Production - Reflection week 12

 Reflection week 12 -

This week my partner and I have been working on the editing of our video as our deadline is upcoming. We have filmed some extra scenes of our narrative section of our video involving the part of the narrative section where, our main character (Elise Phillips) is running to her room after her father had been shouting etc. and she rips the paper off the wall and is pacing. We believed that we needed to shot these shots as the narrative we had already filmed did not match and there were certain parts where we needed extra shots.
We are also reaching the final stage of our editing process as our dead line is in around a weeks time. We have been discussing with our teacher and have added a dream like effect on all of the shots where the band is performing, and we have also changed the start of the video as we realised the electric guitar does not come in till around 1 minuet of the song. This has taken time and is still being worked on as we have to adjust all the singing to the song. We have also been adding certain fades and transactions/effects between the shots, we have included an Additive dissolve, a Cross dissolve and also a Non-additive dissolve. 

My partner and I have been talking about how we may ensure that our music video will attract our target audience through both our editing style and how the band is being portrayed through the video, for example which clothes we have them wearing. We also like the idea of using a montage in our video of different images mixing both the band and the narrative section together. We will continue to look at this next week.

A final thing we have decided is that we would love to include some synergy in our music video mixing the knowledge we learnt last year to make our video even better. We are aiming towards a young audience and our protagonist in our video is a victim and we would like to incorporate the Samaritans, which is a charity which helps people in distress, into out music video.

Next week -

Next week my partner and I have decided to continue with out editing and make sure our video is to our standard and also other peoples. We have decided to stay late one night and make sure all of our work is completed so we do not have to worry about running our of time and also we can dedicate around 2 hours of our time to getting it finished in one hit.

Production - Montage in the music video.

Montage in the music video - 

My partner and I have been thinking about ways we can make our music video more young and contemporary. We think that one way we could do this by creating a montage.

Here are the kind of video shots we would use in our montage put in to pictures:

Production - Charity synergy in the music video.

Charity synergy in the music video -

My partner and I have been discussing ideas of how to make our music video look realistic and fit music video conventions.

In our initial edit of our music video the narrative scenes are are prominent and frequent than the performance scenes. Although my partner and I know that, as the band is up coming, we need to make sure that they stand out in their videos, the song we are creating a music video for has quite a sad, lonely tone and we feel that we could work together with different companies to give the song a true meaning. Therefore, we feel that we would like to make sure that the narrative scenes stand out more, for example having several close-ups of our main characters face, than the performance scenes so that the narrative stays in our audiences head. Also, we are only creating one song from the bands album and so if we were able to create several music videos for the band we would ensure that the rest of the videos we produced concentrated on the band and the feel of the band.

Samaritans-

As the protagonist in the narrative is a victim of bullying and child abuse, we feel that it may be a good idea to advertise a charity that 'aims to provide emotional support to anyone in distress.' Particular as our target audience is teenagers, which are one of the highest age groups to be at risk of suicide.

Similar to X factor's charity single, but a bit less dramatic

Text- 

We would like Samaritans to only really appear in our music video as they will only really be working with them for one song and the other songs will concentrate on the band. Therefore, they most likely will not appear on either our digipak or magazine advert. Although, we may include them in the message on the inside of our digipak.

Why?-

We have decided to do this because my partner and I are both teenagers so the narrative is quite close to our hearts i would say. Also, as we have made our narrative most prominent, we feel that we should give an explanation for this and working together with a charity, we think, helps give an explanation.

My partner and I are in the early stages of discussing this idea and will discuss this some more in our next meeting to see if it will work.

Production - Peer feedback for music video.

Peer feedback for music video - 

Filming - Strengths and weaknesses:

(Framing, range of movement, creating meaning):

- The framing and almost all movement is perfect!
- Could use a few more shots.
-Shot 00.53.10 is really nice.
- Two narratives blend well.
- I like the shot at the beginning with the iPod.
- I really like the shot of the sun shining on the singers in the forest.
- I like the high angle used of Elise (main character) in the toilets.

Summary of filming feedback:

Most of the feedback from this section was positive and my partner and I will make sure to add more shots as we also feel that we need more shots in our video to make sure it fits the conventions of a music video and also to fit the length of the song.

Suggestions of improvement for filming:
- Camera kept steady all the way through the video.
- Need some more close-ups.
- More close-ups of Elise's (main character's) face to show her expressions.

- This you need more shots of them singing from different angles.
- Have a side angle shot of Elise (main character) crying in the toilets.

Summary of improvements for filming:

Mostly our suggested improvements for the filming would be to add more close-ups and to add a bigger variety of shots which we have taken on board and will try to do this when re filming.

Editing - Strengths and weaknesses:
(Pace, cutting to the beat, lip-syncing, transitions/effect)

- Pacing and cutting to the beat are extraordinary!

- Good soft fades.

- 00.11 had a beautiful fade.

- Lip syncing is at points a little off, but this may be due to the editing being incomplete.
- The pace of the shot in the beginning is to long, have more cuts in the forest.
- Lip syncing well cut to shots.
- Music starts on point at the beginning.
- I like the fade at the beginning.
- Toilet fades are really nice.

Summary:
Our peers mostly liked the effects and pace of the video, but said that the lip syncing could be timed better.

Suggestions of editing improvements:

- Maybe have Elise (main character) faded in the background for longer.
- Lip syncing should be improved but I think once the editing is done it will be fine.

Summary of editing improvements:

Fading and lip syncing could be improved was the overall feedback we received for our editing.

Creativity and Conventions:

- The actors look like a real band.
- I like the way the opening and end link, it adds to the story.

- The lighting and the use of real locations adds to the verisimilitude.

- I really like the shot of the singers playing with leaves as the tempo starts getting faster.

- I like how the song slowly comes to an end, the singers start walking down.

- I like them throwing leaves to the camera at the end and they boy covers the camera with his hand. 

Summary:
Our peers mostly liked the ending of our video.

Suggestions of creativity and conventions improvements:

- Re-film Elise (main character) being shaken by her dad.

- Why is there an electric guitar?
- Man on left strumming the guitar to enthusiastically.

- More leaf throwing.

Summary of creativity and conventions improvements:

The biggest improvement our peers told us about was the use of an electric guitar and the guitarist being a bit to over enthusiastic. We will change this when we re-film next week.

Production - Initial edit of 'Man on Fire'

Initial edit of 'Man on Fire' - 

Production - Reflection week 11

 Reflection week 11 -

This week has been a very busy week for my partner and I. We have been working on our editing due to the fact we had an initial edit deadline on Friday, where we needed to show other partnerships in our class our work and gain feedback on our filming, editing and creativity/conventions and also suggestions for improvements in things we could do to make our music video better. Whilst editing throughout the week my partner and I had noticed things that we needed to do to improve our music video, for example we knew we needed to film more close ups of the band members and also even some of the main character, to give our video more emotion to it. 
My partner and I had struggled with final cut in the past few weeks but this week has been a breakthrough as we are fining it an easier programme to use and we are even starting to include some transitions which is making us more excited for our video as we can see it coming together slowly. As this week we mainly focused on editing there is not much that can be said in this reflection.

Next Week -
Next week my partner and I plan to even out our lessons and work on both the music video editing and magazine advert/digipak editing. We will also write up the feedback we have received from other partnerships in our class and discuss with one another what things we will do to improve our music video.

Production - Reflection week 10

Reflection week 10 -

This week my partner and I have been busy. We have been working on filming and also the production of the magazine advert and digipak. When looking at our footage we knew that we needed to film a large amount of the narrative stage. We had already filmed a certain amount, but together as a partnership we decided that we would film everything again but with the main character without uniform, by doing this we would relate to our age group as this will connote her being in a sixth form or a college. We filmed all of our narrative in one day and we were surprised that we got it all done to the standard that we wanted. After filming this footage we needed to work on our digipak and magazine advert. 

My partner and I decided that we would want to make a sticker to put on the front of our digipak as it will show the buyer what they are buying and also the things will be included within the digipak. We then made two more initial ideas for our digipak, these ideas were later adapted. We realised that we were making many ideas for our magazine advert and that we needed to direct some attention towards our digipak. The digipak needed to include a sticker and also a thank you message from the band to break up some of the pictures as it was all leaves. This is still only an idea and needs to be adapted even more as there are some images that need to be changed around and some text included. We then included the second sticker on a edit of our digipak. 

Then my partner and I decided to work more on our magazine advert. We decided on a final picture to use for the final edit of the magazine advert. Then we decided to play around with the colours of the background image of the magazine advert, we looked at what the image would look like if it was brightened or if the contrast level was higher. We then decided to add in a quote from Kerrang and also a rating, this hopefully would increase a buyers chance of buying the digipak, as a magazine which is known for talking about the most recent popular artists have given this band such a high rating. We made our third initial edit from this. My partner and I have also come up with another idea, we have the idea to have an out layer of our digipak and maybe include the sticker on there, we have looked a Paul Weller's digipak to gather some inspiration and we will proceed to look into this within the following weeks. 

My partner and I have also been editing throughout the week, we have so far cut down all the clips we want to use and we have been adding them onto final cut. We have been cutting to the music and although we found it difficult we have slowly started to work it out. 

Next week - 

Next week my partner and I have discussed how we are going to split the lessons. As we have four media lessons a week we are going to allocate two lessons to working on the digipak and the magazine advert and then another two lessons to working on editing on our music video. We also may stay back for one or two days after school or at lunch and work some more on both editing and the production of the magazine advert and digipak. Next week my partner and I will also look into to the idea of the out layer of the digipak and see if it would be possible to make this.

Production - Digipak sticker and out layer -

Digipak sticker and out layer - 

 My partner found this digipak and we both thought that a digipak plastic cover, similar to Paul Weller's one would make a great addition to the final digipak. Paul Weller's digipak cover includes small text that says 'DELUXE EDITION', and the sticker is on the plastic over rather than on the front of the digipak itself. 

We agreed that we like the idea of a plastic cover on our digipak like Weller's. We have not yet decided if the cover will be white or if it will have a green tint to it and we are also not sure if it is possible to make yet we will try our hardest as we both believe this will make our digipak even more appealing and more authentic.

Production - Magazine advert testing of colours, text and also third initial edit.

Magazine advert testing of colours, text and also third initial edit - 

My partner and I have included several aspects to our magazine advert. We have added a glow around the text to make it stand out more and make it more appealing to the audience. We also have added a HMV sign and an iTunes sign to show that you can download the songs and also buy the digipak and single from shops. We decided to add a quote from Kerrang as this and the rating my influence people to buy the digipak and also listen to the songs. 

We decided to play around with the brightness and contrast of the image as if we made it darker we would be able to make it connect with the mood of the song 'Man on fire' more. We also played around with the glow around the text by making it darker and lighter. Our third initial edit of the magazine advert is this final picture. We may decided to move things around and add things, yet this is the image we will be sticking with as we like the idea of the band showing their fun side.

Production - Digipak with second sticker -

Digipak with second sticker - 

We used our second idea for the sticker and included it on the digipak. As we are still working on the digipak we may change things around and included different things to the sticker to make it seem more authentic. As we have some time to work on the digipak and magazine advert and also the music editing we will still change things and possibly get advice from our target audience. 

Production - Image chosen for magazine advert.

Image chosen for magazine advert - 

My partner and I have decided we are going to use this picture and layout for our final magazine advert. We still have certain things we would like to change for example we are going to play around with the contrast and brightness and also add things like the HMV logo to see what it looks like and if it makes the magazine advert more authentic. We originally was going to send out a questionnaire to ask our audience what one they would prefer but we personally felt this one was better. As the song 'Man on fire' is reasonably sad we wanted something to add a bit more fun to the band as every song will not be sad and this advert will show a more fun and happy side to the band.

Production - Digipak with sticker and band 'thank's' included.

Digipak with sticker and band 'thank's' included - 

We have included the image of the thank's from the band and also the sticker included on the digipak. We have not yet decided if this will be the final copy as there are images we have to add for example text saying all rights reserved. We will include this very soon and post a new blog post where we will include the text. 

One image has just the thanks from the band which we tried to make more personal by adding things like 'You rocked it!' and 'We owe ya!', we will also include some text where the band is saying thank you to everyone who has brought the digipak and supported the band to make it more personal to the audience. And one image is where the sticker on the front has been added. My partner and I still have to make more different stickers to see which we will like more on the front of the digipak.

Production - More initial ideas for magazine advert

More initial ideas for magazine advert - 

My partner and I have added more pictures to our original idea of the magazine advert and then we decided to move things around and add certain aspects to make it seem more like an magazine advert that we would see in a real magazine.

The image here of the band playing is personally my favourite as it shows a more fun side to the band. By adding things like the BlackBerry Messenger sign it has made the poster seem more modern and also the Facebook website will help fans find out more information about the band. The Kerrang rating is something that also makes the poster more appealing, if a large company like Kerrang who have their own magazine and music station rates the band a high rating like four stars, our audience may be influenced to go out and by the digipak or album. If my partner and I cannot decided on which magazine advert we will use we have decided we may produce a questionnaire and give it out to our target audience and see which one would be more appealing to them and which one we will use.

Production - Digipak sticker

Digipak sticker - 

For our digipak my partner and I have decided that we would like to include a sticker stuck on the front of the digipak as a few we have looked at have included this. We also believe that this will give our audience an insight onto what will be included on the digipak. We have made two ideas for the sticker yet a touch up is needed on both the ideas. 

Production - Reflection week 9

Reflection week 9 - 

This week my partner and I have been uploading footage we have filmed over the holidays onto the iMac and cutting clips that we may or may not use when editing our video. When filming we had made sure we filmed a variety of footage in different angles etc., therefore when it comes to editing if we need to replace a shot or if we need to include one as a cut away shot then we do not have to go out and film once again, we will have all the footage there.

We have completed a second initial idea of what our digipak and magazine advert is going to look like. These second initial ideas are what we have decided as a partnership we are going to stick with. From looking at a few digipaks by different artists we have decided we are going to add certain things like a sticker on the front of our digipak telling the audience what special features will be on the CD and DVD and also about the brand new track 'Man on fire'. As all of the digipaks had some things in common they will be what we are definitely going to include for example information about the production/record company. Our digipak was our main project this week as it was the one we had

 not developed enough, our magazine advert was virtually completed all that was needed was an image. We however do still needed to play around with the images and pick one we think will look perfect on our digipak, we have decided that we may have a questionnaire asking our target audience to pick out of maybe three ideas for our magazine advert. With out digipak we still need to include an image for our back cover and everything we have decided on by looking at other digipaks. 

Next week -

Next week my partner and I are planning to film the final piece of our footage. The shots where our main character is at home and also the scenes where she is being bullied at school. After this has been filmed we will be able to start editing, so far as we have cut all the shots we have already filmed all that is left to so is place them in order and arrange what my need to be re-filmed or just moved around.

Production - More reserach into digipaks.

More research into digipaks -

My partner and I have looked at some more digipaks and noticed some things we need to include on our digipak to make it seem more like a real digipak and also it will take more focus of the images and wont seem too full of leaves and boring.

This digipak by Morrissey 'You are the Quarry' has a sticker on the front of it. This is something my partner and I really think will make our digipak look more authentic. We plan to include a sticker on the front which may talk about the new track 'Man on fire' and how the digipak includes a CD and DVD which will show the buyer

that they are getting a lot for their money. This again on the Morrissey digipak shows how the songs are copyrighted and who they are owned by, we will definitely include this was it is an important piece of information and needs to be included.

This digipak by Billy Bragg, on the back has writing where it states all rights to certain people, as this is something that we both thought seemed important to include we have discussed and will add it to an initial edit and see how it looks, it will be in small writing in the same position as it is on this digipak.

Here again on the Radiohead digipak we see that it states all rights are reserved and where the songs have been recorded and what companys this digipak and the songs are related to. As seeing this on so many digiapks we have decided we are going to include this piece of information on our digipak at the bottom of the back page, we however include it on one of the folding out pages.

Production - Second initial edit for digipak and magazine advert.

Second initial edit for digipak and magazine advert -

My Partner and I have completed our second initial idea for our digipak and magazine advert. We gathered pictures when filming our footage and decided these would look perfect on both of these products, as it involves the band members and also involves the naturalistic feel that we originally wanted on  our digipak and also magazine advert.

Digipak -

Although we have created our second initial edit for our digipak we still have things we would like to add, if you look at the post 'more research into digipaks', we had looked at individuals and bands digipak's and seen certain things we need to include like, company logos and maybe a sticker on the front saying new album man on fire.

We also need to include an image for the back cover yet we have yet to decided on one, and a thank you message to be included on the middle image where the singers backs are to the camera.

Magazine advert -

For our second initial idea of our magazine advert we have added an image yet we have not decided if this is the image we defiantly want to include. We have an idea to conduct a focus group or a questionnaire to see what image our audience would like the most and which will appeal to them the most.