Group: Audience Feedback

POSITIVES

• The focus on one person was really effective and enticing to follow, good for an unfocused viewing.
• Works well with the mood of the music.
• Creative camera angles and techniques.
• The lip synching was done really well matching it to the track in editing.
• The introduction of the characters with animal masks was done really well, it was professional and intriguing.
• Amazing editing with an interesting narrative that works really well with the song.
• Projections on the wall are very well executed and suit the genre.
• Close ups do well to construct star image.
• Animal masks added more connotations to the video.
• Projector shots added a lot to the mood of the song.
• The location of the field worked really well with the mist/fog in the background.
• The masks are really effective and I like how they link to the lyrics.
• "Young hearts" with Danny and Sandy projected behind creates a good portrayal.
• The overlays of fire are really great.
• The performance was realistic looking and extremely convincing.
• Speed ramp creates build up.
• Good cutting on the beat in the field.
• Good intertextual references in the background on projector.
• Love the use of the reverse at the end.
• Decisions made for what to project and locations were very successful.
• Timeline shots look very effective.

NEGATIVES

• The projections sometimes made it hard to see the protagonist-We see this as a positive as it conforms to Dyers paradox that an artist appears both present and absent.
• The dancers degraded to seriousness intended from the narrative.

AR: Contribution to Production

I have taken the primary role in shooting and editing our video. So I led with the positioning and movement of the camera after having the rest of the groups approval and agreement. For editing I took control of the mouse while we collaboratively decided where shots should be positioned. I refined the cutting rate to fit the music and experimented with the time stretch for particular shots to synchronise with our track's rhythm and for practicality to make shots fit neatly.

I have taken a prevalent role for our advert and digipak, overviewing the development and processes taken on photoshop. I put the digipak together with all the panes we edited. I individually collected screenshots straight from Premiere using the Freaze Frame tool and edited the resolution and used reflections to extend areas of the image to fit into the panes. I edited the images for both of the adverts and then sent them to Emma-Louise for further refinements such as adding in the text and links.

CB: Contribution to Production

As part of the production process, I have taken a lead role mainly within the construction of our print product. For example, I have researched and deconstructed magazine page layouts, as well as looked at possible fonts which would be suitable for our digipak design on websites such as Dafont. In creating our digipak mock up in Photoshop, I made one possible version of a back cover focusing on positioning the actor in the rule of thirds.

We took mock photos of various stances and positions the actor could display that looked generic of the female solo artist we are impersonating 'Foxes'. This helped us throughout our photo shoot and allowed the process to run smoothly. When importing the image into Photoshop, I opened up the selected image I wanted to experiment with and used the 'magic wand tool' located in the selection bar (to the left) to cut out the blue screen background. This then allowed me to choose a suitable colour for the background which we could then go onto use on our actual digipak product.

However, I took a secondary role during the editing process of our music video, suggesting possible ideas we could use to make it better whilst someone else took the primary lead role in making the changes.

ER: Contribution to Production

I took a primary role in the digipak and magazine advert production, while taking a secondary role in editing. This meant that I overlooked and suggested ideas for the editing process while also taking part in the use of premiere.

Group: Review of Thursday 4/12/14

Amelia: I completed the video and exported it and I edited the image for the magazine advert and sent it to Emma-Louise for adding font and finalising. I went on to take higher quality screenshots straight from premier for the two panes in the digipak.

Emma-Louise: I downloaded the font and added it to the advertisement then saved it as a PNG file. I then went on to make a post of this.

Charlie: I planned our schedule for shooting the final album cover tomorrow and helped Emma-Louise.

Group: Final Magazine Adverts

We have decided to do a half page advert to follow our chosen genre of pop. Pop artists usually have an unfocused reading because they are most likely to be used in adverts etc. This means that she won't need as big an advert as an upcoming artist who would need to sell themselves, her name is already established in the music industry.

 

Group: Digipak Mock Up

 

Front Cover

 

 

Inside Panes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back Cover

 

 



Group: Digipak Mock Up Ideas

This week, we have been experimenting with different album cover designs that we could possibly use for our actual digipak product.



Mock Up 1: Charlie

This is one example the group have come up with, to have a LS of the female actor in frame and positioned within the rule of thirds. I placed a light purple background on the design as the artists style we are trying to recreate only using light colours. The stance and hand signal the actor is displaying symbolises the artist 'Foxes', in imitating one of her iconic poses she uses on an existing single cover.

 

Mock Up 2: Emma-Louise

 

 

 

 



Group: Mock Photos

We tried out very feminine gestures such as pouting to emphasise that women have a position in the music industry. It was also for a bubbly, friendly, 'pop' portrayal of the artist.

Generally We have aimed to position Charlie in the centre of frame looking directly at the camera but also took more candid shots of her laughing and caught off guard to create a more spontaneous and authentic viewpoint on our artist.

For our real shoot we will have Charlie dressed in the same outfit she wears in our video to create an obvious link. She will also wear the fox mask for the back cover image to link to the artist.

Some gestures we had observed by 'Foxes' herself such as the one above on the left. In review we really don't think this is the type of image we want as our front cover because it does not look natural.

We experimented with and without flash to get an idea of the exposure and colours that could be created. We prefer the images with flash because they have a clean, professional, studio look.

References to the illuminati are a common feature of musicians of the 21st century so we have experiments with this as well. It gives the look of the images a quirky, edgy appeal that is very current.

Goup: Review of Thursday 27/11/14

In this double lesson we collaboratively looked through our footage finding areas that needed improvement such as faster cutting rates and editing techniques like colour grading and overlays. We took screenshots for potential inside panes and made a blog post of our findings. We then went on to take our mock photos of Charlie in front of the blue screen in the positions we had planned. We tried out several expressions and hand gestures then made a post of this.

Todays lesson has successfully prepared us for moving on to the editing of the (hopefully) final draft of our product as well as the development of our mock digipak and advert then quickly onto the real product. The next stage will be to practise editing our mock photos and screenshots then to plan a day and location to take the real photos.

Group: Potential Inside Panes

These are a range of potential screen shots we have taken from our music video. We decided to use these for our inside panes on our digipak because the quality of our footage is so good, so it will look professional and effective.

We were extremely enthusiastic about how effect the stills from the time lapse sequence looks. There is a ghosting effect, a great way of creating movement in a still image. As Charlie was still her figure is clearest, so she stands out more keeping the focus of the album on her as 'Foxes'.

The silhouettes created by the shadow from the projector light is very seductive and visually intriguing because it has a powerful connotation of the artist. We think it would make a great background pane for the CD placement.

Group: Reflection of Wednesday 26/11/14

Amelia: Continued editing, tidying up the timeline and correcting any errors. I then uploaded this draft to Youtube. The next step will be continuing to speed up and slow down the cutting rhythm where appropriate and experimenting with visual techniques such as colour.

Emma-Louise: Further looked into the conventions of magazine adverts
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Charlie: Researched design details for our digipak eg. font. I looked at websites such as Dafont and 1001 free fonts to look for possible fonts we could use on our album, which are similar to the font used on 'Foxes' album covers (for example Glorious).

Group: Reflection of Tuesday 25/11/14

Today the group allocated specific roles for each other to focus on.

• Charlie - My role was to be the blog director, checking that posts have visuals on them if appropriate and that all posts are titled correctly with the right amount of detail.

One of the blog posts I amended was the 30 second clip we showed to the class of our edited music video so far. This post didn't have any feedback we received from the class and so I added the positive feedback as well as the improvements that were suggested we make in order to make the production look better.

• Emma-Louise - I edited our music video on premiere, adding a faster cutting rate by dropping more shots onto the timeline and shortening the clips and further tidying it up.

• Amelia - Print production designs for our digipak and magazine ad. I made initial sketches of our main panes and created descriptions and a detailed outline for each.

Group: Digipak Font Ideas

Dafont: http://www.dafont.com/new.php?page=3

• Blank Space
• Bebas Kai
• Mode G
• Facile Sans
• CF Historia
• Franchise

1001 Freefronts: http://www.1001freefonts.com/new-fonts-30.php

• Keep Calm Medium
• News Flash
• Hurshey's
• MTF Base

Group: Magazine Advertisment Plan

A4 Page

• To maintain the theme of our music video conforming to the pop genre, we want our magazine advert to highlight this through showing a conventional pop artist style. Therefore, using the example of Rihanna's magazine advert, we want to recreate something like this as it is typical of mainstream pop female artists to sell their track and star image.
• Although, we want to create a half page advert for our track, as Foxes is a mainstream pop artist and so wouldn't need to sell her image as much as new coming artists, having already established her star persona to a varied audience.
• Rihanna is positioned within the rule of thirds, to the right hand side of the page, this focuses more attention on her as an audiences eyes are initially drawn to the corners of a frame. This is a technique we want to use when designing our magazine advert.

• We want to include the concept of rule breaking when designing our magazine advert, with the manipulation of 'white space'. With this, we want to covey an aspect of uneasiness to a small extent, with the animals in the video formulating curiosity.
• Having a colourless background will stop the image from looking overly busy and prevent it from being cluttered, which will focus more attention on the female actor and draw the audiences eye to her.

• Within our magazine advert, we want the female actor to wear the fox animal mask which is featured in the video. This will connect the ad with the video and identify the female actor as singing to one of 'Foxes' (the artists) song tracks.

Group: 30 Second Extract

Feedback from the class

Positives

• The overlay of two images showing different angles of the fire projection looks very effective, it gives the video an added layer of texture which makes it appear aesthetically pleasing.
• The cut between the animal masks helps to identify the audience with wildlife animals and links them well with the field location.
• The misty background works well with the mood of the track, providing it with a dismal feel.

Improvements

• We need to make the cutting rate faster in order to make it conform to a pop music video and fit better with the pace of the track.
• We could cut to projection shots in some of the field locations so that we have short pieces of footage showing to keep the audience entertained.

Group: Review of Wednesday 19/11/14

In Wednesday's lesson, the group mainly took priority in editing the footage we have filmed in Premiere and have now got quite a lot edited in the correct order. We also discussed digipak designs and magazine ad ideas we would use to promote our music video, finalising concepts from our previous group blog post regarding print products.

Group: Print Production Plan

1. What ideas do you have about your print products?

• 4 pane digipak design

Front cover:

•  MCU of actor in the middle of the frame.
• Shot in front of a green screen so that we can add a coloured background when editing in Photoshop.
• Colours we are thinking to add on our digipak are cold hues such as pink, purple, blue and grey.
• The font wont be too fancy, we want it to be bold (in capitals) and preferably white in colour.
• We could also go back to our field location and take a photo of the female actor in front of the misty background, to suit the images within our music video.

Back Cover:

• LS of actor in one third of the frame, possibly with an animal mask on (a fox) to represent the artists track we have used.
• We could use an image from the street location, positioning the actor against a black fence. As these images would contain natural lighting, we would saturate the image to give it a drained look to fit our theme.
• The other singles that are on the album will be in a small font, in white also, to maintain a font colour scheme in order to make our design look professional.

Inside Panes

• Conceptual shots of animal masks we use in our music video (preferably the fox and owl mask as they relate to lyrics in the song).
• Place the masks on a white surface so that all the attention is focused on them.
• Place the masks within the rule of thirds possibly.

2. How will the print products link with the video to give a cohesive brand?

• Our digipak design will be based upon locations that are shown within our music video.
• The main female actor who is represented as dominant compared to the male actors will be symbolised in the same way on the digipak.

3. Which magazines would your adverts go in? why?

• Pop magazines such as Billboard
• Fashion magazines such as Bazaar, Grazia, Cosmopolitan, Instyle, Glamour, Company
• Our adverts would feature in these types of magazines as we incorporate a young female actor that is presented some what as glamorous with a short, velvet dress.
• The genre of our track also fits within the pop genre, therefore our album would be mentioned in pop magazines.