Software

This is a list of the Software I have used to complete the Music Video, Digi Pack, Inlay Booklet and Magazine Advert.

-Blogger is the software I have used most as it has been my diary for all my work and research I have. 

-YouTube has been used for updating the work I have produced, but it has also enabled me to searched into other music videos.

 -For varied posts I have used Prezi to help my blog appear more professional, I have used Prezi.

-Final Cut Express is a editing software program which I used throughout my editing this year’s A2 Levels and last year throughout my AS Media Studies.




-Adobe Photoshop was the software I used to edit the images for the Digi Pack, Inlay Booklet, and Magazine Advert, and it has proven to be very useful.

-Survey Monkey was a website we used to create a questionnaire to gain information and increase our research from an online audience.

-We used the music websites SoundCloud and Spotify to research earlier into our artist, as was Twitter and Facebook.

Magazine Advert Editing

<-- 1. I firstly put the selected image, that we used on the back of our Digi Pack.



2. I then added a blue filter and a cream filter onto it to make it have a vintage effect. -->

<-- 3. After placing the filter over the top, I increased the contrast and brightness of the image and created two orange/red gradients. One coming from the corner and the other a line down the center.

4. I then created a soft tones border and placed the Digi Pack Front Cover in it.-->

<-- 5. I then added the text, 'Mike Dignam' is in the same font as the song list on the back of the Album; 'Debut Album' and 'Out Now' is also but it has been put in a linear light. 'i'll lie here' is in the same font as the same title that is on the album cover.

6. An iTunes logo has been added but faded slightly and a new border created.-->

 <-- 7. Inside the border, star ratings have been added in the linear light again.





8. To finish the Music Magazine ratings have been added to the stars, creating an attraction. Mike Dignam's website and Twitter has also be written underneath.

Magazine Advert

For our magazine advert to look as professional and authentic as it could be our group decided that we need to incorporate the following into it; the title of the album, the image of the album, reviews, the Artists website, a design similar to the Album, links to purchases places, ratings, an image of the artist, CD logo and a selection of cross media platforms. These are the common features of all magazine adverts.

The common conventions of Indie Adverts are normally that they have the appearance of being designed with a vintage feel and artistically which overall tends to be quite simple but creative. I believe that an image such as a photo of the artist with a vintage tint would really show that it is from this genre, which is used mostly in Indie. There is often a link to the Artists website or their twitter accounts so they can be easily connected with the artist.

The two types of magazine advert are either artist or album focused adverts; meaning as our artist is still not hugely well known and is still very independently run, our advert will be artist focused. Our advert must link with the Digi pack and relate to each other, at best they can.When choosing the right image, font and content for our magazine advert, it is important I include and take into account the content above.

Music Video Changes

During our filming we have used our storyboard as a guideline although through some reconsideration, we discovered more professional ideas for some of the scenes. This occurred when editing as we found that the footage we filmed was not enough, therefore we had to rearrange scenes in order to fit the music successfully and follow a realistic story-line.

 - We have not included the scenes at the train station, instead we have added in some POV shots (http://aimeekmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/camera-techniques-pov.html ) and more scenes of the singer (Danny) singing with the guitar. I believe by doing this it will introduce the female to the audience well, and early enough in time for the chorus, and to understand the music video.
- The photo of the couple is also included in the video, although we have used a print out in which we can show it burning later on in the video, which is different to our first idea of it in a photo in the frame. Danny takes the print out from the bin instead from under the bed where the audience will see that the photo has been scrunched up out of anger and sorrow.
- Although we filmed Danny putting his coat on and tying his shoes up, we decided to not include these scenes as they took too long, wasted time and we didn't think they were necessarily needed.
- We were thinking of ending the video with Danny burning the photo of him and the girl, but we put this clip further back as we thought ending with sun shining through would be more appropriate.
-Another change that we made was the actress playing the girl. As we were running out of time and it was hard to get hold of our original actress, we all decided that it would be more ideal to use a member of the group, therefore I, myself am playing the role of the female.
- We also decided not to do the compilation of images at the end as we felt there was enough of the couple happy in the music video so give the audience the impression that their relationship was loving and strong.

Equipment

To film the music video at the best quality and standard and as professionally as we could, we used the best equipment available to us.

This camera shown is the one we used to film, as the footage it films is of a HD quality, which we allow us to capture close ups and the scenery we wanted to include in the scene. The camera we used was provided by the media department at school and was a handheld canon camera. It was extremely useful to us as we had decided to create some POV shots, which due to the handheld would make is much easier to complete. This camera can be easily attached to the tripod to make sure it captures a steady shot and it will film the necessary shots needed for our music video with ease.

The tripod we used was useful as it allowed us to film a steady and unshaken shot. We could additionally be able to film at different heights, as the legs can be adjusted.

To start our editing the last piece of equipment needed was the Apple iMac, which due to last years experience I know that is has all the software, and applications we need to complete the Editing.

Props List

In relation to our genre we need to make sure we have the appropriate props to fit in to the scenes and make it seem as if it is the artist environment, these will consist of props with a vintage or retro feel. Additionally we need to incorporate the main props that can link into the lyrics and narrative of our Music Video, therefore putting an image to the words to make it clearer to the audience.

The props that we will need relating to our narrative...
+ A lounger or bed in which the Artist can lay on.. "So I'll Lie Here"
+ A pillow.. "With your eyes closed, and me as your Pillow"
+ Bed Sheets and accessories.. "I know i've found contentment in these sheets"


Other props...

+ Acoustic Guitar... This is one of the main props that will appear more than once. This will feature as an important piece due to the guitar being a typical convention to indie acoustic genre, and will additionally help the narrator and artist be identified by the audience. This will act as the narrator's master shot which will include shots of him and the acoustic guitar in various different locations.

-Here is an image of Ben Howard with an acoustic guitar








+ Bench... We will need to use a bench near the end of the video to add a climax to the storyline; the artist will see his lover (the one he has been singing about) and see she has moved on. This bench and scene will symbolise the end of the relationship.

+ Bag... For the female scene's a handbag will be an obvious and reoccurring item in the music video, this is as it is an everyday item, and will show the age of the girl. This will represent her as an everyday female.

We also had an idea of the male carrying a male bag in some scenes as this will add to the male carrying his own 'weight' and troubles now he is no longer with her.


+ Sofa... In addition to the bed we needed a place in which the artist and his lover could be together, indoors to show the warmth and comfort of their old relationship. We will then contrast this to the male being alone.

+ Stereo Player for the opening scene...

+ Clock
+ Photo Table
+ Coffee
+ Leaves
+ Swings
+ Photo Booth/ Photos

Weather Forecast

Our outdoor locations are Cambridge and the Saffron Walden/Newport area. We were hoping to be able to have the past flashbacks in a more sunny setting as we tend to give them a happy and positive vibe, that the Artist wants back. On the present scenes luckily we do not need to have bright, warm weather; as it is late Autumn in England we are expecting, grey, foggy and rainy weather, which would be ideal for the overall feel of these scenes. So far I can only see Monday's weather report, but both days look rainy, so I feel we should film the more present scenes then because that weather would be perfect for this, hopefully Tuesday will be sunny so we can film the contrasting scenes, if not we will probably film indoors, and have to go out for one more sunny day for filming. Although this, you will never know how right the weather report is until the day. Below are screen shots of the Weather Reports from BBC Weather for our two locations.

Editing Photos

The photos that were taken that I edited in the previous posts(http://aimeekmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/digi-pack-photo-edits.html)(http://aimeekmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/digi-pack-photo-edits-2.html) were the most successful and professional of the ones we had taken that day and all of the images stood out to me. The way that all of the images capture Mike Dignam, the artist, playing this guitar or with his guitar gives an impression that it wasn't a planned shot or composition I was really pleased that we were able to capture it, it also creates a happy feeling that he is doing what he loves. The way the background represents nature really incorporates the Indie Genre into the images, but with the filters and editing it has given the overall image the effect that it is vintage, and old, but a happy memory so the image has been kept; this makes the image soft and draws all the attention to the artists figure. Over all I really like the way these images have turned out! I started to edit it on the editing software Adobe Photoshop, something I become to be familiar with over the years. I like the composition of the shots with the use of the guitar within the shot for our digipack is important as it emphasises the relation to the artist.

Digi Pack Photo Edits

Camera Techniques- POV

During filming we discovered that we were lacking in shots of the couple together. Therefore in order to build the narrative of the song, this was vital, as it would give a personal feel to the video. Our inspiration came from Calvin Harris' music video for 'I Need Your Love'. In that video , the point of view camera technique is used which we felt would be suitable for our video.

Whilst filming, we experimented with this technique in everyday situation with the love interest included. For example, the male (Danny) filmed the two of them sipping coffee at a cafe which looks as though they are having a laugh and so brightens up the video. We then uploaded the POV clip to the Mac and inserted it into our video which we thought looked really good. Therefore we have decided that we should film some more similar clips for the narrative to run more smoothly. Locations could include, in bed, walking in the outdoors, a park. The POV shot is a brilliant way for us to bring the video to life as it really builds up the characters in the video. Developing the characters also allows us to enhance the narrative and so we end up making a video that can relate to our audience.

Storyboard... Part II

Here is the second part of our draft shot list for production:

Shot 23 - Girl found under the sheets by the male, playing around "contentment in these sheets".
Shot 24 - Aerial shot of the couple lying in bed.
Shot 25 - Master shot of male singing with guitar on bench.
Shot 26 - Medium shot of couple playing in the leaves.
Shot 27 - Aerial shot of male falling into the leaves.
Shot 28 - Fade in from a previous shot to show him falling onto the bed.
Shot 29 - Male lying on the bed, turns head to see the girl isn't there.
Shot 30 - Master shot of the male lip syncing with guitar, whilst walking down the path.
Shot 31 - Close up of male's face to see him singing to the camera, lip syncing.
Shot 32 - Male sitting by a tree with the photo of him and the girl, long shot.
Shot 33 - Master shot of male singing with guitar at the tree, long shot, photo beside him.
Shot 34 - Overlay technique used at the same tree, medium shot of singer lip syncing whilst showing the past of the couple walking in the background.
Shot 35 - Master shot of singer lip syncing next to the tree.
Shot 36 - Shot of sun gleaming through the trees.
Shot 37 - Male walking through meadow.
Shot 38 - Sun shining through the meadow.
Shot 39 - Master shot of singing, medium shot.
Shot 40 - Goes into a number of different split screens with various shots.

Storyboard... Part II

23. 1:28- 1:33   24. 1:33- 1:39   25. 1:39- 1:47   26. 1:47- 1:50   27. 1:50- (fade in)   28. -1:56   29. 1:56- 2:02   30. 2:02- 2:13   31. 2:13- 2:26   32. 2:26- 2:38   33. 2:38- 2:44   34. 2:44- 2:49   35. 2:44- 3:01
36. 3:01- 3:08   37. 3:08- 3:10   38. 3:10- 3:22. 3:22-- ends in various split screens.

Shotlist... Part I

Here is our draft shot list for our production:

Shot 1- Close up on hand placing CD in the disk tray of a music player.
Shot 2- Close up on a hand turning up the volume.
Shot 3- Mid shot of artist sitting on his bed, looking sad.
Shot 4- High angle, medium shot on artist retrieving a box.
Shot 5- Aerial shot of him searching the box for a photo.
Shot 6- Mid shot, of him lying on the bed looking at the photo.
Shot 7- Close up, Zoom in on the photo.
Shot 8- Cut to tracking of the couple walking down the street.
Shot 9- (master-shot) artist playing guitar.
Shot 10- Tracking of couple walking through a walk way to a bench.
Shot 11- Mid-shot of artist sitting on bench.
Shot 12- Mid-shot of couple sitting on bench. (potential for overlay).
Shot 13- Over the shoulder shot of artist looking at couple.
Shot 14- Train begins to drive by.
Shot 15- Cut to mid shot of artist sitting on the bench.
Shot 16- Over the shoulder shot, Cut to train station, couple have disappeared.
Shot 17- Master shot
Shot 18- Pan, of artist getting up and leaving location.
Shot 19- Close-up, on artist playing guitar.
Shot 20- Mid-shot of artist walking away.
Shot 21- Cuts back to shot 6.
Shot 22- Gets up and leaves bedroom.

Storyboard... Part I

This is the first part of my groups final idea for our  music video to Mike Dignams song, "I'll Lie Here". This is the released and planned storyboard to our song up to, 1:35; we have had to present the board in separate parts as the whiteboard could not fit the whole Music Video storyboard onto it, without being unclear.




















These are the number of sections in each shot-
1. 0-0.03   2. 0.03-0.05   3. 0.05-0.07    4. 0.07-0.09  5. 0.09-0.11  6. 0.11-0.13   7. 0.13-0.15
8. 0.15- 0.18    9. 0:18-0:26   10. 0.26-0.30   11. 0.30-0.36    12. 0.36- 0.42     13. 0.42- 0.48
14. 0.48- 0.54   15. 0.54- 1.00    16. 1.00- 1.03   17. 1.03-1.16  18. 1.16-1.19    19. 1.19-1.21
20. 1.21- 1.26     21. 1.26- 1.31    22. 1.31- 1.35

Meeting 5/11/2013

Today we discussed the location, evaluation of our practice filming and updating our blogs with more gadgets/widgets to provide viewers with more satisfaction of our blogs.

Having already created a Twitter account for the media group, we were able to provide our blogs with a Twitter widget which updates and presents any tweets that have been made such as, about the progress of our music videos, and any inspirational tweets that we may re tweet or comments we have made. On Twitter we have followed some artists that we think can relate to our chosen singer/songwriter, various artists include; Jason Mraz, Ben Howard, Ed Sheeran, John Mayer. Another few accounts that we think were worth following were Radio 1's Twitter profile and various DJs that are involved in that area. This gives us updates on our Twitter Feed of any new and upcoming music that we may be interested in and relate to Mike Dignam. In relation to Mike, we have followed him on Twitter which allows us to become updated on tour dates and any comments, personal updates from him that could link to our music video narrative.

In the lesson today, we also talked about the final location dates as all members of the media group were in the lesson. Locations finalised included, a Train Station (perhaps situated in Newport, Essex), a photo booth (although this could be known as a prop), a calm and collected forest type scene (perhaps a Bluebell woods or something similar). I think all these locations would be great when filming as they will give us some fantastic shots, also filming in Cambridge would be a good idea as it will give some great shots of the Urban environment in comparison to the natural/rural scenes of a forest.

Risk Assessment

In order to ensure a safe filming day, I looked into some possible hazards when it comes to filming our final project.

As we are aiming to film in a variety of different locations, it is important that we carefully consider how we get there, carrying the props around ensuring nothing drops or anyone trips over any false leads.
- As I intend to drive myself and the group to the locations, I have to make sure that I drive with caution and certify that all seat belts are worn.
- Intending to film at a train station means that we need to be extra cautious when filming and make sure there is nothing or anyone in danger of the tracks.
- To film indoors, we need to make sure no leads are sprawled across the floor in case members of the group or actors don't trip over and injure themselves.

Filming Dates

As a group we have decided that our two filming days will be, Monday 18th November, and Tuesday 19th November. Through looking at each others timetables we have found that all our group have free periods from 11:00am on Monday and 9:00am-12:00 on Tuesday. We will drive to our locations to complete our filming.

Digi Pack CD Artwork

I researched into a selection of Digi Pack Artwork on coverdude.com and found a bunch of CD covers that will give us inspiration and ideas for our own cover as we are required to design our own.

Practise Filming...

We have decided to complete a 'pilot' for our final idea, in which we will practise the techniques, such as split screen, and overlay we have decided to use in our Music Video. We have picked Wednesday 26th October to complete this task, this is the perfect day to experiment as we have no other commitments on that day, meaning we have the time to gain the knowledge of how we will edit the Final Product. This in the end will hopefully save us time in our real filming.

Digi Pack Elements

Due to the laid back and natural feel of our Genre we wanted to incorporate the feel of this onto our digi pack, and create a flow front the front cover to the back cover; additionally we will use the same style of font for the title of the album and the song list on the back cover. I found that the artwork for the album 'Big Echo' by The Morning Benders, flows from the front to the back which I found really appealing. Although the art is slightly different as the swimmers are entering the sea on the front and exiting on the back. This effect slightly adds to the start of the album and the end, which is a really interesting convention of an Indie digi pack which I liked also, the colours are linked to the type of tones we would like to incorporate in our digi pack, due to the muted blues and greens, representing nature.