately we had to drop the idea about narratives. We will have no narratives at all and the thing we will concentrate on mostly will be our artist and one main narrative of her walking around Brighton. If the necessity stands, we will use green screen for narratives but currently we are just thinking on concentrating on our main artist. This would mean that in our video we would have many shots of our main artist walking around in urban parts of Brighton. This is quite similar to the video bellow. Except we would concentrate on different elements such as our artist and her lip sync, instead of just getting the whole city in our shot.

 These changes had to take place because we realised that e could not use certain locations and moreover, our narratives did not have a proper ending in the end that would nicely fit our ideas. Therefore, what we are going for at the moment is that we are going to show how Rosie travels around Brighton from one destination to another one. Probably her journey from the sea up to the view point at the park. This would represent her birth and journey of life to here she is now. This will attract audiences because it will tell them about her and how she has developed through her life.

    We would also like to portray her as a new artist and she is exploring the city whilst singing her song. This would attract male audiences because she is young and attractive. Moreover, people who live in Brighton would feel obliged to purchase her CDs because we would have so many famous Brighton places in it.

The chosen locations are shown below...

Queens park

Greek church

Sea front, Kemp Town

Prior Shoot Day Problems

Unfortunately two members of our cast can not attend the shoot on Friday which means a change in plans. We will continue to travel to Brighton at 8.45am on Friday, however, we will do this without the extra members of cast for the other narrative strands due to their inability to leave school on the day. We will instead aim to shoot the separate narrative strands of the rooftops in the studio at school in front of a green screen of the Brighton view which will be filmed on the shoot day. This will therefore mean our group can solely focus on Rosie May's performance elements and star image during the shoot, which is the most important aspect of the video due to this being her first appearance in the public eye and music industry.

Conversations with Rosie May

Music Video Influences

Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy is similar to the music video in which we want to create. The way in which Massive Attack's video is filmed through the streets of an urban location is exactly what we are planning to do for part of our video in Brighton, laying down tracks and filming around the Lanes in Brighton. From the very first meeting with Rosie May she communicated to us the fact that she personally wanted to prioritise the inclusion of an urban location with lip-syncing shots of her walking through the streets. For me, I believe the urban setting adds an edge to the video. Rather than the video just being a stereotypical interpretation of another pop song, our music video will look back at the past with our incorporation of a 60s theme as well as adding an urban streak, with the help of the location and accessories of the outfits such as chains and hoop earrings. The way in which Massive Attack have chosen an urban location to solely dedicate their music video to has the effect of viewing the song as urban and real.



In The Verve's Bitter Sweet Symphony they use the same urban setting and use of tracking shots along the streets in order to add an urban vibe to the song. However, in contrast to Massive Attack's video, The Verve choose to use a blue filter for filming which therefore adds a depressing feel to the music video, reflecting on the band's genre of music to a heightened extent. In Rosie May's case, her music video will be a mixture between the two videos due to the title of her song being 'Morning Blues' therefore incorporating a sense of slight gloominess yet it does not feel as depressing as The Verve's and therefore also relates to Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy.

Music Video Brighton Setting

Our group are shooting our music video in Brighton. The setting is Hotel Du Vin and we are planning on using the terraces of the hotel to film the video. This will provide us with views of the sea as well as the city of Brighton delivering the urban sense to the video that Rosie primarily wanted from a video shoot in London. The hotel is especially expensive therefore having a classy mise-en-scene. The hotel also has old aspects to the architecture and interior design which adds a vintage vibe to the setting which ties in with Rosie May's star image. As she is an organic star she wants to be depicted in a retro style which we are communicating in our music video through the 60s themed costumes. 

Notifying Cast Members of Shoot Day

Our Album Cover Design

When our group sat down to think about our album cover we instantly thought we should centralise the image of Rosie May on the front as well as the back due to the album cover being her first, therefore we need to prioritise her star image in order to introduce her as a star to the public, who will view this album cover. The album cover will take inspiration from the 'Morning Blues' shoot as it is based on the roof top of a building with a view of the urban city.

Our group made the link to another album cover of Lana Del Rey's due to her central image on the front of her first album cover also. This clearly and boldly introduces her appearance and style to her target audience and the rest of the public viewing her album cover and listening to the album, with the album artwork to accompany her music. 

Our Genre

In terms of genre our artist is quite similar to numerous female artists.

Although Katy B is a synthetic artist, she is using a similar idea of melancholy in order to convey sense of individuality and blues. Moreover, we cannot deny that Rosie did use a lot of synthetic effects in order to produce her song; therefore we cannot argue that Rosie is entirely organic. Her song is similar to Katy B's because she is also using synthetic drum pattern. The usage of orchestra highlights her organic influence and she is therefore approaches another audience who prefer more organic music. Their appearance is quite the same as well. Katy B goes for a smart/casual look same as Rosie May who wants to look casual smart (BUT with 50s influence). This will create a sexy look for her and she will be able to attract male audiences because of her sexuality.

Rosie May is quite similar to Lana Del Rey because the mixture of organic orchestra mixed with electronic house/ dub-step elements. Therefore Rosie May can appeal to a younger audience who appreciate electronic music. This is a good example of a mixture of organic and synthetic music. Therefore Lana Del Rey is a good example of such an artist. Moreover, Lana Del Rey has got a feminine nostalgic look, which is what Rosie May wants to go for as well. She is a good example of a residual media because she is going for an old 80s sort of look and represents American dream. Therefore the genre of her music explains why she is nostalgic, a mixture between orchestra-influenced music with electronic elements represents the new music genre, which was influenced by older style music.

  

Eliza Doolittle has got a similar approach to her audiences. She is a young pretty girl whose music is easy and outgoing. Although we know that Rosie contextually provides more depth to her music, we must not forget that her target audience is completely pragmatic and do not know what poetry and love is. Therefore, we will be able to create a similar atmosphere around Rosie May. However, her music gives us insight into her inside world, this means that people who actually care about quality music will be able to enjoy her talent as well.

Copyright Permission for 'Morning Blues'

As Rosie May's song 'Morning Blues' has not yet been released for the public to purchase we have had to email Rosie directly in order to question whether she has a publishing deal, if so, whether we need to contact her publisher and obtain permission from them, or alternatively whether we can simply ask Rosie and get her permission to use her song, 'Morning Blues'. It is highly significant that we ask for the information now, before we start shooting the video, as if we don't there is always a danger that we can not legally use the song in our media studies project and therefore will not be able to submit our coursework for our A Level. Therefore, this is a vital step in the process of the music video production.

Target Audience

Judging from Rosie May's song Morning Blues, we can judge that she would appeal to a younger audience. This is because of her young age. At this stage of her career she would be more occupied with conveying her party-individuality rather than accessing serious matters of life. In her song she deals with the problem of making mistakes, which you regret in the morning. It is therefore, a more juvenile thing to do. Unlike other much older artist who sing about different life matters, Rosie things about learning and getting life experience. Therefore she would appeal to girls from 13-24. This means that they would be able to relate to Rosie because of the same problems that Rosie had faced herself. In all truth, the meaning of Morning Blues is far from being unique and therefore it falls perfectly for the category, which I had described above.

Apart from young girls, Rosie would also appeal to male audience. This is because she is young and attractive and as any other artist in this world, must convey her sexuality. Males aged 13-24 would also like to listen to Rosie May because she is young has got a nice voice and she is pretty. All Pop Stars are designed to attract the opposite sex. In this way they are able to make a lot of money because they will feel closer to them therefore feel like there is a link between them. It is necessary to convey her sexuality in a positive way so that we are sure to attract the opposite sex. 

The 13-24 year old target audience of Rosie May's music
will inevitably include school students.

Because her song is quite upbeat and fast, we could argue that her music would appeal to people who like Katy B music. This is because it has a break feel to it and it is very good to dance to. Therefore, people who like dancing music would appreciate Morning Blues a lot and would be attracted to get the single. Again, this music could be played in a dance club and many would enjoy it because of it funky break-beat style drums. I believe that it would be good for party-animals too. University students especially would be attracted to this sort of music because of the idea of listening to happy uplifting music at a party. Songs like Morning Blues help people sustain their excitement throughout the night so it could perfectly go onto a CD compilation of good dance music. 

Katy B

  Because this song is quite liberating in a way it sounds and especially in terms of it's optimistic lyrics, we could apply this to people who are liberal. They would enjoy it because Rosie is portrayed as a free young girl who believes in her mistakes and believes in the fact that she can do better next time. This is a very liberal perspective and I believe that she would appeal to youngsters who follow liberal style of lives.

A prospective target audience of partying youths.

   Moreover, because this song sounds happy, children might like it as well and their parents would play it for them. This therefore can suggest that parents themselves will like it and will have to buy the CD for their children. Because Rosie May is relatively young herself, it will be perfect for young children because they will see her as an older role model for behaviour and look (and I am glad we are making her look classy, at least next generation will have a good taste in fashion). This will also encourage parents to buy her CD, implying that there is a high chance that they themselves will get caught up in her music and are likely to listen to her themselves.

Parents may have an influence over what music
 their child listens to.