Digi packs and more photoshop fun.

 The image above is my half finished Digi pack, i have tried to link the main writing with my website, but i haven't Link the colour because i thought it looked a bit random and didn't go, but the colour makes my website better. I have also tried to use a mix of images where some being dark and some light to show, her feelings and thoughts which are expressed in some of the songs. I still need to decide on a font for more of the general writing, it needs to link to the website, but i don't want to make it too boring. The tree picture is going to be the back cover and i wanted to use a light general picture with not too much going on, because i wanted a buyer to be able to read the writing properly. I also Didn't want to over edit my pictures too much so they didn't look naturalistic. 

This was just playing around with shapes and colours and i originally thought i could just it for my Digi pack, But it didn't go. The colours were meant to link with my website, but i think it looks a little too 80s.

Website update-

I am about a 1/4 of the way through my website, i have added and created a tumblr account, and am deciding on fonts that are going to be continuos throughout. I didn't want to over run the website with too many colours or pattens, it links well to be blogg and will also to my Digi pack. I am finding things like fonts and colours  really hard decisions because they have to be linked all the way though everything. I am going for quite a simplistic font but i want the main focus to be on the music video, looking at past student work and modern artist website, they keep things very simple with not too much going on. Most of them also link with the style of music, for instance if it is a 'rocky' artist there are a lot of reds and blacks used. Because my artist's style would be classed as 'R&B' i decided to keep it very chilled with the colour theme.

Different Styles of Digi packs.

 While i am editing my main chosen pictures, i need to make a choice on what style of Digi pack to use, so i can edit it all into a template. The image is showing what some of the different types look like in 3D, the second one down is the image for the two templates images. Both templates are similar  there is just a slight difference in the layout, the image above is just clearer than the image below. Looking at the template, makes me think about things such as the spine, barcodes, logos and even information about when they were signed etc. Also looking at the templates is reminding me that i have to have my images as a specific size and shape, i don't want them looking morphed.
Looking at the 3D images and the templates has made me decide to use a 6 panel with one Cd, my album/ artist that i have chosen hasn't even got a double Cd album. 

Photoshop update/ pictures for Digipack & Website

 I want my website to be jammed with images so it looks like my artist has a fun and interesting life, i think i will do like a tumblr page with pictures, as if they are posting what they are doing. These will also link to the Digi pack, but i don't want to over crowed my Digi pack because then i don't think it will look eye catching and just messy! I decided to change the tone shade adding in some other effects to the image above because i thought it could be good for a back cover for a digi pack, because black writing would go over the top well for the titles of the songs. It won't be the first image you see on the website or on the front of the Digi pack, because i want it to be vibrant and eye catching making the customer want to look around or buy the Cd. 

I thought having a focus/ extreme close up of the artists face was importance because it is not only showing you the artist, but linking to some feelings that are coming form the tracks on the album. Although i have picked an upbeat song for my music video i thought it was important to show a variety of images and not all laughing, with some possibly being a bit arty because that is the nature of the music - R&B. It is also important to have a lot of images of the artist because i have chosen to do a concept video ,not narrative so the main character in the music video has the feature everywhere. 

 I really just like this image, i haven't done much too it apart from some touching up and changing the saturation and vibrance. I managed to achieve this image by turing all the lights off and pointing a torch at the actors face while taking the picture. I took a couple and whatever ones i don't use for any main pictures will be put in the gallery or Tumblr/Blogg section of the website. I think this image has a good contrast of fun and 'artyness' too it. 

This is just a screen grab of me experimenting with more outlandish ideas, although i think it looks cool and i managed this look by using the 'magic rubber' i don't think it fits what i'm looking for and is possibly a bit too dark and gothy for any of my Auxiliary tasks. 

Results pie Chart

I asked a variety of friends and family what design they liked the best. The statistics show a variety of opinions, but my choice did come out top, but only marginally. They are numbered in the order they are shown in the picture in the post below. The results were interesting because they were so close, this could be to do with a big range of different views, but i think its also because they haven't seen the video and images that i am planning on using. 

But after receiving theses results, i am defiantly going to use the second template and i will start working on that and documenting my progress.  

Website Template choice

I have been looking at all sorts of different website designs/ templates on WIX, after looking through the website i think i have come up with some possible ideas, here they are. 

 ^^^ I liked the focus on the image, because it is just an artist alone i think there needs to be a focus put on my singer. I also like the use of the bright colours and it looks very easy to navigate around. It is also simplistic without being boring and colourless, because my song is a fun happy son i think this needs to be mirrored through the website. The website needs to link to my DIGI pack so i want it to be an eye catching design too.

 ^^^ This is in the top runnings for my actual video, i really like the main focus on the video because i think it is one of the most important things too show. It also has a clear layout and it leaves me a lot more freedom in the DIGI pack area. Although i will have a logo linking them i think it could look really cool if i use the right images and fonts.

^^^ I liked the music imagery in this design, i thought it was visually impressive and bright! But i didn't think it was very personal to the artist and is probably more of a general band page where they more of a indie image.

 ^^^ I like the simple use of colours in the design because i think you can easily highlight key information. It also lends itself to have a logo which i can link through Blog and DIGI pack! There isn't much importance on photographic image which is really important to my website.

^^^ I love the simplicity of this design and think i can really focus on a picture, Which is a focal point and the whole idea of an website. There is also an easy layout to it so it can be easily navigated, but there isn't much additional social networking sites like a blog for the artist or sound cloud. I also wanted there to be a focal point on my music video. 

After looking at these Website templates in more detail, i have decided to go with the second one. I think it lends itself to everything i want, it will also suit the artist and allow me to visually link with the DIGI pack. But until i do defiantly decide i am going to do a survey to get some more opinions. 

First attempt Logo

I thought i would use photoshop to attempt and make a Logo, for my blogg and so it can link through my website and DIGI pack. The whole idea behind it was to keep it as simplistic as possible, the main image are two D's back to back - this is meant to be linking to Daisy my name. I thought it would be important to link myself directly to the design because i never came up with a proper name for my blogg except for db - my initials. I need to do some more work on it because i didn't want the image to have a background, so it would go onto and background it was placed on. The other part to the logo is meant to be a signature behind the image to attempt to make it more personal, and recognisable. 

I think it needs more work and possibly needs to be worked into a shape like a circle, but i want to keep the initial details. 

cool vid

 

Photoshop Fun.

This week i have been starting to edit some of my own pictures in photoshop for my Digi pack and website. I haven't wanted to distort them top much, and what i was really doing was playing to see the sort of thing i liked best. So far i have only really started on one image, because i wanted to keep a clear idea in my head with them all interlinking, so they didn't seem disjointed. 

Not all of my images will be in back in white, but i thought it would be interesting to have a selection. 

Recent Editing with some jazzie things and tricks.

Here are some little wizzy editing things i've done which i was pretty proud of. Although we had learnt how to do some things in class, i kinda forgot so i youtubed some of the things. I also asked some people in class, my fav  thing i've learnt so far is the over lapping images. But i have found these things very annoying and there have been some angry mummers while editing it together. While editing i haven't made them too wild because i wanted them to link with the song, by not being too crazy like bright colours or flashing images. 

Update 2/12/13

This week i'm going to continue with editing finishing my film for the first line deadline, i am working on bringing in different techniques and trying out how different things work, i have become a lot quicker and more decisive about editing and ideas. 

Although i have also been taking pictures and starting to edit them in adobe photo shop, i have been playing around and looking at different album covers to get an idea on what i want my digi pack to look like. I think its important to have a clear vision and also relate to the video, because mine is very concept and artist based i want to mainly feature my artist and relate a little bit to the song. 

Pictures of scenes

While editing i thought i'd give some visual images apart from the story boards and its probably a bit better than my drawing. The first picture is a car scene which consists of low and high angle images and some time lapses, i wanted to show a variety of shots, well shoot as many as possible because when editing although i have a plan i have a variety of shots and choices.  The second image is a library shot surrounded by books, these shots consist of dancing and 'hiding behind books' i wanted this to  show a fun side (because of the dancing) but also show the youngness and more whimsical of the singer, to match with the lyrics. 

The third picture is my city location and my video will probably contain the most amount of shots and smaller locations in the general locations. I wanted to focus more on angles in this location and it also has some panning and moving shots which i haven't used anywhere else. 

I wanted use a variety of shots because i had an idea of a concept music video, to try and make it look as realistic as possible.

From the feedback i have had so far from different members of the class viewing small snippets, was that the voice worked well together and that it is possible, i think this might be because i didn't pick a famous song and the song its self has a documentary style music video, so i had a lot of freedom in scenes and even my actress. 

While shooting all these scenes i have also been taking pictures for my Axially tasks and i thought they could work well for a photo gallery and digi pack.

Adobe photoshop lesson

 On friday we had a lesson on how to work photo shop, we learnt all about how to open new images and copy and paste and high light/ cut out the objects from their backgrounds. You can see an example of it above on the world, here we learnt a trick which was helpful. On the image below we got to use the mega cool magic wand and i think i learnt that photoshop needs to be precise and you can take a lot of time to make it perfect. 

 Once we learnt some basic things, we were let lose to have a play and learnt about the layers of photoshop and it is just something to remember in the future when i am editing my own images. You can see that i even edited the back ground changing it to negative, there were loads of cool brushes and tools to either completely destrot the image or make it clearer and crisper, I tried both and think my first go ended up looking pretty funky. next i think I'm going to try my own images and see how far can distort them and see how am image of a person can work differently than a flat images. 

Auxiliary tasks.

This is what i need to do for both of my tasks from a diary form. 

First attempt on stop motion.

So my idea for the opening of my scene was to have a figure going around a guitar in stop motion, i started to attempt this with some stop motion software from school. It failed because the scene i wanted was too big and there wasn't enough room to show what i wanted. Even though it didn't work I'm glad i tried this because it showed me how to work the software, now i am going have to look at different directions to take and i think i might have to do it though a camera taking either pictures or filming.

axially task- pictures (editing attempt)

Here was my first attempt at ever editing a picture (except for instgram)  It didn't that well and i got a little bit carried away, with all the cover up and orange.. She looks very tangoed!! But because i want to defiantly use this image on my album cover, i thought it was worth just to give it a little whirl.
This is a try without using photoshop and a different program, this has also made me decide i want to keep my images natural. This is not only because it looks better but because it links better to the song and the image of the artist while listening to the music.

Target Audience

Editing update

This week i've uploaded all my footage and began to see what i have and if i needed anything else. While playing around with my footage i realized a fatal mistake, i managed to film some of my scenes sideways not realizing that i couldn't just film the footage like you can with an image. But not all was lost, i found that i can key frame them round to just look normal! Luckily my footage is saved, when i was looking at my footage although i had only planned to do my scenes in a certain place, i feel now that i could add another different location.

I've also been really getting to grips with final cut express, in the past projects i've worked with Final cut pro and i movie. Although i've attempted to use Final cut express in our mini music video task this is the first time i've had my own freedom and its fun. 

Artist Study - Mikill Pane

The main video i want to focus on is the top one, as an artist Mikill Pane always has very interesting, different videos. Typically they relate to the lyrics of the song and the genre of his music would probably be classed as 'alternative'. Personally i find the lyrics interesting which is the same for the music videos.

 

The artist does feature heavily in the music video and i would say that the video's in general are concept because he doesn't have any that are just performance or narrative. If i had to put 'The chairman of the board' in a category i would say it's both concept and narrative because the lyrics are linking to the images being shown on screen. 
The image below is a really cool long shot, but things have been put in front out of focus to make it look like you are looking through a bathroom cupboard. The lyrics are also linking at that time because they are talking about sand and the beach and friends, which you can all see in this image. The shot that is being used here is very simple but also very effective and is also linking the artist to the image/ shot even though he isn't there.

The image below is showing my fav shot out of the whole video, i am assuming this mid shot is just a split screen. But it is meant to be his reflection and possibly showing someones inner thoughts while they do general everyday tasks. The camera is also focused on the mirror image, which is drawing you eye towards the cupboard ready for the next  shot which is through the bathroom cupboard. 
I like the feeling from all of his music videos because i think they feel very homemade, but also well thought out and cleverly shot. 

The videos below are just another example of his work, one as a ft. song with Rizzle Kicks. In the videos in general aren't like typical 'rap' music with the main artist making everything about him and nothing else. There are always a lot of interesting filler shots which are kinda random but always nicely shot. While watching any of Mikill Panes, there is a whole image he has created from his clothes and glasses. They are all very cool and quirky which i think adds to the the videos in general. The Lyrics to the songs are also usually something people can relate too or have thought. 

Filming day.

Here are a couple of pictures from the main filming day, it was fun and we did a lot of filming and eating. 

update - week starting the 7th

last week at school there was a major problem because they internet was down the entire week. But this did allow me to get on with some story boards and outfit planning (i'll upload these in a separate post) 

I also did some practice stop motion, so i was able to do my actual stop motion next week.

For my actual stop motion i decided to do some figure work on a guitar. 

It was all interesting because in class we all disguised our separate ideas which we had n't done before. 

More Locations.

When thinking of ideas of what to do and different locations i really whats to use goodwins theory and do the whole lets the visuals sort of match with the lyrics. Because i am filming the majority of my footage in Norwich i needed to find all my possible locations either in or near it. 

In the song it says 'ice cream on second avenue' i didn't manage to find a second avenue or street but i did find an avenue as you can see above. 

I was really pleased because although i could have made a sign it will look more legit and better if i use a real street sign.

Here i was planning or doing either some time lapse shots or some editing so my actress is in the screen all at the same time. 

Location Scouting.

On the weekend i went location scouting round Norwich for places where and to get ideas for where i wanted to shoot my video. This was helpful because it allowed me to have even more ideas about shots and angles for the camera. 

These are only going to be for part of my song because i want to semi follow the lyrics. 

I also had to use my mum because i have not yet been able to get my actors together but i will be soon. 

I wanted to get a mixture of both town/city and greenery because i didn't want all the colours and materials to be harsh. 

I also decided to collage my pictures because i thought it would give you an overview in a different way to just normal view and to show how i want it to be seen when filmed. 

The Final choice

I have finally made my decision on what song i am going to pursue for my final music video. 

I decided on this song because i thought it would be clearer  to make a music video and i had a stronger vision of what and where things could happen. 

Also a big plus for me the music video isn't very big and neither is the song so it is generally a blank canvas to work with, and i don't have to worry about ruining a classic or for it to look normal. 

what i mean by that is when you use a song that has such a memorable singer/ artist and music video it is very hard for it to look believable when your chosen actress is pretending. 

I defiantly want to do a concept idea, personally i'm not that into narrative music videos, also i didn't feel like i had the performers to do a performance style video. 

But i do want to use some of goodwins theories especially when it comes to voyeurism and linking lyrics to visuals. 

The final two

After looking at all the different songs i could pick i have got stuck on two possible choices. 

I like both of these for different reason but the thing i like is that you could do something fun with both of them, i want my video to be happy because after looking at a selection of past a2 music videos i think they work the best. 

N.1. This is Is your love Big Enough by Lianne La Havas 

I like this because i have a lot of ideas and i think you could do something really interesting between visuals and lyrics. 

The beat is also good because its strong, and its also a happy song. 

The most important things to me are that not many people have heard the song or even seen the music video, and i also think there is a lot you can do with it. 
I don't find the music video that interesting and i think that you could do something a lot better so it gives you a blank canvas to work with. 

Here i thought you could have some stop motion which i think would be fun to try and not very typical of a music video which i have seen in some past student examples and has worked well. 

N.2. Summer Time Sadness Remix by Lana Del Rey

what i think could work well from this song is the beat, i chose the remix over the original in some of my feedback on my survey there was an opinion on using the original but i felt that i wanted to do a faster song and i find the original slightly to slow.  
my Idea for this video was completely different to the music video, although i did think you could do something really cool with colour manipulation and overlapping images. 
What i wanted to do with this song is for it to be cold and in parts snowing ( this could be homemade fake snow) and i thought the stark contrast would be funny and explain the whole 'summer time sadness' because it would have felt like so long ago. 

cover.

While still deciding on my final songs out of  ' Is your love big enough' and 'summer time sadness remix', i came across this cover of summer time sadness. 

I find covers really interesting and i find this one very different to the ordinal song which i found refreshing. The whole song is given a semi reggie feel which although i would use instead of one of my song choices i think it shows how songs can be completely changed and become something almost unrecognisable.  

If i did decide to do a remix and if i chose this one if would completely change my mind and ideas of what to do. 

class work - Brainstorm

In class the other day i spent some portion of the lesson coming up with ideas with possible ideas. I picked one of the two songs i'm still deciding on, i wanted to see if the Lianee la Havis song had enough possible parts and scenes to it. I managed to come up with some ideas and thought of both scenes and camera angles.

Goodwins Theory

Goodwins from Daisy Beaven

Cool videos, ideas.

I find this video really interesting and mainly the way it was done with the mise en scene. Location and scene wise its something very different and is constantly using some of goodwins theory through voyeurism. There is also a constant link between the lyrics and the visuals which is different because the type of people they have used in the song is not what i was expecting from the song when i originally heard it. I think this can give me some good advise for my own music video and that is that i can do something completely different and unexpected and it will still work if you still relate it to the lyrics. What i really find different about this video is that is one long shot that starts off looking like a photo.

                  
 As you can see from the photo the whole idea of the video is that it constantly zooms and and back into a different scene or part of the song. There are almost little actions going on between everyone and they all link to the song and what is being sang at that moment. The location is contrasting to the people that are in the image, the people you see are all quite rough and people you would expect to see in such an ornate building.  The space/ room also looks empty but i think this is linking to the song because it is about space and living and when the camera does zoom out to show everyone they do look very small in comparison. The costume also goes along with the rough feel with the boy's wearing stereo typical baggy trousers and lots of gold jewelry and the girls wearing things that are short and tight. This again is contrasting with their surroundings. The music video is also using some of Goodwins theory by using voyeurism and having the image mirror the lyrics, from the picture below the line is 'i'm sniffing' and as you can see the man is clearly sniffing. But like i was talking about before its happening in a way to carry on with the 'street feel'.  The picture above is showing the voyeurism and what i find interesting about this is how the 'street' person is saying some of the lyrics 'i'm spinning' and he isn't even part of the band. I think for my own video i could do something contradictory, but i don't think it will work that well with either of the songs i might want to do. It would also be hard for me to do a certain location but i like the lighting/ coloring its a bit like a sepia/instagram tone which i think i could use in parts of my video.

                            

Past Student work - Beyonce

Psw from Daisy Beaven

Survey..

If anyone could complete my survey it would be very helpful!
I did this to help me decide what music video to through audience research.. 




Or just scan the code thing!! (SOO COOL)

class work

Recently in class i've been looking at different music videos and songs because my original choices i picked didn't get a good reception from the class.

These were the songs i originally picked but they aren't going to be in my final pick now. 

 I really like this song and the think it could look good but the problem was there wouldn't have been much of a story line and i didn't want to take it to close to the original. 

One thing i might take from the video is the lighting its a lovely blue colour and it goes well with the slow motion which i think works really well especially when fast action is happening. The camera angles work really well and i think i'm going to take all three of these things and use them for my own video. 

I liked this song because i really liked the strong beat that the song had and i thought scene change would work really well. I also thought it had like a strong girl power vibe. 

The problem with this video is that it really leans towards a dance routine and i don't have the expertise or anyone to do a dance. I also thought you could have some really cool outfits and crazy locations. 

The main thing i liked about both of the song is the fun vibe that you get and i defiantly want to pick a fun song or a happy song because personally i think it will work better and be fun to make. 

Time toast - History of music

This is my personal opinion of the top famous songs over the years. 

Some of them are songs that i know and love and some are ones where if you didn't know them you would have to be living under a rock. 

Original audience feedback

After getting some audience feedback from my three original possible songs, i decided because there wasn't a massive amount of ideas from anyone and i didn't feel that i could be that creative with any of them, that i would change my song choices. 

There was also a problem because none or i could think a possible location. 

I did find the feedback useful through because it allowed my to defiantly decide that the songs were wrong.