Journal - Digipak Advert Changes

After receiving feedback on my digipak advert, I made some changes to it. I increased the font and made it the same purple so that the song title also stands out, as opposed to just the album title and artist title. I also added a drop shadow and an outer glow to the date for the same effect. I cannot use my customised font for the date as including numbers is not an option therefore I used the Arial font.

However, I felt that this stood out too much and made the bottom half of the advert too crowded so I rearranged it to be below the artist's name. Then, I changed the colour to black to make it easier to read.

As my feedback said I needed more links to social networks, I added in a link to the record label website. As this wouldn't fit in the right hand corner, I placed it on the left, above the small album cover preview.

However,  I then felt that this was too crowded  on the left side so I moved the Polydor logo back to the right. 

Unhappy with the amount of text, I added in some more visuals (social networking logos that can be recognised universally) above the text links.

This is my final digipak advert. I am happy with the changes I made as I feel all of the information stands out, however the most important (artist title and album title) are the clearest.

Journal - Final Digipak

One of the issues that featured in my digipak feedback was that I had not included the copyright information so I included this information on my tracklisting panel. I added in the record label information/address in addition to the barcode and Polydor logo. This demonstrates the presence of the record label.

I then replaced my previous version of this panel with the updated one to complete my digipak.

Here is my finished digipak following last lesson's feedback:

Journal: Music Video Feedback

Following the screening of our music videos, we posted our music video on social networking sites such as YouTube and Facebook and asked for positive/negative feedback. The feedback we have received has so far been positive:

People have complimented our editing techniques and generally felt that the video and song went well together. Our music videos appears to remain entertaining and fun throughout as our feedback mostly includes positives reaction, with many stating that they enjoyed watching the video. Our ending was also complimented, particularly the pairing of the shot and last drum beat.

I am happy with our music video as our feedback has overall been positive and I think it captures the fun, artistic image we wanted to communicate.

Journal - Music Video + Digipak Screening

We screened our music videos and digipaks to our class yesterday. Our music video feedback is below.

The group responded well to the different locations we used, feeling that it helped ensure that our music video remained engaging. They felt the fast-paced editing fitted the song and matched the fun, upbeat atmosphere of our track -- to the point where the editing was sometimes too fast and they requested that we prolonged the length of some shots, e.g our shot of Isla singing in the mirror.

An issue that was addressed was the timing of our lip synching. I personally felt that we matched them up appropriately however it is important that our music video looks professional so we will revisit this.

They also enjoyed the time lapse effect at the beginning of the song; this feedback was very useful as we were concerned that the sped up footage was on screen for too long, however this sample group responded positively to it.

They suggested that our studio background shop may look better with an effect on it, such as black and white or even purple as it will link in with our digipak. One shot during the stimulator had to be lightened up in post-production so that Isla's facial features were visible, however this stood out from the music video and so (as the natural lighting is too dark) we plan to take this shot out.

This feedback also helped with the gaps we have at the end; suggestions to fill these gaps were to revisit all our of previous locations as a way of summarising our music video. Our on-screen text should be more prominent in our music video or removed completely, according to our feedback.

Journal - Music Video Post-Production

We have exported our unfinished music video to showcase the editing we have done so far.



As storyboarded, we began with the long exposure shots of London. In order to ensure that these shots were not on screen for too long and did not become boring, we added in bold text that swiped on screen in time with the music. The text used is the same text from my digipak - Harbell - as I think it resembles handwriting yet remains easy to read and bold.

We kept the opening shots of London the same speed so that the long exposure would have more of an effect -- the purpose of the suddenly sped up shots is to reflect the sudden pace in the music. The majority of our editing is fast-paced to match the speed of the song.

The pan of the hair is to match the build-up in the music, almost leading up to a grand reveal of our artist.

As soon as the music begins, the first two shots are of Isla on her own and are close-ups/mid shots. This is to bring the focus on Isla from the very beginning of the video. We sped up the footage of Isla and her friends walking as the shots at normal speed were on screen for too long and contrasts with the fast-paced nature of our song.

Though we include shots around London, we deliberately kept the bedroom shots at the beginning as they focus solely on Isla and so establish her dominance within the music video. The bedroom shots also showcase more sophisticated editing skills, such as reversing our clips, and so ordering these at the beginning immediately attracts the audience.

We decided to split the line "here and now" into two different clips as we thought it would be a good way to introduce our second location of London. It reflects the lyrics as it the location changes as soon as "and now" is sung. 

Here

Now

We decided to use the singing shots of Isla on the bridge overlooking the Thames and by the London Eye as the backgrounds are the most picturesque, however we did have to lighten these shots to make them more visible and less dull to look at. The shot of Isla on the bridge, in particular, is one of my favourites as the lighting behind her creates almost a lens flare effect that looks artistic and links in with my digipak.

We brought in our text again during the chorus as we didn't want every shot of the lyric "youth knows no pain" to be Isla singing in case it became too repetitive and boring. We paired our text with the iconography of London as the scenery looks high definition on camera. The font size and colour also attracts the eye of the audience, keeping them engaged even towards the end of our music video.

We shortly returned to the arcade as we had some remaining shots of Isla on the dance mat that we wanted to include and we wanted to summarize all of our locations as we bring the music video to a close. Again, we sped these up to match the pace of our song.

We included our shots from China Town and Trafalgar Square at the end to ensure that we have a variety of locations. The arcade shots are visually more stimulating and so it made sense for the middle of the song to consist of these shots, whilst the less bright shots with quicker cuts to be positioned at the end as our song's pace increases towards the end. Again, many of these shots had to be sped up and we used jump cuts during the climbing and telephone box scene to keep the shots snappy and engaging. We chose Trafalgar Square, China Town and the telephone box as they are significant landmarks within London that will be recognized internationally. As our artist is a British artist, it also reflects her personal life.

Trafalgar Square

China Town

Again, we wanted to include an artistic, vintage vibe to our music video and, as we used polaroid photos at the beginning of our video, we revisited our quick cuts of photos again. Towards the end of the song, the beats increase and we felt it made more sense to show quick snapshots of photos (considering some of our footage shows Isla with her polaroid camera) rather than to show moving footage where the audience would not have time to register what they had seen. The presence of Polaroids provides artistic, vintage connotations.

I am very happy with how our music video currently looks. Though we have still gaps, it heavily resembles our storyboard and suits the pace and fun mood of our song.

Having edited the arcade scenes earlier this year, they are discussed in detail in my previous posts:

Arcade post-production

Other post-production

Journal - Reshooting on Location

Following the bad weather on our last shoot in London, we were forced to postpone the shots for our music video around London. These shots will make up the last portion of our music video and will focus on Isla and her friends sightseeing around London.

Significantly shorter than our last shoot, the locations we shot at on Saturday 25th January were Chinatown, London Southbank and Trafalgar Square.

We started shooting at London Southbank in the morning where we got several shots of Isla singing the entire song against the bridge with Big Ben in the background along with Isla singing/laughing with a background of the London Eye. The purpose of this iconography is to emphasise Isla's central London upbringing.

Further down the bridge, we set up our tripod for long exposure - we had to film the moving traffic and people for around ten minutes in order to ensure we have another footage for post-production as it will be sped up. Originally, we set up our camera on the the right side of the road however had to relocate to the left side due to the positioning of a bus top near us -- buses constantly stopped in the middle of our shot and ruined the atmosphere.

Due to the sun being positioned behind Isla on the bridge, we will have to lighten up some of the footage. This portion of the shoot, however, was successful as we were left undisturbed and the weather was suitable.

Our next location in London was Trafalgar Square, the fountain being the the main focus of our shoot. We again chose this location because of the iconography it holds -- it will be a recognised location among our audience. The title of our song is "youth knows no pain" so we were eager to focus on Isla and her friends having fun. We filmed Isla and her friends climbing on the lions in Trafalgar Square along with sitting and laughing around the fountain.

Our last location was Chinatown. We chose this location because of the colours and again the iconography within London. We didn't linger in this location as much as the others though did find an arcade in Chinatown that we took some photos and shots outside to link in with the earlier shots in our music video. We took one particular photo at the entrance of Chinatown and then shot a still video of Isla and her friends for a few second before they walked away from the camera; we hope to create an effect in the music video of showing a photo then suddenly cuts into action.

We also took several photos of Isla and her friends around London -- including on the train -- that we can use in the video to match up with the drum beats to create the illusion that photos are being taken. We attempted to make Isla the focus of these by positioning her in the middle.

 

Overall, our last shoot in London was successful. We got all of the shots that we needed - and some additional shots -- and the weather allowed us to get through all of it. The next part of our construction should solely be focused on post-production.

Journal - Music Video Post Production

We decided to add in some effects to the shots we filmed on Monday. The white background provided some professionalism to our shoot but the lighting is very minimalist. Initially experimenting with brightness and contrast, we soon discovered a video effect under "Eight-point Garbage Matte" called "feather". Turning this up to the highest setting provided darker corners around the edge of our shots, aiming the focusing on the middle of our shots, i.e Isla's face.

This shot has been instrumental in bridging the gaps we have near the beginning of our music video, just before the bumper cars shot. We took out snippets of this shot where Isla is laughing or smiling to fill in the one second gaps we have.

We also began experimenting with playing shots in reverse. The editing in our music video is mostly fast cuts so we wanted to try and include some more sophisticated editing techniques. We used the reverse option under the speed options in Final Cut Pro on our polaroid clip (Isla's hands going through the polaroid) so that it matched up with our beats. We also used it for a shot of a hat being thrown onto Isla's head  to emphasize the fun, spirited vibes of our music video.

Journal - Music Video Shoot

In order to avoid random gaps in our music video where clips may not have lasted as longer as we originally planned, we shot another sequence of Isla singing the entire song so that we can use it if need be. We needed a white background and white lighting: we set up a 3D white backdrop in school and surrounded it with spotlights to give our music video a professional feel, rather than relying on natural lighting.

The aims of our shoot were not overly complex and so filming didn't take very long. We shot Isla singing the track from three different angles to ensure we have a variety of shots in our music video.

Hair and make-up was the same as our previous shoots: simple winged eyeliner. We decided to use a different outfit to emphasize the presence of fashion in our artist. We chose an outfit we had previously used for our a digipak that reflects current fashiont trends : a tartan crop top and bodycon skirt.

Our shots were tightly framed close-ups that only included Isla's face and shoulders. The purpose of this was to reflect Goodwin's analysis in regards to the use of close-ups. The focus of a music video should be the artist and close-ups are important in our music video to market our artist.