EDITING DAY

Today we were given the opportunity to spend a day editing together our music video. This gave us the chance to really look at what footage we have previously filmed and start to piece together a rough cut. After a morning of editing a decision was made to go out and film some more shots to give a bit of background story to the song, therefore we headed to the park to film some shots which we want to add in as his memories of his ex and as we liked the effect of stop motion we thought we'd add more context to the memory clips by using photos of him with the girl. Overall the day editing and doing some final filming was really successful as we now just need to add transitions and choose the best ending.

FILMING

 Yesterday we got our filming done! The picture to the right shows where we decided to film the indoor shots of our artist performing. As he talks about home in the song it could either be read as his actual home or the place he feels at home when he is with the girl. This could act as both. We decorated the walls with picture frames to relate to the lyrics 'pictures still hung up' and the cameras hanging from the ceiling were also put there because of this as they take pictures. The use of The Beatles poster and sign were put on the walls to show not only that he likes them but his audience will too as indie bands and artists get a lot of influence from past musicians, and as a band they are popular within our artists audience whether it be through listening to their music or just wearing clothes with the signature name on. Other little items were put around the chair as they were retro pieces and would fit into that vintage style indie artists give the impression of. The old telephone was in there to represent the relation to calling her and use of phone lyrics in the song. Over all I think the use of props in this location was effective.

DIGIPACK PHOTO EDITS 2

DIGIPACK PHOTO EDITS

RISK ASSESSMENT

In order to make sure our filming goes as smooth as possible and is carried out safely I have looked into possible risks which we may be faced with..

Getting to our location provides a few health and safety risks. I will be driving so I need to make sure I do so safely and park up in a suitable place so it's easy to get to our chosen location. We may have to cross a main road in order to get to it so carrying all the props across and keeping all the equipment safe as well as ourselves will be a main priority of ours.

During setting up and filming we need to make sure we stay safe by looking where we walk and tread, making sure we don't trip over or knock into any branches or trees as these are possible risks of filming in a forest because of the uneven ground and branches scattered everywhere.

WEATHER FORECAST

Realistically we would like some sun for our video as we feel it would look good in the shots we intend to use but the English weather has been very gloomy, foggy and cold over the past week or so. We have our chosen filming dates and now all we can do is hope it doesn't rain or snow on these dates! I have checked the weather forecast and it does look promising however closer to the days we'll be able to get a better idea of what the weather will be like and then we can plan what day to film what as some shots will look better with a little sun and others don't matter as much. Below are two screenshots from the BBC Weather page and there forecast looks promising.

FILMING DATES

As a goup we have decided on two filming days, Wednesday the 7th and Thursday the 8th of November. We all compared timetables and these days present us with the most possible time to film as on the Wednesday we have all have lessons till 3rd period (12ish) so I will drive us to our location after our lessons to start filming. Then on Thursday we all have lessons 5th period which starts at 2pm so that gives us a reasonable amount of filming time across two days.

ANALYSIS OF INDIE DIGIPACKS 2

Artist: Penny Black
Album: Further Seems Forever
Colours: dull grey back ground highlights orange and yellows in the centre of the album cover. Disjunctive and incomplete image of the face implies an emotional or personal style of song. The image is also looks as if it has been painted on; artist themselves may have painted it which gives it more of a personal touch.
Font: Capitalised, times new roman font implies a statement from the artist. Also, as the font is an old style of orthography, it gives the impression that the artist has been around for a long time.
Editing: The saturation has been altered to emphasise a contrast between both the dull grey and the bright orange and yellow colours.
Symbolism: The female face which has been painted could either be the artist herself 'Penny Black' or some other person which the album could have been dedicated to. 
Connotations: Unfinished painting implies a piece of work half done, the album itself could be one half of another album possible to follow it from the artist.
Composition: Side on painting of the female, audience have an impersonal relationship with the artist. 
Lighting: bright colours imply a positive style of music which the artist has produced.


Artist: Stars
Album: The Five Ghosts
Colours: Black and white effect implies a old style to the band; either the band themselves have been around for a long time or it links to the idea of 'ghosts' which is the album name. However the red font colour for the bands name 'Stars' highlights the bands name despite it being positioned in the top left hand corner.
Font: the times new roman font echoes the ghostly old feel to the album cover as well as further implying that the band have been around for a long time.
Editing: The overlay of the of the 4 children gives the impression that they are indeed ghosts which correlates to the album name. However the faded overlay makes the audience search for the ghosts and shows an obvious and unsubtle hidden meaning.
Symbolism: symbolises being haunted and being watched. Gives a horror or chilling aspect to the band. It could also symbolise a tragedy taken place, either a real life one which the band know about or a fiction one.
Lighting: there is a heavy presence of low key lighting within the picture with accentuate the ghosts in the album cover; it also links to the Victorian imagery in the album cover. The low key lighting also gives a dull and washed out impression to the album cover.
Props: The bouquet of flowers which the young girl is holding shows her innocence and her youth. Making her seem young and pure which evokes sympathy for her as well as the other ghosts in the image.

Artist: Noah & The Whale
Album: Last Night On Earth
Colours: As the band are a vintage indie genre band; the washed out, dull colours are a typical vintage type of colours giving them a, somewhat, old fashioned personality.
Font: The capitalised font gives a tabloid/ broadsheet headline feel which implies that the band are wanted to be known and in the 'headlines', a subversion of the indie genre. The italics of the album name 'Last Night On Earth' implies an artistic style to the band; which is a convention of the indie genre. The then times new roman font under the bands name, implies that they have been around for a while despite the band themselves still being relatively young.
Editing: The overlay between the picture of the band and the night time city scene, implies that the band are urban based and originate from a urban place. The camera flare in the top right hand corner of the image is another typical feature of the indie genre, therefore further establishes them as a indie band.
Costumes: The band are all in smart attire, shirts and/ or a suit, implying a certain formality of the band as well as a possible target audience. However, the undone top buttons and rolled up sleeves shows that they are, somewhat, subverting from the smart and sophisticated style. Also, as the overlay image shows, it is a night scene and therefore the picture of the band is at the end of the day therefore they have become less smart.
Sight lines: Each member of the band is not looking directly at the camera which has taken the picture therefore implying a impersonal relationship with their audience; making them harder to engage as a band and establish a relationship with them.


Artist: Efterklang 
Album: Piramida
Colour: There is a monochrome colour scheme throughout the album cover, which despite being a dull looking colour it also implies simplicity; which the band want to possible want to be known for. Symbolism: The random, obscure and abstract background of the swirling and jagged images within the background of the circle allows for an open interpretation. The artistic style to the album cover is a common feature of the indie genre, therefore the band are clearly conforming to this genre.  The 3 dimensional triangle in the centre of the circle further emphasises the abstractness of the album cover and further allows for open interpretation.
Font: the capitalised band name is a common feature of the indie genre however as it isn't bold and enlarged it subverts the convention to some extent as well as further accentuating the simplicity style which the band seem to be going for. The lower case, slight italic font of the album name is off centre and barely draws any attention to it and therefore the audience focus is directed to the main subject of the album cover; the abstract drawing.

ANALYSIS OF INDIE DIGIPACKS 1

Artist: Noah and The Whale

Album: The First Days of Spring
Location: Outdoors, in the country side, they're stood in long grass on what appears to be a windy day. The location also relates to the title, as it says the first days of spring and the photo looks quite sunny and as if it was taken in spring.
Colours: The colours are actually quite neutral and typical of being in the countryside, as the photo has blues and greens as main colours in it.
Font: Use of bold font for the band name really brings the audiences focus onto the actual band and you have to look into the album title more as the font is smaller and lowercase.
Editing: The photo itself has been edited to give a vintage feel to it through the use of the saturation.
Symbolism: As the three in the background are looking up towards, this could symbolise worshiping.
Composition: The camera is slightly looking up to them and they're not in the center of the image as they are placed nearer the bottom, with only the top halves of their bodies showing.
Lighting: The use of lighting is very natural and fresh looking, as it is soft lighting.
Props: The only props used in the cover is a old camera which fits in to the convention of the indie genre as it is vintage and old looking.
Mise en Scene: They are dressed in simple, casual clothing, in shirts and denim
Position: The lead/front man is stood further forwards and is more in focus than the other three in the band which could mean he is the singer, although he isn't the center of attention as he is positioned to the right.


Artist: Two Door Cinema Club
Album: Tourist History
Subject: Floor tiles and a cat, the cat is actually quite an indie thing because of the representation behind it and in a lot of tumblr or even twitter bios from people that listen to the genre of music the link 'i love cats' tends to be present.
Location: Is somewhat unknown, you can only assume that it would be in a location that commonly has tiles so probably at home in a kitchen or bathroom focusing on the floor. This provokes some thought from the audience to where it actually has been taken and the meaning for it which is typical of indie artists as they like a good hidden meaning.
Colours: Despite having quite a few colours within it the overall concept is a minimal colour scheme as at first glance it could appear to be in black and white, only the markings on the cats fur and on the tiles and the cats eyes really look colourful.
Font: The font used is big, bold and white and of course it is in capital letters, a trait most, if not all indie artists tend to do on their album covers. The bands name is also written in their signature, logo looking font which is used on all of their future/past albums. The album name itself is hard to recognise but is still written in the same way as the bands name which makes it effective, just a lot smaller.
Editing: The top of the image is very dark and looks as if they have used a half vignette effect, it has definitely been contrasted a lot and the colour has been altered to give off a vintage vibe as the whole album itself looks very retro.
Symbolism: There isn't any obvious concepts or symbols within the album cover, the image doesn't obviously link with the album name or band.
Composition: All the text on the image is centered.
Lighting: The lighting is very dark in the image, however it has probably been editing to look like this.

Artist: The XX
Album: Coexist
Subject: The letter/symbol 'x' filled with a picture of what appears to be petrol/oil residue on the ground.
Colours: White background, rainbow colours used within the 'x'.
Font: Not a specific font, but still big and bold which is common of this genre.
Editing: An image has been cut into the shape of an 'x' this has made the outcome to be really unique.
Symbolism: The X simply is part of the bands name, but it could be taken to mean very different things for example uses of it in every day life is as a letter, the plus symbol and the times symbol.
Composition: Centered subject which makes it more pleasing to the eye.


Artist: Hedgehog
Album: Blue Day Dreaming
Subject: 3 people, the middle woman is looking up to the sky which could relate to the word day dreaming from the name of the album as she is not focused on a clear object it looks like she is day dreaming. The other two people in the background are both looking in different directions, one down and one straight forward although you can only tell from where their heads are as you can't see the eyes.
Colours: There is minimal colours with green and orange added onto the artwork as well as blue which relates back to the album title again, 'blue day dreaming' which is also in blue. Blue as a colour comes across as cold, and sad so maybe it means that the songs on there album have sad hidden meanings.
Fonts: Again, they have used big, bold and capital fonts for the bands name and used a mixture of upper and lower case for the album name.
Composition: The cover is split bottom half for the artwork image and upper half for the text. This also makes it look that the centered woman is looking up at the lyrics which could show that she is the lead, probably the singer. It's usual for the front/lead artist in the band to be centered and further forward than anyone or anything else on an album in the indie genre so they've followed certain conventions as they have also used artwork which creates a very unique and individual cover.
Props: Sunglasses, hide the eyes of what we can see of the faces of the two people in the background.

MUSIC VIDEO PLANNING AUDIO

MAGAZINE ADVERT

Along with creating our music video and digipack we will also need to design a magazine advert for our artist and their music. Therefore we are starting to look in magazines for adverts that relate to artists and bands, saving them for when we look into this more and analyse them and start planning and designing our own advert.

GOODWIN'S THEORY

Andrew Goodwin, a director of music, came up with theories which feature in his book about purposes and features for music videos.  His theory is generally based around 6 main principles..
- Links between lyrics and visuals, when the words directly link to the video.
- Genre characteristics, the visual representations of the music genre and portrayal.
- Demands from the record label, how the artist is represented through the need of close ups of the artist and may even create motifs which occur frequently throughout their work.
- Performance based, narrative based or concept based music videos.
- Reference to notions of looking, mostly of voyeuristic treatment towards the female body.
- Intertextual reference, the reference to other videos, media texts, artists or products within a video.
- Links between music and videos, the instruments, cutting rate (on the beat) and if the link is complementary or contradicting.
- Voyeurism (insight into artists life, direct gaze, other people looking at the artist, mirrors and screens).

GENRE CHOICE

My groups chosen genre will be indie.. focusing more on the sub genre of indie acoustic. We chose to do this genre as we felt our abilities would be used to our advantage within the indie genre because we all have certain strengths and combined they compliment each other and we have already proved that we work well together.

MEDIA GROUP

It was confirmed that I will be working in a group of three, along side Jack Willson ( http://willsonsmusicproductions.blogspot.co.uk ) and Becky Wilson ( http://rebeccawilsona2media.blogspot.co.uk ).