Digi Pack font choices

Firstly, Lola was the one who had started to create the back cover of the digipack since this was her ancillary product role. However, I put in my own input when it came down to trying to find the right font to use for the song list that is on the top left hand side of the the back of the didipack. At first, I really like the first font that is shown since it is a 'girly' font as some may describe it as, as well as it fitting in with the type of genre the sing is and so the other songs on the album will follow. However, when thinking about it in depth, it's not always about it looking 'girly' or 'fitting in' with the genre is what I had thought to myself next. Then, Lola had found the serif font which started to look a lot better on top of the background photograph. I also personally think that this font looks so much better since it looks neater and much more mature, since we are going for a professional look at the end of the day. Even though I loved this font, there has been one more change since I last put in my input to this part of the digipack. Lola has managed to find a font that is in between the two fonts that I have shown above, meaning that this was the one that we have gone for. 

Digipack

                                                                                                                                                                             Here is an example of what the inside cover of our digipack is going to look like. Lola and I have chosen this picture to feature being the CD discs in the cover because we both felt that it was a little different in comparison to the other pictures which we have chosen to feature in the digipack. 

By using photoshop, we have managed to get this overlay filter which makes the picture look different and unique, just like our music video itself. In the picture, you can see that it feature two of the actors that are in the couple scenes throughout the video. Lola and I felt that we needed to include something to do with them in our digi pack, since it is promoting the song which we have made a music video to. 

Here, is the inside cover photo that Lola and I have chosen to feature in our final digipack. We have taken this snapshot from the actual music video itself. This footage is emphasised at the beginning of the video where we have an out of focus shot of cars driving along a busy motorway in the evening. As you can see, we have taken the photograph and put it in a black and white filter, and just like the other photograph above, we have put the hazy overlay over the top to create a nice effect in order to make it stand out and different from what is shown in the music video. Personally, I love the way in which the lights of the cars look in this photograph, since I feel that it is adding depth to our creative work. 

This is the back of the digipack that Lola and I have created. We thought that this photo would be best suited for the back of the digipack since it is simple, yet it relates to the front picture but it's just taken at a different angle. I really like this photo that we have chosen because of how simple it is yet effective. 

Rough draft advert

Below is the poser advert that I have created for the promotion of the song Crazy in Love as well as the album that the artist is bringing out which Crazy in Love features on. This advert is just a rough copy since as you can see from the white box in the bottom right hand corner of the poster, this is where a picture of the digi pack will be place. This is to make sure that I am engaging the promotion of the song as well as the album & artist to the right demographic group. 

Filming Day 4

The pit 

This was the last time that we were able to film, due to rough cut deadlines being so close. However, we had booked the pit on Tuesday 17th November from 4:30pm - 6:30pm. This therefore gave us enough time to get the lighting how we wanted it to be, as well as getting the final shots for the performance sequences as well as lip sync. I personally think that the shots taken in the pit with the different lighting are the best shots in mine and Lola's music video. The shots that we were initially trying to get in the pit are close up shots of Lauren when she is lip syncing and dancing. This is because i think that close up shots in a confined space such as the pit; will help to show some diversity in our music video. Also, when dancing and showing lip sync, close up shots really help to emphasise emotion that the actor is trying to portray to their target audience. It's a little bit annoying how we didn't have a good amount of time to some extent, since we did have to go out of our way to pick up Lauren from school in Bishop's Stortford. Overall, I am happy about how this filming afternoon / evening went since I feel that we have been very successful with what we have 

achieved. Below are some of the shots that Lola and I managed to get: 

Rough Cut

Research - Lighting Plan

Couple Scene: 

Here, we decided to film outside since the weather became lovely and sunny, so on the day, we decided that we would use the natural sunlight which made a great effect on our footage since the sunlight really lit up Alice and Jack's face, as well as some shot that we did for example; Alice jumping on Jack's back, the way in which the sun was positioned made a really lovely sillohuette effect which looks amazing.

The pit 

For the shots that are taken in here, Lola and I are going to be using the lighting box that is in there to create different effects to fit with the mood and emotion of the song. I particularly want to use a single white spot light on our actress Lauren, to express her as a single artist.

Dance Studio 

The lighting in the dance studio is obviously pre set to how the Rhodes Centre have the lighting in there for the dance classes that go on. Since it is a dance studio and that is the main purpose of us using it, we therefore want the lighting to be bright, in order to keep the theme going to Lauren looking like she is rehearsing the dance before it gets into the shots of her dancing the same dance but with more extravagant lighting in the pit.

Recording Studio 

Again, the lighting in here is going to be from the normal lights that are used in there on a daily basis. However, Lola and I will be using the LED attachable light that we have in order to emphasise close up shots of Lauren singing in the recording studio.  

Filming Overview Day 3

Recording Studio & Pit

Our third day of filming was taken up by two different locations; the recording studio and the pit at our school. Lola and I both decided that we wanted to use these two locations since the recording studio would give us the realistic feel of filming our recording artist, as well as conveying a different convention as well as varying the shots within the flow of our music video. When deciding about using the pit at our school, we both thought that it would give the right atmosphere when portraying the performance side of our music video, since we are exposed to having different lighting in order to get the right feel that we want to.  When filming in the recording studio, we managed to get everything that we wanted to shoot within an ok amount of time. This is because our actress, Lauren, goes to another school in Bishop's Stortford so we therefore had to pick her up in order to get her to our location, meaning that we got back to our school later than expected due to heavy traffic. Because of this, it meant that we weren't able to get everything shot that we wanted to shoot in the pit, since we had to be out of there by 5:45 pm and we had only arrived there at 5:20pm. In addition to this, we did shoot a few shots of Lauren lip syncing but I pointed out to Lola when looking back at this particular footage on final cut pro 10, that it does looked rushed and not to the professional standard that we are trying to get it to. As well as this, the lighting box that changes all the lighting in the pit was locked, meaning we could only use the dimmed lighting on the walls, and the LED attachable light that we have for our camera lens and therefore couldn't get the different lighting that we wanted in order to highlight and emphasise Lauren when she is singing and dancing. 

In order to overcome this, I have managed to book the pit again for Tuesday 17th November from 4:30pm - 5:45pm. This therefore gives us enough time to film the performance sequence and the lip syncing shots again so that we are both happy with the progress we have made within filming the footage for our music video. I personally think that Lola and I had overcome this issue on this filming day well, since we were using our initiative and thinking outside the box. 

Filming overview - Day 2

The second day of filming was with our main actress, Lauren, who is doing the lip sync and the performance for our 'Crazy in Love' music video. For this part of our filming, Lola and I had managed to hire out the main dance studio in the Rhodes Centre in Bishop's Stortford for an hour and a half. Additional payments obviously had to be made for this. The total of hiring out the dance studio for the time that we had asked for it was; £41.60. Lola and I therefore split the cost, making it more manageable for us to be able to hire out.

During our time filming here, we were able to get all of the dance studio shots done that we wanted to get done. The best thing about this studio at the Rhodes Centre, is that it was really big, meaning that we could get shots without having complications of Lola and I being seen in the mirrors that are placed alongside the whole of the left hand wall in the studio. However, whilst we were filming various long shot shots, a few complications were starting to occur. This is because when having the camera pointing at different angles in the dance studio, we would always get the mirrored image of Lauren dancing, which isn't what we were going for. However, we managed to overcome this by taking mainly medium shots, medium close ups or, close up shots of Lauren dancing her set dance routine to Crazy in Love. One thing in which Lola and I were really impressed with in the dance studio, was that we could change the lighting onto different settings. This therefore enabled us to get the right lighting that we wanted to get in order to create a lyrical mood and atmosphere, since the dance being portrayed through the dance studio is lyrical modern dance.

In my opinion, I feel that Lola and I have managed to have another successful filming time slot. This is because there was only really one main complication however, we managed to get everything done within this location. However, I think we were very driven when taking to footage of these shots. This is because we both knew that it had to get done since we couldn't come back because otherwise, we would have had to pay another lump sum of money in order to film in the dance studio again. 

Filming overview - Day 1

The first day of filming, Lola and I went to our first location as scheduled, which was one of our Actor's house. Here, we filmed the couple shots that are included in our music video to represent the theme of 'love' and helping us to relate lyrics and visuals. The shots that we have managed to get here are really good in my opinion, especially because of the natural outside lighting. We were very lucky with the way in which the weather had turned out on this day. This is because throughout the day, the weather was very bad and rainy, which isn't what we wanted and was thinking about having to cancel and postpone. Luckily, throughout the afternoon, the weather started to pick up, and it became sunny and a clear beautiful afternoon / evening, so myself and Lola were able to take some really nice shots with our high quality camera. 

When we arrived at Jack's house, we thought that it would be best to film as soon as we arrived since we were unsure of what the weather was going to end up being like, since it had gone from heavily raining to beautiful sunlight. After about an hour and a half of filming (3:30-5:00pm) my camera better died, meaning that we had to take a little break in order to charge the battery and make sure that there was enough to film the rest of what Lola and I had planned to do with Alice and Jack. Whilst the camera battery was charging, Lola and I decided that we would go through additional shots that we could film whilst we had Alice and Jack with us, in order to allow us to have a good variety of shots to choose from when it came down to editing the footage together. 

Overall, the filming afternoon / evening went really well in my opinion, even though we had to stop for a little while in order to charge the camera batter. I think that these shots that we filmed with Jack and Alice have turned out nicely since they are shots that we are slotting into the music video at times where it is in relation to the lyrics that I being sang in the song. It is a nice narrative that we have constructed. I think that these shots are more simplistic to film than Day 2's shooting schedule. This is because when filming couple shots, there aren't that many to film, since Lola and I don't want to portray the shots and our video as a whole as 'cringy' because of the couple for example, holding hands. Therefore, we haven't included any shots like that because then we are leading our video into the stereotypical love song music video, and that is not what we want to create for our target audience. 

Out of focus shots / Shaky camera movement / lighting problems

A few shots that were taken at various locations for my music video did not go to plan once I was looking back at them after I had finished filming. This is because even though I do like the effect some out of focus shots bring, I feel that for the ones that it has happened too it doesn't look right. Zooming in on a few shots is also an issue that has occurred on a few shots that I was most likely to use. This is annoying since the shots are good, but it is little things that not make it look as good as it should which means myself and Lola have to make the decision to not add them into our final music video footage. This is annoying since the shots would appeal and stand out to our target audience. Lighting was also a little bit disappointing when looking through the footage of Lauren in the dance studio. The lighting has made the camera work look really grainy and not up to the standard that the camera is worth. Lola and I will be overcoming the lighting issues by booking the pit again for Tuesday 17th November and will be filming more dance sequences and lip sync scenes. 

Planning - Poster Ideas

When creating the poster for my artist, I think that is is important to make sure that I have undertaken research on how the poster should look like, and what sort of things need to be added to it. In a previous post, I have therefore done research on different types of posters that include an element of relevance to what I want to do. However, those adverts were mainly promoting the artist's tour, rather than a particular album that they are releasing. Therefore, I have found two poster adverts that are promoting albums, for female artist that sing within the pop genre.

The poster advertisements presented above really portray what I want to include when designing and making my poster advert. This is because it includes everything the target demographic need to know about the album that is being released by the artist. I think that it is best to have a black background for the poster advert because it means that I can really highlight the actress in that will be in the centre of the advert with a spot light emphasising her bold stage make up. The album is called 'The Lights' and that will be neatly positioned in the centre of the page, but more towards the bottom. The digi pack is also going to appear in the bottom right hand corner of the poster advert, so that the target audience are suddenly known as to what the poster is advertising. In addition to this, the target audience will also know what the poster is advertising due to the fact my artist has a catchy name 'Scarlett Simpson' and I making sure that the alliteration of the S is fully emphasised.

Below, is a rough sketch of the type of idea I have for the poster advertisement to look like.

Planning - Foreseeable Problems and Solutions

Foreseeable Problems and Solutions 

When going out and filming footage for my music video, there are a number of things that I need to look out for, in order to prevent something happening which will affect the production of my music video. 

Equipment

Make sure that the SD card has enough memory on it in order to store all of the footage that I am filming, this is because the footage takes up a large amount of space since the quality of the camera is at a very high standard. 

Make sure that the camera batteries are fully charged when I am wanting them to be in full use. This is so that I am not wasting precious filming time waiting for the camera batteries to charge. 

Out of focus shot examples - traffic at night

Here is an example shot of what Lola and I are going to be using in our music video. I personally think that out of focus shots are a very effective and creative way of using the camera that we have to film our footage. This is because it varies the type of shots that we are using as well as making our video look quite complex and different. I thought that filming an out of focus and going into focus shot of cars at night would be the best way to portray this. This is because as you can see from the video above, the lighting of the cars is what makes the shot so effective. 

Planning - Production Schedule

Production Schedule 

Planning a production schedule is of utmost importance. This is because in order to know what you are filming, it needs to be planned otherwise it won't get done to its full potential. Below, is the schedule that my partner and I have produced for filming different parts of our footage. We have decided to spread out when we film different scenes so that each scene has enough dedicated time to it. 

21/10/2015 : Film test footage of Lauren lip syncing lyrics to 'Crazy in Love' 

22/10/2015 & 23/10/2015 : Edit lip sync test footage in final cut pro 10 

28/10/2015 : Film couple scenes of Alice and Jack at Jacks house in Great Bardfield, also, film the shots of cars on the motor with pulled focus

5/11/2015 : Start filming performance scenes of Lauren in the pit

6/11/2015 : Film Lauren at the Rhodes Centre in Bishop's Stortford in the Dance Studio 

9/11/2015 : Film Lauren at recording studio and pit

17/11/2015 : Film Lauren at pit

18/11/2015 : Start to finish rough cut of music video 

Planning - Actor / Actresses costume

COSTUME . . .

Couple Scene

Alice - Plack turtle neck top, black jeans, black ballet pumps, natural make up and hair 

Jack - Dark Navy blue jeans, black shoes, grey jumper 

The pit: Dance Scenes 

Lauren - Black leotard, black lace leggings, natural curly hair, extreme stage make up 

Dance scene in the dance studio 

Lauren - ballet tights, leotard, hair in a bun, minimal make up to show the transaction between performance and practice 

Lip Sync scenes in recording studio 

Lauren - Black top, black jeans, black shoes, natural make up and hair 

Props: 

Microphone in recording studio