Textual Analysis - Single Cover (The Kinks)

Typography:

The font incorporated within the album cover which is a reoccurring feature of what The Kinks did throughout the peek of their career. Its important to take into consideration the context of when they produced their album covers, (1960 - onwards). Today a bands logo is standardised in order for it to be recognisable and iconic, however I find it significant that The Kinks regularly changed their logo, almost as if it fitted with their image at the time the album/single was released. This is a feature that I would not suggest incorporating as the group and I are only producing one digi pack.

 

Theme:

The black and red theme stands out but almost indicates mystery suggesting conventions of rock. Furthermore a band your parents wouldn't want you listening to or purchasing their products.

 

Design:

The image of all the band members standing in the exact same position and all wearing a similar suit indicates the conventions of pop. I think its important for the group and I to ensure that the band do portray features of both rock and pop by trying to include similar features.

 

Sponsors:

This single/album does not include any sponsors but again the context of this album wouldn't have due to the lack of technology. In the 1960's buying vinyl would have been the only source of consuming products. Due to the advantages the internet has created today its essential that the group and I include sponsors such as iTunes.

 

Record Label:

This image of the single/album cover is limited as the back cover may feature the record label which is where the group and I would most likely place it.

 

Sizing hierarchy:

No elements of the sizing hierarchy occur as 'Kinks' is the only written writing which stands out due to it featuring alone. The 'Kinks' is put in huge writing standing out in order to get the name recognisable to audiences in order to purchase the product. Also the context is an issue as in the 1960's it was not essential to incorporate the single/album name on the cover (no written rules like there s today).

Textual Analysis - Single Cover (Preliminary piece)

In the last few weeks of AS media in the current group I'm in we made a practise music video in which we created a practise digi pack.

 

 

Analysis:

Typography:

 

As a group we considered our typography carefully by finding a font which was almost identically which matched the 'One Direction' font without copying it directly in order to avoid copyright infringement. The font used portrays conventions of a boy band which is relevant as The Kinks were a pop band but also rock which needs to be taken into consideration when typography is chosen. As The Kinks are a band from the 1960's era it might be worth finding typography which creates a convention from that era and not 2014.

 

Theme:

A black, white and red theme was used throughout the products we created in the practise piece (digi pack and magazine advertisement). As a group we have decided to stick to the black and white theme in order to create this 1960's era feel. We will add an additionally colour which hasn't been decided upon yet, possibly red again or maybe a medium blue. This theme will continue throughout the digi pack and website home page.

 

Design:

In the practise digi pack we created a design where the front cover of the single was a photo facing forward and the back single cover the exact photo but backwards. However, due to limited time to complete the task I, the idea did not get completed to the best of our abilities. For example, we had no other choice to take a photo on school premises which did not link to the genre of the song, (pop). We have decided to stick to this design for the single front and back cover for the A2 digi pack. As a group we really want to complete this design exactly how we want in relation to the codes and conventions of The kinks (pop/rock).  

 

Sponsors:

The iTunes logo features on virtually all albums/singles that get released, which acts as a way of advertising for the company (alternative way to purchase the product). We found that it was essential to incorporate the logo in our single back cover. This may again get incorporated but it may be important to consider alternative stores which may sponsor company's to feature on albums/singles, e.g. Spotify.

 

Record Label:

To avoid copyright infringement, we found an almost identical font to the record company's in order to include the record company's logo on the back cover, which is important as the record company own the band.  It is essential that the record label features on the single cover but due to The Kinks no longer being signed to a label and majority of their songs owned by Universal Music Group, it is an  important consideration  to take in to account if the single features it. An alternative would be whether the group and I decide to create our own music label.

 

Sizing hierarchy:

Sizing hierarchy is an important feature of the single as it portrays importance. We decided to make the band name/logo the biggest font size as this is what draws the attention of the audience in. The record label and single name would then follow as this is who the band are signed by, (the band promoting the label) and the name of the single which audiences will also be drawn too. The sizing hierarchy we used in the practise piece will most likely stay the same in the A2 single front/back cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Editing Issues

After we had completed our first filming attempt of our music video on the 2/01/14, we then began the editing process as soon as we went back to school from Christmas break. We initially faced editing problems when we uploaded our footage onto the editing software 'Adobe Premier Pro', as the shots began to freeze and crash the software. Although the cameras we used (9 & 10), were supposed to be compatible with 'Adobe Premier Pro' without having to transfer the footage onto 'Video Cam Suite' initially;  we attempted using 'Video Cam Suite' regardless, to see whether this corrected the problem. After more failed attempts after our second day filming and changing computers multiple times, the problem persistently continued to occur. We then concluded that certain files were corrupted as they were in a format not compatible with 'Adobe Premier Pro'. The problems we faced are best to be described as having similar characteristics to a computer virus. This is because after the footage was transferred onto the video timeline, it then would begin to cause problems such as crash, show a blank screen, certain shots would state they're corrupt, and would eventually cause the software to crash entirely. We tried rendering the footage after each attempt at editing but the rendering process would only last a little while before cancelling or crashing the software.

Due to the circumstances we have been forced to begin our editing using the free editing software 'Windows Movie Maker', firstly through converting the files to be compatible with 'QuickTime Player' and then uploading them onto 'Windows Movie Maker' on my home computer. So far this has been working perfectly fine, no problems like what we experienced with 'Adobe Premier Pro' have occurred. We hope to complete the first stage of editing on this software as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this editing software only has the very basic functions to cut and trim shots to fit in synchronisation with the song. It does not contain many professional transitions and fade effects which we initially hoped to include within our music video to make it appear as professional as possible. In order for us to include these effects, we will need to try using 'Adobe Premier Pro' again once we have transferred the finished product on 'Windows Movie Maker' into a video format. We will then transfer the footage onto 'Adobe Premier Pro' with the hope that Windows will have corrected the video format to one that is suitable for Adobe editing system. This way the shots shouldn't appear corrupt and crash the system.

Unfortunately the issues that myself and the group have faced have set us back two weeks; trying on multiple attempts to fix the problems with 'Adobe Premier Pro'. This is valuable time wasted which we could have spent perfecting the editing for our music video and beginning our ancillary products.

Callum and Georgia.

Filming!

As a group we filmed on the 2nd of January 2014 in the hope that we would get all the filming done. However, when we returned to school and looked over the footage we had captured we decided that the jump cuts were not a higher enough standard to what we wanted. Reasons for this would be that we did not come as fully prepared as we should have done for the day of filming.

Therefore on the 13th of January we decided to film again and this time filming was successful! We came fully prepared and organised and got all  the shots films that were a necessity.

We have planned to film on Wednesday 23rd of January due to an external actor needing to be used. Filming should be straight forward and done in under an hour, that is if the weather is suitable for filming. Further filming will be done on Friday 24th January of jump cuts of the girl in the music video and the beginning of the music video, due to the footage being filmed is at a different location. A time lapse is yet to be filmed but due to it being at the end of the music video for the moment it is not an urgent component of the music video.

 Filming locations

We found that filming in certain areas of Chesterfield were quite difficult and time consuming due to it being a busy town. However, majority of our filming was done near the Town Hall which was a much quieter part of the town which allowed us to work efficiently.

Filing additional jump cuts of the girl will not be a problem because they will be filmed at an old traditional phone box in a small village. Also the beginning of the music video which is yet to be filmed will be filmed in a house which creates no issues. Finally the time-lapse will be the easiest to film because its a case of letting a Go Pro take thousands of pictures and going back to it after 12 a day.

Georgia and Callum.