After doing create the the idea of the music video, we tried to create the similarities into the blog just to keep the blog a bit catchy and not to keep it boring.
For some while, we had a feedback for our blog and apparently, it wasn't suitable as it didn't match the theme that we was going for, so we what done was to create a new image using Photoshop to create an image for the background and fixing up with the text style and font. Looking at the blog now, it really does stand out more then before.
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
What is a Digipak?
What is a digipak?
A digipak is a modern approach to CD packaging, it allows for inclusion of more information about the aritst or band and help add value to the artist or band. A digipak is to help persuade the audienece to buy the album, this means it will try to meet what their codes and conventions, usually based around different genres, so the audience can indentify the artist and what it is they're buying.
What the outside of a digipak should look like
Front cover
Most importantly the front cover should feature the artist's name, this should be in clear font and a reasonable size so the audience doesn't have to be too close to see it. The font should also be easy to read and should be the same font type repeated throughout the digipak when using the artist's name.
Another thing to include would be an image of the artist, this should not be a long shot as it doesn't help the audience identify who it is and is just considerably bad to do. The best type of shot would most likely be either a mid shot or a close up of the artist so it is easy to see who the artist is and can be indentified from a reasonable distance. The clothing and make-up that the artist wear should be similar to the colour palate of the digipak.
Something to consider would also be adding a promotional sticker, this can promote what is special about the album, whether it's featuring the main hits of the artist or if the album is a special deluxe edition.
Back cover
The most common feature of the back cover of a digipak is the track list, this tells the audience what is on the album and should be done in clear font that is a reasonable size, the font should also follow the same fonts used on the front cover. The back will also include record label logos, copyright information, the artist's website, the distributor, a barcode and any further additional production information for the artist.
Inside the digipak
There isn't much of a stereotypical expectation for inside a digipak, you must keep to the same colour palate and font types as the outside covers, but from that there's no expectations, they can contain addition graphics of the artist or some writing from the artist such as acknowledgments to anyone that helped with producing songs on the album. Some digipaks also like to include another track list, this time include more specific detail, for example the length of the song and mentioning the band and who played which instrument.
Overall guidelines for a digipak
Try to use 3-4 colours max
No more than two different types of font
Include elements of graphic design and not just images taken from the video
Creates a visual link with other forms of advertisement the company has used (visual synergy).
Advertisement
A few things the advertisement must include are as follows; a release date, so the audience know when the album is coming out, in addition to this you can include some retailers that will be selling the album. Also you can include some tour dates, your artist's website, quotes from magazine's and newspapers and the record labels involved within your artist. Some important features are to make sure to stick to your colour palate used in your digipak as well as this your font types, this helps create the visual synergy between forms of advertisements used for the artist and allows the audience to identify your artist a lot easier. Another thing is too repeat graphics used in the digipak or just other images of the artist.
A digipak is a modern approach to CD packaging, it allows for inclusion of more information about the aritst or band and help add value to the artist or band. A digipak is to help persuade the audienece to buy the album, this means it will try to meet what their codes and conventions, usually based around different genres, so the audience can indentify the artist and what it is they're buying.
What the outside of a digipak should look like
Front cover
Most importantly the front cover should feature the artist's name, this should be in clear font and a reasonable size so the audience doesn't have to be too close to see it. The font should also be easy to read and should be the same font type repeated throughout the digipak when using the artist's name.
Another thing to include would be an image of the artist, this should not be a long shot as it doesn't help the audience identify who it is and is just considerably bad to do. The best type of shot would most likely be either a mid shot or a close up of the artist so it is easy to see who the artist is and can be indentified from a reasonable distance. The clothing and make-up that the artist wear should be similar to the colour palate of the digipak.
Something to consider would also be adding a promotional sticker, this can promote what is special about the album, whether it's featuring the main hits of the artist or if the album is a special deluxe edition.
Back cover
The most common feature of the back cover of a digipak is the track list, this tells the audience what is on the album and should be done in clear font that is a reasonable size, the font should also follow the same fonts used on the front cover. The back will also include record label logos, copyright information, the artist's website, the distributor, a barcode and any further additional production information for the artist.
Inside the digipak
There isn't much of a stereotypical expectation for inside a digipak, you must keep to the same colour palate and font types as the outside covers, but from that there's no expectations, they can contain addition graphics of the artist or some writing from the artist such as acknowledgments to anyone that helped with producing songs on the album. Some digipaks also like to include another track list, this time include more specific detail, for example the length of the song and mentioning the band and who played which instrument.
Overall guidelines for a digipak
Try to use 3-4 colours max
No more than two different types of font
Include elements of graphic design and not just images taken from the video
Creates a visual link with other forms of advertisement the company has used (visual synergy).
Advertisement
A few things the advertisement must include are as follows; a release date, so the audience know when the album is coming out, in addition to this you can include some retailers that will be selling the album. Also you can include some tour dates, your artist's website, quotes from magazine's and newspapers and the record labels involved within your artist. Some important features are to make sure to stick to your colour palate used in your digipak as well as this your font types, this helps create the visual synergy between forms of advertisements used for the artist and allows the audience to identify your artist a lot easier. Another thing is too repeat graphics used in the digipak or just other images of the artist.
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
What is a DigiPack?
A DigiPak is Hardware copy of a Album so audience can physically buy the Album and listen to the track list that he Album provided.
Every DigiPak that has been created was created in the codes & conventions, so that it is presentable to the audience and if one DigiPak doesn't follow the codes & convention then it would probably wouldn't draw much attentions to the audience.
Majority of DigiPak contains the Artist, if it was a brand New Artist then the Artist would have to stand out more than the DigiPak itself to promote her/himself.
A DigiPak that has 10 Panel, 5 Front, 5 Back.
This would normally be a normal DigiPak in media terms, but I personally call it a CD Album.
Codes & Conventions
Every DigiPak that has been created was created in the codes & conventions, so that it is presentable to the audience and if one DigiPak doesn't follow the codes & convention then it would probably wouldn't draw much attentions to the audience.
Majority of DigiPak contains the Artist, if it was a brand New Artist then the Artist would have to stand out more than the DigiPak itself to promote her/himself.
A Guide of how the outside of the DigiPak should look like.
Friday, 5 December 2014
Last bit of feedback
We recieved feedback on our last draft of the music video of which included the fact that it would be better if we got rid of the end due to poor lighting in on of our shots. By doing so, I hope we have obtained a higher mark. Something I will do differently if I was to do this again includes making the characterisation clearer in some parts, especially the end where Alice meets the queen of hearts (which we thought was wise to get rid of).
But thank you for following out journey, and fingers crossed all shall go well in the final screening!
But thank you for following out journey, and fingers crossed all shall go well in the final screening!
Thursday, 4 December 2014
18th December;cinema trip
We look forward to see every groups music video.The ones seen so far are realy good and it was nice seeing the effort that everyone has put as it is noticed and we as a group hope to give off the same impression.
Thoughts on our journey of the music production.
As our deadline is tomorrow Friday 5th we are coming to the very end of our music production.Overall, i am pleased with what me and my group have produced.This is because we tried our hardest to put our ideas into reality.We all came up with ideas that we manged to collide together which worked realy well.We also focused on mise en scene thoughtfully making sure we have the right prop and costumes to present our characters well.We managed to create a music video that is based on a movie of the story of Alice in wonderland.It is pleasing to say that we have completed the editing of our music video which has been both an enjoyable and educational experience as we learned new skills and ideas along the way.We look forward to everyone watching it and also watching everybody elses music video.
What we could have done better.
what we could have improved on
The one thing that i believe and think my group will agree on too is time management.This accounts for both blogging and whilst filming.Filming wasnt so bad as we did manage to get alot of filming done on the days we planned we even met up more than the days planned in order to make sure we get everything we need to do done in the forest in Alexnder palace to save us from travelling back after the half term to film.However, when it comes down to our blogging we didnt use our time aswell as we should have but i have reflected on this and managed to catch up and add extra blog posts.
Another thing we could ahve done which mostly affected us was planning.We should have planned more thoroughly than we did as i have already mentioned in a orevious blog post.This prevented us from carrying out our original idea of Alice directly watching the fireworks in the same shot however we had to imprevise using 2 seperate shots to illustrate this.Us not being able to access entry into the park for the fireworks display and the funfair also meant that we could not film Alice,the rabbit and the mad hatter on the tea cups this was dissapointing as we thought by filming the the characters on the teacups will illustrate the disney theme that we have presented very well.
The one thing that i believe and think my group will agree on too is time management.This accounts for both blogging and whilst filming.Filming wasnt so bad as we did manage to get alot of filming done on the days we planned we even met up more than the days planned in order to make sure we get everything we need to do done in the forest in Alexnder palace to save us from travelling back after the half term to film.However, when it comes down to our blogging we didnt use our time aswell as we should have but i have reflected on this and managed to catch up and add extra blog posts.
Another thing we could ahve done which mostly affected us was planning.We should have planned more thoroughly than we did as i have already mentioned in a orevious blog post.This prevented us from carrying out our original idea of Alice directly watching the fireworks in the same shot however we had to imprevise using 2 seperate shots to illustrate this.Us not being able to access entry into the park for the fireworks display and the funfair also meant that we could not film Alice,the rabbit and the mad hatter on the tea cups this was dissapointing as we thought by filming the the characters on the teacups will illustrate the disney theme that we have presented very well.
changing our blog layout.
Towards the end of our music production we've had to change our blog of the cheshire cat as our blog cover.The reason for this is because it wasnt promoting our new artist which is one of our aims.The cheshire cat being on our front cover was very distracting for viewers looking at our blog.It also focuses mainly on the single released by our artist rather than our artist being fresh faced in the music industry.Now we have made changes to the blog layout after recieving feedback which is now the artist with her name written above the image of her.We have used the colours burgundy and blue as our font so it is clear for viewers to read our blog.
Changing our blog layout
Towards the end of our production we changed our blog to fit our artist, we had first change the background showing off the cheshire cat, the colours of the text within the blog was also changed to red, blue, black.
However after receiving feedback the background image was not good as it really put off the audience as it toyed with the viewers eyes, being an illusion, and would initially distract others from actually looking at what the blog is actually about. We wanted to change the background to something that would fit the artist more than just something that would support the story of one of the songs, therefore we changed it to a digipack that one of us had done of our artist. The digipack featured our colour palate of black, white, red and blue, which also matched the text colour of the blog more appropriately. I feel the changes made are more suitable towards our blog as they show off our artist more than just showing off the song we've done. Adjustments that we've also made to the blog is that we had shortened the width of our blog as it allows to the text to not completely dominate the page and shows off our background image of the artist more.
However after receiving feedback the background image was not good as it really put off the audience as it toyed with the viewers eyes, being an illusion, and would initially distract others from actually looking at what the blog is actually about. We wanted to change the background to something that would fit the artist more than just something that would support the story of one of the songs, therefore we changed it to a digipack that one of us had done of our artist. The digipack featured our colour palate of black, white, red and blue, which also matched the text colour of the blog more appropriately. I feel the changes made are more suitable towards our blog as they show off our artist more than just showing off the song we've done. Adjustments that we've also made to the blog is that we had shortened the width of our blog as it allows to the text to not completely dominate the page and shows off our background image of the artist more.
04/12/14
In todays lesson we are finishing off the editing of our music video.On Tuesday 2nd we were told that we need to get rid of the whole ending.This is because the footage was too dark so Louisa advised that we should get rid of it.Louisa also advised that we should change the order of how the characters are introduced such as making the mad hatter the first character that we see which then leads on to the rabbit being introduced as the second character that Alice meets.We wasn't able to successfully make this change as we didnt have accurate transitions.This picture below i took today of us making the final edits to our music video.
Something about our Music Video that I'm proud of.
Our Music is different from the rest of the A2 Media music video. We have a theme going on along with a story which makes our one very unique compared to the others owing to the difference in the plot as well as the difference in the story lines. Our music video is of a genre where we had to keep it interesting and up beat the whole way through, hence why we chose such a vibrant story line. I am also personally proud of myself and my group as we all had a part to play within the making and editing of the music video
Our music video as a whole.
I am really pleased with our music video especially because of all the hard work we put into it its a relieve that our music video turned out as planned.Despite having one or two probelems along the way we have managed to adjust what needed be along the way.For example lack of planning which prevented us from filming the ending of our music video in Alender palace.I am also pleased that we have come up with a completely different plot to other music videos and that the outcome is what we intended for it to look like.It was enjoyable filming in the forest and we are happy that we chose to do the story of Alice in wonderland as we were able to experiment with different ideas and different locations of the forest finding the most suitable and relevant areas for our wonderland theme.We all added different ideas to the music video often building on different ideas for the best outcome.We all listened and spoke on ideas of one another which was important for our music video and us as a group which prevented quarelling and any misunderstandings.We are really pleased with our music video and are glad that the editing went well as we had many visual ideas for the editing of our music video and we are pleased that the ideas worked when incorperating them into the editing production.We now hope that our finished music video will be as enjoyable for the audience to see as much as it for us and was to film.
Keeping up with the blogging.
As already mentioned in my one of my previous blog posts that my target was to contiously blog about what we have been doing with our music video whilsts editing ect.I also made a target to use more forms of ict when presenting my blog posts.I can say that i have reached my targets as i have been blogging more than previously and i have also managed to achieve my second target as i have used a range of ict when presenting ideas and feedback.Its easily noticed that blogging thi syear wasnt my strongest compared to media in AS where i was contistently blogging every day.Its helpful that i recognised this for my self as it has motivated me to post more blogs in order to present to everybody what me and my group have been up to on our journey.
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Things I'd keep the Same
I wouldn't change my group for the world. We got on so well and most of the ideas throughout the whole project were thought about together. We complimented eachother throughout and all had a say in what was done/shot. All of us gave filming a go and each and every one of us is in the music video. We wanted the audience to know who we all were as this makes them sympathise more owing to them understanding who all the characters are, especially because they're following Alice's story of being lost.
I would also keep the costumes the same. I believe our costumes looked great and worked very well, even though I would change the Queen of Hearts' crown with the heart on it so that it is clearer.
Another aspect I would keep the same, though, is the amount of effort we put into the music video. The dedication was immense! We even filmed in someone's front garden in order to ensure that the equipment didn't get wet when it began to rain. This was because their garden had many trees which sheltered us very well. This came out fantastically in the music video as Alice looked sheltered which went with the plot quite well.
I would also keep the costumes the same. I believe our costumes looked great and worked very well, even though I would change the Queen of Hearts' crown with the heart on it so that it is clearer.
Another aspect I would keep the same, though, is the amount of effort we put into the music video. The dedication was immense! We even filmed in someone's front garden in order to ensure that the equipment didn't get wet when it began to rain. This was because their garden had many trees which sheltered us very well. This came out fantastically in the music video as Alice looked sheltered which went with the plot quite well.
Things I Would Change
On this project, I would only change my time management. This is because I believe if I had handled my blogs a bit better and blogged after each lesson, I wouldn't have to waste as much time going through the check list to check if I have blogged about everything. I would also change filming at night as this changed the quality of our music video a great deal. In addition to this, I would also change the location as London in November is and will always be very cold and very rainy.
Changing The Blog
Towards the end of our progress, part of our feedback was to change the background of the blog. We originally had a picture of the cheshire cat as the background that created an optical illusion, but the feedback we were given was correct - that the cheshire cat supported the music video plot solely as opposed to the artists. We decided to change it (as you can see) to the digipak of 'Liza' which supports her greatly as opposed to just the music video.
Explanation about Daft Punk's Digipak and the Relevance to Ours
Daft Punk stick to a consistent colour palette in one of their albums - Black, white, gold and silver.
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This is also kept the same throughout their Myspace.
Ideas For My DigiPak
In the posts beforehand my completed digipak is created. I chose the design that I did owing to the colour palette from the start being red, blue, black and white. I think sticking to the colour palette and keeping fonts/colours consistant throughout the blog and the covers, this is important as when a fan or a buyer sees a small element or a specific type of font, they recognise where its from. This supported through other artists aswell such as 'Daft Punk'...
Why I Think Our Music Video Is Different To Everyone Else's
I believe our music video is different to everyone else's owing to the storyline that we used. We also put a lot of effort into the outfits meaning this looked better in the music video. Throughout, we still kept the right trail of thought and bought certain outfits for the females that still initiate 'The Male Gaze'. We believe as a group, that the male gaze is important, especially for an 'Upcoming artist' in order for them to get more attention, as unfortunately, the male gaze enforces more sales etc.
The Blogging
Initially, I found keeping up with blogging quite difficult as I didn't know what else to include within the posts as well as catching up on lessons and what we were supposed to blog about. The blogging checklists helped me a great deal as did workshops during lunch. My creative side took over towards the end as I began to blog about things that weren't on the blogging checklist such as things that I found hard, Alice's overall journey etc.
Elements that I enjoyed
Other elements that I enjoyed include the fact that we were able to blog everything we did, so that we can look back in the future and see not only the great progress and the achievements that we made but also to have a look back at what we improved on, which to me, is a huge accomplishment.
Elements that I enjoyed during filming
Something that I greatly enjoyed was being able to be in a Wonderland for 3-4 days while filming. It was fantastic being able to independently decide what we were going to do and when we were going to do it, mostly because we got to improvise and figure out there and then what would be ideal. This worked well as myself and my group got on very well and normally we would come up with the same/similar ideas, meaning a better outcome owing to different interpretations of the same great idea.
What I found Difficult
In general, I felt that myself and my group overcame many of the speed bumps we found along the way, and overall worked extremely well together. We all got on very well, and helped each other to soldier through each and every task we were given.
There were many things that I did enjoy greatly, owing to Media being the field I would like to go into after college. One of which being, the fact that we could to independently decide on the plot, and getting to film it on our own. This was also very hard, but I enjoyed it greatly as I believe our music video is different from the rest.
What I found Difficult
Moreover, the hardest challenge of them all was filming in the dark. The light that we were supposed to put on top of the camera had a screw at the bottom in order for it to attach to the camera so that what we were filming could be seen. This screw broke as we were using it therefore we didn't have a professional light! This was overcome by another member of our group following around the camera man with the light, and having to make sure we didn't get his shadow in the shot. Filming in the dark, in November also meant freezing cold temperatures at night. I found this part very, very difficult as I was only wearing Alice's infamous blue dress with knee high socks. This was hard as I was trying not to show how cold I was in the footage. There's only so much we could control this, though, as my nose was red the whole way through! Filming in the dark also meant that I developed a chest infection, which meant I had to keep coughing every few seconds. This made filming impossible and unfortunately we couldn't include base tracks of me singing at the end. This was saved as we used colour filters within the editing process in the end, which not only change to the beat but also allow for a feel that the viewer is in a wonderland.
What I found Difficult
Another challenge that we came across was the weather. With the changes of scenery from the first day being dark and rainy to the second day being warm and bright, this was difficult to edit as we had to begin with the first set of footage, which was darker than the second. We overcame this as we added filters and played around with the contrast and lighting during the editing stages (this is shown in earlier posts through camtasia and screen shots).
Nearing the end of the project - What I Found Difficult
I enjoyed this project so much owing to my love of media, but with hard work and effort comes huge responsibilities, difficulties, and many speed bumps along the way. Filming is great, especially due to our idea being so 'out there' we could do anything that came into our imagination and there was a great deal of room for creativity. This meant, though, that there was a great deal of room for mistakes aswell, and things going wrong.
For example, in my previous posts there is a video of me explaining that we couldn't get into our location, being Alexandra Palace. This proved to be a huge challenge owing to myself and my group driving around for three hours trying to find another location/a safe place to watch another lot of fireworks. The dedication of my group was amazing as we did everything and anything we could to get the shot of 'Alice' watching the fireworks at the end of our video, which is what our idea was based solely around. At one point, we even stood on the roof of my car in order to get a good shot of the fireworks that we found. Anything was possible for us that night.
For example, in my previous posts there is a video of me explaining that we couldn't get into our location, being Alexandra Palace. This proved to be a huge challenge owing to myself and my group driving around for three hours trying to find another location/a safe place to watch another lot of fireworks. The dedication of my group was amazing as we did everything and anything we could to get the shot of 'Alice' watching the fireworks at the end of our video, which is what our idea was based solely around. At one point, we even stood on the roof of my car in order to get a good shot of the fireworks that we found. Anything was possible for us that night.
Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Feedback from Louisa 2/12
In todays lesson Louisa had looked through our rough cut to give us feedback on improvements we need to make in this lesson.
Targets for today;
Targets for today;
- Lip syncing has fallen out on certain clips (probably due to editing other parts of the music video).
- On the drop the beat speeds up so cut to the sped up beat as well as the build up that we've already done.
- Add jump cuts to the beat when she's running up the stairs
- Try play around with different effects that we can use instead of the colour filters that we use at the end
For this lesson we plan to firstly fix the lip syncing again, it seems when creating the beginning it may of effected some of the clips that were lip synced further on and made them out of sync. After this we can add jump cuts on the sped up beat which appears at the end of the build up to make the jump cuts match the beat of the song a lot better. When we've finished this we can proceed till polishing the ending a lot more, to do this we need to add jump cuts when she is running up the stairs so it fits to the beat more than just adding colour filters, in addition to this we are gonna try other effects that we could potentially use instead of the colour filters.
Once we've finished all of these targets we also want to try and improve the ending as the book in the shot we used is not focused very well so to improve this we want to add in shots that we have of the book focused as we have multiple ones so we hope one would fit well with the shot we already have.
Once we've finished all of these targets we also want to try and improve the ending as the book in the shot we used is not focused very well so to improve this we want to add in shots that we have of the book focused as we have multiple ones so we hope one would fit well with the shot we already have.
Monday, 1 December 2014
Progress with MV Post-production
So far in post-production, it has been going very well as my group keeps coming up with idea of how we could edit to make it better due to our footage is a bit off track.
Deadline is in couple of days and Im proud to say that we didn't need to film any extra footage as we filmed everything that we planned, which meant more time is added to post-production.
We did get allot of feedback referring back to the editing and i've been recording them on my phone and have posted them on the blog to look back and see what other small tweaks that i can change.
From 0 seconds till around 2:40 minutes, the MV is perfect however, the ending is our weakest point. But we are trying our best and trying out new ways of how we could end our music video.
Deadline is in couple of days and Im proud to say that we didn't need to film any extra footage as we filmed everything that we planned, which meant more time is added to post-production.
We did get allot of feedback referring back to the editing and i've been recording them on my phone and have posted them on the blog to look back and see what other small tweaks that i can change.
From 0 seconds till around 2:40 minutes, the MV is perfect however, the ending is our weakest point. But we are trying our best and trying out new ways of how we could end our music video.
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