Photo shoot

-UNFINISHED-
3) Explain what photos you will use for your album and digipaks- why?
4) Before and after to show photoshop skills (advert and digipak)

We are conducting a photo shoot for the purposes of advertising our artist to the audience. The purpose of doing so is to create a relationship between the artist image and the audience. This is also intended to show the artists emotions through frozen image. Below are the before and after images, to show how I used photoshop to help my progression within the images.

1)

This image is of the artist looking solemnly towards the floor. She is closed in and surrounded by doors and bars. This is symbolism in showing the artists entrapment- she is unsure which route to take (or "what doors to open") in her life to make the correct decisions, a heavy theme within the music video. The bars along the right show she is trapped, as they replicate prison cells. The edges of the image is blurred to show disorientation within her life. The image is in black and white, to emphasise the darkness within her life. This goes against the idea of colours in a spectrum and the northern lights, as well as challenging the typical codes and conventions of the electro-house genre. I think this image is effective in showing the artists indecisiveness within life, and her fragile state. Her fragile stance is shown through her slouching on a black chair. The black is symbolic of empty space and the idea of 'nothingness'- which is how the artist is portrayed to feel within the video. Her trousers merge into the chair, showing to the viewers that she is camouflaged and 'hidden' from showing her true feelings.

2)

The second image is similar to that of the one previously discussed. The main differences being the fact that the artist is hiding her face, either due to shame of emotions or confusion of her life choices. There is a slight 'fisheye' effect within the camera to make the image look slightly more disorientated and effective, this highlights the artist within the image. The doors and 'dead ends' within the image show to the audience she has different life decisions to make, however her body language shows she has isolated herself and is delaying making these decisions. The door handle in this image (and that of the one above) is intended to suggest to the audience that she cannot 'handle' making these life choices.

3)

This image is a high angled shot of the artist slouching on crooked staires. Her black clothing opposes the neutral cream of the staires, thus becoming the object of the viewers attention. Her clothing also is intended to give a 'hard-edged' image, to show she is unwilling to portray her emotions due to trust issues. Her leather jacket emphasises this with the hard exterior blocking her from 'opening up' to the audience. However, we have left the jacket open with a floral patterned shirt hanging out to suggest she has begun sharing her feelings, and she is 'on the way' to trusting the audience enough to share these stories. Again, the idea of being claustraphobic is apparent in her body laguage due to the limited space she is crowded into. In the top right corner we see the bars that are apparent in the previous images, this suggests she is trapped in an endless cycle. The idea of stairs is that she can either go two ways in her life, which coincides with the theme of the music video. The image is given an antique touch with the flash on, to ecceuntuate her figure from the background. Using the flash on the camera also helped to contrast the creams and the blacks, this implies the mental conflict she is experiencing within the video.

Below is the edited image, this is the most drastic piece of editing within the photoshoot. I used a neon outliner to highlight the

4)

This image designed to show the artist is 'stuck behind bars'. This point has been made for the previous images, however this is the more prominant example. The image has been angled diagonally to portray an uneven and discombobulated lifestyle. The artist has been fitted to be shown through one of the gaps between the bars, this is to show she is small and vulnerable in society due to her emotions.

5)

This is my personal preferred image. There is a clear division that splits the screen, on the left, the artist is slumped on the stairs looking up towards the light. On the right, there is an open door in the bottom corner that has no light coming from within. This is significant in the idea the artist is struggling between 'heaven and hell'- if she goes up towards the light, she will be met with a better lifestyle, whereas if she goes back, she returns to the darkness and confusion. This is for the audiences understanding of the mental turmoil the protagonist suffers within the music video. Her black clothing suggests she has just come out from the darkness, her head is turned towards the light to show her eagerness to enter the lighter stages of her life, however her limp body language suggests to the audience that she is still being dragged behind into the darkness.

For the digipak images I feel that image numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 are the most suitable. They look professional and the colour scheme works well within the theme of the music. 5 is my particular favourite as it clearly conveys the artists struggle between her two alternating lifestyles. I feel it looks the most professional.