Finished Digipak

This is my final digipak and how it would look as an actual CD cover. I think the front and inside both work really well together as i have used the light leak effect on the inside and out.

I loved using the light leak effect on pixelmator as i feel it clearly represents the albums name as well as the minimalistic syntactic elements like the red lips and the orange fairy lights also used. It also looks naturalistic and not too fake which once again fits in with out genre conventions of Indie Folk.

Digipak Improved Inside

I feel that by taking on board my evaluation point this has improved my Digipak greatly making it look more professional and matches the outside of it much better.

Audience Feedback

We asked two students, one who takes A Level media and one who doesn't, what they thought of our media draft 2. This is what they said...


           

Which Magazine Advert?

These are my two magazine adverts that i am now deciding between..

Digipak draft

Due to evaluation from peers and my teacher i have decided to make the inside more like the outside by adding a pink tone to the images making everything tie in better together.

Music Video

Due to the quality that youtube allows, this doesn't represent our music video very well as some of the shots are shown to be pixelated and they are not.

              

Digipak Draft

This is my first draft of my digipak as a whole


Front


Inside Left


I think i'm going to change this so that the left and right of the inside match to make it look more appealing.


2.



If these contrasting pictures don't look good then im going to make the inside right picture overlap with the inside left so that its the same image.

Inside Right

Also i am going to position the circle in the middle of this image















Back Of Digipak

Magazine Advert Draft

This is my first finalised magazine advert. I feel it follows with the true conventions of my indie folk genre...

The red lips and red eyes resemble the 'Fire Within' album name so that audiences can clearly engage with what the artist is trying to portray.

It also informs audiences when the album is being released and where they can purchase it from.

Lastly, by having a triple exposure of the artist, one of the locations and the performer it creates enigma for audiences as to what the music videos include.

Editing Overall

Once we were happy with all our editing we recreated a draft of our music video to make sure we had evenly distributed the clips from each day and location.

This section shows each location positioned together...





This section also shows how we used the cross dissolve effect to create the clips to flow naturally...






This next row of clips shows how the use of no dissolves or fades can be used to create more of a dramatic effect engaging the audience...






Lastly, the use of changing the opacity of clips also enhances our music video making it have a sense of professionalism.

Changes to my digipak ideas

I have been thinking about my digipak planning and I felt that having the performer of the video of the front of the digipak is not a great way of representing the artist. It does not draw the audience in as it does shows the artists name however not her face which may confuse them and stop them from buying the product. Secondly, this will also allow the magazine advert and digipak to connect more visually as they will have the same person (the artist) as the main focus. This means on filming day 3 we will take some pictures of the artist making sure we have everything we need to create our own successful digipak and magazine advert. I also wanted to stick to the typical conventions of the indie digipaks and have an establishing shot of the key location from our music video to create audience enigma as to the reasoning behind the location and the audiences emotions within the song.

Editing day 3

This is us editing with our third day of filming shots. This wasthe hardest part as we had to make sure the lip syncing was perfect to withstand the high quality and professionalism our piece held. We feel we did this well and these are some of the shots we came out with after editing with the rest of our piece.












Editing was a long and stressful process but due to our organisation skills we were able to make the most out of our time in ensuring we were happy and proud with our finishing product

Lip Sync Practice

Before we filmed the studio shots we wanted to get some practice in the lip syncing aspect to see what works best. As a result we filmed two people from our school to lip sync our song and see what we need to do to improve and make it include the same care and attention that our other scenes have.


       

By practicing the lip syncing we have decided to make the artist actually sing the song on filming day 3 as this will then allow a sense of realism and emotion to be shown through the artist. Secondly, it will also show the audience that the lyrics mean something to the artist as she can show this through her facial expressions as well as her breathing techniques and power she puts into the song.

Filming Day 3

            

Within this day i took some pictures for my digipak and magazine advert using various different shots to make sure i had enough to choose from...


             

Analysis Of Birdy's Digipak

Digipak Practice 3- Stylize Effects

Vintage Effect

This was one of the many vintage effects you could chose and i like the way it highlights the performers face and makes the background a darker shade. It follows the true conventions of indie artists as the main focus is usually the main character.

Font Effect

I wanted to try one of the tutorials i found the other day by changing the title to clouds. I really like the look of the font as it represents the indie genre through using an establishing shot of the landscape within the video. I have come to the decision that it may be better for the magazine advert and digipak to have the artist on them as audiences would easily recognise them and help them engage more with the artists production aspects.

Digipak Practice 2- Light Leak Effect

Using my research into the tutorials previously, i decided to try these effects out on various images i took on filming day one to see if i liked the look of any of them.

Light Leak Effect

I really like this effect as yo can decide on the strength of the filter and exactly where you want it to be on your image. There are various filters within this effect which i am willing to experiment with to see which ones I think work best for my digipak. Also as Birdy's album is called 'Fire Within' the subtle orange light can also represent the connotation of this which I think audiences would appreciate.

This is another image of me using the light leak effect however I also used the Lyra filter which brightened the whole image whilst also having the orange tint coming from the top right hand corner.

I then went in and added the pavo filter which added slightly more brightness than the previous options and made the image look more artificial.

Editing Day 2

After we had filmed the night scene we once again went back through our storyboard and integrated the clips into the final cut express timeline. This was a great way to do it as it was quick and easy and allowed us lots of time to edit the clips how we wanted them.

As you can see the clips are quite still only using s slight bit of panning to stick to the subtle nature of our video. The lights surrounding them gives a nice romantic touch and we feel it really works well with the other location.











via GIPHY

Digipak Practice 1- first time using pixelmator

Today i used the software pixelmator for the first time and began playing around with the concept of the app and what effects and filters are involved.

My first digipak practice includes images I took on filming day 1 and I practiced using various layers and the eraser to integrate them together. I like the shadow eraser as it gives an overall softer feel which fits in well with my music video.

My second digipak practice shows me using the Gaussian blur effect to represent the second filter as a 'dream'. This was a timely process and ended up not perfect however I wanted to test out different filters to see how they ended up.

My third practice revolved around finding a text that fit with our narrative and represented the characters and storyline well. I also think the colour white correlates well with their outfits and shows the connotation of purity and creates enigma for the audience on the music video itself.

Filming Day 2

         


             

I also produced a video to show the filming evening...


           

Pixelmator Tutorials

I went onto the pixelmator tutorials website to research into the effects and filters that it has to offer.I found two effects which I am interested to try out as they fit in well with the music video and would work really well in branding it.

Firstly the light leak effect which allows you to add a coloured filter into a particular part of the picture.  I think this would be great to experiment with as it will represent the indie genre well and create a more attracting and engaging CD cover.

I also found the sylish light effect which allows you to play about with the lighting aspect of the digipak and add lens flares and beams to increase its professionalism. I would like to experiment with this filter as i think lens flares would be a great way to illustrate the female performer in a positive light.

I really like this sun beam effect in this image an I can imagine trying this on some of my images.

 I also came across a part of this effect where lighting can be all black and low key however the artist is still in a bright light. I think this would come in useful for the magazine advert as I might have the artist on the front standing out from the black background to show the audiences clearly who the artist is whilst also showing her emotions shown in the song.

I then looked through the text tools available and came across this..

http://www.pixelmator.com/tutorials/text/clouds/

I feel if the image i use includes the clouds the subtlety of the text within the clouds may look really elegant and will also represent the indie genre.

Lastly i think having a tool to lighten certain parts of an image will also come in handy for both my magazine and digipak.

http://www.pixelmator.com/tutorials/retouching/dodge-tool/

Through researching into all the effects and tools I now feel much more prepared on what i want to do.

Preparation for filming Day 3

On this day we will film the artist, Sarah, singing in a studio with lighting and a  white professional background. She is going to represent Birdy in the music video. We are going to film her from all different angles and close ups to make sure we have a sufficient amount of storage if we need it.

We have used the software 'Storyboard That' to produce an animated version of our artist and some of the shots we want to film. These include close ups, mid shots, extreme close ups and long shots to represent her emotions.

I have once again created a pinterest board for inspiration
https://uk.pinterest.com/islareid2/filming-day-3/

Equipment

• Camera
• Tripod
• Studio backdrop
• Lighting
• Lighting Kit (which we have bought)
• Black clothing
• The actress
• Red lipstick

To connect both female characters together we have used glitter in each of our scenes but on different parts of the face. We felt as this one included lots of close ups we would put it on top of her red lipstick to really stand out to the audience. Similarly, as the album is called 'fire Within' we thought the lips with the gold glitter represented the title well and could clearly show to the audience what the artist is portraying within her songs.

We feel these shots need to be as professional as our previous filming days to make the music video reach its full potential. The actress is also willing to sing the song which i think will look much more realistic and have a sense of professionalism in it so that audiences find what she is singing about believable. We also want these shots to be a huge contrast to our other scenes so by making Sarah where all black (whilst the performers wear white) creates a connotation for the costumes and allows audience enigma to occur. The reasoning behind these costumes is to show the flashback of the relationship at the time was all happy and pleasant, however, when Sarah recalls and sings about what went on in the past it upsets her and therefore is wearing black to represent a sombre tone. Secondly, in the performance piece you will notice the male is wearing a white top with black trousers to show he is the reason why the relationship ended badly and why Sarah feels the way she does.

Location
Now that we have our own lighting kit, we can easily film in my kitchen/bedroom depending on which lighting would look better. This makes planning for when to film much easier as we have the ability to film in our own home and take our time in making sure we have all the shots we need.

Preparation for filming day 2

Next Thursday (10th October 2016) we have planned to film the second scene for our music video. This is based at night and we will be filming in Isla's back garden with both George and Chrissy. Due to earlier commitment we will be starting to film at 8pm and hopefully will be done by half 9 the latest.

I have created a Pinterest board for some inspiration on the costumes and camrea shots so we were prepared.

https://uk.pinterest.com/islareid2/second-day-of-filming/

What we need:
- Camera - Pick up Thursday
- Tripod - Pick up Thursday
- Picnic Blanket - Isla's House
- Lanterns - We have ordered Paper lanterns with a cute detail on the side of them
- Candles - From Isla's
- Matches - Isla's House
- Fairy Lights - (from me and borrowing from others)
- Sparklers - I'm buying from shop 


 Costumes
-Chrissy: A sparkly dress/skirt with a white blanket wrapped around her
-George: Wearing all black 
Shots we need:

After editing in our first day of filming we decided that using to much dance would make the night seen look pointless so are willing to get more footage on the second day to fill in any gaps in our piece. This will all it to follow more freely. Shot's could include; close up's of the couple together and apart; Close up's of the different props; Shots with deep focuses and long shots of the couple.

Release Forms

We made 3 release forms one for each member of our crew and got them to sign it to provide evidence that they were happy to be part of our music video.

I found a website which allowed me to download different fonts which i did and these are the ones I found...

Analysis of Indie Magazine Adverts

Rough Cut 1

After filming day 1 we put all the clips into final cut express using the easy set up options. We then used our storyboard to situate these clips with the music where we wanted them. I think this gave us a great starting point to making a really successful music video that we would be proud of. Also the black parts of the video are the sections that we have not filmed yet. We also saved it in a low quality format as we were rushed for time.



         

Editing Day 1

After filming our first day we started to edit following our storyboard. These are some of the sections we created using editing techniques such as slow motion, cross dissolves and action matches (locked off camera shot).

Beginning Shot

   



Lens Flare





Action Match using a different camera angle




Locked Off Camera Shot

Filming Day one

On this day we filmed the performance aspect of the video including the duet scenes. We were really pleased with how the day went and managed to film all the shots we needed to. The weather also worked on our side with various moments of sunlight appearing! We also managed to take some pictures for our separate digipak ideas and overall i am really pleased with how its going.

What Went Well

1. Everyone was well organised and prepared so they knew what clothing to wear and what to bring
2. The weather worked in our favour and was just how we hoped it would be
3. The people we chose worked really well together and even began incorporating their own ideas into the piece
4. We all worked well and had our own jobs to make sure we got everything we needed

Improvements

1. We realised some of the shots we took came out slightly shaky so maybe we could've taken more time in being more cautious with some of the shots
2. As we were filming in a local park, some of our shots also had people or dogs in the background! However, we could use this to our advantage and say that it adds to the realism of the piece therefore engaging our audience.

         

Mis-en-scene

We decided to correlate the costumes to link both characters together with the colour of white as it has connotations of pure and graceful which fits in well with our storyline. We then got the male to wear black bottoms which connotes to the audience he has something 'dark' about him and his personality which may be the reason why there relationship broke down. We also made the female bare foot as it adds simplicity and effortlessness about her character and the way she presents herself. This could allow audiences to relate to the story more as it adds a sense of realism.

Make Up/Hair

We decided to do her makeup very natural looking so it does not distract audiences from the actual performance. As you can see we also put some glitter as a highlight to her face which will stand out and keep audiences engaged. the glitter also attracts audiences to look at her face and read her true emotions linking to the narrative. We also thought the glitter represents the storyline as well and shows her enjoyment and how happy she is within her relationship. Secondly, we curled her hair and left it looking natural and flowy to increase the professionalism of our music video whilst also showing the character well.

Digipak Ideas

These are some pictures i took on my camera for my digipak. I love the idea of having the female performer on the front as either of these shots because i think she represents the songs narrative well and is the key role. Secondly, for the background i was able to take some landscape shots such as the bench however i also liked the idea of having both the performers to signify the storyline again. I think audiences will also relate to the pictures of them together as relationships are a main part of everyones life. Also, i took some pictures of the female performer flicking her hair naturally in the wind as i think this is a convention of indie digipaks as it is very naturalistic and also features the nature behind her (another key convention)

Storyboard