Final Draft: Music Video

After showing my peers and teachers my third draft, I received a few pointers that could improve it. this involved fixing the timing of some clips and adding a stabilisation effect. I also considered using filters in some of my video clips, but after experimenting with them, I realised none of them fit with my genre of music video, country. Country music videos are full of nature, the outdoors and vibrant colours, and using a filter would take that away. Although I did use two filters in separate parts of the video because they enhanced it. The first was 'cold steel' which I used on the first two clips of the music video which represented a dull setting, but I bring back the full colour once the fire is lit, adding a dark and mysterious tone. The other filter I used was 'glory' which I added to various sequences in the graveyard when my actress was standing in front of the sun, which created a dark silhouette. 'Glory' enhanced this footage by fixing the exposure and giving it a very supernatural tone. Finally, I added a text shot to be inserted at the beginning of the video, which featured all of the details required for the examiners when marking (my name, college, board etc). With this done, I am pleased to say that this is my final draft as both my peers and my teachers agree that it is perfect and does not need any improvement. This means I can move onto my evaluation in which I will receive audience feedback.

Final Draft: DigiPak/Ancillary text

After receiving some feedback from my teachers from peers on the first draft of my digipak, I decided to apply these suggestions in order to improve my product.

The first suggestion was to completely change the concept of my front cover of the digipak. I picked up on this earlier when I completed the first draft. I noted in my earlier blog post that I felt it looked out of place and wasn't conventional to my genre of country music, it reminded me much more of a rock or heavy metal album cover. While looking at some more country album covers, I was unable to find one that I could take inspiration from and duplicate, so I decided to extend my research into the folk genre.

One front cover I really felt was effective and conventional to the folk genre was Gabrielle Aplin's English Rain. I felt it was simple, yet complex in its attention to detail. I decided to take inspiration from this album cover and duplicate it the best I can. I used an image I took from my third filming session to do this, I altered the brightness making it very vintage and old fashioned looking and applied the text (album name and artist's name) in the same style as English Rain. I am very happy with this finished front cover as I feel it says a lot in a simple way.

Improved front cover:

As for the back cover, my feedback indicated that it didn't need much alteration at all. The only critique that I picked out is that the first couple of song titles in the track list are difficult to see. To improve this, I quickly increased the brightness and saturation, making the text more visible as well as making the cover more vibrant and colourful.

Improved back cover:

My feedback indicated that the back left and inside left covers did not require any alteration as they're conventional to my genre and they compliment the digipak in its entirety. So I've left them as they were before.

Back Left:

 Inside Left:

As for the inside centre of the digipak, my feedback concluded that along with the front cover, it looked very  unconventional and was reminiscent of a rock or heavy metal album. After hearing this feedback I decided to replace the burning field with an image I took at the church in my third filming session. In my video, the church section in the bridge is the most vital component in my opinion. So I feel it important to include an image from this scene. I touched up the image a little to make it look more vibrant and supernatural, and I split it in half so it would fit in the two disc sections in my digipak.

Inside Centre Left and Right (split):

After showing this final draft of my digipak to my teachers and peers, they agreed that it need no more alterations to improve it. So with my digipak complete I can begin to collect audience feedback for my evaluation.

Final Draft: Promotion Poster

After researching and looking at some earlier drafts of my poster design, I came to the conclusion that I needed to make the image the focal point of the poster. This is a common convention as seen in many other country music posters (shown in my research) so I decided following this convention would be the most appropriate for my genre. I made the image the focal point by moving all of the text into a translucent black box at the bottom page. Keeping all the information in different text formats in one area made my poster a lot easier to read and look at, and the image pulls in my audience which is my clear objective. After showing this to my peers and teachers they were very pleased with it and stated it would fit in perfectly to a music magazine. So with all my ancillary texts completed, I am now able to begin receiving my audience feedback.

Evaluation: Question 1

Other prezis that I mention in this question:

Evaluation: Question 2

Evaluation: Question 3

WATCH FOUR VIDEOS BELOW BEFORE PROCEEDING SLIDES 24-28!

WATCH IN 720p HD for best quality playback!

Evaluation: Question 4

Ancillary texts in the media

In these images below I have inserted my main ancillary texts into various media products in order to demonstrate their appropriateness and appeal. These include the IPhone and IPad, Spotify, ITunes and the official charts company website. I have purposely inserted my artist into the country album charts instead of the main album chart, I have done this to demonstrate that country music isn't very mainstream in the UK and it usually doesn't make the top five in the main chart. But usually, singles from the album are very successful in the singles chart which then prompt the album to enter the main album chart. I have also inserted my promotion poster into Q magazine, to get a feel of how it would appear.

Second Draft: Promotion Poster

After receiving feedback for the first draft of my magazine poster, I realised that it looked too busy and the text was out of place. So I decided to start from scratch and create a very simplistic poster that used the same image as the front cover of my artist's album. I was inspired by a poster I found online of Gabrielle Aplin's English Rain. I also decided to add some reviews of the album (the five stars) from various music magazines as this demonstrates convergence and synergy within the industry. While I am pleased with this, I noticed later on that it more resembles a flyer than a poster. So while it is suitable as a flyer design, it does not match the conventions of a promotion poster. I will take these changes to heart and create another poster design.

My Digipak in real life

I decided to make a 3D interpretation of what my digipak would look like if it was a physical CD. I printed off the template for it and and folded it, this has really helped me imagine my digipak as a real CD, validating its effectiveness.

Third Draft: Music Video

After completing my second draft of my music video, I decided to proof-read it by watching it from start to finish and making notes on any obvious mistakes in timing and cuts. After making the notes, I went back onto Final Cut Pro X and made the adjustments accordingly, I ticked them off one by one on the list. For my next and (possibly) final draft I intend to show my video to my target audience as well as my teachers to receive more feedback on how to improve it. Lastly, I intend to experiment with effects to give the video more of a tone and mood.

Second Draft: Music Video

This is the second draft of my music video, or in other words the first completed draft. This draft has no gaps in it as I incorporated the footage from all four of my filming sessions, including the most recent ones, to create the video. I have taken my teacher's feedback into account aswell and made those adjustments accordingly. I am very pleased with this draft and I aim to receive more feedback in order to improve it even more.

Feedback on first draft of music video

Proficient/Excellent:

• Holding a shot steady, where appropriate; minimal, basic, proficient, excellent
• Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate; minimal/basic/proficient/excellent
• Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate; minimal/basic/proficient/excellent
• Shooting material appropriate for task set;  minimal/basic/proficient/excellent
• Selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;  minimal/basic/proficient/excellent
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer; minimal/basic/proficient/excellent
• Using varied shot transitions, captions, and other effects selectively and appropriately; minimal/basic/proficient/excellent
• Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task; minimal/basic/proficient/excellent

Comments:

• Your product has lots of potential, it reflects your genre very well
• I love your performance elements, locations and costume choice
• You have some very good cinematography in the video and the location is fantastic
• You have some good hand held camera but need a little less of it
• We have discussed the areas you need to change. Your product is very well thought out and put together and could be excellent with the changes discussed made

Filming Diary: Session 4

After reviewing the footage I got in the previous filming session, I decided that my actress was no longer required for filming due to the sheer amount of footage I had captured. I still needed to get some shots of the fireplace and me playing guitar so I filmed these by myself on Monday evening.

I lowered the tripod so it was level with the fire and filmed a few shots for constant use in my music video. I also turned off all the lights in the room while filming so it embossed a more sinister and dark tone. With this same set up I re filmed some shots of lighting a candle due to the shakiness of the footage I had filmed beforehand in November.

The last bit of filming I did was of me playing guitar. My genre is country so I felt it appropriate to incorporate a musical instrument into my music video. I wanted the fire to be the backdrop of the shot so I sat in front of the fire with the camera in front of me, zoomed in on the guitar, focused the camera on the guitar and flipped around the viewing screen so I could see if I was in frame or not. For these shots, I also turned on the lights to avoid the footage appearing grainy.

With this last bit of filming, I have officially completed it all. Now I can concentrate on editing my video with all the time I have left.

First Draft: Promotion Poster

Ancillary photographs 3

Here is a slideshare of all of the pictures I took during the third filming session. I intend to use some of these for my ancillary texts in the future (album cover etc). Please be aware that the quality has been reduced due to the sheer size of the files. But when I use them in the future, they will be in high quality.

Filming Diary: Session 3

Due to the incompetence of some of the footage I captured back in November, I deemed another filming session essential to improve my footage and overall video. Initally, me and my actress planned to film Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening, but due to a last minute change in plans, we were only able to film on the Saturday (8th of March). Because we only had roughly about 3-4 hours to film in four different locations, I decided to make a plan to ensure we got all the shots filmed that were required.

We picked Ellie up at 2pm and we got ready immediately, dressing her in the same costume as before. In the plan, I split my four locations in order so we went to Brantingham church first, then South cave cemetery, then the woods and finally back at my house. Planning out the day made the filming much more effective and on schedule.

The first location we went to was Brantingham church which was a five minute drive from my house. The weather was warm but also very hazy and misty which fitted the theme of my music video perfectly, it remained this way for the rest of the day. At the church, we took pictures for the ancillary texts and got a great amount of footage that is going to be used for the bridge section of my music video.

Next we went to the South Cave cemetery to take some more images for the ancillary texts. We went to this location in the previous session for filming and I think it fits the theme of my music video perfectly.

Next we went back into the woods to re-shoot a lot of the footage from the previous filming session. We had two locations within it, the trees and the field. A lot of the footage I got in the last filming session was unusable due to the shaky nature of it, so for the field shots I kept the camera on a tripod. For the walking section in the trees we found a flatter path in the woods to film on and I used the tripod as a steadicam. This proved incredibly successful as the footage ended up being incredibly smooth and professional. Also, despite it being a lot warmer than the previous filming session, the weather was very hasty and misty which created a great atmosphere in the footage.

We planned to film the fireplace and sparkler section at my house later on, but my actress had to leave unexpectedly so we decided we would film this small section after college on Monday the 10th of March. We also needed it to be dark outside for this footage, and by the time we finished the other filming, it was only 5pm so it wasn't dark enough.

I used the exact same equipment as before, the Canon 600d camera and the Velbon tripod, they worked very well. I also used the same technique for the actress's lip-syncing by bring both a copy of the lyrics and my IPhone so I could play the song on location so her timing was perfect.

Overall, this filming session was incredibly successful. I stuck to my written plan and we didn't go off schedule once. This demonstrates the importance of planning in advance for something important like a video shoot. After filming the shots by the fireplace tomorrow I will begin editing, I now have very high hopes for my music video.

New ideas for music video

During the course of editing the footage I captured on my first two filming sessions back in November, I've started to realise that some aspects of my music video are missing. I've noticed that the whole video takes place in one setting, and as this is abstract type of music video, the lack of settings only makes it harder to understand. In order to improve, I have added some more settings to film in for my music video.

One of these is in front of a fireplace to show the girl in mourning, this location will be very convenient as I have a marble fireplace in my house to use. The actions done in this scene will be the girl reading the letter and throwing it into the fire at the end, plus, some shots of her lip-syncing by it.

Here's an example of what the setting/scene will look like:

Another idea for a setting I have is at Brantingham Church. This location is also convenient as it is only a 2 minute drive from my house and the scenery fits the overall theme and style of my music video. I plan to film some shots of my actress walking across the land, aswell as some shots of her walking by the church. This will give my music video more variety.

Lastly, I have decided to introduce a new motif and symbol to my music video to give it even more depth, lightning. The use of pathetic fallacy (when the setting reflects the mood) is very important in my music video so I felt I needed to add more to give it more variety. I plan to use sparklers and film my actress out in my garden with them while its dark. This will create a feeling of distress and anger while also showing the essence of the character, carefree, innocent and naive.

Hopefully all of these ideas combined with the ideas I've already used will ensure my music video has more variety and depth, improving it greatly.

Weather forecast (3rd and 4th filming day)

As the third and 4th filming sessions had to be re-scheduled due to my actress' busy schedule, I have researched the weather forecast for the new dates. I did this to ensure there wouldn't be any rainfall or snow that would prevent us from filming that day. As you can see it is predicted to be sunny and mild on these dates so this weather is ideal.

Proposed Re-shoot and Footage Issue

Due to extenuating circumstances, I have had to push back my re-shoot date to the 8th and 9th of March due to my actress being busy. I only recently found out that the footage I captured on the 15th of November is not compatible with the editing program because I used a different camera. The images I took can still be used though. In this session, I intend to take more images for the ancillary texts and re-film a lot of the footage I lost, taking the opportunity to improve my initial plans.

First Draft: DigiPak/Ancillary text

Front Cover:

Back Cover:

Back Left:

 Inside Left:

Inside Centre Left and Right (split):

Overall I am very pleased at the appearance of my digipak at this moment in time. I really think it captures the essence of the destruction of nature, I have done this by combining fire and smoke with woodlands and fields. Judging it now, I do think my front cover is the weakest point of my digipak. Despite the lengthy editing process I had to go through to achieve the burning trees in the background, I feel its overly edited to the point where it doesn't match the rest of the digipak. Furthermore, despite the fact it took me a long time to edit the album's title (Girl On Fire), I also feel it isn't conventional to my genre. It looks out of place to the point where the front cover looks like a rock or heavy metal album. These points and any other feedback I receive will enable to improve my digipak to my advantage, making it the best it can be. 

Ancillary planning #2

By using the programs Adobe Photoshop CS5 and PicMonkey, I have produced and edited a wide variety of images that I plan to use for my ancillary texts. I can construct my first draft for my digipak and poster with these pictures, and once I've done that, I can receive feedback to help me improve them. All of the images I heavily edited and reconstructed are pictured below.