P.P-C-Evaluation of shoot.

On Saturday the 21st Tally and I went for another shoot, Unfortunatly Mandy could not make it. We met at the location at 1.30 and got straight on with starting our shoot. Firstly we were doing different shots of Thomas, our character in the song. We made sure we got lots of interesting angles and movement, we also wanted to make sure we got alot of footage so that we wouldnt need to go back. However the weather was not perfect, we had to work with it and do the best we could. Thomas was really helpful and worked really hard to make sure we got the shots we needed. When we were shooting in the park we had to be careful with the clips we were shooting, as there were lots of other children playing. After a couple of hours working mainly on Thomas, we then wanted to get some shots where both Thomas and Ben were in the shots together ( which we would then add effects onto to make it look quite dreamy). Unfortunaly it then started to rain. However we got alot done in the time and it was a successful shoot.

P.P-C-Evaluation of shoot

Yesturday, on the 17th of November Tally, Mandy and I went to Hilbert Park for a day of shooting. Firstly we went to the park with just us 3, we thought that before Ben arrived we could figure out where we wanted to shoot him and what shots would look good in the certain location. We wanted to make sure we recorded and wrote down all that we were planning to do later on so we didnt miss out any important shots and got a good variation of shots as well, which was very important for us to take into account. Luckily the weather went out way being sunny but cold, this meant it would create nice shadows and images in the camera, such as the sun glare which is what we intended for some of our shots. We were really prepared and organised for when Ben arrived which we all felt was very important as we knew we would get more done in the amount of time we had.
When Ben arrived we got straight on with starting to shoot. We got lots of different angles (high, low and tilted) and also lots of movement shots which would make our video much more visually appealing. We had to make Ben sing the song various times in different locations and camera positions, as this would help us when we needed to edit the shots. After the shoot we all felt really positive and thought that we had got alot done. We also managed to take some photos for our digipak. When taking the pictures we made sure that we got lots of different styles and positions as we could then as a group decide what we thought worked well and what didnt. The shoot was a success.

P.P-C-digipak design

The images shown above is my design for the digipak. At the top is the back of the digipak, i wanted this to be a very natural shot, with the trees and sky in the shot aswell. Also i wanted the artist not looking straight at the camera and walking away into the distance, this would then follow the title of the album being 'undiscovered'. The middle image shows the inside of the digipak showing the artist playing his guitar and then just a simple shot of the guitar. Through-out this design, the look is very natural and simple, to give the sense of the artist, i felt this was very important. Finally i designed the front cover with the artist being very relaxed and sitting on the floor, he is looking at the camera in this shot, to speak out to the consumers and buyers. Overall i am pleased with the design. My group and I will now discuss and design the final outcome with all of our thoughts put into the design.

N.B - Editing Update

This week I have been editing some of the footage we have captured. After having multiple discussions with my group and teacher, I now realise that we need to film many more creative shots as most of our shots at the moment are stills and, when put to the music, are quite boring.

From our first shoot, our teacher mentioned that the footage needed to be framed better and so taking this on board for the second shoot, we managed to film some very well framed footage. However, it lacked creativity and imagination. This was a problem when editing the music video together as I have to make the video as visually appealing as possible and when we have footage that mainly consists of still shots, this is very difficult to achieve. Mandy and I managed to film a few visually appealing shots which we were proud of but the majority of what we filmed did lack a visual appeal.

As a group, we came up with a few ideas which included:

• 360 pan around both Ben and Thomas which I would then dissolve together
• Zooming into Ben and Thomas' faces to add motion to the shots
• Filming close-ups of Ben and Thomas' face's to show their emotion
• Filming close-ups of Ben playing guitar and singing.

After watching some music videos of various artists on YouTube, I have also come up with a few ideas of my own:

• Ben and Thomas sitting on separate benches which face each other. They can be doing the same movements to show that they are the same person.
• Ben singing or playing guitar where you can see Thomas in the background. Maybe playing in the park or just walking home.
• Ben singing or playing guitar then pan round to Thomas walking down a path then pan to a shot of the location.
• Tracking shot of Ben singing whilst walking towards the camera and at the end of the line the camera can stop and he can just walk past.

Hopefully these ideas will help to make our video more visually appealing.

P.P-C & A.S - Group Discussion

We have had a discussion about our digipak and advertisment. We drew out some rough sketches for both and talked about the positive and negative aspects of all the designs. We have decided on an overall design for our digipak. For the front of our digipak cover, we thought that it was important for us to have a close-up image of the artist, so that the audience can identify him easily. For this reason we have chosen an image of Ben laughing, looking away from the camera as if with a group of friends. We believe that this will portray him as being a down to earth person with a good sense of humour.

For the back of our digipak we are going to take a photograph of the sunset coming through the leaves and branches of a tree that will give a mottled effect with lots of warm colours. We chose this design because it was quite natural and would work well with the artist. Inside the digipak we are going to use on one side, a simple shot of a guitar and maybe on the other side Ben walking through an arch at a park. This will give us different contrasts and also keeping the natural theme through-out. We believe that with the right amount of editing and effects added, our Digipak could be very effective and portray the artist in a positive way.

P.P-C & A.S-Shoot Pictures

These are a few pictures that we took during the shoot on Wednesday 11th November. We particularly liked these shots as we think they are suitable for our digipak and magazine advertisment. However, we are a bit concerned about the flash in the photos and therefore may have to retake the photos during another shoot.

A.S & N.B - Shoot Evaluation

Yesterday, Wednesday the 11th of November, Tally and I went on our second shoot. Unfortunately Nellie wasn't with us again as she had school commitments. As Thomas wasn't free, we decided that the aim of the shoot would be to get performance shots and close ups of Ben. During the day we were concerned again that it might rain during filming, but luckily it didn't.

We both thought that the shoot was a lot more successful than the first shoot as we made much more effective use of our time. We considered in more depth about the framing and composition of each shot, and we begun to think much more imaginatively. We also got a lot more footage to work with which eased the stress and pressure, and we think all of the shots can be used in our video.

We think that we're making great progress, and we are learnng to manage our time more efficiently, so that we make the most of the opportunities we have to film.

A.S - Shoot Evaluation

On Sunday the 8th of November, Tally and I completed our first shoot at Hilbert Park in Tunbridge Wells. Unfortunately, Nellie was unable to join us as she was really ill. We also had Ben and Thomas with us, as they are the main characters. Overall, we thought the shoot went quite well. We only managed to get about 15% of our idea filmed, but it was a really good start we thought, with some really visually effective shots. One shot that we were particularly pleased with was a shot at the cafe in the park. We had both Ben and Thomas up at the counter buying something, but Thomas being unable to reach due to his age and height. This shot worked really well as luckily Thomas and Ben were wearing similar outfits so the transition worked smoothly and was really effective. We were also worried about the weather, if it might rain or not, but fortunately it held up, albeit slightly cold. Ben and Thomas were really co-operative and so shooting was easy.

However, there was a sequence of shots we were hoping to do that involved filming the reflection of the characters in the pond, however being November, it was quite a dreary morning and so the reflection was more like a silhouette and not what we were looking for.
We have also arranged for another shoot with Ben on Wednesday the 10th of November in the afternoon, so that we can perhaps get some shots with the sun setting.

N.B - Digipak and Advert Ideas

Here are three album covers that I put together on Adobe Photoshop using some images of James Morrison that I found on the internet. I chose these three images as I thought they were suitable images that we could re-create or do something similar. I mainly like the lighting and positioning of the images on the covers as it conveys the meanings we want to put across. I slightly edited the pictures to give them an enhanced look to them.

N.B - Pitch

Pitch

This is a copy of the pitch that we showed to our class and teachers. The class seemed to approve of our ideas, but both them and the teachers were concerned that it would be difficult to maintain a visually interesting video, and we were also worried about this. Overall, it was really successful and we took all ideas on board and it was a useful exercise for us to do.

N.B - Audience Research Results and Analysis

1. What mood do you feel the track represents?

2. What colours do you associate with this video?

3. What pace do you feel that the video would be?

4. What images do you picture when listening to this video?

5. What genre do you associate with this track?

6. What storyline would you associate with this track?

7. What relationships does the song appear to be talking about?

8. How do you imagine the character to look and act?

9. What personality do you associate with this performer?

Our audience research was very helpful to us as some of the reponses gave us some new ideas and a chance to adapt our interpretation of the song. Unfortunately there are some immature responses, which is a shame as it was not helpful to us at all. This research also proved to us that our target audience can recognise the genre of the track and the generic conventions of the genre. They also understood the track in the same way as us and so this means we don't need to make any drastic alterations to our ideas.

Planning comments

You need to post up your pitch slides and also a post on audience research.

A.S - Digipak and Advert Ideas

This is my idea for the advertisement featured in a magazine. It would hold details of the songs release and title, and also images of both James Morrison and a younger version, hinting at what the song may be about.

This is my idea for the inside of the digipak, that will go behind the CD holder. I decided to keep it relatively simple as it usually one of the least looked at peices of art in a digipak.

This is a design for the inside of the digipak that will be opposite the cd. This really tells the audience about the characters for the song, and looking at a sunset generally connote feelings of warmth, love and forgiveness, which is also what the song is about.



This could be used for the back cover of the digipak. Again, I decided to keep it quite simple as this is used for information about the track and the production.



This design is for the front of the digipak, and so the first thing that the audience would see when buying it. It clearly has the name of the artist and of the track name. It also has a picture of the artist as a young boy and as a man, merged into one, showing that the track is about his life as a young boy.

Group - Storyboard Animatic

A.S - Changes to our Project

Over the past few weeks we've been really busy with our animatic and planning our first shoot, which is now booked for Sunday 8th of November. We have also had a few changes, our main character was originally Paddy Peel-Barnard, but it turns out he's really busy and is also apearing in someone else's music video, so we thought it best to rethink and choose someone else. We decided on Ben Hooker, a friend of mine, who is happy to do it. He has a similar look to the style we need, and is also really good at guitar and in a band, so we will be able to make our video look as authentic as possible. We have also had some ideas with our digipak and advert designs, which will be scanned in and uploaded as soon as possible. Unfortunately our animatic hasn't been uploaded yet due to technical issues, but that should also be uploaded quickly. We're really exicted for our first shoot, in Hilbert Rec, and we hope it will go really well.